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Tuesday Briefing: School Administrators’ Pay, Google’s Mobile Switch, and Abortion Waiting Periods FlaglerLive | April 21, 2015 Today’s weather: calmer, sunnier, high of 82, low of 65, a bit warmer and thunder-prone Saturday and Sunday. Details here. Today’s fire danger is Moderate. Flagler County’s Drought Index is at 172 The weather in Agrigento, Sicily: High of 68, low of 52. Details. The OED’s Word of the Day: rurbanization, n.. The Live Community Calendar Today’s jail bookings. Today’s Briefing: Quick Links - In Flagler and Palm Coast - In Court - In State Government - In the Press - Local Road and Interstate Construction - PR Releases - Blood Donations Needed - In Coming Days in Flagler and Palm Coast Note: all government meetings noticed below are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated. The Flagler County School Board has a full slate of meetings today, starting with a 9 a.m. workshop (as opposed to the more usual 4 or 5 p.m. start time). Discussion will focus on standardizing school administrators’ pay and applying a “step” plan that would automatically raise an administrator’s pay according to years of service, educational attainment and position. The base pay for administrators would start at $65,000 and top off at $86,590, not including several potential pay enhancements. See the salary matrix here. The board will also discuss a contract with Career Source of Flagler-Volusia during the workshop. The board’s business meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. The board will be asked to approve spending $20,000 to underwrite the costs of 13 Flagler Palm Coast High School students, two teachers and one adult chaperone attending the International Future Problem Solving Conference June 10-15, 2015 in Ames, Iowa. Other schools are sending students as well, but fund-raising is underwriting those costs. The board is also expected to approve its District Strategic Plan for the next five years, which is available here. The board will meet again at 1 p.m. to discuss Phoenix Academy and its strategic plan. All meetings to be held at the Government Services Building’s board chambers, starting at 9 a.m. Senior Scholarship Awards for Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast High School seniors, at the Flagler Auditorium this evening. The Palm Coast City Council holds a business meeting at the Community Center starting at 9 a.m. Council members will consider approving, on first reading, changing the name of Seminole Woods Parkway to Seminole Woods Boulevard, among numerous prosaic matters. The full agenda is available here. The River To Sea Transportation Planning Organization’s Citizens Advisory Committee and Technical Coordinating Committee, which include representation from Flagler, meet today in the River to Sea TPO Conference Room, 2570 W. International Speedway Blvd., Suite 100, Daytona Beach. Note: The Citrizens Advisory Committee meets at 1:30 p.m., the Technical Coordinating Committee meets at 3 p.m. The full agenda and background material is here. Online Auction for George Washington Carver Foundation: The annual auction, raising money for the Carver Center in Bunnell, is on through April 27. Make your bids here. The auction is the primary fundraising event for the Carver Center. In the past, money raised has been used for big-ticket items like ceiling insulation, furniture for the library, a scoreboard, bleachers, as well as money for scholarships and summer camp. “At this point, we are gearing up to assist the county with an addition to the center,” said Flagler County Commissioner Barbara Revels. “Flagler County is applying for a community development block grant to build additional classrooms and meeting space. If that happens, we’d like to be ready to help with what we can to furnish it.” Revels is a member of the George Washington Foundation and was part of a team instrumental in bringing the center up to sustainable level, saving the center from an uncertain fate. The Carver Center is a recreational facility that also offers tutoring, after school study, internet access and also serves the community with GED classes, employment counseling and other services. On April 20, Revels wrote: “I am reaching out to each of you as a reminder the G. W. Carver Center Auction will close at 7:00 p.m. Next Monday night the 27th. There is something for everyone to bid on. I want to thank those of you that have donated items and may have already bid. Please take the time to go to: http://gwcarvercenter.com/auction/auction/ and place your bid on one or more great items. I know I am tracking quite a few I want. Please help up make this year’s event the most successful yet. Remember all funds go to our Foundation that is a tax exempt charitable organization and NOTHING goes to administration or salaries. All funds go to the direct support of programs, equipment, supplies, scholarships or other needs of the Community Center’s patrons.” Flagler Chamber of Commerce Boot Camp, another two-hour session tonight starting at 6 p.m. at the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce conference room in Palm Coast. The Bunnell Planning and Zoning Board meeting scheduled for this evening was cancelled. Handel’s Messiah: Stetson University’s Choral Union, Concert Choir, Women’s Chorale, Stetson Men and Orchestra, under the direction of Timothy Peter: A combined chorus, student soloists, and orchestra totaling 250 musicians will present this sacred oratorio, which has a long performance tradition at Stetson University. Ensembles involved include the Choral Union, Stetson Men, Women’s Chorale, Concert Choir, and Chamber Orchestra with additional winds and brass. Handel’s Messiah was first performed in Dublin in April of 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most beloved choral works in Western music. 7:30p.m., First Baptist Church, 725 North Woodland Boulevard, DeLand. Circuit Judge Michael Orfinger’s docket is all about case management today. County Judge Melissa Moore-Stens hears probation violation arraignments and pre-trail hearings at 1 p.m. (Courtroom 404). Note: Most proceedings below can be followed live on the Florida Channel. Health care: The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a day-long meeting that will include a workshop on critical health-care issues. The Senate has proposed a plan that would use $2.8 billion in federal money to expand health coverage to about 800,000 low-income Floridians, but the House and Gov. Rick Scott oppose it. Also, the Senate plan involves an extension of a major health-funding program known as the Low Income Pool, which is scheduled to expire June 30. Also during the meeting, the committee will take up issues such as a bill (SB 918), filed by Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, that would increase protections for the state’s natural springs. Among numerous other bills, the committee will consider a proposal (SB 1248), filed by Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, that would revamp the state’s alimony laws. (10 a.m.) Abortion: The House will hold a floor session and could take up dozens of bills, including a controversial proposal (HB 633), filed by Rep. Jennifer Sullivan, R-Mount Dora, that would require a 24-hour waiting period before women could have abortions. Among other bills on the House agenda is a measure (HB 4017), filed by Rep. Ross Spano, R-Dover, that would keep in place regulations on pain-management clinics. The regulations, which were approved to crack down on “pill mills,” are set to expire Jan. 1 unless lawmakers act. (11 a.m.)Special election: Voters in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties go to the polls in a special election in state House District 64. Former Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, is seeking to return to the House and faces opposition from write-in candidate Daniel Matthews. Grant appeared to have won re-election in November, but the House declined to seat him because of a legal battle about whether the write-in was eligible to be a candidate. That necessitated holding the special election. The state Elections Canvassing Commission will meet to certify the results of April 7 special elections in Senate District 6, House District 17 and House District 24. Elkton Republican Travis Hutson won the race in Senate District 6, which includes St. Johns, Flagler and Putnam counties and part of Volusia County. St. Johns Republican Cyndi Stevenson won in House District 17, which includes the northern part of St. Johns County. Palm Coast Republican Paul Renner won in House District 24, which includes Flagler County and parts of St. Johns and Volusia counties. –Compiled by the News Service of Florida Boston Marathon bomber jury reconvenes today. Google today adds “mobile-friendliness” to its search tools. Trial for 93-year-old Auschwitz guard opens today: Seven decades after the liberation of Auschwitz, a 93-year-old former SS guard at the Nazi death camp shuffled into a German court on Tuesday to answer charges of complicity in the murder of 300,000 mostly Hungarian Jews in two months in the summer of 1944. With Holocaust survivors watching in the stark courtroom, Oskar Gröning read a terrifying but startlingly clear account of his life, focusing on the autumns of 1942 and 1944, when he served in the SS at Auschwitz-Birkenau.” Details from The Times. Man died of spinal injury after being arrested by Baltimore police “City officials suspended six police officers Monday as they investigate the death of a 25-year-old man who suffered a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody. Freddie Gray had been hospitalized since his April 12 arrest and, according to his attorney, was in a coma when he died Sunday. On Monday, the mayor and police commissioner publicly pleaded for calm and promised a full accounting — an effort to keep Baltimore from becoming the latest flash point in disintegrating relations between police and communities across the country. […] Officials also were unable to answer other key questions, such as whether Gray was given prompt medical attention and whether he had done anything illegal or suspicious to justify officers detaining him in Gilmor Homes, a cluster of red-brick public housing on Baltimore’s west side. Also left unexplained is a video from a bystander showing two officers dragging what appears to be a limp suspect to a police van. […] Gray’s death thrust Baltimore into the national spotlight as the latest city facing protests over police conduct and allegations of excessive force. Since last year’s outrage over the fatal shooting by police of an unarmed teen in Ferguson, Mo., similar tensions have erupted in Cleveland, where an officer shot and killed a 12-year-old boy who was holding a toy gun; on Staten Island, where a street hawker died while being restrained by officers; and in North Charleston, S.C., where a video showed an officer shooting a fleeing, apparently unarmed man in the back, killing him.” From the Washington Post. New Genetic Tests for Breast Cancer Hold Promise: “A Silicon Valley start-up with some big-name backers is threatening to upend genetic screening for breast and ovarian cancer by offering a test on a sample of saliva that is so inexpensive that most women could get it. At the same time, the nation’s two largest clinical laboratories, Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp, normally bitter rivals, are joining with French researchers to pool their data to better interpret mutations in the two main breast cancer risk genes, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2. Other companies and laboratories are being invited to join the effort, called BRCA Share. The announcements being made on Tuesday, although coincidental in their timing, speak to the surge in competition in genetic risk screening for cancer since 2013, when the Supreme Court invalidated the gene patents that gave Myriad Genetics a monopoly on BRCA testing.” From The Times. Google’s Mobile Friendliness: “Many businesses around the world could wake up on Tuesday to discover their search ranking has been downgraded. After a monthslong warning period, Google will add “mobile friendliness” to the 200 or so factors it uses to list websites on its search engine. As a result, websites that don’t meet Google’s criteria will tumble in its all-important rankings. Google has made several big changes. Companies will be docked for shortcomings like displaying links that are hard to click or forcing users to scroll horizontally on a lopsided site. In addition, the company recently announced that in certain cases it would also use information contained within apps as a ranking factor for mobile searches performed on phones that run its Android software. “Since mobile search results are about half of what Google handles, anyone might be at risk,” said Danny Sullivan, the founder of Search Engine Land, which closely tracks changes to Google’s search engine. The shift to mobile devices has been a challenge for all businesses, Google included. In the space of a few years, phones have become the dominant portal through which people use the Internet. The United States had 134 million mobile users last year, about 100 million more than in 2010, according to eMarketer, a research company.” From The Times. Road and Interstate Construction: Palm Coast: Palm Coast Parkway between Cypress Point Parkway and Florida Park Drive. IMPACTS: Lane shifts and closures will occur and this may cause traffic congestion on this already busy roadway. Most construction work will occur between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. though weather and unforeseen issues may adjust the schedules. This project will be complete by December 2015. Flagler County: County Road 305 between CR 2006 and Tangerine. IMPACTS: Closure in force 3/17/2015 for the 2nd box culvert replacement. Detours detour via CR 110 to CR 95 to CR 2006. Truck Detour via Bunnell (SR 100 – SR 11) Volusia: I-4 Widening from SR 44 to east of I-95, Monday and Friday, 7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Eastbound/Westbound shoulder closing. Sunday through Thursday, Eastbound and Westbound lane closures as needed from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Motorists should be aware of traffic shifts near Canal St./SR 44. - Palm Coast Parkway Project Website - Florida Department of Transportation Road Project List - County Road 304 Project Map and Description Sheriff’s Office Marks National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week: The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center celebrated National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week April 12-18. The week is designated as a time to recognize all public safety men and women who respond to emergency calls and dispatch emergency professionals during times of crisis. It is a time to show gratitude to 9-1-1 call takers, dispatchers, technicians that maintain radio and emergency phone systems, communications staff trainers, communication center personnel and other public safety telecommunications staff who help during emergencies. “For one week each year we take time to celebrate the public safety Communications Specialists who are our unsung heroes and true first responders that are on the other side of 911 and the radios used by our public safety personnel,” said Kelley Eisen, FCSO Communications Manager. The Flagler County Commission, Town of Beverly Beach, City of Flagler Beach, City of Bunnell and City of Palm Coast presented the communications center with a proclamation acknowledging NPSTW. “Our Communications Specialists serve the community and are the life line to the person on the other end of the phone,” said Sheriff Jim Manfre. “They work 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are always there when called upon.” Throughout the week, communications specialists were able to bring their families to work, participated in cook-outs, and had themed dress down days, such as tropical day, crazy hat day, and sports team day. April 22: Skywarn Storm Spotter Program Class: This class is also great for first responders, dispatchers, anyone who works outside, school staff, coaches, etc. Meteorologists aren’t the only ones who can recognize potentially disastrous weather. After participating in a free nationally acclaimed weather class hosted by the National Weather Service and Flagler County Emergency Services, anyone can become a trained storm spotter. The Skywarn Storm Spotter Program recruits volunteers to help protect people and property during tornados or severe thunderstorms. There are already over 1,000 storm spotters in Flagler County. “Skywarn is essential to the National Weather Service as weather radars cannot see everything,” said Bob Pickering, Flagler County Emergency Management Technician. “Spotters play a key role not only in advanced warnings, but also storm verification.” During a class taught by Ben Nelson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Jacksonville, participants will learn to recognize signs of impending dangerous weather and how to report perilous conditions so warnings can be issued faster. The class will take place on Wednesday, April 22, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Flagler County Emergency Operations Center, 1769 East Moody Blvd., Bunnell. To sign up for the class, please call Pickering at 386-313-4250 or send an email to: email@example.com. April 23: Sheriff Jim Manfre will be the guest speaker for the Flagler County Chamber upcoming Eggs & Issues breakfast at 8 a.m. at the Grand Haven Golf Club, 500 Riverfront Drive in Palm Coast. The chamber hosts Eggs & Issues breakfasts five times a year to bring local and business-related issues and topics to light. Guest speakers include elected officials, thought leaders and high profile executives/business professionals. Cost to attend is $15 with advance payment for members or $20 at the door. Future members pay $20 with advance reservations or $25 the day of the event. Seating is limited; reservations are requested by Friday, April 17 at 5 PM. Flagler County Job Fair on April 24: A limited number of spaces are still open for businesses interested in reserving a free booth at the second annual Flagler County Job Fair. The event will take place on Friday, April 24, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Palm Coast Campus of Daytona State College, 3000 Palm Coast Pkwy SE, Building 3. Last year nearly 400 jobseekers attended the inaugural fair, which was hosted by the Flagler County Department of Economic Opportunity and CareerSource Flagler Volusia. This year Daytona State College and the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce joined the effort to positively impact Flagler County’s economic vitality. Among the businesses that have already registered are CoastalCloud, Edwards Jones Financial Service, Beutlich Pharmaceuticals and Target. A complete list of attending companies is available here. Businesses wishing to secure a place at the fair and job seekers interested in registering for preparation workshops should visit the job fair website. For additional information about the fair, please contact Casey Scott at 386-313-4098 or by email here. April 25: Law Enforcement Torch Run For Special Olympics: The torch run is the largest annual public relations and fund-raising event amongst Special Olympics Florida and law enforcement agencies. Local Flagler County agencies are getting their sneakers laced up for the event on Saturday, April 25. The run will start promptly at 10 a.m. in the front parking area of 5400 East Highway 100 next to Flagler Palm Coast High School. Registration is $12 and each runner will receive a Law Enforcement Torch Run t-shirt. In addition to the torch run, the City of Palm Coast, Frank Celico Foundation and the Bike Doctor are hosting their annual Family Bike Rodeo which promises to enhance your family’s bicycle riding experience and safety. Children can participate in a bike safety course and have an opportunity to win a brand new bike helmet. There will be bike clinics, safety checks and a skills obstacle course. The Run/Walk/Ride will be escorted by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office as runners carry the torch, also known as the “Flame of Hope,” westbound on State Road 100 to northbound Belle Terre Parkway and proceed to the Town Center Publix Shopping Plaza. There will be a break area in front of Mezzaluna Pizzeria before heading back out to Belle Terre Parkway southbound to the Target Plaza with another break area proudly sponsored by Hibbett Sports. The final leg will travel back to the start line were there will be pizza from Mezzaluna Pizzeria. “Year after year, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office supports this important event and continues to raise money and awareness for a good cause,” said Sheriff Jim Manfre. This is a family event and there will be vendors and activities for children even if you do not run/walk. All activities will last until 1 p.m., so come on out and enjoy the Bounce House by Jump for Joy, Balloon Art by Bruce Bryant, and Face Painting by Doreen Lazzano. For more information, please call 386-586-2655. Matanzas Inlet Beach Clean-up: In celebration of Earth Day, Fort Matanzas National Monument is hosting a beach clean-up on Saturday, April 25, from 9am to 12pm. Join us in removing not only man-made trash but invasive plant life. The event will begin with a safety briefing and an introduction to the park at the ocean-side parking lot on the east side of A1A, just north of the Inlet bridge. Trash bags, gloves, and water will be provided. Please bring sunscreen, appropriate beach wear (including a hat), and your own reusable water bottle. If you would like to participate, please call 904-829-6506 ext. 233 or email Jill_Leverett@nps.gov by April 23. Matanzas Woods Interchange Construction Public Meeting: The Flagler County Engineering Department will host a public meeting to inform residents of the planned beginning of construction of the Matanzas Woods Parkway Interchange Project at I-95 and the future Old Kings Road Extension project. The interchange project is a long planned project providing interstate access to residents in the northern part of Flagler County and is slated to start this summer. This project will require the temporary closure of Matanzas Woods Parkway during the 2015 summer months when school is out of session. The future Old Kings Road Extension project will provide a direct route for commuters to the Matanzas interchange at I-95 and minimize traffic impacts to Matanzas High School. The Old Kings Road Extension project is slated to begin construction later this year. The meeting will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 28th at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE, Palm Coast, Florida 32137. The residents of the area and the public are invited to attend this informational meeting. For more information call 386-313-4039. Volunteers needed for invasive plant removal at Betty Steflik Memorial Preserve, April 29: Bring a friend, bring a kid, bring gloves and a water bottle to Betty Steflik Memorial Preserve on April 29 to help rid it of invasive species like the Brazilian pepper trees along the entrance road. The entrance road will be closed from dawn to 1 p.m. as Land Management and Parks and Recreation staff, with the help of volunteers, remove the plants. Normal park access will be available after 1 p.m. “We appreciate the help,” said Mike Lagasse, land manager. “Non-native plants are displacing the native plants.” Flagler County has a dedicated group of volunteers who have worked at other preserves, like the River to Sea Preserve, protect the native ecosystem. Laura Ostapko is one of those volunteers and a member of “The Pepper Pickers,” a group that started at Gamble Rogers and has recently expanded its scope of work. “We have a sign that says, ‘Restoring paradise one tree at a time,’ because that’s what we are doing,” Ostapko said. “It’s very rewarding when you see what you have done.” Betty Steflik Memorial Preserve is situated on 217 acres along the eastern side of the Intracoastal Waterway south of State Road 100. Those interested in volunteering are asked to contact Lagasse at 386-313-4064 or at firstname.lastname@example.org. Arbor Day 5K Root Run/Walk and Free Fun Run May 2 in Palm Coast’s Town Center: Register now for the Arbor Day 5K Root Run/Walk, which starts at 8 a.m. May 2, followed by the Free Fun Run at 9 a.m. The run/walks will start and finish on Lake Avenue in Central Park at Town Center, 975 Central Ave. in Palm Coast. Awards will be given out at Central Park Main Stage after the race. This race will close out the 2014-2015 season in the Palm Coast Running Series. Register for the 5K Root Run/Walk at www.palmcoastgov.com/ArborDay. (Pre-registration is not required for the children’s Fun Run.) Participants of the 5K Root Run/Walk are guaranteed a race T-shirt and goody bag if they register by April 24. Entry fees and pre-registration deadlines are as follows: · $25 Online registration closes at 5 p.m. April 30 at www.palmcoastgov.com/ArborDay. · $25 Mail-in registration closes April 24 (Mail-in registration is available through April 24. Mail registration form available online with check or money order made out to City of Palm Coast to: City of Palm Coast, c/o Arbor Day Race Pre-registration, Attn: Carol Mini, 160 Cypress Point Parkway Suite B106, Palm Coast, FL 32164.) · $25 In-person registration closes May 1. Register in-person 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway, NE. Checks, money orders, cash and credit cards accepted. · $30 Race day entry fee – cash or checks only – at Central Park (along Lake Avenue). · Veterans with military ID receive free entry Packet Pick Up will be held at the Community Center from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 1, or at 7 a.m. on race day at Central Park (on Lake Avenue). Prizes will be awarded to the overall male and female runners, as well as the top three men and women in 15 age groups. The race will be chip-timed. Children participating in the Fun Run will receive a ribbon. A ceremony honoring the overall winners for the Palm Coast Running Series will immediately follow the 5K Root Run awards. After the races, enjoy the free Arbor Day celebration from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Central Park. Bring canned food or pet food items and exchange them for a three-gallon native hardwood tree (while supplies last). Feed a Mouth, Get a Tree, Grow a Community is the theme. The event will also feature a butterfly tent, zoo exhibits, green vendors, a fire prevention activity, entertainment and kite flying/building. The popular Native Butterfly release is set for 11 a.m. Complete details are available here. For more information, contact City of Palm Coast Urban Forester Carol Mini at 386-986-3722. Calling All Chiuhuahuas: The City of Daytona Beach’s Cultural Services Division is looking for 200 Chihuahuas in full costume to help set a Guinness World Record as part of Chihuahua De Mayo. This fun-filled, family event will take place at the world’s most famous bandshell May 2nd from 12 noon to 4 p.m. Chihuahua owners need to bring a copy of the pedigree registration or a birth certificate to verify that their dog(s) are pure breed, so they can take part in this record attempt. - Registration….12:00 – 1:30 p.m. - Guinness Book of World Records Attempt for most Chihuahuas in costumed attire (minimum 2 piece costume)….2:00 p.m. - Bandshell to Boardwalk Parade After Record Attempt - Parade Prizes – King & Queen Chihuahua Winners, Best Costume, Best Temperament, Best Hat, Best Duo, and Best Trio - 1:00 – 3:30 p.m. – Mariachi Band – “Charros De Mexico” from Orlando - Mexican Hat Dance Off – Pinatas – Candy - Pet Rescue – Food – Vendors (vending space available) - $5 Admission Fee – a portion of the proceeds will go to benefit the Halifax & Flagler Humane Societies and the Arnie Foundation Come watch these Chihuahuas strut their stuff for the cutest Cinco De Mayo costume parade and enjoy an afternoon filled with a variety of things to do for the entire family. Blood donations are urgently needed. Patients in our local hospitals are in need of blood transfusions, and the need for blood does not take a holiday. That’s why OneBlood is asking people to donate immediately. Big Red Bus schedule in Flagler-Palm Coast: Monday April 20th & Tuesday April 21st 9:00AM -2:00PM Daytona State College- Flagler/Palm Coast Campus, 3000 Palm Coast Parkway, Palm Coast Saturday April 25th 1:00PM – 6:00PM Epic Theatre, 1185 Central Ave, Palm Coast Monday April 27th 11:30AM – 4:00PM Flagler County Public Library, 2500 Palm Coast Parkway Tuesday April 28th 11:00AM – 3:00PM Knights of Columbus Council 7845, 51 Old Kings Road North, Palm Coast Wednesday April 29th 1:00PM – 5:30PM CVS Pharmacy, 1 Old Kings Road South, Palm Coast

U.S. Supreme Court Labor Board v. Erie Resistor Corp., 373 U.S. 221 (1963) National labor Relations Board v. Erie Resistor Corp. Argued February 18-19, 1963 Decided May 13, 1963 373 U.S. 221 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT Even in the absence of a finding of specific illegal intent, and notwithstanding the employer's claim that his action was necessary to continue his operations during a strike, the National Labor Relations Board was justified in finding that it was a violation of § 8(a) of the National Labor Relations Act for the employer to discriminate between employees who struck and employees who worked during a strike by awarding an additional seniority credit of 20 years to replacements for strikers, and also to strikers who returned to work during the strike, so that, in a subsequent layoff, strikers who did not return to work until after the strike terminated were laid off as junior employees. Labor Board v. Mackay Radio & Tel. Co., 304 U. S. 333 distinguished. Pp. 373 U. S. 221 -237. 303 F.2d 359, reversed and cause remanded. MR. JUSTICE WHITE delivered the opinion of the Court. The question before us is whether an employer commits an unfair labor practice under § 8(a) [ Footnote 1 ] of the National Labor Relations Act, 61 Stat. 136, 29 U.S.C. § 158, when he extends a 20-year seniority credit to strike replacements and strikers who leave the strike and return to work. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in this case joined the Ninth Circuit, Labor Board v. Potlatch Forests, Inc., 189 F.2d 82 ( and see Labor Board v. Lewin-Mathes Co., 285 F.2d 329, from the Seventh Circuit), to hold that such super-seniority awards are not unlawful absent a showing of an illegal motive on the part of the employer. 303 F.2d 359. The Sixth Circuit, Swarco, Inc. v. Labor Board, 303 F.2d 668, and the National Labor Relations Board are of the opinion that such conduct can be unlawful even when the employer asserts that these additional benefits are necessary to continue his operations during a strike. To resolve these conflicting views upon an important question in the administration of the National Labor Relations Act, we brought the case here. 371 U.S. 810. Erie Resistor Corporation and Local 613 of the International Union of Electrical Radio and Machine Workers were bound by a collective bargaining agreement which was due to expire on March 31, 1959. In January, 1959, both parties met to negotiate new terms, but, after extensive bargaining, they were unable to reach agreement. Upon expiration of the contract, the union, in support of its contract demands, called a strike which was joined by all of the 478 employees in the unit. [ Footnote 2 ] The company, under intense competition and subject to insistent demands from its customers to maintain deliveries, decided to continue production operations. Transferring clerks, engineers and other non-unit employees to production jobs, the company managed to keep production at about 15% to 30% of normal during the month of April. On May 3, however, the company notified the union members that it intended to begin hiring replacements, and that strikers would retain their jobs until replaced. The plant was located in an area classified by the United States Department of Labor as one of severe unemployment, and the company had, in fact, received applications for employment as early as a week or two after the strike began. Replacements were told that they would not be laid off or discharged at the end of the strike. To implement that assurance, particularly in view of the 450 employees already laid off on March 31, the company notified the union that it intended to accord the replacements some form of super-seniority. At regular bargaining sessions between the company and union, the union made it clear that, in its view, no matter what form the super-seniority plan might take, it would necessarily work an illegal discrimination against the strikers. As negotiations advanced on other issues, it became evident that super-seniority was fast becoming the focal point of disagreement. On May 28, the company informed the union that it had decided to award 20 years' [ Footnote 3 ] additional seniority both to replacements and to strikers who returned to work, which would be available only for credit against future layoffs, and which could not be used for other employee benefits based on years of service. The strikers at a union meeting the next day, unanimously resolved to continue striking, now in protest against the proposed plan as well. The company made its first official announcement of the super-seniority plan on June 10, and by June 14, 34 new employees, 47 employees recalled from layoff status, and 23 returning strikers had accepted production jobs. The union, now under great pressure, offered to give up some of its contract demands if the company would abandon super-seniority or go to arbitration on the question, but the company refused. In the following week, 64 strikers returned to work and 21 replacements took jobs, bringing the total to 102 replacements and recalled workers and 87 returned strikers. When the number of returning strikers went up to 125 during the following week, the union capitulated. A new labor agreement on the remaining economic issues was executed on July 17, and an accompanying settlement agreement was signed providing that the company's replacement and job assurance policy should be resolved by the National Labor Relations Board and the federal courts, but was to remain in effect pending final disposition. Following the strike's termination, the company reinstated those strikers whose jobs had not been filled (all but 129 were returned to their jobs). At about the same time, the union received some 173 resignations from membership. By September of 1959, the production unit work force had reached a high of 442 employees, but, by May of 1960, the work force had gradually slipped back to 240. Many employees laid off during this cutback period were reinstated strikers whose seniority was insufficient to retain their jobs as a consequence of the company's super-seniority policy. The union filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that awarding super-seniority during the course of the strike constituted an unfair labor practice, and that the subsequent layoff of the recalled strikers pursuant to such a plan was unlawful. The Trial Examiner found that the policy was promulgated for legitimate economic reasons, [ Footnote 4 ] not for illegal or discriminatory purposes, and recommended that the union's complaint be dismissed. The Board could not agree with the Trial Examiner's conclusion that specific evidence of subjective intent to discriminate against the union was necessary to finding that super-seniority granted during a strike is an unfair labor practice. Its consistent view, the Board said, had always been that super-seniority, in circumstances such as these, was an unfair labor practice. The Board rejected the argument that super-seniority granted during a strike is a legitimate corollary of the employer's right of replacement under Labor Board v. Mackay Radio & Tel. Co., 304 U. S. 333 , and detailed at some length the factors which to it indicated that "super-seniority is a form of discrimination extending far beyond the employer's right of replacement sanctioned by Mackay, and is, moreover, in direct conflict with the express provisions of the Act prohibiting discrimination." Having put aside Mackay, the Board went on to deny "that specific evidence of Respondent's discriminatory motivation is required to establish the alleged violations of the Act," relying upon Radio Officers v. Labor Board, 347 U. S. 17 ; Republic Aviation Corp. v. Labor Board, 324 U. S. 793 , and Teamsters Local v. Labor Board, 365 U. S. 667 . Moreover, in the Board's judgment, the employer's insistence that its overriding purpose in granting super-seniority was to keep its plant open and, that business necessity justified its conduct was unacceptable, since "to excuse such conduct would greatly diminish, if not destroy, the right to strike guaranteed by the Act, and would run directly counter to the guarantees of Sections 8(a)(1) and (3) that employees shall not be discriminated against for engaging in protected concerted activities. [ Footnote 5 ]" Accordingly, the Board declined to make findings as to the specific motivation of the plan or its business necessity in the circumstances here. The Court of Appeals rejected as unsupportable the rationale of the Board that a preferential seniority policy is illegal, however motivated. "We are of the opinion that inherent in the right of an employer to replace strikers during a strike is the concomitant right to adopt a preferential seniority policy which will assure the replacements some form of tenure, provided the policy is adopted SOLELY to protect and continue the business of the employer. We find nothing in the Act which proscribes such a policy. Whether the policy adopted by the Company in the instant case was illegally motivated we do not decide. The question is one of fact for decision by the Board." 303 F.2d at 364. It consequently denied the Board's petition for enforcement and remanded the case for further findings. We think the Court of Appeals erred in hold that, in the absence of a finding of specific illegal intent, a legitimate business purpose is always a defense to an unfair labor practice charge. Cases in this Court dealing with unfair labor practices have recognized the relevance and importance of showing the employer's intent or motive to discriminate or to interfere with union rights. But specific evidence of such subjective intent is "not an indispensable element of proof of violation." Radio Officers v. Labor Board, 347 U. S. 17 , 347 U. S. 44 . "Some conduct may, by its very nature, contain the implications of the required intent; the natural foreseeable consequences of certain action may warrant the inference. . . . The existence of discrimination may at times be inferred by the Board, for 'it is permissible to draw on experience in factual inquiries.'" Though the intent necessary for an unfair labor practice may be shown in different ways, proving it in one manner may have far different weight and far different consequences than proving it in another. When specific evidence of a subjective intent to discriminate or to encourage or discourage union membership is shown, and found, many otherwise innocent or ambiguous actions which are normally incident to the conduct of a business may, without more, be converted into unfair labor practices. Labor Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U. S. 1 , 301 U. S. 46 (discharging employees); Associated Press v. Labor Board, 301 U. S. 1 03, 301 U. S. 132 (discharging employees); Phelps Dodge Corp. v. Labor Board, 313 U. S. 177 (hiring employees). Compare Labor Board v. Brown-Dunkin Co., 287 F.2d 17, with Labor Board v. Houston Chronicle Publishing Co., 211 F.2d 848 (subcontracting union work); and Fiss Corp., 43 N.L.R.B. 125, with Jacob H. Klotz, 13 N.L.R.B. 746 (movement of plant to another town). Such proof itself is normally sufficient to destroy the employer's claim of a legitimate business purpose, if one is made, and provides strong support to a finding that there is interference with union rights or that union membership will be discouraged. Conduct which, on its face, appears to serve legitimate business ends in these cases is wholly impeached by the showing of an intent to encroach upon protected rights. The employer's claim of legitimacy is totally dispelled. [ Footnote 6 ] The outcome may well be the same when intent is founded upon the inherently discriminatory or destructive nature of the conduct itself. The employer in such cases must be held to intend the very consequences which foreseeably and inescapably flow from his actions, and, if he fails to explain away, to justify or to characterize his actions as something different than they appear on their face, an unfair labor practice charge is made out. Radio Officers v. Labor Board, supra. But, as often happens, the employer may counter by claiming that his actions were taken in the pursuit of legitimate business ends, and that his dominant purpose was not to discriminate or to invade union rights, but to accomplish business objectives acceptable under the Act. Nevertheless, his conduct does speak for itself -- it is discriminatory, and it does discourage union membership, and, whatever the claimed overriding justification may be, it carries with it unavoidable consequences which the employer not only foresaw, but which he must have intended. As is not uncommon in human experience, such situations present a complex of motives and preferring one motive to another is, in reality, the far more delicate task, reflected in part in decisions of this Court, [ Footnote 7 ] of weighing the interests of employees in concerted activity against the interest of the employer in operating his business in a particular manner and of balancing in the light of the Act and its policy the intended consequences upon employee rights against the business ends to be served by the employer's conduct. [ Footnote 8 ] This essentially is the teaching of the Court's prior cases dealing with this problem and, in our view, the Board did not depart from it. The Board made a detailed assessment of super-seniority and, it its experienced eye, such a plan had the following characteristics: "(1) Super-seniority affects the tenure of all strikers, whereas permanent replacement, proper under Mackay, affects only those who are, in actuality, replaced. It is one thing to say that a striker is subject to loss of his job at the strike's end, but quite another to hold that, in addition to the threat of replacement, all strikers will, at best, return to their jobs with seniority inferior to that of the replacements and of those who left the strike." "(2) A super-seniority award necessarily operates to the detriment of those who participated in the strike as compared to nonstrikers." "(3) Super-seniority made available to striking bargaining unit employees as well as to new employees is, in effect, offering individual benefits to the strikers to induce them to abandon the strike." "(4) Extending the benefits of super-seniority to striking bargaining unit employees as well as to new replacements deals a crippling blow to the strike effort. At one stroke, those with low seniority have the opportunity to obtain the job security which ordinarily only long years of service can bring, while, conversely, the accumulated seniority of older employees is seriously diluted. This combination of threat and promise could be expected to undermine the strikers' mutual interest and place the entire strike effort in jeopardy. The history of this strike and its virtual collapse following the announcement of the plan emphasize the grave repercussions of super-seniority." "(5) Super-seniority renders future bargaining difficult, if not impossible, for the collective bargaining representative. Unlike the replacement granted in Mackay, which ceases to be an issue once the strike is over, the plan here creates a cleavage in the plant continuing long after the strike is ended. Employees are henceforth divided into two camps: those who stayed with the union and those who returned before the end of the strike, and thereby gained extra seniority. This breach is reemphasized with each subsequent layoff, and stands as an ever-present reminder of the dangers connected with striking and with union activities in general." In the light of this analysis, super-seniority, by its very terms, operates to discriminate between strikers and nonstrikers, both during and after a strike, and its destructive impact upon the strike and union activity cannot be doubted. The origin of the plan, as respondent insists, may have been to keep production going, and it may have been necessary to offer super-seniority to attract replacements and induce union members to leave the strike. But if this is true, accomplishment of respondent's business purpose inexorably was contingent upon attracting sufficient replacements and strikers by offering preferential inducements to those who worked, as opposed to those who struck. We think the Board was entitled to treat this case as involving conduct which carried its own indicia of intent, and which is barred by the Act unless saved from illegality by an overriding business purpose justifying the invasion of union rights. The Board concluded that the business purpose asserted was insufficient to insulate the super-seniority plan from the reach of § 8(a)(1) and § 8(a)(3), and we turn now to a review of that conclusion. The Court of Appeals and respondent rely upon Mackay as precluding the result reached by the Board, but we are not persuaded. Under the decision in that case, an employer may operate his plant during a strike, and, at its conclusion, need not discharge those who worked during the strike in order to make way for returning strikers. It may be, as the Court of Appeals said, that "such a replacement policy is obviously discriminatory, and may tend to discourage union membership." But Mackay did not deal with super-seniority, with its effects upon all strikers, whether replaced or not, or with its powerful impact upon a strike itself. Because the employer's interest must be deemed to outweigh the damage to concerted activities caused by permanently replacing strikers does not mean it also outweighs the far greater encroachment resulting from super-seniority in addition to permanent replacement. We have no intention of questioning the continuing vitality of the Mackay rule, but we are not prepared to extend it to the situation we have here. To do so would require us to set aside the Board's considered judgment that the Act and its underlying policy require, in the present context, giving more weight to the harm wrought by super-seniority than to the interest of the employer in operating its plant during the strike by utilizing this particular means of attracting replacements. We find nothing in the Act or its legislative history to indicate that super-seniority is necessarily an acceptable method of resisting the economic impact of a strike, nor do we find anything inconsistent with the result which the Board reached. On the contrary, these sources are wholly consistent with, and lend full support to, the conclusion of the Board. Section 7 [ Footnote 9 ] guarantees, and § 8(a)(1) protects from employer interference, the rights of employees to engage in concerted activities, which, as Congress as indicated, H.R.Rep. No. 245, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 26, include the right to strike. Under § 8(a)(3), it is unlawful for an employer by discrimination in terms of employment to discourage "membership in any labor organization," which includes discouraging participation in concerted activities, Radio Officers v. Labor Board, 347 U. S. 17 , 347 U. S. 39 -40, such as a legitimate strike. Labor Board v. Wheeling Pipe Line, Inc., 229 F.2d 391; Republic Steel Corp. v. Labor Board, 114 F.2d 820. Section 13 [ Footnote 10 ] makes clear that, although the strike weapon is not an unqualified right, nothing in the Act except as specifically provided is to be construed to interfere with this means of redress, H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 510, 80th Cong., 1st Sess. 59, and § 2(3), [ Footnote 11 ] preserves to strikers their unfilled positions and status as employees during the pendency of a strike. S.Rep. No. 573, 74th Cong., 1st Sess. 6. [ Footnote 12 ] This repeated solicitude for the right to strike is predicated upon the conclusion that a strike when legitimately employed is an economic weapon which in great measure implements and supports the principles of the collective bargaining system. [ Footnote 13 ] While Congress has, from time to time, revamped and redirected national labor policy, its concern for the integrity of the strike weapon has remained constant. Thus, when Congress chose to qualify the use of the strike, it did so by prescribing the limits and conditions of the abridgment in exacting detail, e.g., §§ 8(b)(4), 8(d), by indicating the precise procedures to be followed in effecting the interference, e.g., § 10(j), (k), (l); §§ 206-210, Labor Management Relations Act, and by preserving the positive command of § 13 that the right to strike is to be given a generous interpretation within the scope of the labor Act. The courts have likewise repeatedly recognized and effectuated the strong interest of federal labor policy in the legitimate use of the strike. Automobile Workers v. O'Brien, 339 U. S. 454 ; Amalgamated Assn. of Elec. Ry. Employees v. Wisconsin Employment Rel. Bd., 340 U. S. 383 ; Labor Board v. Remington Rand, Inc., 130 F.2d 919; Cusano v. Labor Board, 190 F.2d 898; cf. Sinclair Ref. Co. v. Atkinson, 370 U. S. 195 . Accordingly, in view of the deference paid the strike weapon by the federal labor laws and the devastating consequences upon it which the Board found was and would be precipitated by respondent's inherently discriminatory super-seniority plan, we cannot say the Board erred in the balance which it struck here. Although the Board's decisions are by no means immune from attack in the courts, as cases in this Court amply illustrate, e.g., Labor Board v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 351 U. S. 105 ; Labor Board v. United Steelworkers, 357 U. S. 357 ; Labor Board v. Insurance Agents, 361 U. S. 477 , its findings here are supported by substantial evidence, Universal Camera Corp. v. Labor Board, 340 U. S. 474 , its explication is not inadequate, irrational or arbitrary, compare Phelps Dodge Corp. v. Labor Board, 313 U. S. 177 , 313 U. S. 196 -197; Labor Board v. United Steelworkers, supra, and it did not exceed its powers or venture into an area barred by the statute. Compare Labor Board v. Insurance Agents, supra. The matter before the Board lay well within the mainstream of its duties. It was attempting to deal with an issue which Congress had placed in its hands, and "[w]here Congress has in the statute given the Board a question to answer, the courts will give respect to that answer." Labor Board v. Insurance Agents, supra, at 361 U. S. 499 . Here, as in other cases, we must recognize the Board's special function of applying the general provisions of the Act to the complexities of industrial life. Republic Aviation Corp. v. Labor Board, 324 U. S. 793 , 324 U. S. 798 ; Phelps Dodge Corp. v. Labor Board, supra, at 313 U. S. 194 , and of "[appraising] carefully the interests of both sides of any labor-management controversy in the diverse circumstances of particular cases" from its special understanding of "the actualities of industrial relations." Labor Board v. United Steelworkers, supra, at 357 U. S. 362 -363. "The ultimate problem is the balancing of the conflicting legitimate interests. The function of striking that balance to effectuate national labor policy is often a difficult and delicate responsibility, which the Congress committed primarily to the National Labor Relations Board, subject to limited judicial review." Consequently, because the Board's judgment was that the claimed business purpose would not outweigh the necessary harm to employee rights -- a judgment which we sustain -- it could properly put aside evidence of respondent's motive and decline to find whether the conduct was or was not prompted by the claimed business purpose. We reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and remand the case to that court, since its review was a limited one, and it must now reach the remaining questions before it, including the propriety of the remedy which, at least in part, turns upon the Board's construction of the settlement agreement as being no barrier to an award not only of reinstatement but of back pay as well. [ Footnote 14 ] Reversed and remanded. [ Footnote 1 ] "Sec. 8(a). It shall be an unfair labor practice for an employer --" "(1) to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in section 7;" " * * * *" "(3) by discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization; . . ." " * * * *" "(5) to refuse to bargain collectively with the representatives of his employees, subject to the provisions of section 9(a)." [ Footnote 2 ] In addition to these employees, 450 employees in the unit were on layoff status. [ Footnote 3 ] The figure of 20 years was developed from a projection, on the basis of expected orders, of what the company's work force would be following the strike. As of March 31, the beginning of the strike, a male employee needed seven years' seniority to avoid layoff, and a female employee nine years'. [ Footnote 4 ] The Examiner had relied upon the company's employment records for his conclusion that the replacement program was ineffective until the announcement of the super-seniority awards. The General Counsel, to show that such a plan was not necessary for that purpose, pointed to the facts that the company had 300 unprocessed job applications when the strike ended, that the company declared to the union that it could have replaced all the strikers, and that the company did not communicate its otherwise well publicized policy to replacements before they were hired, but only after they accepted jobs. [ Footnote 5 ] In addition, the Board held that continued insistence on this or a similar proposal as a condition to negotiating an agreement constituted a refusal to bargain in good faith under § 8(a)(5). See Labor Board v. Wooster Division of Borg-Warner, 356 U. S. 342 . The Board also concluded that, on May 29, when the union voted to continue striking in protest against the super-seniority plan, the strike was converted into an unfair labor practice strike. All strikers not replaced at that date, the Board held, were entitled to reinstatement as of the date of their unconditional abandonment of the strike regardless of replacements. See Labor Board v. Pecheur Lozenge Co., 209 F.2d 393. [ Footnote 6 ] Accordingly, those cases holding unlawful a super-seniority plan prompted by a desire on the part of the employer to penalize or discriminate against striking employees, Ballas Egg Products v. Labor Board, 283 F.2d 871; Labor Board v. California Date Growers Ass'n, 259 F.2d 587; Olin Mathieson Chem. Corp. v. Labor Board, 232 F.2d 158, aff'd per curiam, 352 U.S. 1020, are explainable without reaching the considerations present here. [ Footnote 7 ] See, e.g., Labor Board v. Mackay Radio & Tel. Co., 304 U. S. 333 ; Republic Aviation Corp. v. Labor Board, 324 U. S. 793 ; Labor Board v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 351 U. S. 105 ; Labor Board v. Truck Drivers Union, 353 U. S. 87 . [ Footnote 8 ] In a variety of situations, the lower courts have dealt with and rejected the approach urged here that conduct otherwise unlawful is automatically excused upon a showing that it was motivated by business exigencies. Thus, it has been held that an employer cannot justify the discriminatory discharge of union members upon the ground that such conduct is the only way to induce a rival union to remove a picket line and permit the resumption of business, Labor Board v. Star Publishing Co., 97 F.2d 465, or rearrange the bargaining unit because of an expected adverse effect on production, Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. v. Labor Board, 162 F.2d 435, or defend a refusal to bargain in good faith on the ground that, unless the employer's view prevails dire consequences to the business will follow, Labor Board v. Harris, 200 F.2d 656, or refuse exclusive recognition to a union for fear that such recognition will bring reprisals from rival unions. McQuay-Norris Mfg. Co. v. Labor Board, 116 F.2d 748, cert. denied, 313 U.S. 565; Labor Board v. National Broadcasting Co., 150 F.2d 895, or discriminate in his business operations against employees of rival unions or without union affiliation solely in order to keep peace in the plant and avoid disruption of business, Wilson & Co., Inc. v. Labor Board, 123 F.2d 411; Labor Board v. Hudson Motor Car Co., 128 F.2d 528; Labor Board v. Gluek Brewing Co., 144 F.2d 847; Labor Board v. Oertel Brewing Co., 197 F.2d 59; Labor Board v. McCatron, 216 F.2d 212, cert. denied, 348 U.S. 943; Labor Board v. Richards, 265 F.2d 855. See also Idaho Potato Growers v. Labor Board, 144 F.2d 295; Cusano v. Labor Board, 190 F.2d 898; Labor Board v. Industrial Cotton Mills, 208 F.2d 87, 45 A.L.R.2d 880, cert. denied, 347 U.S. 935. Indeed, many employers doubtless could conscientiously assert that their unfair labor practices were not malicious, but were prompted by their best judgment as to the interests of their business. Such good faith motive itself, however, has not been deemed an absolute defense to an unfair labor practice charge. [ Footnote 9 ] "Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all of such activities except to the extent that such right may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment as authorized in section 8(a)(3)." [ Footnote 10 ] "Nothing in this Act, except as specifically provided for herein, shall be construed so as either to interfere with or impede or diminish in any way the right to strike, or to affect the limitations or qualifications on that right." [ Footnote 11 ] "The term 'employee' . . . shall include any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor practice, and who has not obtained any other regular and substantially equivalent employment. . . ." [ Footnote 12 ] This concern for the maintenance of the status prevailing before the strike has had its most recent manifestation in the 1959 amendments to the National Labor Relations Act. Congress there withdrew the ban inserted by the Taft-Hartley amendment disqualifying replaced strikers from voting in union elections. Now, employees not entitled to reinstatement can, under regulations promulgated by the Board, exercise their pre-strike voting rights. See § 9(c) (3); S.Rep. No. 187, 86th Cong., 1st Sess. 32-33, U.S.Code Congressional and Administrative News 1959, p. 2318. [ Footnote 13 ] "Labor unions . . . were organized out of the necessities of the situation. A single employee was helpless in dealing with an employer. He was dependent ordinarily on his daily wage for the maintenance of himself and family. If the employer refused to pay him the wages that he thought fair, he was nevertheless unable to leave the employ and to resist arbitrary and unfair treatment. Union was essential to give laborers opportunity to deal on equality with their employer. They united to exert influence upon him, and to leave him in a body in order, by this inconvenience, to induce him to make better terms with them. They were withholding their labor of economic value to make him pay what they thought it was worth. The right to combine for such a lawful purpose has, in many years, not been denied by any court. The strike became a lawful instrument in a lawful economic struggle or competition between employer and employees as to the share or division between them of the joint product of labor and capital." American Steel Foundries v. Tri-City Council, 257 U. S. 184 , 257 U. S. 209 , quoted in Staff Report of Senate Committee on Education and Labor, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., Comparison of S. 2926 (73d Cong.) and S. 1958 (74th Cong.) 20. See also Remarks of Senator Wagner before Senate Committee on Education and Labor, 73d Cong., 2d Sess., Hearings on S. 2926, 10-11: "It has been urged that the bill places a premium on discord by declaring that none of its provisions shall impair the right to strike. On the contrary, nothing would do more to alienate employee cooperation and to promote unrest than a law which did not make it clear that employees could refrain from working if that should become their only redress." Remarks of Senator Taft, 93 Cong.Rec. 3835 (1947): "That means that we recognize freedom to strike when the question involved is the improvement of wages, hours, and working conditions, when a contract has expired and neither side is bound by a contract. We recognize that right in spite of the inconvenience, and, in some cases, perhaps, danger, to the people of the United States which may result from the exercise of such right. . . . We have considered the question whether the right to strike can be modified. I think it can be modified in cases which do not involve the basic question of wages, prices, and working conditions. . . . So far as the bill is concerned, we have proceeded on the theory that there is a right to strike, and that labor peace must be based on free collective bargaining. We have done nothing to outlaw strikes for basic wages, hours, and working conditions after proper opportunity for mediation." [ Footnote 14 ] "We do not agree with Respondent's contention that the Union, in its strike settlement agreement of July 17, waived all rights for these employees. The settlement agreement provided, inter alia: " "The Company's replacement and job assurance policy to be resolved by the NLRB and the Federal Courts and to remain in effect pending final disposition." "It is clear that this agreement was intended merely as an interim settlement pending legal determination of the employees' rights. In any event, we would not, in our discretion, honor a private settlement which purported to deny to employees the rights guaranteed them by the Act. Cf. Wooster Division of Borg-Warner Corporation, 121 NLRB 1492, 1495." Erie Resistor Corp., 132 N.L.R.B. 621, 631 n. 31. MR. JUSTICE HARLAN, concurring. I agree with the Court that the Board's conclusions respecting this 20-year "super-seniority" plan were justified without inquiry into the respondents' motives. However, I do not think that the same thing would necessarily be true in all circumstances, as for example with a plan providing for a much shorter period of extra seniority. Being unsure whether the Court intends to hold that the Board has power to outlaw all such plans, irrespective of the employer's motives and other circumstances, or only to sustain its action in the particular circumstances of this case, I concur in the judgment.

I honestly want to know with this poll hijacking, what's with all of the hate for Lucario? I get it's used in everything, Smash, the Anime, the games. And that movie made it look edgy, but other than that, why hate Lucario? ITT: Why you hate/like Lucario >why hate Lucario when its shoved into every piece of medium forcing it down our throat hurr durr i dont know The Mystery of Mew movie? Negro, that movie brought me to manly tears. I've liked Lucario since Gen 4. Getting to see more of it has only been a blessing. >tfw it was on your list of top 6 favorites for a long time and despite having dropped from that list is still your bro I liked Lucario when it came out on gen IV. I don't understand why /vp/ doesn't like edgy things. It's cool, it's fucking strong, its Mega made it even more awesome (kinda like Giratina has an apprentice) My all time top favourite pokemon. It's ridiculously unpredictable. (It has 4 main set, 8 subset, and at least one will fuck you sideways) >Lucario my favorite pokemon >i like Blaziken,Lopunny Zoroark,Delphox >not a furry >i dont find any of those attractive Im with you guys there Shoved into our throats with any medium possible Most of it's fanbase are annoying furtists Anime/movie portrays it as edgy as fuck Ridiculous typing/movepool (i mean why the fuck is it a steel type, and how the fuck does it get to learn nasty plot, dragon pulse, blaze kick or dark pulse) I personally really like Lucario myself - it's a cool design, interesting typing and actually pretty good in-game too! I definitely sympathise with people who are sick of seeing it promoted in everything, but that doesn't make me like it any less. Still, it's a shame Zoroark didn't become the 'new' Lucario, and that there wasn't really a contender for the position in Gen VI (other than Hawlucha maybe?). Variety is the spice of life! I posted this in the last thread Honestly, its just fucking stupid. I know I cant speak for everyone but everything about it erks me. It has a horrible design, the constant pandering is annoying, the anime made it super fucking edgy. No clue how people like this thing. Its not even because its popular. I like other popular mons. I like Lucario, but I do agree that it's given way too much attention. I was pretty mad when I made the effort to catch a Riolu in X, only to be given a Lucario with a megastone and had all-around better stats and nature. Why? I'm fine with Lucario ingame. It's a nice mixed Pokemon with a lot of strategies to use. I don't mind the fanbase. It's OK. Every Pokemon has a weird-ass fanbase. What I don't like is how GookFreak treats it like Jesus mixed with fucking Christmas and sushi or whatever the fuck they do over there. Every fucking year they throw it some kind of worship en masse like it was their own fucking savior. Movies, episodes, anime, representations in the fucking games of a stupidly main characterish nature. Unlike Lightning, it's been shoved down our throats far longer, but the premise is still there. And they don't realize that maybe, 'hey, maybe we should keep that to the anime only guys'. But no, there it is. Intruding on our lives like a fucking plague everywhere we fucking go or look. In Kerfluffle, in X/Y, in the TV Skits, in everything. And that's why I don't fucking like it. I am glad that Jigglypuff got a different render and pose in the Smash 4 leak instead of the same fucking shit since Smash 64. I don't hate Lucario because it's not on the tier of "Used in everything" like this fat pseudodragon is >used to be fed up with Lucario >decides to use one for the first time in Y >still not a favorite but don't think it's so bad now I like Lucario, probably a lot more than I do some other Pokemon; I just think Gamefreak needs to stop pushing it and let some other Pokemon have some spotlight. At the very least, change shit up every Generation. I liked it initially but seeing it everywhere and it having a ridiculous/unjustified typing and receive all the good shit every gen while the rest are getting shafted makes me hate it. Especially since it is forced to us as the premier fighting type when clearly, other pokemon deserve that title more. you know that marginally likable pop song that gets played in the radio 5x an hour? there's your answer >displaces every other mon where it appears >always given to you as a pre-evo or as it is >forces you to mega evolve >shoehorned into almost every fighting type specialist and replaces previous signature mons (i.e., bruno) >given a good typing because fuck if i know aside from blatant favoritism >given every good move while other fighting types with better concepts and design get squat This is about how I feel. Lucario isn't a bad Pokémon, and i don't dislike it, i even bothered to breed and train one, but I feel like it's very unnecessary for it to be shoved in our faces all the time. To those who say "GameFreak does it because it's popular and it sells!" remember that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, it sells because that's what they push, they could hype any other Pokémon like that. That said, I usually don't care, because I rarely pay attention to Pokémon outside the main games and Smash. I think Lucario is neat, and I have since seeing him on Iron Island in Diamond. That's because, honestly, Zoroark got pushed during a time that being black-and-red with spikes was on the out. Lucario was unique looking, Charizard was Charizard, and Greninja was something new. Zoroark legitimately looked like an OC hedgehog. >That's because, honestly, Zoroark got pushed during a time that being black-and-red with spikes was on the out. Lucario was unique looking, Charizard was Charizard, and Greninja was something new. Zoroark legitimately looked like an OC hedgehog. Still proves that there has to be something special before a push works but I get what you're saying. It was created in the right place at the right time, it's a classic design, it's fresh etc. Whatever reason it may be, it has to have "it" before the push works. To use another example, it's like in professional wrestling where no matter how much exposure some wrestlers get, they never manage to become as popular as the big stars. I only hang out on /vp/ for Pokemon and on /vp/ there is no Lucario fanbase out in the open for me to hate so fanbase isn't an issue for me when it comes to Lucario. I hate it because it gets forced down our throats everywhere from anime, Smash, the games and other smaller details like Lucario rank in PMD, giant Lucario statue and first mega ever. And after all this promoting and pushing, for a fairly meager or unnoticeable fanbase in the overall Pokemon fandom compared to the other guys like Pikachu, Eevees and Charizard. When you think "popular Pokemon", how often do you think Lucario? It's only somewhat popular for all the pushing it gets and if it weren't for that it'd be on the lower end of popularity like Absol, Zoroark or Zangoose. How in the fuck is Hawlucha being pushed as the new Lucario? I think you meant Greninja Cobalion is cooler. And they have the same colors. I enjoy lucario because it has an enjoyable design and learns a lot of moves I like that I did not expect. I do not care for it being forced at all and while I can agree with that the same can be said for almost anything generation 1. It ain't hard to be better than Lucario. I don't like it's design. It looks like it's wearing a bandana and shorts, and I think that looks stupid. Also, the placement of those spikes makes no sense and just bugs me. Otherwise its a fine pokemon, but I still probably wouldn't use it - it's a glass cannon, and I prefer to use bulky or stall-y 'mons. >using reaction images of characters you don't like Mako a shit KLK a shit in general but Mako's in her own class of shit /vp/'s just full of obnoxious hipster trash that hates popular shit. Some people need not any other reason to hate something other than that other people like it. they are often people devoid fom love and ruled by jealousy. pity them op, and show them you care. >devoid fom love somebody hates my favorite, s/he probably doesn't like anything ELSE don't like !=hates if someone hates something just because it's popular, that it WILL like things- it will like only things which are unpopular. you know, like hipsters. but it will pretend to hate them because it also hates hipsters. pathetic isn't it? ITT: People defending a telepathic, talking DBZ metal anthro who gets edgier when it megaevolves, is proud of its power, had no real weaknesses in game, learns moves it has no right to know apart from 'speshul' and is one of the most prominent pokemon used in the furry/yiff community, who endlessly pump out diaper, vore and scat renditions without shame. Lucario is essentially the pokemon version of Shadow the Hedgehog, and the fact that the only defense you see in return is >h-hispters... should speak magnitudes. >Ctrl f "pants" >no results found Really so no one mentioned those stupid mc hammer pants he wears. Mewtwo is an endgame legendary, you can forgive Arceus/Mewtwo/Lugia etc. for being mary sues when their whole point is to be OP one-offs. I'm not a mewtwo fan, but it isn't as bad. Don't forget even their lore is written like a child wrote it. >Super special Aura powers >Can read minds through aura use >Especially powerful pokemon that bonds with only one trainer or is otherwise a loner too strong to fight lowly other pokemon. > you can forgive Arceus/Mewtwo/Lugia etc. because they are special lucario should learn its place because it isn't really special, it's just one of hundreds? I don't like this kind of thought. every pokemon is special in it's own way. Typical mary sue fare. Note how similar it is to Shadow though: >Super special Chaos powers >Can stop time through chaos use >Especially powerful hedgehog that bonds with only one person (Maria) or is otherwise a loner too strong to fight lowly humans/his friends. >it is own way >why aren't regular pokemon as special as legendaries? >I don't like these people's opinion on this one character from a gaming franchise, therefore they're wrong and they're losers >implying any lucario threads outside of deviantart and furaffinity can ever be peaceful >I don't get why people bash Lucario >Because it's my favourite poke I don't see anything wrong with it Nothing is wrong with the pokemon in a vacuum. People who shit on it just because it's popular/shoved down our throats are autistic faggots whose opinions are at the mercy of others' opinions. But even though I like Lucario in of itself, I still voted Toxicroak because I like it more, and I would have voted for Tox anyway just because Luke doesn't need to be in the spotlight That's not a non sequitur you faggot. He wasn't saying the reason nobody else should bash it is because he likes it. He was saying that because he doesn't find anything wrong with it (synonymous with liking it), he doesn't know why others do. Also anybody who brings up names of "logical fallacies" is probably experiencing babby's first discourse The only thing that really bothers me about Auradog is that he's part steel. I don't really see it, I guess. M-Luke looks pretty nice. I'm more annoyed with Cynthia being jammed into things, honestly. Outside of the furry fanbase and being Game Freak's Lightning, another reason I hate Lucario is that it's a shit design. Unnecessary spikes and lines. Dumb fur-shorts. It looks like it was designed by an 8-year old. >it needs them Boy it sure needed that blaze kick, dragon pulse, nasty plot, dark pulse, extreme speed, vacuum wave, shadow ball, stone age and adabtability mega, didn't it? I mean there aren't any pokemon that need any of those Also you're right, if it's UU it's utterly worthless I admit giving it Blaze kick is fucking stupid (come on, it's a steel type) and I don't get Dragon Pulse either (Anubis being able to blast things from its mouth, maybe?) Just like how Salamence can learn Hydro Pump. I meant its stats. 90 speed just doesn't cut it with those pitiful defences. That's why they give it mega evolution (parental bond Terrakion + Keldeo's SPA + Starmie's Speed) Because /vp/ is upset that Gamefreak will focus on Pokemon that's proven to give them profit like Charizard or Lucario, instead of their "bros" like Druddigon or Ledian so they take their anger out on said popular Pokemon. Also, 4chan in general has a strong contrarian attitude. The awful fanbase probably doesn't help either, like half of >>20766119 critiques are just "it has a terrible fanbase." I'm neutral towards Lucario. I don't care for the design but it's not offensively bad enough for me to dislike. Sure it has an awful fanbase and a Mary Sue-ish lore but fanbases are a dumb reason to hate a Pokemon and the franchise has always been very Mary Sue-ish so what does it matter? It's just...there to me. Mega-Lucario is pretty fucking ugly though. Zoroark was hard to get in-game, competitively shit, and didn't have a Smash game to promote it. Those are all big things so I don't think you can really say "see? lucario was special!" since Lucario ultimately got more initial push. Charizard stayed in the hearts of nostalgiafags since it was Red's mascot and one of Ash's strongest Pokemon. It's on the cover, yo. It was used to market the game. Goddammit why does the end of this movie make me so sad? >want to talk shit about its design because I dislike it too >look at it again >actually pretty tasteful for Gen IV >start to like it I'm still going to be opposed to it because of Game Freak forcing it everywhere—in every game, in every trailer, in every stream, in every media. It's basically a second mascot of Pokemon now. People don't like it because it's Pikachu Part 2: Fighting/Steel Boogaloo. Personally, I was okay with it design wise since Gen IV, but I don't like M-Luke. People call it edgy but it'll never be as edgy as Mewtwo (Pokedex entrees always saying it's the most savage hearted among pokemon, acts like a human hating shitter whenever it appears in the anime, MUH AMBER, it's basically Pokemon's Shadow the Hedgehog). And it didn't get 2 fucking megas like Charizard or Mewtwo either. So it ain't as bad as the pandering of those two but it's still bad. >I hate the boogeyman /vp/ made up You do realize the only way you're going to find furry porn of lucario is by looming for it. This is literally something that will never affect you in the real world, yet faggots like you have to accept the /vp/ hivemind and have no original thought. As of X and Y, Gyarados is used by three of the nine Pokémon League Champions, being used by Blue, Lance, and Wallace, making it the most popular Pokémon among Pokémon League Champions thus far (although Blue does not always have a Gyarados, depending on the player's starter Pokémon). However, Blue is the only one to use it in the Pokémon World Tournament. Gyarados is also a popular Pokémon among Gym Leaders, being used by Blue, Clair, and Crasher Wake. Gyarados has also been used twice by two Villainous Team Leaders. The first instance was Cyrus and the second instance was Lysandre. The metal spikes and the weird shorts/extremely wide hips, the dumb ponytail things... I just don't like Lucario's design. And reasons to hate it in-game? Its a Friendship evolution with a shitty typing. Its basically a pure-steel type that doesnt resist Psychic or Flying and has shit bulk and isnt exceptionally fast to make up for it. I dont hate thigns for being everywhere, I hate them for being shit. Mega Lucario on the other hand, has one of the best mega designs (behind Amphy and Blaziken, just a bit above Chainsaw Hands aka Mega Bullet Punch aka Scizor-M) and a blistering 112 speed stat, so I actually like it. Plus being a fighting type that isn't scared of Sylveon is a major plus so I have less reason to dislike it. Truth be told though, I just love Toxicroak now that weather wars are gone just like I'd love Gliscor if it wasnt for Toxic Heal bullshit. Not because hurrr smogon scorp, but because fighting them genuinely pisses me off. And croagunk a qt, Riolu is just as poorly designed as Lucario. Unsurprisingly, I love poison-types and even think Grimer, Muk, Koffing, and Garbodor are adorable. Lucario's true strength comes from being able to boost, as its comparitively weak for a mega (145 isn't even base mewtwo's Sp. Attack, let alone Ampharos' 165 or M-Heracross' sickening 185 Attack). Coupled with the right moveset and near-perfect STAB Coverage partially thanks to Adaptability (Flash Cannon hits ghosts as hard as Dark Pulse/Crunch does, Bullet Punch/Vacuum wave hits as hard as ExtremeSpeed but provide coverage, at the expense of not outprioritizing other priorities) Switch Lucario in on things that are too weak and slow, or lack the ability to damage Lucario to force a catch-22; If they stay in, you get to boost for free and they die, losing a valuable 'mon. If they switch, you get a free boost and the counter is disadvantaged, possibly killing you or at the worst, forcing you out. But you can always come back in against the same thing you came in on, boost, and murder it and the whole team. NEVER Lead with Lucario. It has no defenses to speak of and doesn't resist the bravest bird's main attack, and is annihilated by its other STAB Steel/Fighting isn't a very good typing. It has none of Fighting's weaknesses, but that just means it has fewer resists than a base steel does. You're losing a Psychic, Fairy and Flying resist (the latter of which are far more important) and gaining ... what? You dont resist Fighting, so its still SE. You dont gain coverage against Ice or Rock (but you do against Fairy), you dont even quad-resist Dark anymore. The fighting type does nothing defensively for Lucario and hurts it tremendously, taking neutral damage from twice as many types and only getting a double resistance to U-Turn and Stealth Rock to make up for it. And with such pathetic defenses, you need every resistance you can get to stay alive. Fortunately, "staying alive" is nothing Lucario is afraid due to its phenomenal speed as a Mega and the fact that next to nothing can survive a hit after it boosts Its a far better design. Both Blaziken and Lucario had shit designs before, and were graced with the best looking megas ever. Also how is Mega Lucario edgy? The rabid Mega in the animu doesn't count >the best defensive typing crossed with the best offensive typing is bad >confirmed for not reading Fighting does nothing defensively for Steel and weakens it exceptionally. So much so that lots of other types benefit Fighting defensively much more. Like Flying, which is weak to one of Fighting's resists and resists the other, or Psychic or bug which lose a weakness (to bug and Rock respectively; Psychic/Fighting pre-gen 6 also lost a dark weakness) and thus complement each other better. Fighting/Steel is just a shitty steel type defensively, and Steel doesn't help offensively pre-gen 6. Gen6 rebalanced the chart to make the combination much, much better. One of the best pokemon ever, and gen 6 made it a thousand times even better. Its sprite made no sense in gen 5.... How was it levitating? Why was it standing on those flipper things? I was saying the Gen 5 Sprite does not show it levitating and is very clearly grounded. Plus it looks bad. Why is an eel standing up like that? Its the same reason why Purrloin has such a shitty design in gen 6 Regular Lucario looks better than Mega Lucario. The double headband thing Mega Lucario has is just completely retarded. Also, I'm guessing the "edge" he's talking about is how the only huge aesthetic change besides the goofy headband and the even shittier colorscheme is that it gets spikier. Also those spikes through the hands, lawl. What gets me about your post is that you just claimed that Lucario and Blaziken got the best looking megas and that is just downright hilarious to me. They barely change at all and get ribbons, whoopie. I think the best looking megas are the ones that really improve on the base design, things like Houndoom, Banette, maybe Gengar and Pinsir. The worst ones are the ones that barely change at all aside from like a new accessory or spikes (Blaziken, Medicham, Lucario, Tyranitar, etc) or the ones that get a whole lot dumber like Heracross (Hand wings? Nutcracker mouth? Second horn is a Pinocchio nose? What the fuck?), Manetric (Pokemon's Lightning), Charizard X (flame mustache?), Ludvig Von Ampharos (I love this fucker's design but not everybody is going to find it as funny as me), gosh there's just too many to list, most of the megas are dumb. Some of them are an improvement on their base form but still aren't much to look at, like Charizard Y (nice crest, the extra wings are a big dumb though barely noticeable), Kangaskhan (mega babby), Aggron (so you got bigger, whoopie), Absol (original form was shit, adding wings and a stronger yin/yang horn motif is not much better), you get the drill. I think I've loaded this post down with too many rambling opinions anyway. Misused a lot of parenthesis. If you disagree with some of the ratings I've given Megas, well, it's your prerogative. But Mega Lucario is pretty far from the best design if you ask me. I don't think anyone is using Lucario under the delusion of surviving more than 2 hits. Lucario is an offensive pokemon. What you gain from adding Fighting is STAB on Fighting, which was better before this gen due to no Fairy. But that's the kicker, Lucario gets steel STAB too and can therefor take down most of the fairies. So he's still a pretty good glass cannon and has a pretty great movepool and enough of each attack stat to be very versatile in utilizing it. Magnemite doesn't Levitate as a means of locomotion or survival. It levitates as a passive result of its magnetism, which isn't focused well enough to be maintained if the ground is shaken up. Because its body is composed of U-Magnets, it's drawn to any iron in rocks or in building walls/floors, which are every bit as effected by an earthquake as anything else standing on the ground. In fact, its significantly MORE effected because its part of the ground itself; i.e., the whole reason Steel is weak to Ground in the first place - Steel buildings are built into the ground and are rigid. Aggron actually shrinks in its mega, since its not standing upright. As for the spikes in its hands... Are you saying they weren't already there? The spikes are meshed better into its design rather than just stuck on like it got crucified and impaled. It looks like a trained fighter. And Blaziken had a lot of design changes besides the ribbons. The head crest becomes more pronounced, the color changes from "Hurrr its fire-type" to an actual artistic mesh of blacks and dark reds (before you call this edgy, learn some color theory. Or look at a generation 5 cartridge in the light and realize theyre both black and red) They didn't have room to make Eelektross' sprite float properly and still show off the detail. I challenge you or any sprite artist to get Eelektross' entire body in clear, accurate detail while floating properly. And not facing the wrong way. Barboach and Tynamo managed it, but they're extremely tiny. They have a lot of ... for lack of a better term, wiggle room. Eelektross barely fits in the window it's given Again, Flabébé does not float naturally. It's just flying on a flower, which means if theres no wind... its still touching the ground. I would argue its only floating because its more fairy-like or because gameFreak didnt like how the model looked grounded. Honestly, Even I think it would look pretty stupid and floette is literally my second favorite pokemon in the game. Basically, pokemon like Koffing are levitating because they're gas, which is part of the air. Its what they do as a direct natural process, part of their existence. Eelektross levitates as a means of hunting prey, because its naturally an aquatic animal. It has legs, but they're poorly suited for land-travel, so it floats using precise electric currents instead. Things that appear to be levitating and do not have Levitate are either not conciously doing so, or are doing something else instead. Again, magnemite is a key example as its body is more built for attracting metal (and getting attracted to it) than it is for levitation, despite possessing the ability to repulse itself to stay afloat Your problem, sir, is that you keep thinking of Lucario as a defensive steel type that got ruined by adding fighting when that is the inverse of what is happening. Lucario is an offensive fighting type that got marginally improved by adding steel to it. What does Fighting do to Steel? Well make it worse by your accounts. What does Steel do for Fighting? I'll tell you what, it neutralizes every one of Fighting's old weaknesses (Flying, and Psychic) and also neutralizes its new weakness (Fairy). Then it adds all the other steel resistances (Ice, Dragon, Grass, Steel, and Normal) as well as compounding the shared resistances (Bug, Rock) to the point where you can possibly switch in on them even as a pokemon with mediocre defensive and HP stats. All this just for having its only weaknesses be the default Steel weaknesses of Fighting, Ground, and Fire. So yeah, you're making a hissy fit over Fighting ruining Steel when in reality Lucario's situation is Steel saving Fighting. Suddenly you have a powerhouse with STAB Fighting who is able to threaten every pokemon designed to obliterate Fighting sweepers, due to any moves included to get coverage versus Fighting are now neutral instead of x2. So all you have to worry about is Steel weaknesses and excessive setup. This is huge for an offensive pokemon like Lucario who can now eliminate threats that fighting does well against which also learn coverage moves that are normally super effective against Fighting. Mega Lucario gives it needed stat buffs and an amazing Ability, as well as being in Gen VI where Steel is also useful offensively as a killer of a good chunk of the possible fairy types. tl;dr you've got your perspective backwards viewing Fighting as ruining a defensive Steel when in reality Steel is saving an offensive Fighting. >As for the spikes in its hands... Are you saying they weren't already there? Nah I'm saying it got EXTRA spikes in its hands, as well as its feet. Also, the coloration is designed to make them evoke thoughts of bloody fists/feet, which is just gaudy really. I also like how you went from "crucified" in regular form to "trained fighter" in Mega Form despite no trained fighter in their right mind ever desiring spikes jutting out the top of his hands. I can definitely see where the "edgy" label comes from. Another thing about the Lucario one is how besides getting an extra pair of headband looking dongles, their coloration doesn't match the other ones and it clashes. As for Blaziken, the original crest being swept back looked fine, now it's split in two as retarded head fins. My head is a bird! Also, the smaller crests sweeping outward have now become a single crest on its nose/beak jutting up, it kinda draws attention to the wrong places and looks pretty dumb comparitively. Also, I like how you claim that the color changed from "Hurrr it's fire-type" when the ribbons it gains are ON FUCKING FIRE. They didn't get rid of the orange, they made it MORE PRONOUNCED and waving around every which way as if advertizing, SCREAMING, "HURR THIS IS A FIRE TYPE!" So I basically disagree with everything you just said. Except that people misappropriate the term "edgy" a lot. I like Lucario as a mon. I raised a Riolu in B2W2 and it was a lot of fun to use. Good typing, good movepool, good stats all around. The design isn't anywhere near as bad as people make out. My issue is with Nintendo and the furries. Nintendo for sticking it in everywhere they can. Pikachu I get, Charizard I get. Greninja, it isn't that bad yet. But Lucario is fucking everywhere, and I don't get it. I hope the poll shows them that people want other mons to get the spotlight. And the furries for ruining a good thing like only they can. Thinking back, Lucario was even one of those mons released before the games came out, like Togepi or Munchlax. I remember in the original Rescue Team you could get it, Bonsly, Mime Jr, and Weavile as trophies or some shit. Bonsly & Mime Jr. would have made cute as fuck mascots. >And the furries for ruining a good thing like only they can. >implying they're capable of doing anything but ruin things >implying anyone has any choice but to ignore them or become one For comparison, here is my screenshot of that page, using the same search engine (including same locale) >using linux just to browse 4chan/other remedial tasks You must be proud to no longer be a sheep, right? Actually, I had to use Linux because my Windows shat itself on me and wouldn't work at all, and my friend (who's actually in IT as a professional) couldn't help me aside from "use the USB stick, Luke!" Its lore is a watered-down Mewtwo. Hey, that reminds me: Brawl. le new mascot Why all the spikes I even like Zoroark better Fans = KornheiserPanic.jpg Luxray best Gen 4 non-legend If it weren't the unofficial mascot of Pokemon and were treated as a normal Pokemon I'd like it a little more. I used to be on the hipster train about Lucario until I gave them an honest go with this generation. Now I just think it's.. eh.. a pretty cool guy who doesn't afraid of anything. I enjoyed him more than my Medicham leveling up, but I'll probably replace him now that my egged Mega-Medi is coming together. Wheel of Time, by robert jordan. which reminds me, I liked it even before robert jordan died. >GoT get popular >Hipster A: I like GoT even before it became popular >Hipster B: GoT is baby first fantasy soap opera. *insert title here* is way better. >Hipster C: I liked *insert title here* even before you hipsters flowed to it when GoT became popular. what the hell is that, I started reading/watching GoT after I heard it was good what's wrong with that I read shit only /lit/ has fucking heard about but you don't hear me bragging about it a. nothing is wrong from taking to something after recomendition. only hipsters think this is bad. GoT sucks, it's literly baby first fantasy soap operaand WoT is better. the black cauldron is better. the death gate cycle is better. dragon lance is better. heck, even drizzt is better. I quit playing during generation 2, didn't touch pokemon until gen 6, when I saw the covers of R/S I thought they looked more like plastic children's toys rather than pokemon, then Brawl came out and I saw Lucario and it looked like the most stupid furfag original character do not steal shit I had ever seen in a game and thought to myself "is this what Pokemon has become now? another fucking Soniclike franchise?" tl;dr Lucario has a very cringe inducing design, looking both edgy and stupid looking. Kyogre and Groudon are awesome, but I won't be using Lucario any time soon. Not him, but I remember saving this from a thread a while back. Anubis isn't what Lucario is based off of. That's just /vp/ regurgitating the same information unto itself until everybody believes it to be fact (like how everyone thinks Hydreigon is based off of King Ghidorah.) Outside of the ears, and I guess, maybe, some super loose Aura connection, it's really got nothing to do with Anubis. It's also not a Jackle.. if anything, it's a Wolf or Dog. In reality, it's an attempt at an original creation with light inspiration drawn from Hachiko. Overall, it's a rough design outline of Lone Wolf/Hachiko/Oracle inspirations. If the blue was gold or sandy, that could make a great pokemon on its own, maybe a special-based Fighting type (maybe part Ghost too, since Anubis = afterlife). And it would be cool to have an actual Anubis pokemon. >despite zoroark flopping, lucario is so popular that GF decides to make lucario-clones every gen onwards

CONTAINING THE ORIGINAL GREEK TEXT OF WHAT IS COMMONLY STYLED THE NEW TESTAMENT (According to the Recension of Dr. J. J. Griesbach) INTERLINEARY WORD FOR WORD ENGLISH TRANSLATION A NEW EMPHATIC VERSION BASED ON THE INTERLINEARY TRANSLATION, ON THE RENDERINGS OF EMINENT CRITICS, AND ON THE VARIOUS READINGS OF THE VATICAN MANUSCRIPT No. 1209 in the Vatican Library BY BENJAMIN WILSON The Emphatic Diaglott In 1888, Zion's Watch Tower carried in the July issue (Reprint page 1051) an offer to all its readers to receive a copy of the Emphatic Diaglott at a subsidized price of $1.50 which included a year's subscription (or renewal) to the Tower, and postage of sixteen cents. The brother who made this possible, acquired in 1902 the copyright and plates and presented them to the Society as a gift. An early copy at hand, which was presented in 1903 to Br. Silas Arnold of Dayton, Ohio by Br. Russell, includes an editor's page. As this has not been included in later editions, the text of this item may be of interest to our readers and is reprinted here. A Friendly Criticism This work we regard as a very valuable help to all Bible students, whether conversant with the Greek language or not. We esteem it (as a whole) the most valuable translation of the New Testament extant. We call special attention to the 'word for word' translation, found immediately under the Greek text, in the left hand column. It will be found valuable, especially for a critical examination of any particular text. A little study will enable you to appreciate it. Like all things made and done by imperfect mortals, we think this valuable work not without its faults. It would seem to us that the author must have held the view that Jesus had no prehuman existence, and that there is no personal devil; i.e., that when the word devil' is used evil principle is meant; also that Jesus is still a man and flesh, in glory. In commending this work to you as a whole so highly as we have done, we deem it but a duty to draw your attention to a very slight bias which we think pervades the work in the direction named. As some pointed illustrations of what we have remarked, we suggest an examination and comparison between the right and left columns of the work, in the following scriptures, viz: John 1:10, Rev. 13:8; Jude 9; Heb. 10:20. Editor of Zion's Watch Tower. To trouble the reader with any lengthy remarks on the important advantage to be derived from a new translation of the Sacred Writings is deemed altogether unnecessary. Much information on this point has been given by others who have published modern versions of the New Testament, with the reasons which have induced them to do so. Those reasons will serve in a great measure also for this. It is generally admitted by all critics that the Authorized or Common version of the Scriptures absolutely needs revision. Obsolete words, uncouth phrases, bad grammar and punctuation, etc., all require alteration. But this is not all. There are errors of amore serious nature which need correction. The translators of the Common version were circumscribed and trammeled by royal mandate; they were required to retain certain old ecclesiastical words which, accordingly, were left untranslated. Thus the minds of many who had no means of knowing the meaning of the original words have been misled and confused.Biblical criticism, however, during the last two hundred years, has done much to open up and elucidate the Word of God, by discovering many things which were unknown to the old translators, making great improvements in the text, detecting numerous interpolations and errors, and suggesting far better renderings of many passages. Many modern versions have availed themselves of this valuable assistance, and it is believed they have thereby been enabled to give the English reader a better understanding of what was originally written. Without presuming to claim any superiority for this, as a translation of the New Testament, over any other modern version, it is thought that the present Work presents certain valuable features not found elsewhere, and which will be of real practical utility to every one who wishes to read the books of the evangelists and apostles as they were written under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. These features are:--An approved Greek text, with the various Readings of the Vatican Manuscript. No. 1209; an Interlineary literal Word for Word English translation; a New Version, with the Signs of Emphasis; a copious selection of References; many appropriate, illustrative, and exegetical Footnotes; and a valuable Alphabetical Appendix. This combination of important items cannot be found in any other book. The reader will find further remarks on this subject, on the page headed, Plan of the Work and he is also invited to read the pages with the respective captions: To the Reader; History of the Greek Text ; and History of English Versions. Also, on another page will be found the Letters and Pronunciation of the Greek Alphabet, for the special benefit of those who may wish to obtain a rudimentary knowledge of that language. The intelligent reader will at once perceive the utility and importance of this arrangement. Readers who are familiar with the original tongue obtain in this Work one of the best Greek Testaments, with important ancient readings, well worthy of their attention; and, it is presumed, there are even few Greek scholars who are so far advanced but may derive some help from the translation given. Those who have only a little or no knowledge of the Greek may, by careful reading and a little attention to the Interlineary translation, soon become familiar with it. This Work, in fact, places in the hands of the intelligent English reader the means of knowing and appropriating for his own benefit, with but little labor on his part, what has cost others years of study and severe toil to acquire. Scrupulous fidelity has been maintained throughout this version in giving the true rendering of the original text into English; no regard whatever being paid to the prevailing doctrines or prejudices of sects, of the peculiar tenets of theologians. To the divine authority of the original Scriptures alone has there been the most humble and unbiased submission. In the preparation of this work for the press, all available help to be derived from the labors of great and learned men has been obtained and appropriated. Lexicons, Grammars, ancient and modern Versions, Commentaries, critical and explanatory, Cyclopedias, Bible and other Dictionaries, etc., have been consulted and culled from. Also, the suggestions, opinions and criticism of friends, on words, phrases and passages, have been duly considered, and sometimes adopted. It is not presumed that this work is free from faults or errors. Infallibility is left for others to claim. Great care however, has been exercised to make it as correct as possible. The Work is now sent forth to the public, to stand or fall on its own merits. True, it cannot boast of being the production of a council of learned men, as King James version; but let it be remembered that TYNDALE alone, under very disadvantageous circumstances, did far more for the English Bible than that learned body, for they only followed in the wake of his labors. This Volume, principally designed for the instruction and advantage of others, is now reverently committed to the blessing of our Father in the heavens, with an earnest and sincere desire that many of those who peruse its pages may be led by the knowledge, faith and obedience inculcated therein to obtain an inheritance in the aionian kingdom of Jesus the Anointed One. HISTORY OF THE GREEK TEXT The following condensed account of the different editions of the Greek New Testament will introduce the reader to the history of the Greek Text, and the various steps taken by learned men for the purpose of editing it with greater critical accuracy. The history will commence with the first printed editions. The first printed edition of the whole of the Greek New Testament was that contained in the Complutensian Polyglot; published by Francis XIMENES de CISNEROS. The principal editor of the work was Lopez de Stunica. It was printed in Greek and Latin, and completed January 10, 1514. In consequence of the delay as to the publication of this edition (from 1514 to1520) that of ERASMUS was commenced and completed, and was published in 1516, being the first edition published of the Greek New Testament. Like the Complutensian edition, this was also in Greek and Latin. The latter part of the book of Revelation being wanting in his MS. He supplied the same by translating the Latin vulgate into Greek. The Greek Manuscripts used for these two editions were few in number, of little critical value, and therefore do not possess much real authority. In 1535, Erasmus published his fifth edition, which is the basis of the common Text.* In 1546, and again in 1549, ROBERT STEPHENS printed, at Paris, two beautiful small editions of the Greek New Testament; and in 1550 his folio edition with various readings from several Manuscripts--he collated some 15 MSS., but chiefly followed the Complutensian copy. BEZA published five editions of the Greek Testament; the first in 1565, the last in 1598. In 1624, the ELZEVIR, printers at Leyden, published a small and beautiful Greek Testament, the editor of which is wholly unknown. It differs little from Stephens folio edition. The printers gave to this Text the name of Textus Receptus. In WALTON'S POLYGLOT of 1657, the Greek New Testament was given according to the Text of Stephens; and in the last volume there was a collection of various Readings from such MSS. as were then known. These various Readings, with some additions, were given in the Greek Testament, published by Bishop Fell, at Oxford, in 1675. In 1707, Dr. MILL'S Greek Testament appeared. His Text is simply taken from Stephens as given in Walton's Polyglot. His collection of various Readings was extensive, and these were made the ground for a critical amendment of the Text. Dr. EDWARD WELLS published the first critical revision in parts at Oxford, between1709 and 1719, with a translation and paraphrase. BENGEL followed on in the same work and published his edition in 1734, and in his Apparatus Criticus he enlarged the stock of various Readings. WETSTEIN published his Greek Testament in 1751-2, but only indicates, in his inner margin, the few Readings which he preferred to those of the Elzevir edition. But in the collection of critical materials he did more than all his predecessors put together. --------------*Erasmus, in his third edition of 1523, inserted the text, 1 John v. 7, on the authority of a MS. now in Dublin. Tyndale used this edition to revise his English version. GRIESBACH, in critical labors, excels by far any who preceded him. He used the materials others had gathered. His first edition was commenced in 1775; his last was completed in 1806. He combined the results of the collations of Birch, Matthaei and others, with those of Wetstein. In his Revision he often preferred the testimony of the older MSS. to the mass of modern copies. Since the publication of Griesbach’s Text, three or four other critical editions have been published, and have received the examination and approval of scholars. Of these, the edition of Scholz has passed through numerous editions. His fundamental principle of criticism was, that the great majority of copies decide as to the correctness of the Text; hence, those who prefer the more ancient documents will consider the Text of Griesbach preferable; while those whose judgment would favor the mass of testimonies would prefer that of Scholz. In addition to Scholz’s collation, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, &c., have given to the world the result of their critical labors, and which are acknowledged to be of the highest authority. The number of MSS. now known, and which have been examined, is nearly 700; thus affording now a far better chance to obtain a correct Greek Text than when the authorized version was at first published. HISTORY OF ENGLISH VERSIONS THE first English version of the New Testament was that made by JOHN WICLIF, or WYCLIFFE, about the year 1367. It was translated from the Latin Bible, verbatim, without any regard to the idiom of the languages. Though this version was first in point of time, no part of it was printed before the year 1731. TYNDALE'S translation was published in 1526, either at Antwerp or Hamburg. It is commonly said that Tyndale translated from the Greek, but he never published it to be so on any title page of his Testament. One edition, not published by him, has this title-- The Newe Testament, dylygently corrected and compared with the Greke, by Willyam Tyndale, and fynesshed in the yere of oure Lorde God, A. M. D. And xxxiiij. in the moneth of Nouember. It is evident he only translated from the Vulgate Latin. COVERDALE published the whole Bible in English, in the year 1535. He followed his interpreters, and adopted Tyndale's version, with the exception of a few alterations. MATTHEW’S BIBLE was only Tyndale and Coverdale s published under the feigned name of Thomas Matthew. HOLLYBUSHE’S NEW TESTAMENT was printed in 1538, both in Latin and English, after the Vulgate text, to which Coverdale prefixed a dedication to Henry VIII. THE GREAT BIBLE, published in 1539, purported to be translated after the veryte of the Hebrue and Greke textes, but it is certain that it was only a revision of Matthew’s, with a few small alterations. It was named the Great Bible, because of its large size. CRANMER’S BIBLE, published in 1540, was essentially the same as the Great Bible, but took his name on account of a few corrections which he made in it. THE GENEVA BIBLE was published at Geneva in 1560. The New Testament in 1557. Coverdale was one of the Geneva brethren who issued it. THE BISHOP’S BIBLE was a revisal of the English Bible, made by the bishops, and compared with the originals. It was published in 1568. THE DOUAY BIBLE appeared in 1609, and was translated from the authentical Latin, or Vulgate. KING JAMES BIBLE, or the Authorized Version, was published in 1611. In the year1604, forty-seven persons learned in the languages were appointed to revise the translation then in use. They were ordered to use the Bishop s Bible as the basis of the new version, and to alter it as little as the original would allow; but if the prior translations of Tyndale, Coverdale, Matthew, Cranmer or Whitechurch, and the Geneva editors agreed better with the text, to adopt the same. This translation was perhaps the best that could be made at the time, and if it had not been published by kingly authority, it would not now be venerated by English and American protestants, as though it had come direct from God. It has been convicted of containing over 20,000 errors. Nearly 700 Greek MSS. are now known, and some of them very ancient; whereas the translators of the common version had only the advantage of some 8 MSS. none of which was earlier than the tenth century. Since 1611, many translations of both Old and New Testaments, and portions of the same, have been published. The following are some of the most noted. The Family Expositor: or a Paraphrase and Version of the New Testament, with Critical Notes. By Philip Doddridge. 1755. The four Gospels translated from the Greek. By George Campbell. 1790. A New Literal Translation, from the Original Greek of the Apostolical Epistles. By James Macknight. 1795. A Translation of the New Testament. By Gilbert Wakefield. 1795. A Translation of the New Testament, from the original Greek. Humbly attempted by Nathaniel Scarlett, assisted by men of piety and literature. 1798. The New Testament in an Improved Version, upon the basis of Archbishop Newcome’s New Translation, with a corrected Text. 1808. The New Testament, in Greek and English; the Greek according to Griesbach; the English upon the basis of the fourth London edition of the Improved Version, with an attempt to further improvement from the translations of Campbell, Wakefield, Scarlett, Macknight, and Thomson. By Abner Kneeland. 1822. A New Family Bible, and improved Version, from corrected Texts of the Originals, with Notes Critical, &c. By B. Boothroyd. 1823. The Sacred Writings of the Apostles and Evangelists, translated from the original, by Campbell, Macknight, and Doddridge, with various Emendations by A. Campbell. 1833. A New and Corrected Version of the New Testament. By R. Dickinson. 1833. The Book of the New Covenant, a Critical Revision of the Text and Translation of Common Version, with the aid of most ancient MSS. By Granville Penn. 1836. The Holy Bible, with 20,000 emendations. By J. T. Conquest. 1841. The Good News of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed; from the Critical Greek of Tittman. By N. N. Whiting. 1849. A Translation of the New Testament, from the Syriac. By James Murdock. 1852. Translation of Paul s epistles. By Joseph Turnbull. 1854. The New Testament, translated from Griesbach s Text. By Samuel Sharpe. 1856. TO THE READER. THAT. All Scripture, divinely inspired, is profitable for Teaching, for Conviction, for Correction, for THAT Instruction which is in Righteousness, is the truthful testimony of the Sacred Writings about themselves. We rejoice to express our conviction that the word of God was perfect and infallible as it emanated from those holy men of old, the prophets and apostles, who spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit. As a revelation of Jehovah's will to the human race, it was requisite that it should be an unerring guide. Amid the ever conflicting strife of human opinions, and the endless diversity of thought, we needed such a standard, to lead us safely through the perplexing problems of life, to counsel us under all circumstances, to reveal the will of our Heavenly Parent, and to lift on high a celestial light, which, streaming through the thick darkness that broods around, shall guide the feet of his erring and bewildered children to their loving Father's home. We needed, therefore, a testimony upon which to repose our faith and hope, free from all error, immutable, and harmonious in all its details--something to tell us how to escape from the evils of the present, and attain to a glorious future. With reverence and joy we acknowledge the Sacred Writings to be such, as they were originally dictated by the Holy Spirit. How important, then, that they should be correctly read and understood! But can it be fairly said that such is the case with our present English Version? We opine not. Though freely acknowledging that it is sufficiently plain to teach men the social and religious duties of life, and the path to immortality, yet it is a notable fact that King James Translation is far from being a faithful reflection of the mind of the Spirit, as contained in the Original Greek in which the books of the New Testament were written. There are some thousands of words which are either mistranslated, or too obscurely rendered. Besides others which are now obsolete, through improvement in the language. Besides this, it has been too highly colored in many places with the party ideas and opinions of those who made it, to be worthy of full and implicit confidence being placed in it as a genuine record. In the words of Dr. Macknight, It was made a little too complaisant to the King, in favoring his notions of predestination, election, witchcraft, familiar spirits, and kingly rights, and these it is probable were also the translator's opinions. That their translation is partial, speaking the language of, and giving authority to one sect. And according to Dr. Gell, it was wrested and partial, and only adapted to one sect; but he imputes this, not to the translators, but to those who employed them, for even some of the translators complained that they could not follow their own judgment in the matter, but were restrained by reasons of state. The Version in common use will appear more imperfect still when the fact is known that it was not a translation from the Original, but merely a revision of the Versions then in use. This is evident from the following directions given by King James to the translators, viz.: The Bishop's Bible [was] to be followed, and altered as little as the Original will permit. And these translations [were] to be used when they agree better with the text than the Bishops Bible--namely, Tyndale’s, Matthew’s, Coverdale’s, Whitchurch’s, Geneva. None of these were made from the Original Greek, but only compare with it--being all translated from the Vulgate Latin. Hence it follows that the authorized version is simply a revision of the Vulgate. And the Greek Text, with which it was compared, was compiled from Eight MSS. only, all of which were written since the tenth century, and are now considered of comparatively slight authority. The Textus Receptus, or Received Greek Text, was made from these MSS., and is now proved to be the very worst Greek Text extant, in a printed form. And there was only one MS. for the Book of Revelation, and part of that wanting, which was supplied by translating the Latin of the Vulgate into Greek! Since the publication of the Textus Receptus, and the Common Version, some 600 MSS. have been discovered, some of which are very ancient, and very valuable. The best and oldest of these is one marked B., Cod. Vaticanus, No. 1209 of the fourth and fifth centuries. The second marked A., Cod. Alexandrinus, of the fifth century. The third marked C., Cod. Ephrem., about the fifth century, and the fourth, marked D., Cod. Cantabujiensis, of the seventh century. Besides valuable assistance from ancient MSS., the DIAGLOTT has obtained material aid from the labors of many eminent Biblical critics and translators. Among these may bementioned.--Mill, Wetstein, Griesbach, Scholz, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tittman, Tregelles, Doddridge, Macknight, Campbell, Horne, Middleton, Clark, Wakefield, Bloomfield, Thompson, Murdock, Kneeland, Boothroyd, Conquest, Sharpe, Gaussen, Turnbull, Trench, &c., &c.Should any person doubt the propriety of the Translation, in any particular part, let him not hastily censure or condemn till he has compared it carefully with the various authorities on which it is based; and even should he see reason to differ in some respects, a correct Greek Text is given, so that the Original may be always appealed to in cases of doubt. However imperfect the Translation may be considered by the Critic it cannot adulterate the Original. PLAN OF THE WORK. 1. Greek Text and Interlineary Translation.--The left-hand column contains the GREEK TEXT according to Dr. J. J. Griesbach, and interlined with it a LITERAL WORD-FOR-WORD TRANSLATION, wherein the corresponding English is placed directly under each Greek word. The Sectional Divisions are those of the Vatican and Alexandrian MSS. Greek Words enclosed in brackets [thus], though authorized by Griesbach, are omitted by the Vatican MS. The advantages to be derived from such an arrangement must be apparent to the Bible student. The learned have a Greek Text acknowledged to be one of the best extant., while the unlearned have almost an equal chance with those acquainted with the Original, by having the meaning and grammatical construction given to each word. This part of the work will be adesideratum by many, but more adapted for criticism than for reading. Although by adhering to the arrangement of the Original, the Translation may appear uncouth, yet the strength and beauty of many passages are thereby preserved. The frequent recurrence of the Greek article of emphasis, and an occasional ellipsis, often interfere with the sense and elegance of a sentence, but this cannot well be avoided in a word-forword Translation. The advantages, however, accruing to the diligent investigator of the Divine Word by pursuing this plan are many, and will be duly appreciated. 2. New Version.--The column on the right-hand side of the page is a NEW VERSION for general reading. This rendering is based upon that in the left-hand column, and the labors of many talented critics and translators of the Scriptures. The Readings of the oldest Manuscripts now known are sometimes incorporated, and always referred to. In this column the EMPHATIC SIGNS are introduced, by which the Greek Words of Emphasis are designated. For the use and beauty of this arrangement, the reader is requested to examine the annexed remarks on Signs of Emphasis. The Chapters and Verses of the Common Version have been retained, principally for convenience of reference. The reader, however, by following the paragraphs in the opposite column, need not be governed by these arbitrary divisions. Chapters and Verses were not introduced till the middle of the 16th century. 3. Foot Notes and References.--The various Readings of the Vatican MS., Notes for the elucidation of the text, and References, are introduced at the bottom of the page. The Notes are critical, illustrative, explanatory, and suggestive. Old Testament quotations are always referred to, and copious parallel passages in the New. 4. Appendix.--It is intended to add an Appendix to the Work, containing all the Geographical and Proper Names found in the New Testament, with Words and Phrases intimately connected with doctrinal subjects, alphabetically arranged. These will be critically examined, and the light of Biblical science thrown upon such as have given rise to sectarian disputes, and the cavils of infidels. SIGNS OF EMPHASIS The Greek article often finds its equivalent in the English definite article the, but in the majority of cases it is evidently only a mark of emphasis. It frequently precedes a substantive, an adjective, a verb, an adverb, a participle or a particle, thus pointing out the emphatic words. The Greek article and Emphatic Pronouns exercise a most important influence on the meaning of words, and sometimes throw light on doctrines of the highest interest. The sacred penmen of the New Testament were, in the opinion of many eminent persons, guided by Divine inspiration in the choice of their words: and in the use of the Greek article there was clearly a remarkable discretion displayed. In fact, the Signs of Emphasis are incorporated with the words in such a manner that the latter cannot be stated without conveying at the same time to the intelligent mind an idea of the very intonation with which the sentence was spoken when it was written down. This peculiarity of the Greek language cannot be properly expressed in English except by the use of typographical signs: such as, Initial Capital letters, italics, SMALL CAPITALS and CAPITALS. The Common Version of the New Testament fails to give the reader a full conception of the meaning designed to be conveyed by the Greek original, in regard-- 1st. To those Words which are connected with the Greek Article; 2nd. To those Pronouns substantive which are intended to carry in themselves a peculiar emphasis, and, 3rd. To those Adjectives and Pronouns which obtain a comparative importance, by reason of the position which they occupy in the Greek Text, with reference to some other words. To remedy these deficiencies, the following System of Notation is employed in the English column of the DIAGLOTT. 1. Those Words rendered positively emphatic by the presence of the Greek Article are printed in Small Capitals: as, The LIFE was the LIGHT OF MEN. 2. Those Pronouns Substantive which, in the Greek, are intended to be positively emphatic are printed in Black Letter: as, He must increase, but I must decrease. 3. Those Adjectives and Pronouns which in the Greek are comparatively emphatic, as indicated by their position, are printed with an Initial Capital Letter: as, One Body, and One Spirit, even as ye are called in One Hope of your CALLING. 4. All Greek Substantives, as being of more importance than other words, are also commenced with a Capital Letter [which actually is the basis of the bible code - ed] . By adopting these Signs of Emphasis, it is believed certainty and intensity are given to passages where they occur, as well as vivacity and earnestness to the discourses in which they are found; thus rendering the reader a hearer, as it were, of the life-words of Him who spoke as never man spoke, or which were enunciated by His inspired apostles.

Sunday, December 23, 2007 8:30am, up and scanning emails, checking voicemails. Open up one that says Sotheby's is hosting the sale of the Magna Carta at 7pm that evening. Get really excited; its the Magna fucking Carta! Check the Sotheby's website - they open at 9am. 8:45, hit the shower, make some coffee and toast. 9, call Sotheby's. Yes, they're selling the Magna Carta, yes its free for observers and yes it starts at 7pm, but get there early cause there's gonna be a lot of watcher-ons like myself. 9-3 or so, take care of business, personal and professional. Attempt to find a date for the auction via Craigslist Missed Connections page, posted with the title: "Are You Sexy? Are You Smart? Do You Want To See The Magna Cart(a)?" No-one responds. 3-5 or so, errands in the city, including swiping a pair of $25 fuzzy slips from TJ Maxx. 5-7, all the way uptown to 72nd and York. Drink a beer and make some phone calls to California about some upcoming tours for a group travel company called Contiki that I also work for. 7pm rolls around, I manage to convince my new roommate Marcelo as well as this funny quirky bird of a girl, named Ivana, also a building friend, to showup. The place is packed. This is a single-item bid, its just the Magna Carta, and they're expecting it to fetch between $20 and $30 million dollars. This particular M.C. dates from 1297 and is the only one existing in the Western Hemisphere - out of the complete set of 17 Magna Cartas, 15 are in England and are never leaving; one is in Australia and is never leaving. This is the only one in the Western Hemisphere, previously owned by Ross Perot since 1984 and on display at the National Archives. Ole Perot decided to sell his copy, with the proceeds going to his children's charity. This is, quite honestly, the only time a single document of this much importance will ever go on sale, ever. This is what brings us to Sotheby's on a Tuesday night for the public sale of one of history's most important documents. David Redden, Sotheby's VP and the auctioneer took the stage and the crowd, its 20 cameras and 30+ reports hush up. He says "Well. The Magna Carta. What can I say?" I expect him to start giving an expedited history of the document, something along the lines of "written in 1297, it is the definitive document that rebukes the Monarchical system by indirectly introducing the Common Law of Man . . ." but no. Instead, he launched straight into the bidding. "Do I have $12 million? $12, $12, $12, I have $12, How about $12.5? $12.5 I have $12, I have $13 yes I have $13, $14 . . . etc." It climbed to $19 million and held. Held. Held. And in less than 3 minutes it was over. $19 million dollars for this sheepskin parchment, riddled with holes, hanging onto a massive wax seal attached via tattered ribbon, and one of the three most important documents in America's history (the other two being the Declaration o Independence and the Bill of Rights, of course.) Sudden. Quick. It was truly heartracing. Afterwards there was a Q&A session with the new owner, a David Rubenstein of the Carlysle Corporation, an equities fund company, or something to that effect that I'll never understand or have to worry about. He was very sincere, almost blushing. He was phoning in his bids, as he had flown in from DC and his plane and cab were late and he almost missed the entire auction. He made some very tender and patriotic statements about keeping this document in the Western Hemisphere, on view at the National Archives for public viewing, and how he couldn't let any foreigner or outsider take this document away from hardworking Americans. It wasn't clear if he spent his personal money or his company's money. After a couple of questions including "Do you speak any Latin?" & "What's your favorite passage?", I shot my hand up and inquired "So, do you plan on spending any alone time with the Magna Carta?" and the gathered crowd had a chuckle. Mr. Rubenstein remarked "This IS my alone time!" and gestured to the cameras convened.A few more questions and then he had to pose for individual pictures and we all took to the streets. It was some of the most exciting 3 minutes I'd spent in a long time. Wednesday, December 19, 2007 Unsilent Night is the work of Phil Kline, a musician and visual artist who, every year since 1992, has created this city-block-long sound system slash roving party slash impromptu parade slash subtle protest against the commercialization of Christmas. On the second or third Saturday of December (essentially, two Saturdays before Xmas itself), Kline gathers people in Washington Square Park and has them bring their audio-playing machines. Old-school Radio Raheem shoulder blasters, iPods plugged into $600 Bose minispeakers, trenchcoated-John Cusack--holding-up-his-heart-on-a-mixtape-in-a-boombox-style sound-machines, laptops, short-wave radios, guitar amps, Sesame Street plastic tape players, you name it, if it plays music, then there will be someone carrying it. Kline himself prefers cassette players to CD and digital players, as there’s more of a music-recorded-onto-magnetic-tape authenticity to the sound than in a digital encoding, but he takes what he can get. Kline also organizes a few dozen boomboxes to lend to people, but as the event’s grown organically over the last fifteen years, he’s had to rely upon people bringing their own. And they do. We congregated at a quarter to seven. People schmoozed, sipped tea, sipped whiskey, reconnected with busy-bee New Yorker friends. At seven the procession started. Kline had everyone, on the count of three, press Play. Some hit the button a split second earlier, some a split second later. All of a sudden, washing over Washington Square Park was this gorgeous, glorious orchestra of sound. Wind chimes, a piano tinkling, stringed instruments plucked, is that the sound of icicles breaking? With the tapes, CDs, iPods, radios, players and humans all playing, we started the procession. From Washingon Square we headed east to 4th Street, north on Lafayette, a nice wide diagonal cut across Astor Place to Cooper Square, continuing east on St. Marks Place to Tompkins Square Park. It was a simple, easy route; hardly over a mile of city streets, but covering an incredible amount of history. Allen Ginsberg read HowlTriangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911. That’s where Abraham Lincoln made a\his famous "Might Makes Right" speech denouncing slavery in 1859, which got him onto the NY Republican ticket and eventually into the White House. That building used to be called the Electric Circus, and it was where Andy Warhol debuted the Velvet Underground with Nico in 1966. And so on and so on. Of course, none of this was running through my head as I walked with my date and the crowds and the boomboxes and the sounds. I was just listening. With my head, my heart, my body, my whole being. Repeatedly (and quietly) shushing the talkers. Hustling ahead and dropping behind to catch different syncopations of the same sound. Positioning myself between two boombox speakers to try and live right between each note. And enjoying the cold of the night, the warm arm looped through mine, the sounds of Phil Kline’s endless song, and the contentedness of two to three hundred New Yorkers all experiencing the same wintertime magic. (originally published on Dec 17th, at www.thelmagazine.com) Sunday, December 16, 2007 On the way to Mutianyu we drove past one of Beijing’s outer-suburb fruit farms – another corollary to the NY-Beijing parallel worlds (but it was too cold for an emergency session of THE LEVYS’ ANNUAL APPLE-PICKING XTRAVAGAZNA BONANZA SPECTACULAR 2007! EVERY APPLE MAKES IT UP TO HEAVEN!) Upon zipping past an enormous fiberglass cornucopia-bounty-of-fruits-overflowing-from-a-walnut-shell prop, we had the driver pull over so we could snap ridiculous pictures. The rest of the drive was a calm, quiet ride through the outer districts of Beijing’s countryside. Then we got to the Wall. First things first were the souvenir hawkers (ESB parallel = the Virtual Reality ride ticket shillers outside). Another NY parallel - The Nigerians in Battery Park, who need to take serious lessons from the tiny Chinese men and (mostly) women at the souvenir stands and tourist markets. Those Nigerians got nothing on the Chinese. All sorts of tourist souvenir gifts: from “hand-carved” wooden Dragon masks to cheap-ass canvas Chairman Mao messenger bags, from dried fruits and macadamia nuts by the gram to ugly paintings of pastoral Chinese scenery, from silk robes stitched together in an outer-province sweatshop to more kitsch garbage prominently displaying the face of everyone’s favorite pickled Commie; all sorts of unbelievable crap for sale with the standard white devil markup of approximately 200-1000%. There’s really no telling how much this shit should sell for, other than nowhere near the price they spit at you. The best way to go about shopping with these vultures (best as I can tell, being a White Devil of course,) is to ask their price, chop it into a third or a quarter or a fifth or a sixteenth and spit it back. Then when they get incensed and bust out with the exact same comical routine of “NO! I MAKE NO MONEY. NO GOOD! YOU GIVE ME . . .” you barter and bargain and back and forth until you get to a price you’re happy to shellout. It helps to walk away sometimes, to threaten to take your fat American wallet next door, where everybody is selling the exact same crap. It also helps to have a calculator to whip out and point at emphatically. It also also helps to shoot the same over-exaggerated faces back at the merchants when they act up on you. No matter what kind of price gets settled on, trust us. They’re making a fat stack of yuan. We opted to take the chair-lift (ESB parallel = the 3 elevators) up and the plume-ride down. Well worth the $2 – $3 it cost each way. Our cable car once carried the holy Dalai Lama when he visited in the mid-90s. Sadly, we missed the cable car that carried former President Bill Clinton, who visited in ’98. At the top it was a short hike up the stairs to the Wall itself (parallel – the ESB elevator lets you off right inside the gift shop, to which it’s a short walk to the observation deck). And then . . . Simply incredible. Indescribable. The thing just went on for miles and miles. Winding along the tops of the mountain ridge, snaking topographically so that it dipped and weaved and wound it way around off into the countryside, disappearing, reappearing, sliding into the endless China of mountains and cities. It was impossible to follow the line as it twisted and turned from one mountaintop to the other, just simply noticeable as the top-most crenellations zigged, zagged & zugged, seemingly into infinity. This section of the Wall (which, contrary to popular belief is no longer continual – parts of the Wall have fallen apart; only the reconstructed sections can be visited) was built in 1368 and renovated in 1983. There were massive guard towers situated every couple hundred kilometers and one rather large guard station, with enough room for beds, a kitchen, and storage, apart from the standard sentry posts. A super-rare feature here – both the inner and outer parapets had merlons (holes) in the wall so sentry guards could shoot at invaders. According to Wikipedia, “The Mutianyu Great Wall has the largest construction scale and best quality among all sections of Great Wall.” It was absolutely awesome. We took lots of ridiculous pictures.(Another fun comparison to the ESB is that as we were making our way around the Wall, Eileen, who was peppering us with facts and stories and dispelling more myths [was built by soldiers and laborers, and not slaves are is commonly misconceived], sent us off to walk some of the wall off a ways, and she hungout at one of the 3 watchtowers, cos it was a whole lot of walking around the wall that she’s done before. This just so happens to be a tour guide trick that we employ when bringing groups to the Empire State Building – instead of the hours-long wait on millions of lines, we just hangout at the bottom of the damn thing, and wait for our groups to go up and come down.) Finally we get tired of marching up and down these tiny little half-steps and posing for multitudes of pix, and we trudge up and down the myriad hills that makeup the wall towards the toboggan-on-wheels-track-cart-slide-thingie that take intrepid souls from the top back downhill. And hells bells, you better believe we rocked that shit! With a level to control the braking mechanism, and some 30 degree luge-track-style turns, I hammered-ass down the slope, slowing only enough to kick Jonah in the back as he had gone before me and his cart wasn’t zipping too fast. At the bottom we posed for a picture with two bozos dressed like Genghis Khan, did a blitz of tourist shopping, and boarded the van for the ride home, with a lunch stop. Here’s where the private driver thing kicks ass. Not beholden to a bus route or schedule, and on the super-hungry side of things, we instructed Eileen to tell the driver to take us to a local small-city restaurant that he likes, where it wouldn’t be a problem for us carnivores to get meat, and for Alisa to get fish/seafood and veggies. We ended up at this place called Mom’s Family Restaurant. Located inside Mom’s house, we were given a private room in the back, complete with couch (not pictured). Eileen took all the orders, and the food arrived and was placed down on the Lazy Susan (almost all restaurants in China have this thing, further exemplifying the Family-style dining concept) and we dug in. It was fucking incredible, a veritable xplosion of taste, texture, smell, spice, hot, cool, together. We had a mutton Mongolian Hot-Pot, a whole broiled fish with tofu and some kinda sweet brown sauce, butterflied fried chicken breast in a not-too-sweet honey sauce, the requisite Szechuan noodles, a roasted pork plate, some greens with garlic, white rice, possibly more dishes I’m losing in the recollection. We fed 6 people (including the driver) with 7 or 8 dishes, 3 big beers, ate until we felt close to bursting, and the whole meal, everything included, $15. I wanted to cry it was so beautiful. We rolled ourselves into the van and took off back to Beijing. The most wondrous food coma came quickly. Monday, December 10, 2007 Also, Hong Kong has a lot of shopping malls. A lot of shopping malls. Mini-malls in the metro stations; a junk clothing mall (like Fulton Street in downtown Brooklyn) mixed in with a building full of hostels; a fashion and accessories mall in the ferry terminal; a luxury mall connecting an underground intersection crossing with a park with this passageway acting as the only way one can access the park . . . it was exhausting. Hong Kong’s relentless commercial valuation of every soul just trying to get around was more than a little depressing. It felt like an entire city of Midtown Fifth Avenues and Lower Broadways in SoHo. Beijing is more of New Yorker’s kind of town. First off, it has twice the population of NYC. So they’re used to high-density living and hundreds of people crossing the street at the same time. Beijing is also super-flat, like Manhattan. Our flatness is manmade — we flattened the hills to build skyscrapers. The word Manhattan comes from the Munsee Indian word Mannahatta, which has a few different meanings: 1) long hilly island, 2) place of timber to make arrows, and 3) place of general inebriation. All true. Beijing, however, is naturally flat — a blank slate to build upon. It was developed over three hundred years but formalized when Chairman Mao and the Commie party widened the streets in 1949. Our man Mao didn’t do anything half-assed: eight-, ten- and twelve-lane boulevards are the norm, for Soviet tanks to squeeze through in case of riots. What’s more, the entire city is on a grid plan. Like Manhattan’s grid plan, this made following maps and orienting the city on a bicycle easy and a blast. New York and Beijing are on the same latitude, so they experience (mostly) the same weather patterns. And Beijing is a foodie’s paradise: incredible eats and phenomenal street food all up and down the tiny hutongs — little rabbit-warren type villages for the lower classes. Most of the hutongs were surrounded by newly built 20 story high-rises for the quickly growing middle classes.Kind of like the lux condos going up all over town, lording over tenements and their (formerly) working classes. There was energy in Beijing, a rush-to-get-things-done type of attitude, a confidence and righteousness in the faces and conversations (in English) that I had with residents, either expat or native born. The entire city is f’ing crazy about the upcoming Olympics (thankfully, unlike NY). The subway line was a little shaky and small, but within the next decade the entire metro is expanding to three times its current size — almost exactly what happened when New York’s original IRT lines were joined by the BMT in the 1910s and 20s and the IND in the late 20s and early 40s. Beijing, like the rest of China, is experiencing a housing and construction boom. And, Beijing has hipsters. And I’m sad to report that no matter the hemisphere, no matter the culture, the hipsters simply don’t dance. (See previous post) Just like back home. As a native New Yorker, urban journalist and licensed tour guide, the list of cities where I feel I could live is a short one. I’m proud to add Beijing to the tally, if I could learn its confounding language. But until that unforeseeable day comes, there’s simply no place like New York. (originally published at www.thelmagazine.com) Monday, December 3, 2007 The venue, called 2 Kologos (Two Friends) was the size of a suburban basement rec room, and smelled about as funky. The tiny little bar in the corner was shilling cheap, strong liquors and beers (20 RMB for a 'wisky coke' [their spelling] – less than $3), the place was a fog of cigarette smoke (not yet illegal to smoke in bars in China) and the place was a veritable fire hazard – that is to say it was absolutely jam-fucking-cram-man-packed with INTERNATIONAL HIPSTERS!!! That's right gang – hipsters of all shapes, sizes, colors, nationalities and fashion senses. You had fashion-punkers, math rockers, lumberjacks, cool nerds sporting black-square frame glasses, artfags, tight pants, tight shirts, nice hats, and impressive array of facial hair on all who could grow it. Most impressive was the pure internationalism of the scene – we met kids from Chile, Poland, Spain, Wisconsin, Germany, France, Westchester, Beijing, New Zealand, SoCal, etc. Most of the expats spoke perfect Mandarin. It was hard to find a bad-looking kid in room. I would've paid good RMB to get a pie chart pictographically describing everyone's geographic provenance – where they came from, where they've been, where they're living / going next. That shit would've been badass. There were a fair share of Asians and the women (and men) who love them, but the majority of the hipsters were simply a Vice Magazine's ad bastard's wet dream. The night was pieced together by Tag Team Records – Going Out of Business Since 2005 – a local rock / free-jazz / electronic label based here. The bands featured included: Arrows of Desire, a generic grungy rock and roll foursome; PK14, a half-way decent noise-rock band with a little bit of noodley electronic knob twisting and button pushing – the lead singer was a short squat balding teutonic individual who spent a lot of time screaming a la Frank Black (they reminded me of some krautrock group I couldn't place); FM3, a spaced-out five note drone group that busted out with a fog machine, clouding the entire space in a thicker haze than simple cigarettes could produce; and Lonely China Day, the only group actually made out of Chinese, also playing generic poppy, punky rock and roll. And, as mentioned above and totally expected, none of the hipsters were doing anything – we're talking not even a little hip shaking or head nodding. It was depressing and confirmed everything I feared about the international youth community – everybody is too fucking cool to do anything but smoke, drink, flirt and fuck. But then Sulumi took the stage – two skinny Japanese dudes with asymmetrical haircuts, and they started plugging in a whole table of wires, sound machines, boomboxes, cables, sound manipulators, and . . . wait . . . was that? Yes, I think it was . . . holy shit . . . these two dudes are plugging in old-skool 8 bit Nintendo Gameboys. We had found members of the 8 bit Revlution! (There is a small but fierce community of Gameboy DJs across the globe that call themselves the 8 bit Revolution – they make their sounds by plugging in home-doctored Gameboys to DJ equip and rock the fucking house with hyperkinetic Midi-created videogame dance music. Bitshifter is one of them and located in NYC – check out his stuff, its ridiculous.) It took Sulumi a short while to get the sound right, sounds kept switching on and off, a blip here, a blurt there, but once they started rocking it, the goddamn sounds were like a dance virus. You had these two tall skinny Japanesesters physically throwing themselves across the stage, slamming their fists into the table, flipping their gorgeous black sheened cuts across their heavy-on-the-bangs heads, flinging their lank-ass bodies into air, just hammering along with the insanely infectious, unbelievably bouncy, uppity up electronic trampoline dance disaster jams . . . AND NONE OF THE FUCKING HIPSTERS, I MEAN NOT ONE SINGLE HUMAN BEING WAS EVEN ATTEMPTING TO MOVE. Except for me and Jonah. I mean, of course we started moving – we're dancers through and through. I also realized that if we were to move up and center in front of the stage, our simple excitable energy would catch along and maybe, just maybe and hopefully and God willing, some less uptight of this here international community would start to shake ass. So that's what we did. And Goddamnit, we shook some serious ass. As the accumulated whisky cokes gathered in our bellies and the smoke killed our corneas, as the music hit that never-ending high and the gorgeous idiots gazed on with incredulousness, we did our best to show them how to do it. And it worked – sort of. Out of the capacity crowd of 100 bored looking bozos, we got a solid half-dozen dudes (well, five dudes and one chick from Chile) onto the floor. (Our proudest achievement – one of the dudes throwing down on the dance floor was a blond moptop'd douchebag who, immediately preceding Sulumi's kicking out the jams, tried to start a fight with me in claiming that they weren't going to be any good. And who was right, motherfucker?!? [I was pretty drunk by this point.]) The rest of the room could go fuck themselves. We were having a blast. At some point the DJs quit up all their righteous noise for a short intermission, and I took the opportunity to exclaim out loud (to the laughter of some and the indignation of others) YOURE TOO QUIET! THERE ARENT ENOUGH PEOPLE DANCING! MAKE IT LOUDER! Also having an equal-opportunity-blast were the three some-odd professional photographers with biig cameras who couldn't get enough of taking our picture. I fully expect to be on Beijing's blog equivalent of lastnightsparty.com. And looking like I kick some ass. After the bands, after the DJs, after more whisky cokes, after ogling the various babes and Asians, after sneering at the uptight hipsters, after I got my tattoos licked by an sexy overeager Polish boozer, after purchasing a "Buddha Machine", after conversing with numerous peoples of all sorts of nationalities and ethnographies, after all of this delirious, delightful delicious experience in Beijing nightlife, we (our brotherly party of two expanding to include two Jeremies, one from New Zealand and the other from the aforementioned Weschester; the Westchestarian being one of our more exuberant dance-floor partners) attempted to carry over the energy and dance-mania to some other clubs. But it was 2:30 in the AM (late for Beijing standards – this city is a working city and the nightlife is pretty much limited to Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and over by 1 or 2 am) and the two other clubs we hit were as exhausted as we were. So at about 3 Jonah and I called it quits and taxi’d back to our digs. We drank, we flirted, we schmoozed, we chatted, we DANCED, we impressed, we depressed (the losers, that is), we rocked it and socked it and put rockets in our sockets, we slammed so hard our weary bodies were only wanting more on the long ride home. Sleep came swift and sweet and absolutely earned. Sunday, December 2, 2007 To recap. Jonah, the youngest Levy boy is spending a few months abroad, enrolled in courses on visual studies and digital media at Nanling University. So Dad Levy, Alisa Brot (his fiancé) and I decided to head out here to visit and adventure for 1-2 weeks. We did the same thing in November 2006, when the J-ster spent 3 months in Hanoi, Vietnam. The kid likes Asia. The Vietnam voyage included Gideon, the middle Levy, but this time we left him at home to cover the business. Also, he's broker than the rest of us. Also, he doesn't travel very well. The rest of us travel very well together; we're all into adventure, history, sightseeing, bargain shopping, and most of all, ETHNIC EATING! So that's what brought us to Hong Kong. The schedule: 4 days in Hong Kong, then all four of us fly up to Beijing for an assortment of days - Alisa to NY on the 1st; Jonah back to HK on the 4th, and Dad and I the 20 hour flight on the 6th. So welcome, Levys (and Brot) to Hong Kong - a bunch of rough-edged and tough-gritted, street-wise and cash-savvy native New Yorkers; all used to the neon brashness of Times Square, the hustle/bustle of Canal Street, the mercantile excesses of 5th Avenue during the Xmas Shopping Season, all of it was absolutely bupkis compared to the overwhelming anti-humanizing effects of the streets of HK The Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong is comprised of four territories, therefore, it is NOT part of China proper. The four territories correspond pretty nicely to our beloved hometown. HK proper is, of course, sparkling Manahatta, economic powerhouse for the entire seaboard. Kowloon, right across the river, is a large region segmented into smaller hoods, each one known for their cultural or commercial specialty, be they immigrants, boutiques, malls, hip cafes, and rapidly rocketing real estate; this would be the equivalent to our brilliant home borough of Brooklyn! The New Territories is a massive tract of land north of it all and attatched to mainland China; mostly parks and working class hoods corresponds to The Bronx. The Peninsula Sai Kung, which is east of Kowloon (part of the larger landmass that reflects Long Island) has many smaller bodies of water and tiny islands scattered throughout the place: thats Queens and the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. And of course, darling Staten Island is represented by Lantau Island, the most remote of the five territories and home to both Lingnan U and Disneyland Asia. Imagine a city with the signs and the hurriedness, the abrasion and glare, the flash and panache of Times Square, but with everything in Cantonese. Now visualize all those signs, buildings, buses and people are layered one on top of the other, in a vertical sardine-tin stacking style that stretches between two and eight levels high. For example, the buses are double-deckers. The metro goes underground two to five levels deep, where transfer-stations have trains of opposing directions layered vertically, as opposed to horizontally, across the platform as in New York. The local business signs on the street are twelve stories worth - one advertisement per floor, running the whole height of the building, and in most cases, craming more signs perched in the front, center, and rears of blocks. Now watch as this headachey Cantonese Times Square and shopping district expands to cover the entire island of Manhattan! It's exhausting. Not that we didn't have fun while in Hong Kong. But when one wishes for the calm and serenity of Lower Manhattan during a weekday lunch rush, you know that there's something wrong with the vacation spot you're at. The fun we did have: * Taking the Peak Tram to the top of Victoria Peak – a hundred plus year old funicular railway that leads to the top of the mountain in the middle of the city. You 'aint leaned nothing until you've leaned a good 45 degree angles into the hill as a 60 year old wooden tram chugs upslope at 6mph. * Watching Jonah kick some serious ass in a tournament-style rugby game. Keep in mind that my brother is, at a fresh-faced 21 (his birthday was Monday, and part of the reason we went Chinabound) a lanky, stick-figure kid of 6 ft 2, and probably the last choice on a rugby team. Except that most of his team were fellow Westerners, and all his opponents were tiny shriveled up Chinese college kids. Therefore, Jonah slaughterized the opposing teams. I mean flat-out pulvernated them. Making the first of many goals and equally many tackles, we were proud of the kid. * We drank beer on the street. No open container laws! Woo-Hoo! * We visited the beautiful bird and flower markets. * We goggled at the post-modern, ultra-modern, hyper-modern and just plain ugly architecture of the downtown and Central business districts. * We looked the wrong way down streets and almost got run-over many a time as all the driving in HK is British style – steering wheels and streets all on the wrong (other) side. * Checked out the noonday gun, which has been firing at the stroke of noon ever since the 1800s and is in a popular Noel Coward song that I've never heard. * One of the wonderful, only-in-Hong-Kong experiences was visiting the World's Largest Seated Bronze-Cast Buddha on Lantau Island. It's 634 meters tall and weighs 250 tons – about the same size as a jumbo jet. It was consecrated in 1993 at a cost of $65 million and is perched at the absolute top of a pretty little hill which gives one magnificent views across the island. I spent the first two nights at Lingan U, in Jonah's roomate's bed, as he was home with his fam. The second two nights I spent on the couch of two of J's lovely friends, whom we all met at JONAH'S BIRTHDAY SPECTACULAR DINNER! In a huge group of 20 friends, we invaded a local Thai restaurant and had them cook us up a storm. Spicy tom yum soup, incredible green curry chicken, hot red curry beef, some of the best spicy pork ribs I've ever had, beer, jellied coconut crèmes for dessert, wonderful conversation amongst Jonah's classmates, girlfriends, buddied, Rugby teammates, family and folks, it was such a lovely experience. The kid is truly loved by all who get to share his warmth and giving personality. He's a great (big) little brother, and I love the kid. The last adventure for the Levys (and Brot) on Hong Kong was actually outside HK altogether, as we took the hour-long ferry ride to Macau island, another Special Administrative Region not part of China. Macau was settled by the Portuguese 300 years before Hong Kong, and its mixture of Portuguese cooking, British development, Chinese food, and absolutely outlandish Vegas style casinos and preposterous architecture was a bit of a melee – the Macau Mishegosh we called it. Essentially just running around the entire island and not experiencing much, other than a delicious Portuguese lunch; we tried to do the bungee jump off the Macau tower – it was closed. We tried to find some Colonial architecture – it was mobbed by Chinese tourists on their weekend sojourns to gamble (illegal in HK) and buy baked pork strips and egg custard tarts. We got lost entirely too many times and spent way too much on cab rides back and forth.

It's just fluctuating wildly from year to year as it always has done but by making some complex "allowances", climate statisticians claim to find a declining trend. But since climate statisticians are in the same class as used-car salesmen these days, it would be safer to stick with the raw data -- discouraging to Greenies though that might be Further: As I read it, the research concerns only overall ozone levels in the atmosphere and has not in fact used measurements of the Antarctic "hole". There's many a slip twixt cup and lip there. It will be interesting to see what is in the relevant journal article when -- and if -- it has passed peer review THE first hard evidence is in that global action under the Montreal Protocol to mend the hole in the ozone layer is starting to work. In the first accurate assessment of the impact of the treaty, Macquarie University climate dynamicist Murry Salby and his colleague Lilia Deschamps from the Bureau of Meteorology found that the ozone layer was about 10 per cent along the road to recovery. The rebound follows cuts to global emissions of chlorofluorocarbons and halons, which have been destroying the gaseous shield that blocks ultraviolet radiation and which is critical to life on Earth. The scientists announced their results at the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society conference at the Australian National University in Canberra last Friday . The ozone layer is in the stratosphere, the zone 10km to 50km above the Earth's surface. The ozone hole is a region where ozone concentrations can drop to only 30 per cent of their natural values. First observed in the late 1970s, it develops over Antarctica each spring and expands to cover the polar cap. In early summer the Antarctic vortex, an atmospheric circulation pattern that isolates the column of air above the ice continent, breaks down. Released, the ozone-depleted air mixes with air across the southern hemisphere, diluting ozone at mid-latitudes during summer. The atmospheric concentration of ozone-depleting CFCs and halons has been falling since the adoption of the Montreal Protocol in 1987. But even as these chemicals have been phased out of aerosol cans, refrigerators, fire extinguishers and factories, ozone levels have been fluctuating wildly between years. "These large changes mask the more gradual recovery of the ozone layer that is due to the decrease of ozone-depleting pollutants," Professor Salby told the HES. He and Dr Deschamps confirmed that the erratic changes between years were due mainly to global atmospheric perturbations called planetary waves. "We showed there was a very strong relationship between planetary waves and changes of the ozone hole from one year to the next," he said. The changes introduced by planetary waves, which controlled the temperature of the stratosphere, at present dominated the evolution of the ozone hole, he said. "Temperature over Antarctica is a very strong determinant of the polar stratospheric cloud, which forms mainly over Antarctica. [This] cloud is at the heart of ozone depletion. It's responsible for the formation of the ozone hole each spring." Particles in stratospheric clouds are sites where CFCs and halons launch their chemical attack on ozone molecules. Highly reactive forms of chlorine are the most damaging. The scientists compensated for the effect of planetary waves in the 30-year ozone record collected by NASA satellites. "This unmasked the slowly varying anthropogenic contribution," Professor Salby said. "It gives a fairly clear picture of ozone recovery. In it, you can see the rebound of ozone now. "The signature of recovery is visible over the last decade and extends back into the late 1990s. We compared it against the evolution of chlorine, especially since the Montreal Protocol. "Once planetary waves are accounted for, the ozone graph closely tracks the chlorine graph." Without the scientists' analysis, it would have taken 20 years for chlorine concentrations to have decreased enough for scientists to make a statistically valid assessment of the Montreal treaty. Professor Salby said the anthropogenic component of ozone recovery - the gradual rebound over the past decade - amounted to about 10 per cent of a full return to pre-1980 levels. Ozone concentrations were at their lowest in the late 90s and were not expected to recover fully for about 50 years, he said. The results correlating planetary waves and the ozone hole would clear the way for seasonal forecasts of ozone and the UV index. IPCC: International Pack of Climate Crooks Unquestionably the world's final authority on the subject, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's findings and recommendations have formed the bedrock of literally every climate-related initiative worldwide for more than a decade. Likewise, virtually all such future endeavors -- be they Kyoto II, domestic cap-and-tax, or EPA carbon regulation, would inexorably be built upon the credibility of the same U.N. panel's "expert" counsel. But a glut of ongoing recent discoveries of systemic fraud has rocked that foundation, and the entire man-made global warming house of cards is now teetering on the verge of complete collapse. Simply stated, we've been swindled. We've been set up as marks by a gang of opportunistic hucksters who have exploited the naïvely altruistic intentions of the environmental movement in an effort to control international energy consumption while redistributing global wealth and (in many cases) greedily lining their own pockets in the process. Perhaps now, more people will finally understand what many have known for years: Man-made climate change was never really a problem -- but rather, a solution. For just as the science of the IPCC has been exposed as fraudulent, so have its apparent motives. The true ones became strikingly evident when the negotiating text for the "last chance to save the planet" International Climate Accord [PDF], put forth in Copenhagen in December, was found to contain as many paragraphs outlining the payment of "climate debt" reparations by Western nations under the watchful eye of a U.N.-controlled global government as it did emission reduction schemes. Then again, neither stratagem should come as any real surprise to those who've paid attention. Here's a recap for those who have, and a long-overdue wake-up call for those who haven't. [See also The CFC Ban: Global Warming's Pilot Episode] The Perfect Problem to the Imperfect Solution The U.N. signaled its intent to politicize science as far back as 1972 at its Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) in Stockholm, Sweden. There, an unlikely mélange of legitimate environmental activists, dyed-in-the-wool Marxists, and assorted anti-establishment '60s leftovers were delighted to hear not only the usual complaints about "industrialized" environmental problems, but also a long list of international inequities. Among the many human responsibilities condemned were overpopulation, misuse of resources and technology, unbalanced development, and the worldwide dilemma of urbanization. And from that marriage of global, environmental, and social justice concerns was born the IPCC's parent organization -- the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) -- and the fortune-cookie like prose of its socialist-environmentalist manifesto, the Stockholm Declaration. It was seven years later that UNEP was handed the ideal villain to fuel its counterfeit crusade. That was the year (1979) in which NASA's James Hansen's team of climate modelers convinced a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel to report [PDF] that doubling atmospheric CO2 -- which had risen from 280 ppmv in the pre-industrial 1800s to over 335 ppmv -- would cause nearly 3°C of global warming. And although the figure was wildly speculative, many funding-minded scientists -- including some previously predicting that aerosols and orbital shifts would lead to catastrophic global cooling -- suddenly embraced greenhouse gas theory and the inevitability of global warming. It was at that moment that it became clear that the long-held scientific position that the Earth's ecosystem has always and will always maintain CO2 equilibrium could be easily swayed toward a more exploitable belief system. And the UNEP now had the perfect problem to its solution: anthropogenic global warming (AGW). After all, both its abatement and adaptation require huge expansion of government controls and taxation. Furthermore, it makes industry and capitalism look bad while affording endless visuals of animals and third-world humans suffering at the hands of wealthy Westerners. And most importantly, by fomenting accusations that "rich" countries have effectively violated the human rights of hundreds of millions of the world's poorest people by selfishly causing climate-based global suffering, it helps promote the promise of international wealth redistribution to help less fortunate nations adapt to its consequences. Best of all, being driven by junk-science that easily metamorphoses as required, it appeared to be endlessly self-sustaining. But it needed to be packaged for widespread consumption. And packaged it they surely have. Here's an early classic. The year was 1988, and Colorado Senator Tim Wirth had arranged for Hansen to testify on the subject before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to help sell the dire need to enact national environmental legislation. As Wirth has since admitted, he intentionally scheduled Hansen's appearance on what was forecasted to be the hottest day of the hearings. And in a brilliantly underhanded marketing ploy, he and his cohorts actually snuck into the hearing room the night before and opened the windows, rendering the air conditioning all but useless. Imagine the devious beauty of the scene that unfolded in front of the cameras the next day -- a NASA scientist preaching fire and brimstone, warning of "unprecedented global warming" and a potential "runaway greenhouse effect," all the while wiping the dripping sweat off his brow. No wonder the resultant NY Times headline screamed, "Global Warming Has Begun, Expert Tells Senate." And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how climate hysteria and not one, but two of its shining stars were born. For coincidentally, that was the same year the IPCC was established by the U.N. Its mandate: to assess "the scientific, technical and socioeconomic information relevant for the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change." How perfect: an organization formed not to prove or disprove AGW, but merely to assess its risks and recommend an appropriate response..... The Dawn of Outright Climate Fraud Back in 1989, future Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) Working Group 2 (WG2) lead author Stephen Schneider disclosed several tricks of the trade to Discover magazine: " To capture the public imagination, we have to offer up some scary scenarios, make simplified dramatic statements and little mention of any doubts one might have. Each of us has to decide the right balance between being effective, and being honest." And according to MIT's Richard Lindzen's 2001 Senate subcommittee testimony, that's precisely what he witnessed as a Third Assessment Report (TAR) lead author. Among the atmospheric physicist's revelations was the fact that contributing TAR scientists -- already facing the threat of disappearing grant funds and derision as industry stooges -- were also met with ad hominem attacks from IPCC "coordinators" if they refused to tone down criticism of faulty climate models or otherwise questioned AGW dogma. I suppose that's one way to achieve the "consensus" the IPCC loudly boasts of. As previously discussed here and here, it was in the same 2001 TAR that the IPCC suddenly and inexplicably scrapped its long-held position that global temperatures had fluctuated drastically over the previous millennium and replaced it with a chart depicting relatively flat temperatures prior to a sharp rise beginning in 1900. This, of course, removed the pesky higher-than-present-day temperatures of the Medieval Warm Period of 900-1300 AD, the existence of which obstructed the unprecedented-warming sales pitch. Truth be told, this little bit of hocus-pocus alone should have marked the end of the panel's scientific credibility, particularly after Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick uncovered the corruption behind it. But thanks to a hugely successful campaign to demonize all critics as big-oil shills, the "Hockey Stick Graph" (aka MBH98) not only survived, but -- after receiving a prominent role in Al Gore's 2006 grossly exaggerated "scary scenarios" sci-fi movie -- actually went on to become a global warming icon. Even after McIntyre finally got his hands on one scientist's data last September and proved that Keith Briffa had cherry-picked data to create his MBH98-supporting series, the MSM paid McIntyre and others reporting the hoax little heed. Consequently, TAR's false declaration of the 20th as the hottest century of the millennium was widely accepted as fact, right along with its proclamation that the 1990's were the hottest decade and 1998 the hottest year since measurements began in 1861...as was the replacement of "discernible human influence" described six years earlier with the claim of "new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities." So by the time AR4 rolled out in 2007, in which they significantly raised not only the threat level, but also the degree of anthropogenic certitude (to 90%), the IPCC's word was all but gospel to the MSM, left-leaning policymakers, and an increasingly large portion of the population. Indeed, everywhere you turned, you'd hear that "the IPCC said this" or "the IPCC said that." The need to address "climate change" had quickly become a foregone and inarguable conclusion in most public discourse. At that moment, Kyoto II seemed as inevitable as the next insufferable NBC Green is Universal week, and with it, the U.N.'s place as steward of the planet, which would surely be ratified at the pending 2009 Climate Conference in Copenhagen. ...Until, that is, the mind-boggling magnitude of AR4's deception became glaringly apparent. Caught with their Green Thumbs on the Scale Most readers are likely aware that in November of last year, a folder containing documents, source code, data, and e-mails was somehow misappropriated from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU). The so-called "Climategate" emails disclosed an arrogant mockery of the peer review process as well a widespread complicity in and acceptance among climate researchers to hiding and manipulating data unfriendly to the global warming agenda. The modeling source code -- as I reported here -- contained routines which employed a number of "fudge factors" to modify the results of data series -- again, to bias results to the desired outcome. And this, coupled with the disclosure of the Jones "hide the decline" e-mail, provided more evidence that MBH98 -- and ergo unprecedented 20th-century warming -- is a fraud. The following month, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) issued a report claiming that the Hadley Center for Climate Change had probably tampered with Russian climate data. Apparently, Hadley ignored data submitted by 75% of Russian stations, effectively omitting over 40% of Russian territory from global temperature calculations -- not coincidentally, areas that didn’t "show any substantial warming in the late 20th-century and the early 21st-century." But Climategate was only the tip of the iceberg. An AR4 warning that unchecked climate change will melt most of the Himalayan glaciers by 2035 was found to be lifted from an erroneous World Wildlife Federation (WWF) report and misrepresented as peer-reviewed science. IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri attempted to parry this "mistake" by accusing the accusers at the Indian environment ministry of "arrogance" and practicing "voodoo science" in issuing a report [PDF] disputing the IPCC. But one in his own ranks, Dr Murari Lal, the coordinating lead author of the chapter making the claim, had the astoundingly bad manners to admit that he knew all along that it "did not rest on peer-reviewed scientific research." Apparently, so had Pachauri, who continued to lie about it for months so as not to sully the exalted AR4 immediately prior to Copenhagen. And "Glaciergate" opened the floodgates to other serious misrepresentations in AR4, including a boatload of additional non-peer-reviewed projections pulled directly from WWF reports. These included discussions on the effects of melting glaciers on mudflows and avalanches, the significant damages climate change will have on selected marine fish and shellfish, and even assessing global-average per-capita "ecological footprints." It should be noted here that IPCC rules specifically disqualify all non-peer-reviewed primary sources. Nonetheless, Chapter 13 of the WG2 report stated that forty percent of Amazonian forests are threatened by climate change. And it also cited a WWF piece as its source -- this one by two so-called "experts," who incidentally are actually environmental activists. What's more, the WWF study dealt with anthropogenic forest fires, not global warming, and barely made mention of Amazonian forests at all. Additionally, the WWF's figures were themselves based on a Nature paper [PDF] studying neither global warming nor forest fires, but rather the effects of logging on rain forests. So the IPCC predicted climate change-caused 40% forest destruction based on a report two steps upstream which concluded that "[l]ogging companies in Amazonia kill or damage 10-40% of the living biomass of forests through the harvest process." Adding to the glacial egg on the AR4 authors' faces was the statement that observed reductions in mountain ice in the Andes, Alps, and Africa were being caused by global warming. It turns out that one of the two source papers cited was actually a mountain-climbers' magazine. Actually, this is a relatively authoritative source compared to the other: a dissertation from a Swiss college student based on his interviews with mountain guides in the Alps. The 2007 green bible also contained a gross exaggeration in its citation of Muir-Wood et al., 2006's study on global warming and natural disasters. The original stated that "a small statistically significant trend was found for an increase in annual catastrophe loss since 1970 of 2% per year." But the AR4 synthesis report stated that more "heavy precipitation" is "very likely" and that an "increase in tropical cyclone intensity" is "likely" as temperatures rise. Perhaps the most dumbfounding AR4 citation (so far) was recently discovered by Climatequotes.com. It appears that a WG2 warning that "[t]he multiple stresses of climate change and increasing human activity on the Antarctic Peninsula represent a clear vulnerability and have necessitated the implementation of stringent clothing decontamination guidelines for tourist landings on the Antarctic Peninsula" originated from and was attributed to a guide for Antarctica tour operators on decontaminating boots and clothing. Really. And here's one you may not have heard yet. A paper published last December by Lockart, Kavetski, and Franks rebuts the AR4 WG1 assertion that CO2-driven higher temperatures drive higher evaporation and thereby cause droughts. The study claims they got it backwards, as higher air temperatures are in fact driven by the lack of evaporation (as occurs during drought). I smell another "-gate" in the works. And yet, perhaps the greatest undermining of IPCC integrity comes from a recent study, which I’ve summarized here, challenging the global temperature data reported by its two most important American allies: NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As these represent the readings used by most climate analysis agencies, including the IPCC, the discovery by meteorologist Joe D'Aleo and computer expert E.M. Smith that they've been intentionally biased to the warm side since 1990 puts literally every temperature-related climate report released since then into question. ...Along with, of course, any policy decisions based on their content. More HERE (See the original for links) IPCC goofs again: now Holland is drowned Comment and roundup from Andrew Bolt in Australia below Yet another blunder in that IPCC 2007 report which Kevin Rudd uses to justify his great green tax to “stop” global warming: A United Nations report wrongly claimed that more than half of the Netherlands is currently below sea level. In fact, just twenty percent of the country consists of polders that are pumped dry, and which are at risk of flooding if global warming causes rising sea levels. Dutch Environment Minister Jacqueline Cramer has ordered a thorough investigation into the quality of the climate reports which she uses to base her policies on. Funny how every mistake now coming to light is of the kind that tended to make global warming scarier. You know, that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035, the Amazonian rain forests were extremely vulnerable, the Antarctica would become too fragile even for dirty shoes. And funny, too, how the IPCC boss cadged so many grants, directorships and business deals as his IPCC hyped the dangers. (Just read a fuller list of IPCC controversies here.) Nor is that the only sceptical news from the Netherlands: Dutch researchers reporting to Minister Cramer on Wednesday said that global warming appears to be slower than had been assumed. Surely Cramer’s demand now for a review of the climate science by her scientists is exactly what’s needed here, too. I mean, shouldn’t Climate Change Minister Penny Wong be saying exactly this sort of thing herself: Dutch Environment Minister Jacqueline Cramer says she will no longer tolerate errors by climate researchers. She expressed her anger to Dutch researchers who presented their annual report on the state of the climate on Wednesday. Here’s Tony Abbott’s way out of the pinch of claiming to still believe in dangerous man-made warming, yet blocking Rudd’s emissions trading scheme. Surely there’s now so many scandals engulging the IPCC and its science, that it’s mad for us to spend a single dollar more until an inquiry - with sceptical scientists on board too - reviews all the science we were once falsely told was “settled”. Demand an inquiry now. India goes even further: India has threatened to pull out of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and set up its on climate change body because it “cannot rely” on the group headed by its own Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr R K Pachauri… In India the (IPCC’s) false claims (on the Himalayas) have heightened tensions between Dr Pachauri and the government… In Autumn, its environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, said that while glacial melting in the Himalayas was a real concern, there was evidence that some were actually advancing despite global warming… (L)ast night Mr Ramesh effectively marginalised the IPC chairman even further. He announced that the Indian government will establish a separate National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology to monitor the effects of climate change on the world’s “third ice cap”, and an “Indian IPCC” to use “climate science” to assess the impact of global warming throughout the country. “There is a fine line between climate science and climate evangelism. I am for climate science. ...” he said. Steve Milloy Reacts to Penn State ‘ClimateGate’ News, Says Investigation ‘Not Thorough At All’ Steve Milloy responded to news about Penn State University’s investigation into Dr. Michael Mann’s alleged involvement in the “ClimateGate” e-mails scandal, saying the review appeared to have been “not thorough at all.” Milloy, publisher of JunkScience.com and author of Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them, issued a statement after a panel at the university determined an investigation is warranted in one of four ‘possible allegations’ related to Dr. Mann: 1. The review apparently extended little further than the Climategate e-mails themselves, an interview with Mann, materials submitted by Mann and whatever e-mails and comments floated in over the transom. Not thorough at all. 2. Comically, the report explains at length how the use of the word “trick” can mean a “clever device.” The report ignores that it was a “trick… to hide the decline.” There is no mention of “hide the decline” in the report. 3. The report concludes there is no evidence to indicate that Mann intended to delete e-mails. But this is contradicted by the plain language and circumstances surrounding Mann’s e-mail exchange with Phil Jones — See page 9 of Climategate & Penn State: The Case for an Independent Investigation; 4. The report dismisses the accusation that Mann conspired to silence skeptics by stating, “one finds enormous confusion has been caused by interpretations of the e-mails and their content.” Maybe there wouldn’t be so much “confusion” if PSU actually did a thorough investigation rather than just relying on the word of Michael Mann. 5. Although PSU is continuing the investigation, its reason is not to investigate Mann so much as it is to exonerate climate alarmism. On page 9 of the report, it says that “questions in the public’s mind about Dr. Mann’s conduct… may be undermining confidence in his findings as a scientist… and public trust in science in general and climate science specifically.” “There needs to be a thorough and independent investigation of Climategate. PSU’s report is a primer for a whitewash,” concluded Milloy. Time Magazine Has a Problem with the Truth about Global Warming By Alan Caruba Bryan Walsh has a great career in public relations awaiting him. Unfortunately he is currently passing himself off as a journalist for Time Magazine. PR, a profession I have enjoyed for several decades, is widely seen to “spin” facts to a client’s advantage and this is frequently the case. PR is advocacy. Journalism is supposed to be something else, i.e., the unbiased, objective reporting of the facts. Someone needs to explain this to Bryan. In an article titled “Explaining a Global Climate Panel’s Key Missteps”, Bryan barely pretends to be a journalist as he engages in whitewashing some widely known facts about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations' scam for the propagation of the huge global warming hoax. Bryan correctly notes that the IPCC was “one of the most respected organizations in the world” and, in October 2007, had shared a Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, a famed global warming blowhard and fabulist best known for predicting the end of the world next Tuesday. Bryan noted that the Norwegian Nobel committee had “lauded the IPCC’s fourth assessment report in 2007 as creating an ever broader consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming.” Note that these are stated as facts, but in truth there never was a “consensus” in the worldwide community of climatologists and meteorologists, and other scientists. Indeed, there have been three international conferences to debunk global warming, all sponsored by the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based non-profit, free market think tank that brought together some of the world’s leading scientists who participated in seminars and gave addresses that were illustrated by graphs and other data that debunked global warming. A fourth conference is scheduled in May and, who knows, some members of the U.S. media might actually attend and report the truth this time? The assertion that there is a connection between human activities and the non-existent global warming doesn’t even meet the lowest standard of journalistic accuracy. There is no connection. None has ever been proven despite the claims. In general terms, the Earth’s climate is determined by the sun, the oceans, and other factors of such magnitude as to suggest that an ant hill poses a threat to a skyscraper. Bryan finally got around to mentioning that “over the past week or two, the IPCC has seen its reputation for impartiality and accuracy take serious hits.” Hello! Those hits have been around for years, but the leak of emails in November 2009 between the key players in the global warming fraud unleashed a tsunami of revelations about the way the IPCC relied on deliberately distorted “facts” and strove to suppress the publication of the truth in leading science publications. It wasn’t over the past week or two unless Bryan has been in a deep comma for three months. Calls for the resignation of IPCC chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, were noted. He has been under fire because he knew in advance of the Copenhagen conference that claims about melting Himalayan glaciers were bogus. Plaintively, Bryan asked, “What’s wrong with the IPCC?” and then answered saying, “To some degree, it’s a victim of its own size.” Wrong again. The IPCC may have claimed that it had some 2,500 scientists participating, but the real “work” of the IPCC was undertaken by a close knit group of global warming fraudsters, several of whom are under investigation. They include Prof. Phil Jones of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) that provided key data regarding the planet’s temperatures---which always seemed to be rising exponentially. Others included Prof. Michael Mann of Penn State University, a paleoclimatologist famed for his “hockey stick” graph of temperatures over the past 1,000 years that managed to overlook the Little Ice Age from 1300 to 1850. Joining the merry pranksters was Prof. Keith Briffa, another CRU researcher, who dished up a tree ring theory that confirmed global warming. Dr. Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, linked increased hurricane activity to global warming, but was probably hard pressed to explain those years when it did not increase. There are others like Dr. James Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Institute that got the whole ball rolling in 1986 when he told Congress that global warming would destroy the Earth if we didn’t put an end to all energy use that generated greenhouse gas emissions. Instead of noting the misdeeds of these and others closely affiliated with the IPCC, Bryan quoted a scientist from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a “lead author on the 2007 IPCC report.” And we know how eager Richard Somerville must have been to suggest it might have been a thousand pages of nonsense. Bryan also quoted Peter Frumhoff of the left-learning Union of Concerned Scientists who repeated the tired IPCC message that “there is no debate about the core urgency” of global warming. No debate? The debate has been raging for decades. Bryan, however, just plowed on, offering one excuse after another to cover the IPCC’s serious breach of ethics and accuracy, concluding that its “self-assessment” after each report and “the pressure…to be flawless” is the problem,but not the lies it has been putting forth since 1988. “But that’s exactly the sort of information policymakers will need to prepare for climate change going forward,” said Bryan. No, policymakers need is real science, proven science. And the IPCC “science” about global warming, now rebranded as "climate change", is an insult to all real scientists and, beyond them, to a worldwide public that was consistently led to believe a massive hoax. Time, Newsweek, and countless others in the mainstream media have been co-conspirators in the global warming fraud. It is time to end this shameful blot on journalism and begin to report facts, not apocalyptic fantasy. Global Warming Naysayers Find Support From Science Article below from the newspaper of UCSB In most areas of science, it is considered noble to be a skeptic of a given theory, unless that theory is man-made climate change. According to Al Gore, “The debate [about climate change] in the scientific community is over,” yet the debate curiously rages on. English Prime Minister Gordon Brown, frustrated by those pesky second-guessers, proclaimed, “we mustn’t be distracted by … flat-earth climate skeptics.” Yet while those who reject the climate change orthodoxy are portrayed as denying scientific fact, the facts are overwhelmingly supporting that skeptical view. The theory of global warming states that greenhouse gasses, like carbon dioxide, trap the sun’s heat in the atmosphere, therefore an increase in human carbon dioxide emissions could potentially cause a steady rise in temperature. Indeed, Earth’s temperature over the past century of industrialization has risen by about .5 degrees Celsius, but the theory holds that greenhouse warming should be highest in the troposphere, the place where the greenhouse warming effect begins. Utterly confounding global warming temperature models, weather balloon data has shown the opposite; the troposphere has been consistently cooler than surface temperatures. When faced with real atmospheric data, one of the most fundamental assumptions behind climate change due to greenhouse warming absolutely breaks down. Global warming proponents use data from ice core surveys to show that there is an intimate correlation between carbon dioxide and temperature. However, as the 2007 BBC documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle reveals, the alleged correlation is backward. Professor Ian Clark from the University of Ottawa has demonstrated from several ice core surveys that changes in the level of carbon dioxide lag behind corresponding changes in temperature by hundreds of years. Carl Wunsch, professor of oceanography at M.I.T., described the phenomenon thus: “The ocean is the major reservoir [of] carbon dioxide … if you heat the surface of the ocean, it tends to emit carbon dioxide.” As the sun becomes increasingly active, it warms the vast oceans which, over a process that takes hundreds of years, release massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. “The sun is driving climate change,” explains Solar Physicist Piers Corbyn. “Carbon dioxide is irrelevant.” It is easy for climate change advocates to dismiss skeptics as irrational and avoid a debate that threatens their primitive ideology. Their emotional argument consists of pointing to the thermometer in self-righteous indignation, but while temperature has been increasing, so has solar activity. The intensity of the sun’s magnetic field more than doubled during the twentieth century. That is why the Left must silence skeptics and maintain a facade of scientific consensus, for if man-made climate change were to be revealed as junk science, their radical, anti-capitalist agenda would be utterly rejected by most Americans. Government regulations, such as caps on carbon emissions, have the potential to destroy both the economic prosperity of western civilization and the industrial progress of the third world. Only global warming skeptics, armed with scientific evidence and a willingness to question authority, have a chance of stopping them. For more postings from me, see DISSECTING LEFTISM, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here. For readers in China or for times when blogger.com is playing up, there are mirrors of this site here and here

RESELLERS TERMS AND CONDITIONS This Product Reseller Agreement (the "Agreement"), is entered into by and between Ortho Molecular Products, Inc., a Wisconsin corporation having its principal place of business at 1991 Duncan Place, Woodstock, IL 60098 ("Supplier"), and your company (known hereafter as "Reseller"): Supplier and Reseller may be collectively referred to as the "Parties", or may be each singularly referred to as a "Party"). 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Accordingly, Reseller agrees not to advertise through any medium of mass communication that any Product will be sold at less than the suggested retail price for each respective Product as listed on Supplier’s then-current Product Price List. Reseller further agrees not to sell any Product at a volume discount or through any sales promotion that would cause the per sale unit price to drop below the suggested retail price for any respective Product as listed on Supplier’s then-current Product Price List. This Agreement does not establish an actual retail price for the Products; Reseller is in no way prohibited from selling Products at higher prices than the prices listed on Supplier’s then-current Product Price List. 7.1 Initial Term. The Term of this Agreement commences on the Effective Date and continues indefinitely, unless or until terminated as provided under this Agreement (the “Initial Term”). 7.2 Supplier’s Right to Terminate. Supplier may terminate this Agreement by providing written notice to Reseller: 7.2.1 If Reseller fails to pay any amount when due under this Agreement ("Payment Failure") and the failure continues for ninety (90) days after Reseller's receipt of any invoice which states Reseller’s obligation to pay such amount; 7.2.2 If within any period of two (2) months, two (2) or more Payment Failures occur; 7.2.3 If Reseller breaches any provision of this Agreement (other than a Payment Failure), and either the breach cannot be cured or, if the breach can be cured, it is not cured by Reseller within ten (10) days after Reseller’s receipt of written Notice of the breach; 7.2.4 If Reseller is dissolved or liquidated or takes any corporate action for such purpose, becomes insolvent or files, or has filed against it, a petition for voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy or under any other insolvency Law, makes or seeks to make a general assignment for the benefit of its creditors or applies for, or consents to, the appointment of a trustee, receiver or custodian for a substantial part of its property, or is generally unable to pay its debts as they become due; 7.2.5 If Reseller sells, leases, exchanges, transfers, or disposes of a material portion of Reseller’s assets; merges or consolidates with or into any other entity, unless the surviving entity has a net worth greater than or equal to Reseller’s net worth immediately before the merger or consolidation; or undergoes a change of Control, in any case without Supplier’s prior written consent. Any termination under this Section 7.2 shall be effective on Reseller’s receipt of Supplier’s written Notice of termination or any later date set out in the Notice. 7.3 Effect of Termination. The termination of the Term does not affect any rights or obligations that were incurred by the Parties prior to the termination. Upon termination, all indebtedness of Reseller to Supplier of any kind is immediately due and payable on the effective date of the Term’s termination without further Notice to Reseller. Any Notice of termination under this Agreement automatically operates as a cancellation of any deliveries of Products to Reseller scheduled to be made after the effective date of termination, whether or not any orders for the Products had been accepted by Supplier. Regarding any Products that are still in transit on termination of this Agreement, Supplier may require, in its sole discretion, that all sales and deliveries of the Products be made on either a cash-only or certified check basis. Upon expiration or earlier termination of the Term, Reseller shall cease to represent itself as Supplier’s authorized reseller regarding the Products, and shall otherwise desist from all conduct or representations that might lead the public to believe Reseller is authorized by Supplier to sell the Products. 8.1 Protection of Confidential Information. From time to time during the Term, either Party (as the "Disclosing Party") may disclose or make available to the other Party (as the "Receiving Party") information about its business affairs, goods and services, confidential information and materials comprising or relating to Intellectual Property Rights, trade secrets, third-party confidential information and other sensitive or proprietary information, as well as the terms of this Agreement, whether orally or in written, electronic or other form or media, and whether or not marked, designated or otherwise identified as "confidential" (collectively, "Confidential Information"). Confidential Information does not include information that, at the time of disclosure: 8.1.1 Is or becomes generally available to and known by the public other than resulting from, directly or indirectly, any breach of this Section by the Receiving Party or any of its Representatives; 8.1.2 Is or becomes available to the Receiving Party on a non-confidential basis from a third-party source, provided that the third party is not and was not prohibited from disclosing the Confidential Information; 8.1.3 Was known by or in the possession of the Receiving Party or its Representatives before being disclosed by or on behalf of the Disclosing Party; 8.1.4 Was or is independently developed by the Receiving Party without reference to or use of, in whole or in part, any of the Disclosing Party's Confidential Information; or 8.1.5 Must be disclosed under applicable Law. 8.2 Obligations of Receiving Party. The Receiving Party shall: 8.2.1 Protect and safeguard the confidentiality of the Disclosing Party's Confidential Information with at least the same degree of care as the Receiving Party would protect its own Confidential Information, but in no event with less than a commercially reasonable degree of care 8.2.2 Not use the Disclosing Party's Confidential Information, or permit it to be accessed or used, for any purpose other than to exercise its rights or perform its obligations under this Agreement; and 8.2.3 Not disclose any Confidential Information to any Person, except to the Receiving Party's Representatives who must know the Confidential Information to assist the Receiving Party, or act on its behalf, to exercise its rights or perform its obligations under this Agreement. 8.2.4 Bear responsibility for any breach of this Section 8 caused by any of its Representatives. 8.2.5 Promptly return or destroy all Confidential Information (including copies) and all documents and tangible materials that contain, reflect, incorporate or are based on Confidential Information received under this Agreement, upon request of the Disclosing Party. 9. Intellectual Property Rights 9.1 Ownership. Subject to the express rights granted by Supplier in this Agreement, Reseller acknowledges and agrees that: 9.1.1 Supplier's Intellectual Property Rights are the sole and exclusive property of Supplier or its licensors; 9.1.2 Reseller shall not acquire any ownership interest in any of Supplier's Intellectual Property Rights under this Agreement; 9.1.3 Any goodwill derived from the use by Reseller of Supplier's Intellectual Property Rights inures to the benefit of Supplier or its licensors, as the case may be; 9.1.4 If Reseller acquires any Intellectual Property Rights in or relating to any product (including any Product) purchased under this Agreement (including any rights in any Trademarks, derivative works or patent improvements relating thereto), by operation of law, or otherwise, these rights are deemed and are hereby irrevocably assigned to Supplier or its licensors, as the case may be, without further action by either Party; and 9.1.5 Reseller shall use Supplier's Intellectual Property Rights solely for the purposes of performing its obligations under this Agreement and only in accordance with this Agreement and the instructions of Supplier. 9.2 Supplier's Trademark License Grant. This Agreement does not grant either Party the right to use the other Party's or their affiliates' Trademarks except as set out under this Section. Subject to Supplier's trademark policies, Supplier hereby grants to Reseller a non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-sublicensable license to use Supplier's Trademarks during the Term solely on or in connection with the promotion, advertising and resale of the Products in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement. Reseller will promptly discontinue the display or use of any Trademark to change the manner in which a Trademark is displayed or used with regard to the Products when requested by Supplier. Other than the express licenses granted by this Agreement, Supplier grants no right or license to Reseller, by implication, estoppel or otherwise, to the Products or any Intellectual Property Rights of Supplier. Reseller agrees to use the symbols TM and ©, as appropriate, when displaying Supplier’s Trademarks, to indicate Supplier’s ownership of the Trademarks; use of such symbols shall not be construed as claims to ownership by the Reseller. Reseller’s use of Supplier’s Trademarks must be accompanied by a statement substantially as follows: “[INSERT NAMES OF TRADEMARKS] are trademarks of Ortho Molecular Products, Inc., and are used with permission.” Reseller’s website must also include, on all pages that reflect Products, a statement substantially as follows: “This site is not owned or operated by Ortho Molecular Products, Inc.” 9.3 Prohibited Acts. Reseller shall not: 9.3.1 Take any action that interferes with any of Supplier's rights in or to Supplier's Intellectual Property Rights, including Supplier's ownership or exercise thereof; 9.3.2 Challenge any right, title or interest of Supplier in or to Supplier's Intellectual Property Rights; 9.3.3 Make any claim or take any action adverse to Supplier's ownership of Supplier's Intellectual Property Rights; 9.3.4 Register or apply for registrations, anywhere in the world, for Supplier's Trademarks or any other Trademark that is similar to any of Supplier's Trademarks or that incorporates Supplier's Trademarks in whole or in confusingly similar part; 9.3.5 Use any mark, anywhere, that is confusingly similar to Supplier's Trademarks; 9.3.6 Engage in any action that tends to disparage, dilute the value of, or reflect negatively on the products purchased under this Agreement (including Products) or any Supplier Trademark; 9.3.7 Misappropriate any of Supplier's Trademarks for use as a domain name without prior written consent from Supplier; and 9.3.8 Alter, obscure or remove any of Supplier's Trademarks or trademark or copyright notices or any other proprietary rights notices placed on Products or any marketing materials or other materials that Supplier may provide to Reseller. 9.4 Supplier's Trademark Notices. Reseller shall ensure that all Products sold by Reseller and all related quotations, specifications and descriptive literature, and all other materials carrying Supplier's Trademark, are marked with the appropriate trademark notices in accordance with Supplier's instructions. 9.5 No Continuing Rights. On expiration or earlier termination of this Agreement: 9.5.1 Reseller's rights under Section 9.2 cease immediately; and 9.5.2 Reseller shall immediately cease all display, advertising, promotion and use of all of Supplier's Trademarks and shall not thereafter use, advertise, promote or display any trademark, trade name or product designation or any part thereof that is similar to or confusing with Supplier's Trademarks or with any trademark, trade name or product designation associated with Supplier or any Product. 10. Price and Payment 10.1 Price. Reseller shall purchase the Products from Supplier at the prices set out in Supplier's reseller price list in effect when the Supplier accepts the related Purchase Order ("Prices"). 10.2 Shipping Charges, Insurance and Taxes. Reseller shall pay for shipping charges and shipping insurance costs for the Products. All Prices are exclusive of all sales, use and excise taxes, and any other similar taxes, duties and charges of any kind imposed by any Governmental Authority on any amounts payable by Reseller under this Agreement. Reseller is responsible for all charges, costs and taxes; provided, however, that, Reseller is not responsible for any taxes imposed on, or regarding, Supplier's income, revenues, gross receipts, Personnel or real or personal property or other assets. 10.3 Payment Terms. Supplier shall issue invoices to Reseller for all Products ordered. Reseller shall pay all invoiced amounts due to Supplier on receipt, as indicated on each invoice, except for any amounts disputed by Reseller in good faith and in accordance with Section 10.4. Reseller shall make all payments in US dollars, by check or wire transfer; wire transfer instructions will be provided by Supplier to Reseller upon request. 10.4 Invoice Disputes. Reseller shall Notify Supplier in writing of any dispute with any invoice (along with substantiating documentation or a reasonably detailed dispute description) within seven (7) Business Days from the date of the invoice. Reseller will be deemed to have accepted all invoices for which Supplier does not receive timely Notice of disputes, and shall pay all undisputed amounts due under these invoices within the period set out above. The Parties shall seek to resolve all disputes expeditiously and in good faith. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, Reseller shall continue performing its obligations under this Agreement during any dispute, including, without limitation, Reseller's obligation to pay all due and undisputed invoice amounts in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement. 10.5 Late Payments. Except for invoiced payments that Reseller has successfully disputed, Reseller shall pay interest on all late payments, calculated daily and compounded monthly, at the lesser of the rate of 1.5% per month or the highest rate permissible under applicable Law. Reseller shall also reimburse Supplier for all costs reasonably incurred in collecting any late payments, including, without limitation, attorneys' fees. In addition to all other remedies available under this Agreement or at Law (which Supplier does not waive by the exercise of any rights under this Agreement), Supplier may suspend the delivery of any Products if Reseller fails to pay any undisputed amounts when due under this Agreement and may thereafter terminate this Agreement under the terms of Section 7.2.1. 10.6 No Set-off Right. Reseller shall not, and acknowledges that it has no right, under this Agreement, any Purchase Order, any other agreement, document or Law, to, withhold, offset, recoup or debit any amounts owed (or become due and owing) to Supplier or any of its affiliates, whether under this Agreement or otherwise, against any other amount owed or to become due and owing to it by Supplier or Supplier's affiliates, whether relating to Supplier's or its affiliates' breach or non-performance of this Agreement, any Purchase Order, or any other agreement between Reseller or any of its affiliates. 11.1 Reseller Indemnification. Reseller shall indemnify, hold harmless, and defend Supplier and its parent, officers, directors, partners, members, shareholders, employees, agents, affiliates, successors and permitted assigns (collectively, "Indemnified Party") against any and all losses, damages, liabilities, deficiencies, claims, actions, judgments, settlements, interest, awards, penalties, fines, costs, or expenses of whatever kind, including attorneys' fees, fees or fines, and the costs of enforcing any right to indemnification under this Agreement and the cost of pursuing any insurance providers (collectively, "Losses"), incurred by Indemnified Party and arising out of or relating to any Claim of a third party: 11.1.1 Relating to a breach or non-fulfillment of any obligation under this Agreement by Reseller or Reseller's Personnel; 11.1.2 Alleging or relating to any grossly negligent or more culpable act or omission of Reseller or its Personnel (including any recklessness or willful misconduct) in connection with the performance of its obligations under this Agreement; 11.1.3 Alleging or relating to any bodily injury, death of any Person or damage to real or tangible personal property caused by the willful or negligent acts or omissions of Reseller or its Personnel; 11.1.4 Relating to a purchase of a Product by any person or entity purchasing directly or indirectly through Reseller; or 11.1.5 Relating to any failure by Reseller or its Personnel to comply with any applicable Laws. 12.1 Further Assurances. On a Party's reasonable request, the other Party shall, at its sole cost and expense, execute and deliver all further documents and instruments, and take all further acts, reasonably necessary to give full effect to this Agreement. 12.2 Entire Agreement. This Agreement, including and together with any Purchase Order Transaction Terms and any related exhibits, schedules, attachments and appendices, constitutes the Parties' sole and entire agreement regarding the subject matter of this Agreement and therein, and supersedes all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, regarding this subject matter. 12.3 Notices. Each Party shall deliver all notices, requests, consents, claims, demands, waivers and other communications under this Agreement (each, a "Notice") in writing and addressed to the other Party at its address set forth above. Each Party shall deliver all Notices by personal delivery, nationally recognized overnight courier or certified or registered mail (in each case, return receipt requested, postage prepaid). Notice given by facsimile or e-mail (with confirmation of transmission) satisfies the requirements of this Section. 12.4 Headings. The headings in this Agreement are for reference only and do not affect the interpretation of this Agreement. 12.5 Severability. If any term or provision of this Agreement is invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, the invalidity, illegality or unenforceability does not affect any other term or provision of this Agreement or invalidate or render unenforceable the term or provision in any other jurisdiction; provided, however, that if any fundamental term or provision of this Agreement is invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the remainder of this Agreement is unenforceable. On a determination that any term or provision is invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the Parties shall negotiate in good faith to modify this Agreement to effectuate the Parties' original intent as closely as possible in order that the transactions contemplated hereby be consummated as originally contemplated to the greatest extent possible. 12.6 Amendment and Modification. No amendment to this Agreement is effective unless it is in writing, identified as an amendment to this Agreement, and signed by an authorized representative of each Party. 12.7 Waiver. No waiver under this Agreement is effective unless it is in writing, identified as a waiver to this Agreement, and signed by an authorized representative of the Party waiving its right. Any waiver authorized on one occasion is effective only in that instance and only for the purpose stated, and does not operate as a waiver on any future occasion. The following shall not constitute a waiver or estoppel of any right, remedy, power, privilege or condition arising from this Agreement: any failure or delay in exercising any right, remedy, power or privilege or in enforcing any condition under this Agreement; or any act, omission or course of dealing between the Parties. 12.8 Cumulative Remedies. All rights and remedies provided in this Agreement are cumulative and not exclusive, and the exercise by either Party of any right or remedy does not preclude the exercise of any other rights or remedies that may now or later be available at law, in equity, by statute, in any other agreement between the Parties or otherwise. 12.9 Equitable Remedies. Reseller acknowledges and agrees that (a) a breach or threatened breach by Reseller of any of its obligations under this Agreement would give rise to irreparable harm to the Supplier for which monetary damages would not be an adequate remedy and (b) in the event of a breach or a threatened breach by Reseller of any of these obligations, Supplier shall, in addition to any and all other rights and remedies that may be available to Supplier at law, at equity or otherwise in respect of this breach, be entitled to equitable relief, including a temporary restraining order, an injunction, specific performance and any other relief that may be available from a court of competent jurisdiction, without any requirement to post a bond or other security, and without any requirement to prove actual damages or that monetary damages do not afford an adequate remedy. Reseller agrees that it will not oppose or otherwise challenge the appropriateness of equitable relief or the entry by a court of competent jurisdiction of an order granting equitable relief, in either case, consistent with the terms of this Section. 12.10 Assignment. Reseller may not assign any of its rights or delegate any of its obligations under this Agreement without the prior written consent of Supplier. Any purported assignment or delegation in violation of this Section is null and void. No assignment or delegation relieves the assigning or delegating Party of any of its obligations under this Agreement. Supplier may assign any of its rights or delegate any of its obligations to any Affiliate or to any Person acquiring all or substantially all of Supplier's assets without the consent of Reseller. 12.11 Successors and Assigns. This Agreement is binding on and inures to the benefit of the Parties and their respective permitted successors and permitted assigns. 12.12 Choice of Law. This Agreement, including all exhibits, schedules, attachments and appendices attached hereto and thereto, are governed by, and construed in accordance with, the Laws of the State of Wisconsin, without regard to the conflict of laws provisions thereof to the extent these principles or rules would require or permit the application of the Laws of any jurisdiction other than those of the State of Wisconsin. 12.13 Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in counterparts, each of which is deemed an original, but all of which together are deemed to be one and the same agreement. A signed copy of this Agreement delivered by facsimile, e-mail or other means of electronic transmission is deemed to have the same legal effect as delivery of an original signed copy of this Agreement. 12.14 Force Majeure. No Party shall be liable or responsible to the other Party, nor be deemed to have defaulted under or breached this Agreement, for any failure or delay in fulfilling or performing any term of this Agreement (except for any obligations to make payments to the other Party under this Agreement), when and to the extent the failure or delay is caused by or results from acts beyond the impacted Party's ("Impacted Party") reasonable control, including the following force majeure events ("Force Majeure Events": (a) acts of God; (b) flood, fire, earthquake or explosion; (c) war, invasion, hostilities (whether war is declared or not), terrorist threats or acts, riot or other civil unrest; (d) requirements of Law; (e) actions, embargoes or blockades in effect on or after the date of this Agreement; (f) action by any Governmental Authority; (g) national or regional emergency; (h) strikes, labor stoppages or slowdowns or other industrial disturbances; and (i) shortage of adequate power or transportation facilities. The Impacted Party shall give Notice within fifteen (15) days of the Force Majeure Event to the other Party, stating the period of time the occurrence is expected to continue. The Impacted Party shall use diligent efforts to end the failure or delay and ensure the effects of the Force Majeure Event are minimized. The Impacted Party shall resume the performance of its obligations as soon as reasonably practicable after the removal of the cause. In the event that the Impacted Party's failure or delay remains uncured for a period of thirty (30) days following written Notice given by it under this Section, either Party may thereafter terminate this Agreement on fifteen (15) days' written Notice.

I consider this to be a great sports week for Michigan and Ohio this week. The Cavs and Pistons are battling it out for a shot at the NBA Finals and the Indians and Tigers are duking it out for 1st place in their division. Tonight was a great night for Cleveland. The Indians rode a good pitching performance from their newcomer Carmona. It was fun to see Sheffield and Mesa on the Tigers team. Seeing Mesa reminded me of the great run the tribe had in the 90's. Seeing Sheffield reminded me that Detroit is still a pretty big market ballclub. The tribe's closer Borowski is really coming on and the club gets solid hr's from Garko tonight. The Indians swept the weekend series with the Tigers and will play them on Friday of next week. The Cavaliers found a way to beat the Pistons, after two close 79-76 losses. LeBron scored 30 and paced the Cavs to a great win. He made some great fade aways and clutch shots. I hope Larry Hughes is alright, but Daniel Gibson seems tough under pressure. I also like Z this series and season. He is diving, picking up the outside man, and making good plays. The Cavs got a much needed win against a tough and experienced Piston squad. Either way, Cleveland and Detroit have national spotlights' on them now. That is good for both cities and the Midwest in general. Sunday, May 27, 2007 I consider this to be a great sports week for Michigan and Ohio this week. The Cavs and Pistons are battling it out for a shot at the NBA Finals and the Indians and Tigers are duking it out for 1st place in their division. Here is a link to that article. It also seems that there are air strikes on the Gaza Strip and no one is callling for a cease fire. The Israelis and Palestinians are at it again. How big will this event get? Will they ever get along? What, if anything, can we (humans) do about the political and cultural differences of religion? What else fuels this fire between the two nations? This memorial day I am using my blogging time to talk about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is a form of mental illness brought on by life events that cause a high level of stress or contain a traumatic event. Sometimes we have seen the disorder after pregnancies and we have seen them after war. Here is a wiki of the disorder for a quick glance. We will see a lot of this occurrence as the war in Iraq and Afghanistan continues in the name of Combat Stress Disorder. This tells us that we need to be ready to handle the rigors of dealing with people who have experienced trauma while serving our country. For that reason I am in support of Mental Health Parity to ensure that our affected servicemen and women get the support they need when they come back to our country. Not only will it ensure that our service men and women are taken care of, a National Statement will ensure that those with mental illness in our country do not go forgotten about. In my field(s) I have noticed that Mental Illness gets the least amount of government funding. Education is number one of course and mental illness is last, right behind people with Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. Here is why I would support the legislation 1.) Legislation will help mental illness get the same validity of physical illness in terms of health care coverage. 2.) The government money used can go to programs that can improve diagnosis and treatment of the disorder; hopefully they will also try to track fraud. 3.) It will strengthen our communities by providing more resources to our mentally ill population. This will decrease family and caregiver stress and hopefully improve the lives of people living with Depression, Personality Disorders, Bi-Polar and PTSD. Here is an article that will discuss in further detail a discussion about Combat Stress Disorder. It talks about the disorder and the numbers they are seeing already with troops men and women) early cases. We need to be able to respond as a country to make sure these people get the best care for their mental health that we possibly can.Written by By Jessica Fargen Boston Herald Health & Medical Reporter Click Here for the Article Here is a list of about 95 organizations, regional and National who are in support of the legislation: Click Here: List of Organizations Involved mhlg.org Finally here is a write up of the Mental Health Parity Bill that they hope to sign this year. It will really effect insurance companies and employers, there is a lot of detail about exemptions and small businesses. You can read the full text at the following link: Link to The Mental Health Parity Act of 2007 Feel free to give me any feedback you want regarding this post. I think mental illness is an easy target for people because it is hard to see, hard to diagnose, and some people can experience the same events and not feel emotional pain. It affects a lot of people on a daily basis. Saturday, May 26, 2007 To all thirteen of our faithful (daily average for the month) readers, We are now going to post Pay Per Post offers on our Make a Difference Blog. We hope that you consider this act of shameless advertising more as a means of giving us the ability to continue doing our creative media work rather than "pimps" of internet marketers. ads on blogs We believe we are both, but only want to mention it just this once. Anyway, if History Mike can do it, then so can we dammit! Anyway, pay per post is pretty easy, 1. You sign up and get you blog approved. 2. Look at the opportunities you are qualified for. (we do not qualify for many, yet) 3. Decide whether or not you want to "Pimp" I mean post. 5. Wait for people to blast you for your posting a piece of crap or thank you for making their day with products, websites, software programs, and other items offered to write about. Please feel free to comment on this post or any other for that matter. Also, you get to choose what items you want to sponsor on your site. We will try to be selective!! We love feedback. Wednesday, May 23, 2007 historymike: Bush Finally Finds His al Qaeda-Iraq Connection, Albeit Post-Invasion Here is a link to a good piece written on Toledo's History Mike's Musings, a local Ohio blogger. A great discussion of the George Bush revelation today about the Al Qaeida and Iraq. The anonymous poster is also funny in the comments section. Although, I do wonder how many people actually believe that speaking out against war is somehow leftist. Then I read this post by Kris Kling on his blog The Kris Kling Opinion going off on someone: I don't know if the two posts go together, but I thought I would highlight their thoughts and keep encouraging change. How many people vote for America idol but don't vote in US elections? Thursday, May 17, 2007 I normally don't post to the blog on the gay issue, but I feel compelled to do so today after spending time perusing the blogs. Background:On last Saturday, I attended the ODP State Dinner, where the Columbus Gay Men's Chorus was asked to sing two songs,as an addition to the great entertainment for the function. The governor, during the event, even went so far as to come over to the chorus members, right before they performed, to acknowledge their presence. This invitation to the Gay Men's Chorus was an unprecedented event, and was just one of the steps that the governor has taken to keep his promises to the LGBT community, which came together to raise a great deal of money and contribute many volunteer hours during his political race last year. As I watched the news and the blogs this past week, I saw nothing written about the Gay men's Chorus performing at the dinner. In fact, some bloggers went out of the way to not cause trouble for the governor by calling the group "the chorus". This was fine with me, as I didn't expect anything to surface just because of the Gay issue; after all, the Governor was simply promoting inclusion of all groups, and working to make Ohio a state the doesn't treat groups of people differently. Even attempts to share the news of the passing of Jerry Falwell, a destructive and slanderous pillar for Conservative America, was done with taste by the bloggers. On to the issue: So, this morning, the Governor signed an executive order that includes GLBT people in the current protections of employment discrimination for state employees: g. Rate of Compensation h. Eligibility for In- Service Training Programs Again, this protection is not asking for special protections for GLBT people, it is asking for equal protection for such people, the same equal protection that is afforded to all people in this great country. What fired me up was this text, which I am quoting from the Right Angle Blog: Some people's stupidity just pisses me off to no end. I am not a lawyer but I can tell you that someone would not claim that they are gay to keep their job, and even if they did, the law is going to insist that they prove their claim. Does the blogger really believe that some straight guy is going to subject himself to testimony that he has engaged in such "perverse lifestyle choices", as it is described within the blog post? Why must some people try to scare the hell out of people; oh yeah, it is because that is how they ensure they get the votes. I will close with a paraphrase of comments that I heard Joyce Beatty deliver to a group of people participating in a lobbying effort from Equality Ohio yesterday. She explained that each person should remember, as he or she talks with his or her senator and Representative, that he or she is simply advocating for equal protection and treatment, the same equal protection and treatment that is given to all of the citizens of this country. It is herein that I personally thank and congratulate our Governor on his efforts to make Ohio a state where all people are treated equally and protected equally. It is only through such efforts that Ohio will begin to recover from its 16 years of losses, begin to repair its inadequately funded education system, and begin to develop an economy that attracts the best workers and secures the best future for its residence. Ted, I hope you continue to "Turn around Ohio". Well, World Bank Leader Paul Wolfowitz has "resigned on his own terms" after his promotion and bonus giving to a female "friend". I did not know that he was the architect of the Iraq War. When will it be Alberto Gonzales's Turn to step down? Or is he going to be drug out kicking and screaming? A few more Republicans are calling for his ouster, the Democrats are filling a vote of no confidence, and GOP report remains strong. The Leader of the Republican Party in Michigan wants Ron Paul banned for his comments about the Iraq War. And I saw a clip on The Colbert Report tonight that had this Bushism found at crazylinks: --Reporter: Is the tide turning in Iraq? -- Bush: "I think - tide turning - see, as I remember, I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of, it's easy to see a tide turn - did I say those words?" June 14, 2006 Thanks to Abandoned Stuff for giving us the heads up on a great effort related to trying to impact the Gas Price Situation. Check out an excerpt from the event being proposed for the Week of July 8 through July 15: From July 8-15, 2007, all around the globe, people are going to try their hardest to get out of their cars for their daily commute, and walk, ride transit, or bike to work for a whole week. A chance for all of them to save gas, produce less traffic and pollution, and enjoy life a little more. Though I do not feel this will have a huge impact on profits of suppliers or significantly reduce the price of gas, the longer duration might help to show the effects of a boycott on gas. I'm also hoping that participants may realize that they can, in fact, find other ways to get to work. But, as I stated in my previous post, the only real way to decrease the price of Gas is to consistently, over time, decrease our use of gas. Read more about the event on Facebook or at http://www.1337hax0r.com/?p=557 I thought I would present this as a follow up to my post last week on the Gas Out. Wednesday, May 16, 2007 Urgent Action by June 4: The Department of Energy wants to turn Southern Ohio into a nuclear waste dump. I received this email today from a recently formed group: The Southern Ohio Neighbors Group (SONG). Any time a group of people come together to stop corruption and turn around Ohio, I think it is worth getting the word out. The following is an excerpt from the text of the email that I received: The federal reservation near Piketon, Ohio, has been proposed as a storage site for high-level nuclear waste, imported from other counties, other states, and other countries. These plans were developed in secret without public disclosure and with fraudulent claims of community support. The group, in conjunction with Progress Ohio, has put together testimony, which, after signed by all of us, will be delivered to the Department of Energy. The deadline to take action is June 4, 2007. Here is a link from Framed Discourse and Debate about who won the 2nd Republican Debate last night. The blogs author is James Trumm. I am copying his work on Rudy Guiliani and Ron Paul because it highlights my previous post, Why are we at war. James goes into a little more detail about the exchange and I think he does a great job in highlighting the scenario. You should also check out his blog (Title Link) for the rest of his reactions to the debate winners and losers. Giuliani didn't. He was doing fairly well--calling the Democrats' plan to get out of Iraq a "timetable for retreat," and handling the abortion questions much better that last time--until Ron Paul suggested that just maybe U.S. policies in the Middle East had something to do with motivating the 9/11 terrorists. Rudy went borderline apoplectic about this and took off after poor little Ron Paul like a rabid badger. It's a pretty basic rule of debate that you don't pick fights down; you can only hurt yourself. That's what he did. He overplayed his 9/11 hero cred and wound up looking like a bully--and not a very bright one at that. Paul didn't, though as noted above, he probably benefited from having Rudy the Rabid charge after him. He could have gotten an even bigger boost had he not seemed to physically shrink in the face of Giuliani's bullying. He had the virtue of offering the most coherent philosophy. He had the courage to advocate dismantling the Department of Homeland Security, saying we didn't need another layer of bureaucracy to fight terrorism. He zinged the other candidates who used the term "enhanced interrogation techniques," saying it sounded like Newspeak. Yesterday I noticed that "Ron Paul" was the top Google search of the day, and his performance last night will probably keep him on top of those rankings for a while. Still, his repeated references to "my argument is . . ." made him seem like he was competing in a high school debate contest, not a Presidential primary. People don't vote for arguments. Here is a post from the New Republic discussing the difference between Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul regarding the War that Bin Laden has waged with the US. I like what Ron Paul has to say about this war. His views are opposite of Rudy Giuliani who believes Islam does not like us because "freedom and women's rights." Ron Paul believes that America's presence in the Middle East is because of (1) US Involvement in the Middle East, (2) Palestine, and (3) Sanctions on Iraq as reasons why he has declared war To me, just by reading the differences in thought Ron Paul's assessment seems more realistic. But just for probings sake I "scoured the internets" to see what else I could dig up on Bin Ladens reason for declaring War on The US. Here is what I found: Here is a PBS transcript of the original FATWA (declaration of war) against the US Here is a transcript in Osama's own words discussing his anger about the occupation of the Holy Land and our relationship ($$) with Israel. Here is some video of the Republican debate last night where Rudy blasted Ron Paul about his beliefs for our occupation and the reasons for war. Again using 9/11 as "the day the world changed" But more importantly it is a great compassionate compelling reason to really ask "Why do they hate us" What I think is sad is the fact that Ron Paul got a few claps and relieved cheers and Rudy got a raucous applause for his one liner. To me it seems clear that we (the United States) have had a vested interest in the Middle East. We do fund a lot of projects in Israel, we do have a president with huge ties to Saudi Arabia, we have a desire to gain cheaper access to foreign oil. We have been in the middle east for as long as I remember. I think Rudy Giuliani is wrong by dismissing and attacking Ron Paul for his viewpoints and so are people who believe that the US is innocent in what it is strategically implementing overseas. Our actions have angered people and will continue to do so until we have a government that is able to take a look at itself and evaluate what is really best for our country. An American Embassy in Iraq that is bigger than the Vatican, should not be a priority. Monday, May 14, 2007 My buddy (not really) Braylon Edwards gave 1 million of his hard earned NFL earnings to the Cleveland School System for the advancement of a new scholarship program. The mayor of Cleveland was also in the house, in addition to our famed Dr. Eugene Sanders former Toledo Public Schools. Other than being there, they did not mention Sanders as being a critical component of this event. Looks like Braylon has his own foundation dedicated to underserved youth and educational opportunities. Here is a link to his foundation. I think it is great that athletes venture out from their NFL roles and give back to the community. I also saw on his site that he fed 500 families from Detroit and had this to say: “I am grateful to be in a position where I contribute to the lives of so many people,” Edwards says. “It feels good to return home to see family and friends, but more importantly, to make a difference.” You go Braylon. Cavs won tonight too. Saturday, May 12, 2007 Here is an article from MSNBC about Michael Moore. This time he is being questioned about breaking the trade embargo with Cuba. The Treasury's OFAC-Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued this investigation and Mr. Moore is already blaming George Bush and the administration as being responsible for the pressure. Looks like good timing for Moore's new Movie "Sicko" coming out this summer. The article also states that the movie has gotten good reviews on both sides of the political aisle. It also stated that some enemies of the movie will be "Big Pharma" and HMO's (imagine that). Seems to me that the administration would like to silence Mr. Moore. Seems to me that Mr. Moore does a great job at getting media attention. I will go see "Sicko" to piss off the neo-con's and see what we can do about fixing health care. Thursday, May 10, 2007 I have received at least three different emails talking about the Great Gas Out which is scheduled to take place on May 15, 2007. For your reference, one of them reads: NO GAS...On May 15th 2007 Don't pump gas on May 15th In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight. On May 15th 2007, all Internet users are being asked not to go to a gas station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in most places. There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the Internet Network and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to fill up. If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil companies' pockets for just one day. Send this to all your contact list. With it saying, ''Don't pump gas on May 15th" At S & G Endeavors, we are committed to change on all levels, whether it is using our strategic planning services to help create organizations with great ideas or using our media services to create media for a changing world. I, personally, am extremely committed to the Bill of Rights for this country, which provides us with the ability to organize in groups to protest those things that we feel unfair. Though I do not drive, I believe the gas prices to be a true injustice to those who do, and have held several conversations with friends, family members, and my business partner regarding the subject. I fully support the intentions of this protest, but my higher commitment to leading change is compelled to ask the following question: Just how effective is this “protest” going to be, and what will be yielded to the consumer as a result of such efforts? Before you get upset with my question and assume that I am just spouting off a negative attitude, I ask you to continue reading… Emails like the one above have been in circulation on the Internet since 1999. The Urban Legend Reference Pages explain why: This year's e-mails (proposing a one-day "gas out" in May 2007) is yet another recasting of similar messages that have been circulating since 1999. All of them are reminders that "protest" schemes that don't cost the participants any inconvenience, hardship, or money remain the most popular, despite their ineffectiveness. A one-day "gas out" was proposed in 1999, and a three-day-long event was called for in 2000, but both drew little active participation and had no real effect on retail gasoline prices. The premise behind all these messages is inherently flawed, because consumers' not buying gasoline on one particular day doesn't affect oil companies at all. The "gas out" scheme doesn't call upon people to use less gasoline, but simply to shift their date of purchase and buy gas a day earlier or later than they usually would. The very same amount of gasoline is sold either way, so oil companies don't lose any money. Further research yields similar statements—from CBS2Chicago.com: Chances are the plan is more fantasy than feasible…"I think in theory it may have some effect. But in reality or practice it would have little or no effect at all," said Jason Toews, co-founder of gasbuddy.com, a gas price-tracking site that allows visitors to post and compare local gas prices. “Getting enough people to participate would probably be difficult,” he said, “as well as the fact that those participating would probably just fill up the day before or after the boycott.” And in addition, we find the following written in the Post Tribune: BP Amoco spokesman Scott Dean said a one-day strike wouldn't affect operations. "If suddenly, people no longer demand gasoline ever, certainly it would affect supply and therefore price," Dean said. "But for a single day? It doesn't change the picture for the month, the year or the decade." And, finally, as reported on NJ.com—who featured the article from the Gloucester County Times: It would take more than a one-day boycott to have an impact, said Eric DeGesero, executive vice president of the New Jersey Fuel Merchants Association. "They aren't going to have any long term impact until they change their behavior," DeGesero said. And, there we have it! An email goes out; it motivates people to think they will make a great impact; and, all that happens is the people are portrayed by the media as a joke. Check out these headlines from previous similar efforts provided by The Urban Legend Reference Pages: Reports indicated few motorists paid attention to a nationwide boycott touted initially by Internet e-mail and later by word of mouth. Although a gasoline boycott that began as an electronic mail campaign kept some drivers nationwide away from the pump, dealers say they saw little, if any, effect on their traffic. Friday's gasoline boycott was an effort that sputtered, coughed, then died. Motorists continued to fill up gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles and trucks alongside smaller vehicles despite a one-day protest aimed to pressure oil companies to lower gas prices. This is not to say that a boycott does not send a message, but the research suggests that the effects are minimal at best. In addition, the only supporting comment I found when doing my research was, ironically, from a Democratic Congressman in Gary, Indiana, as reported in the Post Tribune: "It sends a message that people have power," said state Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, who is trying to convince constituents to protest on May 15. It takes all of my effort at this time to not pick up the phone, call the Congressman, and ask him why he is using his time encouraging his constituents to waste their time with a boycott that lacks effect instead of using his resources to advocate on their behalf. To me, his comment only demonstrates that he is good at deflecting his own responsibility for not addressing the issue. As a fellow democrat, I am disgusted at the spin control he is using on his own people. My purpose in writing this post is not to discourage people from boycotting fuel; it is quite simply put, to demonstrate that we need to take a more aggressive strategy with our boycotting efforts. If we are going to use resources to bring the people together, why not bring the people together for a cause that will have a greater effect? How can a greater effect be achieved by consumers? According to the Urban Legend Reference Pages: Not buying gas on a designated day may make people feel a bit better about things by providing them a chance to vent their anger at higher gasoline prices, but the action won't have any real impact on retail prices. An effective protest would involve something like organizing people to forswear the use of their cars on specified days, an act that could effectively demonstrate the reality of the threat that if gasoline prices stayed high, American consumers were prepared to move to carpooling and public transportation for the long term. Gasoline is a fungible, global commodity, its price subject to the ordinary forces of supply and demand. No amount of consumer gimmickry and showmanship will lower its price in the long run; only a significant, ongoing reduction in demand will accomplish that goal. Unfortunately, for many people achieving that goal would mean cutting down on their driving or opting for less desirable economy cars over less fuel-efficient models, solutions they find unappealing. And, from Break the Chain.org, we read: In order to influence a reduction in prices, producers must either make more oil and refined fuel available, or consumers must reduce the demand for it. But this means a reduction in overall demand over a significant period of time. The United States is among the world's top consumers of gasoline. Fuel-efficiency on America's highways has not improved significantly over the last ten years and light trucks (including SUVs), which typically get the worst mileage, comprised nearly 55 percent of all new vehicles sold in 2003, and have accounted for more than half of all sales each year since at least 2000. And from CBS2Chicago.com, we are told very simply: "People just have to stop using their cars," Toews said. "They'd have to start using public transportation or carpooling. That's what it's going to take, not a 'gas out." So, what do I propose?—to start the discussion, I feel it best to include another excerpt from Break the Chain.org: The bottom line: If we want to save money at the pump, we must use less gas - slow down on the freeway, plan outings to get everything in one trip, walk more, ride a bicycle and trade in that gas-guzzling SUV for an economical compact or hybrid car for starters. Unfortunately, this has proven to be a very unpopular approach to the problem. Leave your comments, please. Based on the information discussed in this post, what do you think we should do—should we protest for a day, or should we do something else? Should we pressure our Congress members to stop wasting our time with spin control and to do something about the problem like using our income tax to invest in public transit that we can use? Should we pressure our country’s leader to use his family connection to oil to begin to fix the problem? I’m looking forward to your comments. Wednesday, May 09, 2007 Here is meeting information for the Toledo History Museum. They have a membership meeting coming up and I wanted to help get the word out. They have a lot of great plans in the works for the project and I hope you go and learn more. I cannot go because I have a parking lot party to go to in Findlay for the Camp Fire USA Teen Center. I will be there though, oneday, I promise. If you want more information about the Toledo History Museum e-mail Donna Christian at the contact info below. I am sure they will provide you with meeting minutes and official brochures and organization information. May General Membership Meeting The second THM general membership meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at the Sanger Branch Public Library, 3030 West Central Avenue. The business meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. with the program following from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Camp Miakonda: The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Memories Kenneth R. Dickson Free and open to the public Contact: Donna Christian, Vice-President, email@example.com Shameless self promotion. Well kind of. The link above is for Fishfull Thinking Charters in Eastlake Ohio. We did their website, but more importantly I have chartered with them. Captain Bob is a great guy and they definitely have the gear to find fish on Lake Erie. I am a big Tribe fan (19-10 Right Now) and I would say a day on the boat with them and a Jacob's field nightcap would be a great summer weekend. You could go with any charter company in the Cleveland area, but I recommend Fishfull. Ask for Captain Bob and tell him Make a Difference sent you, he'll have no clue who the hell that is. Only serious charter inquiries welcomed. Monday, May 07, 2007 Just in on my email from Progress Ohio: Get Caught Even Mentioning the Word "Union" and You Will Be FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 7, 2007 Contact: Brian Rothenberg, Spokesman 614-441-9145 Wal-Mart’s routine practice of violating U.S. workers’ rights Americans United for Change to deliver damning new report on WalMart to Voinovich & Brown Report spotlights the need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act [COLUMBUS] – As more and more of America’s working people are struggling to make ends meet and our middle class is disappearing, Americans United for Change along with ProgressOhio and UFCW officials will deliver a damning new report to Ohio Senators Voinovich and Brown detailing the disturbingly systematic union-busting practices of Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the United States. The report by The Human Rights Watch includes intimidating and even illegal firing of employees who attempt to exercise their right to freedom of association. Click here to download ‘Discounting Rights: Wal-Mart's Violation of US Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association’ “Wal-Mart is the textbook example of how badly broken U.S. labor laws are,” said Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director Of ProgressOhio. “There’s no better example of how millions of workers are being denied, through systematic intimidation and coercion, of their right to join together to bargain for better pay, improved benefits and retirement security. And there’s no better reason for Senator to fix this system give our disappearing middle class a fighting chance by supporting the Employee Free Choice Act.” The timely new report examines in depth the tactics that Wal-Mart uses to preempt workers’ organizing efforts and undermine workers’ freedom of association at its US stores. The report focuses first on tactics and policies that, though they largely comply with US law, create a work environment so hostile to union formation that they coercively interfere with workers’ internationally recognized right to decide freely for themselves whether to organize. A separate chapter examines Wal-Mart’s anti-union tactics that violate both US and international law and contribute to the generalized fear many Wal-Mart workers report feeling whenever the topic of union formation is broached. Five separate case studies illustrate the very real human impacts of Wal-Mart’s attack on workers’ right to freedom of association. Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. The Employee Free Choice Act would: Strengthen penalties for companies that illegally coerce or intimidate employees in a effort to prevent them from forming a union Bring in a neutral third party to settle a contract when a company and a newly certified union cannot agree on a contract after three months of negotiations Establish 'majority sign up', meaning that if a majority of the employees sign union authorization cards, validated by the National Labor Relations Board, a company must recognize the union. “The middle class in this country are losing ground – losing health care coverage, retirement security, and jobs,” added Jeremy Funk, of Americans United For Change. A union voice can change all that. In fact, workers who belong to a union earn 30 percent more than nonunion workers than nonunion workers. They’re 62 percent more likely to have employer-provided health coverage and four times more likely to have pensions. The Employee Free Choice Act would give the 60 million American workers the chance they have been denied for far too to unite and rise together. It’s about leveling the playing field in a system that’s stacked entirely in employers’ favor – a system that lets huge corporations like Wal-Mart routinely get away with harassment, intimidation, coercion and even dismissal of workers who try to organize unions.

The Dawn of a New Beginning sound of the alarm woke me from my peaceful slumber. Through my squinting eyes, I could see it was only 6 a.m. Though tempted to lie back down, I quietly got out of bed, as not to disturb my partner. My cat met me at the bottom of the stairs, and sounded the wake up alarm for his brothers. Every morning started out the same. The cats needed to have their breakfast first, or they would starve, so they would have As I sat down for my smoke, I flipped on the TV and noticed that my cigarette tasted horrible. I stubbed it out, lighting up a replacement. Darn, the same thing. Hmm, maybe God is trying to tell me something. I looked at the cigarette, as if it were suddenly going to explain this strange occurrence. I then turned my attention to the news on TV. Something big was happening, as I saw pictures of thousands of people crowding the streets. This must be news from Iraq, or another part of the country. The only time that many people fill the streets here is for a riot. I noticed the name New York, at the bottom of the screen. The crawling words across the bottom stated that the end of the world was near. I scratched my head, wondering if I was fully awake yet. The end of the world, they say? Shouldn't there be fireballs, and angels with horses and chariots? I turned up the volume, to listen to what was going on. word had come from the Vatican that the end of the world was to happen tonight at midnight. Priests and pastors alike had confirmed what the Vatican was reporting. It appeared that pandemonium had hit the streets of New York. I flipped to a local station here in Wisconsin, and saw a similar scene. People were running through downtown, carrying rosary beads, and wearing the cross around their neck. I recognized one of the newscasters and listened intently. Prepare for the coming of judgment day, the day of the Lord is near. I shook my head, as if I were in some sort of bad dream. I turned off the TV, and turned it back on, hoping that this was just a silly prank. The same scene was playing itself out, over and over across America. I dropped the TV controller, and ran up the stairs to wake Jen. She stirred, as I violently shook her. get up you have to see this." She opened her eyes, startled by the force in which I had awoken her. on, you have to come downstairs and see this. They are saying this is the end of the world." are you talking about?" she asked. I pulled her out of bed, into a standing position, and then began to drag her down the hall. "I am serious, they are saying this is the last day of the world! What is happening?" We ran downstairs, and I turned on the TV, anxious for her to confirm what I had seen. I don't see anything," she said. I flipped through the channels, but the morning traffic report and local news, were all I could find. Where were the people, I had seen? Where was New York in a frenzy, where were the reporters? I turned off the TV and turned it back on, expecting to see widespread panic. Instead, I heard about a shooting, which had occurred on the north side of town. is what you got me up for?" She shook her head, and staggered back up is going on? I know what I saw, only moments earlier. I started to say "But I saw it," and she responded, "Don't wake me up until later." I sat back down in the chair, and rubbed my eyes. Maybe I was dreaming or going crazy. I turned the TV on again, and saw a pastor, giving a sermon to hundreds of people, gathered on a sidewalk. all sinners, today will be the Day of Judgment, today will be the day I turned the channel, and there was the wide spread panic, happening in New York City. I studied the faces of the people that I saw running through the streets. They looked scared, as if they were running for their lives. In the background though, I saw the face of a young boy. He was calmly taking everything in, not moving, yet avoiding being crushed in the swell of people. I sat forward in my chair, to get a better look at him. He was young; maybe he was too young to understand what was going on around him. But how could he not be scared by all of this? Where were his parents? Was he lost? I shook my head, as I watched his expressionless face. How was he so calm? I whispered to myself, "Who are you?" At that moment, he lifted his face, and appeared to make direct eye contact with me. I lost him from sight, as people ran in front of him, but every time there was a clearing, his eyes seemed to find mine. I turned the TV off, and threw down the remote control. I walked to the back door, and opened it wide, wondering if I could hear any signs of commotion. Silence, there was nothing but silence. The cats had even ventured back upstairs, almost as if they were spooked by what I was experiencing. I stood looking out the window for a moment, and caught sight of the neighbor boy, in his window. I smiled at him, and he looked at me strangely, almost sadly. I tilted my head sideways, as if to gesture what's wrong, and his head disappeared. I could see his curly brown hair, hiding just above the pane of the window. I laughed, as I saw him poke his head back up, to look at me. I covered my face with my hands, and then moved them away, with a smile. He laughed, and then hid his head below the window. I covered my face again, but when I opened my eyes, it was not the neighbor I saw, but the face of the young boy on TV. I stepped backwards, as my eyes grew large. The boy smiled at me, and shook his head yes. I shook my head from side to side, not understanding what he was saying to me. He shook his head yes again, and pulled out the crucifix that was around his neck. I stepped back from the window, and ran into the bathroom. I turned the water on cold, and splashed it on my face. I looked in the mirror and repeated my name, my address, and the date, anything I could think of that was concrete. I wiped my eyes hard, and then headed back out into the living room. I avoided looking out the back window, as I walked by. I sat down, and forced myself to light a cigarette. Damn, still tasted like shit, but I smoked it anyway. Something had to be routine today. As I exhaled the smoke, I shut my eyes, and remembered what I had just seen. I couldn't have seen that same boy, in the window next door. I must have been confused or delusional. There was just no way that could have happened. I fumbled with the remote, almost hoping that the TV would not turn back on. I hit mute, and closed my eyes. Everything was going to be all right, this is just some sort of weird experience. I opened my eyes, and to my chagrin, there was a scene of downtown Milwaukee, peaceful and calm. I scanned the channels looking for any information to validate what I had seen, but there was nothing. Cartoon shows were beginning, as the early morning news ended. I smiled, relieved that nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. I flipped back to a local station, and what I saw next, astonished me. There must have been a morning mass, and the camera was panning the church perish. The pastor was offering communion, and my eyes fell upon the back of a very young member. It struck me as peculiar, that such a young child would be receiving the Lord's Supper. The pastor walked in front of him, as if he didn't even notice him kneeling there. It was then that I realized he wasn't there, the pastor could not see him. I drew a sharp breath in, as the boy got up and turned around. His eyes met mine, immediately. There was no mistaking it this time; he was the boy I had seen on the TV in New York, and the face I had seen in the window. Fear struck me, and my mouth dropped open. What was happening to me? As if he sensed my panic, he broke into a smile, and again, touched the crucifix that he wore around his neck. I felt drawn towards the TV. I was terrified of what was going on, but I felt a strange connection to this little boy. I knelt down, and slowly reached out my hand towards the screen. At the same time, the boy reached out his hand. I was horrified to see that they appeared to have been injured, almost as if something had ripped right through them. As my hand touched the screen, I felt an immediate sense of calm. His eyes bore straight through mine, almost as if he could see my soul. An image of my father, burned across my mind. Flashes of his smile, memories of him washed over me. Tears began to stream down my face, as this sense of love enveloped me. It was then, that I heard a voice -- one that I could not pin point. I was not even sure if it was auditory, or in my own head. But the message was as clear as this boy's face. your peace today, share your love, and prepare for the eternal tomorrow." These words echoed in my head, as I lifted my hand from the screen to wipe away the tears on my face. I sat on the floor, with my head down. For what seemed like eternity, I remembered all the memories spent with my dad. I remembered the bond that we shared, the pain that I felt, when we lost him. And then I smiled. "Prepare for the eternal tomorrow." I knew what I had to do. Grabbing the car keys, I raced out of the house. If today is my last day I thought, I want to do as much as I can. I drove towards downtown, not exactly sure what I would find. I parked on a side street, and began walking down streets, that I would have otherwise never ventured down. A man approached me, jingling some change in his hand. "You got some change, to help a brother?" I smiled at him, as I reached into my pocket, grabbing a few of the coins that I had. I placed them in his hand, and when our flesh touched, I received a jolt, which made me step back. looked at me with a smile, and said "You know, I probably don't need this. Why don't you give it to someone else who can use it?" I looked at him perplexed, as he walked away. I settled in, at a small caf╚ on the corner. I never drank coffee, but if this was the last day of my life, then I might as well try it. The waitress looked tired and frail. As I sat quietly, I overheard the gentleman next to me, commenting on the slow service. I tried to ignore his remarks, but they only grew louder, as the waitress came back. She took his order, and with a bewildered look said, "Honey, I will be with you in a moment." she walked away, the gentleman looked at me and said "That will be more like 20 minutes." shook my head and said "That might be, but at least we don't have to get man looked at me and his face broke into a smile. He extended his hand, as he offered his name. Again, I felt energy go through me, but he didn't seem to notice. As the waitress brought out my coffee, the man told her that she could keep the change. I looked straight ahead, so as not to embarrass him if he'd left no tip. the man walked out the door, I caught a look from the waitress. She had a huge smile, and was shaking her head. I heard her mumble, "You just don't know about some people." I asked her if everything was all right, and she said that he had left her a $50 bill, on a $5 order. I smiled, knowing that she probably needed the money more than he did. As I made my way out of the caf╚, a younger man was walking towards me. He was attempting to count his money, though I could tell that he was having difficulties. By his slow speech, and his demeanor, I derived that he might be a little challenged. I noticed the folded single dollar bills that he was grasping in his hand -- three to be exact. He was heading for the caf╚, with three dollars. It might be enough to grab a cup of coffee and a doughnut, but it was not enough for anything more. I reached into my pocket and grabbed a $5 bill. As he reached out for the door, he dropped his singles to the ground. I bent down and picked them up, mixing my money, with his. I smiled at him and said, "I think you dropped this." I watched as he walked into the caf╚, recounting his money. His lips grew into a smile, and as he turned around, I waved and continued my walk downtown. It had always been fascinating to me, how people could sleep in the shadow of a doorway, with seemingly no disturbance. I stopped, as I spotted a man huddled under a blanket, in front of a store. I felt the bills in my pocket, almost absent-mindedly, and concluded that he probably was in need of money, more than I did. walked towards him, and I saw him cower beneath the blanket. away from me, I didn't do nothing." I smiled and bent down, putting my hand on his shoulder. I felt a slight tingle, and lifted my hand off him. "You look like you could use a hot chocolate or coffee, this morning. It isn't summer yet, you know." He smiled mawkishly, and said "Boy, I haven't had that in a long time." coffee it is then." The man dug deep into his pocket, and I said, "Don't worry. I will get it for you." He stammered, "Well I am not allowed in that McDonalds, they say that I am a bum." I smiled at him, and walked towards the restaurant. As I stood in line, I thought about how cruel it was, for people to have to live on the streets. No protection from the cold or rain, scarce food or drink. I got up to the counter, and asked for a large coffee. The woman looked at me and said, "You donÝt normally order coffee." I smiled and said, "Well, the gentleman outside deserves a coffee." She looked at me confused and asked, "Are you talking about that bum that sleeps on the street?" I said, "He isn't a bum. He is just like you and me, only he is in need of a little help." She rolled her eyes, and said, "Is that what he told you?" As I put the money in her hand, I saw her look at me startled. "You know what? Why don't you let me get you a breakfast to go? I am sure he could use something like that." She came back with a bag filled with a sandwich and pancakes. She smiled and said, "Will you see to it, that he gets this?" I thanked her for her kindness, and walked back towards my waiting friend. I handed him his coffee and said, "The lovely ladies have sent this out for you. They can't make it a daily occurrence, but they wanted you to I handed him the bag, and his eyes got wide as he searched its contents. you ma'am," he stammered. "No need to thank me," I said, as I began back down the street, towards my car. I drove down to my mother's house, excited to see my sister, playing outside with her young son. I ran over and picked him up, giving him a kiss on the forehead. I talked with my sister, while we watched him play in the driveway. We rehashed old memories, of the things we used to do, of people we wished we had kept in touch with. I made my way inside, and talked with my brothers. We talked about baseball season, and about my brother's new job. I went upstairs, and found my mom in her bedroom. I walked in, and shut the door. knew you were coming," she said, without even turning around. is that?" I asked. turned to me and smiled. "Did you watch the news this morning?" I sat down, not knowing exactly what she had meant. "I watched the news this morning, why?" She took a step closer, and sat down beside me. "I knew you would understand. You have always had that connection, even when you thought you didn't." I shook my head and said, "But why me, why can I see, when other people can't? Jen couldn't even see it on TV this morning." My mom smiled at me and said, "That is your job to help her. You have so much kindness and love to share with the world. That is why you can see what is happening." I stammered, "But, Jen didn't even believe me." She answered, "Speaking of Jen, don't you have more work to do?" I sighed and said, "I am scared mom, I mean I don't know what happens next. I don't know what is going on." She brushed the hair out of my eyes and said, "What is done, is already done. Your job is to share your love, with those that matter most." I stood up, and gave her a kiss on the cheek, as she hugged me. "I love you, no matter what happens. I will always love you." She smiled and said, "I know." I headed downstairs, and hugged my brothers and sister. As I left, I smiled, feeling confident that they were in good I began the long drive back home to Milwaukee. It was dark out, the moon barely peeking out from behind the clouds. I smiled, as I thought about seeing Jen. I began to reminisce about all the crazy things I had done or said. I remembered the first time that I had met her, how shy she was. In the middle of my thoughts though, I began to remember all the harsh words I had spoken, the fights I had caused. I pictured her sitting alone and crying, as she sometimes did, after we fought. Tears began to well up in my eyes, and I whispered, "I am sorry, I am so sorry." I couldn't wait to get home, to talk to her, to explain what I had been through today. As I turned onto the last highway near our house, I noticed the taillights of the car ahead of me. They were pulled to the side of the road. I was so anxious to get home, that I didn't want to stop. But as I passed by the car, the pit of my stomach dropped. I thought to myself, how would I feel if I was pulled over, and no one stopped to help me. put the car in reverse, and backed up. I go out, and began to approach the driver side door. I heard shots ring out, deafening the silent, still night. I felt a hot pain, pierce through my side. I staggered backwards, trying to maintain my balance. I covered my stomach with my hand, and as I took it away, blood dripped off my fingertips. My knees wanted to buckle, and I struggled to make my way back to the car. My hands slammed against the trunk, as I fell forward. My head hit the pavement, and my eyes, now glazed over, stared into the dark night sky. I heard screaming in the distance, but couldn't see anyone. I struggled to keep my eyes open, as I heard the roar of police sirens. My last coherent thought was, "is this my final judgment?" Lights -- bright lights. I squint my eyes, trying to block them out. Where am I? I feel like I am floating, almost like I am weightless. I hear faint music in the background. Suddenly, I hear someone calling out my name. It echoes in my ears, as I try to place it. Keep saying it, I think. I will find you, as long as you keep calling me. I feel a strong hand on my shoulder, and I fight to see through the blinding light. As I squint, I make out a figure standing above me. I look closer and realize it is Dad, oh my god, you are here. Then it hits me, if he is here, then I am here too. I should be happy; because it means I am -- but it also means I didn't -- I block those thoughts from streaming into my head. It is my dad; I haven't seen him since he died. dad, I can't believe it is you. I feel my mouth forming a smile, and I try to speak, but he puts his finger over my lips. I hear him whisper. I hear another voice in the background. The person is laughing. It is a laugh I have heard a hundred times. I strain to lift my head, and see my grandfather walking towards me. It is almost as if he is gliding, he gets there so quickly. A smile breaks across his lips, and then he looks at my father. Suddenly, their smiles fade, and they both look concerned. I try to speak, but I can't seem to make a sound. I see a tear forming in my dad's eyes, and he pushes me backwards. Dad, what are you doing, I want to stay with you, dad, come on. Please let me stay. He whispered, "I love you," as his fingertips, release from mine. Instantly, everything is pitch black. Where am I now? Was I in heaven with my dad and grandpa? Suddenly I feel that same jolt as I did, when I touched the hand of the boy, on the TV screen. I feel like I am flying through the darkness. I hear familiar music the background, and when I open my eyes, I am back in my car. The clock reads 11:30 p.m., the same time it did before. does that mean that I didn't Í ? I turn onto the last highway near my house, and see those familiar taillights, on the side of the road. Instinctively I want to stop, but I keep driving by. I shudder at the thought of what could have happened if I had. I pull into the driveway, and fumble for the car keys. I run to the house, and open the door. The house is dark, where is Jen? I run up the stairs, and she is fast asleep in bed. I shake her, anxious to wake her up. "You wouldnÝt believe what happened to me today, Jen you just wouldn't believe it." She smiles at me, trying not to fall back asleep. "Really? Where were you all day? Your mom called, all worried." My mom called, I thought to myself. That is strange. I just talked to her. I went down the stairs, and into the kitchen. I listened to the voice mail, and there was a message from my mom. She said, "I just wanted to call and say I love you. I am not sure if you are coming home this weekend, but if you are, please be safe. You never know who is on those highways." The message ended, and I heard silence. I sat down in the chair, wondering if my mom had known what would be happening, or if it was just a coincidence. Absent mindedly, I flipped on the TV. I had forgotten. It was almost midnight. I had yet to talk to Jen. I walked upstairs, and tripped over something on the ground, in front of the bed. I picked it up, and it was the Bible. I laughed to myself, because I knew Jen would never read it, unless she had to. I didn't even know we had a Bible in the house. I leaned over, and sat on the edge of the bed. I put my hand on her, and shook her lightly. She opened her eyes and said "Now what do you want?" Sounds just like my Jen. I looked at the alarm clock, which read 11:50pm. I crawled into bed next to her, and wrapped my arms around her. why are you being so weird tonight?" I pressed my face into her back. "It has just been a really long day." I paused, thinking about the Bible. "Did you know there was a bible on She said, "I don't know where that came from. I was having this crazy dream, and when I woke up, I turned over and found it next to me." I looked at the Bible, and then back at. you remember the dream at all?" She said, "It was really crazy. I dreamt that you were talking to your dad, and then I kept seeing this kid, everywhere I went." I immediately sat up and whispered, "Do you remember anything about that She said "Come on, I am really tired. Why do you keep waking me up?" I lay back down, perplexed by the notion that she could have actually known what was going on, without consciously realizing it. I watched as the clock crawled towards midnight, and then 12:01 and 12:02. I touched my own arm, and then Jen's, to make sure that we were both still there. I laughed and shook my head. I don't know what I thought was going to happen, at the stroke of midnight. I wasn't even quite sure, that I understood what had happened to me at all. I crawled out of bed, careful not to wake Jen, and made my way back downstairs. I replayed the voice mail from my mom. It perplexed me, how she could have known about the danger on the side of the road. I flipped on the TV, not expecting to see anything in particular. The late show was just ending. For good measure, I flipped through the other channels, to make sure that the world wasn't in mass chaos. I laughed, and turned the TV off, dropping the remote onto the chair. As I took a step towards the hallway, the TV clicked back on. I took a step backwards, and slowly turned my head, to find a breaking news report, being aired live. I looked closely, to see if I could make out what had happened. It looked as if someone had been shot, along the side of the highway. I peered at the TV, vividly remembering that same stretch of road. I fell back into the chair, shivering at the thought of what I had seen earlier. The medical workers were loading a body onto a stretcher. I could only it's faint outline, stretched beneath a white sheet. I looked closely, as the camera panned across the scene. My mouth gaped in horror, as I saw my face. My heart dropped into my stomach, as my eyes slammed shut. The events of the day, raced through my mind -- the homeless man, the caf╚, my own family members. This isn't happening, it canÝt be happening, I prayed. I tried to yell, but I couldnÝt make a sound. My heart ached. I donÝt want to die, God, I donÝt want to die. I felt tears welling in my eyes, and I squeezed them even tighter. is done is already done. My mom's words haunted me, as they rang hollow, in my ears. I opened my eyes, and stared at the TV. I didn't die, I thought I had made it. I thought I had woken from that dream. The person on the stretcher slowly turned their head sideways. It was not me. It wasn't my face. Oh my god, it was so much worse. It was the face of the little boy that I had seen throughout the day. I cried out, "No, why is it him, he didn't do anything." His eyes burned through mine, the way they had when I saw him in the church. I shook my head, softly sobbing. "I am sorry, I am sorry, it shouldn't be you." He shut his eyes, and for a moment, I thought he had passed. As his eyes opened slowly, I noticed something reflecting light, from under the side of the sheet. I knelt down, leaning closer, so I could see it. His cross, it was his cross that was dangling from his neck. My eyes moved back to his face, and his lips pursed slightly, drawing the corners of his mouth into a faint smile. I saw his hand, move beyond the side of the stretcher. It rose up, palm facing me. I drew my own hand up, and placed it on the TV screen. Suddenly, the TV went blank. It had turned itself off. I let my hand fall from in front of me, as tears began to stream down my face. Deep, cleansing sobs of joy, overwhelmed me. It was then, that I heard it. The words resonated again and again. "He, who believes, shall That little boy was the face of God. He had communicated with me, when I was in doubt. He had sacrificed his own life, so mine could be spared. I remembered my mom's words. "It is because you understand, you have always had that connection, even when you thought you didn't." God sacrificed his own son on the cross, so mankind could be saved. When I needed him most, he had shown me the way. God's love took the form of that little boy, and as he lay on that stretcher; I was given a second chance. Tonight was my hour of judgment. However, it was not the end of the world, but the dawn of a new beginning. Copyright © 2003 by the author All Rights Reserved Back to the Table of Contents

[back] Vaccine Ingredients A Glimpse into the Scary World of Vaccine Adjuvants By Edda West - Published in VRAN Newsletter - Winter 2005 Adjuvants are formulated compounds, which when combined with vaccine antigens intensify the body's immune response. They are used to elicit an early, high and long-lasting immune response. "The chemical nature of adjuvants, their mode of action and their reactions (side effect) are highly variable in terms of how they affect the immune system and how serious their adverse effects are due to the resultant hyperactivation of the immune system. While adjuvants enable the use of less *antigen to achieve the desired immune response and reduce vaccine production costs, with few exceptions, adjuvants are foreign to the body and cause adverse reactions", writes Australian scientist Viera Scheibner Ph.D, (1) The most common adjuvant for human use is an aluminum salt called alum derived from aluminum hydroxide, or aluminum phosphate. A quick read of the scientific literature reveals that the neurotoxic effects of aluminum were recognized 100 years ago. Aluminum is a neurotoxicant and has been linked to Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders. Prior to 1980, kidney patients undergoing long term dialysis treatments often suffered dialysis encephalopathy syndrome, the result of acute intoxication by the use of an aluminium-containing dialysate. This is now avoided using modern techniques of water purification. In preterm infants, prolonged intravenous feeding with solutions containing aluminum is associated with impaired neurologic development. Scientists speculate that aluminum neurotoxicity may be related to cell damage via free radical production, impairment of glucose metabolism, and effects on nerve signal transduction. (2) Vaccines which contain both aluminum adjuvants and mercury based preservative, greatly magnify the neurotoxic effects. (3) Macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF) is a muscle disease first identified in 1993, and has been linked to vaccines containing aluminum adjuvants. Muscle pain is the most frequent symptom which can be localized to the limbs or be more diffuse. Other symptoms include joint pain, muscle weakness, fatigue, fever, and muscle tenderness. The disorder is associated with an altered immune system in some, but not all patients. A study published in the journal Brain (2001) revealed that 50 out of 50 patients had received vaccines against hepatitis B virus (86%), hepatitis A virus (19%) or tetanus toxoid (58%), 3-96 months (median 36 months) before biopsy. "We conclude that the MMF lesion is secondary to intramuscular injection of aluminium hydroxide-containing vaccines, shows both long-term persistence of aluminium hydroxide and an ongoing local immune reaction, and is detected in patients with systemic symptoms which appeared subsequently to vaccination", write the authors of the study. (4) But aluminum's neurotoxicity is of less concern to the vaccine industry than the fact that it elicits a lesser antibody response to the so called purer recombinant or synthetic antigens used in modern day vaccines than in older style live or killed whole organism vaccines. "This has created a major need for improved and more powerful adjuvants for use in these vaccines." (5) For decades, vaccine developers have been tinkering with various substances to trick the body into heightened immune responses. The most effective adjuvants are formulated with oils but have long been considered too reactive for use in humans. Immunologists have known for decades that a microscopic dose of even a few molecules of adjuvant injected into the body can cause disturbances in the immune system and have known since the1930's that oil based adjuvants are particularly dangerous, which is why their use has been restricted to experiments with animals. The classic oil based adjuvant called Freund's Complete Adjuvant can cause permanent organ damage and irreversible disease - specifically autoimmune diseases. When scientists want to induce autoimmune disease in a lab animal, they inject it with Freund's Complete Adjuvant, which causes great suffering and is considered by some too inhumane to even inject into animals. Dr. Jules Freund creator of this oil based adjuvant warned in 1956 that animals injected with his formulation developed terrible, incurable conditions: allergic aspermatogenesis (stoppage of sperm production), experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (the animal version of MS), allergic neuritis (inflammation of the nerves that can lead to paralysis) and other severe autoimmune disorders. (6) Adjuvants can break "tolerance", meaning they can disable the immune system to the degree that it loses its ability to distinguish what is "self" from what is foreign. Normally, the immune system ignores the constituents of one's own body. Immunologists call this "tolerance". But if something happens to break "tolerance", then the immune system turns relentlessly self-destructive, attacking the body it is supposed to defend. (6) Scientists theorize that oil based adjuvants have the ability to "hyperactivate" the immune system, and in doing so, create chaos by inducing such an extremely powerful response that the immune system literally goes haywire and starts attacking elements it would normally ignore. (6) Another theory has to do with "specificity". One of the great distinguishing characteristics of the immune system is something akin to a highly sensitive innate intelligence that has evolved over eons to be able to respond very precisely to what it deems to be a threat to the body. Because the body contains many types of oily molecules and lipids, it may be that when an oil is injected, the immune system responds to it not only specifically, but with heightened intensity because the oil adjuvant resembles so closely the natural oils found in the body. A "cross reaction" then happens, sending the immune system into chaos destroying any oils found anywhere in the body that resemble the adjuvant oil. Demyelinating diseases like multiple sclerosis are an example of this destructive autoimmune process. (6) To deepen one's understanding of the shadowy world of vaccine development, award winning investigative journalist Gary Matsumoto's new book is a "must read." It documents the secret human medical experimentation conducted on American citizens by doctors and scientists working for the U.S. military. It is a book about "betrayal of the most fundamental rules of medical ethics; and betrayal of the basic duty of military and civilian leaders to protect the people they govern." Vaccine A: The Covert Government Experiment That's Killing our Soldiers and Why GI's are Only the First Victims, is a gripping read into the mad science world of the U.S. military's biowarfare vaccine development program which, since 1987 has injected tens of thousands of U.S. troops with an experimental unlicensed anthrax vaccine containing squalene. An oil based adjuvant, squalene has been known for decades to cause severe autoimmune diseases in laboratory animals. Writes Matsumoto, "The unethical experiments detailed in this book are ongoing, with little prospect of being self-limiting because they have been shielded from scrutiny and public accountability by national security concerns." Reading this book, one gets a permanent chill in the spine as we glimpse the "writing on the wall" of what is to come. (6,7) "When UCLA Medical School's Michael Whitehouse and Frances Beck injected squalene combined with other materials into rats and guinea pigs back in the 1970's, few oils were more effective at causing the animal versions of arthritis and multiple sclerosis", writes Matsumoto. In 1999, Dr. Johnny Lorentzen, an immunologist at Sweden's Karolinska Institute proved that on injection, "otherwise benign molecules like squalene can stimulate a self-destructive immune response", even though they occur naturally in the body. Other research institutes have also shown that the immune system makes antibodies to squalene, but only after it is injected (6) We now know that squalene, added to boost immune response in a formulation known as MF59, is the secret ingredient in certain lots of experimental anthrax vaccine that has caused devastating autoimmune diseases and death in countless Gulf War vets (Canadian, British and Australian troops were also injected with squalene laced vaccine), and continues to be used today. There is a "close match between the squalene-induced diseases in animals and those observed in humans injected with this oil: rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus", writes Matsumoto. These three illnesses have been proven to be caused by this oil, but there is an additional long list of autoimmune diseases associated with squalene injection into humans. (6) "There are now data in more than two dozen peer-reviewed scientific papers, from ten different laboratories in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia, documenting that squalene-based adjuvants can induce autoimmune diseases in animals..observed in mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits. Sweden's Karolinska Institute has demonstrated that squalene alone can induce the animal version of rheumatoid arthritis. The Polish Academy of Sciences has shown that in animals, squalene alone can produce catastrophic injury to the nervous system and the brain. The University of Florida Medical School has shown that in animals, squalene alone can induce production of antibodies specifically associated with systemic lupus erythematosus", writes Matsumoto. (6) Long List of Side Effects Referring to squalene in her extensive article on adjuvants, Dr. Scheibner writes, "This adjuvant contributed to the cascade of reactions called "Gulf War syndrome", documented in the soldiers involved in the Gulf War. The symptoms they developed included arthritis, fibromyalgia, lymphadenopathy, rashes, photosensitive rashes, malar rashes, chronic fatigue, chronic headaches, abnormal body hair loss, non-healing skin lesions, aphthous ulcers, dizziness, weakness, memory loss, seizures, mood changes, neuropsychiatric problems, anti-thyroid effects, anaemia, elevated ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate), systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, Raynaud's phenomenon, Sjorgren's syndrome, chronic diarrhoea, night sweats and low-grade fevers. (1) Matsumoto punctuates his book with poignant interviews of military personnel who suffered many of these extreme and devastating syndromes, all of whom tested positive for anti-squalene antibodies which has become THE definitive marker for people who have been injected with this adjuvant and who have gone on to develop catastrophic diseases. Immunologist, Dr. Pamela Asa was the first person to recognize that the autoimmune diseases she was seeing in military personnel mirrored those in experimental animals injected with oil formulated adjuvants. When she met a patient with similar autoimmune symptoms who had participated in an experimental herpes vaccine trial, who also knew he had been injected with MF59, a squalene adjuvant being used as a 'placebo' in that study, everything began to fall into place. Pam Asa contacted Dr. Robert Garry, a leading virologist at Tulane University Medical School, whose specialty is developing antibody tests and asked him to develop a test for the detection of anti-squalene antibodies - a test that ultimately became the most important forensic and diagnostic tool identifying patients whose autoimmune diseases followed injection with squalene laced anthrax vaccine. (6) Juxtaposed to heart wrenching testimonies of shattered health and ruined lives is the military's defiant stonewall and denial that a squalene laced anthrax vaccine was injected into thousands of its people without their informed consent - this despite the fact that the FDA and independent researchers have tested and identified varying amounts of squalene in specific lots of the vaccine. Even more stunning is the fact that by 1997, hundreds of millions of dollars had already been spent testing vaccines formulated with squalene adjuvants by leading research institutes like NIH (National Institutes of Health) who tested its efficacy in HIV vaccines, the National Cancer Institute who for nearly two decades conducted research with squalene-boosted vaccines, and the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) had been testing it in animals since 1988 and began human clinical trials in1991. Nineteen of NIAID's 23 trials were for prototype HIV vaccines. Writes Matsumoto, " Squalene adjuvants are a key ingredient in a whole new generation of vaccines intended for mass immunization around the globe." (6) Immune System Sees Squalene as an Enemy to Attack Researchers at Tulane Medical School and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research "have both proven that the immune system responds specifically to the squalene molecule. Squalene's pathway through the body has been tracked with a radioactive tracer in animals by none other than Chiron, (well known flu vaccine manufacturer) and maker of MF59, the squalene-based adjuvant, now also a component of FLUAD, an Italian influenza vaccine. (6) The immune system does in fact "see" squalene and recognizes it as an oil molecule native to the body. The key is "route of administration". As Gary Matsumoto says, "Squalene is not just a molecule found in a knee or elbow - it is found throughout the nervous system and the brain." When it is injected into the body, the immune system sees it as an enemy to be attacked and eliminated.(6) As any immunologist will tell you, the way an antigen encounters the immune system makes all the difference. You can eat squalene - no problem as it is an oil the body can easily digest. But studies in animals and humans show that injecting squalene will "galvanize the immune system into attacking it, which can produce a self-destructive cross reaction against the same molecule in the places where it occurs naturally in the body - and where it is critical to the health of the nervous system." (6) This phenomenon is also known as 'molecular mimicry', where the immune system forms antibodies against one of its own structures and will continue to attack the 'self' molecule in the body that resembles the one in the germ, or as is the case with squalene, an identical substance that is naturally present in the body. Once this self-destructive process begins, it never stops as the body continues to make the molecule the immune system is now trained to attack. Another example involving autoimmune 'molecular mimicry' is when the immune system has been sensitized to attack myelin, the insulating fatty coating around nerve fibres which insures the smooth relay of nerve signals. The body would continue to make myelin in order to replenish and repair the protective sheath around its nerve endings. But says Matsumoto, "In the act of doing so, the body immunizes itself against itself, administering over and over again what amounts to a booster dose of something that the immune system now wants to get rid of. This vital constituent (myelin) is now the enemy, and the immune system is now programmed to obliterate it in an endless loop of self-destruction" - the process involved in MS (multiple sclerosis), and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).(6) Tying molecular mimicry to the autism epidemic, many children have regressed into autism spectrum disorders after injection with the triple live virus MMR (measles,mumps,rubella) vaccine. Dr.Vijendra Singh's research at Utah State University suggests that auto-antibodies are attacking myelin in these children. He has shown that many autistic children have auto-antibodies to brain myelin basic protein (MBP) as well as elevated levels of measles virus antibodies. "Immunoblotting analysis showed the presence of an unusual MMR antibody in 60% (75 of 125) of autistic children, but none of the 92 normal children had this antibody. In addition, there was a positive correlation (greater than 90%) between MMR antibody and MBP auto-antibody, suggesting a causal association between MMR and brain autoimmunity in autism. This is one of the most important findings in autism to date, which prompted us to link measles virus in the etiology of the disorder", writes Dr. Singh. (8,9,10) Immunologist Dr. Bonnie Dunbar has also done extensive research on the mechanisms of injury inflicted by hepatitis B vaccine and has observed similar autoimmune processes involving molecular mimicry in people who developed devastating neuroimmune syndromes after injection with this vaccine. (11) Molecular Mimicry as a Bio-Weapon Matsumoto reports that Soviet bioweaponeers used the principal of molecular mimicry in the 1980's to engineer a 'designer disease' that would attack myelin. By splicing a fragment of myelin basic protein into legionella bacterium, they created what amounted to a living "nano-bomb", which they injected into guinea pigs. What they found was that the immune system quickly cleared the legionella bacterium, but the myelin molecule, smuggled in by this microbial "Trojan horse" initiated a second wave of disease which caused experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, the animal version of MS. The Soviets recognized this creation for what it was - a biological time bomb!! (6) "Squalene is a kind of trigger for the real biological weapon: the immune system. When the immune system's full repertoire of cells and antibodies start attacking the tissues they are supposed to protect, the results can be catastrophic," writes Matsumoto. His assessment is seconded by Dr. Pam Asa - "Oil adjuvants are the most insidious chemical weapon ever devised." (6) "Molecular mimicry, seen for its diabolical potential as a weapon by the Soviets as far back as the 1980's, also applies to squalene. But the real problem with using squalene, of course, is not that it mimics a molecule found in the body; it is the same molecule," writes Matsumoto. "So what American scientists conceived as a vaccine booster was another "nano-bomb", instigating chronic, unpredictable and debilitating disease. When the NIH (National Institutes of Health) argued that squalene would be safe because it is native to the body, just the opposite was true. Squalene's natural presence in the body made it one of the most dangerous molecules ever injected into man!" (6) The main proponents for the use of squalene in vaccines have been the U.S Department of Defense and the NIH. The anti-squalene antibodies in sick American and British military personnel are evidence that military experimentation has caused an unprecedented health catastrophe in tens of thousands of people onto whom the vaccine was forced and who were denied the right to make an informed decision based on existing scientific knowledge of the dangers of injecting squalene. "By adding squalene to their new anthrax vaccine, they did not make a better vaccine, they made a biological weapon." (6) . Why , one would obviously ask, would anyone knowingly inject such a dangerous substance into humans? Certainly in terms of the U.S. military's decision, they chose to turn a blind eye to the existing science, which for decades had documented the immune destructive properties of squalene. They justified its use because they knew they had a weak and ineffective vaccine which needed a serious boost. In the face of weaponized biowarfare agents like anthrax already developed by Russia and fear that it was also possessed by Iraq, they were desperate to increase the vaccine's effectiveness as they launched into the first Gulf War. Additionally, explains Matsumoto, "scientists in the United States are now literally invested in squalene. Army scientists who developed the second generation anthrax vaccine have reputations to protect and licensing fees to reap for the army..[and] .worldwide rights to develop and commercialize the new recombinant vaccine for anthrax." (6) He goes on to explain, "the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been supporting both animal and human research with squalene since the 1980's. Squalene has become perhaps the most ubiquitous oil adjuvant on the planet, which is something that should concern everyone. Many of the cutting edge vaccines currently in development by the NIH and its corporate partners contain squalene in one formulation or another. There is squalene in the prototype recombinant vaccines for HIV, malaria, herpes, influenza, cytomegalovirus and human papillomavirus. Some of these prototypes like HIV, malaria and influenza are intended for mass immunization around the globe." (6) Squalene Adjuvants Enter the Global Market FLUAD, the squalene boosted flu vaccine has been licensed in Italy since 1997. It contains MF59, the squalene adjuvant made by Chiron. Although all the published papers co-authored by Chiron-employed scientists and Italian researchers have reported MF59 to be safe, Gary Matsumoto suggests a flaw in study designs may "prevent researchers from seeing the vaccine's real risks." Testing of FLUAD was limited to elderly people in nursing homes - average age was 71.5 which would tend to obscure autoimmune problems that might arise for a number of reasons. If autoimmune symptoms like joint pain and fatigue did occur in geriatric Italians, doctors might not connect these complaints to anything but old age. (6) "Autoimmunity is notorious for taking years to diagnose because the early symptoms (e.g. headaches, joint and muscle pain and fatigue) are so vague; primary care physicians often fail to recognize it...a large Phase lV trial did not even bother to analyze the "common-post immunization reactions" in study participants, recording only those adverse events severe enough to require a doctor's visit within 7 days of immunization." In another study patients were observed for 180 days, but only serious events like "admission to hospital or death" qualified as a reaction - nothing else was recorded. Symptoms of adverse reactions listed in the FLUAD package insert are almost identical to the Air Force case-definition for Gulf War Syndrome, and include rashes, malaise, fever, myalgia, arthralgia, weakness, sweating and various autoimmune reactions and neurologic disturbances. (6) "The question is whether scientists working for pharmaceutical companies are intentionally designing studies so as to miss adverse reactions that inconvenience their marketing strategy?" asks Matsumoto. "Chiron's conclusion about squalene's safety are at odds with recent data from studies in both animals and humans." (6) Just in from the newslists on February 9, 2005 is an item informing of the European "debut" of a new adjuvant approved for use in a new high-potency hepatitis B vaccine. Fendrix, the new enhanced hepB vaccine is being launched by pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline for use in people with poor immune responses (like dialysis patients) and those at high risk for developing hepatitis B. It is formulated with a new adjuvant that can "significantly improve the effectiveness of immunizations." AS04, the 'proprietary' adjuvant based on MPL, originally developed by U.S. company Corixa, "increases the immune potency of the new vaccine, allowing two dose administration rather than three. It has been shown clinically to be more effective than alum, the most widely used adjuvant in vaccines." (12) So what exactly is this new high potency adjuvant? We're told by the press release that MPL (AS04), is a "derivative of the lipid A molecule found in Gram-negative bacteria, is extracted from bacterial cell walls and is one of the most potent regulators of the immune response, used by the body to alert itself to bacterial infections."(12) Full name of the lipid is monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) This news should put everyone on high alert because guess what? Lipids are oils/fatty acids and according to Matsumoto, MPL is identified in declassified documents as one of two squalene emulsions used in the Army's new "recombinant protective antigen anthrax vaccine (rPA) which the FDA, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense fast-tracked into clinical trials in1998. The other squalene adjuvant they used was Chiron's MF59. (6) It appears that Fendrix is only the first of a whole new generation of "enhanced potency" vaccines coming down the pipeline using the new high potency lipid adjuvant, MPL. "The adjuvant is also being used in a number of GSK's developmental vaccines, including one that could be the first effective vaccine for malaria", says the article. MPL (AS04) adjuvant is also a component of GSK Bio's genital herpes vaccine, as well as a component in their cervical cancer vaccine and a new tuberculosis vaccine." (12) In the unraveling of the squalene story, we find that a squalene emulsion first known as Triple Mix (based on Freund's adjuvant) was later given the commercial name "Ribi". Triple Mix (renamed Ribi) was tested by Dutch scientists on rabbits who found it caused "severe effects the largest number and most severe lesions when compared with the other adjuvants."(6) Then in June 1999, Ribi ImmunoChem its manufacturer was acquired by Corixa Corporation for $56.3 million, who presumably also own the Ribi formulation. Whether MPL(AS04) is a formula related to Ribi is undoubtedly "proprietary" information, but from Matsumoto's reseasrch, we know they are all squalene based. And it doesn't end there. MPL, Corixa's multi-million dollar baby, is slated for inclusion not only in the "enhanced potency" vaccines already mentioned, but will also be a strategic component of new allergy and autoimmune vaccines in development. (13) From their inception, mass vaccinations have acted as a biological weapon, undermining health, manipulating and crippling the immune system, and instigating cycles of new and debilitating diseases. Monopoly medicine's solution? Inject us with more powerful, genetically engineered high potency vaccines. Never mind they are seeding us with "nano-bombs" that will further attack our already compromised immune systems. The concept of stimulating a hyperactive immune response by using oil-based adjuvants has clearly backfired since we now know that the stronger the antigenic response, the more damaging the adjuvant itself is to the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system. The precedent for mass medical experimentation via an ever increasing recommended vaccine schedule has been set. We can now predict the grim future of mankind: an epidemic of neurological disorders and autoimmune diseases never before imagined. Notes & Resources Adjuvants listed by Scheibner: "Today the most common adjuvants for human use are aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate and calcium phosphate. However, there are a number of other adjuvants based on oil emulsions, products from bacteria (their synthetic derivatives as well as liposomes) or gram-negative bacteria, endotoxins, cholesterol, fatty acids, aliphatic amines, paraffinic and vegetable oils. Recently, monophosphoryl lipid A, ISCOMs with Quil-A, and Syntex adjuvant formulations (SAFs) containing the threonyl derivative or muramyl dipeptide have been under consideration for use in human vaccines *Definition of Antigen (Scheibner): "Micro-organisms, either bacteria or viruses, thought to be causing certain infectious diseases and which the vaccine is supposed to prevent. These are whole-cell proteins or just the broken-cell protein envelopes, and are called antigens" 1.Viera Scheibner, Ph.D, The Adverse Effects of Adjuvants in Vaccines, Nexus Magazine Dec. 2000 vol.8, No.1 2. Aluminum Toxicity notes from Dr. Boyd Haley Toxic Test Foundation website: http://www.altcorp.com/DentalInformation/aluminumvaccines.htm 3. Boyd E. Haley, Professor of Chemistry: Thimerosal Containing Vaccines and Neurodevelopment Outcomes: http://126.96.36.199/vran/vaccines/mercury/mer_haley.htm 4. Brain, Vol. 124, No. 9, 1821-1831, September 2001, 2001 Oxford University Press http://brain.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/124/9/1821 5 Vaccine Adjuvants: current state and future trends, Volume 82: Issue Immunology and Cell Biology http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/abstract.asp ?ref=0818-9641&vid=82&iid=5&aid=5&s=&site=1 6.Gary Matsumoto, Vaccine A-The Covert Government Experiment That's Killing our Soldiers and Why GI's are Only the First Victims 7.Gary Matsumoto Press Release and biography: www.vaccine-a.com 8 Vijendra K Singh, Ph.D, Abnormal Measles Serology and Autoimmunity in Autistic Children - Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunol, 109 (1): S232, January 2002 9. Vijendra Singh - lecture at ATEDM Conference: http://iquebec.ifrance.com/autismemtl/2002/program_en.html 10. Institute of Medicine Meeting (IOM) on Vaccines and Autism, February 9, 2004 11.. Bonnie Dunbar, Ph.D - articles and research proposal - VRAN website: http://188.8.131.52/vran/vaccines/hepatitis/dunbar_research.htm 12..New adjuvant debuts in new hep B vaccine , February 9, 2005, In-Pharma Technologist.com http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/news/news-ng.asp ?n=57959-new-adjuvant-debuts 13. Corixa weblink to MPL press release on allergy & autoimmune applications: http://www.corixa.com/default.asp?pid=auto_capsule&id=22

An Iraqi working as a contract photographer for the Associated Press has been held--uncharged--by the U.S. military for seven months. The U.S. says Bilal Hussein has links to terrorists. The outraged AP implores the Pentagon to charge him or free him. By Charles Layton The United States is reported to be holding about 13,000 people in military prisons in Iraq, but only one of them is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Charles Layton (firstname.lastname@example.org) is a former editor and reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer and a former AJR senior contributing writer. Bilal Hussein is a 35-year-old Sunni Arab and a native of Al-Anbar Province, the largest province in Iraq and, excluding Baghdad, the most violent. On the morning of April 12, United States Marines showed up at Hussein's door in Ramadi, the provincial capital, where he worked as a contract photographer for the Associated Press. He has been a prisoner ever since, first in local custody, then at Abu Ghraib and now at Camp Cropper, just west of Baghdad International Airport. Enclosed by concrete blast walls and ringed with coils of razor wire, Camp Cropper is where U.S. forces keep many of their "high-value detainees." Since his arrest more than seven months ago, no formal charges have been brought against Bilal Hussein (who is not related to Saddam). The AP has urged military officials to either free him or put him on trial, but so far they have declined. A military spokesman in Iraq told me that three separate panels have been convened to hear the evidence in Hussein's case, and all three concluded that Hussein had "multiple links and prolonged association with al Qaeda members and insurgent propaganda cell leaders." The AP says neither Hussein nor his representatives were allowed to be present at any of these hearings, and Hussein was told about only one of them, long after the fact. To this day, the AP says, he has never had an opportunity to hear the evidence against him. When I asked the military what evidence it had, I was told that most of it is classified. Tom Curley, the AP's president and CEO, says whenever the military has given specific details, the AP has taken them seriously and tried to investigate. Some of those investigations showed that the claims "were false or total exaggerations," he says. "I have no problem saying the Pentagon lied to us more than once." Curley and other AP executives say they think Hussein's real crime was taking pictures of insurgents on their own turf or in combat situations--in other words, pictures the military disliked. "This is about thwarting a journalist from reporting the news," says Curley, in a voice that quivers with anger. "We have seen no fact that diminishes our belief that Bilal Hussein is not guilty of anything except committing journalism." Western news organizations have increasingly employed Iraqi stringers as the pervasive violence has made it harder for foreigners to move about safely (see "Out of Reach," April/May). Hussein is not the only one of these stringers to be arrested by the U.S. military and accused of being in bed with insurgents. In fact, there is a pattern of such arrests. A CBS cameraman was detained for an entire year before an Iraqi court decided to free him last spring, declaring that the military had no case. One senses here a sharp disagreement over exactly what constitutes proper journalism. The military does not define it, but in an e-mail to me a spokesperson for Detainee Operations in Iraq said Hussein had "access to insurgent activities outside of the normal scope afforded to journalists." Another e-mail from the same office said Hussein had "crossed the line from journalistic pursuit to complicity" with the insurgents. The AP argues that the military has no business dictating what is correct journalistic practice. "That's our call, not theirs," says Kathleen Carroll, the AP's executive editor. Hussein's colleagues fear that his life is in danger so long as he remains in prison. The mere fact of working for a major U.S.-based company would make him a target, but on top of that he is a Sunni publicly accused of sympathizing with Sunni fighters. His continued imprisonment, says Curley, "may be a death sentence for a Sunni being held with a large number of Shia prisoners." Scott Horton, a New York City attorney hired by the AP to represent Hussein, says Iraqi lawyers helping with the case have been threatened repeatedly. "One of my Iraqi colleagues working on his case was hauled out of his office and executed by a [Shiite] militia unit about two months ago," he says. John Daniszewski, the AP's international editor, says he was told by Hussein's lawyers that the photographer "was alarmed that he would be tagged as someone working for the West, or that some people might think he was being a stool pigeon." Santiago Lyon sits at his desk on the 14th floor of the AP's New York headquarters, telling the story of how Hussein first came to work for him and how his pictures became so controversial. Lyon is the AP's director of photography, responsible for hundreds of shooters and photo editors worldwide. He is a veteran AP photographer himself, one whose battle experience includes the 1991 Persian Gulf War as well as conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Israel, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and elsewhere. He was wounded by mortar shrapnel while working in Sarajevo in 1995. It was on Lyon's watch that the AP won a Pulitzer Prize last year for a collection of 20 photos from Iraq, including one by Hussein that showed insurgent fighters in action on a sidewalk in Fallujah. The picture was shot in November of 2004 as U.S. Marines battled their way into the insurgent-controlled city. The picture shows two fighters operating a mortar while two others man a light machine gun. Lyon calls the image up on his computer screen. He notes some of its distinctive details--smoke drifting from the barrel of the mortar, which has just popped off a shell, while one of the insurgents jumps back from the explosion. "It's action, it's the moment, it's the fighting!" he says with an editor's pride. When this picture was made, Hussein had worked for the AP for about two months. Before that, he was a shopkeeper in Fallujah, selling electronic consumer goods--phones, computers and the like. But business prospects were poor. Fallujah, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, was a seething hotbed of Sunni insurgents. More than 12,000 Marines were occupying the city's outskirts, preparing for a major assault. Anticipating that, most of the city's 300,000 inhabitants had fled or were preparing to do so. "We had an Egyptian reporter, I believe, who was interested in getting inside of Fallujah to see the situation there," Lyon recalls, "so through one of our drivers in Baghdad we were put in touch with Bilal Hussein, and Bilal served as a guide around the Fallujah area." As a native, Hussein knew the place well. He was able to show the reporter insurgent military preparations and to help him line up interviews. Hardly any western news organizations had journalists inside the city, and since it was about to become a major battleground, the AP suggested that Hussein, with his excellent access, might want to take some pictures. It brought him to the wire service's Baghdad office, gave him a digital camera, taught him how to use it and explained what kind of pictures the AP was interested in. Hussein also received some instruction in basic journalistic practices and ethics. This arrangement was not unusual. Because Iraq is too dangerous for Westerners to move about in, the major news organizations have recruited and trained Iraqis to act as their eyes and ears. Lyon says that 75 of the 80 AP people now working in Iraq are Iraqi nationals. The wire service employs about 10 Iraqi photographers such as Hussein in various cities. Five of the 11 AP photographers who contributed to the coverage that won the Pulitzer in 2005 were Iraqis. Hussein's first published picture was of an insurgent group that claimed to have shot down a drone aircraft. The masked fighters were gathered around the ruins of the drone, celebrating and showing off their prize. At first, Hussein had to file by giving the memory cards from his camera to a taxi driver to carry back to Baghdad. But as U.S. forces continued their buildup for the assault, the Baghdad bureau decided to give Hussein a laptop computer and a satellite phone so he could transmit images to Baghdad in the event Fallujah was completely cut off. If Hussein wasn't the only journalist filing photos out of Fallujah at that time, he was one of a precious few, and the AP was pleased with his work. "It allowed the AP to show an aspect of the story that was difficult if not impossible to see anywhere else," Lyon says. In early November of 2004, as the Marines prepared to unleash their big attack, people in the Baghdad bureau grew worried and urged Hussein to get out. Although he sent his parents and brother away to stay with relatives, Hussein himself refused to leave. He wanted to document the coming battle. Since he was not a staff employee, the AP could not order him out, so it told him not to worry about producing and filing photos during the battle, but just to keep himself safe. Lyon, back in New York, was involved in these deliberations. "I've had many colleagues killed over the years," he says, "and really my worst nightmare..is that one of the people working for me gets killed." When the assault on Fallujah came, it was as fierce as anticipated, lasting for about a week. There was heavy air bombardment, artillery shelling and then a street-by-street advance by the Marines through the near-emptied city. "We didn't hear anything from Bilal for a couple of days," Lyon says, "and we began to worry. And then, out of the blue, up pops this incredible series of pictures showing some insurgents inside Fallujah, fighting." One of these was the picture included in the Pulitzer-winning package. The pictures were exclusive--combat photos from behind enemy lines. Later that day, more pictures came in over the satellite phone. Then, once more, communications ceased. It was several days before Hussein showed up at the AP bureau in Baghdad, looking haggard and with little more than the shirt on his back. He had escaped Fallujah, he said, by moving from house to house, dodging gunfire and then following the river into the countryside, where a peasant family gave him shelter for two days. Finally, he caught a ride across the Euphrates on a local fisherman's boat, and from there made his way to Baghdad. All of his equipment had been lost, and he said that his house was destroyed. (U.S. Marines later found his sat phone and a camera lens, marked with the AP logo, next to a dead man's body in a house in Hussein's neighborhood.) Hussein was happy to be alive, and he was soon ready to resume work. With the situation in Fallujah untenable, the AP reequipped Hussein and sent him to Ramadi, also in Al-Anbar Province, where insurgents were conducting a low-intensity guerrilla war against American troops. This was another spot where access was especially difficult for journalists. Hussein became the AP's only source of images from Ramadi, and one of the very few sources for any media organization. Most of his pictures showed the effects of the war on the civilian population--dead and wounded people, funeral scenes, destruction of cars and buildings. He worked in Ramadi from early 2005 until April 12 of this year, when he was arrested. During Hussein's short career as a photojournalist, conservative bloggers in the United States have accused him and other Iraqi photographers of disseminating enemy propaganda. Sirhumphreys.com posted an item last year under the headline "Bilal Hussein colludes with insurgents." It linked to a montage of what it called "Bilal Hussein's more obvious propaganda-type photos." The pictures dealt with insurgents in combat situations. Other conservative blogs, such as The Belmont Club and Power Line, have made similar charges. Blogger/columnist Michelle Malkin has probably been Hussein's most frequent critic. One set of photos she singled out, taken in December 2004, showed two masked gunmen in a barren desert landscape, standing in dramatic poses over the blindfolded corpse of a man identified as Salvatore Santoro, an Italian citizen, whom they claimed to have just killed. Malkin called them "up-close-and-personal insurgent propaganda photos" which she said had been taken "before, during and after" the man's execution. Although Malkin didn't mention it, the AP transmitted these photos along with a news story describing the entire incident. The story, which got wide play, especially in Italy, explained that masked insurgents had stopped Hussein and other AP journalists, including a video cameraman, at a roadblock and took them to the site where the blindfolded body lay. It was "already stiff with rigor mortis," the story said. The masked men propped the body up and allowed the journalists to photograph and videotape it. They said they had killed the man because he was trying to run one of their checkpoints. After the AP won its Pulitzer in the spring of 2005, the bloggers redoubled their complaints. A post on The Jawa Report was headlined: "Pulitzer Prize Given to Terrorists." The post said that two of the honored photos--the one by Hussein showing street fighters in Fallujah and a picture by another Iraqi stringer that showed terrorists murdering an Iraqi election worker on a Baghdad street--were taken "by individuals who saw Geneva Convention crimes and did nothing to stop them. Both photos indicate also that the individuals who took them had prior knowledge to the crimes being committed." The post went on to complain that the AP's Pulitzer-winning photo package seldom showed Americans in a positive light and that none of the photos showed U.S. troops rebuilding Iraq or playing with kids in the street. Neither did they show "the results of the first democratic election in Iraq" or "the thousands of freed prisoners from Saddam's tyrannical rule." These criticisms were taking place in a climate of sometimes bitter conflicts between news organizations and the military over coverage of the war. During the past year the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented seven cases of news people in Iraq detained for long periods without charges or adequate disclosure of the evidence against them. A Reuters photographer and cameraman, Ali al-Mashhadani, was thrown into Abu Ghraib prison last year after U.S. Marines searched his home, grew suspicious of pictures on his cameras and accused him of being a "threat." The Committee to Protect Journalists says the military produced no evidence to justify his detention. Last January, after being held incommunicado for five months, he was released without charges. Then in June, Reuters reported, he was rearrested at a U.S. base in Ramadi, where he had gone to try to recover Reuters cell phones confiscated from him a week earlier. He was held for 10 days on that occasion, then transferred to Baghdad, and then released after two more days. According to Reuters, military interrogators questioned him repeatedly about his work as a journalist. A military spokesperson in Iraq said al-Mashhadani was detained based on evidence that he "was an imperative threat to security." The spokesperson did not say what that evidence was. He did say al-Mashhadani "was neither held in any special segregation nor incommunicado for five months." Less fortunate still was Abdul Ameer, a 25-year-old Iraqi cameraman working for CBS, who was held for a year in Abu Ghraib. On April 5, 2005, he had been filming a celebration at a university in the city of Mosul when he heard a car bomb explode. According to reports by CBS, the AP and other news organizations, Ameer said he caught a taxi to the site of the bombing and began videotaping. Suddenly, he said, he felt a pain in his thigh and fell to the ground. He had been shot by an American sniper. According to Ameer's account, American troops took him to a hospital, but on the way they were yelling at him, calling him a terrorist. "I'm a correspondent," he insisted, but he said they didn't believe him. After treatment at the hospital, he was put in prison. The military sent an e-mail to CBS' Baghdad bureau, saying Ameer was detained because he "appeared to be instigating a crowd" at the site of the car bombing. The military also accused Ameer of standing next to a man who was waving a gun, and of helping the man to incite violence. Ameer was chanting "God is great!" in celebration of the car bombing, the military said. According to cbsnews.com, the military also said the tape in Ameer's videocamera led them to suspect he had prior knowledge of attacks on American soldiers. And, the same report said, the military suggested that Ameer's videotape "showed four incidents that proved he was involved in insurgent activity." CBS tried for many months to get access to the specific evidence against Ameer. The network also conducted its own investigation, retracing events and interviewing people who were at the car bomb scene. It said it found no evidence that Ameer had done anything wrong. CBS pleaded with the military to either put him on trial or set him free. "All we are seeking is due process," a network spokesperson explained. Scott Horton, the lawyer who is defending Bilal Hussein, also defended Ameer. At Abu Ghraib, Horton says, Ameer "was put in solitary confinement at one point for two days and was told, 'You make a confession or you'll be there forever.' " Horton said his interrogators wanted him to confess "that he was an insurgent agent infiltrating this news organization." Finally, last April, almost exactly one year after his arrest, Ameer was turned over to an Iraqi court for trial. According to an AP story, he could have faced life in prison if convicted. Horton says the military presented arguments to the Iraqi court to the effect that the rifleman who shot Ameer did so because he saw and heard Ameer inciting the crowd to riot. The marksman even attributed certain words to Ameer, says Horton, "but the marksman was 300 meters away and three stories off the ground, and he was watching all of this through a rifle scope. Which caused the chief judge at the trial to say, when he read this, 'Hmm, quite a scope. It must be a magic scope. Not only does it allow him to hear everything that's being said, it even translates it into English for him.' " The tape from Ameer's camera turned out to be less than 20 seconds long and showed nothing incriminating. There was no man waving a gun or inciting a crowd. In fact, there was no crowd, just a few people standing around. The tape showed debris in a road, according to a CBS senior vice president, Linda Mason. At one point someone on the tape did say "God is great" ("Allahu akbar," a common Muslim expression), but Mason has said the tone was somber rather than celebratory or provocative. The court set Ameer free. When asked for comment on the above account, Lt. Col. Keir-Kevin Curry, chief of public affairs for Task Force 134, the military unit in charge of Ameer's detention, replied in an e-mail that there was "no verifiable record of whether the Chief Judge of the Trial Panel made any remark regarding the veracity of any statement made by a military marksman. Several sworn statements of the marksman made absolutely no mention of hearing any commentary" from Ameer. The first word of Bilal Hussein's arrest seems to have come from the blog of Michelle Malkin, Hussein's long-time critic. On April 12, she posted an item entitled "Where Is Bilal Hussein?" After telling readers that Hussein's photos "have raised serious, persistent questions about his relationship with terrorists," she wrote that she had just learned of "an intriguing news development that strengthens those lingering suspicions." An anonymous military source in Iraq, she wrote, had told her Hussein "was captured earlier today by American forces in a building in Ramadi, Iraq, with a cache of weapons." AP officials were outraged that the military had leaked the news about Hussein to one of his worst critics in the blogosphere. When I asked Curley if he thought the Pentagon did this deliberately, for political reasons, he said, "Yes, clearly. Absolutely." Robert Reid was the chief editor in the AP's Baghdad office at that time. He says his office got its first news of Hussein's arrest not from the military but from one of the AP's print stringers, who was working in Ramadi. Phone connections with Ramadi were down, because terrorists had blown up the phone office, so the stringer had to drive to Baghdad with the news. At first, Hussein's arrest was not especially alarming. "Just about every news organization has had people picked up at one time or another," Reid says. One reason this happens so often, he says, is that insurgents run their own propaganda operations in Iraq. "They put pictures on the Web. And soldiers are told to beware of people out posing as cameramen, so they tend to view with suspicion Iraqis who show up with cameras at bomb sites." Usually, though, journalists caught in that situation are released within a few days, after their credentials are checked and their news organizations vouch for them. Reid and Curley both told me that the military initially said it would try to expedite Hussein's case. "But their position is that the more they got into it, the more they believed there were strong suspicions and strong evidence against him," Reid says. In the weeks and months that followed, the AP and its lawyers say they tried to negotiate with various levels of military authority, both in Washington and in Iraq. In Iraq, they dealt mainly with Task Force 134, which is in overall charge of detainee operations. As negotiations dragged on, Curley says, "At some point a couple of things became clear: The stories we were getting were lies. And their stance was hardening." Task Force 134 told the AP that Hussein may have assisted a gang of terrorists in a kidnapping plot. In March of this year, two Arab journalists were abducted. Hussein was suspected of collusion because he picked the two men up after they were released. But when the AP interviewed the two kidnap victims, "they actually laughed at the idea that Bilal had had anything to do with their capture," says Dave Tomlin, the AP's associate general counsel. "They explained to us that when their families paid ransom money and the thugs who were holding them let them go, they were set down in the desert not far from Ramadi with nothing in their pockets but a cell phone. They were scared of being killed or captured by other kidnappers. And so they called a friend or colleague in Baghdad and said, 'Help us.' The friend in Baghdad says, 'I know somebody near there who can help you,' and he called Bilal." "The kidnap victims saw him as a hero," says Daniszewski, the AP's international editor. Attorney Horton says he and an Iraqi legal colleague not only interviewed the two kidnap victims but also the man in Baghdad who had received their phone call, as well as people living near the spot where the two were released, who gave them temporary shelter. Horton says none of these people had ever been interviewed by the military. "From that," says Tomlin, "we've concluded the military really has no interest in investigating any of the allegations made against Bilal. And from that we conclude that the military doesn't really care at this point whether Bilal has done anything wrong or not. They wanted him off the street, and he's off the street." Carroll says Hussein took some pictures of the kidnap victims. She suspects those pictures may be the military's only evidence because they are the only known public connection among the three men. At one point during my exchange of e-mails with officers of Task Force 134, I was told that the evidence against Hussein included "kidnapping activities," so I e-mailed back asking if this referred to the kidnapping of the two journalists. Col. Curry replied as follows: "Due to the ongoing investigation in this case, we cannot discuss specific evidence or the process in which the evidence was collected." The military has also told the AP--and me--that Hussein was arrested in his apartment while having breakfast with a man they consider "a key al Qaeda leader" and with another known insurgent. The military has said it found weapons and bomb-making materials on the premises, but it was never more specific than that. Editor Reid says many of the home-made bombs in Iraq are fashioned out of "common-use items, many of which can be found in the average Iraqi kitchen. I have never seen the U.S. military break down what kind of bomb-making materials this was. Was it sticks of dynamite? Was it a kitchen timer? Was it ammonia? Who knows?" A few weeks ago, when I asked the public affairs officers at Task Force 134 to clarify the issue of the cache of weapons and the bomb-making materials, they backed off the accusation altogether. Here is their reply: "During his capture multiple items of evidentiary value were seized by the capturing unit. Although no weapons were discovered, several items believed to be used in the construction of Improvised Explosive Devices were recovered. The ensuing investigation concluded that the suspected IED materials were not relevant to Mr. Hussein's case." As for his having breakfast with terrorist types at the time of his arrest, that too may be in doubt. Horton says he believes Hussein would testify in court that other people were picked up that morning, but not in connection with him. Carroll argues that, in any case, the military "doesn't have the right to hold him indefinitely for having breakfast with people they don't like." She and other AP journalists insist that it is part of Hussein's job to get to know insurgents. Reid, who has wide experience covering the Middle East, says people like Hussein need to maintain contacts with both sides in the conflict "in order to do their jobs and physically survive. Much of Ramadi is in control of the insurgents, and if you're running around with a camera, showing up at bomb sites, just as the Americans are going to be suspicious of that, so are the insurgents." Lyon, the photo editor, says when he was a combat photographer, he had to cultivate contacts with any number of unsavory people and organizations, such as Salvadoran guerrilla fighters, the Kosovo Liberation Army and the Taliban in Afghanistan. "It's not indicative of anything sinister," he says. "It's indicative of thorough journalism to be able to tell more than just one side of the story." Lyon doesn't think the military understands this. In fact, he says, "it's not clear in my mind if, in their mind, any coverage of the other side of the story is acceptable." In a radio address in October, President Bush spoke of the "sophisticated propaganda strategy" being employed by terrorists in Iraq. "They conduct high-profile attacks," the president said, "hoping that the images of violence will demoralize our country and force us to retreat. They carry video cameras and film their atrocities, and broadcast them on the Internet. They e-mail images and video clips to Middle Eastern cable networks like Al Jazeera, and instruct their followers to send the same material to American journalists, authors and opinion leaders." Months before the president took up this theme, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was using it. In a speech to an American Legion convention in Salt Lake City in August, for instance, Rumsfeld said that insurgents "design attacks and manipulate the media to try to demoralize public opinion" in the United States. Since he began defending Iraqi journalists imprisoned by the military, attorney Scott Horton has made it his business to track the use of such rhetoric by administration officials. He says he has found at least four or five examples in Rumsfeld's speeches. "He talks about how they're trying to infiltrate our media and use it for their own propagandistic purposes," Horton says. "Now what I've been told by officers in Baghdad is, the message has gone out that they desperately want Secretary Rumsfeld's poster boy. Where is this guy who's infiltrated the Western media who can be held up as an example? This is the thread that ties a lot of these cases together." Horton thinks that's what was behind the detention of Abdul Ameer of CBS. Right after his arrest, Horton says, the Pentagon released news of the case in Washington, and several television networks ran stories. Horton, whose father was an Air Force colonel, says he understands the military's suspicions of Iraqi nationals working for Western news organizations--"particularly when they're in parts of the country that are effectively under the control of insurgents. These people are not likely to be our friends. They may be very close to insurgents." He also says he understands, from conversations with military authorities, why they dislike some of Bilal Hussein's pictures. In general, he says, they don't like photos of attacks on U.S. soldiers, photos of U.S. soldiers wounded or photos of military equipment destroyed--in short, images that show U.S. forces as vulnerable and under attack. "If you're occupying a country," he says, "you do not want images broadcast all over the place showing you weak and vulnerable." Horton therefore agrees with AP officials that the real reason Hussein is being held is because of his photos. People at the AP say believe that the military didn't just stumble upon Hussein in incriminating circumstances; rather, they went hunting for him. "We think he was targeted," Carroll says. "One of our other journalists, who was embedded with the unit that picked him up, said he'd seen a sign on a bulletin board that said Hussein was a terrorist, pick him up." Daniszewski says the reporter saw that notice just a few days before Hussein's arrest. Daniszewski also says that an AP television cameraman was picked up shortly before Hussein was. This man had the same first name, Bilal, but his second name was different. He was released. Curley, Carroll and others say they find it suspicious that news of Hussein's arrest was leaked immediately back in the United States. Michelle Malkin had it on her blog, citing a military source, within a few hours. Curley says he suspects that leak came not from Iraq but from Washington, because the Pentagon had a special political interest in the matter. "We have learned," says Horton, "that the decision to seize Bilal Hussein came not from the local units in Ramadi, but way, way up the chain of command." When I asked Lt. Col. Curry in Iraq whether Hussein had been specifically targeted because of his photos, he replied that the military could not discuss such matters. The AP, meanwhile, has done its own investigation of Hussein's photos. Santiago Lyon undertook a review of every image of his in the AP archives--420 pictures. He says he found only 37 showing insurgents or people who could be insurgents. He characterized all of these as resembling "normal imagery from conflict zones around the world." Only four of Hussein's pictures show the wreckage of still-burning U.S. military vehicles. "If Bilal had inappropriate ties to the insurgency, as the U.S. military insinuates, then you'd expect to see pictures of Humvees flying through the air, or dead and wounded U.S. or Iraqi soldiers," Lyon says. He thinks it's clear from the photos that Hussein wasn't being tipped off in advance about insurgent attacks. During his investigation, Lyon says, he checked to see who edited any of Hussein's pictures that were related to the insurgency. (He could do this because caption writers are required to put their initials on pictures before they send them, and editors on desks have to add their initials as well.) In each case, he would get on the phone with the editors and have a conversation. "In some cases the editors remembered exactly which photographs I was talking about," he says. "In other cases, I had to sort of jog their memories. And I was trying to determine what the vetting process was for these pictures." Typically, Lyon says, Hussein would supply barebones information about the pictures he sent to Baghdad. Then the editor on duty would contact Hussein by sat phone to get a better understanding of the circumstances, so he could write an accurate caption. After that, the picture would go to the regional editing hub in London, to be vetted for quality and content. The procedure was that if the editors in London had any doubts about a picture, it was to be forwarded to New York for a final review. "So when we reviewed all that material," Lyon says, "the conclusion that we drew was that this is an Iraqi journalist telling the story of the effects of this conflict on his people. The insurgency is a component part of that story. But was his focus on the insurgents? No. The numeric evidence says no." Toward the end of my interview with Lyon, I asked him a simple question: What if it turns out, after all, that Bilal Hussein is a security threat? What if he does turn out to have nefarious ties to terrorists? Lyon gave me a simple answer: "Let's see the evidence. That's all we're asking for, due process." Senior writer Charles Layton (email@example.com) wrote about Dean Singleton's acquisition of Knight Ridder's San Francisco-area papers in AJR's June/July issue.

Research Related to Strengthening Instruction in Reading Comprehension: Part 2 Joseph K. Torgesen Florida State University and the National Center for Reading First Technical Assistance Comprehension Conference, Spring, 2007 An overview of major topics to be covered Today 1. The relations between reading fluency and reading comprehension 2. Vocabulary instruction and its connection to reading comprehension Tomorrow 3.Direct instruction in comprehension strategies as a means of improving reading comprehension 4. Additional, promising directions from current research for practices to improve comprehension First Grade Writing/ La ngua ge Arts 6% C o m pre he ns io n 31% **Concepts of Print, 1%; Spelling, 2%; Oral Language, less than 1% **Othe r 4% P ho no lo gic a l Awa re ne s s 3% Wo rd S tudy/P ho nic s 21% F lue nc y 4% Te xt R e a ding 31% Second Grade Writing/ La ngua ge Arts 11% ***Othe r 5% C o m pre he ns io n 51% Wo rd S tudy/P ho nic s 5% Te xt R e a ding 28% ***Concepts of Print, less than 1%; Phonological Awareness, less than 1%; Spelling, 2%; Oral Language, 1%; Fluency, 2% Third Grade ****Othe r 3% Wo rd S tudy/P ho nic s 5% F lue nc y 4% Te xt R e a ding 25% C o m pre he ns io n 63% ****Oral Language, 1%; Writing/Language Arts, 2% Definitions of Reading Comprehension “intentional thinking during which meaning is constructed through interactions between text and reader.” Durkin (1993) “the construction of the meaning of a written text through a reciprocal interchange of ideas between the reader and the message in a particular text.” Harris & Hodges, 1995 meaning arises from the active, deliberate thinking processes readers engage in as they read. Definitions of Reading Comprehension Said concisely: “reading comprehension is thinking guided by print” Perfetti 1995 Said not so concisely but more completely: “the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language. It consists of three elements: the reader, the text, and the activity or purpose for reading” Rand Reading Study Group, 2002 Text structure, vocabulary, print style and font, discourse, genre, motivating features Word recognition, vocabulary, background knowledge, strategy use, inference-making abilities, motivation Text Reader Comprehension Context Environment, purpose, social relations, cultural norms, motivating features (e.g. school/classroom climate, families, peers) Summary: a research-based view of reading comprehension Reading comprehension involves active mental effort to construct meaning Good readers use prior knowledge, information in text, and thinking/reasoning processes to construct new knowledge and understanding Evidence for instruction in comprehension strategies comes from three sources: 1. Proficient readers monitor their comprehension more actively and effectively than less proficient readers 2. Proficient readers are more likely to use a variety of active cognitive strategies to enhance their comprehension and repair it when it breaks down What Good Readers Do When They Read: “What they found was that good readers achieve comprehension because they are able to use certain procedures — labeled comprehension strategies by the researchers—to relate ideas in a text to what they already know; to keep track of how well they are understanding what they read; and, when understanding breaks down, to identify what is causing the problem and how to overcome it.” (Lehr & Osborne, 2006) Evidence for instruction in comprehension strategies comes from three sources: 1. Proficient readers monitor their comprehension more actively and effectively than less proficient readers 2. Proficient readers are more likely to use a variety of active cognitive strategies to enhance their comprehension and repair it when it breaks down 3. Explicit instruction along with supported, scaffolded practice in the use of comprehension strategies produces improvements in reading comprehension in both younger and older students From the Report of the National Reading Panel: “The idea behind explicit instruction of text comprehension is that comprehension can be improved by teaching students to use specific cognitive strategies or to reason strategically when they encounter barriers to comprehension when reading.” (NRP, 2000, p. 4-39). “Reading instruction is effective in stimulating student comprehension abilities to the extent that it stimulates students to process texts as good readers do.” (Pressley, 2000, p. 545) What are reading comprehension strategies? Comprehension strategies are specific procedures children can use to help them: 1) become aware of how well they are comprehending text as the read 2) improve their understanding and learning from text •Generating questions •Using background knowledge to make predictions •Constructing visual representations •Summarizing What do we know from research about the impact of directly teaching reading comprehension strategies? The review of the National Reading Panel (2000) Two preliminary considerations for our purposes Most studies have been conducted with students in grades 3-6 (76%) 0.4 0.3 0.2 East 76% 0.1 0 K 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th What do we know from research about the impact of directly teaching reading comprehension strategies? The review of the National Reading Panel (2000) Two preliminary considerations for our purposes Most studies have been conducted with students in grades 3-6 (76%) Most studies reviewed tested the impact of only one strategy at a time- in relatively short-term studies First wave – 1970’s and early 80’s Second wave – Early 80’s through present What do we know from research about the impact of directly teaching reading comprehension strategies? The review of the National Reading Panel (2000) 1. Identified 16 categories of strategy instruction, with 7 having “firm scientific basis” for concluding they improve comprehension in normal readers Comprehension monitoring Cooperative learning* Graphic organizers Question answering Question generation Story structure Summarization Generally much stronger evidence for specific learning on experimenter tests and from text read in the experiment – less evidence for generalization to standardized measures of reading comprehension What happens when you are not good at summarizing: Actual summaries of traffic accidents published in Toronto Sun “Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have.” “The other car collided with mine without giving warning of it's intentions.” “I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way. .” “A truck backed through my windshield into my wife's face What do we know from research about the impact of directly teaching reading comprehension strategies? The review of the National Reading Panel (2000) Comprehension strategy instruction can be thought of as having two goals Short term Improve comprehension and learning from text that is read while strategy instruction is taking place with teacher support Long term Independent, sustained use “changed reading habits” Impact on generalized measures of reading comprehension What do we know from research about the impact of directly teaching reading comprehension strategies? The review of the National Reading Panel (2000) Example: Evidence for effectiveness of teaching students to generate questions about material they are reading “the strongest scientific evidence was found for the effectiveness of asking readers to generate questions during reading” (p 4-45). Found 27 studies with students in grades 3-9 Effect sizes on experimenter developed tests - .95-.85 Median effect size for standardized tests was .36. However, only 3 of 13 effects were statistically reliable. – “..casting doubt on the generality of this single strategy instruction.” What do we know from research about the impact of directly teaching reading comprehension strategies? The review of the National Reading Panel (2000) Instruction in multiple strategies “this method finds considerable scientific support for its effectiveness as a treatment, and it is the most promising for use in classroom instruction.” (p. 4-46) The reciprocal teaching approach, involving instruction in question generation, summarization, clarification, and prediction was most frequently studied Impact on experimenter-devised tests = .88 standardized tests = .32 However, “good readers benefit more than poor readers” And, significant effect sizes were not observed at grade 3 What do we know from research about the impact of directly teaching reading comprehension strategies? The review of the National Reading Panel (2000) An overall statement reflecting the quality of the studies available for review: “The empirical evidence reviewed favors the conclusion that teaching of a variety of reading comprehension strategies leads to increased learning of the strategies, to specific transfer of learning, to increased memory and understanding of new passages, and, in some cases, to general improvements in comprehension. (NRP, 2000, p. 4-51) An extended research example of effective comprehension instruction: Transactional Strategies Instruction with struggling second grade readers “Transactional strategies instruction involves direct explanations and teacher modeling of strategies, followed by guided practice of strategies Teacher assistance is provided on an as-needed basis (i.e. strategy instruction is “scaffolded”) There are lively interpretive discussions of texts, with students encouraged to interpret and respond to text as they are exposed to diverse reactions to text by their classmates The transactional strategies instructional approach succeeds in stimulating dialogues in which strategic processes are used as interpretive vehicles, with consistently high engagement by all group members.” (Pressley, 2000) “The strategies are used as a vehicle for coordinating dialogue about text. Thus, a great deal of discussion of text content occurs as teachers interact with students, reacting to students' use of strategies and prompting additional strategic processing. The Study (Brown, Pressley, et. al. (1996) The students: All students began second grade reading below grade level. Were from schools serving predominantly “working class” families – all spoke English The teachers: 5 experienced TSI teachers – 3-6 years experience 5 other “excellent” teachers nominated by principals and district reading staff – who taught more traditionally Experimental control: Quasi-experiment with non random assignment, but students were well matched on pretest reading comprehension and student demographics. The Study (Brown, Pressley, et. al. (1996) The instruction: Took place across the entire school year Done in both whole group and small group Strategies taught: Adjust reading to purposes and to text characteristics Use background knowledge to make predictions Generate questions and interpretations while reading Visualize ideas and events Summarize periodically Attend selectively to most important information Strategies for dealing with difficult words The Study (Brown, Pressley, et. al. (1996) The outcomes: Interviews about the use of strategies during reading: What do good readers do? What makes someone a good reader? What things do you do before you start to read a story? What do you think about before you read a story? What do you do when you come to a word you do not know? What do you do when you read something that does not make sense? The Study (Brown, Pressley, et. al. (1996) The outcomes: Interviews about the use of strategies during reading: TSI students identified more strategies, and mentioned them more consistently: Uniquely reported: visualizing, looking back, verifying predictions, thinking aloud, summarizing, setting a goal, or browsing Both groups reported: predicting, using text or picture clues to clarify confusions, making connections between text and their background knowledge and experiences, asking someone for help, skipping over confusing parts, and rereading The Study (Brown, Pressley, et. al. (1996) The outcomes: Performance on stories taught during two lessons that had been monitored for instructional activities, and that showed clear differences between TSI and non TSI classes. TSI students interjected interpretive comments in their story recall more than students in the other groups (comments that provided a reason for something that happened in the story) On literal recall of important idea units, the groups differed on one of the stories, but not on the other one. The Study (Brown, Pressley, et. al. (1996) The outcomes: Students were also asked to read a fable, and during the reading, stopped and asked what they were thinking. TSI students consistently responded with more strategy based responses The Study (Brown, Pressley, et. al. (1996) The outcomes: (The student read the page about the dog rushing out of the house with the piece of meat. The student then started to talk before the researcher asked an initial probe.) S: I think my prediction is coming out right, (verifying) R: Why do you say that? S: Cuz, cuz I see a bridge over there and water, (using picture clues) R: Uh huh.... S: And he ran out of the house without anybody seeing him. Like I said before . . . . R: Okay, so you think your prediction is right and you're using, you were pointing to the pictures. S: Yep. The Study (Brown, Pressley, et. al. (1996) The outcomes: Students were also asked to read a fable, and during the reading, stopped and asked what they were thinking. TSI students consistently responded with more strategy based responses The non strategic responses of the TSI students also showed consistently more integration of personal information and response to the story elements, than simply reporting what was going in the text. The Study (Brown, Pressley, et. al. (1996) The outcomes: Text based response R: Okay, what are you thinking? S: The dog stole something. R: Uh huh . . . tell me more. S: He knocked over the table. R: He knocked over, talk nice and loud . . . he knocked things off the table . . . okay. S: Yeah, and nothing really else. R: Okay. And what do you think about what the dog did? S: What do you mean? R: What do you think about what the dog did? S: He stole something. The Study (Brown, Pressley, et. al. (1996) The outcomes: A more interpretive, personal response R: What are you thinking about what's happening on this page? S: Sort of bad because I see that was part of their dinner, but they would not have all the uhm, protein. R: Okay S: The dog ate all t h a t . . . . The Study (Brown, Pressley, et. al. (1996) The outcomes: Stanford Achievement Test Reported raw scores on Comprehension and Word Skills test for fall (form J) and spring (form K) 40 40 34.2 35 35 28.7 30 25 22.2 22.7 25 15 Fall 20 Spring 15 10 10 5 5 0 0 20 TSI Non TSI Passage Comprehension 27.1 30 24 21 TSI 21.1 Non TSI Word Skills The Study (Brown, Pressley, et. al. (1996) Comments from the discussion: TSI had both positive short-term and long-term benefits Short term: Students acquired more information from stories read Developed richer, more personalized interpretations The inference: TSI students learn more from their daily reading group lessons than control students Long Term TSI students showed greater awareness of strategies TSI students used strategies more actively during reading TSI students showed greater gains on standardized test The inference: A year of TSI instruction improved the reading skills of the 2nd grade students more than did alternative high quality instruction. What do we know from research about the impact of directly teaching reading comprehension strategies? The review of the National Reading Panel (2000) ““The major problem facing the teaching of reading comprehension strategies is that of implementation in the classroom by teachers in a natural reading context with readers of various levels”…NRP, 2000, 4-47 What do we know from research about the impact of directly teaching reading comprehension strategies? The review of the National Reading Panel (2000) “For teachers, the art of instruction involves a series of “wh” questions: knowing when to apply what strategy with which particular students. Having students actually develop independent, integrated strategic reading abilities may require subtle instructional distinctions that go well beyond techniques such as instruction, explanation, or reciprocal teaching…strategies are not skills that can be taught by drill; they are plans for constructing meaning…4-47 What do we know from research about the impact of directly teaching reading comprehension strategies? The review of the National Reading Panel (2000) “…it may be necessary to free teachers of the expectation that their job is to follow directions narrowly. Being strategic is much more than knowing the individual strategies. When faced with a comprehension problem, a good strategy user will coordinate strategies and shift strategies as it is appropriate to do so. They will constantly alter, adjust, modify, and test until they construct meaning and the problem is solved.” P. 4-47 How can we curricularize high quality instruction in the self-regulated use of comprehension strategies? The concept of “balanced” comprehension instruction. Both explicit instruction and modeling, and lots of time for actual reading, writing, and discussion of text. (Duke & Pearson, 2002) Critical Elements 1. An explicit description of the strategy and when and how it should be used. 2. Teacher and/or student modeling of the strategy in action 3. Collaborative use of the strategy in action to construct meaning of text. 4. Guided practice using the strategy with gradual release of responsibility – scaffolding by the teacher 5. Independent use of the strategy How can we curricularize high quality instruction in the self-regulated use of comprehension strategies? The larger classroom context (desirable elements) 1. Lots of time spent actually reading 2. Experience reading real text for real reasons – have a purpose for the reading 3. Experience reading the range of genres that we wish students to comprehend 4. An environment rich in vocabulary and concept development through reading, experience, and, above all, discussion of words and their meanings 5. Lots of time spent writing texts for others to comprehend 6. An environment rich in high-quality talk about text (From Duke & Pearson, 2002) How can we curricularize high quality instruction in the self-regulated use of comprehension strategies? Other teaching considerations 1. Using well-suited texts 2. Concern with student motivation 3. Ongoing assessment Can the child ask a meaningful question about a passage just read? Does the child’s story recall include information organized by story grammar? Can the child summarize a paragraph briefly? What happens when you are not good at summarizing: More summaries of traffic accidents published in Toronto Sun “The guy was all over the road, I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.” “The pedestrian had no idea which way to go, so I ran over him .” “The telephone pole was approaching fast, I attempted to swerve out of it's way, when it struck the front of my car .” “I told the police that I was not injured, but on removing my hat, I found that I had a skull fracture A second extended research example: Concept Oriented Reading Instruction with 3rd grade students The Goal: Create a method of improving literacy skills that is highly engaging and effective in establishing use of comprehension strategies to increase reading comprehension Premise: “motivated students usually want to understand text content fully and therefore, process information deeply. As they read frequently with these cognitive purposes, motivated students gain in reading comprehension proficiency” (Guthrie et al., 2004, p. 403) Four principles for creating engaged readers When content goals are prominent in reading, students focus on gaining meaning, building knowledge, and understanding deeply, rather than on skills and rewards…meaningful conceptual content in reading instruction increases motivation for reading and text comprehension Affording students choices of texts, responses, or partners during instruction. Choice leads to ownership and higher motivation Four principles for creating engaged readers (cont.) Have an abundance of interesting texts available at the right reading level for every student. Students more readily read text they can read fluently. Allow students the opportunity to work collaboratively with ample opportunities for discussion, questioning, and sharing Study I (Guthrie, et al., 2004) The students: 3rd graders in four schools that were randomly assigned to either CORI, or strategy instruction alone. 22% African American, 75% Caucasian, and 3% Asian. Twenty percent qualified for free and reduced price lunch. Students no more than 2 grade levels behind were included. The teachers: Teachers in CORI participated in a 10 day summer workshop in which they received training in methods and also developed science activities that would be used during a 12 week instructional period. Teachers in the SI condition participated in a 5 day summer workshop on methods. Study 1 (Guthrie, et al., 2004) The instruction: Explicitly taught six comprehension strategies over a six week period, then practiced integrating their use over another six weeks. Instruction lasted 90 min./day for 12 weeks. The strategies taught were: activating background knowledge questioning searching for information summarizing organizing graphically identifying story structure Study I (Guthrie, et al., 2004) The instruction: Created an engaging reading context by teaching strategies in order to accomplish content goals in a life science unit called ‘Survival of Life on Land and Water” Engagement features “Knowledge content goals provide motivation for students because they provide a purpose for using strategies, such as questioning” Study I (Guthrie, et al., 2004) The instruction: Engagement features (cont.) Students were given individual choices about which birds or animals to study in depth and which information books to read on the topic. “Hands on Activites” were used to provide experiences and knowledge that were followed by opportunities to read “when students dissect an owl pellet, subsequent reading about owls and the food web in which they exist is energized, long lived, and cognitively sophisticated” Study I (Guthrie, et al., 2004) The instruction: Engagement features (cont.) Had an abundance of interesting texts available for reading. Texts at several different levels of difficulty were available on each topic Students worked collaboratively on a variety of reading and study projects “Students motivation for using complex comprehension strategies is increased when they are afforded opportunities to share their questions, interesting texts, and information being gained” Overall characterization of CORI CORI integrates comprehension strategies for which the National Reading Panel (2000) found firm scientific bases for effectiveness (e.g., cooperative learning, comprehension monitoring, summarizing) with inquiry science. Inquiry science includes hands-on activities such as observation of real-world phenomena and experimentation, designed to support student understanding of scientific concepts. Students use texts to confirm and extend the knowledge they gain through the hands-on activities. The inquiry science components of CORI provide students with a motivational and conceptual base for developing and applying strategies as they read texts. Lehr & Osborne, 2006) Study I (Guthrie, et al., 2004) The outcomes: Multiple Text comprehension. Students studied 75 pages worth of text (some at 2nd, some at 4th grade) by taking notes in one 10 minute and one 40 minute activity. Students were given 30 minutes to write what they knew about the topic. CORI > SI, Effect size 1.01 Passage Comprehension – students read a 500 word passage for 7 minutes. Students then rated the relatedness of word pairs from the passage. CORI > SI, Effect size 1.32 Motivation for reading questionaire CORI> SI, Effect size .98 Study 2 (Guthrie, et al., 2004) Contrasted CORI, SI, and “traditional instruction” in a new school identified by the district as an appropriate comparison The students: Came from same schools as Study I., plus one other school that served as control for “traditional instruction.” Students demographics- 41-44% minorities for CORI and SI schools, 10% for TI The teachers: In CORI schools, 4 of 9 teachers were new. In SI schools, 2 of 11 teachers were new Training for new teachers was similar that for study I. Returning teachers in CORI participated during days in which science lessons were developed. Returning SI teachers received 2 days of refresher training. Study 2 (Guthrie, et al., 2004) The instruction: Same as in Study I, with addition of additional 30 min. day for “struggling readers” that focused on fluency and simplified strategy instruction Study 2 (Guthrie, et al., 2004) The outcomes: Passage Comprehension – students read a 550 word passage and then completed the “word relatedness” task CORI > TI, CORI=SI, SI=TI Gates MacGinitie Reading Comprehension test On Extended Scaled Scores CORI > SI=TI Study 2 (Guthrie, et al., 2004) The outcomes: Teacher ratings of motivation for reading– teachers were trained to rate each students on intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy for reading, extrinsic motivation Intrinsic Motivation - CORI > SI Self Efficacy for reading – CORI = SI Extrinsic motivation – CORI> SI The Studies together (Guthrie et al., 2004) Comments from the discussion: “Our findings contribute to the knowledge base on reading comprehension instruction by showing experimentally that explicitly combining motivational practices with SI (strategies instruction) increases reading comprehension relative to SI alone or to TI.” p. 416 Strategy instruction: Some caveats The effectiveness of instruction in comprehension strategies depends critically on how they are taught, supported, and practiced Common instructional mistakes Strategies taught as “ends in themselves” -- memorized Too much focus on the strategies themselves, and not enough on constructing the meaning of text. Can go astray if students spend too much time thinking about how they should process the text rather than thinking about the text itself. Too much time on the “explicit instruction” part and not enough time on the collaborative, scaffolded, application/ discussion part Strategy instruction: The big ideas 1. Effective long-term instruction will most likely involve teaching students to flexibly use multiple strategies to improve their comprehension of text 2. Effective instruction requires many opportunities for students to discuss and interpret text using the application of strategies as a way of structuring the discussion 3. The focus of strategy instruction should always be on constructing the meaning of the text. 4. Effective strategy instruction always involves explicit description and modeling of strategies by the teacher. 5. Effective strategy instruction always involves extended discussions of text in which the teacher scaffolds student strategy use. Strategy instruction: The big ideas 6. Always keep in mind that the purpose of strategy instruction is to stimulate student’s thinking about the meaning of text (by providing guided opportunities for them to actually think about, and interpret text)– ultimately, their attention needs to be on the text and not on the strategies. Other promising strategies and practices 1. Increasing the amount of time spent in discussion focused on constructing the meaning of text The role of discussion in promoting comprehension During discussions, students can be directly led to engage in thoughtful analysis of text in ways that support their comprehension when they are reading on their own (Beck & McKeown, 2006). . Increasing the amount of high quality discussion of reading content is also frequently cited as a way of increasing engagement in reading and reading based assignments (Guthrie & Humenick, 2004). Characteristics of effective discussions approaches that emphasized critical analysis of text or that involved discussion (either teacher led or student led) of specific questions about text meaning had the most consistently positive effect on reading comprehension outcomes (Murphy & Edwards, 2005) Leading students in discussion while they are reading text may be more effective than discussing text after students have read it on their own (Sandora, Beck, & McKeown, 1999) Other promising strategies and practices 1. Increasing the amount of time spent in discussion focused on constructing the meaning of text 2. Increasing the use of expository text in reading assignments for students in grades 1-3. Based on hypothesis that, “experience with one type of text will help children become good readers or writer of that type of text but not of some other type of text.” (Palincsar & Duke, 2004) Children currently receive very little exposure to informational text in early primary grades—particularly in low SES schools There is some beginning evidence that inclusion of more informational text does not hurt early reading acquisition, and can promote growth of content knowledge and teacher attention to vocabulary and comprehension Questions for further research… We need more year-long, classroom based studies of instruction in multiple comprehension strategies We need to understand more about differences in appropriate strategy instruction across grade levels in K-3 How well do current core reading programs implement the general set of recommendations for instruction in reading comprehension strategies exemplified in research? More research on the benefits and risks of including more exposure to informational texts in the early primary grades Some relevant advice from Yogi Berra First: “Never give up, because it ain’t over ‘till its over” Second: “During the years ahead, when you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Third: “You’ve got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, ‘cause you might not get there.” Fourth: In conducting your experiments, “remember that you can observe a lot by watching.” Fifth: Replicating your findings is important, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” Sixth and last: “Remember that whatever you do in life, 90 percent of it is half mental.” Thank you References: Brown, R., Pressley, M., Van Meter, P., & Schuder, T. (1996). A quasi-experimental validation of transactional strategies instruction with low-achieving second grade readers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 18-37. Duke, N. K., & Pearson, P. D. (2002). Effective practices for developing reading comprehension. In A. E. Farstrup & S. J. Samuels (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (3rd edition) (pp. 205-242). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Durkin, D. (1993). Teaching them to read (6th Ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Guthrie, J.T. (et al.) (2004). Increasing reading comprehension and engagement through concept-oriented reading instruction. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 403-421 Harris, T. L., & Hodges, R. E. (1995). The literacy dictionary. Newark, DE:International Reading Association. National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Washington, D.C. References: Murphy, P.K., & Edwards, M. N. 2005, April). What the studies tell us: A metaanalysis of discussion approaches. In M. Nystrand (Chair), Making sense of group discussions designed to promote high-level comprehension of texts. Symposium presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada. Perfetti, C. A. (1985). Reading Ability. New York: Oxford University Press. Pressley, M. (2000). What should comprehension instruction be the instruction of? In M.L. Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, P.D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. III, pp. 545–561). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Pressley, M. & Afflerbach, P. (1995). Verbal protocols of reading: The nature of constructively responsive reading. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. RAND Reading Study Group. (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward an R & D program in reading comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. (available online at www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1465/) Sandora, C., Beck, I., & McKeown, M. (1999). A comparison of two discussion strategies on students’ comprehension and interpretation of complex literature. Journal of Reading Psychology, 20, 177-212. References suitable for use in teacher study groups (K-1) Beck, I.L., & McKeown, M.G. (2001). Text talk: Capturing the benefits of read aloud experiences for young children. The Reading Teacher, 55, 10-35. (2-3) Beck, I.L. & McKeown, M.G. (2006). Improving comprehension with questioning the author: A fresh and expanded view of a powerful approach. New York: Guilford. (2-3) Block, C.C., Rodgers, L.L, Johnson, R.B. (2004). Comprehension Process Instruction: Creating Reading Success in Grades K-3. New York: The Guilford Press. (2-3) Duke, N. K., & Pearson, P. D. (2002). Effective practices for developing reading comprehension. In A. E. Farstrup & S. J. Samuels (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (3rd edition) (pp. 205-242). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. (2-3) Guthrie, J. T., Wigfield, A., & Perencevich, K. C. (2004). Scaffolding for motivation and engagement in reading. In J. T. Guthrie, A. Wigfield, & K. C. Perencevich (Eds.). Motivating reading comprehension: Concept-oriented reading instruction. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. References suitable for use in teacher study groups (K-3) Lehr, F. & Osborne, J. (2006). Focus on Comprehension. Pacific Regional Educational Laboratory. Available at: http://www.prel.org/programs/rel/comprehensionforum.asp (1-3) Palincsar, A.S., & Duke, N.K. (2004). The role of text and text-reader interactions in young children’s reading development and achievement. The Elementary School Journal, 105, 183-196. (K-3) Pressley, M. (2000). What should comprehension instruction be the instruction of? In M.L. Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, P.D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. III, pp. 545–561). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

517 F2d 1339 Levitt v. United States 517 F.2d 1339 75-1 USTC P 9508 Ellis I. and Nelle S. LEVITT, Appellants-Appellees UNITED STATES of America, Appellees-Appellants Nos. 74-1572, 74-1582. United States Court of Appeals, Submitted Feb. 10, 1975. Decided June 5, 1975. Jeffrey E. Lamson, Des Moines, Iowa, for plaintiffs-appellants. Stephen M. Gelber, Atty., Appellate Section, Tax Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for defendant-appellee. Before BRIGHT and STEPHENSON, Circuit Judges, and TALBOT SMITH, Senior District Judge.* BRIGHT, Circuit Judge. The appeal and cross-appeal in this case require that we interpret and apply to the circumstances disclosed by the record the provisions of § 265(2) of the Internal Revenue Act of 1954, as amended, 26 U.S.C. § 265(2) (1970), which disallows a deduction for interest "on indebtedness incurred or continued to purchase or carry obligations * * * the interest on which is wholly exempt from * * * (federal income) taxes * * *."1 Taxpayer Nelle Levitt claimed for the years 1963-1965, inclusive, an interest deduction for loans from the Iowa-Des Moines National Bank (hereinafter Bank) carried to finance the purchase of United States Treasury bonds, the income from which is not exempt from taxation, when at all times she could have readily paid off the loans, or avoided them altogether by liquidation of her substantial holdings of tax-exempt municipal bonds. Nelle's husband, Ellis Levitt, obtained loans from the Bank to purchase Treasury bonds while holding, as did Nelle Levitt, tax-exempt securities of substantially greater value than the amount of the loans. In common with his wife, he claimed interest deductions in the same years. Additionally, during 1963-65, Ellis Levitt claimed interest deductions for his indebtedness to the Bank incurred to obtain funds to make certain other investments and, possibly, to repay a loan from his wife.2 The Commissioner rejected entirely the Levitts' deduction of interest on loans incurred to purchase the Treasury bonds and rejected in part Ellis Levitt's deduction of interest on his other loans. After paying the deficiencies assessed by the Commissioner, Mr. and Mrs. Levitt brought this suit for refund of these additional taxes. The district court sustained the Commissioner's position on deficiencies for interest on loans attributable to the Levitts' acquisition of Treasury bonds but sustained Mr. Levitt's deduction of interest on other loans from the Bank.3 The Levitts bring this appeal (No. 74-1572) and the Government cross-appeals (No. 74-1582). We affirm the district court with respect to Mr. and Mrs. Levitt's appeal, but we sustain the Government's position in its cross-appeal and remand for a proper allocation of the interest deduction to be disallowed on Mr. Levitt's loans for purposes other than the purchase of Treasury bonds. We will restate the operative facts as related in the district court opinion and as contained in the parties' stipulation of facts.Nelle Levitt Since 1958 Mrs. Levitt has annually held in excess of $80,000 in tax-exempt municipal bonds. These holdings increased substantially from 1961 to 1965.4 In October and December of 1960, she borrowed $84,000 from the Bank and applied the entire proceeds to purchase United States Treasury bonds. On September 9, 1964, she borrowed $85,891 from the Bank and purchased the same amount of Treasury bonds. In late December of 1965, she borrowed $40,000 and bought Treasury bonds in that amount. As of the end of 1964, she owned tax-exempts in the face amount of approximately $293,000; by the end of the calendar year 1965, she owned tax-exempts in the face amount of approximately $398,000. She retained all Treasury bonds acquired with bank loans; and her loan balance, equalling her investment in Treasury bonds and on which she had never paid any principal, totalled $209,891 at the end of 1965. According to the parties' briefs, Mrs. Levitt deposited no collateral (other than the Treasury bonds themselves) with the Bank as security for any of these loans. At year-end 1963, Mrs. Levitt's net worth exceeded $600,000 and, by year-end 1965, $1,000,000. She acquired the taxable United States Treasury bonds because, although purchased at a discount, they can be redeemed at par by her estate to pay federal estate taxes. The circumstances relating to Mr. Levitt's loans from the Bank for the purpose of purchasing Treasury bonds are similar to those of his wife. He owned tax-exempt securities in amounts substantially greater than the total value of the loans that he obtained from the Bank from 1959 through 1965. During this period he borrowed $415,000 for the specific purpose of purchasing United States Treasury bonds for the payment by his estate of federal estate taxes. In addition, Mr. Levitt borrowed $516,746 from the Bank during 1961 to 1965 for other purposes: (1) In 1961, he purchased from his employer the insurance policies carried by it on his life. He did so by borrowing $260,000 against the cash value of these policies. (2) In 1963, he borrowed $42,000 to purchase land for a real estate development construction of a post office in Des Moines. (3) In 1964, he borrowed $107,072 for construction payments on this post office. (4) In 1965, he borrowed $67,674 to purchase real estate for investment; $40,000 to pay a liability incurred in a motel venture; and $27,000 to repay a loan to his wife.5 Mr. Levitt's loans were for varying terms, including notes payable upon demand, notes due in one year, notes due in less than one year, and notes renewable when due. During 1963-65, his bank borrowings increased as he renewed outstanding loans in addition to taking out new loans. As of September 18, 1963, he had deposited with the Bank $165,000 in tax-exempts, $250,000 in United States Treasury bonds, and $235,000 in insurance policies, totalling $650,000 at market value,6 to carry his indebtedness, which then amounted to $545,000. On September 28, 1964, he reduced his deposited tax-exempt securities to $154,000 but, by August 31, 1965, these deposits increased to $261,000 as he raised his borrowings to $934,000. As his borrowings increased from 1963 through 1965, he deposited additional Treasury bonds and additional life insurance policies with increased cash values. Consequently, the Bank held a total of $981,000 in collateral for loans in the amount of $934,000 as of year-end 1965. I. Legal Principles. The parties agree on the basic principles controlling this case but disagree as to their application. Those principles have been succinctly stated in Israelson v. United States, 367 F.Supp. 1104 (D.Md.1973), aff'd mem.,508 F.2d 838 (4th Cir. 1974): The following principles are well established. Section 265(2) does not become operative merely because the taxpayer incurred or continued indebtedness at the same time that he held tax-exempt securities. Rather, the Commissioner must establish a sufficiently direct relationship between the debt and the carrying of the tax-exempt bonds. The touchstone for decision is the purpose of the taxpayer in incurring or continuing the indebtedness. A finding of a taxpayer's purpose does not depend solely upon looking into his mind and learning what he was thinking; although his intentions are relevant, his purpose may be inferred from his conduct and from the circumstances that confronted him. The taxpayer has the burden of overcoming the presumption of validity of the Commissioner's determination of deficiencies. (Id. at 1106-07 (emphasis in original).) In Illinois Terminal R. R. v. United States, 375 F.2d 1016, 179 Ct.Cl. 674 (1967), the court enunciated the test for proving a tax-avoidance relationship between continuing a loan and purchasing or carrying tax-exempts: The real issue here is whether the remaining loan, regardless of its size of correlation with the cost basis of other assets, was continued for the purpose of enabling plaintiff to own the Series "B" bonds of the city of Venice. Of course, the resolution of this issue requires a connection-type inquiry, which will be somewhat different from the inquiry into situations where the issue is whether indebtedness was incurred to purchase tax-exempt bonds. It is necessary to establish a sufficiently direct relationship of the continuance of the debt for the purpose of carrying the tax-exempt bonds. (Id. at 1020-21.) See also Bishop v. Commissioner, 41 T.C. 154, 159-61 (1963), aff'd, 342 F.2d 757 (6th Cir. 1965). The court then concluded: What plaintiff seeks to do is to receive tax-free income and at the same time deduct the interest expense attributable to obtaining that tax-free income. This is the double benefit prohibited by section 265(2). A business cannot escape taxation of income by the device of purchasing or carrying tax-exempt securities with borrowed money not required to carry on its regular functions. (375 F.2d at 1021.) In a recent decision, the Tax Court repeated the need to prove a direct relationship between a borrowing or its continuation and the purchase or carrying of tax-exempt securities before § 265(2) becomes operative:Section 265(2) does not become operative merely because the taxpayer incurred or continued indebtedness at the same time that he held tax-exempt securities. "The mere simultaneous existence of an indebtedness and the holding of tax-exempt securities does not cause section 265(2) to apply." * * * Rather, section 265(2) is applicable only when "the purpose for which the indebtedness is incurred or continued is to purchase or carry tax-exempt obligations" (emphasis supplied). * * * Thus, the deduction will be disallowed only where there is a "sufficiently direct relationship" between the incurrence or continuance of the indebtedness and the purchasing or carrying of the tax-exempt securities. (Mariorenzi v. Commissioner, 32 T.C.M. 681, 684 (1973), aff'd per curiam, 490 F.2d 92 (1st Cir. 1974) (citations omitted).) In addition to general circumstances demonstrating a direct relationship between the acquisition or carrying of tax-exempts and a borrowing or continuation of borrowing, that direct relationship, evidencing the taxpayer's purpose to borrow or continue a loan in order to acquire or carry the tax-exempts, is deemed established if tax-exempt securities are used as collateral to incur or continue short-term loans. Wisconsin Cheeseman, Inc. v. United States, 388 F.2d 420, 422-23 (7th Cir. 1968); Phipps v. United States, 515 F.2d 1099, 1102 (Ct.Cl.1975); cf. Norfolk Shipbuilding & Drydock Corp. v. United States, 321 F.Supp. 222, 231 (E.D.Va.1971); Ball v. Commissioner, 54 T.C. 1200, 1205-07 (1970). In Wisconsin Cheeseman, Inc. v. United States, supra, the court observed that there is no difference in effect, for tax purposes, between borrowing to directly buy tax-exempts and borrowing by using tax-exempts as collateral: Under Section 265(2), it is clear that a taxpayer may not deduct interest on indebtedness when the proceeds of the loan are used to buy tax-exempts. 4A Mertens, Law of Federal Income Taxation (1966 ed.) § 26.13 and cases cited. Applying the rule that the substance of the transaction is controlling in determining the tax liability, the same result should follow when the tax- exempt securities are used as collateral for a loan. Surely one who borrows to buy tax-exempts and one who borrows against tax-exempts already owned are in virtually the same economic position. Section 265(2) makes no distinction between them. (388 F.2d at 422.) Simply stated, § 265(2) prevents a taxpayer from simultaneously paying no tax on income from tax-exempt securities and deducting interest on loans that he would not be incurring or continuing but for his desire to acquire or carry the tax-exempts. With these principles in mind, we examine the taxpayers' transactions. II. Application of the Legal Principles. A. Treasury Bond Purchases. Mr. and Mrs. Levitt purchased United States Treasury bonds for the sole purpose of reducing the amounts which their respective estates would actually pay in estate taxes. The taxpayers advanced no independent business reason, except future tax benefits, to justify holding the tax-exempts while borrowing to obtain funds to directly purchase the Treasury bonds.7 Compare Illinois Terminal R. R. v. United States, supra, 375 F.2d at 1021; Bradford v. Commissioner, 60 T.C. 253, 259 (1973). The fact that the borrowing may have been advantageous for federal estate tax purposes does not evidence a purpose unrelated to the taxpayers' purchase and holding a tax-exempt securities. Rather, the absence of any adequate business justification for the loans compels the conclusion that the taxpayer borrowed money in order to retain his or her tax-exempts. See Mariorenzi v. Commissioner, supra, 32 T.C.M. at 685. Congress has allowed the deduction of interest on indebtedness, see 26 U.S.C. § 163(a), in order to tax only gains and not gross income. Leslie v. Commissioner, 413 F.2d 636, 640 (2d Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1007, 90 S.Ct. 564, 24 L.Ed.2d 500 (1970). By retaining all of their tax-exempt securities while borrowing to purchase taxable securities, the Levitts have, in effect, financed an estate tax reduction plan. The entire justification for the interest deduction is undercut in this case, for the interest expense incurred on the indebtedness was directly and purposefully offset by income on which there was no tax. Leslie v. Commissioner, supra, 413 F.2d at 640. Taxpayers make the further argument that the language in the parenthetical phrase of § 265(2) discloses a congressional intent to create a safe and untouchable haven for interest on any borrowing incurred or continued in connection with the purchase of obligations of the United States: No deduction shall be allowed for * * * Interest on indebtedness incurred or continued to purchase or carry obligations (other than obligations of the United States issued after September 24, 1917, and originally subscribed for by the taxpayer ) the interest on which is wholly exempt from the taxes imposed by this subtitle. (Emphasis added.) In making this argument the taxpayers direct our attention to a regulation of the Internal Revenue Service, promulgated pursuant to § 265(2), which expressly authorizes deduction of interest on loans for the purchase of obligations of the United States: Interest paid or accrued within the taxable year on indebtedness incurred or continued to purchase or carry (a) obligations of the United States issued after September 24, 1917, the interest on which is not wholly exempt from the taxes imposed under subtitle A of the Code * * * is deductible. (26 C.F.R. § 1.265-2(1963).) The district court rejected the taxpayers' contention that this parenthetical statutory language, as explained in the regulation, authorizes deduction of interest on borrowings to purchase Treasury bonds in the circumstances of these cases: Taxpayers' reading of the regulation appears to arrive at the conclusion that, because the regulation permits interest deductions for loans used to buy treasury bonds, then the mere fact a taxpayer is carrying or continuing loans to carry tax-exempt bonds is of no effect. If taxpayers' argument was followed to its logical conclusion, it would be possible for a person to carry as many tax-exempt bonds as he could afford, while at the same time borrow any amount of money he desired to purchase U.S. Treasury Bonds and still be able to deduct the interest payments on the loans. Such a theory would legitimize double deductions and in my opinion completely controvert Congressional intent in the passage of section 265(2). (368 F.Supp. at 648.) We completely agree with the district court's reasoning. The parenthetical phrase in § 265(2) apparently serves to distinguish the World War I tax-exempt Liberty Bonds from the later taxable Treasury bonds and to ensure that the latter, as non-exempt bonds, fell into a tax category different from that of Liberty Bonds. See Treasury Regulations 62 (1921 Revenue Act), art. 121. The regulation, § 1.265-2, specifies only that interest paid on indebtedness to purchase these later taxable bonds would be a deductible item under the general rule for deductibility of interest. But this language does not create a special tax haven for interest on debts incurred to buy Treasury bonds where the debt designedly facilitates the purchasing or carrying of tax-exempt securities. B. Mr. Levitt's Business Loans. The district court approved the deduction of interest on Mr. Levitt's borrowings to acquire life insurance policies and for investment in real estate ventures. Because the trial court found no direct relationship between carrying the tax-exempts and obtaining these loans, it held that the interest was properly deductible. With respect to the acquisition of life insurance policies, the trial court found that the necessity for their purchase grew out of a situation over which Mr. Levitt did not have control. This appeared to be a legitimate long term investment * * * and here his motive was to create a profitable investment and to protect the value of the insurance polic(ies) and avoid surrender for cash value. This was a major non-recurring outlay of cash for business reasons and it would be reasonable not to sacrifice the liquidity of the tax exempt (securities) to finance such a commitment. (368 F.Supp. at 649.) The trial court made a similar analysis of the indebtedness incurred relative to Ellis' real estate ventures: (T)hese investments are major, nonrecurring items. Business reasons were the motivation for the incurring of the indebtedness to finance the new ventures. (Id. at 649.)8 The trial court based its holding, with respect to these borrowings, upon Ball v. Commissioner, 54 T.C. 1200 (1970). Its reliance upon Ball cannot be sustained, however, for the Tax Court's opinion in Ball makes clear that "(n)o tax-exempt security * * * was used as collateral for any loan made by petitioner (taxpayer) and outstanding at any time during the taxable period." Id. at 1205. Appellant Ellis Levitt's reliance upon Batten v. United States, 322 F.Supp. 629 (E.D.Va.1971), is equally misplaced, for there the taxpayer's small holding of tax-exempts in no way supported an indebtedness incurred to liquidate a deceased associate's interest in a business. Here, in contrast to the facts in Ball and Batten, the record discloses that on September 18, 1963, Ellis Levitt's new loan balance of $545,000 was supported by $165,000 of tax-exempts in custody of the Bank and $485,000 of other collateral. On March 12, 1964, the new bank loan balance of $631,000 was supported by the same tax-exempts and $571,000 of other collateral. On September 28, 1964, the bank balance rose to $812,000, supported by collateral of $154,000 in tax-exempts, and $682,000 in Treasury bonds and insurance policies. By August 31, 1965, the loan balance had increased to $934,000, supported by $261,000 in tax-exempts and $720,000 in other collateral. Although the court characterized the purchase of insurance policies and investment in real estate ventures as long-term investments, 368 F.Supp. at 649, the record shows that the borrowings underlying these investments comprised demand notes or notes for a term no longer than one year. The crucial fact is that with each new loan the borrower, presumably at the lender's request, deposited or maintained tax-exempts as collateral to partially support the loan balance. Thus, the taxpayer incurred or continued his indebtedness in order to carry the tax-exempt securities. See Wisconsin Cheeseman, Inc. v. United States, supra, 388 F.2d at 422-23; Phipps v. United States, supra, 515 F.2d at 1102. Consequently, the deduction of interest paid to the Bank on the loans to purchase life insurance policies and to make real estate investments must be disallowed in direct proportion as the loans were supported by tax-exempts deposited with the Bank as collateral. Or, to state the matter conversely, an interest deduction is allowable to the extent that the loans were supported by collateral other than tax-exempt bonds. In its briefs, the Government discusses in detail the proper formulae for computing the interest deduction to be disallowed because of Mr. Levitt's incurring and continuing loans in order to purchase and carry tax-exempts. The Government urges us to adopt its application of the principles of Revenue Procedure 72-18, §§ 7.01, .02, 1972-1 Cum.Bull. 740, 743, to the facts of Mr. Levitt's case. The district court evaluated neither the merit, if any, of the Government's proposal nor whether the proffered formulae are consistent with the principles expressed in the Revenue Procedure. Instead, it expressly refrained from considering the matter: The parties in this case have agreed between themselves that the Court need not make a determination of the amount of the refunds due * * *. Instead, the parties have indicated to the Court that they will work out a distribution, subject to the approval of the Court, in accordance with the ruling in this case. The Court is of the opinion that this distribution should be agreed upon by the parties within 30 days from the filing of this opinion, and then submitted to the Court for final approval. (368 F.Supp. at 650.) The plan submitted to the court by the parties pursuant to this directive provided, consistently with the district court's holding, only for disallowance of interest on loans incurred to purchase Treasury bonds, and the parties stipulated the correctness of the computations and procedure for arriving at the disallowance. Thus, the court below has had no occasion to consider the Government's contentions on appeal with respect to the proper computation of the interest deduction disallowance. It is axiomatic that issues not raised below may not, in the absence of extraordinary circumstances, be raised on appeal. E. g., Brennan v. Maxey's Yamaha, Inc., 513 F.2d 179, 184 (8th Cir. 1975); Gulf Shores Leasing Corp. v. Avis Rent-A-Car System, Inc., 441 F.2d 1385, 1391-92 (5th Cir.), cert. dismissed, 404 U.S. 953, 92 S.Ct. 305, 30 L.Ed.2d 270 (1971). Accordingly, we decline to accept the Government's invitation to decide the proper formulae for computing the amount of interest to be disallowed on that part of Mr. Levitt's loan balance incurred for purposes other than the purchase of the Treasury bonds referred to in Part II A of this opinion. We remand Mr. Levitt's case for a determination of the interest allocable to loans incurred or continued to carry the taxpayer's holdings of tax-exempt securities. Although the district court found that the loans for purposes other than the purchase of Treasury bonds served legitimate business purposes and were not incurred or continued purposefully to carry the tax-exempt municipals, we nevertheless have concluded that the use of tax-exempt municipals as collateral in part taints these loans, thereby requiring allocation. See Rev.Proc. 72-18, §§ 7.01, .02, 1972-1 Cum.Bull. 740, 743. Thus, we believe that Mr. Levitt's interest deduction on these other loans should be apportioned to provide for disallowance of interest on that part of each loan which is supported by the collateral of tax-exempt municipal bonds deposited with the Bank as of the date of the interest payment on it. We remand for proper allocation. TALBOT SMITH, Senior District Judge, Eastern District of Michigan, sitting by designation As pertinent here, § 265(2) reads as follows: No deduction shall be allowed for (2) Interest. Interest on indebtedness incurred or continued to purchase or carry obligations (other than obligations of the United States issued after September 24, 1917, and originally subscribed for by the taxpayer) the interest on which is wholly exempt from the taxes imposed by this subtitle. This provision constitutes an exception to the general rule that "(t)here shall be allowed as a deduction all interest paid or accrued within the taxable year on indebtedness." 26 U.S.C. § 163(a) (1970). See note 5 infra The district court opinion is reported at 368 F.Supp. 644 (S.D.Ia.1974) Mrs. Levitt's purchase of tax-exempts during the tax years in issue amounted to $495,806: Year Amount --------- --------- 1963 $ 85,000 (January 17, 29) 76,155 (April through December) 1964 113,042 (January 1 through January 10) 5,039 (June 15) 10,111 (August 24) 1965 44,605 (June 22) 50,012 (July 6) 56,031 (July 12) 55,811 (November 5) --------- TOTAL $ 495,806 The record does not make clear whether Mr. Levitt borrowed this $27,000 from the Bank. No reference is made to such borrowing in the statement of material facts admitted by both parties. However, in a summary of all of Ellis' borrowings the $27,000 is mentioned as having been borrowed to pay a loan from Nelle Levitt. A tabulation of bank loans shows no entry in 1965 to cover this $27,000 item. The loan balance referred to in the text equals $516,746, apart from any $27,000 loan made to repay Mrs. Levitt. The district court opinion recites, however, that this loan came from the Bank. 368 F.Supp. at 650. Neither the taxpayers' nor the Government's brief makes further mention of this item. Because the Government's objection to the interest deduction focuses on tax-exempts as collateral for bank borrowing, we assume that the Government does not press its claim for disallowance of interest on this loan unless it is included in the bank loan balance. The district court will have to determine on remand whether this $27,000 was, in fact, borrowed from the Bank Unless otherwise indicated, all references to the amount of collateral are to its market, rather than face, value The district court found that (t)here is no good business reason, other than the desire to carry tax-exempt securities, offered why the tax exempts or trust income were not used (by Nelle Levitt) to purchase the government bonds rather than borrow additional sums from the bank. (368 F.Supp. at 647.) Although we accept this finding by the court of the taxpayer's motivation, that motivation becomes immaterial in light of the independent use of tax-exempts as collateral for the bank loans at issue. See Wisconsin Cheeseman, Inc. v. United States, 388 F.2d 420, 422-23 (7th Cir. 1968); see also Phipps v. United States, 515 F.2d 1099, 1102 (Ct.Cl.1975); cf. Leslie v. Commissioner, 413 F.2d 636, 639-40 (2d Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1007, 90 S.Ct. 564, 24 L.Ed.2d 500 (1970)

Whether they were captives in ancient Crete, orphans in the Florentine Ospedale degli Innocenti, widows in South India or country wives in Georgian England, women through the centuries spent their lives spinning, especially after water wheels freed up time previously devoted to grinding grain. Turning fibre into thread was a time-consuming, highly skilled craft, requiring dexterity and care. Even after the spread of the spinning wheel in the Middle Ages, the finest, most consistent yarn, as well as strong warp threads in general, still came from the most ancient of techniques: drop spinning, using a hooked or notched stick with a weight as a flywheel. Spinning was the major bottleneck in making cloth. In the late 18th century, the thriving worsted industry in Norwich in the east of England employed 12,000 looms but 10 times as many spinners producing fine wool thread. The demand for spinning was so high, estimates the economic historian Craig Muldrew, that it employed more than a million married women in an English workforce of 4 million, providing about a third of the income of poorer families. A spinster is a woman who spins. Unmarried women with no children and few domestic chores could work longer hours without distraction, earning as much as male day-labourers and, Muldrew suggests, possibly delaying or even avoiding marriage. Spinning also gave poor girls a more lucrative option than domestic service, leading to complaints of a servant shortage. With labour short and wages high, the eve of the Industrial Revolution was a great time to be a spinster. But a bottleneck is a problem waiting to be solved, and inventors started looking for ways to get more thread with less labour. Like self-driving cars or cheap, clean energy today, spinning machines seemed obviously desirable. In 1760, Britain’s Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce offered prizes for ‘a Machine that will spin Six Threads of Wool, Flax, Cotton, or Silk at one time, and that will require but one Person to work it’. Nobody won, but within a few years the northern English carpenter James Hargreaves introduced the spinning jenny. It was, writes the economic historian Beverly Lemire in Cotton (2011), ‘the first robust machine that could consistently produce multiple spindles of thread from the effort of a single spinster’. Soon after, his fellow Lancastrian inventor Richard Arkwright refined mechanical spinning with water-powered innovations that improved thread quality and integrated carding and roving (twisting fibres to prepare them for spinning) into a single process. Arkwright’s mills decisively moved thread production from the cottage to the factory. It was suddenly a bad time to be a spinster, or a family whose household income depended in part on spinning. January 18, 2017 January 5, 2017 Ted Campbell briefly outlines the three tiers of military logistics then discusses the most controversial tier, the national industrial base, in more detail: Behind it all, unseen, misunderstood, unloved and, in fact, often actively disliked is the national defence industrial base. There are a great many people, including many in uniform, who object to the cost ~ fiscal and political ~ of having a defence industrial base. Many people suggest that a free and open market should be sufficient to equip all friendly, and the neutral and even some not so friendly military forces. They forget, first of all, that the defence industries of e.g. America, Britain, France, Germany and Israel are ALL heavily supported by their government and, equally, heavily regulated. It is not clear that we will always be in full political accord with those upon whom we rely for military hardware? What if one country wanted, just for example, to gain an advantage in a trade negotiation? Do you think they might not “decide” that since the government (a minister of the crown) has threatened to use military force against First Nations who protest against pipelines that they will not sell us certain much needed military hardware or licence its use in Canada? It is always troubling when we see the costs of military hardware increase at double or even triple the general rate of inflation for, say, cars or TV sets or food and heating fuel, but that is not the fault of the Canadian defence industries … it is, in fact, the “fault” of too little competition in the global defence industry market: too few Australian, Brazilian Canadian and Danish defence producers, too many aerospace and defence contractors merged into too few conglomerates that control too much of the market. A robust Canadian defence industrial base, supported by extensive government R&D programmes and by a steady stream of Canadian contracts would help Canada and our allies. I am opposed to government supported featherbedding by Canadian unions and companies but we do need to pay some price for having a functioning defence industrial base … the costs of our new warships, for example, are, without a doubt, higher than they would be if we had bought equivalent ships from certain foreign yards, but we need to be willing to pay some price for having Canadians yards that are ready and able to build modern warships when needed; ditto for aircraft, armoured vehicles, radio and electronics, rifles and machine guns, cargo trucks and boots and bullets and beans, too. AND, we need a government that will, aggressively, support that defence industrial base with well funded R&D programmes and by “selling” Canadian made military equipment around the world. It’s one thing to accept that you’ll need to pay a premium over market cost for built-in-Canada equipment that can’t also be sold to other customers. What is disturbing is discovering that the premium can be up to 100% of the cost for equivalent non-domestic items. For example, this was reported in a CBC article in 2014: Britain, for example, opted to build its four new naval supply ships much more cheaply, at the Daewoo shipyard in South Korea. The contract is for roughly $1.1 billion Cdn. That’s for all four. By contrast, Canada plans to build just two ships, in Vancouver, for $1.3 billion each. So Canada’s ships will be roughly five times more costly than the British ones. But there’s a twist. Canada’s supply ships will also carry less fuel and other supplies, because they’ll be smaller — about 20,000 tonnes. The U.K. ships are nearly twice as big — 37,000 tonnes. Canadians will lay out a lot more cash for a lot less ship. Everything is more expensive to build domestically if you don’t already have a competitive market for that item. The federal government’s long-standing habit of drawing out the procurement process makes the situation worse, as the costs increase over time (but the budget generally does not), so we end up with fewer ships, planes, tanks or other military hardware items that arrive much later than originally planned. December 28, 2016 The ancient Greeks worshiped Athena as the goddess of technē, the artifice of civilisation. She was the giver and protector of olive trees, of ships and of weaving (without which there would be no sails). When she and Odysseus scheme, they ‘weave a plan’. To weave is to devise, to invent – to contrive function and beauty from the simplest of elements. Fabric and fabricate share a common Latin root, fabrica: ‘something skillfully produced’. Text and textile are similarly related, from the verb texere, to weave. Cloth-making is a creative act, analogous to other creative acts. To spin tales (or yarns) is to exercise imagination. Even more than weaving, spinning mounds of tiny fibres into usable threads turns nothing into something, chaos into order. ‘The spindle was the first wheel,’ explains Elizabeth Barber, professor emerita of linguistics and archeology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, gesturing to demonstrate. ‘It wasn’t yet load-bearing, but the principle of rotation is there.’ In the 1970s, Barber started noticing footnotes about textiles scattered through the archaeological literature. She thought she’d spend nine months pulling together what was known. Her little project became a decades-long exploration that turned textile archaeology into a full-blown field. Textile production, Barber writes in Prehistoric Textiles (1991), ‘is older than pottery or metallurgy and perhaps even than agriculture and stock-breeding’. Of course, pottery and metal artifacts survived the centuries much better than cloth, which is rarely found in more than tiny fragments. That’s one reason we tend to forget how important textiles were in the earliest economic production. We envision an ancient world of hard surfaces much as we imagine the First World War in black and white. But before there was gold or silver currency, traders used cloth. In the 20th century BC, the Minoan kingdom on resource-poor Crete swapped wool and linen for the metals that its famed craftsmen, represented by the mythical Daedalus, used to create their wares. In the pre-monetary trade of the ancient Aegean and Anatolia, writes the archaeologist Brendan Burke in From Minos to Midas (2010), textile production was of ‘greater value and importance … than the production of painted clay pots, metal tools, and objects carved from precious metals: everyone depended on cloth’. Archaeologists often track fabric production by what is left behind. Huge numbers of spindle whorls (usually of clay) survive, as do the clay loom weights that held vertically hung warp threads in tension. By counting the clay weights left from his workshops’ looms, writes Barber, ‘we can calculate that King Midas of Gordion could have kept over 100 women busy weaving for him, which makes him more than twice as rich as Homer’s fabulous King Alkinnoos [Alcinous, from the Odyssey], who had 50. No wonder the Greeks viewed Midas as synonymous with gold!’ August 29, 2016 James O’Brien selects a few imaginative historical myths for debunking: Here are a few facts about U.S. life 60 years ago, in 1956: - The top tax rate was largely irrelevant. The average household income in 1956 was about $4,800. Only 8 percent of families earned more than $10,000 per year. The 91 percent top tax rate (and that really was the top tax rate – a holdover from World War II) kicked in at $400,000 for married couples, or the equivalent of about $3.2 million today). While few individuals made that much money in 1956, people who did earn large sums of money could deduct everything from interest on auto loans to sales taxes, and could – and did – structure things so that their income was funneled through tax shelters at much lower rates. - There was a lot less money overall. Adjusted for inflation, that $4,800 average household income would be about $42,000 today. That is roughly 20 percent less than current average household income of about $53,000. Even in 1956, when a Harvard education cost $1000 per year, $400 per month hardly afforded a riotous existence for a family of four. One of the most striking things about 1956 was how little people at the top of their professions earned. Yogi Berra – the highest paid player in Major League Baseball that year – received $58,000. That would be a little over $500,000 today, essentially minimum wage by MLB standards. - Tax revenues as a percentage of GDP were about the same as they are today. Since 1945, tax revenues as a percentage of GDP have fluctuated within a fairly narrow range of 15 to 20 percent. The state of the economy, not tax rates, has determined how much the government takes in. Despite the high marginal rates of the 1950s, the tax intake as a percentage of GDP was just 16.5 percent in 1956. It was 18 percent in 2015, so we are actually taking in more, rather than less money, although we are spending it in many new and different areas. - Government spent less on everything but defense. The U.S. Federal budget for 1956 might best be described as “Spartan”, not in the sense of being frugal (although it was that) but in the sense of being primarily devoted to preparations for war. In the Cold War climate, defense spending soaked up 60 percent ($47 billion) of the total $76 billion Federal budget – about three times the current percentage — and spending on “social programs” was essentially nonexistent. There was no Department of Education, and total Federal spending on education was just $1.5 billion. Healthcare expenditures were just $1.0 billion; there was no Medicare, (which now represents 15 percent of the total Federal budget), no Medicaid, and certainly no Obamacare. The Interstate Highway Program – so beloved by liberals – was conceived as a defense spending measure and was designed to be self-funding through diesel and gasoline taxes. - Opportunities were anything but equal. Racial discrimination was rampant and gender bias was everywhere. Many fields were essentially closed to women and to people of color, while quota systems deterred talented Jewish students from pursuing careers in fields such as engineering and law. We can argue all we want about white privilege in 2016 but in 1956 it was endemic, and bred not just economic but social and cultural inequality. When we look at the United States in 1956 we see a country with high (but largely irrelevant) marginal tax rates, no social programs to speak of, and a massive defense budget. With Europe still recovering from World War II, the economy is strong, and companies are willing to spend and hire. The country’s focus, however, is not on the welfare of its people, but on its survival in a grim ideological and geopolitical struggle with a ruthless and determined opponent. Those who portray the 1950s as some sort of golden age of progressivism are writing historical fiction, not history. The 1950s for the United States (and for Canada) were, to borrow a notion from John Scalzi, run in “easy mode” — in game terms, the lowest difficulty setting. There was no peer-level competition in manufacturing or even in services and this provided profit levels that allowed both corporations and workers to enjoy unrealistic long-term conditions that finally came to an end in the gas shocks of the 1970s, after the devastated economies of the defeated Axis powers finally were able to compete again. Twenty-five years of minimal competition left the major corporations totally unable to cope with even minimal competitive pressures from overseas … but willing to use whatever political levers were available to try to quash those foreign upstarts. But as the courtiers of King Canute were finally obliged to accept, even the King can’t order the tide to recede when it’s convenient. August 28, 2016 Published on 27 Aug 2016 It’s time for the Chair of Wisdom again and this week we talk about the German war aims and the war economy. May 30, 2016 Published on 19 Apr 2016 *Sponsored* Hearts of Iron IV comes out on June 6! The armies and technology of World War II required a vast supply of resources. A close look at Germany and Japan shows how the need to secure those resources played a significent role in determining strategy throughout the war. The armies of World War II needed a vast supply and variety of resources. The Allies had many of those resources on their side, but the Axis powers did not. Germany imported many of its resources from countries it would soon be fighting, and needed their war strategy to account for the acquisition of those resources. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed with the USSR set up a trade agreement to bring them oil from Russia for a while, in addition to establishing temporary non-aggression with the Soviets. When the war began in earnest, Germany targeted Norway with its supply of aluminum and iron as well as its access to the even more resource-rich Sweden. Conquering France also gave them access to rich farmland to feed the troops. But even though they had gained control of the oil fields in Romania, it wasn’t enough to power their war machine. Many Nazi generals wanted to target North Africa for this, but Hitler had his sights set on the Soviet Union and wound up squandering much of Germany’s reserves in a fruitless effort there. Meanwhile, Japan’s entrance into the war had cost them their primary trading partner: the United States. The Japanese army wanted to pursue the Northern Expansion Doctrine (Hokushin-Ron) and push through China into Siberia, wounding the USSR in the process. They attempted this strategy, but the Soviets met them in Mongolia and pushed them back in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. So they turned to the Southern Expansion Doctrine (Nanshin-Ron) advocated by the navy, and began to sweep up islands in the Pacific. They planned to strip the European colonial powers of their holdings, and they succeeded in capturing 90% of the world’s rubber production. But the US responded by synthesizing rubber, and built an industry so large that even today, more rubber is synthesized than harvested. If World War I was the first industrial war, marked by mass production and industrial capacity, then World War II was the first scientific war, marked by advancements like synthesis, radar, and jet engines. May 29, 2016 Published on 12 Apr 2016 *Sponsored* Hearts of Iron IV comes out on June 6! After Germany’s early push, the situation looked dire in Europe. The United States had resources to help out, but initially clung to an isolationist policy. Gradually, measures like Cash and Carry and the Lend-Lease Act expanded their involvement. Germany’s blitzkrieg had been largely successful. France fell early, and Great Britain appeared on the verge of collapse. Europe needed more resources to sustain their resistance, but the United States was bound by the Neutrality Act which established a policy of isolationism and forbade the US from supporting foreign wars in any way. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt skirted those restrictions. He lobbied Congress to reinstate a provision in the law called Cash and Carry, which would allow other nations to buy US war materiel with cash and transport it themselves into the warzone. He also established an agreement which allowed him to place American military bases on British colonies in exchange for destroyer ships, thus safeguarding the far reaches of the United Kingdom from possible Axis invasions. When it turned out that the English won the Battle of Britain and successfully staved off the attempted Nazi conquest, America decided to support them in a more substantial, long term way. Thus the Lend-Lease Act was signed: the US would loan equipment to their strategic partners (who were not the Allies yet). Though supposedly the equipment had to be returned, it was pretty obvious that war materiel would not come back in the same shape if at all, so this was really the largest donation of war supplies ever. But it wound up benefiting the US in turn, since the increased production galvanized an economy that had been stagnant since the Great Depression. It also kickstarted the involvement of the US Merchant Marine, who were among the earliest US citizens to give their lives in World War II and suffered the highest casualty percentage of any branch of the service. These unarmed ships navigated U-boat infested waters to bring much needed supplies to Europe, North Africa, and Asia. Despite this, their service has gone largely unrecognized and unrewarded as they are still denied many veterans’ benefits and were not even formally thanked by Congress until 2012. April 11, 2016 April 2, 2016 Colby Cosh gently pokes fun at the latest outbreak of manufactured patriotic fervor: An enterprising Toronto man wants to sell us all “Ketchup Patriot” T-shirts, so that the virtuous among us might assert the correct position on the hot issue of whether it is right to eat products made with dubious foreign tomatoes. This presents me with a dilemma: I agree with the many words already written in this space, and in the Financial Post, about the preposterousness of tomato isolationism; on the other hand, I am pretty sure our future as a country has less to do with mid-grade agricultural products destined for pureeing than it does to do with insta-auto-robo-printing of faddish social-signalling paraphernalia. You have to admire the spirit of enterprise wherever it emerges. The best answer ever given to Che Guevara’s philosophy was the Che Guevara T-shirt. The “Ketchup Patriot” view favours French’s brand ketchup, which is now made from tomatoes grown in the area around Leamington, Ont. Leamington is practically a creation of the H.J. Heinz Co., which was a major employer there for decades, but fled to the United States in 2014. Few Canadians are employed in the growing of tomatoes, mind you: migrant workers flown into local dormitories and paid around $10 an hour seem to do most of the hard work on Leamington-area farms and in greenhouses. French’s, best known for selling mustard, is owned by the Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC of Slough, Berkshire. This “Ketchup Patriotism,” the closer you look at it, becomes more and more a matter solely of dream terroir. Canadians don’t get the profits, don’t pick the tomatoes and don’t even can the ketchup — that happens in Ohio, although French’s, obviously aware that it has a whole country by the tail, has hinted at plans to open a new cannery somewhere in Ontario. All we do, for the moment, is own the land. This ketchup has a mystical Canadian essence, one I defy anyone to detect in a blind taste test. One may not detect the “distinctive Canadian ‘terroir'”, but having actually tasted Heinz and French’s products, there’s a reason that Heinz is the default ketchup for most people. March 4, 2016 Published on 3 Mar 2016 The fierce Battle of Verdun continues but as the Germans under Crown prince Wilhelm push harder and harder, the German casualties begin to rise to the same levels as the French. The French Army is only kept alive through the sacred road which brings men to the front without a pause. One French soldier that gets captured around Verdun, is Charles De Gaulle. At the same time, on the almost forgotten Libyan Front South African cavalry saves the day like in the glorious past of the British Army. November 12, 2015 Published on 18 Mar 2015 In this video, we talk about the special case of the decreasing cost industry. As output increases, costs will continue to fall, and more firms will enter which, again, increases output. It’s a virtuous circle! At the end of this video, we review the major points made in this section. If you find that something doesn’t quite make sense, feel free to re-watch videos as many times as you’d like. September 7, 2015 In The Register, Bill Ray takes a geek’s-eye-view of the town of New Lanark, a key place in the early industrial revolution: Nestled in the Clyde Valley the village owes its existence to the falls that were harnessed to refine raw cotton sent in from the colonies: a picture-postcard image from a time when Britain was the factory of the world. But for all its industrial heritage New Lanark is a long way from being a typical “dark satanic” mill, as it marks the end of that time and the dawning of a better age. Visit the village today and you can see the big machines that kept the empire running. Enormous water wheels; later supplemented by steam engines, connected by belts and ropes to machines which turned raw cotton into usable thread and fabric. However, it’s not industrial history that is celebrated at New Lanark, rather a social revolution, and one driven by one man whose ideas created the working life as we understand it today. The man was Robert Owen, who, in 1799, bought New Lanark and immediately embarked on his “grand social experiment”. His radical ideas, such as refusing to employ children, providing medical insurance, and educating the workforce, were ridiculed by his competitors who couldn’t see the value in teaching children, let alone adults. But Owen believed that industry should serve the betterment of all men, not just those who owned the factories. It worked too, rather to the surprise of his peers. New Lanark was a successful mill and profits rose steadily under the beneficent command of Owen. It could be argued, perhaps, that New Lanark would have been even more profitable without the social agenda, but every afternoon at five we should all be grateful for his reforms that made our working lives what they are: “Eight hours daily labour is enough for any human being, and under proper arrangements sufficient to afford an ample supply of food, raiment and shelter, or the necessaries and comforts of life, and for the remainder of his time, every person is entitled to education, recreation and sleep” Not that the workers at New Lanark did quite as well as we do; their working day ran ten and a half hours, but once mealtimes had been deducted it was approaching eight and certainly much better than the conditions in other mills around the country. July 28, 2015 India spent a lot of time and money to develop an arms industry that could supply the Indian army with Indian-made weapons. One of these weapons is the INSAS rifle. Unfortunately. Strategy Page reports on the resurrection of the INSAS despite its many failings in combat conditions: In early 2015 India seemed to be finally responding to complaints from soldiers and other security personnel fed up with the poor performance of the locally made INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) 5.56mm assault rifle. The government recently reneged on that promise and announced that the despised INSAS would be replaced, in two years, by the MIR (Modified INSAS Rifle). On paper there are some improvements, like full auto-fire (INSAS can only do single shot or three round bursts), folding butt stock, Picatinny rail (for all manner of accessories), more reliable and effective magazines and more ergonomic design (making MIR easier to handle, clean and use). The government also revealed that recent firing tests have shown only two jams after 24,000 rounds fired by MIRs. There will also be a MIR 2 that is chambered to fire the AK-47 (7.62×39) round. Despite all that, to the current unhappy INSAS users the promise of the MIR comes as a huge disappointment. The government weapons design capability has a long and consistent history of failure and disappointing promises. Few INSAS users believe MIR will be much of an improvement over INSAS and will serve more as another source of cash for corrupt officials. While buying foreign weapons uses a lot of valuable foreign exchange it is more closely monitored and has proven to be less corrupt. In 2010 the government had agreed to allow the military to get a rifle that works and that meant a foreign rifle. The leading candidate was Israeli. But now that competition has been cancelled and many troops believe it is all about corruption, not getting the best weapons for the military. This sad situation began in the 1980s when there was growing clamor for India to design and build its own weapons. This included something as basic as the standard infantry rifle. At that time soldiers and paramilitary-police units were equipped with a mixture of old British Lee-Enfield bolt action (but still quite effective) rifles and newer Belgian FALs (sort of a semi-automatic Lee-Enfield) plus a growing number of Russian AK-47s. The rugged, easy to use and reliable Russian assault rifle was most popular with its users. In the late 1980s India began developing a family of 5.56mm infantry weapons (rifle, light machine-gun and carbine). Called the INSAS, the state owned factories were unable to produce the quantities required (and agreed to). Worse, the rifles proved fragile and unreliable. The design was poorly thought out and it was believed corruption played a part because the INSAS had more parts than it needed and cost over twice as much to produce as the AK-47. June 25, 2015 Published on 20 Jun 2015 Activities at the Chrysler Tank Arsenal in Detroit. Wheel suspension units are milled, wheels ground, gun mount gears cut, armor plate put through a punch press and drill, sprocket gears cut by an arc torch, gears heat treated and immersed in oil baths, armor plate hydraulically riveted, the tanks assembled, armament installed, and the tanks lifted from the assembly line by cranes. The tanks are tested at Fort Knox, Kentucky. May 29, 2015 Sarah Hoyt coined the term “the historian’s blindfolds” to describe historical situations where “the ‘everyone knows’ [happenings don’t] get recorded, and the ‘never happens’ or ‘happens so rarely it’s big and sensational’ gets recorded ALL the time”: I’ve – for instance – for the last several years been very suspicious of Dickens, because my other sources for the time (not just primary sources, but those writing often in a family/biography) context paint quite a different picture. I mean, yes, there were horrible conditions at the time, but they were horrible conditions by our perspective, and we live in an era of superabundance. And the underclass lived very disordered lives. Well, I read student doc. Our underclass just uses different substances and is better fed. Go to Student Doc “Things I learn from my patients” (it’s not coming up for me, hence not linked. Also, prepare to lose hours there. [This might the site]) BUT as “bad” as the industrial revolution might have been, it attracted droves of farmers from the countryside. And having seen it happen in real time in India and China, I’m no longer able to believe the propaganda that they were “forced” off their lands. Farming looks like a lovely, bucolic occupation to those who have never done any, but the farming they did at the time involved no tractors, no milking machines. It was inadequate tools and inadequate strength beating inadequate livelihood out of inadequate (in most places) soil. Yeah, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the girls wove wreaths for Michaelmas, and everyone danced around the Maypole, but in between there was a very harsh reality that made the rather horrible conditions in the early mills seem like heaven and depopulated the countryside and packed the cities – as we see now in China and India. So, our first problem with finding out if there really was a “first night” right for the seigneur is to figure out the difference between the accounts and the truth. There is no direct evidence, but remember all the recording of the times was done by church men who might very well not know what was going on. Sometimes, granted, it was willful not know. The village priest determinedly didn’t know of certain things that went on around May Day and I’m fairly sure would continue not knowing if he walked in on it and saw it. Because he wasn’t stupid and stuff that’s been going on for two thousand years and yet is of a nature not to be co-opted into the church celebration of this or that saint (St. Anthony and St. John with bonfires and wild herbs and jumping over the fires, and trekking to the city and across the city to see the sunrise on the sea, for instance, for Summer solstice. Yeah. Perfectly normal Catholic tradition) couldn’t be stopped cold, but knowing about it would mar his ability to preach against certain things which he must preach against. (“It was a morning in May—” And for the record this particularly guppie always thought going amaying is about gathering the flowers to put in every entrance to the house to word off evil spirits. But I am an ODD and often unable to see what’s right before my eyes because I was told it was different.) The problem of the “first night” is compound by several issues: we’re talking a span of about 2000 years. It’s about sex and everyone lies about sex, or shuts up about it, which can be the same. We have fundamental disagreements on the basic nature of men and women. And that’s what I’m going to go with. Because that’s the interesting part.

Once again series dominated my reading, particularly fantasy, and my non-fiction reading was largely confined to memoir and tea books. I noticed a lot more sexy reading than previous years (though a conscious effort to read outside my usual genres did result in finishing three not-great romance novellas) but also an increase in offbeat fiction by Jane Rawson, Marlee Jane Ward, Julie Koh and Briohny Doyle. A surprise hit for me was CS Pacat’s Captive Prince trilogy, which was not just a page-turning queer action/adventure/romance series but written with precision and panache, an artfully constructed plot without sacrificing character development. Yes, you read my list correctly: I read it twice in a row. This year I have a mixed genre pile I aim to get through in the next few months (comprising authors from Kate Tempest and Cory Doctorow to Matthew Reilly and Annabel Crabb) before starting a rereading project of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. I’m heading to Finland for the World Science Fiction Convention in Helsinki this August too, so no doubt there’ll be a Hugo list to tackle in the weeks leading up to the ballot. If you want my take on any of the above, hit me up in the comments or on Twitter (@witmol). I’m assuming you know what the film is about. If not, go read a synopsis and come back to this listicle. It also helps if you know some things about the Potterverse and don’t mind spoilers. 1. Eddie Redmayne Eddie is a great actor in the right role. Let’s pause a moment and consider that he won an Oscar for portraying Stephen Hawking, a real person, in The Theory of Everything, and also that he can belt out a tune as he did as Marius in Les Misérables although Marius is a ponce for running off with Cosette (yes, I’m Team Eponine). Also consider his catastrophic turn as the elder Abrasax sibling in the glorious mess that was Jupiter Ascending (“I. Give. Life!” is unforgettably bad but so utterly quotable, bless). The Edster is perfect as Newt Scamander, a wizard who we discover was very close to being kicked out of Hogwarts (it’s complicated) but who seems to have an affinity with magical animals. The role calls for a certain level of diffidence when it comes to dealing with other people that never strays into meekness and Eddie traverses this fine line very skilfully. The filmic Potterverse hasn’t cast so perfectly since sending Kenneth Branagh in as Gilderoy Lockhart. 2. Effects of repression We get to find out what happens to a witch/wizard when they don’t get their [insert magical school] letter and are left to a world that doesn’t want them to be magic because magic is scary to those who don’t understand it and also sometimes no-majs (muggles) are jealous they don’t have any powers. Turns out if your powers are repressed it forms a deadly force called an obscurus, which the witch/wizard cannot control and may kill its host. A powerful metaphor for so many other things the world tries to repress. 3. More than what it seems Those of us who were impressed by Hermione’s handbag with the Undetectable Extension Charm in HP7, love the way Newt’s suitcase becomes different temperature controlled environments for his various beasts. (By the by, the production values for the animals were top notch, from the cheeky shiny-thing-seeking, havoc-causing niffler to Newt’s pocket bowtruckle.) And just like Newt’s suitcase, the movie is about more than what you think it is. On the surface it’s a sort of fish-out-of-water chase escapade designed so children can understand it but actually it touches more mature issues. As I mentioned before, the effects of repression is a key one, but there’s also politics, as evidenced by the tension around magical folk having to go underground because no-majs want to lock them up (the most obvious antagonists are the Salemists in this regard) and a throwaway line you might not have caught in relation to maj/no-maj pairings with Newt mentioning the US has “rather backwards laws about relations with non-magic people” as they are not allowed to befriend, let alone marry them. Newt’s mission, in essence, is to encourage understanding between species—whether wizard/beast or maj/no-maj—to reduce hostility and perhaps even foster bonds. 4. Love is complicated Too often we get the story of high school sweethearts marrying and having children who then go on to the same school (er herm, all of HP). I’m not a huge fan of romance and romance tokenism but I like the two love stories in the film, the first between legilimen Queenie and no-maj Jacob, an unlikely pairing but very sweet. Through his interactions with various no-majs we get to see that Jacob is rarely understood and Queenie, who can read his mind, understands him perfectly and likes what she reads. Then there’s the awkwardness of Newt and former auror Tina whose relationship from the outset is built on conflict, Newt being a lawbreaker and Tina resolved to regain her position, before realising they are after the same thing—keeping New York safe—albeit for different reasons. After noticing a picture of a girl in his suitcase, Queenie talks to Newt about his past love Leta LeStrange. We discover they used to be close at school but there was hurt there. Queenie reads Newt and then says “she was a taker, you need a giver”. When Newt is about to depart New York Tina asks, obliquely, after Leta. Newt mentions that he doesn’t know what Leta does these days, suggesting he hasn’t seen her for some time. Both of them make it very clear they want to see each other again. They do not kiss. Perfectly in character for both. 5. Don’t worry As Newt and his no-maj offsider Jacob set off on a madcap midnight adventure to recover all the escaped beasts, the magizoologist adopts a rather casual tone about the increasingly high stakes affair. Don’t worry, he urges Jacob: “My philosophy is that if you worry, you suffer twice.” Best. Once upon a time I fell in love with chess. I was never very good at it—because I was too lazy to practice and didn’t have the patience to study it in any depth—but I loved the romance of it and appreciated its place in history, art and culture such that I began collecting chess sets. On a recent visit to Singapore, I played my (then 7-year-old, now 8-year-old) niece. I hadn’t played in about 15 years and she had highly suggestive coaching from my brother (who once beat Australian grandmaster Ian Rogers in a simultaneous match when he was at high school). She won, but not before I’d made a couple of silly moves, followed by incredible solutions that turned out to be not to my advantage after all. I was reminded of this match recently when I decided on a whim that I hated my desk. As a freelancer who spends both working and non-working hours with this piece of furniture, liking one’s desk is an integral part of both the creative process and ergonomic sanity. It had to go. The desk in itself wasn’t offensive. It was an IKEA Micke corner workstation with a couple of small shelves, file drawers and nooks to keep business cards and the like. It was just that suddenly I noticed how my 27-inch Macbook Pro screen only barely fit in the corner and that the vertical struts of the shelves were constantly in my periphery. Once I noticed it, I couldn’t help but notice it all the time. I was due for an update anyhow. It’d been years since I’d bought office furniture and now that I’d become a full-time freelancer it was all gloriously tax deductible. I set aside a budget of $500 for a desk and a chair but then decided I didn’t want some shitty chipboard construction of a desk. Unfortunately it turns out that the reason shitty chipboard constructions exist is because they are cheap and solid wood is, well, not. Goaded by Google I stumbled into Gumtree where there were dozens of solid wood desk options well within my budget. Buoyed by this, I contacted a handful of sellers to gauge availability. I was particularly taken by two. The first was a large solidly constructed number with practical shelving and drawers. The second was a vintage folding bureau in Queen Anne style, far too small for my purposes but beautiful for writing on. They were both $100, far below my budget. And all I could think was: ¿por que no los dos? Regrettable decision #1: buying two desks when I could only fit one in my office. No matter, I thought. I could have the serious, practical one for the office and stash the Queen Anne one in my tea den, which would thus become my creative writing and correspondence desk on account of it being in my garage and out of wi-fi range and therefore immune from internet-fuelled distractions. Regrettable decision #2: not having the desks delivered. There’s a GoGet van down my street called Tanzi and I employed the services of Tanzi twice that week to pick up Emmanuel (serious desk; location: Anzac Parade, Kensington, a hella busy road) and Serena (creative desk; location: Pacific Highway, Lane Cove, a hella busy road) at a cost of something like $28 for each two-hour session + whatever the kilometre charge is for my GoGet level these days. While $80-ish doesn’t seem like a lot to pay for picking up these bargain desks (recall I paid $100 for each of them), the opportunity cost from not working had now reached four hours, not counting the amount of time spent searching for furniture and liaising with the sellers. I then encountered another problem: my partner and I did not have the muscle between us to carry Emmanuel (length: 130cm; approx weight: 70kg) to my office. It’s three stories up, which is six flights of stairs and five turns, plus we had to bring Micke down first. If I’d had the desks delivered instead of enthusiastically picking them up myself, I could’ve avoided this scenario. I turned to Airtasker for help, offering two people $35 each for the task of bringing one desk down and hauling one desk up—a half-hour job, I wrote—which somehow spawned a bunch of people offering $230 for the task. Confounding. After Airtasker failed, I started ringing around some local removalists I thought might be interested in the tiny job that could be done before or after another in the area. The best offer was $150. I then hit on one that advertised ‘no job too small’ and was quoted $60, which I took. For the record, the job took 15 minutes. Regrettable decision #3: not measuring the right thing. When I expressed interest in Emmanuel, I asked the seller for the dimensions of the footwell. I also took the time to measure its length to ensure he’d fit in the smaller space vacated by Micke. What I failed to measure was the height and depth of the upper shelf. In effect, it meant that either my monitor had to sit too high or too close to me. I tried working both ways and was rewarded with headaches and a sore neck. What I needed was an underdesk keyboard drawer. Officeworks seemed to be the only major retailer selling them and it came at the lofty price of $109, internet purchase only. (There is a minor interlude here that involves me buying the drawer on a ‘Click and Collect’ basis, dashing the 15-minute route from Chinese class at USyd [finishing time: 8:30pm] to Glebe Officeworks [closing time: 9pm] to pick it up only to find I hadn’t actually bought it.) Regrettable decision #4: setting up the desk. As soon as Emmanuel arrived I went about filling his drawers and arranging all my accessories on him. When I finally received the drawer (thank you Officeworks, for the next-day delivery) I realised that it was going to have to be screwed in upwards, which is to say I’d have to lie down under the desk and make sure the screws went in perfectly vertically against gravity into solid wood while also holding the keyboard in place. Now, I’m not much of a handyperson at the best of times so this to me was like being asked to paint the Sistine Chapel. All of this would have been avoided had I not set up the desk. If he’d been naked, I could’ve flipped him upside down and finished the task the easy way and we’d all be happy. During these two days, I got sick and weak. I was too lazy to unpack Emmanuel (and clear a space in my office behind him big enough to accommodate flippage) and whenever I lay down under the desk, I began to wane. Eventually, brushing aside pride and several decades of feminism, I employed my partner to do this task for me. His method involved screwing things out of order and using a drill to make guiding holes, two things I would never have thought to do having too much faith in the technical copywriter of the instruction manual and too little in my ability to avoid drilling a hole right through the desk. So now Emmanuel is complete. Cost of my folly Emmanuel = $100 Serena = $100 GoGet fees = $79 Removalist fees = $60 Keyboard drawer = $109 (+10 working hours lost, unaccountable) TOTAL = $448 Only $188 of which is tax deductible. And I still have to buy a chair. (P.S: Does anyone want a free Micke workstation?) I don’t employ strategic thinking for small things in my life and I rarely employ it for big things either. Somehow, though, fortune smiles down on me. What I lost when my niece beat me at chess, I won back in spades in bonding with her. Accordingly, whatever I lost in time and money on this stupid deskapade, I still ended up with two beautiful, functional pieces of furniture I’ll treasure for a while yet. So there are no lessons learnt, really, I’m incorrigible like that. Except for an iteration of a lesson I forget sometimes, that things will work often out in the end. When I was 7, one of my favourite books was a tall joke book called, I think, 1000 Jokes for Kids. It had a bold blue cover with the title in large snazzy orange font and was roughly the dimensions of a foolscap sheet folded lengthwise. One segment was a list of fictional books and fictional authors all with punny titles like ‘Songs for Children by Barbara Blacksheep’. I remember clearly one from the list because it was the first time I had ever seen my name in a book. The pun title was ‘The Unfinished Poem by Adeline Moore’. Fast forward some decades and I’ve decided I’m not writing enough for myself. I know exactly why, too: I’m one of those writers who don’t like to show their work-in-progress. I hate admitting that I have half-baked ideas, I don’t like my foundation of knowledge to be too fresh. But what this does is stifle the natural learning process of working through an idea, an argument, a voice. I want to get over myself. I want to forgive all the mistakes I’m going to make before I make them, knowing I’m going to make them but also knowing that I need to make them to progress. Bear with me. Prepare for changing perceptions as I uncover new information. Allow for paradigm shifts. So here it is, my newly anointed blog: Unfinished writing by Adeline. Freelance client management is like a box of chocolates: all clients look good but it’s not until you’ve bitten into one that you realise the relationship is a cockroach cluster*. Or a cluster something else, anyway. One of the benefits of working as a freelancer is that you can choose who to work with. Do not squander this benefit by choosing money over your sanity, at least not for the long term. If your client is a douchebag, don’t be afraid to (politely) ‘fire’ him/her/them. It’s worth it. There’s an opportunity cost if you work for douchebags, because you could be working with someone less painful. However, if there’s nothing in the bank, consider ‘pain pricing’, which is upping your rate for people you know are going to be trouble so you can at least ease the pain with cash. How to find clients Many freelance writers start freelancing after they’ve secured some contacts who can give them a decent amount of work. If you don’t have a Rolodex** of clients (or binders full of women) because you’re starting from scratch, or those contacts aren’t giving you enough work to keep you in cheese and wine, you’ll have to find some. Approach clients you want to work for, whether that’s an editor at a publication or an organisation you like that you think could do with your services. As with any job hunt, do your research as to whether/how much they pay and the kind of work that’s likely to be on offer. Just say there’s an organisation you really like but it doesn’t accept paid content submissions to its lovely website, but will pay freelancers to write its press releases. Do you still want to work for it? Network with other freelancers. Overflow work is always on offer. Find someone in a similar field to you and take them for coffee. Offer to help them with their workload. Once they trust your work they will feel more comfortable ‘subcontracting’ work to you or referring clients they cannot service to you. Join freelance websites that post jobs. I do not recommend Freelancer as the kind of work and the rates are rather base, but services like Rachel’s List are worthwhile. It has an annual admin fee of $24.95, but I’ve scored several jobs there that I hadn’t heard about through other means, which easily made it value for money. Pedestrian and The Loop are also popular and worth a look, though I’ve never applied to posts at either of those. Talk to people at events and have your business card ready, as you never know who might need you. I’ve been to parties where friends of friends ask me what I do and they’ve contacted me for my services. Industry events, for example conferences, are filled with potential clients. A great percentage of client management is understanding what they expect of you and delivering at or above those expectations. There are two main types of clients I’ll discuss in this section: publications and organisations, under which I include businesses, government and not-for-profits. Publications tend to have an established structure for managing freelancers. If you haven’t had a job in the publishing industry this process can be a little opaque, so I’ll take you through it. Generally, the freelancer pitches a story idea to an editor. If the editor likes the idea, s/he will commission it. This involves a brief, a deadline, a word count and a word rate. You deliver on time, to brief and get paid. Things to note: Does the publication accept pitches? (Does it pay?) Are there publication or pitching guidelines? Read them, heed them Who’s the best person to pitch to? Find them, contact them Research the publication: topic coverage, demographics, stories it has run recently and don’t suggest something that’s out of scope or already published When I receive a commission, I like to confirm a few things before I start work. This is the minimum you need to ensure that you have a leg to stand on should the editor change his/her mind about running the piece (you may be able to extract a kill fee, for example) or should there be a dispute about what you’ve written matching what the editor wanted. Brief of story including expectations re: interviewees, images etc Rate (word rate or fee for whole article) Format (if applicable) Contract (if applicable). A contract may state payment terms, copyright terms etc. READ THIS. Do not sign or accept the conditions by default if you are not comfortable with it. ALWAYS SUBMIT YOUR WORK ON TIME AND TO BRIEF. I used to be an editor and it is actually amazing how many writers do not do either of these very basic things. Work that is 80% there but submitted on time is better than 100% there and submitted late. At least the editor know s/he has something to run, even if it may need work! Follow-up is also important. If there’s no response (even busy editors usually ping back a ‘thanks’), call/email a day later to check if the editor has received your submission. I’ve been saved by this before when my email was playing up. If the editor says the piece needs more work, be available to do the rework promptly. Once the editor is satisfied, invoice promptly. I like to make sure the editor is okay with the piece before sending my invoice, but for regular clients I now submit it in the same email. Just check what the editor’s preference is if you are unsure. S/he may have an assistant who handles invoices, or you may need to liaise with the accounting department. If it is not made clear earlier, find out when your piece will be published (whether online or in print) so you can brag about it and add a clipping to your portfolio. It may also be a good time to sound out when the editor will be commissioning more stories and what s/he is looking for—you can then pitch again. Non-publication clients may engage freelancers differently and it’s certainly my experience that they usually come up with a brief themselves (rather than you pitching to them) and also pay by the hour or by the project rather than the word. My approach is simply to be there to make their job easier. If it’s my job to come up with ideas, I come up with ideas; if it’s my job to fulfil someone else’s brief, I fulfil it. Just like with a commission, I like to make sure there are certain arrangements in place before I start work. I suggest you: Ask for or propose a brief. If the client does not have a thorough brief or you are not confident quoting to the supplied brief, don’t be afraid to ask for further details. This is the professional thing to do and will help you scope the work. Ask for or propose a deadline. If it’s a fairly long project, break up the pieces of work into milestones. Quote thoroughly. This includes your rate, what is included in that rate, how many hours you think the job may take, and payment terms. Also include provisions for further work/costs should the job take longer than expected. Some clients, if you give an inch, will take a mile, so be firm about the fiddly ‘extras’ that clients like to include but don’t want to pay for. For example, I include two rounds of revisions in my editing work but if the client comes back and says ‘just one more tiny change’ after those two rounds, I charge. It may be a nominal amount, like $5, but I like to show that there’s a cost to me (and them) to drop everything to accommodate something beyond the agreed brief. It also teaches them to be more thorough with their revisions next time. As with publications, submit on time and to brief. I admit that I’m absolutely terrible with soft deadlines and will almost always bend self-determined deadlines so I ask my clients to set a deadline for me and I deliver to it. Once the client is satisfied, invoice promptly. A lot of freelancers like freelancing because of the variety of work and, in addition to keeping you fresh, a diversity of clientele is also good to stabilise your cashflow. My clients are mainly small businesses, publishers, member organisations and occasionally advertisers for a website I run. They pay different rates, in different cycles and the work is different for each. On the other hand you may wish to specialise because you love a particular industry or type of work (for example you may only want to write feature articles). My only warning is not to put all your eggs in one basket because people move around and what you thought was a reliable commission can suddenly peter out. How many is too many? Consider the ir/regularity of jobs, how organised you are, and how demanding they are. I have about 20 clients but only 5-6 of them are active at one time. I have one client on a monthly retainer and fairly reliable commissions from two bi-monthly publications; the rest is made up of ad hoc and semi-regular work. Don’t forget it’s not just about the hours, it’s the headspace you need to service them all well: seven one-hour jobs for different clients will not take you just seven hours. I’m not always good at this, but I have since learnt to prioritise and hone my time management skills as well as communicate with my clients to adjust their expectations when things are hectic. This is better than having them chase you when you haven’t delivered on time, which will earn you a reputation as being unreliable, which is almost the worst thing you can be***. My next post will be on the craft of freelance writing. There’s a myth about freelancing that comes largely from Hollywood glamorisation with just a touch of one’s own self-delusion. Being a freelance writer is not like being Hunter S in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or that neophyte whose name I forget in Almost Famous. Nor is it usually a life of researching and crafting hard-hitting long-form investigative pieces that you file twice a year for a massive payload that sustains you until the next one. The truth is writers undertake different kinds of freelancing to sustain themselves. Even the most successful freelancers I know don’t exclusively write in one area, and many do things other than write. This includes, but is not limited to, the following activities. Different kinds of freelance writing Other media (film/TV/radio etc) Freelancing related to writing Most of my income comes from magazine commissions, content development such as blogs and newsletters for business clients, and ghostwriting (bylines under my clients’ names). Occasionally I get some money when organisations advertise on my project management website, but I don’t invest time in the sales process so it’s usually pocket money if I do. Once in a while I get an editing gig. I know of bloggers who sell some advertising on their blog but then earn a great deal of their income through other means, for example speaking and consulting, and I know of plenty of freelancers who love being a journalist but find they have more opportunities (and make more money) editing tenders and annual reports. If you thought being a freelancer was 100% writing about unicorns (ie your pet topic), I’m sorry to say very few people get to do this. But don’t despair, because the above examples actually show how versatile the field can be. If you know how to put good words in the right order, there will always be a job for you somewhere. You may not want to do everything you can do, and that’s fine—on a personal note, I no longer want to write someone else’s LinkedIn profile—but being too precious eventually leads to starvation. That being said, remember why you’re freelancing. If it’s for the freedom to write what you want to write, then maybe the money is secondary. Perhaps you’re better off doing something else for income so you can write for pleasure (which doesn’t mean writing for free, but don’t rely on this income). That’s okay too, but if you’re serious about freelancing as an occupation, you’re going to have to consider the whole spectrum of earning activities you can undertake as a writer. My next post will be on finding and managing different kinds of clients. My name is Adeline Teoh and I am a full-time freelance writer. I tap out this missive to you for two reasons: one is to give you an idea of what to expect when you embark on your own freelance career; the other is to provide you with a cautionary tale about the potential pitfalls when becoming a freelancer. First let me begin by saying there are many writers who make a good living from freelancing, but there are many more who struggle. Sometimes you’re just not suited to the swings and roundabouts freelancing offers; occasionally the market will let you down. The first step of your journey should be a mindful one, so answer this question: Why do you want to freelance? The most popular answers are: To be able to write on a variety of topics To be able to choose clients Flexibility of workday I would certainly subscribe to all three of those reasons, with time flexibility the most prized attribute. You see, I am not a morning person and have always struggled to get into the office (when I had a salaried job) by 9am. Moreover, my most productive writing period tends to occur between about 8pm and 2am. I’d also add to that list: no commuting and no office politics. As a caveat, you need to compromise on a few things. There is the potential for financial instability, a need to have (or employ someone who has) business and administration skills, plus a lack of immediate work social life and work-related support. Of course you can work to patch those possible issues but they are more apparent in freelancing than in most salaried jobs. In addition to your primary skill (that’s writing if you’re a writer, designing if you’re a designer etc), you’ll also need a number of support skills. All of the following are definitely handy: I’d also say the following attributes are certainly common descriptions of my freelancing peers: versatile, assertive, disciplined and reliable. Evaluate yourself: What skills do you already have? What skills do you think you’ll need to attain to be a good freelancer? As an aside to that, I also find that freelancers are usually introverted rather than extraverted (which is not to say anti-social). This is because freelancing, even if you have a desk at a creative hub or similar, is a sole trader business and self-reliance is really important. Speaking in generalities here, extraverts tend to get their energy from being around other people, while introverts generate their own and can lose it among other people. I know I do better work when I’m on my own, or am at least more productive, even on days when I have the flat to myself versus the days when my partner is home in another room. When I’m on my own I don’t have to think about other people, just the work. A common question I get from young writers, journalists in particular, is ‘when is a good time to start freelancing?‘ My short answer to that is ‘when you want to freelance’, as opposed to when you are forced to freelance through circumstances such as redundancy or an inability to land a salaried role. Freelancing works best if deep down you want to freelance, rather than as a default option working towards or falling from a salaried role. Remember it is a legitimate career choice in itself, even if it struggles to shuck off the stereotype of lazy writers turning in copy only so they can get wasted on goon every night (because times are tough and no one is gifting Grange). Most of the freelancers I know are incredibly hardworking. A more practical answer to the question, one that will indicate you are ready to freelance, is if you have one or more of the following: Solid portfolio and/or work history Well-regarded subject knowledge Good network of people who will give you paid work Decent understanding of what it’ll take to run a business When I first went freelance, I had worked for 2.5 years at a niche publishing company that had a bunch of custom clients (car magazines, shopping magazines, a tourist bureau publication) and a couple of newsstand publications (a magazine aimed at professional women and one for the art, design and architecture buffs). I worked my way up from editorial assistant/receptionist to staff writer and figured I had a decent number of clippings over a broad range of topics to go forth and freelance. I had planned to freelance while I travelled: a month in South East Asia, then three months spread over the UK, Europe and North America. I had saved a lot of money for the trip, easy enough when you live at home and your parents don’t believe in children paying board or HECS, and I planned to sell some stories to travel magazines along the way to sustain me and also make parts of the trip tax deductible. The first year I went full-time freelance (2005/06) I earnt about $10,000… after spending $15,000 on travel and only a nibble on my travel pitches. Luckily I had a buffer of savings (and a roof over my head—thanks mum and dad!) but I had given it a shot and it didn’t work out. So I got myself a job. I recount this because in hindsight I realised that it wasn’t enough to have a solid portfolio. I also needed to network, I needed business skills, I needed some way to show I knew about a topic or had the skills to write about a subject. The portfolio showed promise but it wasn’t enough. If you are already working, whether that’s contract, casual, part-time or full-time employment, I would advise you to dip your toe in the freelancing pool before taking the plunge. Build your network of clients (whether that’s editors, communications managers, organisations etc) and put the feelers out before you leave your other job. The second time I went freelance I started doing the odd job after hours in addition to my (very) full-time job. It was a recipe for burnout, so when there was a reshuffle at work I managed to secure a part-time role. This allowed me to take on more freelance work. It was not until I could see a dependable flow of lucrative work that I decided to become a full-time freelancer. So if you have a part-time or casual job that allows you to pursue freelancing part-time, you’re in a really good position. Money is coming in, so you don’t have to worry about financial risk so much, and you can build your portfolio with stories you actually want to write, though you probably don’t want to work in a role too close to writing or you could risk burnout. If you can help it, don’t go into full-time freelance work until you’ve saved up at least 6 months’ income, preferably 12 months. (No, I’m not kidding, cash flow can be a bitch.) Preferably this is after you’ve started by going part-time freelance first so you understand your work pipelines and cash flow etc—more on this later. Be aware that, at least at first, you will need to have a tolerance for jobs you might not enjoy but take to sustain yourself until the jobs you do want come along.

DAILY TROJAN, Vol. 31, No. 121, April 10, 1940 |Save page Remove page||Previous||1 of 4||Next| small (250x250 max) medium (500x500 max) Large (1000x1000 max) large ( > 500x500) Loading content ... Editorial Offices W-4111 Ski. 227 Night - - - RI-3606 SOUTHERN DAIL CALIFORNIA ROJAN United Press Assn. Dirert Wire Service NAS Z-42 VOLUME XXXI LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1940 NUMBER 121 Allied-Nazi Sea Battle Rages; Norwegian Guns Defy Germans Lecturer Analyzes !0il Yield Clements Will Discuss Colombian Production In Discussion Today Oil production in South Am-lerica will be discussed by Dr. IThomas Clements, associate [professor of geology, at the [Wednesday lecture at 4:30 [p.m. today m 159 Science. In his lecture, “Geologic Re-:onnaissance in Colombia, South America.” Dr. Clements vill analyze his discoveries in Ihe Llano* and Megdelanna oil fields. As s member of the Columbia research staff, he crossed the Andes order to correlate the geology of e Llanos, or eastern plains, with Dr. Thomas Gements , . . discusses oil production i McClung Leads l SC Conference Tomorrow Transportation Meet Will Air Problems Of State Regulation Professional men in the field of transportation will convene at SC tomorrow for the first annual Western Transportation conference spon-I sored by the College of Commerce, i Purpose of the conference is to bring together men in divergent | j fields of transportation to discuss I I on common grounds problems and techniques of their profession. LUNCHEON SCHEDULED Program for the < ay will include I luncheon, a conference series, and | dinner. Representatives from Oregon, Utah. Arizona, and California, are expected to attend. Registration at 11:30 in the Foyer “Most of the major oil companies of Town and Gown will precede the ie Megdelana river valley. While Ihe latter district was fairly well Inown to the scientists at the time, ie eastern plains had never been lapped. XUSTRATESLECTURE “Until our expedition in 1939. all |il production in the country was »ken from two fields in the Meg-lelana valley which were yielding sut 21.000.000 barrels per years.” lid Dr. Clements in an interview fsterday. "In October 1939. a new rea wa.s opened, and 50 wells in le Llanos began operation.” The lecture will be illustrated kith colored slides taken by Dr. ilements on his trip into the in-srior of South America. The me-lods of geological work as well as he people and the country will be nown in the stills. XPERIMENTS IN THE FIELDS STOCKHOLM. Wednesday, April 10—<L'.P>— (by telephone to New York)—Battles between Allied and German warships and planes spread along Norway's coasts early today. Norwegian coastal guns roared defiance as Germany struggled to extend her “protective" occupation of Norwegian and Danish territory, it was reported here. The German high command announced by radio that a fleet of Nazi planes had “badly damaged” four British and French warships— two battleships and two heavy cruisers—in a battle off the Norwegian port of Bergen. Scandinavian wireless reports said the 26.000-ton German battleship Gneisenau was sunk in the Skagerrak with 1500 of her crew and that another Nazi warship went down in Oslo Fjord, presumably under the guns of Norwegian batteries. _ FLAMING AIR BATTLES FOUGHT AT SEA Air battles were fought at sea and over Oslo, with British. German, and Norwegian planes crashing in flames. Germany’s lightning invasion of Denmark and Sweden in retaliation for the Allies’ mining of Norwegian territorial waters along the lifeline of the Reich's iron ore shipments brought these developments: 1—The Norwegian government of Premier Johan Nygaardsvold resigned, after fleeing from Oslo, and Vidkun Quisling of the anti-Communist national union party proclaimed himself premier by radio with the statement that Germany’s occupation was “salvation from the Allies’ frightful act of force.” •TROJAN HORSE’ ANGLE USED BY NAZIS 2—German .forces, including "Trojan horse" units of marines in disguise, reported the occupation of the vital Norwegian Atlantic ports of Narvik. Trondheim. Bergen. Stavanger. Kristian-sand after bombing several of the objectives which offered resistance. 3—The German high command announced occupation of all Norwegian points of “military importance” at nightfall, including airdromes and naval centers. 4—The German navy mined the entrances to the Atlantic ports, presumably to prevent any attempted landing by Allied forces from the sea, and offered pilot service to Norwegian shipping. 5—The Norwegian army was reported to be throwing up a new defense line between Oslo and Hamar. to which the government and the royal family fled before German cavalry and machine-gunners marched into Oslo. Hamas is 60 miles north of Oslo. 6—German armed forces, including planes, pushed through unresisting Denmark to Aal-berg on the Skagerrak to control both sides of the 50-miles-wide straits between the North sea and the Baltic. 7—Premier Th. Stauning of Denmark, appealing to the Germans by’ radio to respect Danish lives, said members of the opposition would be brought into the government—a possible reference to the Nazis. SHIP REPORTED SUNK BY SUB 8—The Swedish-Amerika line ship Amasis was reported to have been sunk at 5 p.m. by a British submarine while enroute to Oslo through the Skagerrak from Germany’s Baltic port of Stettin. 9—Sweden, fearing that the war may be brought to her territories next, received a note from Germany demanding “strict neutrality” and replied with a statement that she is determined to fight, if necessary, to maintain her integrity against any power. 10—British and German warplanes fought in the sky over Oslo at 5:30 p.m.. an hour and a half after formal surrender of the capital to a German general. SIX NORWEGIAN SOLDIERS KILLED 11—Six Norwegian soldiers were reported here to have been killed when Germany captured the Charlottenberg airdrome. Norwegian planes battled invading German planes over Fornebo airdrome on the outskirts of Oslo where 20 homes were damaged by Nazi bombs and several persons injured. Four German and two Norwegian planes were said by eye-witnesses to have fallen in battle. 12—An official German statement broadcast by radio denied that Germany had threatened Sweden. The German high command’s announcement of the mop-up of the occupation of Norway said the Norwegians resisted “especially strongly” at Oslo and Kristiansand and that the coastal defenses in Oslo Fjord were stormed by infantry shock troops cooperating with the navy and air force. SENATE DECLARES TWO INELIGIBLE All-U ‘Ditch Day’ Set for April 26 by Group As Complete Election Returns Deliberated Two write-in candidates in the last Friday’s election were declared ineligible by the ASSC senate last night as it approved a report submitted by Elections Commissioner Al Gifford. Gifford said in his report that Tony Ricca. candidate for vice-president of School of Music, i -—- Bill Ainley leads panel group Jonas Explains Study Methods To Greek Men Professor To Stress Discipline in Talk Sponsored by Council Greek representatives will be counseled on “How To Raise Scholarship in the Fraternities by Dr. ! ate that administrative of- and Jane Banner, aspirant to the office erf secretary of College of Architecture, were ineligible because of grade deficiencies. The other candidates were declared eligible by Gifford, and the senate unanimously approved the results of the election. VOTE AUTHORIZED Regarding a tie vote for the presidency of the College of Engineering between Robert Franklin and James A. Roth, the senate decided to leave conducting of a second election in the hands of authorities of the college. The college representative stated that a second election in the College of Engineering will be held, and asked permission to make use of unused ballots for this purpose. His request was granted. DITCH DAY’ SET The senate declared an all-univer-sity “ditch day” for Friday. April 26. following announcement by a sen- re carrying on active experiments the fields, and Colombia pro-lisrs to be one of the big oil pro-icing countries of the world.” he >ntinued. As a great deal of Dr. Clements’ lork was done on foot, he was af-prded an opportunity to become t^quainted with the South American jple and their customs. luncheon, at which Dean Reid Lage McClung of the College of Commerce will deliver the welcoming address. COMMISSIONER TO TALK Ray C. Wakefield, California railroad commissioner, will speak on "Problems and Trends in State Regulation of Transportation,” and Hilbert W. Peterson, district manager Y To Review Election Field Forum Will Select 1940 Political Favorite The entries in the 1940 presi - Any type and style of clothing will be welcomed by the race are in the “paddock” TROJANS CHECK CLOSETS IN YWCA CLOTHES DRIVE “Clean out your closets—it’s spring!!!” That is the theme of the drive sponsored by the Sophomore-Junior club of the YWCA to obtain used clothing for needy students on the Trojan campus. The lecture, sponsored by the Col- °f Pan-American airways, will dis je of Letters. Arts, and Sciences, being presented in cooperation hth the Faculty Science club and 4gma Xi group. ours Planned y Engineers Supplementing their classroom rk with personal observation, stu-its in engineering practice will te a tour of the Southern Cali-Inin Telephone company's mutual lice. f*aul Johnson, plant extension en-feer. will address the class tomor-at 11:10 a m. in 159 Science, ex-fining equipment and facilities of office. This office is the center [telephone company long-distance itch-boards. press telegraph re-fts. radio broadcasting trunks, [ a machine switching plant for business district dial phones, second field-trip to the Owens-lois Pacific Coast company glass |nufacturing plant is scheduled April 26 and May 10. Because company does not have facil-|s to receive the entire class the will be made in two sections, le final trip of the semester, to Richfield oil refinery, will also lade in two sections on May 3 May 10. |culty Group tars Cormack las o Menos—Impressions of tin America" will be the topic |a talk by Dr. Joseph M. Cor-:k, professor of law. at a lunch-today of the Mens Faculty in Elisabeth von KleinSmid |1 at 12 M. Cormack will speak on oblations he made on a tour of th America during his recent litical leave. egistrars •ffice Notice part-semester reports for lento whose work is un satis -for the first ten weeks of semester will be due at the ice of the Registrar on Wed-*jr, April 17. Theron Clark. Registrar. cuss “The Future of Transportation.” Dr. W. Bailentine Henley, director of coordination, will preside at the afternoon session to be held in Porter hall in the Law building at 2 o'clock. Six To Receive Service Keys For Stage Work “Little Oscars” in the form of two gold statuettes will be presented this afternoon in Touchstone theater, one to the outstanding actress and the other to the outstanding actor in Drama workshop presentations. As tokens of service both backstage and before the footlights, gold keys will be presented to six others. Contributors of the awards are the National Collegiate players. Zeta Phi Eta. Phi Beta, and Drama Workshop. This will be the first presentation of statuettes ever made to SC stage artists. Recipients of the keys will be Ann Barnett. Ruth Roberts. Harold Salisbury. Barbara Canterbury. George Goldberg, and Harlow Johnson. club, according to Jean Keeler, president and general chairmkn in charge of the drive. The contributions may be left in the YWCA Aviation ! office, third floor Student Union. “We need all kinds of clothes, from hats to shoes.” said Miss Keeler in inaugurating the drive. “We want to sponsor this project for the benefit of those students who are not already well-outfitted with a wardrobe of necessities.” The week-long drive will end next Tuesday. Garments which are not distributed among the students will be sent to charity organizations, Miss Keeler said. Each sorority on campus has a representative who is in charge of gathering the contributions from her house members. There is also a representative appointed to take charge of the contributions of Elisabeth von KleinSmid residence hall. Wampus Seeks Typical Coed Frank Jonas, professor of political science, tonight at 7 o’clock in the auditorium of Harris hall. A panel discussion under the direction of Bill Air.ley will follow Dr. Jonas’ talk. The panel will include Phil Gaspar, Merle Morris, Charles Johnston, and Wes Rollo. Dr. Jonas believes that the student’s* attitude should be changed toward education as a whole and toward individual subjects. ‘SOME CLASSES CHORES’ ‘ Some classes are chores for the average student,” he contends, “but he should realize that the only way to advance to more interesting subject'matter is to do the chores first and get them over with.” Dr. Jonas holds that the development of personality should be the aim of every university student. A and the political race fans are look- variety of interests in college will de- Dr. Knopf Leads Meditation Today “Lost and Found” will be the theme for the noonday meditation to be led by Dr. Carl Sumner Knopf, director of religious activities, today at 12:10 p.m. in Bovard auditorium. Professor Knopf has taken his theme from religious articles appearing in current issues of investors magazines. In an attempt to choose the most typical Trojan coed, the April issue of the Wampus will feature two pages of eligible women on campus who most nearly fill the requirements of a traditional "Helen of Troy.” Specially prepared ballots will be contained in the campus humor magazine, which will be distributed Pus on April 17, on which students will be asked to indicate their preference. Each sorority has submitted candidates for the contest' as well as non-org women. The photos of these prospective “typical” coeds will appear along with the ballot and the winner will be awarded a special loving cup and the title of “Miss USC.” ing over the candidates in an attempt to pick a favorite. Appropriate to this current election atmosphere the Trojan YMCA will open its second all-university student-faculty forum with a preview of the impending presidential campaign. Dr. Carlton C. Rodee. professor of political science, will review the field and appraise the relative merits of the individual candidates at the meeting tomorrow at 3 p.m. in the social lounge, Student Union. The discussion is open to all students of the university and is promoted by the YMCA to further student-faculty relations on the cam- Dr. Rodee will discuss the background and qualifications of both Republican and Democratic candidates. Thomas Dewey of New York, velop the undergraduate’s personality as well as prove to be of practical value after leaving the campus, he believes. VARIETY STRESSED A student specializing in one field of endeavor should be well acquainted with other activities in different fields in order to be able to interest other people in his own subject. Dr. Jonas contends. “I do not believe study tables are the best method of study for the university student,” Dr. Jonas states. ; “The actual learning of text material and outlining can be done much better individually, but discussion groups for a final understanding of the subject is an excellent plan.” STUDY IS SELF-DISCIPLINE According to Dr. Jonas, study is a matter of self-discipline. Included ficials had approved the holiday. It wa? suggested that a polo game of the SC polo team be made the fdcai point of student activity, and that the game be followed by a beach party. 1.3 DEBATED The ditch day will follow the interfraternity formal, to be held the preceding evening. A 1.2 maintenance clause was voted pnd will be incorporated in the ASSC constitution. Following a meeting of the faculty committee on scholarship with a senate committee. it was recommended that “members of the senate and thos# who are required to have a 1.5 grade average to take office must maintain a 1.3 average while in office, and in the event this average is not maintained these cases will come before the faculty committee for special consideration.” REPORT READ The motion voicing the amendment was passed without debate. A report of the senate committee on organization was read by Neil Deasy, committee chairman. Deasy stated that 130 campus organizations had been asked to submit lists of officers to the committee, and Continued on Page Four Alec Templeton Initiated Into Radio Fraternit remple Qn.TJlm ntv ianist. v Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, in his plan for improvement of fra- Amazons To Fete Alumnae At Traditional Party Tonight Diok Mulcahy, editor for the April issue, said yesterday that the magazine will contain a variety of special features including the newly installed group of Chi Omega; a survey of night spots by Herm Rosen and John Lindsay: a satire on women’s athletics, “Women’s Pe-rogatives,” by Larry George; and a short story extravaganza on the merits of a baseball player who was so good he had to quit organized competition. and Robert Taft of Ohio will be the Republicans discussed. Vice-Presi-<fent Garner, Secretary of State Coi-dell Hull, and President Roosevelt, “the third-term question mark.” will be reviewed as Democratic candidates. Ellen Holt and Lucille Hoff, former president of WSGA, will be among the returning alumnae to be honored at 7:30 p.m. tonight when the Amazons will entertain alumnae and actives of that group at the Delta Delta Delta sorority house. The party is a traditional gathering and this year's arrangements for the affair are being conducted by Ruth Bennison and Helen Lee Hecht. Lynn Moody, president of the Amazons, will head the hostess committee. Other honor guests for the evening will include Mrs. Rufus B. von KleinSmid. Dr. Mary Sinclair Crawford, and Miss Frances McHale. Among alumni expected to attend is Cecile Hallingby. -39. former Amazon president. Herten Calls Banquet Heads Bob Herten, president of the College of Commerce student body announces that the commerce banquet committee heads will meet to discuss tentative plans this afternoon at 2 o'clock in the commerce office. Members of the committee are coordination, Frank Swirles; contacts, Fred Solomon; reception, Beverly Hey wood; decorations, Dona Bray; tickets, Charles Ferry; awards. Hal Hoover; publicity, Jane Carroll and Myron Minnick; correspondence, Jean Frampton; and program. Tom Eddy. | ternity scholarship on the campus are student tutors and faculty advisors to show Greek houses the value of organized study. All fraternity pledges, pledgemast-! ers, and scholarship chairmen are requested to attend the discussion, j ^th~e group which is sponsored by the mter-fraternity scholarship committee. Bratfisch Wins Cash Award At SC Banquet Carl J. Bratfisch, SC electrical engineering major, last night won a $15 cash prize awarded by members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers with an original paper on engineering read in competition with five other SC and California Institute of Technology students at a banquet of institute members in the Foyer of Town and Gown. Bratfisch's subject was “The Elec- cf the civil aeronautics authority ex Hoose Rare Book Display Scheduled The collection of rare books and manuscripts in the Seeley Wintersmith Mudd foundation will be on display at the Hoose library of philosophy every afternoon from 2 until 4 o'clock for the remainder of the week. The exhibit is housed in the special foundation room of the library in Mudd Memorial hall. The collection was dedicated last week in an all-day ceremony. Alec TempleWn,UlindT)ianitft, was given honorary membership into Gamma Beta Alpha, collegiate broadcasters of America, Sunday evening at the home of Seymour Andrews, past president of the SC chapter. Mr. Templeton said he felt greatly honored as he is the first entertainer to be made an honorary Robert Benson, president of the SC chapter, welcomed the musician on behalf of the organization. Following dinner, the pianist played several numbers for the group, including an unnamed composition written in honor of Gamma Beta Alpha. Attending with Mr. Templeton were his manager, Bob Ware, and Joe Widah of MCA. ‘Y’ Club To Sponsor Tea Dr. Mary Sinclair Crawford, counselor of women, will be the guest of honor at the YWCA’s Hostess club tea tomorrow from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the social lounge, third floor, Student Union. Miss Leila Hostetter, YWCA secretary, will pour. Trojan Fledglings Attain Wings in CAA Test William Wood, Clay Tice, and Don McNeil. Before the student pilots climbed into the cockpits of their training Lucille Hoff . . returns to je*e% trical Determination of Water Flow Contours.” One hundred and eighty members of the electrical institute heard him and Don J. Naim represent SC in in the annual competition. Naim's topic was “The Study of Electrical Arc Equipment.” Caltech was represented by Howard Bailer, Frank Olney, Kiyo To-miyasu. and Robert W. Winchell. Five Trojan fledglings were officially granted their wings yesterday. The first group of student pilots in the government’s civilian train- mg program went through the paces, ^ ^ ^ fflght fxamlnatlon they went through a rigid two and one-half hour written ground examination. Forty-four of the 50 Trojan students registered in the training program passed this ground school test, covering meteorology, navigation, and the regulations of the civU aeronautics authority. amination and successfully passed the test before the eyes of the inspector. Today they hold private pilot K censes. The five who were awarded the government's “certificate of competency” at the Gardena Valley air port are Once in the air, the student pilots Iris Cummings. Dick Caldwell, , sent their ships through tailspins, 1 engine power. 1 figure-eights, steep vertical turns, and stalls. Three spot-landings had to be made by the students without the use of power from the engine, landing within 300 feet of a designated target-line. Most practical of the tests prescribed by the inspector were the simulated forced landings. The student and his examiner went into the air together, and at the will of the inspector the motor of the ship was cut, leaving the student to land the plane in safety without the aid of UCLA Group To Participate In Forum Series Political Science Discussion Group Meets Tomorrow Combining three current topics of vital interest, the political science-sponsored student-instructor forum series will discuss “War. Peace, and Propaganda” at the second weekly meeting tomorrow, at 4 p.m. in the student lounge. Bridge hall. With two graduate students in political science from UCLA scheduled to speak, the leader of this new group, Merrill Goodall, anticipates a lively discussion on these outstanding questions. Appearing for the second time at the meetings will be Betty Magruder. former student body president of Los Angeles City college. Miss Magruder led last week's discussion on “Academic Freedom” by presenting the Citj college student’s views on the recent expulsion in that school. Goodall, a fellowship instructor in the department, will open the forum with the viejps of world leaders on these topics. He took an active part last Saturday in a coast-to-coast radio discussion of the peace movement over station KNX. Students desiring to participate in these open forums may do so by meeting in the lounge, Goodall said. Broadcast Tells How to Live “Living Your Life,” the second of a series of programs originating from the studio of the division of radio-television, will be broadcast this afternoon from 1:30 to 1:45 over KRKD Stu> ;nts participating in the dis-cussi' 1 of leisure time are Aurline Osrr nd. Robert Benson, and Nancy Thf npson. Richard E. Huddleston, director of the division of radiotelevision. will produce the program and act as moderator. Huddleston said that today's program will attempt to find a solution of “How to do what you want to do.” The “Living Your Life” series is adopted from the book of the same name by Claude C. Crawford, professor of education. Ethel C. Cooley, teacher at Fullerton Union high school and junior college, and C. C. Trillingham, assistant superintendent and director of secondary education in Los Angeles county. French Students To Hear Readings at Lunch Today Le Cercle Francais, French society, will meet for luncheon at 12 M. today in 323 Student Union. Ilda Gerber, president, and Bernard Carrascoso, vice-president, will give readings in French. Price of the luncheon will be 40 cents. Tomorrow's Organ Program Archibald Sessions will open tomorrow’s organ recital at 12 Kt in Bovard auditorium with a larghetto and minuet by the classical composer, von Dittersdorf. Larghetto and Minuet _______________- ____________________________1on Dittersdorf Carl von Dittersdorf was one of the first composers to attempt the program Symphony. In 1784 he composed twelve symphonies with such titles as “The Four Ages of the World” and “Jason and the Golden Fleece.” With such pictorial music as Dvorak’s “New World” and Tschaikowskis "Pathetique” ringing in our ears, we would not considet Ditters-dorf’s works as other than absolute music. Tu o Preludes and Fugues oj the First Master Period ................Bach Chanson sans Paroles ............Dubois |Title||DAILY TROJAN, Vol. 31, No. 121, April 10, 1940| W-4111 Ski. 227 Night - - - RI-3606 United Press Assn. Dirert Wire Service LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1940 Allied-Nazi Sea Battle Rages; Norwegian Guns Defy Germans Lecturer Analyzes !0il Yield Clements Will Discuss Colombian Production In Discussion Today Oil production in South Am-lerica will be discussed by Dr. IThomas Clements, associate [professor of geology, at the [Wednesday lecture at 4:30 [p.m. today m 159 Science. In his lecture, “Geologic Re-:onnaissance in Colombia, South America.” Dr. Clements vill analyze his discoveries in Ihe Llano* and Megdelanna oil fields. As s member of the Columbia research staff, he crossed the Andes order to correlate the geology of e Llanos, or eastern plains, with Dr. Thomas Gements , . . discusses oil production McClung Leads l SC Conference Tomorrow Transportation Meet Will Air Problems Of State Regulation Professional men in the field of transportation will convene at SC tomorrow for the first annual Western Transportation conference spon-I sored by the College of Commerce, i Purpose of the conference is to bring together men in divergent | j fields of transportation to discuss I I on common grounds problems and techniques of their profession. LUNCHEON SCHEDULED Program for the < ay will include I luncheon, a conference series, and | dinner. Representatives from Oregon, Utah. Arizona, and California, are expected to attend. Registration at 11:30 in the Foyer “Most of the major oil companies of Town and Gown will precede the ie Megdelana river valley. While Ihe latter district was fairly well Inown to the scientists at the time, ie eastern plains had never been lapped. “Until our expedition in 1939. all |il production in the country was »ken from two fields in the Meg-lelana valley which were yielding sut 21.000.000 barrels per years.” lid Dr. Clements in an interview fsterday. "In October 1939. a new rea wa.s opened, and 50 wells in le Llanos began operation.” The lecture will be illustrated kith colored slides taken by Dr. ilements on his trip into the in-srior of South America. The me-lods of geological work as well as he people and the country will be nown in the stills. XPERIMENTS IN THE FIELDS STOCKHOLM. Wednesday, April 10—

December 31, 2016 § Leave a comment I’m not someone who’s too held up by special occasions. But, welcoming a New Year is always an occasion which I like to pay some attention too. This attention isn’t about partying, but looking at where I stand in life, and what’s happened. Something I learnt in 2016(as tweeted): a) 2016 was a lot about learning about myself, learning to cope better with depression and not being too hard on myself. b) Also acceptance that I may not be as important to people as they are to me and that’s okay. Friends will be there. c) No one is responsible for my happiness, but me. My state of mind and balance can only come from within. d) There is no need to expect anything from people around you. Expectations spoil relationships and also leave you sad. e) And whatever I do is because I want to do it. It is a choice. So enjoy what I do and not be bothered about what other people think. f) A year where I was hurt a lot, but also bounced back. Confident in my ability to do this now. g) Lastly, “work” isn’t merely work. I do whatever I do and I care about what I do. You can find the thread here. December 20, 2016 § Leave a comment An edited version was first published on Firstpost- http://firstpost.com/business/demonetisation-a-noble-thought-but-demonstrates-govts-distrust-in-its-citizens-3165246.html November 8th, 2016 will go down as one of those days which define an era in the annals of Indian history. Such moments usually tend to be planned confrontations, with a crescendo slowly leading up to it, and while not always obvious at that time, it is heard later, and understood in hindsight. Kingdoms and rulers are defined by these moments, mostly on the battle field and sometimes off it. The locus of today’s war is the Indian economy, and the Government of India has sounded the gongs and issued a battle cry against those evil-doers who have stashed away “black money.” Much like most wars since the World War era, civilians aren’t just inactive participants, they are collateral. Both sides have a free run on them, and whatever each does is in good-faith to their conscience and belief system. So much has been done and said, and said and not-done- some true, some not so much the truth, and some outright lies and rumours, that to get a full sense of what’s happened and what’s happening is like trying to wrap your head around a religious text- as much as one’s personal morality and belief cry out aloud, one still has to adopt an arm’s distance and try to understand the logic and reason of the text, however convoluted and perverse. To state the simple facts, without reducing to ad absurdum- the Prime Minister of the country announced that five hundred and thousand rupee notes will not be valid tender from the following day. People have been given fifty days to exchange, deposit, use it for a few things like petrol, tickets, etc.- basically to get rid of the old notes. The exchange is subject to limits, and deadline(s) have been set for using the old notes for certain transactions. A limit has also been set for ATM transactions and withdrawing cash from banks. People have been encouraged to adopt non-cash methods of transactions. We are still within the 50 day window. The intention of demonetising 86% of the currency in circulation is to bring out the “black money.” The government has been quite vocal in taking on black money, and this isn’t the first move. When it comes to intentions, there is nothing to fault. In fact, it is laudable that they have the will to take on what’s almost become a characteristic of an Indian. Black money tends to be of two types- money which is from an illegal activity and not reported to the taxation authorities, and that which is from a legal source but hasn’t been reported to the taxation authorities. This money isn’t always necessarily in cash- it is also stashed away in tax havens – countries and businesses who are committed to the tenets of secrecy and believe that what they do not know isn’t their problem and you will not know when you don’t ask questions. The path to “justice” for this money is much harder and almost impossible, because of the complex structure of these transactions, and international laws, rules and diplomacy. Also, one usually doesn’t tend to prosecute oneself or the hand that feeds. And then there is the black money that is in cash – ubiquities and an innate part of the Indian economy. This money is created, owned and used in transactions by almost everyone. It is not created just through bribes, capitation fees or land deals, but also is created by teachers, doctors, Chartered Accountants, lawyers, priests and other noble folks who take money and not pay taxes on the transaction. This money is then used in further transactions where it may or may not come back into the legal system. As such, the difficulty here lies in not just getting hold of the romanticised huge stashes of money, but also in bringing it to account in the hands of the person who hasn’t paid the taxes. For legal transactions, we have a VAT system, TDS/TCS, etc. which are aimed at this – to catch a transaction at its origin and bring it into the tax net. The GST regime which will soon be ushered in aims to build on and strengthen the existing system. A key measure which the government seems to have identified is digitalisation and encouraging non-cash transactions. This is certainly the best way to eliminate the creation of black money- when the number of cash transactions reduce it becomes more and more difficult to hide illegal transactions and masquerade them as legal; that is, people cannot create black money, when everything has been brought to account and large cash transactions will draw suspicion. This is where eliminating the higher denominations comes into play. It would mean that apart from transactions of small value, people would tend towards non-cash transactions. It would also mean that physically carrying and stashing away black money will become difficult, not just because of the weight and volume, but also because the actual value of currency in circulation will be lesser than what it will be with higher denominations in circulation. Demonetisation means removing an object of its intrinsic value. It doesn’t necessarily mean new currency of the same denomination aren’t issued, it just means the old notes are retired. The idea behind the current demonetisation drive is to bring out the hidden 500s and 1000s and subject them to taxation. The idea here isn’t to eliminate higher denominations, as evident by the new 500s and 2000s, but more of a confession for old sins. There also seems to be a move towards reducing the currency in circulation, maybe even a possible demonetization of these new notes in the future as we head towards a more digitalised economy. As stated earlier, the intention behind this move is excellent and noble. But what has happened is a mess of an execution. We see queues at banks and ATMs where people are forced to wait to withdraw their own money. Small businesses and traders have lost income, and are in a fix to make ends meet. The government has carried out extensive advertisement campaigns and people aplenty have been quick to rubbish anyone questioning the move as anti-national (“With the growth of nationalism, man has become the greatest menace to man. – Tagore). But beyond what at times sounds more propaganda than anything else, what we need to look at is the success of the move – this can be by the amount of BLACK MONEY brought out and future gains from it and also the move towards digitalisation. it will take a long time to know the actual amount of black money brought out. Apart from stories of certain huge deposits, the actual money which has come out or has been destroyed will take a long time to emerge and might still be subject to a good degree of error. Also, this move doesn’t eliminate the conversion of old black to new black or the creation of new black money. While the former shows how deep corruption is ingrained in our system, the latter is possible since we still have high denomination currencies. While the headlines of new black being caught would seem to show a higher efficacy in catching hold of perpetrators, it can simply be down to reporting bias and won’t become evident till we know the extent of the new rot. The gain to the exchequer also needs to be considered. The direct gain here would be taxation imposed on the black money reported. Here again, this money would only be subject to direct tax and not indirect taxes which were also evaded. In fact, tracing the origin of the money and therefore the point of taxation might actually lead to better plugging the system and loopholes. It remains to be seen if this gain will outweigh the cost of the move. The indirect gain would be the income in the future generated- the increase in money in banks should theoretically lead to a decrease in interest rates which in turn would lead to more borrowings and investments into the economy. In the long run, this should out do the loss to the economy due to the demonetisation. Again, it remains to be seen if this will happen. Great impetus has been given to going Digital. The general awe of using cards to pay for everything in places like Singapore, is no more a distant dream, but almost a reality- how we wish. Much like the Swachh Bharat drive (ironically the logo of this mission appears on the new currency notes – a haven for germs, dust and other such), saying and cess-ing doesn’t really solve the problem. For every railway station that beams at us, the fact remains that a hundred other places are as dirty as ever. Implementation is what matters, and for that we need two things, a) an infrastructure and b) education (different from merely disseminating information). Quoting the number of bank accounts is a moot point. What matters is the number of digital transactions actually carried out as an overall percentage of transactions. What also matters is the available infrastructure and if it is enough to support (almost) everyone going digital overnight (if 86% of the cash is removed and only a small % added back, then clearly this is the intention and way out.) Without going into servers and capacities, we have to look at the availability of POS machines and cards, net banking facilities, smart phones, phones (for UID),, etc. And beyond that, we need to look at if banks can receive requests, process and issue/digitally enable people overnight, especially when they are caught up in changing money and accepting deposits. The obvious answer seems to be in the negative, especially considering we still have villages without electricity, or proper banking infrastructure. While it can be argued that quite a sizeable quantum of legal transactions are non-cash anyway, what needs to be remembered is as a government it is equity that matters- the quantum doesn’t matter, but the number of transactions do. And what needs to be remembered is that we are talking about not just about illegal money, but access to legally earned, taxed money and transacting using it. While anecdotal stories have been published to belie us into thinking that people have adopted digital technology overnight, the reality is far from it. Educating people goes beyond advertising and pushing matter- it involves teaching them how to register, use and transact using digital technology securely. As such there is much distrust in technology, especially when it comes to money, by quite a large portion of the population. The government seems to have overestimated the influence of the Prime Minister and assumed it as enough motivation for people to believe and switch over. But the panic which followed the announcement and practical considerations like paying for food and rent and standing in queues to get money for these things didn’t really allow for much room for people to consider what was being said. So while being highly nationalistic and soldering along queues, people did not have time to learn and adopt. Maybe the government could have used the wait time to actively educate people using its highly motivated volunteers. The difference between fortitude and balderdash masochism lies in choosing the moments you use to exhibit the underlying quality- to use a much too familiar example would be of Karna from Mahabharata who bore the pain of a creature digging into him while his guru slept- which as anyone would tell you led to him being cursed to forget all he knew at the moment of reckoning. The intention maybe right, but personality driven egotistic heroism is the also the start of a tragedy. All the suffering of civilians, and soldiers (to the convenience of those who bring them into conversation, can’t respond) is of nought when neither have you stopped the creation of illicit money nor have you caused a major shift towards cashless economy. To be fair, corruption is too deep seated in us that you are asking people not just to adopt to a new system but to fundamentally kill a part of themselves. As much as a majority has elected this government on the strength a supposed maverick, it isn’t enough to inspire what would seem like hara-kiri. This especially so when the priest is corrupt and the believer is corrupt – the God too is corrupt and that’s what the people seem to be praying to anyway. It would have been wiser to adopt a bottom-up approach and create the infrastructure first. Slowly prod people to move away from cash and allow the majority of the country which transacts in cash to get an idea of how it works. The demonetisation then would have made sense and could also have done anyway with the issue of new high denominations. The ultimate aim is to always win a war, not merely a battle. It might seem unfair to judge an army based on a single battle, but some battles are more significant than others. This certainly is so. This round of the battle, with the advantage of surprise on the governments side and all that it had its disposal, including the implicit trust of many, is the government’s. But when almost all the (faceless) leaders of the enemy camp are intact, and many have lost trust which they had in the government what did the victory achieve? It is possible to kill an elephant and deceive a person, but not an entire country, especially when the people you are supposedly fighting for are the collateral. And in a democracy, even if you honestly believe in what you said to be true, you better be ready to answer questions and not expect people to radically change their lives merely on your word. Time will tell who wins the war. Nationalism stems from a feeling of oneness, and making people insecure – to think you can’t access a lifetime’s work(legally earned, tax paid) the way you want, isn’t going to inspire that, how many ever ladoos you distribute. Above all, this shows a lack of trust in your own citizens- to catch a few thieves, the entire nation is being asked to line-up. Who is going to identify them, remains a mystery. August 24, 2016 § Leave a comment We need to believe that anything is possible; that there are infinite possibilities. That we will never know what’s going to happen next, and not force our lives to become slaves to suppositions planted by society and it’s talismans. At times, the world seems to be crumbling under its own weight, and life a series of disappointments, all seemingly aimed at boxing you in, as if you were the problem with it. But that isn’t so. When the world around you starts hitting out, it recognizes you. And when it finds that you aren’t conforming to what it deems as your life, and bounded possibilities, it wants to rein you in. For long you fight the world by its terms, but there comes a point, when you realise that there is more to you than this fight against the world, and the way you see it changes. You realise you don’t need to fight the world on its terms. You can do it by yours. The question is always what does it take to do it your way. When you know what you are willing to give, and what it means to you, the world will respond to it. It will allow you to carve yourself some space, because it thinks it has placed you. But it hasn’t. You know it, it does not. The possibilities are infinite, and you need to remember, however lonely the night is, there is someone there – you. May 17, 2016 § Leave a comment When it rains in mid-summer, Madras sighs, half in relief, half in wont reminiscences. This rain, let out like old alcohol bought in another season, to celebrate another joyous eve, first strikes with the smell, a petrichor, a de javu, of a November day- breezy and clay lamps which struggle to remain lit. And when you taste it, at the tip of the tongue, the air is no more languid, but fresh, vigorous, and resplendent. The harsh light is kept out by a curtain of clouds, and the shadows longer as if the sun was further South, and the tempers of precarious Bay, waiting to blow out. This is May, in Madras. You can call it Chennai if you want, but the ring of the word, without the harsh Che is more of this city- not the incessant cacophony of horns, but the amorous sea-breeze than reminds you of shores on which Occidental flags fluttered and gyrated to the tolling of ancient bells, and the braying of donkeys, diligently carrying laundry. This city, in this month, when tempers flare, and you perspire without effort- as if you are born into success; and the smoke of camphor and agarbatti prevail in the narrow lanes, brings upon a languid hope. That tired, strained hope, which some find in a heavy meal after religious excesses. That wish after noon, for the school day to get over, or at best for the Maths teacher to disappear. The waves in the beach of Madras, diligently crash, again and again- the troughs and tides, make their own pace, unhurried by the liners, or excited children, angry parents, hidden lovers, or drunk men caught in the nets of boats they may not own. The crests, shoved away, by the over-crowded port on which a canny English man once found a place to stretch his leg, and measured an empire that never set- creep in, year by year, till a time they shall swallow with a tumultuous crash, the old fort, and Santome. The simmering heat is a memoir of those days- of history, and childhood, of myths, and veritable veshti-clad old-age. And year, on year, it comes again, and the thirst just becomes more, and more. Till an insatiable day, when nothing can be quenched, except the land that is the city, and her people, their boisterous pride and nine yards of contemptuous vanity. March 23, 2016 § Leave a comment We have become creatures who no more can find the beauty in life, no more look into the mirror and smile at ourselves as free beings. We enslave ourselves in crass expectations, we bind ourselves in social limits and petty empty words which mean nothing to anyone. We aren’t truthful or honest, we lie, and lie more, and then lie to ourselves that our lies are the truth, and by that we expect ourselves to live and conquer. I’m utopian. As utopian as I was when I was a teen, a child. There was a point where I almost mistook Rand’s Utopia to be what I dreamt of, but then realised that wasn’t it. Those who still hold by that, would call me a sore loser- after all, by a measure of absolutes, I have my share of blunders, but by a measure of personal time and belief, I believe I am not. I wouldn’t say I have succeeded in doing anything of significance, but I would certainly say I haven’t failed- I still believe in humanity and that we possess that something it takes to be nice to each other. What remains certain though, is not to expect it from individuals. No, not holding people not responsible for their words and actions, but to not expect them to be what you see as desirable. We need compassion, and by that, to put yourself out there and be hurt, again and again, again and again- it is not masochism, it isn’t to make yourself feel good- it is to remember that what separates the merely alive, from those that yearn pleasure and meaning, is to give to another, as if to oneself. The intellect in itself is of no use, if the mind lacks compassion. All the intelligence in the world, will foster nothing if it fails to emerge from a larger human consciousness, that which serves life and our living. To hate the intellect and the intellectual is to pollute the river that feeds us, to cut the forests that gave birth to us, and to claim the barren fat land as scared and unpolluted. We are all nothing than a sum of those atoms, those almost unimaginable quarks, in a seemingly infinite universe of those. Our significance is bound to our world and what we know, as much as it is for a myopic lizard. And when we fail to appreciate that there is much more than we know, and destroy the words from the human mind that tell us so, we are but heading towards self-destruction. February 14, 2016 § 1 Comment The Andhra Pradesh border is about 50-60kms from my house. Yet, I have never really been anywhere in Andhra, except Tirupati and Pulicat lake. Aswath and I have been planning a trip to Gandikota for a couple of years now. And when both us finally found the time(Pongalo-Pongal) we decided to explore the unexplored, the mystical, the late-breakfast eating state of Andhra. We recruited Venkatadri to balance the weight in the car and as a handy bodyguard in case my hindi/telugu/pidgin ended up getting us in trouble. Truth be told, both Aswath and Venkat speak pretty good passable Hindi, while I will tell you to go inside the bridge(as against under) because it will surely lead you onto the highway to Hogwarts. We didn’t really use much of our rudimentary Telugu- to our surprise almost everyone we encountered seem to know Hindi or generally understand what we were trying to say. Of course, I’m still not sure which language I spoke in- more of a mish-mash of everything I know- for all I know, I might have sung Malare to some unsuspecting cop. The ideal plan is to stay at Gandikota, catch the sunrise, go to Belum and return to Chennai. However, the only resort at Gandikota was full and we decided to stay at Kadapa instead. Not so bad, since Kadapa is about 250kms from Chennai and it was 6:30pm by the time we rolled into town- considering the condition of the road between Kadapa and Gandikota, it wouldn’t have been wise to drive there in the dark anyway. The drive from Chennai to Kadapa takes about 4-4:30hrs. The drive between Reinugunta and Kadapa in the evening was lovely. One thing though- throughout the trip we had to watch out for unmarked big speed-breakers on the highway. At one point Venk even considered buying an helmet. We found a lodging- hotel Ziara through Tripadvisor and after being given the runaround by Google navs through narrow market street, we found our way to it. A charming 8th grade kid, the brother of the owner(I’m guessing) showed us the way to dinner(a certain Meenakshi place) where we had humongous barottas. The next day, being true Chennai boys, Aswath and Venk, decided we shall start early. Early being seven in the morning. Now, Tamil Nadu is a state which is notoriously early. You will find shops open at five and people generally getting on with their lives, like brushing their teeth while riding a bike, reading paper at the local tea stall or waiting for the first bus at four in the morning. Evidently not in Andhra. The hotel guys were sweet enough to make us some coffee before we left, and that’s all there was till about 8:30am in a random village where we had breakfast. We changed our plan- there was no point in going to Gandikota first since we had anyway missed the sunrise. Instead we drove to Belum caves. You take the Kadapa-Kurnool four-lane highway for about 36 kms and then have to take a left(there’s a detour involved and google map’s navigation is correct), you drive past Jammalamadugu and take the Tadipatri-Jammalamadugu highway- the road here is mostly decent. There isn’t much of traffic and you pass through a few villages. A highway is under construction, so there are a few diversions along the road. After 85kms on the road, take a right at Kolimigundla and in about 5kms you will reach Belum caves. Belum caves is the largest cave in the Indian plains, and has those pointy-pointy(Stalagmite and Stalactite) rock formations. The caves are made of Kadapa stones(black limestone) and carved by random superpower which rules the universe, homo sculperus WATER. Considering we did not have to cross Silk board, TIDEL park or any of those awful signals, we made it in record time-9am- only to find that the place did not open till 10am. But being the bony (first sales) for the day has its advantages- by the time we left the caves, the place was infested filled with tourists. Add to this that the temperature inside is around 33C and humidity at Chennai-summer level, it could turn out to be not-so-pleasant trip. But it is fascinating. To think that water did this over millions of years, is mind-blowing and almost unimaginable( cue a few million years long movie with nothing but water flowing through the caves). Of course, some humans did feel the need to put their name on it and claim it as their work:- After the humbling experience of the caves, we headed out to Gandikota. You head back to Jammalamadugu, go into town and take the Muddanur road. Once you cross the Pennar river, take a right- the road ends at Gandikota. The trip is 60kms long and takes about an hour. The road up to Gandikota is a winding road, which looked specially lovely in the evening. Having had only a sparse breakfast we dug into some Andhra meals at the Harita resort in Gandikota. The place was teeming with families, bikers and other sorts of humans who had all had the same idea as us. After napping for a while in the car, we finally walked up to the gorge. What a brilliant sight it was! For the second time in the day we were stunned by the power of water. And well, you just feel inconsequential in general- the world has been around for far too long, things have been happening anyway and the big bang happened so long ago, and the universe is still expanding- and just wait for the day we find out the quasars aren’t moving out any faster, but heading back in(okay, highly unlikely a) that will happen b) that will happen now, even if it were to happen). Anyway, after being humbled beyond origins and meaning of life and what not, we clicked pictures with our fancy-ass camera and mobile, grumbled about the litter, got into the car drove back. (not before I shot this pic) – The 90kms drive from Gandikota to Kadapa is bad. The road till Yerraguntla is terrible- a highway is under construction and majority of the paving was removed. Yerraguntla to Kadapa wasn’t so bad, except for the fact that there are unmarked speed-breakers which you have to wary of and there is a lot of lorry traffic with big blinding headlights. After getting suitable lost in trying to find the place we had dinner the previous night, we found another place to eat. If you are going to stay at Kadapa, I would recommend you stay near the bus stand, although the hotel we stayed at(Hotel Ziara) was good. The city does have KFC, dominos etc for those you who need your does of vapid fast food. The next day, we found out again that Andhra just isn’t the place for early breakfast- this time at 8am, inside Kadapa city. After a quick grab at a small tea-stall-esque place, we headed back to Chennai. On the way we stopped at Kodandarama temple in Vontimitta- while I managed to get away with it, they don’t allow you to enter the temple if you are wearing shorts. We were also stopped at checkpoints to see if were smuggling red sanders. We weren’t. |Gandikota- click on photo to open album| January 11, 2016 § Leave a comment Memories, of your memories. I stand beneath that gopuram, between these pillars and ask the silence to tell me, of those days when you hid and played, unseen. The breeze that blows is filled with the smoke of vehicles, the pillars have been reinforced by concrete and those who seek redemption drop rupees and not annas. This is a world which won’t allow me in without you- the family home is now something else- claimed by wont and avarice of those who sought more than memories and peace. The streets are dirty and the cars line the way, I try to imagine your life, as it could have been, under an emperor and a queen, protected by your namesake, under the vestiges of ancient beliefs. The time you survived small pox and the man who said you would live albeit your world all but giving up- I cannot think of such a man, or the fact that he was a tenant on our family lands. People have measured you in your life by everything you didn’t do, and you could have done, but you lived a man of beliefs- of a secular life, equality and most of all, excellence in mind and thought. You taught me history, you told me the ways of the world, and gave me stories. And you gave me a philosophy, you gave me a heirloom which none else could have done. For long I felt it was a burden, but in that I found emancipation. I wish I could talk to you about what I feel now, where I stand and what want- at the dining table, just you and I. I don’t know whose pillars these are, but you were mine. This land, it holds history which stretches far, and the river which flows has reigned the veins of many a maverick. Do I belong here? You did. I belonged to you, as only a grandson can. Who else would entertain every foible of mine? Memories, of your memories. I live with them, unburdened now. In them I see who I could be. I am what I am today because of who you were. 3 January went by, but it was unlike any other day, for your birthday will always be special to me. Now, I write, with a tear in my eyes, for none can be you for me(or I for you.) We humans tend to glorify life, and for its sake death. But, no grandeur can last longer than the last breath. Our histories are ours. To the rest they are but stories and tales, a once upon a time. And in my history there is you, and your stories. In your last breath, you reached for what you believed. I hope in mine, I do the same. Memories, of your memories.

10/07/2015. MNOFridays (21st issue) and Daily News from the HYIP Industry Hi everyone! Hope you all had a good and profitable week in both your online and offline activities and are looking forward to a few days rest. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I for one could sure do with putting my feet up and having a couple of lazy ones! I’m just going into my second week of vacation time here in Slovenia, and I simply can’t say how wonderful it’s been so far. I’m kind of embarrassed that it took me so long to get here after spending years traveling up and down every other country in Europe, but better late than never and boy, was it worth waiting for. Trouble now of course is I’m making up for lost time, and am a bit sore, not to mention getting a bit red from all the hiking in the Julian Alps and swimming in the crystal blue waters of Lake Bled. Then again, maybe I’m just turning red from the excellent Slovenian wine, something else that’s turned out to be an unexpected and hugely underrated gem. It really has been full of surprises for me, and I’m glad I still have another couple of weeks here to discover them. Anyway, back to business now as I still, as always, find time for MNO and my monitor which by the way is always updated a minimum of once in every 24 hour period (sometimes more often) regardless if there’s anything new on my blog or not. There’s plenty of news to get through tonight, so keep reading for that, but I want to start by continuing with the revival of the MNOFridays series of articles. After a break of a couple of years I wanted to start bringing these back on my blog, where I try to give a personal on some of the lesser know, often unseen inner workings of the HYIP industry that maybe a lot of investors may not know about or even think of all that often. MNO has been developing for many years now, and I’ve seen a lot of fairly seismic events in the industry. It’s been my experience however that one thing tends to remain constant – the best admins in the business are those who learned their trade by trail and error, trying once and trying again and again until they know exactly what they are doing. They can and do pay for Premium Listing on MNO straight away without any hesitation, because they know from operating previous programs how to be professionals and will have earmarked a suitable advertising budget before getting started. Having some experience and a big budget is a necessity in the HYIP world as both factors will help admins survive during extended periods of low cash flow for longer. Besides, there’s always a possibility that the admin might try to keep paying for longer just because he wants to establish his program’s reputation. This you see, and, let’s be totally candid about it, helps him to hunt for big spending newbies who take HYIPs seriously at face value and treat them like genuine business opportunities, prepared to invest thousands of dollars and from which the admins feed the rest of the investors. Hence the appealing factor of so-called “sleeper” HYIPs we’ve been seeing so many of recently (sleepers have always been there by the way, there just seems to be a lot more of them at the moment than in previous seasons). The reason I prefer to deal with experienced admins only should be obvious – they know exactly what they are doing and what is required of them to keep their programs alive for longer. Each passing day has the potential to bring more and more members who would invest thousands of dollars, helping one program to finish (as it inevitably must) at the strongest possible standing and help their admins go on to establish new HYIPs – and so the cycle continues indefinitely. That might sound quite a cynical approach towards the HYIP industry and the basic mechanics of how it all works, but I gotta be honest with you here that is more or less the way things work. I prefer to tell the truth to my readers at all times, so they will know what they are dealing with and won’t lose their heads even when they are dealing with big budget programs. I must say that the smart readers will always consider MNO as an indicator of the admin’s spending power, and with the price tag for Premium Listing set at $1,400 which is by far the biggest fee in the industry and at least twice more expensive than the closest competitors, you can always be sure that you see only the biggest budget programs included there. Well, even the price of Standard listing at $1,000 and Basic at $600 are still a good enough thing for some to jump into such a program seeing that the admin is serious enough when it comes to advertising on the most popular HYIP-related English language blog online. I never offer discounts for listings on MNO, so you can be sure that an admin pays exactly the amount specified on my advertising page, and not a cent less. By setting the prices high I deter the fast scammers and do not waste either my time or my readers’, and do not provide my services for those who do not appreciate them. I’ve been in this industry for long enough to know that anything that comes cheap or for free is not to be taken seriously. That’s why the financial state is what matters most and characterize the biggest programs or potential leaders of the HYIP industry. After all, who wouldn’t prefer to deal only with such leaders of the industry like Carbon7 or PokerAutomatics, instead of wasting their time on countless cheap scams from hopeless amateurs whose only ambition is to run away with the first couple of dollars they can steal. I don’t think my readers would like to have such programs listed on MNO – and the reason why many of you return here (both those who enjoy MNO and those who hate it, it would seem) because they know they will find only the biggest programs here, with no exception. I myself am as I’ve said so many times in the past now 100% financially independent and my blog is mostly a hobby for me these days, so why would I waste my time and effort on someone not capable of doing something good for my readerS who helped me get to the position I am in at the moment now. At the same time, please know that listing on MNO doesn’t guarantee that you will be in profit from any one individual program. There are simply too many other factors involved and the programs run by the same admins might not have the same longevity or success that their previous programs had. There’s numerous examples of this, so do keep that in mind. Having said that, you should also know that definitely the listing on MNO will increase your chances to profit as was proven by many people over and over again for so many years online – that is why MNO is still the number one HYIP related blog/monitor with a historical record second to none. You should avoid bloggers claiming that they “do not allow” some programs to list, as they are blatantly lying – nobody has a crystal ball, so you can’t see a program’s future. Sometimes programs with a sloppy design and less attractive investment plans can surprise us all and run for very long time, while those that looked fantastic and considered obvious winners didn’t even last a cycle and scammed before anyone at all was in profit. Literally anything can happen in the HYIP industry so you can be prepared for unpredictability (if such a thing is possible!) and do not take things for granted. That is why it becomes laughable for me when some “experts” claiming they found a way to tell you which program will be a fast scam and which will run for a long time, because this is what implies your unwillingness to accept this or that program for monitoring. I would hope not only that MNO is much wiser than that, but also won’t treat readers like children. You guys are all smart enough to decide what you do and don’t like, what suits some may not be suitable for others, and you don’t need me to make your choices for you. After all, being included on the MNO monitor is not a personal endorsement for any program. I wonder if that’s the case with other websites. So instead of stupid theories used by others, I offer a bulletproof way to find out if the admin is serious or not – show me the money. If he’s willing to pay for the best possible service in English, the admin proves to others he’s smart enough and willing to pay with his money rather than words. Sometimes an admin comes to ask about MNO prices, and once they hear them they retreat immediately. Other monitors might think that they actually have the money to pay them, and will “proudly” decline listing for them without even checking their financial state, which is a pretty stupid thing to do, as it’s just bringing unnecessary attention and serves as a free advertising tool (“no such thing as bad publicity”) which is what the admins were probably hoping for. To sum it all up then, why exactly do I think MNO has a better approach than is a better resource to consider above all others when investing in HYIPs? For one thing I find the approach taken by monitors not just to decline certain programs they don’t like but then to publicly denounce them not very helpful for various reasons. For example, the program might just be just a “sleeper”, and the admin is only trying to get a foothold on a couple of monitors, stay deliberately low-key, and develop it into something good further down the road if allowed. Another reason is that the admin can’t be all bad if he’s prepared spend a few hundred on advertising, and at least, his intentions in running a program for longer are genuine. Intentions can me misguided or mistaken, but hey, that’s never something you can predict with any certainty. But the more important and more relevant question is why you should think MNO is better than the rest. After all, I already know why in my own mind and need no convincing of what I know to be true, but what about you, dear readers? Well, I suppose the simplest thing you can do is this – ask yourself who would you trust more when it comes to making money online? Somebody who has actually done it and successfully freed himself from ever needing to return to “a regular job” for the rest of his life? Or someone who has failed, and struggle on a daily basis to come up with any kind of coherent strategy or long term business plan? I mean it’s got to be pretty damn obvious to anyone that if you want advice on cooking then the best possible teacher is a chef, right? If you need to talk about cars who would give you better advice than a mechanic? If you have a legal situation then you know the best source of info should be a judge or a lawyer. If you had a serious problem with your health who would you prefer to take care of you – a newly enrolled medical student or a doctor? So why should online HYIPs be any different for you, given the fact, and let’s be blunt about it, you’re most likely playing them because you want to make as much money as possible to make your life and the lives of your families as safe and secure for the future as possible. So you can either stick with someone who’s already done that, or look elsewhere if you want to continue contributing to the earnings of others at the expense of your own. Just think about it, I’m sure most of you are smart enough to come to the right conclusion. DAILY NEWS FROM THE HYIP INDUSTRY ATREXTRADE – WITHHOLDING PRINCIPALS FOR NO REASON I would like to start today’s news section with a strong warning on the possibly bleak future of AtrexTrade (reviewed here) which, in my opinion, could be a scam before the end of summer. No new investments are recommended there, even though the daily interest withdrawals are still getting processed instantly which is the reason the program is still on Paying status on the MNO monitor. Why do I think AtrexTrade is in trouble? Well, read on to find out. Just a couple of days ago I was contacted by one of my referrals in AtrexTrade who joined the program under my downline straight after it was first listed on my monitor back in December 2014. He has made some money there, but, just like AtrexTrade‘s FAQ suggests (see the question #19 on this page) he can now withdraw his original investment for a 30% fee and keep the profits. Unfortunately over a period of more than two weeks of constantly emailing them with the request to release his principal he was not allowed to do so, despite already being told the principal withdrawal was available to him at any time by sending a request to the support team. So, only after exhausting all available ways to contact the admin my referral wrote to me and I offered him my personal assistance (like I do with all my referrals). I contacted the admin on his behalf after checking his account first, and was replied to quite quickly. To my astonishment, I was told that the principal withdrawals are not possible this summer, without giving any reason why or making any effort to inform current or future investors. After I confronted the admin and pointed out that he was breaching his own rules, I was told that this new rule would be included in the terms and conditions “in a few days”. At the time of writing, this still hasn’t been done. My personal understanding of this is that AtrexTrade are now holding the principal amounts and are not ready to return them due to cash flow issues. It’s very possible now that it’s going to close by the end of summer, hence the admin’s response about not allowing it for the summer and complete failure to tell anyone about it in advance. Simple as that – we hold your money and we’re not going to give it back, so tough luck. I myself am quite outraged by that attitude, but I can’t do anything about it. I can only warn you against any further investments in AtrexTrade. Yes, it happened yet again, guys, and I had to move RollNRich to Problem status on the MNO monitor after finding out today that my and my referrals’ withdrawals had been delayed for well over the promised 48-hour timeframe once more. I have no idea if the admin is not in town, like he gave as an excuse for the last delay just earlier this week, but I simply cannot accept such an attitude and keep RollNRich on Paying status on my monitor. The only conclusion is that the admin is simply not really interested in running it properly. In my opinion, such an unprofessional approach and a constant changing of status on the MNO monitor due to payout delays could well finish the investors’ trust in an otherwise paying program that used to be ranked at #1 on my Premium List. I cannot exclude the possibility though that, as happened every other time, the admin will come forward at some point and pay all the pendings once again. I’ll be glad to move RollNRich back to Paying status on MNO if that happens, but for now further investments there are not recommended until further notice. BITCTRADELIMITED – RUSSIAN LANGUAGE PHONE SUPPORT ADDED AND WARNING ISSUED AGAINST FRAUDSTERS BITCTradeLimited (reviewed here) still remains one of the hottest investment opportunities of this summer and is the clear leader now among short-term program where you can profit in as little as 24 hours, and even try to invest into its hourly paying plans. Payments are usually processed quite fast (mine never exceeded 12 hours) and you can invest starting from a $10 minimum and get paid to any of the accepted payment processors which at the moment include – PerfectMoney, Payeer, BitCoin, OkPay, and NixMoney. There are numerous investment plans by BITCTradeLimited including 102.5%-120% after 1 day, 116%-250% after 6 days, 150%-850% after 18 days, 1500% after 25 days, 370%-1900% after 38 days, 5000% after 50 days, 700%-3000% after 60 days, 6.5% for 16 hours, 5.15% for 20 hours, 2.5% for 60 days (principal back). Which one to choose is totally up to you as an investor, but you should always remember that the risk grows higher the larger your deposit and the longer your time for expiry. As BITCTradeLimited worked for the first few weeks as a “sleeper” with close to no advertising, a horrible design, and significantly different investment plans, you can be sure that after 20 days on MNO there is still a chance to earn some money. The best thing about the admin which I truly like and am not afraid to say is his understanding of the HYIP market and the ability of gradually increase the level of recognition among the investors by gradually purchasing more advertising and trying to cater to multi-lingual audiences which is always good for gradual growth. From the most recent development on that front it was announced about the addition of Russian language phone support, which follows the the English version made available some weeks ago. You can read more on that in the following newsletter from BITCTradeLimited: “Russian language phone support has been added We report about changes of phone number for Russian-speaking clients of our company. For customer support phone number +442035193246 has been added SCHEDULE OF WORK OF CALL SUPPORT: From the 9:00 am to the 17:00 pm, daily, weekends are included. Thank you that you with us! Best Regards, Hendrik Menes BITCTradeLimited – All the Best for You!” And just as I was about to post this news from BITCTradeLimited I received another newsletter warning people about some fraudulent emails offering them some ridiculously high returns if they send money directly to the scammers’ PerfectMoney account. I myself didn’t receive it, but I guess it was sent by someone with access to some other short-term program’s databases and assumes the recipients will include a certain number of BITCTradeLimited members. I don’t think experienced investors need to be reminded that it’s always dangerous to trust such emails, let alone send the money to an unknown PM wallet directly. In fact it makes absolutely no sense as to why the admin of BITCTradeLimited would want to issue such an email if he could adjust any investment plan directly from his website, which he already did several times in the past. Anyway, please take this warning seriously and do not send money. I will re-post the full newsletter for your information below: “Be careful of swindlers! A few hours ago we knew of the facts of fraudulent actions of unknown malefactors. They chose as the upline of VIP-investors and, using features of a registration form of our program, they learned contacts of own uplines. And then they sent to these contacts the letters of the following contents : We are very proud to announce our VIP Plan that will be available for a limited time only – 444% After 4 Days! For example, if you deposit $10,000 into this very special plan, you will receive $44,400 after 4 days only! In order to participate in our VIP plan, you need to make deposit manually to our VIP PerfectMoney account number U8547936 (BITCTradeVIP). Minimum deposit amount for our VIP plan is $500, and maximum is $70,000. Send $500 or more manually to U8547936 (BITCTradeVIP) and you will be added to the VIP plan immediately. Please note that the payment should be sent manually to our VIP account, and not through the site. If you have less than $500 and want to participate in our VIP plan, please let me know and I might accept your request. After payment is completed, please reply to this email with the batch number of the payment, and I will credit your account ASAP. Best Regards, BITC-Trade Admin Attention! ONLY the purse of U7866317 is a legitimate purse of a our program! Only the deposit made by you from the PERSONAL account of our program will be added and its will bring income for you! Under no circumstances don’t send money to other e-wallets if someone asks you about it in the letters which has been sent to your e-mail address! In case if you make that transaction anyway, we don’t bear any responsibility for consequences of your careless actions. View of the above we inform you that information concerning contacts at registration have been made the inaccessible at present. Take care yourself and your funds. Thank you for attention. Sincerely, administration of BITCTradeLimited. Best Regards, Hendrik Menes BITCTradeLimited – All the Best for You!” ROYALTRUST – NEW INVESTMENT PLAN ADDED AND EXPLAINED Many experienced investors are well-aware of the fact that the addition of new investment plans weeks after a program’s launch sometimes doesn’t promise anything good, so they are very skeptical. Sometimes rightfully so. I can’t say that’s the case with RoyalTrust whose admin just yesterday announced a new plan, possibly to be more competitive against the hottest program of this summer Carbon7 (reviewed here) which is grabbing most of the headlines this summer. I wouldn’t be too judgmental, but would rather you draw your own conclusions about RoyalTrust‘s future after discussing the new plan which I admit looked somewhat confusing at once, but actually made a lot more sense when explained by the admin properly. Let’s just read the email and try to understand what RoyalTrust are aiming for: “Receive your initial deposit back at any time! After weeks of analysing the competitive online investment market and listening to our customers’ needs, we came up with an idea that might just be exactly what you were looking for. We are proud to announce that from now on you will be available to receive your principal (initial deposit) back at any time you want. Yes, that’s right – we believe that the members of RoyalTrust deserve complete freedom when it comes to their own funds. In other words, if you do not want to stay in for a full cycle, you can quit when you want to and take your initial deposit out at any point in time. For example: You invest $1,000 into our project and receive interest of 30% over the course of several weeks. You then decide that 30% is good enough for you and you want to take your earnings before you have received 180% in total returns. You then just visit your active deposit section and from there you will be able to request your principal back; after you have requested it, it will be paid within 24 business hours. There are no fees applied, and you can do it at any time you desire. Please visit the deposit section to start your first “no strings attached” investment journey and choose the deposit option: “Freedom”. The minimum deposit amount is $50, and the maximum total return remains at 180%. * Please note that this option will only be available for new deposits, and does not apply to deposits that you’ve made in the past. * Our core business model will not change. It does not affect any depositors in the past; you will keep receiving interest until you reach 180%. Kevin Lee | Main Redactor” So, my first major reaction was this new plan discriminates against former investors of RoyalTrust that joined the program during the first three weeks online, possibly after reading my original review of the program posted here. The original plan offered a 180% return on investments, but disappointed some members with last week’s very low returns that averaged 1.3%. This falls well short of the potential 3.5% maximum which never materialized. So, after a very slow week and low returns the admin comes out with the new plan, promising new investors will be able to request their initial investment at any time but denying older investors the same privilege (unless they make a new investment starting from $50 via PerfectMoney, Payeer, Payza, BitCoin, or Neteller in the new plan). Secondly, the new investment plan made little sense as it seemingly just overwrites the original one. Really, why would you invest in a plan paying 1%-3.5% variable interest on business days and 1% fixed interest on weekends until you reach 180% on your deposit, if you can invest in an alternative offering the same returns but allowing you to get your principal back anytime you wish (the only difference is the old plan has a $25 minimum, whereas the new one requires at least $50). But the major point that was not clear was whether the new investors will be able to reach let’s say 170% profit on their investment and then reclaim the principal back which will lead to a total of 270% returned compared to the 180% available for the first investors. I mean, it looks totally unfair and as if the admin was desperate for some extra cash before scamming. I addressed these concerns to the admin of RoyalTrust and asked him to comment on those discrepancies and confusions. I won’t re-post everything the admin of RoyalTrust replied due to the limited space, but will underline the main points taken. Actually, he doesn’t think that the new investment plan discriminates against older investors at all, but rather he believes it will spark further interest among new investors and give existing investors a perfect opportunity to diversify their funds by with a much better degree of flexibility. He also told me that he adjusted the FAQ on the website to include the entire process of withdrawing your principal early. He also promises an explanatory video with time. In any case, here’s the main points, so please read before joining the Freedom Plan: “How can I request back my principal? In order to request back your principal, please visit “My Deposits” section, from there you will be able to see all your deposits, choose deposits that you would like to withdraw and press ‘release’. Deposit amount will be added to your account balance. How can I request back my principal? If you have opt for deposit option ‘Freedom’, you can request back your initial deposit at any time you want to. If you have opt for deposit option ‘Stability’, then you won’t be able to request back your initial deposit. After I request back my principal, how fast it will be available into my payment account? Using PerfectMoney, Payeer, Payza and BitCoin your initial deposit will be returned within 24 business hours, however due to strict Neteller policy, initial deposits from Neteller are returned within 10 business days.” The admin of RoyalTrust added that members in the new plan will not be paid more than those in the old plan, as the total maximum return is still capped at the same 180%. In other words if you have already withdrawn 90% in interest payments and then request your principal, the most you can hope for is another 90% to prevent anyone taking out more than the full 180% in total. So the only reason for adding the new investment plan, if you believe the RoyalTrust admin, is to make it more competitive and allow more flexibility. I give you both points and I believe everything is self-explanatory regarding the new investment plan offered by RoyalTrust. If you have any questions regarding any investment plan please do not hesitate to contact the admin of RoyalTrust, or ask me if you are in my downline. All I can add is that withdrawals from RoyalTrust are processed instantly as usual (every payment processor, except for Neteller, of course), so I do not see anything that could affect the program’s future badly, provided the admin intends to stay for a long time. So what do you think? Please share in the Disqus comments on this article or on the MNO ShoutBox. COMPASSBUSINESS – OFFICIALLY ON POSSIBLE WITHDRAWAL DELAYS Unlike the previously released updates regarding the change of investment plans in CompassBusiness – currently offering 1.9% for 100 business days (principal included) and 0.8% for 45 business days (principal returned) via PerfectMoney and NixMoney accepted – this time the admin decided to keep it silent and only posted about possible withdrawal delays on the website. I imagine that the delays that can reach up to six days (as far as I can understand from the auto-translated text from Russian) when thay used to pay everyone within 24 hours, so take this information into consideration if requesting a payout from CompassBusiness (first reviewed here). My own minuscule withdrawals from the program are processed within terms as usual, and I imagine that the new rule might only apply to the larger requests for reasons specified in the following update: “Dear participants and partners! Due to the incident with the head of the Company and the long delays in the receipt of funds through bank accounts in Panama, we introduce a temporary regulation on the conclusion of 48 business days (1 business day is 8 working hours of the bank). We bring our apologies for any inconvenience, changes are temporary. Always with you, CompassBusiness.” Here is the list of the programs from my monitor that paid me for the last 72 hours: From MNO Sticky list: – From MNO Premium list: PokerAutomatics, Cryptoconomist, BITCTradeLimited, AtrexTrade, RoyalTrust, USDBusinessLimited. From MNO Standard list: Carbon7, CompassBusiness. From MNO Basic list: GoldenLion. That’s it for today, guys. If you like reading the MNO blog and want to stay updated on current events, please bookmark this page in your browser or subscribe to my daily news delivered straight to your mailbox not to miss any new investment opportunities coming your way this summer. Remember that with MNO you’re always on the money and the first to know anything worth knowing!

OREGON SHOnT LliSE & U. N. RY. CO. V. ]'HOST. question, if answered in a particular way, will form a link in the chain of evidence to establish the commission of a crime by the witness, the court should inquire into the motive of the witness in pleading his privilege. It is only where the criminating effect of the question is doubtful that the motive of the witness may be considered, for in such a case his bad faith would have a tendency to show that his answer would not subject him to the danger of a criminal prosecution or help to prove him guilty of crime. On the whole case it is clear that the evidence before the court and the circuIllstances under which it was sought to elicit the answers from the petitioners as witnesses afforded reasonable ground for concluding that the evidence given by the witnesses might criminate them, and probably establish an offense, and therefore that their plea of the privilege should have been upheld, and that the court had no power to compel answers to the questions put. For these reasons, the prisoners will be discharged. SHORT LINE & U. N. RY. CO. v. FIWST. (Circuit Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. June 15, 189fi.) NEGMGENCE-FELLOW SERVAlS"TS-TELEGRAPH OPEHATOR AlS"D THAIN" CREW. A local telegraph operator at a station on the line of a railroad, who receives and delivers the orders of the train dispatcher in respect to the movement of trains, is the fellow servant of the employes of the railroad company in charge of the train; and such employes, if injured in consequence of the negligence of the telegraph operator, cannot recover damages from the railroad company. Hawley, District Judge, dissenting. In Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Montana. This was an action by Hattie Frost, as administratrix of James Frost, deceased, against the Oregon Short Line & Utah Northern Railway Company, to recover damages for the death of the intestate. The plaintiff recovered judgment in the circuit court. A motion for a new trial was denied. 69 Fed. 936. Defendant brought error. Reversed. Shropshire & Burleigh, for plaintiff in error. Robiuson & Stapleton and F. T. McBride, for defendant in error. Before GILBERT and ROSS, Circuit Judges, and HA'VLEY, District Judge. GILBERT, Circuit Judge. The defendant in error was the plaintiff in the court below in an action brought by her as the administratrix of the estate of James ""V. Frost, deceased, to recover damages for his death. Frost was a locomotive engineer in the employment of the plaintiff in error on passenger train No.5. On February 1, 1891, his train was running north from Ogden to Butte, and was due at Dillon at 2 :37 p. m. At 1 :05 o'clock on that day the train dispatcher at the superintendent's office at Pocatello had telegraphed an order to the operator at Dillon that train 5 should 74 FEDERAL REPORTER. wait at Dillon until 2:45 p. m. for train No. 32. Train No. 32 was a mixed freight and passenger train, running south from Butte to Dillon. 'fhe regular meeting point of these trains was at Dillon, but on the date aforesaid train No. 32 was behind time, and, in order to avoid its long delay at Apex, the order was given. Train 32 was at Glenn, a station 18 miles north from Dillon; The order of the train dispatcher was received at Glenn in due time, and was delivered to the conductor and engineer of the train. Under the order so received, train No. 32 proceeded towards Dillon, upon the supposition that train No.5 would wait there, as directed by the train dispatcher. 'fhe operator at Dillon received the order 32 minutes before train No.5 was due there, but he neglected to warn it on its arrival. It was his duty, on receiving such an order, to display a red signal, which would indicate to train No.5 that there were orders for it. It was also his duty, und£r the rules of the company, after receiving such order and displaying the reJ. signal, to reply to the train dispatcher, "Hed displayed," but he was not to send such reply until he had in fact displayed the signal, and this it was his duty to do immediately on receipt of the order. The order was laid aside by him, and forgotten, and he made no answer that he had displayed the red signal, as required by the rules. Upon the arrival of train No.5 at Dillon, receiving no special order that it should not proceed on regular schedule time, it proceeded on its way, stopping at the water tank, a short distance from the station, for water, and then resuming. It had gone but a short distance, wh.en it met train No. 32. In the collision Frost was injured, and eight days afterwards he died from the effects of the injury. This case presents the important question whether or not the local telegraph operator at the station, who receives and delivers the orders of the train dispatcher, is the fellow servant of the employes of the railroad company in charge of the train. The court charged the jury that it was the duty of the railroad company to give notice that it had changed the time of running the trains, and that, if it intrusted that duty to the telegraph operator, his acts were the acts of the company, and that if he was negligent in this matter it was the negligence of the company. It is conceded that the train dispatcher, in giving notice of a change in the running of trains, acts for and in behalf of the railroad company. He is in that respect a vice principal, not because of his attitude to other employes as their superior, nor because he has charge of a department, but because of the nature of the duty which he discharges. He is, for the time being, clothed with the responsibility which rests upon the company to furnish its employes a safe place of operation. The ordinary rnnning of the train is established by a fixed schedule, of which all operatives have notice, and by which their acts must be governed. When occasion arises to disturb the regular schedule, the duty rests upon the company to give timely notice to those that are to be affected thereby. 'fhis it is the office of the train dispatcher to do. But when' he has given that information to a local operator, is that duty discharged, or does there rest upon the com- OREGON SHORT LINE & U. N. RY. CO. V. FROST. pany the further obligation to see that all of its servants through whose hands that message goes on its way to the train employes shall deliver it as given, and that in case of any failure in the line of communication the company shall be liable for the resulting injury? In support of the latter view it is argued that if the duty to notify the train operatives of a change in the time-table is personal to the ccmpany, and cannot be delegated to a servo ant, so as to excuse the company from liability, it follows that such power, since it may not be delegated to one servant, may not be delegated by him to another, and that the reasons which lead to the conclusion that the train dispatcher is a vice principal lead directly to the further conclusion that the local telegraph operator stands in the same attitude to the company, and that the duty the company owes of furnishing a safe place of operation to its employes cannot be discharged short of actual notice to those who are to be affected thereby, and whose personal safety is dependent thereupon. After a careful consideration of the question and of the strong reasons that may be urged in support of either view of this proposition, it is our conclusion that the better doctrine is that the local telegraph operator is the fellow servant of those who are in the control and management of the train. It is evident, and the court will take judicial notice of the fact, that a disturbance in the regular time schedule of trains is frequent and necessary in the operation of all railroads. It then becomes necessary to issue special orders for their direction. Conductors, engineers, and brakemen have knowledge of that fact, and they know when they enter into the employment of the railroad company that their notice of such orders must come through the local telegraph operator at the station, and that they incur the risk of accident through his negligence or mistake. The special orders issue, in the first instance, from the train dispatcher. It is obviously impossible for him to give personal notice to all who are to be governed thereby. The orders must, of necessity, be conveyed to some one in behalf of the others. The local telegraph operator, the conductor, the engineer, and the brakemen are all engaged in a common employment,-that of moving the train. The operator, it is true, is subject to no personal risk from any change in the time card, but that fact is not a controlling one in deciding who are his fellow servants. There must be some point where the responsibility of the company ceases. If it does not cease at the time when information is given to the operator, where shall it cease? Could it be said that a conductor who received from the operator a message from the train dispatcher, yet who failed to guide his action thereby, stands in the relation of vice principal to the conductor, engineer, or brakeman of another train, who may be injnred by his negligence? or that, if the operator should receive instructions from the train dispatcher to send out a flagman to signal an approaching train, the company is responsible for the negligence of such flagman in failing to carry out such instructions? It seems just in principle to hold that the company has discharged its duty when it has given information to one of its servants who is engaged in the common employment of the others that are to be affected thereby, and has instructed him to notify his co-employes, and that when the company has exercised due care in selecting such local operator in the first instance, and has not been negligent in employing or retaining him in his office, it has discharged its dl] iy, and that such operator stands in the attitude of a fellow senmt to the trainmen. This doctrine is sustained by the clear weight of authority. 'l'he leading case in its support is Slater v.·Jewett, 85 N. Y. 62. There the question arose whether the operator and conductor were fellow servants of the injured servant, in the same common employment. It was held that the telegrapher, ,vhosp duty it was to receive and give information of the whereabouts of trains and communicate orders to thm.e controlling them, was closely connected with the work of the conductor, which was that of moving the trains, and that both were engaged in the same branch of the defendant's business. The court said: "It is not true that on an occasion like this it is the duty of the master, or a part of his contract, to see to it as with a persOllal sig'ht and touch that notice of a temporary and special interference with the general time-table comes to the intelligent apprehension of all those Whom it is to govern in the running of approaching trains. It is utterly impracticable so to do, and a brakeman or a fireman on a train knows that it is as well as any persoll connected with the business. He knows that trains will often and unexpectedly require to be stopped, and that such orders must, from the nature 01' the case, be given through servants skilled in receiving and transmitting them. If there is due care and diligence in choosing competent persons for that duty, a negligence by them in the performance of it is the risk of the employment that the employe takes when he enters the service. Such a variation. and the giving notice of it, is not like the supply of suitable machinery or of competent and skilled fellow workmen. It is the act of an hour, or of an instant, which, for any useful effect to be got from it, must be done at the instant, and that, too, from a distance." The doctrine of Slater v. Jewett is not modified, as contended by the defendant in error, by the later decision of the same court in Sheehan v. Railroad Co., 91 N. Y. 332. That was a case where the train dispatcher telegraphed a local operator instructions to hold a certain train for orders. Instead of holding the train for orders, the operator held it until a certain othltr train arrived at his station, when he permitted it to proceed, in consequence of which a collision occurred. The decision in the court of appeals was that, under all the circumstances, the trial court did not err in submitting to the jury the question of the company's negligence, since the jury might properly have found negligence from the fact that the orders were not sent directly to the conductor of the train, which was to be governed thereby, but were communicated to a third person, the operator, who was instructed to hold the train for orders. Said the court: "It is one thing for the orders of the master to go by report or hearsay to the servant, and quite another when they are received by him directly, and without an intervener." 'fhe circuit court of appeals of the Sixth circuit, in deciding the precise point here involved, said, and correctly said, of the telegmph operator: "He and the engineer and the conductor work together, at the same time Ilnd place, for a common employer, with an immediate common object, namely, the proper running of trains. It is essential, in the operating department of a railroad company, that there SllOUld be provision for communicating to those in charge of different trains the whereabouts of other Hains, to avoid collision. This information is given by means of the general time-table and general rules for the running of trains with reference to each other. which the employes in charge of each train are obliged implicitly to obey. But it often bappens that the general time-table must be varied from, and these variations must be communicated to those in charge of trains. This is effected usually by telegraphic orders from the superintendent or the train dispatcher. who has supreme control of the running of trains. The information is also communicated by means of flagmen, by means of torpedoes, by reel lights and green lights upon trains, by the block-signal system. and in other ways. The subordinate employes, whose duty it is to transmit the orders of the officer in control, or to give information as to the of trains upon any part of the track, without special orders, are engaged at the same time and place with tIJe persons operating the train. in a common employment. having an immediate, common object, namely, that of the running of trains, and therefore are fellow servants. The man who makes the signal at the station to the engineer on the approaching train to stop is as much engaged In the running and operation of that train as the flagman sent out ahead to signal the condition of a switcIJ. Neither exercises the discretion or the judgment or the control of the master, but each contributes his part to the safe running of the train. There can be no separation of the signal department and the operating department, for the employes engaged upon the train, in the actual, manual operation of the train, are expected to be part of the signal department of the company. The man who puts out the green light at the back of the train. to indicate that a train is following, communicates to every station agent, every conductor. and every engineer who sees it knowledge upon which they, each of them, must act; and yet it can hardly be said that the brakeman, in displaying this green light, is acting in a different department from the man who opens and closes the throttle valve of the engine." Railroad Co. v. Camp, 13 C. C. A. 233, 65 Fed. 952-964. Of similar purport are McKaig v. Railway Co., 42 Fed. 288, and Reiser v. Pennsylvania Co., 152 Pa. St. 38, 25 Atl. 175. The cases holding otherwise are Railroad Co. v. De Armond, 86 Tenn. 78, 5 S. W. 600, and Madden's Adm'r v. Railroad Co., 28 W. Va. (ilO, neither of which, however, is authority upon the question here considered, for they are each based uJl(ln the rule of the different department system which obtains in those states, under which it is held that the local telegraph operator is not the fellow servant of the trainmen; not, indeed, upon the ground that he is charged with the performance of the master's duty as to them, but b cau!>e he is held to be a servant in a different department of service from theirs. It is urged that this court has expressed a different view of this question in the case of Railroad Co. v. Charless, 2 C. C. A. 380, 51 Fed. 562. The question decided in that case was whether or not the complaint had stated facts !>uffieient to constitute a cause of action. One of the several grounds of negligence alleged in the complaint was that a telegraph operator at a certain !>tation was aware of the peril to whieh the plaintiff was exposed, and had negligently failed to notify him thereof. In referring to this allegation the court said: "It was the duty of the company, as admitted in its answer, to furnish its employes engaged in maintaining its traek and roadbed with information concerning the movements of trains over the sections on which they were employed. In the present case it is alleged that this duty was required to be performed by the telegraph operator at Cheney, but the designation of the official is immaterial. It was a direct, positive duty which the company owed such employes as were exposed to danger by the movement of trains. In Lewis v. Seifert, 116 Pa. St. 628--647,11 AU. 514, it was determined that a train dispatcher, wielding the power and authority of a railroad company in the moving of trains, in the changing of schedules, or the making of new ones as exigencies required, is not a fellow servant with a train employe." It is clear from this quotation from the opinion that the court understood the allegation of the complaint and the admission of the answer to place the operator therein referred to substantially in the attitude of a train dispatcher, whose duty it was to order the movement of trains, and not in that of a local operator, through whom the orders of a superior were to be delivered. 'fhe question of the present case was, therefore, not involved, and there is nothing in the opinion to conflict lJ.'ith the conclusion which we have reached. It is urged that, in any view of the facts of the case, there was negligence on the part of the defendant, since the rules of the company. required an operator receiving special orders concerning the movement of trains to display a red signal immediately on receipt of the order, and to telegraph back to the train dispatcher, "Red displayed," and that in this instance the train dispatcher knew of the failure of the operator to display the red signal, for the reason that he received no such response to his dispatch, and that he was negligent in that he made no complaint to the operator, or inquiry as to the reason of the omission. The company's negligence in this respect, however, was not the ground of recovery laid in the complaint. The allegations of negligence are confined specifically to the action of the local operator at the station. The question of the negligence of the train dispatcher was not referred to in the pleadings, nor was it subniitted to the jury. The charge of the court permitted them to consider the negligence of the local telegraph operator only, and not that of the train dispatcher. They were instructed that, if they found the operator negligent, it was the negligence of the company. It follows from these views tbat the judgment must be reversed, at the cost of the defendant in error, and the cause remanded for a new trial. HAWLEY, District Judge (dissenting). I am of opinion that the decision of this court in Railroad Co. v. Charless, 2 C. C. A. 380, 51 Fed. 562-569, is applicable to the facts of tbis case; that it authorized the giving of the instruction herein complained of; that it is correct, and should be adhered to, notwitbstanding the fact that other circuits have laid down a rule somewhat at variance with the principles tberein enunciated. In tbat case it was expressly held tbat an allegation which substantially stated that the telegraph operator at the local station negligently failed to notify plaintiff and his co-employes that in going west on the section at that time they would meet a freight traiu going east, was a sufficient allegation to charge negligence upon the company. The court said OREGON SHORT LINE & U. N. HY. CO. that the giving of this notice "was a direct, positive duty, which the company owed such employes as were exposed to danger by the movement of the trains." It is proper to add that the Charless Case was taken to the supreme court of the United States, and was there reversed. 162 U. So 359, 16 Sup. Ct. 848. But the reversal was upon other grounds. As the direct point herein referred to was strongly urged as error in this court, it is fair to presume that it was directly relied upon in the supreme court. The natural inference to be drawn from the facts is that the supreme court did not consider that this point was erroneously decided by this court. The real controversy in the present case is not to be confined to the question whether or not the local operator is a fellow servant with the conductor and engineer in the movement of the trains of the railroad company. As was said in Railroad Co. v. Baugh, 149 U. S. 368-387, 13 Sup. Ct. 921: "The question turns rather on the character of the act than on the relations of the employes to each other. If the act is one done in the discharge of some positive duty of the master to the servant, then negligence in the act is the negligence of the master." It is the duty of a railroad company to notify the conductors and engineers in charge of the moving trains of any change which is made in the time of running the trains, in order to prevent accidents, injury, and loss of life to its employes, which would otherwise inevitably occur. When the regular or ordinary running of the trains is fixed by a schedule adopted by the company, and the conductors and engineers have notice thereof, they must be governed thereby. But whenever, from any cause, this schedule is departed from by the orders of the company, it becomes as much the duty of the company to notify the conductors and engineers of the change in the schedule time as it was, in the first place, to inform them of the regular schedule adopted by the company. All of the authorities declare that it is the duty of a railroad company to exercise reasonable care in providing a safe place for its emplo.res to work. This can only be done by notifying the employes in charge of and operating the trains, as they are the emplo.res who are immediately affected by the change in the schedule time, and their personal safet.r is dependent upon their receiving notice thereof. The change in the schedule time necessarily placed the conductor and engineer of train No. 5 in a hazardous position. Gnless they received notice of the change, they were liable, in the regular and ordinary discharge of their duty, without any fault whatever on their part, to be put into a place of absolute danger. This was not one of the perils incident to their employment. It necessarily follows from these views that the company could not relieve itself of responsibility unless the notice sent by the train dispatcher to the local operator was either personally given to the conductor in charge of the train, or the "red signal" displayed, as required by the rules of the compan.r. This conclusion, in my opinion, is sustained by the weight of reason and authority. In Sutherland v. Railroad Co., 125 N. Y. 737, 26 N. E. 609, 610, the court said: "The red flag signal was one of the means of notifying an approaching train to stop; but, when special orders were given to control the running of trains, upon the observance of which the lives of persons depend, the jury. we think, had a right to determine whether the company had discharged its whol/> duty by giving the order to the operator, without communicating it to the trainmen at some point before the train reached Petersburgh .Tunction, which, so far as appears, might have been done after the order to hold the train had been made, The jury, within the cases of Sheehan v. Railroad Co., 91 N. Y. 332, and Dana v. Railroad Co., 92 N. Y. 639, were entitled to say whether the company performcd the full measure of its duty, in view of all the circumstances, in taking no means to notify train No. 1 of the order, except. by the order to Johnson, relying eXclusively on his performance of his duty." In Railroad Co. v. Poirier, 15 C. C. A. 60, 67 Fed. 881-889, this court said: "It was the duty of the defendant [the railroad company], when it put tne Recond train in motion, to make suitablf' provision and to expreise ordinary and reasonable care for its safe management, to guard against danger or accidents. This was a positive duty upon the part of the which it owed to its employes; and if this dnty was delegated to any particular agent, and such agent was negligent in the performance of that duty, his negligence in that respect is the negligence of the defendant." It will be observed that in all of the decisions of the supreme court of the United States where the question is discussed the duty which the railroad company owes to its employes, to exercise reasonable care in providing a safe place for them to work, is put in the same category, and rests upon the same plane, and is sustained upon the same reason, as is the obligation of the company to exercise reasonable care in furnishing to its employes suitable machinery to work with, and of keeping such machinery and appliances in proper repair. No greater or less duty is required in the one case than in the others. Keeping this constantly in view, it must necessarily follow that if the duty of the railroad company in tlw present case was discharged when its vice principal, the train dispatcher, directed the local operator at Dillon to notify the conductor and engineer of train No.5 of the change in the time-table, then it would in all cases be released from liability from accidents arising from its failure to provide suitable machinery, or to keep it in necessary repair for the safe movement of its trains, whenever it had selected a competent person, and delegated him to perform Ruch duties, notwithstanding his negligence in failing to perform such duty. This would be so, independent of any question as to whether or not such person is a fellow servant with the conductor and engineer of the moving trains. 'What is the controlling principle which governs all these cases? Take the cmie of Railway Co. v. Daniels, 152 U. S. 684-689, 14 Sup. Ct. 756, where an accident occurred bv reason of the unsafe condition of the wheels of the car in which the brakf'man, in the regular discharge of his duty, was required to be. The trial court instructed the jury as fol· lows: . "If you find that there was a want of care and diligence on the part of the persons engaged in inspecting the wheels of the cars of defendant. and that the accident was caused thereby, it is not a defense for the defendant to show that It used proper diligence and care alone. and only in the selecting of such agents. but the defendant is responsible for the acts of his employes in repairing and inspecting machinery to the same extent as if he were himself present doing the act." OREGON SHORT LIKE & U. N. RY. CO. V. FROST. This instruction was sustained, and in the course of the opinion the court said: "There can be no doubt that under the circumstances of the case at bar the duty rested upon the company to see to it. at this inspecting- station, that the wheels of the cars in this freight train, which was about to be drawn out upon the road, were in safe and proper condition, and this duty could not be delegated, so as to the company from liability to its servants for injuries resulting from the omission to perform that duty, or through its negligent performance." Was it not as much the positive duty of the company in the present case to notify the conductor and engineer of train No.5 of the change in the schedule time, as it was in the Daniels Case to provide the employes with a safe ,,,heel? If the railroad company in that case was not relieved from responsibility when it selected a competent person to act for H, how can it logically be said that the company is relieved in the present case because its whole duty was performed when it delegated the duty of notifying the conductor and engineer to the telegraph operator who was a competent person? Under the decisions of the supreme court, the question as to whether or not the local operator in this case, or the inspector of the cars in the Daniels Case, was a fellow servant with the operatives on the train, is not the controlling question. It being a positive duty of the company to give the notice, the company should be held responsible for the negligence of the employe to whom it delegated that particular duty. Railroad Co. v. Peterson, 162 U. So 346, 353, 16 Sup. Ct. 843, 845, which is the latest exposition of that court upon this subject, announces the true rUle as follows: "The g-eneral rule is that those entering into the service of a common master become thereby engaged in a common service, and are fellow servants: and, prima facie, the common master is not liable for the neglig-ence of one of his servants which has resulted in an Injury to a fellow servant. rrhere are, however, some duties which a master owes, as such, to a servant entering his employment. He owes the duty to provide such servant with reasonably safe place to work in, having reference to the character of the employment in which the servant is eng-aged. He also owes the duty of providing- reasonably safe tools, appliances, and mnchinery for the accomplishment of the work necessary to be done. He must exercise proper diligence in the employment of reasonably safe and competent men to perform their respective duties; and it has been held in many states that the master owes the further duty of adopting and promulgating safe and pl'''per rules for the conduct of his business, including the government of the lllllchinery .and the running of trains on a railroad track. If the master be neglectful in any of these matters, it is a neglect of a duty which he personally owes to his employe; and, if the employe suffer damage on account thereof, the master is liabie. If, instead of personally performing these obligations, the master engages another to do them for him, he is liable for the neglect of that other, which, In such case, is not the neglect of a fellow servant. no matter what his position as to other matters, but it is the neglect of the master to do those things which it is the duty of the master to perform as such." See, also, Railroad Co. v. Seeley, 54 Kan. 21-30,37 Pac. 104; Railroad Co. v. Kneirim (Ill. Sup.) 39 N. E. 324:. 74 FEDERAL REPORTEa THE GRENADIER v. THE AUGUST KORFF. THE AUGUST KORFF v. THE GRlTINADIEn. (District Court, E. D. Pennsylvania. June 30, 1896.) Cor,r,IsION-STEAMERS IN FOG-SPEED. ·Where steamers become aware of each other's presence, in a fog so dense that neither can be seen beyond two lengths, and that the sound of the fog si2"nals is liable to be deflected, the duty of each is to stop and await the lifting of the fog, or, at all events, to slow down so completely that each can stop within the diRtance in which a vessel can certainly be seen. SAME-ApPLH'A'l'ION OF RULES. Articles 16 and 22 of the International Rules, which provide that if two ships under steam are crossing so as to involve risk of collision, the ship which has the other on her own starboard side shall keep out of the way and the other shall keep her course, do not apply to cases where the vessels, though crossing, cannot see each other or ascertain their respective locations and bearings because of fog. Where two steamers collided in a dense fog, one of them having stopped her engines, and commenced to back, soon after hearing the other's fog signal, While the latter did not slow materially, if at all, below half speed, until near the moment of collision, held, that the latter was solely in fault. These were cross libels in rem to recover damages resulting from a collision between the steamers Grenadier and August Korff. Convers & Kirlin, for the Grenadier. Robert D. Benedict and Henry R. Edmunds, for the August Korff. BUTLER, District Judge. On the morning of August 1, 1894, at 24 minutes past 6 o'clock (according to the Grenadier's time, and 12 minutes past 7 o'clock, according to the Korff's) the Grenadier, a steamship of 921 tons register, and 23H feet long, on her way from Rotterdam to Newcastle, and the steamship Korff, of 3,104 tons register, flud 365 feet long, on her way from Nordenham to Philadelphia, collided in the North Sea, in latitude 52-31, and longitude 3-25 E. The Grenadier sank within half an hour, and with her cargo was lost, while the Korff escaped without very serious injury. A fog existed at the time, quite dense, through which it was impossible to see beyond a short distance--probably not beyond two lengths of the shorter vessel. The course of the Grenadier when the Korff's signal was first heard was near N. "V., and that of the Korff near S. W. They were unaware of each other's approach until their respective signals were heard, and neither was seen, nor could be seen, until they were dangerously near together-probably within less than twice the length of the smaller vessel. The Korff's stem struck the Grenadier at the beak of her forecastle, on the bluff of her starboard bow, nearly at a right an· gle, penetrating a distance of 15 to 20 feet. What occurred before the signals were heard respecting the speed and navigation of the respective vessels is not deemed important. At this time each was enveloped in fog, so dense that the other could not be seen, nor her location or course be ascertained from

This article refers to a previous game. Get the latest Chelsea v Barcelona news here. Chelsea (Essien 9′) 1-1 Barcelona (Iniesta 90′ + 3) (Barcelona win 1-1 on Aggregate on Away Goals Rule) Stadium: Stamford Bridge, England Competition: UEFA Champions League, Semifinals, Leg #2 Date: 6 May 2009 Kickoff: 18:45 GMT, 14:45 EST Barcelona pulled off a great escape and eliminated Chelsea to advance to the Champions League Final! Soccerlens brought you the action live! You can see the goals from the Chelsea-Barcelona game here, or click below for the minute-by-minute live-blog. Make sure to share your thoughts about the game in the comments! The old adage goes “offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships.” If that’s the case, then Chelsea’s performance in the first leg against Barcelona was Treble caliber. Guus Hiddink’s men rarely ventured forward and seemed content to eke out a scoreless draw. Their hope was to take a 0-0 scoreline into the second leg at Stamford Bridge, where they’ll take on a more offensive posture against a club that hasn’t played nearly as well on the road in Europe as they have at home. Indeed, heading into this past weekend, you could argue that Barcelona haven’t been in the best of form. They drew with Valencia which opened the door for Real Madrid to close the gap in La Liga. They haven’t won on the road in Europe since November, when they defeated Sporting Lisbon. However, then came Saturday’s 6-2 demolition of Real Madrid in El Clasico. Barcelona confirmed their credentials as the most dangerous and dynamic offensive team in Europe and dismantled one of the hottest teams in recent history in Real Madrid. Their big guns, especially Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry, Xavi, and Andres Iniesta, were quiet in the first leg, but were in excellent form over the weekend and will be looking to prove that the first leg was a fluke. Most importantly, they know that they don’t have to win at Stamford Bridge in order to advance. Any goal that they score will give them an advantage over Chelsea, and any scored draw will send them through to the Finals. Chelsea, however, have reason to feel confident going into this match. They’ll be getting Ashley Cole back from suspension, and he’ll be able to mark Messi, allowing Jose Bosingwa (who did a respectable job) to move back to his natural position at right-back. They should also have Alex and Michael Ballack available, despite both players leaving last weekend’s match with Fulham with slight knocks. Moreover, Chelsea can take heart knowing that Barcelona have been suspect on defense all year, and they were burned for two goals on set-plays by an otherwise impotent Real Madrid side. Chelsea have scored numerous goals on set-pieces this year, and we need look no further than the first leg of the Liverpool tie to see that. They’ll need all hands on deck, especially if Barcelona bring their scoring boots that they used to humble Real Madrid. Hopefully, we should see a more wide-open and entertaining game than the first leg. Will Barcelona continue their offensive rampage and overwhelm Chelsea at Stamford Bridge? Or will Chelsea prevail and make it to their second consecutive Finals? Tune in and find out! Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry (c), A. Cole, Essien, Ballack, Malouda, Lampard, Anelka, Drogba. Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Di Santo, Mikel, Kalou, Belletti, Mancienne. Chelsea will make only one change from the side that defeated Fulham over the weekend, bringing back Ballack in favor of the defensive-minded Mikel. That, along with Anelka’s place in the starting lineup, could indicate that Chelsea will have their attacking boots on. Otherwise, they would have gone with their lineup in Barcelona last week and simply played for penalty kicks. Ashley Cole is back in the lineup after his suspension, and will be tasked with stopping Lionel Messi. Barcelona: Valdes, Alves, Pique, Toure, Abidal, Busquets, Xavi (c), Keita, Messi, Iniesta, Eto’o. Subs: Pinto, Caceres, Gudjohnsen, Bojan, Sylvinho, Hleb, Pedro. As expected, Barca will be without Thierry Henry, who sustained an injury during the weekend’s victory over Real Madrid. Barca will start with Toure at center-half in place of the suspended Puyol. Busquets will come into the lineup to sit in front of the defense, and Keita will start alongside Xavi in midfield. As with the first leg, former Chelsea man, Gudjohnsen, will be available off the bench, as will former Arsenal players Hleb and Sylvinho. Post Match Apparently, it’s pandemonium at Stamford Bridge, and Drogba has not helped matters by getting in Tom Henning Ovrebo’s face and launching into a long and nasty tirade. He’s booked (as if he cares at this point) and has to be restrained. Well, I can sympathize with Chelsea, but they’re really acting like a bunch of sore losers. Remember how they were the worst behaved team in Europe last season? Every time a ref made a decision against them, it seemed like John Terry, Michael Ballack, Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, and Didier Drogba would surround the ref and look like they were going to do a gang assault on him? I guess that Chelsea never really went away. Get over it guys. You lost. 90′ + 7 Eto’o comes off and Sylvinho will replace him. Chelsea win a free kick and Cech comes up for it. They can’t do much with it, though, as there’s the whistle and we’re done! Chelsea players are bum-rushing the ref and are really giving him a earful. They feel jobbed, and it’s hard to argue. However, Barcelona have pulled off a great escape and will meet Manchester United in the Final! Thanks to everyone who followed along! I’ll see you next time! 90′ + 6 Cech comes up for the corner and Lampard plays it into the box for him. It’s knocked out to Ballack and he tries a hard shot that looks like it might have hit Eto’o’s shoulder! No call from the ref and Ballack is incensed. In fact, he looks like he’s trying to grab the ref and beat him up. I’m actually afraid for this ref’s safety. Needless to say, Ballack’s booked and he’ll miss the next match. 90′ + 5 Chelsea look shell-shocked, but they win a corner. Barcelona make a change as Iniesta will come off for Gudjohnsen. 90′ + 3 GOAL!! Wow! What a heartbreaker! Alves lifts a cross from the right and Terry heads it away. Essien whiffs on his clearance attempt and Messi corrals it inside the box. He sends it out to Iniesta, and he fires a shot from the center edge of the box and he beats Cech to the top right corner! 90′ + 1 Four minutes will be added on. Essien gives it away poorly, and Messi’s pass to Pique on the center edge of the box is taken away by Lampard. Eto’o is booked for mouthing off to the ref and he’s clearly had a frustrating night. Belletti gets through, but his shot is wide of the post. 90′ Alves with a long cross from the top-right edge of the penalty area to the far post. Eto’o tries valiantly to keep it from going out, but the linesman rules that it crossed the line. 89′ Lampard wins a corner and, for some reason, Guardiola hugs Hiddink. What’s that about? Is he conceding defeat already? Nothing doing on the corner as Chelsea are called for a foul. 88′ Iniesta and Messi play a one-two on the center edge of the penalty area and Messi takes a tumble. No call, though. 87′ Lampard gets free down the left edge of the box, and he sends it back to a trailing Essien. His shot is easily blocked by Pique, though. 86′ Lampard’s pass to Anelka is poor and Pique cuts it out. Malouda wins it back, but he loses it before he can do anything with it. 85′ Busquets is off for Krkic. Will that make a difference? 84′ Messi with a terrible cross and he’s been mediocre tonight. Let’s say that the score, right now, is Ronaldo 1, Messi 0. 83′ Lampard wins a corner off Pique. Chelsea take their time setting this up, and you can’t blame them. Malouda’s corner is easily cleared away from danger. 82′ Long pass into the box for Anelka, and it looks like Pique hands it inside the box. No call from the ref, and on the replay, it looked like a clear penalty. Pique got away with one there. 80′ Alves whips a cross from the right but Alex heads it away. It’s into some space and Pique gets it. He tries a shot, but it’s just wide of the post. 79′ Toure makes a mistake as he misjudges the long pass to Anelka. The French forward is away from him and he goes down under the contact from Toure. No penalty call, though, and it would have been a soft penalty had it been given. 78′ Alves takes the free kick from about 30 yards out, but it’s just over the crossbar. 77′ Alex muffs his clearance as he slips on the pitch as he tries to kick it away. Messi pounces on it, and Alex catches him in the midsection with a nicely placed kick. That’s a yellow for Alex, and he’ll miss the Final. 76′ Essien plays it through to Anelka and he’s got a great chance in the box. Too bad he’s flagged offside. So much for that. 75′ Messi gets away from Terry and he sends it to Alves. He crosses it into the box, but Ballack is back there and he heads it away. 74′ Essien is booked for a late tackle on Iniesta. 72′ Drogba will come off and he gets a deserved ovation from the Chelsea fans. Belletti, the former Barca man, will replace him. 71′ Drogba is still limping around, and he’s probably going to come off. Lampard takes a good shot from the edge of the box. It takes a bit of a deflection, but Valdes makes the diving save. 70′ So, if Barca make it to the Final, they’ll be missing their starting left-back and their starting right-back. I bet Sir Alex is rooting hard for Barca right now. 69′ Drogba limps off the pitch so it’ll be 10-on-10 for now. Lampard takes the free kick from about 25 yards out, but his low effort flashes wide of the far post. 66′ RED CARD! Pique and Drogba go for the 50-50 ball in the air, and they both miss. It bounces to Anelka, and Abidal brings down him outside the box and he’s off for committing the professional foul! But wait! On the replay, it looks like Abidal barely touched him. It looks like Fletcher isn’t the only one with a complaint about the officiating. Anyway, it’s no matter as he’s off and Barca are in a huge hole. 65′ Messi gets away from Cole and cuts across the edge of the penalty area. He tries a speculative shot, but it’s over the crossbar. 64′ Drogba is giving them all kinds of problems today, and he gets it inside the box yet again. This time, he gets held up and Barca are able to knock it away. 63′ Iniesta makes a nice run into the box and he tries to thread it through to Eto’o. It’s out of his reach, though, and Eto’o has some choice words for his teammate. 62′ Drogba takes a dive inside the box as Abidal barely touches him and he’s clearly trying to win a penalty to make up for that no-call earlier. Like any great actor, Drogba commits to it and Chelsea even bring out their medical staff to tend to him. Not even Daniel Day-Lewis is that devoted of an actor. 61′ Keita with a nice bit of skill to take it on a half-volley, but it’s not even close to bothering Cech. 60′ Terrible corner from Xavi as he plays it low and it’s right to Drogba on the near edge of the box. Pique then sends it through to Alves, but he unleashes a terrible cross from the right wing. 59′ Messi nearly threads it through to Eto’o, and Alex stumbles and falls. Luckily for him, Bosingwa is there to cover for him, and he kicks it away. Malouda then gives away a corner. 56′ Malouda with an optimistic effort from long range, but it’s not even close. Drogba gets it inside the box and Toure is grabbing his arm and shirt. How that’s not a foul, I don’t know. He eventually slides in and knocks it away, and Drogba wants a penalty. No call and I don’t disagree with the tackle in the box, but Drogba was clearly fouled outside the penalty area. Oh well. 55′ Terrible long-range shot from Alves and he’s not winning any admirers tonight. 54′ Great ball by Toure and Alves gets it deep down the right. He sends a cross into the center of the box, but it’s between two players. 52′ Anelka with a nice run into the box and he finds an unmarked Drogba in the box. He eludes a sliding Pique and looks to have Valdes at his mercy. He fires a low shot and Valdes saves it with his feet. Malouda tries to follow up, but he hits the side netting. Wow. Valdes came up huge there. 51′ Iniesta with a clever ball into the box from the left wing, but it bounces awkwardly for Keita, who can’t handle it. 50′ Xavi sends it to the near post again, but this time, Essien clears it away. 49′ Busquets with a nice run into the box, and he flicks it over-the-top to Keita. It’s off Ballack for a corner. Xavi’s corner strikes Toure at the near post and it’s out, but Barca gets another corner. 47′ They’re only about 30 yards out or so, and the free kick will come in from left side of the field. Xavi touches it to Iniesta at the center edge of the box, and he touches it back to Alves. He shanks it wide and Guardiola is incensed. Not their best effort there as they were trying to be a little too cute and it cost them. 46′ Chelsea will kick off and we’re underway! No changes for either side at the half. Iniesta gets fouled close to the edge of the box, and they’ll have a great chance here. 46′ I would have thought that Manchester United would want to face Chelsea, especially with the way they’ve handled them this season. But after that first half, I think they’d take Barcelona in a heartbeat. Well, as Yogi Berra once said, it’s like deja-vu all over again. Much like last season’s semifinal, Barca were held scoreless at home and then fell victim to a long-range strike early in the second leg to their English opponents. Said English opponents then defended the one-goal lead and held on to eliminate Barca from the competition. Could history repeat itself here tonight? So far, it looks like it will. Barca have yet to solve Chelsea’s defense, and now that Chelsea have a lead to protect, you can expect more of the same tactics that they employed in the first leg. We will see what Barca are made out of as they try to get that all-important away-goal. 45′ + 3 Messi takes on the entire Chelsea defense and he lays it off to Alves down the right. His cross is defected out for a corner. Barca play it short and Xavi eventually gets the shot opportunity on the edge of the box. It’s out and Xavi claims he’s won a corner. No matter, though, as there’s the whistle and we’re at halftime! 45′ + 2 Bosingwa gets it and actually moves back towards his own penalty area. He’s under a lot of pressure from Iniesta, but he gets it away. 45′ + 1 There will be three added minutes. 45′ Drogba gets it to Anelka, and he makes the run down the right. He can’t get away from his defender, though, and he gives it away to Valdes. 43′ Lampard tries to send the corner to Ballack, but he can’t control his header. It’s out for a Chelsea throw. 42′ Toure gives away a free kick, and Lampard will take it from about 35 yards out. He tries to set up his teammates, since Barca are so vulnerable on set pieces. Toure eventually nods Lampard’s freebie out for a corner. 41′ Alves wins a corner as his cross is knocked out by Bosingwa. They take it quickly and Messi eventually sends a long cross from the right to the far post for Eto’o, but gets flat-footed and it’s out for a goal-kick. 40′ Tommy Smyth actually makes a good point (!). He mentions that Barcelona look like they’re getting rid of the ball more quickly than usual and that it’s wrecking havoc with their usual offensive rhythm. It’s like they’re afraid of getting hit by the Chelsea players and are more worried about that than anything else. In other words, he’s calling them soft. 39′ Messi sends it into the box for Xavi, but it’s long and out for a goal-kick. 38′ Messi turns on the wheels and burns Cole down the right. He has Eto’o in the box, but Messi decides to go for goal, instead. He’s got a poor angle and his shot is easily handled by Cech. 37′ Iniesta is fouled by Bosingwa near the centerline. Eto’o threads it through to Messi down the right. He curls a shot on goal that gives Cech some problems. He’s able to handle it, though, and that’s really the first thing Messi has done today. 35′ Cech kicks it away and Drogba gets it on the edge of the penalty area. He heads it forward to Malouda, but Valdes is out to take it. 31′ Lampard is on the ground after he catches an elbow from Keita. He looks like he might be bleeding from the mouth. He’ll come off to receive treatment, but he should be okay. He’s been excellent, thus far. 30′ Alves gets booked for a flying elbow on Cole. Stupid play and he’s suspended for the Final if Barca make it. Well, it was coming. 29′ Xavi with a nice pass to Iniesta and he tries a shot that’s well off the mark. 28′ Xavi chips a great pass from the edge of the box to the right post where Alves tries to head it in. He’s called for a foul, though, and Cech will kick it away. 27′ Great pass into the box by Lampard for Drogba and Abidal grabs him by the shirt. Drogba goes down and Valdes is there to take it away. No penalty call, and I have to disagree with the ref here. Abidal looked like he fouled him. 26′ Chelsea are really taking it to them right now, aren’t they? So much for anti-football. 25′ Drogba fires it to the far post, but Valdes just gets a touch on it and concedes the corner. On the corner, Terry gets his head on it, but it’s just wide of the post. 24′ Malouda makes a run down the left and Alves fouls him on the edge of the box. It looked like the foul might have occurred in the box, but the ref won’t award the penalty. Now, Chelsea will have a free kick from the lower left corner of the penalty box. 23′ Lampard flicks it forward and Drogba gets behind Toure and Pique! Drogba has a chance, but Valdes is alert and kicks it away. Great play by the keeper, because Drogba could have chipped it past him and had an open net to shoot at. 21′ Iniesta is fouled from about 35 yards out by Anelka. They’ll have a good chance here, especially with Alves kicking it. He kicks it and gets it over the wall. However, it travels well wide of the post and Cech had it well covered anyway. 20′ Messi tries to play it into the path of Eto’o down the left, but Cech comes out to collect it. He almost collided with Alex there, but Cech was able to get to it first. 18′ Alves runs over Malouda and he’s called for a foul. No booking, though. 17′ Malouda gets it and he’s got a ton of space along the left. He lays it back to Lampard, and he tries a shot from inside the box that is just wide. He was unmarked and probably should have done a little bit better with that shot, but Valdes closed off the near post well. 16′ Messi and Xavi try to play a one-two on the edge of the box, but Xavi loses it. He takes a tumble, but no call from the ref. 15′ Iniesta passes it long into the path of a hard-charging Xavi, but it’s just beyond his grasp and it’s out for a goal-kick. 14′ Eto’o tries to make a move inside the box, but he loses it. Anelka takes it, but he’s run over by Busquets. Yeah, both Anelka and Drogba are back defending, so I guess we know what they’re going to do here. 13′ Bosingwa gives away a free kick from about 40 yards out on the left flank near the end-line. Xavi’s free kick is easily cleared from danger, and he’ll have to do better than that if he wants to make Chelsea’s defense sweat. 12′ Xavi tries to pass it to Eto’o at the left edge of the box, but the pass is behind him and out for a Chelsea throw. 11′ Barca win a corner but Drogba clears it away. Will Chelsea go into their shell now? 9′ GOAL!! Xavi tries a long pass to Keita, who gets in front of Alex. However, the pass is long and Cech will kick it away. Chelsea come back as Cole slides in a pass into the box for Lampard. He tries to turn and fire, but his shot is blocked. It’s deflected out off Toure’s back to the Essien, who volleys it from outside the penalty area, and he clips the shot under the crossbar and it bounces over the line! Wow! What a shot form Essien! 7′ Messi plays it through to Alves, who makes the run down the right. He tries to whip a cross to the far post for Iniesta, but it’s out for a Chelsea throw. 5′ Alves is inside the box and he chips it to Messi deep down the right edge of the box. Messi tries a cross, and it looks like it may have gone off Ballack’s hand. No handball, though, and Bosingwa eventually clears it away. 3′ Messi makes a run into the box from the left, but Terry closes him down and makes the great defensive play to take it away. 2′ Terry plays Drogba through the middle, Drogba’s touch is poor and he gives it away. He would have been through on goal if he hadn’t done that. Eto’o then comes back and tries a long-range shot, but it’s well wide and doesn’t trouble Cech. 1′ Barca kick off and we’re underway! Tom Henning Ovrebo is our referee. Messi tries to get around Cole, but he has him well played. Ballack is also back to help out and they take it away. 0′ The Chammmmm-pionnnnns! 0′ Let’s hope that the presence of Anelka means that Chelsea are going to actually play some offense today. I don’t have a problem with what they did in the first leg, at least not compared to some people who have labeled their tactics as “cowardly,” “negative,” or “anti-football.” I mean, you have to put your team in the best position to advance, and they certainly did that. If they had gone with an open-approach and lost like Real Madrid did over the weekend, then that would have been foolhardy, right? 0′ From the “Let’s Not Get Ahead of Ourselves” Dept. A lot of Barcelona fans think that, just because they thrashed Real Madrid on Saturday, that they’ll be in great form for this match. Not so fast. Real Madrid’s defense is hardly anything to write home about. Plus, Barca have not faced stiff competition in Europe, thus far. They took out an overmatched Lyon side in the Round of 16 (and couldn’t win on Lyon’s home pitch), and outclassed a Bayern Munich side that recently fired their manager and may not qualify for Champions League play next season. 0′ One last note about yesterday’s Arsenal/Manchester United match. We knew that the Gunners were caught with their pants down, but Nicklas Bendtner seems to have taken that literally. Apparently, he wears briefs, which is more than I ever wanted to know about him. 0′ One word about Darren Fletcher, because I didn’t think of it until after the game was long over. You have to feel for him as a human being. Burglars broke into his house when he was out of town, getting ready to play at Inter Milan. They held his family at knifepoint and threatened to cut his fiance’s throat. Fletcher could have gone home and left his team, but he was professional about it. Not only did Fletcher play against Inter Milan, but he did a decent job. I remember thinking that he looked like he was about to break down and cry during the playing of the UEFA Anthem before the match. You had to feel for him then, and you certainly have to feel for him now. For him to miss the Final, on a disputed foul no less, seems incredibly unfair after everything he’s gone through. 0′ Who will join Darren Fletcher on the sidelines if they pick up another yellow today? For Chelsea, Michael Ballack, Alex, and Nicholas Anelka had better be on their best behavior. For Barcelona, Sergio Busquets and Dani Alves better watch themselves. 0′ Welcome to Soccerlens’ live coverage of the UEFA Champions League Semifinals between Chelsea and Barcelona! The winner will face Manchester United in the Finals from Rome on May 27, 2009! I’m Victor and I’ll be your liveblogger! I’m watching this match on ESPN. However, this match is available, on-line, at ESPN360. For information on how to access that fine service, feel free to consult this article. Click here for other, free, options. Chelsea dominated the entire match and looked set to book a Finals rematch with Manchester United. Then Iniesta scored and Barcelona pulled it off. Chelsea are right to be upset with the officiating, as they were denied a clear penalty on Pique’s handball and should have had a penalty when Alves fouled Malouda in the first half. However, they also showed why you have to keep playing until the referee blows his whistle. They had chances to put this out of reach and they were unable to. As such, they have only themselves to blame for giving Barcelona a chance to steal this one. As for Barcelona, they’ve won the match, but it could be a Pyrrhic victory. They won’t have Alves and Abidal due to suspension, and they showed that all it takes is a little physicality and their entire offense gets thrown out of whack. Obviously, the buildup to the Final will feature the Ronaldo vs. Messi angle, but the real key will be whether Barcelona’s defense will be able to stop Manchester United’s offense. They’ll have a huge hole to climb from, and I don’t envy Pep Guardiola’s task. Still, getting there is half the battle, and they deserve credit for doing that much. They showed a lot of heart and tenacity, especially when it looked like they were dead and buried in this match. Man of the Match: Drogba can be so confounding and mercurial that it’s hard to see why Chelsea put up with him. Well, he showed why tonight. He gave Barcelona’s defense so many problems and he was a nightmare matchup for their center-halves. He looked like a threat to score every time he touched it. When he exited the match, you could immediately see the difference as Anelka lacked the same kind of power and presence inside the box. Lampard also played well, as did Cole who did a number on Messi that will probably be studied endlessly by Patrice Evra over the next few weeks. As for Barcelona, Iniesta was, once again, their most influential force as he continues to show why he could be the most underrated player on this squad. Messi, Eto’o, and Xavi, however, were underwhelming and will need to step up their games significantly.

Sunday, December 04, 2011 But administration officials have suggested that once the withdrawal is complete -- a politically significant milestone in both the United States and Iraq -- the two sides could negotiate the return of American troops to the country for training purposes. -- Mark Landler, "Iraq Would Accept U.S. Soldiers as Trainers," New York Times. -- US House Rep. Dana Rohrabacher at last week's House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing. Another late Sunday. First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following: The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava, Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man, C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review, Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills), Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz), Ruth of Ruth's Report, Wally of The Daily Jot, Trina of Trina's Kitchen, Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts, and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub. And what did we come up with? We thank Ava and C.I. for their hard work steering last week's edition. -- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I. US Vice President Joe Biden (pictured above with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani) went to Iraq last week. It was a 'surprise' visit to read the US press. It was completely expected to read the Iraqi press that week or weeks and weeks back -- they'd been reporting the visit was coming since October. And that probably catpures better than anything else the loss you're at if you're dependent upon English sources. Last week, AP announced that the NATO deal was in jeopardy over immunity -- NATO deal? It had been reported in the Iraqi press but ignored in the US press (see C.I.'s "NATO forces to be on the ground in Iraq?" for one example). News in Iraqi media Saturday included "State of Law says US Air Force will be 'leased' to Iraq." We've yet to see an English outlet report on that. Last week, the chasim between the knowlege provided to Arabic readers and the knowledge provided to English readers was reduced by the reporting of New York Times' Mark Landler who explained that negotiations continue and that the new year may find a new deal involving US forces. In last week's House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing (click here for a report on that hearing), Ranking Member Gary Ackerman noted that, come January, interest in Iraq is going to plummet. How very fortunate that most outlets will play along and dismiss Iraq as an issue -- in an election year no less. The Iraqi press can't afford to 'dimiss' Iraq. They've got to keep the issue front and center because Iraq is their country and events effect their lives. But the government that made the decision to invade, the government that wrecked the country, it's going to 'officially' walk away now. And instead of calling that out, the bulk of the US press has enlisted to help the White House with that effort. Last Man Standing is Tim Allen's return to TV, his follow up to the mildly amusing Home Improvement. The latter also aired on ABC and Allen made sure he was the 'big dog' there by surrounding himself with light weights thereby explaining why, all these years later, you either don't know his co-stars names or are left asking, "Whatever happened to Patricia Richardson?" Nancy Travis has the role of "wife" this go-round. Vanessa is as poorly written as the role of Jill but Travis is no yokel nor is she trying to discover a talent. She's a functioning actress with a reserve of talent and then some. So even when the role is completely underwritten (such as "Co-Ed Softball"), Travis can still bring home the laughs. She can help the show tread water; however, she can't make it float. When we saw the first two episodes, we couldn't believe how awful the show was. It was so bad that reviewing it honestly would've felt like abuse. We asked a friend at ABC what the deal was and he assured us that the show was getting better. He didn't lie. The first two were unfunny and unwatchable. Then it moved to unfunny but watchable. Now it's funny. Half of it anyway. The problem's no longer Tim. Writing and recovering his sense of pacing has made Mike Baxter seem like a character and not just a plot device. The problems revolve around Outdoor Man, the sportings good store that Mike works out. Every thing that could be wrong about that setting is. A bunch of bad actors in poorly written roles and you top that off with Hector Elizondo attempting to turn every moment into high drama and it's just too much. How bad is Hector? Except for episode eight, Life With Lucy bad. In fact, the entire store setting is Life With Lucy bad. Including its all male staff and their 1962 problems. The store softball team, in episode five, must go co-ed or be tossed out of the league. This leads to a lot of time with a lot of bad actors fretting over their masculinity. News flash, you're playing "softball." Not baseball. You can pretend to 'man' that up all you want but the reality is you're still pitching underhanded. Time and again, the store and it's all male employees (Elizondo refers to a Denise in shipping in one episode) are not just dull, they're annoying. With the exception of Kyle (who dates Mike and Vanessa's oldest daughter), they're all in that vague 30-60 age group and stocky. As though the casting call went something like, "Tim's very sensitive about his expansive frame so we're looking for really homely." It's really not funny to watch these men who delude themselves that they're doing 'manly' work as they . . . work at a store . . . as sales clerks. It's really not funny when these portly, slovenly, unshaved slobs start picking on Kyle or laughing at him as Elizondo or Allen pick on him. In fact, what's going on is inappropriate -- legally inappropriate. Another reason to drop that setting. Is this really the work environment Disney wants to portray? Where the owner of a company (Alizondo) and the man who picks to run (Allen) target and bully a single employee (Kyle), repeatedly mocking his masculinity? Holding him up for ridicule in front of the other workers? (For information on workplace bullying, click here for the Workplace Bullying Institute.) When the show focuses on Mike's family, it's funny -- Travis and the daughters, the neighbors who show up for a crime watch meeting, the lesbian couple that just moved in. It also makes Tim Allen come off better. He's looser, he's funnier. By contrast, when he's at Outdoor Man the show starts giving off the scent of The Paul Reiser Show. Kate is Kate Kane, aka Batwoman, who's left DC's Detective Comics for her own DC title. J.H. Williams III is the artist and, with W. Haden Blackman, co-writer of the series. As with her stint at Detective Comics, Batwoman's fighting more than the run of the mill villains that so many comic book heroes and heroines face off against. The woman so fond of blood red -- check hair and costume -- faces various demons and battles the world of the occult. Which is why the Department of Extranormal Operations' Cameron Chase is on her tail. The what? The who? In issue two of Batwoman, Batman explains, "She's a top agent in the Department of Extranormal Operations. A major Black Ops outfit tasked with keeping tabs on people like us." Batwoman's primary target for the current storyline is The Weeping Woman who tries to lure her to her own death underwater and appears to magnify fears. With Kate, The Weeping Woman brings up the dead Alice who, right before she fell to her death, convinced Kate she was Kate's identical sister Beth. Batwoman almost succumbs to guilt and fear but manages to escape to the surface. Away from Gotham's Underworld, Kate's still mourning the death of her lover Renee but ready to explore with Maggie. Oh, and cousin Bette? That would be the Teen Titans' Flamebird. And Bette's biggest crime, as far as Kate's concerned, was probably attempting to fix the problems between Kate and her father. Yeah, they're on the outs again. And did we mention the missing children? A lot's going on in this five part "Hydrology" storyline that's kicked the series off. And it's allowed the series to avoid so much of what sinks other new comic book series. There's no cutesy villains to hook in the Super Friends audience, there's no attempt to turn a female lead character into a man with long hair (which just tends to make the woman a pale copy -- we can name three comics with 'female' leads right now that fit that description) and she's not a little girl dependent on Daddy (we can name two comics which infantalize the lead female). It's rare that a series kicks off so strongly and so sure-footed. And "Hydrology" is followed up with "To Drown the World," a story arc (writing again by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman, art by Amy Reeder and Richard Friend). Building on the strong foundation Williams and Greg Rucka provided Batwoman with in 2010 (Detective Comics), DC is making Batwoman not just the most satisfying title of 2011 but the one to watch next year as well. If we couldn't laugh in these insane times, we'd cry non-stop. Now more than ever, a good laugh is sorely needed. The decade that started with the Supreme Court installing second place Bully Boy Bush to the White House was supposed to end with change that would restore civil liberties, end the PATRIOT Act, end the wars, restore the Constitution, close Guantanamo and so much more. Instead, Barack Obama appeared to decide, "If I only have four years to serve, let me one-term it as a Bush." Again, laughter was sorely needed in the last ten years. And many of the books we have previously picked for inclusion have a barb or two, a humorous aside. But our tenth and final pick of the ten most important books of the last ten years (2001 through 2011) is one that provides deep laughs. Oh, and remember that white dress I wore all through the first movie? Unless you didn't see Star Wars, in which case, why are you still reading this? Anyway, George comes up to me the first day of filming and he takes one look at the dress and says, "You can't wear a bra under that dress." So, I say, "Okay, I'll bite. Why?" And he says, "Because . . . there's no underwear in space." I promise you this is true, and he says it with such conviction too! Like he had been to space and looked around and he didn't see any bras or panties or briefs anywhere. Now, George came to my show when it was in Berkeley. He came backstage and explained why you can't wear your brassiere in other galaxies, and I have a sense you will be going to outer space very soon, so here's why you cannot wear your brassiere, per George. So, what happens is you go to space and you become weightless. So far so good, right? But then your body expands??? But your bra doesn't -- so you get strangled by your own bra. Now I think that this would make for a fantastic obit -- so I tell my younger friends that no matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra. George is, of course, George Lucas. And the author, even more "of course," is Carrie Fisher. 2008's Wishful Drinking was both an excellent read and a mood enhancer -- a book that could lift you on a bad day and amuse you on a good one. And true. The author found a way to look back at her own life and share it in an amusing manner -- which led to her stage show and then the book -- demonstrating yet again that the actress who came to fame as Princess Leia had even more talents than was initially understood. And while she was bringing the much needed laughter to our lives, she was actually in a personal hell as she explains in this year's Shockaholic -- and still manages to keep you laughing. She's often wrongly compared to Dorothy Parker. Both women were witty and funny. But "Big Blonde" is Parker's lasting claim to fame, a wonderful short story. Carrie's always needed a bigger canvas and has focused on novels (Postcards From The Edge, Surrender The Pink, Delusions of Grandma and The Best Awful) and memoir (Wishful Drinking and Shockaholic). There's only one Dorothy Parker and only one Carrie Fisher -- maybe proving each era gets the laughs it needs. The book topped the list of best books for The Common Ills community in 2009 and Martha and Shirley explained: Regardless, the book is much deeper than you'd expect from a writer's autobiography. We say "writer" because, yes, she is an actress, but when it comes to print, she earned "writer" with her first book (Postcards From The Edge). So popular is the book it topped the 2009 picks of best books and turned around and made it to number four the following year on the 2010 best books. In this series of ten important books of the last ten years, we've selected ten books that we think captured the era and offered something of lating use. Carrie's book is our tenth pick. We've also selected "Peter Laufer's Mission Rejected," "Chris Hedges'Death of the Liberal Class," "Shirley MacLaine's I'm Over All That," "CCR's Articles of Impeachment Against Bush," "Manal M. Omar's Barefoot in Baghdad," "Susan Faludi's The Terror Dream," "Joyce Murdoch and Deb Price's Courting Justice," "Anthony Arnove's Iraq: The Logic Of Withdrawal" and "Tori's Piece by Piece." Due to the Great Recession, your local libraries are both overtaxed (seeing more patrons than ever before) and underfunded. Make a point to check out your local library or local branch of your library and consider letting your local representatives know that you support increasing the budget for the library. A picture truly can paint a thousand words. Ever wonder how women get erased from history? Blue Ray's the 'hot' 'new' thing these days. And instead of just releasing new titles (a very small piece of the economic pie), they also want to release "classics." Seven films billed as "Blue Ray Essentials." Notice anything? Women aren't the leads and aren't really important in any of those films. Well, you say, those are the big hits. Okay, Ghostbusters was a big hit. However . . . The Patriot was a big disappointment -- all the more so when the studio was caught crafting reviews. Though Snatch did okay by Guy Richie standards, by Guy Richie standards Juno is a summer blockbuster franchise. The Fifth Element? It only made $63.5 million in the US. And it cost $95 million to make the film. That reminds us of another Bruce Willis film that made about that much at the box office (with a much smaller production budget), Death Becomes Her. Starring Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep and Bruce, the film was directed by Robert Zemeckis who is known for his visual style. But that's not an "essential." No film where women are anything more than 'the girl' or the third lead makes it as an 'essential.' It's funny because we could see "essential" being based upon box office. We could see it being based on critics. But what we're seeing is a line that zig zags, a line that is jerry-mandered to keep women out. 'Oh, it's about box office!' you can hear them insist as they feature Spiderman. 'Well Fifth Element has been criticially reconsidered!' you can hear them insist to explain that bomb's inclusion as an 'essential.' But the reality is the only criteria remains: Do you have a penis? All non-penises are non-essentials. This despite the fact that top 5 DVD sales for last year weren't dominated by these 'action boyz' films. No, a children's movie (Toy Story 3), two tween-geared films (The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse), Avatar and Sandra Bullock's The Blind Side were the top five best selling DVDs of 2010. Like the talking dogs in the commercial who rush around saying "bacon, bacon, bacon," Jim just had to have it. As a supposed recommendation -- more likely a warning -- the box boasts it is "From the makers of Baconnaise and Bacon Salt." Three bags for about four dollars and each one guaranteed to burn at least partially in your microwave. On the back of the box, Justin & Dave -- no, we don't know who they are either -- explain: BaconPOP is the continuing story of two bacon fanatics (Justin& Dave) on a never-ending quest to make everything taste like bacon. It started with Bacon Salt and $5,000 Dave won on America's Funniest Home Videos when his kid hit him in the face. It continued with Baconnaise, the Ultimate Bacon Flavored Spread. And now we bring you BaconPOP, the bacon-flavored microwave popcorn that brings butter and bacon together for a Friday night movie date. BaconPOP is even safe for Vegans and Vegetarians. As Justin is fond of saying, 'Dave should get hit in the face more often'." When you put it in the microwave and hit that "Popcorn" button, do not walk off. You will need to stand next to the microwave or risk burning the whole bag. It will be done long before the microwave automatically goes off. If you wait for when there are several seconds between kernal pops, guess what, you will still have burned popcorn. For the third bag, we stopped it while popcorn was still popping. And we still had burned popcorn. (With Orville, we just toss it in the microwave and hit the "Popcorn" button, no problems.) Well what did it -- or at the least the unburned pieces -- taste like? Did they taste like bacon? Not a bit. They were flavorless. But greasy. And about thirty minutes after sampling, they made you feel bloated. If you love the taste of bacon, do yourself a favor and skip this product. If someone you love loves bacon, warn them. Warn them now. That's Mark Landler, a correspondent for The New York Times. We're happy to knock and to praise that paper when we feel it deserves it. But we want to give huge praise to the paper and to Mark Landler for last week. The most important English language article on Iraq was Landler's report "Iraq Would Accept U.S. Soldiers as Trainers." The article quoted US Vice President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki speaking publicly after their one-on-one meeting. From the article: But his comments suggested that for all the solemn pageantry of a war's ending, there is likely to be considerable continuity in the security relationship between the United States and Iraq, as it struggles to contain terrorist attacks by insurgent groups. The inability of the United States and Iraq to agree on legal immunity for American troops led to President Obama's announcement in October that the last soldiers would leave the country by the end of the year. But administration officials have suggested that once the withdrawal is complete -- a politically significant milestone in both the United States and Iraq -- the two sides could negotiate the return of American troops to the country for training purposes. The Administration didn't care for the report, as C.I. documents, and at least one reporter got scared and ran away from it. It would have been very easy for Landler and the paper to then walk away. They didn't. They stood behind the solid reporting. There was a time when you'd expect that from an outlet as basic behavior. But these days, it's rather uncommon. And there's no disputing Landler became the first reporter for US outlet to document what is an ongoing process of negotiations taking place now. So we'll applaud The New York Times and we'll hail Mark Landler as the Super Hero of the Week. Oh, yeah, like Image Comics would drop their calling card just like that. With story and art by Jimmie Robinson and colors by Paul Little, the latest Bomb Queen mini-series opens with a quote from Malcolm X, "The future belongs to those who prepare for it today." The world's changed a great deal as we leap to 2112. A group of people are using their 'connected'/'jacked' selves to go the nuclear dumb that now is New Port City. It plays like one of those space shuttles that you can buy a ride on. There they search out the monks in charge of the National Underground Library -- books have been made illegal and all public libraries closed. The monks have actually lured the four too this area. They have a plan to destroy the connected/jacked-in world and return to the Luddite world. They have Bomb Queen's prototype and are going to unless it into the digital world. B-b-but she destroyed the real world! She'll likely do the same to the digital world! Meanwhile Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips continue Criminal's "The Last Of The Innocent." How far will Riley go to get the life he felt he should have had in high school? Even lower as he ensures that his best friend dies so that his own happiness continues. Something's dying in Cobra's seventh issue -- a storyline -- but at least the issue has Antonio Fuso's artwork. The strong, independent visual style goes a long way towards making this stale retread seem fresh. You've seen it all before if you've seen The Rookie, or Stakeout or any of the movies where an old geezer like Robert Duvall shows up to mid-wife the birth of Tom Cruise into manhood. The twist here is that the man is a woman. With shocking white hair! If that underwhelms you, we feel your boredom. Cobra has grown-up art but continues to rely upon the tiredest writing. Wonder Woman continues to be one of the most inventive comic around. Fresh off the series where Diana had to go hand-to-hand with War, the latest continuing storyline picks up immediately after where Diana has become a god. The Amazons of Paradise Island are not happy and feel abandoned as Diana's been whisked away to be with Hermes and other Gods. It is there that Queen Hippolta -- Diana's mother -- tells her the truth. The latest storyline trashes the old origin plot where the Queen fashions a daughter out of Clay. (In this issue, three, the other Amazons sneeringly refer to Diana as "Clay.") It turns out that Hippolta and Zeus had a passionate affair which she ended when she became pregnant. If anyone knew of the pregnancy (even Zeus), Hippolta feared Hera would find out and kill Diana. Diana returns to the Amazons and tells them not to call her Clay or Diana. She is Wonder Woman; thereby kicking off Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang's latest long running storyline. While Image Comics already has Bomb Queen but Chalres Soule and Renzo Podesta are giving them another strong title to boast about (cover by W. Scott Forbes) Twenty Seven. A male singer and guitar player makes a deal with the God of Fame and hopes for all to be wonderful. But eighties one-hit wonder Valerie has plans of her own, including killing eleven of her fellow one-hit wonders as a sacrifice to Fame in order to get back what she briefly had. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Murray Press Office Wednesday, November 30, 2011 VETERANS: Senator Murray Chairs Hearing to Question Officials on Unacceptable Waiting Lines for Mental Health Care Survey of mental health providers shows continuing serious delays for mental health care at providers across the country, Murray questions top VA mental health officials on causes and efforts to address this problem (Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, held a hearing focusing on the long wait for mental health care at some VA facilities across the country. The hearing, which comes at a time when as many as 18 veterans are committing suicide each day, was a chance for Senator Murray to question the VA on a survey she requested of mental health providers who indicated that in many areas of the country wait times far exceeded the VA’s mandated 14 day window. The survey also showed that 70 percent of providers said they did not have adequate staff or space to meet the mental health care needs of the veterans and 46 percent said the lack of off-hour appointments prevented veterans from accessing care. “The VA can and must do much better,” said Senator Murray. “And I’m pleased to say that since I asked for the survey, they’ve taken some steps in the right direction. However, this problem isn’t going anywhere and there is much more to be done. And with another announcement yesterday of 33,000 troops coming home by the end of next year from provided quickly.” - the demand for care will only swell. We need to meet the veteran’s desire for care with the immediate assurance that it will be provided – and Senator Murray heard testimony from providers about the challenges they face in getting patients into care – including from Dr. Michelle Washington, Coordinator, PTSD Services and Evidence Based Psychotherapy, , who was representing the American Federation of Government Employees. Dr. spoke to the daily frontline barriers she and fellow VA mental health providers encounter at our VA facilities. In addition, Senator Murray heard testimony from: · Mary Schohn, PhD, Director, Mental Health Operations, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs · Charles W. Hoge, MD, . U.S. Army (Ret.) · Barbara Van Dahlen, PhD, Founder and President, Give an Hour · John Roberts, Executive Vice President, Mental Health and Warrior Engagement, Wounded Warrior Project The full text of Senator Murray’s statement follows: “Welcome to today’s hearing to examine the barriers our veterans are facing in seeking mental health care. Today’s hearing builds upon our July hearing on the same subject. At that hearing, the Committee heard about two servicemembers, who – even after attempting to take their own lives – had appointments postponed and difficulties cutting through the red tape in order to get care. “I know that - like me - many on this committee were angered and frustrated by those stories. And I’m glad that today we’ll have the opportunity to both get more information and answers on why these delays persist. “Today, we will hear from providers about the challenges they face in getting patients into care – including from Michele Washington who has been brave enough to come forward to give us a true sense of the daily frontline barriers at our VA facilities. We will also hear about the critical importance of access to the right type of care - delivered on time - by qualified mental health professionals. “At our hearing in July I requested that VA survey their frontline mental health professionals about whether they have sufficient resources to get veterans into treatment. The results that came back to me shortly after were not good: of the VA providers surveyed, nearly 40 percent said they cannot schedule an appointment in their own clinic within the VA mandated 14 day window, 70 percent said they did not have adequate staff or space to meet the mental health care needs of the veterans they serve, and 46 percent said the lack of off-hour appointments prevented veterans from accessing care. “The survey not only showed that our veterans are being forced to wait for care – it also captured the tremendous frustration of those who are tasked with healing veterans. It showed wide discrepancies between facilities in different parts of the country – including the difference between access in urban and rural areas. And it provided a glimpse at a VA system that 10 years into war is still not fully equipped for the influx of veterans seeking mental health care. “The VA can and must do much better. And I’m pleased to say that since I asked for the survey, they’ve taken some steps in the right direction. They have worked to hire additional mental health staff to fill vacancies. They have increased their staffing levels of the Veterans Crisis Line and the Homeless Call Center. And they have made VISN directors accountable for more standards of access to care. These are positive steps, but there is much more to be done – as we will undoubtedly see today. “You know, just yesterday, before this hearing, I looked through the most recent statistics on PTSD that the VA had provided my office. They showed what we all know – this problem isn’t going anywhere. “As thousands of veterans return from and Afghanistan – you can see the number of PTSD appointments steadily rise each quarter. And with another announcement yesterday of 33,000 troops coming home by the end of next year from Afghanistan - the demand for care will only swell. This should not come as shock to the VA. And it should not cause the waiting line for care to grow. “Especially at a time when we are seeing record suicides among our veterans – we need to meet the veteran’s desire for care with the immediate assurance that it will be provided – and provided quickly. “We can’t afford to leave them discouraged that they can’t find an appointment. We can’t leave them frustrated. We cannot let them down. We need to fix this now. The VA has had a decade to prepare. Now is the time for action and for effective leadership. “I look forward to hearing from all our witnesses today and I hope that this hearing is another step to increased accountability of our efforts to provide timely mental health care. “And with that, I turn it over to Ranking Member Burr.” Deputy Press Secretary Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray All out for MumiaFri., Dec. 9 • Philadelphia The 30th anniversary of his incarceration and frame up Having survived two execution orders and 30 years on death row in solitary confinement, never being able to touch his dying mother or sister, his spouse, children or grandchildren (let alone anyone else, other than the prison guards who handcuff and shackle him), Mumia Abu-Jamal, an innocent man, now faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison. Even though by the courts’ rulings, Mumia should never have been sentenced to death in the first place; should never have spent one day on death row, as his 30 years on death row were in blatant violation of the Constitution; those who have for those 30 years wanted to “fry Mumia,” now simply want him to rot in prison for the rest of his life. The prosecution, resigned to the defeat of their decades-long strategy thanks to the powerful and consistent international movement of resistance — which has held on over these many years — is now saying, “Okay, let him go into general population and let’s close the chapter on this case that has caused us so much embarrassment.” We say this is totally unacceptable: the only justice that can be applied at this point, after 30 years of Mumia’s confinement on death row and the torture of isolation, is Mumia’s immediate release. On December 9 — on the eve of International Human Rights Day — hundreds will rally at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center demanding freedom for Mumia and all political prisoners, abolition of the death penalty, an end to mass incarceration and police terrorism, and in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. Constitution Center, 525 Arch St., Philadelphia 7:30 p.m. sharp to 10:30 p.m., (doors open at 7 p.m.) - No to life in prison, free Mumia now!!! - No to the racist death penalty, no to the prison industrial complex, - No to police terrorism, no to U.S. wars at home and abroad, - Free all political prisoners, Occupy Wall Street - Hear: Cornel West, Immortal Technique, Ramona Africa, Vijay Prashad, Michelle Alexander (by video), Amina & Amiri Baraka, IMPACT Youth Repertory, African Drum & Dance Ensemble, Attorney Michael Coard Pick up palm cards at Solidarity Center, 55 W. 17th St., 5th Floor, 212-633-6646 anytime after 2 p.m. weekdays. Call 212-330-8029 for bus tickets & other locations for pickup of palm cards. Buses leave NYC at 3 p.m. from 33rd St. and 8th Ave., $20 round trip. Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011 Support independent news DONATE "I Hate The War " -- most requested highlight of the week and strong disagreement with C.I. from our readers over her (and Ava's) opinion of last week's editorial here. "Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Non-apology" -- Isaiah's take on the insult king. "Kat's Korner: Doris Day, Rob Crow and what's left unsaid" -- Kat takes on Doris. "The embarrassing Scott Horsley" -- Betty takes on NPR's stooge. "70s in the Kitchen" -- Trina serves up a recipe from the 70s. "No leadership from Nancy" -- Ruth on the insider trading in Congress. "Those Grammy nominations" -- Kat weighs in on the Grammy nominations. "That stupid Bradley Manning Support Network" -- Marcia calls out the 'support' network that works to insist Bradley's guilty. "Sunset Campaign" -- Isaiah dips into the archives. "Talking post" -- Elaine offers a talkng post. "Congressional hearings required" -- Trina on the need for hearings into secret loans made by the government to various banks. "OWS didn't bill the 1%" -- Ruth on who got stuck with the bill. "Today's Iraq vote (C.I.)" -- C.I. fills in for Kat. "My ex-girlfriend in HD" -- Marcia offers a personal post. "The paper gets called out" -- Stan explains the score.

ON THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY "I think what I've learned is that every generation of photographers is built on the previous generations. And the more I did photography, the more I learned." At the very beginning, I didn't even know that there was a history of photography. You feel like you're inventing it yourself, and then you realize there's an incredibly deep history of photographers doing important documentary projects which sometimes aren't seen because they haven't been published in books or they weren't. At the very beginning of my career in the early '70s, I was being exhibited in museums. My images weren't being published in the magazines, but they were being created. One of the wonderful things about photography that you learn eventually is we have a history, that you're not the first one. When you really start to read about the history of photography, you begin to realize there have been people decades and decades before you who had the same issues, the same concerns, [and who] photographed the same things. "Something that is important to me is discovering who these photographers were, what they did, what their work was about, and learning from that work, and looking at it." I'm basically a self-taught photographer. I learned from looking and sitting, scrutinizing books, thinking about it, and talking to friends who would share what they knew and then building on that base. Knowing about these other photographers and their work and their passion has really been an important part of my own path as a photographer. Marion Post Wolcott was an American photographer. Her early interests were as a teacher and she studying childhood psychology and anthropology at the New School for Social Research in New York City and atNew York University . In the early 1930s, as the Great Depression gripped the USA, she was teaching at private school in Massachusetts. The school closed in 1932, so she travelled to Europe. In Austria, she met photographer Trude Fleischmann (1895–1990), and took up photography at a time of social upheaval with the rise of Fascism in Austria and Germany. She returned to America in 1934, where she became increasingly political active and the New York Photo League which was attended by Ralph Steiner. In 1938 Steiner showed her portfolio to Roy Stryker of theFarm Security Administration (FSA) , and she was hired. Her photographs of New England, Kentucky, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi showed the social disparities that were so evident in the late 1930s. In 1941 she left the FSA when she married Lee Wolcott, and although she remained active in photography it is her short period with the FSA that she is most remembered for. Russian-born photographer Jack Delano moved to the United States in 1923. He took up painting and drawing, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He sought work during the Great Depression , and applied at the Farm Securities Administration (FSA), which was seeking photographers to document the conditions of farms and farm workers. He was known for his strong compositions and sensitivity to his subjects. Along with contemporaries Walker Evans , Dorothea Lange , and Gordon Parks , Delano photographed the Great Depression, and was later commissioned by the FSA to photograph in Puerto Rico. In 1946, Delano settled there and continued to create photography, films and music. was an American photographer and inventor. He studied at Columbia University, where his skills quickly landed him a job during the turbulent Great Depression . He photographed in the west on assignment from the Farm Securities Administration (FSA), seeking out people whose lives had been overturned by the economic hardships at the time. At the end of the depression, he photographed for Look magazine , where he would later become the director of photography. After Look collapsed, he worked as director of photography at Parade magazine . He was a founder and former officer of the American Society of Magazine Photographers. In 1968, he was named a Fellow in the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. Rothstein taught photojournalism and documentary photography at numorous universities including Parsons School of Design, Syracuse University and the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, his alma mater. Roy E. Stryker , born in 1893, entered the world of photography when he became a photo researcher at Columbia University, where he was studying agricultural economics. In 1935, he relocated to Washington DC to head the Historical Section of the Resettlement Administration - later renamed the Farm Security Administration (FSA) - and the Office of War Information. The FSA is most well known for its small but very influential documentary photography program, for which Stryker recruited up-and-coming photographers as well as managing established photographers. Between 1935 and 1944, Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein, Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, John Vachon, Marion Post Wolcott, Russell Lee, Jack Delano, Gordon Parks, John Collier Jr, Carl Mydans, and Edwin and Louise Rosskam all documented the Great Depression and the effects of the Dust Bowl. The FSA and related organizations produced an archive of 250,000 negatives, now housed in the Library of Congress, which remains the most significant project in American documentary photography. Stryker headed the Pittsburgh Photographic Library Between 190 and 1962. The Roy Stryker Papers, including manuscripts, correspondence, and vintage prints from the Stryker-directed projects—Farm Security Administration (FSA), the Standard Oil (New Jersey) Co. and Jones & Laughlin Steel—are held in Photographic Archives at the William F. Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville. American author John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California. He lived in a rural farming community that would later provide subjects for his novels. He attended Stanford University but left without a degree. His career as a writer began with “Tortilla Flat” (1935), and continued with "Of Mice and Men" (1937), "The Grapes of Wrath " (1939) and "Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research" (1941) as well as a number of other novels. These established him as one of the leading American novelists by the end of the 1930s, because he could capture the despairing mood of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl with compassion. His stories later became classics of the cinema; “Grapes of Wrath ” (1940) featured Henry Fonda, and later "East of Eden" (1955) starring James Dean. In 1962 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature and Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. ON THE FARM SECURITY ADMINISTRATION (FSA) To learn more about the FSA, read our 'Library of Congress' feature SEE ALSO: Ken Light - "Depression Deja Vu," Newsweek I think one of the most important periods in documentary photography in the U.S. was due to the Farm Securites Administration. The FSA was a division of the Department of Agriculture, and it was set up to document the conditions of farmers during the Great Depression. During the Great Depression, farmers were hit not only by incredible drought and poor farming practices, they were also were hit by bank foreclosures, loss of their land, [coupled with] their inability to raise capital to buy seed and equipment. And many of them were thrown off the land. Their conditions were horrific and we read about what the Arkies and Okies described, who left their land for these reasons, and who headed to California. The FSA and this work had been a great influence on me. The photographs made by Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Marion Post Walcott, Jack Delano and Arthur Rothstein [for the FSA] depicted this era and these people. They fanned out throughout America on assignment, and the idea was to create a visual image so that people might understand what—as we would say today—what the 99 percent doesn't have— and what their world is about. And Roy Stryker, who was a director of the program, was incredibly talented in selecting this group of young FSA photographers. Of course, they turned out to be some of the greatest photographers in the canon of photography. John Steinbeck set out to write this story for LIFE magazine with the photographer, and after some travels, Steinbeck decided, "Who needs LIFE magazine? I'm going to write my own book. I don't need it." He ended up, from that experience and those travels, writing the great novel The Grapes of Wrath, which looks at a fictionalized family—Okies and Arkies—leaving after their land is foreclosed and traveling in a broken-down Depression-era truck—we've seen those pictures—into California and then finding in California there was actually no work and what that life was about, and it was made into a really great, amazing film, [and] that is still read in school. I can't tell you the number of people that [have] sent me e-mails that said, "We need to start up a new FSA. We need to put together a team of documentary photographers who could go out and document the plight of what is happening in America." They just want the resources. It really has been dependent on individual photographers who maybe have decided to do a little piece of it— to do something about foreclosures. There's no major project in which major photographers have been assigned to go out and record this moment. And it's unfortunate, because I think the power of the photograph—despite the fact that we are in the Internet age and sound is important and multimedia is important—the still photograph has an important place. "I think the still photograph has an important voice in informing people, and it allows people to stop for a minute. We've become such a 24/7 moving world with a constant stream of news and sound and pictures. And the wonderful thing of a still photograph is you get to linger, you get to stop, you get to look, you get to think, you get to react, and it is a very different experience." It's interesting to think about Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother image, which I think is one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, and it's an image that has very deep, humanistic feelings and message asbout the world and particularly about the Great Depression in the United States. Destitute pea-pickers in California; a 32-year-old mother of seven. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, 1936 "And you begin to wonder, what if she had lived in a multimedia age? Would we have that iconic image? Would the image be different if the migrant mother was talking?" What if Dorothea Lange was out there with her Canon 7D and her Røde sound-mic on top and her little flash card, and she comes across this family - what do you do? So, she'd be explaining why she was there, and the children were talking, and it was video rather than a still image. How would we relate to that experience? I think we would relate very differently. We're looking at this, and each of us brings our own experience of maybe what it would be like to be this mother in this situation, under this lean-to, during the Great Depression. How would our children behave? And what would we do? "[These FSA images] were very important in bringing change and making people aware that this issue even existed. Photography has played a really important part as social witness in its own time—in the age of the photographer doing this work. But also as a social witness historically, because ideas and social movements and the conditions in which people live, often seem to disappear in history." And if it wasn't often for these photographs— seen in history books now, and in publications— many younger generations who did not grow up hearing these stories, did not grow up knowing that child labor was part of the fabric of America, and they didn't know what the immigrant experience was like in earlier generations. We're really dependent on these photographs now, to share, fully share, visually share, what these worlds and what these lives were about, and that witness I think is really important. Book cover of Jacob Riis' 1890 book, How the Other Half Lives, which portrays poverty in the New York City Mulberry Bend Slum. INSPIRATION FOR A BOOK Jacob Riis’s book, How the Other Half Lives,was one of the early books that combined the text and reproduction with ink on a sheet of paper and [was] distributed. That book was a very, very important book, because no one had really seen what was happening in the Mulberry Bend slum[in New York City] and the living conditions of the people and what their lives were about. There’s something about seeing an image, there’s something about the power of it, people being inside the environments which were photographed—the drunk tanks in the jails, the bandits roost, the dives in which he photographed, the portraits of the blind man on the street selling cigars, the improvised children—that was seen and then heard by politicians. "Theodore Roosevelt was then the Mayor of New York State, and he and his aides were taken back by what they saw, and it began the major project of redeveloping the Mulberry Slum, which was a slum in which immigrants found themselves after coming from Eastern Europe and (other) parts of Europe to make a better life in America. So it had a very powerful impact." [Lewis] Hine as well, photographing social images, is well known for his images of Ellis Island . And his photographs of immigrants coming through Ellis Island into America are some of the most important records of the diaspora of many different cultures and people coming again [from] Europe—the Irish, Jews from Eastern Europe, Slovakians and so forth—coming to America to look for a better life. These photographs remain an important document of what that experience was like. One of my favorite bodies of work of Hine are his photographs of child labor We all know, of course, Dorothea Lange's The Migrant Mother, which singularly depicts, the conditions that many people found themselves in, in the Great Depression. So this work for me has been a great influence. And it is fascinating to think about the relationship between their work and the work that I have just completed with my wife Melanie Light. Ken and Melanie Light meet at Heyday in Berkeley, to discuss publishing Valley of Shadows and Dreams. 2010 Courtesy, ©Suzie Katz And it really was Melanie who came to me before the downturn and said, "There's this stuff happening in the great Central Valley in California that we really need to look at. You should stop what you are doing." And at that point, I was photographing in the Great Plains. "You should stop what you are doing, and you should really go into the Valley because it is incredible." Ken Light in a church photographing the Posada (a Latin American Christmas Festival) in Toneyville during the creation of Valley of Shadows and Dreams. Photo by Allison Light. Courtesy, Ken Light 2007 It is incredible to see this rich agricultural land being paved over and suburban houses being built. Who can afford these suburban houses? How people can commute to these suburban houses? Where is the water going to come from for the washing machines and the dishwashers and the sprinklers that are going to water their lawns? There are water issues in California. We were in a major drought already. And so having just come from collaborating with her on our book Coal Hollow, I was intrigued. And her voice is very powerful. So I went into the Valley, and I began to see what she was describing. "I come in with great curiosity. I just think being behind a camera is one of the great gifts that can be given to you, to enter people's lives and see what their world is about." It’s fascinating to think about the modern culture and how reality TV shows have become so big on television and that’s because people like to sit and look at other people’s lives, what these other realities are. Fortunately for photographers, we’re there. We’re inside these stories. We’re on death row. We’re on the border with border patrol agents as they’re apprehending people coming though the fence. We’re at a river baptism in rural Mississippi. We’re out in the field as people are picking crops. A print of Ken Light's photograph, "Food Line" rests against a stack of contact sheets from his book project, Valley of Shadows and Dreams. Courtesy, ©Suzie Katz 2011 Heyday, located in Berkeley, CA, has been in business since 1974 and publishes over 24 books a year. Courtesy, ©Suzie Katz 2011 THE PUBLISHING PROCESS WITH HEYDAY BOOKS "I think books are really important. I think rediscovering work is really important—making sure that work doesn't disappear, because there are many photographers who have done incredibly brilliant work that sadly disappears or gets locked into the vaults of museums, which on one hand is good because it is protected, but really, this work needs to be seen out in the world." BEHIND THE SCENES WITH MALCOLM MARGOLIN "When Ken and Melanie came in with their manuscript, it was a shock to me." says Malcolm Margolin, executive director of Heyday, "It was a shock to me because this was a valley that I had tried to avoid. This was a valley that I didn't want to see. This was the elephant in the room. This was the valley that was cruel. This was the valley that was exploitive. This was the valley that was destructive to land. "In some ways, I had a sense of relief; that at last somebody was going to tell the story. They were going to tell the story with a bigness, and they managed to do it because they had a bigness to them. "There's a kind of outrage in this book, and there's an outrage that you usually find in younger people. Usually people get co-opted. They get professorships at universities. They lead a softer life. They begin to compromise. "There was something else that was kept alive and kept sustained, and yet it was wedded to the highest forms of art, and the highest forms of craft, and the greatest possible experience. I think of Ken as young, but he's been publishing books for over 30 years now.” Ken and Melanie Light meet publisher and founder, Malcolm Margolin at Heyday discussing publishing Valley of Shadows and Dreams. Courtesy, ©Suzie Katz 2011 Shortly after going into the Valley, we were hit by the economic downturn. It was an incredible time, the last four-and-a-half years of doing this body of work. And I found myself with Melanie having our own little mini-FSA project, initially funded by a very small grant from a private foundation that had done work in the Valley, that was interested in conditions in the Central Valley with no strings attached. [The Rosenberg Foundation] basically said, “Here’s $10,000. Why don’t you go see what you’re going to see.” And we pitched the idea that we would do a book. An early mockup of Valley and Shadows and Dreams is flagged on the desk during a publishing meeting at Heyday. Courtesy, ©Suzie Katz 2011 To put together a project, as I’ve been describing, becomes very difficult. We wanted to do a book, and that created another problem. One of the wonderful things is that there is this small-knit group of people who love photography, who love the voice of photography, who want to tell these stories, who want to get it out. Luckily, PhotoWings stepped in and helped create the book, support the book, [and is] one of the biggest contributors to the creation of Valley of Shadows and Dreams. And amazingly, Thomas Steinbeck, John’s eldest son, was pulled into the project and wrote about his own experiences in the Central Valley and what he saw. We spent the next four-and-a-half years working together, and me working individually, going into the Valley and meeting people and photographing and trying to examine what was happening there. File folders full of photographs, negatives, model releases, caption notes, and other important documents fill Ken Light's filing cabinets in his home darkroom. Courtesy, ©Suzie Katz 2011 Of course, the Central Valley ended up being one of the epicenters for foreclosures in the world that has created the economic downturn that we’ve seen in for these last four years. But we wanted to go beyond that. “We wanted to tell a bigger story, because the story of the Valley is really the story of what is happening in a lot of the world, places where there are extractive industries that go in, that pull out.” "Midnight, Fiesta Club," Cover image for Ken Light's book, Valley of Shadow and Dreams. Courtesy, ©Ken Light 2007 For the Valley of Shadows and Dreams, we’ve committed four-and-a-half years of writing and making photographs and a year-and-a-half of raising money and working with the publisher, Heyday, to do the book we wanted to do. In a book, you’re trying to represent the time - and there are all different moments. The cover image, 'Midnight, Fiesta Club,' has become a very popular picture that people are really drawn to. Of course, it really, in a way, unbeknownst to me in making this photograph, represents the shadows and dreams, which is what this book is about. "It is about the dreams that people have coming to the Valley, which is the first stepping-off point for many people who are new immigrants coming from Mexico and other places in Latin America, moving up—trying to move up the ladder into a better world with their families, and also the shadows, the disappointments, the dangers." This photograph shows both of those things—the shadows and the dreams. The dreams of a better world and a better life. We hope that this book adds a voice to these issues, to these problems in California. That helps define and relate to other issues in the other parts of the world, issues around water rights, industrial agriculture, foreign workers, and pesticides. This work is also about the human condition and about people like us and what their world is about and, in a way, why we should be thankful for what they do for us. “We hope to honor the subjects, and also the hard truths that we discovered in the Central Valley.” LOOKING FROM THE OUTSIDE IN: DEVELOPING TRUST AND SECURING ACCESS I think the challenge of doing documentary project is how do you get inside the circle of people's lives? How do you meet people? How do you tell their stories, particularly, in environments where you're an outsider? All my projects have really been about being an outsider, except probably my earliest work as a young photographer photographing my own world of the '60s. So I've always been an outsider. "This is the purpose of why we do this work, and why we invest the time, and why we struggle to raise the money, and why we are out in the field photographing, and why Melanie is sitting in front of the computer writing and interviewing people. We think these are important stories, and we don't let them just slide into the world unnoticed. We want to be a part of this conversation. We want our voices to be heard. And we want the people we photographed, for their voices to be heard." This is one way for their voice to be heard, by their image [being] represented visually and for people to see them and wonder what their stories are about. People who I've met two minutes ago say to me, "You need to come in my house, because there's a hole in my ceiling, and you need to take a picture of it because someone needs to see it." And so my experience is doing documentary work and my experience in the Valley is that people were incredibly, incredibly open to sharing their worlds and to connecting me to other people. And so very often, I go down to the Valley and I would call someone. I would say, "Hey, this is Ken, I have just arrived. Do you have some time?" “And my god, these people were so generous and literally, for a tank of gasoline, they would drive me around. They would spend hours with me. We could talk about what I was seeing. I could ask them questions.” They would take me to people’s houses. They would vouch for me, which is so important for someone to say—when an undocumented family who speaks no English, who had great fears about the immigration people coming to get them, who were fearful of being discovered—and there you are with the camera, having this person basically say, “He’s a good guy. He’s doing this story. You should be in it. You should show him what your world is about.” Those kind of contacts are incredibly, incredibly important. And then I think you spend a lot of time just going with your own instinct, just being very, very observant, watching all the time, having in your head a little list of the things that are important. “A sacred trust involves not only telling their story and getting out their story, but also protecting their images in the world—how those pictures are used and what is said about them and creating a powerful image” In some way is true to what you have observed and what they have told you about their experience. And I think that they push us. They allow us to pull ourselves together and do our work and realize that we’ve made this commitment to tell these stories, and we are going to do it, whatever the cost. Left: Attending Ken and Melanie Light's New York exhibit and reception at Umbrage Books, Fred Richin (NYU & Pixel Press), Robert Pledge (Contact Press Images), Malcolm Margolin (Heyday Publishing), and Suzie Katz (PhotoWings) pose for a photo. Right: Ken Light signs a book for Robert Pledge, founder of Contact Press Images, at Ken's opening at Umbrage Books. Courtesy, ©Suzie Katz 2012 BIG IDEAS AND CONVERSATION STARTERS A Record of the Times "There's never a sense that your own world is very exciting, and you need to understand that everything changes. We need to learn to photograph in our own time, in our own world, because that will change." The Power of Photography "Everything has been photographed in the world. It's just a matter of every generation of photographers reinterpreting it, seeing it in a new way." Learning from the Past "I think what I've learned is that every generation of photographers is built on the previous generations. And the more I did photography, the more I learned. "At the very beginning, I didn't even know that there was a history of photography. You feel like you're inventing it yourself, and then you realize there's an incredibly deep history of photographers doing important documentary projects which sometimes aren't seen because they haven't been published in books or they weren't, at the very beginning of my career in the early '70s, being exhibited in museums. They weren't being published in the magazines. But they were, in fact, being created." The Importance of Photography Books "A book is an object that lasts for a very, very long time and it is an important record. It goes into libraries, it goes into people's collections, it passes from one photographer's hands to the next." Photographers as Part of the Conversation "That, to us, is what we do. We're troublemakers. We want to tell stories. We want to investigate. We want people to be upset with us." Working With the People you Photograph "They would drive me around. They would spend hours with me. We could talk about what I was seeing. I could ask them questions. "They would take me to people's houses. They would vouch for me, which is so important for someone to say—when a documented family who spoke no English, who had great fears about the immigration people coming to get them, who were fearful of being discovered—and there you are with the camera, having this person basically say, "He's a good guy. He's doing this story. You should be in it. You should show him what your world is about."" The Relationship Between Photographer and Subject "A sacred trust involves not only telling their story and getting out their story, but also protecting their images in the world—how those pictures are used and what is said about them and creating a powerful image" that, I think, in some way is true to what you have observed and what they have told you about their experience. "And I think that they push us. They allow us to pull ourselves together and do our work and realize that we've made this commitment to tell these stories, and we are going to do it, whatever the cost." Dedication to Your Work "Sometimes, Melanie and I look at each other and wonder if we are just totally crazy. We've invested so much time, energy and love into doing these projects. But it's what we do. And it's what I've done for over 40 years. And I think every new project has just been very exciting to figure out, to enter in, to bring to fruition, and then use the work as a way of telling these stories." Giving a Voice to the Voiceless "So we're already five-and-a-half years into this body of work, and now we're going to spend probably another year trying to get the work out into the world. I think in all my work, I keep going back to this voice—whether it is hearing the voices of the people I photograph or my own voice—and I think of this work. The issues in the Valley are so important, what's happening there, and they are so relevant to what's happening around the rest of the world, and the rest of America—the conditions that people find themselves (in), and their stories, the issues around water, the issues around pesticides, the issues around industrial agriculture, foreign workers, undocumented workers. I mean, these issues are there, everywhere in the world." Believe in Your Work "My experience in the Valley and in other projects I've done is that people put an incredible amount of faith in what it is you are going to do. And so I've had people pull me into their houses, people who I don't even know." Photographers as Role Models "I would go visit this family pretty much every trip I made into the delta, after having met them. The mother would always use me as an example of how her son could do something with his life. It was fascinating, like, "Here he is. He's a photographer. This is something good. You could be a photographer. You could be out in the world. You shouldn't be getting in trouble. There are a lot of things you can do. Look at this guy. He's interested in us. He's interested in you." I was kind of a positive role model. It was really fascinating, and I remember when I came back four, five months later, he'd been arrested and he had gotten trouble. He had been with a bunch of friends who were robbing a house. They went in, they broke into a house, and he was the lookout. They escaped out the backdoor, and they left him standing there, and he got arrested, and he was going to be before the juvenile authorities in Mississippi. The mother just kept saying, "You should go to school. Look at this photographer. There are a lot of possibilities." It was just really fascinating to see that, obviously, my being there and my interest in the family and my interest in the young boy was something that she saw as really positive. So I think photographers can (play) a positive role in how people see them, within the families and in telling their stories." LEARN MORE ABOUT KEN LIGHT'S BOOK Valley of Shadows and Dreams - Offical Book Website This website is home to Ken and Melanie Light's book project. The site features project details, images, excerpts from the book and additional resources about the Central Valley. Ken Light - Official Website Browse through photo galleries from Ken Light's extensive portfolio, including publications, stock images, biographical information and more. New York Times - The Vanishing Valley, by Ken and Melanie Light Contributed opinion text from Ken and Melanie Light, May 2012 San Francisco Chronicle Ken Light sits down for an interview with Sam Whiting of the San Francisco Chronicle AGree is a new initiative that brings together a diverse group of interests to transform U.S. food and agriculture policy so that we can meet the challenges of the future. American Farm Bureau Farm Bureau is an independent, non-governmental, voluntary organization governed by and representing farm and ranch families united for the purpose of analyzing their problems and formulating action to achieve educational improvement, economic opportunity and social advancement and, thereby, to promote the national well-being. In 2008, the State Board of Food and Agriculture inaugurated California Agricultural Vision (CAV) as a process intended to result in a strategic plan for the future of the state’s agriculture and food system. California Institute for Rural Studies CIRS is the only non-profit organization in California with a mission to conduct public interest research that strengthens social justice and increases the sustainability of California’s rural communities.Their work informs public policy and inspires action for social change while providing a fact-based foundation for organizations and individuals working to ameliorate rural injustice. Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment is an environmental justice organization dedicated to helping grassroots groups across the United States attack head on the disproportionate burden of pollution borne by poor people and people of color. We provide organizing, technical and legal assistance to help community groups stop immediate environmental threats. Environmental Working Group Farm Subsidy Database and The Environmental Working Group The mission of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) is to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment. Great links to related topics: Great Valley Center The mission of the Great Valley Center is to support activities and organizations that promote the economic, social and environmental well-being of California’s Great Central Valley. Roots of Change Roots of Change brings a diverse range of Californians to the table to build a common interest in food and farming so that every aspect of our food—from the time it’s grown to the time it’s eaten— can be healthy, safe, profitable, affordable and fair.

1 A Good Black Manhood Is Hard To Find: Toward More Transgressive Reading Practices Jeffrey Q. McCune, Jr. ABSTRACT: The adage, a good black man is hard to find, has been a common refrain in black cultural communities for decades. Using this common saying as a departure point, this essay turns to a similar sentiment within scholarship and challenges readers of black men to move toward more transgressive reading practices. Using performative texts, this essay explores how we might develop new reading practices of a complex black manhood, moving beyond a good/bad binary. Jamal Joseph s pastiche visual collection, Tupac Shakur Legacy and Tarrell Alvin McCraney s play, The Brothers Size teaches us how to read black men s bodies and practices of masculinity in new ways. This essay explores how both Joseph and Mc- Craney activate a black radical imaginary that does not begin with damage, but tells an uneasy and complex narrative of black manhood through (re)presentations and resistance to the dominant gaze toward black male deviance. The authors of these texts encourage new reading practices of what might be in black manhood which move us away from canonical prejudices and reorients us toward new, complex (de)scripts for black men. SPECTRUM, Issue I, Volume I, pgs , Autumn , Indiana University Press 2 122 SPECTRUM 1.1 the way our society is working now, only negative images of the black community are portrayed world wide, only those are put so that I can read em! Tupac Shakur, Tupac Shakur Speaks Black males today live in a world that pays them the most attention when they are violently acting out. bell hooks, We Real Cool I am large, I contain multitudes. Walt Whitman, Song for Myself Everywhere from the grocery store, on the train, at church, and even across holiday family dinners I have heard black women (and some men) scream with great anxiety that, a good black man is hard to find! This has been a historic lament that articulates an absence of descent, quality brothaz, black men who are ready to treat their partners in ideal and respectable ways. These cadres of black men are those who got it together, are on point, have it goin on, or simply take care of their responsibilities. 1 When presented with such concerns, I often return to the wisdom of my grandmother, who told my cousin, you just ain t looking in the right places, honey her own way of challenging these laments, while reminding my cousins that good black men do exist. My grandmother s retort notes something most important about the claim that there is some lack of good black men: it is most contingent upon where he/she goes to find the black man of his/her dreams, as well as what the seeker understands as good. As much as I hate to contradict grandma s theorization, I have to be the bad grandson and suggest that most of these evaluations of men are rendered as the result of bad reading practices. Thus, this essay suggests a modification to grandma s emphasis on the location of looking, toward developing new reading practices for black men s complex performances of manhood. This dilemma, of locating the good in black men or ideas of manhood, is not one exclusive to those seeking relational partners. In fact, this conundrum is at the core of academic and popular discourse that explores the interplay of race and gender. How do we, in an age where blackness is always already demonized or made dangerous, carve a space for the good in blackness and black people? While the concerns of the academy have definitely shifted away from positivist constructions, there is a clear longing for redemption for the circulation of nebulous ideas about black men. While so much of popular discourse around finding good black men is one of ontological suspicion, it should be more aptly understood as a preoccupation with perceived ill action. Today, in the age of President Barack Obama, much of what is understood as good in black men is shaped by ideas of exceptional acts. The surprise over Barack Obama s successful presidential campaign brought my attention to America s lack of faith in black men s possibilities. In addition, the continuous 3 Jeffrey Q. McCune, Jr. / A Good Black Manhood Is Hard To Find 123 construction of President Obama as exceptional affirmed that there is an ideological ghost that haunts black men an archive of black men acting out. While this ideological move is not new in terms of America s shaping of blackness more generally, today the actual roles of black men in these unprecedented positions are beginning to reinforce and uproot many age-old exceptional constructions. Here, black male figures that possess character and charisma identical to Barack Obama are considered exceptions within the larger pool of black men, who too often function within enigmatic cultural registers. 2 Ironically, even in the esteemed position of president, Obama is still understood as always having a propensity toward terror. Hence, the seemingly ridiculous, but real, debate over his religious affiliation, which (in)advertently suggests he is a part of a terrorist lineage. Together, the inability to see black men as good, and to disaggregate blackness from deviance, situates men who move outside the norm of demonized blackness into an exceptional category. As a result, we are always left with typical vs. exceptional, hero vs. villain, and good vs. bad frameworks that unnaturally situate black men in either/or existences rather than both/and positionalities. Indeed, media has enforced a racialized script, which forces black men to carry such singular fictions (Jackson, 2007, p. 22). This script has been not only adopted by dominant society, but also within marginalized groups in the form of racial doubt. What is established, in this oscillation between the good and the bad, is what Frank Rudy Cooper calls representations of bipolar Black Masculinity. Here, a Bad Black Man is crime-prone and hypersexual and a Good Black Man distances himself from blackness and associates with white norms (Cooper, 2005, p. 853). Consequently, how we read and (mis)understand black men becomes most relevant to this discussion. Rather than search or privilege some idealized version of the good, I would like to offer an alternative reading of black men as always already complex, multiple, and beyond either/or. It is imperative that as scholars and readers of gender we move beyond and against the bipolar black masculine representations. This critical essay is largely a response to the anxieties of scholars and friends who often tire of having to assess what black men look like while acting out, but desire ways we may ever deem black men good. While the commitment here is not to create positive representations of black men, it is important that we challenge the rhetorical weight given to negative categorizations that are continuously coupled with black men and manhood. Thus, this is a rhetorical strategy that I argue could pose serious threats to the neatly packaged demonization that has discursively handcuffed the black masculine. If we commit to pushing good beyond the complimentary and toward the richly complex, 4 124 SPECTRUM 1.1 we are better equipped to deem some black male everyday performances, imagining, and lives as representative of a good black manhood. Rather than do what Patricia J. Williams (1995) has called exceptionalizing those few blacks [society] acknowledges as good (p. 241), I wish to draw attention to performances by black men that offer no easy resolution to society s anxieties, while also moving away from reaffirming such angst. In moving toward visual and dramatic performance, we are able to better see how reading practices can be both manufactured and mainstreamed. Performance, contrary to popular belief, depends on complex reading practices for its success and acts as a pedagogy for how reorientation acts to reconstitute (black male) subjects. Much of the excitement of performance can be found in the always anticipatory what might be there in the visual representation of things, individual characters, or the complex unfolding of the plot or narrative. The intentional exploration of what might be there in performance is instructive as we examine what might be there in black manhood, moving beyond historical and ideological assumptions that presently frame both our critique and common public imaginings of the black and masculine. If we move to a what might be there of black manhood, rather than what is there, we advance an ideological gaze that intentionally attempts to read more than is evident and available within common knowledge. My supposition here is that performance shows us a site where intentional choices are made to provoke and conjure particular reading practices. Such a manipulation of the gaze, in turn, may manufacture black male subjects that are understood with a richer complexity and defy common, mainstream perceptions of blackness and black manhood. In essence, a good black manhood is a complex representation, which requires intentionally complex reading practices. Hence, it is a productive exercise to bring attention to other performances of black manhood that cannot be enveloped in the categories of bankruptcy and corruption that have become quite synonymous with the black and the masculine. Evelyn Tuck (2009) argues that a major problematic trend when dealing with native communities, city communities, and other disenfranchised communities is damage-centered research (p. 409). In line with this thinking, it may be necessary at least, for this project to place a moratorium on damage-centered research (Tuck, 2009, p. 423). Rather than begin with a framework that assumes black men are broken or trapped, I believe it is more apt and appropriate to unpack the complex makeup of black male communities, which understands itself not as hyper, but pushes toward greater humanization. This humanizing framework I am calling complex manhood borrows from Avery Gordon s (1997) notion of complex personhood where all people remember and forget, are beset by contradiction, and 5 Jeffrey Q. McCune, Jr. / A Good Black Manhood Is Hard To Find 125 recognize and misrecognize themselves and others (p. 4). Within this cultural framework, black men s performances of masculinity are not inundated with any totalizing narrative or that of anomaly, but always imagined and understood as being multiple and socio-historically produced. Our assessments of black men from the complex vantage point always begins from the place of understanding masculinities as always troubled, but simultaneously potentially transgressive. Furthermore, this critical and necessary move demands that we not only recognize black men s performances as complex and diverse, but also employ more transgressive reading practices of black male performances. In some senses my grandmother s earlier response approximates a transgressive reading practice as she offers a critical generosity that moves beyond quotidian readings of damaged masculinity toward a need to acknowledge the ideological systems that promote canonical prejudice (Roman, 1998, p. xxvi). Such canonical prejudice is often inflected in the tradition of scholarship on black masculinity, as many understandably seek to critique black men s subscription to patriarchal norms. Too often in academic engagements with black male subjectivity, there seems to be a reinforcement of the idea that black masculinity is a failing structure that unsuccessfully passes itself off as a working and wealthy performance of manhood. While there is some truth to this claim as masculinity has been typically constructed in a way that produces damaging and dangerous effects it is only partial, not whole. In contemporary black masculinity studies, the critical aims are often to deconstruct and begin a conversation of revising black masculine performances (Connor, 1995; Blount & Cunningham, 1999; Wallace, 2002; Harris, 2005; Hopkinson & Moore, 2006; Neal, 2006; Richardson, 2007). This work, while important and necessary on some fronts, is incomplete and insufficient. It seems that such important and necessary work always walks the fine line between attempting to not demonize black men through critique, while still doing so through re-presentation and reiteration of all that is troubling in constructions of black manhood. Indeed, this is the risk that we supposedly take in all critical scholarship. However, I am arguing that in the context of representing black men this is not always necessary and potentially harmful to the aim of moving closer to humanizing the black body within discourse. 3 In this essay, my move toward discussing manhood in lieu of masculinity s loaded work is a move toward a greater recognition of how men articulate gender as an everyday practice of improvisation inside a scene of constraint (Butler, 2004, p. 1). Particularly, I am interested in how we might better approximate a reading of black male practices and performances, which are arguably more aligned with black men s understanding of self within everyday life, rather than the reductive public imaginary. 6 126 SPECTRUM 1.1 Indeed, black queer studies have engaged discussions of masculinity through the highlighting of more transgressive potential for the black male body. This conversation, however, is generally forged to discuss black gay performances of masculinity, rather than a more generalizable understanding (Reid-Pharr, 2001; Johnson, 2003; McBride, 2005; Alexander, 2006). The lack of such conversations outside of LGBT contexts suggests something that I find uncomfortable and inaccurate: the only queer that can queer in the black context is an actual queer. 4 As a member of the black queer community I do believe that black queer cultures do much to transgress artificial social boundaries, but I firmly believe that many queer experiences are present and performed daily by those whose sexual desire may not be articulated for same-sex. These men, who are black and straight-identified, simply don t do straight the way straight may traditionally be done. If queer is a destabilizing of norms, when advancing notions of complex manhood, we must include black men who engage in a queer politic that potentially transforms common perceptions of themselves. Seeing the lack of complexity and richness given to public representations of black masculinity, it seems necessary to remark that any affirming or nuanced images of black men are themselves queer. While this essay is not about queering black men or manhood, it is about beginning to move beyond totalizing narratives of black men and seeing all of us as more complex subjects. To illustrate how we may move in this direction, this essay turns to two texts Jamal Joseph s pastiche collection, Tupac Shakur Legacy and Tarrell Alvin McCraney s play, The Brothers Size. My close reading of Tupac Shakur s public image as a gangsta rapper looks closely at the characterization and contradictions present within actual representations in the media and his self-presentation in musical lyrics. Here, I illuminate how the thug script of Tupac over-determined the possibilities for his body in the context of hip-hop history and cultural space. In addition, I emphasize how his reverence amongst hip-hop constituents suggests very complex reading practices that move beyond dominant media portrayals and simplistic gangsta rap formulas. Secondly, I examine Tarell Alvin Mc- Craney s play, The Brothers Size, a story of two brothas and a friend, who all choose different paths in life. While each has his own purpose in the world that McCraney creates, it is clear that he intentionally disallows for the good guy/bad guy construction by viewers of the play. The suspension of damage in this play offers an example of how one can use the play script as a place to imagine a complex manhood, without apology or apprehension. In The Brothers Size, we witness contradiction, possibility, and goodness, within black men as a natural fact, rather than as an exception. Most importantly, this essay explores how both Joseph and McCraney activate a black radical imaginary that does not begin with 7 Jeffrey Q. McCune, Jr. / A Good Black Manhood Is Hard To Find 127 damage, but tells an uneasy and complex narrative of black manhood. Together, these two sites of black male performance offer a place where a good black manhood might be found. But, more importantly, the authors of these texts encourage new reading practices that move us away from canonical prejudices toward more complex personhood challenging us to reorient ourselves toward new, complex (de)scripts for black men. TUPAC SHAKUR: THUG-LOVER-INTELLECTUAL PARADOX? In many ways, hip-hop has become the loudspeaker for what constitutes black masculinity worldwide. While it is clearly not the only source of black male representation, it has become a space that, for many, projects the ideals, realities, and complexities of black manhood. Almost 15 years after his death, Tupac Shakur remains a Christ-like figure within the world of hip-hop, forever offering an instructive narrative on the complexities of rap, representation, and racialized gender performance. Indeed, Tupac would be best framed as rapper, actor, poet, and activist a fuller capsulation of his artistic genius, intellectual offerings, and living complexity. He was probably the most Janus-like figure in hip-hop during the nineties, illustrating multiple sides that often were congruent, contradictory, and controversial. Often labeled as a gangsta rapper a title that overdetermined his career and his death he proved to be so much more than this. Derek Imawoto (2003) suggests that Tupac molded a gangster-thug image after being taunted as a kid about being artsy and a pretty boy (p. 45). I argue here that these features coexisted to construct Tupac s appealing aesthetic. Rather than contradict or confuse his later performance of thugdom, it enhanced the thug-image. Here, I suggest that the thug that Tupac manufactured was informed by a complex manhood, which allowed for duality, multiplicity, and contradiction to live in one body. His version of a thug, while committed to a hardness that responded to concrete jungles, also needed a hug. Indeed, Tupac appropriated the term thug in ways that would give him commercial and cultural traction; however, his version of this iconographic demon of the streets, attempted to undo the simplistic descriptor and carve a new space for thugdom that moved beyond deviance and criminality. Still, as Charise Cheney (2005) suggests, the transformation of gangsta rap proved that this race/gender performance was a dangerous identity politic (p. 289). Consequently, the advent of a certain style of gangster rap that was adorned with violence and virility, instead of its persistent cultural critique and outrage, reshaped the image and frame within which Tupac and others like him would be understood. 8 128 SPECTRUM 1.1 I do not make the previous supposition to suggest that Tupac did not participate in the evils in which he critiqued. However, I agree with what Robin Kelley (1994) so astutely recognizes as the complex participation of black men in problematic acts, guided by a (mis)understanding of manhood largely informed by what the larger society deems as the price of being baaad (p. 187). Kelley calls back to the use of bad as being at once good and evil, popular and problematic. Unfortunately, the duality is often lost and flattened by the over-determined value and emphasis given to the construction of gangsta rap as quintessentially BAD. Reading with this lens that of the viewer who understands gangster rap on singular terms enables interpretations of Tupac as only a part of some deviant-thug genealogy. For example, Albert Watson s (1991) portrait, Tupac Shakur, is often read as an image that encapsulates Tupac s essence. This image, which was used to promote the gangster film Juice (1992), shows Tupac in a hooded jacket holding a small pistol while gazing directly at the camera. While I am not interested in doing a close reading here, I am interested in how the reading and treatment of this image has been given a default status that hinders complex interpretation. In other words, Watson s portrait alone does not offer a complicated reading, but rather becomes a stand-alone representation that problematically converses with preconceived notions of Tupac as gangster. In his book, Constructing the Black Masculine, Maurice Wallace (2002) takes up this emblematic photograph as an example of Watson s photographic studies in fetishism (p. 22). While I agree with this assessment, I also agree that the (mis)use of this photograph as a representative artifact also engages in a different sort of fetishism the fascination of the reading public with unambiguous imaging. Consequently, Watson s Tupac is what W. J.T. Mitchell (1995) calls the metapicture a representation of a representation (p. 78), which seems to overdetermine what Tupac Shakur is and gets to be. This image of Watson free-standing without any accompaniment disallows for a reading of Tupac beyond the gaze of deviance, limiting the scope of what might be there. No other record of Tupac s legacy explored the complexity of his manhood more than Jamal Joseph s collage-like book collection titled, Tupac Shakur Legacy (2006). This pastiche resists creating a metapicture or metanarrative, but commits to becoming a multi-genre rerouting of Tupac s image and ideology. As I opened the text, I was almost overwhelmed by the removable reproductions of handwritten lyrics, notebook pages, and other personal memorabilia that often fell out as I turned from page to page. Images of Tupac as student at Baltimore School of the Arts, juxtaposed with images of him posed in masculine bravado on Baltimore streets. Tupac suited up, tattoo-exposed, and pre-adolescent in form. Diverse images intermixed, juxtaposed, and representative of not only his evolution, 9 Jeffrey Q. McCune, Jr. / A Good Black Manhood Is Hard To Find 129 but also his extremely complex subjectivity. What is most evident in this collection is that Joseph approached this creative project moving away from the damage-centered rhetoric that has historically accompanied Tupac Shakur and emphasized the rich tapestry that imbued his life and his meaning. In turn, he teaches us how to read his text for all that might be there both within the collection and Tupac himself. The first line in the Tupac Shakur Legacy collection begins, Tupac was born in prison before he left the womb (p. 6). Joseph, aware of how Tupac s body had been treated historically, uses the truth of his birth as an apropos metaphor for the larger imprisoning discourse that would regulate his image and his life. Indeed, Joseph in his artistic craft moves away from such framing, giving us an opportunity to liberate through our gaze rather than imprison. Beginning the collection with a color photograph of a post-adolescent Tupac sitting outside the driver s seat of a vehicle, while his mother/activist Afeni Shakur leans against the car while wrapping her arm around his shoulder, paints a more intimate picture. Tupac and his mother are captured smiling, indicative of mother-son love, posing an awareness of the significance of this familial representation. Here, we are introduced to an alternative to the prison product narrative. Rather than allowing the carceral structure of prison to determine meaning, Joseph uses Tupac to illustrate how desolate situations can produce multiple outcomes. It is his integral relationship to his mother that produced the song, Dear Momma (1995). In this song Tupac professed, I finally understand for a woman it ain t easy introducing what I arguably would call a feminist enlightening. While he always struggled through his own misogyny, there were clear signs that Tupac possessed a keen awareness of women s struggle, potential, and body politics ( Brenda Had a Baby, 1991). Joseph allows for the coexistence of these representations, in a way that fosters a more complex understanding of Tupac, as well as black manhood more generally. One might presume that being born in the context of prison encouraged a certain bond between Tupac and Afeni, which made itself most evident within the aforementioned image. In fact, Joseph suggests in the juxtaposed written text that being a child of a revolutionary Black Panther Party member meant that Tupac, came into the world fighting (2006, p. 6). However, I would confer here with Kobena Mercer (1986) as he quipped, Black masculinity is a key site of ideology, where a major contest of competing forces gets played out (p. 164). Therefore, the black male subject is always fighting the history of discourses that precede him, surround him, and even exist posthumously. Yet, this fight in which Tupac and others are engaged is so much more than the turf wars of East Coast vs. West Coast of which we became familiar in the 1990s but rather, it is a battle 10 130 SPECTRUM 1.1 over representation, the gaze. Which Tupac would we see? Rapper? Poet? Son? Actor? Scholar? Joseph, through his medley-like homage in print, attempts to allow all of this to coexist without forcing a choice that would ultimately deplete Tupac s life narrative of its richness. Here, I would like to suggest that the crafting of Tupac s image, the diversity of his body of texts/music constructed an exemplar of the rich fabric of black masculinity that I am suggesting is understated and too often misread. As I move through Jamal Joseph s Tupac Shakur Legacy, we are encouraged to read and interpret many poses throughout the book. The photo-journal aspects alone chronicle Tupac s development into superstardom and his development into his own versions of manhood. However, the development of these photographs pointed toward the idea of cool poses, rather than a singular cool pose. They show a range of affiliations, rather than an affiliation with one singular style of thugdom. By no means is Tupac sainted within Joseph s text or this essay, but rather he is humanized given multiple meanings that allow for multiple possibilities. So often the looking-at of blackness has been understood as always preoccupied with deviance. Still, however, there is evidence that there are ways we can look that engage in what might be called an oppositional gaze (hooks, 1992, p. 116). I would like to suggest, through this turn to Jamal Joseph s collection, that there are ways to confound the operative gaze, to give the familiar stereotypes or scripts a foreign look, which may discourage easy assessments. In other words, rather than allowing stereotypes to have gravitas to transform black men into problems, intentional structural arrangements in representation can problematize our viewing practices. As Joseph continues through the text we see him pushing us the readers of the poems, images, and texts to understand Tupac not only as a complex artist, but also as a complex person. Tupac s story, in Joseph s artistic articulation, is still unfolding through the discourses we construct. Joseph has carved a rich discourse in pastiche allowing us to glimpse at the multiple parts of Tupac s career. As quickly as one may wish to mark Tupac in this collection, the next page reminds us that those very markings are ephemeral, elastic, even dead. Nonetheless, the metanarrative surrounding Tupac s career is that of thug. However, what I wish to posit here is that it is a grave oversight to commit his other performances to periphery rather than central, or essential. If we change our reading practices examining Tupac in his totality we arrive at a richer meaning of his position both as performer and as hip-hop s loved martyr. The success of Tupac and his esteemed position as one of the few princes of hiphop signals something good about hip-hop culture that often goes unspoken. 11 Jeffrey Q. McCune, Jr. / A Good Black Manhood Is Hard To Find 131 While many have positioned hip-hop as a site of cultural debris where privilege is given to the vile and the violent the reverence of Tupac and others like him suggests something different. As a cultural space hip-hop does not simply valorize black men acting out, but recognizes hip-hop masculinity as a briccolage rather than as a singular bravado. Is it possible that the complexity, duality, and multifarious nature of performers give much of hip-hop traction? In lieu of technological advances and the circulation of multiple narratives quickly readers of images and performance have to enact greater distrust and scrutiny. While my conversation here hinges on the idea that black masculinity in representation suffers from grotesque reduction, it is as imperative to account for how understandings of public readership may also be ridden with trouble. Like Joseph s arrangement, we must be willing to witness and celebrate the multi-layered spectacles that are black men in the public sphere and disallow for their write-offs as bad black men. While there may appear to be a dominant gaze that criminalizes and demonizes such men as Tupac, there are spectators who combat these narrow framings, acting as an already consciousraising cadre who understands these men as more than the frame. As we begin to produce more complex constructions, commit to more complex reading, and care more about black men as wholes rather than parts, we better activate a critical gaze that can arrive at a good black manhood, containing multitudes. ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL: CONSTRUCTING AN ALTERNATE MASCULINE UNIVERSE Performance is a site where multiple bodies on stage can contest our spectatoral tendencies to have unifocal vision. In what he calls the brother/sister plays, Tarell Alvin McCraney chronicles contemporary black experiences, while drawing from elements of ancient West African tradition (Yoruba cosmology). Through a poetic, somewhat staccato tone and a highly minimalist aesthetic, he forces his readers to not only understand the beauty and complexity of blackness, but also allows them to craft their own imagining within the almost barren set on which he plants diverse black bodies. In one of his first plays to be publicly recognized, The Brothers Size (2007), he introduces the world of three black men Ogun Size, Oshoosi (pronounced O-Choose-See) Size, and. In this play, McCraney carves out a space for rich, complex black masculinities through the use of new dramatic language, an emphasis on brother-ness, and a small-scale set that allows for spectator s to activate their own imaginings. Like August Wilson, McCraney decenters singular characters by dramatizing communities of black men to depict their various phases of

The representation of groundwater dynamics in land surface models has received considerable attention in recent years. Most studies have found that soil moisture increases after adding a groundwater component because of the additional supply of water to the root zone. However, the effect of groundwater on land surface hydrologic memory (persistence) has not been explored thoroughly. In this study we investigate the effect of water table dynamics on National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Land Model hydrologic simulations in terms of land surface hydrologic memory. Unlike soil water or evapotranspiration, results show that land surface hydrologic memory does not always increase after adding a groundwater component. In regions where the water table level is intermediate, land surface hydrologic memory can even decrease, which occurs when soil moisture and capillary rise from groundwater are not in phase with each other. Further, we explore the hypothesis that in addition to atmospheric forcing, groundwater variations may also play an important role in affecting land surface hydrologic memory. Analyses show that feedbacks of groundwater on land surface hydrologic memory can be positive, negative, or neutral, depending on water table dynamics. In regions where the water table is shallow, the damping process of soil moisture variations by groundwater is not significant, and soil moisture variations are mostly controlled by random noise from atmospheric forcing. In contrast, in regions where the water table is very deep, capillary fluxes from groundwater are small, having limited potential to affect soil moisture variations. Therefore, a positive feedback of groundwater to land surface hydrologic memory is observed in a transition zone between deep and shallow water tables, where capillary fluxes act as a buffer by reducing high-frequency soil moisture variations resulting in longer land surface hydrologic memory. The relationship between soil moisture and precipitation depends on both precipitation frequency and the time scale of soil moisture retention [Wei et al., 2008]. Delworth and Manabe [1988, 1989] and Manabe and Delworth found that temporal variations of soil moisture yield seasonal-to-interannual variability in the evaporation fluxes. Amenu et al. showed that interannual (annual) modes of climate variation impact deeper (upper) layer soil moisture. The variance of soil moisture with respect to atmospheric precipitation shows a lag of 2–3 months [Vinnikov et al., 1996; Entin et al., 2000], and the long-term (9 years) precipitation signal has strong covariability with soil moisture in the central and western United States [Castro et al., 2009]. Several studies have shown that deeper soil layers retain longer memory of precipitation anomalies than surface layers [e.g., Liu and Avissar, 1999a, 1999b; Wu et al., 2002a; Wu and Dickinson, 2004; Amenu et al., 2005]. Chen and Kumar showed that soil moisture storage has a significant influence on modulating the effects of climate variability on terrestrial hydrologic processes, i.e., stream flow. Through model simulation, Güntner et al. indicate that groundwater tends to have a larger contribution to the interannual mode of total water storage variations than to seasonal variations because of longer memory in groundwater aquifers. In addition, in a case study of Illinois, Yeh et al. have shown that both groundwater storage change and groundwater runoff are significant terms in the monthly water balance for shallow water table areas in humid climates. In fact, groundwater storage change variations in Illinois have the same magnitude as the soil moisture storage changes [Yeh et al., 1998; Rodell and Famiglietti, 2001]. An analytical framework has also been used to study the importance of a shallow water table to bare soil evaporation [Ridolfi et al., 2008] and ecosystem function [Laio et al., 2009]. Yuan et al. and Jiang et al. have shown that incorporating groundwater dynamics into a regional atmospheric model can improve precipitation simulations in the East Asian monsoon area and the central United States, respectively. In addition, the high sensitivity of simulated terrestrial water storage in LSMs to selected parameter sets can be reduced with the inclusion of a groundwater representation [Gulden et al., 2007]. Bierkens and van den Hurk have also demonstrated that groundwater convergence can impact the persistence of multiyear precipitation anomalies. Thus, deeper soil moisture and groundwater may play an even more important role in affecting climate because of their longer time scale memory relative to surface soil moisture. A critical depth of the water table exists where the groundwater can significantly affect the surface energy budget and evapotranspiration [Famiglietti and Wood, 1994, 1995; Kollet and Maxwell, 2008]. However, the effect of groundwater on land surface hydrologic memory has not been explored thoroughly. Does a critical zone exist where water table dynamics affect land surface hydrologic memory? Understanding the effects of groundwater on land surface hydrologic memory processes can help better quantify land-atmosphere interactions and climate feedbacks. In this study we investigate the effect of water table dynamics on land surface hydrologic memory using the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Land Model (CLM 3.5, Oleson et al. ). Model experiments and sensitivity tests are conducted to identify impacts of groundwater on land surface hydrologic memory, while power spectrum analyses are utilized to demonstrate the effect of groundwater on high-frequency temporal soil moisture variations. 2. Model, Experiment Setup, and Land Surface Hydrologic Memory where q [mm/s] is the soil water flux (negative upward), k [mm/s] is the hydraulic conductivity, ψ [mm] is the hydraulic potential, and z [mm] is the depth between the water table and the soil layer. The hydraulic potential can be separated into soil water potential (ψm) and gravitational potential (ψg). The reference level is in the soil surface, so ψg is equal to the depth (−z). In the previous version of the CLM (CLM 3.0), the lower boundary condition at the bottom of the lowest soil layer was universally prescribed as the gravity drainage flux (qg, drainage equal to the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity), as shown below: Compared to soil water flux computations in the CLM 3.0, the most significant modification of adding an unconfined aquifer model to the CLM 3.5 is the extra source of water from the groundwater. The water table is interactively linked to soil moisture model through the exchange of groundwater recharge (i.e., soil drainage flux) and capillary rise at the bottom of the soil column. The capillary flux (qm) can be described as follows: To explore the impact of groundwater on land surface hydrologic memory, we conduct two experiments: first, the default CLM 3.5 is used (with the groundwater component, hereafter called GW); second, the capillary rise (qm) is turned off (only the gravity drainage flux (qg) is allowed, hereafter called NO-GW). The same atmospheric forcing drives the two simulations with the same vegetation and soil types. When the capillary flux is activated, soil moisture will be affected. The modified soil moisture will then change the values of k and ψm, which will further affect the capillary flux according to equation (3) and the associated soil moisture. These interactions are initiated by the activated capillary flux in the GW run, which does not exist in the NO-GW run. Therefore, when compared to results without these interactions, the difference between the two simulations is attributed to the presence of groundwater. Niu et al. showed that the CLM usually needs to spin up for more than 250 years in order to obtain an equilibrium water table depth in arid regions. We found such a long spin-up to be computationally taxing at the global scale and adopted an efficient regression approach instead. In this approach, exponential decay functions are used to fit the time series of the first 100 years of water table depths at each model grid. An equilibrium water table depth is defined as the asymptote of the exponential decay function, greatly shortening a potentially far longer spin-up period. The equilibrium water table depths are saved as the initial conditions and used to initialize the model groundwater for the two 27 year experiments (1980–2006). After the equilibrium water table depth is found by the fitting approach, vertical soil moisture profiles can be determined from the soil moisture characteristic relationships by Brooks and Corey : where θ [ ] is the soil moisture content, θr [ ] is the residual moisture content, θs [ ] is the soil moisture content at saturation (i.e., porosity), ψcf (mm) is the depth of the capillary fringe, and B [ ] is the pore size distribution index. The characteristic relationship has been adopted by previous studies [e.g., Sivapalan et al., 1987; Famiglietti and Wood, 1991] to estimate soil moisture under equilibrium conditions. When using the above equilibrium states as the initial conditions, 30 spin-up years, all with climatological (seasonal average from 1980 to 2008) forcing, are superimposed before the beginning of the 27 year (1980–2006) simulation in order to adjust the uncertain vertical soil moisture profile by using the Brooks and Corey relationship. The model is then run at 1 × 1 degree for the continental United States using atmospheric forcing from the Global Land Data Assimilation System [Rodell et al., 2004]. 2.2. Land Surface Hydrologic Memory Several approaches can be used to measure land surface hydrologic memory (persistence), e.g., the value of the one-month-lag autocorrelation coefficient [e.g., Delworth and Manabe, 1988; Liu and Avissar, 1999a; Wu and Dickinson, 2004] or using daily soil moisture data to estimate the time (in days) required for the lagged autocorrelation coefficients to decay to some certain criteria [Dirmeyer et al., 2009]. Since the decay time scales are more representative than the value of correlation coefficients (A. Schlosser, personal communication), in this study, daily soil moisture output from 1980 to 2006 is used to compute the land surface hydrologic memory at each grid. Memory is defined as the number of days (τ) that the lagged autocorrelation coefficient of a soil moisture anomaly takes to decay to 1/e at a model grid cell. The value, τ, provides a single parametric measurement of memory for soil moisture. Note that in this study, we are interested in the monthly to subseasonal variability: memory greater than 90 days is assumed equal to 90 days. A time series of soil moisture anomalies are generated for each model grid by removing its climatological (27 year) mean from the daily time series. In CLM 3.5 there are 10 soil layers with increasing thickness from 0 to 3.43 m below the surface. In wet regions, the water table depth can be as shallow as 1 m, e.g., in the lower Mississippi River basin [Fan et al., 2007], and hence located within the soil layers of the model. In order not to include the shallow groundwater while computing land surface hydrologic memory, only the near surface (0–50 cm) soil moisture data are used. The upper 50 cm is represented as layers 1 to 6 in the CLM 3.5, and the water table rarely reached this height in the regions selected for detailed analysis (see below). We tested shallower depths (30 cm, 15 cm, and 7.5 cm), and memory results were found to be insensitive to these depth changes. 3.1. Asymmetric Responses of Land Surface Hydrologic Memory Figure 1 shows the differences between the GW and NO-GW runs for upper layer (0–50 cm) soil moisture (volumetric soil water content). It indicates that in the case of GW, soil moisture increases for the continental United States because of the additional groundwater supply to the root zone. The result is consistent with Fan et al. and Niu et al. , who showed that the soil moisture increases more in the eastern than in the western United States. A clear transition zone in the southern central United States is shown inside the white outlined box in Figure 1. This region is located close to a “hot spot,” defined by Koster et al. as a transition zone between wet and dry climates, where the atmosphere and land surface are strongly coupled. Hence hot spot regions are of particular importance in land surface hydrologic memory processes and provide an important testing ground to study the impacts of groundwater on land surface hydrologic memory. Figure 2 shows the difference in land surface hydrologic memory as persistence in days for the boxed region in Figure 1. Regions with negative (positive) values mean that the presence of groundwater has decreased (increased) land surface hydrologic memory as shown in zone 2 (zone 3). Zone 1 represents the area where groundwater has not changed land surface hydrologic memory. Figures 1 and 2 show that although the soil moisture increases, the GW run does not always lead to systematic increases in land surface hydrologic memory relative to the NO-GW run. Rather, a clearly asymmetric response of land surface hydrologic memory can be seen in Figure 2 along the zonal gradient from 105°W to 90°W. In the following sections we will focus on this region to explore what causes the asymmetric response, including why soil moisture increases with groundwater but not land surface hydrologic memory. 3.2. Relationships Between Water Table Depth and Land Surface Hydrologic Memory The only difference between the two experiments (GW and NO-GW) is that the capillary flux is activated in the GW run, which allows for exchanges and feedbacks between groundwater and soil moisture. Figure 3a is the monthly time series of simulated capillary flux anomalies (the average seasonal climatology is removed) for the GW run for the three black outlined boxes in Figure 2. The capillary fluxes of the three regions exhibit significantly different temporal behavior, e.g., successively higher temporal variations can be observed from zone 1 to zone 3. The regions where groundwater increases (decreases) land surface hydrologic memory displays higher (smaller) temporal variance (Figures 3a and 3b). Famiglietti showed that deep water tables yield smaller capillary fluxes. Figures 3b and 3c further indicate that water table depth can affect capillary fluxes in the frequency domain, e.g., a deep water table has fewer high-frequency signals of capillary flux. Therefore, not only does the mean water table depth affect the magnitude of capillary flux, but the water table can also affect the time scale of the flux, resulting in different responses of land surface hydrologic memory. Notice that the capillary flux anomalies have higher-frequency signals than the water table does (Figures 3a and 3c). The capillary flux is described in equation (3) in terms of three parameters: k, ψm, and z (the distance between the unsaturated and saturated layers). Hydraulic conductivity (k) and ψm are a function of soil moisture, resulting in a higher frequency of the capillary flux than that of the water table. Figure 4a shows the spatial distribution of mean (1980–2006) water table depth for the boxed region in Figure 1. A strong contrast between water table depths in the eastern and western part of the region is evident. This gradient is also apparent when considering the meridional mean (Figure 4b). It is mostly due to climate, i.e., precipitation is lower in the west and progressively increases to the east (not shown here). Figure 4c shows the land surface hydrologic memory difference between the two experiments. The asymmetric responses can be seen quite clearly in the meridional mean as well (Figure 4d). In general, no significant difference of land surface hydrologic memory between the two experiments is observed in the very shallow water table region, i.e., at 90°W. However, moving west, groundwater has increased land surface hydrologic memory with an increase in water table depth until the water table is deeper than 2 m (at 95°W). In other words, groundwater provides a positive contribution to land surface hydrologic memory. When the water table is between 2 and 5 m (95°W–100°W), a negative feedback loop develops, meaning that an increase in water table depth actually produces less memory than the shallower groundwater does. After the water table depth exceeds 5 m, groundwater has progressively lost its influence on land surface hydrologic memory, and no significant difference of land surface hydrologic memory between the two runs is observed in the deep water table region (at 105°W). The different behaviors of the meridional mean in Figures 4b and 4d indicate a nonlinear relationship between groundwater and the associated changed land surface hydrologic memory. The more detailed features of this relationship can be seen in Figure 5, in which water table depth is plotted versus the land surface hydrologic memory differences at each grid in the boxed region in Figure 1. The results shown in Figure 5 reflect the nonlinear relationship between water table depth and memory. Greater memory (i.e., positive memory difference) and strong correlations with water table depth are observed when the water table is located between 1.6 and 3 m. In this range, groundwater has increased land surface hydrologic memory. Moreover, as water table depth continues to increase, groundwater actually has decreased land surface hydrologic memory, and memory is reduced the most at about 4–5 m, suggesting a negative feedback of groundwater. When water table depth is deeper than 6 m, no significant differences of land surface hydrologic memory are observed between the two experiments, since the groundwater and soil moisture are decoupled [Lo et al., 2008]. In addition, the double triangle pattern in Figure 5 indicates that groundwater has both positive and negative impacts on land surface hydrologic memory when water table depth varies from near surface to deeper layers. In fact, several studies [e.g., Famiglietti and Wood, 1994, 1995; Anyah et al., 2008] have reported on the nonlinear relationships between the water table depth and hydrologic fluxes (e.g., runoff and transpiration). On the other hand, Maxwell and Kollet have indicated that a strong relationship between water table depth and latent heat flux can be found between water table depth of 2 and 5 m, which has been identified as the critical zone in which the groundwater and soil moisture are strongly coupled [Kollet and Maxwell, 2008]. Vervoort and Van der Zee have also shown that capillary fluxes from groundwater can only influence soil moisture within a certain range of water table depths. The results shown in Figure 5 further underscore the importance of nonlinear responses of groundwater in land surface hydrologic memory and thus have important applications for groundwater-surface water interactions. We have also conducted sensitivity tests to explore the impacts of different equilibrium water table depths on the results of Figure 5. Three more simulations are performed, i.e., with the equilibrium water table depth at 1 m, 2 m, and 5 m deeper than that of the GW run. Sensitivity tests (not shown here) indicate that the double triangle pattern of Figure 5 for the 1980–2006 simulations still exists although the exact values of the critical water table depths, where groundwater has significantly affected land surface hydrologic memory, are different. Because an extra 30 spin-up years are applied in the model run, when using the equilibrium states (water table depths and soil moisture profiles) as the initial conditions, the impact of setting different equilibrium states on the results is minimized. 3.3. Power Spectral Analysis: Damping Processes in Soil Moisture Variations Wu et al. [2002a] used power spectral analysis to show that deeper soil layers exhibit more low-frequency signals because the high-frequency (2–3 months) signals of surface moisture variations have been damped. In other words, progressively deeper soil layers act as low-pass filters, resulting in increasing memory with soil depth [Wu et al., 2002a, 2002b]. Malamud and Turcotte have also shown that certain time series, e.g., self-affine time series, have a power law dependence of spectral density on data frequency, which can be used to quantify memory. Similar to Wu et al. [2002a], power spectral analyses are utilized in this study to show changes of soil moisture variations in the frequency domain and to demonstrate that an increase of land surface hydrologic memory corresponds to a reduction in high-frequency signals. The spectral densities are normalized by their standard deviations over the entire time series. In order to emphasize spectral characteristics in the high-frequency domain, the mean seasonal cycle of the soil moisture time series has been removed. In this study, we will focus on the changes of high-frequency signals in soil moisture, which occurs between 30 and 90 days in the spectral domain. Figure 6 shows the power spectral analysis of spatially averaged soil moisture for each of the three outlined boxes in Figure 2, for the two experiments. The power densities of soil moisture have significantly different spectral characteristics in each zone. Zone 1 represents the deep water table region to the west of the study domain, where groundwater has no significant impacts on land surface hydrologic memory as can been seen in Figure 4d; zone 2 is where water table depth varies from 3 to 5 m, where land surface hydrologic memory is reduced by groundwater; and zone 3 is the region where groundwater has increased land surface hydrologic memory. In Figure 6a, the spectral power density shows no difference between the two experiments, indicating no significant impact from groundwater on soil moisture temporal variations. A decrease in spectral power density indicates that high-frequency signals of soil moisture are reduced in the GW run, i.e., in Figure 6c, causing higher land surface hydrologic memory as seen in Figure 4d. In contrast, Figure 6b shows that high-frequency signals of soil moisture increase, resulting in a decrease in land surface hydrologic memory after adding groundwater. Wu et al. [2002a] found that the redness of the soil moisture spectrum increases with soil depth, which means that for deeper soil layers, the lower-frequency (interannual) spectrum has a larger power density, and the higher-frequency (monthly to seasonal) spectrum has a lower power density. Figure 6 indicates that under certain circumstances, groundwater aquifers can also act as low-pass filters to reduce high-frequency signals in the soil moisture variations, resulting in a longer land surface hydrologic memory. On the other hand, the groundwater can also perturb soil moisture variations, resulting in less land surface hydrologic memory. 4. Sensitivity Tests for Water Table Dynamics and Memory Differences In Figure 5, it is evident that if the water table is too deep (deeper than 6 m), groundwater and soil moisture are decoupled, and groundwater has no influence on land surface hydrologic memory. When the water table is between 6 and 3 m, groundwater begins to decrease land surface hydrologic memory. If the water table is between 3 and 1.6 m, groundwater can increase land surface hydrologic memory. In addition, different soil parameters or land types may also cause asymmetric memory behavior like that shown in Figure 5. For example, Teuling and Troch noted the significant impact of vegetation and soil type on soil moisture patterns. It is important to note that results presented here depend primarily on water table dynamics with a nonlinear relationship. As such, sensitivity tests performed in each location with the same soil parameters and land types can reveal whether changes in water table depth alone can affect land surface hydrologic memory. Such tests can isolate the dependence of the changed land surface hydrologic memory to the vegetation and soil types since the tests are conducted at the same location. Moreover, while our focus in this study is the difference between the GW and NO-GW runs, effects from atmospheric forcing can be eliminated (they are identical for both runs). A series of sensitivity tests are conducted on the basis of Figure 7, a schematic plot that is modified from Figure 4d. Three locations are chosen for analysis: point A at 105°W, where groundwater and soil moisture are decoupled; and point B at 99°W (point C at 95°W), where groundwater has most decreased (increased) land surface hydrologic memory. We hypothesize that as the water table becomes shallower at the decoupled point, land surface hydrologic memory will decrease, as shown by the gray arrows in Figure 7. However, the memory will not be influenced if the water table depth becomes deeper. For the point in which groundwater has most decreased (increased) land surface hydrologic memory, the memory should increase (decrease) whether the water table depth becomes shallower or deeper. Water table dynamics are significantly influenced by climate, i.e., precipitation and groundwater recharge. Hence, in order to study the sensitivity of land surface hydrologic memory to changes in water table depth, we perturb the precipitation rate from 10% to 500% of the original forcing for each time step at each location and explore how the climate-driven water table depth impacts memory. Since for each point the soil parameters and land types are the same, changes of land surface hydrologic memory can only be attributed to water table dynamics. Figure 8 indicates that when the mean water table depth for each location is altered in the model, land surface hydrologic memory responds as previously discussed and shown in Figures 4d and 5. Therefore, it can be concluded that the asymmetric response of land surface hydrologic memory is primarily due to the differences in water table dynamics at each location. While soil and vegetation type also impact groundwater levels, compared to climate-driven water table depth, both the soil and vegetation types have less of an impact. In this section, we discuss mechanisms of changing land surface hydrologic memory in different zones. The asymmetric responses of memory over a larger extent (the whole continental United States) are also presented. 5.1. Mechanism of Changing Memory Figure 9 is the scatter plot of daily capillary flux anomalies versus soil moisture anomalies of the GW run from 1980 to 2006 for the three zones, which highlights the mechanisms of groundwater impacts on land surface hydrologic memory. In zone 3 (red dots), Figure 9 shows that soil moisture changes closely follow capillary flux changes with a positive relationship. In other words, soil moisture and capillary fluxes are in phase with each other, which can prolong the duration of soil moisture anomalies. The high (low) soil moisture with higher (lower) capillary fluxes causes soil moisture to remain at high (low) values, leading to a general increase of memory of the surface soil moisture. That is, groundwater has a positive impact on land surface hydrologic memory. However, this is not the case in zone 2, in which the capillary flux anomalies vary from negative to positive with either positive or negative anomalies of soil moisture. Capillary fluxes cannot prolong the soil moisture anomalies; instead, soil moisture is perturbed by capillary fluxes, which increase the high-frequency signal of the soil moisture anomalies and thus reduce land surface hydrologic memory. Therefore, a negative feedback from groundwater on soil moisture is shown. 5.2. Asymmetric Memory Responses Over a Larger Extent Figure 10 shows scatter plots in which water table depth is plotted versus the land surface hydrologic memory difference at each grid for the whole continental United States, the southern half of the United States, and the northern half of the United States. As seen from Figure 10a, a nonlinear relationship between water table depth and land surface hydrologic memory difference still exists for the whole continental United States, but with higher noise. In general, most of those noisy points are from the northern United States as can be seen from Figure 10c. In other words, this nonlinear relationship is not globally applicable. Usually strong land-atmosphere interactions do not exist everywhere; instead, it is observed in some specific local regions, e.g., the hot-spots defined by Koster et al. . In some places where the land and atmosphere are not strongly coupled, the effects of groundwater aquifer on the atmosphere will also be eliminated or very small. Previous studies [Famiglietti and Wood, 1995; Kollet and Maxwell, 2008] have reported the nonlinear relationship between soil moisture and evapotranspiration and capillary fluxes over the transitional zones. Therefore, it is not surprising that we saw the dramatic changes of land surface hydrologic memory responses to groundwater over this tiny region (southern central United States). Land surface hydrologic memory significantly depends on soil water content. If soil moisture is significantly varied, it will have impacts on the associated memory as well. In this study, we are not attempting to demonstrate a universal linear or nonlinear relationship between groundwater and land surface hydrologic memory globally; instead, we want to show the impacts of groundwater on changing land surface hydrologic memory over the climatic transitional zone where groundwater can further affect the atmosphere and climate. Although several recent land surface modeling studies have demonstrated the importance of water table dynamics, and various groundwater parameterizations have been developed, the impact of groundwater on land surface hydrologic memory has received little attention. Previous studies [e.g., Yeh and Eltahir, 2005a, 2005b; Fan et al., 2007; Niu et al., 2007] suggested that LSMs with a groundwater representation should increase land surface hydrologic memory because the low-frequency signals from groundwater aquifers can propagate to the soil moisture in the upper layers. In this study, we find that the presence of a groundwater aquifer can either increase or decrease land surface hydrologic memory. Interactions between soil moisture and groundwater determine whether memory increases or decreases and are primarily a function of water table depth. This study reveals that when groundwater is added to the land surface model used here, if the water table depth is between 1.6 and 3 m, then capillary fluxes from the water table result in a decrease in high-frequency power density. In this depth range, capillary fluxes from the water table act as a buffer by reducing high-frequency soil moisture variations, resulting in higher land surface hydrologic memory. In contrast, an increase in high-frequency soil moisture signals (relative to the simulation without groundwater) is observed when the water table is between 3 and 5 m. Thus, an asymmetric response of land surface hydrologic memory to the presence of groundwater is noted. When the water table is very deep (>6 m), groundwater and soil moisture are basically decoupled since the capillary fluxes are almost zero. No significant differences in land surface hydrologic memory for the two experiments can be seen in this situation, even though the deeper water tables generally exhibit lower-frequency temporal depth variations. When the water table is shallow (<1.5 m), there is no damping of high-frequency signals in the soil moisture variations. Hence, no significant effect of groundwater on land surface hydrologic memory is noted. Moreover, there is a transition depth at around 3 m, in which groundwater also has no impact on land surface hydrologic memory. The double triangle pattern in Figure 5 indicates that the changed land surface hydrologic memory with water table dynamics is a transitional process rather than a step function. At about 2.2 m (4 m) deep, groundwater has increased (decreased) land surface hydrologic memory the most. Therefore, the ability of increasing land surface hydrologic memory by groundwater becomes progressively less when the water table moves from 2.2 m to 4 m. As a result, 3 meters is not the threshold depth at which groundwater suddenly switches its role in land surface hydrologic memory from a positive to a negative effect or vice versa. The contour plot in Figure 4d can also reveal this transitional process. It is worth mentioning that, first, while the exact value of the critical water table depth and the exact locations of the three zones found in this study will vary with different LSMs and groundwater models, the major findings of the nonlinear relationship between water table dynamics and land surface hydrologic memory should not vary. Moreover, simulations in a fully coupled model land-ocean-atmosphere model could yield somewhat different results with further implications for land-atmosphere interactions. Second, during the winter season, snow can dominate land surface hydrologic memory [Liu and Avissar, 1999b]. In order to isolate the impacts of groundwater on soil moisture and memory, either the seasons must be separated during analysis, or regions with little or no snow impacts should be observed. The latter was followed here, while simultaneously exploring a memory hot spot region. Third, the nonlinear response of groundwater in land surface hydrologic memory not only existed in the southern central United States, but also in a much broader area of the southern half of the United States. This study, however, is not attempting to demonstrate a universal relationship between groundwater and land surface hydrologic memory; instead, it shows the impact of groundwater on changing land surface hydrologic memory over the climatic transitional zone where groundwater can further affect the atmosphere and climate in the hot spot regions. Finally, Wu et al. [2002a] demonstrated that low-frequency spectral power density increases in deep layer soil moisture because of damping processes: amplitude-damping results in a decrease in high-frequency soil moisture variations in progressively deeper layers. This is a top-down process, but the damping process can also occur from the bottom to the top. Downward damping is due to the decrease in signal intensity; however, groundwater acts as a buffer to modify the signal intensity. For example, here we show that the low-frequency groundwater signal propagates to the upper layers via the capillary flux, which is a bottom-up process that affects soil moisture variations. This study suggests that there are considerable nonlinear relationships regarding the interactions of land surface hydrologic memory and groundwater in LSMs. As seen in Figures 4, 5, and 6, the feedback can be positive, negative, or neutral, depending on water table dynamics. A region with a negative feedback will shorten the time scale of land surface hydrologic memory. Lower land surface hydrologic memory, as pointed by Mahanama and Koster , tends to reduce the efficacy of soil moisture initialization and results in less accurate seasonal forecasts. Hence, it is important to incorporate the subsurface land hydrologic processes into LSMs and atmospheric general circulation models in order to better understand land surface hydrologic memory processes, which can help to improve weather forecasting and climate prediction on seasonal-to-interannual time scales. This research was sponsored by NOAA CPPA grant NA05OAR4310013 and the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship program NNX08AV06H.

Where Your Dreams Become Reality In case missed it, LetsRun.com co-founder Robert Johnson was named the men's distance coach at Cornell University at the end of the summer. He thus left his brother, Weldon, without a training partner and departed for Ithaca, NY. Don't think that Weldon was too devastated to lose his training partner as Weldon had learned of late that perhaps identical twins shouldn't live together after college. Plus, Weldon tends to live in fantasy land and thinks he's the defacto coach of Cornell as he speaks regularly with Robert and thus he can take credit for their success without having to do any of the work. Anyway, we get a decent amount of emails from fans of the site (and followers of the training philosophies espoused by the site) asking us about how Robert is doing in his first year of coach at Cornell. LetsRun.com also gets another group of emails from high schoolers or parents of high schoolers who have questions about the program. Thus to kill two birds with one stone, Weldon decided to interview Robert and present the interview here for everyone to have as reference. Weldon: How have things been going at Cornell? How do you I derive a great amount of satisfaction from what I do. This may sound a bit corny but the way I think about it is my job really is that of dream maker. It's my job to help people achieve that nearly impossible dream they have in the back of their head and I take that responsibility seriously. You can think of track negatively as just a stupid waste of time where you're teaching people to run around in a circle fast or you can think of it as the highest embodiment of mankind - the ability to dream and accomplish one's dreams. I mean I know that for most serious runners, running is what makes them tick. It's something they are thinking about in the back of their head consciously or subconsciously for much of their waking moments, and it's my job to help those dreams, that inspire them on a daily basis, become a reality. I mean that's pretty important. Unless they're falling in love for the first time, I'm sure it's the #1 thing on most of their minds for most of the day - the thing that's constantly floating back there, moving from the subconscious to conscious part of their brain. Weldon: What made you want to get in coaching? Was it something you were thinking about for a while? The first is I was tired of seeing just seeing incredibly talented people who were close to me - primarily yourself and my college roommate and best friend, Chris Lear of Running With The Buffaloes fame (who also was a 4:09 high school miler), being so incredibly frustrated with their running in college. I mean both you and Chris, although you both enjoyed some modest success, never came close to achieving your collegiate goals. It just seemed that you guys either ran poorly when it counted most (yourself) or didn't improve a whole lot from year to year (Chris). To see people work so hard and yet not achieve their goals made me want to do something about it. The second reason was that I knew there was a much, much better way to train. I mean having had the opportunity to train under John Kellogg in high school - where everyone got better from year to year - and always ran their best when it counted most, and having seen everyone close to me struggle at times made me come to the conclusion gradually of, "One, my god there is an awful lot of wasted talent out there, and two, John's philosophy and knowledge really is something special." Then after college when you went back to training under John and had just an absolutely magical transformation - from an unrecruited mediocre collegian with a 30:13 collegiate best (10k pr) to one of the nation's best and Olympic hopeful with a 28:10 - and I finally got healthy and popped out a 2:23 marathon under John's guidance, I almost felt like I owed it to the sport I loved to get John's knowledge out there. I mean that's what made us start the website - to spread the training gospel - although now I sort of want to keep it a secret. What are your goals for the program? On the first day of practice, I had a team meeting and talked about my vision for the program. I said the goals are the same each and every year - to win the Heps in cross-country and make nationals. However, those aren't really my goals at all for the program - that's the bare minimum starting point. I almost think it's almost an embarrassment that there are so many teams that are just happy to make it to nationals. If you're going to the show, you might as well perform well. I think the men in the Ivy League have been underachieving for far too long. It seems like the teams for the last decade have been sort of happy to get to NCAAs and come in 25th or 30th. To me that is underachievement. Just to get to NCAAs isn't all that great of an accomplishment. You need to perform well when you get there. Now, what does perform well mean? I think the winner of our conference should be in the top 10 in the country most years. I mean our league is arguably the deepest league in the country for distance running. There are a lot of strong teams. This year, we were the only conference in the land where every team was ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA regional - so the winner of the league should be pretty darn good. If you look at the women in the Ivy League, more than half of the time in the last decade, the top women's team has cracked the top 10 at NCAAs. So it's certainly doable on the men's side as well. If anything, it should be harder to do on the women's side than the men's as there are so many more scholarships to compete with on the women's side. That's my goal - to build a consistent top 10 program but I certainly won't be content to stop there. If you're a top 10 program, your goal should be to get on the podium (top 4) in a good year, then once you're on the podium, you're obviously going to shoot even higher. Now obviously the stars would have to align magically for the ultimate to happen - to win it - but I think the #1 mistake programs make is they don't aim high enough and after a few years the coach is willing to the let the guys or girls settle for mediocrity. Do you really think you can build a top 10 program in the Top 10 seems intimidating at first glance but if you actually break it down, it becomes much more doable. Do you know what the numbers 15, 81, 106, 132, and 147 have in common? That is the finishing places of this year's 10th place team (Iona) at nationals. That certainly doesn't seem unreasonable. If you have one stud getting all American and then four others in the top half - you're banging on the door for top 10. If you have a really good group, you've got a chance for the podium. Without athletic scholarships, isn't recruiting a problem? If you work at recruiting, you should be able to get talented kids. I mean distance runners tend to be pretty smart kids so a lot of them are looking to get the best education possible and Cornell is one of the top academic institutions in the country. So the #1 thing we have to offer is you can't beat the academics. Being a top school academically helps way more in recruiting than does having a few athletic scholarships. As for finances, I think people don't realize that most people can end up coming to Cornell for less money than what it would cost to go to school somewhere else on an athletic scholarship. The need-based financial aid that we offer ends up being better than an athletic scholarship for the majority of recruits, especially on the men's side as there are so few scholarships out there. So if you can get one of the best educations in the country, without breaking the bank, why wouldn't you choose Cornell? I have it a lot, lot easier than most coaches - including some of the powerhouse programs. The only thing most coaches have to offer a kid is a limited number of partial scholarships to a not so good school. Here we have unlimited number of need-based aid scholarships to one of the finest universities in the nation. It's a very advantageous situation to be in. At Cornell, you might not get the 8:45 2-miler or 4:05 miler very often, but in a very good year you maybe could bring in five 4:10-4:15 or 9:00-9:20 guys and a couple of stud half-milers. How did the cross-country season go for you? Cornell hadn't won the IC4a championship in 81 years - admittedly when we won it last it was the national championship, but now it's sort of the NIT tournament for Northeast cross-country - so it was a pretty good start for us. However, the most important thing for me personally wasn't our finish or placement in any particular race. It was just to see the training philosophy implemented on a large scale and to see it work almost exactly as I anticipated, which was reassuring to me. Can you elaborate a little bit on that? Looking back at it, I guess my only grounded fear was that of implementation. So it was satisfying to successfully implement everything, have the guys buy into the philosophy and then enjoy some success as now I've eliminated the .5% of doubt I had and realized that there are no catches. I mean I can remember my very first meeting with the guys and telling them that being successful at distance running can really be defined rather simply. Three things define success: 1) you have to stay healthy as otherwise you can't achieve any of your goals. 2) you want to run faster than you did the year before and 3) you want to run your best at the end of the season when it counts instead of at the beginning of the season. If you do those three things year in and year out, you're going to be very successful as a program. And we accomplished those goals to an amazing degree this first year. In terms of staying healthy, we were actually a little bit lucky during cross as injuries are just a part of distance running to some extent. We started the season with around 20 healthy bodies and we ended the season with 19 - the only injury that we had was a freshman got some shin splints and another guy was found to be anemic. Everyone else on the team who started the season healthy ended up getting in the best shape of their lives and running faster than they had before - man for man. The only two guys who hadn't PR'd ran PRs in their last races of the season which was rewarding as I knew they were the only two holdouts. I don't know if a lot of other teams across the country could say that - that everyone got faster and everyone stayed healthy. Lastly, we certainly ran our best at the end of the season. At the beginning of the season, we simply weren't a very good cross-country team. We got absolutely trounced in our first meet of the season by two teams who we ending up defeating rather handily in our last two meets of the season. We improved as much or more so than anyone - just not a lot of people realized it as we started a bit behind where I'd like to be but that's a bit understandable. I wasn't hired until the end of July and my top two seniors both were coming off some pretty serious injuries and didn't really get to do much over the summer and the summer is crucial to cross-country success. What about indoors? How did that go? However, indoors was an amazing time for us. We (Cornell) captured our first indoor Heptagonals championship (the Ivy League schools + Navy) in 25 years by really stepping up to the plate as a program, rising to the occasion and upsetting Princeton. So that was an amazing, amazing day - one that I'll remember for the rest of my life as it was very special to see an entire track and field team rise to the occasion on a single weekend. It's great to be able to say that you're the men's distance coach for the number one track and field program in the Ivy League currently. Contributing to the winning effort was special as coach Taylor - our head coach - has proven how quickly hard work and good coaching can change a program. This is only his 4th year at Cornell and he's taken the team from dead last the year before he got here to 1st in less than four full years. If he can do it in track that quickly, it means that it can be done in cross-country - even a little faster. Team accomplishments aside, I enjoyed indoors personally a great deal as I really enjoy working with the mid-distance guys, and indoors really belongs to the mid-d guys. We have some pretty talented mid-d guys who form a great group with a lot of synergy so it was a lot of fun to work with them and have them be successful. My top guy - a junior - just missed the school record in the 800 by .01 (although it ended up being a moot point as he got DQ'd for tripping a guy) and my best freshman broke the 22-year old freshman record in the 800. Another guy PR'd and scored in the 1,000 at conference , and my top miler PR'd and scored at conference by running 4:09, so all in all they did pretty well. Being a 10k/marathon guy myself, you might find it a bit surprising to hear me say that I think the 800 is the most exciting race in track and field. So working with the 800 guys is exciting just because of the nature of the race, but I also enjoy it because you're working with guys with a whole different set of talents. Distance wise, I'll admit I was a bit concerned that the whole indoor season I'd be worried about whether or not I was hurting my distance guys' long-term development by working them out/racing them too early, but that ended up not being the case. I think that's where the majority of programs get themselves in trouble - they burn the candle a little too hot indoors and are cooked for outdoors. I think we found a nice happy medium of where you still race indoors but do so in way a way that prepares you for better things outdoors. I didn't over-race the guys and sort of used the early races as the hard workouts to prep them for the end of indoors/beginning of outdoors, and it turned out very well as they still ran well indoors but didn't burn themselves out. My top senior came in 2nd in the 5k at conference and our DMR came through with the 3rd fastest time in school history at conference and both of those performances were instrumental in our team victory, so it was very rewarding and a lot of fun. What about the beginning of outdoors? I don't want my guys to be intimidated by anyone. I think the guys made an important statement to some of the younger guys on the team as well as to future recruits - that hey, Cornell isn't going to take a back seat to anyone unless they earn it. I'm looking forward towards the rest of outdoors. I'm hoping we'll get a couple more NCAA regional qualifiers at the Penn Relays and then the focus will shift to the conference meet as it would be great to win both indoors and outdoors. Hopefully, it's half as fun as indoors as that was amazing. It should be a real good team battle. Looking ahead to the future, it seems like Cornell will be very strong in track but how will you guys do next year in cross-country? How has the recruiting gone? We're losing four guys to graduation who at one time or another were in our top seven. Actually, all of them were in the top 5 at one point. Additionally, my top runner - a sophomore - is going to take the year off to explore some things. He's very talented and wants to really make an impact at the NCAA level so that extra year certainly will help him do that as he's probably a year away from being a real beast. When he comes back, he hopefully will be at the All-American level. So you hear that and you're probably thinking, "A rebuilding year" or "They're going to be awful". My response to that is I don't believe in rebuilding years. We have a good nucleus to work with. My two co-captains, one who will be a junior eligibility wise and the other just a sophomore, both were steady rocks this year and in our top 7 every single race. And my 4:09 miler - well I guess I should call him a 4:07 miler since he ran 3:49 for 1,500 - sort of saw a light bulb go off in his head this year near the end of cross (Editor's note: After the interview was conducted, the young sophomore dropped his 1500 time another 3 seconds to 3:46). I think now he realizes if he works hard over the summer and truly dedicates himself, that he should be a very good cross-country runner. I mean anyone that fast should be good at cross if they work at it - especially him as he was actually a two-miler early in his high school career. Plus we hopefully we'll be getting a guy back who was one of the top two or three freshman in the league last year but hasn't run all year due to a weird knee injury from a year ago. He's back to training a little now so that gives us a good nucleus of 3-4 guys to work with. Thus you're looking for a combination of 1 or 2 guys on the team currently to really step it up or for a couple of freshmen to come in and have an impact in year one. That's certainly very reasonable. I mean we've done pretty well in recruiting. There are a bunch of guys coming in - many of whom will be pretty good in a couple of years - and I expect a couple of them to come in as freshmen and challenge for a spot in the top 5 if not higher. Time will tell. A lot will depend on the summer. My favorite quote about cross-country is one I'm sure you're familiar with as our high school coach made it up, "Cross-country is a summer sport that's played out in the fall." If the guys really work their tails off, we should be fine for next year. The goals remain the same - to win the conference and go to NCAAs. Realistically, I'd put the state of our cross program as the following. Next year, I'd hope to make NCAAs. In two years, I expect to make NCAAs and will be very upset if we don't make it as we'll get our top guy from this year back and we should be a real force. If we don't make it the year after that, when all of the talented young guys I have on the team now are seniors, then I'll offer coach Taylor my resignation. Maybe I'm on crack, but that's the year I dream about getting top 10 for the first time. I think one of the biggest problems with this world is that far too many people are afraid of failure. They don't set ambitious goals as they are afraid they might fail and as a result they never push themselves and never end up accomplishing anything. I'm not one of those people. I told the guys in our first meeting, "If I'm going to be a collegiate distance coach, I'm going to be a good one - and by good I mean one of the nation's best. If not, then I'll just go use my Princeton economics degree, make a lot of money and be miserable working some business job I don't like." I mean it would be far too easy for me to say, "Oh I didn't get hired until the end of the summer so I was behind on recruiting so this year doesn't count" and push everything back a couple of years. But that's not acceptable. I mean the one word of advice you gave me when I took the job was, "Robert, please don't have a five year plan. I'm sick of hearing about schools with continuos five year plans." I agree 100%. I'm trying to instill a sense of urgency to get things done; otherwise, people become complacent and never accomplish anything. As Robert Kennedy once said, "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." We currently have a very small but good young nucleus of guys to work with at Cornell. In the years to come, I'm going to have a lot more to work with thanks to recruiting, which I work very hard at. But you only need to have 5 guys to be successful in cross, so if things go well for us next year, we should be a good team. It's just that we don't have a lot of room for error. We need to hit close to 100%, whereas a lot of teams tend to hit less than 50%. Is there anything about coaching that you don't like? Recruiting is something I actually enjoy as you get to talk to people about running but filling out paperwork isn't my cup of tea. The other aspect I don't like is all of the b.s. that goes on between coaches. I mean it's unbelievable how much people lie to get someone into a decent heat in a meet. I mean you take someone's PR, drop it by 5 seconds and they still end up in 8th heat of a race. It's ridiculous. There was a race the other day where guys hadn't run within 25 seconds of my guy's PR in the steeplechase and yet they ended up in the first heat but my guy was in the second. Another of my guys got rejected from the Penn Relays 5k, yet he'd most likely battle for the win in the 2nd heat of the 5k. If anything, he should be in the elite section and yet he gets rejected and now we have to appeal the decision. The only other aspect that sucks is having to tell someone they're not getting into the school or having them tell you they aren't coming, but hopefully you can sort of do some pre-selection and avoid too many recruiting situations that progress to that point. If I'm doing my job correctly, I shouldn't have to do that. We constantly are getting asked here at LetsRun.com for advice from high schoolers on what they should be doing to become successful distance runners. What advice would you give them? So my general advice is to build a base by doing lots of relaxed running with 1-2 days of strides and 1-2 days of light threshold running. Don't expect yourself to be any good until you've done that for at least 6 months - maybe even a year. Run more. There are a ton of kids who come to college just totally unprepared for the increased workload and they likely end up getting hurt freshman year. I don't know what these high school programs are doing as all the other sports tend to practice for an hour or two a day, but the vast majority of high school distance runners do nothing close to that amount of work. I mean if you just get yourself where you run about an hour a day on average - not every day, just on average - that ends up being close to 60 miles a week. But it seems like a ton of senior distance runners aren't even close to that, yet they come to college and try to train like collegians and they end up getting themselves hurt. Surprise, surprise. So I'd say try to get yourself to where you can run close to an hour on a lot of days and get your long run up to 1:30. However, that being said, I think the most important thing I can say about building up your mileage is to BE PATIENT!!! It may take you a couple of years to get to that level. One huge mistake that high school runners make is they jump their mileage up suddenly. Gradually build it up. I was constantly injured in high school as I wouldn't run over the summer and then I wanted to star for three months in the fall. There are no short cuts. Running isn't a three- or six-month sport. It takes a year-round commitment. If you can only run 30 miles a week without getting injured, then run that amount for 6 months and then think about increasing it. After you have an injury free block of 3 or 6 months, you'll likely be able to run a bit more. Having said that, I don't necessarily think young runners need to be running year round in 7th, 8th grade, even 9th grade. Do other sports, have fun. If you're good in 9th grade at track, then maybe think about giving up your other sports and doing it year round in 10th grade. But it's got to be fun and something you enjoy. If you don't enjoy running, then don't do it, as the sport requires just too much work for it to be worthwhile unless you enjoy it. Of course, in high school, I don't think either one of us realized that we loved running. We thought we hated running but just liked the competition - so maybe the love of running is an acquired taste. My last advice is of course - come to Cornell. I mean you can't beat the education, we have amazing facilities - perhaps the best of the East coast - we have an amazing trail system, we're the reigning indoor Heptagonal champs, and we compete in one of the nation's top distance conferences. Actually, maybe I shouldn't say that, because by saying, "Come to Cornell" that's probably some sort of NCAA illegal recruitment violation that I don't know about. I'm kidding - but with all of the arcane rules - maybe I only think I'm kidding. Is there anything else we missed? As for times you need to run, the answer is there is no set time. It's just so hard to predict how much people will improve. I mean look at our high school team. Sometimes, the unrecruited 4:30/9:35 guy like yourself who only ran track senior year ends up being better than the 9:12 guy, as was the case with our highschool team. I mean heck you've got a great shot at the Olympics next year. There are a lot of other successful walk-on stories out there. If you look at our team, both of our cross-country co-captains for next year were walk-ons. People just have to understand that to succeed at the division one level you're going to need to be willing to work extremely hard and even then there are no guarantees. Bust your butt over the summer and go out for the team. If you get cut, so what? You'll at least have tried and gave it your all instead of sitting there fat and obese at age 40 wondering if you could have been a division one athlete. Of course, the faster you run the better it is for you in terms of being recruited and helped out with admissions. One tip I'd give to high schoolers is to really look into applying early at their #1 choice as it certainly helps with admissions if the school they are considering is real selective. As for how much mileage do we run? It totally depends on who you are, how much experience you have and what events you do. Again, the #1 goal has to be to stay healthy. During the cross-country season, on any given week, we had guys running anywhere from 50 miles to 120 miles. It really totally depended on the individual and their experience. The pure 800 guys sometimes would only hit about 40 and there are one or two 800 guys who train with the 400 guys. It's kind of funny as it seems all I've been doing the last two or three weeks is telling the guys to drop their mileage. It's now time to run fast. As for the training "philosophy", I have to sort of laugh at that one as coach Taylor is always making fun of guys for asking about our coaching philosophy - as he says it's only distance runners who ask about "the philosophy." My response is that I'm implementing a progressive-periodized training approach that stresses aerobic development. Progressive in the sense that you do more over time as the seasons and years progress. Periodized in the sense that you are stressing different things at different times of the year with the goal of peaking twice a year - once in cross and once outdoors. The umbrella hanging over the whole program is the fact that running is a predominately an aerobic activity - even the 800 - so the more aerobically fit you are, the faster you are going to be. That being said, the one thing we never forget year-round is some type of speed work. But we keep it alactic most of the time. However, the training really does vary according to event group. The same principles apply, but the guys do a lot of different stuff, especially this time of year. I mean the 800 and 1,500 guys' workouts aren't even all that similar this time of the year. For example, last week, I think I had sent out via email 6 or 7 different workout schedules. Well I guess that just about does it? So I sort of assume that's the plan but I've never asked you about your intentions. Am I an idiot? I don't think so. Maybe it won't work though as I'll be used to having total control and will be like a mad dictator unwilling to share power. Editor's note: (Wejo refused to answer the question since many assume his career is already over now that he is no longer good enough to pace women). I simply tried as best I could to honestly lay out my ambitious goals for the program. In saying that I think we can be a top 10 program nationally and the # 1 team in our league, I didn't mean to disrespect anyone. The top teams in our league have set the bar pretty high. I just hope we at Cornell are able to go even higher, and in the process, spur the whole league onto greater accomplishments, so there are 3 or 4 teams in the top 20 most years. (Editor's note: He's already sounding like a coach with the b.s. in that last statement)

Why Orwell Matters by Christopher Hitchens 208 pages, $24.00 Life was not particularly kind to George Orwell, nor were his contemporary critics. But history has treated him well, proving him right about the key issues of the twentieth century. In the bipolar political climate of the 1930s and 1940s, when intellectuals on the left and right were cozying up to the world's greatest evildoers, Orwell saw that the choice between Stalinism and fascism was in fact no choice at all—that the real struggle was between freedom and tyranny. A conservative by upbringing, and a socialist and a dissident by nature, he did not believe in politics as a matter of allegiance to a party or camp. What he did believe in was his own sensibility—or what he described as his "power of facing unpleasant facts." As Christopher Hitchens observes in his biographical essay Why Orwell Matters, this "power of facing" proved important to Orwell, whose life was filled with more than its share of unpleasantness and danger. While working as a policeman in Burma he experienced the complexities of Empire and its insidious effects on colonizer and colonized alike; while fighting in the Spanish Civil War alongside the anarchists of Catalonia (many of whom were arrested as "Trotskyites" by Soviet forces) he witnessed the wickedness of Stalinism; and in Paris, London, and the various mining towns of Northern England, where he immersed himself in life at the lowest rungs of society, he saw the pitfalls of attempts by both Church and State to elevate the poor. Throughout these experiences, he expressed his nonconformist views—and faced considerable social and professional adversity as a result. Hitchens, another independent thinker with an aversion to political tribalism and cant, has been hailed by some as Orwell's successor. The analogy has come into sharper focus since the attacks on the World Trade Center; in the weeks after September 11 Hitchens, a journalist widely known as a leftist, turned against the moral relativists and "blame America first" pacifists on the left and took a firm stand for the war against terrorism. Fittingly, the release of this book took place within the same month as his decision, on ideological grounds, to terminate his column for the left-wing Nation magazine. Hitchens has cultivated a reputation for knocking popular idols, from Winston Churchill to Mother Theresa, off their pedestals. But in Why Orwell Matters he takes on the role of ardent defender. He is as ruthless on defense, however, as he is on offense, taking on leftists and conservatives, English nationalists and feminists, pedantic critics and postmodernists alike, for their various distortions of his subject's life and work. The greatest assaults on Orwell's reputation have come from the left, where, Hitchens writes, his "very name ... is enough to evoke a shiver of revulsion." Many intellectuals have never forgiven Orwell for his condemnation of the Soviet regime and his horrific depictions of socialism in his novels 1984 and Animal Farm. "In the view of many on the official Left," explained the communist academic Raymond Williams, "he committed the ultimate sin of 'giving ammunition to the enemy.'" Hitchens cites essays by a variety of official leftists who hold this view, including E. P. Thompson, Isaac Deutscher, Edward Said, and Salman Rushdie. They portray Orwell as a reactionary, a bigot, and a surreptitious conservative, his socialism either false or corrupted by the bourgeois comforts of his married life. Some of their attacks verge on hysteria: Isaac Deutscher claims that 1984 provided the masses with a "giant Bogy-cum-Scapegoat," allowing them to "flee from their own responsibility for mankind's destiny." Williams writes that, by popularizing his political beliefs, "Orwell created the conditions for defeat and despair." What Hitchens finds most notable in these critiques, apart from the incredible power they attribute to their target, are the underhanded tactics they employ. Strenuous verbal contortions, out-of-context citations, and outrageous leaps of logic—these are the weapons these critics use against the man who famously wrote, "The enemy of clear language is insincerity." It is not surprising, given his virulent anti-Stalinism, his conservatism on cultural matters, and his clashes with the left-wing intelligentsia, that many on the right regarded Orwell as a kindred spirit. The ex-leftists of the postwar neoconservative movement were particularly keen to embrace him as one of their own. Not only is he credited with having coined the phrase "cold war," but he also provided some of its earliest artillery with his campaign to publicize the Soviet massacre of Polish soldiers in the Katyn Forest in 1940. He was an early admirer of the free-market theorist and neoconservative icon Friedrich von Hayek, who argued that socialism leads inevitably to despotism and that Nazism and communism were two sides of the same coin. And 1984 probably won more hearts and minds over to the anti-Communist cause than did forty years' worth of Cold War propaganda combined. But in Hitchens's view, attempts by the right to appropriate Orwell are illegitimate. In 1950, Henry Luce's Life magazine acclaimed the newly published 1984 as a warning against the dangers of the New Deala reading that Orwell publicly refuted. And in an essay entitled "If Orwell Were Alive Today," published in the year 1984, Commentary Magazine editor Norman Podhoretz invoked Orwell in support of Reagan's nuclear policy and of U.S. hegemony in general. To do so, Hitchens demonstrates, Podhoretz pulled fragments of Orwell's sentences out of context and attributed to them a meaning far from, if not opposite to, what Orwell had intended. If Orwell can be considered to have been a part of any faction, Hitchens maintains, it was the little-known international group of anti-Stalinist Marxists (including the Russian anarchist Victor Serge, the Trinidadian writer C.L.R. James, and, after World War II, a small circle of American intellectuals at The Partisan Review). Orwell's relations with this group were essential to his success, Hitchens claims, helping both to mold his political views and to bring his works to the attention of the Eastern European dissidents who were the first to appreciate his extraordinary prescience. Orwell died in 1950, early on in the Cold War, and the direction his political views would have taken had he lived remains, of course, an open question. But in Hitchens's view, those who play tug-of-war with Orwell's memory or insist on pigeonholing him underestimate the quality that truly makes him worth hanging on to. "What he illustrates," Hitchens writes, "by his commitment to language as the partner of truth, is that 'views' do not really count; that it matters not what you think but how you think; and that politics are relatively unimportant, while principles have a way of enduring." I spoke with Hitchens recently by phone. Orwell, as you describe him in your book, seemed to be suffering from a tortured conscience. He went to great pains to reject the conservative tendencies and prejudices that he had grown up with in order to become an honest socialist. He also spent much of his life subjecting himself deliberately to unpleasantness and danger. Do you get the impression that he didn't especially like himself? I think that it's clear beyond all doubt that he didn't like himself much. He always thought, for example, that he was physically unattractive—that he was ungainly and repulsive—though it seems that he wasn't to women. And he certainly didn't have a very high estimation of his ability as a writer. Nor did he have much material success—he never really made a buck. And he suffered from ill-health of a kind that's sort of embarrassing—you know having a nasty cough the entire time, and always feeling a bit low. None of that can have helped what we would now call self-esteem. There is no question that he rated himself rather low as a person and as an author. Is that a good quality in a writer? Well, I don't think that a low self-regard is always a good thing, but it doesn't mean that a writer is disabled, either. I suppose the greatest example of someone who thought he was no good in any way was Marcel Proust. He thought he was abjectly feeble, cowardly, ugly, talentless, and so forth. That modesty doesn't seem to have been false at all on his part, but it seems to have served him well as a writer. The great point that I try to make is that in fact Orwell isn't a very great writer. He's a very honest and courageous writer and he does a lot of work and he does have a certain gift of phrase, there's no doubt about it. But he's not in the first rank of writers. And that's a good thing, because it shows what average, ordinary people can do if they care to, and it abolishes some of the alibis and excuses for people who aren't brave. I noticed that you cite in your book what seem to be two conflicting assessments of Orwell's ability. On the one hand there is Trilling's comment, "If we ask what he stands for, what he was a figure of, it's the virtue of not being a genius." On the other hand, Robert Conquest refers to him as a "moral genius." Is there a truer of these two depictions? Yes, but I think one can take them out of direct opposition to one another. Some people have a knack, for example, of being able to tell when someone's lying to them. They may not know what the truth is, but they can tell when someone is trying to lead them astray or sell them something shady. I think he had that ability to an amazing degree. For example, when he wrote about the Russian purges he said, Well, on the evidence of what they claim, something terrible must be happening; I don't know what it is, but there's an undercurrent of hysteria here. I also think he thought, without saying it explicitly, that you can convince a crowd of something that's not true more easily than you can one person at a time. He was very resistant to anything like mass suggestion, or mass hysteria or tribalism. I think that comes from his very early life. He detested the ways in which authority played on the mob. Do you think that that resistance gave him the strength to swim against the current politically? Oh, yes. I think he was quite resigned to his lot. I think he felt it was his destinythough maybe that's too grand a word to be a loner and an outsider. Orwell is sometimes described as a kind of secular saint—an idea from which you say that you had to rescue him in order to write this book. Yet it's hard not to notice the ascetic life he led and the sacrifices he made for his moral vision. Do you think he believed in some way that he had a calling? Very few people who write by themselves don't at some point have a feeling that maybe they're doing this for a higher purpose or have a destiny. So I can't say that he never went through anything like that. But there's very little, if any, trace of it in his conversations as reported by friends. And he's very well-reported by contemporaries. He's remembered in the writing of a lot of people, and it's very odd how consistently he comes out. I think he may have thought there was a moral value to being on the losing side. He may have felt that there was something confirming about always being among the defeated—that that was more likely to be proof that he was right, which is a temptation that a lot of people have. There's a very good book about him by his friend Richard Rees, which I could probably have made more use of than I did, which is called Fugitive from the Camp of Victory. The reference there is to a remark made by Simone Weil, that justice is always the refugee from the camp of the victors. So there may have been a slight feeling of superiority that he had of being always with the tattered remnant of the losers, and he may have found something exulting in that. I think it would have been pardonable, because the losing sides he took were rather honorable ones. That's only a speculation, though. I mean, his affinity for the losing side could also be explained simply by the fact that he was very pessimistic about himself and his prospects, and the prospects for humanity, and he seemed only to be cheered up by the things that are beyond the power of humans to fuck up, like nature. He was uplifted by nature? I don't know about uplifted, but he took consolation. He wrote a good short piece about what it was like to see spring come round again after a particularly bloody season of winter in London. There's nothing that the authorities can do to stop it—the birds and the flowers. Much as they might like to, they're powerless to prevent the spring. It reminds me of the remark that Gordon Comstock makes in Orwell's novel Coming up for Air, that "often it is harder to sink than to rise. There is always something that drags one upwards." Yes, exactly. He realized that you could set out to head for rock bottom and you'd find it strangely hard to do. That's a realization that a lot of Stoics, or stoic individuals, have made. When the worst—what you most dreaded—has occurred, then you can gain strength from the realization that maybe it's not so bad. Maybe you can survive and endure. With 1984 was he trying to face people with the worst he could imagine in the hope that they would come out the other side? Yes, he did think that if you face people with how terrible things could be, as he did with 1984, it might not necessarily mean plunging them into gloom. It might be a cause of fortitude. Some people might cower at what the future might hold, but some might not—it might make them stick out their chins, push their shoulders back a bit. I was intrigued by your idea of 1984 being a summation of all his personal traumas, from boarding school to Burma to the Spanish war. How do you think he made the connection between those experiences and the dystopian vision in his novel? I'm absolutely sure that when he thought to himself, What would it be like to live in a completely hopeless society, where the authorities have absolute power and control over the study of history, and where, if there's any disagreement, they can rely on the slavish loyalty of their subjects to hate the opposition more than they hate the government?—I'm sure that he thought back to his boarding school days. Boarding school is like that partly just because you're a child and you don't really know any better. They've really got you; you have to believe that what they say is true. You can guess that they may be lying, but you don't know. They teach you the history, they teach you the religion, they're in charge of you physically as well as mentally and morally. And if you're unpopular the other boys will turn against you. They won't sympathize with you against the authorities. You can feel completely isolated—enough indeed to wonder whether there's something wrong with you. One of the reasons why I took to him as an author when I was young was that I'd been in one of those schools myself at the same agenot as bad as his, not as brutal, but very similar, very recognizable. So I thought, My God, it isn't just me. Because he was able to get the atmosphere exactly right. You're talking about his essay, "Such, Such were the Joys"? Right. You know, Auden once said that having taught at an English boarding school he was quite prepared to know what fascism might be like. It sounds like a ridiculous exaggeration—it can be made to sound, I suppose, self-pitying as well, but I think it's the feeling of powerlessness, the tactics used by the authorities to manipulate the underlings. I think Orwell learned a lot in Burma as well—because it's there in Burmese Days as well as in 1984—about how people will agree to do half or more of the work of the government. There were very few actual armed Englishmen in Burma, but they were able to dominate people because they had a belief in their right to do it, and they were very good at splitting people up and dividing them against each other. You write that he sympathized with the rulers as much as with the ruled. That he was able to identify with both. I think Orwell was fed up with the facile idea that was held by some liberal types back home that the British in Burma did nothing more than loll around on the veranda getting the servants to bring them drinks and occasionally cracking a whip. He knew that there was more to it than that, that there was a certain amount of guts and courage involved and even, however degraded it had become, some idea of improving the life of the colonies. He was very easily irritated by anything bogus, anything facile or hypocritical. And it does help to know what the mentality of the ruling class is. One thing that makes it difficult to locate Orwell on the political spectrum is a point you make in the book, that while he remained firmly on the left politically, he was culturally quite conservative. He didn't like feminists, homosexuals or vegetarians. He disagreed with the idea of protecting nature and animals at the expense of human well-being. He was against abortion. He complained about the decline of clarity and objective truth in written language. Where would he fit in today's political culture? "The Defeat of the Left" (October 2002) On George Orwell, World Cup soccer, and the Queen. By Geoffrey Wheatcroft Geoffrey Wheatcroft wrote a rather good review of my book in The Spectator in London in which he said about England today, quite correctly, that the right has won politically and economically and the left has won culturally. And he said Orwell would rather it had been the other way around. Some of the things Geoffrey said in his review were oversimplifications, and that is a simplification, too, though not a misleading one. I even feel somewhat this way myself. I'm probably an even more decided atheist than Orwell was. I'm a militant atheist. But I find it revolting to see the Church of England posing in secular progressive garb, trying to be popular, throwing street parties and going to rock concerts and generally trying to be hip. I find the sight of that completely nauseating for about 1,500 reasons. And I feel sure that Orwell would have felt the same way. Even though the beliefs upon which they base themselves might be absurd and even sinister, there was a certain dignity to the Church of England. It represents quite a long struggle and conflict and a lot of very serious people willing to risk a lot for it, and now it's become a kind of clownish, trendy, almost vote-catching outfit. When I talk like that I don't know whether I sound like a conservative or not, and I don't particularly care. You write a lot about the intense bitterness that the left still harbors toward Orwell. I wonder whether you think this is something typical—leftist intellectuals today are often accused of intolerance of criticism, especially from within, and of intellectual bullying and censorship in the name of political correctness. Do you see their Orwell-bashing as a manifestation of that, or as something more profound? I think you're rightit's an aspect of that. I think Hannah Arendt said that one of the great achievements of Stalinism was to replace all discussion involving arguments and evidence with the question of motive. If someone were to say, for example, that there are many people in the Soviet Union who don't have enough to eat, it might make sense for them to respond, "It's not our fault, it was the weather, a bad harvest or something." Instead it's always, "Why is this person saying this, and why are they saying it in such and such a magazine? It must be that this is part of a plan." Some of that mentality is involved, certainly, in the way the old left people like Raymond Williams write about Orwell. They never lose that habit of thought. Political correctness, by the way, is a very mild form of this. I mean, people who talk about political correctness as being a kind of thought police have no idea of what a thought police is. But political correctness does have the same mentality. It means that intellectual argument is doomed. Objective truth simply becomes a thing to jeer at, because obviously there's no such thing as objectivity—unless of course you're politically okay, in which case you can be objective. Any child can see through that, but many adults can't. You also criticize the groups that have tried to appropriate Orwell as one of their own—particularly Cold War-era conservatives and English nationalists. Is it an irony that someone so dedicated to directness and transparency in his writing would be misread in so many different ways? I think I can point out that in every case where an attempt to misread him has been made, it's been made by mangling his quotations. That is incredibly noticeable in the case of Norman Podhoretz. Straight out bad faith—chopping the bits that don't support his case out of an excerpt. If he had done that in the academy he would have been fired. Most of the other attributions or excerpts from Orwell are not much better. It's always just a few phrases, not only divorced from context but turned against it. It's a great compliment that he can't be quoted at length by his enemies to say other than what he did. They can't come up with a proper citation. And it's not as if he's that hard to quote. That's one of the reasons for his importance—that he writes in such a way that makes it impossible to misconstrue. One of his last actions was to issue a formal denunciation of the exploitation of 1984. He made a formal statement for publication because of what Time and Life said of the book. They mangled his meaning. I actually think it's flattering that he was used in that way People want what they think he's got, it's just that they don't realize what it would take to get it. They want the idea of integrity and authenticity and honesty. They want to brush up against him. They want to be in the same photo op as him, to use a modern idiom. "Maybe if I can just squeeze myself into this shot, I can be on the grand piano with Orwell." Does it really seem such a stretch that neoconservatives should want to claim him, given that so many of them were one-time socialists who became disillusioned with Soviet communism? "Lightness at Midnight" (September 2002) Christopher Hitchens reviews Martin Amis's Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million. I'm sorry to say this in the hearing of my conservative friends, but one reason why they admire him and wish to possess him is that they don't have an equivalent figure of their own. Which is for a good reason. One thing I stupidly left out of my piece on Martin Amis's Koba the Dread was to say, Look if you're going to write about why Stalinism was a moral crisis, you have to ask yourself why so many conservatives were taken in by it to one extent or another. For example, Winston Churchill openly said to Stalin's ambassador in London, Well, at least I see someone has taken care of the Bolsheviks in the purges and the trials. And T. S. Eliot, a man pretty much accepted as a conservative cultural icon for the last century, was one of the reasons for the non-publication of Animal Farm—not only because he didn't want to be rude to the Russian ally, but also because he suspected what he calls Orwell's Trotskyism. The fact is, the right doesn't have anyone it can come up with from that period who was as prescient as Orwell. I suppose it represents progress that they want to steal him. But there are good reasons why they can't do that in good conscience. Almost all the critiques of Stalinism were written by people to the left of the Communist Party—a group of anti-Stalinist Marxists that used to be called the "left opposition." If you look back at the wreckage of the twentieth century, this group comes out of it better than any other, because it was simultaneously opposed to the Stalin terror, to Nazism and its racist fantasies, and to the imperial concept of the world as a labor pool for Britain and France and Germany. One reason for the importance of Orwell is that he's the only member of that intellectual community who has a reputation outside the group. The other members of the group, like Victor Serge and C.L.R. James, are known to specialists, but they don't have the credit that they should have. Orwell does, but he has it for reasons apart from his affiliation with them, and he's been tugged in so many directions that he's almost shapeless. But the reason why he did so well and got so many things right was that he was in touch with that group. They're the ones who have the least to apologize for. You write early on in your book that Orwell will still be relevant long after the subjects of his discourse have receded into history. Do you really think he'll be appreciated properly when the ideological struggles he took part in fade in memory? In a sense, I have to plead guilty to having that both ways. He was writing about Nazis, the Empire, and Stalinism, so to say that it doesn't matter what his subject was is perhaps stretching it a bit. Obviously, one motive that people have for reading him is that they know that he withstood and he survived and was a distinguished writer about these important topics that keep on coming up. But students of mine who read his essay "Politics and the English Language," for example, who may know little about the controversies of that time and almost certainly wouldn't recognize the names of the people he was arguing with, can still see the point he was making about linguistic integrity and political and moral honesty. And with Homage to Catalonia, which is reportage, you don't have to know anything about the subject to appreciate it. The revolution in Catalonia is something that most people, even if they're interested in the period, don't know much about. But you find that Orwell is writing in a trustworthy way, in a penetrating manner. You think there's something inherent in his style that makes it apparent that he's telling the truth? Well, obvious though it may sound, yes, I do think that. He was writing about things I know about—the atmosphere in an English colonial military family, or the atmosphere in an English prep school. And I thought, Well, if this guy can evoke something I know in such a way as to make me really think about it for the first time, I would trust him as an observer about anything else. It's a compliment, you have to realize, that is fantastically rare. It isn't paid to many people. People can say that they think Jonathan Swift is a wonderful writer or Pope is a wonderful satirical poet or William Shakespeare writes marvelously about the idea of kingship, but by saying that, they don't mean that they think those authors gave a true account as far as they were aware—an honest, fearless account of what the politics of the day really were. We don't have to grant them that to admire them as writers, but with Orwell, it seems to be indissoluble from his reputation. The term "Orwellian," in America at least, tends to be used (and probably overused) to mean "Big Brother"-type political programs and government manipulation of language and thought-control. Is there another definition of that term that you think might be more apt? It's used in two ways. Preponderantly it's used in the way you describe. Someone who's run out of things to say or who wants to be clearly understood and doesn't want to take too much trouble doing it and who, for example, doesn't like Tom Ridge's Homeland Security proposals will almost infallibly describe them as "Orwellian." It's the one stick they can grasp at. Everyone is going to know what you mean, it sounds good, and you've made your point. But if someone is going to describe a writer as Orwellian, which sometimes happens, they don't mean it that way. They mean someone with a certain "power of facing." This meaning is much less employed. If you were reading about a writer whose work you didn't know and the reviewer said this person had Orwellian qualities, you wouldn't think this person is an instrument of state terror, even if you knew no more. So it does have that quite satisfying minor secondary meaning. I can't think immediately of any contemporary author of whom that's true. One of the most surprising facts that you mention is Orwell's indifference to the growing importance of U.S. culture. Even when his anti-Americanism faded and he began to appreciate American literature and to develop relationships with New York intellectuals, he never visited the country. Was this indifference an oversight on his part, or something more deliberate? There were certainly things about America he found forbidding. It was so big and so rich and appeared to have become so big and so rich so fast—and if you like, without having enough history or struggle to deserve the good luck that it had. And he expected it had imperial ambitions. Then there was his family background, which is similar to mine—naval, military, colonial, very conservative (but with not enough interests to be conservative about), very defensive, very insecure, very patriotic, very pessimistic. In those circles America was hugely suspected of being more or less what Hollywood made it out to be: spoiled and fat, with designs on our Empire. I think he really didn't break free from that idea. I also think he didn't feel up to the subject. He was interested in the fate of the European left and the European Empire, and he couldn't make up his mind whether the U.S. was for or against these things. It seemed to be all kinds of things at once. It was his great failure that he never appreciated that this is what everyone was going to have to be coming to terms with. But I think that would have changed had he lived another ten years. I think that his friends in New York would have persuaded him to come over. His references to American history or American ideals are few and far between, but they're quite on target. He understood something of the importance of Thomas Paine and the importance of having a constitution, and I think he vaguely guessed that there was back there in 1776 a triumph of the principles of the English Revolution of the seventeenth century, which he was always very interested in. You, like Orwell, think independently of your political affiliations, and you've been compared to him by a number of people. One critic speculated recently that September 11 was for you, in some sense, what Catalonia was for Orwell—a turning point in relations with the intellectual left. Is there anything to that? No, definitely not, for two reasons. One, September 11 didn't expose me to any risk. And secondly, for me, it was the culmination of a series of disagreements with a certain kind of radicalism—you could call it Chomskyism—that had been building up for a while. I don't know that Catalonia was a culmination for Orwell. It may have been, though, because I think he may already have begun to feel quite horrified by what was happening in Russia. It may have made him think that everything he suspected was true. But if you think of the stakes involved in that and the way they played out, it would be embarrassing to try to compare his situation to mine. In his essay looking back on the Spanish war, Orwell expressed his great fear that objective truth was disappearing. I wonder whether you think that is something that is to be feared less now than it was at the time. No, I don't. But I think that an encouraging conclusion one can make is that the crude, mechanized attempts to control "truth" that were part of the totalitarian apparatus weren't as crushingly successful as they looked as if they would be. They were so ruthless and seemed to be so powerful and so unscrupulous and terrifying that the lesson was, as was also suspected, that their very crudeness would undo them in the end. But it must have been very scary to face it as an individual. I don't know quite what it would be like. I do know what it's like to have faxes sent to me from Tiananmen Square, proving that censorship has actually become a technological impossibility. It's since been proven many, many more times in many different ways. I think the old idea that a society could be completely insulated from the outside world (so that its people would have no means of comparing the way they live with anything else) isn't possible anymore. My worry has more to do with another thing Orwell warned about—the willingness of people to police themselves, and to believe anything that they're told. Especially the willingness of intellectuals and academics to become worshipers of whomever is in power, or passers-on of whatever the reigning idea is. Conformity, in other words. That will always carry on being a threat. People don't remember Orwell for his opposition to conformity as well as they should.

Table of Contents for this Page - 1 Local and Global Local Networking and Marketing Exposure - 2 Trigger Leads from YOUR Website with ICIWorld Widgets. They are Sparkplugs For Every Real Estate Website on the Planet - 3 ICIWorld Mobile Real Estate Websites The New Internet Revolution - 4 Database 2 FSBO’s (For Sale by Owner) - 5 Daily Digest of New Haves and Wants by Email - 6 Search for a Member - 7 Training and Support for Executive Members - 8 Time Required - 9 Search Help and Recommendations - 10 ICIWorld Apps and Mobile Website for the World - 11 CLICK HERE FOR ICIWORLD APPS AND MOBILE WEBSITE - 12 Social Media - 13 Retired Brokers Program - 14 Brokers Referral Program - 15 Seminar for Real Estate Offices and Associations - 16 Testimonials - 17 Sign up for Our Newsletter and Email List Services - 18 Real Estate Information is the Gold That Is On the Internet - 19 One on One assistance - 20 Mobile Marketing Solutions for Real Estate Professionals - 21 ICIWorld Marketplace - 22 Sponsorship Program - 23 Statistics ICIWorld is an information listing service rather than a real estate board type listing service. For example, many professionals advertise in the classified ads of a newspaper. They display many details but not the address in order to trigger calls so you can identify people during the term of your listing and then give them more information. ICIWorld provides a world searchable database of real estate Haves and Wants. In each listing there are links to websites and to listings on your website, links for EMail, virtual tours, telephone numbers, and more, etc. When you add a listing, Have or Want it is instantly on the Internet on the Internet in 18,000+ places, ICIWorld.com with a readership of 30,00-40,000 depending on the month, 2,000+/- other brokers websites provided with links from ICIWorld, 20,000+/- EMails distributing information daily of new listings, iciworld.mobi the mobile website for every mobile device in the world displaying your listings, promoted on the front page and other industry wide trade publications, handed out in brochures at trade shows to thousands of people to add it to their phones, ICIWorld Apps for iPhones, Androids, all to bring attention to YOUR Haves and Wants when they are placed. And it is unlimited ads, all year long for less than .87cents per day, less than 1/10th of 1 cent per line per day on one of the most sophisticated real estate database available. Whatever you might put in a classified ad in a newspaper, consider doing the same here, except a lot more with links to websites, links to listings on your website, graphics, and much more, etc. This means one can network exclusive type real estate information in addition to advertising real estate board type listings. RECOMMENDATION FOR ALL EXECUTIVE MEMBERS: All members should have a minimum of fifteen Haves and Wants. Let ICIWorld work your information 24/7 on your behalf in this unique 24 hour a day, 7 days per week global Internet Real Estate Database of real estate information operating since 1994. RECOMMENDATION FOR ALL EXECUTIVE MEMBERS: Learn how to work exclusive real estate information in a professional way to get yourself up to a minimum of fifteen opportunities to make money. The benefit? See testimonials of all the deals being done that were not started on a real estate board! This means you are about to make a lot more money this year if you follow proven, reliable, training from ICIWorld. This training has had the input of hundreds of real estate brokers and salespeople, trainers, coaches, teachers, directors of real estate boards, past presidents of real estate boards and more in the real estate industry. All in our service to the public to provide more opportunities otherwise not available on real estate boards for one reason and another. We recommend doing the orientation with us over the Internet. This is using gotomeeting software, ie: a one on one session conducted in your own home or business office, while you are on the Internet, is all you need to get going from 0-60 in a flash. One click and your information is on the world scene instantly and begins to be marketed throughout the world and locally in many different ways. If you are stuck on anything longer than five minutes, simply give us a call at 416-214-4875. When you add a listing, Have or Want people contact you directly either by phone, email, or visit your website. Yes this is also Lead Generation for your website. - instantly available to the public. Up to 2,000,000 hits per month on iciworld.com from readership from people in 138+ countries - 20,000+/- EMails distribute information by EMail daily to the public and the real estate industry. - instantly available to the public. 18,000 pages display information penetrating the farthest reaches of the Internet. Links built since 1994 on the Internet. Yes ICIWorld.com was the first on the Internet for real estate. - instantly available to the public on iPhones and Androids with the ICIWorld App. Many check their phones daily for the latest listings. - instantly available to the public on www.iciworld.mobi for all mobile phones in the world including Blackberry’s, Windows phones, All phones, mobile devices, computers. - instantly available on 2,000+/- websites of real estate brokers and salespeople. About 1,000 the public can click on the links and contact you directly. On about 1,000 the public must contact the member of ICIWorld who can do a referral to you or do a transaction together. Keep in mind, members are promoting their websites in addition to anything that ICIWorld does. This is tremendous penetration of the marketplace. - All of this only gets better and better as time goes on. To make it easier and easier for you to make connections to do business. There are commercial and residential EMail List Services to receive the latest listings daily. Or . . . search your mobile phone for the latest listings in your city. If you can not do it within 60 seconds call us and we will help. Be the leader on information networking. For residential when searching choose Business Category Residential Estates for residential, homes, cottages, vacation properties. Today there are now more mobile phones on the planet than there are people over 7 billion. ICIWorld presents this to you all now for you to plant the seeds of success to reach them. Now with one click get your listings, Haves and Wants working on a busy networks through mobile phones. - On your mobile phone, open up the Internet and type in www.iciworld.mobi then add it to your home screen. - search the latest listings for your city, type of property, key word, power of sales, beach, waterfront, hotel, assignments, in fill sites, food franchises, and much much more. All with one click and less than 60 seconds. - secondly on your iPhone or Android go to the App or Play Store and search iciworld and install it. - get search results in 60 seconds for all kinds of buyers and selling opportunities, 75% of them not on real estate boards giving you opportunities you never had before. Call 416-214-4875 and be in front of your computer at www.iciworld.com Appointments are usually recommended for undivided attention and assistance. Trigger Leads from YOUR Website with ICIWorld Widgets. They are Sparkplugs For Every Real Estate Website on the Planet Widgets make it absolutely inevitable for you to receive calls unless you have little or no traffic to your website. See samples and a video in the order form that explains why some brokers do business and others do not. Here is one example: www.nadiap.com Mobile website setup by ICIWorld.com Call 416-214-4875 to discuss one for you today. They can be as little as $16.50! I believe this is a no brainer, you are crazy to not have one. If you are a Realtor, you should get every single person you know in your sphere of influence to add your mobile website to their devices! They will always have your website on their phone to search and show their friends. If not you are missing out being the first. When you order the widgets you will receive the instructions by EMail. Forward them to your website designer to install them. Over twenty major website companies now install ICIWorld Widgets with our instructions. With them on YOUR website, the very next person who sees a listing has to call you. It is absolutely inevitable. Without them you get zero. You are actually missing opportunities to trigger leads for yourself and now you know it. The widgets are simply listings that other brokers have agreed to allow them to be on your website. No one can click on a listing . . . they HAVE to call you! They do this whether you work full or part time to do referrals. And . . . it provides a great service for the public. Also member brokers and salespeople can agree or not agree to allow their listings, Haves and Wants to be on other broker’s websites. After all, what is better exposure for your clients, to have your listings on an additional 1,000+ other brokers websites or on one website. About 98% have agreed to this. About 2% have not. They can be tailored for any area of the world. You will see samples for New York, British Columbia, Florida. Some of the Widget names to look for are: - Residential Mostly Exclusive, - Ontario Commercial, - World Commercial, - Business Opportunities, - My Haves and Wants. This all depends on where you are located. Widgets for Florida and British Columbia are different. We design them with you and you can make selections as you see the choices. This includes unique exclusive opportunities in addition to listings on a real estate board. They include lists of what buyers are looking for. This demonstrates how well connected you are in the marketplace of buyers! This can help you get listings. With the network that is forming, over 1,000+ brokers and salespeople now have these widgets on their website. They trigger leads to do referrals. You help me sell my properties, and . . . I will help you sell your properties. This is a basic premise of MLS itself. What is better marketing exposure on behalf of your clients, to have your listings, Haves and Wants on one website or on 1,000+ instantly? Keep in mind that real estate professionals are promoting their individual websites in their market areas. This means they are promoting traffic to the listings on their website and if you have your listings, Haves and Wants on ICIWorld you can agree to allow your listings to be on all these other broker websites. All of these 1,000+ real estate broker websites are providing a portal on the Internet to your listings, Haves and Wants. When the very next person visits any of these websites and sees a listing they like, the broker calls you and does a referral to you or sets a time to show a property. It is absolutely inevitable that they trigger leads from your website to you unless . . . you have little or no traffic to your website. See the next section about How To Promote Your Website, a monthly program that everyone should take until you are producing leads from your website and helping people do deals. The instructions get sent to you by EMail. Forward them to your website designer. Make a follow up appointment with us once they are installed so we can make sure they can work for you. Our job is to help you make money using these tools. Call for a one on one presentation or demo anytime. Works for all real estate brokers and salespeople in the world. ICIWorld Mobile Real Estate Websites The New Internet Revolution Turn Key Solutions for Mobile Real Estate Websites Complete Design and Setup Included For Real Estate Brokers and Salespeople. *hosting is separate. Free for one month then as little as $16.50/mo. The new Internet revolution is the mobilization of websites. People use their phones five times more than their computers. People can search YOUR website on THEIR phone for listings, MLS and exclusive, residential and commercial real estate. This TRIGGERS LEADS FOR YOU. We can show you within a few minutes why we say they are more powerful than a $30,000 website and THEN . . . you be the judge! Call for a demo 416-214-4875 conducted over the Internet. Or . . . or read on and see sample websites. Websites can and will include: - searching MLS listings from your real estate board if available. - searching exclusive listings not on real estate boards from ICIWorld for both residential AND commercial listings, exclusive Haves and Wants. These are special ICIWorld Real Estate Widgets constructed so people have to call YOU for more information giving YOU a chance to do referrals and direct business. The first person who sees a listing has to call you for more information. - the hosting company also has exclusive listings not available on real estate boards. - when you hand in an MLS listing, it can be set up so that your MLS listings can automatically be added to your website. (if available by your real estate board and company) - When advertise your listings, Haves and Wants on ICIWorld all year long you will have a choice to allow or not allow them to be on thousands of other brokers websites . . . instantly. What is better marketing exposure on behalf of your clients, to have your listings on one website or on 1,000+ other brokers websites instantly! AND . . . all of this information from three major world networks will be available to everyone you talk to. Tell them to go on their phone to your website and add it as a shortcut on their home screen. Your customers will love it. Your prospects and clients will love it. AND . . . your website can send out listings matching the description of what people are looking for! You and I know MLS can do this. But MLS can not send out the exclusive properties. Tell prospects to go to YOUR website on their mobile phone and search MLS and Exclusive Listings! Here are sample websites of how they can see listings, Haves and Wants, MLS, Exclusive, Residential, Commercial on YOUR website. One time setup and the website works 24/7By simply typing in your domain name, your website knows whether to provide the mobile version or the full Internet version. People use their mobile phones five times more than a computer. Do an open house, get everyone to load your website! They can select to receive listings from YOUR website. They can search your local real estate board from YOUR website. They can search exclusive listings from YOUR website. Did you know you can have more than one website? Websites are like billboards, you can have more than one. If you are making money from them all then why not? If you are not generating leads then why have any? Trigger one lead and it pays for a lifetime of services. See Our Pledge how you should be doing business every 90 days otherwise call us. H Within 90 minutes (two appointments) we can have you up and running with a beautiful website that is mobilized! We have one of the busiest booths at real estate trade shows because we make a statement that the websites we supply are more powerful than a $30,000 website for $199/year. Get a demo and only THEN will you know why. 3 major world networks on one website! AND . . . unlimited syndication and much more. Automatic sending of listings to subscribers and more. If you do not have a mobile web site today as of 2015 you are plain and simple missing out. Your customers expect the best and you can so easily give it to them. Call now 416-214-4875. How To Promote Your Website. Included with an ICIWorld Executive Membership What good is a website if you have no traffic? ICIWorld provides a monthly Webinar all members. If you are not getting business from your website you need this session. We recommend you take these sessions every single month until you are producing leads from your website. Database 2 FSBO’s (For Sale by Owner) We allow the public to place information absolutely free. If you are a member of the public, if one of our members has a buyer for your property or if you are a buyer and one of our members has a property that matches what you are looking for, would you like them to let you know about it? Members are licensed real estate brokers and salespeople. Did you know, that 90% of all FSBO’s are eventually sold by licensed real estate salespeople. Their knowledge of the marketplace is appreciated by everyone in the industry. It is recommended members search this database in the beginning, then receive a daily digest of FSBO’s from time to time. It is free for the public to place Haves and Wants in ICIWorld Database 2 FSBO Area (For Sale By Owner). There are lists of buyers.Lists of sellers. Members only can receive these listings by EMail as they become available daily. Also they can be displayed on members websites, a FSBO Widget Link! This triggers leads for you. There are many successful stories from transactions triggered from this area. One $25M portfolio was sold from this area, a buyer who placed a want for a multi unit apartment building purchased a 7 plex through a member and much more. We invite the public to place their Haves and Wants. Daily Digest of New Haves and Wants by Email ICIWorld has a membership of licensed real estate brokers and salespeople who place both their real estate board listings AND their exclusive opportunities that are not on real estate boards. You can subscribe to receive the daily new listings by EMail. It is free. We suggest you subscribe to the Digest for your State, Province or Region. The Digest means you will only get one EMail in one day whether there are 2 or 10 new listings. You can unsubscribe anytime. You are dealing direct with a computer. The advantage to members is that upon adding or modifying a listing after 30 days, it is automatically and instantly sent to 200 various EMail List Severs for delivery to the world. There are approximately 20,000 EMails delivering information daily to subscribers. One developer reported he has done three deals directly from the EMails. Search for a Member Members provide the ultimate in world wide exposure because not only do they include ICIWorld in their marketing plans, but they also provide a vast array of other important services. Members can be found in many ways: by specialty, location, language spoken, on ICIWorld, through their listings, websites, member search, EMail, and more. Suggestion for the public: We recommend contact a member personally, visit a member’s web site because there is more information on the local area, resources, including more exclusive listings not available on other services. Members should make sure you have the key words for geographic area that you cover and specialty if any and languages spoken in their member record so people can find you. Training and Support for Executive Members (One on one and available by way of YouTube Videos and printouts) WE RECOMMEND A 30 MINUTE ONE TIME SETUP. One time setup with us in a workshop Webinar on line for 30 minutes ensures you know how to add and search listings from time to time. It is ICIWorld that works 24/7 displaying and distributing information on the Internet on your behalf. One time setup includes how to log in, updating your record, subscribing to receive daily listings, how to place Haves and Wants properly, introduction on how to search advanced method, etc. Request the widgets for your website. Forward them to your website programmer to install. Follow up to ensure they get installed properly. Absolutely any problems call us. We can check them. They work automatically once installed. Websites are supplied on request and require a minimum of 90 minutes setup. Then learn How to Promote Your Website a 90 minute workshop webinar presented once per month and available on video. This is really where you should spend time, promoting your website. You work it into your daily work pattern such as handing out business cards and talking about the content on your website of exclusive listings as well as MLS listings, etc. One lead makes one a lot of money. You should be generating leads, doing business, doing referrals every 90 days, otherwise, call us so we can help train you. Know Our Pledge! Measure your success. Never let your membership go longer than 90 days without doing business or call us! If we do not know how can we help you? From experience in most cases it is just one 30 minute workshop is all that is required to find the problems and show you how to fix them and help you fix them. Join Today and you will have a personal marketing and information assistant working for you. We have helped thousands of people do deals over the years. We can show you how to work open and exclusive inforation as well as advertising your real estate board listings to a world market of people from over 138 countries. You need to know linking and we will show you. You need to have 15 Haves and Wants, we will show you. If you are not generating leads from a website we will show you how to do it. Need a website? We will supply a power website free for 30 days. And more. Add and search listings from time to time, log in to your website a minimum of once per month, promote your website. Search Help and Recommendations See the search tools at www.iciworld.com click on Search Once you know how, you should be able to develop a list for buyers or sellers for any kind of real estate within 60 seconds. There is key word searching, search by city, type of property, price range, size range, sort by price, square footage and much more. There are two world databases here: - Database 1 Where Executive Members only may place information. Active listings appear world wide with contact information for the public to respond to. - Database 2 FSBO’s (For Sale By Owner) Only Executive Members have access to the contact names and numbers but it is free for everyone in the world to place their Haves and Wants. We recommend only exclusive opportunities since everyone can search a real estate board listing anytime. How To Search Advanced (13:14) including How to Search Database 1 Haves and Wants placed by Executive Members How to Search Database 2 For Sale By Owners - Find a list of buyers and/or real estate opportunities within 60 seconds at www.iciworld.mobi which you can add to the home screen on your mobile phone and also - add the ICIWorld App to your phone. It is information at your fingertips. It is networking information that can not be placed on a real estate board as well as members advertising their own listings. It is lists of buyers who you can call right now to show your property! And more. . . ICIWorld Apps and Mobile Website for the World www.iciworld.mobi add it to the home screen on your phone search from anywhere in the world. Add the ICIWorld App to your mobile phone. Search iciworld in the App or Play Store. Get results within 60 seconds from anywhere you are in the world. It is information and networking world wide in an instant. And it is networking of information that can not be placed on a real estate board. We invite real estate boards to have us come in and operate this service as part of the board. It will make your members money. All members should have social media links on their web site. It can help generate more traffic. Subscribe to ICIWorld Social Media Includes education, tips, announcements, reminders, articles of interest, receive new listings by EMail, etc. See them all . . . CLICK HERE and subscribe to all. Our ICIWorld Newspaper will always include an article of interest for everyone in the world. Make sure you include to click on the Business section. Retired Brokers Program When you retire or slow down some day, would you mind doing the odd referral that makes you $3,000 to $10,000? If you don’t mind, we suggest you never give up your real estate license. This may be the only retired brokers program in the world that I know of. Call for a demo anytime. One member did fifteen referrals, 75 minutes of time over a period of months at five minutes each and made $45,000. Join Today and we will totally setup this fun program for you. Why buy a lottery ticket when you can have a website generating leads so you do the odd five minute referral that makes you $10,000. Brokers Referral Program As long as you have license you can do this program. Would you mind doing the odd five minute referral that makes you money and helps the public? One broker has done fifteen referrals. That is a total of 75 minutes over a period of months and he made $45,000 from home. And it provided a good service to the public. In order to do referrals you need a special special website that has listings on it in a special way. It is so that inquiries must come to you. AND we totally set this website up with you AND show you how to promote it. In fact we have a special monthly Webinar on How To Promote Your Website also available to members in video recordings. That way you can work on your own time marketing your website and when an inquiry comes in, you just do a referral and make money. Call for a demo anytime. Join Today and we will totally setup this fun program for you. Just do referrals. Seminar for Real Estate Offices and Associations See comments of attendees of seminars so as a manager, owner, broker you know it will be a productive learning session to help them learn which helps them make money! It is exciting! Make a date and time and call one of our seminar co-ordinators. We can discuss doing a seminar in your office or webinar over the Internet. If your office is less than five people maybe doing a Webinar is more appropriate. We are located in Toronto, Ontario. We have done seminars in Florida at real estate associations. Click on the information above about doing a Webinar for your organization or company. It can help every single member in your organization learn concepts, techniques, programs with Internet education to last a lifetime to benefit them and their prospects and clients. Compatible with all services in all real estate offices. Let this be your inspiration as it is ours. It is our goal to have every single member with testimonials. In fact see Our Pledge. Members report doing business from people reading the testimonials. People want to do business with successful members who take advantage of the ultimate in world wide marketing. Please do send us a sentence or two about your successes with ICIWorld to customerservice @ iciworld.com We will call you when it is ready to see so you can verify it properly. We can put in links to your website. This is validation for all members for the public to deal with you. Members who are licensed real estate professionals can offer the best of two worlds: real estate board type listings such as MLS AND exclusive information on an information listing service in the marketplace to find buyers and sellers. This way you maximize your opportunities to do business. Keep in touch with the latest Haves and Wants and services. Thousands daily, monthly and yearly are subscribed. This helps to bring attention to all Haves and Wants placed by you on ICIWorld. Real Estate Information is the Gold That Is On the Internet Learn how to recognize important information that can make you money and then learn how to work it through the industry in a way that benefits you and your clients. Real estate salespeople are in the best position in the industry to recognize important real estate Have and Want information and then to network that information industry wide to help their prospects, clients and themselves. If not, you are simply missing opportunities to make money and not realize it. One way to learn about this Gold is to take in We think it can revolutionize the stimulation of economic activity in every area of the world. Yes we know this is a tall statement. But we see it being done on a small basis that can be grown to a world service. See the testimonials here of business being done that was not started on a real estate board. It is important, but so is information that can not or is not listed or before it is listed. You see, many opportunities, Haves and Wants are not written down. They are simply ideas, motivations of people. If they can connect with others easily, presto, business can be done. Join today and get your information working. This is your inventory on the Internet every bit available to generate leads as a real estate board listing. One on One assistance One on one assistance world wide is provided by Webinar workshops usually a 30 minute appointment, training videos, printouts, monthly webinars such as How To Promote Your Website 90 minutes, by EMail, Blog, Media, ICIWorld’s You Tube Channel, Seminars in your office (call to set a date and time), Webinars World Wide (Call to set a date and time) and more.Measure your success with our Our Pledge.Join Today and get all this working for you. Mobile Marketing Solutions for Real Estate Professionals Add Apps to your mobile devices and it becomes information at your fingertips. Mobile devices now outnumber humans on the planet earth. When you place your information on ICIWorld it is now available through mobile devices globally. Mobile devices are used by more people than computers and five times as much daily MOBILE Websites for members You could have a $30,000 website and it is not as powerful as the ones supplied by ICIWorld for $16.50. Includes ICIWorld App for iPhones, Androids Includes mobile website for all phones www.iciworld.mobi and the html5 link that reproduces the App look a like for all phones. Make sure your listings are less than 90 days old otherwise they will not appear on these devices world wide. For every single business that wants to reach the real estate community on the Internet. Present your products and services to our membership, the public and the real estate industry. 2017 introductory year. The new person can join for $240 for one year rather than $319 just by mentioning your name. Additional persons that you sponsor, we add three months on to your membership. Sponsor four more people and get a year free. Approximately 30,000 to 40,000+ people per month readership. *see explanation. Explanation: 30,000 to 40,000+ unique sites per month recorded. Unique Sites Each request made to the server comes from a unique 'site', which can be referenced by a name or ultimately, an IP address. The 'sites' number shows how many unique IP addresses made requests to the server during the reporting time period. This DOES NOT mean the number of unique individual users (real people) that visited, which is impossible to determine using just logs and the HTTP protocol (however, this number might be about as close as you will get). This does not include 20,000+/- EMails distributed daily of listings to subscribers. It also does not include stats from 50+ other domain names. ICIWorld is the longest established real estate Have and Want information service on the Internet (1994). And it is one of the largest real estate Have and Want advertising, marketing, networking information services in the world and largest in Canada. There are 30,000+ contacts for listings, Haves and Wants, opportunities in real estate and business opportunities to network with people to do business, 75% are exclusive not on real estate boards. 15,000+ are in the private FSBO Area (For Sale By Owner) exclusive to members. Yet most all of our real estate broker members are members of real estate boards so they are essentially providing the best of BOTH WORLDS, exclusive through ICIWorld, and real estate board listings through their real estate board. For a property to be for sale on a real estate board a proper listing agreement must have the consent of the owner in writing. For a property to be advertised for sale on ICIWorld it is much like a classified ad in a newspaper the same applies, However in addition one can also network information with verbal consent as long as the address or property is not identified. You must put an agreement in place first before identifying the property. One way to do it is to get a 48 hour listing agreement with the owner when you have a potential buyer to show the property. ie: you should never show a property without having a written agreement in place first. I too have been a broker for 40+ years. Commercial brokers have been doing this since the beginning of time and now we are teaching residential people how to do this with the advent of the Internet. It is great for the organized real estate industry to provide this service for the public. Basically the thousands of fsbo’s out there can be placed here quite nicely through the hands of licensed real estate brokers and salespeople. We teach members how to do this. This expands your opportunities to do business tremendously. This also is an official invitation for real estate boards to invite us to introduce this service for all your members. We could do a presentation for your whole membership. It is great for the public because they find out about more information that is NOT on real estate boards. “Let your information do the work networking 24/7 . . . world wide″ For the cost of one ad . . . . for one day . . . in a newspaper, it is unlimited networking and advertising . . . all year long . . . locally . . . world wide . . . on all mobile and phone devices, computers . . . instantly on thousands of websites . . . EMails delivered daily to the public . . . all in a searchable database . . . available to the public world wide . . . 24/7. Your ads contain links to your website . . . this is all lead generation. And we have been doing this since 1994. And when you do just one referral it is enough to pay for 20 years of service and one deal is enough to pay for 50 years of service. Connections made can benefit you and last a lifetime. Make sure you read the testimonials of transactions being done. - Add your Have or Want and reach the world with one click - Full one on one training to help you place ads yourself and reach the world. Most all members place their own Have and Want ads. We help many with the first one. There is a special way to help sell the locations of your properties. Search from time to time and get results within 60 seconds on your mobile phone with contact names and phone numbers: Go to www.iciworld.mobi on your mobile phone device and Search. - Click on Search Database. See if you can search the database for the latest listings for your city, state or province or country . . . all within 60 seconds. You are the leaders in real estate networking. Learn how to do it. Call us anytime for assistance. See the videos on the Search page at iciworld.com - Add your listings from time to time and . . search from time to time. - That is the essence of ICIWorld and networking real estate information to make money. - All the rest is simply a one time learning curve. - There are technology tools you can put in place that work automatically triggering inquiries on listings for you. Called ICIWorld Widgets for all websites in the world and ICIWorld designed mobile websites. - A 30 minute orientation one on one with us puts it all in perspective. And you can have a demo anytime same thing. You will learn how to work exclusive information in addition to advertising your real estate board listings. - Place an ad and . . . with one click . . . reach a readership of 40,000 +/- people in 138 countries. - 20,000+/- EMails deliver information to subscribers to the public . . . daily, when your information is placed. - Your information can appear on over 1,000 other real estate brokers and salespeople websites instantly (a choice in each listing when placed) This means you get the benefit of all the advertising that other brokers do advertising their websites. Referrals are generated for each other. - Someone sees a listing on a members website and they call you to do a referral! One broker has done fifteen referrals, at five minutes each that is seventy five minutes and he made $45,000 an average $3,000 per referral and great services provided to the public. If you do not have the Widgets you have no chance. - Your information and others is instantly available on the ICIWorld App for Androids, iPhones and www.iciworld.mobi for Blackberry’s and all mobile phones in the world. - It is networking at your fingertips! - Circulation ICIWorld advertises in Trade publications reaching over 300,000 readership on news stands, variety stores, real estate offices and much more. Someone sees an ad, visits the website and sees your listing and calls you and you have a new customer. This is thousands of dollars of advertising done on your behalf. Reaching people on the street and on the Internet. - Every show, conference, convention, expo, we hand out thousands of brochures to get people networking ICIWorld on their phones . . . all to help people make connections with you.

Services on Demand - Cited by SciELO - Access statistics - Cited by Google - Similars in SciELO - Similars in Google On-line version ISSN 1518-8787 Rev. Saúde Pública vol.45 no.4 São Paulo Aug. 2011 Epub June 10, 2011 Infestación por triatominos en comunidades indígenas de Valledupar, Colombia Marleny MontillaI; Hugo SotoII; Edgar ParraIII; Mariela TorresIV; Pilar CarrilloIV; Ligia LugoIV; Johana ColoradoII; Maria Teresa AriasII de Parasitología. Instituto Nacional de Salud. Bogotá, DC, Colombia IISecretaria de Salud Departamental del Cesar. Valledupar, Cesar, Colombia IIIGrupo de Patología. Instituto Nacional de Salud. Bogotá, DC, Colombia IVGrupo de Entomología. Instituto Nacional de Salud. Bogotá, DC, Colombia To calculate triatomine infestation indices in indigenous communities in Colombia. METHODS: A descriptive study was carried out in 19 communities in Valledupar Municipality, Cesar Department, Colombia. During June to December, 2007, triatromine bugs were collected from their resting places in households. Taxonomic identification was made according to the keys by Lent & Wygodzinsky. An infection process in animal model and isozyme analysis of triatomine feces were performed. RESULTS: Rhodnius prolixus showed a density index of 154.7%, for Triatoma dimidiata was 102.45%, T. maculata 109.25% and Panstrogylus geniculatus 0.3%. The mean infestation index was 40.54%, and mean Trypanosoma infection index was 9.4%. Of five hemocultures positive for T. cruzi, three were enzimatically identified as T. cruzi group I. Biopsies revealed few pathologic characteristics of infective process with these strains isolated from domiciliary triatomine bugs. CONCLUSIONS: The high triatomine infestation indices in households and the T. cruzi infection index are evidence of active transmission of Chagas disease. The situation merits a vector control program and serological survey of the population at risk. The genetic characterization of T. cruzi strains as group I agrees with other findings on strains in this region of Colombia. Descriptors: Indigenous Population. Trypanosoma cruzi, isolation & purification. Chagas Disease, prevention & control. Triatominae, domiciliary infestation. Calcular los índices infestación por triatominos en comunidades indígenas en Colombia. MÉTODOS: Se realizó estudio descriptivo en 19 comunidades indígenas del municipio de Valledupar Departamento de Cesar, Colombia. Durante junio a diciembre de 2007 se recolectaron triatominos por búsqueda activa en las viviendas de los indígenas. Los insectos luego fueron identificados por las claves de Lent & Wygodzinsky. Se desarrolló estudio del proceso infectivo en modelo animal y análisis enzimático de cepas de Trypanosoma cruzi, detectadas en heces de triatominos. RESULTADOS: Rhodnius prolixus presentó índice de densidad en las viviendas de 154,7%, Triatoma dimidiata de 102,45%, Triatoma maculata de 109,25% y Panstrogylus geniculatus de 0,3%. El índice promedio de infestación de las cuatro especies fue de 40,54% y, el de infección con T. cruzi de 9,4%. De cinco hemocultivos positivos para T. cruzi, tres se caracterizaron por isoenzimas, clasificándose en T. cruzi grupo I. El estudio de las biopsias reveló pocas características patológicas durante el proceso de infección con las cepas de T. cruzi aisladas de triatominos domiciliados. CONCLUSIÓN: Los altos índices de infestación por triatominos en las viviendas y el índice de infección por T. cruzi, evidencian la transmisión activa de la enfermedad de Chagas, situación que amerita la aplicación de medidas de control vectorial y el estudio seroepidemilógico de la población en riesgo. La identificación de las cepas de T. cruzi como grupo I concuerda con otros estudios realizados en esta región colombiana. Descriptores: Población Indígena. Trypanosoma cruzi, aislamiento & purificación. Enfermedad de Chagas, prevención & control. Triatominae, infestación domiciliar. Chagas disease is a problem for rural populations living in substandard housing and poor socioeconomic conditions. Residents of these regions were not reached by vector control programs since 2007 and have not received therapeutic treatment due to particular cultural conditions.2,4,23 At the end of the 1990s, the Program for Control of Trypanosoma cruzi Transmission and Child Cardiomyopathy in the main Endemic Areas of Colombia was initiated, including in Cesar and Guajira Departments. The goal was to determine priority indices for municipal attention.ª Nonetheless, indigenous communities of Valledupar municipality (Cesar) were not incorporated in the program. The communities of Arhuacos, Wiwas and Koguis that have traditionally inhabited the northeastern slope of the Sierra Nevada of Saint Martha (SNSM) build their houses with local resources, such as wood and mud for walls, palm and straw for the roof and earth for the floor. These materials deteriorate with time and create abundant crevices conducive to development of T. cruzi triatomine vectors. Therefore, the house becomes the most important risk factor for transmission of Chagas disease. Although this region was not included in the national Chagas program, local investigations have described the epidemiologic situation of the indigenous communities, in Gogtsezhi and Kemacumumake18 with a report of 40% T. cruzi seroprevalence in 75 Amerindians, and Bunkwimake7 reports 19% in 94 Amerindians. Both studies mentioned Rhodnius prolixus, Triatoma dimidiata, T. maculata and Panastrongylus geniculatus as triatomine species identified in houses. Recently, cases of acute infections have been observed in residents of Seynimin, generating concern in the community over deaths that could eventually occur. Residents solicited medical care for patients and vector control measures from the authorities in health departments. This study sought to establish household entomological indices of communities in order to define the most suitable strategies for vector control and entomologic surveillance. The SNSM is located in the northeastern limits of Colombia, between 10 and 11 degrees north latitude and 72 and 74 degrees west longitude. It consists of a mountainous chain in pyramidal shape with a triangular base of 120 km, extending from the Caribbean plain at sea level to 5,775 m of altitude at Bolívar and Colón peaks. The total land area of 21,158 km2 is divided by its slopes: the north slope, bordered by the plains of Guajira and the Caribbean Sea; the eastern slope delimited by the large alluvial plain of Magdalena river and the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta; the southwestern slope demarcated by the Racheria and Cesar rivers. It is has a special and unique geography in the world, with a high elevation, reaching a height of 5,700 m over a horizontal distance of 47 km. It has all the thermal zones and six biomes of Colombia: humid forests with hot, temperate and cold thermal zones; and páramo, superpáramo and nival plain, engendering a wide diversity of floral and faunal species, with various endemic species.b The indigenous populations studied reside in the rural area of Valledupar municipality: Donachui, Isrwa, Piñamake, Sabana de Crespo, Seynimin, Tamacal, Timaca and Jugaka, of Arhuaca ethnicity; Arwamake, Auyamal, Cherua, Dungakare and Surimena, of Wiwa ethnicity; Avingue, Pueblo Hernández, Nakalindua, Sabanas de Higueron, Sarachui and San José de Marwamake of Kogui ethnicity. Fieldwork was performed between June and December of 2007, in 19 localities of the three indigenous groups in Valledupar municipality. The indigenous personnel of the Entomology Laboratory of the Cesar Department Secretary performed systematic captures in the 19 communities, excluding houses whose occupants were not present at time of collection. There were also non-systematic capture of triatomines in some houses by residents. Specimens were given to personnel who transported them to the Entomology Laboratory in Valledupar. A portion of the collected entomologic material was labeled, packed and sent to the Entomology Laboratory of the National Institute of Health (INS) for confirmation of taxonomic identification, using the key by Lent & Wygodzinsky.15 To detect infection, the T. cruzi parasite was isolated by examining fresh triatomine feces, in a 0.85% sterile saline solution under a light microscope with 40X magnification.8 Inbred ICR mice were raised in the INS animal facility and used as a biologic model for the development and characterization of the T. cruzi infective process. A volume of 0.3 ml of homogenized material obtained from each infected triatomine was inoculated in two mice by intraperitoneal injection. A total of 22 mice were exposed. Follow-up of the acute phase of parasitemia in mice was performed weekly for two months, by the crude drop method: a drop of blood, from the end of the tail, was examined under a light microscope with 40X magnification, analyzing 100 random fields to detect epimastigotes. After two months, all blood was extracted (approximately 0.8 ml) by intracardial via and cultured under sterile conditions in Tobie media by triplicate. The cultures were maintained at 25°C for parasite development. The eleven mice inoculated with homogenized trypomastigotes (T. cruzi) were sacrificed. Visceras (liver, heart, lower large intestine), brain, and skeletal muscle were extracted under sterile conditions in a laminar flow cabinet fixed in formaldehyde and processed in the Pathology Laboratory to be observed under a light microscope for analysis of histopathology.19 From the cultures in Tobie and LIT (liver infusion tryptose) media, three strains of T. cruzi were isolated and analyzed for isozymes by cellulose acetate electrophoresis, running five enzyme systems, MDH, GPI, GDH, ME and IDH, according to the method by Godfrey & Kilgour.11 The population of Seynimin was selected for the serological screening. During 2006 and 2007 respectively, 244 and 28 blood samples were collected on filter paper, from patients probably infected. This sample was sent to the Parasitology Laboratory of the INS for confirmation of T. cruzi antibodies by the indirect immunofluorescence (IF) method.3 A database was created in Excel® for information storage. Only entomologic indices are considered as risk factors associated with T. cruzi transmission. Factors associated with the house were not analyzed due to logistic difficulties in their sampling. Results are presented in percentages and indices. The percentage of houses sampled in each community varied from 12% to 100%. In total 1,431 houses were inspected: 394 of Kogui ethnicity, 179 of Wiwa ethnicity and 858 of Arhuaca ethnicity; of the total, 438 were infected by triatomines (43.7%). The triatomine species identified by the Entomology Laboratory were R. prolixus, T. dimidiata, T. maculata, and P. geniculatus. The entomological indices for the different populations are presented in Table 1, which shows R. prolixus as the predominant species with a density index of 154.7%, followed by T. maculata with 109.25% and T. dimidiata with 102.45%. Infestation by P. geniculatus was very low, and its density index was 0.3%. In the 19 localities inspected, the average triatomine infestation index was 40.5%, with a colonization index of 32.0%. The T. cruzi infection index in the sample sent to INS was 9.4%. It was not possible to observe development of any parasitemia in the blood of mice inoculated with the infectious homogenized trypomastigotes. The mice behaved and appeared healthy while infected. Nonetheless, cultures inoculated with intracardial blood from five mice developed parasite epimastigotes: two mice infected with homogenized material of R. prolixus, from Sarachui (Kogui ethnicity); one mouse infected with homogenized material of R.prolixus from Isrwa (Arhuaca ethnicity); and two mice infected with homogenized material of T. maculata, from Sabanda de Crespo and Isrwa (Arhuaca ethnicity). Of the five blood cultures that presented T. cruzi epimastigotes, three were classified by isoenzymes as T. cruzi group I, belonging to R. prolixus and T. maculata collected in homes of people in Isrwa and Sabana de Crespo (Arhuaca ethnicity). Biopsies of mice inoculated with infectious homogenized T. cruzi trypomastigotes were analyzed by light microscope. All strains had similar histopathological behavior (Table 2). Four mice presented myositis and myocarditis, characteristic of the infective process. Among the 11 inoculated mice, only two presented intracellular T. cruzi amastigotes, from feces of R. prolixus collected in Sarachui locality (Kogui ethnicity); nonetheless, no mice presented a significant lesion in histopathological analysis. In samples analyzed by IF from the population of Seynimin, positivity levels of 0.8% (2/244) and 28% (8/28) were obtained for 2006 and 2007, respectively. The entomological indices for infestations (average 40.5%) and colonization (average 32.0%) demonstrate that infestation by triatomines is a widespread and important problem in 16 of the 19 indigenous locations inspected in Valledupar municipality. Although an evaluation of housing conditions was not performed, an association can be established between the perishable materials used for construction and the proximity to the ecosystems as factors that allow the development of dense triatomine populations. Recently, other high risk factors for triatomine infestation have been considered, such as the number of inhabitants per household in communities, storage density of household objects and the presence of barns and domestic animals,5 but these were not evaluated in this study. In examining the association between housing, triatomine infestation and the transmission of T. cruzi, it is necessary to consider the cultural and religious meanings that the house has for indigenous communities of the SNSM. When designing an intervention and vector control program, any modification in type of construction material should be discussed with the community. The triatomine species identified in this study are the same registered by other municipalities in Cesar.ª The process for dispersion of R. prolixus, T. maculata, T. dimidiata and P. geniculatus probably has not faced barriers of biogeography and/or the type of culture among indigenous communities in the region.17,18 R. prolixus was found in greatest density, followed by T. maculata and T. dimidiata. The two later species had a significant and important dispersion, considering the large proportion of houses inspected. Parasitological diagnosis reveals a high number of triatomines infected by T. cruzi (infection index of 9.4%), especially R. prolixius and T. maculata. These findings confirm that the risk for Chagas disease is high, although a fraction of the total sample of triatomines was analyzed. In Seynimin community, the percentage of Chagas disease in children, corresponds to a point estimate for the indigenous population of SNSM, although children close the parasite transmission cycle and communities emphasize that Chagas disease begins at an early age in the Amerindians of these communities The parasitological test of feces and the histopathological characterization of biopsies from infected inbred ICR mice, together with the isoenzymatic analysis of blood cultures for parasites, produced similar results as obtained in experimental conditions of strains from a distinct origin.20 The results allow for identification of the group and some characteristics of histopathological behavior of T. cruzi from the triatomines collected in these indigenous communities. In regards to the distribution of T. cruzi strains, molecular characterization studies performed in Latin American countries have recognizes two well differentiated lineages. T. cruzi II is located in the south of the continent (Paraguay, Chile, Argentina and part of Brazil), with human isolates,10,14,22 and Triatoma infestans as the main domiciliary vector.22 In Central American countries and northern South America, the main vectors are R. prolixus and T. dimidiata,22 and most isolates come from humans, corresponding to T. cruzi group I.1,6,14 Considering this distribution, the three strains of T. cruzi from triatomines in Cesar Department coincide with group I T. cruzi, circulating in humans. These results agree with recent findings for strains isolated from diverse hosts in different regions of Colombia, indicating that this group of T. cruzi predominates in Colombia.9,12,13,16,21 The biological and parasitological behavior described in the post-inoculation phase, without apparent parasitemia in mouse periphery blood could be defined as another characteristic specific to strains belonging to T. cruzi I and confirm the findings of a previous study.2 On the other hand, histopathological results show myositis as a common lesion in mice inoculated with infectious homogenized T. cruzi and support the pathological behavior previously identified,2,4,23 using mice as an animal model for Chagas disease. Although these strains of T. cruzi group I do not produce parasitemia visible in peripheral blood, they do present a positive tropism in cardiac tissue of mice and produce light lesions in this organ that do not lead to host death. Therefore, they are classified as strains poorly adapted to the host, a situation previously observed by other investigators in Colombia.c In considering the careful follow-up of parasite cultures, the T. cruzi clones that produced the histopathological traits are the same that grew in the culture media. Nonetheless, there is a possibility that post-inoculation clonal selection of T. cruzi may have occurred, a process described by Botero et al4 as the result of the host immune system, in this case ICR mice. In conclusion, infestation by triatomines infected with T. cruzi is a serious problem in the houses studied, impacting on transmission of Chagas disease as verified by some human cases. There is an urgent need for appropriate and concerted vector control strategies in these communities. Entomologic surveillance and serologic screening should be expanded to all 104 indigenous communities in SNSM in order to reach environmental and epidemiological coverage of the entire transmission foci. T. cruzi group I, a parasite that infects triatomines in the houses of these Amerindians, coincides with the predominant group in Central America and northern South America, commensurate to the vector dispersion. This finding is striking considering the relative cultural and bio-ecological isolation of indigenous communities in SNSM. Lastly, when selecting techniques for detection, multiplication and classification of parasites from vectors, it is reasonable to consider that some T. cruzi strains found in triatomine feces may not infect vertebrate hosts since the immunologic system exerts a selective action against certain lines. 1. Añez N, Crisante G, da Silva FM, Rojas A, Carrasco H, Umezawa ES, et al. Predominance of lineage I among Trypanosoma cruzi isolates from Venezuelan patients with different clinical profiles of acute Chagas' disease. Trop Med Int Health. 9(12):1319-26. DOI:10.1111/j.1365-3156.2004.01333.x [ Links ] 2. Barrera YK, Guevara JM, Pavía PX, Montilla M, Nicholls RS, Parra E, et al. Evaluación de las pruebas de PCR TcH2AF-R y S35-S36 para la detección de Trypanosoma cruzi en tejido cardiaco de ratón. Biomédica. 2008;28(4):616-26. [ Links ] 3. Botero D, Restrepo M. Parasitosis humanas. CIB. 3.ed. Medellín: CIB; 1998. [ Links ] 4. Botero LA, Mejia AM, Triana O. Caracterización biológica y genética de dos clones pertenecientes a los grupos I y II de Trypanosoma cruzi de Colombia. Biomédica. 2007;27(Supl 1):64-74. [ Links ] 5. Campbell-Lendrum DH, Angulo VM, Esteban L, Tarazona Z, Parra GJ, Restrepo M, et al. House-level risk factors for triatomine infestation in Colombia. Int J Epidemiol. 2007;36(4)866-72. DOI:10.1093/ije/dym065 [ Links ] 6. Cuervo P, Cupolillo E, Segura I, Saravia N, Fernandes O. Genetic diversity of Colombian sylvatic Trypanosoma cruzi isolates revealed by the ribosomal DNA. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2002;97(6):877-80. DOI:10.1590/S0074-02762002000600023 [ Links ] 7. Dib JC, Agudelo LA, Vélez ID. Prevalencia de patologías tropicales y factores de riesgo en la comunidad indígena Bunkwimake, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Duazary. 2006;3(1):38-44. [ Links ] 8. Duque S, Peláez D, Gualdrón LE, Villarreal E, Corredor-Arjona A. Aislamiento de tripanosomas a partir de materia fecal de Rhodnius prolixus. Biomédica. 1988;8:37-9. [ Links ] 9. Falla A, Herrera C, Fajardo A, Montilla M, Vallejo GA, Guhl F. Haplotype identification within Trypanosoma cruzi I in Colombian isolates from several reservoirs, vectors and humans. Acta Tropica. 2009;110(1):26-34. DOI:10.1016/j.actatropica.2008.12.003 [ Links ] 10. Fernandes O, Souto RP, Castro JA, Pereira JB, Fernandes NC, Junqueira ACV, et al. Brazilian isolates of Trypanosoma cruzi from human and triatomines classified into two lineages using mini-exon and ribosomal RNA sequences. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1998;58(6):807-11. [ Links ] 11. Godfrey DG, Kilgour A. Enzyme electrophoresis in characterizing the causative organism of Gambian trypanosomiasis. Trans Roy Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1976;70(3):219-24. [ Links ] 12. Herrera C, Bargues MD, Fajardo A, Montilla M, Triana O, Vallejo GA, et al. Identifying four Trypanosoma cruzi I isolated haplotypes from different geographic regions in Colombia. Infect Genet Evol. 2007;7(4):535-9. DOI:10.1016/j.meegid.2006.12.003 [ Links ] 13. Herrera C, Guhl F, Falla A, Fajardo A, Montilla M, Vallejo GA, Bargues MD. Genetic variability and phylogenetic relationships within Trypanosoma cruzi I isolated in Colombia based on miniexon gene sequences. J Parasitol Res. 2009;897364. DOI;10.1155/2009/897364 [ Links ] 14. Higo H, Miura S, Horio M, Mimori T, Hamano S, Agatsuma T, et al. Genotypic variation among lineages of Trypanosoma cruzi and its geographic aspects. Parasitol Int. 2004;53(4):337-44. DOI:10.1016/j.parint.2004.06.001 [ Links ] 15. Lent H, Wygodzinsky P. Revision of the Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) and their significance as vectors of Chagas disease. Bull Am Mus Nat Hist. 1979;163:127-520. [ Links ] 16. Montilla M, Guhl F, Jaramillo C, Nicholls S, Barnabe C, Bosseno F, et al. Isoenzyme clustering of Trypanosomatidae Colombian populations. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2002;66(4):394-400. [ Links ] 17. Parra-Henao G, Angulo V, Jaramillo N, Restrepo M. Triatominos (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia: aspectos epidemiológicos, entomológicos y de distribución. CES Med 2009;23(1):17-26. [ Links ] 18. Parra-Henao GJ, Restrepo Isaza M, Restrepo BN, Domínguez JD. Estudio de tripanosomiasis americana en dos poblados indígenas de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. CES Med. 2004;18(1):43-50. [ Links ] 19. Prophet EB, Mills B, Arrington BA, Sobin MD. Laboratory methods in histotechnology. Washington, DC: Armed Forces Institute of Pathology; 1992. [ Links ] 20. Rodríguez P, Montilla M, Nicholls S, Zarante I, Puerta C. Isoenzymatic characterization of Colombian strains of Trypanosoma cruzi. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 1998;93(6):739-40. DOI:10.1590/S0074-02761998000600008 [ Links ] 21. Rodríguez IB, Botero A, Mejía-Jaramillo AM , Marquez EJ, Ortiz S, Solari A, et al. Transmission dynamics of Trypanosoma cruzi determined by low-stringency single primer polymerase chain reaction and Southern Blot analyses in four Indigenous communities of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2009;81(3):396-403. [ Links ] 22. Souto R, Fernandes O, Macedo AM, Campbell DA, Zingales B. DNA markers define two major phylogenetic lineages of Trypanosoma cruzi. Mol Biochem Parasitol. 1996;83(2)141-52. DOI:10.1016/S0166-6851(96)02755-7 [ Links ] 23. Téllez-Meneses J, Mejía-Jaramillo AM, Triana-Chávez O. Biological characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi stocks from domestic and sylvatic vectors in Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, Colombia. Acta Tropica. 2008;108(1):26-34. DOI:10.1016/j.actatropica.2008.08.006 [ Links ] 24. World Health Organization. Control of Chagas disease: 2nd report of the WHO Expert Committee. Geneva; 2002. (WHO Technical Report Series, 905). [ Links ] Correspondence: Received: 3/5/2010 Study presented at the VI Encuentro Nacional de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas, held in Santa Marta, Colombia, 2008. Laboratorio de Entomología Instituto Nacional de Salud Calle 26 51-20 Zona postal 6 Cundinamarca, Apartados 80080 80334 Bogota, DC, Colômbia The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interests. a Angulo VM, Tarazona Z, Sandoval CM, Reyes A, Romero R. Programa Nacional de prevención y control de la infección por Trypanosoma cruzi, agente causal de la enfermedad de Chagas y cardiopatía infantil, en las principales áreas endémicas de Colombia. Departamentos de Cesar y Guajira. Nodo Nor-oriental CINTROP-UIS. Informe final. Diciembre 2000. b Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi. Diccionario geográfico de Colombia. 3. ed. Bogotá: Horizonte Impresores; 1996. Tomo 4. c Vallejo G, Laboratory of Tropical Parasitology Investigations, University of Tolima, Colombia, personal communication. at the VI Encuentro Nacional de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas, held in Santa Marta, Colombia, 2008.

- Albert Einstein On Saturday August 6, 2011, a U.S. military Chinook transport helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, killing 30 American soldiers, including 17 elite Navy SEALs, and eight Afghans. The mainstream news media was awash with somber reports about this being the "deadliest day" for U.S. forces in the ten years since the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan began. Notably, many news outlets such as ABC, NBC, CBS, and The Washington Post claimed the helicopter crash and its 30 American casualties marked the "deadliest day of the war", without adding the vital qualification, "for United States military personnel." Even the progressive website Truthout provided its daily email blast that day with the headline: "Deadliest Day in Decade-Long Afghanistan War: 31 Troops Killed in Shootdown." The obvious implication of these reports was that on no single day since October 7, 2001, when the U.S.-led invasion and bombing campaign began, had as many people been killed in Afghanistan as on August 6, 2011. Perhaps most brazen and sanctimonious regarding this claim was MSNBC's primetime anchor Lawrence O'Donnell. Introducing the "Rewrite" segment of his Monday August 8 broadcast of "The Last Word", O'Donnell looked directly into the camera and, in his measured and most heartfelt serious voice, told his viewers: "This weekend saw the worst single loss of life in the ten years of the Afghan War."He was lying. Unless, of course, like so many Americans, O'Donnell doesn't count Afghan civilians as human beings worthy of being allowed to stay alive. In fact, the invisibility of the native population of Afghanistan is so ubiquitous in the American media, O'Donnell and his writers probably didn't even think they needed to acknowledge civilian death tolls at the hands of foreign armies. As General Tommy Franks, who led the invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq, told reporters at Bagram Air Base in March 2002 when asked about how many people the U.S. military has killed, "You know we don't do body counts." After showing a video clip of CIA Directer-cum-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's statement that the helicopter crash served as "a reminder to the American people that we remain a nation still at war," O'Donnell took seven minutes of airtime to lecture his viewers about a country that has forgotten the hardships of warfare, due to the absence of a draft or rationing or war taxation. Clearly passionate and frustrated, he rhetorically wondered, "What kind of nation would need to be reminded that it is still at war?" He continued, "There will be other nights for us to discuss the way forward or the way out of Afghanistan. Tonight is not that night. Tonight is for reminding this nation that it is indeed at war. And tonight is for reminding the nation of the price of war. The ultimate sacrifice."At this point, O'Donnell displayed photographs of some of the soldiers killed in the crash while delivering brief biographies, a sort of "Last Word" eulogy for the dead. In his effort to tug at his viewers heartstrings, O'Donnell told us of one young soldier who had only "been in Afghanistan for less than two weeks." Another was described by his mother as "a gentle giant." A SEAL Team 6 member also killed in the crash, we were told, had a wife, a two-year-old son and a two-month old baby girl while another solider was survived by his pregnant wife and three children. O'Donnell eulogized one of the deceased servicemen by telling us of his personal history as a high school wrestler and his lifelong dream of becoming a Navy SEAL. O'Donnell concluded the segment with the assurance that none of the family members of those soldiers who had died - as opposed to the million of Americans whose lives are totally unaffected by the ongoing occupation - needed any "reminding" that "we are a nation at war." Never once during this paean to the military did O'Donnell make even a passing reference to the thousands upon thousands of Afghan men, women, and children killed by U.S. and NATO forces in their own homeland, their own country, their own towns, their own communities, their own homes, hospitals, mosques, and schools, and at their own weddings. The Afghan village of Karam was completely destroyed on October 12, 2001 when American forces dropped a one-ton bomb on it and killed over 100 people. On October 21, 2001, "At least twenty-three civilians, the majority of them young children, were killed when U.S. bombs hit a remote Afghan village," according to a report by Human Rights Watch. Not a solitary syllable was uttered to honor the seven children blown apart "as they ate breakfast with their father" when "a US bomb flattened a flimsy mud-brick home in Kabul" on Sunday October 29, 2001. The Times of India, citing a Reuters report, revealed that "the blast shattered a neighbour's house killing another two children." A few weeks later, on November 17, 2001, U.S. bombs fired at the village of Chorikori murdered "two entire families, one of 16 members and the other of 14, who lived, and perished, together in the same house," reported The Los Angeles Times. Shortly thereafter, heavy American bombing in Khanabad near Kunduz was said to have killed 100 people. The same day, a religious school in Khost was bombed, killing 62 people. Around the same time, James S. Robbins, a professor of International Relations at the National Defense University, published an article in The National Review entitled, "Humanity of the Air War: Look how far we've come." The piece began this way: "Think airpower can't bring victory in Afghanistan? Think again." Robbins continued his claim that "the air campaign over Afghanistan has been effective by most reports" and that "critics of the air campaign at home and abroad make as much of civilian casualties as suits their purposes, but arguments over whether a few, a dozen, or hundreds of people have died only show how civilized warfare has become." He averred that "[a]ny civilian deaths caused by allied bombs are unintended deaths" (emphasis in original), declared that the U.S. was using the "tools and means of the humane" to bomb Afghan civilians to death on a regular basis, and concluded, "The allied air campaign is demonstrating how moral a war can be." On December 31, 2001, U.S. ground forces confirmed an enemy target in the village of Qalaye Niazi and "three bombers, a B-52 and two B-1Bs, did the rest, zapping Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in their sleep as well as an ammunition dump." A military spokesman, Matthew Klee, proudly told reporters that the strike was an unmitigated success, saying, "Follow-on reporting indicates that there was no collateral damage." However, The Guardian reported: Some of the things his follow-on reporters missed: bloodied children's shoes and skirts, bloodied school books, the scalp of a woman with braided grey hair, butter toffees in red wrappers, wedding decorations.In the first three months of the Afghanistan assault, Carl Conetta of the Project on Defense Alternatives found that upwards of 4,200-4,500 Afghan civilians had been killed as a result of the U.S.-led bombing campaign and the "starvation, exposure, associated illnesses, or injury sustained while in flight from war zones" that followed the invasion and airstrikes. In May 2002, Jonathan Steele of The Guardian reported that, up to that point, "As many as 20,000 Afghans may have lost their lives as an indirect consequence of the US intervention." The charred meat sticking to rubble in black lumps could have been Osama bin Laden's henchmen but survivors said it was the remains of farmers, their wives and children, and wedding guests. They said more than 100 civilians died at this village in eastern Afghanistan. For O'Donnell, it appears the "price of war" doesn't include the 48 civilians killed and 117 wounded, many of them women and children, when U.S. jets bombed a wedding party in Oruzgan in July 2002, the 17 civilians, mostly women and children, killed by coalition bombs in Helmand in February 2003, the eight civilians killed by a U.S. gunship and bomber in Bagram Valley the same month, the eleven civilians killed, including seven women, by a U.S. laser-guided bomb that hit a house outside the village of Shkin in April 2003, the six family members killed by U.S. bombs that hit the village of Aranj in October 2003, or the nine children (seven boys and two girls aged 9 to 12) murdered by two U.S. A-10 Thunderbolt II planes which attacked the village of Hutala while the children were playing ball. The human cost of the Afghan occupation, so far as O'Donnell is concerned, doesn't include the eleven people, four of them children, killed by an American helicopter which fired on the village of Saghatho in January 2004, the scores of civilians bombed to death by NATO airstrikes in October 2006, eight civilians shot by American soldiers in Kandahar in 2007, the more than 100 civilians killed in numerous U.S. and NATO bombings in May 2007, the seven children killed by a U.S.-led airstrike in June 2007, the group of bus passengers gunned down by US troops on December 12, 2008, the seven civilians killed by American troops in a rural village near Nad-E'ali in 2009, the 26 civilians, including 16 children, killed by British forces, the scores of dead civilians in Kunduz and Helmand who were killed by 500-pound bombs dropped by U.S. jets in September 2009, the 27 civilians killed by a NATO strike in the Afghan province of Uruzgan and the five civilians, including two pregnant women and a teenage girl killed in Khataba in February 2010, the 45 civilians (most of whom were women and children) murdered by a NATO rocket in Afghanistan in July 2010, the 30 or more civilians killed in two NATO air strikes on two villages in the Nangarhar province in August 2010, or the numerous civilian men, women, children, dogs, donkeys, and chickens slaughtered by Task Force 373, a clandestine black ops unit which NATO uses as an assassination squad. On March 23, 2011, U.S. Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock was sentenced to 24 years in prison for the willful murder and mutilation of three Afghan civilians - a fifteen-year-old boy, a mentally-retarded man, and a religious leader. Other members of Morlock's platoon, the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade, have been "charged with dismembering and photographing corpses, as well as hoarding a skull and other human bones," The Washington Post previously reported. At the beginning of the court-martial proceedings, Morlock admitted to the military judge presiding over the case that the murders he and four fellow soldiers were charged with committing had been deliberate and intentional. "The plan was to kill people, sir," he said. Broadcasting live across the country that evening, Lawrence O'Donnell didn't cover the story. Instead, he spent a considerable amount of airtime justifying Barack Obama's decision to begin bombing Libya, interviewing Anthony Weiner about healthcare, and poking fun at potential GOP presidential candidates. He ended the program that night, however, with a touching and earnest memorial for someone who had recently died: Elizabeth Taylor. For O'Donnell, the "ultimate sacrifice" he spoke of this week naturally didn't include the Afghan man, four women, and baby murdered at a wedding party by a Polish mortar strike on the village of Wazi Khwa on August 16, 2007, which also injured three other women, one of whom was nine months pregnant. Nor does it include the "nineteen unarmed civilians killed and 50 wounded" when, during "a frenzied escape" on March 4, 2007, U.S. Marines "open[ed] fire with automatic weapons as they tore down a six-mile stretch of highway, hitting almost anyone in their way – teenage girls in fields, motorists in their cars, old men as they walked along the road." The April 2009 U.S. raid on Khost, which killed four civilians, including a woman and two children, didn't receive a sad obituary on primetime cable television either. The American soldiers on that raid "also shot a pregnant woman and killed her unborn baby, which had almost come to term." To O'Donnell, the "worst single loss of life" in Afghanistan during the last decade wasn't the more than 140 civilians reportedly killed when "U.S. aircraft bombed villages in the Bala Boluk district of Afghanistan's western Farah province" on May 3, 2009 in what is now known as the the Granai airstrike. Reuters revealed that "93 of those killed were children -- the youngest eight days old," and that "[a]ccording to villagers, families were cowering in houses when the U.S. aircraft bombed them." The death toll of this one airstrike is nearly five times larger than the U.S. helicopter crash, which took the life of not a single civilian, let alone child. 255 civilians were killed in military operations in June 2008. In early July 2008, near the village of Kacu, "a U.S. air strike killed 47 civilians, including 39 women and children, as they were travelling to a wedding in Afghanistan...The bride was among the dead." The following month, 90 civilians, including 60 children and 15 women, were killed during military operations in Herat province alone. Sixty-five civilians, including 40 children, were killed in a NATO assault on Kunar in February 2011. A few weeks later, NATO helicopter gunners shot nine boys - aged 9 to 15 - to death as they gathered firewood. In mid-March 2011, two children who were digging an irrigation ditch on their land in Afghanistan's Kunar province were killed in "a coalition air strike." Nelofar, a 12-year-old girl, along with her 25-year-old uncle Shukrullah, a policeman, were killed on May 12, 2011 when NATO troops threw a grenade into their family's courtyard as they slept outside. Their house was raided because, according to The New York Times, Shukrullah "was incorrectly believed to be a local Taliban leader. NATO apologized for its error." In a report issued after the killings, NATO acknowledged that only after Nelofar was "mistakenly identified" as carrying a weapon and murdered, "the force discovered the individual was an unarmed Afghan female adolescent." During a late-night mounted patrol on May 14, 2011, American soldiers "mistakenly" killed a 15-year-old boy who was sleeping either in his family's field or in his own bed, but who press reports initially claimed was "attempting to pull a gun on Afghan and U.S. troops." When villagers carrying the dead boy's body were confronted by Afghan security forces, another boy was shot dead. He was fourteen. On May 16, 2011, a ten-year-old girl gathering firewood with her friends was killed when the U.S. shelled a "suspected insurgent position" with heavy artillery. Two days later, on May 18, 2011, two men and two women were killed during another night raid in Takhar province, eliciting as massive protest outside a nearby NATO military base. When German soldiers and Afghan National Army opened fire on the crowd, another dozen civilians were shot to death and at least 85 were wounded. On May 28, 2011, NATO bombs killed two women and 12 children in Helmand. In the month leading up to the Chinook crash last week, dozens of Afghan civilians were killed in NATO airstrikes and raids. O'Donnell didn't feel the need to show pictures of any of these victims or quote what their loved ones had to say about them. The "deadliest day", in O'Donnell's estimation, could not possibly have been when, in July 2007, "U.S. special forces dropped six 2,000lb bombs on a compound where they believed a 'high-value individual' was hiding, after 'ensuring there were no innocent Afghans in the surrounding area'. A senior US commander reported that 150 Taliban had been killed. Locals, however, reported that up to 300 civilians had died." Lawrence O'Donnell didn't tell his viewers of the hopes and dreams of the hundreds of Afghan children liberated forever from this world by noble American troops and their stalwart allies. He didn't mention how some of the young boys murdered by U.S. missiles loved to play soccer and couldn't wait to learn how to drive. He didn't solemnly note that many of the young girls shot to death by soldiers who love what they do wanted to become doctors and lawyers and human rights activists and teachers and wives and mothers. He didn't devote a segment of his show to the murder of Mohammed Yonus, "a 36-year-old imam and a respected religious authority", killed in Kabul in early 2010 while commuting to a madrasa where he taught 150 students." The New York Times reported, "A passing military convoy raked his car with bullets, ripping open his chest as his two sons sat in the car." O'Donnell didn't tearfully point out that the bullets and bombs that have killed so many men and women have left countless orphans and widows and taken countless children away from countless parents all sacrificed on the altar of the so-called "War on Terror" and American security and exceptionalism. None of these innocents - people obliterated in their own houses, in their own fields, and in their own cars on their own roads - was accorded a second of screen time or a moment of acknowledgment during O'Donnell's "Rewrite." It is unsurprising that, in March 2010, General Stanley A. McChrystal told U.S. troops during a video-conference about civilian deaths at checkpoints in Afghanistan, "We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat." Nevertheless, upon McChrystal's dishonorable retirement only a few months later, Defense Secretary Robert Gates delivered the following tribute: "Over the past decade, arguably no single American has inflicted more fear, more loss of freedom and more loss of life on our country's most vicious and violent enemies than Stan McChrystal." Lawrence O'Donnell, while chastising the American public for not paying enough attention to our myriad military invasions, occupations and war crimes, said that only "a nation whose news media is more troubled by the loss of credit-ratings than the loss of life" could act in such a way. He didn't mean, of course, the loss of Afghan lives, only of American soldiers. The U.S. government operates the same way; it still doesn't compile death tolls for its murderous operations. Earlier this year, the ACLU revealed [PDF]: The Department of Defense has confirmed that it does not compile statistics about the total number of civilians that have been killed by its unmanned drone aircraft.In a New York Times op-ed published on May 16, 2009, David Kilcullen, a former counterinsurgency adviser to General David Petraeus, and Andrew Exum, a former U.S. Army officer who is now an analyst at the D.C.-based think tank, lent credence to claims that American drone strikes result in the murder of "50 civilians for every militant killed, a hit rate of 2 percent." According to the DOD, the military’s estimates of civilian casualties do not distinguish between deaths caused by remote-controlled drones and those caused by other aircraft. While each drone strike appears to be subject to an individual assessment after the fact, there is no total number of casualties compiled. Moreover, information contained in the individual assessments is classified – making it impossible for the public to learn how many civilians have been killed overall. On July 5, 2005, journalist Peter Symonds wrote: In what can only be regarded as a bloody act of revenge, the US military last Sunday killed as many as 17 civilians in an air raid on the remote village of Chechal in the northeast Afghan province of Kunar.While it remains to be seen what kind of lethal punishment Afghan civilians will bear in retaliation for the most recent Chinook crash with its record-breaking American death toll, one thing is certain: Lawrence O'Donnell will offer no words of sorrow or condolence, no melancholy homage to the dead, no decorous harangue of the American public for not caring enough, for not knowing the names, faces, and stories of those killed by our own soldiers whose salaries we pay and bombs we build. The attack took place just five kilometres from where a US Chinook helicopter was shot down, four days before, resulting in the deaths of 16 US special forces personnel — the largest single loss of American troops since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001. To mourn only fallen soldiers of one's own country and not even notice the civilians they are trained to kill in their own country is to rewrite the history of war and violence and further entrenches the vile ideology of "us vs. them", inverts aggressor and victim, and praises invasion and empire. Lawrence O'Donnell, by deliberately ignoring the thousands of Afghan dead during his encomium for the dead American soldiers, has proven that, as far as the mainstream media is concerned, justice will never have the last word. August 17, 2011 - It should pointed out that Lawrence O'Donnell's willful omission of the hundreds of thousands of people killed by U.S. military operations when discussing those very operations and their tragic, lethal consequences, is nothing new. After Osama bin Laden was reported killed by Navy SEALs this past May, O'Donnell took to the airwaves in his “Rewrite” segment to condemn the Bush/Cheney approach to fighting terrorism across the globe. He spoke of how John Kerry got it right when he suggested terrorism must be dealt with as a law enforcement issue, rather than a military one. As usual, O'Donnell was confident in his commentary and he made a number of very strong, trenchant points regarding the incompetent rush to war and its subsequent handling. But check out how he described the blood and treasure spent in Afghanistan and Iraq and its connection to the killing of bin Laden: "Sunday night, after a decade of non-stop war that has left us over 49,000 dead and wounded U.S. soldiers, costing – in real economic terms – something in the order of four trillion dollars and the deployment of our most sophisticated 21st Century weaponry, Osama bin Laden was caught using the basic tools of police work: interrogation, detective work, following up clues, piecing evidence and hunches together, eavesdropping, surveillance…" (emphasis added)O'Donnell continued, "The last decade did not have to be a decade of war," and stated that, with a more experienced and intelligent man in the White House, the United States "could have been spared thousands of casualties and years of wasted time" in the Middle East (emphasis added). Nowhere in his comments did O'Donnell mention that one of the tragedies of what he called America's "overreaction" to 9/11 were the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan civilians killed as a consequence of our actions. One may want to believe that O'Donnell was implying as much or that these deaths were included in O'Donnell's mentioned totals, but it is more than clear this is not the case and was not his intention. Only American lives have been wasted and careless risked and destroyed, not anyone else's, according to what O'Donnell chose to say that night. He could have even dumbed it down in order not to offend to sensibilities of tender-eared viewers and said that a decade of endless and unnecessary war has cost thousands of American, Afghan, and Iraqi lives. But he didn't. In O'Donnell's analysis, the unhappy consequences of U.S. military actions are wasted time, money, machinery, and American soldiers. Nothing else. Incidentally, Lawrence O'Donnell's 93-year-old mother Frances died on Sunday August 14, 2011. My sincere condolences to Lawrence and his family. August 29, 2011 - Tonight, Lawrence O'Donnell returned to The Last Word and during his "Rewrite" segment again addressed casualties of the United States' military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His focus, this time around, was the recent death of al Qaeda's newest second-in-command. Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, who ascended to his post after the death of Osama bin Laden, was reportedly killed by a CIA drone strike in Waziristan a week ago. After detailing the fates of past al Qaeda #2's (a job which ranks particularly low in life security), O'Donnell said this: "Now, there's a lot of issues around these Predator drone strikes: how many innocents they kill, how many times they target one of these people and then get a completely innocent target. There's a lot of stuff to wonder about. The legality of these killings is very, very dubious, to say the least. Are they assassinations prohibited by American law, or is this an acceptable method of war against a terrorist group that has attacked the United States? Plenty to wonder about there."No, O'Donnell did not elaborate on the hundreds (if not thousands) of civilians killed by U.S. drones nor did he go into any detail about the legal issues regarding these drone attacks. Nevertheless, his brief comments deserve recognition. In fact, it almost appeared as if O'Donnell went off-script to mention "innocents", "assassinations", and "the legality of these killings", as his voice became less assured and his usual confidence waned just a bit as he said these words. And while he noted that there is "a lot of stuff to wonder about", he showed no indication that would pursue these topics in later broadcasts or even that he had any personal feelings about what the answers might be. Still, the mere mention of the "dubious" legality of drone strikes and its civilian death toll in the mainstream media is a clear departure from the norm. That such a departure came from O'Donnell, who has avoided or ignored these issues in the past, is particularly commendable. While I have no illusions that O'Donnell has read anything I myself have written or been made aware of any articles on Wide Asleep in America, I do hope that he continues to include vital context - however cursory or speculative - regarding the true consequences of our military actions across the globe whenever he chooses to report on such topics. If he does, he would surely begin to set himself apart from the rest of the, shall I say, drones. O'Donnell's remarks (quoted above) can be seen here: (and my apologies for the ExxonMobile advertisement that automatically plays in advance of the clip) September 1, 2011 - Tonight on The Last Word, Lawrence O'Donnell again mentioned the civilian victims of the American occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Kudos. This is no small thing for someone in the public eye, broadcasting nightly on a cable television news channel. Introducing a segment on the upcoming MSNBC special about the decade since 9/11/2001, O'Donnell began this way: "9/11, ten years later. We are now fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and at a cost of 1.2 trillion dollars and at least 6,222 American lives, in addition to a truly uncountable number of Iraqi and Afghani casualties."Leaving aside the fact that the term for the people of Afghanistan is Afghans and not Afghanis, O'Donnell deserves credit once again for referencing the innocent lives destroyed by the past decade of U.S. military actions and associated violence in the Middle East. November 3, 2011 - In an absolutely harrowing report for IPS, investigative journalist Gareth Porter reveals that "U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) killed well over 1,500 civilians in night raids in less than 10 months in 2010 and early 2011," according to "analysis of official statistics on the raids released by the U.S.-NATO command." This staggering death toll "would make U.S. night raids by far the largest cause of civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan." Porter notes that, considering 6,282 night raids reportedly took place in the past two years and U.S and NATO officials have repeatedly insisted "that shots were fired by SOF units in only 20 percent of night raids," that would mean "2,844 [people] were killed in 1,256 raids." November 24, 2011 - The murder of Afghan civilians, including so many children, continues unabated. Today in the village of Siacha, in the Zhare district of Kandahar, The New York Times reports, "Six children were among seven civilians killed in a NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Thursday." According to "Abdul Samad, an uncle of four of the children who were killed," the children - ages 4 to 12 - "were working in fields near their village when they were attacked without warning by an aircraft." UPDATE VI: January 18, 2012 - The Associated Press reports today: Sayed Fazelullah Wahidi, governor of Kunar province, which includes the district, said the raid occurred Monday night. He said coalition helicopters fired into a compound, killing two militants and five civilians, including a woman and two children. Coalition troops and Afghan special forces have been carrying out regular nighttime kill-and-capture raids against suspected insurgents across Afghanistan. But the operations and allegations of civilian deaths have provoked anger over foreign meddling in Afghanistan...Imagine that! Anger. What savages. UPDATE VII: February 5, 2012 - From Moon of Alabama: UN: "More Afghans Got Killed" - ISAF: "Good News!" UN: Afghan Civilian Deaths Up for 5th Straight Year (VOA, Feb 4)***** A United Nations report says more than 3,000 civilians died in Afghanistan's conflict last year, the worst annual toll in the decade-long war. The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said Saturday that 3,021 civilians were killed in 2011, an 8 percent increase over the previous year, and the fifth year in a row that the death toll has risen.News: ISAF commander encouraged by UNAMA report findings (DVIDS, Feb 6) KABUL, Afghanistan - Gen. John R. Allen, commander, International Security Assistance Force, welcomes the latest report from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan that shows a reduction in coalition-related civilian casualties. “Every citizen of Afghanistan must know ISAF will continue to do all we can to reduce casualties that affect the Afghan civilian population. This data is promising but there is more work to be done,” said Allen. March 11, 2012 - The massacre of Afghan civilians continues unabated. For my take on the most recent atrocity, go here. May 8, 2012 - On Monday May 7, 2012, two separate NATO airstrikes in the southern Helmand and northwestern Badghis provinces of Afghanistan murdered 20 civilians, including a mother and five of her children, three girls and two boys. American officials have confirmed reports of the killing of those six family members. Lt. Col. Stewart Upton, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Helmand, told the press, "We expressed regret over the incident, and we’re investigating to determine how this happened." Here's a tip to the investigators: It happened because you purposely dropped bombs on their home and bombs kill people. Upton added, "We are deeply saddened by any civilian death and particularly regret an incident where civilians are killed." Considering U.S. and NATO forces have spent over a decade killing thousands of Afghan civilians - men, women, and children who were living, breathing human beings in their own country before missiles were fired at them or bullets shot into them by American and NATO soldiers on orders from American and NATO commanders - one must assume the U.S. military and its leadership has spent the last ten years in a state of perpetual melancholia and unending regret. That must have been really hard on them. They deserve a hug. As usual, Glenn Greenwald nails it: At some point — and more than a decade would certainly qualify — the act of continuously killing innocent people, countless children, in the Muslim world most certainly does reflect upon, and even alters, the moral character of a country, especially its leaders. You can't just spend year after year piling up the corpses of children and credibly insist that it has no bearing on who you are. That’s particularly true when, as is the case in Afghanistan, the cause of the war is so vague as to be virtually unknowable. It's woefully inadequate to reflexively dismiss every one of these incidents as the regrettable but meaningless by-product of our national prerogative.The mainstream news networks in this "deeply saddened" nation of ours have not reported on our latest execution of innocent, unarmed living human beings, our annihilation of five children and their mother. Exceptional, aren't we? February 7, 2013 - "UN group says US attacks, air strikes kill hundreds of Afghan children in recent years," reads a headline from the Associated Press today in a grim reminder of the war crimes our military has and continues to relentlessly commit. The report begins: Attacks by U.S. military forces in Afghanistan, including air strikes, have reportedly killed hundreds of children over the last four years, according to the U.N. body monitoring the rights of children. The Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child said the casualties were “due notably to reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force.” It was reviewing a range of U.S. policies affecting children for the first time since 2008 — the last year of the Bush administration and the year Barack Obama was first elected president.In August 2012, the Committee reported that, in just the first six months of that year, there were "83 civilian deaths and 46 injured as a result of aerial attacks by international military forces," including "the death of 18 civilians, most of whom were women and children" during a June 6 air operation in Logar. These operations were the cause of "more civilian deaths and injuries than any other tactic used by Pro-Government Forces since UNAMA began documenting civilian casualties." The Committee also documented 20 civilians killed (and 12 injured) during night raid operations between January and June 2012. February 19, 2013 - A week ago, on February 12, 2013, a NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan murdered 10 civilians, including five women and four children. Now that MSNBC has brought Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs and campaigner manager David Axelrod aboard, it's probably just a matter of time before Lawrence O'Donnell gets around to asking them about the murderous policies of their beloved Commander-in-Chief.

Douglas A-3 Skywarrior |A-3 (A3D) Skywarrior| |Manufacturer||Douglas Aircraft Company| |First flight||28 October 1952| |Retired||27 September 1991| |Primary user||United States Navy| |Developed into||Douglas B-66 Destroyer| The Douglas A-3 Skywarrior was designed as a strategic bomber for the United States Navy and was among the longest serving carrier-based aircraft in history. It entered service in the mid-1950s and was retired in 1991. Throughout its service, it was the heaviest operational aircraft to operate from aircraft carriers, earning its nickname, "The Whale." Its primary function for much of its later service life was as an electronic warfare platform, tactical air reconnaissance platform, and high capacity aerial refueling tanker. The Skywarrior is one of only two U.S. Navy attack aircraft intended as a strategic bomber to enter full-scale service (the other being its predecessor, the North American AJ Savage). The carrier-based supersonic North American A-5 Vigilante was also originally designed for strategic nuclear strike missions and initially, very briefly, supplanted the A-3 in that role beginning in the early 1960s. However, with the removal of aircraft carriers from the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP), the realization that very high altitude penetration of the Soviet Union was no longer feasible, and the transfer of the U.S. Navy's strategic nuclear deterrence mission to the Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine force, the Vigilante saw its mission changed to carrier-based tactical air reconnaissance. - 1 Development - 2 Design - 3 Operational history - 4 Variants - 5 Operators - 6 Survivors - 7 Specifications (A3D-2/A-3B Skywarrior) - 8 See also - 9 References - 10 External links Early in World War II, the U.S. Navy began to explore the concept of a jet-powered aircraft operating from aircraft carriers. Success encouraged further development of the concept, and early in the post war years, the U.S. Navy began to consider jet power as a possible means of operating carrier-based aircraft that were large enough to provide a strategic bombing capability. In January 1948, the Chief of Naval Operations issued a requirement to develop a long-range, carrier-based attack plane that could deliver a 10,000 lb (4,536 kg) bomb load or a nuclear weapon. The aircraft was planned to operate from the proposed United States-class "supercarriers," much larger than existing carriers, and the specification set a target loaded weight of 100,000 lb (45,500 kg). Ed Heinemann, chief designer of the Douglas Aircraft Company, later to win fame for the A-4 Skyhawk, fearing that the United States-class was vulnerable to cancellation, proposed a significantly smaller aircraft of 68,000 lb (31,000 kg) loaded weight, capable of operating from existing carriers. The contract that the U.S. Navy awarded to the Douglas Aircraft Company on 29 September 1949 led to the development and production of the A3D Skywarrior. The prototype XA3D-1 first flew on 28 October 1952. Considerable development problems, largely with the original engines, delayed the introduction of the Skywarrior until spring 1956. The A-3 was, by far, the largest and heaviest aircraft ever designed for routine use on an aircraft carrier, though ironically it was the smallest proposal among other proposals that could only be deployed on even larger carriers not yet in service. Because of its cumbersome size, and less-than-slender profile, it was nicknamed "The Whale" (after it converted to the electronic warfare role, it became "The Electric Whale"). Production ceased in 1961. The Skywarrior had a 36° degree swept wing and two Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engines. Early prototypes had used the intended Westinghouse J40, a powerplant that proved to be disastrous and subsequently canceled. The turbojets could be supplemented by a provision for twelve 4,500 lbf (20 kN) thrust JATO bottles. The aircraft had a largely conventional semi-monocoque fuselage, with the engines in underwing nacelles. Flight controls were hydraulic, and for storage below deck, the A-3's wings folded outboard of the engines, lying almost flat, and its vertical stabilizer was hinged to starboard. Capacious internal fuel tanks provided long range. The early A-3 variants had a crew of three: pilot, bombardier/navigator (BN) and crewman/navigator (aka: third crewman). An unusual cockpit configuration was incorporated with the three crew sitting under a framed canopy. In the raised compartment, the pilot and bombardier/navigator sat in a side-by-side arrangement with the pilot's station on port side having full flight controls. On initial variants, a third crew member, who also acted as a gunner for the twin tail-mounted 20mm cannons that briefly equipped the original bomber version of the A3D/A-3A (removed and replaced by ECM equipment), sat behind the pilot in an aft-facing seat. The third crewman station had the sextant for celestial navigation and the defensive electronic counter measures equipment. Later electronic reconnaissance variants could accommodate a crew of seven with the flight crew consisting of a pilot, co-pilot and navigator plus four electronic systems operators occupying stations in the former bomb bay in the spacious fuselage. Efforts to reduce weight had led to the deletion of ejection seats during the design process for the Skywarrior, based on the assumption that most flights would be at high altitude. A similar arrangement with an escape tunnel had been used on the F3D Skyknight. Aircrews began joking morbidly that "A3D" stood for "All Three Dead". (In 1973, the widow of a Skywarrior crewman killed over Vietnam sued the McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company for not providing ejection seats in the A-3.) In contrast, the US Air Force's B-66 Destroyer was equipped with ejection seats throughout its service life. The documented history of mechanical failures in the A3D / A-3 showed a rate well above average. While there were magazine articles that conjectured that the safety problem was compounded by assigning weaker pilots to slower jets like the A-3, during their heyday, Skywarrior pilots were often "best-of-the-best" and were, with few exceptions, senior pilots with a minimum of 1500 hours jet time,due to its critical nuclear strike mission role and the difficulty of bringing such a large plane aboard, especially at night on the smaller carriers. Originally, the Skywarrior bombers were assigned to all the attack carriers: the WWII-era Essex class and the (just) postwar Midway class. The Skywarrior could carry up to 12,000 lb (5,443 kg) of weaponry in the fuselage bomb bay, which in later versions was used for sensor and camera equipment or additional fuel tanks. An AN/ASB-1A bomb-director system was initially installed, later replaced by a revised AN/ASB-7 with a slightly reshaped nose. Defensive armament was two 20mm cannons in a radar-operated tail turret designed by Westinghouse, soon removed in favor of electronic counter measure equipment. Although some bombing missions would be carried out early in the Vietnam war, most bombing would be carried out by more nimble attack and fighter bombers, and the Skywarrior would serve mostly as a tanker and electronic warfare support aircraft. Prior to the initial operational capability of the U.S. Navy's Polaris-armed Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines, the A-3 was the Navy's critical element in the U.S. nuclear deterrent. Squadrons were established in two Heavy Attack Wings (HATWINGs), with one wing established at NAS Whidbey Island, Washington while the other wing was initially established at NAS Jacksonville, Florida before relocating to NAS Sanford, Florida. The wing at NAS Whidbey Island would later transition to the EKA-3B variant, eventually forming the nucleus for the Navy's Grumman EA-6B Prowler community, while the wing at NAS Sanford would convert to the A3J Vigilante (later A-5A) in the nuclear heavy attack mission, followed by conversion to the RA-5C and transition to the reconnaissance attack mission. The Vigilante wing would also continue to retain a small number of TA-3B aircraft for training Naval Flight Officers in the Vigilante's radar and navigation systems. The Skywarrior's strategic bombing role faded after 1964, briefly being complemented by the A3J Vigilante. Soon afterward, the Navy abandoned the concept of carrier-based strategic nuclear weaponry for the successful Polaris missile-equipped Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine program and all A-5As were converted to the RA-5C Vigilante reconnaissance variant. Many A3B's were converted to a combination tanker-ECM aircraft. Vietnam War era Skywarriors saw some use in the conventional bombing and mine-laying role (A-3B) during the Vietnam War from 1964 through 1967, often to deliver 2000 lbs bombs. The A-3 found subsequent service in the tanker (KA-3B, EKA-3B), photographic reconnaissance (RA-3B), electronic reconnaissance (EA-3B), and electronic warfare (EKA-3B) roles. For most of the Vietnam War, EA-3Bs of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 1 (VQ-1) flew from Da Nang Air Base in South Vietnam, providing continuous electronic reconnaissance capability over the area, including the Ho Chi Minh Trail and all the way north to Haiphong harbor. This was known as VQ-1 "Det.B". The aircrew and ground support personnel were temporarily assigned from their home base at NAS Atsugi, Japan and after 1970, NAS Agana, Guam. After Det B was disestablished, VQ-1 provided detachments of two EA-3B aircraft that deployed with Western Pacific and Indian Ocean (WESTPAC/IO) bound aircraft carrier battle groups up until the late 1980s when it was replaced by the Lockheed ES-3A Shadow. In addition, a version of the A-3B was modified into the RA-3B and used in Vietnam as a photo reconnaissance aircraft. Heavy Photographic Squadron 61 (VAP-61) at NAS Agana, Guam and sister squadron VAP-62 at NAS Jacksonville, Florida furnished crews and flew out of Da Nang AB performing mapping and intelligence gathering flight over the Southeast Asia area. With 12 camera stations the RA-3B was well equipped to perform cartographic mapping of areas where no detail maps existed. With IR gear installed, the RA-3B was used at night to monitor the movement of troops down roads and trails in Laos. Other locations included Det Tango at Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base in Bangkok, Thailand, Det Southpaw at RAAF Base Townsville, Australia, as well as work out of Osan Air Base, South Korea. During the Vietnam War, the A-3 attack aircraft were modified to KA-3B tankers while some were modified into a multimission tanker variant, the EKA-3B, that was a real workhorse for the carrier air wing. Electronic jamming equipment was added without removing tanker capability so the EKA-3B could jam enemy radar while waiting to refuel tactical aircraft. Eventually, the EKA-3B was replaced by the smaller dedicated Grumman KA-6D Intruder tanker, which although it had less capacity and endurance, was deployed in greater numbers within the carrier's air wing. Two additional Naval Reserve units were established in the early 1970s as air refueling squadrons, VAQ-208 and VAQ-308, at NAS Alameda, California. Both units operated aircraft with electronic warfare equipment removed and were redesignated as KA-3Bs. VAK-208 and VAK-308 were decommissioned in the early 1990s. The EA-3 variant was used in critical electronic intelligence (ELINT) roles operating from aircraft carrier decks and ashore supplementing the larger Lockheed EP-3. Its last service was as an ELINT platform during Desert Storm. The EA-3B variant was modified for electronic intelligence against the Warsaw Pact. Missions were flown around the globe beginning in 1956, with the U.S. Air Force EB-47 Stratojet flying a similar mission. The EA-3B carried a crew of seven, with flight crew of three in the cockpit and an Electronic Warfare Officer and three electronic systems operators/evaluators in the converted weapons bay. It offered unique electronic reconnaissance capabilities in numerous Cold War-era conflicts and the Vietnam War. EA-3Bs remained in service long enough to participate in the first Gulf War in 1991. The Skywarrior was out of Navy service by September 1991, with the last USN Skywarriors retiring on 27 September 1991. U.S. Navy RDT&E units, notably Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) activities at NAS Point Mugu and NAWS China Lake, attempted to retain their A-3 testbeds. This plan ultimately failed when Vice Admiral Richard Dunleavy, as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Air Warfare and an old A-3 bombardier/navigator himself, made the final decision to retire the type. |This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)| The A-3 had been used as a civilian operated testbed for many years before the type's retirement from US Navy, with Hughes Aircraft Company using the type as a testbed for developing the weapons system for the General Dynamics–Grumman F-111B and Grumman F-14 Tomcat, with Westinghouse and Raytheon also using the A-3 as a testbed. On the retirement of the type from US Navy service in 1991, the US Navy decided to end logistic support for the civilian operated testbeds. Rather than abandon the A-3, Hughes, Westinghouse and Raytheon agreed to acquire the remaining A-3s and spares from the Navy, allowing their test fleets to continue to operate and saving the US Navy the cost of storage and disposal. As the plan matured, two other contractors, Thunderbird Aviation and CTAS also elected to participate in similar agreements, with eleven A-3s spread between the five operators. The fleet spares from ASO were distributed between the contractors evenly, and warehouses were emptied all over the US. Unfortunately, due to misunderstandings and reorganizations within the US Navy, the world-wide ASO assets were scrapped, not getting to the contractors. In early 1993, CTAS decided that they no longer had use for their aircraft, and Hughes had several programs needing additional assets. In early 1994, a US Air Force program decided to modify an A-3 for F-15 radar tests, and the only available airframe was stored at NAS Alameda since the fleet shutdown. Hughes added that aircraft to the bailment, and ferried the aircraft to Van Nuys for modifications. An entire nose section was removed from a stricken F-15B at AMARC at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona and grafted onto the front of the aircraft. Racks and equipment were installed in the cabin, and the aircraft was used by Hughes and the USAF for F-15 software development. In 1994, Westinghouse decided to terminate their agreement with the Navy, and Thunderbird added their aircraft to the Thunderbird bailment. In 1996, Thunderbird Aviation went into receivership, and Hughes, through mutual cost savings to the government, added the Thunderbird assets to the contract, prepping them for ferry at Deer Valley airport, and relocating them to Mojave, California and Tucson, Arizona for long-term storage. In December 1996, Raytheon bought the aerospace units of Hughes Aircraft Company. Hughes Aeronautical Operations, now a part of Raytheon Systems, continued to operate the A-3s from their base at Van Nuys Airport, California. These aircraft have participated in several military air shows, telling visitors that the plane continued to be valuable for its load capacity compared to corporate jets, and its performance compared to small airliners. On 30 June 2011, the last flyable EA-3D (N875RS) a Raytheon aircraft, arrived at NAS Pensacola, Florida for retirement and display at the National Naval Aviation Museum. Note: under the original Navy designation scheme, the Skywarrior was designated A3D (third Attack aircraft from Douglas Aircraft). In September 1962, the new Tri-Services designation system was implemented and the aircraft was redesignated A-3. Where applicable, pre-1962 designations are listed first, post-1962 designations in parentheses. - XA3D-1: Two prototypes with Westinghouse J40 turbojets, no cannon in tail turret. - YA3D-1 (YA-3A): One pre-production prototype with Pratt & Whitney J57 engines. Later used for tests at the Pacific Missile Test Center. - A3D-1 (A-3A): 49 initial production versions, serving largely in developmental role in carrier service. - A3D-1P (RA-3A): One A3D-1 converted as a prototype for the A3D-2P with camera pack in the weapon bay. - A3D-1Q (EA-3A): Five A3D-1s converted for the electronic reconnaissance (ELINT) role, with ECM equipment and four operators in weapons bay. - A3D-2 (A-3B): Definitive production bomber version, with stronger airframe, more powerful engines, slightly larger wing area (812 ft²/75 m² versus 779 ft²/72 m²), provision for in-flight refueling reel for tanker role. Final 21 built had new AN/ASB-7 bombing system, reshaped nose; deleted tail turret in favor of electronic warfare installation. - A3D-2P (RA-3B): 30 photo-reconnaissance aircraft with weapons bay package for up to 12 cameras plus photoflash bombs. Increased pressurization allowed camera operator to enter the bay to check the cameras. Some retained tail guns, but most were later converted to ECM tail of late A-3Bs. - A3D-2Q (EA-3B): 24 electronic warfare versions with pressurized compartment in former weapon bay for one Electronic Warfare Officer and three ESM operators, various sensors. This was the longest serving version of the "Whale" and the most widely known throughout the fleet. Some early models had tail guns, but these were replaced with the ECM tail. The EA-3B was assigned to fleet reconnaissance squadrons VQ-1 (Japan and later Guam) and VQ-2 (Rota. Spain) where they flew alongside the Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star and the EP-3B and EP-3E. It served in the fleet for almost 40 years, and was replaced by the ES-3A Shadow flown by two Fleet Air Reconnaissance (VQ) squadrons: VQ-5 at NAS North Island, California and VQ-6 at NAS Cecil Field, Florida. They were decommissioned less than 10 years after their commissioning due to budget constraints. - A3D-2T (TA-3B): 12 bomber-trainer versions. Five later converted as VIP transports (two redesignated UTA-3B). - KA-3B: 85 A-3B bombers refitted in 1967 for the tanker role with probe-and-drogue system in place of bombing equipment. - EKA-3B: 34 KA-3B tankers refitted for dual Electronic countermeasures (ECM)/tanker role, with electronic warfare equipment and tail fairing in place of rear turret. Most were converted back to KA-3B configuration (with no ECM gear) after 1975. - ERA-3B: Eight RA-3Bs converted as electronic aggressor aircraft (primarily for war-at sea exercises) with ECM in new extended tail cone, ventral "canoe" fairing, cylindrical fairing atop vertical fin, and two detachable ram-air turbine powered ALQ-76 countermeasures pods (one under each wing). Added chaff (radar countermeasure) dispensers (streaming chaff from the tail cone and two self-protection chaff dispensers on the aft fuselage) and four ram-air turbines (two per side) to power the equipment located in the former bomb bay. Crew increased to four: pilot, navigator, crew chief, and Electronic Countermeasures Officer (ECMO) with one generally unused "jumpseat" in the aft crew compartment (formerly the weapon bay). There was no equipment position for a second Electronic Countermeasures Officer or enlisted crewman in the converted weapon bay. The "jump seat" was used for qualified instructor ECMOs training new ECMOs, for guest observers on operational flights, or for passengers during operational deployment transits. While the ERA-3B could withstand the stresses of a cable arrested landing, the ALT-40 and ALR-75 equipment in the former bomb bay was not stressed to withstand a catapult launch and the ERA-3B was never deployed aboard carriers. The ERA-3B served with VAQ-33 and later with VAQ-34. - NRA-3B: Six RA-3Bs converted for various non-combat test purposes. - VA-3B: Two EA-3B converted as VIP transports. Both aircraft were assigned to the Chief of Naval Operations flying from Andrews AFB in Washington, DC. - NTA-3B: One aircraft converted by Hughes/Raytheon used to test radar for the F-14D Tomcat. The U.S. Air Force ordered 294 examples of the derivative B-66 Destroyer, most of which were used in the reconnaissance and electronic warfare roles. The Destroyer was fitted with ejection seats. - United States Navy - VAH-1 based at NAS Sanford, FL (later RVAH-1, now decommissioned) - VAH-2 based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA (now VAQ-132) - VAH-3 based at NAS Sanford, FL (later RVAH-3, now decommissioned); Replacement Air Group/Fleet Replacement Squadron - VAH-4 based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA (now VAQ-131) - VAH-5 based at NAS Sanford, FL (later RVAH-5, now decommissioned) - VAH-6 based originally at NAS North Island, CA, moved to NAS Whidbey Island, WA 1958, then moved to NAS Sanford, FL (later RVAH-6, now decommissioned) - VAH-7 based at NAS Sanford, FL (later RVAH-7, now decommissioned) - VAH-8 based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA (now decommissioned) - VAH-9 based at NAS Sanford, FL (later RVAH-9, now decommissioned) - VAH-10 based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA (now VAQ-129) - VAH-11 based at NAS Sanford, FL (later RVAH-11, now decommissioned) - VAH-13 commissioned at NAS Sanford, FL, moved to NAS Whidbey Island, WA 1961 (later RVAH-13, now decommissioned) - VAH-123 based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA (now decommissioned) - VAQ-129 based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA (later flying the EA-6B, now flying the EA-18G); Fleet Replacement Squadron - VAW-13 based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA (now VAQ-130 flying the EA-18G) - VAQ-131 based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA (now flying the EA-18G) - VAQ-132 based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA (now flying the EA-18G) - VAQ-133 based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA (now flying the EA-18G) - VAQ-134 based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA (now flying the EA-18G) - VAQ-135 based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA (now flying the EA-18G) - VAQ-33 based at NAS Key West, FL (now decommissioned) - VAQ-34 based at NAS Point Mugu, CA (now decommissioned) - VAK-208 based at NAS Alameda, CA (now decommissioned) (Naval Air Reserve) - VAK-308 based at NAS Alameda, CA (now decommissioned) (Naval Air Reserve) - VAP-61 based at NAS Agana, Guam (now decommissioned). - VAP-62 based at NAS Jacksonville, Florida (now decommissioned) - VCP-63, later VFP-63, based at NAS Miramar, CA flying five A3D-2P Skywarriors and twenty F8U-1P Crusaders - VQ-1 based at NAS Agana, Guam (now based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA flying only the EP-3E) - VQ-2 based at NS Rota, Spain (later based at NAS Whidbey Island, WA flying only the EP-3E; now decommissioned) - VR-1 based at NAS Patuxent River, MD and Andrews AFB/NAF Washington, MD - VX-5 based at NAWS China Lake, CA with detachment at NAS Sanford, FL - National Parachute Test Range based at NAF El Centro, CA - Naval Air Development Center based at NADC Johnsville/NADC Warminster, PA (activity and installation now decommissioned) - Naval Air Test Center at NAS Patuxent River, MD - Pacific Missile Test Center at NAS Point Mugu, CA - On display - 135434 - Restored in September 2011 by members of reserve squadron 65 (VP-65) at Edwards Air Force Flight Test Center Museum, Edwards AFB, California. - 146448 - National Cryptologic Museum, National Vigilance Park, Fort Meade, Maryland. - 146457 - Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (previously displayed in front of Daum Hall Bachelor Officers Quarters, Naval Station Rota, Spain). - 138944 - U.S.S. Lexington Museum, Corpus Christi, Texas. - 147648 - NAS Key West, Boca Chica Key, Florida. - 147666 - Oakland Aviation Museum in Oakland, California. - Under Restoration Specifications (A3D-2/A-3B Skywarrior) Data from McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920 - Crew: 3 - Length: 76 ft 4 in (23.27 m) - Wingspan: 72 ft 6 in (22.10 m) - Height: 22 ft 9½ in (6.95 m) - Wing area: 812 ft² (75.4 m²) - Empty weight: 39,409 lb (17,876 kg) - Loaded weight: 70,000 lb (31,750 kg) - Max. takeoff weight: 82,000 lb (37,195 kg) - Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney J57-P-10 turbojet, 10,500 lbf (46.7 kN) dry (12,400 lbf (55.3 kN with water injection)) each - Maximum speed: 530 knots (610 mph, 982 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,050 m) - Cruise speed: 452 knots (520 mph, 837 km/h) - Range: 1,826 nmi (2,100 mi, 3,380 km) - Service ceiling: 41,000 ft (12,495 m) - Wing loading: 86.2 lb/ft² (421 kg/m²) - Guns: 2 20 mm M3L cannon in the tail turret - Bombs: 12,800 pounds (5,800 kg) of free-fall bombs or mines, including any combination of - Related development - Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era - Related lists - the heaviest aircraft operated from a carrier was a USMC KC-130F used in a test from the USS Forrestal unarrested and unassisted in takeoff in 1963 - O'Rourke, G.G., CAPT USN. "Of Hosenoses, Stoofs, and Lefthanded Spads". United States Naval Institute Proceedings, July 1968. - Winchester 2006, p. 74. - Winchester 2006, p. 75. - Polmar 1988, pp 50–51. - Francillon 1979, pp. 493–494. - Francillon 1979, p. 494. - Polmar 1988, p. 53. - "A-3 dispositions, accident reports." Archived February 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Click ready room. Retrieved: 28 July 2012. - Lake, Julian S., RADM USN & Hartman, Richard V., LCDR USN "Air Electronic Warfare" United States Naval Institute Proceedings October 1976 p. 49 - Fallen naval crew to be honored - Munzel 2001, pp. 73–75. - Munzel 2001, p. 75. - "A picture of the modified A-3 currently (2011) based at Van Nuys." air-and-space.com. Retrieved: 29 June 2011. - "A-3 Skywarrior/125413." aerialvisuals.ca Retrieved: 24 June 2015. - "A-3 Skywarrior/135434." aerialvisuals.ca Retrieved: 24 June 2015. - "A-3 Skywarrior/135418." National Naval Aviation Museum. Retrieved: 24 June 2015. - "A-3 Skywarrior/130361." Pima Air and Space Museum. Retrieved: 24 June 2015. - "A-3 Skywarrior/142246." New England Air Museum. Retrieved: 24 March 2013. - "A-3 Skywarrior/146448." National Cryptologic Museum. Retrieved: 25 March 2013. - "A-3 Skywarrior/146457." Patriots Point Museum. Retrieved: 25 March 2013. - Hills, Waring. < " 'Whale' to arrive on Yorktown's flight deck Friday!" Patriot Point, 1 July 2010. - "A-3 Skywarrior/138944." USS Lexington Museum. Retrieved: 25 March 2013. - "A-3 Skywarrior/147648." aerialvisuals.ca Retrieved: 24 June 2015. - "A-3 Skywarrior/147666." Oakland Aviation Museum. Retrieved: 25 March 2013. - "A-3 Skywarrior/142630." aerialvisuals.ca Retrieved: 24 June 2015. - "A-3 Skywarrior/142251." USS Midway Museum. Retrieved: 25 March 2013. - "A-3 Skywarrior/144865." National Naval Aviation Museum. Retrieved: 24 June 2015. - "A-3 Skywarrior/146453." Vintage Flying Museum. Retrieved: 24 June 2015. - "A-3 Skywarrior/138965." Yanks Air Museum. Retrieved: 25 March 2013. - "A-3 Skywarrior/144843." Archived April 7, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Castle Air Museum. Retrieved: 25 March 2013. - "A-3 Skywarrior/144825." Archived April 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. A-3 Skywarrior For Whidbey.org. Retrieved: 25 March 2013. - "A-3 Skywarrior/144867." Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor. 13 March 2012. Retrieved: 15 March 2012. - Francillon 1979, p. 501. - Francillon 1979, p. 496. - Polmar 1988, p. 57. - Ciampaglia, Giuseppe. Bombardieri Attomici Strategici della US Navy (in Italian). Rome: Rivista Marittima, 2006. - Donald, David and Jon Lake, eds. Encyclopedia of World Military Aircraft. Westport, Connecticut: AIRtime Publishing, 1996. ISBN 1-880588-24-2. - Francillon, René J. McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920. London: Putnam, 1979. ISBN 0-370-00050-1. - Heinemann, Ed. "A Whale of an Airplane". Naval Aviation News, November/December 1987, pp. 18–21. - Munzel, Mark. "Last of the Great 'Whales': Civilian-Operated, Test-Bed Douglas A-3s". Air Enthusiast, No. 93, May/June 2001, pp. 72–77. ISSN 0143-5450. - Polmar, Norman. "Skywarrior... The US Navy's "Ultimate" Nuclear Bomber". Air Enthusiast, Thirty-five, January–April 1988, pp. 48–63. Bromley, UK: Fine Scroll. ISSN 0143-5450. - Winchester, Jim, ed. "Douglas A-3 Skywarrior." Military Aircraft of the Cold War (The Aviation Factfile). London: Grange Books plc, 2006. ISBN 1-84013-929-3. |Wikimedia Commons has media related to Douglas A-3 Skywarrior.| - AeroWeb: List of A-3 Survivors on display - A-3 Skywarrior.com: "Whale" Video - GlobalAircraft: A-3 Skywarrior - "Skywarrior - Designing the World's Heaviest Carrier-based Aircraft" a 1955 Flight article - FOR NAVAL ATTACK - An Analysis of the Douglas A3D Skywarrior of the U.S. Navy - contemporary article in Flight magazine - A-3 Skywarrior Assn.

|Ask the Experts| |Tec a Good Look ...| |Can you help?| |Flora and Fauna| |Places to Visit| Is the chewing gum tree only found in Mexico? asked Redriff Primary School. Read what Professor Jennifer Mathews had to say. |Birth and death as metaphors (1)| |Birth and death as metaphors (2)| |Chanting in Mesoamerica| |Witchcraft and Sorcery in Ancient Mexico| |Colour and Culture Among the Aztecs (1)| |Colour and Culture Among the Aztecs (2)| |The Aztecs, patolli and gambling| |Feathers from which birds went to make Aztec & Maya headdresses?| |The art of Aztec mourning| |What lies underneath Aztec sculpture?| |Caves as Sacred Space in Ancient Mesoamerica| |Lightning in Mesoamerica| |Dr. H.B. Nicholson - ‘Grandfather’ of Aztecs Studies| |Games and Other Amusements of the Ancient Mesoamericans| |Especial Birds in the Americas| |Nahua Moral Philosophy| |The Aztecs and Lake Navigation| |The Ancient Secret of Pre-Hispanic Jewellery| |‘What was the Aztecs’ most prized possession?’| |IN THE NEWS: femicide in Mexico (1)| |IN THE NEWS: femicide in Mexico (2)| |IN THE NEWS: (ritual) decapitation| |Water in the Valley of Mexico| |A modern Nahua pilgrimage| |The Deep Roots of Aztec Sculpture| |Vienna’s Mesoamerican Featherworks| |Did Aztec rulers possess divine powers?| |The skilled use of conch shell in mosaics| |Mexico’s Faked Prehistory| |Found! 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Perhaps this note in question should briefly mention an incident or two in the long history of belief in and persecution of accused witches in Medieval Europe and Colonial America. One such incident involved Pope Innocent VIII issuing a papal bull on December 5th, 1484, thus giving support to Heinrich Kramer to begin investigations into witchcraft and sorcery in the German countryside. This resulted in the despicable 1487 publication of the Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of the Witches), a virtual guide to identify, accuse, and condemn suspected witches. |Pic 2: Witchcraft at Salem Village. Engraving, 1876 (Click on image to enlarge)| Two hundred years later during the winter of 1692-1693 in colonial Massachusetts, the Court of Oyer and Terminer oversaw what would become the most famous witch trial of them all in the town of Salem. This led to the execution of over 20 people, mostly women, and an additional four who would die in prison. One would like to assume we live in a world today that looks back on such events as archaic remnants of the past. |Pic 3: Recent international news clippings relating to executions for ‘witchcraft and sorcery’ (Click on image to enlarge)| Sadly, this is not the case. The world continues to be plagued by witch hunts that are no less abhorrent than they were in the middle ages. For instance, a special unit of the religious police in Saudi Arabia is dedicated to seeking out “sorcerers”, the penalty often resulting in long prison sentences and execution. In Nigeria, children are accused of bringing misfortune through witchcraft and are tortured, killed, and left homeless. In parts of Africa, the AIDS epidemic and recent Ebola outbreak are thought to be caused by witchcraft. |Pic 4: Good luck... Common-or-garden Mexican charm or ‘amuleto’, made of garlic, a magnet, ribbons... (Click on image to enlarge)| As can be seen from the above paragraph, the topic of witchcraft and sorcery, or brujeria (as it is known in Latin America) is frequently approached with well deserving trepidation, especially in modern ethnographic practice. Asking about such questions can earn an anthropologist the fastest ticket out of town. Indeed, one must take extra care to not over sensationalize a topic that can have potentially serious consequences for living people. As anthropologists, we must remember that the words “witchcraft” and “sorcery” are Western constructions, loaded terms with historical baggage that carry a slew of negative connotations. So if we continue to use these largely negative terms, what exactly is our justification for doing so and what do we exactly mean by witchcraft and sorcery? |Pic 5: ... Bad luck. Fateful image - detail from screen mural of the Spanish Conquest of Mexico by Roberto Cueva del Río (Click on image to enlarge)| Many anthropologists have drawn a distinction between “witch” and “sorcerer”. This difference was popularly noted by anthropologist E. Evans Pritchard in his classic work on witchcraft among the Azande of Africa. A similar distinction has been made in rural Tlaxcala and elsewhere in Mexico. The words continue to be used interchangeably and we are still far from a consensus as to what the differences are. Much of this varies from region to region. It is a complicated subject and falls under much scrutiny along with other words that have proven problematic such as the word “shaman”. For the sake of clarity, these terms will be used to refer to maleficent magic that is used to harm others. However, it must be remembered that witchcraft and sorcery equal power and like all power, it could be manipulated in positive or negative ways. In fact, there is a fine line between acts of sorcery and witchcraft and those of curing in that those that have the power to kill and harm also possess the power to cure and heal. |Pic 6: Late Classic period Maya ceramic figure depicting the merging of human (arms and legs) with animal ‘spirit helper’ (owl’s face). The owl represents dark shamanic forces (Click on image to enlarge)| Notions of witchcraft and sorcery are considerably ancient in Mesoamerica, probably extending back to the Formative Olmec and most likely even earlier. Such notions, however, are more identifiable among the Classic Maya and in Late Postclassic Central Mexico where both regions have an extensive amount of information to draw from. One poorly understood group of supernatural beings best fit the category of Classic Maya conceptions of witchcraft and sorcery. They are often depicted on Late Classic vessels in the animal form of a bat, monkey, canine, jaguar, toad or rodent holding plates of severed hands, feet, and other body parts. Known as Wahy, these beings were long thought to represent companion spirits or ‘co-essences’. This may still very well be an accurate description, however, more recent interpretations have seen these bestial creatures as more representative of sorcery and personified diseases. |Pic 7: “Frieze of the Dream Lords”, detail of façade, Tonina, Chipas. Schele Drawing Collection, FAMSI (Click on image to enlarge)| Decapitation may be an act associated with sorcery in ancient Mesoamerica, just as it is in other parts of the world. A stucco façade from Tonina, Chiapas, depicts the so-called “frieze of the dream lords” which clearly shows frightening Wahy beings amidst a leafy bower or Classic Maya version of the Aztec skull rack known as a tzompantli (pic 7). One macabre skeletal Wahy named “Turtle Foot Death” clutches a decapitated head in his hand. Two other disembodied heads hang upside down from the leafy bower. Other examples of skeletal Wahy appear clutching human heads on a number of Late Classic vessels. In many cultures, including the Maya, heads are thought to embody personhood. In Costa Rica, trophy heads may have been both perpetrators and objects involved with sorcery while among the Jivaro of Ecuador, heads were taken as a direct response to witchcraft and sorcery. |Pic 8: Tezcatlipoca, ‘Lord of the Smoking Mirror’ (Click on image to enlarge)| Most of our information comes from Late Postclassic Central Mexico where there is an abundance of written texts recorded by the priests who desperately tried to eradicate native religion. If there is one particular deity for all of Late Postclassic Mesoamerica that can be described as the archsorcerer, then it is a distinction that clearly belongs to Tezcatlipoca, ‘Lord of the Smoking Mirror’ (pic 8). He was never without this main divinatory accoutrement, from which his name derived. Even though Tezcatlipoca was a sorcerer and known to bring disease, famine, and plague upon his people, he was also prayed to in order to avoid these calamities. He is a perfect example of how Nahua world view works. He is all at once dangerous and destructive, benevolent and caring. In ancient and contemporary Mesoamerica, the daily struggle is not based on the Judeo-Christian concept of good and evil but instead is based on one of order and chaos. Life is about maintaining balance, order, and equilibrium. There are forces that threaten this balance and order. |Pic 9: Paper cut deity figures from San Pablito Pahuatlan (top) and pages from a ‘History of the Curing of the Elderly’ belonging to Ricardo de la Loma, San Pablito P. (Click on image to enlarge)| One such manifestation of this chaos appears as malevolent polluting winds known as ejecame (s. ejecat) that can disrupt rituals and cause disease. These are among many colonial and contemporary Nahua and Maya references to wind related ailments and afflictions. In many cases, they are said to be caused specifically by witchcraft and sorcery. In modern day Sierra de Puebla and other remote areas of Mexico, paper cut figures (pic 9) represent these spirits. In the Nahua village of Tecospa, Mexico, illness is caused by “evil winds” who are also water spirits. Offerings are made to them so that they do not interrupt the ritual taking place. These are particularly malevolent and indicative of disease, sorcery, misfortune and antisocial feelings such as envy, jealousy, and greed. Generally known by the Spanish malos aires (bad winds), it seems plausible that at least some of these negative functions of aires or winds have a pre-Hispanic origin. |Pic 10: Praying to Tezcatlipoca, the Night Wind; Florentine Codex Book VI (Click on image to enlarge)| Tezcatlipoca, as tutelary deity of sorcerers was also equated with the ephemeral night and wind (pic 10): “The night, the wind, the sorcerer, our lord. This saying was said of the demon Tezcatlipoca” (Sahagun 1950-82: 6: 254). Huitzilopochtli was also described as as a sorcerer: “...just a man, a sorcerer, an omen of evil; a madman, a deceiver, a creator of war, a war-lord, and instigator of war” (1950-1982: 1: 1), and was further identified with the yohualli, ehecatl, or night, wind: “Can perchance Tezcatlipoca, can Huitzilopochtli as personages speak to you? For they take a form only like that of the wind and the night” (Sahagun 1950-82: 6: 254). |Pic 11: Good physician (top), bad physician (bottom); Florentine Codex Book X (Click on image to enlarge)| Our most detailed resource on this subject comes from Fray Bernardino de Sahagún’s encyclopedic Florentine Codex, and his Primeros Memoriales. Among various magicians discussed by Sahagún were illusionists who could dismember themselves and perform sleight of hand magic. In Nahuatl, the word for an illusionist was teixcuepani “who transforms someone’s eyes” A motetequi can dismember oneself by placing his hands and feet in various places, while a tecalatia cuecaltica burns someone’s house with flames. His informants also identified different types of practitioners. Physicians were known as Ticitl. Whereas (pic 11) the good physician was a diagnostician who restored people’s health, set bones, stitched them up, and revived them, the bad physician was a fraud who killed with his medicines, worsened sickness, and was known to be a sorcerer and soothsayer. |Pic 12: Ticitl casting maize under the guise of an image of the wind god. Codex Magliabechiano, Biblioteca Nationale Centrale, Florence (Click on image to enlarge)| The soothsayer was known as Tonalpouhqui. The good soothsayer read the day signs, examined, and remembered while the bad soothsayer deceived, mocked, and was a diabolical hypocrite. There was a degree of overlap between the Ticitl and Tonalpouhqui in that both could divine. These were done with different methods. The Ticitl would divine by casting lots with maize kernels while the Tonalpouhqui would read day signs with their sacred books known as codices. The Codex Magliabechiano depicts female physicians diagnosing illness by casting maize and beans onto a blanket (pic 12). An image of the wind god, Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl sits before them. |Pic 13: The Birth of the Macuiltonaleque and Cihuateteo. Codex Borgia, p. 47 (Click on image to enlarge)| Another common method of curing involved the use of the forearm and hand in which the curers used the left forearm from the elbow to the fingertip. The curer or diviner would often prepare by rubbing his two palms together with a mixture of tobacco with lime. He then begins his invocation by addressing his hands: “Please come forth, My men, Those of the Five Signs, Those of one courtyard, the pearly-headed Tzitzimime” (Ruiz de Alarcon 1982: 202-203). In this particular invocation, “Those of the Five Signs” is translated as Macuiltonaleque, five spirit beings who represented the South and who formed the male counterparts to the Cihuateteo. The two calendrically oriented groups are frequently depicted together, often with physical deformities indicating their ability to inflict and cure illness. For instance, p. 47 of the Codex Borgia depicts the probable birth of these blind and crippled spirit forces from bowls and basins amid various noxious insects such as snakes, centipedes, and spiders (pic 13). |Pic 14: ‘The possessed one’ (top), ‘One who turns himself into a dog, etc.’; Florentine Codex Book X (Click on image to enlarge)| One of the most common forms of witchcraft and sorcery in Mesoamerica is the ability to transform into various animals (pic 14). For the Aztec-Mexica, this shape shifting sorcerer was known as Naoalli (Nahualli):- ’...a wise man, a counselor, a person of trust - serious, respected, revered, dignified, unreviled, not subject to insults. The good sorcerer [is] a caretaker, a man of discretion, a guardian. Astute, he is keen, careful, helpful; he never harms anyone. The bad sorcerer [is] a doer [of evil], an enchanter. He bewitches women; he deranges, deludes people; he casts spells over them; he charms them; he enchants them; he causes them to be possessed. He deceives people; he confounds them’ (Sahagún 1953–1982, bk. 4:31). |Pic 15: The fateful sign 1-Rain; Florentine Codex Book IV (Click on image to enlarge)| The 260-day calendar was especially important regarding individual day signs and whether or not being born on certain days was considered a good or bad omen. Some signs were considered good or bad and this impacted the fate or destiny of nobles, commoners and of men and women. Such destiny explained the varied positions in society, differences in societal behavior, and why one was lucky or unlucky. Destiny was clearly affected when an individual was born on the days 1 Rain (Ce Quiahuitl) and 1 Wind (Ce Ehecatl), two signs associated with a cast of anti-social characters who are often classified as witches and sorcerers. The day sign 1 Rain (pic 15) states that if one was born a nobleman on this day, he became a sorcerer and could change himself into a wild beast; if born a commoner, he could transform into a turkey, dog, or weasel. Also associated with the day sign 1 Rain (Ce Quiahuitl), were those known as Cihuateteo (sing. Cihuateotl), Cihuapipiltin (sing. Cihuapilli), and Mocihuaquetzque (sing. Mocihuaquetzqui). |Pic 16: Statue of a Cihuateotl (left), National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City; ‘descending goddesses’, Florentine Codex Book IV, right (Click on image to enlarge)| In stone sculpture they were typically depicted with features such as a fleshless face, clawed extremeties, and disheveled hair (pic 16, left). These women were associated with the five western trecenas, 1 Eagle, 1 Deer (Ce Mazatl), 1 Monkey (Ce Ozomatli), 1 House (Ce Calli) and 1 Rain (Ce Quiahuitl). They were greatly feared by the ancient Mexica as they could descend on certain days (pic 16, right) to harm women and children with a number of illnesses including paralyses and epilepsy. A particularly dangerous place to encounter these ferocious women was at crossroads where such statues of them were placed. These women were propitiated by midwives and curers in particular. Europeans often referred to midwives and physicians, most of whom were trying to provide a worthy service despite the superstitious ways in which they proceeded, as “sorcerers” and “witches”. However, the Cihuateteo exemplified the standard Mesoamerican axiom. The same forces that were propitiated to heal the sick and protect children were also the ones that caused illness and disease and brought harm to children. They posed a constant threat but through ritual and propitiation, these darker forces were appeased less the dreaded Cihuateteo descend to earth to wreak havoc upon mankind. |Pic 17: The Temacpalitotique, Florentine Codex, Book 10.f.27r and Book 4 f.60v (Click on image to enlarge)| The day sign 1 Wind was considered as equally malevolent as 1 Rain. If born a nobleman, he breathed evil on people, put spells on them, and brought them harm. If born a commoner, he was possessed and became a destroyer of men. 1 Wind was also the day sign of the Temacpalitotique, a sect of sorcerer-thieves who sought the severed arm of a woman who died in childbirth (pic 17). The Temacpalitotique went about guided by an image of their idol, the wind god Quezalcoatl, and used the severed arm of these women to put people to sleep so they could be robbed and violated:- ’And when those who danced with the forearm would somewhere destroy or rob people, one person carried and bore the forearm of the woman who had died in childbirth, on his shoulder. It was the one on her left, her left forearm. When he came to reach one’s home, but had not yet entered the house, first of all he struck the mid-point of the courtyard with the forearm. Twice he struck. On reaching the entrence of the house, he struck the portal, the lintel, and then he passed by the square, wooden pillar. Then he once again struck there before the hearth.’ (Sahagún 1950-1982: 4: 103). |Pic 18: The horned owl as omen of death, Florentine Codex Book V (Click on image to enlarge)| There are several beings mentioned in descriptions of both day signs. The Tlacatecolotl (owl-man) was known as a possessed one who was a hater and destroyer of people, an implanter of sickness, a killer with potions, and the ability to transform into various animals. Much like the Nahualli, the Tlacatecolotl was an animal transformer. The difference may be that the Nahualli could invoke his animal counterpart to do either good or evil, while the Tlacatecolotl called upon more sinister creatures that were associated with the darker side of the cosmos. The word Tlacatecolotl would become synonymous with the Christian “demon” or “devil” during the sixteenth-century. In contemporary Nahua belief and ritual, Tlacatecolotl is still invoked and propitiated. He possesses both positive and negative qualities and may be a survival of ancient Mexico’s paramount sorcerer, Tezcatlipoca. |Pic 19: Chalchiuhtotallin (precious turkey), the theophanic form of Tezcatlipoca. Codex Borbonicus, p. 17 (Click on image to enlarge)| Also associated with both days was the mometzcopinque, a malevolent sect of female sorceresses who could remove their legs or enchant by taking apart or disarticulating the bones of their foot. This is a tradition still alive and well in modern day Tlaxcala, where a great deal of lore exists about tlahuelpuchis, women known to remove their lower legs for the extremities of a turkey. The sister of Huiztilopochtli, Malinalxochitl, was said to have been a tlahuipuchtli. The removal of the legs of course recalls the mometzcopinque and removing the leg or foot is reminiscent of the primary physical characteristic of Tezcatlipoca. There are a number of accounts describing Tezcatlipoca’s feet as being like that of a turkey or rooster. In fact, a common theophanic form of the deity was Chalchiuhtotallin (precious turkey) and he is illustrated as such on p. 17 of the Codex Borbonicus (pic 19). |Pic 20: Demonized cannon: detail from a screen mural on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico by Roberto Cueva del Río (Click on image to enlarge)| It should be remembered that ancient Mesoamericans were first and foremost human beings and there was both good and bad among them. The fact that there were those that practiced what can generally be considered witchcraft and sorcery does not make them any less human. In fact, if one takes into account belief and ritual practices from around the world then the fact that they had such notions only makes them more human. Witchcraft and sorcery was powerful business in ancient Mexico. It was feared, respected, and often sought after by everyone from kings to common folk. In many ways, one person’s sorcery was another’s cure. Such things operated at the state level of Aztec-Mexica society. One colonial account describes Moctezuma II sending his various sorcerers and magicians to unleash a barrage of magic and witchcraft upon the Spaniards at Cempoala. This was to be done in the form of terrifying dreams, dangerous insects, and illness, all common weapons in the modern day sorcerer’s arsenal. Ultimately these sorcerous tactics of Moctezuma II failed but many aspects of native religion, including a long line of practitioners of the magical arts would survive the Conquest. Suggestions for Further Reading:- • Burkhart, Louise M. 1989 The Slippery Earth: Nahua-Christian Moral Dialogue in Sixteenth-Century Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona Press • Helmke, Christophe, and Jesper Nielsen 2009 Hidden Identity and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica: Supernatural Alter Egos as Personified Diseases. Acta Americana, vol. 17(2):49-98 • Knab, Timothy J. 1995 A War of Witches: A Journey Into the Underworld of the Contemporary Aztecs. Harper Collins, San Francisco • López Austin, Alfredo 1966 Los temacpalitotique. Brujos, profanadores, ladrones y violadores. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, v. VI, México, p. 97-117 • Madsen, William 1960 The Virgin’s Children: Life in an Aztec Village Today. University of Texas Press, Austin • Nutini, Hugo and John Roberts 1993 Bloodsucking Witchcraft: An Epistemological Study of Anthropomorphic Supernaturalism. University of Arizona, Tucson • Pohl, John M.D. 2007 Sorcerers of the Fifth Heaven: Nahua Art and Ritual of Ancient Southern Mexico. Cuadernos Princeton • Ruiz de Alarcón, Hernando 1982 Aztec Sorcerers in Seventeenth Century Mexico: The Treatise on Superstitions by Ruiz de Alarcón. Edited by Michael D. Coe and Gordon Whittaker. Institute for Mesoamerican Studies. State University of New York at Albany. Publication No. 7 • Sahagún, Bernardino de 1950-1982 Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain. Translated from the Aztec into English by Arthur J.O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble. Santa Fe: The School for American Research and the University of Utah. • Pic 1: Image from Wikipedia (Malleus Maleficarum) • Pic 2: Image from Wikimedia Commons (Withcraft at Salem Village) • Pic 3: Images from the internet • Pix 4, 5, 6, 16(L) & 20: Photos by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore • Pic 7: Image supplied by Jeremy Coltman, courtesy of FAMSI • Pic 8: Illustration by Miguel Covarrubias, scanned from our own copy of The Aztecs: People of the Sun by Alfonso Caso, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1958 • Pic 9: Photos by Maricela González/Mexicolore archives • Pix 10, 11, 14, 15, 16(R), 17, 18: Images from the Florentine Codex (original in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence) scanned from our own copy of the Club Internacional del Libro 3-volume facsimile edition, Madrid, 1994 • Pic 12: Image scanned from our own copy of the ADEVA facsimile edition of the Codex Maglabechiano, Graz, Austria, 1970 • Pic 13: Image scanned from our own copy of the ADEVA facsimile edition of the Codex Borgia, Graz, Austria, 1976 • Pic 19: Image from the Codex Borbonicus (original in the Bibliotheque de l’Assembée Nationale, Paris) scanned from our own copy of the ADEVA facsimile edition, Graz, Austria, 1974. This article was uploaded to the Mexicolore website on Dec 10th 2015

The impact of colitis on uterine contractility and estrous cycle was investigated after intracolonic administration of 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) in rats. Colitis severity was assessed by macroscopic damage scoring (MDS) 4 days after TNBS, and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity was measured in both colon and uterus of control and colitic rats. Estrous cycle stages were determined by vaginal smears and histology, and uterine contractility was assessed in vitro on longitudinal and circular strips. In control rats, uterine MPO activity varied markedly during the cycle and peaked around estrus. In rats with moderate colitis [MDS < 5, 3.1 ± 0.2 (mean ± SE)], uterine MPO decreased by 61% compared with estrus control, without disruption of the cycle. Frequency of spontaneous contractions was reduced by 32% in circular muscle. Contractile responses to KCl and carbachol were not affected, whereas maximal response to oxytocin decreased by 47% in the longitudinal muscle. In rats with severe colitis (MDS > 5, 6.0 ± 0.2), uterine MPO was reduced by 96% and estrous cycle was disrupted. Spontaneous contractility was impaired in circular strips, and a 39% decrease in the contraction frequency occurred in the longitudinal strips. Circular strips did not contract to KCl or carbachol; however, longitudinal strips had maximal responses to KCl, carbachol, and oxytocin reduced by 36%, 27%, and 46%, respectively. Estrogen replacement protected the uterine responses to carbachol in colitic rats, whereas oxytocin responses remained depressed. These data indicate that colonic inflammation can influence both spontaneous and evoked uterine contractility, in relation to estrous cycle disturbances, impaired estradiol production, and functional alterations of myometrial cells. - female genital tract - viscero-visceral interaction it is well accepted that hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle influence the gastrointestinal symptoms related to irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) (15, 22). Conversely, the impact of bowel pathology on the physiology of the female reproductive organs is poorly understood. Nonetheless, clinical observations have evidenced the occurrence of menstrual abnormalities (including amenorrhea, oligomenorrhea, and dysmenorrhea) and/or subfertility in active IBD patients, especially in those suffering from Crohn's disease (2, 7, 21, 49), suggesting a pathophysiological relationship. In animal studies, viscero-visceral interactions involving both genital and gastrointestinal tracts have not been reported. However, intestinal inflammatory processes involve the secretion of various inflammatory mediators with pleiotropic biological activities. For instance, a number of these substances are also physiologically produced in genital organs (25, 44). Indeed, animal and human studies show a pivotal role of proinflammatory mediators in the control of steroidogenesis and ovulation (5, 12) or in the initiation and the maintenance of uterine contractions at parturition (25, 27). Conversely, studies in the monkey and sheep indicate disturbances in steroidogenesis and ovarian cyclicity following endotoxin administration, considered as a model of systemic inflammation (23, 49, 50). Furthermore, in vitro studies on myometrial cells have investigated the effects of proinflammatory mediators on oxytocin (OT) function, a potent uterotonic agent (39). These include an increase or a decrease of OT signaling and receptors, for short- and long-term exposures to inflammatory conditions, respectively (35, 42). However, these studies addressed the OT receptor function on cultured myometrial cells, but the uterine contractile responses to OT in inflamed animals remain to be investigated. From all of these data, one may hypothesize that a prolonged exposure of the genital tract to an inflamed area in the neighboring colon could affect ovarian and uterine functions. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the effects of trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis on the ovarian cyclicity and uterine contractile activity in the rat. In view of a possible estrous cycle disruption during colitis, the complete achievement of the sexual cycle was assessed through daily vaginal smears and histological control of the uterus. The activity of the enzyme myeloperoxidase (MPO), an estimate of neutrophil infiltration, was measured in both the uterus and colon of control and colitic rats 1) to determine the tissue contents in neutrophils throughout the sexual cycle and 2) to highlight the putative modifications in the uterus following colonic inflammation. Both spontaneous and OT-evoked contractions were examined during the estrus period, where the uterus displays regular spontaneous contractions (17, 19) and high responsiveness to OT (28). Because the cholinergic innervation is an important regulatory mechanism of uterine activity (17, 41), the in vitro contractile response to carbachol (Carb), a muscarinic cholinergic agonist, was also studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS Experiments were performed on adult female Sprague-Dawley rats (Charles River, Saint-Aubin-Lès-Elbeuf, France), weighing 225–250 g. Rats were housed in groups of four per cage with free access to food and water, under a 12:12-h light-dark cycle, with lights on at 8:00 AM. In a first group of 40 rats, estrous cycle stages were assessed through daily vaginal smears (13), which were collected on glass slides and stained with Giemsa (Sigma, Saint-Quentin Fallavier, France). Ten rats in proestrus, estrus, metestrus, and diestrus stages were used for determination of basal MPO activity in the uterus and colon during the sexual cycle in healthy circumstances. In a second group of 70 rats in estrus, MPO activity in the uterus and colon (n = 20) and uterine contractility (n = 50) were investigated after induction of the experimental colitis. A third group of 15 rats was bilaterally ovariectomized (OVX) under deep anesthesia with ketamine hydrochloride (150 mg/kg ip, Imalgène 500, Rhône Mérieux, Lyon, France). After a recovery period of 6 days, long enough to get a complete depletion of endogenous hormones, rats were reanesthetized and a Silastic capsule containing estradiol benzoate (EB) (1,3,5-estratriene-3, 17β-diol-3 benzoate; Sigma) was implanted under the skin of the neck. The EB implant (0.062 in. ID, 0.125 in. ID; Dow Corning, Midland, MI) was 10 mm/100 g body wt to obtain physiological plasma levels of estradiol (46). All OVX+EB rats were used for evaluation of uterine contractility following experimental-induced colitis. All protocols were performed in compliance with the European laws on the protection of animals (86/609/EEC) and approved by the local institutional animal care and use committee. To induce inflammation in the distal colon, rats were anesthetized with ketamine hydrochloride as above, and a volume of 0.1 ml of TNBS (Sigma; 40 mg/kg diluted in 50% ethanol) was instilled into the lumen of the colon by use of a polyvinyl rubber catheter (2 mm OD) inserted rectally 7 cm proximal to the anus (30). Control rats received an equivalent volume of sterile saline because both ethanol and TNBS are inflammatory agents (20). Animals were killed by cervical dislocation 4 days after TNBS or saline treatments. In cyclic rats, all instillations were carried out at the estrus stage; thus they were killed 4 days later, i.e., on the estrus day of the following cycle, since a complete sexual cycle lasts ∼4 days in the rat (13, 19). Macroscopic Damage Scores After death, the scoring of colonic macroscopic damage was done according to the method of Wallace et al. (47), although slightly modified. Briefly, the presence of mucosal hyperemia and of bowel wall thickening, the severity and extent of ulceration and tissue adhesion, as well as the occurrence of diarrhea, were rated according to a macroscopic damage score (MDS), ranging from 0 (normal appearance) to 13 (severe lesions) as previously described (30). The activity of the enzyme MPO, a marker of polymorphonuclear neutrophil primary granules, was determined in colonic and uterine tissues, according to a modified method of Bradley et al. (6). Segments of colon and uterine horns (∼0.5 cm each) were suspended in potassium phosphate buffer (KPB; 50 mM, pH 6.0) and homogenized on ice with a Polytron. Three cycles of freezing and thawing were done, and suspensions were then centrifuged at 13,000 rpm for 15 min at 4°C. Supernatants were discarded, and pellets were resuspended in the detergent hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide buffer (0.5%, in KPB; Sigma) to release MPO from the primary granules. After sonication on ice, suspensions were centrifuged at 13,000 rpm for 15 min at 4°C, and supernatants were assayed spectrophotometrically for MPO activity and protein content. Supernatants were diluted in KPB containing 0.167 mg/ml of O-dianisidine dihydrochloride and 0.0005% of hydrogen peroxide. Absorbance at 450 nm was recorded with Uvikon 860 spectrophotometer (Kontron Instruments, Saint Quentin en Yvelines, France) at 10-s intervals over 2 min. MPO of human neutrophils (0.1 U/100 μl) was used as a standard. The absorbance change at 450 nm for 1 μmol hydrogen peroxide/min at 25°C was calculated from the standard curve and equals 1 unit of MPO activity. Protein concentrations were determined by the method of Lowry (Bio-Rad detergent compatible protein assay, Bio-Rad, Ivry, France), and MPO activity was expressed as MPO units per gram of protein. Uterine segments (1 cm length), excised from miduterine horn in cyclic rats of the control and inflamed groups, were fixed in Bouin's solution, cleared in xylene, and embedded in paraffin. Transverse tissue sections (5 μm) were processed for routine histological analysis with hematoxylin and eosin staining. In Vitro Contractility Uterine strips (4 mm long) were prepared from miduterine horns of inflamed and control rats. Tissues were mounted in organ bath of Krebs solution (in mM: 2.8 glucose, 6.2 KCl, 144 NaCl, 2.5 CaCl2, 0.5 MgSO4, 1 NaH2PO4, and 30 NaHCO3) at 30°C, continuously bubbled with 95%-O2-5% CO2. Depending on the orientation of the uterine strips in the organ bath, we measured isometric contractions of longitudinal muscle or circular muscle using a Bioscience UF1 tension transducer (Phymep, Paris, France) under 0.5 g resting force. A 45-min equilibration period was allowed before experiments. In a first group of cyclic rats instilled with saline (n = 7) or TNBS (n = 10), longitudinal and circular uterine strips were exposed to a 40 mM KCl-induced depolarization, considered as producing the maximal contraction of the uterine musculature (33). In all other animals, mechanical responses to cumulative doses of Carb (10−8 M to 10−4 M) (carbamylcholine chloride; Sigma) or OT (10−10 M to 10−5 M; Sigma) applied every 3 min were examined in each tissue preparation. Concentration-response curves were constructed by computerized calculation of the integral under the tension-time curve for 3 min. Isometric changes in tissue tension and maximal effects (Emax) were expressed as a percentage above the spontaneous activity in the absence of drugs, or in grams per milligram of tissue over resting force, and potency as EC50 (μM). Data are expressed as means ± SE. Differences in MPO activity in the uterus and colon throughout the estrous cycle were assessed by one-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni posttest. Differences in MPO activity, and in Emax and EC50 values from concentration-response curves between the two groups, were tested using two-tailed Student's t-test for unpaired data. Statistical analyses were performed by running Prism 4 software (GraphPad, San Diego, CA). A P < 0.05 was considered significant. MPO Activity in the Uterus and Colon Throughout the Estrous Cycle MPO activity in the uterus varied significantly throughout the cycle (range 2,932 ± 575 to 7,558 ± 1,335 U/g of protein; n = 10 per stage), with the highest values measured in proestrus and estrus stages (Fig. 1A). No significant change was observed from proestrus to estrus, whereas MPO activity decreased significantly in metestrus and diestrus (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05 compared with proestrus, respectively). In the colon from the same cyclic rats, the basal MPO activity did not significantly vary from proestrus to diestrus stage (Fig. 1B). Effect of TNBS-Induced Colitis on Estrous Cycle Macroscopic colonic damages and estrous cycle stages. Four days after intrarectal administration of saline to estrus rats, no alteration of the colonic mucosa was noted (n = 28). Rats instilled with saline were in estrus stage of the next sexual cycle, as revealed by the presence of only large keratinized cells on vaginal smears (not shown). In contrast, 52.4% (n = 22) of rats instilled with TNBS did not display estrus stage 4 days after treatment but displayed a persistent luteal phase. In these animals, the macroscopic colonic damage consisted of several inflammation sites with ulcerations in an area extending from 1 to 3 cm around the instillation point. Necrotic areas were often observed throughout the inflamed colonic region, with liquid feces in the colon, corresponding to a MDS of 6.0 ± 0.2 (range of 5–9). The remaining animals instilled with TNBS (n = 20) displayed estrus stages on vaginal smears and showed local hyperemia in the colon and/or bowel wall thickening without ulcers or diarrhea, corresponding to a MDS of 3.1 ± 0.2 (range of 1–4). The uterine horn of control estrus rats exhibited a thick muscular wall, composed of an outer longitudinal and inner circular myometrial layer, and vascular bed between the two layers (Fig. 2A). The endometrium revealed numerous endometrial glands, with a thick epithelium composed of columnar cells exhibiting elongated nuclei, whereas the uterine lumen displayed complex and deep invaginations within the endometrial stroma. No morphological changes were observed in TNBS-treated rats displaying a MDS < 5 in the colon (Fig. 2B). In contrast, animals with a MDS > 5 showed a decrease of the diameter of the uterine horn, reduced endometrial stroma, and hypotrophy of the epithelium, with general loss of invaginations (Fig. 2C). Colonic and uterine MPO activities. In basal conditions, MPO activities in the colon and uterus from estrus rats instilled with saline were 199 ± 50 and 7,240 ± 1,310 U/g of protein, respectively. TNBS instillation increased colonic MPO activity in all treated rats (Fig. 3A), and this increase was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in rats with a MDS > 5 compared with animals with a MDS < 5 (2,990 ± 613 vs. 914 ± 52 U/g of protein). Conversely, the MPO activity was significantly decreased in the uterus from the same inflamed rats (Fig. 3B), by 61% in rats with a MDS < 5 (2,800 ± 336 U/g of protein; P < 0.05 compared with control), and was nearly suppressed (−96%) when a MDS > 5 was scored in the colon (258 ± 70 U/g of protein; P < 0.01 compared with control). Effects of TNBS-Induced Colitis on Uterine Contractility Four days after colonic instillation with saline, all uterine strips mounted in the organ bath exhibited rhythmic spontaneous contractions. The frequency, amplitude, and duration of the contractions varied, depending on whether the recording was obtained from the longitudinal or the circular muscle layer (Fig. 4). The most distinctive difference occurred in the contraction frequency, with the highest occurring in the circular musculature (Table 1). In the TNBS-treated group, rats characterized by moderate colonic damages (MDS < 5) exhibited a significa‘nt decrease in the frequency of uterine contractions (−32%) in the circular muscle, whereas no change occurred in the longitudinal layer (Fig. 4, A2 and B2, and Table 1). A significant decrease (−39%) in the frequency of contractions of the longitudinal muscle was observed only in rats with severe colonic injury (MDS > 5) (Fig. 4A3 and Table 1). In the same animals, the effects were more pronounced in the circular musculature, showing irregular tracing of spontaneous activity without rhythmic contractions (Fig. 4B3). Uterine response to KCl. Application of KCl induced nonreceptor-mediated contractions of the uterine strips, caused by a direct depolarization of the smooth muscle cells. In control animals, maximal contraction was obtained after 40 mM KCl application. Four days after intracolonic instillation of TNBS, in rats showing moderate colonic damage (MDS < 5), no differences were noticed in the contractile response to 40 mM KCl compared with controls in either longitudinal or circular uterine strips (Fig. 5). In contrast, when severe colonic damage occurred (MDS > 5), the response to KCl was significantly decreased (−36%) in longitudinal strips (156 ± 33 vs. 244 ± 8% in control; P < 0.01), whereas circular muscle preparations from the same TNBS-treated animals were unresponsive to KCl (Fig. 5). Uterine response to Carb. Carb caused a concentration-dependent increase in contractile activity in both longitudinal and circular muscle strips from control rats (Fig. 6), with a mean EC50 of 3.7 ± 0.4 μM in the longitudinal and 2.4 ± 0.5 μM in the circular strips, and Emax was obtained at 100 μM in both muscle layers. TNBS-treated rats with a MDS < 5 in the colon showed no significant difference in the contractile response to Carb in either longitudinal or circular strips when compared with controls (Fig. 6, A and B). In contrast, in rats with severe colonic damages (MDS > 5), the Emax in longitudinal uterine strips was significantly decreased by 27% compared with control value (163 ± 12 vs. 222 ± 16%, P < 0.05), without affecting the EC50 (5.5 ± 0.6 μM, P > 0.05) (Fig. 6A). Circular muscle preparations from the same animals did not respond to Carb (Fig. 6B). Uterine response to OT. OT significantly increased contractions of longitudinal strips, whereas the circular preparations were less sensitive to OT stimulation (not shown). This is in agreement with the predominant localization of OT receptors in the longitudinal layer of myometrium (31). Thus all subsequent experiments with OT were conducted in the longitudinal musculature. In control rats, the Emax induced by OT was 269 ± 20% and obtained at 100 nM OT. In TNBS-treated rats, the maximal response to OT was markedly decreased (Fig. 6C), in a similar extent in animals with either moderate or severe colonic lesions (−47% and −46%, respectively; P < 0.01 compared with control). In contrast, there was no difference in EC50 values between control (2.1 ± 0.5 nM) and TNBS-treated rats (1.6 ± 0.6 and 3.6 ± 0.8 nM for low and high MDS, respectively). Influence of Estradiol on Uterine Responses to Carb and OT In OVX+EB rats, the uterine contractile response to Carb was assessed primarily in the circular muscle preparations, where changes in the muscarinic receptor stimulation were found to be the most pronounced in cyclic rats treated with TNBS (see Uterine response to OT). After equilibration, the circular strips in OVX+EB rats were characterized by an almost flat tracing of spontaneous activity or exhibited scarce and erratic contractions (not shown). Thus all subsequent analysis of isometric tension changes were expressed as increases over the basal tension and normalized per tissue weight. In OVX+EB rats instilled with TNBS (Fig. 7A), the maximal response to Carb was not affected whatsoever by the extent of colonic lesions (0.20 ± 0.01 and 0.23 ± 0.04 g/mg of tissue in MDS < 5 and MDS > 5 groups, respectively) compared with saline-treated OVX+EB rats (0.23 ± 0.01 g/mg of tissue, P > 0.05) and did not differ from results observed in estrus animals treated with saline (0.19 ± 0.02 g/mg tissue, P > 0.05). In contrast, when the OT stimulation was tested in the same TNBS-treated animals (Fig. 7B), the EB treatment did not restore the maximal response in the longitudinal muscle layer (0.22 ± 0.02 and 0.21 ± 0.04 g/mg of tissue in MDS < 5 and MDS > 5 groups, respectively), which was ∼45% lower than that observed in saline OVX+EB rats (0.38 ± 0.04 g/mg of tissue, P < 0.05) or estrus rats (0.36 ± 0.03 g/mg of tissue, P < 0.05). The present study provides the first evidence in rats that colitis induces uterine motor alterations and estrous cycle disturbances. We also report that, 4 days after colonic instillation of a single dose of TNBS (40 mg/kg), a time course that permits the complete achievement of a sexual cycle in the rat (19), disruption of the cycle was only observed in rats showing severe tissue injuries in the colon. In considering that macroscopic damage in the colon varies between individuals from an inflamed area localized at the injection site to a necrosis affecting large regions in the distal colon, our study has investigated pathophysiological changes in the reproductive tract in relation to the severity of colonic inflammation. Data concerning the increase of MPO activity in the colon after TNBS treatment reflect the mucosal infiltration of polymorphonuclear neutrophils in response to inflammation (30). The fact that colonic MPO activity peaked in rats with severe colitis emphasizes that the degree in neutrophil infiltration correlates well the magnitude of the inflammatory response. In comparison, the MPO activity measured in the uterus of colitic rats clearly demonstrated that no inflammatory response was initiated in the genital tract during colitis, regardless of the extent of tissue damage in the colon. This result eliminates the hypothesis of a systemic diffusion of TNBS, which could affect the neighboring organs in the pelvic/abdominal cavity. Conversely, we show that colitis induced a dramatic decrease in uterine MPO, compared with that shown in control estrus rats, reaching nadir in animals with severe colitis. In healthy individuals, it is of interest to note that uterine tissues exhibited high basal levels of MPO activity, reaching their maximum during the follicular phase of the cycle, i.e., at the proestrus and estrus stages. The elevated basal MPO in the uterus agrees with reports in rats and humans demonstrating that the uterine tissue remodeling throughout the cycle resembles an inflammatory response, with transient neutrophil infiltration (24, 40). Our observation that basal uterine MPO peaked during the follicular phase is consistent with the massive influx of neutrophils in this organ near estrus, due to a proinflammatory effect of estrogen (24, 45), the predominant hormone at this stage of the estrous cycle. In comparison, the present study also indicates that cyclic changes in ovarian steroids did not interfere with the basal MPO activity in the colon, demonstrating that colonic neutrophil populations in healthy conditions are insensitive to the steroid environment. The finding that colitis impairs the normal rise of uterine MPO in estrus indicates that the gut inflammatory response is able to block the cycle-dependent changes in uterine neutrophil populations. Moreover, we found that colitic rats exhibited a persistent luteal phase on vaginal smears in the case of severe inflammation, whereas histological findings on uteri revealed that the normal developmental sequence leading to an increase in the thickness of endometrium and luminal epithelium was impaired compared with healthy estrus rats. Together, these observations demonstrate that severe colonic inflammation disrupts the ovarian cyclicity and the associated uterine tissue remodeling. The mechanisms underlying this viscero-visceral interaction likely involve influence of inflammatory mediators on the ovarian steroidogenesis. Indeed, colon inflammation is associated with an increase in circulating cytokines, mainly IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α (14), although plasma levels of TNF-α remain low in the rat model of TNBS-induced colitis (32). Studies in rats have shown that IL-1β, which is produced in large amounts during acute colitis in rats and humans (26, 34), prevents the preovulatory increase in estradiol secretion and has cytotoxic effects on cultured ovarian cells (12, 18, 38). Similar mechanisms for estrous cycle disruption have been reported in the ewe after endotoxin administration (23). In the present study, although estradiol levels were not measured, impairment of estradiol secretion is consistent with the inhibition of neutrophil accumulation and uterine tissue growth. The in vitro uterine spontaneous contractility showed alterations that paralleled the severity of colitis, with marked differences between muscle layers. These alterations were characterized by a decreased contraction rate in the circular muscle during moderate inflammation, without changes in its longitudinal counterpart. In the longitudinal musculature, a similar alteration became evident only when the estrous cycle was impaired following severe colitis; the circular muscle, however, was unable to produce reproducible rhythmic contractions in the same animals. It is likely that these effects were closely related to ovarian cycle disturbances. Indeed, the spontaneous activity consists of myogenic contractions, with variable amplitude, duration, and frequency throughout the estrous cycle in relation to hormonal changes (19). From in vitro studies, we previously reported a higher contractile rate in uterine strips during the estrus compared with the diestrus stage (17). In the same study, we also showed that estrogen dominance mainly enhanced the contraction rate in the circular layer compared with the longitudinal layer, perhaps explaining why the circular muscle appeared more affected in colitic rats in the present report. Furthermore, the frequency of longitudinal muscle contractions during severe colitis was lowered to a level normally observed in diestrus stage of cyclic healthy rats [0.61 ± 0.03 contraction/min in the present study vs. 0.60 ± 0.02 in diestrus (17)] with similar durations. This emphasizes that the motor pattern in this uterine musculature correlates well with the persistent luteal phase reported here when severe colitis occurred. Finally, the circular musculature was found unresponsive to KCl depolarization, whereas the longitudinal muscle was still able to contract, however, to a lesser extent than that observed in control estrus rats. The decreasing response to KCl depolarization was not unexpected, since estrogen plays a key role in promoting calcium uptake by myometrial cells (3), i.e., the second messenger of uterine contractility (44), that largely contributes for potassium depolarization-mediated contractions (4). Furthermore, it has been shown that induction of myometrial gap junctions, permitting the cell-to-cell propagation of contractions (44), required high levels of estrogen (9), mainly in the circular muscle cells where gap junctions are more concentrated than in their longitudinal counterpart (9, 37). When the myometrial response to Carb was examined, only rats with severe colitis revealed a defect in the contractile response to the muscarinic agonist. In line with KCl responses, the circular muscle was found to be unresponsive to Carb, and the longitudinal layer was even less affected, so that similar mechanisms for impaired KCl stimulation may also explain the altered Carb responses. Indeed, we have recently shown in cyclic rats that estrogen dominance at the estrus stage enhances myometrial sensitivity to muscarinic stimulation, whereas Carb was found to be ineffective in inducing contraction in diestrus, i.e., under progesterone dominance (17). Furthermore, estrogen enhances intracellular signaling pathways linked to activation of muscarinic receptors in rat myometrial cells (1), and we report here that estradiol replacement in OVX rats totally protected the muscarinic stimulation in animals subjected to severe colitis. Accordingly, the uterine muscarinic desensitization in our study appeared as a consequence of decreased levels of endogenous estradiol. In contrast, a decreased OT stimulation was observed in all TNBS-treated rats, i.e., whatever the extent of colon damage, indicating that these effects did not depend on the severity of colitis as for KCl and Carb. Moreover, estrogen treatment was found to be ineffective in restoring the uterine responses to OT, suggesting a distinct inhibition of this uterotonic pathway. For instance, decreased OT receptor density and impaired OT intracellular signaling have been recently demonstrated in cultured myometrial cells following a prolonged exposure to IL-1β and IL-6 (16, 35, 36, 42), even though controversial data exist regarding the deleterious effects of IL-6 on OT receptor expression (16, 42). Although OT receptor densities were not measured in our study, myometrial OT desensitization during colitis may involve similar processes, where increased levels of plasma IL-1β and IL-6 during colitis could result in an inhibition of the OT response of the uterus. In summary, these data provide experimental evidence for pathophysiological relationships between digestive and reproductive tracts during colitis in the cyclic rat. This viscero-visceral interaction is able to disrupt the sexual cycle, as evidenced by the cascade of perturbations in endometrial and epithelial growth, neutrophil accumulation, and myometrial activity, both for the spontaneous and evoked contractions. On the basis of the protective effects of exogenous estrogen reported herein and because sex steroids regulate uterine growth and myometrial activity, it is likely that most of the perturbations elicited by colitis result from a defect in ovarian estradiol production, whereas alterations in uterine response to OT suggest a direct systemic action of proinflammatory mediators on OT receptor expression. Further studies are required to test this hypothesis. During the sexual cycle, myometrial contractions at the time of conception are essential for sperm transport toward the site of fertilization and later on for blastocyst implantation (8, 11, 29). Moreover, the uterine tissue remodeling throughout the cycle is a key step in preparation toward gestation (10). Thus our findings in a rat model of colitis may have correlates in human IBD, for unexplained associations with ovarian dysfunction and reduced fertility, occurring mostly during active states of the disease (7, 48). We thank Christel Salvador-Cartier for technical assistance in histological analysis and H. Tiphaine for helpful discussions. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. - Copyright © 2005 the American Physiological Society

Newspaper Page Text with Bor ni.-'l it "looks bj?l- biui for the girl and bad for you -and folks is "Arc you trying to tell me that my people are evil mind Oil enough to think that 1" - Douglas stopped. Ho could not frame the question. "1 don't be lieve it." lie concluded shortly. "You'll be Ultldc to believe it if you don't get rid of that girl." "Do von believe It." lie turned upon the little man at bis side. "Do you believe it, ElversonV" Kh erson had been so accustomed to Strong monopolizing the conversation that lie bail become hopelessly lost as the discussion went on. and the sudden appeal to him all but paralyzed his power of speech. lie was still gur "Jotir affair," shouted Strong, "tduTi tluit 'itrl is catiii' tltc church's bread!" gllng and sputtering when Strong In "It makes no difference whether we believe it or not. We're goln' to do our duty by the church, and that girl uiUHt leave or"? "Or I must." Douglas pieced out Strong's phrase for himself. "That threat doesn't frighten me at all. dea con. After what you have said I should refuse to remain In this church" the deacon stepped forward eagerly "were It not that I realize more than ever before how much you need me. how much you Ignorant, nar row minded creatures need to he taught the meaning of true Christian lty." The deacon was plainly disap "Is it possible'.'" gasped ElVorSOU "Well, what are you golh' to do about it ." asked Strong when he could trust himself to speak again, "I Shall do what is be t for Miss po|. ly," said the pastor quietly, but firmly. Ho in rued uwny to show Hint the interview was at an etui. Si ''dig f"i lowed him. Douglas pointed to* the gate With a moan In;; not t" be mis taken, ??I'd fifiernoon. deacon." Strong' hesitated. He looked til the pastor, then at (!:?? gate, then til the pastor njjfniui "I'll go," he shthtted. "but it ain't the end!" Ho slammed the gate behind him, "Quite S". quite so." chirped Elver son, not having the slightest Idea of what be was saying, lie Saw tin' frigid expression qit the pastor's face: he coughed behind his h.n und fol 't*r\|OTV?LAS drop] d wr""*rll.\ > :i to I \\ < ? i ,?? t i ? ben "i. lie - ill with IHM--J e, He did i:?.; hear Poll.\ Its sin- scurried down the path. I or arms tilled \ ' i autumn leaves, she glanc ed at IT i. dropped the bi'lglll colored foliage and slipped quickly to t nearest tree. "<>no, two, iiir.ee for Mr. John!" she cried as she patted the huge broVi ii (ruhk, "Is that you, Polly?" he asked ab "Now it's your turn to catch me." she said, lingering near the lice. The pastor was again lost in thought. "Aren't you going to play any more?" There was n shade of disappointment In her voice. She came slowly to his "Sit here, Polly," he answered grave ly, pointing to a place on the, bench. "I want to talk to you." "Now I've done Something wrong." she pouted. She gathered up her gar lands and brought them to a place near his feet. Ignoring the sent at his side. "You might Just as well tell me and get it over." "You couldn't do anything wrong." he answered, looking down at her. "Ob, yes. I could, and I've done It. I can see it In your face. What is It?" "Whftt have you there?" he asked, trying to gain time and not knowing now to broach the subject that In Jus tice to her must lie discussed. "Some leaves to make garlands for tli? 8oct?l." Poll-/ nnswered more cheer fully. "Would you mind holding this'.'" She gave him Oliu end of n Btrillg of "Whore :ire ttic children?" "You like the children very much, don't you. Polly?" Douglas was striv ing for a path that might load them l<> the subject that was troubling htm. "Oh. no. I don't like them; 1 love them." She looked nt him with tender "You're tho greatest baby of all." A puzzled line came between his exes ns he studied her more closely, "And yot you're not such a child, are you. Polly? You're f<ulte grown up?almost a young lady." lie looted at her from a strange, unwelcome point of view. She was all of that as she sat at his feet, yearning and slender and fair, at the turning of her seventeenth year. "I wonder how you would like to go away"?her eyes met his in terror? "away to u great school," he added quickly, flinching from the very first hurt that he had Inflicted, "wherethere are n lot of other young ladies." "Is it a pi.iee where you would be?" she looked up nl hint anxiously. She wondered if Iiis "show" was about to "I'm afraid not." Douglas answered, smiling in spite of his heavy heart. "i wouldn't like tiny place without you," slie said decidedly and seemed to consider the subject dismissed. "I'.ut if it was for your good," Doug "It could never bo for my good to "But just for a little while." he pleaded. How was she ever to under stand? How could ho lake, from her the sense of security that he had pur posely taught her to feel In his house? "Not even for a moment," Polly an swered, with n decided shake of her "But you must get ahead In your studies." he argued. She looked at him anxiously. She was beginning to he alarmed at his "Maybe I've been playing too many "Not periscuous, Polly, promiscuous." "Fro-mls-cunus." she repented halt ingly. "What does that mean/" "Indiscriminate." He rubbed his forehead us lie saw the puzzled look on her face. "Mixed up." lie ex plained, mere simply. "Our game wasn't mixed up." She was thinking of the one to which Hie willow had objected. "Is it promiscu ous to catch somebody?" "it depends upon whom you catch." he answered, with a dry. whimsical "Well. I don't catch anybody hut the children.'' She looked up at him with serious, inquiring eyes. "Never mind, Polly. Your u'.itnes aren't promiscuous." She did not hear hi in. She was searching fir her book. "is this what you are looking for." he asked, drawing the missing article from his pocket. "< >!'.!" cried Polly, wit 11 a Hush of em bnrrnssmcnt. "Mandy lold you." "You've been working a loiig time on ??I thoughl I might help you if I learned everything you told nie," slie answered timidly, "i'.ut I don'l sup pose I could." "1 < an never lell you how much .vou help 111.-. Pel y." "Do I?" .-lie eii.-d eagerly. "I can help more If you will only I I me. I c'rtn teach a bigger; class til Sunday school now. I I to Hie bO( I; of (tilth "You did?" I!.- ? re!ended lo lie as totllshcd. lie svas anxious t<> encour age her enthnshiPm. "hu' hum:" she answered solemnly. A dreamy look cn'iu? (nib her eyes. "!?.> you reincibbei' !,hti part Ilia! you read to me the i'.r t day I came'." He nodded, tie was thinking how care free Ihey Were t ll :11 da.v. IiOW ItUpOH slblo such problems -s the present one 'would have seemed llieill "I IttioW every hit of wluil von read by heart, it's < ur host! Sunday school lesson." -So st ' i "Do you tllhllt now thai it Would be best for me to ft i av.ayV" H\iO looked I up Into his troubled face. "Weil see. We'll see." he MUWU'fed. then tried 10 turn her mind toward other things. "ConiO, now; lei's find rmt whether you do know your Sunday school lesson. JTow does it begin?" Tliero was no answer. She had turned away with trembling lips. "And Ituih said" - He took her two small hands and drew her faCO toward him. mean lug to prompt her. " 'Kntreat me not to leave thee.'"she pleaded, Her eyes met Ids. His face was close to hers. The small features befoie him were quivering witli emo tion. She was so frail, ko helpless, so easily within his grasp, uis muscles grew tense, and his lips Closed firmly, lie was battling with nn Impulse to draw her toward him and conifer' her (n the shelter of his strong, brave arms. "They Shan't 1" ho cried, start ing toward her. Polly drew hack, overawed. Her soul bU<J heard and seen the things re vealed to each of us only once. She Would never again he n child. Douglas braced himself against the back of the bench. "What was the rest of the lesson?" he asked In a firm, hard voice. "I can't say It now," Tolly mur mured. Her face was averted; her white lids fluttered and closed. "Nonsense'. Of course you can. Come, come; I'll help you." Douglas spoke sharply. He was almost vexed with her and with himself for the weakness that was so near overcom ing them. "And Itutb said, 'Entreat me not to leave thee'"?' ?"Or to return from following after theo'"?she was struggling to keep back the tears "'for whither thou goest I will v.o. und where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy (Jod my'"? She "That's rigid; go on," said Douglas, striving to control the unsteadiness In Ids own voice. " 'Where thou dies! will I die.' " Her arms w -nt out blindly. "Oh, you won't send me away, will you?" she sobbed. "I don't want to learn anything else just except - from you." she covered her face and slipped, a little broken heap, at ills In an Instant the pastor's strong arms were about her; his stalwart body was supporting her. "You shan't go i away. I won't let you?I won't: Do you hear me, Polly? I won't!" I Her breath was warm against his ' cheek. lie could feel her tears, her Itrtns about him, as site clung to him helplessly, sobbing and quivering in the shelter of his strong embrace. "You are never going to leave tao A new purpose had come Into his j life, the realization of a new necessity, and he knew that the fight which be ! must henceforth make for this child ' was the same that he must make for To he continued, How's This J I We offer one Hundred Dollars ilo ' ward for any case of Catarrh that cannot he cured by Hall's Catarrh P. .1. c!i::.\":v *i CO. We. the undersigned, have known ; I-'. .1. Cheney for the htsl l? yours, i;U(l < believe him perfectly honorable in all business transactions and llnaucially fable to carry out any obligations 1 made by his firm. WADDINO. KINN AN & MAIITIN. Wholesale Druggists. Toledo, O. Hall's Catarrh Cure Is taken inter nally, acting directly upon the blood and mucous surfaces of the system. Testimonials sent tree. Price 7", per bottle. Sold by all Druggists. TO COXFKWKKATK VKTKRAXfS Wishing to Go to Columbia I.aurens. S. C. July 27, 1909. The County Pension Board held a meeting in June, notice of which was published in the newspapers of the county BO that every Veteran in the county would know of the meeting. This notice requested any Confed erate Veteran who wished to go to the Confederate Infirmary at Colum bia, South Carolina, to come before said Hoard at said* tone, at I.aurens Court House for examination and rec ommendation for admission. No Vet eran came before the Hoard at that time, so we hoped there was none so destitute as to want to be sent. Since Hint time i have been In formed I lint Ihero are some Confed erate Veteran-: in (he county Who de sire to go ;o :! e Home in Columbia. This lit lb give notice to :.'l con cerned thai iho County Pension Hoard will !.o!.; another meeting on de drsi Monday in September. ::' which I hue any Confederate Vetcralj who \\l to become till iuuuttc of the CrYnfotl-' eru'.c Home will pb-ase rinne bo fore I .'? e Hoard. It' any are found to come under li.e I'o.quironp ;?.[.?? of tlio law. the Hoard will prepare their papers and recommend two of the most helpless and destitute for admission to the : I lome, j Veterans are admitted to Mi - flome i oa the reedtiimi lidatiou df (lie Pep ion w. p. i <>;-"i llj civirm: n County Pen iloii hoard. < holerii Infant um Curotl. I "Something like two years ;:.o niy j baby. Which was (hen about a year old. war. taken seriously ill With ohdl i era Infantum, vomiting find purging I profusely, Writes J l\ Dompsoy, ?>. DeiiipSej.. Ma. I did what I could to i ? hove l;< r but did no good, and being very lunch nlanrted iiboul her Weht for a physician but failed ii> lind one, so came hack by Elder Pros. & Cu'er's store and Mr. Elder recom mended Chamberlain's Colic. Cholera ami Dlarhoea remedy. i procured a bottle of it. went home as quickly as possible and gave the baby a dose of the remedy. It relieved her in fif teen minutes and soon cured her en tirely.", For sale by the I.aurens Drug Miss Annie Cox of Anderson arrived in the city Saturday and Is the guest of Mrs. lt.. W. 'fribble. Soldier Hulks Heath Plot. It seemed to J. A. Stone, a civil war veteran, of Kemp. Tex., that a plot ex isted between a desperate lung trou ble and the grave to cause his death "I contracted a stubborn cold" be writes, 'that developed a cough that Stuck to me in spite of nil remedies, for years. My weight ran down to ISO pounds. Then I began to use Dr. King's New Discovery, which re stored my health completely. I now weigh ITS pounds." For severe Colds, obstinate Coughs. Hemorrhages. Asth ma, and to prevent Pneumonia, it is unrivalled. and $1.00 Trial bottle free. tinteed by the I.au rens Drug C< \he Palmetto Drug Intense Co lick) Pains Relieved. "For some years I suffered from intense colicky pains which would come on at times and from which 1 could find no relief." says I. S. Mason, of Heaver Dam. Ky. "Chamberlain's Colic Cholera and Diarrhoea Reuir o.dy was recommended to me by a friend. Alter taking a few dases of the remedy I was entirely relieved. Tin.I was four years ago and there lias been no return of the symptoms since that time." This remedy is for sale by the 1.aureus Drug Co. Cattle. 25o and 50c. At all drug See our line of Toilet Sets in dif ferent designs, colors, decorations an;! sizes at money saving prices. S. M. & 10. 11. W likes Co. On (he 13th day of August. 1909, at II o'clock A. M.. at the site, the County Hoard of Commissioners of Lattrens County. S. C. will let con tract to tlx lowest responsible bidder for the erection of the Anderson Mill Bridge on Rabim Creek near Water loo, s. c. At the sntlie time and place con tract will be let for repairing tin- ap proaches of Ivy Bluff Bridge on Reedy Contractor will he required to enter into written contract and give ratls factory bond? within ten days after award of contract. Deposit of Fifty Dollars will be required as guarantee of good fllltll. The rigid is reserved to reject any or all bids. II. it. 11 I'M BERT, On the ITlll day of August. 1909. at i I o'< lock A. M.. at t In- sin-, the County Commissioners of I.aureus County. S. C. will lot to the lowest responsible bidder the contract lor re building bridge on Durban Creek, at Harks Old Mill, now .Wshitts Mill. Contractor will be required to enter into written contract ami give satis factory bond within ten days alter award of contract. Deposit of Fifty Dollars will be required as guarantee of good faith. The right is reserved to |'< ject anv or all bids. 11. I!. II I'M BERT, Delicious and Re= Use Jello Ice (Flavor to Suit) Mahiiffey & Babb !y PHONE 211 LAURENS, S. C. Expert Watch, Clock and Jewelry Repairing Iii olden tii'.i.s Watch Tinkers Iitini Uttilir'clhi Menders tinkered I with vvitlcites, \<>wv hi tile; 20th century, you wH?i contpieteiil ?min to repair your V\niches and Clocks, Lit lite repair youi I Watches, Clocks and Jewelry. I learned my trade in Ktitope, tin country in wliieh the making of Watches originated. 1 have had a large experience in Ameiied. i! was expert Clock Maker lot Smith- Patterson Co., oi Boston, ' Mass., for twelve Months and lot five yoartj was head watch maker for li. Caslleburp;, of Baltimore. I am confident that when I do your work you will be pleased. I am also a graduate optician and will examine your eyes free of charge, 1 will lit y?u with the best lenses at very moderate Inspect my line of Watches, Clocks and Jewelry. You will find here the best quality fit the lowest pi ice. The Jeweler and Optician P>arksdale building Laurens, S.C. 111 buying Pianos it is well to remember that it costs a great deal to keep Pianos on hand, also to ship and re-ship for special sales. This necessary cost is ad ded to the price and the purchaser pays it. I sell Pianos direct from the factory to the pur chaser, and there is no additional expense- to he paid* I buy Pianos from reputable Manufacturers ami am in a position to*save yon much money on a purchase for I can sell at any price. If you want terms, mine are the most liberal ? in fact I let yon make the terms, (live me a chance to s'.iow you before you buy. Do You Want to Save Money? 1 can help you save it. You take no risk in mak ing the investigation before buying. You will do yourself and family an injustice if you do not see me I have pretty Benches, Stools and Chairs, and a lame line of beautiful Scarfs to select from. 1 can' tell you much about a Piano. Come to see me or i] sold The Advertiser the Piano for their popular L. A. McCORD The Piano and Organ Man. Laurens, S. C. Real Estate Offerings 122 acres of land, bounded by lands of Manscl Owings, Kvn Jackson, and Warrior Creek. Price $20 per acre. 117 acres of land near Cray Court, hounded by lands of K. T. Sil II. W, 10. Gray; seven room cottage, fine barn and outbuildings and lino past ure. Price $C0 per aero. L' acres in town of Cray Court? nice building site. Price $500.00. 200 acres of bind near Durbin Creek Church, bounded by lands of \V. T. Parks anil I.aureus White; 3 tenant bouses, well timbered, good state of cultivation. Price $".10.00 per acre. 37 acres land, bounded by lands of .1. B. Wells. Thomas Hurts, and others with five room dwelling, good out buildings; near lOkom. Price $la per One lot at Watts Mills, with seven room cottage. 200 feet front and 100 feet deep, with meat market. Price Some valuable property in town of Clinton,- Nine business lots on Broad street, ranging in price from $?()0 to $1,200 per lot. Two lots fronting on Musgrove street, $300 each, One beautiful building lot fronting Mus grove street, price $2.ooo. One lot with beautiful residence fronting on Musgrove streit, price $3,f)00. See me early if you wish to purchase, this is an exceptional opportunity. IfiO acres land, one-half mile of Dial church, with a handsome dwelling, 3 tenant houses and good outbuildings. Come tptick if you want ibis place. Price $.10 per acre. .) acres of land jus}! outshio of the corporate limits of the town of day Court, with one linnnl house. Price per acre, w Two acre lot in Uta town of Cray Court, with 7 room dwelling, nicely located. Prh o $2,r>00. Due lUtsinOSS lot. Oil feet front. I' 0 feet d( , ii. in town of Cray Court. Ohe lot at WaCs Mills, 2afl feed front out buildings. Price $ I ?000. One lot at Watts Mills containing One ! room cottage, willi iiatl ithd 2 porches, on (Sarllngtott uvchuo. I pi acre.? of land bdUUdcd by Will Martin and (hirretl lands, bcvcU room dwelling. 2 tenant houses, good barn and out buildings. Price 1 I1* acres bounded by lauds of Y. 0, llolltimS and Mill In il Owens, ie .'! miles of l.aurens; 2 dwellings and out buildings. Price $:!?". per acre 19 HC res land near Owings Station bounded by land of John Jones and Tom Uranilett with dwelling and out buildings price $u5.00 per acre. inn acres land near Lai)ford Stat ion bounded by lands of Duff Patter son. James PatorBon and others wii.t dwelling and Tenant houses Pric< $35.00 per acre. 155 acres of land, with dwelling, good barn and out-buildings, near Owings. Price $3,500; terms made easy. M l acres bounded by lands of Jeff. Davis and Herbert Martin; 3 good ten aid homes, and good barn. Price $.">o per acre. L't? acres land near the incorporated limits of the Town of Fountain Ii t bounded by lands of Hobt. Taylor, T. E. Nelson. Jim Adams and others; dwellings .and out buildings. Price $75.00 per acre. 100 acres of land, with five room dwelling. 3-rootn tenant house. Rood (Hit buildings, near Hickory Tavern, Sullivan township. Price $15.00 per f?ft acres of land in town of f..anford, with tenant houu, at $50.00 per acre. One lot at I.aureus- M?h. with well and 2 brick chimneys. Price $350. s'.t acres of bind in ore mile of the town of Gray Court, with two dwell ings. Price $10 per acre. 52 acres of land In town of Gray Court, dwelling and outbuildings. Price $50 per a< re. 318 acres of I; :;-! near Knbun Creek church, n loom dwelling, three tounnJ houses. Price $32.50 per aero, uii acres of hi ship. I minded by lap. Itebei en ('itri loid; '2 four roi i! buildings, line lot till acres in Dil liy Luid- of Pink ml P. C. Wallace j. I.udy ijoll tenant house. 1'l .ee .;..0 per ; lOfl acri's of land in Y cm;'- township, 11 room dwelling-, two tenant house..-, good barn. Price ?2.&>0. M7 acres land I miles of Laurens, bounded by lands Mrs. Purges-- .''"I; Brown, Jpo. Madden and others 0 ten ant houses; 7 horse farm in cultivation. Will be cut into lots of 100 acres each Price $20 per acre. J. N. Leak Real Estate, Stocks and Bonds. Gray Court, S. C. (haiiihcrlain\ Colic, Cholera IIlid PI iirrliocii liemcrtj Never Known (o I ni I. "i have used Chamberlain's Colic, Cholera and Diarrhoea Kennedy since it was inst Introduced t<? 11??- iiuhllc in is?:.', mill have never found one Instance where i> cure wan not speed ily effected by its use. i have beon a commercial iroveler for eighteen years, and never start out Oil a trip without this, my faithful friend," says il. S. Ni< hols of Oakland. Ind. Ter. For sale by the I.aurens Drug Co, j Mr. Jordan's Moncj Talked. Expended $8.:i5 for i.. a.- M. Paint to tlx lip Iiis house. II for sale it will etch H Rood price. The painters said it was the three gallons of oil they mixed with four gallons of L, & M. that did the job at one third less cost than ever before. its coloring is bright, beautiful and lasting, u won t have to be painted again for IS to 16 years, because the i.. a.- M. Paint is Metal S5lnc Oxide combined with White Lead and wears and rovers like Gold. Sold by: J, H. & m. L Nash, Laurens, J. W. Copeland CO., Clinton.

MiR-200a inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition of pancreatic cancer stem cell - Yuhua Lu†1, 2, 3, - Jingjing Lu†1, - Xiaohong Li†1, - Hui Zhu1, - Xiangjun Fan2, - Shajun Zhu2, - Yao Wang2, - Qingsong Guo2, - Lei Wang2, - Yan Huang2, - Mingyan Zhu2Email author and - Zhiwei Wang2Email author © Lu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014 Received: 12 August 2013 Accepted: 27 January 2014 Published: 12 February 2014 Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers, and the aggressiveness of pancreatic cancer is in part due to its intrinsic and extrinsic drug resistance characteristics, which are also associated with the acquisition of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Increasing evidence suggests that EMT-type cells share many biological characteristics with cancer stem-like cells. And miR-200 has been identified as a powerful regulator of EMT. Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) of human pancreatic cancer cell line PANC-1 were processed for CD24, CD44 and ESA multi-colorstaining, and sorted out on a BD FACS Aria II machine. RT-qPCR was performed using the miScript PCR Kit to assay the expression of miR-200 family. In order to find the role of miR-200a in the process of EMT, miR-200a mimic was transfected to CSCs. Pancreatic cancer cells with EMT phenotype displayed stem-like cell features characterized by the expression of cell surface markers CD24, CD44 and epithelial-specific antigen (ESA), which was associated with decreased expression of miR-200a. Moreover, overexpression of miR-200a was resulted in down-regulation of N-cadherin, ZEB1 and vimentin, but up-regulation of E-cadherin. In addition, miR-200a overexpression inhibited cell migration and invasion in CSCs. In our study, we found that miR-200a played an important role in linking the characteristics of cancer stem-like cells with EMT-like cell signatures in pancreatic cancer. Selective elimination of cancer stem-like cells by reversing the EMT phenotype to mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) phenotype using novel agents would be useful for prevention and/or treatment of pancreatic cancer. KeywordsCSC EMT Pancreatic cancer miR-200a Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers, which is usually diagnosed in an advanced state for which there are few or no effective therapies . One of the major hallmarks of pancreatic cancer is its extensive local tumor invasion and early systemic dissemination . Over the past two decades, numerous efforts have been made in improving treatment and survival of pancreatic cancer patients but the outcome has been disappointing . Emerging evidence suggest that the resistance could in fact be due to the enriched existence of tumor initiating cells, also classified as cancer stem-like cells in a tumor mass. The CSCs have the capacity of self-renewaland the potential to regenerate into all types of differentiated cells giving rise to heterogeneous tumor cell populations in a tumor mass, which contributes to tumor aggressiveness [4, 5]. The existence of CSCs or cancer stem-like cells in a tumor mass is believed to be responsible for tumor recurrence because of their intrinsic and extrinsic drug-resistance characteristics . Oct4 and Nanog are transcription factors essential for maintaining stem cell phenotypes. Oct4 is a POU domain-containing transcription factor. It is involved in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation in a variety of tissues. Nanog is a homeobox-containing transcription factor. Its overexpression is associated with the pluripotency and self-renewing nature of embryonic stem cells. And Oct4 and Nanog expression is associated with early stages of pancreatic carcinogenesis . It has recently become clear that EMT is associated with drug resistance and cancer cell metastasis . During this process, the expression of E-cadherin is down-regulated, which is a transmembrane protein essential for the stable adherens junctions, and the expression of the mesenchymal molecules vimentin, fibronectin, and/or N-cadherin are up-regulated [8, 9]. In pancreatic cancer cells, EMT is also reported to be a crucial step for tumor cell migration and invasion . Recent studies have demonstrated that EMT plays a great role not only in tumor metastasis, but also in tumor recurrence that is believed to be tightly linked with the biology of cancer stem-like cells or cancer-initiating cells. However, the mechanisms by which EMT cells generate the stem-like cells remain to be elucidated [11–13]. Importantly, emerging evidence implicated the critical role of microRNAs because they are key regulatory molecules in biological and pathologic processes including EMT . MicroRNAs are small and non-coding RNA molecules that can regulate gene expression by interacting with multiple mRNAs and inducing either degradation of mRNA or inhibition of their translation to functional proteins [7, 14]. Members of the miR-200 family are downregulated in human cancer cells and tumors due to aberrant epigenetic gene silencing and play a critical role in the suppression of EMT, tumor cell adhesion, migration, invasion and metastasis, by targeting and repressing the expression of key mRNAs that are involved in EMT (ZEB1 and ZEB2), and participates in a signalling network with the E-cadherin transcriptional repressors ZEB1/deltaEF1 and ZEB2/SIP1, and TGF-β2 that is postulated to facilitate maintenance of stable epithelial or mesenchymal states but also allow reversible switching between these states in response to EMT effectors (such as TGF-β) [15, 16]. In ovarian and breast cancer, low expression of miRNA-200 plays important roles in cancer metastasis [14, 17, 18]. MiR-200 changed the tumor environment, inhibiting the process of EMT and metastasis [19, 20]. These findings hypothesizes that the expression of miR-200 in pancreatic cancer cell is correlated with stemness, EMT and metastasis. Since miR-200 is associated with EMT, which is believed to be associated with cancer stem cells or cancer stem-like cells, we investigated the effects of miR-200 family on pancreatic CSC functions in this study. We identified a highly tumorigenic subpopulation of pancreatic cancer cells expressing the cell surface markers CD24, CD44 and ESA in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line PANC-1. And CD24+CD44+ESA+ cells in PANC-1 were sorted by BD FACS Aria II for further study. Then, we analysed the miR-200 family and transcription factors Oct4 and Nanog expression in CSCs of pancreatic cancer cell line PANC-1, and determined their relationships with EMT markers and repressors of E-cadherin transcription. In order to study the role of miR-200a for EMT in CSCs, miR-200a mimic was transformed into CSCs. In addition, invasion and metastasis were determined in CSCs and transformed CSCs. Human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line, PANC-1 (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, P.R. China) was cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), 100 U/ml penicillin G, and 100 Ug/ml streptomycin. After sorting, cancer CSCs from the cell line were cultured in either Celprogen’s pancreatic CSC medium or DMEM-F12 supplemented with 1% N2 Supplement (Invitrogen), 2% B27 Supple-ment (Invitrogen), 20 ng/ml human platelet growth factor (Sigma-Aldrich), 100 ng/ml epidermal growth factor (Invitrogen) and 1% antibiotic-antimycotic (Invitrogen) at 37°C in a humidified atmosphere of 95% air and 5% CO2. Dissociated cells were counted and transferred to a 5 ml tube, washed twice with PBS, counted and resuspended in PBS at 1 × 106 cell/100 μl. Then, the antibodies APC anti-human CD44 (Becton Dickinson, USA), PE anti-human CD24 (Becton Dickinson, USA) and FITC anti-human ESA (Becton Dickinson, USA) (each at a dilution of 1: 40) were added and incubated for 20 min on ice in dark. The respective isotype control antibodies were used at the same concentrations according to the manufacturer’s instructions. After washing twice with PBS, samples were resuspended in 500 μl PBS and analyzed on a flow cytometer (FACSAriaII, USA). Side-scatter and forward-scatter profiles were used to eliminate cell doublets. Cells were routinely sorted twice, and the cells were reanalyzed for purity, which typically was > 97%.Data were analyzed with BD FACS Diva software. MiR-200a mimic transfection The PANC-1 cells and CD24+CD44+ESA+ populations of PANC-1 cells were plated in 6 well plates and incubated overnight. Cells were transfected with either control (5′-UUGUACUACACAAAAGUACUG-3′) or miR-200a (forward 5′-UAACACUGUCUGGUAACGAUGU-3′, reverse 5′-AUCGUUACCAGACAGUGUUAUU-3′) mimic at a final concentration of 25 nM using EntransterTM-R transfection reagent (Engreen). After 6 h of transfection the medium was changed to avoid cell death during transfection. Control and miR-200a mimic were purchased from Invitrogen. RNA extraction and real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR Total RNA was extracted using Trizol (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. For mRNA analysis, real-time PCR was performed using Power SYBR_ green PCR master mix (Applied Biosystems) on an ABI 7500 series PCR machine Applied Biosystems, and data were normalized to GAPDH expression and further normalized to the negative control unless otherwise indicated. Custom primers for E-cadherin, N-cadherin, vimentin and ZEB1, Oct4 and Nanog were synthesized by Ruian biotech. E-cadherin forward primer 5′-GACCGAGAGAGTTTCCCTACG-3′, reverse primer 5′-TCAGGCACCTGACCCTTGTA-3′; N-cadherin forward primer 5′-GAGATCCTACTGGACGGTTCG-3′, reverse primer 5′-TCTTGGCGAATGATCTTAGGA-3′; vimentin forward primer 5′-CCTTGAACGCAAAGTGGAATC-3′, reverse primer 5′-TGAGGTCAGGCTTGGAAACAT-3′; ZEB1 forward primer 5′-GGAATGTATGCTTGTGATTTGTG-3′, reverse primer 5′-CTCTCTTACAGTAGGAGTAGCGATG-3′; Oct4 forward primer 5′-ATTCAGCCAAACGACCATCT-3′, reverse primer 5′-TCTCACTCGGTTCTCGATACTG-3′; Nanog forward primer 5′-AAGAACTCTCCAACATCCTGAAC-3′, reverse primer 5′-CCTTCTGCGTCACACCATT-3′. miR expression analysis Total RNA was reverse transcribed using the miScript Reverse Transcription Kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA). RT-qPCR was performed using the miScript PCR Kit (Qiagen). Experiments were normalized to U6. Results were reported as RQ with respect to a calibrator sample using the 2-ΔΔCt method. MiR-200a, miR-200b, miR-200c and U6 kits were purchased from Biomics biotech (NanTong). Western blot analysis Cells were lysed in RIPA lysis buffer and the protein concentration was determined. Total proteins were fractionated using SDS-PAGE and transferred onto a polyvinylidene fluoride membrane. The membranes were blocked in 5% skim milk in TBST buffer containing 0.1% Tween 20 and then incubated with indicated primary antibodies (Rabbit anti-N-cadherin, 1: 1000, Millipore; Mouse anti-Vimentin, 1: 500, Millipore; Rabbit anti-E-cadherin, 1: 1000, Abgent; Rabbit Anti-ZEB1, 1: 1000, Cell Signaling) for 2 h at room temperature. HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies (HRP Goat anti-Rabbit IgG Antibody, 1: 5000, Abgent; HRP Goat anti-Mouse IgG Antibody, 1: 5000, Abgent) were incubated at room temperature (RT) for 1 h and detected using the enhanced chemiluminesence detection system.Total protein was extracted from untreated and the cells treated by transfecting miR-200a and subjected to western blot analysis as described to evaluate the expression of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, ZEB1 and vimentin. The data was adjusted against loading control using β-actin. Transwell migration assay For transwell migration assays, 1 × 105 pancreatic CSCs were plated in the top chamber onto the noncoated membrane (24-well insert; pore size, 8 mm; Corning Costar) and allowed to migrate toward serum-containing medium in the lower chamber. Cells were fixed after 48 hours of incubation with methanol and stained with 0.1% crystal violet (2 mg/mL, Sigma-Aldrich). The number of cells invading through the membrane was counted under a light microscope (three random fields per well). Transwell invasion assay For invasion assay, 1 × 105 cells were plated in the top chamber onto the Matrigel coated Membrane (24-well insert; pore size, 8 μm; Corning Costar). Each well was coated freshly with Matrigel (60 mg; BD Bioscience) before the invasion assay. Cells were plated in medium without serum or growth factors, and medium supplemented with serum was used as a chemo-attractant in the lower chamber. The cells were incubated for 48 hours and cells that did not invade through the pores were removed by a cotton swab. Cells on the lower surface of the membrane were fixed with methanol and stained with crystal violet. Thenumber of cells invading through the membrane was counted under a light microscope (three random fields per well). All values were expressed as means ± S.E.M. The statistical significance of differences among groups was determined by a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by the Tukey’s post hoc multiple comparison tests. A P < 0.05 was considered significant. Each experiment consisted of at least three replicates per condition. All statistical analyses were conducted with a STATA 7.0 software package (Stata Corp, College Station, TX) experiments. Isolation and characterization of human pancreatic CSCs MIR-200a and EMT markers expression in CSC of PANC-1 MIR-200a regulated EMT of CSCs in pancreatic cancer MiR-200a overexpression decreased the ability of invasion and migration of CSCs Pancreatic cancer is the fourth to fifth leading cause of cancer-related death in western societies with an average overall 5-year survival of less than 5% and a median survival period of less than 6 months . CSCs are a small subpopulation of cells capable of self-renewal and differentiation and have been identified in a variety of tumors. CSCs may be responsible for tumor initiation, progression, metastasis and resistance to therapy. The expression patterns of the stem cell surface markers CD44, CD24 and ESA in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines are diverse and not all CSCs sorted from pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines develop cell spheres , PANC-1 is a common pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line used for study of CSCs [28–32]. In this study, we sorted CD44+CD24+ESA+ CSCs in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line PANC-1. Stem cell features are controlled by a small group of transcription factors, like Nanog and Oct4 . Coexpression of Oct4 and Nanog is associated with pancreatic carcinogenesis and is negatively correlated with the survival prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients . Oct4 and Nanog induce cancer stem cell–like properties and have correlations with EMT . Our study also demonstrates that the expressions of Oct4 and Nanog were increased in CSCs of PANC-1. Emerging evidence suggests the role of microRNA (miRNA) in many biological processes. Among many miRNAs, miR-200 family is known as tumor suppressor and they are usually down-regulated in some tumors including prostate cancer and the loss of expression of miR-200 family contributes to the acquisition of EMT phenotype and drug resistance. Down-regulation of miR-200 by siRNA technique has been shown to be associated with EMT phenotype while reexpression of miR-200 can result in the reversal of EMT phenotype. We determined the expression levels of miR-200a, miR-200b and miR-200c in CSCs of PANC-1 by real time RT-PCR. Among the family of miR-200, only miR-200a expression was dramatically decreased. EMT induction in cancer cells results in the acquisition of invasive and metastatic properties. Recent reports indicate that the emergence of CSCs occurs in part as a result of EMT, for example, through cues from tumor stromal components. CSCs and EMT-type cells, which shares molecular characteristics with CSCs, have been believed to play critical roles in drug resistance and early cancer metastasis as demonstrated in several human malignancies including pancreatic cancer. Interestingly, recent studies have also shown that miR-200 family could regulate the processes of EMT by targeting E-box binding protein ZEB1 and ZEB2 . Thus, the discovery of molecular knowledge of drug resistance and metastasis in relation to miR-200 family, CSCs and EMT in pancreatic cancer are becoming an important area of research, and such knowledge is likely to be helpful in the discovery of newer drugs as well as designing novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment and/or prevention of pancreatic cancer with better outcome. E-cadherin, occludin and cytokeratin are downregulated during EMT, while N-cadherin, vimentin, fibronectin, SNAI1/SAIL, SNAI2/SLUG, ZEB2/SIP1, and TWIST1 are upregulated class switch from E-cadherin to Ncadherin results in the loss of epithelial phenotype and the acquisition of mesenchymal phenotype. Transcriptional repression of E-cadherin gene or functional repression of E-cadherin protein is the critical step for EMT. Upregulation of EMT regulators is associated with more malignant phenotypes in a variety of human cancer, such as gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer . In the present study, miR-200a inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition by inhibiting the expression of vimentin, N-cadherin and ZEB1, and also retards CSCs migration and invasion. The inhibition of EMT markers by these agents suggests that they could inhibit early metastasis of pancreatic CSCs. The EMT is an embryonic key developmental program that is often activated during cancer invasion and metastasis. It is a process by which cells undergo a morphological switch from the epithelial polarized phenotype to the mesenchymal fibroblastoid phenotype. Many signalling pathways have contributed to the induction of EMT, including TGFβ-1, Wnt, Hedgehog, Notch, and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) [38–42]. Kyoung-Ok Hong et al. have shown that activation of PI3K/Akt axis is one of the key mechanisms in the process of EMT and it seems that its inhibition by treatment with phosphatidylinositol ether lipid analogues (PIA) may regulate the reverse process MET leading to the re-expression of both E-cadherin and β-catenin, and reducing expression of vimentin, mesenchymal marker, in oral squamous lines carcinoma stabilized . Further stuty was needed to probe the signalling pathways participatived in MET of CSCs. In summary, we identified a highly tumorigenic subpopulation of pancreatic cancer cells expressing the cell surface markers CD24, CD44 and ESA in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line PANC-1. MiR-200a played important roles in the MET process of CSCs by changing EMT markers expressions and cell migration and invasion. Thus, further studies are needed to elucidate how miR-200a eliminates the stem-like cells by reversing EMT phenotypic cells and to assess whether miR-200a could be useful for the prevention of pancreatic cancer tumorigenesis and metastasis. 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Oracle Warehouse Builder enables you to build and publish an enterprise data warehouse in stages. You can improve the performance and manageability of the data warehouse. Oracle Warehouse Builder mappings access remote data through database links. Processing overhead and network delays make this data access process slower than local data access by the mappings. You can use one of the following strategies to speed up data access: Create a transportable module to copy remote objects (tables, views, materialized views, and so on) from a source database into a target database. The mappings in the target data warehouse can then access data locally. Data can be partially processed in the source database and then the preprocessed data can be copied, using a transportable module, from source to target database for final loading into the data warehouse. A transportable module functions like a shipping service that moves a package of objects from one site to another at the fastest possible speed. Note: To use transportable modules, ensure that your organization has licensed the Oracle Warehouse Builder Enterprise ETL Option. The chapter contains the following topics: Transportable modules enables you to rapidly copy a group of related database objects from one database to another. Using the Design Center, you first create a transportable module, and specify the source database location and the target database location. Then, you select the database objects to be included in the transportable module. The metadata of the selected objects are imported from the source database into the transportable module. The metadata is stored in the workspace. To physically move the data and metadata from source into target, you must configure and deploy the transportable module to the target location. During deployment, both data and metadata are extracted from the source database and created in the target database. A combination of the following technologies enables the movement of data and metadata: Oracle Data Pump Local file copy code generation and deployment You can configure transportable modules to influence which technologies are used. You can add the following source objects to transportable modules: PL/SQL Functions, Procedures, and Packages Varying Array Types (Varrays) Nested Table Types The traditional Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) process extracts data from remote databases through multiple remote accesses using database links. Figure 17-1 displays the traditional extraction of data from remote databases. During remote accesses using database links, significant performance degradation occurs due to serial queries and serial DMLs, and network latencies. The performance degradation appears more if the same source tables are accessed multiple times. In the transportable module architecture, all the source objects needed by the mappings are bundled and moved to the target during a deployment. The transportable modules deployment uses Oracle Data Pump, FTP, and Oracle transportable table space to achieve very high transportation performance. This transportation absorbs the cost of the network delays. After deployment, mappings access data locally, which can easily benefit from parallel queries and parallel DMLs. Repeated accesses to the same data increases the performance benefit of transportable modules. Using transportable modules, data warehouse loadings become more manageable. The source database must be shut down only for a short period for the transportable module to complete the deployment. Users of the source database do not have to wait until the entire data is loaded into the data warehouse. For example, if you are using the transportable tablespace implementation, transportable modules can copy a tablespace of 20 GB in about five minutes, resulting in a down time of five minutes in the source database. Data copied into the target database is a snapshot of the information present in the source database. You use the same to create a data versioning system. Advanced users can create streams on the transported tables for capturing real-time changes from the source. The transported tables can also be copied into larger tables as a partition. In a multidepartmental enterprise environment, the target database may actually be an operational data store that is used for intermediate reporting and updating purposes. This target database could in turn, serve as a source to the next stage of data collection. You can use the transportable modules at multiple stages, along the path on which the data is moved before it is stored in the data warehouse. Transportable modules can also be used for publishing data marts. A data mart is normally a portion of a larger data warehouse for single or departmental access. At times, creating a data mart amounts to copying what has been collected and processed in the data warehouse. A transportable module can be created to perform this task. You can also use the same transportable module to deploy a data mart to multiple locations. Figure 17-3 displays a transportable module used for publishing for data marts. Because a transportable module deploys a snapshot of the source database objects, you use the deployment time to track the version of the data marts. Transportable modules work by leveraging technology in Oracle Warehouse Builder plus technology in the Oracle Database. A transportable module replicates parts of a source database into a target database. The parts of the source database that can be replicated include tablespaces, tables, indexes, constraints, and other relational objects. Depending on the database version, the Oracle Database replicates the tablespace. When you transport data between two releases of Oracle8i databases or between two releases of Oracle9i databases, the database calls the Oracle transportable tablespaces functionality. When you transport data between two Oracle 10g databases, the database calls the Oracle Data Pump functionality. In the case of Oracle Database 10g and Oracle Data Pump, you can transport tables without transporting their tablespaces. For example, if your table is 100 KB and its tablespace size is 10MB, then you can deploy the table without deploying the entire tablespace. Only Oracle Data Pump provides the option to copy an entire schema. For Oracle 10g release database, you specify either data pump or transportable tablespaces during configuration as described in "Configuring a Transportable Module". Note:For more information about transportable tablespace and Data Pump, see the Oracle Database 11g documentation. Before the introduction of transportable modules, the most scalable data transportation method relied on moving flat files containing raw data. This method required data to be unloaded or exported into files from the source database, and then these files were loaded or imported into the target database. The transportable modules method entirely bypasses the unload and reload steps and gives you access to the Oracle Database technologies Transportable Tablespaces and Data Pump. Transportable modules reduce the need for mappings to access data remotely. If you have large volumes of data on remote computers, then use transportable modules to quickly replicate the source onto the Oracle target database. Oracle Warehouse Builder mappings can then directly access a local copy of the data. In addition, because the source becomes part of the target, you can perform the ETL operations directly on the source data. A central data warehouse handles ETL processing while dependent data marts are read-only. You can use transportable modules to copy from a read-only data mart to multiple departmental databases. In this way, you can use your central data warehouse to periodically publish new data marts and then replace old data marts by dropping the old tablespace and importing a new one. Because duplication and distribution takes relatively less time, you can publish and distribute a data mart for daily analytical or business operations. You can set the source tablespaces to read-only mode and then export them to a target. All the data files are copied, creating a consistent snapshot of the source database at a given time. This copy can then be archived. The archived data can be restored in the source and target databases. Ensure that you can connect to source and target databases as a user with the necessary roles and privileges as described in "Verifying the Requirements for Using Transportable Modules". Ensure that your organization has licensed the Warehouse Builder Enterprise ETL Option. To use transportable modules, refer to the following sections: Note to Database Administrators: Step 1 of these instructions requires some powerful database roles and privileges. Step 3 requires knowledge of schema passwords. Depending on security considerations, you can enable developers to perform Step 3 or restrict it to database administrators only. Ensure to successfully test these connections before proceeding to the next step. When creating a Transportable Module source location, the source location user must possess specific roles and/or privileges depending on the version of the source database. If the source database is earlier than Oracle 10g, then the SYSDBA privilege is required for the source location user. If the source database is Oracle 10g, then the SYSDBA privilege is not required, but the following must be assigned to the source location user. ALTER TABLESPACE privilege When creating a Transportable Module target location, the target location user must possess specific roles and/or privileges depending on the version of the target database. If the target database is earlier than Oracle 10g, then the SYSDBA privilege is required for the target location user. If the target database is Oracle 10g, then the SYSDBA privilege is not required but the following must be assigned to the target location user. CONNECT role with admin option RESOURCE role with admin option ALTER TABLESPACE privilege EXECUTE_CATALOG_ROLE with admin option CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW privilege with admin option CREATE ANY DIRECTORY privilege Note:Transportable Module source and target location users must be assigned many powerful roles and privileges in order for the transportable modules to read objects from the source database and for creating objects in the target database. In a production environment, if necessary, the DBA may choose to create the transportable module source and target locations (using the Locations Navigator) for the data warehouse developers, and conceal the passwords. The following is a SQL script for the DBA to assign source location users the required roles and privileges in the source database: grant connect to <TM src location user>; grant exp_full_database,alter tablespace to <TM src location user>; The following is a SQL script for the DBA to assign target location users the required roles and privileges in the target database: grant connect,resource to <TM tgt location user> with admin option; grant imp_full_database,alter tablespace to <TM tgt location user>; grant execute_catalog_role to <TM tgt location user> with admin option; grant create materialized view to <TM tgt location user> with admin option; grant create any directory to <TM tgt location user>; To specify a transportable module location: In the Locations Navigator, expand the Locations node. Expand the Databases node. Right-click either the Transportable Modules Source Locations or Transportable Modules Target Locations node and then select New. Oracle Warehouse Builder displays a dialog box for specifying the connection information for the source or target location. The instructions for defining source and target locations are the same except that you do not specify optional FTP connection details for targets. Follow the instructions in "Transportable Module Source Location Information" to specify the connection information and then test the connection. Oracle Warehouse Builder first uses this connection information to import metadata for the transportable module from the source computer into the workspace. During deployment, the connection information is used to move data from the source to the target. A name for the location of the source or target database. An optional description for the location. Oracle Warehouse Builder uses the database user name and password to retrieve the metadata of the source objects you want to include in the transportable module. Oracle Warehouse Builder also uses this information during deployment to perform transportable tablespace or data pump operations. To access databases for use with transportable modules, you must ensure that the user has the necessary database roles and privileges as described in "Verifying the Requirements for Using Transportable Modules". Host name of the computer on which the database is installed. Port number of the computer on which the database is installed. Service name of the computer on which the database is installed. Choose the Oracle Database release number from the list. Specify FTP account credentials if you intend to use Oracle Transportable Tablespace as the method for transporting data. FTP credentials are not required if you do not plan to configure the Transportable Tablespace method. You can leave the FTP account credentials blank, if you configure to use the Transportable Tablespace, but both source and target databases are located in the same computer, or both source and target can access shared disk volumes. Without the FTP credentials, an attempt is made to perform a plain copy of the source files from the source directory to target directory. Click Test Connection to validate the connection information. Oracle Warehouse Builder attempts to connect to the source database and, if applicable, to the FTP service on the source computer. A success message is displayed only after both credentials are validated. To create a transportable module: From the Projects Navigator, expand the Databases node. Right-click the Transportable Modules node and select New. The Welcome page of the Create Transportable Module Wizard is displayed. The wizard guides you through the following tasks: On the Name and Description page, type a name and optional description for the transportable module. Although you can create a new source location from the wizard page, it is recommended that you define locations for transportable modules before starting the wizard as described in "Transportable Module Source Location Information". When you select an existing location, the wizard tests the connection and does not enable you to proceed until you specify a location with a valid connection. Select a target location from the list. If no target locations are displayed, then click New and define a target location as described in "Transportable Module Source Location Information". Use the Define Contents page to select tablespaces and schema objects to include in the transportable module. On the left pane, "Available Database Objects" lists all source tablespaces, schemas, and available schema objects. On the right pane, Selected Database Objects displays the objects after you select and move the objects. Expand the tablespaces to display the schemas in each tablespace and the objects in each schema. Non-tablespace schema objects such as views and sequences are also listed under their respective schema owners, even though these objects are not stored in the tablespace. To select multiple objects at the same time, hold down the Ctrl key while selecting them. You can include the following types of objects in transportable modules: PL/SQL Functions, Procedures, and Packages Object Types, Varray Types, and Nested Tables Types Select the tablespaces and schema objects from the Available Database Objects field and click the arrow buttons in the center to move the objects to the Selected Database Objects field. You can view the number of data files and their total size by placing your mouse over a node. The wizard displays the information in a tooltip. Figure 17-4 displays the wizard with the tooltip. Click the flashlight icon to find source data objects by type or name. In the Object field, type a name or pattern by which to filter your search, using the % character as a wildcard. From the Type list, indicate the object type you are searching. Check the required box to perform the search by name or by description. For example, type 'T%' in the Object field, select tablespaces from the Type field, and click Find Next. The cursor on the Available Database Objects navigation tree selects the name of the first tablespace that starts with a 'T.' If that is not the tablespace you want to select, then click Find Next to find the next tablespace. During this searching process, the navigation tree expands all the schema names and displays all the tablespaces. Tip:When searching for schema level objects such as tables, it is recommended that you select a tablespace or schema from the navigation tree before starting the search. This prevents a search over all tablespaces and significantly reduces the search time. You can double-click a schema node or any of the nodes in the schema to type in a filter pattern. For example, if you type T% and click OK, the navigation tree displays only those objects that start with the letter T. The filter criteria is displayed with the object name in the navigation tree, providing a helpful hint of which object types have filters applied. Figure 17-5 displays the Define Contents page with a schema selected. If you select items that cannot be included in a transportable module, then a dialog box is displayed listing items that cannot be included and describing why. Figure 17-6 displays the Import Filter dialog box. After the transportable module is created in your workspace, you can locate it on the Projects Navigator under the Transportable Modules node. Expand the tree to display the imported definitions. Oracle Warehouse Builder creates separate modules for separate schemas. The schema names on the Projects Navigator mirror the schema names in your source database. Because the objects contained in a transportable module mirror the source database, you cannot edit these objects using the user interface. If the source database changes, then you can reimport the objects. To delete objects from the transportable module, then right-click the object and select Delete. This action deletes the object from the definition of the transportable module but does not effect the underlying source database. For most used cases, you can accept the default settings for all the configuration parameters except "Password" setting. You must specify a password for each target schema. If the schema exists in the target, then specify an existing password. If the schema does not exist, then the schema can be created with the password you provide. Depending on your company security polices, knowledge of schema passwords may be restricted to database administrators only. In that case, the database administrator must specify the password for each schema. Alternatively, developers can define new passwords for new schemas if the target has no existing schemas that match source schemas. Set the following run time parameters for the transportable module: Select the type of operating system for the target. For versions earlier than Oracle Database 10g, the type of operating system on the target computer must be the same as the source computer. For versions Oracle Database 10g or higher, you can deploy to any operating system from any operating system. You should create a directory on the target computer dedicated to the deployment of transportable modules. This dedicated directory stores files generated at run time including temporary files, scripts, log files, and transportable tablespace data files. If you do not create a dedicated directory and type its full path as the Work Directory, then the generated files are saved under the run time home directory. Oracle Warehouse Builder enables you to select whether you want to deploy only the tables in your transportable module or all the related catalog objects, such as views and sequences, as well. Select the TABLES_ONLY to deploy only tables. Otherwise, select the ALL_OBJECTS. Use the TABLES_ONLY option to refresh the data in a transportable module. If you had previously deployed a transportable module with the ALL_OBJECTS option and want to replace only the tablespace from the same source, then redeploy the transportable module with the TABLES_ONLY option. The deployment drops the existing tablespace in the target, inserts the new one, and then recompiles the previously deployed metadata. Similarly, if you previously deployed the transportable module using Data Pump, then the redeployment only modifies the tables in the transportable module. By default, this setting is enabled and the tablespaces are transported. If you enable this setting, then also specify the settings under "Target DataFile Configuration Properties". If both the source and target databases are Oracle 10g or higher, then consider disabling this setting. For example, if your table is 100 KB and its tablespace size is 10 MB, then you can deploy the table without deploying the entire tablespace. When you disable Transport Tablespace, Oracle Data Pump is used to deploy the table and you can specify the "Table Exists Action" setting. Note:If source or target location is not Oracle 10g, the Transport Tablespace option is selected by default. In that case, Transportable Tablespace is the only implementation method for data movement. If both source and target locations are Oracle 10g, then you can deselect Transport Tablespace and use Data Pump. If Transport Tablespace is selected, then there are further restrictions, depending on the versions of the source and target locations, as described in Table 17-1. When planning for data replications, take these restrictions into consideration. In general, Oracle Database 10g Release 2, is the preferred target database. |Source location||Target location| Targeting another Oracle 10g location requires that both databases must have the same character set and the same national character set. Targeting an Oracle8i or Oracle9i location is not possible. Targeting an Oracle9i or Oracle Database 10g location requires that both databases must have the same character set, the same national character set, and both databases must be on the same operating system platform. Targeting an Oracle8i or Oracle9i location is not possible. Targeting an Oracle8i, Oracle9i, or Oracle Database 10g requires all of the following: Set the following schema parameters for the transportable module: This property enables you to change the name of the source schema when it is deployed to the target. Select the Default or click the Ellipsis button to type the new name for your schema in the target and click OK. For example, you can change SCOTT to SCOTT1. For existing schemas, type a valid password for the schema. For schemas to be created, Oracle Warehouse Builder creates the schema with the password you provide. Specify the default tablespace to be used when creating the target schema. If you leave this setting blank, then the default specified by the target is used. Specify what action should be taken if the schema exists in the target. The default value is Skip. Specify what action should be taken if the schema does not exist in the target. The default value is Create. When "Transport Tablespace" is disabled, use this property to specify what action should be taken if the table exists in the target. The default value is Skip. When you use Oracle Data Pump by deselecting "Transport Tablespace", you can select this option to copy the entire source schema into the target. When you use Oracle Data Pump by deselecting "Transport Tablespace", specify the maximum number of processes for the Oracle Database to use for carrying out the transfer of data. You must set the following data file parameters for the transportable module: Indicate the directory where you want the data file to be stored on your target computer. If you leave the directory unspecified, then the data file is stored in the "Work Directory". Specify the name of the data file to be created in the target computer. You can use this parameter to rename the data file. Accept the DEFAULT to persist the data file name from the source database or click the Ellipsis button to type a new name for the data file, and click OK. If this parameter is selected, then the existing data file is overwritten. Otherwise, the deployment is terminated if an existing data file is found. When you enable "Transport Tablespace", set the following tablespace parameters for the transportable module: If you are using a database before Oracle Database 10g, then the target tablespace name must be the same as your source tablespace name. For such cases, this field is read-only. If a tablespace with the same name exists in your target database, then the run time operation first drops the existing tablespace, and replaces it with the new one. If you are using Oracle Database 10g or higher, then you can change the target tablespace name. If this setting is selected, the existing tablespace is dropped and re-created in the target. By default, this setting is not selected and prevents you from deleting the tablespace in the target in the tablespace with the same name exists. In this case, the deployment process stops with an error. When you deploy a transportable module, the Control Center displays the transportable module as including all the tables while the other catalog objects such as views are displayed separately. When you select a deploy action for the transportable module, the Control Center sets the associated catalog objects to the same deploy action. During deployment of a transportable module, there are two ways for users to monitor the deployment progress. The first way is by the use of the Job Details window. The status line is instantly refreshed with the most up-to-date status. The message box immediately above the status line shows all the messages logged so far. Another way of observing the progress is by viewing the log file that the transportable module deployment process generates. The transportable module log file is created in the Work Directory that the user has configured. The name of the file is The TM Name.log, for example TM1.log if the name of the transportable module is TM1. This file is a plain text file containing the same messages that you can see in the message box in the Job Details window. Example 17-1 shows the contents of a transportable module log file. Currently, there are a total of 16 steps to view the log files. Some steps may be skipped depending on the user configurations, and some steps may contain error messages that transportable module considers ignorable, such as failures in creating referential constraints due to referenced tables not found errors. This log file contains important information. It must be carefully examined during and after the transportable module deployment completes. step1 begin: making connection to target db ... step1 end: connected to target Target OWB_HOME = /data/oracle/ora1010 step2 begin: making connection to source db... step2 end: skipped. step3 begin: making source tablespaces read only... step3 end: skipped. step4 begin: exporting tts... step4 end: skipped. step 5 begin: checking for existing datafiles on target... step5 end: skipped. step 6 begin: drop existing tablespaces step6 end: skipped. step7 begin: transporting datafiles... step7 end: skipped. step8 begin: managing schemas/users ... step8 end: completed setting up target schemas step9 begin: drop non-table schema objects... step9 end: nothing to drop. step10 begin: converting datafiles... step10 end: skipped. step 11 begin: importing tts ... find or create a usable dblink to source. step11 end: importing tts is not requested by user. step 11 end: import tts is successful step 12 begin: restore source tablespaces original status ... step12 end: skipped. step13 end: skipped. step14 begin: non-tts import ... Import: Release 10.1.0.4.0 - Production on Tuesday, 04 April, 2006 10:43 Copyright (c) 2003, Oracle. All rights reserved. Username: Connected to: Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.1.0.4.0 - Production With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options Starting "TMTGT_U"."SYS_IMPORT_TABLE_02": TMTGT_U/********@(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(HOST=LOCALHOST)(PROTOCOL=tcp)(PORT=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=ORA1010.US.ORACLE.COM))) parfile=/home/ygong/tmdir/TM1_imptts.par Estimate in progress using BLOCKS method... Processing object type TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/TBL_TABLE_DATA/TABLE/TABLE_DATA Total estimation using BLOCKS method: 64 KB Processing object type TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/TABLE . . imported "TMU1"."TA" 2 rows Processing object type TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/STATISTICS/TABLE_STATISTICS Processing object type TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/CONSTRAINT/REF_CONSTRAINT ORA-39083: Object type REF_CONSTRAINT failed to create with error: ORA-00942: table or view does not exist Failing sql is: ALTER TABLE "TMU1"."TA" ADD CONSTRAINT "TA_T1_FK" FOREIGN KEY ("C") REFERENCES "TMU1"."T1" ("C") ENABLE Job "TMTGT_U"."SYS_IMPORT_TABLE_02" completed with 1 error(s) at 10:44 step14: import has failures. step14 end: non-tts import completed with warnings step15 end: create flat file directories skipped. step16 end: transporting flat files skipped. After you successfully deploy a transportable module, you can use the objects in the transportable module in ETL designs. When you add source and target operators to a mapping, you can select objects from the transportable module folder. You can edit a transportable module by right-clicking the name of the transportable module from the Projects Navigator and selecting Open. Oracle Warehouse Builder displays the Edit Transportable Module dialog box containing four tabs. Oracle Warehouse Builder uses this connection information to access the source computer and import the metadata into its workspace. Oracle Warehouse Builder also uses this information during run time to move the tablespace data from the source to the target. The Source Database tab is read-only. Once you have imported tablespace definitions from a source computer, you cannot change the location information. The Tablespaces tab displays the tablespaces to be transported and their size. This tab is read-only. You can also view the tablespace size for individual data files in a tablespace. For details, see "Viewing Tablespace Properties". Displays the available and selected target locations. You can move a location from Available Locations to Selected Locations, or configure a new location. You can view the properties of a tablespace by right-clicking the name of the tablespace from the Projects Navigator and selecting Open. Oracle Warehouse Builder opens the Edit Tablespace dialog box. This property sheet displays the size of individual data files in a tablespace. It has two tabs, Name and Source Datafiles. If your source data has changed since you last created a transportable module, then you can reimport the metadata to update your workspace definitions. When you open the Reimport dialog box, the source location you specified while creating the transportable module is stored and the source objects are displayed. To reimport transportable module definitions: From the Projects Navigator, right-click the Transportable Modules name and select Reimport. The Re-create Transportable Module dialog box is displayed. From the Available Database Objects column, select the objects you want to reimport. The database objects that have been previously imported into the workspace are listed in bold. You can also choose to import new definitions. Use the arrow buttons to move the objects to the Selected Database Objects column, and click OK. Oracle Warehouse Builder reimports existing definitions and creates new ones. The transportable module reflects the changes and updates after the reimport is completed.

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[Middle English, roe, spleen, partly from Middle Dutch milte and partly from Old English milte, spleen; see mel-1 in Indo-European roots. — “milted - definition of milted by the Free Online Dictionary”, - Latest Bollywood and Hollywood News, Star Interviews, Song and Movies Reviews and Previews, Gossip and more ( Kandhon Se Milte Hain Kandhe, Qadmon Se Qadam Milte Hain. — “Kandhon Se Milte Hain Kandhe | : Entertainment”, - ( kaNdhoN se milte hain kaNdhe, qadmoN se qadam milte hain. ham chalte hain jab aise to, dil dushman ke hilte ( kaNdhoN se milte hain kaNdhe, qadmoN se qadam milte hain. ham chalte hain jab aise to, dil dushman ke hilte hain ) -2. nikle hain maidaaN mein, ham. — “Hindi songs lyrics”, - Listen to Tum Milte Movie Audio Songs, Download Songs, New Mp3 Songs, Free Tum Milte Movie Songs, Online Tum Milte Songs at . — “Tum Milte Songs Download | Tum Milte - Movie Songs, Audio”, related videos for milte - Milte Milte - Milte Hai Sabse - Bappi Lahiri - Kahan se milte moti LATA FILM RAJHATH 1956 MD SHANKAR - JAIKISHAN WITHOUT NOISE REDUCTION - Aahista aahista milte hai dil Ahista Ahista Milte Hain Dil Sanam Ahista Ahista Milte Hain Dil Sanam Kyon Na Kar Le Aap Se Pyaar Hum Ahista Ahista - milte hi ankhein dil hua diwana kisi ka Naushad Ali 1950 Film Babul music Naushad Ali lyrics Shakeel badayuni a great gem sung originally by Talat mahmood and Shamshad Begum wo log chale gaye hamein chhod gaye peechhe unko yaad karne ke liye your comments welcome on our attempt to resing - Jab Pyaar Mein Do Dil Milte Hain - Fariha Parvez.wmv Lovely Song Sung by Fariha Pervaiz :) Originally it was sung by Ahmed Rushdi Saad Ali . . - Kandhon Se Milte Hain Kandhe Music video by Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu Nigam, Hariharan performing Kandhon Se Milte Hain Kandhe. (C) 2005 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT (India) Pvt. Ltd. - Milte Milte Haseen Wadiyon Mein - Junoon 1992 [HD] Junoon Songs Milte Milte Haseen Wadiyon Mein HD 720p Song : Milte Milte Haseen Wadiyon Mein Singers : Anuradha Paudwal and Vipen Sachdeva Lyrics : Sameer and Surendra Sathi Music : Nadeem Sharvan Movie : Junoon (1992) Horror Film Directed by : Mahesh Bhatt Starring : Rahul Ray, Pooja Bhatt,... - Milte Milte Haseen Wadiyon Mein - Junoon (1992) Bollywood Hindi Movie Song Pooja Bhatt Singing - Vipin Sachdevan, Anuradha Paudwal Starring - Rahul Roy Avinash Wadhawan Pooja Bhatt Music - Nadeem-Shravan Junoon (English: "Madness" or "Obsession") is a 1992 Hindi horror film directed by Mahesh Bhatt. The film is inspired by the Hollywood film An American Werewolf in London. Cast Actor Character Rahul Roy Vikram (Vicky) Pooja Bhatt Dr Nita Tom Alter Harry Rakesh Bedi Himanshu Avinash Wadhawan Ravi KD Chandran Nita's dad Avtar Gill Inspector Sudhir Pai Mushtaq Khan Adivasi Bheema Shubha Khote Nita's mom Roma Manik Rahul roy's dance partner in song 'o mere dilruba' Homi Wadia Forest Officer Bhaskar Inamdar Bhushan Patel Arun Anang Desai Kumud Tripathi GP Singh Merlyn Yasmin - Ik Ghadi Na Milte - Bhai Mehtab Singh Jalandhar Wale Album - Bandna Har Bandna Ragi - Bhai Mehtab Singh Jalandhar Wale Music - Joy Atul Director - Karanpreet Singh Bhatia Videography - videoNation Producer - Balbir Singh Bhatia Company - Amritt Saagar - KADMO SE KADAM MILTE HAIN independence day 2011 Manglam Jan Kalyan Samiti ( ) independence day 2011 drawing Competition, dance Competition, fancy dress Competition President MOHAN KATARIA cont no 9171717676 General secretary SC ALAG Sponsored : TOPS, KIDDI LAND TOYS, RAMA KRISHNA JEWELLERS, TANEJA PAINT & HARDWARE . LUCKY DRWA - Kandho se Milte hai kandhe YDS.. - Milte Milte Haseen Wadiyon Mein - Junoon Milte Milte Haseen Wadiyon Mein Movie: Junoon Director : Mahesh Bhatt Music Director : Nedeem Shravan Leading Cast : Pooja Bhatt, Rahul Roy Singers: Anuradha Paudwal , Vipin Sachdeva - Dost Milte Hai Bichadne Ke Liye - Footpath - Kumar Sanu - Aftab, Emraan Hashmi & Bipasha Watch the song Dost Milte Hai from the movie Footpath. Credits Of The Songs Singer:Kumar Sanu Music Director:Nadeem Shravan Lyrics:Sameer To download the music album on Itunes, Click on the link below. Nokia Mobile users, to download the music album click on the link below. (India Only) Saavn users, to Listen to music album click on the link below. Dhingana Users, to Listen to music album click on the link below. For the latest Music updates,join us on To receive exclusive updates, do subscribe to Tips Music Channel on YouTube - Dj Lemon-Sapne Main Milte Hai-Uk 2012 Mix(EXCLUSIVE) Hi Folks dJ [email protected] P®odutions™ Presenting a Brand New Exclusive Remix Of DJ LEMON Courtesy downloads4djs Dj Lemon-Sapne Main Milte Hai-Uk 2012 Mix(EXCLUSIVE) Enjoyee & Cheerz dJ [email protected] P®odutions™ dJ [email protected] Co-Music P®odutions™ - Boom Boom jab bhi milte hain hum tum - DiL To Milte Hain Bicharne K Liye MOVIE FOOTPAATH Hindi Most Sad SonGs Ever Made # 19 Desi Video Network - kandhon se milte hai kandhe a patriotic dance by shishu niketan mdc panchkula students of shishu niketan mdc panchkula are participating in an independence day celebrations at parade ground panchkula,there were 125 students participating in this dance and they got 2nd prize for this performance .the songs were kandhon se mllte hai kandhe n aaya india ,choreography is done by rahul sharma of lotus dance academy sco43 sector 9,panchkula mob.9417008953,9915020067 - Aap Yun Hi Agar Humse Milte Rahe Mohammad Rafi, Asha Bhosle - Tum Milte Mera Man Jiyo : By Bhai Arshad Jeet Singh @ Swami Narain Temple Karachi - Woh Jo Milte The Kabhi - Meena Kumari - Akeli Mat Jaiyo - Old Lata Mangeshkar Song Movie: Akeli Mat Jaiyo Music Director: Madan Mohan Lyricist: Majrooh Sultanpuri Singer: Lata Mangeshkar Enjoy this super hit song from the 1960 movie Akeli Mat Jaiyo starring Meena Kumari, Rajendra Kumar, Minu Mumtaz and Agha. This movie was directed by Nandlal Yashwantlal. Subscribe and get regular updates on newly uploaded Bollywood songs To watch more Superhit Bollywood Old & New Songs click here - MILTE HAIN DIL YAHAN..MIL KE BICCHADNE KO - U/L BY ANIL BHALLA THE GREATEST KISHORE DA's LIVE PERFORMANCE - Aap Yun Hi Agar Humse Milte Rahe 1962 film Ek Musafir Ek Hasina - Joy Mukerjee, Sadhana Shivdasani Aap Yun Hi Agar Humse Milte Rahe - 1962 film Ek Musafir Ek Hasina. Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle. Lyrics by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan. Music by OP Nayyar. Stars: Joy Mukerjee, Sadhana Shivdasani. Dialogues by Miss Q Hyder. Producer: Sashadhar Mukherjee (Joy's father). Screeplay-Director: Raj Khosla.There would be no film songs or ghazals, singers or even screenplays and superstars without lyricists and writers. Why not give full due credit to the poor lyricists first, and also to the comparatively super-rich music composers, producers and directors? The legendary singer Mohammed Rafi (1924-1980) still continues to entertain millions around the world. Surely, he justly and rightly deserves more honours for his selfless contributions to the Bollywood film and entertainment industry that only gave him a handful of awards. There will never be anyone like Mohammed Rafi. His skills were just out of this world. Under-rated, under-paid Mohammed Rafi was honoured with the "best singer of the millennium" by Hero Honda and Stardust magazine in Mumbai on 07 January 2001, over twenty years after Rafi passed away in July 1980. "It was Mohammed Rafi sahib's humility which made him such a great singer. This is evident in his songs which he sang from the heart. He thought of the music, and doing a good job. He did not think of the money or furthering his career. His personality and attitude showed in his voice which was like divine nectar. God created him to sing...," according to Shakil ... - Aap yun hi agar hum se milte rahen Ek Musafir Ek Hasina Seraj - Kandhon Se Milte Hain Kandhe [Full Song] (HD) With Lyrics - Lakshya - Ik Ghadi Na Milte Tan Kalyug Hota-Malkeet Singh And Harvinder Singh.3gp Ik Ghadi Na Milte Tan Kalyug Hota...... Like me On Facebook - Dost Milte Hain Bicharne Ke Liye ((( Kumar Sanu in Sad Mood ))) Song = Dost Milte Hain Bicharne Ke Liye Singer = Kumar Sanu (sad song) Movie = Footpath - Jab bhi Milte ho - Hariharan - Waqt par bolna.wmv Jab bhi miltey ho, muskurate ho Itni khusiyan kahaan se laate ho. Roz karte ho ek naya waada roz ik waada bhul jaate ho. Itni khusiyaan kahaan se laate ho. Jab bhi miltey ho, muskurate ho. Paas aane mein kuch maaze bhi hain Door se kya fareb khate ho. Itni Khusiryaan kahaan... Jab bhi miltey ho.. Meri yaadon ki reh guzar mein shaki Tum hazaron diye jalate ho. Itni khusiyan kahaan se.. Jab Bhi miltey ho , muskurate ho. Itni khusiyaan kahaan se laate ho. Jab bhi miltey ho muskurate ho.. - Kandho se milte Hain Kandhe - India Song Kandho se Milte Hain Kandhe Kadmos se Kadam Milte Hain Hum Chalte Hain Jab Aise.. Dil Dushman Ke Hilte Hain www.proud2bindian.in - Milte Milte Haseen Wadiyon Mein [ Junoon 1992 ] Love Hits SonG BollyWood Hindi Milte Milte Haseen Wadiyon Mein - Tum Milte Mera Man Jio By Bhai Harjinder Singh Ji Sri Nagar Wale Tum Milte Mera Man Jio By Bhai Harjinder Singh Ji Sri Nagar Wale Kirtan 9-7-2010pm, Rec. By Amrit Bani Collections, Gurdwara Mitha Tiwana, Model Town Hoshiarpur.Pb.india-Download Kirtan at Sewapanthi.in - Dost Milte Hain Yahan Dil Ko Dukhane Ke Liye | Ishq- Ghazals (Anuradha Paudwal) Song: Dost Milte Hain Yahan Dil Ko Dukhane Ke Liye Album: Ishq- Ghazals Singer: Anuradha Paudwal Music Label : T-Series For Latest Updates Subscribe Here: Facebook: Twitter: - ~♫♥Tum Se Shikayat Hai Yeh Tum Humein Milte Nahi♥♫~Heart Touching Hindi Song Such a an amazing song ..Hope u like it ;) NO COPYRIGHT FRAGMENT INTENDED I OWN NOTHING BUT MY CREATIVITY - Milte hi Ankhen dil hua. ( Talat Mahmood ) HQ Audio Classic song of Talat mahmood and shamshad begum - Dil Se Dil Milte Hain (Jawani Diwani) - Ravinder Tulsiani Sini Ne Sini Ne (jawani Deewani) Lyrics dil se dil milte hain do badan se badan milte hain dil se dil baby when i look at you milte hain baby all i want to do do badan se badan wanna make love to you you you (sin ne sin ne ne yora sin ne sin ne ne yo sin ne sin ne ne yo ve no ) - 2 dil se dil milte hain do badan se badan milte hain tuney hi behkaya meri saanson ko tuney hi behkaya meri aankhon ko toofan se chalte hain teri aahon mein tham jaaye rehne de baahon mein deewana baby when i look at you ho jaaun baby all i want to do kehta hain mera mann wanna make love to you you you (sin ne sin ne ne yora sin ne sin ne ne yo sin ne sin ne ne yo ve no ) - 4 madhoshi chhayi hain aaisi tann mann pe jadoo sa chalta hain jaise dhadkan pe hathon ko de de tu mere haathon mein aaja na ab meri baaton mein dil se dil baby when i look at you milte hain baby all i want to do do badan se badan wanna make love to you you you (sin ne sin ne ne yora sin ne sin ne ne yo sin ne sin ne ne yo ve no ) - 4 - Qawwali - Milte Hi Nazar Tum Se - Ustadon Ke Ustad Rafi & Manna Dey & Asha "Ustadon Ke Ustad" is an Indian Hindi film directed by Brij. Starring Ashok Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Shakila, Helen and Johnny Walker. Music is by Ravi. Lyrics by Asad Bhopali. The singers are Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey and Asha Bhosle......... Qawwali (Urdu/Persian/Pashto/Sindhi: قوٌالی; Punjabi/Saraiki: ਕ਼ੱਵਾਲੀ, قوٌالی; Brajbhasha/Hindi: क़व्वाली; Bangla: কাওয়ালী) is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in areas with a historically strong Muslim presence, such as Pakistan, especially Punjab and Sindh, and parts of North India. The style is rare, though not entirely absent, in North and West Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Kashmir. It is a musical tradition that stretches back more than 700 years. Originally performed mainly at Sufi shrines or dargahs throughout South Asia, it has also gained mainstream popularity. Qawwali music received international exposure through the work of the late Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, largely due to several releases on the Real World label, followed by live appearances at WOMAD festivals. Other famous Qawwali singers include Pakistan's Sabri Brothers and Aziz Mian. The roots of Qawwali can be traced back to 8th century Persia (today's Iran and Afghanistan). During the first major migration from Persia, in the 11th century, the musical tradition of Sema migrated to South Asia, Turkey and Uzbekistan. Amir Khusro Dehelvi of the Chisti order of Sufis is credited with fusing the ... - milte hi aankhein dilip kumar twitter about milte - WN_Waf: Warendorf: Sammeln für arme Kinder: Am Wochenende ziehen die Dreikönigssänger wieder durch Milte, das Dorf und d... http://t.co/xkLjsPMM - angel4shaheer: RT @Shaheer_S: Kismat ko hai ye manzoor kya ki jiye.. Milte rahe hum badastoor kya ki jiye.. - amitupadhyaya: @Shiv_Rohira To milwa na! Main kaun sa mazaak kar raha hun?! Chal na milte hain! - Aratips: # 16 "80 saal ke jawan sirf Ara me hi milte hai” - Rouxx8: tengo muchas ganas de comer, bailar, reir y decir guarrerias con @Marinagmoy y @dvd301087 grache milte - Jibrran: Main Ne Har Baar Tujh Se Milte Waqt ~ Tujh Se Milne Ki Aarzoo Ki Hai / Tere Jane Ke Baad Bhi Main Ne ~ Teri Khushbu Se Guftgu Ki Hai #Jaun - sami_021: Woh jo kehti thi, Hazaron milte hain roz tere jese, Us ke hathon pe mehndi lagi, Aaj barson ke baad.. - akankshanegi2: @KumarAnkit01 kyaaaaaaAaaaaaaaaa , tumhare yaha MOMOs ni milte :( #UnluclyAmerica ..bichara anku :P I'm feeling so lucky ryt now .. :P - Gr8Fkhan: @syedsaad83 @Nomanshah090 ok janu kal milte hain so jaa gud nite - Nomanshah090: @Gr8Fkhan @syedsaad83 bye janu subah milte hain mujhe hansi a rahi hai hseena pr - upinder01: @soubhick_2010 @EkHaiVICKY Vicky bhai kya puch liya tune yeh. Chalo kal milte hai bhai log. Tc - EkAurEngineer: RT @daMon4SalVatoRe: @EkAurEngineer Kuch khas nai bas khali 40-50 RTs milte hai. Aur kismat achi ho to 2-3 DMs bhi mil jate hai. - daMon4SalVatoRe: @EkAurEngineer Kuch khas nai bas khali 40-50 RTs milte hai. Aur kismat achi ho to 2-3 DMs bhi mil jate hai. - soubhick_2010: @upinder01 @EkHaiVICKY mujhe th lagta agr aapuppi ko nhi milte phn ke bre mein batane ke liye yeh toh duniya mein tabahi faila deta LOL - Sh4mi_: Agar AP Ko (SHAMI302) K sMs Na'Mukamal ya sirf 10:00am or 10:00pm K Darmian Milte hen to Ap : MUTE OFF : Likh K 9900 pr Bhejen Ane Wale ... - polash_ahmed: aksar iss dunia main..aanjane milte hain..aanjane raho main..milke kho jaate hain..lekin hamesha wo yaad aate hain.. - sushant023: @ChepLadka kidhar ho aajkal ? matlab milte hi nahi ho :( - ShiaPower1: Milte Rahay Gadir me kch Badnaseeb Haath ... Mola Ka Haath dkh kr Mola k haath me http://t.co/N8ctcnq4 - iRiaThakkar: @riyasin72098256 blv me ur hvng awsm cllctn. RT ka optn nhi hai warna kitne milte. - AartiMadan: @shilpitewari Ofcourse! I am an advertising person ya.. Ad agencies are closed on sat and sun :P 2 din toh milte hain! @SwatySMalik - absahir: RT @BhopalHouse: Lab hilein toh mogre ke phool khilte hain kahin, aap ki aankhon mein kya sahil bhi milte hain kahin? http://t.co/nDONAuET - absahir: RT @BhopalHouse: Aur kya ehde wafa hote hain, log milte hain, juda hote hain http://t.co/POv1OHrE - BhopalHouse: Aur kya ehde wafa hote hain, log milte hain, juda hote hain http://t.co/POv1OHrE - BhopalHouse: Lab hilein toh mogre ke phool khilte hain kahin, aap ki aankhon mein kya sahil bhi milte hain kahin? http://t.co/nDONAuET - NehaT_: @Shadez Haha done. Waise bhi aaj kal mushkil se ek do FFs milte hai once in 6 months or so. - HasBadaR: @RabiHina yes jisse paisay bji bht milte hain! :P @baamitszay @ajeeblarki @kunwaara @rabya_memon - Same_Old_Guy: @Frgi3 Monday milte hia - ALISHA__RAY: RT @SatrangiSonu: @sonuniigaam Mohbbt ki Raho me hum 7 hote, 100 dard milte Fir b na Rote,, Kash Aap Hamaare hote !!!! - iSp3ctrum: @_iPaindu Kiya Tooth Brush sy koi Farq nhn parta? Tweeting py to paise milte hain naa. Aur woh Time waste. ? - YOGESHBOND: Chalo ji gud gud nyt..milte h kl...tb tk k liye alvida..:p :D - tinsense: @iAawara koi koi muddon pe hamare vichar milte hai. Akhirme sab Bhartiya err.. Indians hi hai na? @maswoodz - iminhajluvu: Like If U Agree ====>> ღ•ღ IshaqZaade hain jitne fasano mein, milte hain kahan ab jahanon mein ღ•ღ - naina_tandon87: Like If U Agree ====>> ღ•ღ IshaqZaade hain jitne fasano mein, milte hain kahan ab jahanon mein ღ•ღ - CutejhaboY: So gud nyt.Milte h kal Blogs & Forum blogs and forums about milte “ dil tak baat pahuchi milte milte sanam. Hoo dil se dil tak baat pahuchi milte milte sanam baat pahuchi milte milte sanam. Hoo dil se dil tak baat pahuchi milte milte sanam. Jab se” — Deewana (album), bollywhat- “Sanjay Gupta may be busy casting for his remake of the Spanish film Ladron Que Roba Ladron but before that film goes on floors, Gupta BLOG. MY BOLLYWOOD. Vidya Balan to star in Sanjay Gupta's Milte Hain. Posted on August 24th, 2010 by admin. Sanjay Gupta may be busy casting for his remake of the Spanish” — Vidya Balan to star in Sanjay Gupta's Milte Hain | Bollywood, bollywood.tv “Koi Mil Gaya - Bollywood india Movie Blog Yuh To Hum Tum Milne Ko Milte Rahe. Yuh To Hum Tum Milne Ko Milte Rahe. Par Kyon Aaj Aisa Laga. Koi Mil Gaya Koi” — Koi Mil Gaya - Bollywood india Movie Blog, bollywood-india- “Posted: Mar 25, 2008 Topic Views : 608 Post subject: Dil na milte to mulaakaat adhuree rahatee 5 Latest Topics in this Forum. kahiN chaNd raahoN meiN kho gayaa” — Dil na milte to mulaakaat adhuree rahatee : Poetry, “Flute and Dholak : Aap Yun Hi Agar Ham Se Milte Rahe By Dr. Kamath - I have played this famous song "Aap Yun Hi Agar" on my FLUTE along with DHOLAK. This song” — Flute and Dholak : Aap Yun Hi Agar Ham Se Milte Rahe By Dr, dr-narasinha- “Hont se hont milte hain tu kya huta hai?? ? ? ? ? socho?? ? ? nai pata? ??? ? ? uff kitna ganda sochte ho kuch nai bus moo band huta hai” — Hont se hont milte hain tu kya huta hai | Lovely sms, “tumhi ko ham ne chaha tha tumhi milte tu acha tha. koi aa kar hamein poche tumhe kase tumhi ko ham ne chaha tha tumhi milte tu acha tha. tumhein jitne bhulaya hai tumhari yaad” — Jahan pholon ko khilna tha wahin khilte to acha tha - Real, “smartuy8vh's blog Milte also nominated former Commander of police Rodney Lambert, who had responsibility for drugs unit was disbanded, but resigned force under a cloud in 2005. < / p > "I wasn't clearly going with him to turn away and suggest that he would not talk to him” — BNXT : Your Global Talent Hub - smartuy8vh's blog, related keywords for milte similar for milte - baby names - name meaning - name origin - meaning of the name - message boards - middle town - boy name - seminal fluid - life sciences - thesaurus browser - online dictionary - free online dictionary - middle dutch - old english - free dictionary - personal tools - community portal - requested entries - recent changes - random entry - upload file - special pages - dvd movies - bollywood stars - bollywood wallpapers - hollywood news - dil se

Newspaper Page Text ENTERED AT THE TOST OFFICE IN SAVANNAH, TENN., AS SECOND CLASS MATTER. " VOL. XVII.-NO. 52. : SAVANNAH, HARDIN COUNTY, TENNESSEE. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1901. $1 MATHS. PITH AND POINT. A MYSTERY SOLVED. 4 WHAT THE DOCTORS FIND dt Singular and Selentlfle poets Ascertained by l)r. Von Eisenbcrg, of Konigsberg, ! recently had a patient who had lost his index linger in an accident. As a means of cure an operation was performed in which the second toe was nmputated and sewed onto the original seat of the absent finger. The toe grew firmly into place and made a finger very satisfactory in appearance although not particular ly useful. This calls to mind the operation by Nicoladont in 1898 in Which the second toe was made to answer for a thumb which had been lost. The result in this ense was practically perfect. The appearance was very good and the patient at tained the action which he had for merly had with his real thumb. Specialists in diseases of children have been casting about for many years to find a proper substitute for temporary use- for food in those cases of artificially fed infants in which milk cannot be digested. Some time ago it was found that ass milk was much more easily digested than cow's milk; but to-day it is stated that a perfect substitute has been found in almond milk' made by grinding up blanched sweet almonds with warm water in a mortar and then straining through a cotton cloth. A young woman swallowed a pin six years ago and felt no incon venience therefrom. Recently she hod an attack of appendicitis and on operation the pin was found imbed ded in the appendix. Thirteen years ago a woman stepped on a needle. It entered the "bull of the great toe. Very recently she felt some pain in the heel and the needle was removed therefrom. A child, two and a half years of nge, ran a needle in her foot. When nhe was 18 trouble developed along her shin bone and on opera tion n needle was found penetrating the bone to the mcdullmy canal. In tho city of Cleveland, O., four people recently died from lock-jaw after vaccination. ...This was due to the impure vaccine used, being im pregnated with tetanus bacilli. A woman faith curer endeavored to cure a family of four of; smallpox. She acquired the disease herself and sent for a doctor whose medicine she took very meekly. An epidemic of diphtheria among cats has been reported from Chicago. It is known that the cat is susceptible to this disease and can easily be the carrier of infection. Dr. II. R. Gaylord, of Buffalo, cluims to have found the germ origin of cancer. He describes it as a profo zoon or animal parasite and not a vegetable parasite or bacterium. This announcement is important as it has been uccepted by many that cancer was due to a vegetable parasite al most identical with the yeast fungus. Prof. Koch,' who discovered the bacillus of tuberculosis, has recently declared that tuberculosis in cattle is not communicable to man and tells of experiments showing that human tuberculosis is not capable of being "HE AYENSI 801HG ONE IIA S STOIE MY CLOTHES!" WHEHE IS THE! THIEF t The Manufacture of rtrome Powder. The shining metallic dust that is used to produce the effect of gilt and bronze in wall-papers, printing, lithog raphy, mirror and picture frames, fres co painting, and so on, has its prin cipal source in the bronze-powder factories at Furth, in Bavaria, where this industry has been highly special ized. The material is "Dutch metal," . an alloy of copper and spelter. The larger the percentage of spelter the more yellowish the alloy. Seven prin ?ipal tints are produced, varying from golden yellow to bright copper red. The alloy is first prepared in the form of leaf metal, which is afterward ground into powder. Industrial Jour-nali carried to cattle. The great amount of work done by physicians and boards of health to prevent the sale of tuberculous beef and milk has been, according to I'rof. Koch's the ories, perfectly useless. If we are to believe these notions, we must be lieve that human tuberculosis and bovine tuberculosis are entirely dif ferent diseases caused by entirely dif ferent germs. This we have not been able to demonstrate. It must be re membered, before nccepting the opin ions of the great Koch without ques tion, that he is the same man who gave to the world the "sure cure" fot tuberculosis in Tuberculin. Tuber culin was a product of the tubercle bacillus, on the same principle as diphtheria antitoxin and vaccine, and its use resulted iu such general harm to the sufferers from tubercular con ditions that it was discontinued early. The bulk of the medical thinkers do not agree with I'rof. Koch in his new views; but he Is too great a man to prevent his opinions making a pro found impression on both the lay and professional mind. The London Lancet tells of an ulcerated condition of the tongue (cancerous) which began well back on that organ and progressed until the tongue was practically amputat ed by the disease process. A French medical journal telle 01 the successful experiments of Roger who inoculated rabbits with small pox and found that they developed typical cases of the disease. The Island of Barri will now pro"b ably become of interest to the lay man as well as to the medical man. It has been selected as the place for the segregation of lepers from th A great deal of attention has been given by surgeons to the infection of wounds even after the' very best methods of antisepsis had been em ployed. Genevct has recently discov ered that even after the most rigid sterilization, while the surface of the surgeon's hand may be absolute ly germ free, the perspiration will bring out the germs from the depths of the sweat follicles. To overcome this he has suggested that the hands of the surgeon be soaked for ten min utes in a solution of tannin before the operation begins that sweating may be avoided. It has been discovered by an Amer ican physician that diphtheria anti toxin is very valuable in the cure and prevention of scarlet fever. When one remembers that the first and one of the most marked symptoms of scarlet fever is the angina or sore thront, and when we find that diph theria antitoxin is a valuable remedy we ore not surprised that it has been suggested that there is a close rela tion between the two diseases. In cidentally it may be remarked that recent investigation points to recur ring sore throat and rheumatism be ing of the same origin. Additional evidence to this fact is that salicylate of soda or salicylic acid is valuable in the cure of both. (Copyright, 1901, by Lewis D. Sampson.) . Sign of Intelligence. Mrs. Glover You told me that par rot I bought of you was the most in telligent bird in your collection; while the' fact is . he doesn't speak Dealer That's what I meant when I spoke of his intelligence. Boston The Eternal Woman, 'I know that justice is blind," mused the fair defendant, adding the finishing touches to lier toilet, which consisted of a Taris gown, a picture hat anfl other beautiflers; "I know that justice is blind, but, thank good ness, the judge is not." Baltimore Nearly 4,000 persons are accidental ly drowned every year in England. Of these only 150 are skating nccideuts, and 200 from bathing. Russia and Austria arc the only large European countries which pro duce more meat than they eat. Their yearly surplus amounts to 105,000 The record sturgeon has lately been caught in the Volga. It weighed 1,700 pounds. It yielded 220 pounds of caviare, and was valued altogether The great Greenland glaciers are on an average 1,000 feet thick, and move 50 feet a day. Six of them yearly de liver into t lie sea four square miles of ice 1,000 feet thick. (jueen Mnrgherita of Italy has the record among royalties of being able to read and write English, French, German and Italian. She also knows Greek and Latin. - A Swiss teacher at Ecubleus has found 128 swallows nests in 54 houses. There were 785 young ones, the average nest having live, though some had only three and a few had In view of the fact that about hall a million postal cards are mailed every year in Germany without any address, the authorities recommend that the address should always be Mr.Benjamin Dennison, head master of Peterborough British school, in acknowledging a presentation from old boys, stated that during his 27 years' connection with the school he had not missed a single attendance and the school had never been closed DUE TO IGNORANCE. Hovr a Green Keporter Succeeded Where Trained Hands Failed to Get a Story. "When I broke into the newspnpei business," said the veteran New York correspondent of a big western daily, according to the Kansas City Journal, "I made a hit on my very first assignment, and, oddly enough, my success was due entirely to my ignorance of my profession. "1 had long had an ambition to be a newspaper man, nnd wlien J. waH offered a position on a morning pit per I jumped at the chance. It wasn't much of a position, and for several months I hung around the office waiting for the news assign ments which did not come. Now and then I would be Rent out to get ma terinl for an 'obit.' note on somebody who had died, or perhaps would have a chance nt a late Are. But it was a red-letter day when I got more than ten lines into the paper. Still turned up regularly every noon with the reporters and stood around waiting for that assignment. "One day the city editor called me to his desk and gave me an anonymous postal card the paper had received calling attention to high assessments which had been put upon property in a certain street He told me to look it up. It was one of those things where the chances for a story were about one in a mil lion, but with thntblissful ignorance which characterizes the 'cub report er,' I started for the place. "Not knowing anything about the methods of reporters, I canvassed that street from beginning to end- it was about two miles long and, nl though I met with many rebuffs, I did get some stuff that was really good, although I did not know it a the time. When I came in I was told to write a 'column and a half, and by good luck I put the story in tho "The story suggested that great abuses hnd been perpetrated by cer tain city officials, and after it wn printed the next day two of the old reporters were sent out to follow it up. They came buck without any thing, and 1 was orderud nut ngnin By following my method of the pre vioiih day T secured enough addition nl matter for another story, the pa per opened n fight on the ofilcinls i question and for several days tha was our lending story. J hat was my start. JVot many years afterward I became the nigh city editor of the same paper. was ignorance, pure unadulterated Ignorance of reporters' method that yielded my llrst story, but hart sense enough to discover very soon after that the same thin would not carry me any farther." When KliiKHhlp Falls. The most wretched man on earth in said to be a monnrch Norodom, king of Cambodia. He has n gor geous palace, furnished according tn the most expensive ideas, but ho ad heres to the customs of his ances tors, and sleeps on nn ancient car pet in a kind of shed that has not been cleaned since creation. He is a miserable victim to hypochondria, and all day long he heaves long sighs of utter wretchedness. This monnrch is a short, fnt person with one eye. . A sir Dijr. Ethel If ten men were to Dfk yot to marry them, what would that be? Amy What would it be? "And if one should ask you, what would that be?" "I don't know. What?" "A wonder." London Tit-Bits. Thoroughly Well Cared For. Dobhs You ought to do something for that cold of yours. A neglected cold often lends to serious corse Mobbs This one isn't .neglected. Four or .five hundred of my friends are looking after it. Stray Stories. tome Henpecta In Which They Art Superior to Men for That In its decision to employ girl as telephone operators the British post oilice has submitted to the inevitable. If ever nature created a monopoly in a profession, she did so when she endowed girls with the voices they possess, says the London Mail. In lands as diverse in custom as Roumania and America, Italy and England, men yield place to women as telephonists. Even in the land of the Geisha this natural advantage reveals itself, and the rapidly grow ing telephone service of Japan is staffed entirely by women. Germany has rejected women as telegrnphists, but udmits their superiority over men Ihe proprietorship of the profes sion is dependent mainly upon one natonucal character, viz., the length of the vocal chords. This prime char acter is supported and reenforced by a number of subsidiary qualities, but it constitutes In itself the indisput able claim which women have to su periority over men as telephonists. ine vocal chords of a woman are considerably shorter than those of a man. As a result the voice has a higher pitch. The telephone dia phragm responds more necurntely to the Higher pitched voice, the mag netic disturbances are more rapid. and, therefore, more potent, and the currents transmitted to the remote station lose less in transmission. Until some method is devised for equalizing the value of the sonorou waves set up by the longer, slower vibrating chords of men, and the shorter, more rapidly vibrating chords of women, this primary chnr acter renders women's position se cure in the profession of telephonist. mit there are other lers important characteristic;, which aid in securing her supremacy. If you l'sten to an average woman speaking, and com pare her with an average man of her own class, you will notice the follow ing among other things: Her enunci ation of the tvords is better. There Is a lesser tendency to cut the ends or words, or to drop the voice and mumble the tarminations, than Is dis played by her male companion. Her choice or wotps, too, is better, and there is a ntirnl purity of diction that is distinctive. She wilt use a larger percentage of the rhort, crisp, homely Anglo Btixon words, and show an avoidance ff abstract, Latin-de rived words. Ail this helps in con versation upon a telephone. In telephone exchanges, too, the nervous organisation of women helps mem. iney e more patient (let telephone subscribers say what they Will!), and lee likely to suffer from prolonged, morotonous work. They are not so readily responsive to tho effects of nervous strain. Ferhans it would be bett-r to sav thev do not feel a nervoue strnin under circum stances where the more highly strung mnie Decomes nervous nnd restive. These nre a tv of the causes that contribute to tie superiority of wom en as telephonists, nnd it will be obvious that t.Ttey are not likely to be ousted unlejs some new nnd im portant modifk-ation of the telephone The Tostnl Union has in it 47 ad ministrations, r.nd of this number 35 employ women as telephonists. In addition to this, all the large tele phone companies in Europe and America employ women. OUT RIDING IN CHINA. Donkern, Chalr-Cnra and Shrleklni Wheelbarrow Are the Prin Here conies a gorgeously clad lady riding a donkey, her husband by her side. She rides astride, but round her Is-drawn an embroidered petticoat dis playing all its beauties when riding, her face is painted and powdered, her lower lip is one large daub of ver milion, and her wonderfully dressed hair is shining with grease and gum. She weurs no hat, however hot the day, but she carries a fan, or an oil paper parasol, and he looks very glum ns the barbarian passes, for he is not supposed to see her, though very prob ably she sloops and chatters to her lord nnd master once he Is well out of the way, ays the Empire Review. Next there comes a shent.u, that if? a long chair with a hood hung between two mules walking tandem fashion. Sometimes there is another gayly dressed woman in it, sometimes a niag- istrate or other grandee; but oftenest of all come the shrieking, creaking wheelbarrow the universal vehicle of China. The wheel is in the middle and there is n seat on either aide, and the way those tortured wheels cry out is excruciating, the air is- full of Ihe sound. The Chinaman cannot be pre vailed upon to grease them; in the first place he is economical and would not waste the grease, and in the next he looks upon a silent wheel with nus picion. "Would you have him going like a thief?" he asks, plaintively. Nev ertheless these wheelbarrows are the only wheeled vehicles, and a coolie will wheel two men and their baggage eas ily. The bishop of northern China de clare he has traveled thousands of miles on a wheelbarrow. Proflt In Grouae Moon. One of the most astute proprietor of grouse moors in North Walescleared jff the sheep from his moors some years ago, with the result that the $750 a year he got for the grazing of 7,000 Welsh sheep has been more than doubled in the increase of grouse rental he enjoys from this improvement. To Americans it is a source of astonish mitui mm kiuubb are lound more profitable than sheep by a number of landowners in Scotland and Wle Some men are so low that they are a nuisance even in jail. Atchison When a man is too proud to beg and too honest to steal he hunts up a grocer who can be persuaded to trust him. Chicago Daily News. The Bachelor "But you should re member the old maxim: 'Marry in lutste and repent at leisure.'" The Benedict "Oh! a man doesn't have any leisure when he's married." "There is one respect at least hi which fishing is a good deal safer eport than hunting." "How is that?" "We don't make any fatal mistakes hooking up men who happen to look like fish." Cleveland Plain Dealer. No Mixed Drinks. "Did the pris oner indulge in objurgations?" asked the young attorney of the witness. "No, sir," replied the latter. "I never knew him to take anything but whis ky." Pittsburg Chronicle-Telegraph. "I have a great scheme 1" exclaimed the new clerk to the department store manager. "What is it?" asked the manager, listlessly. "Why, to charge admission to our bargain 6ales!" replied the new clerk, en thusiastically. Boston Post. Not Explicit. Mary "When George took me to a stylish restaurant for supper lust night he said I had tho appetite of a bird." Ann "He did? But he didn't explain whether he meant a canary or an ostrich, I sup pose?" Philadelphia Evening Bul letin. A Boomerang. Tess "I told Miss Sharpe what you said about her sewing-circle; that you would not join because it was too full of stupid no bodies." ' Jess "Did you? What did the say to that?" Tess "She said yet were mistaken; that there was always room for one more." Phila OLDEST MUMMY YET FOUND. Mimeum Pomeanea Me an EKiptlnn Who Lived Previous to 5004 II. C Thousands of years ago the re mains' of an Egyptian were placed in the tomb. To-day they nre one of the most vnlucd possessions of the British museum. The grnve of this old settler was first seen by a wan dering Arab. He reported his discov ery to a British olliclal, who immedi ately sent a couple of Egyptian sol diers to guard it day and night until it could be safely removed, says the London Sphere. The body is not a mummy of the ordinury historic Egyptian period, such as that of Rumeses II., the father of the I'har aoh of the Exodus. It was never bound up in linen or cased in any painted coffin, but was merely coated with a preparation of bitumen, the Arab word ror which is mumin hence our word mummy. To reach the period when this man hunted along the banks of the Nile it is necessary to travel backward in time through the modern period since Elizabeth, through medieval Europe, through the whole history of Rome and Greece, past the time of the earli est mummied king the museum pos sessespast even Menes, the earliest king to whom Egyptian records make reference, who, nccording to Mnri ette, ruled about 5004 B. C. Then we nre among two prehistoric races one the conquerors nnd the other the conquered out of which sprang the Egyptian race of the earliest dynas ties. It is with these remote stocks that this man is connected. Considering the conditions in which he was found it is evident that he was associated with a late period of the new stone age of Egypt. He was buried in a characteristically neolith ic grave (the graves of this period are covered with rude slabs of stone), which has the neolithic pots and chipped flint weapons nnd knives found in other parts of the world. The fine, thin knives were perhaps placed in the grave as part of n fu neral ritual. I hey should be com pared with the Egypt inn flints in the prehistoric section of the museum; they nre almost identical with those found in the grave. There is, of course, no inscription of any kind on the pots, knives or grnve, all having been made long be fore the invention of n written lan guage. It, is curious to note that certain ancient Egyptian documents mention traditions of n race called the Trehennii, who had red hair and blue eyes. This, mnn had distinctly auburn hair. He was buried on the western shore. In later times every Egyptian was buried on that side of the river, and Egyptian models ot the denthboats on which the. body wns ferried over the stream may be eeen in the Egyptian gnllery. A Ilorftenhoelnu; "Pnrlor." It has come to be the- fashion to call any place of business a "parlor." For many months we have been surfeited with parlors of all descriptions; but it remained for the blacksmiths to lay on the last straw. The proprietor of a Fifty-third street shop took the lead in this direction. He painted out the commonplace sign by which he had hitherto advertised his trade to the public, and substituted the Inscription: "Horseshoeing rnrlors." The letters are large and gilt, on a black back ground, and are bound tn attract at tention to the novel "parlors," which, notwithstanding the high-sounding ap pellation, are the same old tegulal.ion blacksmith shops they always were. V. Y. Times. . Iff r Tn.M. Mr. Fussy (rearranging the things in tho parlor) You have wretchedly poor taste, my dear. Mrs. Fussy (resignedly) That's what everybody said when I mar ried you, Henry. Detroit Free l'jesa, Miss Knownll (a visitor on the farm) Do you give your cows water?" Farmer Why, yes'm. Miss Knowall Oh! I thought you gave them milk. No. w onder there i water in the milk. POSTAL SPIES IN FRANCE. Government llorean in Which Su peeted Letter Are Opened It has always been denied by the French police that under any circum stances is "the sanctity of private cor respondence violated," but everybody who has come, in France, in contact with political movement or the crim inal police is well aware of the fact that the cabinet noif, or the black cab inet, is ns much to-day a part of gov ernment and police machinery as it was in the days of Louis XV., who is generally credited with its Invention. Tho black cabinet, according to the London Express, is an office In the Faris prefecture of police where let ters nnd pneumatic cards comman deered from the G. F. O. nre opened, read, and possibly photographed, and where telegrams nre examined and translated if in foreign language or in The employes of this office have a complete outfit for dealing with let ters, for opening the envelopes or ab stracting the contents and for remov ing seals or reproducing them. Where the envelope is so closely pasted ns to render the simple method of steaming it open too dilatory vari ous methods of getting at the in cisures nre practiced. Sometimes one side is opened with a very sharp knife, the separate covers being afterward skillfully gummed to gether when the letter has been read. Where a black edged envelope has been used this tapering can be most effectually concealed by the use of a Sometimes an Implement resembling a bradawl is inserted at one corner of the envelope and twisted round so dex- trously that the contents can be drawn out in the shape of a spiral spill. Or the stamp is removed and a slit cut on the paper beneath, through which the letter is abstracted, and, aftir perusal, returned. When the letter is ready for for warding the stamp is gummed down again into its place and hides all trace of the operation. Seals nre easily dis posed of. A very thin, sharp blade of steel is heated and passed under the wax, removing it bodily. As easily is It afterward put back into its place. All these tricks are the same as those practiced by post office thieves. Where in 1he course of its manipula Hon an envelope getsso disfigured that it would be obvious to the receiver that It has been tampered with, it is usu ally "suppressed." This happens often In the case of missives whose senders adopt Col. ricquart's method of baf fling the cabinet noir. "The only way I have discovered," said Col. Ticquart, at the first Zol trial, "of rendering a letter absolutely inviolable is to use two envelopes, one smaller than the other. You put the communication into the smaller envel ope, smear this all over with gum, and place it in the second envelope, on which you write the address. The black cabinet cannot get nt the con tents without entirely destroying the nowever, in such n case the chances are a hundred to one that the letter would never reach its destination. Criminals, conspirators and politi cians who suspect that their letters may be tampered with at the ca-binc- noir often take advantage of the cir cumstance to dupe the police to throw them off the scent. Major Esterhazy has had more to suffer from the cabinet noir than per haps any man living; and while th "affaire" was at its height devised va rious schemes for protecting the nu merous letters he dispatched daily He My idea about those girls o ours is that they should leurn how to earn their own living. She O Henry! That I should live to hear you say such a thing! Why, don't you know that thflir whole fu ture depends upon how useless they san be made to become? Puck. Customer The chair is very preV ty, indeed, but I want one with three legs to fit in a corner. Furniture Dealer Veil, mudam, 1 vlll saw you Ton, ley off. Boston A DUMMY CAMERA. Clever Device ly Menim of Which a New Jemrr Mail Get Itid A gentleman who lately visited a friend who has a country seat in Bur- ngton county relates the following xperience, reports the cwarit i.n. "I was very much interested in a camera, which stood on the luwu near he house, and which had a command- ng view of the gates to the grounds. asked my friend why he kept it there, and, turning to me w ith n smile, he said: 'Don't give it away, but that is only n fake camera. Come ulong ud I'll show you.' I went and found that which I look to 1 c a camera was nothing but a cigar box mounted upoik tripod, and having nn old silk spool fastened in f cm t ns a lens, the w hoV being covered with tins usual dark cloth. To my question of what It was for, he said: 'It is the most effective means that I have yet devised for keep ing off tramps. If there is anything next to soap and water that a tramp dislikes it is to have his picture taken, particularly when he knows it might be a means of leading to his identifi cation. I tried dogs, but found they were no good. I used threats, but only to be blackguarded; and, as n last re sort, I rigged up the camera, and it has proved a wonderful success. Last week a hobo came wandering along the road and gave mc the first oppor tunity of trying the trick. He made straight for the gate, and was coining up the w alk, when I leveled I he camera at him. The effect was magical. He took to his heels as fast as he could go, and I made believe to pull out a plate. Since then I have used it sevrral times with similar results. In fact, some of my neighbors have adoptcilthe plan, and speak very encouragingly of it.' "We then sat upon th" porch, nnd nol long afterward my friend observed two seedy-looking specimens of the genus hobo, coming up the road ami said to me: 'Now watch. Sure enough, the men came to the gate and wcro about lifting the latch, when my friend look his position behind the camera. threw the cover over his head, and tried to get a focus on them. Wit'i a look of disgust the tramps walked away, talking together. What they said, of course, I couldn't hear, but I guess the language was not compli mentary to my host." These Antarctic lllrds !Ulny Great Cnrlonlly and AicuremilvrneiiH We often met companies of six or eight or more penguins promenading on the pack in the sunshine. When they saw us they generally exhibited curiosity, nnd approached to get a near er view. I do not know if these, bird have the instinct of the naturalist, and take a lively interest, doubtless purely philosophic from their point of view, in everything new which presents it self, or if the object of their investiga tions is entirely practical, but they certainly came near us with 0 distinct purpose of making examination. But if we had the misfortune to excite much curiosity, they became aggres sive, writes Hcnryk Arctowskl, in Geo graphical Journal. One would firct come close to us nnd rcconnoiter, and then, on his order, the others would advance with a menacing air, and thn battle began a battle in which we sometimes had trouble to demonstrate effectively our superior strength. Oa one occasion we were able to observe that the penguins nre musical ama teurs. Unfortunately we could not as certain if they are equally able to ap preciate "talent and classical music," for we had no virtuoso among us, nor indeed nny musician, although we ull, without exception, played iiuineroun melodies and even operatic airs on tho ship's barrel organ. Hut in uny cuse and the thing is worth noting one of the sailors delighted to exercise him self upon the trumpet, nnd the pep guins came from grunt dUtnnceu to listen to him no doubt' to learn some, Often, very often, these brave pen guins amused us, and when we were tired of preserved foods, especially of Australianrabbit.they afforded us renl succor, after we learned that the flcnh f the penguin is exceKeut eatinjf.

The combination of extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R) and hemofiltration is a possible therapeutic strategy for patients needing both lung and renal support. We tested the effects of the recirculation of ultrafiltrate on membrane lung (ML) CO2 removal (VCO2ML). Three conscious, spontaneously breathing sheep were connected to a commercially produced ECCO2R device (Hemolung; Alung Technologies, Pittsburgh, PA) with a blood flow of 250 ml/min and a gas flow of 10 L/min. A hemofilter (NxStage, NxStage Medical, Lawrence, MA) was interposed in series after the ML. Ultrafiltrate flow was generated and recirculated before the ML. We tested four ultrafiltrate flows (0, 50, 100, and 150 ml/min) for 25 min each, eight times per animal, resulting in 24 randomized test repetitions. We recorded VCO2ML, hemodynamics and ventilatory variables, and natural lung CO2 transfer (VCO2NL) and collected arterial and circuitry blood samples. VCO2ML was unchanged by application of ultrafiltrate recirculation (40.5 ± 4.0, 39.7 ± 4.2, 39.8 ± 4.2, and 39.2 ± 4.1 ml/min, respectively, at ultrafiltrate flow of 0, 50, 100, and 150 ml/min). Minute ventilation, respiratory rate, VCO2NL, and arterial blood analyses were not affected by ultrafiltrate recirculation. In the tested configuration, ultrafiltrate recirculation did not affect VCO2ML. This modular technology may provide a suitable platform for coupling CO2 removal with various forms of blood purification. From the *Comprehensive Intensive Care Research Task Area, Battlefield Health and Trauma Research Institute, U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas; †Department of Experimental Medicine, University Milano-Bicocca, Monza (MB), Italy; ‡Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany; §Pediatric Department, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany; ¶Department of Perioperative Medicine and Intensive Care, San Gerardo Hospital, Monza (MB), Italy; and ‖Department of Trauma & Critical Care, San Antonio Military Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas. Submitted for consideration December 4, 2013; accepted for publication in revised form February 22, 2014. Disclaimer: The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private views of the author and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense. Reprint Requests: Vittorio Scaravilli, MD, Comprehensive Intensive Care Research Task Area, Battlefield Health and Trauma Research Institute, U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, 3698 Chambers Pass, BHT 2, JBSA Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234-6315. Email: firstname.lastname@example.org. Extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R) is a low-flow extracorporeal lung support (ECLS) technique targeting the removal of CO2 in patients suffering from respiratory failure. Use of ECCO2R prevents injurious mechanical ventilation and ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), reduces the work of breathing of spontaneously breathing patients, and mitigate respiratory acidosis.1,2 Extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal has been successfully applied in association with low-frequency positive pressure ventilation for the management of patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).3 Until recently, ECCO2R has been used only by major clinical centers in the most complicated patients because of technical challenges, complications, and costs. In the last few years, thanks to technological advances (e.g., high-efficiency polymethylpentene hollow fiber membranes, extracorporeal surface coating, and percutaneous cannulation), new devices with less invasive form factor have been developed to carry out ECCO2R in particular for partial lung support. As a result, applications of ECCO2R are spreading to other forms of respiratory compromise, such as exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,4 refractory status asthmaticus,5 and lung transplant.6 Although respiratory failure is often isolated, it can frequently develop in the context of multiple-organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS).7 Indeed, most of the patients treated with mechanical ventilation or ECLS succumb secondary to multiple-organ failure rather than to compromised gas exchange.8 The development of modular devices capable of providing various forms of extracorporeal blood treatment (e.g., cytokines removal coupled with plasma filtration and absorption or blood purification with renal-replacement therapy) in conjunction with ECCO2R lung support may be beneficial.9,10 Recently, devices combining ECCO2R and renal-replacement technologies have been successfully used for the management of patients suffering from acute respiratory failure.11 The uniqueness of these new devices is the ultrafiltrate recirculation to the inflow of the membrane lung (ML) obtained by a peristaltic pump and their potential to permit modular therapy for patients requiring both lung and renal support. Until now, effects of ultrafiltrate recirculation on ML CO2 removal per se have not been evaluated. Answering this question can provide useful information for the development of new multiple-organ support devices. We expect ML CO2 removal capabilities not to be altered by ultrafiltrate recirculation. We decided to study the effects of ultrafiltrate recirculation on CO2 removal capabilities of a commercially available ECCO2R device (Hemolung, ALung; Alung Technologies, Pittsburgh, PA) in spontaneously breathing sheep. This study was approved by the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and was conducted in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act and the Implementing Animal Welfare Regulations and in accordance with the principles of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Three healthy ewes (47 ± 10 kg) were endotracheally intubated after an intramuscular injection of glycopyrrolate (100 μg/kg) and tiletamine-zolazepam (6 mg/kg). During preparation, anesthesia was maintained with isofluorane (expired % 1.0–1.5) and buprenorphine intramuscular injection (10 μg/kg). Antibiotic prophylaxis (ceftriaxone 2 g) was administered before the procedure. Tracheostomy was performed. The left carotid artery was percutaneously cannulated with a 16 G central venous catheter (Arrow International, Reading, PA) for pressure monitoring and blood gas analysis. Two 8.5 Fr sheath introducers (Arrow International) were placed bilaterally into the jugular veins. The left line was kept in situ and used both for infusion of medications and the placement of a Swan-Ganz catheter (Edwards Lifescience, Irvine, CA), which was used to measure pulmonary and wedge pressures, cardiac output, and core temperature and to allow sampling of mixed venous blood. After administering a bolus of unfractionated heparin (100 IU/kg), we used the right introducer as a guide for insertion of a 15.5 Fr dual-lumen femoral catheter (Hemolung, Alung; Alung Technologies). The catheter was then connected to the extracorporeal circuit. Afterwards, heparin was infused continuously to maintain activated clotting time (ACT) level at approximately 200% of the baseline. A Foley catheter was placed into the bladder to measure urinary output. The custom-made extracorporeal circuit used was composed of a Hemolung device (ALung; Alung Technologies) set to maintain a constant blood flow (BF) of 250 ml/min and a fixed gas flow (GF) of 10 L/min of ambient air. In addition, a standard polyethersulfune continuous renal-replacement therapy (CRRT) hemofilter (Purema; NxStage, NxStage Medical, Lawrence, MA) was connected in series after the Hemolung ML. An ultrafiltrate flow (UF) was generated from the hemofilter and recirculated before the ML with a peristaltic pump. Five withdrawal sites were arranged in the circuit: four on the blood side (inlet, pre-ML, post-ML, and outlet) and one on the ultrafiltrate side. Extracorporeal BF was measured by the Hemolung flow meter at the circuitry outlet (Figure 1). Total priming volume of the circuitry was circa 450 ml, as the sum of the priming volume of the Hemolung circuitry (260 ml), the hemofilter (170 ml), and the ultrafiltrate supplementary circuitry (30 ml). After the surgical procedure, inhalation anesthetic was discontinued. Subsequently, throughout the experiment, analgesia was maintained by intramuscular injections of buprenorphine (10 μg/kg) every 6 hr. Subjects were moved from the surgical table and placed in a metabolic cage, where they were connected to a mechanical ventilator. The sheep were allowed to recover and to breathe spontaneously, with the continuous positive airway pressure set at a fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) of 21% and a positive end-expiratory pressure of 5 cm of H2O. During the experiment, animals were awake and fed hay at libitum. Maintenance fluids (Plasma-Lyte A; Baxter International, Deerfield, IL) 2 ml/kg/hr were provided until the end of the experiment. We evaluated five extracorporeal circuit settings as follows: a baseline step with a GF at 0 L/min and a UF at 0 L/min and four steps with a GF at 10 L/min and four different UF settings (0, 50, 100, and 150 ml/min) (Table 1). As described, extracorporeal BF (measured at the outlet of the extracorporeal circuitry) was fixed at 250 ml/min during these changes in UF. In other words, the actual BF exiting from and returning to the animal was kept constant at 250 ml/min by changing accordingly the rotation of the Hemolung device. Consequently, the flow passing through the Hemolung ML was the sum of the extracorporeal BF and the recirculating UF: 250, 300, 350, and 400 ml/min during UF at 0, 50, 100, and 150 ml/min, respectively. The baseline step was always performed first, and the remaining steps were randomized. Each step lasted 25 min. A complete block of the five different steps was repeated eight times per animal, totaling 24 repetitions. Arterial, extracorporeal circuit blood, and ultrafiltrate samples were collected at the end of each step. At the end of baseline steps, mixed venous blood samples were collected to perform mixed venous blood gas analyses and measure hematocrit (Hct) through microhematocrit centrifuge technique. Membrane lung CO2 removal (VCO2ML) was measured by the Hemolung built-in capnometer. The ML CO2 removal efficiency ratio was computed as the ratio between VCO2ML and total CO2 content in the pre-ML blood sample, as previously described.12 Total blood CO2 content was calculated according to a simplified and standardized Henderson–Hesselbach equation, which is commonly used and approved for blood gas analyzers calculations,13 as the sum of the bicarbonate ions concentration and dissolved CO2 obtained by the pCO2 and CO2 solubility coefficient (αCO2 = 0.03 mMol × L−1 × mm Hg−1). Therefore, total CO2 content is calculated as follows: Hence, ML CO2 removal efficiency can be calculated as follows: Extracorporeal circuit pressures were monitored in each of the withdrawal site; ultrafiltrate pressure was measured before and after the peristaltic pump. Trans-ML pressure was computed as the difference between pressure at the post-ML site and the pre-ML site. Trans-ML resistance was computed as the ratio between Trans-ML pressure and flow passing through the ML. Heart rate and arterial and pulmonary artery pressure were continuously monitored. At the end of the baseline step of each repetition, cardiac output was measured using thermodilution technique. A capnograph (CO2SMO; Novametrix, Wallingford, CT) was used to measure respiratory rate, minute ventilation, and natural lung CO2 removal (VCO2NL). Plasma-free hemoglobin (Hb) concentration was measured during the instrumentation (before connection to ECCO2R circuit) and at the end of the experiment by spectrophotometric analysis. At the conclusion of the experiments, the sheep were euthanized by an intravenous injection of 20 ml Fatal Plus (Vortech Pharmaceuticals, Dearborn, MI). Data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation. The SigmaPlot 12 statistical program (Systat Software Inc., Chicago, IL) was used for statistical analysis. Data were compared with one-way analysis of variance for repeated measurements with a Tukey’s post hoc correction. The Shapiro–Wilk test was used to test normality. A p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Physiological parameters and arterial blood gas data collected during baseline steps (BF = 250 ml/min, GF = 0 L/min, and UF = 0 ml/min) were not statistically different throughout the study (Table 2). Application of ultrafiltrate recirculation did not alter VCO2ML compared with no recirculation. Indeed, VCO2ML was 40.5 ± 4.0, 39.7 ± 4.2, 39.8 ± 4.2, and 39.2 ± 4.1 ml/min, respectively, at UFs 0, 50, 100, and 150 ml/min (p = 0.37) (Figure 2). Rising levels of ultrafiltrate recirculation determined progressive reductions of ML CO2 removal efficiency ratio, from 30% during no UR to 27%, 25%, and 21%, respectively, during UFs 50, 100, and 150 ml/min (Figure 3). Minute ventilation, respiratory rate, and VCO2NL were not influenced by application of ultrafiltrate recirculation (p > 0.45) (Table 3). Furthermore, arterial blood gas analyses were unchanged by the application of ultrafiltrate recirculation (p > 0.35) (Table 4). The pH, pCO2, and HCO3− levels of the blood and ultrafiltrate samples withdrawn from the circuit are shown in Table 5. Inlet blood values remained constant during the different steps of the experiment. Application of ultrafiltrate recirculation was associated with statistically significant changes only in pre-ML blood gas analyses. Indeed, a reduction in pCO2 and HCO3− and a concomitant rise in the pH levels were observed during ultrafiltrate recirculation. Pre-ML pH during UF 50, 100, and 150 ml/min was higher (p < 0.04) than that during without recirculation. Pre-ML pCO2 was lower at 50, 100, and 150 ml/min compared with that at no UF (p < 0.001); moreover, pCO2 at UF 100 and 150 ml/min was lower than that at UF 50 ml/min (p < 0.03). Pre-ML bicarbonate ion concentration was lower at 50, 100, and 150 ml/min compared with that at no recirculation (p < 0.001) and at UF 100 ml/min compared with 50 ml/min (p < 0.02). In contrast, pH, pCO2, and HCO3− levels in post-ML, outlet, and ultrafiltrate samples were not affected by ultrafiltrate recirculation application. As expected, regardless of the UF, post-ML and outlet pH were higher (p < 0.001) and pCO2 lower (p < 0.001) relative to pre-ML blood. Ultrafiltrate had a pH similar to post-ML (p > 0.05), lower than outlet (p < 0.009), and higher than inlet and pre-ML at each UF (p < 0.001). Independent of ultrafiltrate recirculation, ultrafiltrate pCO2 was higher than post-ML and at the outlet (p < 0.001) but less than at the inlet (p < 0.001) (Table 5). Increasing levels of ultrafiltrate recirculation caused progressive rise in the trans-ML pressure, from 110 ± 12 mm Hg at UF 0 ml/min to 115 ± 11, 119 ± 11, and 120 ± 10 mm Hg at 50, 100, and 150 ml/min, respectively. Trans-ML resistance was significantly reduced by recirculation of ultrafiltrate. Indeed, trans-ML resistance was 0.441 ± 0.053, 0.383 ± 0.041, 0.354 ± 0.078, and 0.308 ± 0.057 mm Hg/ml × min with UF = 0, 50, 100, and 150 ml/min, respectively. In effect, trans-ML resistance at UF of 0 ml/min was significantly lower than at UF of 100 and 150 ml/min (p < 0.05) as well as at UF of 50 ml/min was significantly lower than UF of 150 ml/min (p < 0.05). Interposing of the hemofilter in the circuitry resulted in a downstream pressure after the ML equal to 45 ± 16, 49 ± 16, 50 ± 13, and 54 ± 13 mm Hg at UF 0, 50, 100, and 150 ml/min, respectively. Plasma-free Hb was 14.5 ± 5.9 mg/dl before connection to the ECCO2R circuitry and 10.0 ± 2.2 mg/dl at the end of the experiment, with no statistically significant difference between the two. Unfractionated heparin requirements were 22.1 ± 17.0 IU/kg × hr. No adverse effects, such as bleeding or thromboembolic episodes, and circuitry malfunction were observed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to evaluate the effects of ultrafiltrate recirculation on ML functionality. In our study, in a conscious spontaneously breathing sheep model undergoing ECCO2R, ultrafiltrate recirculation did not cause changes in ML CO2 removal or the animal’s ventilatory patterns and arterial blood gas values. Livigni et al.14 recently tested a low-flow ECCO2R device in which ultrafiltrate recirculation was applied. In the circuitry used, the blood was driven by a peristaltic pump providing extracorporeal BF up to 300 ml/min. The circuitry was composed of a neonatal ML coupled in series with a standard hemofilter, such that ultrafiltrate was recirculated to the inflow of the ML by an additional peristaltic pump. The recirculating ultrafiltrate had a flow up to 155 ml/min. The presence of the hemofilter after the ML is supposed to create a downstream resistance and potentially reduce the risk of air bubble formation in the ML. Moreover, Livigni et al. suggested that ultrafiltrate recirculation optimized long-term functionality of the ML and ameliorated CO2 removal. By the application of this new device, an arterial pCO2 reduction of approximately 20% was observed in spontaneously breathing sheep. The same system has been used in a clinical trial11 in 10 patients with ARDS, allowing control of hypercapnia and permitting protective ventilation with very low tidal volumes. Unfortunately, neither study performed measurements of CO2 transfer of the devices, leaving open the question whether the observed consistent effects on ventilation were related to the application of ultrafiltrate recirculation or whether the same results could have been obtained without it. The works by Kolobow et al.15 and a more recent one16 studied the variables affecting CO2 transfer of a ML. These studies proved that while keeping sweep GF constant, VCO2ML is proportional to pre-ML blood pCO2 and to BF. In our experiment, during the application of ultrafiltrate recirculation, both pCO2 and BF were affected, but in opposite ways. Indeed, we observed that application of ultrafiltrate recirculation causes re-direction of already partially decarboxylated ultrafiltrate in front of the ML and hence dilution of pre-ML CO2 blood content. The CO2 trans-membrane gradient is the driving force for ML CO2 removal. An addition of ultrafiltrate recirculation lowers the CO2 concentration in pre-ML blood, leading to decreased ML CO2 removal efficiency. This negative effect is countered by the increased flow passing through the ML. Consequently, there is no effect of ultrafiltrate recirculation on the absolute values of CO2 removed, which indeed was constant regardless of UF. As a direct result of this, we observed no effects of ultrafiltrate recirculation on ventilatory patterns and arterial blood gas values. Ultrafiltrate recirculation did not enhance ML CO2 removal capabilities as compared with a standard ECCO2R. Common problems of any extracorporeal therapy are the hemostasis and inflammatory response caused by the blood reaction to artificial surfaces.17 Because of the study design, detailed analyses of blood coagulation and inflammatory status could not be performed. Nevertheless, plasma-free hemoglobin was under pathologic thresholds.18 Moreover, ultrafiltrate recirculation progressively reduced trans-ML resistance. These results suggest that ultrafiltrate recirculation is not harmful to blood components and may as well be capable of reducing the shear stress applied to the blood by passage through the ML. Thus, ultrafiltrate recirculation may mitigate hemostasis and inflammatory response to extracorporeal circulation by reducing the coagulability of blood circulating through the ML. Indeed, hemofiltrate is a fluid free of coagulation factors, platelets, and erythrocytes.19 During ultrafiltrate recirculation, the hemofiltrate dilutes the blood entering the ML. The subsequent hemodilution might reduce viscosity and procoagulability.20 Hence, ultrafiltrate recirculation may potentially lengthen ML endurance, reduce coagulation activation, and permit lower anticoagulant requirements. Respiratory failure frequently develops in the context of MODS.7 Patients managed with mechanical ventilation or ECLS die secondary to multiple-organ failure.8 It has been hypothesized that the harmful proinflammatory effects of VILI are not limited to the lungs but that instead lung inflammation elicits systemic endothelial activation.21,22 Extracorporeal lung support itself is associated with activation of the inflammatory response, massive production of proinflammatory cytokines, and subsequent MODS.23,24 Moreover, patients with respiratory failure frequently develop acute kidney injury, which significantly increases their mortality.25,26 Recent meta-analysis reported that up to 52% of patients with ECLS require CRRT27 during their clinical stay. A clinical strategy combining ECLS and CRRT for the early management of patient with ARDS is evaluated by a current ongoing clinical trial.28 Typically, administration of CRRT during ECLS requires placement of an additional catheter and a separate circuit. Alternatively, same treatment can be delivered by a custom-made connection of a CRRT device in parallel with the ECLS circuit. Therefore, development of modular ECLS systems capable of providing various forms of blood treatment may be useful. Coupling of different organ support technologies takes advantage of possible synergistic effects these treatments have to offer. A single modular machine provides a possibility to sustain different organ systems simultaneously, using a single blood catheter and a unique circuitry, hence reducing the overall footprint compared with the application of separate devices. The extracorporeal circuit such as the one presented here, by study design, did not provide renal support, electrolyte homeostasis, or water balance adjustments. Our study was designed to test the CO2 removal capabilities of an ML interconnected with a hemofilter in one of several possible configurations. Notwithstanding, our circuit can be easily supplemented with an additional pump for ultrafiltrate removal or fluid replacement and therefore can provide volume control and blood purification alongside with lung support. Forster et al.29 recently reported implementation of an ML on a low-flow renal-replacement circuit in clinical settings. He demonstrated the feasibility, safety, and CO2 removal efficacy of such an approach in patients suffering from respiratory and renal failure. With additional fluid removal/replacement pumps, our circuit may be similarly efficacious for patients suffering from lung and kidney failure. Moreover, application of ultrafiltrate recirculation on an ECCO2R device provides an easy access to hemofiltrate, which may be further processed and purified of cytokine and inflammatory mediators. This can be easily achieved through interposition of a cytokine-adsorptive column in the ultrafiltrate circuit. Considering that multiple-organ failure is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity of mechanically ventilated patients affected by respiratory failure,8 development of modular devices capable of simultaneous ECCO2R and immunological modulation is crucial. These devices may offer the possibility of controlling both the local and the systemic adverse effects of ventilation by limiting injurious mechanical stress to the lungs and by controlling systemic inflammatory response caused by VILI. An important promise of modular extracorporeal life support is that ultrafiltrate recirculation offers the possibility of favorably adjusting the chemical characteristics of blood entering the ML by infusion of acid or hyperosmolar compounds into the UF, thus avoiding the direct contact of blood cellular components with a potentially harmful milieu and minimizing the volume of injected solutes. Such regional blood acidification technique was used previously by Zanella et al.30 Their study proved that blood acidification at the inlet of an ML, converting bicarbonate ions into dissolved carbon dioxide, increased CO2 removal performance of an ML. Moreover, in principle, the ultrafiltrate part of the extracorporeal construct could also serve as a location for infusion of anticoagulants reducing or eliminating the need for systemic anticoagulation.3 Bias in this study may originate from the components used in the setup, which could be arranged in a variety of ways. The Hemolung device is equipped with a central rotating core pump that distributes the blood radially through a stationary hollow fiber polymethylpentene membrane.31 This device was coupled with a standard polyethersulfone hemofilter (Purema; NxStage, NxStage Medical), having a membrane surface of 1.6 m2. We believe that similar results can be achieved regardless of the individual components used for the circuit buildup, and thus the universality of the modular approach is high. Indeed, we showed that the effects of ultrafiltrate recirculation on the CO2 removal are the product of the inherent dilution process rather than specification of a particular technology. Regarding the effects of ultrafiltrate recirculation on blood coagulability, because of the repeated measurement design of our experiment, it was not possible to evaluate the effects of ultrafiltrate recirculation on coagulation, inflammatory status of the animals, or ML durability. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the possible influence on coagulation activation and blood hemostasis because of application of ultrafiltrate recirculation on an ECCO2R device as well as the potential to exclusively anticoagulate a subject extracorporeally. A limitation of our study is the low number of animals used, which can potentially lead to type II error. However, we believe that this problem has been minimized by randomizing the same test eight times on each animal and by proving that the baseline measurements remained consistent throughout the experiment. Other limitations may come from the characteristics of the experimental animals. Because the experiment aim was to evaluate specifically the effects on extracorporeal blood and ML function of ultrafiltrate recirculation, we used healthy animals to limit further confounding factors (e.g., different levels of hypercapnia). Studies applying this technique in injured model are necessary to evaluate its clinical efficacy. In conclusion, ultrafiltrate recirculation did not affect CO2 removal of an ECCO2R device. Combination of extracorporeal lung and kidney support circuitry by ultrafiltrate recirculation may provide a suitable modular platform for coupling CO2 removal therapy with various forms of dialysis and blood purification. Future studies in clinically relevant injured models are necessary to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and clinical advantages of combination of single-organ support technologies into modular multiple-organ support devices. 1. Gattinoni L, Pesenti A, Mascheroni D, et al. Low-frequency positive-pressure ventilation with extracorporeal CO2 removal in severe acute respiratory failure. JAMA. 1986;256:881–886 2. Bein T, Weber-Carstens S, Goldmann A, et al. Lower tidal volume strategy (≈3 ml/kg) combined with extracorporeal CO2 “conventional” protective ventilation (6 ml/kg) in severe ARDS: The prospective randomized Xtravent-study. Intensive Care Med. 2013;39:847–856 3. Pesenti A, Pelizzola A, Mascheroni D, et al. Low frequency positive pressure ventilation with extracorporeal CO2 removal (LEPPV-ECCO2R) in acute respiratory failure (ARF): Technique. Trans Am Soc Artif Intern Organs. 1981;27:263–266 4. Cardenas VJ Jr, Lynch JE, Ates R, Miller L, Zwischenberger JB. Venovenous carbon dioxide removal in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Experience in one patient. ASAIO J. 2009;55:420–422 5. Brenner K, Abrams DC, Agerstrand CL, Brodie D. Extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal for refractory status asthmaticus: Experience in distinct exacerbation phenotypes. Perfusion. 2014;29:26–28 6. Javidfar J, Bacchetta M. Bridge to lung transplantation with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support. Curr Opin Organ Transplant. 2012;17:496–502 7. Estenssoro E, Dubin A, Laffaire E, et al. Incidence, clinical course, and outcome in 217 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Crit Care Med. 2002;30:2450–2456 8. Vincent JL, Zambon M. Why do patients who have acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome die from multiple organ dysfunction syndrome? Implications for management. Clin Chest Med. 2006;27:725–731; abstract x 9. Cruz D, Bellomo R, Kellum J a, de Cal M, Ronco C. The future of extracorporeal support. Crit Care Med. 2008;36(4 suppl):S243–S252 10. Gramaticopolo S, Chronopoulos A, Piccinni P, et al. Extracorporeal CO2 removal—A way to achieve ultraprotective mechanical ventilation and lung support: The missing piece of multiple organ support therapy. Contrib Nephrol. 2010;165:174–184 11. Terragni PP, Del Sorbo L, Mascia L, et al. Tidal volume lower than 6 ml/kg enhances lung protection: Role of extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal. Anesthesiology. 2009;111:826–835 12. Gille JP, Lautier A, Tousseul B. EC CO2R: Oxygenator or hemodialyzer? An in vitro study. Int J Artif Organs. 1992;15:229–233 13. CLSI.Blood Gas and pH Analysis and Related Measurements, second ed., C46-A2. 2009 Wayne, PA Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute:3 14. Livigni S, Maio M, Ferretti E, et al. Efficacy and safety of a low-flow veno-venous carbon dioxide removal device: Results of an experimental study in adult sheep. Crit Care. 2006;10:R151 15. Kolobow T, Gattinoni L, Tomlinson T, White D, Pierce J, Iapichino G. The carbon dioxide membrane lung (CDML): A new concept. Trans Am Soc Artif Intern Organs. 1977;23:17–21 16. Park M, Costa ELV, Maciel AT, et al. Determinants of oxygen and carbon dioxide transfer during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in an experimental model of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. PLoS One. 2013;8:e54954 17. Gorbet MB, Sefton MV. Biomaterial-associated thrombosis: Roles of coagulation factors, complement, platelets and leukocytes. Biomaterials. 2004;25:5681–5703 18. Lou S, Maclaren G, Best D, Delzoppo C, Butt W. Hemolysis in pediatric patients receiving centrifugal-pump extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: Prevalence, risk factors, and outcomes. Crit Care Med. 2013 19. Guth HJ, Klingbeil A, Wiedenhöft I, Rose HJ, Kraatz G. Presence of factor-VII and -XIII activity in ultrafiltrate during hemofiltration. Int J Artif Organs. 1999;22:482–487 20. Ogawa S, Ohnishi T, Hosokawa K, Szlam F, Chen EP, Tanaka KA. Haemodilution-induced changes in coagulation and effects of haemostatic components under flow conditions. Br J Anaesth. 2013;111:1013–1023 21. Parsons PE, Eisner MD, Thompson BT, et al. Lower tidal volume ventilation and plasma cytokine markers of inflammation in patients with acute lung injury. Crit Care Med. 2005;33:1–6; discussion 230–232 22. Stüber F, Wrigge H, Schroeder S, et al. Kinetic and reversibility of mechanical ventilation-associated pulmonary and systemic inflammatory response in patients with acute lung injury. Intensive Care Med. 2002;28:834–841 23. Adrian K, Mellgren K, Skogby M, Friberg LG, Mellgren G, Wadenvik H. Cytokine release during long-term extracorporeal circulation in an experimental model. Artif Organs. 1998;22:859–863 24. Edmunds LH. Inflammatory response to cardiopulmonary bypass. Ann Thorac Surg. 1998;66(5 suppl):S12–S16; discussion S25–8 25. Cooke CR, Kahn JM, Caldwell E, et al. Predictors of hospital mortality in a population-based cohort of patients with acute lung injury. Crit Care Med. 2008;36:1412–1420 26. Liu KD, Glidden DV, Eisner MD, et al. Predictive and pathogenetic value of plasma biomarkers for acute kidney injury in patients with acute lung injury. Crit Care Med. 2007;35:2755–2761–XXX 27. Zangrillo A, Landoni G, Biondi-Zoccai G, et al. A meta-analysis of complications and mortality of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Crit Care Resusc. 2013;15:172–178 28. Hôpital Ambroise Paré. . Pulmonary and renal support during acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARSA). Clin [Internet] Bethesda Natl Libr Med. Available at: http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01239966 . Accessed Feb 10, 2014 29. Forster C, Schriewer J, John S, Eckardt KU, Willam C. Low-flow CO2 removal integrated into a renal-replacement circuit can reduce acidosis and decrease vasopressor requirements. Crit Care. 2013;17:R154 30. Zanella A, Patroniti N, Isgrò S, et al. Blood acidification enhances carbon dioxide removal of membrane lung: An experimental study. Intensive Care Med. 2009;35:1484–1487 31. Batchinsky AI, Jordan BS, Regn D, et al. Respiratory dialysis: Reduction in dependence on mechanical ventilation by venovenous extracorporeal CO2 removal. Crit Care Med. 2011;39:1382–1387 extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal; hemofiltration; recirculation; respiratory dialysisCopyright © 2014 by the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs

Topic: Naruto & Boba Fett part 1: Welcome to my world Here it is!!! PART 1 IS COMPLETE!!! Boba Fett vs. Naruto Part I: Welcome to my world Boba Fett flew the Slave I through hyperspace to someplace called Konohagakure. He had taken a bounty on some people named Gaara and Naruto Uzumaki who he had to bring down alive for a group called the Akatsuki. Even though their currency was different, they were paying him the equivalent of 100,000,000 credits. Big money. He sped through space, approaching his destination. Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha were training a basic tree climbing exercise in a densely populated forest. Their sensei, Kakashi Hatake, watched over them, standing upside-down on a tree limb. Naruto had been infused with a nine-tailed fox demon at birth, and had been alienated all his life. This attributed to his passion to become a ninja, so people would appreciate him. Sasuke Uchiha was one of the two remaining members of the Uchiha clan. The other, Itachi Uchiha, had killed all the others as a measurement of his power. Sasuke wanted nothing more than to kill Itachi. Sakura just wants to be a ninja. No real depth, but she’s madly in love with Sasuke. Suddenly, there was a rumble. A huge spaceship soared into the forest, and a green clad armored warrior emerged. “Naruto Uzumaki.†The warrior said in a cold, unemotional voice. “My name is Boba Fett. I’m here to take you down.†Boba Fett then aimed his large blaster rifle and fired. Naruto was just barely fast enough to dodge it as he plummeted to the ground. “Naruto! Sasuke! Sakura! Get Back!†Kakashi yelled. His three students complied. Kakashi reached for his headband that he wore over his right eye. After removing it, he revealed his Sharingan eye, which would let him see and duplicate his opponents moves. “Now then…†Kakashi said as he lifted one hand to his mouth and the other in the air. “Hidden Mist Jutsu!†A thick mist covered the battle area. But it had no effect on Boba, whose many sensors in his helmet allowed him to scan through the fog for life forms. “I have no concern with you, my friend.†Boba said to Kakashi through the fog. “I merely need Naruto.†Boba flew through the fog with his jetpack, Boba sought out Naruto, and grabbed him with his grappling hook. However, the Naruto he grabbed disappeared in a puff of smoke. “Haven’t you heard of a shadow clone?†Came a vaguely whiny voice. Boba whipped his head around to find Naruto, standing poignantly atop a tree. He hurled a strange, flat knife at Boba, who merely blasted it with his blaster. Kakashi then appeared behind Boba, whose helmet sensors noticed Kakashi in seconds. “I have to hand it to you,†Kakashi said in his bored voice, “You’re one of the only people I know who can see through the hidden mist jutsu. Tell me, what else can you do?†Fett said nothing. He sped through the mist, blasting at the ninja. Kakashi dodged each blast, moving deftly through the fog. Boba managed to land a left hook on Kakashi, throwing the ninja off balance. Suddenly, another Kakashi jumped on Boba’s back, planting a kunai knife in the bounty hunter’s helmet. This sent Boba’s helmet sensors in a tizzy, causing him to lose his vision. Boba swung wild. Trying to get a hit on his unintended enemy. Quickly, the helmet’s sensors restabilized, allowing Fett to see once more. He did not expect there to 20 exact duplicates of the ninja with mismatched eyes to surround him, but no matter. Boba soared in the air, and tossed a thermal detonator in the clearing. Boba descended to the ground. Only one Kakashi remained. Boba sped toward him, delivering another punch to Kakashi’s stomach, then tossing the ninja into a tree before flying off. Now to find Naruto. Boba detected Naruto and his two cohorts not far from Kakashi. Boba landed, prepared for another, if briefer, fight. “Children,†Boba began. “Do we really, have to fight. I just want Naruto. That’s it. That’s all I want here.†Naruto was less than willing. “No way, you crazy tin man! I’ll fill you with ramen! Believe it!†Boba ignored the child. He bulled out his EE-3 blaster rifle and fired 3 rounds. He set the rifle to stun. The bounty was for alive only. The young girl with pink hair was down, but the other two, Naruto and another boy, dodged the blasts. The other boy (Sasuke? Sake? Boba couldn’t get these absurd names right.) put his hands to his mouth and spat a flurry of fireballs. Interesting, thought Boba, these people were very powerful. Boba dodged the fireballs and returned fire (pardon the pun) with his own flamethrower. The flames consumed trees in their heat, but the two ninja dodged with minimum difficulty. Boba fired his grappling cord and enraptured the ninja Sasuke. He reeled him in and delivered a fist to Sasuke’s surprisingly glass jaw. The ninja was thrown aback by the sudden attack. Boba fired his EE-3 again. That was all for Sasuke. Boba repeated the tactic with Naruto. Too easy. “Now then.†Boba said once Naruto was out cold. “One stop to ‘sunagakure’ and I’m finished with this bounty.†Boba completed, referring to another bounty on someone named Gaara he had in a close country, if his information was right. Sasuke sat in a tree, his shadow clone unconscious. So he had some time before Naruto was delivered to parts unknown. Time for some reinforcements. Gaara, a red haired ninja who sported a gourd on his back, his brother Kankuro, who held a mummy on his back, and his sister, Temari who carried a large fan on her back, sat in a ramen shop, enjoying the hot noodles. The three ninjas were native to the sand village, and even children of the village leader, the Kazekage. Upon birth, Gaara, the youngest, had been infused with a demon of the sand, killing his mother and unhinging his psyche. He too had been seriously mistreated as a child, and had believed he existed only to kill, until Naruto defeated him and put his life back into perspective. Gaara and Naruto were big buddies. Out of nowhere, you-know-who’s spaceship, the Slave I, flew overhead, its stalwart pilot descending a la jetpack. “Gaara. I’m here to take you in. I’d like it if you came peacefully. But you people rarely do.†“What?!?†Kankuro, yelled. “You must be crazy! No way we’re letting you get Gaara.†Kankuro set his mummy on the ground and unwound the bandaging to reveal a multi-armed, humanoid, puppet. Boba recognized this as a weapon, and torched it with his wrist-mounted flamethrower. He zapped the loudmouthed ninja and the girl with a stun bolt. Now for Gaara. This would prove very difficult. Meanwhile, on the distant planet of Nirauan : Grand Admiral Thrawn sat in his lavish base of operations on the reatively uncharted planet. A consummate strategist, Thrawn likened combat to art, and was an aficionado of both. He could cite inspirations, analyze motives and determine outcomes before his opponents had even consciously began formulating a move. Thrawn's greatest weapon was his mind. This was long ago recognized by his people, the Chiss, who banished Mitth'raw'nuruodo for his dangerous ideas. The Chiss of Csilla are a disciplined species, advanced enough to build a sizable fleet and an empire over two dozen worlds. Thrawn's tactics were controversial in their boldness, and his activities within the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet drew many a concerned, glowing red eye. The rest of the galaxy made first contact with the Chiss when a taskforce dispatched by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine stumbled upon Thrawn's fleet. The young blue-skinned commander was able to decimate the intruders despite inferior weapons and numbers. Thrawn was offered a position in the empire, and accepted. Thrawn climbed the ladder of success in the empire, becoming a deadly force. Thrawn’s Noghri body guard, Rukh, stood beside Thrawn, ready to fight at all times. “Rukh?†Thrawn said. “Thrawn?†Rukh growled in gravelly voice. “I have a job for you. You are familiar with the bounty hunter Boba Fett, yes?†“Earlier today, he was given a bounty mission from some peculiar people. They came from an entire new galaxy. I’d like you to scout out this strange galaxy. See the lay of the land.†“Of Course. I will be there and back with information by this time tomorrow.†“Good.†But Thrawn was positive that things would get complicated. Gaara did not like it when people hurt his siblings. Not one bit. This green freak, looking like one of Kankuro’s puppets, KO’s his siblings AND wants to kidnap him? Not gonna happen. This guy did not know who he was dealing with. Gaara pulled the cork that contained his gourd’s insides out of the gourd, and a steady stream of sand poured out in a circle. Gaara’s first line of defense. If this fool attacked him, a cloud of sand would rise to absorb the blow. Only three people had people had penetrated this defense. One was Naruto. One was dead. And another was put in the hospital. More sand poured out of the gourd, forming a dense cloud around Gaara and the attacker, who was firing some sort of projectile at Gaara, each blast absorbed by his shield. “How dare you treat my friends so shamefully!†Gaara yelled, the cloud converging onto Boba Fett. Boba dodged the sand cloud, not surprised by Gaara’s sand-manipulation. He had been well-informed about his bounties, and he was sure Gaara would be more of a challenge. The sand wove up and down, to and fro, yellow-brown tendrils grabbing at Boba Fett. The bounty hunter was unaffected. He remained calm, cool and collected. He always did. Emotions were beneath Fett, ever since that day when he witnessed the death of his father at the hands of a jedi on geonosis. From there on, Boba had become a ruthless bounty hunter, never showing any signs of emotion. He felt nothing. He cared about nothing. He was hardened, not unlike Gaara had been. And at the moment the two were in pitched combat. “I’ll kill you!†Gaara shouted, showing remnants of his old personality. His brother & sister had been wounded. He was losing control. Gaara needed to end this quickly before his inner demon, the shukaku, came out & killed everyone in Sunagakure. He commanded the sand to encircle the two in a large dome, and once it had been done, Gaara’s dome began to shoot spikes of sand at Fett. Fett set his blaster to kill, and began firing at the wall of sand nearest to him. All he needed was a hole. A hole he got. Just barely big enough for Fett to fit through, and only for a second did it appear, but Boba took it. He sprinted through the gap in the chamber, a nanosecond before the dome was sealed off yet again. Which was a good thing, since Fett had left several thermal detonators in there. There was an earth shattering explosion as the sand dissipated and Gaara was blown sky high. Fett flew up to grab him. He still had a pulse. Good. Boba landed to catch his breath. He checked Gaara’s siblings. They had pulses. Okay. Zero casualties. Not bad. “Where is Naruto?†shouted a familiar voice. Boba whirled around, and behind him were the ninjas from before, Sasuke & Kakashi, along with two fresh faces. One wore all green and sported a bowl cut. The other had long black hair, wore a white tee shirt and brown shorts, and possessed white eyes without any pupils. Boba felt as if the eyes were drilling into him. “Give us back Naruto!†Yelled the one with the bowl cut. “Lee, calm down, don’t do anything rash. You saw how he took down Gaara, and even you couldn’t beat him.†Kakashi stated calmly. Boba assumed a fighting stance. This was becoming more trouble than it was worth. Meanwhile in the neighboring country Otogakure Rukh’s imperial starship landed in a clearing, surrounded by trees and furry woodland creatures. Rukh exited his starship to tend to Thrawn’s orders. Although the empire had recently crumbled into nothing, Thrawn was waiting for the rebellion to reestablish a functioning government before his coupe de’tat. “Halt!†Yelled a ninja who had spotted him. “Who are you?†Rukh stabbed the ninja with his assassin’s blade. End of problem. Then another person emerged. He was gray in complexion, with yellow eyes and long black hair. This was Orochimaru, the ruler of the country Rukh had landed in. At his Orochimaru’s side was another ninja with gray hair and glasses. This was Orochimaru’s right hand man, Kabuto. Orochimaru ruled the land of sound with an iron fist, and is constantly cooking up new evil deeds. After a battle against the Third Hokage, Orochimaru had lost use of his arms, keeping him from using any ninja arts. He was also constantly trying to get back use of his arms to no avail. “Well well, who is this?†Orochimaru hissed. “I am Rukh. I’m from a faraway world, and I’m here for information.†Orochimaru was intrigued. Another world? Interesting. Perhaps he could find a way to repair his arms. “Well, if your from another world, I guess we can’t say no, can we?†“No. You cannot.†“Well, then lead the way.†Kabuto chimed. Rukh walked a decent half-meter ahead of Orochimaru & Kabuto, allowing the two ninjas a chance to talk. “I think this brute will do quite nicely for the new sound four.†Kabuto, Orochimaru, and Rukh climbed aboard the ship, heading back to Nirauan. Now, you may be wondering just who the ninja that accompanied Sasuke & Kakashi are. The one without pupils in Neji Hyuga, a ninja who had previously been a fatalist devoid of emotion until Naruto force-fed him a heaping helping of humble pie. Neji possessed a byakugan, which was a special ability that allowed him to see just about anything. The one with the bowl cut is Rock Lee, a ninja that is incapable of ninjutsu (special attacks) or genjustu (illusions) and could only use taijutsu (hand to hand combat). This would normally cripple a ninja’s career, but Rock Lee took advantage of this & became a taijutsu specialist. He had once been dealt a crushing defeat by Gaara that threatened to end his days as a ninja, but a risky operation had proved successful and Lee was back in full form. Now you know who they are. Lee attempted a spinning kick at Boba’s head. Boba ducked, barely dodging the kick. He grabbed Lee’s leg & tossed him aside. The sooner he got away, the less collateral damage, the better. Neji attempted a stabbing move with his hands, palms outstretched. The blow hit Boba in the chest plate, and hardly any of the blow as felt. Neji’s byakugan scanned Boba Fett for weak points. “What? He-he has no chakra network!†Neji exclaimed. Chakra is what fuels ninjas like blood, but where Fett came from, there is no chakra. Boba threw a punch at Neji, who dodged with ease. Sasuke attacked with a kunai, but the blow did nothing against the bounty hunter’s armor. Boba elbowed Sasuke in the face, and tossed him at Kakashi. He flew towards Gaara’s unconscious body, picked the ninja up, & flew towards the Slave I. Boba entered the ship, and set the coordinates for his hyperspace jump to the destination to drop off his bounties. It was this occasion that tow simultaneous things happened. First, Kakashi, Neji, and Sasuke leapt into the Slave I. Second, Gaara awoke, and in his blind stupor unleashed a sandstorm in the Slave I. This caused a malfunction in the hyperspace generator, and a massive explosion occurred. When the dust settled, Boba, Neji, Gaara, Sasuke, Kakashi, the Slave I and the onboard Naruto were nowhere to be found. Nirauan. Thrawn’s base of operations Orochimaru & Kabuto had been lead into the lavish office of the Chiss super genius roughly an hour ago. Orochimaru had foraged an alliance with the blue-skinned Admiral, though both secretly intended to betray the other. That will be later in the story. Orochimaru had intended to construct a group of fighters known as the Sound Four to be his secret strike force. Kabuto was a natural pick. Thrawn had agreed to let Orochimaru use Rukh until 3 other members could be found. Orochimaru, Kabuto & Rukh had departed roughly five minutes ago. Thrawn sat in his study. All the pieces of his plan coming together. It was beautiful. Truly beautiful. Thrawn pressed a button on his desk. A secret whooshed as it opened. Thrawn walked through the passage. There it was. In a cryogenic glass case, there it was. His ace in the hole. Darth Vader. A perfect genetic duplicate, placed inside a perfect replica of the original’s armor. This secret weapon would insure his glorious new empire. Of course, what good is an empire and a Darth Vader without a Death Star? Mos Eisley Cantina, Tatooine Orochimaru & Kabuto entered Mos Eisley Cantina on the desert planet of Tatooine. Thrawn had informed them of the many formidable characters that inhabited the cantina. “You know what to do Kabuto.†“Of course, lord Orochimaru. Temple of Nirvana!†Suddenly, feathers fell from the sky, seemingly out of nowhere. The patrons of the cantina, save Orochimaru & Kabuto were in awe, then slowly fell asleep. “Not bad, Kabuto.†“Usually the genjutsu takes longer, but these people have never been exposed to genjutsu. Well, let’s get started.†Kabuto slapped Rukh to wake him up, then the trio searched for some individuals worthy of the Sound Four. They searched the entire place, but only found two suitable characters. A reptilian humanoid, and a bipedal bear, going by the names Bossk & Chewbacca, respectively. “They’ll have to do for now.†Orochimaru stated. “Can’t be in one place for too long. And with that, they left. Dune Sea, Tatooine Sasuke plummeted to the ground with a loud thud. “Ugh!†Sasuke grunted as he coughed up a mouthful of sand. The dune sea was nothing but sand dunes, hence the name. “W-Where…?†Sasuke stammered. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened in Sunagakure, all he remembered was Gaara had gone crazy, struck something in the green assassin’s machine, there was a bright flash of light & Sasuke felt like he was being pulled by a thousand herds of bulls. Then he was kissing the sand dunes. Sasuke stood up shakily, and could make out a town in the distance. He walked towards the town, trying to figure out what had happened. Sasuke stumbled in to what resembled a bar. Every one was asleep. Sasuke examined all the sleeping patrons. Something wasn’t right. He doubted everyone had just gotten drunk & fell asleep. One man began to stir. He was a bit scruffy looking, with brown hair, black pants and a black vest over a white shirt. He also had a leather holster holding what Sasuke assumed was another projectile weapon like the attacker, Boba Fett, had used. “Nnnn…†The man mumbled, coming back to consciousness. “Chewie?†The man whirled his head around, as if looking for someone. “CHEWIE?!?†“Who?†Sasuke asked. “Who’s Chewie? Where did you see him last?†“Unh,†The man thought back, trying to remember. “Kid, go home. You can’t help. I’m Han Solo. I can take care of myself.†“Oh really?†Sasuke asked sarcastically. Sasuke did not like being told he was too weak to do things. He formed a peculiar hand sign, and suddenly 5 Sasukes filled the bar of groggy customers. “Huh. Maybe you can help.†Han began. “Well, Chewie & I, we’re traveling partners. We stopped by the Tajri Station to get some power converters, & stopped by here for a drink. We were about to head out when this gray guy with yellow eyes walked in, and the rest is kind of fuzzy…†“Gray guy with yellow eyes?†Sasuke knew only one person who fit that description. Orochimaru. “Yeah, uh…..oh, I’m wasting my time. I gotta go see Luke & see what he thinks I should do, and I’m here talking to some kid.†Han stood up shakily, & walked out of the cantina. Naturally, Sasuke followed. Yavin IV is a densely populated jungle planet, and the site of Luke Skywalker’s latest jedi temple, where he trained jedi to help protect the universe, just like the jedi did in the times of the old republic before the empire had taken over. It was at the foot of this temple that Naruto, Neji, & Gaara fell from nowhere. “Unnh..?†Naruto mumbled. What had happened? Where was he? He didn’t remember anything other than being hit by Boba Fett’s peculiar projectile weapon. He noticed his fellow ninjas surrounding him. “N-Neji! Gaara! Wake up! We’re in some weird forest place near some weird temple! Believe it!†Neji & Gaara ebbed into consciousness. “Ugh…what happened?†Gaara asked, although no answer came. “Last I remember…†Neji began. “You awoke from some sort of attack from that Boba Fett person.†“Wait Fett attacked you too?†Naruto asked, stunned. “Yes. He took down Kankuro, & Temari, & me too I guess. I sort of went crazy, & there was an explosion. Then we’re here.†“Oh. I, uh, was kinda KO’d earlier.†“Yes. Sasuke told us. He got Lee & I to go to Sunagakure to rescue you.†“Seriously? Sasuke tried to rescue me? That’s so cool! Believe it!†“Excuse me, but who might you three gentlemen be?†Asked a man who had seemed to come out of nowhere. He stood at the entrance of the odd temple. “My name is Luke Skywalker. Please come inside.†Boa Fett, and the wrecked monstrosity the used to be Slave I, appeared on the docks of a city on the eternally stormy planet of Kamino. The planet was a giant ocean and rained constantly, but the Kaminoans had built large city-like complexes. This was where Boba Fett grew up. And here he was again. With a totaled ship. Boba got to his feet, observing his surroundings. How-? Oh…Oh, that’s right…something happened, that Gaara person attacked me in my ship, he must have caused a malfunction in the hyperspace generator. Are the rest of those kids here? I- Boa did not get to finish his thoughts. He had appeared on damaged bridge in need of repair. If it had just been Fett, this wouldn’t be a problem. But the Slave I was atop the bridge too. Boba Fett & his damaged Slave I plummeted into the restless Kamino ocean. Boba tried his jetpack. Alas, it refused to work. It sputtered smoke & sparks, but no lift. Boa plunged helplessly into the water. “Admiral Thrawn! We have a trespasser!†Barked a droid guard of Thrawn’s estate. Two more guards marched in, holding Kakashi Hatake’s unconscious body. “Very good. I’m in need of a playmate for my new friend.†Thrawn replied, smiling wickedly. Akatsuki hideout, undisclosed location The group known as the Akatsuki are a touchy subject. Not much is known of their motives, but they take interest in individuals with demons inside them, like Naruto & Gaara. They had hired Boba Fett to retrieve them, & their patience was reaching its end. Okay, it had reached its end. The time had come to take matters in their own hands. Two Akatsuki members, Deidara & Sasori dragged two screaming children into two large coffins. “Ready?†Sasori asked. “Yeah..†Deidara answered. They threw the children into the coffins. Deidara & Sasori slit the children’s throats through an opening in the coffins. Then they proceeded to perform a disturbing jutsu for raising the dead. When they were finished, the two coffins no longer contained two dead children, but a impossibly burly man with a giant zanbato blade on his back. This was the demon of the hidden mist, Zabuza Momochi. In the other coffin was an individual of indistinguishable gender, in a blue and green dress with a white mask. This was Zabuza right hand man(?), Haku. “Find Naruto Uzumaki and the one called Gaara. Bring them back alive.†Deidara instructed the resurrected automatons. “Then find Boba Fett. Kill him.†End of Part 1! Well? Reactions?Anybody? eh? eh?

|Publication number||US5143069 A| |Application number||US 07/562,252| |Publication date||1 Sep 1992| |Filing date||3 Aug 1990| |Priority date||24 Apr 1989| |Publication number||07562252, 562252, US 5143069 A, US 5143069A, US-A-5143069, US5143069 A, US5143069A| |Inventors||Seo J. Kwon, J. Lawrence Katz| |Original Assignee||Orthosonics, Inc.| |Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan| |Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (75), Classifications (14), Legal Events (12)| |External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet| This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 342,655 filed Apr. 24, 1989, and now abandoned, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 118,465 filed Nov. 9, 1987, and now abandoned. 1. Field of Invention The present invention relates generally to a diagnostic method of monitoring skeletal defects using low energy pulsed ultrasound. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel method of separating the effects of soft tissues from those of hard tissues (for example, bone, tendons, cartilage or implanted material) on ultrasound propagation by using correlation analysis and spectral estimation, and by relating the velocity of the propagated ultrasound with the in vivo mechanical strength and structural integrity of hard tissues and in particular of load carrying hard tissues. Management of patients with bone fractures is currently based on subjective impressions gained by physical examinations and x-ray radiographs taken during various stages of healing. Similarly, patients with bone diseases such as osteoporosis or those with microfractures are apt to be diagnosed solely on subjective impressions in the early stages, due to the limitations of standard radiographic techniques. Even after making a diagnosis based on experience, a physician will generally have to manage a patient conservatively before returning the patient to normal activity. The main reason for the delayed diagnosis in such bone disorders is that currently available diagnostic methods do not objectively access the mechanical strength and structural integrity of hard tissue such as bone, and thus do not provide any substantive failure risk analysis. 2. Description of the Related Art Two general diagnostic methods are used to diagnose bone disorders. A first method employs ionizing radiation that essentially measures bone mineral density. This first method includes conventional and substrative x-ray imaging, single and dual photon absorptiometry, radio nuclide imaging, and CAT scans. While this first general method of diagnostic method has proven satisfactory for many uses, it has some inherent disadvantages. First repeated and/or excessive exposure to ionizing radiation is harmful to health and causes various kinds of cancer. Accordingly, a diagnostic method based on ionizing radiation cannot be used for frequent applications such as screening, especially of woman of child bearing age. Second, methods such as these are only sensitive to mineral density changes and not to the mechanical strength of hard tissues. Consequently such diagnostic methods generally do not provide information indicating when a bone is at risk of fracture. Third, the cost of diagnostic systems employing such methods significantly increases with the sophistication of the method. This causes economic burden on patients and limits their access to treatment. The second general method of diagnostic method utilizes some sort of mechanical input to the bone and analyzes the response of the hard tissues. Depending on the kind of mechanical input, this second method can be generally categorized as an impact method, a conventional ultrasound method, or an acoustic emission method. This method of diagnostic system has definite advantages over ionizing radiation based methods because it provides direct information about the mechanical properties of bone, without harmful side effects. However, wide acceptance and clinical usage has not yet occurred. Two drawbacks contributing to the lack of wide clinical usage are the difficulty in controlling the input (e.g. ultrasound) and distortions in the received responses. These difficulties arise due to the effects of adjacent bones, muscles, ligaments and associated soft tissues on input to the bone and the reception of responses. In addition, this method, prior to the present invention, does not solve the problem of soft tissue effect on responses. It is believed that the present invention will serve as a valuable adjunct to the diagnostic methods currently available and will probably shorten or prevent the disability of many patients. Further, this invention will provide valuable information about the efficacy of various methods of treating particular fractures and provide early diagnosis of bone diseases. An object of the present invention is to provide a novel method of quantitative and sensitive measurement of in vivo mechanical strength of hard tissues, unaffected by surrounding soft tissues, in a non-invasive and non-traumatic manner, producing virtually no harmful side effects. Another object of the present invention is to relate the velocity, the attenuation and the degree of dispersion in distribution of propagated ultrasound energy along the bone to the mechanical strength and structural integrity of that bone. One of the principal advantages of the present invention is that the correlated output signal is in the most useful form for use in conjunction with diagnosing bone disorders. The invention produces a distribution of transmitted energy peaks having magnitudes and degrees of dispersion that correspond to mechanical strength and structural integrity, and delay times of signals produced and received in accordance with the present invention that correspond to the velocities of ultrasound in particular propagation paths. Another advantage of the present invention is that use of a fixed reference signal and an additional reference signal eliminate the necessity of using contralateral bone to obtain a base line comparison in monitoring fracture healing. The additional reference signal is established by monitoring the ultrasound propagated along an undamaged part of the bone. Still another advantage of the present invention is that it is non-invasive, non-traumatic, and produces no harmful side effects. Thus, it can be used as a screening device for diseases or used as a device for monitoring the healing process of fractures, especially in women of child bearing age. Still another advantage of the present invention is that through proper signal processing, the characteristic response of a bone can be approximated. This approximation provides unbiased information about the status of mechanical strength of the bone, and makes the response of the bone to other mechanical inputs predictable. The present invention utilizes both the velocity and the attenuation characteristics of ultrasound in hard tissues, and distinguishes these from the corresponding characteristics of soft tissues. A significant feature of this invention lies in its novel method of sorting the ultrasound energy propagated along the bone and other tissues according to the delay time of propagation. Specifically, the sorting can be achieved by establishing a fixed reference signal and correlating it with signals that are propagated through both the hard and soft tissues. Since the present invention separates the responses of soft tissues from the responses of hard tissues, the invention is also well suited for diagnosing soft tissue trauma. A preferred embodiment of the method of the present invention includes the steps of: (a) mounting spaced apart ultrasound transducers over the skin and propagating an ultrasound signal along the hard tissues and surrounding soft tissues; (b) establishing a fixed reference signal for the ultrasound transducers; (c) receiving a propagated ultrasound signal; (d) sorting the received propagating ultrasound signal according to a relative propagation delay time by correlating the received ultrasound signal with the fixed reference signal; (e) determining a velocity, a propagation energy and a degree of dispersion of the ultrasound signal propagated along the hard tissues and the surrounding soft tissues based upon the propagated ultrasound distribution of step (d); and (f) relating the velocity, propagated energy and degree of dispersion to the mechanical strength and the structural integrity of the hard tissues. These and other objectives and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from consideration of the following detailed description of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram representing the present invention for separating the ultrasound energy propagated through skeletal tissues, and for measuring the velocity and attenuation of ultrasound along an in vivo bone. The bone and surrounding soft tissues are represented diagrammatically in a side view; FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic top view representation of a portion of the FIG. 1 system; FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a preferred procedure for signal conditioning, correlation analysis and spectral estimation of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating an empirical output of the correlated signal from an in vivo human tibia; FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a linear approximation model for the bone and soft tissues in ultrasound propagation; FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating an empirical relation between the received ultrasound energy and simulated defect size. Referring to FIG. 1, a resonance type piezoelectric transducer 2, excited by a pulse generator 1, comprise an ultrasound generating system. The transducer 2 is a wide band type, having a bandwidth of, for example, greater than 100 KHz and a resonance frequency of less than 1 MHz, a wide divergence angle (e.g., 90°). The transducer 2 functions as a transmitter. The divergence angle of a transducer is the angle from the center axis of the transducer to the outer boundary of the ultrasound wave front. The divergence angle of a transducer is a function of the wavelength λ of the ultrasound in soft tissues and the diameter of the transducer d, such that: Divergence angle=(2.23) sin-1 (λ/d). Because a bone 5, soft tissues 7 and marrow 6 are each heterogeneous and anisotropic and have complicated geometries, an ultrasound signal is reflected, refracted, and attenuated at the interface boundaries of different densities as it propagates along the bone and the soft tissues. Two transducers 3 and 4, which are identical to the transducer 2, are used as receivers. The transducer 3 serves as a reference for a normal portion of a bone, and is mounted closer to the transmitter 2 than the transducer 4 which is located across a suspected defect or fracture site 8. The transducers are mechanically interconnected to determine a distance indicated by 9 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, and are mounted over the skin by employing a gel couplant. Amplifiers 10A, 10B and filters 11A, 11B condition the received signals which are then applied to a signal processing unit 12. The processed signals provided by signal processing unit 12 are sent to a computer 14 via a communication port 13. The computer 14 controls the signal processing procedures, displays processed data on a monitor 15, produces hard copies on a printer 16, and stores data in an external memory device 17 for later analysis. As shown in FIG. 3, an analog-to-digital converter 18 digitizes ultrasound signals. A fixed reference signal 19 is generated by joining the transmitter 2 and one of the receivers 3 or 4 face to face and is stored in a memory (not shown). A digital correlator 20 calculates an auto-correlation 21 of the received ultrasound signals and a cross-correlation 22 of the received ultrasound signal using the fixed reference signal. The correlated signals are applied to the computer 14 and displayed on a monitor 15 (FIG. 1). The mechanical strength and structural integrity of hard tissues, such as bone, can be determined by analyzing any correlated signal in terms of ultrasound parameters including the velocity of the ultrasound in the tissue, attenuation and the degree of dispersion of the ultrasound signal while propagating through the tissue. A variable delay gate 23, having a starting position and a width that can be determined by those skilled in art interactively through the monitor 15, limits the range of the correlated output to separate the ultrasound energy propagated along the soft tissues from the ultrasound energy propagated along the hard tissue. The auto-correlated signal and cross-correlated signal can be represented, in the frequency domain, by a fast Fourier transform (FFT) 24 as an approximated power spectrum 25 and cross-spectrum 26, respectively. A digital divider 27 is used to obtain the approximated characteristic frequency response of the bone. The time domain representation of the approximated frequency response of the bone can be obtained through the inverse fourier transforms (IFFT) 28. The characteristic response of the bone both in the frequency domain and in the time domain can then be used to predict the risk of failure. An empirical cross-correlated output from an in vivo human tibia is shown in FIG. 4. To obtain this information the transmitter 2 and the receiver 4 were mounted on an anterior-medial part of the left tibia. To obtain the response illustrated in FIG. 4, two air-backed resonance type piezoelectric transducers (having a resonance frequency of approximately 155 KHz) (such as Dunegan/Endveco Model No. S9204) were used as the transmitter 2 and receiver 4. A received ultrasound signal was amplified to a 70 dB level, and then digitized. The cross-correlated output of the received ultrasound energy shows a clear distinction between ultrasound energy propagated along bone and ultrasound energy propagated along soft tissues. The envelope of distributed energy shown in FIG. 4 has two peaks 29a and 29b. The envelope with peak 29a corresponds to ultrasound energy propagated along bone, and the envelope with peak 29b corresponds to ultrasound energy propagated along soft tissues. The delay time of the envelope with peak 29a was approximately 12.5 μsec. and is represented in FIG. 4 by reference numeral 30a. The delay time of the ultrasound energy propagated along soft tissues was approximately 27 μsec. and is represented in FIG. 4 by reference number 30b. Since the distance between the transducers was measured to be approximately 4.25 cm, the velocity of the ultrasound in the bone and soft tissue was calculated by dividing the distance between the transducers by the delay time for each envelope. The result is that the velocity of the ultrasound in the bone was approximately 3.4 km/sec., and 1.5 km/sec. for the soft tissues. This measured velocity of ultrasound in both bone and soft tissues agrees well with values reported by others. The maximum ultrasound energy propagated through the bone is approximately 4.65×10-4 volts2 -second, and that propagated through the soft tissues is approximately 6.0×10-4 volts2 -second. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) for the ultrasound energy propagating in the bone is identified by reference numeral 33 in FIG. 4 and is approximately 10 μsec. The variable width gate discussed with reference to FIG. 3 starts at zero sec. and ends at 22 μsec. and therefore has a width represented by reference numeral 32 in FIG. 4. The same variable gate starting position and width is also applied to the auto-correlation function. As a result, only signals within the range of the variable gate signal are used to approximate the characteristic response of the bone being measured. Referring to FIG. 5, a theoretical explanation of the two distinguishable envelope peaks of the cross-correlated output shown in FIG. 4 can be obtained by considering a simplified linear model of ultrasound propagation along the bone and soft tissues. The bone and the soft tissues are simplified to be isotropic and homogeneous materials. The impulse response of a bone 34 is denoted as h1 (t), while that of soft tissues 35 is denoted as h2 (t). To simplify the explanation it is assumed that no considerable time dependent change occurs at the periosteum, denoted by α1 36 and α2 37. The fixed reference signal, as mentioned earlier, is established by joining the transmitter 2 and one of the receivers 3, 4 face to face, and is expressed in terms of a convolution as: ##EQU1## where x1 (t) is the characteristic impulse response of the transducer. The linear model of FIG. 5 can then be expressed as: ##EQU2## Then the cross-correlated output has a form: ##EQU3## where ##EQU4## is the autocorrelated output of the reference signal. It is appreciated that the above procedure is essentially a process of accumulation and averaging so that even a very low level input ultrasound can produce a meaningful output, provided that the averaging time is sufficiently long. The Rxx (π) has the maximum at π=0. Thus, it is expected that there will be two major peaks arising at t=π1 and at t=π2. Since ultrasound propagation along bone and soft tissues is actually much more complicated, and since bone and soft tissues are heterogeneous and anisotropic, dispersion of energy peaks around π1 and π2 of FIG. 4 is expected. Also, since the correlation is a measure of similarity between signals, the degree of dispersion is expected to be smaller in a normal bone than in an abnormal bone. One of the customary methods of measuring the degree of dispersion is the FWHM. This method was employed in the embodiments of the present invention and is a valuable parameter indicating the structural integrity of a bone. The variable delay gate 23 had a width πg, and removes the effects of the soft tissues. The signal provided by the delay gate 23 has the form: ##EQU5## which can be expressed in the frequency domain as: ##EQU6## where ##EQU7## is the approximated cross-spectrum, and ##EQU8## is the power spectrum. The characteristic frequency response of the bone can be approximated as: ##EQU9## If ultrasound is propagated through a bone without surrounding soft tissues, the energy of the received ultrasound signal can be calculated by: ##EQU10## It should be noted that the calculated energy is proportional to the actual received ultrasound energy by a factor of the inverse of the acoustic impedance. A clear relationship between the received ultrasound energy and simulated defects is shown in FIG. 6. Here, a phantom (plexiglas) was used to simulate a bone, and the defects were introduced by transversely cutting a groove between the transmitter and a receiver. In order to ensure a sufficiently long averaging time, the pulse repetition rate can be set so that the transmitter can be reactivated after the ringing of the transducer due to the previous pulse has completely ceased. As shown in FIG. 6, as the size of the defect increases, the received ultrasound energy decreases. The ultrasound energy propagated along the bone and along the soft tissues can be expressed respectively as: ##EQU11## and ##EQU12## As will be apparent from the foregoing description, the present invention provides a novel method of obtaining information about the mechanical strength and the structural integrity of hard connective tissues, insensitive to variations in other tissues. The principles of this invention can be applied to monitor and to diagnose bone disorders. Although the invention has been described in its preferred embodiment with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and numerous changes in details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed. |Cited Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title| |US4941474 *||1 Jul 1988||17 Jul 1990||Massachusetts Institute Of Technology||Multivariable analysis of bone condition| |Citing Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title| |US5218963 *||15 Oct 1991||15 Jun 1993||Lunar Corporation||Ultrasonic bone analysis device and method| |US5396891 *||7 Apr 1993||14 Mar 1995||Osteo Sciences Corporation||System and method for external acoustic bone velocity measurement| |US5402781 *||3 Mar 1993||4 Apr 1995||Washington University||Method and apparatus for determining bone density and diagnosing osteoporosis| |US5426979 *||11 Aug 1992||27 Jun 1995||Medicano Systems Ltd.||Frequency spectrum apparatus for determining mechanical properties| |US5524624 *||5 May 1994||11 Jun 1996||Amei Technologies Inc.||Apparatus and method for stimulating tissue growth with ultrasound| |US5649538 *||8 Feb 1996||22 Jul 1997||Mccue Plc||Simulation of bone in ultrasonic assessment apparatus| |US5720290 *||13 Mar 1996||24 Feb 1998||Metra Biosystems, Inc.||Apparatus and method for acoustic analysis of bone using optimized functions of spectral and temporal signal components| |US5730135 *||6 Sep 1996||24 Mar 1998||Horiba, Ltd.||Ultrasonic bone diagnostic apparatus and method| |US5800363 *||27 Mar 1996||1 Sep 1998||Cheng; Shu Lin||Method for diagnosing and monitoring osteoporosis| |US5836876 *||31 Mar 1995||17 Nov 1998||Washington University||Method and apparatus for determining bone density and diagnosing osteoporosis| |US5840029 *||4 Feb 1997||24 Nov 1998||Lunar Corporation||Imaging ultrasonic densitometer| |US5882303 *||25 Jan 1996||16 Mar 1999||Stuessi; Edgar||Process and arrangement for determining the dispersion properties of mechanical waves in a three-dimensional object| |US5931780 *||29 Nov 1993||3 Aug 1999||Arch Development Corporation||Method and system for the computerized radiographic analysis of bone| |US6004272 *||7 Jun 1995||21 Dec 1999||Hologic, Inc.||Ultrasonic bone testing apparatus with repeatable positioning and repeatable coupling| |US6024711 *||12 Mar 1998||15 Feb 2000||The University Of British Columbia||Diagnosis of osteoporosis using acoustic emissions| |US6027449 *||9 Jun 1998||22 Feb 2000||Lunar Corporation||Ultrasonometer employing distensible membranes| |US6135964 *||10 Aug 1999||24 Oct 2000||Hologic, Inc.||Ultrasonic bone testing apparatus with repeatable positioning and repeatable coupling| |US6205348||26 Apr 1999||20 Mar 2001||Arch Development Corporation||Method and system for the computerized radiographic analysis of bone| |US6221019||3 Oct 1996||24 Apr 2001||Sunlight Ultrasound Technologies Limited||Ultrasonic device for determining bone characteristics| |US6322507 *||25 Oct 1999||27 Nov 2001||Medson Ltd.||Ultrasonic apparatus and method for evaluation of bone tissue| |US6364837||28 Apr 2000||2 Apr 2002||Lunar Corporation||Contact digital ultrasonic densitometer| |US6371916||3 Sep 1999||16 Apr 2002||Metra Biosystems, Inc.||Acoustic analysis of bone using point-source-like transducers| |US6385474||19 Mar 1999||7 May 2002||Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute||Method and apparatus for high-resolution detection and characterization of medical pathologies| |US6413215||13 Sep 2000||2 Jul 2002||The University Of Vermont||Implant wear debris detection apparatus and method| |US6491635||28 Apr 2000||10 Dec 2002||Lunar Corporation||Digital ultrasonic densitometer| |US6517487||20 Jul 1999||11 Feb 2003||Lunar Corporation||Ultrasonic densitometer with opposed single transducer and transducer array| |US6585647||21 Jul 1999||1 Jul 2003||Alan A. 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Risk Utilizing Acoustic Parameters| |US20090112094 *||13 Apr 2007||30 Apr 2009||The Research Foundation Of State University Of New York||Phased Apply Ultrasound With Electronically Controlled Focal Point For Assessing Bone Quality Via Acoustic Topology And Wave Transmit Functions| |US20100210942 *||24 Nov 2009||19 Aug 2010||New Jersey Institute Of Technology||System and method for ultrasound analysis of biological structures| |US20100262042 *||13 Apr 2010||14 Oct 2010||Kirn Larry J||Acoustic myography system and methods| |US20110046517 *||17 May 2010||24 Feb 2011||Roth Sanford A||Method and system for monitoring skeletal defects| |US20110201928 *||14 Feb 2011||18 Aug 2011||Nebojsa Duric||Method of characterizing the pathological response of tissue to a treatment plan| |US20110201932 *||14 Feb 2011||18 Aug 2011||Nebojsa Duric||Method of characterizing tissue of a patient| |CN1766530B||29 Nov 2005||12 Jan 2011||宏扬(河北)医疗器械有限公司||Method for measuring sound velocity in bone by two-way approach method| |CN102293668A *||16 Jun 2011||28 Dec 2011||华南理工大学||一种骨折实时监护方法及装置| |CN102293668B||16 Jun 2011||25 Sep 2013||华南理工大学||Method and device for monitoring bone fracture in real time| |CN103884774A *||27 Feb 2014||25 Jun 2014||浙江大学||Device and method for measuring viscoelasticity of material by using ultrasound water printing pressure| |EP0726061A1 *||7 Feb 1996||14 Aug 1996||McCue PLC||Simulation of bone in ultrasonic assessment apparatus| |EP1123044A2 *||25 Oct 1999||16 Aug 2001||Medson Ltd.||Ultrasonic apparatus and method for evaluation of bone tissue| |EP1123044A4 *||25 Oct 1999||3 Aug 2005||Medson Ltd||Ultrasonic apparatus and method for evaluation of bone tissue| |WO1993016652A1 *||24 Feb 1993||2 Sep 1993||Young Michael John R||Apparatus for ultrasonic therapeutic treatment| |WO1996022732A1 *||25 Jan 1996||1 Aug 1996||Stuessi Edgar||Process and device for determining the propagation properties of mechanical waves in a spatial structure| |WO1997013145A1 *||3 Oct 1996||10 Apr 1997||Sunlight Ultrasound Technologies Limited||Ultrasonic device for determining bone characteristics| |WO1999045348A1 *||24 Jun 1998||10 Sep 1999||Sunlight Medical, Ltd.||Determination of acoustic velocity in bone| |WO2000024307A2 *||25 Oct 1999||4 May 2000||Medson Ltd.||Ultrasonic evaluation of bone tissue| |WO2000024307A3 *||25 Oct 1999||5 Oct 2000||Shmuel Bukshpan||Ultrasonic evaluation of bone tissue| |WO2001037733A3 *||21 Nov 2000||10 May 2002||Noveon Ip Holdings Corp||Implant loosening and fracture healing evaluation apparatus and method| |WO2010132874A1 *||17 May 2010||18 Nov 2010||Medsonics Us, Inc.||Method and system for monitoring skeletal defects| |U.S. Classification||600/437, 600/442| |International Classification||A61B8/08, G01N29/11, G01H5/00, G01N29/34| |Cooperative Classification||G01N29/348, G01H5/00, A61B8/0875, G01N29/11| |European Classification||G01N29/11, G01H5/00, G01N29/34F, A61B8/08R| |3 Aug 1990||AS||Assignment| Owner name: ORTHOSONICS, INC., A CORP. OF NY, NEW YORK Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST.;ASSIGNORS:KWON, SEO J.;KATZ, J. LAWRENCE;REEL/FRAME:005406/0489;SIGNING DATES FROM 19900713 TO 19900718 |9 Apr 1996||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed| |12 Aug 1996||FPAY||Fee payment| Year of fee payment: 4 |12 Aug 1996||SULP||Surcharge for late payment| |28 Mar 2000||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed| |7 Nov 2000||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee| Effective date: 20000901 |18 Mar 2002||FPAY||Fee payment| Year of fee payment: 8 |5 Apr 2002||SULP||Surcharge for late payment| |7 May 2002||PRDP||Patent reinstated due to the acceptance of a late maintenance fee| Effective date: 20020401 |17 Mar 2004||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed| |1 Sep 2004||LAPS||Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees| |26 Oct 2004||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee| Effective date: 20040901

October 1st, 2011 § § permalink Welcome Scarlet Reds: Acer palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’ in the Secret Garden Welcome October … A Favorite Month, in a Favorite Season ! And Glowing Orange: Rhus typhina ‘Tiger Eyes’ in the Border at Meadow’s Edge … Luminous as Stained Glass: Cornus kousa (Kousa Dogwood) and the Remnants of Daucus carota (Queen Anne’s Lace) in the Garden … Vibrant Plum and Violet: Hydrangea quercifolia (Oakleaf Hydrangea) in the Entry Garden … All the Colors of the Rainbow in Fields: Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Hameln’ (Fountain Grass), Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Weed) and Amsonia hubrichtii (Arkansas Blue Star) … And Forests: Viburnum lantanoides (Hobblebush) in the Forest Photographs and Text ⓒ Michaela Medina/The Gardener’s Eden. All photos, articles and content on this site (with noted exceptions) are the original, copyrighted property of The Gardener’s Eden and may not be reposted, reproduced or used in any way without prior written consent. Contact information is in the left side bar. Thank you! Do you enjoy The Gardener’s Eden? You can help support this site by shopping through affiliate links (including Amazon book links). A small percentage of each sale will be paid to this site, helping to cover web hosting and maintenance costs. Thank you so much for your support! April 9th, 2011 § § permalink A young Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ in my garden. This photo was taken last spring during a passing shower, just as the beautifully vibrant red leaves began to unfold I love all trees, but I have to admit that in particular, I am a very, very fond of Japanese maples. And in spite of the fact that they can be difficult to grow in cold climates, every year I add a new, hardy specimen to my garden. The first Japanese maple I planted when I bought my land ten years ago was Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’. A lovely tree with dark, oxblood colored leaves and fine structural form, ‘Bloodgood’ is a commonly grown Japanee maple cultivar in the northeast; mainly due to its hardiness. But in spite of this tree’s tolerance for cold, one of the biggest challenges to growing Japanese maples in the northern climates —breakage due to heavy snow and ice accumulation— remains a problem with this and many other ornamental trees with complex branch angles and patterns. Preliminary pruning and training helps to set up a strong framework for ornamental trees —to withstand winter’s weighty precipitation— but some breakage is inevitable during ice storms with heavy accumulation. Perhaps you’ll recall this image, of the Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ in my garden, taken during the last of many ice storms in late winter of this year. Fortunately, only one branch cracked beneath the weight of the ice, and it was one I’d considered removing late last summer anyway. When damage does occur on a Japanese maple, and on many other trees, one of the toughest maintenance tasks is pruning out broken limbs without damaging the bark and healthy wood on the nearby trunk and branches. Making cuts in tight spaces (like the one pictured below) can be difficult unless you have the right tool on hand. Hand-held bypass pruners (like those shown in the last post) are fine for branches and limbs up to 1/2″ in diameter. But when the limb is thicker, it’s best to switch to a pruning saw. When I need to cut a moderately sized limb —several inches thick— particularly in tight and awkward spaces, I reach for my handy folding saw. Sometimes this pruning tool is referred to as a Grecian or Japanese-blade pruning saw. This type of saw has teeth —arranged in an arc on the inside of a blade— and folds up neatly into a compact size (see photos below). Designed to cut on the pull-stroke, these saws makes quick, clean work of tree limb removal. This limb is too large to cut with bypass pruners, and the angle is too tight for my bow saw. So, the tool of choice? The handy folding saw! This type of saw is sometimes called a ‘Grecian’ saw, or a ‘Japanese blade’ pruning saw. Here’s what it looks like fully extended. When I’m finished using it, I can just close it up an put it in my back pocket (no worries about stabbing myself!) Sometimes —when a branch is split or badly mangled by a storm, weak or crossing and rubbing a near-by branch— it’s necessary to completely remove the tree limb. Knowing how to properly make this type of pruning cut is very important to the long term health of trees in your garden. Cut too far from the trunk and you are left with an ugly stub, which invites disease and further breakage. Cut too close to the main trunk, damaging the branch collar, and you risk exposing the entire tree to disease and opportunistic parasites. But, fear not. This cut isn’t difficult to make when you take your time, follow a patient process and use the right tool. To remove the damaged limb on my Japanese maple, first, I made a preliminary cut on the branch, removing the weight and leaving a long stub. Next, I undercut the remaining limb with a short 1/4″ deep cut. This will prevent cracking and tearing of the limb when I make my final cut from the top. Carefully observe where the ridge meets with the main trunk, and look for the wrinkly collar’s edge. Just beyond this spot is where the limb should be cleanly and neatly cut. Find your line and cleanly cut through as shown. Any ragged edges should be cleaned up with a sharp pruning knife. Soon the open area on the Japanese maple trunk will grey up, callus over and blend right in with the rest of the tree. At this time of year in cold climates, a Japanese maple (And other maple trees, and sap running species like birch) will weep when cut. This will not harm the tree. This wounded tree was weeping sap from the jagged break anyway. However, I do try to limit my cuts on trees with actively running sap at this time of year. I only remove what I absolutely need to, in order to prevent disease and speed up the ‘healing’ process. When removing a long limb, particularly a heavy one, I begin by taking off some of the weight and making room to work with an initial cut farther out on the branch. Reducing the weight also decreases the likelihood of tears in my final cut near the branch collar. Next, I make an undercut on the branch. This cut will be approximately 1/4 through the branch. This is another insurance cut; preventing a crack in the wood or tear in the bark when I remove the stub branch from the top. This photo is little bigger, because I want you to really see the wrinkly edge of the branch collar. Do you see the ridge just to the left of the blade, where where the main trunk meets the limb and the wrinkly ‘collar’ just past that? Well, it’s important to get nice and close to that wrinkly collar with a clean, flush cut. But, it’s equally important NOT to saw into the branch collar. The cleaner and straighter the cut, the faster and easier it will be for the cells to quickly cover the open wound and for the callus to protect the tree from insects and disease. Cut clean and close, this wood will quickly callus over and soon blend in with the surrounding trunk. Sometimes, a limb will break right at that collar margin. If the tree injury is located in this area, carefully cut as straight a line as possible, and clean up any ragged edges of wood with a pruning knife. The more even the wood, the less area will need to be covered by new cells, and the faster the tree will callus. Felco’s Folding Saw is the right tool for pruning branches and limbs up to 3″ in diameter, particularly in tight places. You can order one from Amazon.com by clicking on the image or text link here. Or…. In honor of this blog’s second anniversary this month, I will be giving away several gifts at random, starting with a pruning saw, like the one pictured above. For your chance to win this handy tool, simply comment on this blog post before 12:00 pm, noon Eastern Time, April 11, 2011. Be sure to leave your email address (will not be visible here, nor will it be shared or sold) so that I can contact you if you win. And, one last thing… Let me know what your favorite thing is about this blog, and what you’d like to see more of this year! I’d love your feedback. Thank you for following The Gardener’s Eden ! xo Michaela The winner will be chosen at random from comments received prior to noon ET 4/11/2011. One entry per household, per giveaway please. Drawing will take place and winners will be announced here, on Facebook and Twitter, on Tuesday, 4/12/2011. Saw will be shipped to the winning reader at the end of the month. Due to shipping constraints, this giveaway is open to US and Canadian readers of The Gardener’s Eden only. All taxes, tariffs, duties or fees not directly associated with shipping and handling will be the responsibility of the winner.Good luck! The Winner of the Folding Pruning Saw is: Michelle Kraetschmer! Congratulations, Michelle. Article and photographs are copyright Michaela at The Gardener’s Eden, all rights reserved. All content on this site, (with noted exceptions), is the property of The Gardener’s Eden and may not be used, reproduced or reposted elsewhere without written consent. Do you enjoy The Gardener’s Eden? You can help support this site by shopping through affiliate links here. A small percentage of each sale will be paid to this site, helping to cover web hosting and maintenance costs. Thank you so much for your support! December 15th, 2010 § § permalink From peach and cream to reddish brown, the peeling bark of our native, paper birch (Betula papyrifera) is one of my favorite textures in the winter landscape… Brr… It sure is cold outside. With temperatures hovering around 15 degrees fahrenheit here in Vermont, it takes an awful lot to stop me in my tracks for more than a minute or two. And yet this afternoon, as I walked up the garden path from the driveway, I couldn’t resist lingering outside to enjoy the light and snap a few quick photos to share. Winter is an incredible time for appreciating the subtler forms of botanical beauty -particularly the colors and textures of twigs and bark. Although most of the trees and shrubs in my garden were chosen for the quality of their form, foliage, flowers and berries, bark always plays a part in my plant selection as well. Living in a remote forest-clearing, I’m lucky to be surrounded by woodlands filled with beautiful, native trees –including one of my favorites, the dramatic, white-barked paper birch (Betula papyrifera). Paper birch trees are gorgeous any time of the year, but in winter, the peachy-cream and cinnamon hues of their peeling bark really stand out against dark hillsides and brown tones in the landscape. The trunks of other native trees, including the common striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum) with its snake-like bark, and dramatic shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), also add tremendous beauty to winter’s fine tapestry of hues and textures. Naked though they may be —stripped of their foliage for nearly six months out of the year— the deciduous trees and shrubs of New England remain a constant source of fascination to my eyes. A dusting of snow enhances the cinnamon-colored bark of this oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) like a sprinkling of sweet sugar Taking my cue from nature, I’ve added a wide variety of trees and shrubs with peeling, papery, striped and shaggy bark to my garden; adding visual interest throughout the quiet season. In winter, the surfaces of these textural plants enhance the beauty of outdoor spaces —including beds and borders, paths and walkways— as well as the views from the doors and windows of my house. Come December —as snow and ice begin to settle into the nooks an crannies on tree bark, woody stems and twigs— the colors and textures of these plants are intensified; adding to the winter-wonderland surrounding my home. Now is great time to bundle up and make note of the subtle details in your home landscape. Conifers, as well as the brightly colored twigs and berries of deciduous trees and shrubs add an immense amount of beauty to the winter garden –of course. But also, keep the texture of shrub and tree bark in mind as well. In addition to the specimens pictured here, you may wish to consider Striped Maple cultivars (Acer pensylvanicum cvs.), Japanese maple (Acer palmatum), River birch (Betula nigra), Katsuratree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), Cinnamon Clethra (Clethra acuminata), Dogwood species and cultivars (Cornus), Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), Black Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum), and one of my all-time-favorite trees (and recent garden addition) Persian ironwood (Parrotia persica), among other texturally dramatic choices for the garden. Come and take a peek at some of the beautiful colors and textures I enjoyed outside in the garden today; snapping photos until my fingers grew numb… The peeling, cinnamon colored bark of Hydrangea quercifolia stands out beautifully against a backdrop of Juniperus squamata ‘Holger’ and Ilex verticillata ‘Red Sprite’ The reptillian-looking bark of this Mountain Silverbell (Halesia tetraptera) is beautiful year-round, but when the leaves drop, it really stands out against a back-drop of snow… The textural branches of native ninebark and cultivars (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diablo’) adds color and movement to the winter landscape. Here, a tiny strip of peeling, patterned bark catches the wind on a December day… Although the trunk of this Stewartia pseudocamilla will develop far more texture and color as it matures, the bark is still beautiful and interesting in youth… Both the luminous cinnamon-red color —particularly when backlit as here— and curling texture of beautiful paperbark maple (Acer griseum) make it one of my favorite trees… Article and Photographs are ⓒ Michaela at TGE All content on this site, (with noted exceptions), is the property of The Gardener’s Eden and may not be used or reproduced without prior written consent. Inspired by something you see here? Great! Please give credit where credit is due. It’s a small world and link-love makes for fond friendships. Stealing makes for bad dreams… Do you enjoy visiting The Gardener’s Eden? You can help support this site by shopping through our affiliate links. A small percentage of any sale originating from The Gardener’s Eden will go toward web hosting and maintenance costs. Thank you for your support! November 8th, 2010 § § permalink Acer palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’ and Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’at the Secret Garden Entry in Early November It seems to me that the first week of November flew by in a complete blur. This morning I awoke to howling wind and the unmistakable sound of sleet blasting the windowpanes. In one short week, the vast majority of deciduous trees surrounding my home have shed their late autumn foliage. Looking out at the hillside today, only rust-colored beech leaves and deep-green conifer needles remain. As I watch the high winds whipping about my garden —stripping leaves and knocking plants to and fro— I’m glad that I made time to snap a few photos during last week’s grand, color-finale. For although I do love the subtle textures and muted hues of winter, I always mourn the end of autumn’s brilliant color-spectacle. The season is changing quickly now, shifting toward the darkness and stark, skeletal landscapes. But before it all slips away, let’s take a walk through the colorful foliage in the garden; soaking up the warm color and glowing light… Vibrant Late-Season Foliage – The leaves of Acer palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’ change slowly and hold long at the Secret Garden Door Acer palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’ and Daphne x burkwoodi ‘Carol Mackie’ Acer palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’ – The Reflected Red Foliage Flickering Like Flames in the Water As the flame grass fades to tawny bronze, Amsonia illustris (foreground), Lysimachia clethroides, Fothergilla ‘Mt Airy’ and the golden color of Hemerocallis foliage light up the entry garden and walkway against a backdrop of Juniperus x Pfitzeriana ‘Sea Green’ Although the majority of birch leaves (Betula papyrifera) have fallen, colorful plants —including those listed above as well as Aster oblongifolium ‘Raydon’s Favorite’, Clethra alnifolia ‘Ruby Spice’, Amsonia hubrichtii, and Cornus kousa— continue to provide autumn color in the garden Close-up of Miscanthus sinensis ‘Purpurascens’, Fothergilla ‘Mt Airy’, Lysimachia clethroides and Rudbeckia hirta seed pods, against a backdrop of ‘Sea Green’ Juniperus x Pfitzeriana The same grouping of plants pictured above, viewed from the opposite side of the walkway In front of the Secret Garden wall, Cornus kousa glows like a bonfire (backed here by Juniperus x Pfitzeriana ‘Sea Green’ and fronted by Juniperus sargentii). As the last yellowing leaves fall from Ilex verticillata ‘Red Sprite’, her beautiful red berries stand out like bits of luminous confetti against the blue-green juniper. Throughout November, Fothergilla ‘Mt Airy’ and Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Hameln’ add a splash of orange and gold to this garden’s foreground. In my garden, two of the very last trees to drop their leaves are the Cornus kousa in front of the Secret Garden wall (from Walker Farm in Dummerston, VT) and the Acer palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’ at the Secret Garden entry (see list above for other plants in this border) The high stone walls (built by artist Dan Snow) provide a buffer from the wind. This bit of extra protection is at least partly responsible for the lengthy autumn foliage display in this garden. A. palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’ forms a flaming red arch above the Secret Garden door Looking inside the Secret Garden on a rainy, early November day. In autumn, the chartreuse color of Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ intensifies to an even more luminous-hue. I love gazing upon its beauty on rainy days. For a listing of other plants in this garden, see the Secret Garden page at left. The beautiful autumn color of Cornus kousa was my primary motivation when planting this tree (purchased from Walker Farm) five years ago. Now that it has reached a more substantial height, it can be enjoyed from inside the Secret Garden and Garden Room as well as from the front walkway. Plants visible in the foreground include Rodgersia aesculifolia and to the right, Paeonia mouton x lutea ‘High Noon’ (both from Walker Farm). The reflected foliage of A. plamatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’. This semi-frost-proof water bowl will remain outdoors until early December, when I empty it and bring it inside for the winter. Schizophragma hydrangeoides ‘Roseum’ in November’s Secret Garden – In late autumn, the deep green foliage lights up the dark stone wall with its brilliant-chartreuse fall color Although the native forest (background) has shed most of its leaves —save the burnt-orange beech in the background here— the Secret Garden continues to celebrate with a grand finale of color (A. palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’, Fothergilla gardenii, Hosta ‘August Moon’ and various ground covering perennials; including Heuchera, Euphorbia and Bergenia) A Last Look at Autumn’s Beautiful Reflection Article and Photographs ⓒ Michaela at TGE All content on this site, (with noted exceptions), is the property of The Gardener’s Eden and may not be used or reproduced without prior written consent. Inspired by something you see here? Great! Please give credit where credit is due. It’s a small world and link-love makes for fond friendships. Stealing makes for bad dreams… Do you enjoy visiting The Gardener’s Eden? You can help support this site by shopping through our affiliate links. Advertisers do not pay for editorial placement here, but do remit a small percentage of any sale originating from The Gardener’s Eden affiliate links to this site. All proceeds will go toward web hosting and maintenance costs. Thank you for your support! April 28th, 2010 § § permalink Horizontal juniper, (photo © 2010 Michaela at TGE), pruned to highlight stonework and clay pot focal point… Japanese maple, (photo © Michaela at TGE), pruned to arch over the Secret Garden doorway… Microbiota decussata, (Siberian cypress), (photo © Michaela at TGE), pruned to highlight the edge of a walkway… Pruning: Why, when, how and what? Oh the frustration and confusion on the gardener’s face when given their first red handled Felco pruners. And you know what? I understand completely. I wasn’t born with scissor hands – though I sometimes feel like it. I love to prune, and I love teaching gardeners about pruning. This weekend, I will be presenting a free seminar on ornamental pruning at Walker Farm – please come on by if you are in southern Vermont this weekend, (call 802-254-2051 or visit walkerfarm.com for more information). For me, what began as a loathsome task many years ago, has become one of my greatest passions. Pruning is indeed an art, but it is also a science. To train a tree or shrub artfully is to create living sculpture, and to correctly prune away damage is to prevent disease. Think of the great bonsai of Japan, and the masterful topiary in Europe. Oh the beauty and skill – oh the intimidation! Oh yes, I understand. Not every gardener wishes to create a maze of boxwood hedges, (mmm, but wouldn’t it be fun?). The truth is, all master pruners begin their craft with a simple pair of bypass pruners or other secateurs, and an introduction to the effects of various kinds of cuts on plant growth. In fact the most basic type of pruning, pinching, requires only a pair of fingernails! Curious to learn more about pruning? Travel back a bit on this site to a post I wrote last year on pruning. There you will find an introduction to the hows and whys of this craft. A few simple tools and supplies are needed to get you started: a good pair of bypass pruners, (I use Felco 8 or Felco 6 for smaller hands, but there are higher end pruners, and also less expensive types); a quality Grecian, (or Felco Folding Saw), saw; a Bow Saw for tackling large limbs; and a pair of basic, manually operated hedge shears will come in handy for tackling hedges or large clumps of ornamental grass… My pruning tools after a day of work, (photo © 2010 Michaela at TGE) ready for cleaning, sharpening and oiling… Although major structural pruning usually takes place during the dormant season, (here in Vermont, this tends to be in February and very early March), there’s always a need for the occasional snip, trim or cut in the garden. Damaged branches should always be removed as soon as noticed, and spent flower blossoms, especially on roses, are best removed when they fade. I will be writing more about pruning, and caring for your tools of the trade. But for now, I encourage you to begin with the introductory article I posted last year. And of course, please enter this week’s giveaway contest… Thinning horizontal juniper, (photo © 2010 Michaela at TGE)… Felco Classic Pruner (available at Amazon Home/Garden) The right tools are key to success in every garden task, and for pruning jobs, one of my favorite tools is the classic Felco 6 or 8 bypass pruner. And at the end of this month, one lucky reader will receive a complimentary pair of Felco 6 or 8 pruners, (depending upon hand size), from The Gardener’s Eden! In honor of our first anniversary, The Gardener’s Eden is giving away one last, special gift. In order to enter, simply answer the question below in the comment section of this article. Be sure to post your answer prior to 11:59 am Eastern Daylight Time cut-off. Only one entry per reader, per give-away please. The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries received, and will be notified by email. Gift recipients will also be announced both here on the blog and on our Facebook Page, and all gifts will ship at the end of the month. So now… The question is: No quiz today! Simply state whether you wear a small, medium or large size glove, (to help determine Felco pruner size). In order to enter the contest, please post your answer in comments here on the blog, (not on the Facebook page). All email addresses will remain unpublished and kept in complete confidence. Your email will only be used to notify you if you have won. Good Luck! * In order to provide each reader with an equal chance to win, your comment/ entry will not appear until 4/29* Entry must be posted by 11:59, Eastern Time, 4/28/10 Article and photographs are copyright 2010, Michaela at TGE. All content on this site, (with noted exceptions), is the property of The Gardener’s Eden and may not be used or reproduced without prior written consent. Inspired by something you see here? Great! Please give credit where credit is due. It’s a small world and link-love makes for fond friendships. Stealing makes for bad dreams… Do you enjoy visiting The Gardener’s Eden? You can help support this site by shopping through our affiliate links. A small percentage of any sale originating from The Gardener’s Eden site will go toward web hosting and maintenance costs. Thank you for your support! October 23rd, 2009 § Comments Off on Autumn Brilliance Part Three: Plant Partners for the Late Show and Early Winter Marquee… § permalink Acer palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’ in late October By late October, much of the foliage in the forest surrounding my garden has passed its peak. Although the woods are still basking in the glow of golden birch and poplar, lemony striped maple, rusty red oak and amber colored beech – the vibrant orange and red maple leaves are now carpeting the woodland paths, where they rustle in the wind and crunch beneath my feet. Walks through the forest in late autumn are a fragrant affair; scented with musky dampness and memories. There is a beautiful sadness in the woods at this time of year – a melancholy enhanced by frequently-foggy mornings and low-lit afternoons… Acer palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’ foliage in late October In my garden, most flowers vanished with the recent hard frost – but the ornamental fruit and foliage, stars of autumn’s late-show, are still going strong. Now through mid November, the leading role belongs to my favorite tree, Acer palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’. This Japanese maple, commonly known as ‘The Blue-Green Dragon’, (currently the only upright dissected-leaf cultivar), is planted at the bottom edge of a slope near my studio where it arches over the Secret Garden door. The Blue-Green Dragon is prized for its lacy, delicately cut foliage and its late season color. A true chameleon, this dragon changes from sea-green to golden chartreuse before lighting a brilliant blaze of orange. Finally, in mid November, the dragon’s heat simmers down to a coppery hue as her leaves slowly drop to the hidden walkway below. Nearby, Daphne x burkwoodii, ‘Carol Mackie’, has begun her own transformation; morphing from variegated green and white to a citrusy blend of lemon yellow, sweet orange and sour lime. The contrast between these two plants is particularly stunning in the last week of October and the first few days of November. Closer to ground-level, Bergenia ‘Bressingham Ruby’, planted at the foot of the entry wall to the Secret Garden, shines like a candy apple. Glossy green and elegant during the summer months, by late autumn Bergenia’s foliage has shifted hues from green to orange to cherry red – until finally settling on the ruby-wine color she will hold throughout the early winter months…. Bergenia ‘Bressingham Ruby’ Secret Garden door in October Further along the garden path, nestled into the nooks and crannies between ledgy outcrops bordering the main garden entrance, Calluna and Erica have begun to turn up their heat just as temperatures here dip below freezing. Calluna vulgaris ‘Multicolor’ has shifted to a shocking shade of vermillion, emphasized by the contrasting blue-tinted foliage of nearby Calluna vulgaris ‘Silver Knight’ and Juniperous horizontalis ‘Wiltonii’. Tiny lavender blossoms continue to flush the tips of the ‘Silver Knight’ heather, in spite of the cold – I gather them up in tiny bouquets for my kitchen table. Ground covering woody plants, such as Calluna, Erica, Stephanadra, and Cotoneaster, offer vibrant late season color that combines well with with a wide variety of evergreens. Some of my favorites include juniper, (of all sizes and habits), Siberian cypress, (Microbiota), hemlock, (Tsuga), spruce, (Abies) and yew (Taxus). Blue-green masses of foliage and bronzing needle tips provide a soothing foreground or lush, calm backdrop for the more intense, late -autumnal hues in perennial and shrub borders… Calluna vulgaris ‘Multicolor’ and ‘Silver Knight’, planted with Juniperus horizontalis ‘Wiltonii’, (Blue rug), along the ledgy walkway at Ferncliff… Calluna vulgaris ‘Multicolor’, forms a blazing carpet against the gray ledge in late October… Juniperus squamata ‘Holger’, along the Secret Garden steps in October Stephanandra incisa ‘Crispa’ glows golden-orange against the gray stone wall steps in late October Stephanandra incisa and Juniperus Pfitzeriana ‘Aurea’ make a beautiful autumn pairing… Of course fruiting shrubs and trees play an important role in my garden at this time of year and throughout the winter months. Yes, I fully admit to an obsession with colored berries. I collect and treasure fruiting shrubs for their shimmering, confetti-dot effect. While these plants are a feast for the eyes as winter draws near and color grows scarce, more importantly, their berries provide natural food for birds including the finch, cedar wax wings, cardinals and many others. As mentioned in my previous posts, (Autumn Brilliance Part One and also Autumn Brilliance Part Two), Callicarpa dichotoma and Viburnum, including the black-fruited V. carlesii, (Korean spice viburnum), provide berries for many of my feathered friends. As late fall shifts to early winter, other fruiting plants, such as Cotoneaster, begin to stand out in the garden. Ground-hugging Cotoneaster is a great partner for stonewalls, particularly in late autumn, when the bright red fruit and rusty foliage radiates in vibrant contrast to the rock’s cool, gray surface. I like to combine horizontal juniper cultivars with Cotoneaster, allowing both to trail down the side of retaining walls. Bright blue juniper berries sparkle on frosty mornings until they are devoured by hungry chipmunks and song sparrows. Ilex verticillata ‘Red sprite‘, a long-standing winter favorite, is just beginning its show-stopping performance. This mass of winterberry in my entry garden never fails to lift my spirits during the cold, raw days of late November. In the foreground, blue-tinted Juniperus chinensis ‘Sargentii’ enhances the orange-red brilliance of the berries and the beautiful gray-tones of Dan Snow’s stone wall rise up from behind. When snow finally dusts the winterberry branches, the red fruits float like cherries in a bowl of cream… Ilex verticillata ‘Red sprite’ with Juniperus chinensis ‘Sargentii’ in late October Ilex verticillata ‘Red sprite’ with Juniperus chinensis ‘Sargentti’ in late October Juniperus squamata ‘Holger’ and Thymus Cotoneaster dammeri ‘Eichholz’s, leaves turn burgundy red after the hard frost in October This Juniperus horizontalis provides blue berries in addition to sea green foliage Viburnum carlesii, (Korean Spice Viburnum), provides late autumn foliage and black fruit. A small sized shrub, (3′ x 3′), Korean Spice Viburnum is generous with her fragrant flowers in spring… Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Issai’, shown in an earlier post with golden foliage, is pictured after the hard frost in late October- looking even more magical than before… Rich brown and subtle bronze tones also begin to appear in the late season, creating opportunities for harmonious pairings with brightly colored foliage and fruit. The cobalt violet hue of Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Issai’ berries, (above), seems even brighter once the shrub’s foliage turns a warm copper brown. Likewise, Microbiota decussata, (Siberian cypress), slowly burnishes from forest green to warm bronze as temperatures dip, playing beautifully against the orange-chartreuse tones of nearby moss and the pyrotechnic-color display of Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Red Bells’, planted at the corner of the walkway… Microbiota decussata, (Siberian cypress), with Thyme and Moss on the path to the Northwest meadow in October… Enkianthus companulatus ‘Red Bells’, in October Microbiota decussata, autumn color close-up Northwest path to the meadow with a view of amber colored beech in the distance Although most of the flowers in my garden have faded away, some, such as Geranium ‘Brookside’, continue to surprise me past the first few frosts. When a fuchsia veined, blue-violet bloom appears amid the bright orange and yellow leaves of this gorgeous cranesbill, it can light up a gray October day almost as brightly as the sun. Placed near the golden autumn foliage of Amsonia illustris‘, this plant can easily stop me in my tracks with or without her stunning flowers. The dark hues of Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diablo’ foliage, (or P. opulifolius ‘Summer wine’, or ‘Coppertinia’), pair nicely with these brighter plants, as do many ornamental grasses, dark violet colored sedum and verdigris tinted juniper… Geranium ‘Brookside’ foliage turns brilliant orange and scarlet. and continues to produce violet blue blossoms with fuscia veins well past the hard frost… Amsonia illustris, in the entry walk – golden autumn color enhanced by the late frost and nearby orange-hued ornamental grasses in October Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diablo’ foliage color, varies from deep oxblood red… to burnished amber… May the colors of late autumn lift your spirits and encourage you to venture out into the garden with an eye toward extending the season. With a bit of effort and planning, almost any patch of earth can provide a season-spanning garden, filled with color and texture throughout the year. I will meet you back here in just a bit, with more design inspiration for the coming months… Article and photographs copyright 2009, Michaela at The Gardener’s Eden All content on this site, (with noted exceptions), is the sole property of The Gardner’s Eden and may not be used or reproduced without express, written consent. Inspired by something you see here? Please give credit where credit is due. It’s a small world and link-love makes for fond friendships. Stealing makes for bad dreams…

|← Previous||Navigation in production order||Next →| |Written by||Ron Weiner| |Transcribed by||The Neutral Planet| - [Opening Credits. A remixed version of theme tune is performed. Caption: Thanks For Watching, Futurama Slave Army (in AL1).] John DiMaggio: Prepare for the stereophonic experience. - [DiMaggio beatboxes while Billy West scats the theme song.] Bender: Aw, New New York City! Woooo! Woooo! Don' worry about it! Do the robot, baby! - [Scene: Duraflame National Forest. The Planet Express ship flies over and lands at a camping site.] - [Time Lapse. The Planet Express staff hike through the woods.] Farnsworth: Oh, Lord! Hiking is always such a strain on the buttocks. - [He is sat on a giant pair of robotic legs which do his walking for him. There is a noise.] Fry: Shh! What was that sound? Bender: It wasn't a bird's nest falling. That sounds like this. [He shakes a branch and a nest falls off it and breaks when it hits the ground. The two birds in it fly away, twittering.] Aww, they're so cute when they're scared. Fry: I meant the sound Bigfoot just made. He's been sighted a lot in this area recently. Just last week, a blind hiker felt him. Farnsworth: Don't tell me you actually believe in Bigfoot, you blathering ninny-hammer. Fry: Of course I do! Bigfoot's my hero. Growing up, he was the celebrity I most identified with. Fry: 'Cause he was a loner who hated the popular monsters yet longed to be one. Zoidberg: [sadly] I can so relate to that. - [He cries and hugs Leela. She pushes him away.] Leela: Ugh! Enough emotions! This isn't a fat camp, for God's sake. [quietly] Although you wouldn't know it from looking. - [Scene: Campsite. The staff set up. Zoidberg eats something, Leela and Amy set up their pop-up tent, Fry hammers his tent pegs into the ground with a frying pan and Bender lazes around with his arms and legs tied around a tree so it looks like he is lying in a hammock. He sighs.] Zoidberg: Bender, if you want to sleep in the tent tonight, you're welcome to join me and Hermes for a little "just friends" spooning. Bender: Nah, I'm comfy out here under the stars. [The trees collapse on top of him.] Real comfy! - [Scene: Ranger Station. The Planet Express employees and other campers that include Randy, Soupy, Sal and Petunia are gathered in the log building. The ranger has set up a projection screen at the front of the room and they all sit on benches.] Ranger Park: Hey, I'm Ranger Park, the park ranger. Fry: I get it! Ranger Park: Now since this area's a national Bigfoot preserve, we'll start with a short film about Bigfoot while I make a few phone calls. - [He dims the lights and turns on the projector. "Bigfoot" appears on the screen.] Narrator: [voice-over; in movie] Bigfoot ... [A hand stamps some words over the caption.] ... Endangered Mystery! [The movie shows a map of North America.] In the dense forests of the Pacific Northwest ... [The scene changes to the Patterson-Gimlin film.] ... dwells the strange and beautiful creature known as Bigfoot, perhaps. Fry: That proves it! - [In the movie the Clearcutter cuts down some trees.] Narrator: [voice-over; in movie] Sadly, logging and human settlement today threaten what might possibly be his habitat. Although if it's not, they don't. Bigfoot populations require vast amounts of land to remain elusive in. [The scene changes to some rocks.] They typically dwell just behind rocks but are also sometimes playful, bounding into thick fogs and out-of-focus areas. - [The scene changes to a foggy forest. Park talks on the phone at the back of the room.] Ranger Park: It should say "Top Quality Exercycle For Sale" and could you put "top quality" in bold? You can't? OK, whatever. - [In the movie someone photographs the woods.] Narrator: [voice-over; in movie] Remember, it's up to us. Bigfoot is a crucial part of the ecosystem, if he exists. So let's all help keep Bigfoot possibly alive for future generations to enjoy unless he doesn't exist. The end. - [The movie ends with "The End" and "MMCMLXII - Most Rights Reserved".] Ranger Park: I-I gotta call you back. [He hangs up.] Alright, questions? Sal: Yeah. Have yous ever seens Bigfeet? Ranger Park: Technically, no. But I do see him each night in my dreams and each day in the smiling faces of hairy children. - [Farnsworth stands up and shakes his fist.] Farnsworth: [shouting] Bunk! Bunk I say! Bring me a bag full of Bigfoot's droppings or shut up! Ranger Park: [holding up a bag] I have the droppings of someone who saw Bigfoot. Farnsworth: Shut up! - [Bender stands up and points out the window.] Bender: Oh, my God! Look! It's Bigfoot! - [Park holds up a camera and autograph book and runs to the window.] Ranger Park: Where? Bender: Eh, he's gone. He said you should keep wasting your life though. Petunia: Oh! I saw Bigfoot crushing cars at the county fair. Ranger Park: What you saw was Bigfoot the monster truck. But thanks for a great question. - [She groans and walks out muttering. Fry raises his hand.] Fry: Sir, if I may, why don't you just set up like a billion video cameras in the woods and see if he walks by one? Ranger Park: Ah, that would be very expensive, and most people who believe in Bigfoot are broke. Bender: Hey, look! Bigfoot! He's back! Ranger Park: Where? Bender: Up your face! [He laughs.] Everybody do the Bender! - [He dances.] - [Scene: Campsite. Night has fallen. Leela and Amy lie on a blanket while the others sit around the fire.] Amy: The sky out here is amazing. Look at all those satellites. - [The satellites fly around the sky like shooting stars. A "Bachelor Chow" ad flies by along with a "Drink Shiz!" ad and one that reads "Top Quality Exercycle For Sale".] - [Time Lapse. Everyone turns in.] Farnsworth: Goodnight, employees. - [He disappears into his tent.] Zoidberg: Goodnight, Hubert. - [The "camera" pans across the tents and we see the silhouettes of the staff. Zoidberg and Hermes lie down. Amy zips closed hers and Leela's tent and Leela sprays her boots with something. Fry pokes his head of his tent.] Fry: You doin' alright out there, buddy? - [Bender's head lights up like a fly killer.] Bender: Better than these gnats! [He zaps a few more and laughs.] That guy won't be goin' home to his kids. - [Time Lapse. Everyone sleeps. Bender shivers and rotates his head around like an owl. Something "coos".] Bender: Who's that? A wolf? Or some kind of boogen? Oh, God, I wish I was safe inside a tent. [He hides behind a rock.] [deep voice] Fry! Fry wake up! It's me, Bigface! - [Cut to: Fry's Tent. Fry wakes up.] Bender: [from outside] Come out and groom my mangy fur! Fry: [turning on his lamp] Huh? Bigfoot? You taught yourself English? - [Cut to: Campsite. Fry emerges from his tent brushing his teeth.] Fry: Bigfoot? Bigfoot? - [He runs off into the woods. Bender emerges from the rock, chuckling. He crawls into Fry's tent, crawls around panting like a dog and finally lies down and turns off the light.] - [Cut to: Duraflame National Forest.] Fry: Bigfoot? Is that you? I'm not like the others, Bigfoot; I see through your monster coatings to the gentle loner inside. I bet you have a wounded racoon friend that you tenderly nurse back to health while you go... [He "coos".] But in the end they shoot you. But you teach us about things. [He walks into a clearing and looks around. Birds fly out from trees and the ground begins to shake. A strong wind blows leaves and things past Fry and a darkened flying saucer appears from over the trees. It lights up and beam of light engulfs Fry. He looks up and unshields his eyes.] Oh. Just a flying saucer. [shouting] Excuse me? You can't park here. The parking area's over there. [A tube extends from the spacecraft and zigzags around à la the Windows 3D Pipes screensaver.] Wow! Nice tube. [It sucks him up.] Hey! Hey, what's the big idea? Stop abducting me. Why does your vanity plate say "Probe 1"? - [He screams as he disappears inside the ship. The pipe retracts back into the ship and it flies away.] - [Scene: Campsite. Morning has broken and everyone emerges from their tents. Leela walks to the river and dunks her hands in.] Leela: There's nothing so refreshing as the clean, crisp taste of this bold Canadian beer. - [She pulls a bottle out of the river and drinks from it. Hermes juggles a paper roll in his hands.] Hermes: Well, see you in an hour. I gotta go do some business behind that tree. - [Behind the tree Hermes attaches the paper roll to a calculator and does some business -- calculations. Bender struggles and mutters inside Fry's tent and rips it apart.] Amy: Bender, wasn't that Fry's tent? Bender: [mocking] "Bender"! - [He makes mocking noises.] Leela: Bender raises a good point: Where is Fry? - [Cut to: Duraflame National Forest. Fry stumbles through the woods with his back turned to the "camera" à la The Blair Witch Project. A possum pokes its head out of a packet of Cheez Nubs and screams.] - [Cut to: Campsite. Fry reaches the edge of the woods and walks into the campsite, still with his back turned.] Fry: Amy, you won't believe what happened ... [She looks up.] ... it was so scary that you wouldn't-- [She screams and runs.] I know, but listen, it gets even scarier. Farnsworth: Fry! What in Sega Genesis happened to you? Fry: That's what I'm trying to tell you. See-- [The staff gather around.] Why are you all staring at me like that? Is there something on my face? Hermes: Uh ... no. - [Fry has no nose.] Leela: Someone should tell him. Fry: Tell me what? Zoidberg: Well I have a lot of experience telling patients bad news, so let me break it to him gently. [He shakes him.] [shouting] Fry, you have no nose! Your nose is gone! You have no nose on your face! Where it is I can't say but on your face it's not! - [He pokes his face and looks at his reflection in Bender's door. He screams.] Bender: Aww! I think it's sweet. You chopped off your nose so you could look more like your hero. Me, Bender! Fry: [poking his face] My God! They must have taken it last night. Farnsworth: Which last night? Fry: In the woods. I was walking ... for Bigfoot, looking ... and then aliens beamed me up. Amy: Were they little grey dudes with big oval heads? [Fry taps where his nose would be.] I don't get that gesture. Am I wrong? Zoidberg: Cheer up, friend. When we get home a high-quality prosthesis will have you looking good as new. - [Fry smiles.] - [Scene: Planet Express: Meeting Room. Fry sits at the table wearing joke glasses, nose and moustache.] Fry: I'm a pathetic freak. My life is ruined. - [Hermes laughs.] Hermes: Man, you are such a jokester! Fry: I'll never have another moment of happiness. - [Everyone else laughs.] Leela: I know you're trying to mask your pain with humour, but don't worry. I'm sure the Professor can clone you a new nose. Fry: [taking off the glasses] Eh, it wouldn't be the same. I want my nose. I don't want to have to teach a new one how to shoot milk when I laugh. Farnsworth: Well there's no sense fretting. Good Lord, you're ugly! The fact is your nose is gone and we'll never find out who did it or why. - [Enter Bender panting and gasping.] Bender: [gasping] Guys! Guys! There's something on television. - [Scene: Planet Express: Lounge. The staff sit and stand, watching a news report.] Linda: [on TV] Alien abductions: Until now, a harmless nuisance. But recently they've taken on a sinister dimension as unsuspecting victims are returned ... without noses. - [Behind her, a picture of the hardhat guy changes from one with a nose to one without.] Fry: Like me! Morbo: [on TV] The culprits: Shameless poachers, hunting humans without a permit. - [The scene on TV changes to a picture of a grey alien with a gun over his shoulder. He holds a nose. Back to the studio.] Linda: [on TV] The valuable nose, or "human horn", fetches a high price on alien worlds as an aphrodisiac. Fry: My nose is an aphrodisiac? [He retches.] I'm gonna drop a barf! Morbo: [on TV] Demand for human horn is great, due, in part, to titillating scenes from depraved alien TV programmes too filthy for Earth broadcast. Let's watch. - [The scene changes to two Neptunian lovers on a bed together. The man holds up two noses. The woman gasps.] Neptunian Woman: [on TV] Human horn? But ... it is forbidden! Neptunian Man: [on TV] So is our love. - [He grates a horn onto her shoulder and licks it off. They make out. Fry turns the TV off.] Fry: Blech! We have to track down my nose before some alien snarfs it and does the worm. Who's in? - [Leela stands up.] Leela: Me and Bender and maybe Zoidberg if he feels like it. Zoidberg: No, I'm good. - [Scene: The ship flies towards the Galactic Bazaar (Offering Legal Items, etc). It is a run-down space station.] - [Scene: Galactic Bazaar. The place is filled with aliens. The trio walk past Joe Camel who tries on some shades. Fry wears a strap-on red nose. They pass a stall where an alien buys something.] Alien: Let's see, I'll take a pancreas, two sphincters and a large Coke. Vendor: One number three combo! Fry: It's no use. We've been to every scuzzy bazaar in the galaxy, including Pottery Barn. Leela: Wait. What's that? - [She points at The Beast With Two Bucks Sex Shoppe.] - [Cut to: The Beast With Two Bucks Sex Shoppe. Enter Fry, Bender and Leela. The salesman is a chameleon-like alien.] Salesman: Welcome, friends. How may I pervert you? Fry: Uh, I'm looking for human horn. Salesman: [whispering] Shh! You're not cops, right? Leela: Of course not. In fact, he's a crook. - [She points at Bender.] Bender: Yep. Stolen Pez anyone? - [He holds up a Calculon-head Pez and hands them around. The salesman eats it and pulls back a curtain.] Salesman: Right this way. - [Scene: Back Room. The salesman gets something from off a high shelf and unwraps it.] Salesman: Human horn. So fresh you can still see the eyeglass marks. - [Fry looks at the noses.] Fry: Nope. Uh-uh. Ew! [He pulls out a photo of him and Slurms MacKenzie and points at his nose on the photo.] Now look. This is the nose we want. Did you sell it to somebody? Salesman: I'm sorry, sir, but due to the perverted nature of our business, customer records are strictly confidential. [Leela punches him.] Right this way. - [Cut to: Video Room. The salesman pulls another curtain across. In the room is a TV and a wall lined with video tapes.] Salesman: I video-tape everyone who comes in here so I can blackmail them later. [The crew gag.] Hey, I'm a porno-dealing monster, what do I care what you think? Here's the weirdo who bought your horn. - [He puts the tape in the machine. On the screen a badly-disguised yet familiar alien walks into the Sex Shoppe. Leela gasps.] Leela: That's Lrrr! Ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8. Lrrr: [on TV] You got any, uh, you know, uh [muttering] human horn? Salesman: [on TV] Speak up! You're muttering! Lrrr: [on TV] I said, uh [whispering] human horn? Salesman: [whispering; on TV] You're not a cop, right? Lrrr: [on TV] Oh, no, no. I'm just some guy ... ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8! - [The dealer hands him a horn over the counter. Fry and Leela nod to each other.] - [Scene: The ship flies towards Omicron Persei 8 and lands outside the castle.] - [Scene: Omicronian Castle. Lrrr and Nd-Nd sit on thrones and Fry, Leela and Bender stand in front of them with guards either side.] Lrrr: So let me get this straight: If I buy eight Caramello bars, you all get to go to some camp. Bender: Yep. That's exactly the lie we used to get past your guards. - [Fry steps forward and bows.] Fry: Oh, great space king, I humbly beg you to return my human horn. Lrrr: Uh, human horn? How ridiculous! Why would a virile male like Lrrr need human horn? I don't even know what it's for. What is it, something you-you put in salad dressing? Nd-Nd: Like you've ever seen a salad. Lrrr: My weight is appropriate and attractive! Leela: Whoa! You guys have issues. Lrrr: She has issues! I'm fine! But there's no human horn around here, so make friends with the door. Fry: [sadly] Alright. I give up. I guess I'll just go home and marry a skunk. - [He cries.] Nd-Nd: Oh, let's just give it to him. [She picks up a box.] Here. Fry: My nose! Light of my face! Lrrr: Uh, what is that? How do you have that, Nd-Nd? [He pulls his cape string like a collar.] I've never seen it before. My friend left it here. - [Fry takes his nose out of the box and puts it on his face.] Leela: Hold still, Fry. I can reattach it with my emergency face laser. - [She presses a button on her wrist machine and a laser seals the nose to Fry's face, burning his cheek a little.] Fry: Hey! You burned my cheek! Leela: Yeah, sorry, I wasn't really concentrating. Fry: No, I mean the singed flesh, I can smell it! [He sniffs.] And those lilacs on the table. Lrrr: At least someone noticed. Nd-Nd: For the last time, I don't like lilacs! Your first wife was the one who liked lilacs. Lrrr: She also liked to shut up! Fry: Well, great seeing you. I guess we'll be on our-- Bender: Yo, Highness. Uh, just out of robo-curiosity, why would you use a guy's nose for an aphrodisiac instead of his, you know, wing-dang-doodle? Lrrr: But, uh, I thought the horn was the human wing-dang-doodle. Bender: No, sir, chief! The main event, so to speak, is downstairs near the wallet. Ever seen soccer players line up to block a free kick? They ain't covering their noses, I'll tell you that much. Well, see you! - [He turns to leave.] Lrrr: Interesting. The trousers conceal a tiny secondary horn. Fry: Hey, what've you heard? Lrrr: [shouting] Guards! Seize him! [They do. Fry screams.] Prepare to harvest the lower horn! - [Fry looks around scared.] Fry: OK, you can have my nose. - [He pulls it off.] - [Time Lapse. Fry's nose is back on and he whimpers.] Guard #1: Yeah? Lrrr: Remove the human's lower horn and prepare it to be eaten by me. Nd-Nd: In other words, slop a lot of ketchup and salt on it. Lrrr: Then bring it to our royal bedchamber and put it in the sock drawer with all the other things that have failed to arouse my passion for this woman. - [The second guard takes out a cutting machine. Fry squeals.] Guard #2: Remove pants! Fry: Wait! Listen. I'm usually the first guy to toot my own lower horn-- Bender: [shouting] I'll say! - [He hoots.] Fry: But in this case I-I just don't think it'll do any good. Bender: [shouting] That's what she said! - [He hoots again.] Leela: Let's face it, you two have deep relationship problems that can't be solved by an aphrodisiac. Fry: However huge it might be. Nd-Nd: So what do you suggest, painfully-single human? Leela: Well, why don't you think back to what brought you together in the first place? Nd-Nd: Oh, I don't know. Lrrr used to be so tender. - [Lrrr groans.] Lrrr: I only wrote that poem to test my printer. Nd-Nd: We'd go walking in the woods and Lrrr would find injured little tinkle-bunnies and nurse them back to health. Lrrr: Yes, but I'm the one who injured them! Nd-Nd: Oh, shush. You stepped on them by accident and then you cried all night. That's the kind of sensitive man you used to be. Lrrr: And you used to wear a size-3 cape. [shouting] But not anymore! Now bring me that lower horn while I'm still in the mood. - [The guard starts the cutter again.] Fry: Wh-What if we helped you get your passion back without the hassle of mutilating me? Leela: Yeah, we know a great place in the mountains. We could take you there for a romantic dinner under the stars. Nd-Nd: Hmm. Sounds interesting. But he would never do it. Lrrr: Like hell I wouldn't. I'm not gonna be blamed for not going. Fry: Then it's a deal. We get one night. I keep my horn as long as you two end up doing the horizontal monster mash. - [Bender hoots and laughs.] Bender: I don't get it! - [Scene: Duraflame National Forest. Lrrr and Nd-Nd are seated at a table under the night sky. The trees have lights strung around them. Bender carries a box of Monsieur Carton.] Bender: Bonjour. May I offer you a box of wine for the edge of the table? Lrrr: No, thanks. Just water, please. Tap water! Nd-Nd: [sarcastic] Oh, big spender! Lrrr: [shouting] That's it! This date is over. Waiter! - [The guards wheel Fry to the table in a cage. He is dressed in a snappy suit.] Fry: So, what can I get you this evening? Lrrr: Your lower horn! - [Fry squeals.] Fry: I'll just start you off with some bread. Some sexy, arousing bread! Lrrr: Fine! But none of that whole-grain goat food. And bring plenty of melted butter. - [Nd-Nd groans.] Nd-Nd: Why don't you just inject some fat straight into your ass and cut out the middle man? Lrrr: One of these days, Nd-Nd. Bang! Zoom! Straight to the third moon of Omicron Persei 8! - [Time Lapse. Lrrr and Nd-Nd eat.] Lrrr: [eating] Mmm! This jerked chicken is good. I think I'll have Fry's lower horn jerked. Bender: [shouting] It's used to it! - [He hoots. Fry is wheeled to the table.] Fry: So, uh, how are you two snooky-poopums doing? Lrrr: My wife is right, for once. There's very little magic in the air. Ready the lower horn transport vessel. - [A guard pours some ice into a cooler. Fry squeals.] Bender: Boy, who knew a cooler could also make a handy wang coffin? [He takes a six pack out of his chest cabinet.] Hey, uh, mind if I stick these in here? Guard #1: Go for it. Leela: Don't worry, Fry. Things look bad but I still have a trump card; the most beautiful love song ever written. (singing badly) And I will always love you, [The Omicronians cover their ears.] Will always love you. Nd-Nd: The humans are attacking! Lrrr: Pluck the lower horn and let's get out of here! - [The guard starts the cutter.] Bender: Quick, Fry! Run for it! - [He pushes Fry's cage and it rolls away, bouncing down hills and through trees.] Fry: Come on, freedom cage! Roll me to safety! [It flips over and rolls through a campfire, setting it and Fry alight. It hits a tree and the door falls open. Fry steps out and pats out the fire.] Yes! I never thought I'd escape with my doodle, but I pulled it out! Bender: [shouting] Just like at the movie theatre! - [He hoots and Lrrr grabs Fry.] Lrrr: Give me that! - [Fry screams. A guard starts the cutter and the other opens the cooler. Leela gasps. There is a growl and Bigfoot emerges from the trees.] Fry: Bigfoot! He's real! I knew it! The Loch Ness Monster's book was right! - [Bigfoot stops and sniffs the Omicronians.] Lrrr: Well, hello there, my furry friend. Nd-Nd: Look at his adorable little feet. [Bigfoot bangs his chest, growls and throws leaves into the air. Lrrr chuckles.] Yes, you are a cutie-pie. - [Ranger Park arrives with his camera.] Ranger Park: Holy macaroni! [He takes some photos.] I can't believe I'm seeing Bigfoot! He's in focus! Oh, I've waited my entire life for this moment. - [He pulls out a gun and points it at Bigfoot. Everyone mutters.] Bender: What are you doing with that? - [Lrrr steps forward.] Lrrr: You're going to kill this innocent giganto? Ranger Park: Of course not. I'm just gonna tranquilize him so I can chop off his feet as proof he exists. Then dump him back in the wild. He'll do fine. - [He aims the gun. Lrrr steps in front and Nd-Nd stands at his side.] Lrrr: You'll have to get through me first. Ranger Park: OK. Nighty night! - [He shoots but the tranquilizer dart bounces off Lrrr. Lrrr vaporises the gun.] Lrrr: Now leave this gentle Sasquatch, or Wood Ape, in peace so I can finally and at long last harvest this pathetic human's lower horn. - [He screams.] Lrrr: Wait. What am I saying? If I poach this beast's lower horn, am I any better than that ranger with his demented foot lust? Yes. But not by enough. - [Park walks behind Bigfoot and cuts off a tuft of his fur.] Ranger Park: Score! - [Bigfoot scratches himself.] Lrrr: This human's lower horn is one of God's creatures, a living thing, and all living things, large and small-- Bender: [shouting] In this case "small"! - [He hoots.] Lrrr: Have dignity and a spark of the divine. - [He cries.] Nd-Nd: That's the gentle, sensitive, poet warlord I fell in love with. - [She hugs him and they both crush Fry between them. He squeezes out and Lrrr and Nd-Nd kiss. Bender, Fry and Leela avoid watching.] Lrrr: [shouting] Uh, you'll wanna retreat to a safe, 500-metre radius! - [They run.] Leela: Well, Fry, it looks like you get to hold onto your lower horn. Bender: As usual! [He hoots.] [shouting] Run away! - [They run and Bigfoot stays and watches Lrrr and Nd-Nd on the ground before returning to the forest.] - [Closing Credits. Over the credits is a deleted scene from The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz. The opening titles of The Scary Door play.] Narrator: [voice-over; on TV] You're on a scenic route through a state recreation known as the human mind. You ask a passer-by for directions, only to find he has no face or something. Suddenly, up ahead, a door in the road. You swerve, narrowly avoiding The Scary Door. - [The Scary Door graphic appears on the TV and shatters. In a lab, a mad scientist pours stuff from one bottle to another.] Scientist: [on TV] I have combined the DNA of the world's most evil animals to make the most evil creature of them all. - [He pours the liquid into a machine and it crackles and a door in it opens. A man emerges from the smoke.] Man: [on TV] It turns out it's Man. - [Dramatic, incidental music.] |← Previous||Navigation in production order||Next →|

United States of America BEFORE THE FEDERAL SERVICE IMPASSES PANEL DECISION AND ORDER The National Treasury Employees Union (Union or NTEU), filed a request for assistance with the Federal Service Impasses Panel (Panel) to consider a negotiation impasse under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (Statute), 5 U.S.C. § 7119, between it and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C. (Employer or SEC). Following investigation of the Unions request for assistance, which arose from negotiations over Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 pay increases for bargaining-unit employees,(1) the Panel determined that the dispute should be resolved through an informal conference with Panel Member Mark A. Carter. The parties were advised that if no settlement was reached, the Panel Member would report to the Panel on the status of the dispute, including the parties final offers and his recommendations for resolving the impasse. After considering this information, the Panel would take whatever action it deemed appropriate to resolve the impasse, which could include the issuance of a binding decision. Pursuant to this procedural determination, Member Carter met with the parties on September 4 and 5, 2002, at the Panels offices in Washington, D.C. Although settlement options were explored during the course of the proceeding, the parties were unable to resolve their dispute. The parties subsequently were permitted to submit their final offers and supporting statements. The Panel has now considered the entire record. The Employers primary mission is to administer and enforce the Federal securities laws to protect investors and maintain fair, honest, and efficient securities markets. It has 11 regional and district offices and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Union represents approximately 2,250 of SECs 3,200 employees. Unit employees are primarily lawyers, accountants, examiners, and economists, and in numerous support staff occupations. The parties reached agreement over an initial collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in July 2002. ISSUES AT IMPASSE disagree over numerous aspects of compensation, including: (1) how unit employees were converted into the new pay structure, and their rates of locality pay; (2) the type of pay-for-performance system to be implemented; (3) the scope of grievances concerning pay, and whether they should be expedited; and (4) the duration of the agreement, and the manner in which mid-term changes may be effectuated. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES 1. The Employers Position The Employers final offer (see Attachment A) should be adopted without modifications by the Panel because it reflects a pay structure that was well researched, based on best practices from other agencies, meets the Agencys needs, and is comparable to those of other financial regulatory agencies. In developing the new compensation system, the SEC contracted with the HayGroup, an organization with "almost 60 years of experience in compensation and benefits in both the public and private sectors" to provide consulting support. After extensive research and analysis, "the HayGroup recommended, and the Agency adopted, a pay scale that consists of 15 levels for bargaining-unit employees and up to 31 steps within each level." The SEC converted employees to the new system by using the formula identified in its final offer, adopting locality pay tables "that were almost identical to the FDIC." The SEC also set aside approximately $5.86 million of the $24.8 million it received to implement its new pay structure through FY 2002 to ensure that it could continue to compensate employees at the higher rates until at least November 15. This is because, historically, it has had to operate under continuing resolutions at the start of new fiscal years. If the Agency did not plan for this contingency, "it could be faced with furloughs or reductions in salary in order to meet payroll costs." The new pay structure is comparable to those of other financial regulators in a number of ways, among them, wider pay ranges with the width increasing as the pay levels increase, more flexibility for movement across each level, and higher minimum base pay levels. With regard to the latter, "the average pay increase for all employees at the SEC was 14.18 percent." The HayGroup found that the lack of competitive pay was one of the major reasons for the SECs high attrition rates. The Agency believes that the new pay structure "will stem its attrition rates" at the same time as it benefits all employees, relieves pay compression, accommodates the annual appropriations process, and is acceptable to a variety of constituents. In particular, the SECs high turnover rate among employees in securities industry (SI) positions should be positively affected, since "there will be no 2-year wait for new employees before they can attain the [SI] designation." A significant aspect of its final offer is that it abolishes Within-Grade and Quality Step Increases (WIGI and QSI) in favor of "a rigorous measurement of an employee s performance or productivity." The General Schedule (GS) pay system, which relies on the WIGI, "is designed to reward time in a position with an acceptable level of performance, not excellence." Under the SECs new pay system, however, an employee with an acceptable level of competence, and his or her supervisor, would submit separate lists to a compensation committee summarizing the employees accomplishments for the previous year. The committee would then make a recommendation to the head of the Division/Office/Field Office with respect to any merit increases. The division head could then accept, reject, or modify the committees recommendations. Final decisions would be grievable in accordance with the parties CBA. In contrast to the GS system, an outstanding employee would only have a 1-year waiting period between increases and can receive up to three steps, or the equivalent of a 4.5 percent increase, on an annual basis. This part of its final offer reflects the fact that the Federal workforce of today is more highly skilled and specialized than when the GS system was established, and that "a pay system needs to be flexible and responsive so that the Agency can compete with other employers." While the parties appear to be in general agreement over how the pay schedule will be adjusted annually, and the need to negotiate benefits after the Agencys FY 2003 appropriation is finalized, the Employer requires more time to prepare for such negotiations than the Unions proposal would permit. There is also general agreement that the CBA is the appropriate vehicle for resolving any grievances over pay. There is no need for the Unions proposal that the first step of the negotiated procedure be waived, however, because the CBA already provides a mechanism for starting at other steps if it is appropriate. With respect to the duration of the agreement, the Employer proposes approximately a 2-year term, contingent upon the appropriation of sufficient funds. If funds are insufficient, "or if compliance would negatively impact the accomplishment of the Agencys mission," it would provide its reasons to the Union, and negotiate over the termination of the agreement, if requested to do so. The Employer is opposed to the Unions proposal that the agreement have no termination date, and that negotiations on all issues be reopened when the SEC receives its FY 2003 appropriation. Further negotiations over the pay structure and its pay-for-performance plan are unnecessary given "the extraordinary amount of effort" that went in to their creation, and the Employers belief that its system is comparable to other financial regulators "and meets the needs of the SEC." The Panel should not adopt the Unions proposal for a variety of reasons. Retroactively recalculating the conversion of several hundred special rate employees other than those under an SI designation, for example, "is impractical." Nor has the Union shown what benefits, if any, would be gained, or that they would outweigh the additional costs and inconveniences that would arise. Further, employees should not be given additional credit for time already accrued towards their next WIGI as part of the conversion process. Given the significant pay increases that were given to employees under the new pay system, they have already received such partial credit. The proposal "would do nothing but create disruption and would not be beneficial." Similarly, it is unnecessary to raise locality rates beyond the FDIC rates in the five geographical areas proposed by the Union. The SEC adopted locality pay rates different from those of the FDIC only in instances where higher rates were not needed to address its recruitment and retention concerns. The Unions formula for providing unit employees "pro rata salary increases" with any unused funds is "unintelligible." It also would create "an administrative nightmare" and require the Panel to apply the standards found under the Back Pay Act, 5 U.S.C. § 5596. In addition, rather than a pay-for-performance proposal, the Union has submitted an "awards" proposal that would require the SEC to continue its previous practices. Because awards are covered by the parties CBA, "the Agency should not have an obligation to bargain over this subject during the life of the agreement." This is true particularly with respect to the Unions proposal on QSIs, which is also inconsistent with 5 C.F.R. § 531.504; the regulations do not require that QSIs be granted to employees, even if all specified conditions are met. On the merits of this issue, a high number of QSIs were awarded in the past because the SEC had difficulty retaining good employees. The newly-implemented compensation system is intended to supplant the need for its previous practices in this regard. Finally, in addition to other miscellaneous provisions it is proposing, the Panel should reject the portion of the Union s final offer concerning the impasse resolution procedures that would apply if the parties have not reached agreement in 60 days following enactment of the SECs FY 2003 appropriation. The Employer is satisfied with the processes specified under the Statute, particularly in a case concerning "issues of first impression" involving pay and benefits which may have "significant ramifications throughout the Federal government." 2. The Unions Position The Panel should adopt the Unions final offer (see Attachment B) for two primary reasons. First, it would better achieve the statutory directive of providing comparability with other financial regulatory agencies in the areas of employee compensation and benefits, and provide sufficient mechanisms for improving the system to achieve comparability in the future. Secondly, it would result in a fairer allocation and distribution of funds identified for initial implementation of pay parity in FY 2002 than the Employers proposal. Additionally, the Panel should "not lose sight of the more fundamental part of this dispute." In this regard, the Employer withheld information during bargaining which "severely undercut the Unions ability to conduct certain analyses," and other data until the Panels informal conference which "hurt not only the Union, but the Panel as well." For this reason, the Panel "should not defer at all to the Agency where it might otherwise do so," and hold it "to a high standard to justify atypical actions it has taken that are not in apparent conformity" with financial regulatory agency comparability principles. While the SEC Chairman and other Agency officials have testified before Congress that the annual cost of the Agencys plan for pay parity would be $76 million, the SECs own figures show that the cost of its plan over a full year is only $45 million. Moreover, the initial cost of its pay plan for FY 2002 is only $16.5 million of the $24.8 million available for increases in salaries and associated benefits for both unit and non-unit employees. The "significant flaw" in the Employers proposal is that it does not make any provision for how the $5.8 million it has set aside to fund the new system will be spent if, in fact, it is not needed to fund employee salaries under a Continuing Resolution. The Unions proposal would cure this defect by ensuring that, if this money becomes available, it will be devoted to its intended purpose, the funding of pay parity. It also guarantees that "bargaining-unit employees receive their fair share of these funds." The Employers new pay system, on the other hand, "violates both the letter and the spirit" of the Pay Parity Act. As acknowledged by representatives of both the SEC and the HayGroup, the FDIC is "the most comparable" of the financial regulatory agencies, yet the minimum and maximum rates of pay for each grade under the SEC pay plan are both, on average, "about 6 percent below the rates established under the FDIC pay plan currently in place." This "might be understandable" if all available pay parity funds were being spent. In the current context, however, the Employers failure to submit any proposal regarding possible distribution of the $5.8 million being held in reserve reveals that its "true motive" is to "retain absolute discretion over whether and how the money is spent." This "runs counter to the concept of collective bargaining." The Employers use of "local locality pay rates" when converting non-SI special rate employees to its new system "defies logic" and "violates the principle of internal equity." Inexplicably, this had the effect of reducing the base pay for these employees by up to an additional 11.4 percent as compared to the SI special rate employees. The Employer also failed to provide any of its employees with credit for time served toward their next WIGI, and unfairly reduced the locality pay rates for employees in five cities. None of these actions were justified either in the HayGroup report or the report SEC submitted to Congress in support of the pay parity legislation. The Unions final offer would rectify all of these problems relatively "inexpensively"; in any case, the Employer has never argued that it is unable to pay the costs associated with implementing the Unions proposal, nor provided any evidence in support of such an argument. Unlike the Employers proposed pay-for-performance system, the Unions would establish defined standards for determining merit pay increases to ensure the fair treatment of employees. It does so by continuing the Employers practices of using QSIs and cash awards based on superior annual performance "as the core of the pay-for performance program." While there are some similarities in their final offers on this issue, the Employer has failed to demonstrate a need to change "acceptable level of competence" (ALOC) as the supervisory determination necessary for a single step WIGI. The Employers proposal to establish merit-pay committees, in essence, would create "a whole new level of bureaucracy to replace the current system," which in practice "is likely to turn into a writing contest," rather than an evaluation of performance in critical job functions. Unions final offer also is intended to rectify other serious defects in the Employers position. For example, the Employer would grant itself sole discretion to determine whether or not any additional adjustment to the pay structure is warranted, whereas the Union proposes further discussions and collective bargaining to determine appropriate factors and benchmarks for adjusting the pay scale on an annual or other basis. The Unions final offer also would ensure that bargaining over benefits and possible future changes to the SEC pay system occur in a timely and expeditious manner by requiring that if no agreement is reached within 60 days of the enactment of the FY 2003 appropriation, these matters are referred to a neutral fact-finder for recommendations. Finally, adopting a procedure which requires the parties to engage in fact-finding after 60 days would keep "the bargaining process moving forward," ensure the production of all relevant data, and "maximize the parties chances to reach a voluntary agreement." At worst, it would provide the Panel with a more complete record if the parties reach an Having carefully considered the evidence and arguments presented by the parties involving the numerous compensation-related issues raised in this case, we shall order that a modified version of the Employers final offer be adopted to resolve their dispute. As the record makes abundantly clear, the new compensation system implemented by the Employer on May 19, 2002, was the product of extensive research carefully tailored to meet the specific needs of the SEC, and required the expenditure of significant resources. Given these circumstances, we are not persuaded that the specific concerns identified by the Union regarding of the conversion process are substantiated so as to provide sufficient justification for expending the additional resources which would be required to adjust the compensation system. Moreover, our sympathies toward the Union s position are tempered considerably by the fact that the average pay increase for all employees at SEC was 14.18 percent, and the average increase for all SI employees was 16.94 percent. Turning to the question of which final offer provides the greater degree of "comparability" with those of the other financial regulatory agencies, it is also clear that the objective of pay parity could be achieved by using any number of different pay schemes.(2) The parties final offers represent only two of the candidates. This observation is instructive in light of the Unions contentions that only the adoption of the FDICs compensation system would provide comparability, and that all of the $24.8 million initially set aside must be spent if that goal is to be achieved. As stated above, we believe the compensation system that was implemented was carefully designed to meet the specific interests of the SEC, and we are unwilling to require employers to adopt another agencys compensation system to accomplish "parity." The overall fairness of the conversion process was established by information provided by the Employer at the informal conference demonstrating that the share of funds distributed to unit employees during the conversion process is largely proportional to the percentage of the salary budget that was allocated to such employees prior to conversion. Uncertainty over the SECs FY 2003 appropriations, and the lack of objective evidence that the newly-implemented compensation system will achieve its intended goals, also persuade us that additional assessment and, if necessary, negotiations by the parties, are warranted. Accordingly, we shall order wording permitting either party to reopen bargaining over the level of employee compensation within 30 days of receipt of the final FY 2003 budget, at the same time as negotiations over benefits are conducted. With respect to the issue of pay for performance, the parties also shall be directed to evaluate jointly, after 1 year of experience, whether the system has met the criterion of improving organizational effectiveness established by Employer. To address the Unions concerns about the standards to be applied, wording also shall be added requiring the Employer to act in a fair and nondiscriminatory manner in considering whether to grant merit increases, and which specifies that such decisions may be grieved under Article 32 of the parties CBA. In this connection, we note that the Unions proposal, which would result in step increases or equivalent cash awards every year based only on ALOC determinations, would constitute a mandatory entitlement of merit pay contrary to the Panels philosophy and prior Decisions and Orders. to minor grammatical changes reflecting the fact that the compensation system proposed by the Employer has already been implemented, we also find it prudent to modify the last section of its final offer, entitled "Effective Date of Changes and Duration." In this regard, if the Employer terminates the agreement prior to September 30, 2004, the Union shall be permitted to pursue the matter through the parties negotiated grievance procedure, or require negotiations within 30 days, but not both. In the unlikely event that this occurs, the Unions right to address the situation through negotiations would be preserved, unless it decides to test the reasons the Employer has provided for terminating the agreement (i.e., insufficient funding or negative impact on the accomplishment of the SECs mission and goals) before a grievance arbitrator. Granting the Union a choice of forums would eliminate the possibility of conflicting decisions by third parties. As to the Unions proposal that the parties be required to submit disputes to a neutral fact-finder if agreement has not been reached within 60 days of the enactment of the FY 2003 appropriation, we are skeptical about the Unions contention that such a procedure would expedite the negotiations and maximize the chances of a voluntary settlement. In our view, it is more likely to make the parties bilateral efforts futile, and foster a culture of dependence upon third parties for resolving their disputes. Pursuant to the authority vested in it by the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, 5 U.S.C. § 7119, and because of the failure of the parties to resolve their dispute during the course of proceedings instituted under the Panels regulations, 5 C.F.R. § 2471.6(a)(2), the Federal Service Impasses Panel, under 5 C.F.R. § 2471.11(a) of its regulations, hereby orders the adoption of the following wording: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC" or "Employer") the National Treasury Employees Union ("Union") Pursuant to Public Law 107-123, the Investor and Capital Markets Fee Relief Act, the SEC "may appoint and fix the compensation of such officers, attorneys, economists, examiners, and other employees as may be necessary for carrying out its functions under the securities law...." The new pay structure described herein is designed to meet the SECs needs, and comply with P.L. 107-123, as well as merit system principles. The SECs new pay scale (Appendix A) has 15 levels for bargaining unit employees (levels 1-14 and level 16) and up to 31 steps within each level. The top four steps of levels 11-14 and 16 are available only to those attorneys, accountants, and securities compliance examiners with securities industry experience. This scale replaces the existing General Schedule pay scale of 15 grades, each with 10 steps. This Agreement covers the compensation of bargaining unit employees. The term "employees," when used in this agreement refers only to bargaining unit employees, unless otherwise stated. A. General Schedule and General Management (GS/GM) Employees GS/GM employees were converted into the new structure using the following procedures: - Any locality pay was subtracted from the employees adjusted base pay to determine the employees base pay. - 6% was added to the employees base pay. - The employee was converted to the new structure at the level aligned with his/her GS/GM grade. (For example, GS-1 through GS-14. GS-15 employees were converted to the new Level 16.) Within the appropriate level, the employees salary converted to the step that is closest to, but not less than, six percent above his/her GS/GM base pay. - The result of III.A.3. above was multiplied by the appropriate locality percentage. A GS-7, Step 5 employee in the Northeast Regional Offices total pay was $36,781. 1. Her base pay (without locality pay) was $31,920. 2. Her base pay plus 6% is 33,835. 3. On the new scale, she is a 7 step 10, with new base pay of $34,038. 4. Including the new locality percentage for New York City (21.13%), her new total pay is $41,230, a 12% increase. A GS-13, Step 1 employee in Washington, D.C.s total pay was $66,229. 1. Her base pay (without locality pay) was $59,409. 2. Her base pay plus 6% is $62,974. 3. On the new scale, she is a 13 step 1, with a new base pay of $62,974. 4. Including the new locality percentage for Washington, D.C. (13.17%), her new total pay is $71,268, an 8% increase. B. Securities Industry (SI) Special Rate Employees SI employees were converted into the new structure using the following procedures: 1. "Rest of U.S." locality pay (8.64%) was subtracted from the employees adjusted base pay to determine the employees base pay. (Since SI employees do not receive separate locality pay, this formula was used to determine the base for these employees.) 2. 6% was added to the employees base pay. 3. The employee was converted to the new structure at the level aligned with his/her current grade. Within the appropriate level, the employees salary was converted to the step that is closest to, but not less than six percent above his/her base pay. 4. The result of III.B.3. above was multiplied by the appropriate locality percentage. A GS-14, Step 5 (SI) attorney in Chicagos total pay was $100,625. 1. Her base pay (without "rest of U.S." locality pay) was $92,622. 2. Her base pay plus 6% is 98,179. 3. On the new scale, she is a 14 step 22, with a new base pay of $98,205. 4. Including the new locality percentage for Chicago, (18.66%), her new total pay is $116,530, a 16% increase. A GS-13, Step 1 (SI) accountant in Washington, D.C.s total pay was $77,229. 1. His base pay (without "rest of U.S." locality pay) was $71,087. 2. His base pay plus 6% is $75,352. 3. On the new scale, he is a 13 step 14, with a new pay of $76,112. 4. Including the new locality percentage for Washington, D.C. (13.17%), his new total pay is $86,136, a 12% increase. Employees on board prior to May 19, 2002, who were in a waiting period for Securities Industry pay were converted regardless of where they were in the waiting period, then converted using the method described above. C. Other Employees Conversion for other categories of employees, including those Economists, Computer Specialists, and other employees, with special rates, were calculated using the same procedures of subtracting out the appropriate locality factor, adding six percent, converting to the new scale, and calculating the new total salary using the appropriate locality rate. IV. Pay for Performance Pay-for-performance, or merit pay, is a critical component to any modern compensation system. The Agency is committed to a rigorous merit pay system, where superior performance is valued and rewarded through merit pay increases. Pay for performance will involve supervisors, managers, and employees working together to improve organization effectiveness in the accomplishment of the Agencys mission and goals. The Employer may provide an employee with an annual merit increase of up to three steps within the employees level based on his/her performance. All merit increases are subject to budgetary considerations. There shall be no automatic "within-grade increases." There shall be at least a 52-week waiting period from the last time a merit pay increase was effectuated before a subsequent merit pay increase is effected. In considering whether or not to grant a merit increase, the Employer will act in a fair and non-discriminatory manner. An employee may grieve the Employers decision regarding a merit increase in accordance with Article 32 (Grievance) of the parties collective bargaining agreement. After 1 year of experience under the pay-for- performance system established in this section, the parties shall meet to evaluate whether it has improved organizational effectiveness in the accomplishment of the Agencys mission and goals. Either party may propose changes to the system at that time where there is a demonstrated need to do so. Impasses, if any, shall be resolved in accordance with the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. In order to be eligible for a merit increase, an employee must have acceptable level of performance and must submit to the Employer a summary describing his/her accomplishments for the preceding 12 months. Similarly, the employees supervisor shall prepare a summary of the employees accomplishments. These summaries will be based on standardized factors developed and tailored for each office and division in the Agency. B. Compensation Committee Review The Employer will establish compensation committees within each Division/Office/Field Office to review merit increase nominations. Subject to budgetary consideration, the committees will make recommendations to Division/Office/Field Office heads regarding the suggested merit increases for employees. The committees will use an objective and consistent process for making merit pay decisions. C. Executive Review The Division/Office/Field Office heads or designee will consider the compensation committees recommendations and will approve, deny, or modify the committees recommendations for any merit increases. V. Locality Pay Locality pay percentages are attached as Appendix B. VI. Other Adjustments The SEC pay schedule will be adjusted annually by the same percentage as the percentage adjustment to the General Schedule (GS). This adjustment will be made in the same pay period that adjustments are made for the rest of the federal service. The SEC may conduct surveys on a periodic basis to determine whether any additional adjustment is warranted to remain comparable with Agencies covered by the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA), or to otherwise support the retention of employees. VII. Benefits and Compensation All benefits currently available to employees will remain in effect. The parties recognize that negotiation of benefits and compensation is a time consuming and very costly process. Within 30 days of receipt of the final fiscal year 2003 budget, the parties will return to the bargaining table to negotiate benefits and, at the discretion of either party, reopen negotiations over the level of compensation provided under the compensation system implemented by SEC on May 19, 2002, pursuant to P.L. 107-123. The parties agree to establish a labor/management committee for the purpose of sharing information that is reasonably available and necessary for a full and proper discussion, understanding, and negotiations of benefits and compensation. VIII. Grievances Procedures Grievances concerning the terms of this Agreement may be grieved in accordance with the negotiated grievance procedure contained in the parties term agreement. IX. Effective Date of Changes and Duration This Pay Agreement shall remain in effect through September 30, 2004. If the Agency determines that either it does not have sufficient funds to comply with this Pay Agreement or that continued compliance with this Pay Agreement would negatively impact the accomplishment of the Agencys goals and mission, the Agency may terminate this Pay Agreement. Should the Agency terminate this agreement, it will only do so after providing the Union at least 30 calendar days notice. The notice will contain the Agencys reasons for termination of this Pay Agreement. If the Agency terminates this Pay Agreement prior to September 30, 2004, the Union may, at its discretion, pursue the matter through the parties negotiated grievance procedure, or require the parties to enter into negotiations within 30 days of the termination of this agreement, but not both. By direction of the Panel. H. Joseph Schimansky November 8, 2002 1. In this regard, pursuant to recently enacted legislation, The Investors and Capital Markets Fee Relief Act, Public Law 107-123 (January 16, 2002)(Pay Parity Act), the SEC was authorized to pay higher levels of compensation that are comparable to those in other Federal financial regulatory agencies (e.g., the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)), and consistent with merit system principles. The legislation did not fund those increases, but in April 2002 the SEC received permission from the Congress to reprogram approximately $24.8 million to partially implement pay parity. The employer implemented its last best offer on May 19, 2002, prior to the completion of bargaining. 2. Each of the financial regulatory agencies in question, for example, presumably has its own compensation system. In addition, to the extent the Union is claiming that the Employers compensation system violates the provisions of the Pay Parity Act, it has more appropriate forums for enforcing its interpretation of the law.

February 10, 2016 "Let My Cry Come Unto Thee:" An Ash Wednesday Confession [2006-2016] Being only a man, I often tire of the things of man; of his bottomless vanity and his endless violence which, as all the things of men must, resides in me as well as in you. Because I do not hope to turn again Let these words answer For what is done, not to be done again May the judgement not be too heavy upon us.** Many years ago, I was browsing through a newsmagazine and came upon a photograph of the machete-hacked corpse of an African child floating like some half-chewed chunk of jetsam in a backwater of Lake Victoria. This was during what we now think of, because we have to think of it as something distinct from our normal run-of-the-mill massacres, as the Rwandan genocide. It was a crystal clear photograph showcasing an act of genocide like any other, only the meaningless details changed: children, machetes, an African lake. As a professional in the pornography of violence, the photographer had gotten in close. The child's eyes could be seen. They were without pupils, the irises congealed into a dead fish-belly white; the white of clotted milk. The photographer had done his job well. The smell of it came off the page.... Let the whiteness of bones atone to forgetfulness. There is no life in them. As I am forgotten And would be forgotten, so I would forget Thus devoted, concentrated in purpose. And God said Prophesy to the wind, to the wind only for only The wind will listen. I thought then, looking at the eyes in the face of the ruined child in that photograph, that if that child's eyes could reflect anything they would reflect everything -- every thing -- we are. And in those moments, looking on that picture, I came to know a despair that went beyond any puling despair for my miserable self, one that went out and went out from that photograph, like the ripples from a pebble dropped into dark water, until they lapped up against everything in the world, and rendered it all into hacked meat and mute purposeless matter. And I despised the world, and all of humanity, and, indeed, God himself. But most of all, I despised myself. At the first turning of the second stair I turned and saw below The same shape twisted on the banister Under the vapour in the fetid air Struggling with the devil of the stairs who wears The deceitul face of hope and of despair. I despised myself for the reaction I was having to a mere photograph. I despised myself for having the ability to look upon it, to really study it, to feel the revulsion, and then simply put it down and walk away from it; no doubt to a reasonably good dinner. For that was what I had scheduled for myself later that day. After all, a good dinner at a good restaurant was a reasonable reward for another day at work in New York City. Wasn't it? At the second turning of the second stair I left them twisting, turning below; There were no more faces and the stair was dark, Damp, jagged, like an old man's mouth driveling, beyond repair, Or the toothed gullet of an aged shark. I'd like to say that I did not go to that dinner and I did not enjoy myself, but I did. The moment with the photograph was, for the evening, forgotten enough. It never even came up. Not really the sort of thing you want to chat about over a roasted duck with cranberry sauce and your standard big California Red, is it? The child rotting in the brackish water was, after all, not a child at all. The child was long since buried or left to dissolve as mere carrion. What had disturbed me was only the abstraction of a child snagged out of the world with photographic film, transmitted across the oceans via orbiting satellites. printed up on sheets of flimsy paper, and delivered to me and millions of others on a weekly basis.... to what purpose? To   What   Purpose? Because I needed to know? What did I know? That we are, each and every one of us, capable of the darkest evil? This much I'd known long before I'd known it. Did I study it because I needed more confirmation? I'd long been confirmed. And yet the image stuck in my mind, not as an obsession, but as an unbidden harbinger. And in time, I came to know its purpose. Its purpose was to teach me the one thing I really needed to know to live the life we are expected to live as fully paid-up members of today's "advanced and enlightened" society. Its purpose was to teach me how to make one decision that would make all the other clauses of this era's "new and improved" social contract easy to sign off on. Its purpose was to teach me to hate God. I'd never practiced that sort of hate before. I'd never hated God at all in all the years I had been "away." At most, my inclination towards God was a kind of studied indifference. It was casual pose, admired by many and practiced by most of my generation for decades. It was cool and in this age cool trumps everything. Being a man, and a weak one at that, this unthinking indifference is more persistent than hate. It abides with me today -- most days. I am, as I have remarked before, a Christian in crisis only. Only when my happy little world is darkened by something that seems to me at the time to bring down pain and confusion, do I remember God and seek Him. It's a shabby sort of religion, I know, but at least it is a religion of a sort. It was not a religion of that sort during the several years I hated Him. It was a white-hot kind of religion. I sought out His hand and His works in all the dark reports that deluge us all on a daily basis. I studied the latest news and kept a clipping file of outrage stored in my soul. I worked on it. Childhood leukemia? God's on the job. A close friend is shot-gunned on 14th street in a mugging? God's there pulling the trigger. Yet another mass grave dug up in yet another subdivision of Hell in Europe, Africa, the Middle East? God's working the back-hoe. It's a tough and dirty job and nobody but God has the moral clarity to do it. He's the original Bastard. A real Professional. To top it all off He had billions of fools convinced of His mercy and His goodness. They were ready to tell you that "God so loved the world...." Really? I was a tough-minded secularist with the kind of soul that looked at the pictures of life with a hard, unblinking eye. Oh, yeah? Show me. Any God that had the power to do good and yet allowed evil to exist and to prevail, why that God was..... It's an old standard, you know the tune and you know the words. I'm not going to sing it again here. For those who walk in darkness Both in the day time and in the night time The right time and the right place are not here No place of grace for those who avoid the face No time to rejoice for those who walk among noise and deny the voice It was a jester that stopped my hate of God. Not a great jester, I'll grant you, but a jester just the same. He used to caper for donations in the Central Park Zoo. Perhaps he capers there today. I wouldn't know. Since this jester's act was pitched towards humans with no more than five or six years of experience in the world, the only people that ever stopped and listened and watched him were little children with their parents or nannies. And on one particular day, for no clear reason, myself. He'd clear a circle near the seals and perform a few bits of juggling and some pratfalls. There would be some gentle mocking of the kids' parents, a bit of mime and a dollop of buffo slapstick. Then he'd go into his finale. The finale was always the same. It was a frantic dance and pantomime done to a tune blasting from his boom-box. The tune was an old spiritual, "O Sinnerman." It's another old standard we all know, but it sounded different to me in that afternoon in the park in early spring: O sinnerman where will you run to? O sinnerman where will you run to? O sinnerman where will you run to, All on that day? Run to the mountain. The mountain won't hide you. Run to the sea. The sea will not have you. And run to your grave. Your grave will not hold you. All on that day. This frantic show was obviously not being performed for me. I don't even remember why I was in the zoo at that time. The world doesn't circle around anyone of us, but it does, from time to time, pick up its cues. And, since I tend to see the world with the eyes of a poet, I'm always alert to the subtext of experience. I say "I" because I don't know any other way to name the observing presence that seems to always be riding on the saddle of my self-awareness. It really doesn't have a lot to do with me as a person and there are plenty of times I could do without it quite nicely, thank you. But I heed the voice when it has something of value to say, even if comes disguised as a mindless song out of a corny half-baked 20th century jester in fading makeup and tatterdemalion. Maybe it was because I was tired of hating God at every turn. Maybe it was because I'd simply come to the end of wanting to take the woes of the world onto my shoulders. Maybe it was because I just happened, at that moment, to be ready to snap out of it. Or maybe it was because of the childish message of the song. Urban sophisticates can, after all, be some of the densest matter in the universe, and sometimes need to be spoken to in very simple ways. For me, the voice said something like, "Oh, come off it and cop to your own shortcomings. I gave you everything there is and now you want Me to fix it? Be glad I made it fixable. And, if I hadn't made it the way it is, there'd be no you hanging around to hate Me, would there?" And my hatred of God left me. There wasn't any kind of great switcheroo where my hatred was replaced with love and the peace that passeth all understanding. It wasn't a replacement. It was a departure. And nobody waved goodbye. Least of all me. I did not forget the photograph. I would never forget the photograph. But I did let go of the idea that the evil it embodied was an Act of God. It took me a long time, a lot of hate, and a very simple song before I came to understand that every act of evil is an Act of Man. Blessed sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit of the garden, Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood Teach us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still Even among these rocks, Our peace in His will And even among these rocks And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea, Suffer me not to be separated And let my cry come unto Thee. ** Poem quoted is Ash Wednesday by T S Eliot. Full text here. First published, 2006. Posted by Vanderleun at February 10, 2016 12:21 AM Humans are very interesting, and it is curious how easily we fall into disgusting acts of violence. But we are all capable of carnage. Indeed, it has nothing to do with gods, who aren't nearly as concerned in the affairs of men as we narcissists might suspect. If an all powerful, all knowing god existed, I would hate him - but there is no reason to believe in such a being. Instead, we can believe in the dead butchered body of a poor African boy. We can believe in the good in all of us that feels sick at the sight or thought of such a horror. We can move on and enjoy our dinners because we are, for now, civilized…capable of creating a better world. Why is it that Man thinks God can only be God if just good is the answer. Take Jesus, he came to absolve us of our sins by being crucified. He did not start a charity for the downtrodden. Does that story tell us something. Man is afraid of the evil side, and maybe this is good. God it is quoted, said he is a jealous God, does that say anything to us. Man, is part of the evil and it cannot be denied. Forgive me, Man does feel anything can be denied, maybe the problem lies there. One thing for sure, God never denied evil was with us he spoke directly to us, it is in the Lord's prayer. I know how you felt about that picture. The picture that had the same effect on me was the dead mother clutching her dead child lying on the ground, victims of Saddam and his gas. I'll never forget that picture as long as I live. Whenever a Galloway or someone else of that ilk appears on stage defending the likes of him, that picture appears fresh in my mind, and I dismiss them as people who believe in nothing. Thanks for the great personal essay, Gerard. I read it with great interest, since I've long since thought of you as someone who seeks and knocks like one who truly wishes to find what he looks for. Keep knocking. Like the song says, "I have been through to the bitter depths of my soul". Thank you for the glimpse into yours. It's strange that God does not hate us back. Another of the reasons that He is God and we are not. We can seek whatever we want to in the world, and find it. Hence, what we seek is more important than what we find. Or something like that. ;) It sure is inspiring to see you discovering your own personal act of heroism by finding God once again, after shunning him for years. Some day I hope to lay eyes on that magical photograph myself, so I can be blessed with the splendorous wave of divine self-righteousness you felt that day. To jm, posted above: It was the Pride we received from The Bastard's Bible, that conveniently abridged edition, that allowed us to turn on our neighbors. You can dismiss that your opponents have morals, opinions, or motivation for what they so desperately plead, which is that we stop the killing. You think we haven't ended the lives of ten times the civilian deaths as Saddam? Do you honestly believe that? Do you honestly believe Jesus told us to vanquish our foes? He died on the cross because he could just could not kill any more Romans? This is the New America: dismantled democracy and the hedonism of a bath of blood. This is some of the deepest, most personal, and most real work I have come across. Grateful thanks to you for sharing it. Stephen in South Africa. "You can dismiss that your opponents have morals, opinions, or motivation for what they so desperately plead, which is that we stop the killing." That's what we were doing in April 1994: staying away from the rest of the world, so that our opponents could "stop the killing". Only, it turned out that what they wanted to do was massacre hundreds of thousands in Rwanda. Until Bush invaded Iraq, I used to hear numbers batted about for how many Iraqis had died in the U.N. sanctions from 1991 to 2003. Those numbers were in the hundreds of thousands. After Bush overthrew Hussein, and leftists seemed to realize that such huge numbers made a moral case for removing Hussein from power, the estimates shrank -- massively. Now, it just might actually be true that Hussein's reign was relatively bloodless. (I say 'relatively' because even the Left dimly acknowledges his butcheries, by such wan admissions as "Of course Hussein was a bad man.") And it might also be true that the Lancet's most inflated estimates for the war dead in Iraq since 2003 (estimates much higher than the U.N.'s own) are valid. But, even granting both of those points, that would not change the fact that many of us who slept through the Rwanda massacres in 1994 later found ourselves morally compelled to support removing Hussein from power -- precisely because we had lived through the sleepwalking 1990s, and had decided that those years had been ethically and politically inadequate. Right now we seem to be heading back to a time when our country's isolated torpor of the 1990s will again be in fashion. But I feel very safe in predicting that that won't last. For the world is not, in truth, simply waiting for America to "stop the killing". I wish it were. I was ready to email you about halfway through reading this to tell you exactly what you concluded - God gave us freewill. Glad I finished the essay before I started writing. What we do with it constitutes the evil in the world. Evil is the absence of God, not the making of God. My memory of Lake Victoria is buzzing the shore in a US Navy A3D - 1963. Flamingos took flight. Thousands? Millions? At least five miles of birds in action. Glorious! Deeper meanings? I've been thinking about that for more than 60 years. No real good answers. I doubt that there are any. Mysterious. In the mean time I'm going with the Judeo-Christians. I'd like to think them right. Hating God and loving God (and fearing same) are simply two different manifestations of the same illness; Acquired Cultural Delusional Disorder. Interesting that a common response to the inexplicable is to conclude supernatural agency. Whatever madness that compels men to slaughter children, it is no less anthropogenetic than the inspiration to compose symphonies. It is impossible to explain either, but I refuse to lean on a divine crutch, whatever excuses the human beings involved may invent. In subsequent posts, Gerard properly despises the catechism of the new Church of the Earth. It is a grisly shuck perpetrated on gullible dull-normals, by invoking fearful fates for those who do not drink the Kool-Aid(R). And it is just like that Old Time Religion. The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. I don't hate God; I just outgrew him. This was a comment on Wretchard's piece on the Bombing in the Bagdad Pet Market - which makes the point on Good, Evil and Free Will. Yes, the eternal question of why Evil is allowed to exist in this world. I've come to believe that God allows it to exist in order that we can understand Evil for what it is. And by understanding the difference between Good and Evil, we can exercise our free will to choose. And I have to believe that it is part of Gods plan that we, as sentient beings of free will, must consciously make our own choice between Good and Evil. Were Evil to be eliminated from this world, we would lose our ability to know the value of Good, and the devalue the choice that God wants us to make. Without the existance of Evil, Goodness becomes banal. ...or it could be that there is no such thing as God. Really? How would we know? What had disturbed me was only the abstraction of a child snagged out of the world with photographic film, transmitted across the oceans via orbiting satellites. printed up on sheets of flimsy paper, and delivered to me and millions of others on a weekly basis.... to what purpose? To thank God that we, as a nation, have the means and will to protect our children from such things and to ask God to never let us have to. You are correct about 'the purpose' of that image, and the role of that purpose in "(teaching me) the one thing I really needed to know to live the life we are expected to live as fully paid-up members of today's "advanced and enlightened" society." When I see a picture like that in the glossy pages of some vapid 'news' magazine, I know the purpose (as you wrote), but I always think: "There. Right there: That's why I'm not one of you (vapid news magazines). That's why I joined the Army. That's why I own guns. That's why I Believe. I'll die before that happens here. I can't save 'em all, but I can make a difference around me. Thank God." Thank you, Gerard, for posting this again. God gave us free will. With it, many will do evil. Others will try to prevent them from doing it. Others will stand by, oozing humanist platitudes and excusing themselves from the battle. Thank God for giving you the ability to discern the differences and to choose which group you want to belong to. Suit up and get to it. Civilization, and your own soul, are at stake. There's a new approach to Catholicism on catholicfundamentalism.com Looks as God as "The Unprogrammed Programmer" and He can program in three dimensions, make particles, compile them into structures and beings, andthe high point of it is us. The fundamentalism part comes because He could do it in a week, and make everything look old so we'd have free will. Demons, in this theory, are analagous to computer viruses. I had to face the problem of the destruction of children and childish innocence when I first encountered my brother's mental illness (schizophrenia). It's true that this is less dreadful than losing someone you love to horrific violence - but on the other hand, mental illness is in a sense a natural condition, and certainly not one directly caused by human evil. As a result, it brings you face to face with the question of why God permits such horrible natural evils, without the possibility of blaming them on human malice. I don't know the answer to that question. I do know that the only possible response is to stand by and be ready to do what we are called to do when others are in need. That's all, really. Hatred must precede any other feeling. It is the nature of our broken condition that this be so. And the white-hot hate is a salve, a balm against injustice. When I was about 7 or 8, halfway through my sojourn at a Catholic orphanage, one of the nuns was reading a book whose title I could see: The Man Who Got Even with God." I lusted for that book. I wanted to know how he did it so I could perform the same feat. When I asked to read it, Sister Isabel told me I was too young..."someday...", she said. Many, many years and rivers later, I came across the book in a monastery library (I was researching the earliest histories of monasticism, the ones before Benedict). I could feel the electricity coming off the cover as I pulled the book from the shelf. But maybe that was simply the layers of dust. I wiped it with my skirt and walked to the window to see it better. Dare I open it? What if the secret to getting even (getting revenge) was too costly? I sat to read...and found that I was holding a book about taming the will, about a man who met every crisis in his life with anger..."doesn't everyone?" I thought. A hour later, I'd finished the book. Sister Isabel was wrong. It wasn't that hard to understand at all, just impossible to fulfill. Anger is inverted pride, as hatred is inverted love. Implicit in them both is the accusation: "but you *promised*..." And then years after that, I typed out the euology I'd written for my mother and closed it with Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood Teach us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still Even among these rocks, Our peace in His will... That will be my epitaph. In the grave I will learn to be still... Yes, why is it that the evil we see we attribute to God? I too have seen the photograph, not of the child you mention but another one, this one with a name, the name of Melissa. How could God abandon her so? I could not believe in such a God. But later, God came to me in my own dark night. And I knew He had nothing to do with the evil that was / is perpetrated in this world. This is a remarkable post. Thank you. alias clio, you raised the specific example of schizophrenia. Perhaps if you commit acts usually thought of as evil and you were caused to do so by schizophrenia, you should be excused the consequences of those acts. But there are two points; first that various types of mental illness can be simulated, at least well enough to convince a witness inclined to believe it. And second, that it is well known that ingesting certain illegal substances can eventually make you schizophrenic. So if you stab someone to death because of schizophrenia caused by your voluntary smoking of skunk, should you still be excused? My answer is NO. Especially since that side effect is so well known. Equally, "I was drunk at the time" should never be considered either defense or mitigation. People very rarely have funnels stuck down their throats and whiskey poured in. That was an eloquent essay. Yet, while it properly absolves God of the moral evils committed by mankind, it does not address the problem of natural evil. Are men responsible for viruses, earthquakes and hurricanes? Who, if not God, is responsible for the tragedies caused by such things. If it be said that he does not actually cause these things, I don't think it could be gainsaid that He permits them and their consequences. But that's not a problem, right? John, as far as I know it, since Man is the fulfillment of Creation, his fall pulls everything down with him. We can see this literally, i.e. 19th century London and its smog and disease from rampant greed and carelessness; but from a poet's standpoint this is a reflection of something greater. When there was only one man and one woman, their kingship supreme; if they fell, the whole kingdom came down with them. Shattered, broken, twisted. What prevents us from understanding natural evil is the horror of it. But in the lives of holy men and women, we have seen paradise return, even if for only them and around them. It is strange and perhaps hard to comprehend, but our connection with our world - which is alive - is more than just that of an eye observing a canvas. Even the stones are alive, one might say, they just live very, very slowly. Milton, Freidman, Theodore Dalrymple, and Oliver Sacks always come to mind when I think of atheists, because their natures are so very exceptional by any measure, and more so because they escaped the curse so common to atheists--as much as those bothered by this essay generally did not. Bold, enforced sterility. Goethe saw that the unnatural, that too was natural. Perhaps the Creator did not make man, but only his soul. But then we could not blame him for our horror. A part of growing up is in not blaming our parents any longer. Omniscience. Omnipotence. Omnibenevolence. Pick two. Just curious Fletcher. Do you ever doubt yourself? Given that great minds past and present - some presumably greater than yours - were/are believers? I know, I know - some great minds were/are atheists too, but when I hear them speak or read their writings on matters of faith, they seem so foolish. Sorry I can't provide the attribution, but someone said "people of religious faith have to account for natural evil - non-believers have to account for everything else." Another profound, and deeply moving piece. Thank you, Mr. Vanderleun. Interesting how any mention of the "G" word brings out the atheist trolls, and sets them yapping like so many hysterical chihuahua dogs trying to chase the postman away. Made any converts, guys? Have you convinced anyone to abandon their faith yet? No? I wonder why. Here's a clue, though. The postman will return. And what he has for you isn't junk mail. But no one can force you to look. You have to do that of your own free will. Once again, thank you for your honesty and your eloquence. I'm your age or a little older, and like you I've seen endless evil and ugliness, much of it real personal. When I read the venom spewed by the atheist trolls who respond to posts like these, it's always notable to me that the dichotomy is seen as God vs man, and always seems to ignore totally the existence of Satan, evil personified. Like angry atheists, Satan and his angels were convinced that their envy of God was the equivalence of enlightenment, and that the absence of humility constituted wisdom. The recognition of Grace in my puny life has left me with more responsibility than I could often bear, but finally accepting that there is evil in the world has relieved me of the necessity of atoning for the bad that was done to me. In a way this is like the attainment of adulthood, which was once described to me as the sudden awareness that there are in fact people who don't have your best wishes at heart. And I'm only 64. The pivotal question raised in this heartfelt essay is, for me, how we the privileged, live our lives, with the knowledge of, or intentional avoidance of knowledge of the evil that exists. I think of the parable of the "good Samaritan", and how the privileged of that day, made a circuitous route around the victim of evil. Suffering is everywhere all the time. Life is suffering. Especially now, in the time of Obama, and I fear it's about to get much worse. I think we must do what we can when we're aware of the suffering. -"so when you see your neighbor carrying something, help him with his load"... I seem to recall (from college years) Eliot reciting, in dry and dusty voice the verse you cite. I kept my cool (For youth, the coolness must be kept...) But later, alone, at night Then, then was when I wept. Yowzah Mr.VdL! I hadn't even gotten to your lines about 'coolness trumping' before posting my clumsy but heartfelt lil' ol' verse above. A tight engagement 'tween reader & writer can be moving indeed... Most of us feel clumy and oafish in the face of writing like this. At one time I was profoundly unconscious in my belief that my casual and indifferent god was the God of goodness and mercy I've since chosen to follow - however imperfectly. When the subject even came up in conversation with what I had considered to be peers back then it was always "yeah, I believe in a god". Mind you, I couldn't quite bring myself to ever outright defend my faith -such as it was- when my "spaghetti monster's" existence was attacked by my 'friends'. I nevertheless silently and passively hedged my cowardly little bets in his existence. It wasn't until many years and more than a few peers had been passed by that I discovered that the strength of what I had understood as my benign indifference to God actually existed in direct proportion to my utter disbelief in the reality of Satan's hand in shaping the horrors and suffering on this world. Curiously enough the images that opened the floodgates of my heart and started me on my journey toward our Father in Heaven were also of a Rwandan girl who had suffered under the edge of a machete...I saw her in an interview on an HBO documentary about the children of war. Her words and the beautiful visage that evil men had tried to destroy changed me forever and to this day tears well up in my eyes just thinking of her. Tears of rage and pity that have since become tears of love and hope. In that little Tutsi girl I saw not only God but also the works of the nemesis of his love. As I remember her, she couldn't have been more than five or seven at the time but her eyes showed that she had already seen more of the works of the deceiver than I pray I or any of my own ever have to see. She spoke of how she was made to watch as her entire family was hacked apart and thrown down the very well in which she was eventually found crumpled and bleeding amidst the meat of what had been her family. She too had fallen under the men's devilish blades, but this miracle child had survived. She spoke softly and with grace I had never imagined existed about the day the bad men slaughtered her family and everyone she had known. She spoke although nearly half of her head was literally gone...Carved flat to little more than half its intended size; but in my heart since healed over to twice its original beauty. In the end, because of her, when I leave this earth I will at the very least leave with a smile knowing that it was the grace of an unknown little girl and the work of the devil himself that has showed me the way to God. Maybe spending all eternity alone in a vast universe did something to his mind, though. Maybe we all experience reality from a very limited perspective, being mere mortals. Perhaps God's reality is all that matters: God, after all, makes the rules. Personally, I don't hate God but I'm not sure I really like him. He keeps killing my dogs. When I imagine God on one side and Satan on the other, I think to myself, "God, what a choice!". On one side God, and apparent indifference to all this worlds' suffering, and on the other, Satan, pure evil and hatred of God and all creation. God, so indifferent, apparently, to the suffering of man(Christians, look what he did to his Son!) and on the other hand Satan, despising God and all creation. I feel like a kernel of wheat thrown to the winds, along with millions of other seeds, to land where we might and survive as best we can. But what choice is there, really? The game is rigged at conception. We might have free will but in reality there is no freedom of choice. God's way or the highway. Many of the deciever's lapdogs seem to do well in this world (the battle ground). We all get to chose sides. The rewards for our choice to follow a path and live a life that leads toward God are not necessarily of this world. Thanks for this disturbing and challenging essay. Those of us that believe in God are often asked to explain the presence of evil, and lately it seems harder to answer than I remembered. But as I've heard explained, it's the atheist and agnostics that need to explain any good in the world. There need not be any good, at all. We could easily have not one tender moment in our lives. Yet, we've all had more goodness than we deserve if we are without a purpose. We may some day know the reason for the pain. That was good reading..even for this atheist. It appears to me that the current pos in the house of white, having a breast without a heart, sees the absolute barbaric bastards he is essentially supporting just doing their job for their religion of peace. He being a member of that sect of course. So glad you shook that darkness. I've been angry with Him for the same reasons since I was a child. I can't separate the Almighty I know is there from the evil He allows. I've longed for my jester for some time. If I wait much longer, I may start to pray for it. You are a light in the world, Gerard. So blessed to know you, brother. BTW: What are your plans for Lent this year? "That we are, each and every one of us, capable of the darkest evil?" This is impossible for some to believe, especially when applied to themselves. Gerard, thanks for sharing this again. I came across a comment at Father Stephen's blog last night that seems apropos here: "Tolkein chronicles in the Silmarillion creation account that the Satan figure attempts to mar God’s creation song intentionally with the interjection of bum notes. God does not respond by producing a 'big eraser;' rather, He takes the notes into the Song, where they fit perfectly, of a piece with the Beauty. (Much to the Devil’s chagrin). Lewis also alluded to this in Narnia when the white witch cast the lamp post at Aslan (creating the world by singing), only to have the lamp post, upon contact with Aslan and the Song, become part of the living landscape. What does the book of Revelation actually…'reveal'? It seems rather obvious that what what it does NOT reveal is a Progressive god producing his 'big eraser' to 'fix' our errors. Rather, what IS revealed is the transformation/transfiguration of our sin/weakness/failure/error. They are not removed, but rather redeemed." There is more to the comment, well worth reading. And the post which inspired it as well, naturally. May you and all your readers have a blessed and fruitful Lent. Its a real battlefield, there are real casualties. The traitor passes from man to man like shadows in water. Its scary as hell. It is free will that allows us to recognize good and evil and free will that allows us to embrace good or evil. Without the free will we would be Islam...forever following the cue cards without conscience intervening. The great Christian theologian Augustine claimed that evil is not the opposite of good but the privation or corruption of the good. Nearly all of the best Protestant theologians of the Christian age say that we indeed live in a world of evil men, the apparent absence of God and a corrupted natural realm of death because that was exactly what our first parents in disobedience to a single command of God wanted.

Talley v. Social Security Administration MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER reversing and remanding the Commissioner's decision for action consistent with this opinion. This is a sentence four remand within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) and Melkonyan v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 89 (1991). Signed by Magistrate Judge Beth Deere on 4/11/12. (hph) IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS BRENDA L. TALLEY CASE NO.: 4:11CV00247 BD MICHAEL J. ASTRUE, Commissioner, Social Security Administration MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Plaintiff Brenda L. Talley appeals the final decision of the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (the “Commissioner”) denying her claim for Disability Insurance benefits (“DIB”) under Title II of the Social Security Act (the “Act”) and Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”) under Title XVI of the Act. For the following reasons, the decision of the Commissioner must be REVERSED and REMANDED. Ms. Talley filed for DIB and SSI on May 15, 2008, claiming disability since June 23, 2007.1 Ms. Talley alleged that she was disabled as a result of diabetes, arthritis, anxiety, morbid obesity, malabsorption syndrome, agoraphobia, hypertension, supraventricular tachycardia, obsessive compulsive disorder, neuropathy, retinopathy, endometriosis, degenerative joint disease, chronic insomnia, and deep vein thrombosis. (Tr. 65-71, 80) After denials initially and upon reconsideration, Ms. Talley requested a At the hearing, the ALJ established that Ms. Talley drew unemployment benefits through February of 2008, but he did not modify her onset date. (Tr. 39, 125) hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”). (Tr. 84-85) The ALJ held a hearing on July 6, 2009, at which Ms. Talley appeared with her attorney and testified. (Tr. 16-42) The ALJ also heard testimony from a vocational expert. (Tr. 41-42) The ALJ issued a decision on November 4, 2009, finding that Ms. Talley was not disabled for purposes of the Act. (Tr. 50-60) On January 20, 2011, the Appeals Council denied her request for review, making the ALJ’s decision the Commissioner’s final decision. (Tr. 1-4) At the time of the hearing before the ALJ, Ms. Talley was 47 years old and was living alone in a house next door to her mother and brother. (Tr. 19, 40-41) She had previous work as a registered nurse. (Tr. 138) Decision of the Administrative Law Judge: The ALJ followed the required five-step sequence to determine: (1) whether the claimant was engaged in substantial gainful activity; (2) if not, whether the claimant had a severe impairment; (3) if so, whether the impairment (or combination of impairments) met or equaled a listed impairment; (4) if not, whether the impairment (or combination of impairments) prevented the claimant from performing past relevant work2; and (5) if so, whether the impairment (or combination of impairments) prevented the claimant from If the claimant has sufficient residual functional capacity to perform past relevant work, the inquiry ends and benefits are denied. 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1520(a)(4)(iv), performing any other jobs available in significant numbers in the national economy. 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1520(a)-(g); 416.920(a)-(g). The ALJ found that Ms. Talley had not engaged in substantial gainful activity since her alleged disability onset date but noted that she had received unemployment benefits into the first quarter of 2008, indicating she was available and willing to return to work during that period. (Tr. 52) The ALJ also found that Ms. Talley had the following severe impairments: diabetes mellitus, back disorder (degenerative arthritis), obesity, and mood disorder. (Tr. 52) According to the ALJ, Ms. Talley did not have an impairment or combination of impairments, however, that met or equaled an impairment listed in 20 C.F.R. Part 404, Subpart P, Appendix 1 (20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1526, 416.926). (Tr. 53) The ALJ determined that Ms. Talley retained the residual functional capacity (“RFC”) to perform sedentary work except as follows: she could occasionally lift/carry ten pounds and frequently lift/carry less, stand/walk for two hours; occasionally climb, balance, crawl, kneel, stoop, and crouch. She had moderate restriction in her ability to maintain the activities of daily living, social functioning, and concentration, persistence, and pace. She was moderately limited in her ability to understand, remember, and carry out detailed instructions; make judgments on simple work related decisions; interact appropriately with the public; and respond appropriately to usual work situation and routine work changes. She could perform work where interpersonal contact was incidental to the work performed, complexity of tasks is learned and performed by rote, with few variables, little judgment was required, and supervision was simple, direct, and concrete. (Tr. 55) The ALJ concluded that Ms. Talley could not perform her past relevant work as a registered nurse. (Tr. 58) Relying on the vocational expert’s responses to interrogatories, the ALJ concluded Ms. Talley could perform work as a production worker, credit authorizer, or interviewer and that she was not disabled within the meaning of the Act. Standard of Review In reviewing the Commissioner’s decision, this Court must determine whether there is substantial evidence in the record as a whole to support the decision. Boettcher v. Astrue, 652 F.3d 860, 863 (8th Cir. 2011); 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). Substantial evidence is something less than a preponderance, but it must be, “sufficient for reasonable minds to find it adequate to support the decision.” Boettcher, 652 F.3d at 863 (citing Guilliams v. Barnhart, 393 F.3d 798, 801 (8th Cir. 2005)). In reviewing the record as a whole, the Court must consider both evidence that detracts from the Commissioner’s decision and evidence that supports the decision; but, the decision cannot be reversed, “simply because some evidence may support the opposite conclusion.” Id. (citing Pelkey v. Barnhart, 433 F.3d 575, 578 (8th Cir. 2006)). Severe Impairments and Residual Functional Capacity Ms. Talley complains that the ALJ erred by failing to find that her diabetic retinopathy, supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), peripheral neuropathy, and hip pain were severe impairments. (#9 at p. 14) She also complains that the ALJ’s residual functional capacity assessment is not supported by substantial evidence in the record. Ms. Talley had the burden of showing that her impairments were severe; however, this burden is not a great one. Caviness v. Massanari, 250 F.3d 603, 605 (8th Cir. 2001). Rather, step two of the sequential evaluation process provides a de minimus screening device to dispose of groundless claims. Bowen v. Yuckert, 482 U.S. 137, 153-54, 107 S.Ct. 2287 (1986). An impairment is severe if the effect of the impairment on the claimant’s ability to perform basic work is more than slight or minimal. Warren v. Shalala, 29 F.3d 1287, 1291 (8th Cir. 1994) (quoting Cook v. Bowen, 797 F.2d 687, 690 (8th Cir. 1986)). Basic work activities are the abilities and aptitudes necessary to do most jobs, such as hearing, standing, walking, sitting, lifting, handling, remembering simple instructions, using judgment, and dealing with changes in a routine work setting. 20 C.F.R. §404.1521. The Commissioner must resolve any doubt as to whether the required showing of severity has been made in favor of the claimant. SSR 85-28 at *4 (1985). Once it is determined that an individual has a severe impairment for purposes of step two, the combined effect of all impairments are considered in determining an individual’s residual functional capacity, regardless of whether the impairments are labeled severe or non-severe. 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1545(e) and 416.945(e). In assessing residual functional capacity, the ALJ must give appropriate consideration to all of the claimant's impairments, and base the assessment on competent medical evidence. Partee v. Astrue, 638 F.3d 860, 865 (8th Cir. 2011) (citations omitted). An ALJ should consider the quality of the claimant’s daily activities and the ability to sustain activities, interests, and relate to others over a period of time. The frequency, appropriateness, and independence of the activities must also be considered. Boettcher, 652 F.3d at 866 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Ms. Talley claims that the ALJ erred by failing to find that her diabetic retinopathy was a severe impairment. The ALJ noted that Ms. Talley had been referred for an evaluation of diabetic retinopathy and stated that her diabetes could be expected to cause vision changes. (Tr. 53) But he did not find her diabetic retinopathy to be a severe impairment; nor did he discuss Ms. Talley’s vision when assessing her residual functional The Commissioner does not dispute that Ms. Talley was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, but argues that the diagnosis, by itself, does not indicate a severe impairment. This statement of the law is true, as far as it goes. However, the ALJ still had a duty to consider Ms. Talley’s diabetic retinopathy when considering her residual functional capacity, and it appears that he failed to do so. In November, 2009, Ms. Talley was referred for an eye examination after complaints that her eyes were hurting. (Tr. 208) The records from Ms. Talley’s visit to an opthamologist in November, 2008, indicate that she had a history of retinal bleeding and glaucoma. (Tr. 482) In a narrative report dated November 13, 2009, Gary Russell, M.D., a physician at River Valley Medical Center, wrote that, according to her ophthalmologist, Ms. Talley had diabetic retinopathy with marked decrease in her vision and at least one retinal hemorrhage that was treated with laser therapy.3 (Tr. 535) On November 19, 2009, Ms. Talley was seen at River Valley Christian Clinic (“River Valley”) complaining of vision problems. She was referred to an eye doctor. (Tr. 543) At the hearing, Ms. Talley testified that she had glasses, but that they were for distance vision and not for reading. (Tr. 34-35) She stated that she was no longer able to read the newspaper because her vision was impaired. (Tr. 28-29) However, she was able to read a large-print Bible. (Tr. 29) She also testified that one reason she used a cane was Dr. Russell’s letter was submitted to the Appeals Council after the ALJ hd rendered his decision. (Tr. 1-4) The Appeals Council considered the letter when it declined to review the ALJ’s decision. (Tr. 2, 4) Consequently, it may be considered by this Court. See United States v. Bergmann, 207 F.3d 1065, 1068 (8th Cir. 2000) (citing Riley v. Shalala, 18 F.3d 619, 622 (8th Cir. 1994)) (court’s role is to determine whether ALJ’s decision is supported by substantial evidence, including evidence submitted after the determination was made). to help her deal with her visual impairment because she had difficulty detecting depth and In spite of considerable evidence in the record indicating that Ms. Talley’s diabetic retinopathy has more than a minimal effect on her ability to work, it does not appear that the ALJ considered it when assessing her residual functional capacity. The ALJ found that Ms. Talley was capable of working as a production worker which, according to the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, would require her to frequently use near acuity and depth perception, and to occasionally use color vision. Employment and Training Admin., U.S. Dep't of Labor, Dictionary of Occupational Titles (4th ed. rev. 1991). Further, it does not appear that any consulting or examining source offered an opinion about the extent of visual limitation caused by Ms. Talley’s retinopathy. Remand is necessary for the ALJ to more fully and fairly develop the record regarding the extent of Ms. Talley’s visual impairment, if any. On November 7, 2007, Kenneth Turner, M.D., diagnosed Ms. Talley with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. On September 18, 2008, Ms. Talley complained of numbness and tingling during her visit to River Valley. At the hearing, Ms. Talley testified that her feet and legs were cold and numb bilaterally. (Tr. 146) She stated that she had problems with strength and grip, could not open jars, and dropped things. (Tr. 25, 27-28) She had difficulty holding a glass of milk because of problems with her grip. (Tr. 29) She also stated that her peripheral neuropathy caused her knees to buckle, leading her to use a cane. (Tr. 30) She had difficulty getting up and down the three steps leading to her house. (Tr. 30) In his opinion, the ALJ acknowledged Ms. Talley’s diabetic neuropathy and considered whether there was documentation of neuropathy in two extremities significant enough to meet a Listing. (Tr. 53) He also noted that her diabetes could cause “tingling and numbness” in the hands or feet. (Tr. 53) When assessing Ms. Talley’s residual functional capacity, however, the ALJ focused his assessment only on the neuropathy in her feet. He noted that she had reported numbness, tingling, and pain in her feet. (Tr. 56) The ALJ stressed, however, that the orthopedic specialist had found that she had normal gait, that her neurovascular status was intact, and that she had positive straight leg tests. (Tr. 56) The ALJ concluded that Ms. Talley could sit for six hours; stand/walk for two hours; and could occasionally climb, balance, crawl, kneel, stoop, or crouch. (Tr. 57) The ALJ did not address the evidence in the record indicating that Ms. Talley’s peripheral neuropathy also affected her hands. He did not limit her residual functional capacity in any way related to her hands and concluded she could perform work as a credit authorizer and interviewer – jobs that require frequent handling. The ALJ’s failure to fully account for Ms. Talley’s peripheral neuropathy in assessing residual functional capacity is error. Again, it does not appear that any examining medical professional had ordered a nerve conduction study of Ms. Talley or had offered an opinion as to the extent of the limitation caused by her peripheral neuropathy.4 On remand, the Commissioner should consider the effect, if any, that Ms. Talley’s peripheral neuropathy in her legs, hands, and feet has on her residual functional Ms. Talley alleges that it was error for the ALJ not to conclude that her hip pain was a severe impairment. The ALJ acknowledged Ms. Talley’s complaints of hip pain at various points in his opinion. He noted that Ms. Talley complained of hip pain to Dr. Turner, who recorded in treatment notes that Ms. Talley had a right hip that “pops out at times.” (Tr. 56) The ALJ also acknowledged that Ms. Talley was examined by Owen Kelly, M.D., at Arkansas Orthopaedic Institute in November, 2007. (Tr. 56, 248) Dr. Kelly took xrays of Ms. Talley that revealed some degenerative disc disease. (Tr. 248) On examination, he noted that she had normal gait, but tenderness of the greater trochanter bursa and around the lumbosacral area. (Tr. 248) He diagnosed low back pain, degenerative disc disease, and right leg radiculopathy. (Tr. 248) He ordered an MRI of In his November, 2009 letter, Dr. Russell noted that Ms. Talley’s diabetes mellitus was causing neuropathy in her feet, legs, and hands. (Tr. 535) He did not, however, offer an opinion as to how the neuropathy limited her ability to work. Ms. Talley’s lumbar spine, but she reported to Dr. Turner that she was unable to have the test because of her financial situation. (Tr. 526) On October 2, 2008, Ms. Talley complained of hip pain during a visit to Stanley Teeter, M.D., at River Valley. (Tr. 471) She was diagnosed with degenerative arthritis in her hip. Dr. Teeter prescribed Etodolac but, as the ALJ noted, that medication was discontinued due to gastritis. (Tr. 57, 470) At her hearing, Ms. Talley testified that Dr. Teeter had told her she had “bone against bone” on her right hip, and that her hip socket was degenerated. (Tr. 29) She stated that he had advised her to keep as much weight as possible off of it, so she used a cane. (Tr. 29-30) Additionally, Ms. Talley testified that she was not able to bend down to pick up objects that dropped on the floor. (Tr. 25-26) She relied on her brother or mother to come to her house and do that for her. (Tr. 25) The ALJ discounted the effects of Ms. Talley’s hip pain, noting that no surgical treatment was recommended.5 (Tr. 57) However, Dr. Kelly, the orthopedic specialist, had ordered an MRI in order to have a complete work-up on Ms. Talley, but she was not able to have the test because of her limited financial resources.6 (Tr. 375) She never Ms. Talley testified at the hearing that she was 5'2" tall and weighed 266 pounds. Ms. Talley’s obesity obviously could contribute to making her an unlikely candidate for It was well known to Ms. Talley’s physicians that she had limited financial resources. (Tr. 368, 375, 443, 535) returned to Dr. Kelly, but instead continued to seek treatment for hip pain from her general practitioners at the free clinic. (Tr. 374, 420, 422, 535, 538) Further, the ALJ noted that none of Ms. Talley’s doctors had restricted her activities. However, Ms. Talley’s testimony contradicts this assertion. She testified that Dr. Teeter had advised her to keep as much weight off of her hip as possible. The ALJ’s opinion does not offer any explanation for discrediting this testimony. Further, Dr. Russell, one of Ms. Talley’s treating physicians, stated that Ms. Talley was unable to sit or stay in one position for an extended period of time. (Tr. 535) While the ALJ did not have Dr. Russell’s assessment at the time he wrote his opinion, the Court may consider that opinion, which was available to, and considered by, the Appeals Council. See United States v. Bergmann, 207 F.3d 1065, 1068 (8th Cir. 2000) (citing Riley v. Shalala, 18 F.3d 619, 622 (8th Cir. 1994)) (the court’s role is to determine whether the ALJ’s decision is supported by substantial evidence including the evidence submitted after the determination was made). The ALJ’s conclusion that Ms. Talley could perform sedentary work and could occasionally climb, balance, crawl, kneel, stoop, and couch is not supported by substantial evidence in the record. Ms. Talley also claims that the ALJ erred in assessing her mental impairments. The ALJ concluded Ms. Talley had moderate restriction in activities of daily living; in her social functioning; and in concentration, persistence, and pace. (Tr. 54) He noted that she was hospitalized in 2001 following a suicide attempt. (Tr. 54) The ALJ found that Ms. Talley’s mood disorder was a severe impairment, but he concluded that she maintained the residual functional capacity for unskilled work. (Tr. 52, 55) Ms. Talley points out that the ALJ declined to discuss the mental consultative examination performed by Don Ott, Psy.D., on September 17, 2008. (Tr. 391-97) Dr. Ott observed that, during the examination, Ms. Talley’s affect was rigid and flat. He stated that she made very little eye contact, and that her voice was tired and resigned. (Tr. 393) She seemed distracted and talked excessively during the evaluation. (Tr. 395) Dr. Ott concluded that Ms. Talley’s social interaction was “fairly limited.” (Tr. 395) Her concentration was impaired, and her capacity to cope with the mental demands of work was deficient. (Tr. 396) Dr. Ott diagnosed Ms. Talley with major depressive disorder, recurrent, moderate and assigned a GAF score of 50-60. (Tr. 395) The Commissioner points out that the ALJ addressed Dr. Ott’s opinion by stating, “the opinions of the claimant’s examining and treating physicians are given substantial weight consistent with 20 C.F.R. 404.1527.” Further, he argues that Dr. Ott’s opinion is not contradictory to the ALJ’s assessment of Ms. Talley’s residual functional capacity, pointing out that Dr. Ott “never opined as to Plaintiff’s actual limitations in concentration or any work-related domain.” (#14 at p. 7) The ALJ’s handling of Dr. Ott’s opinion was inadequate. As explained in Social Security Ruling 96-6p, administrative law judges and the Appeals Council are not bound by findings made by State agency or other program physicians and psychologists, but they cannot ignore these opinions and must explain the weight given to the opinions in their decisions. SSR 96-6p (1996). Dr. Ott’s opinion that Ms. Talley’s concentration was impaired and that her ability to cope with the mental demands of work was deficient should have at least been addressed by the ALJ in his opinion. The ALJ’s assessment of Ms. Talley’s treatment records was also deficient. In his opinion, the ALJ based his residual functional capacity assessment on the July, 2008 assessment of Richard H. Sundermann, Jr., M.D. (Tr. 443-44) Dr. Sundermann recounted Ms. Talley’s history of depression and anxiety. He noted that she had been unable to afford Effexor and had switched to a generic, but had been unable to afford even an adequate dose of the generic drug. (Tr. 443) He diagnosed Ms. Talley with moderate, recurrent major depressive disorder and prescribed Effexor, which he could supply to her through a patient assistance program. (Tr. 444) The ALJ states the Effexor resulted in fewer suicidal thoughts and an improved mood. He summarized the remaining treatment notes by stating that Ms. Talley continued to attend therapy sessions and medication management, “with a few more changes in the medications and improvement of her mood.” Based on this analysis of Ms. Talley’s treatment records, the ALJ concluded that she could perform unskilled work. (Tr. 57) The ALJ’s assessment that Ms. Talley’s depression and anxiety were controlled with medication and therapy is not supported by substantial evidence in the record. In April, 2008, Ms. Talley complained of increased anxiety and depression to Dr. Turner. He referred her to Counseling Associates noting that, “[s]he is not actually suicidal but needs more intensive care for depression than I can provide alone.” (Tr. 526) In May of 2008, Ms. Talley called Dr. Turner’s office seeking samples of Effexor because she could not purchase her medication. (Tr. 527) He was unable to provide samples of Effexor and changed her medication to Cymbalta. (Tr. 527) On June 4, 2008, Ms. Talley presented to Counseling Associates complaining of anxiety and depression since she was a child. She reported daily symptoms of depression and anxiety, stating that her social anxiety was so severe that she remained isolated and felt like a failure. She was initially diagnosed with major depressive disorder, recurrent, moderate, without psychotic features, and anxiety disorder with agoraphobia. She was assigned a GAF score of 50. (Tr. 331-336) On July 9, 2008, Dr. Sundermann evaluated Ms. Talley. He noted that she had a difficult time digesting her food and medicine because she had undergone gastric bypass surgery in 2001. He stated that Prozac, which Ms. Talley had previously taken with good result, had stopped working. She reported a failed suicide attempt years earlier, which had resulted in her being psychiatrically hospitalized for seven days. (Tr. 443-44) Dr. Sundermann prescribed Effexor XR and therapy. (Tr. 444) On August 26, 2008, Ms. Talley began therapy with Erin Willcutt, LAC. (Tr. 447) On September 8, 2008, Ms. Talley was evaluated by Sam Hernandez, APN. Progress notes from the visit indicate that Ms. Talley reported that her depression seemed worse and that she wanted to stay in bed most of the time. (Tr. 441) She was observed to have a flat affect and admitted to having fleeting suicidal thoughts with a plan at times. Nurse Hernandez increased her Effexor, and Ms. Talley agreed to allow her brother to help her manage her medications. (Tr. 441) During a therapy session on September 12, 2008, Ms. Talley seemed to be doing better. (Tr. 446) But on October 1, 2008, her therapist noted that her response to treatment has been “marginal,” and her anxiety level was very high. (Tr. 445) On October 6, 2008, Ms. Talley returned to Nurse Hernandez, who noted that she seemed to be doing quite a bit better. (Tr. 440) Ms. Talley returned to see Ms. Willcutt on October 14, 2008. Ms. Willcutt noted that Ms. Talley seemed to be doing a little better, but still has difficulty getting motivated to do things to improve her situation. (Tr. 503) During visits on November 12, 2008, and December 9, 2008, Ms. Talley reported doing better. (Tr. 501-502) On December 11, 2008, Nurse Hernandez diagnosed major depressive disorder, recurrent, moderate and continued her on Effexor and individual therapy. (Tr. 489) On January 15, 2009, Ms. Talley reported feeling a little more depressed, but she returned on February 4, 3009, to report feeling better. (Tr. 499-500) Ms. Willcutt noted that at her session on March 6, 2009, Ms. Talley had a depressed mood. She noted that Ms. Talley was not doing as well as she had been at her last visit and reported feeling very depressed after her mother had yelled at her. (Tr. 498) Ms. Talley was examined by Roy Ragsdill, M.D., on April 7, 2009. Ms. Talley complained to Dr. Ragsdill of problems with her mother and social anxiety. He suggested adding dependent personality traits to her diagnosis and noted that Ms. Talley had only a “partial response to Effexor” but that he was “reluctant” to change her medications. (Tr. 488) He continued her medications and suggested an increase in therapy to weekly. (Tr. Ms. Willcutt reported that on April 21, 2009, Ms. Talley’s response to therapy was “minimal” and her thought patterns were “very negative.” (Tr. 497) Ms. Willcutt suggested that they increase their sessions. (Tr. 497) On May 5, 2009, Ms. Talley was noted to have a very depressed mood, negative thought process, and very tearful behavior. Ms. Talley admitted to thoughts of wanting to die and not wanting to go on, but denied any plan or intent to harm herself. Ms. Willcutt discussed possible acute care with Ms. Talley, but she rejected the idea because she had formerly worked at the acute unit and felt this would make her feel like more of a failure. Ms. Willcutt noted that cognitive therapy was minimally successful and noted her intention to meet with her case manager and discuss the case with Ms. Talley’s psychiatrist. (Tr. 496) Ms. Willcutt recommended an increased level of care for Ms. Talley with weekly therapy and meetings twice per month with her case manager. (Tr. Notes from Ms. Talley’s May 20, 2009 therapy session indicate that she exhibited depressed mood, negative thought process, and no change in behavior of functioning. (Tr. 495) On June 16, 2009, Dr. Ragsdill examined Ms. Talley. He noted that her mood was somewhat better, but discussed with her the possibility of adding lithium as an augmentation to her treatment. Ms. Talley rejected the idea. (Tr. 534) Notes from Ms. Talley’s therapy session with Ms. Willcutt on November 18, 2009, indicate that Ms. Talley’s response to therapy was not positive. (Tr. 548) She stated, “Brenda is very depressed and apathetic about her current living situation. She was very negative in session and reports having no energy to do or work on current situation. She reports feeling like ‘Brenda’ is slipping away.” (Tr. 548) Ms. Willcutt noted that “Brenda is isolating and avoiding friends, family, and appointments when possible.” She recommended that Ms. Talley increase the frequency of her therapy sessions and case management appointments. (Tr. 548) Ms. Willcutt met with Ms. Talley again on December 9, 2009. (Tr. 549) She noted that Ms. Talley’s mood was depressed and overwhelmed; her thoughts were negative; and her behavior was anxious. Ms. Talley reported difficulties living with her mentally ill mother and brother. Ms. Willcutt noted that Ms. Talley’s activity level was “significantly reduced.” (Tr. 549) On December 9, 2009, Ms. Talley was also seen by her psychiatrist, Dr. Ragsdill. (Tr. 547) He noted that Ms. Talley was walking with a cane, was anxious, and did not want to go out much. He assessed that she was having an “incomplete response” to her antidepressant regimen. He increased her Effexor to the maximum dose and added lithium. (Tr. 547) In a treatment and prognosis summary dated December 13, 2009, Ms. Willcutt noted that Ms. Talley’s depression and anxiety had increased over the past several months.7 (Tr. 550) She pointed out that Ms. Talley’s thought patterns were increasingly negative and her anxiety was more apparent. She stated that she had agreed with her current diagnosis of major depressive disorder, recurrent, moderate to severe and anxiety disorder NOS and stated that, in her opinion, Ms. Talley’s prognosis was guarded, due to the recurrent nature of her mental disorder and severe stressors. (Tr. 550) Evidence from treating sources are generally accorded great weight because they are most able to provide a longitudinal picture of a claimant’s impairments. 20 C.F.R. § 416.927. The ALJ had access to Ms. Talley’s treatment records from Counseling Associates through June, 2009, but opted to focus on the first few months of her Like Dr. Russell’s letter, Ms. Willcutt’s summary was submitted to the Appeals Council after the ALJ issued his opinion. It was considered by the Appeals Council, however, when it declined to review the ALJ’s decision. (Tr. 1-4) treatment, when she showed some signs of improvement. The Appeals Council had access to Ms. Talley’s records through December, 2009, but concluded that the information did not provide a basis for changing the ALJ’s decision. The Court The treating source records, taken as a whole, indicate that Ms. Talley’s depression and anxiety had not improved on medication but, in fact, steadily declined after March of 2009. The ALJ erred by failing to address Dr. Ott’s opinion and by relying on a sixmonth snapshot of Ms. Talley’s treatment records when assessing her mental residual After consideration of the record as a whole, the Court concludes that the decision of the Commissioner is not supported by substantial evidence. The Commissioner’s decision is reversed and remanded for action consistent with this opinion. This is a “sentence four” remand within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) and Melkonyan v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 89 (1991). IT IS SO ORDERED this 11th day of April, 2011. UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia. Why Is My Information Online?

Commentary on the Bible, by Adam Clarke, , at sacred-texts.com After five days, Ananias the high priest, the elders, and one Tertullus, an orator, come to Caesarea to accuse Paul, Act 24:1. The oration of Tertullus, Act 24:2-9. Paul's defense, Act 24:10-21. Felix, having heard his defense, proposes to leave the final determination of it till Claudius Lysias should come down; and, in the mean time, orders Paul to be treated with humanity and respect, Act 24:22, Act 24:23. Felix, and Drusilla his wife, hear Paul concerning the faith of Christ; and Felix it greatly affected, Act 24:24, Act 24:25. On the expectation of obtaining money for his liberation, Felix keeps Paul in prison, Act 24:26, and being superseded in the government of Judea by Porcius Festus, in order to please the Jews, he leaves Paul bound, Act 24:27. After five days - These days are to be reckoned from the time in which Paul was apprehended at Jerusalem, and twelve days after he had arrived in that city; see Act 24:11. Calmet reckons the days thus: - St. Luke says that Paul was apprehended at Jerusalem when the seven days of his vow were nearly ended, Act 21:27; that is, at the end of the fifth day after his arrival. The next day, which was the sixth, he was presented before the Sanhedrin. The night following, he was taken to Antipatris. The next day, the seventh, he arrived at Caesarea. Five days afterwards, that is, the twelfth day after his arrival at Jerusalem, the high priest and the elders, with Tertullus, came down to accuse him before Felix. - But see the note on Act 23:32. A certain orator named Tertullus - This was probably a Roman proselyte to Judaism; yet he speaks every where as a Jew. Roman orators, advocates; etc., were found in different provinces of the Roman empire; and they, in general, spoke both the Greek and Latin languages; and, being well acquainted with the Roman laws and customs, were no doubt very useful. Luitprandus supposed that this Tertullus was the same with him who was colleague with Pliny the younger, in the consulate, in the year of Rome, 852; who is mentioned by Pliny, Epist. v. 15. Of this there is no satisfactory proof. Tertullus began to accuse him - There are three parts in this oration of Tertullus: - 1. The exordium. 2. The proposition. 3. The conclusion. The exordium contains the praise of Felix and his administration, merely for the purpose of conciliating his esteem, Act 24:2-4; The proposition is contained in Act 24:5. The narration and conclusion, in Act 24:6-8. By thee we enjoy great quietness - As bad a governor as Felix most certainly was, he rendered some services to Judea. The country had long been infested with robbers; and a very formidable banditti of this kind, under one Eliezar, he entirely suppressed. Joseph. Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 6; Bell. lib. ii, cap. 22. He also suppressed the sedition raised by an Egyptian impostor, who had seduced 30,000 men; see on Act 21:38 (note). He had also quelled a very afflictive disturbance which took place between the Syrians and the Jews of Caesarea. On this ground Tertullus said, By thee we enjoy great quietness; and illustrious deeds are done to this nation by thy prudent administration. This was all true; but, notwithstanding this, he is well known from his own historians, and from Josephus, to have been not only a very bad man, but also a very bad governor. He was mercenary, oppressive, and cruel; and of all these the Jews brought proofs to Nero, before whom they accused him; and, had it not been for the interest and influence of his brother Pallas; he had been certainly ruined. We accept it always, and in all places - We have at all times a grateful sense of thy beneficent administration, and we talk of it in all places, not only before thy face, but behind thy back. That I be not farther tedious unto thee - That I may neither trespass on thy time, by dwelling longer on this subject, nor on thy modesty, by thus enumerating thy beneficent deeds. Hear us of thy clemency - Give us this farther proof of thy kindness, by hearkening to our present complaint. The whole of this exordium was artful enough, though it was lame. The orator had certainly a very bad cause, of which he endeavored to make the best. Felix was a bad man and bad governor; and yet he must praise him, to conciliate his esteem. Paul was a very good man, and nothing amiss could be proved against him; and yet he must endeavor to blacken him as much as possible, in order to please his unprincipled and wicked employers. His oration has been blamed as weak, lame, and imperfect; and yet, perhaps, few, with so bad a cause, could have made better of it. For we have found this man, etc. - Here the proposition of the orator commences. He accuses Paul, ant his accusation includes four particulars: - 1. He is a pest, λοιμος; an exceedingly bad and wicked man. 2. He excites disturbances and seditions against the Jews. 3. He is the chief of the sect of the Nazarenes, who are a very bad people, and should not be tolerated. 4. He has endeavored to pollute and profane the temple, and we took him in the fact. A pestilent fellow - The word λοιμος, pestis - the plague or pestilence, is used by both Greek and Roman authors to signify a very bad and profligate man; we have weakened the force of the word by translating the substantive adjectively. Tertullus did not say that Paul was a pestilent fellow, but he said that he was the very pestilence itself. As in that of Martial, xi. 92: - Non vitiosus homo es, Zoile, sed vitium. "Thou art not a vicious man, O Zoilus, but thou art vice itself." The words λοιμος, and pestis, are thus frequently used. - See Wetstein, Bp. Pearce, and Kypke. A mover of sedition - Instead of Ϛασιν, sedition, ABE, several others, with the Coptic, Vulgate, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Oecumenius, read Ϛασεις, commotions, which is probably the true reading. Among all the Jews - Bp. Pearce contends that the words should be understood thus - one that stirreth up tumults Against all the Jews; for, if they be understood otherwise, Tertullus may be considered as accusing his countrymen, as if they, at Paul's instigation, were forward to make insurrections every where. On the contrary, he wishes to represent them as a persecuted and distressed people, by means of Paul and his Nazarenes. A ringleader - Πρωτοστατην. This is a military phrase, and signifies the officer who stands on the right of the first rank; the captain of the front rank of the sect of the Nazarenes; της των ναζωραιων αἱρεσεως, of the heresy of the Nazarenes. This word is used six times by St. Luke; viz. in this verse, and in Act 24:14, and in Act 5:17; Act 15:5; Act 26:5; Act 28:22; but in none of them does it appear necessarily to include that bad sense which we generally assign to the word heresy. - See the note on Act 5:17, where the subject is largely considered; and see farther on Act 24:14 (note). Hath gone about to profane the temple - This was a heavy charge, if it could have been substantiated, because the Jews were permitted by the Romans to put any person to death who profaned their temple. This charge was founded on the gross calumny mentioned, Act 21:28, Act 21:29; for, as they had seen Trophimus, an Ephesian, with Paul in the city, they pretended that he had brought him into the temple. Would have judged according to our law - He pretended that they would have tried the case fairly, had not the chief captain taken him violently out of their hands; whereas, had not Lysias interfered, they would have murdered him on the spot. With great violence - Μετα πολλης βιας, I rather think, means with an armed force. Tertullus intimates that Lysias interfered contrary to law, and brought soldiers to support him in his infringement on their constitution. This is what he seems to say and complain of; for the Jews were vexed with Lysias for rescuing the apostle from their hands. Commanding his accusers to come, etc. - Here Tertullus closes his opening and statement of the case; and now he proceeds to call and examine his witnesses; and they were no doubt examined one by one, though St. Luke sums the whole up in one word - The Jews also assented, saying, that these things were so. Whoever considers the plan of Tertullus's speech, will perceive that it was both judicious and artful. Let us take a view of the whole: - 1. He praises Felix to conciliate his favor. 2. He generally states the great blessings of his administration. 3. He states that the Jews, throughout the whole land, felt themselves under the greatest obligations to him, and extolled his prudent and beneficent management of the public affairs every where. 4. That the prisoner before him was a very bad man; a disturber of the public peace; a demagogue of a dangerous party; and so lost to all sense of religion as to attempt to profane the temple! 5. That, though he should have been punished on the spot, yet, as they were ordered by the chief captain to appear before him, and show the reason why they had seized on Paul at Jerusalem, they were accordingly come; and, having now exhibited their charges, he would, 6. proceed to examine witnesses, who would prove all these things to the satisfaction of the governor. 7. He then called his witnesses, and their testimony confirmed and substantiated the charges. No bad cause was ever more judiciously and cunningly managed. Then Paul - answered - The apostle's defense consists of two parts: - 1. The exordium, which has for its object the praise of his judge, whose qualifications to discern and decide on a question of this nature he fully allows; and expects, from this circumstance, to have a favorable hearing. 2. The tractation, which consists of two parts: 1. of the charge of polluting the temple; 2. of stirring up sedition; 3. of being a leader of any sect who had a different worship from the God of their fathers. 1. that he had lived so as to preserve a good conscience towards God, and towards men; 2. that so far from polluting the temple, he had been purified in it, and was found thus worshipping according to the law of God; 3. that what Tertullus and his companions had witnessed was perfectly false; and he defied them to produce a single proof, and appeals to those who had been witnesses of his conduct in Jerusalem, who should have been there could they have proved any thing against him. Thou hast been of many years a judge - Cumanus and Felix were, for a time, joint governors of Judea; but, after the condemnation of Cumanus, the government fell entirely into the hands of Felix; and from Josephus we learn that this was now the sixth or seventh year of his administration, which might be called many years, when the very frequent removals of the governors of the provinces are considered. a.d. 53, Felix made procurator over Judea, and see Jos. Antiq. lib. xx. 7. A judge - Κριτην, the same here in signification as the Hebrew שפט shophet, which means a ruler or governor. This was the title of the ancient governors of Israel. The more cheerfully - Ευθυμοτερον, With a better heart or courage, because, as thy long residence among us has brought thee to a thorough acquaintance with our customs, I may expect a proper decision in my favor, my cause being perfectly sound. There are yet but twelve days - This is his reply to their charge of sedition; the improbability of which is shown from the short time he had spent in Jerusalem, quite insufficient to organize a sedition of any kind; nor could a single proof be furnished that he had attempted to seduce any man, or unhinge any person from his allegiance by subtle disputations, either in the temple, the synagogues, or the city. So that this charge necessarily fell to the ground, self-confuted, unless they could bring substantial proof against him, which he challenges them to do. That after the way which they call heresy - See the explanation of this word in the note on Act 5:17 (note), and see before, Act 24:5 (note), where what is here translated heresy, is there rendered sect. At this time the word had no bad acceptation, in reference to religious opinions. The Pharisees themselves, the most respectable body among the Jews, are called a sect; for Paul, defending himself before Agrippa, says that he lived a Pharisee according to the strictest αἱρεσιν, sect, or heresy of their religion. And Josephus, who was a Pharisee, speaks, της των Φαρισαιων αἱρεσεως, of the heresy or sect of the Pharisees. Life, chap. xxxviii. Therefore it is evident that the word heresy had no bad meaning among the Jews; it meant simply a religious sect. Why then did they use it by way of degradation to St. Paul? This seems to have been the cause. They had already two accredited sects in the land, the Pharisees and Sadducees: the interests of each of these were pretty well balanced, and each had a part in the government, for the council, or Sanhedrin, was composed both of Sadducees and Pharisees: see Act 23:6. They were afraid that the Christians, whom they called Nazarenes, should form a new sect, and divide the interests of both the preceding; and what they feared, that they charged them with; and, on this account, the Christians had both the Pharisees and the Sadducees for their enemies. They had charged Jesus Christ with plotting against the state, and endeavoring to raise seditions; and they charged his followers with the same. This they deemed a proper engine to bring a jealous government into action. So worship I the God of my fathers - I bring in no new object of worship; no new religious creed. I believe all things as they profess to believe; and acknowledge the Law and the Prophets as divinely inspired books; and have never, in the smallest measure, detracted from the authority or authenticity of either. And have hope toward God, etc. - I not only do not hold any thing by which the general creed of this people might be altered, in reference to the present state; but, also, I hold nothing different from their belief in reference to a future state; for, if I maintain the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, it is what themselves allow. And herein do I exercise myself - And this very tenet is a pledge for my good behavior; for as I believe there will be a resurrection, both of the just and unjust, and that every man shall be judged for the deeds done in the body, so I exercise myself day and night, that I may have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. Toward God - In entertaining no opinion contrary to his truth; and in offering no worship contrary to his dignity, purity, and excellence. Toward men - In doing nothing to them that I would not, on a change of circumstances, they should do to me; and in withholding nothing by which I might comfort and serve them. Now, after many years, etc. - And as a full proof that I act according to the dictates of this Divine and beneficent creed, though I have been many years absent from my own country, and my political relation to it is almost necessarily dissolved, yet, far from coming to disturb the peace of society, or to injure any person, I have brought Alms to my nation, the fruits of my own earning and influence among a foreign people, and Offerings to my God and his temple, proving hereby my attachment to my country, and my reverence for the worship of my country's God. Found me purified in the temple - And the Jews of Asia, who stirred up the persecution against me in Jerusalem, found me purified in the temple, regularly performing the religious vow into which I had entered; giving no cause for suspicion; for I made no tumult, nor had I any number of people with me, by whom I could have accomplished any seditious purpose. Any evil doing in me while I stood before the council - The Jews of Asia, the most competent witnesses, though my declared enemies, and they who stirred up the persecution against me, should have been here: why are they kept back? Because they could prove nothing against me. Let these, therefore, who are here, depose, if they have found any evil in me, or proved against me, by my most virulent adversaries, when examined before them in their council at Jerusalem. Except it be for this one voice - The Sadducees who belong to that council, and who deny the resurrection of the dead, may indeed blame me for professing my faith in this doctrine; but as this is a doctrine credited by the nation in general, and as there can be nothing criminal in such a belief, and there can bring no accusation against me relative to any thing else, this, of course, is the sum of all the charges to which I am called to answer before you this day. And when Felix heard these things - There is considerable difficulty in this verse. Translators greatly vary concerning the sense; and the MSS. themselves read variously. Mr. Wakefield's translation appears to be as proper as most: Now Felix, upon hearing these things, put them off by saying, When Lysias the captain is come down, after I have gained a more exact knowledge of this doctrine, I will inquire fully into your business. Calmet's translation is nearly to the same sense: - Felix, having heard these things, put them off to another time, saying, When I shall have acquired a more accurate knowledge of this sect, and when the tribune Lysias shall have come from Jerusalem, I will judge of your business. And this mode of interpretation is rendered the more likely from the circumstance, that, previously to the coming down of Lysias, Felix had sent for Paul, concerning the faith of Christ; and this he appears to have done, that he might be the better qualified to judge of the business, when it should come again before him. See on Act 24:20 (note). He commanded a centurion to keep Paul - He gave him into the custody of a captain, by whom he was most likely to be well used: and to let him have liberty; he freed him from the chains with which he was bound to the soldiers, his keepers. See on Act 21:33 (note). And that he should forbid none of his acquaintance, των ιδιων, of his own people, his fellow apostles, and the Christians in general, to minister or come unto him; to furnish him with any of the conveniences and comforts of life, and visit him as often as they pleased. This was an ample proof that Felix found no evil in him; and he would certainly have dismissed him but for two reasons: 1. He wanted to please the Jews, who, he knew, could depose grievous things against his administration. 2. He hoped to get money from the apostle, or his friends, as the purchase of his liberty. His wife Drusilla - We have already seen that Felix was thrice married: two of his wives were named Drusilla; one was a Roman, the niece or grand-daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, mentioned by Tacitus, lib. v. cap. 9. The other, the person in the text, was a Jewess, daughter to Herod Agrippa the Great. See Act 12:1, etc. When she was but six years of age, she was affianced to Epiphanes, son of Antiochus, king of Comagene, who had promised to embrace Judaism on her account; but, as he did not keep his word, her brother Agrippa (mentioned Act 25:13) refused to ratify the marriage. About the year of our Lord 53, he married her to Azizus, king of the Emesenes, who received her on condition of being circumcised. Felix having seen her, fell desperately in love with her, and by means of a pretended Jewish magician, a native of Cyprus, persuaded her to leave her husband; on which Felix took her to wife. She appears, on the whole, to have been a person of indifferent character; though one of the finest women of that age. It is said that she, and a son she had by Felix, were consumed in an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. See Josephus, Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 7, and see Calmet and Rosenmuller. Heard him concerning the faith in Christ - For the purpose mentioned in the note on Act 24:21, that he might be the more accurately instructed in the doctrines, views, etc., of the Christians. As he reasoned of righteousness - Δικαιοσυνης; The principles and requisitions of justice and right, between God and man; and between man and his fellows, in all relations and connections of life. Temperance - Εγκρατειας, Chastity; self-government or moderation with regard to a man's appetites, passions, and propensities of all kinds. And judgment to come - Κριματος του μελλοντος; The day of retribution, in which the unjust, intemperate, and incontinent, must give account of all the deeds done in the body. This discourse of St. Paul was most solemnly and pointedly adapted to the state of the person to whom it was addressed. Felix was tyrannous and oppressive in his government; lived under the power of avarice and unbridled appetites; and his incontinence, intemperance, and injustice, appear fully in depriving the king of Emesa of his wife, and in his conduct towards St. Paul, and the motives by which that conduct was regulated. And as to Drusilla, who had forsaken the husband of her youth, and forgotten the covenant of her God, and become the willing companion of this bad man, she was worthy of the strongest reprehension; and Paul's reasoning on righteousness, temperance, and judgment, was not less applicable to her than to her unprincipled paramour. Felix trembled - "The reason of Felix's fear," says Bp. Pearce, "seems to have been, lest Drusilla, who was a Jewess, and knew that what she had done was against the law of Moses, might be influenced by Paul's discourse, and Felix's happiness with her disturbed. What is said of Felix, Act 24:26, seems to show that he had no remorse of conscience for what he had done." On the head of Drusilla's scruples, he had little to fear; the king of Emesa, her husband, had been dead about three years before this; and as to Jewish scruples, she could be little affected by them: she had already acted in opposition to the Jewish law, and she is said to have turned heathen for the sake of Felix. We may therefore hope that Felix felt regret for the iniquities of his life; and that his conscience was neither so seared nor so hardened, as not to receive and retain some gracious impressions from such a discourse, delivered by the authority, and accompanied with the influence, of the Spirit of God. His frequently sending for the apostle, to speak with him in private, is a proof that he wished to receive farther instructions in a matter in which he was so deeply interested; though he certainly was not without motives of a baser kind; for he hoped to get money for the liberation of the apostle. Go thy way for this time - His conscience had received as much terror and alarm as it was capable of bearing; and probably he wished to hide, by privacy, the confusion and dismay which, by this time, were fully evident in his countenance. He hoped also that money should have been given him - Bp. Pearce asks, "How could St. Luke know this?" To which I answer: From the report of St. Paul, with whom Felix had frequent conferences, and to whom he undoubtedly expressed this wish. We may see, here, the most unprincipled avarice, in Felix, united to injustice. Paul had proved before him his innocence of the charges brought against him by the Jews. They had retired in confusion when he had finished his defense. Had Felix been influenced by the common principles of justice, Paul had been immediately discharged; but he detained him on the hope of a ransom. He saw that Paul was a respectable character; that he had opulent friends; that he was at the head of a very numerous sect, to whom he was deservedly dear; and he took it, therefore, for granted that a considerable sum of money would be given for his enlargement. Felix was a freed man of the Emperor Claudius; consequently, had once been a slave. The stream rises not above its source: the meanness of the slave is still apparent, and it is now insufferable, being added to the authority and influence of the governor. Low-bred men should never be intrusted with the administration of public affairs. After two years - That is, from the time that Paul came prisoner to Caesarea. Porcius Festus - This man was put into the government of Judea about a.d. 60, the sixth or seventh year of Nero. In the succeeding chapter we shall see the part that he took in the affairs of St. Paul. Willing to show the Jews a pleasure - As he had not got the money which he expected, he hoped to be able to prevent the complaints of the Jews against his government, by leaving Paul, in some measure, in their hands. For it was customary for governors, etc., when they left, or were removed from a particular district or province, to do some public, beneficent act, in order to make themselves popular. But Felix gained nothing by this: the Jews pursued him with their complaints against his administration, even to the throne of the emperor. Josephus states the matter thus: "Now when Porcius Festus was sent as successor to Felix, by Nero, the principal of the Jewish inhabitants of Caesarea went up to Rome, to accuse Felix. And he certainly would have been brought to punishment, had not Nero yielded to the importunate solicitations of his brother Pallas, who was at that time in the highest reputation with the emperor." - Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 9. Thus, like the dog in the fable, by snatching at the shadow, he lost the substance. He hoped for money from the apostle, and got none; he sought to conciliate the friendship of the Jews, and miscarried. Honesty is the best policy: he that fears God need fear nothing else. Justice and truth never deceive their possessor. 1. Envy and malice are indefatigable, and torment themselves in order to torment and ruin others. That a high priest, says pious Quesnel, should ever be induced to leave the holy city, and the functions of religion, to become the accuser of an innocent person; this could be no other than the effect of a terrible dereliction, and the punishment of the abuse of sacred things. 2. Tertullus begins his speech with flattery, against which every judge should have a shut ear; and then he proceeds to calumny and detraction. These generally succeed each other. He who flatters you, will in course calumniate you for receiving his flattery. When a man is conscious of the uprightness of his cause, he must know that to attempt to support it by any thing but truth tends directly to debase it. 3. The resurrection of the body was the grand object of the genuine Christian's hope; but the ancient Christians only hoped for a blessed resurrection on the ground of reconciliation to God through the death of his Son. In vain is our hope of glory, if we have not got a meetness for it. And who is fit for this state of blessedness, but he whose iniquity is forgiven, whose sin is covered, and whose heart is purified from deceit and guile! 4. We could applaud the lenity shown to St. Paul by Felix, did not his own conduct render his motives for this lenity very suspicious. "To think no evil, where no evil seems," is the duty of a Christian; but to refuse to see it, where it most evidently appears, is an imposition on the understanding itself. 5. Justice, temperance, and a future judgment, the subjects of St. Paul's discourse to Felix and Drusilla, do not concern an iniquitous judge alone; they are subjects which should affect and interest every Christian; subjects which the eye should carefully examine, and which the heart should ever feel. Justice respects our conduct in life, particularly in reference to others: temperance, the state and government of our souls, in reference to God. He who does not exercise himself in these has neither the form nor the power of godliness; and consequently must be overwhelmed with the shower of Divine wrath in the day of God's appearing, Many of those called Christians, have not less reason to tremble at a display of these truths than this heathen.

|Publication number||US4595226 A| |Application number||US 06/669,098| |Publication date||Jun 17, 1986| |Filing date||Nov 7, 1984| |Priority date||Nov 7, 1984| |Publication number||06669098, 669098, US 4595226 A, US 4595226A, US-A-4595226, US4595226 A, US4595226A| |Inventors||Elmer A. Wessel| |Original Assignee||Industrial Machine Specialties, Inc.| |Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan| |Patent Citations (2), Referenced by (17), Classifications (7), Legal Events (4)| |External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet| This invention relates to ball and bat carriers. Ball and bat carriers are known for transporting balls and bats to the field and for permitting them to be available in the field. In one prior art type of baseball equipment holder, the equipment is carried in a bag and removed for use at the field for use. Bat racks which can be hung from a fence are known for mounting the bats. The prior art baseball equipment holder and bat rack have several disadvantages, such as: (1) the rack only holds bats; (2) if a large amount of equipment such as that for a team are used, they are too clumsy to carry and not readily available at the field. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a novel ball and bat carrier. It is a still further object of the invention to provide a light-weight, compact ball and bat carrier; It is a still further object of the invention to provide a light-weight, easy to carry and hangable ball and bat carrier. In accordance with the above and further objects of the invention, a ball and bat carrier is formed to a large extent of wire members welded together with at least half of the combined total length of the wire members having a diameter of between 1/8 inch and 1/2 inch. The ball and bat carrier includes at least a ball holder, and a bat holder and is formed at least 80% of the ball and bat carrier are wire members. The ball holder for balls, such as baseballs or softballs, is in the form of a column of sufficient size to receive balls at the top and hold them one on the other while permitting their removal one at a time at the bottom of the column. The storage section for bats holds them during movement of the ball and bat carrier from place to place and a game bat rack holds them more readily available for removal during the game. Hook members permit the the ball and bat carrier to be hung on a fence with the bat rack extending outwardly for easy access. Advantageously, the hook members are above the center of gravity of the ball and bat holder and formed of wire. The bat storage section includes wire holders for holding the bats substantially horizontally at two points and the game bat holding rack used during the game includes outwardly extending wire fingers for holding the bat flange near the bat grip so as to hang the bats by the flange. To manufacture the ball and bat holder, standard circles and rectangles and straight segments are purchased and wire subsections welded together while held in fixtures. The subsections are assembled and welded together to form the ball and bat carrier. Advantageously, substantially the entire assembly is wire and thus only requires resistance welding equipment for welding small spots using amperage of between 1,000 (momentary resistance) and 40,000 amperes. From the above description, it can be understood that the ball and bat rack of this invention has several advantages such as: (1) it is light in weight and easy to carry; (2) equipment can be carried and stored securely and conveniently; (3) equipment can be unpacked and held by the ball and bat rack during a game in convenient position; and (4) it can be used to store other valuables during a game. The above-noted and other features of the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description when considered with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 2 is a top view of the embodiment of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the embodiment of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the use of the invention during a game; FIG. 5 is a front elevational view illustrating the use of the ball and bat rack during storage; FIG. 6 shows a side view of another embodiment of the invention; FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the embodiment of the invention of FIG. 6; FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of the embodiment of the invention of FIG. 6; FIG. 9 is a fragmentary elevational view of the bat holder of the embodiment of FIG. 6; FIG. 10 is a plan view of a fixture for assembling a sub-assembly in accordance with the invention. FIG. 11 is a left side elevational view of the fixture of FIG. 10; FIG. 12 is a rear elevational view of the fixture of FIG. 10; and FIG. 13 is a simplified, fragmentary elevational view, illustrating a fabrication operation. In FIG. 1, there is shown a perspective view of a bat and ball carrier 10 having a general storage area 12, two ball holder sections shown generally at 14A and 14B, a game bat rack section shown generally at 16A and and a game holder section 16B. The general storage area 12 is centrally located and integrally connected to the ball holder sections 14A and 14B which are on the left and right-hand sides of it respectively and to the game bat rack section 16A and game holder section 16B which are located diagonally with respect to it. The general storage section 12 includes a central main storage area 18, a handle 20 and right and left bat holders shown generally at 22 and 24. The main storage area 18 may be used to bring any items to the park or to store any items while the bat holder sections 22 and 24 each receive one end of each of several bats for storage while bringing them to the game, the handle 20 permits convenient carrying of the entire apparatus to and from the ball park in a balanced position, with all of these parts being part of one relatively rigid ball and bat carrier. The main central storage area 18 is a compartment in the preferred embodiment which may be surrounded or partly surrounded and measures 183/4 inches deep, 181/2 inches long and 5 inches wide in the preferred embodiment. The dimensions may vary to correspond with the necesary equipment to be carried such as for example different sizes of bats may permit different sized carriers. It may include a casing of nylon or simply a wire skeleton or a plastic basket or the like. The compartment should be between 3 inches and 8 inches in width, between 8 inches and 24 inches deep, and between 8 inches and 36 inches long. It should have sufficient space to store the items being carried to the ball park and the two sides of the bat holder should be spaced far enough apart to support the bats. The handle 20 in the preferred embodiment is entirely of wire and welded at its bottom ends to the outer edges of the frames adjacent to the ball holders 14A and 14B and to a strut which supports the game bat rack section 16A at the bottom, extending upwardly and inwardly to a top grip portion 26 which is horizontal in its normal position and sufficiently large to fit in a hand, being at least 3 inches long. The downward struts spread outwardly until they span almost the entire distance across the base of the ball and bat carrier 10. The distance between the grip portion 26 and the bottom of the ball and bat carrier furthest from it should be between 36 inches and 12 inches and the distance between the grip portion 26 and the top of the ball and bat holder closest to it must be at least three quarters of an inch. The left side bat holder 22 includes includes two left-side vertical posts 30A and 32A parallel to each other and the right bat holder includes corresponding right-side vertical posts 30B and 32B also parallel to each other. The posts 30A, 30B, 32A and 32B extend from top to bottom of the ball and bat holder 10 and the pairs on each side are spaced from each other a sufficient distance to receive the wide part of a bat. Extending horizontally between the left-side posts 30A and 32B are a plurality of horizontal cross support members, there being five such members 34A, 36A, 38A, 40A and 42A in the preferred embodiment and extending between the right-side posts are corresponding five cross support members 34B, 36B, 38B, 40B and 42B between the posts 30B and 32B welded thereto and adapted to receive the wide hitting portions of bats for support thereon. In the preferred embodiment, the horizontal cross support members 34A-42A and 34B-42B are each a single wire although in other embodiments, there may be two wires. In the preferred embodiment, each of the horizontal cross support members 34A-42A and 34B-42B ends in a corresponding hook having a radius of curvature adapted to support the neck of a bat. The hooks for the left-hand side are indicated at 46A, 48A, 50A, 52A and 54A and on the right-hand side by corresponding members 46B, 48B, 50B, 52B and 54B. There should be at least three such hooks on each end and no more than eight on each end. In the preferred embodiment, the distance between the posts 30A and 32A and between the posts 30B and 32B are each two and three quarter inches and the distance between the horizontal support members such as 34A, 36A, 38A, 40A and 42A and the corresponding horizontal support members 34B, 36B, 38B, 40B and 42B are 3.25 inches from adjacent members. The distance between the posts such as 30A and 32A and the posts 30B and 32B and the distance between the adjacent ones of the members 34A-42A and 34B-42B should be more than 2 inches and less than 41/2 inches. The distance between opposite supports such as 34A and 34B or 36A and 36B on opposite ends should fall in the range between 18 inches and 36 inches and in the preferred embodiment are 28 inches. The hooks 44A-52A and 44B-52B in the preferred embodiment have curvature with a diameter of 1.35 inches and the outer end of the curved portion is 1.15 inches the corresponding one of the posts 30A and 30B and should be within the range of 3/4 inch and 23/4 inches the end of the part 30A and 30B than 23/4 inches with a diameter of the radius of curvature of between 0.75 and 3 inches. To prevent the bats from slidng from the bat storage section, a pair of parallel posts, one on the left-hand side 54A and one on the right-hand side 54B are parallel to the corresponding posts 30A and 30B and spaced therefrom a sufficient distance to prevent the flanges of the bats from sliding beyond them. The flanges are captured between the hooks 44A-52A and the post 54A and betwen the hooks 44B-52B and the post 54B. For this purpose, the posts 54A and 54B are spaced from their corresponding parallel members 30A and 30B a distance of between 1/2 inches and 2.3 inches and are in a plane making a 56 degree angle with the vertical plane forming the side of the ball and bat rack. In the preferred embodiment the space is 11/2 inches. The right and left ball holder sections 14A and 14B are substantially identical except that their openings at the bottom face an opposite direction to permit removal of balls from either the left or the right side. Only the left-hand ball holding section 14A will be described here. The ball holder 14A includes top and bottom toroids or wire circles 60A and 62A respectively separated by four circumferentially spaced vertical supports 64A, 66A, 68A and 70A extending between the two circles to form columns with the ends of the supports being attached to the circles 60A and 62A at circumferentially spaced distances and being sufficiently close together to confine a ball within them, there is one lower opening in each ball holder at the outer sides of the ball holder formed by columns bent outwardly. In the left ball holder, the opening is at a location where the two supports 64A and 70A are bent apart to form a circular outlet near the bottom circle 62A. A bottom wire 76A extends diametrically across the bottom circle 62A to prevent balls from dropping through the bottom circle 62A. The right-hand ball holder 14B has parts correspondently numbered except that the circumferentially spaced column supports are numbered in a counter-clockwise rather than a clockwise direction looking from the top in FIG. 1. In the preferred embodiment, the ball holders 14A and 14B are the same size to receive the same size balls but they may be of different sizes so that one end may be designed to carry larger balls than the other or only one need be included. Other circles may be included in a ball holder between the top and bottom circles for additional support but when not used, the wires must be at least 1/8 inch in diameter. The diameters of the circles 60A, 60B, and the circles 62A and 62B should be between 11/2 inches and 5 inches in diameter. The openings 72A and 72B should have diameters of between 11/4 inches and 31/2 inches. The game bat rack sections 16A and 16B are two hooks spaced separated from and aligned with each other horizontally from side to side and extending rearwardly parallel to each other from a top framing wire 80. The left-side hook includes a horizontally extending portion 82A and the right-hand hook includes a parallel similar portion 82B. Each of the portions 82A and 82B have downwardly extending portions 84A and 84B respectively parallel to each other. In the preferred embodiment, the members 82A are 3/4 inch long to the center of the wire and the downwardly extending portions 84A and 84B are each 11/2 inches long. The maximum length of the hook members 82A and 82B should be 5 inches and the minimum 1/2 inch and the minimum length of the downwardly extending portions 84A and 84B should be 1/2 inch and the maximum 5 inches. The game section 16A includes a plurality of fingers extending outwardly and upwardly to receive in slots between pairs of them the flanges at the end of the grip of bats so that bats may be depended therefrom. In FIG. 1, eleven such fingers are shown, but in the preferred embodiment, nine are used, the nine having spaces or slots between fingers of 11/2 inches to receive the grip portion of the bats with the flanges at the end overhanging them. Each finger indicated at 86A-86K includes a corresponding first wire member 88A-88B and a corresponding wire member adjacent to it and parallel thereto 90A-90K. The two members being bent upwardly at their ends and connected by a corresponding one of the members 92A-92K which are aligned with each other. In the preferred embodiments, alternate ones of the fingers 86A-86K have wire members 90A-90K which are 11/2 inches long and the wire members between these alternates are 1 inch long. The space between each finger is 11/2 inches so that 11/2 inch are available to receive the grip part of a bat while the flanges have half the distance of either the 11/2 inch wide supports or the 1 inch wide supports. Generally, the distance between fingers 86A-86K should be between 3/4 inch and 23/4 inches. The space on the support areas of the fingers 86A-86K to support the flanges of the bats should be between 1/4 inch and 2 inches. Alternate ones of the fingers 86A-86K have their parallel wire members 88A-88K and 90A-90K extending fully across the rack and welded at the bottom to form a wire bottom support on the rack. Two of them may extend across the bottom circles 62A and 62B to prevent balls from falling through instead of a single wire separately welded. In FIG. 2, there is shown a top elevational view illustrating the manner in which: (1) the game bat racks support fingers 86A-86K extend outwardly so that the flanges at the end of the bats may be placed on top of two adjacent fingers during a game with the bat grip in slots between fingers; and (2) when stored, the bats may be criss-crossed across opposite bat holders with the possible sliding action of the bats being restrained by the wire members 54A and 54B. The top of the storage compartment has a plastic container in it which may be unzipped by a zipper shown at 100 to insert or remove items. In FIG. 3, there is shown a bottom view of the ball and bat carrier 10 showing snaps 102 and 104 for holding the a container within the wire storage area by snapping over a support member of the wire frame. The support member in this embodiment includes the wire 74A and 74B and extends longitudinally along the rack. As best shown in this view, balls are prevented from falling through the bottom by support members 74A and 74B although in another embodiment, the end units 86A and 86K extend across the bottom so as to form two members crossing the circles 62A and 62B and prevent balls from falling through the bottom. In FIG. 4, there is shown a simplified perspective view of another embodiment 10A of a ball and ball holder, which embodiment differs from the embodiment 10 of FIG. 1 in that: (1) a support 116 diagonally crosses the frame on the back in this embodiment but not in the embodiment of 10; and (2) instead of the single hooks 44A-52A and 44B-52B of the embodiment 10 of FIG. 1 pairs of clip members such as 120 are used to hold the grip portions of bats. In the embodiment of 10A, the support 116 is a substitute for the support provided by the handle 20 and a separate strap (not shown in FIG. 4) is used instead. As shown in FIG. 4, balls such as the balls 118A-118F shown in the right-hand ball holder 14B are stacked one on top of the other, having been inserted in the top. They may be removed from the bottom such as by pulling out ball 118 to the right as shown in FIG. 4 through the open space shown in FIG. 1 at 42B. During the game, bats such as 110A-110C may be depended from the bat storage area 16A. As described in connection with the bat 110A, the bat has a grip portion 112A and a flange at the end of the grip 114A. During the game, the bats may be removed from the storage section 12 and inserted in the game bat rack section at 16A by sliding the grip portion 112A between the support fingers 86E and 86F so that the flange 114A rests on top of the support fingers 86E and 86F. Alternatively, during movement of the bat and ball carrier 10A or storage, bats may be positioned such as the bats 110E and 110D, each of which also has a corresponding grip portion 112D and 112E and an end portion 114D and 114E. As shown in FIG. 4, the thick end of the bat which is opposite to the flange 114D, rests on top of the vertical support members, which in the embodiment of FIG. 1, is one of the members 34A-42A to be between two bat grip holding members, one of which is shown at 120A in FIG. 4. The corresponding bat grip supports in the embodiment of FIG. 1 are the hooks 44A-52A and 44B-52B. The supports 120A receive the grip in a spring biased position with a shank extending outwardly from them and prevented from sliding by both a gripping action and by the members 54A and 54B. The bat 110E adjacent to the bat 110D is positioned oppositely with its grip portion being held by the holder on the left-hand side and its thick portion being inserted on top of the horizontal bat holder member on the right-hand side so that bats 110D and 110E criss-cross each other and are one above the other. Thus, alternate bats positioned vertically to each other are each positioned horizontally with its bat grip and flange on the opposite side of the right and left sides of the rack as the next bat and the bats criss-cross each other along the center at an angle to each other. In FIG. 5, there is shown a rear elevational view of the embodiment 10B of the ball and bat carrier showing the method of carrying it in which the hand holds a strap 124 which is fastened at its opposite ends to structural elements of the ball and bat carrier so that it may be conveniently carried with balls in the ball holders 14A and 14B and the bats stored in the storage area. In FIG. 6, there is shown an elevational end view of the ball and bat carrier 10B illustrating the opening 74A for removing balls from the end portion. As shown in this embodiment, this feature which is present in each of the embodiments includes a bent portion 126A in the columnar support 64A and a bent portion 128A in the support 70A sufficiently large to remove a ball and positioned near the bottom so that by lifting and pulling a ball may be removed. In FIG. 7, the corresponding structure 74B is shown for the opposite end illustrating that the balls may be removed from each end without impediment because of bends such as 126B and 128B and the column supports on the end of the ball holders. In FIG. 8, there is shown an exploded perspective view illustrating the manner in which a ball 118H is inserted into a corresponding ball holder 14B and drops to the bottom. When it is to be removed, a ball such as 118G is removed from the corresponding one of the openings 74B to permit use. Similarly, a bat 110F is held in the storage holders during transportation as shown in this view. The storage bag is shown having snaps at 130 for holding it to the top, a snap 124 which is fastened to structural elements 136A and 136B of the frame at each end to provide a handle and the snaps 102 and 104 at the bottom to hold the container in place. As mentioned above, the container need not be plastic but may be a wire frame basket or a plastic basket or the like to store in an enclosure suitable materials. In FIG. 9, there is illustrated a holder 120A having two members 138A and 140A which snap together about the grip 112E of a bat 110E so that its thick portion extends across the opposite side. On the opposite side of the unit, a holder member 138B is shown which will cooperate with another member to receive the shank of another bat. The thick end of the bat 110D above the bat 110E rests on top of the holder 120A. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the holder 120 of FIG. 9 is placed by a single hook which extends outwardly and holds the grip 112E within it and the thick end of the bat 110 rests on top of its extending member such as the members 34A-42A and 34B-42B (FIG. 1). In FIG. 10, there is shown a plan view of a fixture 152 for forming a wire panel, which is a subassembly in the preferred embodiment of the bottom of the ball and bat carrier, having a base 159, a center slot 160, main wire grooves 178 and 180 and finger wire grooves generally indicated at 162A-162I. The center slot 160 exposes the junctions between a central main wire in the bottom of the ball and bat carrier and the finger wires that form the fingers 86A-86K (FIG. 1). There are fewer fingers in the embodiment of FIGS. 10-12 than there are in the embodiment of FIG. 1. The main wire and the finger wires are welded together by electrode resistance as described in FIG. 13. At either end of the center slot 160 are located main wire grooves 178 and 180 to hold the main wire in place. To form the wire fingers as described in connection with FIG. 1, U-shaped wires are placed in each of the finger wire grooves located at 162A-162I to be welded to the main wire by the action of a resistance welder which contacts them in the center slot 160. Each of the finger wire grooves 162A-162I includes a corresponding first wire groove 166A-166I and a corresponding second wire groove adjacent and parallel to the first groove indicated at 168A-168I. The first and second grooves are connected by a corresponding wire groove indicated at 170A-170I to form a U-shaped groove to hold the U-shaped wires which form hook members of the game section. Alternate ones of the grooves 162A-162I extend across the base 159 to provide greater support to the bottom of the ball and bat carrier while the other alternate grooves terminate at the center wall. In FIG. 11, there is best shown the main wire groove 178 which holds the main wire in place within the center slot 160 to receive electrodes which enter the slot 160 at 182 and 184. FIG. 12 is a rear elevational view of the base 159 which best shows the finger grooves 166A-166I and 168A-168I and the main wire grooves 178 and 180. In FIG. 13, there is shown an electric resistance welder 150 and the fixture 152 positioned for relative motion between the two so as to weld wires in the fixture together electically using an amperage in the range of between 1,000 ampere momentary demand and 40,000 ampere momentary demand. With this embodiment, fixtures of sub-assemblies such as the hook assemblies and side assemblies are held in place and welded and then the entire group of sub-assemblies is brought together and welded leaving a holder of entirely wire and relatively light weight and compact. In the preferred embodiment, the fixture is moved between electrodes 154 and 156 which are moved into contact with opposite sides of the wire joint to be welded. For this purpose, at least 50% of the total lengths of all of the wires combined have a diameter in the range of 1/8" to 1/2" and at least 80 percent by weight of the entire holder is made entirely of wires. The wires may be purchased from any fabricator of wires and consists of circles, rectangles and straight members, with the straight members being bent to form hooks or the like where necessary or purchased in that manner. A suitable vendor is Better Wire Products, Inc. located at 1255 Niagara Street, Buffalo, N.Y. 14213. As can be understood from the above description, the bat and ball holder of this invention is light in weight, easily balanced, and economically constructed. It is suitable for securely storing bats and balls and moving them to a ballpark and may be positioned at the ballpark for easy removal of such items by hanging it on a fence or the like. While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described with some particularity, many modifications and variations in the preferred embodiment are possible without deviating from the invention. Therefore, it is to be understood, that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described. |Cited Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title| |US3079967 *||Aug 11, 1960||Mar 5, 1963||Noel George R||Bowling equipment carrier| |US4036416 *||Feb 6, 1976||Jul 19, 1977||Lowe Gerald W||Combination foldable golf club carrier and score keeping device| |Citing Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title| |US4890731 *||Jan 6, 1989||Jan 2, 1990||Mroz Edward J||Personal sports equipment carrier| |US5224602 *||Jun 5, 1992||Jul 6, 1993||Bettles Christopher J||Combination baseball and bat carrying case, bat rack and ball dispenser| |US5462328 *||Mar 2, 1994||Oct 31, 1995||Chandler; Ricky D.||Ball carrier apparatus| |US5588529 *||Sep 1, 1995||Dec 31, 1996||Speck; Michael W.||Baseball/softball equipment bag| |US5702140 *||Feb 23, 1996||Dec 30, 1997||Radja; Thomas S.||Carrier for hockey articles and equipment| |US6009995 *||Dec 18, 1996||Jan 4, 2000||Hillerich & Bradsby Company||Baseball/softball equipment bag| |US6561329||Apr 16, 2001||May 13, 2003||Nike, Inc.||Athletic equipment bag| |US6595358||Nov 4, 1999||Jul 22, 2003||Hillerich Bradsby Company||Baseball/softball equipment bag| |US6719306||Jun 13, 2002||Apr 13, 2004||Larry J. White||Sports equipment cart| |US6732863||Feb 7, 2003||May 11, 2004||Hillerich & Bradsby Co.||Baseball/softball equipment bag| |US6948627||May 27, 2003||Sep 27, 2005||Earl Evans||Sports-headgear hanger| |US7090085||Oct 20, 2003||Aug 15, 2006||Batpro, Inc.||Trophy sports apparatus holder| |US7117991||Sep 3, 2003||Oct 10, 2006||Innovative Design Solutions, Inc.||Portable carrier| |US8371457 *||Jan 15, 2010||Feb 12, 2013||Next Inning, Inc.||Collapsible rack for holding equipment| |US20040262178 *||May 10, 2004||Dec 30, 2004||Hillerich & Bradsby Co.||Baseball/softball equipment bag| |US20050045640 *||Sep 3, 2003||Mar 3, 2005||James Waring||Portable carrier| |US20110174754 *||Jan 15, 2010||Jul 21, 2011||Next Inning, Inc.||Collapsible rack for holding equipment| |U.S. Classification||294/146, 294/143| |International Classification||A63B71/00, A63B69/00| |Cooperative Classification||A63B71/0045, A63B69/0002| |Nov 7, 1984||AS||Assignment| Owner name: INDUSTRIAL MACHINE SPECIALTIS, INC., 603 "L" STREE Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST.;ASSIGNOR:WESSEL, ELMER A.;REEL/FRAME:004335/0806 Effective date: 19841107 Owner name: INDUSTRIAL MACHINE SPECIALTIS, INC.,NEBRASKA Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:WESSEL, ELMER A.;REEL/FRAME:004335/0806 Effective date: 19841107 |Feb 15, 1990||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed| |Jun 17, 1990||LAPS||Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees| |Aug 28, 1990||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee| Effective date: 19900617

Benedict's Third Encyclical: A Summary Pope Benedict’s new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), may not be the kind of encyclical that everybody needs to read. It is an incremental addition to the Church’s social teaching with the stated purposes of observing the fortieth anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s great social encyclical, Populorum Progressio, and of bringing it up to date with respect to global developments since the 1960’s. Unlike her dogmas of Faith, the Church’s social teaching operates at the intersection of faith, natural law and specific contemporary conditions. As such it is very much part of a larger conversation. Not everyone is equally involved in that conversation. Unlike Benedict’s first two encyclicals, which concisely presented a Catholic understanding of both love and hope in ways that every Christian can apply to his own spiritual development (that is, the encyclicals are squarely aimed at increasing our knowledge of the faith and deepening our spirituality), Caritas in Veritate provides a richer understanding of the nature of integral social development, especially in light of the intense globalization of the past generation. Like all the Church’s social teachings, it embraces this task without offering specific technical and organizational solutions to the many problems faced by the human family. In a sense, then, one could argue (and many do argue) that the Church has nothing of any use to offer. But it is precisely to this challenge that Benedict responds: While there are many things the Church cannot offer, it can nonetheless offer the one thing necessary—the very foundation of authentic human development—which is a correct understanding of the nature of man. Specifically, in Caritas in Veritate, the Church offers again the necessary insight that social development cannot be reduced to mere trends, forces, ideologies or allegedly self-adjusting systems. Rather, it is always the result of specific decisions and must be guided in accordance with sound ethics that are based on a correct understanding of man’s nature and ends. What is required is integral human development of the whole man and of all men, in response to our Divine vocation to Love. In this sense, of course, everyone can benefit from reading the encyclical, which applies a series of fundamentally Christian insights to a wide range of social attitudes and issues. And yet, after all, the encyclical runs to some 30,000 words and there will be many who wish to understand the main points and basic themes of Caritas in Veritate but who are not required by their interests or specific vocations to read the entire document. Among those who should acquaint themselves with these points and themes are all who have not quite yet caught the drift of the Church’s social teaching, but instead remain unduly influenced by the classic secular social dichotomy of “left” and “right”—as if the Church does not have her own unique and divinely inspired point of reference. The purpose, then, of this relatively humble exercise is simply to acquaint readers with what the encyclical says, while eliminating some eighty percent of the time it would take to read it. The text is divided into an introduction, six chapters, and a conclusion. I will summarize each in turn, and I will avoid inserting myself into the discussion, even at the very end. Please be warned that this is still three times longer than the commentaries which usually appear in this space. But at least the reader will be guided by the Pope’s own words! What the Encyclical Says: Introduction The purpose of the introduction is to recall that charity is at the heart of the Church’s social doctrine and that charity is inseparable from truth: Truth needs to be sought, found and expressed within the “economy” of charity, but charity in its turn needs to be understood, confirmed and practiced in the light of truth. In this way, not only do we do a service to charity enlightened by truth, but we also help give credibility to truth, demonstrating its persuasive and authenticating power in the practical setting of social living. This is a matter of no small account today, in a social and cultural context which relativizes truth, often paying little heed to it and showing increasing reluctance to acknowledge its existence. (2) The Pope explains that without truth, “charity degenerates into sentimentality” and “love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way.” This is a fatal risk facing love today, by which it is distorted through mere emotion and opinion. In contrast, it is only through truth that we are enabled to overcome opinions, impressions and cultural limitations to “come together in the assessment of the value and substance of things.” Thus the authentic social doctrine of the Church hinges on the principle of “charity in truth”. (3) The Pope goes on to identify the two key social concepts which drive the Church’s social teaching, namely justice and the common good. He reminds us that justice is intrinsic to charity—that is, justice is not divorced from charity but presupposed by it, for we would never perform an act of charity for someone we love while at the same time doing him an injustice. So too with the social context: In addition to loving and willing the good of another, we must also will the good of all of us, “made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who together constitute society.” In other words, “to desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity.” (6-7) Closing his introduction, Benedict notes that in an increasingly globalized society, the common good includes the whole human family, the community of peoples and nations, “in such a way as to shape the earthly city in unity and peace, rendering it to some degree an anticipation and a prefiguration of the undivided city of God.” In this quest, the Church does not offer technical solutions but a witness of the truth about man: Open to the truth, from whichever branch of knowledge it comes, the Church’s social doctrine receives it, assembles into a unity the fragments in which it is often found, and mediates it within the constantly changing life-patterns of the society of peoples and nations. (9) Chapter One: The Message of Populorum Progressio Since the encyclical is both a tribute to and an updating of Populorum Progressio, Benedict begins (# 11) by summarizing several key principles set forth in that encyclical, quoted briefly below: - ”The whole Church, in all her being and acting—when she proclaims, when she celebrates, when she performs works of charity—is engaged in promoting integral human development.” - ”Authentic human development concerns the whole of the person in every single dimension.” - ”Integral human development is primarily a vocation, and therefore it involves a free assumption of responsibility in solidarity on the part of everyone” (i.e., it is a work not confined only to institutions). - ”Such development requires a transcendent vision of the person, it needs God.” In the light of this Pope’s repeated emphasis on the “hermeneutic of continuity” in interpreting Magisterial documents, it is noteworthy that he takes pains to make the same point with regard to the Church’s social teaching: Clarity is not served by certain abstract subdivisions of the Church’s social doctrine, which apply categories to Papal social teaching that are extraneous to it. It is not a case of two typologies of social doctrine, one pre-conciliar and one post-conciliar, differing from one another: on the contrary, there is a single teaching, consistent and at the same time ever new. (12) To place his predecessor’s teaching in full perspective, Benedict briefly examines not just Populorum Progressio but Paul VI’s overall body of social teaching. He touches on the Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens in which Paul VI warned against utopian ideological visions, and in so doing Benedict touches on the twin errors of “idealizing technical progress, or contemplating the utopia of a return to humanity’s original natural state”, both of which detach the idea of progress from consistent moral evaluation. He also touches on Humanae Vitae, in which Paul VI emphasized the strong link between life ethics and social ethics, a connection which led directly to John Paul II’s insistence that society crumbles when it asserts values such as dignity, justice and peace on the one hand, while acting radically to the contrary by tolerating or even encouraging the devaluation of human life, especially in the weak and marginalized. Finally, touching on Pope Paul’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, Benedict notes the strong links between evangelization and human advancement. He argues again that integral human development is a vocation from God that demands responsible freedom, respect for truth, and charity that will blossom into authentic fraternity in the social order. “The importance of this goal,” Benedict writes, “is such as to demand our openness to understand it in depth and to mobilize ourselves at the level of the ‘heart’, so as to ensure that current economic and social processes evolve towards fully human outcomes.” (20) Chapter Two: Human Development in Our Time Having reviewed and organized for his own purposes the principles explained and developed by Paul VI, Benedict proceeds in the second chapter to assess the trends and problems which characterize our current social situation, as they have developed over the past forty years. He discusses the collapse of the economic and political systems of the Communist bloc and the immense difficulty of replacing them with structures conducive to authentic development; the paradoxical limitations of State sovereignty in the face of the new context of international trade and finance; the reduction of social systems of protection and welfare in order to gain a competitive edge; the growing difficulties of trade unions; the problematic mobility of labor; the emphasis on financial capital at the expense of human capital; the damage wrought by cultural relativism and cultural eclecticism; and the growing separation of human culture from human nature. He briefly discusses each of these developments. The Pope then proceeds to identify four critical areas which must now be addressed in any effective plan for integral human development: - Hunger: Food and water shortages are still critical in too many regions, and this is caused primarily not by a lack of material things but a lack of social resources—“the network of economic institutions capable of guaranteeing regular access to sufficient food and water for nutritional needs”. Access to food and water must be considered a fundamental human right. (27) - Respect for Life: The Pope points to various practices of demographic control, the promotion of contraception, the imposition of abortion, the practice of sterilization (often linked to dubious and deceitful health care policies), and the effort to “export this mentality to other States as if it were a form of cultural progress.” This is unacceptable, for “openness to life is at the center of true development.” Without this openness, the whole society withers away. (28) - Religious Freedom: The Pope’s discussion of the right to religious freedom is extremely interesting; it continues themes he has developed previously concerning the relationship between faith and reason. He decries both religious fanaticism and the promotion of religious indifference, explaining that “God is the guarantor of man’s true development, inasmuch as, having created him in his image, he also establishes the transcendent dignity of men and women and feeds their innate yearning to ‘be more’.” (29) - Disciplinary Collaboration: Benedict argues that for true development to take place, there must be a fruitful collaboration among faith, theology, metaphysics and science. This is because the cause of underdevelopment is not just lack of technical expertise, but a serious lack of “wisdom and reflection, a lack of thinking capable of formulating a guiding synthesis, for which a clear vision of all economic, social, cultural and spiritual aspects is required.” (30-31) This section of the encyclical closes by emphasizing that the greatest change since Paul VI’s time is the explosion of worldwide interdependence, that is, globalization: Without the guidance of charity in truth, this global force could cause unprecedented damage and create new divisions within the human family. Hence charity and truth confront us with an altogether new and creative challenge, one that is certainly vast and complex. It is about broadening the scope of reason and making it capable of knowing and directing these powerful new forces, animating them within the perspective of that “civilization of love” whose seed God has planted in every people, in every culture. (33) Chapter Three: Fraternity, Economic Development and Civil Society In his third chapter, Benedict develops a key concept of Catholic social teaching, one which he makes more explicit in Caritas in Veritate, probably in part because of John Paul II’s more recent emphasis on the “law of the gift”. Each new social encyclical enshrines a certain fresh genius which more deeply penetrates the internal logic of the Church’s teaching. I believe that this unique contribution is most characteristic of chapter three. Benedict explains: Charity in truth places man before the astonishing experience of gift. Gratuitousness is present in our lives in many different forms, which often go unrecognized because of a purely consumerist and utilitarian view of life. The human being is made for gift, which expresses and makes present his transcendent dimension. Sometimes modern man is wrongly convinced that he is the sole author of himself, his life and society. This is a presumption that follows from being selfishly closed in upon himself, and it is a consequence—to express it in faith terms—of original sin. (34) The Pope argues that a false conviction of self-sufficiency causes people to confuse happiness and salvation with material prosperity, and leads them to choose economic strategies which, by removing God and gift from the equation, end up impoverishing the weak and diminishing personal and social freedom and responsibility. At the center of this discussion is Benedict’s assertion that the market itself must incorporate this same gratuitous spirit which God displays in his dealings with man. The market must not limit itself to the commutative justice represented by the contract, but must also incorporate in its very foundations certain elements of distributive and social justice which bring all parties together in an ever-stronger fraternal community. Indeed, the market is not some infallible machinery that always produces the right result, such that it is necessary to keep God and values out of it. Nor is the market evil, and it is equally foolish to condemn it as a source of evil. Thus does the Pope dispatch ideologies of right and left. Rather, the market is a neutral instrument which is directed this way and that by the moral decisions of human persons. Every economic decision has a moral consequence. Though it may have been understandable at one time, the Pope says, it is not adequate to entrust the creation of wealth to the economy on the one hand while entrusting the task of distributing wealth to politics on the other. Instead, commercial practice itself, like all human activity, must be directed toward the common good. “Hence the canons of justice must be respected from the outset, as the economic process unfolds, and not just afterwards or incidentally.” (37) Benedict teaches that solidarity is the alternative to our current “exclusively binary model of market-plus-State”. For example, it is utterly insufficient for businesses to operate as if they are exclusively answerable to their investors, often with no stable director who feels responsible for the long-term impact on all of the stakeholders—“namely the workers, the suppliers, the consumers, the natural environment and broader society.” (40) All of these stakeholders have a claim on business, a claim that is far easier to understand and provide for if the principle of gratuitousness is kept in mind, for it is this principle of the gift that enables us to transcend ourselves and truly operate in solidarity with others. Applying this to the global scene: What should be avoided is a speculative use of financial resources that yields to the temptation of seeking only short-term profit, without regard for the long-term sustainability of the enterprise, its benefit to the real economy and attention to the advancement, in suitable and appropriate ways, of further economic initiatives in countries in need of development. It is true that the export of investments and skills can benefit the populations of the receiving country. Labor and technical knowledge are a universal good. Yet it is not right to export these things merely for the sake of obtaining advantageous conditions, or worse, for purposes of exploitation, without making a real contribution to local society by helping to bring about a robust productive and social system, an essential factor for stable development. (40) In order to effect a more sustainable model, the Pope also calls for a greater “articulation” of political authority, by which he means a collaborative effort, based on subsidiarity, of various institutions, organizations and levels of government combining to guide the process of economic globalization. Between the inadequacy of the United Nations (the Pope calls for its reform later in the encyclical) and the realities of contemporary political power, Benedict comments wryly that “both wisdom and prudence suggest not being too precipitous in declaring the demise of the State. In terms of the resolution of the current crisis, the State’s role seems destined to grow.” Hence “the articulation of political authority at the local, national and international levels is one of the best ways of giving direction to the process of economic globalization. It is also the way to ensure that it does not actually undermine the foundations of democracy.” (41) The encyclical discusses the necessary principle of subsidiarity at some length, emphasizing again the principle of gratuitousness which must animate these varied relationships. Finally, Benedict cautions that it is completely false and counter-productive to view globalization as a pre-determined process over which man has no control. Because it is a human reality, it is product of cultural tendencies which must be subjected to a process of discernment. A sustained commitment is needed to “promote a person-based and community-oriented cultural process of world-wide integration that is open to transcendence”. In this way, it will be possible to “steer the globalization of humanity in relational terms, in terms of communion and the sharing of goods.” (42) We will see this reference to “relational terms” developed more fully in chapter five, and once again we will see at its heart the idea of “gift”. For Benedict, the incorporation of the spirit of gratuitousness—the law of the gift—into all of our plans and programs is the key to success. In this spirit alone can the market itself, along with all the institutions and persons which guide it, contribute to integral human development. Chapter Four: The Development of People, Rights and Duties, the Environment In the fourth chapter, Benedict addresses several specific problems in the contemporary world which make it difficult to guide human development in an integral manner. First, he calls attention to the contemporary tendency to create arbitrary new rights with no basis in the natural law, while at the same time ignoring the most basic of human rights. The solution is to view rights in their proper framework of duties, a perspective “which grants them their full meaning”. Benedict explains that duties set a limit on rights “because they point to the anthropological and ethical framework of which rights are a part.” Thus duties reinforce rights and place their promotion in the context of the service of the common good. “The sharing of reciprocal duties,” Benedict states, “is a more powerful incentive to action than the mere assertion of rights.” (43) Next, the Pope takes up the matter of population growth and openness to life. He insists that the “primary competence of the family in the area of sexuality” must be upheld against the State and that “morally responsible openness to life represents a rich social and economic resource.” In contrast, he notes that the attitudes in many nations today “are symptomatic of scant confidence in the future and moral weariness.” Hence it has become socially and economically necessary once more “to hold up to future generations the beauty of marriage and the family.” States are called to enact policies promoting “the centrality and the integrity of the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman, the primary vital cell of society.” (44) Benedict also explains that “the economy needs ethics in order to function correctly”, but not just any ethics: The proper ethics must be person-centered, for when business departs from personal moral norms it serves only to exploit the inequities of existing financial systems rather than to correct their dysfunctional features. Periodically throughout the encyclical the Pope takes pains to demonstrate why Catholic social teaching has so much to contribute to properly-directed development. In this context of ethics, for example, he notes the following: Much in fact depends on the underlying system of morality. On this subject the Church’s social doctrine can make a specific contribution, since it is based on man’s creation “in the image of God” (Gen 1:27), a datum which gives rise to the inviolable dignity of the human person and the transcendent value of natural moral norms. (45) The Pope also deals here with the inadequacy of the distinction between for-profit and non-profit corporations, indicating again that a more complete understanding of the common good needs to lie at the heart of all business activity. In the same light, he calls for the reform of international organizations: “At times it happens that those who receive aid become subordinate to the aid-givers, and the poor serve to perpetuate expensive bureaucracies which consume an excessively high percentage of funds intended for development.” He calls for complete transparency as to the percentage of income allocated to various programs, the actual content of those programs, and the detailed expenditures of each institution. The chapter concludes with several pages on nature, the environment, and what the Pope calls “human ecology”. Noting two common and equally false attitudes, Benedict writes: [I]t is contrary to authentic development to view nature as something more important than the human person. This position leads to attitudes of neo-paganism or a new pantheism—human salvation cannot come from nature alone, understood in a purely naturalistic sense. This having been said, it is also necessary to reject the opposite position, which aims at total technical dominion over nature, because the natural environment is more than raw material to be manipulated at our pleasure; it is a wondrous work of the Creator containing a “grammar” which sets forth ends and criteria for its wise use, not its reckless exploitation. (48) Pursuant to this principle, the Pope condemns the hoarding of non-renewable energy resources, which integral human development demands should be shared, and he condemns massive short-term exploitation of resources as if we have no solidarity with future generations. Along the same lines, Benedict warns against the widespread hedonism and consumerism of the modern world, which does so much harm to those who are poor and so much damage to the environment. He insists that the Church has a grave responsibility to defend “earth, water and air” as gifts that belong to all and, above all, to “protect mankind from self-destruction.” Benedict’s larger point is that economic incentives and deterrents to effect change are insufficient: “The decisive issue is the overall moral tenor of society.” (51) Thus he concludes the chapter by returning once more to the law of the gift. He notes that the ultimate source of truth and love is God, and the vocation to development is an intrinsic part of God’s plan, prior to man himself: “That which is prior to us and constitutes us—subsistent Love and Truth—shows us what goodness is, and in what our true happiness consists. It shows us the road to true development.” (52) Chapter Five: The Cooperation of the Human Family The fifth chapter of Caritas in Veritate begins with a deep reflection on the idea of “relation” in human solidarity (analogous to and modeled on the infinitely self-giving and self-fulfilling relations of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity). Benedict notes the extreme isolation characteristic of our times: “One of the deepest forms of poverty a person can experience is isolation.” This includes isolation from not being loved and from rejecting God’s love because of “man’s basic and tragic tendency to close in on himself, thinking himself to be self-sufficient or merely an insignificant and ephemeral fact, a ‘stranger’ in a random universe.” Indeed: Man is alienated when he is alone, when he is detached from reality, when he stops thinking and believing in a foundation. All of humanity is alienated when too much trust is placed in merely human projects, ideologies and false utopias. Today humanity appears much more interactive than in the past: this shared sense of being close to one another must be transformed into true communion. The development of peoples depends, above all, on a recognition that the human race is a single family working together, in true communion, not simply a group of subjects who happen to live side by side. (53) Benedict sees the solution in a proper understanding of “relation”. Rather than being diminished personally by entering into a relation, each person finds that his identity is enriched and matures through his reciprocity with the other. Just as a family does not submerge but enhances the identities of its individual members, and just as the Church rejoices in each “new creation”, enriching each member and being enriched in return, “so too the unity of the human family does not submerge the identities of individuals, peoples and culture, but makes them more transparent to each other and links them more closely in their legitimate diversity.” (53) Importantly, Benedict pauses here to note even the problems posed by religious cultures which divide men and women from each other, as well as the proliferation of various forms of religious syncretism which fragment the human family into small groups, each going its own way. In so doing, he makes an important point about religious liberty (a point which will perhaps illuminate all the Church’s previous teachings on this subject, and a point thoroughly consistent with the Pope’s prior context of illuminating the nature and limitations of rights by examining corresponding duties): For this reason, while it is true that development needs the religions and cultures of different peoples, it is equally true that adequate discernment is needed. Religious freedom does not mean religious indifferentism, nor does it imply that all religions are equal. Discernment is needed regarding the contribution of cultures and religions, especially on the part of those who wield political power, if the social community is to be built up in a spirit of respect for the common good. Such discernment has to be based on the criterion of charity and truth. (55) He goes on to affirm that the Christian religion and other religions can make their vital contribution to authentic development “only if God has a place in the public realm”. He notes that the denial of the “right to profess one’s religion in public and the right to bring the truths of faith to bear upon public life has negative consequences for true development”, and he rejects both “the exclusion of religion from the public square” and “religious fundamentalism” because both “exclude the possibility of fruitful dialogue and effective cooperation between reason and religious faith.” Returning to a point he has made repeatedly during his pontificate, Benedict states again: Reason always stands in need of being purified by faith: this also holds true for political reason, which must not consider itself omnipotent. For its part, religion always needs to be purified by reason in order to show its authentically human face. Any breach in this dialogue comes only at an enormous price to human development. (56) Then chapter goes on briefly to explore a number of principles which must be used effectively to address a wide range of modern problems, such as subsidiarity, solidarity, and the natural law. Benedict sees the latter not only as a basis for discussion between religions and cultures but also as a necessary basis for true education, which must form the whole man in light of his proper ends—a goal which is rendered problematic by all relativistic cultures, yet is absolutely vital to authentic development. This chapter also highlights various key problems (e.g., migration, unemployment, and the development of poor nations) and suggests how they ought to be approached. Further, it highlights the need for all stake-holders in international finance, including labor unions and consumer groups, to be open to a new sense of responsibility for all the other stake-holders, instead of being preoccupied only with their own separate concerns. The Pope also expresses the need for a significant reform of the United Nations Organization and other international economic institutions so that “the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth.” To sum up: The integral development of peoples and international cooperation require the establishment of a greater degree of international ordering, marked by subsidiarity, for the management of globalization. They also require the construction of a social order that at last conforms to the moral order. (67) Chapter Six: The Development of Peoples and Technology In his final chapter, Benedict focuses on the need to overcome the prejudices of technocracy with a truly human understanding of integral development. He returns again to the concept of the gift: “The development question is not simply the result of natural mechanisms, since as everybody knows, we are all capable of making free and responsible choices. Nor is it merely at the mercy of our caprice, since we all know that we are a gift, not something self-generated.” The Pope continues: A person’s development is compromised, if he claims to be solely responsible for producing what he becomes. By analogy, the development of peoples goes awry if humanity thinks it can re-create itself through the “wonders” of technology, just as economic development is exposed as a destructive sham if it relies on the “wonders” of finance in order to sustain unnatural and consumerist growth. In the face of such Promethean presumption, we must fortify our love for a freedom that is not merely arbitrary, but is rendered truly human by acknowledgment of the good that underlies it. To this end, man needs to look inside himself in order to recognize the fundamental norms of the natural moral law which God has written on our hearts. (68) In this context, the Pope emphasizes that technology is a profoundly human reality, revealing man and his aspirations towards development, including the “inner tension that impels him to overcome material limitations.” It is therefore a response to God’s command in Genesis “to till and keep the land.” For this reason, technological development must never become so preoccupied with the “how” questions that it fails to ask and answer the “why” questions which underlie human activity: “When the sole criterion of truth is efficiency and utility, development is automatically denied” and “human freedom is authentic only when it responds to the fascination of technology with decisions that are the fruit of moral responsibility.” (70) The Pope uses three critical but disparate examples (peace among nations, social communications, and bioethics) to show how preoccupation with technological solutions can distract us from the deeper human values and moral judgments which are required for true development. Returning to one of his favorite themes, he concludes: “Entranced by an exclusive reliance on technology, reason without faith is doomed to flounder in an illusion of its own omnipotence. Faith without reason risks being cut off from everyday life.” (74) This final chapter ends with a renewed focus on the central argument that runs through the entire encyclical: (1) We now see that “the social question has become a radically anthropological question”; (2) The cultural refusal to attend to these deep anthropological questions results in a materialistic and mechanistic understanding of human life which has a universally negative effect on integral human development; and (3) Therefore, integral human development can never occur without the moral values which arise from an understanding of the importance of the soul of man to his overall well-being. The Pope laments that the “social and psychological alienation and the many neuroses that afflict affluent societies are attributable in part to spiritual factors” (76) and that “the supremacy of technology tends to prevent people from recognizing anything that cannot be explained in terms of matter alone.” (77) In contrast, true development requires new eyes and a new heart, capable of rising above a materialistic vision of human events, capable of glimpsing in development the “beyond” that technology cannot give. By following this path, it is possible to pursue the integral human development that takes its direction from the driving force of charity in truth. (77) In conclusion, the Holy Father emphasizes that “without God man neither knows which way to go, nor even understands who he is.” Therefore, we can develop the vision and energy for integral human development only by recognizing our calling to be part of the family of God. “A humanism which excludes God is an inhuman humanism,” Benedict writes. “Only a humanism open to the Absolute can guide us in the promotion and building of forms of social and civic life—structures, institutions, culture and ethos—without exposing us to the risk of becoming ensnared by the fashions of the moment.” This is the only way we can move beyond “the limited and the ephemeral”. Ultimately, it is God who “gives us the strength to fight and to suffer for love of the common good.” (78) And so Benedict ends with the law of the gift which he has so effectively unveiled at the heart of Catholic social thought: Development needs Christians with their arms raised towards God in prayer, Christians moved by the knowledge that truth-filled love, caritas in veritate, from which authentic development proceeds, is not produced by us, but given to us. For this reason, even in the most difficult and complex times, besides recognizing what is happening, we must above all else turn to God’s love. (78) All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

List of Useful Immigration References | Using Immigration Records This article is part of a series. |Overview of Immigration Research| |Immigration Research Approaches| |Major Settlements, Immigration, and Naturalization| |American Sources for Documenting Immigrants| |Using the Ellis Island Database| |Foreign Sources for Immigration Records| |List of Useful Immigration References| Once the national origins of an individual have been discovered, there is a great and ever-increasing assortment of background materials worth pursuing. A public library is a logical place to begin research. Most collections will include a basic history for any given ethnic group. Through computer networking, libraries can track down even the most obscure materials that will facilitate the search and add to the enjoyment of any research project. Many large public libraries and university and college libraries have special ethnic collections, as do some private libraries. The overwhelming amount of information currently available on ethnic groups and immigration in general makes it impossible to outline all of it in this chapter. Immigration Background Sources The following lists attempt to identify the most broadly available or useful histories, bibliographies, and immigrant lists. For a more complete discussion and a list of such sources, see the chapters on "Ethnic Sources" and "Immigration Sources" in Printed Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical Records, edited by Kory L. Meyerink (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1998). Adamic, Louis. From Many Lands. New York: Harper and Bros., 1940. Agueros, Jack, et al., eds. The Immigrant Experience. New York: Dial Press, 1971. Allen, James Paul, and Eugene James Turner. We the People: An Atlas of America's Diversity. New York: McMillan, 1988. Appel, John J. The New Immigration. New York: Pitman Publishers, 1971. ---. Immigrant Historical Societies in the USA. New York: Arno Press, 1980. Archdeacon, Thomas J. Becoming American: An Ethnic History. New York: Free Press, 1983. Auerbach, Frank L. Immigration Laws of the United States. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961. Bahr, Howard M., and Bruce A. Chadwick, eds. American Ethnicity. Lexington, Mass.: Heath, 1979. Barton, Josef J. Peasants and Strangers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975. Benton, Barbara. Ellis Island: A Pictorial History. New York: Facts on File, 1985. Bernard, Richard. The Melting Pot and the Altar. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1980. Bernardo, Stephanie. The Ethnic Almanac. Garden City, N.Y.: Dolphin Books, Doubleday, 1981. Bigham, Barbara. "Colonists in Bondage: Indentured Servants in America." Early American Life 10 (1979): 30-33, 83-84. Bodnar, John. The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987. Bogue, Donald J. The Population of the United States: Historical Trends and Future Projections. New York: Macmillan, 1985. Bolino, August C. The Ellis Island Source Book. Washington, D.C.: Kensington Historical Press, 1985. In addition to a history of Ellis Island, this volume provides an exhaustive immigration bibliography. Boorstin, Daniel J. The Americans: The Democratic Experience. New York: Random House, 1973. Brye, David L. European Immigration and Ethnicity in the United States and Canada: A Historical Bibliography. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio Information Services, 1982. Buenker, John D., Nicholas C. Burckel, and Rudolph J. Vecoli. Immigration and Ethnicity: A Guide to Information Sources. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1977. Carpenter, Niles. Immigrants and Their Children 1920: A Study Based on Census Statistics Relative to the Foreign Born and the Native White of Foreign or Mixed Parentage. Census Monographs VII. Washington, D.C.: Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1927. Cayton, Mary Kupies, Elliott J. Gorn, and Peter W. Williams, eds. Encyclopedia of American Social History. 3 vols. New York: Scribner, 1993. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Research Outline: Tracing Immigrant Origins. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Library, 1992. Coldham, Peter W. Emigrants in Chains: A Social History of Forced Emigration to the Americas of Felons, Destitute Children, Political and Religious Non-conformists, Vagabonds, Beggars and Other Undesirables, 1607-1776. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1992. Cole, Donald B. Immigration City: Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1845-1921. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1963. Coleman, Terry. Going to America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1972. Commager, Henry Steele, ed. Immigration and American History. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1961. Cordasco, Francesco, ed. A Bibliography of American Immigration History. Fairfield, N.J.: Augustus M. Kelly Publishers, 1978. ---. The Immigrant Woman in North America: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected References. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1985. ---. The New American Immigration: Evolving Patterns of Legal and Illegal Emigration: A Bibliography of Selected References. New York: Garland, 1987. Daniels, Roger. Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life. New York: Harper Collins, 1990. Dashefsky, Arnold, ed. Ethnic Identity in Society. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1976. Dinnerstein, Leonard, and David M. Reimers. Ethnic Americans: A History of Immigration. New York: Harper and Row, 1987. Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States and Canada. Nashville, Tenn.: American Association for State and Local History, 1994. This biennial lists addresses, telephone numbers, and other important information for state historical societies and agencies as well as those for local and specialized collections. Eichholz, Alice, ed. Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources. 3rd ed. Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2004. Eldridge, Grant J., ed. Encyclopedia of Associations: Regional, State, and Local Organizations. 4th ed. 5 vols. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1994. Erickson, Charlotte, ed. Emigration from Europe, 1815-1914: Select Documents. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1976. Ethnographic Bibliography of North America. 4th ed. 5 vols. Behavior Science Bibliographies. New Haven, Conn.: Human Relations Area Files, 1975. Supplement (3 vols.) added in 1990. Fermi, Laura. Illustrious Immigrants: The Intellectual Migration from Europe, 1930-1941. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968. Fleming, Thomas J. The Golden Door. New York: W. W. Horton, 1970. Glazer, Nathan, and Daniel P. Moynihan, eds. Ethnicity: Theory and Experience. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975. Greeley, Andrew M., and Gregory Baum, eds. Ethnicity. New York: Seabury Press, 1977. Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives. Rev. ed. Washington D.C.: National Archives Trust Fund board, 1991. Handlin, Oscar. The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations That Made the American People. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1951. ---. The American People in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1954. ---. Immigration as a Factor in American History. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1959. -Hansen, Marcus L. The Atlantic Migration, 1607-1860. New York: Harper, 1961. Harkness, George E. The Church and the Immigrant. New York: Doran, 1921. Heaps, Willard A. The Story of Ellis Island. New York: Seabury Press, 1967. Heaton, Elizabeth Putnam. Steerage. New York: L. Heaton, 1919. Herbert, Mirana C., and Barbara McNeil. Biography Genealogy Master Index. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1980-. History of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1980. Hodges, Patrick, and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Hoglund, A. William. Immigrants and Their Children in the United States: A Bibliography of Doctoral Dissertations, 1885-1982. New York: Garland, 1986. Holli, Melvin G., and Peter d'A. Jones, eds. The Ethnic Frontier. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishers, 1977. Hutchinson, E. P. Legislative History of American Immigration Policy, 1798-1965. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 1981. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Foreign Versions, Variations, and Diminutives of English Names, Foreign Equivalents of United States Military and Civilian Titles. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1970. ---. An Immigrant Nation: United States Regulation of Immigration, 1798-1991. U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1991. Johns, Stephanie Bernardo. The Ethnic Almanac. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1981. Jones, Maldwyn. American Immigration. New York: Holt, Rinehart. and Winston, 1960. ---. Destination America. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1976. Kennedy, John F. A Nation of Immigrants. New York: Harper and Row, 1964. Kettner, James H. The Development of American Citizenship, 1607-1870. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1978. Kraut, Alan M. The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American Society, 1880-1921. Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 1982. Kurian, George Thomas. Datapedia of the United States 1790-2000: America Year by Year. Lanham, Md.: Bernan Press, 1994. Lieberson, Stanley. Ethnic Patterns in American Cities. New York: Free Press, 1963. Lind, Marilyn. Immigration, Migration and Settlement in the United States: A Genealogical Guidebook. Cloquet, Minn.: Linden Tree, 1985. Luckingham, Bradford. "Benevolence in Emergent San Francisco: A Note on Immigrant Life in the Urban Far West." Southern California Quarterly 55 (1973): 431-44. Makower, Joel, ed. The American History Source Book. New York: Prentice Hall, 1987. Marden, Charles F., and Gladys Meyer. Minorities in American Society. 4th ed. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1973. Meyerink, Kory L. "Immigration Sources." In Printed Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical Records, edited by Kory L. Meyerink. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1998. Miller, Sally M. Ethnic Press in the United States: A Historical Analysis and Handbook. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987. Miller, Wayne Charles. A Handbook of American Minorities. New York: New York University Press, 1976. ---, et al. A Comprehensive Bibliography for the Study of American Minorities. New York: New York University Press, 1976. Montalto, Nicholas V. The International Institute Movement: A Guide to Records of Immigrant Society Agencies in the United States. St. Paul: Immigration History Research Center, 1978. Moody, Suzanna, and Joel Wurl, eds. The Immigration History Research Center: A Guide to Collections. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991. Moreno, Barry. Encyclopedia of Ellis Island. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2004. Morrison, Joan, and Charlotte Fox Zabusky. American Mosaic: The Immigrant Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived It. 2nd ed. Pittsburg: University of Pittsburg Press, 1993. National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States. 3rd ed. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1990. Neagles, James C. "Immigrant Ancestors." In The Library of Congress: A Guide to Genealogical and Historical Research. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1990. Novotny, Ann. Strangers at the Door. Riverside, Conn.: Chatham Press, 1971. Nugent, Walter. Crossings: The Great Transatlantic Migrations, 1870-1914. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992. Periodical Source Index (PERSI). Fort Wayne, Ind.: Allen County Public Library Genealogy Department, 1987-. Pfeiffer, Laura Szucs. Hidden Sources: Family History in Unlikely Places. Orem, Utah: Ancestry, 2000. Powell, Sumner Chilton. Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1965. Reimers, David M. Still the Golden Door: The Third World Comes to America. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985. ---. The Immigrant Experience. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989. Risch, Erna. "Immigrant Aid Societies Before 1820." Pennsylvania History 3 (January 1936): 15-32. Rosen, Philip. The Neglected Dimension: Ethnicity in American Life. South Bend, Ind.: Notre Dame Press, 1980. Scott, Franklin D. The Peopling of America: Perspectives on Immigration. Washington, D.C.: American Historical Society Association, 1972. Silinonte, Joseph M. Bishop Loughlin's Dispensations, Diocese of Brooklyn, 1859-1866. Brooklyn, N.Y.: the author, 1996. Slocum, Robert C. Biographical Dictionaries and Related Works. 2 vols. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1986. Smith, Jessie C., ed. Ethnic Genealogy: A Research Guide. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983. Smith, Warren B. White Servitude in Colonial South Carolina. Danielsville, Ga.: Heritage Papers, 1972. Sowell, Thomas. Ethnic America: A History. New York: Basic Books, 1981. Szucs, Loretto Dennis. "Ethnic Sources." In Printed Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical Records, edited by Kory L. Meyerink. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1998. ---. They Became Americans. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1998. ---, and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking. The Archives: A Guide to the National Archives Field Branches. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1988. Taylor, Philip. The Distant Magnet: European Emigration to the U.S.A. New York: Harper and Row, 1971. Thernstrom, Stephan. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1980. Tift, Wilton, and Thomas Dunne. Ellis Island. New York: W. W. Norton, 1971. Vecoli, Rudolph J., and Suzanne M. Sinke, eds. A Century of European Migrations, 1830-1930. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1991. Wasserman, Paul, and Alice E. Kennington. Ethnic Information Sources of the United States: A Guide to Organizations, Agencies, Foundations, Institutions, Media, Commercial and Trade Bodies, Government Programs, Research Institutes, Libraries and Museums, Religious Organizations, Banking Firms, Festivals and Fairs, Travel and Tourist Offices, Airlines and Ship lines, Bookdealers and Publishers' Representatives, and Books, Pamphlets, and Audiovisuals on Specific Ethnic Groups. 2nd ed. 2 vols. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1983. Wittke, Carl F. We Who Built America: The Saga of the Immigrant. Cleveland: Western Reserve University Press, 1964. Wynar, Lubomyr R. Encyclopedic Directory of Ethnic Organizations in the United States. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1976. ---, and Anna T. Wynar. The Encyclopedic Directory of Ethnic Newspapers and Periodicals in the United States. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1976. Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia, and Marjorie Lightman. Ellis Island and the Peopling of America: The Official Guide. New York: New York Press, 1997. Published Passenger and Emigration Lists and Sources for Locating Ships Anuta, Michael J. Ships of Our Ancestors. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993. Baca, Leo. Czech Immigration Passenger Lists. 4 vols. Richardson, Tex.: the compiler, 1983-91. Boyer, Carl, III. Ship Passenger Lists. 4 vols. Newhall, Calif.: 1977-80. Burgert, Annette K. Eighteenth-Century Emigrants From German-Speaking Lands to North America. Breinigsville, Pa.: Pennsylvania German Society, 1983-. Cassady, Michael. New York Passenger Arrivals, 1849-1868. Papillion, Nebr.: Nimmo, 1983. Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Complete Book of Bonded Passengers to America. 9 vols. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983-85. Colletta, John P. They Came in Ships: A Guide to Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor's Arrival Record. Rev. 3rd ed. Orem, Utah: Ancestry, 2002. Cutler, Carl C. Queens of the Western Ocean: The Story of America's Mail and Passenger Sailing Lines. Annapolis, Md.: U.S. Naval Institute, 1961. Ferguson, Laraine K. "Hamburg, Germany, Gateway to Ancestral Home." German Genealogical Digest 2, no. 1 (first quarter 1986): 10-14. Filby, P. William. Passenger and Immigration Lists Bibliography, 1538-1900: Being a Guide to Published Lists of Arrivals in the United States and Canada. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1988. ---, and Mary K. Meyer, eds. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index: A Guide to Published Arrival Records of More Than 1,775,000 Passengers Who Came to the New World Between the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1981. Supplements 1982-. ---, and Mary K. Meyer, eds. Passenger and Immigration Lists of Arrivals in the United States and Canada in the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. 3 vols. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1981. Supplements 1982-. Filby, P. William, Mary K. Meyer, and Dorothy M. Lower. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1981- (including supplements). -Glazier, Ira A., and Michael Tepper, eds. The Famine Immigrants: Lists of Irish Immigrants Arriving at U.S. Ports 1850-1855. 7 vols. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983-87. ---. Italians to America: Lists of Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports, 1880-1899. 2 vols. to date. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1992-. ---, and P. William Filby, eds. Germans to America: Lists of Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports, 1850-1855. 28 vols. to date. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1988-. -Guillet, Edwin C. The Great Migration: The Atlantic Crossing by Sailing Ship Since 1770. Rev. ed. Toronto: University Press, 1963. Hall, Charles M. Antwerp Emigration Index. Salt Lake City: Heritage International, 1986. Haury, David A., ed. Index to Mennonite Immigrants on U.S. Passenger Lists, 1872-1904. North Newton, Kans.: Mennonite Library and Archives, 1986. Immigration Information Bureau. Morton Allen Directory of European Passenger Steamship Arrivals. 1931; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993. Jones, Hank Z, Jr. More Palatine Families: Some Immigrants to the Middle Colonies, 1717-1776, and Their European Origins. San Diego: the author, 1991. Kludas, Arnold. Great Passenger Ships of the World. Translated by Charles Hodges. 6 vols. Cambridge, England: Patrick Stephens, 1975-86. Lancour, Harold. Bibliography of Passenger Lists. New York: New York Public Library, 1937. Mathias, P., and A. W. H. Pearsall. Shipping: A Survey of Historical Records. Newton Abbot, England: David and Charles, 1980. McManus, J. Comal County, Texas, and New Braunfels, Texas German Immigrant Ships, 1845-1846. St. Louis: F. T. Ingmire, 1985. Mitchell, Brian, comp. Irish Passenger Lists 1847-1871. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. The Morton Allan Directory of European Passenger Steamship Arrivals. Immigrant Information Bureau, 1931. 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Some Shipboard Passengers of Captain John Rockett (1828-1841). Mission Viejo, Calif.: the compiler, 1983. Schenk, Trudy, Ruth Froelke, and Inge Bork. The Wuerttemberg Emigration Index. 8 vols. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1988-2002. Schrader-Muggenthaler, Cornelia. Alsace Emigration Book. 2 vols. Apollo, Pa.: Closson Press, 1989-91. ---. Baden Emigration Book. Apollo, Pa.: Closson Press, 1992. Ships Passenger Lists, Port of Galveston, Texas, 1846-1871. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1984. Smith, Clifford Neal. Reconstructed Passenger Lists for 1850: Hamburg to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, and the United States. 4 vols. McNeal, Ariz.: Westland Publications, 1980. Smith, Eugene W. Passenger Ships of the World, Past and Present. Boston: George H. Dean, 1978. Steuart, Bradley W. Passenger Ships Arriving in New York Harbor (1820-1850). Bountiful, Utah: Precision Indexing, 1991. Strassburger, Ralph Beaver, comp., and William John Hinke, ed. Pennsylvania German Pioneers: A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808. 3 vols. Norristown, Pa.: Pennsylvania German Society, 1934. Sweiringa, Robert P., comp. Dutch Immigrants in U.S. Ship Passenger Manifests, 1820-1880: An Alphabetical Listing by Household Heads and Independent Persons. 2 vols. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1983. -Tepper, Michael, ed. Emigrants to Pennsylvania, 1641-1819: A Consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists from Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1978. ---. Immigrants to the Middle Colonies. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1978. ---. New World Immigrants: A Consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists from Periodical Literature. 2 vols. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. ---. Passenger Arrivals at the Port of Baltimore, 1820-1834, From Customs Passenger Lists. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982. ---. Passenger Arrivals at the Port of Philadelphia, 1800-1819: The Philadelphia Baggage Lists. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986. ---. American Passenger Arrival Records: A Guide to the Records of Immigrants Arriving at American Ports by Sail and Steam. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993. Wolfe, Richard. Bibliography of Passenger Lists. New York: New York Public Library, 1963. Yoder, Don, ed. Pennsylvania German Immigrants, 1709-1786: Lists Consolidated from Yearbooks of the Pennsylvania German Folklore Society. 1984; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1989. Zimmerman, Gary J., and Marion Wolfert. German Immigrants: Lists of Passengers Bound From Bremen to New York. 3 vols. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Bockstruck, Lloyd deWitt. Denizations and Naturalizations in the British Colonies in America, 1607-1775. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2005. Filby, P. William. Philadelphia Naturalization Records. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1982. Green, Linda R. "Citizenship and Naturalization in Colonial America from Pre-Revolutionary Times to the United States Constitution." Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly 24 (Fall 1992): 152-58. Franklin, Frank George. The Legislative History of Naturalization in the United States. New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1969. Holcomb, Brent H. South Carolina Naturalizations, 1783-1850. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985. Journals of Congress, II, 16 January 1777. National Archives Trust Fund Board. Index to Naturalization Petitions of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1865-1957. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1991. Newman, John J. American Naturalization Records, 1790-1990: What They Are and How to Use Them. 2nd ed. Bountiful, Utah: Heritage Quest, 1998. Schaefer, Christina K. Guide to Naturalization Records of the United States. 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Based on several significant examples, we analyse the adhesion mechanisms at soft polymer interfaces with a special emphasis first on the role of connector molecules, that is, polymer chains bound to the interface and which transmit stress through a stretching and extraction mechanism, and second on the necessary relay that must be taken by additional dissipation mechanisms acting at larger scales if one wants to reach typical fracture toughnesses in the range of a few 10 J m−2. Examples of such bulk dissipation mechanisms will be discussed for interfaces between polymer melts and for pressure-sensitive adhesives in contact with a solid surface. We shall particularly point out the fact that the level of adhesion results from a competition between adhesive failure usually driven by both the interactions and the friction properties of the interface and bulk strong deformations which take place in the bulk of the adhesive layer. Controlling the friction properties of the interface then becomes a tool to finely tune adhesive properties. 1. Introduction: the paradox of adhesion Adhesion phenomena are best exemplified when one intends to glue together two different solid parts in order to form an assembly. To do so, one usually deposits a liquid layer on the clean surface of one solid. The cleaning is quite important to ensure that the liquid wets the solid, and covers all asperities of the surface, which is almost always rough. Then the second solid is pressed against the liquid-covered surface. After some time, chemical reactions have taken place inside the liquid layer which has transformed into a solid that is able to sustain stresses. If the whole operation has succeeded, then both interfaces between the new solid-like glue layer and the solid parts are also able to sustain some stress. A way to quantify the result is to measure either the limiting stress the assembly can sustain before getting broken or the corresponding energy necessary to rupture the assembly. If one wants to model the process, and try to predict this energy of rupture, the easiest and naive way of thinking is to model the glue as a simple van der Waals liquid. As schematically presented in figure 1, if a tensile load is applied, the liquid layer will separate into two films with a liquid layer remaining in close contact with the solid surfaces (good wetting of the surface by the liquid) on each side of the broken contact. Two new interfaces between the liquid and air are thus created. The total energy per unit area necessary to produce these new interfaces is W=2γ, where γ is the surface energy of the liquid. For a van der Waals liquid, the order of magnitude of the surface tension is γ=kT/a2, where k is the Boltzmann constant; T is the absolute temperature; and a is a molecular size. This leads to W≈0.1 J m−2 at most. This is much smaller than the typical fracture energies of an adhesive joint, usually in the range of a few 100 J m−2 to a few 1000 J m−2. Obviously, a van der Waals liquid is a poor glue. One can imagine improving this ‘weak’ glue by adding stronger interactions between the molecules of the liquid, to render it more cohesive. A particularly strong interaction is provided by chemical covalent bonds, with a typical energy of rupture per bond of the order of 1 eV. Still in a naive approach, one can easily evaluate the energy necessary to open a fracture inside the adhesive layer as the energy of rupture of all bonds crossing the fracture plane. Per unit area of fracture, this energy is G=νUc, where ν is the number of bonds per unit area and Uc is the energy of rupture of one bond. With Uc≈1 eV, i.e. 1.6×10−19 J, and one bond between each molecule, ν≈1/(0.3×10−9)2=1.1×1019 m−2, the corresponding energy of fracture increases to a few J m−2 at most, again far below the practical adhesive strength encountered in adhesive joints. It thus appears clear that adhesion mechanisms cannot be thought of only in terms of bond rupture and creation of new interfaces. These two processes do always take place when the adhesive assembly is ruptured, but they cannot, by themselves, explain the measured values of the fracture toughness. Much more energy has to be expended to rupture an adhesive joint than the energy of rupture of chemical bonds. This means that good adhesives are the materials able to dissipate energy before rupture when submitted to the mechanical loading of an adhesive test. An important consequence is that the fracture toughness will, in general, depend on the mechanical test chosen to measure it. A second also quite important consequence is that, in order to understand adhesion mechanisms, one has to go through the identification and the modelling of the different dissipation mechanisms involved in the rupture of the assembly under consideration. This is also the reason why most adhesives are polymers: these materials do provide efficient dissipation mechanisms. The understanding of adhesion mechanisms at polymer interfaces has thus emerged as a major axis of research in recent years. An important notion is that of ‘connector molecules’, that is, polymer chains which are bound to an interface by chemical bonds or by physisorbtion, and which interact with the bulk polymer so that they act to transmit stress across the interface. A second important notion is that of stress concentration leading to irreversibly deformed zones inside the materials, and thus to energy dissipation. This is quite classical in fracture mechanics. For example, when a crack propagates in an elastic material, the stress field tends to diverge at the crack tip. No material is able to sustain an infinite stress, and a plastically deformed zone appears at the crack tip. The energy necessary to form this plastically deformed zone is then irreversibly consumed when the fracture propagates. This energy per unit area of the open fracture is related to the work necessary to orient and extend polymer chains over a displacement which is comparable with the size of the plastically deformed zone. Both the size of the plastically deformed zone and the yield stress thus fix the energy necessary to propagate the crack. For an adhesive joint, we are faced with a very similar problem, complicated by the fact that now the two materials assembled to form the joint do not have the same mechanical properties. In order to describe the deformation field close to the interface, one needs to introduce conditions for the transmission of stresses through the interface, and thus understand, down to the molecular level, the relations between molecular organization and mechanical properties. The case of assemblies between two glassy polymers (which most often are incompatible, which means that the assembly will usually delaminate spontaneously) in which the interface is reinforced by connector molecules made of diblock copolymers, each side of the diblock being compatible with one of the bulk polymers, has been particularly investigated during the past decade, and the adhesion mechanisms in such systems are now well identified (Creton et al. 2001a and references therein). In the present paper we rather focus on assemblies between soft polymers for which, surprisingly, much less is known. In a first part, we shall briefly present what has been predicted by P. G. de Gennes for the adhesive strength of an interface between a solid on which long flexible polymer chains have been grafted, and put into contact with a cross-linked elastomer made of the same polymer (Raphaël & de Gennes 1992). These predictions will be compared with experiments, and the notion of soft connector molecules will be illustrated. In a second step we shall discuss how connector molecules can develop due to partial interdiffusion at an interface between two molten polymers. This will lead to a discussion on how soft polymers can provide additional sources of energy dissipation when submitted to the mechanical loading of an adhesive test, and show how interfacial and bulk highly deformed zones interplay, highlighting the relations between adhesion and friction. 2. Stress transfer by one connector polymer molecule at solid–elastomer interfaces Let us consider a smooth solid surface on which long polymer chains have been end grafted at sufficiently low grafting density so that they do not overlap (this is the so-called mushroom regime of grafting). When exposed to air, the polymer chains tend to collapse on the solid surface, as a result of the attractive van der Waals interactions between monomers and the underlying solid. If the same surface decorated with end-grafted polymer chains is put into contact with a polymer melt or a cross-linked elastomer of the same polymer, the chains tethered to the surface tend to interpenetrate into the bulk polymer through thermal fluctuations, in order to recover their equilibrium Gaussian conformation and gain entropy. What happens if one pulls off the elastomer as shown in figure 2a? Are the van der Waals interactions between monomers strong enough to maintain the surface grafted chain interdigitated into the bulk polymer and to stretch this surface chain? The question has been worked out by P. G. de Gennes (Raphaël & de Gennes 1992). The connector chains are indeed expected to be fully stretched inside the gap between the elastomer and the solid surface, as shown in figure 2b. The argument goes as follows. Assuming a partially extracted chain with n monomers out of the elastomer, the free energy associated with that partial extraction, e(h), for a gap h between the solid and the elastomer is(2.1)where a is the monomer size. The first term on the r.h.s. of equation (2.1) represents the surface energy required to expose to air the n extracted monomers. The second term is the elastic energy associated with the eventual stretching of the extracted portion of the chain. Minimizing that energy with respect to n leads to(2.2)which means that the portion of chain inside the gap is indeed fully stretched (n is proportional to h). The corresponding free energy is(2.3)There is thus a minimal force for a fibril to exist:(2.4)The existence of such a minimal force has been confirmed experimentally on several systems (Brown 1993; Deruelle et al. 1994; Marciano 1995; Reiter et al. 1996). It is important to note that the force f* is comparable with the force necessary to fully stretch a chain, kT/a, and is also the force necessary to extract one monomer from the bulk polymer and expose it to air. (a) Case of a grafted surface Let us now consider a solid surface with grafted chains per unit area (Σ is the adimensional grafting density), in contact with a cross-linked elastomer (made of the same polymer). If a stress σ is applied as schematically presented in figure 2, the energy for opening a gap h is written(2.5)As long as the external stress σ remains smaller than the minimal stress to extract the chains(2.6)G(h) is minimal for h=0 and the crack does not open. As soon as the applied stress becomes larger than σ*, the crack opens. A zone with partially extracted and stretched chains forms at the crack tip. The energy needed to propagate the crack at very low speed (quasi-static regime) is then the work of this minimum stress over a displacement corresponding to the length of the fully stretched connector chains, plus the energy of the two newly created interfaces, i.e.(2.7)where N is the number of monomers in the connector chains and using the approximation γ≈kT/a2. If the crack is forced to propagate at a finite velocity V, additional dissipation due to friction between the extracted connector chain and the bulk elastomer has to be taken into account. This has been worked out in detail by Raphaël & de Gennes (1994), and the prediction is that the fracture energy is rapidly dominated by friction effects when the fracture velocity is increased, leading to(2.8)where E is the elastic modulus of the elastomer and ζ0 is a monomer–monomer friction coefficient. A number of experimental investigations have been conducted in order to check the validity of these predictions (Creton et al. 1994; Tardivat 1998). We summarize below their main results, choosing the example of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) cross-linked elastomers in contact with silicon wafers on which PDMS chains of various length have been end grafted (Léger et al. 1999). Typical data for the quasi-static propagation of the fracture at such interfaces are reported in figure 3. One can clearly see that things appear more complicated than predicted. Indeed the connector chains do promote adhesion, and the fracture energy can be strongly enhanced compared with the reversible work of adhesion W=43 mJ m−2 for PDMS/PDMS contact. However, the efficiency of the connector chains does not increase monotonically with the surface grafting density as predicted by equation (2.7): the connector chains lose totally their aptitude to promote adhesion when too densely grafted at the interface. The next unexpected finding is that the adhesive strength of the interface highly depends on the cross-linking density in the elastomer. The loss of efficiency of the connector molecules at high grafting densities has been attributed to the rejection of the connector chains by the elastomer. Indeed, when the grafted surface is put into contact with the elastomer, the connector chains tend to penetrate into the elastomer in order to recover their Gaussian equilibrium conformation. They cannot do so without swelling the elastomer. There is thus an elastic energy penalty to be paid which obviously increases with the surface density of grafted chains. It can totally prevent the interdigitation process at large enough grafting density (Brochard-Wyart et al. 1994). It is, however, not easy to correctly account for these effects, and it is only quite recently that a reasonable enough agreement between models and experiments has been obtained (Vilmin et al. 2004). It is thus well admitted now that surface-anchored polymer chains can act as adhesion promoters and efficiently transmit stress through an interface. Van der Waals interactions between monomers are enough to maintain these connector chains stretched when one tries to separate the two partners of the assembly. The mechanisms by which the connector chains do promote adhesion are stretching and progressive extraction from the bulk material. After complete extraction, each connector chain relaxes its stretch and flattens down on the surface. The stretching energy is thus lost in the process, and has to be added to the energy of formation of the two new interfaces to permit the separation to occur. This additional energy can be viewed as the work of the force necessary to pull one connector chain out of the bulk material over the length of the extracted chain times the number of connector chains per unit area. The enhancement of adhesion energy compared with the thermodynamic work of adhesion is thus directly indicative of the degree of interdigitation of the tethered chains into the bulk polymer, as long as the fracture propagates slowly enough to remain in the quasi-static regime. At finite velocities, additional dissipation has to be taken into account due to the friction between monomers in the bulk and in the extracted chains, and the adhesive strength becomes velocity dependent. The quantitative understanding of these velocity dependences, however, still remains under question; as shown in figure 4, the evolution of the fracture energy with the velocity of the advancing fracture appears correctly described by power laws over more than eight decades, with an exponent 0.08 much smaller than the predicted value of one. This discrepancy remains unexplained, and further experiments are certainly needed in order to fully establish the exact mathematical form of these velocity dependences (power law or logarithmic growth) and provide the correct interpretation. Let us come back to equation (2.7), and examine the order of magnitude of the adhesion enhancement produced by the connector chains. With a maximum grafting density in the range Σ≈10−2 at most before the rejection from the elastomer becomes dominant, one can easily see that the number of monomers in the connector chains needs to be larger than 102 if one wants that their contribution to adhesion starts to overcome the normal surface term W. For most typical polymers, this is the order of magnitude of the average number of monomers between entanglements. The connector chains need to be longer than an entanglement length to start promoting adhesion. However, unlike polymer glasses, where one entanglement is typically sufficient to obtain quite a large enhancement in fracture toughness (Creton et al. 2001a), the low friction force needed to extract polymer chains from an elastomer means that the adhesion enhancement effect keeps increasing very progressively as the connector chains become longer up to many entanglement lengths. It is worthwhile to discuss now a similar and yet different case where chain interpenetration at the interface controls adhesion. 3. Polymer interfaces between polymer melts Unlike the situation of tethered chains, where the connector chains can entangle with a polymer network with an identical chemical structure and Σ and N can be controlled independently, the structure of polymer interfaces between polymer melts is chiefly controlled by the interfacial width, that is, the average distance over which free chains can interpenetrate. If the two polymers are mutually immiscible, this interfacial width w is controlled by the interaction parameter Χ between the two polymers. The interfacial width w and interfacial tension γ12 between two immiscible polymers of infinite molecular weight are given by Helfand & Tagami (1971) and Jones & Richards (1999) as(3.1)(3.2)where a is the segment length; c is a constant which has a value of 6 or 9 depending on whether the interface is in the weak or strong segregation limit; and ρ is the density. If the molecular weight of the two polymers is not infinite, a correction factor increasing the interfacial width must be applied (Broseta et al. 1990). In essence, this means that the degree of interpenetration of polymer chains at the interface varies with the inverse of the square root of Χ. Since a is of the order of the size of the monomer and the chain can be considered approximately Gaussian, the average number of monomers A crossing the interface into monomer B is ∼Χ−1, a result which has been extensively verified by neutron reflectivity. For strongly immiscible polymer pairs, this number will vary from a few monomers to 30–50 monomers, a value well below the average number of monomers between entanglements Ne. However, if Χ<1/Ne, that is, weakly immiscible polymer pairs, entanglements can form at the interface and one expects these entanglements to affect adhesion between the two polymer melts. Experimentally, measuring the adhesion between two polymer melts is challenging, since the materials are soft and highly viscoelastic and in practice it is only relevant for highly entangled polymer melts which respond as viscoelastic solids at the test temperature and strain rate. In this case, the work of fracture of interfaces between polymer melts can be measured with a probe test (Gent & Kim (1990) and Schach et al. (2007) for short contact times) or a peel test (Hamed (1981) and Hamed & Shieh (1983) for long contact times). Provided that the test is properly executed to decouple interfacial effects from large-scale bulk effects, the practical work of adhesion Wadh can be measured. A systematic study has recently been performed for increasingly interpenetrated interfaces between high-molecular-weight polymers of various degrees of immiscibility (Broseta et al. 1990). The key result of these experimental studies is that the adhesion energy between two polymer melts increases strongly with increasing interpenetration depth as shown in figure 5. This result was qualitatively expected since the formation of entanglements at polymer interfaces invariably increases their mechanical strength. However, with an average molecular weight between entanglements of the order of 3 kg mol−1 for the polymers used in the study leading to average distances between entanglements of the order of 30–50 Å, this quantitative correlation has shown that several entanglements are needed to recover the bulk strength of the weakest of the two bulk materials. It is worthwhile to note that the absolute values of Wadh measured here are much larger than the values obtained for tethered chains of figure 3. This is because for these experiments the bulk materials are highly viscoelastic polymer melts; the contribution of viscoelastic dissipation cannot be neglected as will be discussed in more detail below (§4). Nevertheless, the adhesion energy remains highly sensitive to the interfacial structure, in this case the interpenetration length. This result should be compared with equivalent studies performed on interfaces between glassy polymers (Schnell et al. 1998; Brown 2001; Benkoski et al. 2002, 2003; Silvestri et al. 2003) which showed that one entanglement distance or less is typically sufficient to recover bulk strength. It is also interesting to note that, as in the case of tethered chains, chain interpenetration dominates the adhesive behaviour, regardless of surface energetics. If one tries to apply the classic equation for the thermodynamic work of adhesion between two different surfaces to this case, the prediction of Wadh is clearly at odds with the results of figure 5. (a) Kinetics of strength build-up If the two polymers are identical, they will mutually interdiffuse until the interface vanishes. However, because the dynamics of long polymer chains is slow, this healing of the interface is not instantaneous and the interdiffusion distance is controlled by kinetics (Stamm et al. 1991; Karim et al. 1994). Based on figure 5, one would expect the work of adhesion to reach a plateau value when the interpenetration is of the order of a few entanglements. The most accessible diffusion time for a linear polymer is the terminal relaxation time τd which characterizes a displacement of the centre of mass of a distance of the order of the polymer coil. In a series of well-controlled experiments (Schach & Creton submitted), Schach et al. showed that the contact time where the work of adhesion reaches a plateau scales linearly with the terminal relaxation time of the polymer (figure 6). Of course, these results hold for simple linear monodisperse polymers. Practical situations often involve polydisperse or branched polymers, and for weakly immiscible polymers may combine thermodynamics and kinetics. Nevertheless, the important aspect to keep in mind is the importance of chain interpenetration at interfaces for adhesion between polymer melts. 4. Additional bulk dissipation for soft adhesives Let us come back again to equation (2.7). Even if the connector chains are longer than a distance between entanglements, their contribution to adhesion enhancement can hardly reach more than 10 or 20 times W, because increasing the length of the connector chains imposes to decrease their grafting density to remain in the non-overlapping grafting regime. The stretching and extraction mechanism thus appears efficient to permit the transmission of stresses across the interface, but it cannot, by itself, provide adhesion energies larger than a few J m−2, at low velocity for the propagation of the fracture. This clearly means that in order to reach adhesion toughness in the range of a few 10 J m−2, one needs first an interface able to transmit stresses (which can be done by connector chains) and, second, the relay of additional dissipation mechanisms acting at other length scales than the molecular distances in the immediate vicinity of the interface. Such additional dissipations may be provided by the deformation of the highly viscoelastic material which constitutes a soft adhesive. We examine now a few examples in which we do understand how to manipulate these viscoelastic dissipations inside the adhesive layer. (a) Failure of interfaces between viscoelastic layers and solid surfaces A detailed analysis of the strain field inside an adhesive layer in the vicinity of the peel front has been conducted by Amouroux et al. (2001) in the case of acrylic tapes in contact with silicone elastomers containing variable amounts of silica-like nanoparticles (MQ resins in the silicones' nomenclature; Amouroux et al. 2001) in order to modulate the adhesion energy. In a peel test, the mechanical loading of the soft adhesive layer is rather complex, and contains both tensile and shear contributions (Kaelble 1974). Amouroux et al. (2001) have clearly shown that depending on the aptitude of the interface to sustain shear stresses (and not only mode one opening stresses as discussed when describing the role of connector chains in adhesion enhancement) two different failure modes of the interface can appear. If the interface fails because it can only support weak shear stresses, interfacial slip develops close to the peel front, and the adhesive strength is dominated by the friction between the adhesive and the substrate due to this localized slip motion. If, on the contrary, the interface is able to sustain the shear stresses associated with the peel force, the whole adhesive layer is sheared, and the adhesive toughness is dominated by the viscoelastic losses associated with these deformations inside the whole adhesive layer. The adhesive strength is then larger than in the case of failure due to interfacial slip because the volume of adhesive inside which the deformations are noticeable becomes large, inducing a large dissipation. The velocity or strain rate dependences of these two processes (interfacial friction and bulk shear deformation) are quite different, which means that, first, the transition between failure modes when one progressively increases the interfacial friction depends on the peel velocity and, second, that very weak modifications in the interfacial friction may lead to significantly different adhesive energies at high enough peel velocities (Amouroux et al. 2001). While this effect is present independent of the geometry used, detailed studies were done in the probe test geometry, which fixes the boundary conditions of the deformation and imposes, schematically, a controlled change in distance between two parallel and confined plates which separate from each other at a constant velocity (Shull & Creton 2004). In the specific case of pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) detached from cross-linked silicone layers, the PSA is approximately 100 μm thick and deposited on a rigid glass slide while the silicone layer deposited on a cylindrical moving probe is only 1 μm thick and acts simply as a boundary condition. A variety of rather complex microscopic deformation mechanisms are observed experimentally in this geometry: from simple interfacial failure, where a crack propagates at the interface, to cavitation or bulk fingering followed by fibrillation, where larger deformations of the adhesive are achieved (Shull & Creton 2004). In all these cases, the debonding process is determined by the coupling of bulk and interfacial properties of the material. If a linear elastic model is considered for the deformation of the adhesive, the growth of a defect initially present at the interface between the thick elastic layer and the rigid surface depends on the competition between two different simpler mechanisms: the resistance to the interfacial propagation of a crack, which is governed by the critical energy release rate c, and the resistance to bulk deformation, determined by the elastic modulus of the elastic layer E (see figure 7). The term c depends on the interfacial structure (resistance to slippage, chain interpenetration and interfacial interactions) and on the dissipation mechanisms close to the interface. c/E represents an elastic length, related to the displacement that can be applied to the adhesive before failure occurs (Crosby et al. 2000; Webber et al. 2003). For real viscoelastic adhesives, the situation is more complex since at large strains, these materials are typical strongly non neo-hookean (Roos & Creton 2005). c(v) and E(ω) will depend also strongly on the crack propagation rate (Josse et al. 2004) and strain rate. However, the concept of a ratio between mostly interfacial viscoelastic dissipation and bulk elasticity remains valid and an approximate rate-dependent value of c/E can still be qualitatively used to predict the growth pattern of an initial defect (Creton et al. 2001b; Shull & Creton 2004). Several regimes are observed in practice and the shapes of the stress–strain curves obtained with probe tack tests are shown in figure 8. For values of c/E smaller than the thickness of the adhesive film, the critical stress at which an initial defect, analogous to that depicted in figure 9, starts to expand is determined mainly by c and the initially present defects will propagate at the interface so that an adhesive failure occurs before an extensive deformation of the materials is possible. Such an example is shown in figure 9. In that situation, for viscoelastic materials, c can be written as (Maugis & Barquins 1978; Shull et al. 1998)(4.1)where 0 is the limiting value of the energy release rate at low propagation rates and φ(aTv) is a multiplicative factor representing the viscoelastic dissipation. In this regime, therefore, increasing the interfacial interactions or increasing the dissipative properties of the adhesive results in an increase in the adhesion energy. For values of c/E much larger than the thickness of the film, cavities grow mainly into the bulk of the layer, forming a foam as the walls between cavities are extended into fibrils. At larger strains, corresponding to the fibrillation regime, the behaviour of the adhesive is dominated by a competition between viscoelastic extension of the cavity walls and adhesive failure that causes the detachment from the substrate. In this case, the adhesion energy depends primarily on the nonlinear elastic properties of the material (Creton et al. 2005), and is not very sensitive to c. Therefore, one often observes a transition from a regime dominated by the dissipative properties of the adhesive (controlling c) and described in the work of Amouroux et al. (2001), to a regime where there is a coupling between the nonlinear extension and the resistance to slippage at the interface. This transition can be described with the following qualitative argument: if c(v) increases, the interfacial crack slows down for a given applied normal stress. Simultaneously, if the adhesive has a pronounced softening in its stress–strain curve, the deformation of the walls between the cavities when the adhesive layer detaches from the surface can increase nonlinearly for a given applied stress. The combination of both effects leads to a much greater fibril extension before detachment as shown in figure 10 for a soft acrylic adhesive detached from a series of silicone elastomers prepared with increasing silica nanoparticle content leading to increasing values of c(v). Since soft adhesives are weakly cross-linked materials, they almost always soften above a certain level of deformation due to the orientation of the entanglements in the direction of the tensile stress. In uniaxial tension, most PSAs can be represented by a Mooney–Rivlin model combined with the Gent model (Gent 1996) to account for the strain hardening at large strains. This can be written as(4.2)with . The three material constants of this model are C1, C2 and Jm but Jm and C1 are not really independent, since they are both physically related to the presence of chemical cross links. When λ∼1, one recovers linear elasticity with Young's modulus given by E=6(C1+C2) while at large strains the stress increases owing to the finite extensibility characterized by λmax∼(Jm+3)1/2. In the affine model, the extension where strain hardening sets in should be of the order of , where Nc is the average degree of polymerization of the chain and is inversely proportional to C1; therefore for λmax≫1, λmax∼C1−1/2 and Jm∼1/C1. This result of course relies on a simple interpretation of rubber elasticity of ideal networks but gives a general idea that it is not possible to have a vanishing value of C1 and a low value of Jm. With C2∼5C1 and Jm∼100, typical (Lindner et al. 2006) of PSAs, the effective stiffness of the material obtained from equation (4.2) decreases by a factor of 10 between λ=1 and 2. Therefore, if the detachment strain reaches about ϵ=1, a large increase in the deformation of the layer is expected even with a modest increase in interfacial friction. This strong nonlinear coupling between resistance to friction and nonlinear extension occurs for intermediate levels of c/E when both c and the nonlinear constitutive equations are important. On the one hand, for low values of c/E, the practical work of adhesion is dominated by interfacial dissipation and depends chiefly on 0 and slightly on the dissipative properties of the adhesive. On the other hand, at high values of c/E, the adhesion energy is controlled by the extension process of the fibrils and the detachment stress depends then mainly on the value of Jm in equation (4.2). We have shown that the adhesion mechanisms at soft polymer interfaces could be understood in terms of relays of dissipation mechanisms acting at different length scales, from molecular to macroscopic. The first step is to provide an interface able to sustain stress. Connector molecules, that is, polymer chains firmly attached to the interface and well interdigitated into the bulk polymer (either on one side of the interface if the soft polymer is in contact with a solid wall, or on both sides in the case of polymer–polymer interfaces), are able to play that role and to promote adhesion. They do act as adhesion promoters because when one tries to propagate a fracture at the interface they resist against being extracted from the bulk polymer, as a result of cohesive interactions between monomers. They are thus stretched, and when they finally get extracted as the fracture propagates, their elastic stretching energy is lost when they relax their stretching and flatten on the surface. Monomer–monomer van der Waals interactions are enough to permit this mechanism to develop, but it becomes important in the fracture toughness only if the grafted chains are long enough, typically longer than several average distances between entanglements. This dissipation mechanism at molecular scales is by far insufficient to produce an interfacial fracture toughness in the range of a few 10 J m−2 or more typical of pressure-sensitive adhesives. In order to reach such a level of adhesion, one needs additional dissipation mechanisms to become active. We have shown that bulk deformations in a viscoelastic material could efficiently be used to do so, and that competitions between interfacial failure and large extensional deformations in the bulk adhesive were finally determining the fracture toughness. If one wants to modulate adhesion, one then needs to manipulate the surface properties of the system in order to prevent interfacial failure and induce strong deformations in a large volume of the material. Then the fracture energy strongly depends on the viscoelastic properties of the adhesive, and on the velocity of fracture. A totally different route has emerged recently, based on attempts to mimic some aspects of the easy and efficient way insects and lizards are able to reversibly and efficiently stick on any surface, due in particular to the patterning of their fingers and toes at micro-or nanometric scales. Systematic studies do show that producing the equivalent of micrometric connectors by micropatterning the substrate (made of PDMS elastomer) can provide an efficient way of finally controlling adhesion (Ghatak et al. 2004; Crosby et al. 2005; Lamblet et al. 2007). This is another promising route, which could provide adhesion modulation totally driven by the mechanical properties of the substrate and the geometry of the patterns, and only weakly depending on the exact chemical nature of the adhesive. One contribution of 8 to a Theme Issue ‘Nanotribology, nanomechanics and applications to nanotechnology I’. - © 2007 The Royal Society

|Filed Mar. 15, 1979| In the Matter of the George Massad Trust James Massad, Petitioner/Appellee James N. Massad; Gemal Massad; Mason Massad; Marlene King; Lester Massad, Jr. June Ortloff, Respondents/Appellees Martha Saif Cecelia Skeyie Massad, and Martha Saif, Personal Representative of the Estate of Anna Massad, Deceased, Respondents/Appellants Civil No. 9544 Appeal from the District Court of Stark County, the Honorable Norbert J. Muggli, Judge. Opinion of the Court by Paulson, Justice. Vogel Law Firm, Box 309, Mandan, for petitioner and appellee; argued by Lawrence A. Dopson. Reichert, Howe, Hardy, Galloway & Jorgensen, Box 370, Dickinson, for respondents and appellees Mason Massad, Gemal Massad, and Marlene King; argued by Donald L. Jorgensen. Alfred C. Schultz, Suite 31, Woolworth Bldg., Bismarck, for respondents and appellees Lester Massad, Jr., and June Ortloff. Orrin B. Lovell, Box 38, Beach; and Harold H. Halstead, Box 827, Mercer Island, Washington, for appellants. In the Matter of the George Massad Trust This case involves two actions against the George Massad Trust which were consolidated and tried before the Stark County District Court. In one action, Martha Saif and Cecelia Skeyie Massad, daughters of George and Anna Massad, objected to the final distribution of the George Massad Trust and claimed that they were entitled to certain shares of the assets of the Massad Trust. In the other action, Martha Saif, as Executrix for the Estate of Anna Massad, objected to the final distribution of the George Massad Trust and claimed that the Estate of Anna Massad was entitled to certain income from the Trust, one-half of the bank accounts of the Trust, and certain real property on which the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company is located. The district court denied the claims of Martha and Cecelia and denied the claims of the Estate of Anna Massad. The present Appeal was brought to this court by Martha and Cecelia individually and by the Estate of Anna Massad. An action involving certain claims Against the Anna Massad Estate was also tried in the district court with the actions against the George Massad Trust. In that case, Mason Massad, James Massad, and Gemal Massad objected to certain payments made by the Anna Massad Estate. Following a hearing on the matter in county court, the Anna Massad Estate appealed the decision to the district court, and the appeal was consolidated for trial with the primary actions against the George Massad Trust. No appeal has been taken from the district court's decision in the Anna Massad Estate case. George Massad, the owner of the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company, executed his Last Will and Testament in 1962. One of the provisions in George's will created the George Massad Trust [hereinafter Trust], the assets of which comprised most of his Estate. The Trust was created to provide for the care and support of Anna, George's wife, during her lifetime and on her death was to be distributed to their children, Martha, Cecelia, James, Lester, Gemal, and Mason, in varying amounts. Pursuant to the will, the Trust was to contain certain United States Government savings bonds, the Massad home, and the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company. On George's death, the Trust was to be distributed according to Paragraph Seventh, subparagraphs 3 (a), 3 (b), and 3 (c), as follows: " a. My United States Government Bonds: 1 - 30% to James Massad 2 - 20% to Lester Massad 3 - 20% to Gemal Massad 4 - 10% to Mason Massad 5 - 5% to Martha Saif 6 - 5% to Cecelia Detwiler 1 b. Lots 22, 23 and 24, of Block 9. original Plat of Town of Dickinson, Stark County, N.Dak. (our home) to Martha Saif and Cecelia Detwiler in equal shares, share and share alike; c. all other property of the George Massad Trust 1 -45% to Lester Massad plus the operating bank account of Dickinson Hide & Fur Co. 2 -25% to James Massad 3 -20% to Gemal Massad 4 -10% to Mason Massad George died on March 27, 1967, and his will was later admitted to probate. The members of the Massad family first learned of the contents of George's will at a family conference with Robert B. Baird, George's attorney, on the day after George's funeral. All family members were present and received copies of the will. Shortly thereafter, during an inventory of George's assets, it was discovered that the savings bonds listed in Paragraph Seventh, subparagraph 3(a), of George's will were owned in joint tenancy with Anna, and that the home listed in Paragraph Seventh, subparagraph 3(b), was owned solely by Anna. Anna, the surviving joint tenant, became sole owner of the bonds on George death. Therefore, the home and the bonds were not assets which George could dispose of by his will, Sabot v. Fox, 272 N.W.2d, 280, 281 (N.D. 1978); Cranston v. Winters, 238 N.W.2d 647, 651 (N.D. 1976); In re Kaspari's Estate, 71 N.W.2d 558, 564 (N.D. 1955). On May 25, 1967, an inventory of the assets of George's Estate was filed in the County Court of Stark County and copies were given to all of the beneficiaries and interested persons, including Anna and the six Massad children. The inventory listed the bonds as being jointly owned and did not list the home which was owned by Anna. Martha and Cecelia were to receive nothing under George's will because the property given to them in Paragraph Seventh, subparagraphs 3(a) and 3(b), was not his to bequeath and devise. On July 17, 1968, Anna deeded the family home listed in Paragraph Seventh, subparagraph 3(b), to Martha and Cecelia while retaining a life estate in the home for herself. After the estate tax returns on George's estate were filed and the taxes were paid, the executors filed a Final Report and Accounting and a Petition for Distribution with the County Court of Stark County. Copies were sent to all interested persons and beneficiaries, including Martha and Cecelia, and they were notified that a hearing would be held in the matter. Martha and Cecelia were present at the hearing on the Final Report and Accounting in the George Massad Estate on September 17, 1969, No objection was made by either Martha or Cecelia and the Final Decree of Distribution in the George Massad Estate was executed on September 18, 1969. The Final Decree of Distribution of the George Massad Estate activated the George Massad Trust. On September 24, 1969, James Massad was appointed Trustee of the Trust which was to be supervised by the Stark County District Court. Following several months of negotiations, the Trust sold the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company to Lester Massad on May 28, 1970. The real property on which the business was located was not sold. All members of the family received prior notice of the proposed sale of the business. The April 16, 1970, hearing regarding the sale was attended by most of the family members, including Anna, Martha, and Cecelia. Anna, Martha, and Cecelia were also present at the May 28, 1970, hearing when the sale to Lester was completed. The Trust continued to exist after the sale of the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company to Lester. The proceeds from the sale of the business, were added to the Trust assets, 4.5, were the monthly payments made by Lester for rental of the real property used by the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company, Lester Massad died on September 17, 1970. He was survived by his wife, Evelyn, and his children, Lester Massad, Jr., June Ortloff, and Marlene Igard [also known as Marlene King]. As Trustee, James Massad was required to file Annual reports and accounts with the district court. Annual reports and accounts were filed with the district court, hearings were held, and the reports and accounts were approved by the court for the years 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1974. All interested persons and beneficiaries, including Martha and Cecelia, were given notice of the hearings to approve the annual reports and accounts, Martha, And Cecelia attended all annual account hearings and neither of them raised objection to any of the accounts. The Sixth Annual Report and Account was prepared on August 13, 1975, but no hearing was held until 1977 because of Anna Massad's death on October 28, 1975. The Sixth Annual Report And Account was filed with the district court on May 19, 1977. Because the George Massad Trust terminated on Annals death, the Final Report and Account and Petition for Distribution were also filed on May 19, 1977. A hearing on the Sixth Annual Report and Account, the Final Report and Account, and the Petition for Distribution in the Trust was held on June 9, 1977. Martha and Cecelia filed Objections at the hearing to all six Annual Reports and Accounts,: the Final Report and Account, and the Petition for Distribution and filled Supplemental Objections on July 6, 1977. In their Objections, Martha and Cecelia requested that the Final Report and Accounting and the Final Decree of Distribution in the George Massad Estate be set aside; that all accounts, reports, and petitions in the George Massad Trust be set aside; that Martha and Cecelia each be awarded one-sixth of the assets of the Trust, the amount which they would have been entitled to had George Massad died intestate, on the ground that they were unintentionally omitted from George Massad's will; 2 that the Trustee and the Trust's attorney be denied compensation; that the claim of Gemal be denied; and that Martha and Cecelia be awarded attorneys' fees, costs, and exemplary damages from the Trustee. Martha and Cecelia contend that the Trust accountings and the distribution of George's Estate should be set aside because the Trustee and the Trust's attorney misled them into believing that they would receive property from George's will when the Trust was distributed and, because they were misled, they failed to contest the distribution of George's Estate in 1969 and the subsequent Trust accountings. On August 22, 1977, Martha, as Executrix for the Estate of Anna Massad, filed Objections to the Final Report and Account of the Trust. The main contentions of the Anna Massad Estate are that the Trust failed to pay to Anna during her lifetime all of the income to which she was entitled; that Anna's Estate is entitled to one-half of the bank accounts of the George Massad Trust; and that Anna should be declared the equitable owner of the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company real property because she had been led to believe that she was the owner of the real property by relatives, the Trustee, and the Trust's attorney. Certain claims were also filed by Gemal Massad, Lester Massad, Jr., and June Ortloff. However, no appeals have been taken from the district court's decision regarding their claims. The Objections by Martha and Cecelia and Anna's Estate were heard in a joint trial on September 13, 1977. Post-trial Supplemental Briefs were filed by the parties and the district court issued it's Memorandum Decision on March 16, 1978. The district court denied the claims of Martha and Cecelia because they had not filed timely appeals from the order admitting George's will to probate or from the Final Report and Account, the Petition for Distribution, or the Final Decree of Distribution of George's Estate. The court also determined that Martha and Cecelia had failed to prove fraud or misrepresentation by the Trustee or the Trust's attorney as a basis for reconsidering the distribution of George's Estate and Trust. Martha and Cecelia brought this appeal from the Judgment, which was entered on May 10, 1978. In the case involving the claims by the Anna Massad Estate, the court determined in its Memorandum Decision that Annals Estate was not entitled to any additional income from the Trust for the firs five annual accounting periods, because there was no additional income in those years. The court was unable to determine whether Annals Estate was entitled to additional income from the Sixth Annual Trust Accounting, however, and the court ordered the Trustee to provide a Supplemental Trust Income Report for the period from August 27, 1974, October 28, 1975, when the Trust terminated. When the district court executed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and entered its Judgment, however, it approved and allowed "all of the trustee's reports and accounts, including the sixth and final accounts". The district court's Findings, Conclusions, and Judgment supersede its Memorandum Decision, See Kack v. Kack, 142 N.W.2d 754, 762 (N.D. 1966). Therefore, the district court's Judgment adopting and approving all reports and accounts prevails over its, Memorandum Decision which did not adopt the sixth and final accounts. The district court also denied the claims of Annals Estate for one-half of the bank accounts of the Trust and the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company real property. After deducting Trust expenses, the court awarded the value of the operating bank account to Lester's children, Lester, Jr., June, and Marlene. The remaining Trust assets, cash and the real property, were awarded as follows; 15% to Lester, Jr.; 25% to James; 15% to June; 20% to Gemal; and 15% to Marlene; 10% to Mason.3 The following issues have been raised for appeal: 1. Did the district court err in determining that Martha and Cecelia were not entitled to share in the distribution of the George Massad Trust? 2. Did the district court err in determining that the Estate of Anna Massad was not entitled to income from the George Massad Trust during the first §ix, annual accounting periods, one-half of the bank accounts received from the George Massad Estate, or the real property associated with the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company? In determining whether Martha and Cecelia are entitled to share in the distribution of the Trust, we must consider the timeliness of their appeal. Chapter 30-26, N.D.C.C., governs the procedure for taking appeals from county court probate proceedings. Section 30-26-01, N.D.C.C., provides; "By whom and from what appeals may be taken.--Any party to a proceeding in county court, including a claimant whose claim has been rejected in whole or in part, or any other person specified in section 30-26-02, who deems himself aggrieved by a decree or any order affecting a substantial right made by a county court, may appeal to the district court of the same county." Section 30-26-02, N.D.C.C., provides: "Parties to appeal.--Each person who was a party to a proceeding in the county court, and each other person who has or claims in the subject matter of a decree or order made by the court a right or interest which is affected by an appeal, must be made a party to the appeal," Section 30-26-03, N.D.C.C., provides: "Appeal--How taken.--To effect an appeal, the appellant must cause a notice of the appeal to be served on each of the other parties and must file such notice with the proofs of service, and an undertaking for appeal, in the county court, within thirty days from and after the date of the order or decree. If the party taking an appeal files such notice and announces the filing orally in open court at the time the decision is given, no other or further service of the notice is necessary." [Emphasis added.] Pursuant to §§ 30-26-01, 30-26-02, and 30-26-03, N.D.C.C., any party to a probate proceeding or any person who claims an interest in an estate that is being probated in the county court may appeal to the district court from a decree or an order affecting a substantial right within thirty days after the date of the decree or order. See Schulz v. Saeman, 150 N.W.2d 67, 69-70 (N.D. 1967). In the present case, Martha and Cecelia, although they were named and served notice as respondents, made no objections to the Final Report and Account or Final Decree of Distribution in the George Massad Estate at the hearing which was held on September 17, 1969. Martha and Cecelia failed to appeal the distribution of the Estate to the district court within thirty days. They filed objections in the district court in the matter of the George Massad Estate on July 6, 1977, more than seven years after the time for appeal had expired. Martha and Cecelia contend that they failed to file a timely appeal because the Trustee and the Trust's attorney, Robert B. Baird, fraudulently misled them into believing that they would receive shares of the George Massad Estate when the Trust was distributed upon Anna's death. Even though Martha and Cecelia failed to file a timely appeal, we must determine whether their failure to file resulted from fraud by the Trustee and the Trust's attorney. The district court made the following Findings of Fact regarding fraud and the failure of Martha and Cecelia to file a timely appeal. "FINDINGS OF FACT "That the Respondents, Martha Saif and Skeyie Massad, 4 have not shown any fraud, conspiracy, misrepresentation, mismanagement or undue influence on the part of the Trustee or his counsel or others involved in these proceedings in any matters involving the George Massad Estate or the George Massad Trust. "That no appeals were filed from the proof and probate of the Will of George Massad or from the Final Report and Account and Distribution of the George Massad Estate." The district court's finding of fact that Martha and Cecelia failed to prove fraud, conspiracy, misrepresentation, mismanagement, or undue influence by the Trustee or the Trust's attorney must be analyzed in accordance with Rule 52(a) of the North Dakota Rules of Civil Procedure. A trial court's finding of fact will not be reversed on appeal unless it is found to be clearly erroneous. State v. Livingston, 270 N.W.2d 556, 557 (N.D. 1978); Gardebring v. Rizzo, 269 N.W.2d 104, 111 (N.D. 1978); Enstad v. N. Cent. of Barnes Pub. Sch., Etc., 268 N.W.2d 126, 135 (N.D. 1978); In re Estate of Elmer, 210 N.W.2d 815, 820 (N.D. 1973). During the oral argument, the attorneys for Martha, and Cecelia conceded that no actual fraud had been committed by the Trustee and the Trust's attorney, They did contend, however, that constructive fraud had been committed against their client, Section 9-03-09, N.D.C.C., defines "constructive fraud", as follows "'Constructive fraud' defined. Constructive fraud consists: 1. In any breach of duty which, without an actually fraudulent intent, gains an advantage to the person in fault or anyone claiming under him, by misleading another to his prejudice or to the prejudice of anyone claiming under him; or 2. In any such act or omission as the law specially declares to be fraudulent without respect to actual fraud." Under § 9-03-09(l), N.D.C.C., which is applicable to the present case, the Trustee and the Trust's attorney, in order to be found to have committed constructive fraud, would need to have misled Martha and Cecelia to their prejudice. See Adams v. Little Missouri: Minerals Association, 143 N.W.2d 659 (N.D. 1966); Fire Ass'n of Philadelphia v. Vantine Paint & Gl. Co., 133 N.W.2d 426, 431-432 (N.D. 1965). A perusal of the record indicates that Martha and Cecelia were not misled by the Trustee or the Trust's attorney regarding the distribution of their father's Estate. Martha and Cecelia were present at the reading of George's will, received copies of the will, and received copies of the Estate inventory. The inventory did not list the home which was solely by Anna owned but did list the Government savings bonds as jointly owned by George and Anna. Martha and Cecelia also received notice of all hearings involving the Estate and Trust and attended all of the hearings. Neither Martha nor Cecelia objected to the Final Decree of Distribution or Petition for Distribution of the George Massad Estate. The Final Decree of Distribution did not include the home and the bonds, the only property that Martha and Cecelia were designated to receive under the will. Furthermore, the home had already been deeded by Anna to Martha and Cecelia before the George Massad Estate was distributed in September of 1969. Therefore, Martha and Cecelia should have known that they were to receive nothing under George's will. Martha and Cecelia rely heavily on the contention that they were misled into believing that they would receive a share of the George Massad Estate because they were referred to as beneficiaries 5 on some Estate and Trust documents. This contention is without merit. Because Martha and Cecelia were listed as beneficiaries in the will, they were entitled to receive notice of all proceedings in the matter. It would have been improper had Martha and Cecelia not been given notice of all proceedings. See Sturdevant v. SAE Warehouse, Inc., 270 N.W.2d 794, 796-799 (N.D. 1978). Even though Martha and Cecelia were listed as beneficiaries, circumstances regarding the probate of the Estate should have placed them on notice that they were not entitled to shares of the George Massad Estate. At the trial Martha testified that neither James, the Trustee, nor Robert B. Baird, the Trust's attorney, had ever told her that she would receive anything under the will. At the trial she was asked: "Q Isn't it true at that time that Mr. Baird told you that you would not receive any property?" To which question she responded; "A He might of did, but, I didn't believe it because I didn't think my dad would lower himself to not giving me anything," The record also reveals that when Martha was asked: "Q ... when the Will was read to you you were aware of the fact that the Will didn't provide anything for you?", that she responded: "A Yeah, I thought there was something funny in there." When asked how the Trustee had misled her, Martha responded: "A They tried to tell us we didn't have nothing coming, but we know different." Martha also testified that she had told Baird that she was going to get a lawyer to try to get some wages from George's Estate and that Baird had advised her to do so. Cecelia testified at trial that Baird had not told her that she would receive anything under George's will and that no one else had told her that she would receive any property from George's Estate, other than the savings bonds and the home. She also testified that she knew that the home was not part of George's Estate. Cecelia further testified that she had formerly believed, and still believed at the time of trial, that she would receive something under George's will. The validity of this testimony is questionable because Cecelia failed to deny that she had stated under oath in a divorce case deposition in 1969 that she was not going to inherit anything under George's will. Cecelia claimed that she could not remember testifying that she would inherit nothing from George's Estate. We conclude that the record, including the testimony of Martha and Cecelia, amply supports the district court's finding of fact that Martha and Cecelia had not been the victims of any fraud or misrepresentation and had not been misled by the Trustee or the Trust's attorney. Because Martha and Cecelia were not misled, there was no constructive fraud. We further conclude that the district court's Finding of Fact No. I was not clearly erroneous, pursuant to Rule 52(a) of the North Dakota Rules of Civil Procedure. Because we have determined that no fraud or misrepresentation was committed against Martha and Cecelia, we conclude that Martha and Cecelia's failure to file an appeal within thirty days bars them from attacking the Final Decree of Distribution in the George Massad Estate, both, having been given notice of the distribution hearing, Martha and Cecelia are also barred from attacking the annual accountings and the distribution of the George Massad Trust. Martha and Cecelia have also requested that the Trustee and the Trust's attorney be denied compensation and that Martha and Cecelia be awarded attorneys' fees, costs, and exemplary damages from the Trustee. Because Martha, and Cecelia are barred from reopening the distribution of the George Massad Estate and from attacking the George Massad Trust, we conclude that they have no standing to raise any additional claims against the Estate or the Trust. We hold that Martha and Cecelia are not entitled to any shares of the George Massad Estate or Trust, We further hold that Martha and Cecelia are not entitled to any other requested relief involving the George Massad Estate or Trust. The second issue in this case involves the claims by the Anna Massad Estate against the George Massad Trust for additional income, one-half of the bank accounts, and the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company real property. Anna's Estate also, requested attorneys' fees, costs, exemplary damages, $2,640.41 for taxes which Anna paid on the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company real property, and that the Trustee be required to be individually obligated to pay for attorneys' fees and costs for which the Trust should not have been responsible. The attorneys for Anna's Estate provided this court with a detailed accounting of the Trust in an attempt to prove that the accountings adopted by the district court were erroneous. However, the information was not introduced in the trial and it is not part of the record before us on appeal. We will only consider the record established in the district court in determining whether the Trust was administered properly. A perusal of the record indicates that the evidence amply supports the district court's determination that there was no additional income to be paid to Anna during the entire period of the Trust's existence. The district court's finding was not clearly erroneous pursuant to Rule 52(a), N.D.R.Civ.P. In addition, Anna never objected to the first five Trust reports and accounts even though she had received notice of all five hearings. Furthermore, the record does not reveal that Anna was fraudulently misled into failing to contest the reports and accounts. We affirm the district court's decision that Anna's Estate is not entitled to any additional income from the Trust. Anna's Estate, in its pleadings, claimed that it is entitled to one-half of the bank accounts of the George Massad Trust. On appeal, Anna's Estate also requested that the claim by Lester Massad, Sr.'s, children for the Hide & Fur operating bank account be denied. After reviewing George's will we can find no basis for either claim. George's will placed most of his property in the Trust which was to provide Anna with care, support, and maintenance during her life from either Trust income or principal. On Anna's death, the remainder of the Trust was to be distributed to the children in varying shares. According to the will, neither Anna nor Anna's Estate is entitled to receive any of the bank accounts and Lester, Sr., was entitled to the Hide & Fur operating bank account. We conclude that, pursuant to George's will, Anna's Estate is not entitled to one-half of the Trust's bank accounts. We further conclude that the children of Lester, Sr., are entitled to $37,619.97, the value of the operating bank account of the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company upon the death of George Massad. Anna's Estate claims that it should be declared to be the equitable owner of the Hide & Fur real property because Anna was misled into believing that she owned the real property. A review of the record fails to show that Anna was misled into believing that she owned the real property on which the Hide & Fur was located. When the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company business was sold to Lester, Sr., by the Trust in 1970, Anna attended all hearings in the matter and testified regarding the value of the business. At the time she knew that Lester, Sr., was going to buy only the business from the Trust, not the real property on which it was located. Following the sale, Lester paid rent for the real property to the Trust, not to Anna individually. Even though Anna's will purported to devise the property in the event that she had not disposed of it prior to her death, the record fails to show that she was misled into believing that she actually owned the property. We conclude that Anna's Estate is not entitled to the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company real property. The requests made by Anna's Estate for attorneys' fees, costs, exemplary damages, reimbursement for taxes paid by Anna, and that the Trustee be individually obligated for attorneys, fees and costs, are also denied. The record indicates that Anna paid the 1970 and 1971 taxes on the Hide & Fur real property. On appeal, the attorneys for Anna's Estate, in an alternative prayer for relief, claimed that the Trust was responsible for the taxes for those two years and that the Trust should reimburse Anna's Estate for $2,640.41, the amount of the 1970 and 1971 taxes plus interest. However, this court will not consider this claim because it was not raised in the pleadings or during the trial before the district court. In summary, we hold that Martha and Cecelia are not entitled to shares of the George Massad Estate or Trust, attorneys' fees, costs, or exemplary damages. We further hold that Anna Massad's Estate is not entitled to income from any of the accounting periods of the Trust; one-half of the bank accounts of the Trust; the Dickinson Hide & Fur Company real property; attorneys' fees, costs, exemplary damages, or reimbursement of taxes paid by Anna; and that the Trustee is not individually obligated for attorneys' fees and costs. We also hold that the district court did not err in determining that the children of Lester, Sr., are entitled to $37,619.97, the value of the Hide & Fur operating bank account on George's death. The decision of the district court is affirmed. William L. Paulson Ralph J. Erickstad, C.J. Vernon R. Pederson Gerald W. VandeWalle Paul M. Sand 1. Cecelia Detwiler was divorced in 1969 and resumed her maiden name of Massad. 2. Several alternative claims for relief, which need not be discussed, were also included in Martha and Cecelia's Objections. 3. Marlene, the daughter of Lester, Sr., disclaimed her share of the Trust. Because the disclaimer was disputed by a creditor, the district court prepared alternative distribution plans for the property awarded to Lester, Jr., June, and Marlene, to take effect if the creditor successfully contested Marlene's disclaimer. 4. Cecelia is sometimes referred to by her middle name, Skeyie. 5. Some documents listed Martha and Cecelia as beneficiaries or interested parties.

This article appears in the Spring 2011 edition of the Intercollegiate Review. See the issue’s Table of Contents here. In 2001, former president Bill Clinton delivered a speech at Georgetown University in which he discussed the West’s response to the recent terrorist attacks of September 11. The speech contained a short but significant reference to the crusades. Mr. Clinton observed that “when the Christian soldiers took Jerusalem [in 1099], they . . . proceeded to kill every woman and child who was Muslim on the Temple Mount.” He cited the “contemporaneous descriptions of the event” as describing “soldiers walking on the Temple Mount . . . with blood running up to their knees.” This story, Mr. Clinton said emphatically, was “still being told today in the Middle East and we are still paying for it.” This view of the crusades is not unusual. It pervades textbooks as well as popular literature. One otherwise generally reliable Western civilization textbook claims that “the Crusades fused three characteristic medieval impulses: piety, pugnacity, and greed. All three were essential.”1 The film Kingdom of Heaven (2005) depicts crusaders as boorish bigots, the best of whom were torn between remorse for their excesses and lust to continue them. Even the historical supplements for role-playing games—drawing on supposedly more reliable sources—contain statements such as “The soldiers of the First Crusade appeared basically without warning, storming into the Holy Land with the avowed—literally—task of slaughtering unbelievers”;2 “The Crusades were an early sort of imperialism”;3 and “Confrontation with Islam gave birth to a period of religious fanaticism that spawned the terrible Inquisition and the religious wars that ravaged Europe during the Elizabethan era.”4 The most famous semipopular historian of the crusades, Sir Steven Runciman, ended his three volumes of magnificent prose with the judgment that the crusades were “nothing more than a long act of intolerance in the name of God, which is the sin against the Holy Ghost.”5 The verdict seems unanimous. From presidential speeches to role-playing games, the crusades are depicted as a deplorably violent episode in which thuggish Westerners trundled off, unprovoked, to murder and pillage peace-loving, sophisticated Muslims, laying down patterns of outrageous oppression that would be repeated throughout subsequent history. In many corners of the Western world today, this view is too commonplace and apparently obvious even to be challenged. But unanimity is not a guarantee of accuracy. What everyone “knows” about the crusades may not, in fact, be true. From the many popular notions about the crusades, let us pick four and see if they bear close examination. Myth #1: The crusades represented an unprovoked attack by Western Christians on the Muslim world. Nothing could be further from the truth, and even a cursory chronological review makes that clear. In a.d. 632, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, North Africa, Spain, France, Italy, and the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica were all Christian territories. Inside the boundaries of the Roman Empire, which was still fully functional in the eastern Mediterranean, orthodox Christianity was the official, and overwhelmingly majority, religion. Outside those boundaries were other large Christian communities—not necessarily orthodox and Catholic, but still Christian. Most of the Christian population of Persia, for example, was Nestorian. Certainly there were many Christian communities in Arabia. By a.d. 732, a century later, Christians had lost Egypt, Palestine, Syria, North Africa, Spain, most of Asia Minor, and southern France. Italy and her associated islands were under threat, and the islands would come under Muslim rule in the next century. The Christian communities of Arabia were entirely destroyed in or shortly after 633, when Jews and Christians alike were expelled from the peninsula.6 Those in Persia were under severe pressure. Two-thirds of the formerly Roman Christian world was now ruled by Muslims. What had happened? Most people actually know the answer, if pressed—though for some reason they do not usually connect the answer with the crusades. The answer is the rise of Islam. Every one of the listed regions was taken, within the space of a hundred years, from Christian control by violence, in the course of military campaigns deliberately designed to expand Muslim territory at the expense of Islam’s neighbors. Nor did this conclude Islam’s program of conquest. The attacks continued, punctuated from time to time by Christian attempts to push back. Charlemagne blocked the Muslim advance in far western Europe in about a.d. 800, but Islamic forces simply shifted their focus and began to island-hop across from North Africa toward Italy and the French coast, attacking the Italian mainland by 837. A confused struggle for control of southern and central Italy continued for the rest of the ninth century and into the tenth. In the hundred years between 850 and 950, Benedictine monks were driven out of ancient monasteries, the Papal States were overrun, and Muslim pirate bases were established along the coast of northern Italy and southern France, from which attacks on the deep inland were launched. Desperate to protect victimized Christians, popes became involved in the tenth and early eleventh centuries in directing the defense of the territory around them. The surviving central secular authority in the Christian world at this time was the East Roman, or Byzantine, Empire. Having lost so much territory in the seventh and eighth centuries to sudden amputation by the Muslims, the Byzantines took a long time to gain the strength to fight back. By the mid-ninth century, they mounted a counterattack on Egypt, the first time since 645 that they had dared to come so far south. Between the 940s and the 970s, the Byzantines made great progress in recovering lost territories. Emperor John Tzimiskes retook much of Syria and part of Palestine, getting as far as Nazareth, but his armies became overextended and he had to end his campaigns by 975 without managing to retake Jerusalem itself. Sharp Muslim counterattacks followed, and the Byzantines barely managed to retain Aleppo and Antioch. The struggle continued unabated into the eleventh century. In 1009, a mentally deranged Muslim ruler destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and mounted major persecutions of Christians and Jews. He was soon deposed, and by 1038 the Byzantines had negotiated the right to try to rebuild the structure, but other events were also making life difficult for Christians in the area, especially the displacement of Arab Muslim rulers by Seljuk Turks, who from 1055 on began to take control in the Middle East. This destabilized the territory and introduced new rulers (the Turks) who were not familiar even with the patchwork modus vivendi that had existed between most Arab Muslim rulers and their Christian subjects. Pilgrimages became increasingly difficult and dangerous, and western pilgrims began banding together and carrying weapons to protect themselves as they tried to make their way to Christianity’s holiest sites in Palestine: notable armed pilgrimages occurred in 1064–65 and 1087–91. In the western and central Mediterranean, the balance of power was tipping toward the Christians and away from the Muslims. In 1034, the Pisans sacked a Muslim base in North Africa, finally extending their counterattacks across the Mediterranean. They also mounted counterattacks against Sicily in 1062–63. In 1087, a large-scale allied Italian force sacked Mahdia, in present-day Tunisia, in a campaign jointly sponsored by Pope Victor III and the countess of Tuscany. Clearly the Italian Christians were gaining the upper hand. But while Christian power in the western and central Mediterranean was growing, it was in trouble in the east. The rise of the Muslim Turks had shifted the weight of military power against the Byzantines, who lost considerable ground again in the 1060s. Attempting to head off further incursions in far-eastern Asia Minor in 1071, the Byzantines suffered a devastating defeat at Turkish hands in the battle of Manzikert. As a result of the battle, the Christians lost control of almost all of Asia Minor, with its agricultural resources and military recruiting grounds, and a Muslim sultan set up a capital in Nicaea, site of the creation of the Nicene Creed in a.d. 325 and a scant 125 miles from Constantinople. Desperate, the Byzantines sent appeals for help westward, directing these appeals primarily at the person they saw as the chief western authority: the pope, who, as we have seen, had already been directing Christian resistance to Muslim attacks. In the early 1070s, the pope was Gregory VII, and he immediately began plans to lead an expedition to the Byzantines’ aid. He became enmeshed in conflict with the German emperors, however (what historians call “the Investiture Controversy”), and was ultimately unable to offer meaningful help. Still, the Byzantines persisted in their appeals, and finally, in 1095, Pope Urban II realized Gregory VII’s desire, in what turned into the First Crusade. Whether a crusade was what either Urban or the Byzantines had in mind is a matter of some controversy. But the seamless progression of events which lead to that crusade is not. Far from being unprovoked, then, the crusades actually represent the first great western Christian counterattack against Muslim attacks which had taken place continually from the inception of Islam until the eleventh century, and which continued on thereafter, mostly unabated. Three of Christianity’s five primary episcopal sees (Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria) had been captured in the seventh century; both of the others (Rome and Constantinople) had been attacked in the centuries before the crusades. The latter would be captured in 1453, leaving only one of the five (Rome) in Christian hands by 1500. Rome was again threatened in the sixteenth century. This is not the absence of provocation; rather, it is a deadly and persistent threat, and one which had to be answered by forceful defense if Christendom were to survive. The crusades were simply one tool in the defensive options exercised by Christians. To put the question in perspective, one need only consider how many times Christian forces have attacked either Mecca or Medina. The answer, of course, is never.7 Myth #2: Western Christians went on crusade because their greed led them to plunder Muslims in order to get rich. Again, not true. One version of Pope Urban II’s speech at Clermont in 1095 urging French warriors to embark on what would become known as the First Crusade does note that they might “make spoil of [the enemy’s] treasures,”8 but this was no more than an observation on the usual way of financing war in ancient and medieval society. And Fulcher of Chartres did write in the early twelfth century that those who had been poor in the West had become rich in the East as a result of their efforts on the First Crusade, obviously suggesting that others might do likewise.9 But Fulcher’s statement has to be read in its context, which was a chronic and eventually fatal shortage of manpower for the defense of the crusader states. Fulcher was not being entirely deceitful when he pointed out that one might become rich as a result of crusading. But he was not being entirely straightforward either, because for most participants, crusading was ruinously expensive. As Fred Cazel has noted, “Few crusaders had sufficient cash both to pay their obligations at home and to support themselves decently on a crusade.”10 From the very beginning, financial considerations played a major role in crusade planning. The early crusaders sold off so many of their possessions to finance their expeditions that they caused widespread inflation. Although later crusaders took this into account and began saving money long before they set out, the expense was still nearly prohibitive. Despite the fact that money did not yet play a major role in western European economies in the eleventh century, there was “a heavy and persistent flow of money” from west to east as a result of the crusades, and the financial demands of crusading caused “profound economic and monetary changes in both western Europe and the Levant.”11 One of the chief reasons for the foundering of the Fourth Crusade, and its diversion to Constantinople, was the fact that it ran out of money before it had gotten properly started, and was so indebted to the Venetians that it found itself unable to keep control of its own destiny. Louis IX’s Seventh Crusade in the mid-thirteenth century cost more than six times the annual revenue of the crown. The popes resorted to ever more desperate ploys to raise money to finance crusades, from instituting the first income tax in the early thirteenth century to making a series of adjustments in the way that indulgences were handled that eventually led to the abuses condemned by Martin Luther. Even by the thirteenth century, most crusade planners assumed that it would be impossible to attract enough volunteers to make a crusade possible, and crusading became the province of kings and popes, losing its original popular character. When the Hospitaller Master Fulk of Villaret wrote a crusade memo to Pope Clement V in about 1305, he noted that “it would be a good idea if the lord pope took steps enabling him to assemble a great treasure, without which such a passage [crusade] would be impossible.”12 A few years later, Marino Sanudo estimated that it would cost five million florins over two years to effect the conquest of Egypt. Although he did not say so, and may not have realized it, the sums necessary simply made the goal impossible to achieve. By this time, most responsible officials in the West had come to the same conclusion, which explains why fewer and fewer crusades were launched from the fourteenth century on. In short: very few people became rich by crusading, and their numbers were dwarfed by those who were bankrupted. Most medieval people were quite well aware of this, and did not consider crusading a way to improve their financial situations.13 Myth #3: Crusaders were a cynical lot who did not really believe their own religious propaganda; rather, they had ulterior, materialistic motives. This has been a very popular argument, at least from Voltaire on. It seems credible and even compelling to modern people, steeped as they are in materialist worldviews. And certainly there were cynics and hypocrites in the Middle Ages—beneath the obvious differences of technology and material culture, medieval people were just as human as we are, and subject to the same failings. However, like the first two myths, this statement is generally untrue, and demonstrably so. For one thing, the casualty rates on the crusades were usually very high, and many if not most crusaders left expecting not to return. At least one military historian has estimated the casualty rate for the First Crusade at an appalling 75 percent, for example.14 The statement of the thirteenth-century crusader Robert of Crésèques, that he had “come from across the sea in order to die for God in the Holy Land”15—which was quickly followed by his death in battle against overwhelming odds—may have been unusual in its force and swift fulfillment, but it was not an atypical attitude. It is hard to imagine a more conclusive way of proving one’s dedication to a cause than sacrificing one’s life for it, and very large numbers of crusaders did just that. But this assertion is also revealed to be false when we consider the way in which the crusades were preached. Crusaders were not drafted. Participation was voluntary, and participants had to be persuaded to go. The primary means of persuasion was the crusade sermon, and one might expect to find these sermons representing crusading as profoundly appealing. This is, generally speaking, not the case. In fact, the opposite is true: crusade sermons were replete with warnings that crusading brought deprivation, suffering, and often death. That this was the reality of crusading was well known anyway. As Jonathan Riley-Smith has noted, crusade preachers “had to persuade their listeners to commit themselves to enterprises that would disrupt their lives, possibly impoverish and even kill or maim them, and inconvenience their families, the support of which they would . . . need if they were to fulfill their promises.”16 So why did the preaching work? It worked because crusading was appealing precisely because it was a known and significant hardship, and because undertaking a crusade with the right motives was understood as an acceptable penance for sin. Far from being a materialistic enterprise, crusading was impractical in worldly terms, but valuable for one’s soul. There is no space here to explore the doctrine of penance as it developed in the late antique and medieval worlds, but suffice it to say that the willing acceptance of difficulty and suffering was viewed as a useful way to purify one’s soul (and still is, in Catholic doctrine today). Crusading was the near-supreme example of such difficult suffering, and so was an ideal and very thorough-going penance. Related to the concept of penance is the concept of crusading as an act of selfless love, of “laying down one’s life for one’s friends.”17 From the very beginning, Christian charity was advanced as a reason for crusading, and this did not change throughout the period. Jonathan Riley-Smith discussed this aspect of crusading in a seminal article well-known to crusade historians but inadequately recognized in the wider scholarly world, let alone by the general public. “For Christians . . . sacred violence,” noted Riley-Smith, cannot be proposed on any grounds save that of love, . . . [and] in an age dominated by the theology of merit this explains why participation in crusades was believed to be meritorious, why the expeditions were seen as penitential acts that could gain indulgences, and why death in battle was regarded as martyrdom. . . . As manifestations of Christian love, the crusades were as much the products of the renewed spirituality of the central Middle Ages, with its concern for living the vita apostolica and expressing Christian ideals in active works of charity, as were the new hospitals, the pastoral work of the Augustinians and Premonstratensians and the service of the friars. The charity of St. Francis may now appeal to us more than that of the crusaders, but both sprang from the same roots.18 As difficult as it may be for modern people to believe, the evidence strongly suggests that most crusaders were motivated by a desire to please God, expiate their sins, and put their lives at the service of their “neighbors,” understood in the Christian sense. Myth #4: The crusades taught Muslims to hate and attack Christians. Part of the answer to this myth may be found above, under Myth #1. Muslims had been attacking Christians for more than 450 years before Pope Urban declared the First Crusade. They needed no incentive to continue doing so. But there is a more complicated answer here, as well. Up until quite recently, Muslims remembered the crusades as an instance in which they had beaten back a puny western Christian attack. An illuminating vignette is found in one of Lawrence of Arabia’s letters, describing a confrontation during post–World War I negotiations between the Frenchman Stéphen Pichon and Faisal al-Hashemi (later Faisal I of Iraq). Pichon presented a case for French interest in Syria going back to the crusades, which Faisal dismissed with a cutting remark: “But, pardon me, which of us won the crusades?”19 This was generally representative of the Muslim attitude toward the crusades before about World War I—that is, when Muslims bothered to remember them at all, which was not often. Most of the Arabic-language historical writing on the crusades before the mid-nineteenth century was produced by Arab Christians, not Muslims, and most of that was positive.20 There was no Arabic word for “crusades” until that period, either, and even then the coiners of the term were, again, Arab Christians. It had not seemed important to Muslims to distinguish the crusades from other conflicts between Christianity and Islam.21 Nor had there been an immediate reaction to the crusades among Muslims. As Carole Hillenbrand has noted, “The Muslim response to the coming of the Crusades was initially one of apathy, compromise and preoccupation with internal problems.”22 By the 1130s, a Muslim counter-crusade did begin, under the leadership of the ferocious Zengi of Mosul. But it had taken some decades for the Muslim world to become concerned about Jerusalem, which is usually held in higher esteem by Muslims when it is not held by them than when it is. Action against the crusaders was often subsequently pursued as a means of uniting the Muslim world behind various aspiring conquerors, until 1291, when the Christians were expelled from the Syrian mainland. And—surprisingly to Westerners—it was not Saladin who was revered by Muslims as the great anti-Christian leader. That place of honor usually went to the more bloodthirsty, and more successful, Zengi and Baibars, or to the more public-spirited Nur al-Din. The first Muslim crusade history did not appear until 1899. By that time, the Muslim world was rediscovering the crusades—but it was rediscovering them with a twist learned from Westerners. In the modern period, there were two main European schools of thought about the crusades. One school, epitomized by people like Voltaire, Gibbon, and Sir Walter Scott, and in the twentieth century Sir Steven Runciman, saw the crusaders as crude, greedy, aggressive barbarians who attacked civilized, peace-loving Muslims to improve their own lot. The other school, more romantic and epitomized by lesser-known figures such as the French writer Joseph-François Michaud, saw the crusades as a glorious episode in a long-standing struggle in which Christian chivalry had driven back Muslim hordes. In addition, Western imperialists began to view the crusaders as predecessors, adapting their activities in a secularized way that the original crusaders would not have recognized or found very congenial. At the same time, nationalism began to take root in the Muslim world. Arab nationalists borrowed the idea of a long-standing European campaign against them from the former European school of thought—missing the fact that this was a serious mischaracterization of the crusades—and using this distorted understanding as a way to generate support for their own agendas. This remained the case until the mid-twentieth century, when, in Riley-Smith’s words, “a renewed and militant Pan-Islamism” applied the more narrow goals of the Arab nationalists to a worldwide revival of what was then called Islamic fundamentalism and is now sometimes referred to, a bit clumsily, as jihadism.23 This led rather seamlessly to the rise of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, offering a view of the crusades so bizarre as to allow bin Laden to consider all Jews to be crusaders and the crusades to be a permanent and continuous feature of the West’s response to Islam. Bin Laden’s conception of history is a feverish fantasy. He is no more accurate in his view about the crusades than he is about the supposed perfect Islamic unity which he thinks Islam enjoyed before the baleful influence of Christianity intruded. But the irony is that he, and those millions of Muslims who accept his message, received that message originally from their perceived enemies: the West. So it was not the crusades that taught Islam to attack and hate Christians. Far from it. Those activities had preceded the crusades by a very long time, and stretch back to the inception of Islam. Rather, it was the West which taught Islam to hate the crusades. The irony is rich. Back to the Present Let us return to President Clinton’s Georgetown speech. How much of his reference to the First Crusade was accurate? It is true that many Muslims who had surrendered and taken refuge under the banners of several of the crusader lords—an act which should have granted them quarter—were massacred by out-of-control troops. This was apparently an act of indiscipline, and the crusader lords in question are generally reported as having been extremely angry about it, since they knew it reflected badly on them.24 To imply—or plainly state—that this was an act desired by the entire crusader force, or that it was integral to crusading, is misleading at best. In any case, John France has put it well: “This notorious event should not be exaggerated. . . . However horrible the massacre . . . it was not far beyond what common practice of the day meted out to any place which resisted.”25 And given space, one could append a long and bloody list, stretching back to the seventh century, of similar actions where Muslims were the aggressors and Christians the victims. Such a list would not, however, have served Mr. Clinton’s purposes. Mr. Clinton was probably using Raymond of Aguilers when he referred to “blood running up to [the] knees” of crusaders.26 But the physics of such a claim are impossible, as should be apparent. Raymond was plainly both bragging and also invoking the imagery of the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation.27 He was not offering a factual account, and probably did not intend the statement to be taken as such. As for whether or not we are “still paying for it,” see Myth #4, above. This is the most serious misstatement of the whole passage. What we are paying for is not the First Crusade, but western distortions of the crusades in the nineteenth century which were taught to, and taken up by, an insufficiently critical Muslim world. The problems with Mr. Clinton’s remarks indicate the pitfalls that await those who would attempt to explicate ancient or medieval texts without adequate historical awareness, and they illustrate very well what happens when one sets out to pick through the historical record for bits—distorted or merely selectively presented—which support one’s current political agenda. This sort of abuse of history has been distressingly familiar where the crusades are concerned. But nothing is served by distorting the past for our own purposes. Or rather: a great many things may be served . . . but not the truth. Distortions and misrepresentations of the crusades will not help us understand the challenge posed to the West by a militant and resurgent Islam, and failure to understand that challenge could prove deadly. Indeed, it already has. It may take a very long time to set the record straight about the crusades. It is long past time to begin the task. - Warren Hollister, J. Sears McGee, and Gale Stokes, The West Transformed: A History of Western Civilization, vol. 1 (New York: Cengage/Wadsworth, 2000), 311. - R. Scott Peoples, Crusade of Kings (Rockville, MD: Wildside, 2009), 7. - The Crusades: Campaign Sourcebook, ed. Allen Varney (Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1994), 2. - Sir Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades: Vol. III, The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954), 480. - Francesco Gabrieli, The Arabs: A Compact History, trans. Salvator Attanasio (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1963), 47. - Reynald of Châtillon’s abortive expedition into the Red Sea, in 1182–83, cannot be counted, as it was plainly a geopolitical move designed to threaten Saladin’s claim to be the protector of all Islam, and just as plainly had no hope of reaching either city. - “The Version of Baldric of Dol,” in The First Crusade: The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and other source materials, 2nd ed., ed. Edward Peters (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998), 32. - Ibid., 220–21. - Fred Cazel, “Financing the Crusades,” in A History of the Crusades, ed. Kenneth Setton, vol. 6 (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989), 117. - John Porteous, “Crusade Coinage with Greek or Latin Inscriptions,” in A History of the Crusades, 354. - “A memorandum by Fulk of Villaret, master of the Hospitallers, on the crusade to regain the Holy Land, c. 1305,” in Documents on the Later Crusades, 1274–1580, ed. and trans. Norman Housley (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996), 42. - Norman Housley, “Costing the Crusade: Budgeting for Crusading Activity in the Fourteenth Century,” in The Experience of Crusading, ed. Marcus Bull and Norman Housley, vol. 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 59. - John France, Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 142. Not all historians agree; Jonathan Riley-Smith thinks it was probably lower, though he does not indicate just how much lower. See Riley-Smith, “Casualties and Knights on the First Crusade,” Crusades 1 (2002), 17–19, suggesting casualties of perhaps 34 percent, higher than those of the Wehrmacht in World War II, which were themselves very high at about 30 percent. By comparison, American losses in World War II in the three major service branches ranged between about 1.5 percent and 3.66 percent. - The ‘Templar of Tyre’: Part III of the ‘Deeds of the Cypriots,’ trans. Paul F. Crawford (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2003), §351, 54. - Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008), 36. - John 15:13. - Jonathan Riley-Smith, “Crusading as an Act of Love,” History 65 (1980), 191–92. - Letter from T. E. Lawrence to Robert Graves, 28 June 1927, in Robert Graves and B. H. Liddell-Hart, T. E. Lawrence to His Biographers (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1938), 52, note. - Riley-Smith, The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam, 71. - Jonathan Riley-Smith, “Islam and the Crusades in History,” Crusades 2 (2003), 161. - Carole Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives, (New York: Routledge, 2000), 20. - Riley-Smith, Crusading, Christianity, and Islam, 73. - There is some disagreement in the primary sources on the question of who was responsible for the deaths of these refugees; the crusaders knew that a large Egyptian army was on its way to attack them, and there does seem to have been a military decision a day or two later that they simply could not risk leaving potential enemies alive. On the question of the massacre, see Benjamin Kedar, “The Jerusalem Massacre of July 1099 in the Western Historiography of the Crusades,” Crusades 3 (2004), 15–75. - France, Victory in the East, 355–56. - Raymond of Aguilers, in August C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eye-witnesses and Participants (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1921), 262. - Revelation 14:20.

IT’S NOW TIME TO BRING OUT YOUR DANCIN’ AND WALKIN’ SHOES AND HEAD TO “MEET ME ON THE PROMENADE” A TWO NIGHT-ONE DAY FEST TO EXPLORE DOWNTOWN BOCA’S BEST OCTOBER 21-22, 2011 BOCA RATON, FL (October 11, 2011) -- Downtown Boca puts out the celebratory welcome mat and invites residents and visitors to “come early, stay late…where something for everyone awaits” on October 21-22, 2011 when the destination debuts its inaugural Meet Me On The Promenade: Downtown Boca, a free and open-to-the-public two night-one day fest featuring the Downtown destination’s best. The event will open with a street-filling “Official” Downtown Boca Bop community line dance, family friendly activities and live entertainment at Sanborn Square on Friday, October 21st. On Saturday, October 22nd the event kicks-off with the American Cancer Society’s 10th Annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk that is routed to take the more than 6,000 participants throughout Downtown Boca followed by a day and night filled with exciting programming and arts showcases, attractions, family and pet friendly activities, live entertainment, and a Promenade “Dancin’ In The Streets” party. The festival-style event celebrates the recent completion of the City of Boca Raton CRA’s $5 million enhancement program and new Downtown Boca Pedestrian Promenade that has created a new destination hub at its centrally located Sanborn Square Park. The new reconstructed paved streets and widened sidewalks strengthen the physical and experiential connection and enhance and promote walkability between south and north ends of Downtown Boca. With the strategic installation of new pop-up bollards that can easily be raised to close off the streets around Sanborn Square, the new hub provides yet another great outdoor event locale in Downtown Boca for private and commercial rentals and community activities. To share the new “sense of ‘walkable’ space and place” and showcase the eclectic live-work-play-stay features of Boca's new generation Downtown for all generations, Meet Me On The Promenade event programming is designed for discovering all there is to see and do along the newly paved Downtown Boca Pedestrian Promenade and the areas and businesses that it connects on East Palmetto Park Road, S.E. First Street, N.E. First Avenue, Boca Raton Road, from Mizner Park to Royal Palm Place. Friday night festivities open at 6 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony launched by the debut of a community line dance: the Official Downtown Boca Bop that is being choreographed, produced and led by the award-winning Fred Astaire Dance Studio based in Downtown Boca and feature celebrity dance leaders. An open-to-the-public dress rehearsal for all those who want to participate in the line dance debut begins at 5 p.m. with group line-up to begin at 5:30 p.m. It will be followed by live entertainment and family activities in and around Sanborn. Saturday morning kicks off with the American Cancer Society’s 10th Annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk that begins at the Mizner Park Amphitheater and takes walkers through the new Downtown Boca Promenade and the north and south ends of the Downtown destination. Following the walk, attendee should head to one of three Downtown Boca information booths where they can register to participate in the event’s “Sip & Stroll Around Downtown Boca” self-guided discovery tour program that will help attendees to easily navigate through Downtown Boca's community’s assets: dining, shopping, that fashion, culture, family fun, living, and nightlife and all the Meet Me On The Promenade scheduled activities and programming, entertainment, retail and dining discounts, and giveaway offerings. The “walk-friendly” event schedule features plenty of live entertainment; family-friendly activities; sports programming; a classic and exotic car show; nonprofit and cultural showcases; a Health-Full Community pavilion; an Art Attack Artists & Crafters Village Art Expo; Boca Raton GreenMarket; food tastings, demos and special Promenade weekend menus; trunk shows; the first annual "Picture Downtown Boca" open photography competition exhibition presented by South Florida Sunrise in association with the Boca Raton Museum of Art and Multi Image Group; art gallery shows and auctions; guided and self-walking tours of Historic Downtown Boca hosted by the Boca Raton Historical Society; Celebrate Art! free afternoon at the Boca Raton Museum of Art; ArtScape interactive activities and entertainment at Mizner Park; Segway tours; the popular Gourmet Truck Expo; “chances to win” and two nighttime “Dancin’ In The Streets” parties are just a few of the offerings. There will be Segway tours throughout the Downtown Boca community on Saturday. Participating retailers and restaurants will be extending evening hours. Plenty of free parking and complimentary trolley transportation provided during event hours. Meet Me On The Promenade is a perfect example of successful public/private partnership supported by the connectivity and collaboration Downtown Boca business and lifestyle offerings. It is hosted by the Boca Raton CRA, developed/implemented by the City's branding and marketing consultants, produced by City staff, supported by the connectivity, participation and collaboration of Downtown Boca businesses, and completely underwritten by community stakeholders and partners who understand the important impact a vibrant Downtown community has on lifestyle and economic benefits for an entire community and destination. Programming partners to date include: Fred Astaire Dance Studio-Boca Raton, Cruz-N-America, Gourmet Truck Expo, Art Attack, Boca Raton Children’s Museum, Boca Raton Historical Society, Boca Raton Museum of Art, South Florida Sunrise, Multi-Image Group, Allianz Championship, Junior League of Boca Raton, Peter Blum Family YMCA of Boca Raton, South Florida Parenting, Boca Raton Concours d’ Elegance/Boys & Girls Club of Broward County, bocaparent.com, Habitat For Humanity, Beehive Fitness, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Travel & Cruises, Rotary Club of Boca Raton "Future Stars", and Segway Tours of Delray Beach. Founding sponsors of Meet Me On The Promenade include Premier sponsors: Boca Raton Resort & Club (Friday Night Host), Verizon Wireless Cellular Sales South Florida (Downtown Boca Segway Tours Sponsor), and Office Depot (Small Business Partner); Gold sponsors: Office Depot Foundation (Family Zone Host), Boca Raton Regional Hospital (Welcome Bag Sponsor), HSBC Bank, Ram Realty Services (Art Attack Artists & Crafters Village Art Expo Sponsor), Investments Limited/Royal Palm Place (Trolley Sponsor), GGP/Mizner Park (Trolley Sponsor), Penn Florida Companies (Welcome Center Host), Fred Astaire Dance Studio-Boca Raton (Official Downtown Boca Dance Studio and Presenter of the Official Downtown Boca Bop Line Dance), Kaye Communications, Inc. (Programming Development Partner and A Sip & Stroll Presenting Sponsor), Multi-Image Group (Official AV Sponsor) Boca Raton Museum of Art and South Florida Sunrise (Presenter of "Picture Downtown Boca" Photography Competition); Silver sponsors: Coldwell Banker Residential (A Sip & Stroll Presenting Sponsor), Comerica Bank (A Presenting Sponsor of Cruz-N-Downtown Boca), HubGARAGE.com (A Presenting Sponsor of Cruz-N-Downtown Boca), Allianz Championship (Sports Zone Sponsor), Dr. Peter S. Wohlgemuth, D.M.D., P.A. (Health-Full Community Pavilion), Sheehan Autoplex, American Fine Wine Competition, Palm Beach Outdoor Cinema Events (Programming Sponsor), Tucci’s Fire N Coal Pizza (VIP Tent), LivingFLA.com, and Bocaraton.com; “Friends of Downtown Boca” sponsors: Habitat For Humanity (Programming Sponsor), Kimley-Horn & Associates, and Boca Raton Travel & Cruises. Community Partners to date include: Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, Palm Beach County Convention & Visitors Bureau, and American Cancer Society-South Palm Beach Unit. Media sponsors includes but is not limited to Forum Publications and its City Link, South Florida Parenting and Boca Piquant publications; WRMF Radio; Boca Raton Tribune, bocaparent.com, South Florida Sunrise, Coastal Star, and Boca Observer. FRIDAY NIGHT: OCTOBER 21, 2011-HOSTED BY BOCA RATON RESORT & CLUB 5 p.m.-Dress Rehearsal For Street-Filling Downtown Boca Bop 6 p.m.-Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Begins Followed by The Debut of The Downtown Boca Bop Until 10 p.m.-Live Entertainment Opening night festivities sponsored by Boca Raton Resort & Club, include: • Official ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the newly renovated “Pedestrian Promenade” • Debut of the “official” Downtown Boca Bop Community Line Dance, choreographed and presented by the Fred Astaire Dance Studio-Boca Raton is open to everyone who wants to line dance with the community through the streets of the Promenade! School With The Most Participants Will Receive $500 Prize Downtown Boca invites all area residents, businesses (large and small) and their employees, business associations, nonprofit memberships, schools and university student bodies, sports teams and cheerleaders to don their organizations’ branded t-shirts and come out and show their spirit and support of Downtown Boca by participating in the Official Downtown Boca line dance choreographed, produced and presented by Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Downtown Boca. Hundreds are expected to join in and be part of this fun, family friendly opening ceremony in and about Sanborn Square - at the heart of the Promenade - as together they dance to “I Like It” by Enrique Iglesias through Sanborn Square and the Promenade led by the Fred Astaire Dance Studio instructors and celebrity dance leaders. Video lessons are posted to downtownboca.org, Downtown Boca Facebook, YouTube and www.bocadance.com with practice sessions to be held at various hot spots throughout Downtown Boca. Live entertainment and interactive family activities will follow in Sanborn Square. Downtown Boca Bop Line Up and Dress Rehearsal begins at 5:00 p.m. with ribbon-cutting festivities for the new Pedestrian Promenade and community line dance to begin promptly at 6 p.m. SPECIAL NOTE: A $500 prize will be given to the school with the most participation; must have at least 25 students, parents, teachers and supporters wearing their school shirts to be eligible. To register groups, businesses and organizations in advance for premium positions, visit www.downtownboca.org and click on the Promenade icon. • Performances by Grandview Preparatory School Dance Academy: Hairspray and All That Jazz • Live music by the band BulleTt playing “rock with a little bit of soul” • Family Activities presented by the Boca Raton Children’s Museum, bocaparent.com, and more • Retail and dining discounts, special menus and cocktails, and extended hours at participating Downtown Boca shops and restaurants • Meet Me On The Promenade “After Parties” at the Dubliner Irish Restaurant & Bar (Mizner Park) featuring live entertainment by Tolerance Band from 10 p.m. with a 20% discount on checks with food purchases, Platforms Dance Club (S.E. First Avenue) that is open until 2 a.m. featuring disco music and offering ½ price on Rum Runners and margaritas., and Biergarten (Royal Palm Place) offering a complimentary stein of Draft Bier and souvenir mugs. • Plenty of free parking with complimentary trolley transportation at various stops throughout Downtown Boca from Royal Palm Place to Mizner Park SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011: A FULL DAY & NIGHT FEST OF DOWNTOWN BOCA’S BEST 7:30 a.m.-Registration for American Cancer Society’s 10th Annual Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at Mizner Park Amphitheater 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.-Meet Me On The Promenade: Downtown Boca Festival Throughout Downtown Boca “COME EARLY” PRE-EVENT PROGRAMMING: • American Cancer Society of South Palm Beach County 10th Annual “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” Walk at 8:30 a.m. (7:00 a.m. Registration). To pre-register, visit www.putonyourpinkbra.com/bocaraton. • Boca Raton GreenMarket at Royal Palm Place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. organized by the Boca Raton Children’s Museum is dedicated to local food production and consumption...produce that travels from farm direct to the dining table…and through the process supports the Florida agricultural industry and South Florida economy. Available for purchase will be fresh locally-grown fruits and vegetables as become available in their individual growing seasons-along with fresh herbs, soaps & lotions, juices, potted orchids, ocean shells, fresh cut flowers, assorted variety of plants, fresh baked goods, prepared foods, oils & vinegars, gourmet foods, hydroponic and organic foods, fresh fish and seafood, fresh pasta, doggie treats. Official “Meet Me On The Promenade” Programming Begins at 10 a.m. • Welcome Center At Sanborn Square Sponsored by Penn Florida Companies opens at 10 a.m. • Downtown Boca Information Centers hosted by Premier Sponsor Office Depot at Sanborn Square, Palmetto Park Road, and Royal Palm Place, all sponsored open at 10 a.m. • “Sip & Stroll Around Downtown Boca” Self Discovery Tour of Downtown Boca’s Shopping, Dining, Entertainment, Attractions sponsored by Coldwell Banker Residential and Kaye Communications, Inc. that easily “maps out” all Downtown Boca has to offer at Meet Me On The Promenade Saturday. To participate, attendees must register for Sip & Stroll at one of the Downtown Boca Information Centers where the first 3,000 participants will receive Downtown Boca eco-friendly welcome bags sponsored by Boca Raton Regional Hospital. Registrants will receive a customized map and details of the special event programming and activities offered from Royal Palm Place to Mizner Park, including live entertainment; Family Zone; Sports Zone; impressive showcases of exotic and classic cars; speed boat displays; an arts and crafts expo showcase and other arts programming; art gallery showings and auctions; Boca Raton GreenMarket; trunk shows and retail showcases; art gallery events; demos; dance lessons; travel and car giveaways; special weekend discounts; tastings, dining specials and pre fixe menus; chances to win; and more. A sampling of Sip & Stoll stops: • Boca Raton Travel & Cruises' "Money Machine" at its agency on Palmetto Park Road that will be stocked with cash, cruise discounts, onboard savings, logo gifts, coupons for travel discounts and more. In addition, each person that registers gets "chance-to-win" tickets for a Celebrity Cruises International cruise for two! • Luxury Cars of Boca in Royal Palm Place for a chance to win a Honda Insight EX fully loaded Hybrid. Tickets are $100 each; only 350 tickets will be sold with proceeds to benefit the American Cancer Society. Drawing to be held on Saturday, October 22nd at 8 p.m. in the showroom. • Fred Astaire Dance Studio to learn a new dance step each half hour from Noon to 5 p.m. • Gallery 22 by Yaacov Heller will be hosting live auctions on Friday evening and Saturday featuring sculpture, jewelry and collectables from World Class artists; will also be web-streamed to an internet based collectors community. Gallery 22 is partnering with Red Carpet Auction Enterprises (www.redcarpetae.com ); musicians from the Boca Raton Symphonia will be performing in the sculpture garden adjacent to Gallery 22 along with a Future Star vocalist. Light refreshments will be served. A percentage of the proceeds will benefit the Boca Raton Symphonia and The Rotary Club of Boca Raton. • Lemongrass Asian Bistro will be featuring cultural performances of Thai dances, demos of fruit carvings, games, drawings to win. • Holloway’s Irish Pub will feature Irish dancers on Friday night with Walt Rooney from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. and karaoke from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. on Saturday night. • Habitat For Humanity tent for lessons on “designing on a dime” • D. Stern Jeweler will present a chance to win a custom one-of-a-kind 18 karat gold commemorative Downtown Boca pendant/charm with chain. • Boca Raton Museum of Art is offering free admission from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. as part of its Celebrate Art! event giving guests the opportunity to explore the museum’s permanent collection and temporary exhibitions plus a series of fun art-making and museum-related activities for children, including paper crafts, mural design, treasure hunts, word games, and mini tours of the museum. • Truluck’s will be offering a special Meet Me On The Promenade Pre-Fixe Menu on Friday and Saturday for $39 per person, and the first 250 people will get cupcakes. • Chop’s Lobster Bar will feature a happy hour and additional live entertainment from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Others Downtown Boca businesses in “Sip & Stroll Around Downtown Boca” include Royal Palm Place: Art Attack, Bennington Tobacconist, Biergarten, Boca Ballroom Boutique, Boca Raton Green Market, Brazelia Med Spa, Chops Lobster Bar, Deborah James, D’Vara Jewelers, Edward Jones, Floral & Hearty, Fred Astaire Dance Studio, Fiat Custom Design Framing, Yokohama, Gallery 22, Gamine Beauty Bar, Green Wave Body Waxing, Harry’s Designer Jewels, Holloway’s Irish Pub, Karen Lynne Gallery, Lemongrass Asian Bistro, Looking Sharp Eyewear and Care, LUCX Boutique, Luxury Cars of Boca, Mummaw & Associates, Private Tutoring Services/Royal Palm Academy , Royal Hair Salon, Inc. Rosario’s Ristorante, Runway International Design, Simply Perfect For The Home, Saquella Cafe, The Heart Painter Art Studio & Gifts, 'The Trade' TiTiGirl Boutique, Tobi’s Grooming, Tropical Smoothie, Federal Highway: Anatolia Mediterranean Cuisine, Boca Raton Florist , 4th Generation Organic Markets, Ovenella, Salon Monaco, Palmetto Park Road: Air & Sea Adventures, Boca Raton Travel & Cruises, Bristol Properties International, Cohen Window Fashions, Ego the Salon, HubGarage, Interface Talent and Network, La Stella’s, Mod Dog Salon, MTI Kitchen & Baths, Premier Real Estate, Pure Salon & Spa, T.re Fashion, Linda Alfieri Hair Replacement & Full Service Salon East Boca Raton Road: B E Design Associates, Bliss Designs, Pamela Farthing Stern Interiors, NE 1st Ave: Natures Symphony, Set The Table, Tucci’s Fire N Coal Pizza, Mizner Plaza: Boca Skewers Mediterranean, Jonathan’s Corner, Robert Frank Salon, Mizner Park: Cheese Course, LF Boca, Orange Leaf, Racks Downtown Eatery and Tavern , Z Gallerie, Dubliner, D. Stern Jewelers, Swim N Sport, The Spice & Tea Exchange, Truluck’s, Visual Eyes at Mizner Park, and others. Check frequently for any Sip & Stroll additions. • Cruz-N-Downtown Boca Exotic & Classic Car Show Organized By Cruz-N-America and Sponsored By Comerica Bank, HubGarage.com, and Sheehan Auto Complex- More than 150 classic and exotic cars and speed boats showcased by serious collectors and enthusiasts will span the Promenade and its connecting areas taking event attendees from Royal Palm Place to the south end of Mizner Park for a “don’t miss” experience. The official show car is the one-of-a-kind 1974 DeTomaso Pantera with a 427 horsepower engine that was awarded the “Best in Show” at the 4th Barrett-Jackson of Palm Beach Cruise on April 3, 2011; others to be featured are valued up to $100,000. Collectors interested in displaying their prized cars and get the chance to win cash prizes and trophies, can register at www.cruznamerica.com or by calling (561) 632-8252. Car enthusiasts and serious collectors will also want to visit…the Boca Raton Concours d'Elegance showcase featuring a collection of six classic automobiles valued up to $1 million that will be available for auction during the February 2012 Boca Raton Concours d’Elegance event to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Broward County. Among the cars on display will be 50th Anniversary Shelby Cobras 289 and 427. • The Ever Popular Gourmet Truck Expo will be pulling up throughout Downtown Boca with more than 20 choices of casual, on-the-go gourmet curbside dining, including favorites like Crepe Outdoors, Divan Bakery, Giuseppe’s Italian Sausage, Kona Ice, Papas Tapas, Big Kahuna, Dolci Peccati, Latin House Grill, Miso Hungry, Churromania, Red Koi and ShaoRoma. • Live Entertainment Throughout Downtown Boca, including WRMF Street Team playing music all day with personal appearance by Morning DJ Personality Deena Lang (11 a.m. and 2 p.m.); Jimmy Stowe & the Stowaways - South Florida Party Band; Sol Children’s Theatre Troupe; Grandview Preparatory School Dance Academy; Rotary Club of Boca Raton Future Stars (6 p.m. to 8 p.m.) West Boca Jazz Band; Rising Stars Gymnastics; Solid Gold Dancin’ In The Street Through The Decades (50s Rock, ‘60s Motown, and ‘70s Disco from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.; music from the ‘80s, ‘90s and today from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.) with demos by Fred Astaire Dance Studio-Boca Raton instructors. • Family Zone sponsored by Office Depot Foundation features an up-close view of the Number 14 Office Depot Chevrolet Impala driven by NASCAR Star Tony Stewart when attendees can have their photos taken with the car (and a life-size Tony Stewart cut-out) and receive a special picture frame to create an instant keepsake! They will also get to register for the Office Depot Foundation Caring Connection - a simple way to find opportunities to volunteer in their community - plus get a free slap koozie and bottle of water! The Boca Raton Children’s Museum will take over 1/3 of the Family Zone at the southeast corner of Sanborn Park with displays and interactive programming that has been created by Museum Imagineer Adrian St. Cyr of Boston Tombs and Washington D.C. Spy Museum fame. Here children will be able to climb aboard the Pirate Ship, SS Mae Volen, with the background stage set by gigantic drawings of the Children’s Museum’s buildings. Family entertainment will be all about pirates with a cannon shoot, face painting, games and other activities that include “pirate hat designing” sponsored by South Florida Parenting…aargh! Additional activities in the Museum area include a cell phone scavenger hunt in play with the Boca Raton Kiwanis Club, Hogwarths Confiscated Goods organized by Mae Volen Friends and CMN (Children’s Museum Network) and Uncle Willy and his gang of young broadcasters will conduct “Man on the Street” interviews through Sun Radio, the Museum’s event sponsor. Bocaparent.com will be featuring Balloon Masterz who will not only be making fun hats and shapes, he puts on a show that mesmerizes “kids of all ages” as he creates large character versions that will be given away in a drawing every hour. The Junior League of Boca Raton will share gardening and cooking tips for kids, how families can participate in the organization’s Community Garden, and updates on its Kids In The Kitchen initiative. • Sports Zone hosted by Allianz Championship features a driving range and golf tips by pros hosted by Allianz Championship, fitness classes and activities hosted by Boca Raton Children’s Museum and the Peter Blum Family YMCA and more. • Art Attack Artists & Crafters Village Art Expo Sponsored By Ram Realty, this special section of Meet Me On The Promenade held in the center of the event off Palmetto Park Road will showcase artisans and their distinctive art and crafts, ranging from paintings, furniture and sculpture to decorative tableware, photography, jewelry, fashion accessories and clothing. For more information, contact artattackboca | gmail ! com or call 954-802-3799. • Segway Tours Throughout Downtown Boca hosted by Verizon Wireless Cellular Sales will open registration on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Verizon Wireless Cellular Sales Mobile Center at 10 a.m. • Historic Walking Tours Boca Raton’s Historic Downtown by the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum with pre-registration for guided tours (scheduled at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.) available at the Welcome Center-Sanborn Square. For those wanting to venture out on their own, a self-walking tour pamphlet will also be available at the Welcome Center and all Downtown Boca Information Booths. Boca Raton’s historic downtown is located along East Boca Raton Road from Sanborn Square to Mizner Boulevard. Built mostly in the Mid-Century architectural style and complimented by Mediterranean Revival neighboring structures, this one-block area once thrived as a daily shopping mecca for residents and as a social gathering place for the town. On the tour, attendees will learn about the people who built the buildings and who had businesses in the area. They will see the buildings that held the old post office, the first department store, one of the first appliance stores, the popular sundry and lunch hangout, barber shop, and the home of prominent citizens who built Town Hall and who began the Boca Pops. • Community Corner (Nonprofit Showcase) features a collection of the area's meaningful nonprofit and community organizations, sharing their missions, updates on nonprofit news and events, volunteer opportunities, initiatives and campaigns, and more. Among those participating are Spirit of Giving, Boca Helping Hands, Citizens Crime Watch Of Boca Raton, Boca Raton Elks Lodge, Boca Raton PAL (Police Athletic League), Florence Fuller Child Development Centers, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, Rotary Club of Boca Raton, VIPER, Grandview Preparatory School, Coral Springs Center For The Arts, W.A.T.C.H. (What About The Children’s Hearts) Foundation, Women In the Visual Arts, American Fine Wine Competition: Golden Bell Foundation and Diabetes Foundation • Health-Full Community Pavilion sponsored by Dr. Wohlgemuth, DMD, PA that showcases health-full choices, services, products, demonstrations and heath checks and screenings by some of the area's health and wellness organizations such as Blood Mobile; Dr. Wohlgemuth, D.M.D., P.A.; Yoga Journey; Nussentials; Acupuncture Advantage; Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, and feature the Community Blood Centers of South Florida Blood Mobile and the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Mammovan. • Celebrate Art! at The Boca Raton Museum of Art from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. is designed with families in mind, offering an afternoon of free family fun in which guests the opportunity to explore the museum’s permanent collection and temporary exhibitions and engage in a series of fun art-making and museum-related activities for children, including paper crafts, mural design, treasure hunts, word games, and mini tours of the museum. • ArtScape presented by Mizner Park from Noon to 8 p.m. is an interactive celebration of art featuring sidewalk painting, caricature artists, illustrators and an interactive creative workshop where artists of all ages and skill levels can color, draw, sketch and paint. The workshop, complete with paints, brushes, easels and a menu of art supplies will be free; live music. • “Picture Downtown Boca” Projected Photography Exhibition developed by South Florida Sunrise in association with the Boca Raton Museum of Art and Multi Image Group, is the first time ever projected exhibition focused on what is most distinctive, desirable, and memorable about Downtown Boca. Continuously projected at venues and in Sanborn Square, it will feature entries from professional and amateur photographers as well as camera phone enthusiasts who present their vision of the people, places, experiences, and things in this unique South Florida locale. • Special Promenade Weekend Shopping Discounts And Dining Deals, Chances To Win Vacations, Gift Certificates, Jewelry, A Car, And More! • Evening “Dancin’ In The Streets” Promenade Party Featuring Solid Gold and Fred Astaire Dance Studio-Boca Raton • Meet Me On The Promenade “After Parties” at the Dubliner Irish Restaurant & Bar (Mizner Park) featuring live entertainment by Bounce Band from 10 p.m. with a 20% discount on checks with food purchases, Platforms Dance Club (S.E. First Avenue) that is open until 2 a.m. featuring disco music and offering ½ price on Rum Runners and margaritas, and Biergarten (Royal Palm Place) offering a complimentary stein of Draft Bier and souvenir mugs. • Plenty Of Free Parking With Complimentary Trolley Transportation At Various Stops Throughout Downtown Boca From Royal Palm Place To Mizner Park For more information on Meet Me On The Promenade and ways to participate, visit www.downtownboca.org and click on Meet Me On The Promenade icon or contact Boca Raton CRA (Monday Through Friday) at 561-393-7782 and ask for Ruby Childers, Downtown Boca Manager, rchilders | myboca ! us or Arlene Cheese, acheese | myboca ! us *Programming subject to change.

“Canary In a Coalmine” – The Police. God, I was so obsessed with them in high school. I love this song, and I remember it seemed like the height of sophistication and intelligence that I understood the metaphor of the title. Great album. “Sweet Sacrifice” – Evanescence. Chick can sing. “Me & My Monkey” – Robbie Williams, live at Knebworth, for 350,000 people. What a rush. He’s great live, too: the voice holds up. He’s a great live performer. This, as we all know, is not so true nowadays with all of these Made-In-the-Studio singers, who rely on tricks and autotunes and anything else. “I Really Don’t Want To Know” – Elvis, in concert. This is from the concert televised following his death, when he seems ill and tired. You can hear it in his voice. But still, man, still: he’s still in there, projecting it out. Even not at his best, he’s better than most. But to hear Elvis sing this when he’s at the height of his powers is something else! “Greystone Chapel” – Johnny Cash. “This song was written by a man right here in Folsom Prison … I hope we do your song justice, Glen.” Electric. “Everybody’s Fool” – Evanescence. They’re so dramatic. I love it. Women are dramatic, we feel stuff and we mean it. Someday I will gather my forces together to write about Sucker Punch, which is one of the best movies I’ve seen in the last 5 years. It’s all about the interior life of women, and the space we have to carve out for ourselves, and how difficult that is in a patriarchy, how overblown things start to seem when you are hemmed in on all sides. Yes. That’s what Sucker Punch is about. This song reminds me of Sucker Punch. “Happy Birthday” – Marilyn Monroe to J.F.K. You can’t believe that this was even allowed to happen. “Don’t Leave Me Now” – Elvis Presley. I love this performance of his: it is a perfect example of how self-aware he was. He was imitating himself, and early, because he knew what worked. But he could poke fun at it, too. Listen to how I ache my voice on the high notes, listen to the chug-chug of my lower registers … He was aware of every single thing he was doing and he knew the effect he wanted. Don’t listen to the people who think he was just an instinctive performer. They’re wrong. He was a highly conscious individual and knew exactly what he was doing. From the get-go. “Ace of Spades” – the great great Link Wray. He’ll always make me think of Kim now. “Jerry Rigged” – Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers. One of the best songwriters writing today. I think he has a new one out. “I’ll Remember April” – Bobby Darin. SWING IT. “Old Dan Tucker” – Bruce Springsteen, from his awesome We Shall Overcome album. Great banjo. “Atlantic City” – Bruce Springsteen. This should satisfy the poor commenter who asked on one of my Shuffles: “Why no Springsteen?” (Uhm, cause this is a SHUFFLE. Ie: RANDOM.) “Don’t Be Cruel” – Elvis Presley, sung in the boxing ring-like stage surrounded by an audience on all sides in the 1968 NBC special. He is on FIRE. “Hound Dog” – Elvis, live, in Vegas. “The only way you can sing this song is leaning over like this … you can’t sing it standing straight up cause it’ll strip your gears, boy.” His banter sometimes makes him sound crazy, I love it. He’s at home on that stage. “The sound’s gotta come from the floor, you know, and go right up your leg …” “If You Love Me (Let Me Know)” – Elvis, covering Olivia Newton-John. This was on Moody Blue, released after his death. He sounds great, but there’s a part of him that is phoning this one in. “Just You Tonight” – Lucy Kaplansky. I’ve seen her a bunch and I love her so much. Siobhan took me to see her for my birthday last year. She writes great heartbreak. It hurts. “Riding the Rainbow” – Elvis Presley, from the unfairly maligned Kid Galahad. He’s very good in that movie, there are some good songs involved (this is one of them), and it’s all very entertaining. I don’t know what people WANT from this man if they dismiss Kid Galahad. Sure, it’s not Taxi Driver, but that’s your problem if you expect that. “The Bullfighter Was a Lady” – Elvis Presley, from Fun in Acapulco. Elvis is singing the SHIT out of this song. He can do anything. “Bitch Please II” – Eminem. From the crazy-good Marshall Mathers LP. This is pretty fierce. “Wake Up Alone” – Amy Winehouse. God, I miss her. “Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall” – Elvis Presley. Elvis is magnificent here. He has no fear. I love big melodramatic heartbroke ballad Elvis. “Heartbreak Hotel” – Elvis, in the 68 comeback special. The first song he sang in the informal sit-down session. You can hear women literally moaning in a carnal manner all around. It’s alarming. He’s shy. He doesn’t know how to start. He jokes, “Good night” and goes to leave, and the women moan in despair. The song is a bit high for him. He struggles. When he finishes he says, “Man, that is the worst job I have ever done on a song.” Love you, Elvis. You never lie. “Run, Freedom, Run” – the big inspirational production number from Urinetown. Hysterical and rousing. “I’m Movin’ On” – Elvis Presley. This is hot. Great band, great steel guitar, and sexy-pants Elvis. Love this. Love how it builds, too. These guys are jamming. “Roll Over Beethoven” – The Beatles, live at the BBC. It’s rough, raw, and real. “Bleeding Me” – Metallica, from S&M, their great double album concert that they did with the San Francisco Symphony. One of my favorite albums of theirs. Their song translates well to a giant orchestra, it really adds something. “Our Song of Love” – Pat McCurdy. A friend of mine from years past. He’s a big star in the Chicago-Milwaukee area. Plays constantly. If you live in the area, check him out. He’s always playing. His shows are like visiting a cult meeting. “Good Boys” – Yipes! Speaking of Pat McCurdy … this was an earlier band of his. He actually was on Star Search back in the day. He lost to Sawyer Brown. Weirdly enough, I watched Star Search as a tween, and was obsessed with that particular season, because I loved Sam Harris, one of the contestants (member him?) So, when I was in junior high, 14 years old, whatever, I watched Pat McCurdy compete on Star Search. 10 years later, this would be going on. I don’t even think I put it together at the time, “Oh God, I must have seen you on Star Search back then …” It took a while for that to sink in. Life is weird. “Diamonds Are a Best Girl’s Friend” – Marilyn Monroe. Perfection. “Then We Are Decided” – from Jesus Christ Superstar. “The difference is they call him King … the difference frightens meeeee!” It should frighten you. “Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)” – Queen. God, it makes the hair on my arms rise up. Talk about missing someone. I have never recovered from his death. He has left a hole. He will never be replaced. “All My Loving” – Jim Sturgess, from Julie Tambor’s Across the Universe, which I thought was adorable and very entertaining. “Next Time/I Wouldn’t Go Back” – from the musical Closer Than Ever. I LOVED this musical in the late 80s, early 90s. I think of it as the thirtysomething of musicals. It has a Baby Boomer self-obsession to it, but the singers are incredible, and the songs are undeniably great. But it sort of had its day (at least for me). “Don’t Rain On My Parade” – Barbra Streisand. When she’s on, nobody’s better. This is thrilling. “True Love” – Elvis Presley. Now this is really interesting: Elvis singing with a quartet. Of course, he always sang with a quartet (the Jordanaires). But this is a different sort of arrangement. They all sing together, like a barber shop quartet. It stands out in Elvis’ work. It’s old-fashioned. You so rarely got to hear Elvis sing WITH someone. This is lovely. “Make Me Know It” – Elvis, from the great Elvis is Back album, released when he got out of the Army. Elvis sounds great, irrepressible, free, there’s a joy in what he is doing, a new adult brand of confidence and control. “Yo George” – Tori Amos. Not my favorite (I prefer her when she’s rocking and pissed off, not introspective and sensitive), but I like the “madness of King George” dovetail in the lyrics. “Russians” – Sting. Ah, Sting. Giving us his treatise on the Cold War. Thanks, Sting. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it until you enlightened me! I tease. This is a good song. “Advertising Space” – Robbie Williams’ tribute song to Elvis! More here. “Rose Tint My World” – from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Damn, I’m liking this Shuffle. You never know with Shuffle. Rocky Horror was so huge to us in high school: the coolest hugest thing EVER. “The Things You Do To Me” – the great and sultry Wynona Carr. I am so glad I discovered her. “Breadfan” – Metallica. Hard and fast, just like I like it. “Let Him Fly” – the Dixie Chicks cover of the great Patty Griffin song. “When I’m Gone” – Eminem. One of his self-pitying anthems. “We Are the Champions” – Queen, live at Wembley Stadium. It’s just goosebump-inducing to hear that enormous crowd singing along with him at the tops of their collective lungs. JOY. Life-affirming. “Starting Today” – Elvis Presley. On one of the mish-mash albums put out while he was in the Army. A beautiful ballad. Hard to believe this is the same guy as the one who sang “Trouble” or “I Got a Woman” or “Santa Claus Is Back In Town”. “For the Heart” – Elvis. Late-ish Elvis. The Judds covered this song as well. I like him here, I like the sound he and his guys are going for. It’s funky country. “Down to the River to Pray” – Alison Krauss. Haunting. “Is It So Strange” – Elvis. This, for me, is the most romantic song he ever recorded. I think June Juanico may agree. It was “their” song. Imagine breaking up with someone and then having him record “your” song a month later. Imagine driving around in Biloxi, heart broken, hearing “your” song on the radio. OUCH. Hats off, June. Love sucks. “When You Were Mine” – Cyndi Lauper. She’s so awesome. Great song. She hit while I was in high school and even then you could tell: something important was happening with this woman. She was releasing something important in the culture, space that was then co-opted by Madonna. But Cyndi was there first. She staked out her claim. You could FEEL it happen. The space … for us … girls … got bigger. “Your Face” – Cliff Eberhardt. One of the most heartbreaking songs ever written. As a matter of fact, I can’t listen to it. “Outrageous” – Britney Spears. Yes, Brit-Brit, we know. You’re outrageous. Relax. “Ashley” – Green Day, from Dios, which just came out. The whole thing is great. I’m loving it so far (the triple release they just came out with). Some of it is a bit stock, but some have that Green Day “thing” that happens when they tap into something real. “Welcome to England” – Tori Amos. See, this is the Tori that starts to drive me insane. I like it, I get it, but … somehow, her music leaves me OUT. I know I am in the minority on this. I know that rabid Tori Amos fans disagree with me on this one. But something about her distances me. I was a fan before she even hit it here in a big way. I saw her play at Park West in Chicago before Little Earthquakes came out. Just her on a stage, in jeans, with her piano. She was incredible. Great onstage too: funny, sweet, and a real show-woman. But the interior nature of some of her stuff leaves me cold. “The Colors Of My Life” – Jim Dale and Glenn Close, from Barnum (on Broadway). Okay, this is the weirdness of Shuffle. Really, Barnum? I saw this show on Broadway when I was in high school, with Tony Orlando as PT Barnum, and he was fantastic. “Nowhere Man” – The Beatles. Rubber Soul is one of my favorite albums of all time. “Hailie’s Song” – Eminem. This is really sweet. Eminem, sweet? Sure. Get to know him, you’ll see it. He sings the majority of this. And honest: “My insecurities could eat me alive.” Listen to how he sings those words. “Bird Dog” – The Everly Brothers. These guys are so much fun. I used to have them on vinyl. That makes no sense. I am a child of the 80s. But I always loved them. “Trou Macacq” – Squirrel Nut Zippers. Insane and fun. “The Water Is Wide” – James Taylor. I have to be careful listening to him. He can crack me open and ruin my whole day in one guitar strum. “Break Your Heart” – Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers. Never get sick of him. His music has actually helped me. Not just the lyrics, but the chord changes … I don’t know: they speak out the hurt, the life, they say “this is what it feels like, doesn’t it?” Yes, it does. “Jingle Bells” – the Glee cast version. I like this very much. I like the arrangement a LOT. “Eternity” – Robbie Williams. I love it when people comment here who also know and love Robbie. It’s so hard to describe it if you are not already on board the Robbie Train. He is so good. The real deal. “Don’t Put It Down” – the cast of the Broadway revival of Hair. Balderdash. It must have seemed very deep when it first came out. Typical hostility towards Southerners! They’re all just stupid rednecks. “I Want Your Sex, Pts 1 & 2” – George Michael. This album basically ruled the airwaves for a year when I was in college. I associate it very much with a guy I was dating in a tormented off and on way at the time. I was a virgin, and felt this song was far too bossy. “Heartbreak Hotel” – Elvis Presley, from Prince From Another Planet, the recently re-released concert album from his triumphant 4 sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in 1972. This is an insanely hot version of this song. I thank very much Troy Y, from the indispensable Mystery Train blog, for sending this to me in the middle of the Hurricane Sandy devastation. It really brightened those dark couple of weeks following that damn storm. “Ducky” – by Bleu. I believe I have made my feelings about him clear. “Talk To Me of Mendocino” – Kate McGarrigle, Rufus & Martha Wainwright, from the great McGarrigle Hour. Mother and children singing. It’s too much for me. “Where Do You Come From?” – Elvis Presley, from Girls! Girls! Girls! The song is quite stupid and over-the-top, and Elvis does his best, which is pretty damn good. He justifies a song’s existence by singing it. This is almost 100% the case, even when it comes to “Old MacDonald”. “My Baby Left Me” – Elvis Presley. Early Elvis, it’s just astonishing to hear this back to back with “Where Do You Come From?” I suppose you could look at it as sad, like “God, look at what ‘they’ in Hollywood did to Elvis …” But as I have made clear, I refuse to be sad about Elvis Presley, because it is a waste of time and also dismisses the vastness of his talent and accomplishments. While no one could prefer “Where Do You Come From?” over the great “My Baby Left Me”, what I hear is: listen to how he transformed itself, listen to his versatility: he was greater than even HE knew back in the old Sun days. Or … maybe he knew all along. “Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely)” – Pink. This song is an anthem. I relate to it. “I Won’t Stand In Your Way” – The Stray Cats. An awesome ballad. One of my favorites of theirs. “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” – Rufus Wainwright. I’m not so sure of his latest albums, although I’ll hang in there with him. He’s wonderful. “Black Velveteen” – Lenny Kravitz. I’ll buy anything this guy does. Fan for life. “Patch It Up” – Elvis, live in Vegas. I’m not a big “Patch It Up” fan. Just doesn’t hook me, although when he starts to go up that scale, the chorus echoing him … his voice is so impressive. Exciting. “Black Coffee In Bed” – Squeeze. Squeeze IS college to me. I hear this song and see my freshman dorm room, my posters, my books, my green shirt, dancing at a frat party with my friends, drinking beer out of plastic cups. Squeeze is completely attached to one time, one place, to me. “You Learn” – Alanis Morrisette. From that first album that TOOK. OVER. THE WORLD. Good God, you could not escape this girl. I fell into her clutches, too, and I’m still there. For better or worse. “Over Our Bodies” – Longpigs. Longpigs, you say? I have one album. Every song on it is fantastic. What happened to them? Never even checked. “Live and Let Die” – Wings. I’m a little bit obsessed with this song. “Little Child” – Des’ree. God, member her? This was a great album, although she really only had that one big hit. “Rent” – the cast of Rent. I think I said this last time: why does this song come up on EVERY Shuffle? How does that happen? This song rocks, but I roll my eyes at the sentiment. “Eviction or pay.” Yeah, guys. That’s not unfair. That’s LIFE. “I Need Your Love Tonight” (take 5) – Elvis Presley, from those raucous 1958 sessions I mentioned a while back. They did countless takes of this song. It’s amazing when you hear the final version, how polished, how fun and free it sounds, especially when you know how hard they WORKED this song, even re-arranging it. Elvis would get befuddled during some of the takes and burst out laughing. This is a pretty good take. You can hear him clapping during the guitar break. “Going Back to Orleans” – Jesse & Buzzy. Insistent rough rhythm & blues, that makes me think of what Keith Richards said about “the rhythm of the tracks”. That rhythm is here. “Extraordinary” – Liz Phair, on what the idiots call her “sell out album”. Shut up. I wish she’d “sell out” more often if it resulted in an album like this one. I love the honesty in this song: “I am extraordinary if you’d ever get to know me.” “Sister Suffragettes” – Glynis Johns, from Mary Poppins. Hahaha. “The Light of Day” – Brendan Benson. Another of my favorite songwriters out there today. “The First Time I Saw Your Face” – Elvis, recorded 3-15-71. A bit of a snoozefest, pal. “Here We Go Again” – Paramore. I forgot about them for a while. I like them. I like her. “Gold Into Straw” – Brendan Benson. I’ve said it before: he seems incapable of writing a bad or boring or stock song. His stuff excites me. The way I discovered him is perhaps embarrassing: there was that Apple commercial, with a “jingle” – “well, I don’t know what I’m looking for …” and it called to me. Something about it. So I Googled the lyrics, found him, and whaddya know, every single song he has written is as great as that one. I’m a huge huge fan. So thanks, Apple. I probably never would have found him otherwise. “Shakin’ All Over” – Wanda Jackson. Hotness personified. A song to dance to, or, better yet, grind up against each other in the back of a purple Cadillac Eldorado. She sang this when I saw her. “She Wears My Ring” – Elvis Presley. From Promised Land, a really good album. Elvis had loved this song for years. He milks it, baby. I like his vibrato here. He had great control. Listen to him. Listen to what he is DOING with that voice. “El Condor Pasa” – Simon & Garfunkel. I grew up listening to them. My parents had all of their stuff. It’s in my blood. “This Time / I Can’t Stop Loving You” – Elvis, rehearsing for Vegas. He’s goofing off, changing lyrics. “I forgot to wear my cup … that’s just my way of loving you.” He finds it hilarious. And he’s right. I love the recorded rehearsals for his big 1969 opening. Things are loose, crazy, and yet watch … watch how he lets the goofing off go and gets down to work. The goofing off serves a purpose, and it always did with him. “Desire” – U2. It’s a bit otherworldly, it exists on some other higher plane. “Fancy Forgetting” – from the original Broadway production of The Boyfriend. I saw this show when I was a kid at the local university and it helped launch me into an obsession with the 1920s that led to my novel about flappers, written when I was 12, and everything else. The Boyfriend was a huge part of making me ache to go back in time. “Hard Luck” – Elvis Presley, from Frankie and Johnny. The movie is pretty forgettable but in the middle of it is this bluesy song with Elvis singing, only with a lonely harmonica accompanying at first. Unfortunately, the mix of the song is par for the course in terms of Elvis’ Hollywood years: his voice is pushed so far out in front of the accompaniment that it, frankly, sounds weird. Why do that to him? (I mean, I know why, but this song has a real chance to live, to stand on its own … if his voice was pushed back, and integrated into the accompaniment). I like him a lot here. It’s a dumb song, but he’s doing some interesting things with it, and it sounds like he’s having fun. Great harmonica, too. “Blue Christmas” – Elvis, singing in a riveting bluesy manner in the 1968 special, in black leather. Women are flipping out. They aren’t screaming. They MOAN. They suddenly erupt into shrieks and then trail off into moans and cackles. It’s insane. And through it all is the best version of the song Elvis ever did. “Henry Ford” – from the Broadway production of Ragtime, a magnificent accomplishment. How do you weave all of the threads of that book into a musical? Well, it seems made for it. Ragtime holds it together. This is Henry Ford’s big production number. Great score. “I’ll Be On My Way” – The Beatles, live at the BBC. Beautiful. They make my heart ache. “A Shot of Rhythm & Blues” – The Beatles, again, live at the BBC. It’s thrilling. “Drowse” – Queen, from Day at the Races, I believe. What an album. “Our Father” – Wynona Carr. This sounds like it was actually recorded in a church. You can hear people, a crowd. She is so incredible. If you haven’t had the pleasure … check her out. “Llorando” – Rebekah Del Rio, made famous by one of the best scenes in a film not only in the last 20 years, but perhaps ever. “Green, Green Grass of Home” – Elvis Presley. Great soothing country Elvis. I love country-music Elvis. “Follow That Dream” – Elvis Presley, the title song of Follow That Dream, one of his best movies and best performances (but you never hear anything about it. Well, that will change, if I have anything to say about it). I love this song. He’s so joyful. “Spanish Lady” – The Irish Tenors. My dad made fun of them. “They’re just copycats. Not as good as the Italians. Get outta here.” I see his point, although I do own the album. I always think of Dad’s cranky comments when their songs come up. Mum and I laugh about how Dad’s commentary lives on. He dominates, still. “It’s Still Here” (takes 1, 2, 3) – Elvis Presley. This is late Elvis. Such a great performance. They didn’t do a lot of takes. And each one is perfection. This is obviously very very personal for Elvis. It’s almost hard to listen to, the pain is so palpable. Beautiful. “Peter’s Denial” – from Jesus Christ Superstar. “You’ve got the wrong man, lady.” Poor Peter. He’s so human. “To the Sea” – Jack Johnson. His stuff is a bit cutesy for me, but I do like him and I like this. “The Violet Hour” – The Civil Wars. An incredible singer/songwriter duo. My brother has informed me they have broken up. Too bad, although their name would suggest the end was always a done deal. Their harmonies are perfection, their songs filled with heartache and longing. My cousin Mike introduced me to them. “Where the Streets Have No Name” – U2. One of their finest songs. It always makes me think of that great scene in Fearless when he crashes the car into the wall. Great use of song as accompaniment in a film. “Curtain Call: Hair (reprise)” – from the Broadway revival of Hair. It really is a terrific ensemble. “Electric Chapel” – Lady GaGa. I love the rock-star metal opening. This is a great song. I’m a big fan. “We Will Rock You” – Queen. An anthem. Timeless. This song will never die. “Top of the World” – Pat McCurdy. McCurdy’s going all Dylan here. “Paid For Nothing” – Pat McCurdy. A McCurdy cluster. This is live. I miss going to see his shows. Every Monday night, for 4 years, I was at Lounge Ax with Mitchell, “going to Pat”. We discussed him as though he were a place, not a person. “It Was a Very Good Year” – Robbie Williams, from his Rat Pack inspired album, Swing When You’re Winning. This album was a dream come true for him. I prefer his versions over the Michael Buble versions. He feels more authentic. He swings. “Coffee Tea & Sympathy” – Robbie Williams. This song is in my Top 5 Robbie songs. It gets me every time. “One Hundred and Two” – The Judds. I rarely listen to them anymore although there was a time when I bought every single one of their albums. I still love them. “Maybelline” – Elvis Presley, live on the Louisiana Hayride, 1955. Elvis introduces the song, he’s 20 years old, and he’s starting to feel his fame and power now, you can feel it, although that doesn’t stop him from getting stuck in a huge stutter. He has to stop speaking altogether, leaving the sentence unfinished. “We ain’t been doin’ it b-b-b-b-but … Yeah.” You can hear the crowd whooping and hollering during the song. This did not become one of their hits. This, I believe, is the only recording of it. “February Stars” – Foo Fighters. Classic. That album, The Colour and the Shape, took over my whole life for no less than a year. I literally could not listen to it enough. I still can’t, frankly, although I have moved on from that original mania. It’s like The Eminem Show, another album that took over my life and my listening for a good straight year. “The Pledge” – Brendan Benson. So much fun! This sounds like a hit from the 1960s, with his own individual spin on it. He’s so good. “No More Tears (Enough is Enough)” – Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand. Outrageously awesome. “Promise Her Anything (But Give Her Love”) – Dean Martin. There are so few perfect things in this life. Dean Martin is one of them. “Porte En Arriere” – Emmylou Harris, Kate & Anna McGarrigle – from The McGarrigle Hour album, which has already come up. If you haven’t had the pleasure, do yourself a favor and check it out! And there’s a documentary that just came out, directed by a Facebook friend of mine, Lian Lunson, about a tribute concert for Kate McGarrigle (mother to Rufus and Martha Wainwright). “Come Follow the Band” – Jim Dale, as Barnum on Broadway. Honestly, two Barnum songs in one Shuffle? What the hell is going on? “Crack a Bottle” – Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent. I love it when Eminem sings. It’s adorable. It really is. He says he ‘can’t sing’ but that’s not true. He sings most of this. “Break of Dawn” – Stevie Wonder. I always get excited when he comes up. Not a bad song in the bunch. “Sonnet 10” – Rufus Wainwright. I guess I find this self-indulgent. I like the idea and I love him for following his own star and doing what he wants to do. It’s just not my cup of tea. “Boardmeeting” – Timbaland, featuring Magoo. From Shock Value, a great album. “What’d I Say” – Elvis Presley, in rehearsal for Vegas. A jamming rehearsal session. Elvis forgets the lines, and what ends up coming out is hysterical. “Put your dress on, go on home …” He starts laughing at times, too. “If That Isn’t Love” – Elvis, from the wonderful Good Times album. This is very church-y. The arrangement is classic gospel. And Elvis, man: he is singing the hell out of this song. He has a very full and rich sound here. “Southern Song” – Pat McCurdy. One of his goofball hits. Totally offensive. “Jerkwater County” – Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers. The guitar is so interesting here. Like I said: his chord changes, the sounds he comes up with … they pierce right through me in a way that feels involuntary. “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” – The Beatles. I was a little bit obsessed with this song when I was a pipsqueak of 9 or 10. I saw the entire thing unfurling like a movie in my head. I kept seeing this lunatic creeping around with a silver hammer. What the hell was his problem? Can’t anyone STOP him? “Darts of Pleasure” – Franz Ferdinand. I was really into them for about an afternoon. The bloom is off the rose. “Push” – Madonna. From Confessions on a Dance Floor. Catchy. I love this album. “I’ll Stick Around” – Foo Fighters. From their first album, which was such an exciting event to those of us who missed Kurt Cobain. I remember my sister Jean saying to me, in a hushed tone of awe, “Have you heard Dave Grohl has a new band?” Me: “WHAT?” Jean: “And, Sheila. He plays the guitar.” Me: “WHAT???” It’s a great album. Perhaps you “had to be there” but I imagine those of you out there who were huge Nirvana fans and then moved on to embrace the Foo Fighters will relate to that story. “An American Trilogy” – Elvis Presley. He did this medley every show. It was deeply personal, a statement of who he was, his vision of the universe, of America, of the South, of our racist past, and our future of hopefully integration and redemption. It’s all there. “Blueberry Hill / I Can’t Stop Loving You” – Elvis’ concert in Memphis at the Mid-South Coliseum in 1974. Hometown boy made good, real good. It was an enormous event, of course. And Elvis rocked the planet. The album of this concert sounds great, it has my favorite version of “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”. Those who dismiss the entire decade of the 70s as some falling-off or decline in power are really stretching it. Yeah, maybe in 76 and 77 he started to really fail. But that still gives us a good 6 years to work with. This concert is phenomenal. “The Good Life” – Pat McCurdy. Okay, I’m sick of him showing up now. Go away. “Cad É Sin Don Té Sin” – The Cassidys. An Irish group. I love their stuff. “Thunder On the Mountain” – Wanda Jackson, from the Jack White produced album that came out a couple years ago. A huge bluesy rocking sound. Fantastic band, boogie-woogie piano, horns, screaming guitars, and the great great Wanda Jackson. “I Can’t Make It Alone” – the great Maria McKee. I have been into her for years, starting out with Lone Justice. What a voice. I am so happy that we have become friends in the last couple of years. She came to my reading in Los Angeles. She was a beautiful listening presence, sitting there in my cousin Mike’s living room with the rest of the crowd. She’s so talented. “Body and Soul” – Tori Amos. Now that’s more like it, girl. Get pissed, get enraged. “One Track Heart” – Elvis Presley, from Roustabout. Honestly. This is RIDICULOUS. “Only the Strong Survive” – Elvis Presley, from the phenomenal From Elvis in Memphis, recorded in 1969 at American Studios. Just looking at the song list from those sessions (it ended up being two albums) gives me goosebumps. Suspicious Minds, In the Ghetto, Long Black Limousine, True Love Travels on a Gravel Road, Power Of My love, I mean the list goes on and on. Elvis engineering a comeback with the help of producer Chips Moman (I found his musical note on the sidewalk in Memphis.) “Don’t Let Go” – Weezer. I love these guys. Their songs are short, fast, and specific. They get in, they get out. “Pick-A-Little, Talk-A-Little” – the chattering ladies in The Music Man. Hahaha. “BALLLLLLLzac.” And I think that’s a good place to stop.

sábado, enero 03, 2015 jueves, octubre 16, 2014 Paul Kan is Professor of National Security Studies at the US Army War College and a former bartender. This particular episode in the Cuban Missile Crisis is recounted in two excellent books: Michael Dobbs’ One Minute To Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War and William Taubman’s Khrushchev: A Man and his Era. lunes, marzo 17, 2014 viernes, agosto 30, 2013 miércoles, junio 19, 2013 jueves, diciembre 27, 2012 jueves, diciembre 13, 2012 viernes, noviembre 16, 2012 lunes, octubre 01, 2012 sábado, septiembre 15, 2012 William Burr - 202/994-7000 or email@example.com The National Security Archive obtained the virtually unexpurgated document in response to a mandatory declassification review request to the Jimmy Carter Library [See Document 12]. Highly classified for years, PD 59 was signed during a period of heightened Cold War tensions owing to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, greater instability in the Middle East, and earlier strains over China policy, human rights, the Horn of Africa, and Euromissiles. In this context, the press coverage quickly generated controversy by raising apprehensions that alleged changes in U.S. strategy might lower the threshold of a decision by either side to go nuclear, which could inject dangerous uncertainty into the already fragile strategic balance. The press coverage elicited debate inside and outside the government, with some arguing that the PD would aggravate Cold War tensions by increasing Soviet fears about vulnerability and raising pressures for launch-on-warning in a crisis. Adding to the confusion was the fact that astonishingly, even senior government officials who had concerns about the directive did not have access to it. With other recently declassified material related to PD-59, today's publication helps settle the mystery of what Jimmy Carter actually signed, as well as shedding light on the origins of PD-59 and some of its consequences. Among the disclosures are a variety of fascinating insights about the thinking of key U.S. officials about the state of nuclear planning and the possible progression of events should war break out: - PD-59 sought a nuclear force posture that ensured a "high high degree of flexibility, enduring survivability, and adequate performance in the face of enemy actions." If deterrence failed, the United States "must be capable of fighting successfully so that the adversary would not achieve his war aims and would suffer costs that are unacceptable." To make that feasible, PD-59 called for pre-planned nuclear strike options and capabilities for rapid development of target plans against such key target categories as "military and control targets," including nuclear forces, command-and-control, stationary and mobile military forces, and industrial facilities that supported the military. Moreover, the directive stipulated strengthened command-control-communications and intelligence (C3I) systems. - President Carter's first instructions on the U.S. nuclear force posture, in PD-18, "U.S. National Strategy," supported "essential equivalence", which rejected a "strategic force posture inferior to the Soviet Union" or a "disarming first strike" capability, and also sought a capability to execute "limited strategic employment options." - A key element of PD-59 was to use high-tech intelligence to find nuclear weapons targets in battlefield situations, strike the targets, and then assess the damage-a "look-shoot-look" capability. A memorandum from NSC military aide William Odom depicted Secretary of Defense Harold Brown doing exactly that in a recent military exercise where he was "chasing [enemy] general purpose forces in East Europe and Korea with strategic weapons." - The architects of PD-59 envisioned the possibility of protracted nuclear war that avoided escalation to all-out conflict. According to Odom's memorandum, "rapid escalation" was not likely because national leaders would realize how "vulnerable we are and how scarce our nuclear weapons are." They would not want to "waste" them on non-military targets and "days and weeks will pass as we try to locate worthy targets." - An element of PD-59 that never leaked to the press was a pre-planned option for launch-on-warning. It was included in spite of objections from NSC staffers, who saw it as "operationally a very dangerous thing." - Secretary of State Edmund Muskie was uninformed about PD-59 until he read it about in the newspapers, according to a White House chronology. The State Department had been involved in early discussions of nuclear targeting policy, but National Security Adviser Brzezinski eventually cut out the Department on the grounds that targeting is "so closely related to military contingency planning, an activity that justly remains a close-hold prerogative and responsibility" of the Pentagon. - The drafters of PD 59 accepted controversial ideas that the Soviets had a concept of victory in nuclear war and already had limited nuclear options. Marshall Shulman, the Secretary of State's top adviser on Soviet affairs, had not seen PD-59 but questioned these ideas in a memorandum to Secretary Muskie: "We may be placing more weight on the Soviet [military] literature than is warranted." If the Soviets perused U.S. military writing, it could "easily convince them that we have such options and such beliefs." Post-Cold War studies suggest that Shulman was correct because the Soviet leadership realized that neither side could win a nuclear war and had little confidence in the Soviet Union's ability to survive a nuclear conflict. BackgroundWhen Jimmy Carter became president in January 1977, he inherited nuclear weapons targeting policies from his Republican predecessors, who had sought ways to give U.S. presidents alternatives to the terrifyingly massive and rigid pre-planned options of the Single Integrated Operational Plan [SIOP]. To make nuclear threats more plausible and to give presidents more choices than the SIOP attack options, in January 1974, Richard Nixon signed National Security Decision Memorandum [NSDM] 242. A few months later, in April 1974, Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger signed Nuclear Weapons Employment Policy [NUWEP] which provided guidance for the creation of limited, selective, and regional attacks, with more detail for major attack options. Among the goals set for Major Attack Options in the NUWEP was the destruction of "selected economic and military resources of the enemy critical to post-war recovery," including political and military leadership targets. With respect to economic recovery targets, the NUWEP called for inflicting "moderate damage on facilities comprising approximately 70% of [the Soviet or Chinese] war-supporting economic base." The perception that the NSDM-242 exercise had not given the President more options for crisis-confrontation situations [see Document 1 below] led the Carter White House to initiate a nuclear targeting review that eventually produced PD-59. The Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff [JSTPS] had shown proficiency in creating massively destructive "pre-planned" nuclear strikes against Soviet military targets, but the Carter White House saw them as largely irrelevant. As Bzezinski explained, the "very likelihood of all out nuclear war is increased if all out spasm war is the only kind of nuclear war we can fight." Starting with the premise that conflict was more likely to start in Central Europe or Northeast Asia, the architects of PD-59 believed that high-tech reconnaissance systems could give the president and his advisers a "look-shoot-look" capability to improvise targeting during war. In this way, they could strike Warsaw Pact forces on the move with nuclear weapons instead of launching SIOP attacks against major military targets in the Soviet Union. The JSTPS had responsibility for the SIOP, under the direction of an Air Force general who wore a second hat as Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Air Command. In this capacity, he had a powerful influence in the military bureaucracy. Brzezinski aide William Odom saw little value to the massive SIOP attack options, believing that a flexible targeting system could help provide an adequate deterrent, but he could not wish SAC and the SIOP out existence because its leaders believed that those options were critical to the national defense. Thus, PD 59 was necessarily a bureaucratic compromise by providing for pre-planned attack options, including launch-on-warning but also flexibility to prepare war plans on "short notice" and strategic reserve forces for later stages of a conflict. War plans could range from massive attacks to "flexible sub-options" against broad classes of targets. To ensure that attack plans could be improvised, PD-59 mandated the creation of "staff capabilities" in the military and at the Pentagon that could "develop operational plans on short notice … based on the latest intelligence." War plans developed under PD-59 were to "put the major weight of the initial response on military and control targets." Target systems would include tactical and strategic nuclear forces, military command centers, conventional military forces including armies in motion, and industrial facilities supporting military operations. Dropping "critical" recovery targets as a priority, pre-planned options would include "attacks on the political control system and on general industrial capability" either promptly or as "relatively prolonged withholds" that could be attacked later in a conflict. Yet the initial press coverage of PD-59 was slightly misleading by suggesting that targeting before the directive had focused on urban centers; the SIOP had always given priority to military targets and had provisions for excluding attacks on urban-industrial complexes unless Moscow had already attacked U.S. cities. That the White House had initiated a major review of nuclear targeting remained largely secret until President Carter signed PD-59. Nevertheless, the administration's interest in acquiring capabilities, such as the MX ICBM, for counterforce strikes against Soviet strategic targets had been in the news before the existence of the PD leaked. In early August 1980 headline in national newspapers brought out the larger secret: the existence a new directive changing nuclear war planning, with the first story appearing in the Boston Globe on 3 August 1980. The news stories correctly emphasized key elements of PD-59, that it sought capabilities for "prolonged but limited nuclear war," and that it gave priority to military and leadership targets, and a capability to "find new targets and destroy them" once a war began. The press coverage cited "shudders" among former government officials such as Herbert Scoville who worried that the search for "less fearsome options for using nuclear weapons would reduce the inhibitions for employing them." Moreover, Federation of American Scientists Director Jeremy Stone asked "Who would be there to turn off the war if we nuked Soviet command centers?" Stone warned about pressures for "firing on warning", although the language on launch-on-warning was one element of the PD that stayed secret. Those concerns dovetailed with private misgivings among State Department officials, such as Marshall Shulman who worried that the reported emphasis on the role of leadership and C3I targets could "only increase Soviet perceptions of vulnerability" and introduce "further instability in the strategic balance." Newspaper stories about PD-59 raised questions whether President Carter and his advisers had adequately consulted Secretary of State Muskie and the State Department before or after signing the PD. Muskie first learned about the PD from the press coverage, which then noted his "unhappiness that he knew so little about the new doctrine." This became an issue at the State Department, which did not have a copy of the directive and where senior officials argued that the Department should be involved in the "formulation and assessment of national security decisions that have significant foreign policy implications." Muskie's top advisers recommended that he seek an understanding with President Carter that this should not have happened and should not happen again, but whether the two reached a meeting of the minds on this point is not clear. One of the purposes of the PD was to influence more detailed guidance on nuclear targeting. Top-level officials at the Pentagon and the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff would use the ideas codified in the directive to develop more detailed instructions for shaping the production of pre-planned options and for developing "look-shoot-look" capabilities. By October 1980, Secretary of Defense Brown had approved the latest Nuclear Weapons Employment Policy to provide guidance for targeting in a crisis [see Document 21] Yet the ink had hardly dried on Brown's NUWEP when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter for the presidency; in October 1981 the new administration supplanted PD-59 with National Security Decision Directive 13, "Nuclear Weapons Employment Policy." NSDD-13 influenced NUWEP-82 which replaced Brown's guidance. NSDD-13 remains largely classified, but years later, Odom wrote that it "carr[ied] the general thrust of PD-59, but with less comprehension of what was needed," and that "little or nothing of consequence was done to pursue this doctrinal change." Future declassifications may test the accuracy of Odom's judgments. In any event, PD-59 (as well as NSDM-242) set the mold for target planning during the decades that followed, during and after the Cold War era. According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, "the process for developing nuclear targeting and employment guidance … has remained virtually unchanged since 1991." Presidential directives and secretary of defense guidance approved during the George W. Bush administration included familiar themes. They provided for a planning structure "designed to avoid an 'all-or-nothing' response to a nuclear attack," identified "potential adversaries" and "scenarios" requiring pre-planned options, and emphasized a "capability to rapidly develop new options." While President Obama has set a nuclear-free world as a policy goal, it is unlikely that nuclear planning arrangements will change significantly in the foreseeable future. lunes, julio 09, 2012 Eisenhower’s statement came in response to a threat issued by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. In a Moscow speech, Khrushchev said the Soviet Union was prepared to use its missiles to protect Cuba from U.S. military intervention. “One should not forget,” Khrushchev declared, “that now the United States is no longer at an unreachable distance from the Soviet Union as it was before.” He charged that the United States was “plotting insidious and criminal steps” against Cuba. As charges and countercharges flew between the Cold War rivals, Castro said in a July 9 Havana radio interview: “They have done all they can to remove the revolutionary government … [But] we are acting with reason and right on our side. They are acting against reason, right and history. We are certain we will emerge victorious in this struggle. We are absolutely certain we will win the economic battle.” Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78209.html#ixzz208xEIoCJ miércoles, mayo 23, 2012 domingo, marzo 25, 2012 jueves, marzo 01, 2012 |Zbigniew Brzezinski with Deng Xiaoping| - Reports that the mistaken use of a nuclear exercise tape on a NORAD computer had produced a U.S. false warning and alert actions prompted Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev to write secretly to President Carter that the erroneous alert was "fraught with a tremendous danger." Further, "I think you will agree with me that there should be no errors in such matters." - Commenting on the November 1979 NORAD incident, senior State Department adviser Marshal Shulman wrote that "false alerts of this kind are not a rare occurrence" and that there is a "complacency about handling them that disturbs me." - With U.S.-Soviet relations already difficult, the Brezhnev message sparked discussion inside the Carter administration on how best to reply. Hard-liners prevailed and the draft that was approved included language ("inaccurate and unacceptable") that Marshal Shulman saw as "snotty" and "gratuitously insulting." - Months later, in May and June 1980, 3 more false alerts occurred. The dates of two of them, 3 and 6 June 1980, have been in the public record for years, but the existence of a third event, cited in a memorandum from Secretary of Defense Brown to President Carter on 7 June 1980, has hitherto been unknown, although the details are classified. - False alerts by NORAD computers on 3 and 6 June 1980 triggered routine actions by SAC and the NMCC to ensure survivability of strategic forces and command and control systems. The National Emergency Airborne Command Post (NEACP) at Andrews Air Force Base taxied in position for emergency launch, although it remained in place. Because missile attack warning systems showed nothing unusual, the alert actions were suspended. - Supposedly causing the incidents in June 1980 was the failure of a 46¢ integrated circuit ("chip") in a NORAD computer, but Secretary of Defense Brown reported to a surprised President Carter that NORAD "has been unable to get the suspected circuit to fail again under tests." - In reports to Carter, Secretary cautioned that "we must be prepared for the possibility that another, unrelated malfunction may someday generate another false alert." Nevertheless, Brown argued that "human safeguards"—people reading data produced by warning systems--ensured that there would be "no chance that any irretrievable actions would be taken." More The National Security Archive >> domingo, octubre 30, 2011 - The atomic bombings of Hiroshima-Nagasaki - The impact of World War II bombing operations on nuclear strategy - The Cold War and the origins of deterrence - The creation of the Strategic Air Command - The invention and impact of thermonuclear weapons - Debates over massive retaliation and flexible response - The origins and development of the Single integrated Operational Plan (SIOP) - The Cuban Missile Crisis - Détente and arms control - The search for limited nuclear options - The end of the Cold War and the reform of nuclear targeting - Concern during the 1980s that nuclear targeting was "out of control" - "Rogue states," nuclear proliferation, and missile defense - The impact of 9/11 and debates over deterrence during G.W. Bush administration domingo, octubre 09, 2011 viernes, agosto 12, 2011 Some of the documents posted today were released by the CIA through its CREST database at the National Archives, College Park. As a few of them are heavily excised, the National Security Archive has requested further declassification review. Other relevant documents--CIA daily reports to President Kennedy during the Wall crisis--remain classified because of agency insistence that sources and methods are at risk. The Archive has appealed these denials. Read more > domingo, agosto 07, 2011 "EN TIEMPOS DIFÍCILES" - Heberto Padilla A aquel hombre le pidieron su tiempo para que lo juntara al tiempo de la Historia. Le pidieron las manos, porque para una época difícil nada hay mejor que un par de buenas manos. Le pidieron los ojos que alguna vez tuvieron lágrimas para que contemplara el lado claro (especialmente el lado claro de la vida) porque para el horror basta un ojo de asombro. Le pidieron sus labios resecos y cuarteados para afirmar, para erigir, con cada afirmación, un sueño le pidieron las piernas duras y nudosas (sus viejas piernas andariegas), porque en tiempos difíciles ¿algo hay mejor que un par de piernas para la construcción o la trinchera? Le pidieron el bosque que lo nutrió de niño, con su árbol obediente. Le pidieron el pecho, el corazón, los hombros. que eso era estrictamente necesario. Le explicaron después que toda esta donación resultaria inútil. sin entregar la lengua, porque en tiempos difíciles nada es tan útil para atajar el odio o la mentira. Y finalmente le rogaron que, por favor, echase a andar, porque en tiempos difíciles esta es, sin duda, la prueba decisiva. ANALISIS ESPECIALES SOBRE EL NEOKAXTRIZMO - 89,000 razones para el cambio - Análisis del neocastrismo entre huevos con jamón y tostadas - Aproximación a Cuba desde la Teoría del Caos ( I ) - Biología y sucesión ( 2 ): La política económica de la subsistencia - Biología y sucesión: El Pacto de los Comandantes y el Pacto de los Generales - Biología y sucesión: ¿A quién mejor que a la familia? - Cuba, entre la lógica y la incertidumbre - Cuba, entre la lógica y la incertidumbre - Cuba: Crisis del sistema bancario o crisis del pensamiento económico - Cuba: Las reformas y la empresa pública del Neocastrismo I - Cuba: Las reformas y la empresa pública del neocastrismo ( II ) - Cuba: Nudos Gordianos o ¿dónde dejaron el portaaviones? - Del Castrismo a la castracion - Economia Politica de la Transicion en Cuba - Economía política de la transición (2): La pobreza estructural como mecanismo de dominación - Economía política de la transición (3): Las claves de la pobreza estructural - El Neocastrismo posible - El Síndrome del Neocastrismo - El Zhuanda Fangxiao cubano: mantener lo grande, deshacerse de lo pequeño/ - El caos y la logica difusa en el Castrismo - El estado de bienestar del Neocastrismo: “Lucha tu alpiste pichón” - El menú del neocastrismo: pato pekinés y hallacas venezolanas/ Eugenio Yáñez - El neocastrismo: “revolución” sin ideología - El secuestro de la Ciencia Cubana por Fidel Castro - El ¨sucre¨: fracaso anunciado de un golpe de estado - Elecciones en Cuba: Control Político, Manipulación y Testosterona Biranica [II] - Elecciones en Cuba: Control Político, Manipulación y Testosterona Biranica [I] - Estrategias medievales en el siglo XXI - La antesala del entierro político de Fidel Castro - La caja de Pandora del castrismo: la sucesión - La ¨Rana Hirviendo¨ del Castrismo - Los caminos hacia la Cuba post-castrista - Los funerales del hombre nuevo - Los múltiples síndromes del "Papá Estado" cubano - Neocastrismo y Vaticano: liturgias y Vía Crucis. El camino de Tarzán - Neocastrismo, diplomacia "revolucionaria" y wikiboberías - Por un puñado de dólares - Raúl Castro en el año del Dragón ( I ) - TRES AÑOS DE RAULISMO ( I I I, FINAL): Sombras nada más - Unificación Monetaria en Cuba: Un arroz con mango neocastrista - Unificación Monetaria en Cuba: Un arroz con mango neocastrista - Unificación Monetaria en Cuba: arroz con mango neocastrista [FINAL] - Vivienda y Castrismo. La mezcla se endurece - ¿Perestroika a la cubana? - Daily Planet Map - Economist Intelligence Unit - Estadisticas mundiales en tiempo real - Foreign Affairs - Fox Nation - Global Incident Map - Global Security - Human Progress - New Zeal - Power Wall - Pulitzer Center - Ted Ideas - The Albert Einstein Institution - The Blaze - The Daily Beast - The Global Report - The National Security Archive - The Peak - Trends Research Institute - What does it mean - World Audit Carta desde la carcel de Fidel Castro Ruz “…después de todo, para mí la cárcel es un buen descanso, que sólo tiene de malo el que es obligatorio. Leo mucho y estudio mucho. Parece increíble, las horas pasan como si fuesen minutos y yo, que soy de temperamento intranquilo, me paso el día leyendo, apenas sin moverme para nada. La correspondencia llega normalmente…” “…En cuanto a fumar, en estos días pasados he estado rico: una caja de tabacos H. Upman del doctor Miró Cardona, dos cajas muy buenas de mi hermano Ramón….”. “Me voy a cenar: spaghettis con calamares, bombones italianos de postre, café acabadito de colar y después un H. Upman #4. ¿No me envidias?”. “…Me cuidan, me cuidan un poquito entre todos. No le hacen caso a uno, siempre estoy peleando para que no me manden nada. Cuando cojo el sol por la mañana en shorts y siento el aire de mar, me parece que estoy en una playa… ¡Me van a hacer creer que estoy de vacaciones! ¿Qué diría Carlos Marx de semejantes revolucionarios?”. "No temas ni a la prision, ni a la pobreza, ni a la muerte. Teme al miedo" - Giacomo Leopardi ¨Por eso es muy importante, Vicky, hijo mío, que recuerdes siempre para qué sirve la cabeza: para atravesar paredes¨– Halvar de Flake [El vikingo] "Como no me he preocupado de nacer, no me preocupo de morir" - Lorca "Al final, no os preguntarán qué habéis sabido, sino qué habéis hecho" - Jean de Gerson "Si queremos que todo siga como está, es necesario que todo cambie" - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa "Todo hombre paga su grandeza con muchas pequeñeces, su victoria con muchas derrotas, su riqueza con múltiples quiebras" - Giovanni Papini "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans" - John Lennon "Habla bajo, lleva siempre un gran palo y llegarás lejos" - Proverbio Africano "No hay medicina para el miedo" - Proverbio escoces "El supremo arte de la guerra es doblegar al enemigo sin luchar" - Sun Tzu "You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein "It is inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office" - H. L. Menken "I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented" - Elie Wiesel "Stay hungry, stay foolish" - Steve Jobs "If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert , in five years ther'ed be a shortage of sand" - Milton Friedman "The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less" - Vaclav Havel "No se puede controlar el resultado, pero si lo que uno haga para alcanzarlo" - Vitor Belfort [MMA Fighter] Para Raul Castro Cuba ocupa el lugar 147 entre 153 paises evaluados en "Democracia, Mercado y Transparencia 2007" Enlaces sobre Cuba: - ALBERTO MÜLLER - Abicu Liberal - Agencia de Prensa Libre Oriental - Asociation for the study of the Cuban Economy - Babalu blog - Bitacora Cubana - Centro de Estudios de la Economia Cubana - Cine Cuba - Conexion Cubana - Conexion Cubana/Osvaldo - Cuba Futuro - Cuba Independiente - Cuba Matinal - Cuba Net - Cuba Standard - Cuba Study Group - Cuba al Pairo - Cuba transition project - Cuba/ Brookings Institution - Cubano Libre blog - El Blog del Forista 'El Compañero' - El Republicano Liberal - El Tono de la Voz - Emilio Ichikawa blog - Estancia Cubana - Esteban Casañas Lostal/ La Isla - Estudios Económicos Cubanos - Exilio Cubano - Fernando Gonzalez - Freedom for Dr. Biscet! - Fundacion Canadiense para las Americas: Cuba - Fundacion Lawton de Derechos Humanos - Gaspar, El Lugareño - Global Security - Guaracabuya: Organo Oficial de la Sociedad Economica de Amigos del Pais - Humanismo y Conectividad - Humberto Fontova - IRI: International Republic Institute - Ideas Ocultas - Jinetero,... y que? - La Finca de Sosa - La Nueva Cuba - La Primavera de Cuba - La pagina del Dr. Antonio de la Cova - Lista de blogs cubanos - Los Miquis - Magazine Cubano - Manuel Diaz Martinez - Martha Beatriz Roque Info - Martha Colmenares - Medicina Cubana - Movimiento HUmanista Evolucionario Cubano - Net for Cuba International - Nueva Europa - Nueva Arabia - Oficina Nacional de Estadisticas de Cuba - Penultimos Dias - Pinceladas de Cuba - Postal de Cuba - Real Instituto Elcano - Repensando la rebelión cubana de 1952-1959 - Revista Hispano Cubana - Revista Voces Voces - Secretos de Cuba - Sociedad Civil Venezolana - Spanish Pundit - SrJacques Online: A Freedom Blog - Stratfor Global Intelligence - TV Cuba - The Havana Note - The Investigative Project on Terrorism - The Real Cuba - The Trilateral Commission - Union Liberal Cubana/Seccion de Economia y Finanzas - White House - Yo Acuso al regimen de Castro Cuando vinieron a buscar a los sindicalistas, Callé: yo no soy sindicalista. Cuando vinieron a buscar a los judíos, Callé: yo no soy judío. Cuando vinieron a buscar a los católicos, Callé: yo no soy “tan católico”. Cuando vinieron a buscarme a mí, Callé: no había quien me escuchara. Reverendo Martin Niemöller - * Analisis del saldo migratorio externo cubano 2001-2007 - * Anatomía de un mito: la salud pública en Cuba antes y después de 1959 - * Cuba: Sistema de acueductos y alcantarillados - * ELECCIONES: Un millon ciento cincuenta y dos mil personas setecientas quince personas muestran su oposicion al regimen - * El Trinquenio Amargo y la ciudad distópica: autopsia de una utopía/ Conf. del Arq. Mario Coyula - * Estructura del PIB de Cuba 2007 - * Las dudas de nuestras propias concepciones - * Republica y rebelion - Analisis de los resultados de la Sherrit en Cuba - Circulacion Monetaria: Tienen dinero los cubanos para "hacerle" frente a las medidas "aperturistas" de Raul? - Cuba-EEUU: Los círculos viciosos y virtuosos de la transición cubana [ 3] / Lazaro Gonzalez - Cuba-EEUU: Los círculos viciosos y virtuosos de la transición cubana [ I ]/ Lazaro Gonzalez - Cuba-Estados Unidos: Los Círculos Viciosos y Virtuosos de la transición cubana [ I I ]- Lazaro Gonzalez - Cuba: Comercio Exterior 2007 y tasas de cambio - Cuba: Reporte de turistas enero 2008 - Cuba: Sondeo de precios al Mercado Informal - Estudio de las potencialidades de la produccion de etanol en Cuba - Reforma de la agricultura en Cuba: Angel Castro observa orgulloso al Sub-Latifundista de Biran al Mando* - Turismo en Cuba: Un proyecto insostenible. Analisis de los principales indicadores - Unificación Monetaria en Cuba: Un arroz con mango neocastrista CUBA LLORA Y EL MUNDO Y NOSOTROS NO ESCUCHAMOS Donde estan los Green, los Socialdemocratas, los Ricos y los Pobres, los Con Voz y Sin Voz? Cuba llora y nadie escucha. Donde estan el Jet Set, los Reyes y Principes, Patricios y Plebeyos? Cuba desesperada clama por solidaridad. Donde Bob Dylan, donde Martin Luther King, donde Hollywood y sus estrellas? Donde la Middle Class democrata y conservadora, o acaso tambien liberal a ratos? Y Gandhi? Y el Dios de Todos? Donde los Santos y Virgenes; los Dioses de Cristianos, Protestantes, Musulmanes, Budistas, Testigos de Jehova y Adventistas del Septimo Dia. Donde estan Ochun y todas las deidades del Panteon Yoruba que no acuden a nuestro llanto? Donde Juan Pablo II que no exige mas que Cuba se abra al Mundo y que el Mundo se abra a Cuba? Que hacen ahora mismo Alberto de Monaco y el Principe Felipe que no los escuchamos? Donde Madonna, donde Angelina Jolie y sus adoptados around de world; o nos hara falta un Brando erguido en un Oscar por Cuba? Donde Sean Penn? Donde esta la Aristocracia Obrera y los Obreros menos Aristocraticos, donde los Working Class que no estan junto a un pueblo que lanquidece, sufre y llora por la ignominia? Que hacen ahora mismo Zapatero y Rajoy que no los escuchamos, y Harper y Dion, e Hillary y Obama; donde McCain que no los escuchamos? Y los muertos? Y los que estan muriendo? Y los que van a morir? Y los que se lanzan desesperados al mar? Donde estan el minero cantabrico o el pescador de percebes gijonese? Los Canarios donde estan? A los africanos no los oimos, y a los australianos con su acento de hombres duros tampoco. Y aquellos chinos milenarios de Canton que fundaron raices eternas en la Isla? Y que de la Queen Elizabeth y los Lords y Gentlemen? Que hace ahora mismo el combativo Principe Harry que no lo escuchamos? Donde los Rockefellers? Donde los Duponts? Donde Kate Moss? Donde el Presidente de la ONU? Y Solana donde esta? Y los Generales y Doctores? Y los Lam y los Fabelo, y los Sivio y los Fito Paez? Y que de Canseco y Miñoso? Y de los veteranos de Bahia de Cochinos y de los balseros y de los recien llegados? Y Carlos Otero y Susana Perez? Y el Bola, y Pancho Cespedes? Y YO y TU? Y todos nosotros que estamos aqui y alla rumiando frustaciones y resquemores, envidias y sinsabores; autoelogios y nostalgias, en tanto Louis Michel comulga con Perez Roque mientras Biscet y una NACION lanquidecen? Donde Maceo, donde Marti; donde aquel Villena con su carga para matar bribones? Cuba llora y clama y el Mundo NO ESCUCHA!!!

Criminal justice: There will be no death penalty. The truth is, we are all on a death row. Being born carries the death penalty. Killing people a little sooner for killing someone else is not an effective deterrent, and it does not reduce the amount of murders. It just makes us murderers. It actually hurts the people doing the executing worse than it hurts the person being executed. People that condone killing for any reason other than true self-defense are lowering themselves to the animal level, and that includes all of society. Do not hate criminals. Hate what they do and begin to show them the light. Prisons will be safe and comfortable. Convicts will live alone and not be allowed to interact with other prisoners except in structured settings, such as jobs, school, church, etc. When convicts are allowed to mix with each other in an uncontrolled environment, such as prison yards, it creates worse animals, so it will not be allowed to happen in the future. In the United States, over 50% of all inmates commit new crimes and return to prison. This tells us that the current system is not working and is a waste of money. It needs to be changed so that it does work. Punishment: The deterrent value of punishment has been proven to be ineffective, so prisoners will be treated well. They will all have big screen, high- definition TVs in their private cell or room as long as they behave, learn a trade, do a job, and take self-improvement classes. The TV will be built into the wall, and it will have special programming that will help change animals into spiritual beings. The programs will be entertaining, but designed to re-educate people over a period of time. The TVs will not be in the prisoner’s control. The programs will show convicts what really happens to the victims and family of the victims of crime, so they will learn the true cost of their lifestyles. At least half of the TV programs will be to teach convicts a trade, improve their impulse control, teach them the ultimate truth, etc. If convicts do really well, they can earn better food, access to other TV programming and other benefits. Just controlling the TV and food, if done properly, will control most prisoners and motivate them to do the right thing and change their ways. The cells or rooms will be built so there is nowhere to hide anything. All surfaces will be smooth and connected, so that they cannot be moved. The material will be a plastic that will be indestructible, easy to clean, and soft enough, so that it will be almost impossible for inmates to hurt themselves or staff. They will be allowed only a few possessions. The space will be to sleep, watch TV, eat, clean themselves, urinate and defecate, nothing else. Food will be delivered to them through a secure opening. The inmate will be naked except for one pair of a one-piece bathing suit, like shorts. They will be comfortable and not tear. A shower system will wash and dry them and the whole cell automatically, and everything will go down a special drain that cannot be plugged, because they will have nothing to plug it with, not even toilet paper. Their butts will be washed. The environment will have one purpose, and that is total control, safety, comfort, and isolation. Cameras will monitor and record them twenty four hours and seven days a week. The goal is to change them and free them as soon as possible. All communication with the outside world will be reduced to one short verbal recording or conversation a week. This will make it easier to control contraband and outside influences. The inmate will have no way to cause the staff any trouble. They will use gas to medicate or render the inmate unconscious if necessary. The temperature, lighting, food, medication and TV will be to make the inmate comfortable and educate and change them safely and effectively. It may sound severe, but crime is severe, and it justifies doing what has to be done to stop it. What is described above will be the least expensive and most effective way to do it. We have to show that crime will not be tolerated. A prison operates on the merit system. We will do everything to change them for the better, and nothing to make them worse. Some will have untreatable mental defects and will never change and never get out, but most will be able to change their ways and get out in a much shorter period of time than now. Prisons will exist to separate criminals from the public, each other, and most of the staff for as long as it is necessary. Inmates will communicate with staff, medical personnel, teachers, etc., through the TV via closed-circuit sound and video. Everything will be recorded to be analyzed by medical and behavior specialists. Criminals will be confined for the same reason that we confine other dangerous animals in a zoo. Cameras will be everywhere and record everything that happens; there will be no privacy. We will use tranquilizer darts to knockout dangerous criminals, just like dangerous animals. Tracking system: For non-violent crimes, people will have the option to wear a tracking device that will monitor their every move outside of prison. The tracking devices could be a small, rechargeable, locked-on ankle bracelet that will transmit a signal every minute to the cellular phone towers and communicate with a computer. The device will give a GPS location every minute, and it will alert the police when a convict is in the wrong places or with the wrong people (other people with bracelets), not at work, in bars, etc. If a convict gets within ten feet of the forbidden people or places, the closest policeman is automatically notified, so they can be arrested. If the tracking device is cut off or not recharged, the police will know in one minute and be able to surround their last location and arrest them. The technology for the tracking system is available now and will cut the prison population at least in half. This will save billions of dollars and allow non-violent offenders to live a normal, productive, tax-paying life. Gangs: Gangs are currently the biggest problem in our criminal justice system, and they are different from other criminals. No one wants to live the life of an outlaw, as an animal, if they have a better option. If we give it to them, we can prevent thousands of kids from becoming criminals, and we can turn gang members into productive, tax-paying citizens and family men. Respect: They are always saying they want respect. They use violence to intimidate people to get respect. That is the same kind of respect a rattlesnake gets. It is not the kind of respect a real man wants, but they see no other way. Kids get into street gangs because they do not see any better options. We just need to give them something really better to do. Things will not change until we do. It will cost us less in the long run if we do the right thing now. Cities build community centers with a bunch of ping-pong tables and think that it will make a difference; it does not. We have to give kids a completely new, fulfilling life. People that have committed crimes as a result of being in street gangs can be rehabilitated fast. When prisons are changed to do what they should be doing, gang criminals can turn their lives around in a very short period of time. We should give all gang members in prisons the option to get out if they join the army and fight America’s enemies. They are fighters. It would solve our military recruitment problem and our prison overcrowding problem. The choice will be the army or jail. If they cannot follow military rules, they go back to prison. I am sure many will be motivated to change their ways just to get out of a long prison sentence. If it is four years in the army or ten years in jail, many will be motivated to join the army. It would be good for the army, and good for the people. When they get out, they could start a new, productive life. Psychopaths, sociopaths, serial killers, child molesters, rapists, violent racists, repeat offenders, and others that continually and intentionally hurt innocent people may have to be imprisoned for their whole life, but most gang members do not have to be. They truly can be rehabilitated as long as we offer them something really better. This will cut our prison population at least in half again. Most gang members have a code of ethics and are loyal to other members of their gang. They only hurt other gang members or threats to their gangs. They see themselves as soldiers, and they are in a sense. Let’s make them real ones. The truth is, society is responsible for the development of gangs. We created the problem, so it is our responsibility to fix it. We should give every gang member a second chance, even gang members that kill other gang members. Jesus said, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Everyone will be forgiven for what they did before the truth was revealed, if they change when they learn the truth. There are no bad guys, just people that do not know the truth, people that have been misguided. Once gang members get a chance and a better way to go, they will change, and they will be no danger to society. We turn a negative into a positive. Guaranteed Jobs: The way it is now, criminals are just released out into society, and because of their past, they cannot get a good job. This results in frustration and often a return to crime and prison. We not only need to teach criminals a trade that will allow them to make a good living in the outside world, we need to give them a good job when they get out. The state needs to own companies that will give paroled prisoners the job they have been trained in prison to do. This will change criminals into self-supporting, productive citizens. It is one of the most important missing links in the rehabilitation process. These businesses will have more security than normal businesses. They will be set up to deal with a work force made up of previous convicts. The management will be past prisoners, and they will be able to help and keep an eye on new people that are released. All paroled people will also be required to wear the tracking device. This will make it much safer for society, and it will turn criminals into productive citizens. Restitution: Paroled people will have to work at these special work places until they have paid restitution that the court sets to their victims. Fear of punishment will not change things, and we now know that for certain. It can even make it worse with our current prison system. Many people are coming out of prison worse than when they went in. People are victimized when we put them in uncontrolled situations with other prisoners. The prison yard is a machine that makes brutal animals. They do not benefit the prisoners or society. Throwing people that commit minor crimes in with murderers and other hardened criminals puts them in great jeopardy, turning them into animals just to survive. Many people had to murder in prison to stop someone from killing or raping them or subjecting them to some other abuse. The current system creates murderers. What would you do? What we are doing to people is criminal. We are the murderers, because we created a situation where people are forced to murder to survive. The drug business: It is the drug business that causes most of the trouble in prison, so we just let them earn the drugs they want. We make sure they cannot hurt themselves or others, and we let them destroy their life in their cell if that is what they want. This will stop the prison drug black market that causes most of the violence and abuse in prisons. However, their sentence will not even start until they are clean from drugs for one year. This will motivate them to stop or to not do drugs. If they choose to keep doing drugs, they never get out. They also have to learn a trade before they get out, and when they get out, pay restitution to their victims or have to come back. They will not want to use drugs if using them prevents them from being released, and we educate them about drugs and help them get off them. If we give them another, better way to go, it will save many lives and billions of dollars, so we have to. We make drugs so cheap that it puts the crooks out of business. Free to hurt yourself: Everyone, in or out of prison, should have the right to ruin their lives with drugs if they want to. Once people know the truth about drugs and are shown a better way, most will not do them. Those that still want to should be allowed to legally, as long as they are prevented from hurting others. Trying to stop drugs is not possible, and it causes too many problems. If we are going to outlaw drugs, we have to outlaw alcohol and cigarettes also. If people are not going to be allowed to hurt themselves, we have to do it across the board. Making conflicting rules is one of the reasons people do not have respect for the law. If a law is not consistent, it must be abolished. We live in a country where torture is legal and marijuana is illegal. Black markets: When people wake up, drugs will be legalized. They will be taxed just like cigarettes and alcohol. Some of this new tax money will be spent on education, rehabilitation clinics, and the prison system. Why not let the problem pay to stop the problem? Outlawing drugs has just created a black market and violent gangs. It puts billions of dollars into the pockets of a criminal underworld. It supports many people that hurt many people. Black markets feed the beast and make it much stronger. The same thing happened when alcohol was outlawed in the twenties. It created a black market and gangsters, and we had to legalize it just to stop all the gang violence. We need to legalize street drugs for the same reasons. The gang problem is much worse now than it was in the time of Al Capone, and a lot more people are being killed. We are just wasting billions of dollars and wasting peoples lives. Making drugs illegal is a good idea that just does not work. Drugs do not cause violence. Getting illegal, expensive drugs causes it. Drugs do not cause violence. Alcohol makes people more violent than any illegal drug. Alcohol kills more people than guns, but it is legal. When a law is causing more problems than what it is outlawing, intelligent beings change it before it causes more damage. Good intentions do not always work; this must be seen. We could be putting a huge amount of money to better use. The money now spent to convict and jail people for drug offenses could be spent on education and rehabilitation for people that get addicted to drugs. Forbidden fruit: When you try to deny people something, you activate a very bad part of human nature. Some people, especially teenagers, always want what they are denied; it just makes them want it more. Many people are tempted and will always want the proverbial forbidden fruit. This part of our human nature is shown in the first book of the Bible. It tells us that forbidden fruit caused the downfall of mankind, and it is doing it in reality. It shows how great the problem is, and the only way to solve it is to remove all forbidden fruit that does not hurt other people. We are saying that drugs make life better: When we outlaw drugs, we are indirectly saying that drugs are better than normal life. We are saying that everyone would do them if not for the laws. It gives the opposite message than what people think it is giving, but no one sees this truth. If doing drugs was really better, no one would be going to expensive rehab centers to get off them, would they? This fact proves drugs really do not make life better, and this needs to be pointed out to kids before they get addicted to them. The best cure for drug addiction is education and giving people something that feels better than drugs can make them feel. The only thing that will do it is the ultimate truth and the complete fulfillment that follows. The truth will stop drugs. We just have to ask kids: why don’t most doctors and policemen do drugs? If drugs were really a good thing, most doctors and cops would be using them, because they can get them easily. The reason they do not is that they know that drugs really are not a good thing. Doctors and cops see how drugs lead to tragedy; all we have to do is show everyone what doctors and cops see. If you give people everything they want, along with the truth, they will always do the right thing. The opposite of what people think will happen, will happen. If kids were shown the truth about drugs in elementary school, not just BS, no one would get into drugs, because the truth is, drugs ruin your life. No one will do anything that will hurt them once they are sure it will. We feed kids so much BS that kids think that when we say drugs are bad for you, that it is also BS. Choice: The truth is, we should legalize everything that does not hurt other people, and let people make up their own minds about how they want to live. The law should only be to protect people from other people, not to protect them from themselves, because the truth is, nothing can do that. What the world needs now is less laws and more truth. People should be free to choose what they want to do with their own lives. People are not stupid, and they do not need other people to decide what is good for them. Those kinds of laws are wrong, impossible to enforce, and they create a dangerous and costly black market. The only way to stop people from doing one behavior is to give them something better to replace it with. If we give people the truth and the life, it will stop drugs, crime, and all self-destructive behavior. The bottom line: Everything should be legalized that does not hurt others, but all advertising and other things that promote them should be banned also. Instead, commercials will show people the truth and educate people on the dangers of certain products. People are smart and will respond to the truth and always do the right thing, but only when they know for certain what the right thing is. The people that are for keeping drugs illegal appear to be the good, moral people, the good guys, and it gets them elected, but the opposite is true. They are actually the most responsible for all the drug related murders and violence that stem from illegal drugs. Making drugs illegal seems like a good idea and that it would help society, but in reality, nothing is hurting society more. What is worse: thousands of kids murdered, millions of lives ruined, wasting billions of dollars, or legal drugs? Wake up people. Being for legalizing drugs does not mean you are for people using drugs. You will be against the use of drugs and support education about them. The cost of blindness to the truth: It is just like the current war in the Middle East. It looked like a good idea to try to stop terrorism, so it was a good political move, and most politicians promoted it for that reason. The truth is that it has made the threat of terrorism worse and has cost thousands of our best young people their lives and the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, including women and children, in the Middle East. It has also wasted over six trillion dollars, and continues to cost us four-hundred million dollars a day. The worst cost is the damage to America’s image in the rest of the world. Vietnam was even worse. It cost us over fifty-eight thousand American lives, and we killed over three million people in Vietnam, at least a million innocent women and children, for absolutely nothing. Losing face: Once we commit to one of these epic disasters, we have problems getting out of them, because people do not want to admit they made a mistake that wasted all those lives and money. It is why it took us more than ten years to get out of Vietnam and why we are now having trouble getting out of Middle East conflicts. It is the same reason we do not legalize drugs, and it has cost many more lives than war, much more money, and it is literally destroying our society. The sale of opium is giving regimes in the Middle East billions of dollars they use to kill American soldiers with. If we legalize drugs, it will stop it. When spiritual beings make a mistake, even a big one, they change it the minute they become aware of it. There is nothing wrong with making a mistake, as long as you fix it as soon as you know it is a mistake. What makes a mistake a disaster is when people do not fix a mistake, especially when people are being killed and major damage is occurring. Everyone will be forgiven for the past. We need a strong military: Don’t get me wrong; we have to fight fools and fanatics, and we need to have the strongest possible military until the world is educated. We are not out of the woods yet. Some will be lost: When we legalize drugs, some people will misuse them just as they do alcohol, but the problems will be a fraction of the problems caused by continuing to do what we are doing. There will still be street gangs, but they will not be as big or dangerous as now. Now we will have the ultimate truth, so the problem of people abusing drugs and alcohol will be much less than it has been. People that repetitively drive under the influence or do other things that endanger other people will need to be confined. We should just put the people that choose to be loaded all the time together in a controlled situation, so they cannot hurt other people or themselves more. We could create camps for these lost souls that are comfortable and not like prisons, but they are controlled, and the people that choose this lifestyle will not be allowed to hurt other people. It will let them be with each other and have one big, never-ending, semi-safe party. It will not be punishment; it will be the biggest and best party in history, and many people will go there voluntarily, but most people will get enough of it, see the light, go out, join the human race, and get involved in the ultimate party of true life. If you give people true freedom and what they think they want, they will find they do not really want drugs, alcohol and other self destructive vices, get educated, get over it, and be ready for something better. Gambling: Gambling is the same as drugs, but a little different. It should be legal for the same reason. When people learn the truth that tells them they cannot win if they gamble a long time, it will not stop it or make it less popular. It will do the opposite and make it more popular, because people will do it in moderation. Las Vegas and other resorts help bring you in the present and will get more popular. However, you do not want to get your fun for free or make money; you want to pay for what you got. People have to stay in balance, or they will fall. When people do things in truth, they do them right and everyone wins. Crime: We will still need police and the justice system until all people begin to live in the truth and the life. There will still be violence, crime, and other anti-social, stupid behaviors until less evolved people wake up, and they will have to be controlled until they can be educated in the truth and the life. We will need police, but a lot less of them if we legalize drugs and other vices. Technology will eventually stop most crime. Tracking devices, security cameras, and other things, such as reliable lie detectors, will make it very hard to get away with any crime. This will need to be done until everyone knows the truth. The best solution is for mankind to become spiritual beings, because there will be no need for laws of any kind. Forgiveness/compassion: Spiritual people do not hurt people, even if they are hurt by them. There will be no more “eye for an eye.” It just blinds everyone. God/life creates perfect justice. It does not need us to punish people or take revenge. People should see everyone in prison as if they were a brother. If we did, we would do the things I recommend. We have to do what the truth dictates. Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful. You have the choice of behaving like an animal or a spiritual being. If someone else acts like an animal, it does not mean it has to drag you down to their level. The Bible says that vengeance is for God, not us. Violence is the only way some people can experience intimacy. Intimacy: One of the reasons some people do violence to others is to create intimacy between them and their victim. The problem is, some people are so mentally screwed up that it is the only way they can get it. We have to show them a better way, show them how get intimacy without hurting others. Violence brings people into the present, but there is a better way to do it. There is good intimacy and bad intimacy. Violence is bad intimacy; making love is good intimacy. Intimacy with life itself is the ultimate intimacy. A person that knows the ultimate truth has intimacy with God/life. People cannot really enjoy intimacy without knowing the truth. It opens people up, and that is what makes intimacy, intimacy. People that live in the mind never experience true intimacy. Even violence just gives people a taste of the present. Making other people feel good is good intimacy; making other people feel bad is bad intimacy. Only animals that do not know the truth are into bad intimacy. The truth = intimacy. When someone does something horrible to someone, people always ask, why? No one ever gives them the simple answer, because it is too ugly, and they think others will do it. Some crimes are committed to get money, but the worst criminals do what they do simply because they like to. It turns them on; it makes them feel powerful and in control, and it gets them the undivided attention of their victims. The primitive mind: Criminals experience the same feelings as an animal predator when they attack and hurt people. We were animal predators for most of our evolution on earth, so it is a very powerful instinct and feels very good. This is why it is so powerful and dangerous. Only the truth and life feels better. When you know the truth, you can make these violent instincts work for you. Whenever they arise, you use them as a cue to become more aware of the truth and the life. If you do this, you turn a very bad thing into a very good thing. It is sad that just because people do not know the truth, they will destroy another person’s life and their own just to get a little attention from their victims and a taste of the present. It is a tragic and unnecessary waste of life. It shows how valuable the present is. People will do very difficult, costly and horrible things to themselves and others just to get a little taste of it. When people learn they can get everything they want for free, without hurting others and with no consequences, people will change, and so will our world. People will always do what feels best. Never feel like it: Spiritual people do not commit crimes, not because of fear of punishment or for rewards for being good, not even because it is right or wrong, but just because they never feel like it. Helping people turns them on. If people are good only because they fear punishment and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. Albert Einstein It is not in a spiritual person’s nature to hurt others or be unfair in any way. Spiritual people enjoy helping other people, not hurting them. There will be situations, such as self-defense, when violence will be unavoidable, but never for pleasure, profit, revenge or to punish people. That is what animals do. Without the real truth, there is no real morality, no real right and wrong. Consequences: There are huge consequences to violent animal behavior. Criminals now think, "look what my victim is going through and they did not do anything to deserve it, so deserve must not have anything to do with bad things happening," and they are correct. When you know the truth, you know if you act like an animal after your know the ultimate truth, you go to the bottom of the food chain. There is no greater consequence; thus, the truth is the best deterrent to animal behavior. In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over, he is superior. Sir Francis Bacon No fault: It can be said that no one is responsible for the crimes they commit, and it would be true if they do not know the truth, but this does not mean we should let them go. We have to protect ourselves. We are just as important as anyone else. Thus, criminals will be incarcerated when they commit crimes, regardless of fault. We can stop spending so much money trying to show how criminals were abused in the past to use it as a defense. There is no defense; if you commit a crime, you go to jail. It is that simple. Going into a criminal's past is not only a waste of money, it gives them publicity and attention that some actually want. We should not give them anything that can reward or motivate crimes. Eye for an eye: Spiritual people will set the example to the animals of the world. We do not act like animals just because they do; we change them by not letting them change us. We do not blind them more; we give them our vision. If you purposely treat others badly, you are acting like an animal, not a spiritual being. We are as interested in the welfare of others as much as we are interested in our own welfare, because we know that we are all essentially the same. Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would want others to do unto you.” Jesus actually said something more like, “You will do unto others as you would want others to do unto you.” This is because you will know better. It seems like a small difference, but it actually is a very big difference. A spiritual being “will” treat others exactly as they would treat themselves, because you will see others as if you were them. You will, because you spiritually are them. You would not hit someone else with a hammer for the same reason you would not hit yourself with a hammer. It seems inconceivable unless you see true life. When you see true life, you actually see others as yourself, and you would never intentionally hurt yourself. You see yourself in all other people; you see past their temporary devil/mind. He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye. Buddha See the truth: With the truth, you see all people older than you as if they were your father and mother, all people younger than you as your children, and people the same age as you as brothers and sisters. The truth is, we are all related. We were like them: You always treat others as you would want to be treated. We were like them in the past. You would not have to go back too far in your own evolution to get to where you were a violent animal. Today’s criminals will evolve past it as we did, and the better we treat them, the faster they will do it. As Jesus taught, you forgive everyone, because animals cannot be blamed for behaving like animals. All we should do is separate them from us and try to change them. Spiritual people do not defile the present with what happened in the past. We do not think of revenge. Animals that harm others will be confined until they change and it is safe to let them out. If they never change, they never get out. Habitual criminals and people that have done very bad things, such as child molestation or murder, and people that have a good chance that they will do it again, will never get out. Society cannot be asked to take the chance. People forfeit the rest of their lifespan for some crimes and repeated offenses. People that are never getting out can be allowed to socialize with others like themselves, because it will not matter, and it would not be humane to keep them from socializing a bit. We isolate only people that are going to get out. Some animals are not ready to evolve further and cannot be changed, so they have to be separated from civilized society for life. We build as many prisons as we need to, and we make them work, no matter the cost, because it will be less expensive than dealing with criminals out in society. People that kill for animal reasons are too dangerous. It costs them their freedom for life, not to punish or even for its deterrent value, but for the public’s safety only. This should be the rule, except for gang killings and very young killers, etc. The reason for all crime is that people do not know the truth. All people see is BS and no truth. It is no wonder people act as they do. Once we show them the truth, most will change, and so will the world. It is that simple.

Historic Methods of Artificially Coloring AgatesLast Updated: 13th Jan 2008 By Daniel Russell Artificial Coloring of Chalcedony - Agate - Onyx The artificial coloring of gem materials to make them more desirable to the consumer is as ancient as greed and avarice. One of the earliest minerals to be “enhanced” by artifice was chalcedony, a variety of quartz which includes carnelian, sard, plasma, prase, bloodstone, onyx, sardonyx, chrysoprase, thundereggs, agate, flint, chert, jasper, petrified wood, and petrified dinosaur bone. Chalcedony is composed of microscopic fibers of quartz mixed with a small amount of moganite, a form of silicon dioxide different than quartz. The porous structure of many (but, as lapidaries discovered, not all) chalcedonies allow chemical solutions to infiltrate the stone, making it possible to create chemical reactions inside the stone itself. This creates a more durable color than merely coating the surface of the stone. Pliny The Elder (born 23AD, died 79AD), in his Natural History, hints at ancient practices of gemstone enhancement, speaking of gemstones "which are boiled, it is said, in honey, for seven days and nights without intermission..." adding that once the stone is "thus cleansed and purified, is adorned by the ingenuity of artists with variegated veins and spots, and cut into such shapes as may be most to the taste of purchasers..." While 19th century scholars of classical literature dismissed Pliny's comments as vague and fanciful, the simple technology of turning aesthetically unpleasing examples of chalcedony into more desirable colors was not lost by the gem industry. In the 1823 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica states that "agate may be stained artificially with [a] solution of silver in spirit of nitre [silver nitrate]…" followed by exposure to the sun. A more detailed description of the process is offered by William Lewis a few years later: Several of the hard stones which strike fire with steel, receive a dark stain, inclining to black, from solution of silver. M. du Fay [Charles François de Cisternay du Fay] relates, in the French Memoirs for 1728, that to chalcedony, this solution gave a reddish-brown colour; to oriental agate, a blacker stain; to an agate spotted with yellow, a purple… Among the hard stones that have been tried, the agates seem to be those which are acted upon most readily; they are also those which have oftenest been attempted to be stained. The solution should be made in strong aqua fortis, or spirit of nitre (nitric acid), and be fully saturated with the metal. The stone, after the fluid is applied, should be exposed to the sun for two days or more; and if, when dry, it be removed into a moist place, and afterwards exposed again to the sun, the production of the colour will be the more speedy. After the stone has acquired the full colour which the first quantity of the solution can communicate, it may be moistened with more, and this repeated two or three times, by which the colour will be deepened, and made to penetrate further. M. du Fay found that an agate, about a sixth of an inch in thickness, by applying the solution on both sides, may be stained throughout its whole substance. The tincture, however, is rarely uniform on these or other stones; most of them having veins, which, though undiscernible in the natural stone, are in this process made apparent, being more easily or more difficultly penetrable than the rest of the mass, and sometimes forming not inelegant varieties in the stained stone. (Lewis, 1828) To this he adds that, unlike the black of natural agates, the black of silver nitrate treated stones is damaged by exposure to high heat, and is completely dissolved away by soaking the stone in nitric acid overnight. A more permanent and deeper black was afforded by soaking chalcedony in a copper nitrate solution. When the stones are placed in a crucible and heated almost to a red heat, the copper nitrate decomposed into black copper oxide. He says the color is durable but penetrates “only a very little way into the substance of the stones.” One of the most detailed descriptions of the process to color chalcedony black by the “honey and acid” technique was published by W. Newton in the 1849 edition of the London Journal of Art and Science: Among the various processes employed by the ancients for the coloring of these gems is one described by Pliny; but which, up to the present time, has been generally although erroneously treated as a fable: this process consisted in boiling the stone with honey, during at least seven or eight days; and it is a curious fact that this identical process is still employed in the agate manufactories of Oberstein and Idar, for the purpose of converting calcedonies and red and yellow cornelian into fine onyx. This singular process remained, during many years, a secret in the possession of an agate merchant of Idar, who had probably purchased it from the Italian and Roman artists, that were in the habit of frequenting that locality to buy stones suitable to their art. The coloring of these stones is founded upon the following property: The ribbons or zones in the different varieties of calcedony, which, in the kidney-formed masses of that substance, lie superimposed, differ in their texture and compactness ; but, owing to their similarity of color in the natural state, they can only be distinguished from each other with difficulty. The stone is however capable of absorbing fluids in the direction of the strata; this property the strata possess, however, in differing degrees; therefore, if a colored fluid be absorbed, and the quantity taken up by the pores of the stone is different for every strata or zone, it is clear that a number of tints will be produced, corresponding to the number of zones, each of which will indeed be rendered distinct and colored in proportion to the quantity of coloring fluid it may have absorbed; thus, a specimen of stone naturally but slightly colored may, by this treatment, be rendered equal to fine stratified calcedony or onyx, and may be equally well employed with them in the engraving of cameos, or for any other purpose where the variety of color can be rendered available. The signs of value in these stones, when in their rough state, are recognized by the merchants by an empirical test, which rests upon the above-mentioned property of absorption of liquids. In the trial a small piece is broken off that part of the rough stone which is expected to be of marketable value when polished: this fragment is moistened by the tongue; the buyer then remarks carefully the rate at which the moisture dries away; or, rather, whether it be rapidly absorbed by the stone ; and also whether the absorption take place in alternate bands or zones, and in one zone more rapidly than in another. According to the greater or less rapidity of the absorption, the merchants judge of the aptness of the stone to receive color, and, above all, if it be likely to assume the appearance of onyx under the coloring process. The artificial coloring of these varieties of stone is practically carried on in the following manner: The stones about to be submitted to the coloring process are first washed with great care, and then equally carefully dried, but without exposure to an elevated temperature; when perfectly dry they are put into a mixture of honey and water — taking scrupulous care that the vessel employed be clean; above all, that it be free from every kind of greasy matter: a fire is lighted beneath the vessel, and the fluid heated rapidly; but, at the same time, ebullition must not be permitted; and the fluid, lost by evaporation, frequently replaced, in order that the stone be constantly kept covered — this is essential. The operation of the honey is continued for two or three weeks — the time necessary being known only by experiment. When it is considered to be complete, the stones are removed to another vessel, and strong sulphuric acid poured upon them until they are covered. A slab of slate is placed over this second vessel, which is then put upon a furnace, and the sulphuric acid heated to 350° or 400°. At the expiration of some eight or ten hours, the stones are generally found to have acquired the requisite color — that is to say, those that are at all capable of receiving this factitious coloring; for it will be found that some of the stones submitted to the operation will refuse the color entirely; indeed, in all, the effect varies very much. The larger and softer stones are finished in a few hours; but others require to be kept under the influence of the acid during the whole of a day. When finished, the stones are removed from the acid and thrown into water, where they are well washed, and then dried in a kind of oven; they are next polished, and, afterwards, put into oil, where they remain for a day or two, according to circumstances. The oil removes from the surface of the stone the appearance of slight flaws or fissures, and imparts to it a high degree of polish and brilliancy. The oil itself is removed by rubbing the stone gently with bran. The chemical action, which determines the access of color in this process, appears to be very simple: The honey penetrates into the porous layers of the stone, and is deorganized and carbonized in the pores by the sulphuric acid. The color of the bands, which absorb the honey, is thus more or less increased by the deposition of the carbon. The colors, which naturally were barely indicated by different degrees of transparency in the zones, become, by this treatment, grey, brown, or even almost black ; whilst the white parts are rendered brighter and more distinct by becoming, under the influence of the high temperature, more opaque. This also the case with the bands of red; so that, not only is color given where none previously existed, but even those parts that were originally colored acquire a brightness of tint and distinctness of marking much greater than that which they naturally possessed.” A year later, Swiss mineralogist Johann Jacob Nöggerath, director of the Bonn Museum of Natural History, committed his observations on the process to paper in an article in the Edinbrugh Philosophical Journal. [In addition to amplifying on Newton's comments, Nöggerath makes an important observation on how Germany lapidaries judge the suitability of specimens for "colorization": "They break off a thin portion of a seemingly useful mass, and after moistening it with the tongue, observe whether the absorption of the moisture by the alternate bands takes place at regular intervals" This may, in fact, be the first formal description of an "agate licker" in the gemological literature!] Nöggerath expands on the methods used to "enhance" chalcedony. In addition to the ancient practice of blackening chalcedony using honey carbonized by sulfuric acid, he adds the following practices: • "burning" chalcedony in order to enhance color (commonly used to create a carnelian-like appearance); • creating citrine-colored chalcedony by treating iron-oxide containing stones with hydrochloric acid, resulting in a valence change from Fe3 to Fe2; • the creation of a blue color that simulates "all the different shades of the turquoise" by a process he was unable to determine - it is uncertain whether the technique is related to the "ferrocyanide method" described by both English and Dreher, below, or the result of treatment with copper sulfate followed by ammonia. In the last century many experiments were made to colour agate, calcedony, carnelian, &c., by solutions of metals, &c, applied to the surface, and sometimes made to penetrate slightly into them. The processes have been frequently described, but it remained unknown how to render the various quartzes included among the gems of the ancients penetrable to colouring fluids. Within the last twenty or twenty-five years the processes of the agate-cutters of Oberstein and Idar have reached such perfection that they are able not only to bring out and heighten the natural colours of calcedony, onyx, carnelian,&c., which are sometimes faint, but also to render them entirely penetrable to colouring fluids by which the beauty and variety of the stones is much increased. This colouring process was at first a secret, known only to a few agate-dealers in Idar. It was eagerly sought after by Roman stone-cutters (as the lapidaries of Oberstein say), who bought up all the onyxes. The secret seems at length to have been discovered by some of the foreigners, or been bought up. This art arises out of the property which the fine layers of calcedony, although exhibiting only faint differences of colour, possess of becoming variously coloured by the application of colouring fluids. By this process very mean-looking slightly-coloured stones can be turned into very fine onyxes, &c, which by their various bands of colour afford materials for cameos; and at least the beauty and designs of the agates intended for other purposes are much increased. There is a method by which the agate-dealers of Oberstein and Idar determine the fitness of the crude minerals for the colouring process; at least to value them before purchasing them from the diggers. They break off a thin portion of a seemingly useful mass, and after moistening it with the tongue, observe whether the absorption of the moisture by the alternate bands takes place at regular intervals; if so, it is then deemed fit to be coloured as an onyx. This proof is not always decisive of the value of the minerals, yet it affords a fair criterion to the dealers to go by before they buy valuable pieces from the diggers. Large balls of calcedony, in which many fine bands occur, especially if the rest be of a red colour, are much prized. Weisselberg, near Oberkirchen, in the district of Wendel, produces fine specimens, but in small quantity. Ramstedt relates that one was found in the year 1844, and weighed 100 lb. It was sold in its crude state for 700 Rh. guilders. The purchases between the diggers and dealers are made by mutual understanding, and generally without any previous trials being made or desired, the price being agreed on by the weight. That the different varieties of quartz which form agate balls and amygdaloidal-shaped pieces, vary in their porosity has been proved by an interesting experiment of Von Kobell, who applied [hydro]fluoric acid to polished agate where the different streaks were not regularly developed and only slightly visible... In many transparent calcedonies, the little cavities which the stone contains may be recognised by the naked eye. They are seen to be small bubbles often round, often long, frequently running into each other, and forming tuberculous cavities. In others, however, they cannot be observed by the naked eye, but are easily seen by the aid of a microscope, under which they appear to be filled with small cavities, especially the Brazilian Carnelian, which is particularly well suited for colouring... The colouring of onyx and calcedonyx (if we are to understand that the white and black, or dark-brown, stones are to be called onyx, and the white-and-grey streaked varieties are to be called calcedonyx) is performed at Oberstein and Idar in the following way. The best stones are first well washed and dried without any raising of the temperature ; after this they are placed in honey diluted with water (one half pound of honey to a chopin of water). [A chopin is an obsolete Scottish fluid measurement equivalent to about half a pint – DER] The pot in which they are then to be placed must be clean and free from grease. It must then be put into hot ashes, or into a hot oven, and the stones covered with the fluid, which must not be allowed to boil. The minerals must, indeed, always be covered with the fluid, which must be added from time to time. The minerals are to be treated in this way for a fortnight or three weeks. They are then taken out of the honey, washed, and placed in another vessel along with as much oil of vitriol [sulfuric acid – DER] as will cover them. The vessel is then to be covered with a lid, and placed in ashes in which hot coals are placed. The porous or soft stones are coloured in an hour, others in a day, and some take on no colour at all. The stones are taken out, washed, and placed in an oven. After which they are ground, and kept a day in oil, by which some fine cracks are made to disappear, and a better polish obtained; the oil is then rubbed off with bran. By this process light grey streaks are brought out on some; and others, according as their porosity was greater or less, indicate grey, brown, or black streaks. The white impenetrable masses become whiter through the loss of their transparency, and many red streaks become heightened. The so-called Carneóle [carnelian,]from Brazil, which is wrought in Oberstein and Idar in great quantity, costs, on an average, about 50 guilders the 100 lb. Those selected with straight streaks, as being suitable for cameos, often cost as high as 2500 guilders per cwt., receive sometimes the same treatment as the native stones, and sometimes the process employed in colouring carnelian and sardonyx, as I will shortly relate. They are originally either one-coloured, muddy yellow, grey, or contain a variety of shades of such colours, and can scarcely be called carnelian in their natural state, which name is only given to such as are of a red colour. These carnelians, when found with streaks, after they have received the above-mentioned treatment, form the finest onyx. The chemical changes induced by the above-related processes require no detailed explanation. By the placing of the stones in hot honey, the latter penetrates into the fine pores of the stone; the vitriolic acid then causes carbonization of the animal substance — and the more the honey in the stone is carbonized the darker its colour becomes; and while the slightly porous portions become only grey or brown, the more porous ones become black. The white and red bands appear not to be penetrable to the honey, and it is to the treatment alone that we can attribute the increased intensity of their colours. Brazilian carnelian contains the oxyhydrate of iron, and is generally penetrable in its bands; the red tints are destroyed by the carbon, and appear of the colour of a mixture of grey and black, or most commonly of a dark brown. These Brazilian carnelians afford the finest onyxes. Calcedony can be coloured a very fine citron-yellow, either generally diffused or streaked (if this condition is already indicated in the stone). The process is as follows: they are first dried two days in an oven, care being taken not to let the oven become too warm; the stones are then to be placed in a clean vessel, and covered with spirit of salt [ hydrochloric acid – DER]. A cover must be firmly cemented on the vessel with clay; they must then remain from fourteen days to three weeks in the oven, and then the yellow colouring process is complete. It deserves further inquiry, whether this yellow colour is occasioned by the formation of a salt — by the mixture of the hydrochloric acid with some previously existing matter in the stone itself, or whether the colouring principle is entirely contained in the acid. Ï know no natural calcedony having a colour similar to that produced in this way. There occurs, however, in opals such a citron-yellow colour, but it is rather more of the appearance of wax. In the coloured stones, however, this shade shews itself here and there, and seems to be inherent in them, as the colouring matter always remains the same. Of late years a very fine blue colour has been produced in calcedony, shewing all the different shades of the turquoise. The process for this is yet a secret, known only to a few of the cutters. Many minerals are also burned — such as agate, calcedony, and Brazilian carnelian. This is done partly to increase the beauty of their natural colours, and partly, as it is said, to give the natural colours more durability. Many calcedonies become, through this process, almost white, the red colours more intense, and the pale yellow a very fine red. This is also the case with the Brazilian carnelian. By which process the streaked stones of this kind become transformed into fine sardonyxes, and those with one colour take on the true colour of the carnelian. The process is as follows: the stones are rendered perfectly dry, by being placed for a fortnight or three weeks in a hot oven; they are then placed in a shallow dish and moistened with vitriolic acid, but not covered. The polishers usually dip the stones in the acid, and then place them beside each other in a Teasel, which is then covered and placed in a hot fire until they are red hot. The fire is slowly extinguished, and they are taken out when cool; by this roasting the oxyhydrate of iron which the stones contained is freed from its moisture, and the colour of the oxide assumes a more lively hue, and is seen in the translucent mass in the proper colour of the cornelian... There are many other dexterous manipulations necessary, which are known only to the polishers themselves, but I have collected the above processes from many sources; and my esteemed friend, Herr Tischbein of Herstein, in the Palatinate of Birkenfeld, has given me many particulars which assisted my studies on the agate very much. (I acknowledge them here with much thankfulness.) When once, however, the properties which these minerals (to which I have given the collective name of agate) possess of being quite penetrable to colouring fluids, in consequence of their porosity, are better known, it is probable that other colours may be given them; and, also, that many antique stones, presenting unusual colours, may have been coloured so artificially. This seems to me very likely, as many of the antique cameos and intaglios which I have seen in collections seem to be so. (Nöggerath, 1850) Dekalb, writing in 1896, suggests that another method of coloring chalcedony is in use: creating a reddish brown color by soaking the stone in ferric chloride, then precipitating iron oxide in the microscopic interstices of the chalcedony by treating it with ammonium hydroxide. The true, or precious onyx, is distinguished arbitrarily from the agates by the perfect parallelism of the color-bands, these bands consisting usually of alternations of white and black, white and brown, and white and red. It may be mentioned, in passing, that such perfect banding is so exceedingly rare that very few, if any, of the onyxes or cameos sold in our jewelry shops are from naturally-colored stones, the artificial coloring of agates being a regular industry in Germany. The method is said to consist in saturating the more porous layers of the banded white or bluish slate-colored agate with honey, and then carbonizing this with sulphuric acid, to produce the black-and-white variety. The red-and-white is produced by soaking in ferric chloride and precipitating ferric oxide with ammonia. Such a red coloration should consequently be obtained in any porous stone by similar treatment; but my personal experiments in this direction have been unsuccessful, or, at best, have resulted in a dirty ferric-oxide stain. (Dekalb, 1896) Mineral dealer George Letchworth English helps fill out the color-wheel of artificial chalcedony colors by adding green - the result of treatment with nickel or chromium compounds - and an explanation of the manner in which blue chalcedony was achieved. This process involved treating the stones with potassium ferrocyanide following by iron sulfate to form "Prussian blue" (ferric ferricyanide). Nearly all the agates now offered for sale are, however, artificially colored. The success of the process is due to the varying degrees of porosity of the different layers of agate, some of which readily absorb the fluid in which the stones are immersed, while others are impervious to it The black and white agates are prepared by soaking the stones for several days in a warm syrup of honey and water, then immersing them in sulphuric acid, which carbonizes the honey absorbed by certain of the layers, making them dark brown or black. The red, or carnelian agates are produced by a process of “burning”. A grayish stone is heated in an oven for several weeks, at first gently, then it is moistened with sulphuric acid and the temperature is gradually raised to redness. Blue, or “sapphire” agates are produced by steeping the stones first in a solution of a ferric salt and then in potassium ferrocyanide, thus depositing Prussian blue in the more porous layers. A green agate is secured by the aid of chromic acid or a nickel salt, while hydrochloric acid yields a yellow agate. The red and the black are much the most popular. (English, 1904) F. W. Rudler (then formerly of the Museum of Economic Geology in London) writing in the entry on Agate in the Dictionary of Applied Chemistry, also noted that the color of carnelian could be imitated if the chalcedony were "placed in a solution of ferric nitrate, prepared by throwing old nails into dilute aqua fortis... the stone is afterwards exposed to a red heat, whereby the absorbed salt is decomposed and ferric oxide formed." (Rudler, 1912) In 1913, O. Dreher published a detailed account of the processes used in Idar, Germany in the 19th Century to color chalcedony (Dreher, 1913). His father and other family members had apparently been involved in the lapidary arts in that city. Dreher claimed that the process of coloring chalcedony black was first introduced to Idar in 1819. He said that the practice was commonly called “the honey bath” by Idar’s lapidaries. It followed the time-honored practice of carbonizing a sugar that had permeated the interstices of the chalcedony… but rather than using honey, the Idar lapidaries switched to less expensive common household sugar (about 375 grams dissolved in a liter of water). He also noted that some of the stones, after the sulfuric acid bath, a percentage of the stones tend to “sweat” small amounts of sulfuric acid… which is easily prevented by soaking in warm water for a few hours. The process of enhancing the color derived from minute traces of iron naturally found in chalcedony by “burning” (heating the chalcedony in a furnace) was, according to Dreher, begun in Idar about 1813. He claimed that lapidaries had observed that some agates recovered from fields showed a distinct carnelian color in the portion that was protruding above ground, while the portion below the surface remained colorless. Heating sped up the process of converting colorless traces of iron into visible iron oxides. Happily for the people of Idar, the process of “burning agate” in that city did not involve setting flame to enormous masses of sheep dung, as was done in the Indian lapidary center of Khambat, India (see The Carnelian Mines of Rajpipla for more details on this fragrant process) Instead, the stones were first baked in an oven at a temperature just high enough to drive out any moisture (which could take from 2 to 10 days), then packed in a crucible surrounded by magnesite or asbestos (in addition to separating the stones, packing a refractory material also slows down the rate of cooling and heating of the stones, reducing the chance that the stones will be shattered by thermal shock). The crucible was placed in a furnace and the temperature slowly raised to red heat, then the crucible was allowed to slowly cool. Stones that didn’t achieve the desired red color were soaked in iron nitrate and “recycled” through the burning process again. Dreher states that two different blue colors were being produced by Idar lapidaries. The first was the classical “Prussian blue” color created by soaking the chalcedony in “yellow prussiate of potassium” (potassium ferricyanide) and then treating it with iron sulfate to form iron ferricyanide. The second method Deher describes is similar, except that potassium ferrocyanide — the “red prussiate of potassium”instead of ferricyanide — is used to create a “Turnbull blue.” (It is claimed by some artists that there is a slight difference in hue between Prussian Blue and Turnbull Blue… clearly, I must be color blind!) It is especially interesting that Deher claims that the “Prussian blue” process was introduced to Idar in 1845. Previously, in 1842, German-born British astronomer-chemist Sir William Herschel (discoverer of Uranus) announced a chemical process where materials soaked in a solution of potassium ferrocyanide and other iron salts were made photosensitive… leading very quickly to the widespread use of “blueprinting” to copy drawings. Suddenly, potassium ferrocyanide was the “process celeb” throughout the scientific community, which is suggestive that this discovery spurred Idar’s more chemistry-minded lapidaries to experiment with potassium ferrocyanide. Dreher states that, regardless of whether potassium salt — ferrocyanide or ferrocyanide — is used, the Idar lapidaries used a solution composed of 250 grams of the salt to a liter of water. After soaking for a week or two in a hot, but not boiling, bath of the potassium ferrocyanide, the stone is placed into a second bath of iron sulfate for four to eight days, depending on the depth of color desired. He adds that a darker blue color will be achieved by adding a few drops of nitric or sulfuric acid to the iron sulfate bath. [Important notice: acid must NEVER be combined with the potassium ferricyanide or ferrocyanide solution, as there is a genuine risk of generating cyanide gas.] According to Dreher, creating brown color in chalcedony is accomplished by the simple artifice of soaking the stone in a sugar or honey solution, then heating it just enough to caramelize the sugar. (It would be interesting to determine how permanent this process is!) Green colors were created using chromium salts or nickel salts. Dreher says that green was introduced as a colorant for chalcedony in Idar in 1853, although whether this date represents the beginning of chromium or nickel based colors, or both, is uncertain. A bluish-green was created in chalcedony by chromium salts. The stone was initially soaked in either chromic acid or potassium dichromate (Dreher points out that the lapidaries seemed to prefer chromic acid even though potassium dichromate was cheaper.) Thinner stones would be soaked for eight to fourteen days, although Dreher said in practice stones more than 10mm in thickness were soaked for up to six to eight weeks. The stones were then dried and placed in a warmed container containing solid ammonium carbonate for two weeks. This created an ammonia gas atmosphere around the stones, which helped “develop” the color further (an ammonium hydroxide solution was not used as it might wash out the extremely soluble chromium salts). The stones were then “burned” to fix the color. The nickel process involved saturating the stone nickel nitrate, then “burning” the stone to create nickel oxide in the interstices. The final product supposedly imitated the bright apple-green of chrysoprase, a naturally-occurring chalcedony colored by trace amounts of nickel. In addition to the processing “burning” agate to create a red color in chalcedony that contained traces of iron, the early Idar lapidaries developed a process to color chalcedony which contained insufficient natural iron. The stone was soaked for one to four weeks in a warm solution of iron nitrate (which, Dreher says, the old-time lapidaries said should be as thin as Munich beer). The lapidaries developed a rule of thumb about how long the stones should be soaked, based on thickness: stones 3mm thick were soaked for a week, while stones 6mm thick were left in the iron nitrate bath for three weeks. Stones 10mm thick required four weeks. Dreher complained that the iron nitrate solution seldom penetrated stones greater than 10mm thick to a sufficient depth to color the whole of the body of the stone. The stone was then “burned” to transform the iron nitrate into iron oxides. Dreher makes no mention of methods to create yellow color in chalcedony. However, other writers pointed out that yellow chalcedony was the single least favorite color of the buying public, so it is likely that Idar’s lapidaries expended little effort in that direction. During the second half of the 19th Century, the synthesis of coal-tar derived aniline dyes (later found to be highly toxic and possibly carcinogenic) created an explosion of color throughout the western world. Suddenly brilliant, vibrant colors were available for textiles, wallpapers, inks and paint that had never been possible to achieve before. Dreher said that Idar lapidaries had employed aniline dyes but noted that they were not as permanent as the old, established methods of coloring chalcedony. The process was in use at least as early as 1884, when it receives a passing mention in the New York Times. The use of aniline dyes to color agate appears to continue, as several recent papers on methods of decolorizing wastewater from the agate factories of Rio de Sul, Brazil have been published as recently as 2006 (as an example, see Pizzalato, et alia, 2002; and Barros, 2006) • Barros, A. L., Pizzolato, T. M, Carissimib, E and Schneider I.A (2006) Decolorizing dye wastewater from the agate industry with Fenton oxidation process. Minerals Engineering Volume 19, Issue 1, January 2006, Pages 87-90 • DeKalb, Courtenay “Onyx-Marbles. “ Transactions Of The American Institute Of Mining Engineers. Vol 25, pp 258 (1896) • Dreher, O. 1913 Farben des Achates: Idar , p. 20. Translated by Farrington, O. C., 1926, reprinted in The Mineralogist, v. 7, no. 8, p. 331-332, 345-346. • English, George Letchworth, “Agate” in: Beach, Frank Converse, ed. The Encyclopedia Americana New York 1904 Chicago • Lewis, William “On the Different Black Colors”. Gill’s Technological Repository, Vol. 2 pp 289 – 291. London 1828 • Newton, W. “On The Artificial Coloring Of Cornelians, Calcedonies, &c” The London Journal of Art, Science and Manufacture Vol 35 pp 347-348 • New York Times “Concerning Agates”, 28 July 1884 • Nöggerath, J J “On the Porosity and Colouring of Agates, Calcedonies, &c.” In: The Edinburg Philosophical Journal Vol 48 (1850) pp166-172 • Pizzalato, T.M.; Carissimi E.; Machado E.L.; Schneider I.A. Colour removal with NaClO of dye wastewater from an agate-processing plant in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil International Journal of Mineral Processing, Volume 65, Number 3, July 2002 , pp. 203-211(9) • Rudler, F W "Agate" in: Thorpe, Thomas Edward, ed. Dictionary of Applied Chemistry Completed: 11 January 2008 Major Revision: 13 January 2008 Article has been viewed at least 22303 times. I just love Daniel Russell's article here on Mindat.org I saw this website that shows exactly how to dye agates It has the recipes, temperatures and treatments listed, and links to the chemicals you need to do the dyeing yourself. 27th Dec 2012 10:26am I saw this website that shows exactly how to dye agates It has the recipes, temperatures and treatments listed, and links to the chemicals you need to do the dyeing yourself. 27th Dec 2012 10:26am In order to leave comments to this article, you must be registered

We have created a novel high-throughput imaging system for the analysis of behavior in 7-day-old zebrafish larvae in multi-lane plates. This system measures spontaneous behaviors and the response to an aversive stimulus, which is shown to the larvae via a PowerPoint presentation. The recorded images are analyzed with an ImageJ macro, which automatically splits the color channels, subtracts the background, and applies a threshold to identify individual larvae placement in the lanes. We can then import the coordinates into an Excel sheet to quantify swim speed, preference for edge or side of the lane, resting behavior, thigmotaxis, distance between larvae, and avoidance behavior. Subtle changes in behavior are easily detected using our system, making it useful for behavioral analyses after exposure to environmental toxicants or pharmaceuticals. 18 Related JoVE Articles! A Novel Method of Drug Administration to Multiple Zebrafish (Danio rerio) and the Quantification of Withdrawal Institutions: MacEwan University. Anxiety testing in zebrafish is often studied in combination with the application of pharmacological substances. In these studies, fish are routinely netted and transported between home aquaria and dosing tanks. In order to enhance the ease of compound administration, a novel method for transferring fish between tanks for drug administration was developed. Inserts that are designed for spawning were used to transfer groups of fish into the drug solution, allowing accurate dosing of all fish in the group. This increases the precision and efficiency of dosing, which becomes very important in long schedules of repeated drug administration. We implemented this procedure for use in a study examining the behavior of zebrafish in the light/dark test after administering ethanol with differing 21 day schedules. In fish exposed to daily-moderate amounts of alcohol there was a significant difference in location preference after 2 days of withdrawal when compared to the control group. However, a significant difference in location preference in a group exposed to weekly-binge administration was not observed. This protocol can be generalized for use with all types of compounds that are water-soluble and may be used in any situation when the behavior of fish during or after long schedules of drug administration is being examined. The light/dark test is also a valuable method of assessing withdrawal-induced changes in anxiety. Neuroscience, Issue 93, Zebrafish, Ethanol, Behavior, Anxiety, Pharmacology, Fish, Neuroscience, Drug administration, Scototaxis Analysis of Nephron Composition and Function in the Adult Zebrafish Kidney Institutions: University of Notre Dame. The zebrafish model has emerged as a relevant system to study kidney development, regeneration and disease. Both the embryonic and adult zebrafish kidneys are composed of functional units known as nephrons, which are highly conserved with other vertebrates, including mammals. Research in zebrafish has recently demonstrated that two distinctive phenomena transpire after adult nephrons incur damage: first, there is robust regeneration within existing nephrons that replaces the destroyed tubule epithelial cells; second, entirely new nephrons are produced from renal progenitors in a process known as neonephrogenesis. In contrast, humans and other mammals seem to have only a limited ability for nephron epithelial regeneration. To date, the mechanisms responsible for these kidney regeneration phenomena remain poorly understood. Since adult zebrafish kidneys undergo both nephron epithelial regeneration and neonephrogenesis, they provide an outstanding experimental paradigm to study these events. Further, there is a wide range of genetic and pharmacological tools available in the zebrafish model that can be used to delineate the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate renal regeneration. One essential aspect of such research is the evaluation of nephron structure and function. This protocol describes a set of labeling techniques that can be used to gauge renal composition and test nephron functionality in the adult zebrafish kidney. Thus, these methods are widely applicable to the future phenotypic characterization of adult zebrafish kidney injury paradigms, which include but are not limited to, nephrotoxicant exposure regimes or genetic methods of targeted cell death such as the nitroreductase mediated cell ablation technique. Further, these methods could be used to study genetic perturbations in adult kidney formation and could also be applied to assess renal status during chronic disease modeling. Cellular Biology, Issue 90, zebrafish; kidney; nephron; nephrology; renal; regeneration; proximal tubule; distal tubule; segment; mesonephros; physiology; acute kidney injury (AKI) Flat Mount Preparation for Observation and Analysis of Zebrafish Embryo Specimens Stained by Whole Mount In situ Hybridization Institutions: University of Notre Dame. The zebrafish embryo is now commonly used for basic and biomedical research to investigate the genetic control of developmental processes and to model congenital abnormalities. During the first day of life, the zebrafish embryo progresses through many developmental stages including fertilization, cleavage, gastrulation, segmentation, and the organogenesis of structures such as the kidney, heart, and central nervous system. The anatomy of a young zebrafish embryo presents several challenges for the visualization and analysis of the tissues involved in many of these events because the embryo develops in association with a round yolk mass. Thus, for accurate analysis and imaging of experimental phenotypes in fixed embryonic specimens between the tailbud and 20 somite stage (10 and 19 hours post fertilization (hpf), respectively), such as those stained using whole mount in situ hybridization (WISH), it is often desirable to remove the embryo from the yolk ball and to position it flat on a glass slide. However, performing a flat mount procedure can be tedious. Therefore, successful and efficient flat mount preparation is greatly facilitated through the visual demonstration of the dissection technique, and also helped by using reagents that assist in optimal tissue handling. Here, we provide our WISH protocol for one or two-color detection of gene expression in the zebrafish embryo, and demonstrate how the flat mounting procedure can be performed on this example of a stained fixed specimen. This flat mounting protocol is broadly applicable to the study of many embryonic structures that emerge during early zebrafish development, and can be implemented in conjunction with other staining methods performed on fixed embryo samples. Developmental Biology, Issue 89, animals, vertebrates, fishes, zebrafish, growth and development, morphogenesis, embryonic and fetal development, organogenesis, natural science disciplines, embryo, whole mount in situ hybridization, flat mount, deyolking, imaging An Assay for Lateral Line Regeneration in Adult Zebrafish Institutions: Dr. William M Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. Due to the clinical importance of hearing and balance disorders in man, model organisms such as the zebrafish have been used to study lateral line development and regeneration. The zebrafish is particularly attractive for such studies because of its rapid development time and its high regenerative capacity. To date, zebrafish studies of lateral line regeneration have mainly utilized fish of the embryonic and larval stages because of the lower number of neuromasts at these stages. This has made quantitative analysis of lateral line regeneration/and or development easier in the earlier developmental stages. Because many zebrafish models of neurological and non-neurological diseases are studied in the adult fish and not in the embryo/larvae, we focused on developing a quantitative lateral line regenerative assay in adult zebrafish so that an assay was available that could be applied to current adult zebrafish disease models. Building on previous studies by Van Trump et al.17 that described procedures for ablation of hair cells in adult Mexican blind cave fish and zebrafish (Danio rerio ), our assay was designed to allow quantitative comparison between control and experimental groups. This was accomplished by developing a regenerative neuromast standard curve based on the percent of neuromast reappearance over a 24 hr time period following gentamicin-induced necrosis of hair cells in a defined region of the lateral line. The assay was also designed to allow extension of the analysis to the individual hair cell level when a higher level of resolution is required. Developmental Biology, Issue 86, Zebrafish, lateral line regeneration, lateral line development, neuromasts, hair cell regeneration, disease models Analysis of Oxidative Stress in Zebrafish Embryos Institutions: University of Torino, Vesalius Research Center, VIB. High levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) may cause a change of cellular redox state towards oxidative stress condition. This situation causes oxidation of molecules (lipid, DNA, protein) and leads to cell death. Oxidative stress also impacts the progression of several pathological conditions such as diabetes, retinopathies, neurodegeneration, and cancer. Thus, it is important to define tools to investigate oxidative stress conditions not only at the level of single cells but also in the context of whole organisms. Here, we consider the zebrafish embryo as a useful in vivo system to perform such studies and present a protocol to measure in vivo oxidative stress. Taking advantage of fluorescent ROS probes and zebrafish transgenic fluorescent lines, we develop two different methods to measure oxidative stress in vivo : i) a “whole embryo ROS-detection method” for qualitative measurement of oxidative stress and ii) a “single-cell ROS detection method” for quantitative measurements of oxidative stress. Herein, we demonstrate the efficacy of these procedures by increasing oxidative stress in tissues by oxidant agents and physiological or genetic methods. This protocol is amenable for forward genetic screens and it will help address cause-effect relationships of ROS in animal models of oxidative stress-related pathologies such as neurological disorders and cancer. Developmental Biology, Issue 89, Danio rerio, zebrafish embryos, endothelial cells, redox state analysis, oxidative stress detection, in vivo ROS measurements, FACS (fluorescence activated cell sorter), molecular probes Electrophysiological Recording in the Brain of Intact Adult Zebrafish Institutions: University of Georgia, University of Georgia, Oklahoma State University, University of Georgia, University of California, Davis. Previously, electrophysiological studies in adult zebrafish have been limited to slice preparations or to eye cup preparations and electrorentinogram recordings. This paper describes how an adult zebrafish can be immobilized, intubated, and used for in vivo electrophysiological experiments, allowing recording of neural activity. Immobilization of the adult requires a mechanism to deliver dissolved oxygen to the gills in lieu of buccal and opercular movement. With our technique, animals are immobilized and perfused with habitat water to fulfill this requirement. A craniotomy is performed under tricaine methanesulfonate (MS-222; tricaine) anesthesia to provide access to the brain. The primary electrode is then positioned within the craniotomy window to record extracellular brain activity. Through the use of a multitube perfusion system, a variety of pharmacological compounds can be administered to the adult fish and any alterations in the neural activity can be observed. The methodology not only allows for observations to be made regarding changes in neurological activity, but it also allows for comparisons to be made between larval and adult zebrafish. This gives researchers the ability to identify the alterations in neurological activity due to the introduction of various compounds at different life stages. Neuroscience, Issue 81, Zebrafish, adult, Electrophysiology, in vivo, craniotomy, perfusion, neural activity Using an Automated 3D-tracking System to Record Individual and Shoals of Adult Zebrafish Like many aquatic animals, zebrafish (Danio rerio ) moves in a 3D space. It is thus preferable to use a 3D recording system to study its behavior. The presented automatic video tracking system accomplishes this by using a mirror system and a calibration procedure that corrects for the considerable error introduced by the transition of light from water to air. With this system it is possible to record both single and groups of adult zebrafish. Before use, the system has to be calibrated. The system consists of three modules: Recording, Path Reconstruction, and Data Processing. The step-by-step protocols for calibration and using the three modules are presented. Depending on the experimental setup, the system can be used for testing neophobia, white aversion, social cohesion, motor impairments, novel object exploration etc . It is especially promising as a first-step tool to study the effects of drugs or mutations on basic behavioral patterns. The system provides information about vertical and horizontal distribution of the zebrafish, about the xyz-components of kinematic parameters (such as locomotion, velocity, acceleration, and turning angle) and it provides the data necessary to calculate parameters for social cohesions when testing shoals. Behavior, Issue 82, neuroscience, Zebrafish, Danio rerio, anxiety, Shoaling, Pharmacology, 3D-tracking, MK801 Quantification of the Respiratory Burst Response as an Indicator of Innate Immune Health in Zebrafish Institutions: University of Maine. The phagocyte respiratory burst is part of the innate immune response to pathogen infection and involves the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are toxic and function to kill phagocytized microorganisms. In vivo quantification of phagocyte-derived ROS provides information regarding an organism's ability to mount a robust innate immune response. Here we describe a protocol to quantify and compare ROS in whole zebrafish embryos upon chemical induction of the phagocyte respiratory burst. This method makes use of a non-fluorescent compound that becomes fluorescent upon oxidation by ROS. Individual zebrafish embryos are pipetted into the wells of a microplate and incubated in this fluorogenic substrate with or without a chemical inducer of the respiratory burst. Fluorescence in each well is quantified at desired time points using a microplate reader. Fluorescence readings are adjusted to eliminate background fluorescence and then compared using an unpaired t-test. This method allows for comparison of the respiratory burst potential of zebrafish embryos at different developmental stages and in response to experimental manipulations such as protein knockdown, overexpression, or treatment with pharmacological agents. This method can also be used to monitor the respiratory burst response in whole dissected kidneys or cell preparations from kidneys of adult zebrafish and some other fish species. We believe that the relative simplicity and adaptability of this protocol will complement existing protocols and will be of interest to researchers who seek to better understand the innate immune response. Immunology, Issue 79, Phagocytes, Immune System, Zebrafish, Reactive Oxygen Species, Immune System Processes, Host-Pathogen Interactions, Respiratory Burst, Immune System Phenomena, innate immunity, bacteria, virus, infection] A Manual Small Molecule Screen Approaching High-throughput Using Zebrafish Embryos Institutions: University of Notre Dame. Zebrafish have become a widely used model organism to investigate the mechanisms that underlie developmental biology and to study human disease pathology due to their considerable degree of genetic conservation with humans. Chemical genetics entails testing the effect that small molecules have on a biological process and is becoming a popular translational research method to identify therapeutic compounds. Zebrafish are specifically appealing to use for chemical genetics because of their ability to produce large clutches of transparent embryos, which are externally fertilized. Furthermore, zebrafish embryos can be easily drug treated by the simple addition of a compound to the embryo media. Using whole-mount in situ hybridization (WISH), mRNA expression can be clearly visualized within zebrafish embryos. Together, using chemical genetics and WISH, the zebrafish becomes a potent whole organism context in which to determine the cellular and physiological effects of small molecules. Innovative advances have been made in technologies that utilize machine-based screening procedures, however for many labs such options are not accessible or remain cost-prohibitive. The protocol described here explains how to execute a manual high-throughput chemical genetic screen that requires basic resources and can be accomplished by a single individual or small team in an efficient period of time. Thus, this protocol provides a feasible strategy that can be implemented by research groups to perform chemical genetics in zebrafish, which can be useful for gaining fundamental insights into developmental processes, disease mechanisms, and to identify novel compounds and signaling pathways that have medically relevant applications. Developmental Biology, Issue 93, zebrafish, chemical genetics, chemical screen, in vivo small molecule screen, drug discovery, whole mount in situ hybridization (WISH), high-throughput screening (HTS), high-content screening (HCS) In Vivo Modeling of the Morbid Human Genome using Danio rerio Institutions: Duke University Medical Center, Duke University, Duke University Medical Center. Here, we present methods for the development of assays to query potentially clinically significant nonsynonymous changes using in vivo complementation in zebrafish. Zebrafish (Danio rerio ) are a useful animal system due to their experimental tractability; embryos are transparent to enable facile viewing, undergo rapid development ex vivo, and can be genetically manipulated.1 These aspects have allowed for significant advances in the analysis of embryogenesis, molecular processes, and morphogenetic signaling. Taken together, the advantages of this vertebrate model make zebrafish highly amenable to modeling the developmental defects in pediatric disease, and in some cases, adult-onset disorders. Because the zebrafish genome is highly conserved with that of humans (~70% orthologous), it is possible to recapitulate human disease states in zebrafish. This is accomplished either through the injection of mutant human mRNA to induce dominant negative or gain of function alleles, or utilization of morpholino (MO) antisense oligonucleotides to suppress genes to mimic loss of function variants. Through complementation of MO-induced phenotypes with capped human mRNA, our approach enables the interpretation of the deleterious effect of mutations on human protein sequence based on the ability of mutant mRNA to rescue a measurable, physiologically relevant phenotype. Modeling of the human disease alleles occurs through microinjection of zebrafish embryos with MO and/or human mRNA at the 1-4 cell stage, and phenotyping up to seven days post fertilization (dpf). This general strategy can be extended to a wide range of disease phenotypes, as demonstrated in the following protocol. We present our established models for morphogenetic signaling, craniofacial, cardiac, vascular integrity, renal function, and skeletal muscle disorder phenotypes, as well as others. Molecular Biology, Issue 78, Genetics, Biomedical Engineering, Medicine, Developmental Biology, Biochemistry, Anatomy, Physiology, Bioengineering, Genomics, Medical, zebrafish, in vivo, morpholino, human disease modeling, transcription, PCR, mRNA, DNA, Danio rerio, animal model Forebrain Electrophysiological Recording in Larval Zebrafish Institutions: University of California, San Francisco . Epilepsy affects nearly 3 million people in the United States and up to 50 million people worldwide. Defined as the occurrence of spontaneous unprovoked seizures, epilepsy can be acquired as a result of an insult to the brain or a genetic mutation. Efforts to model seizures in animals have primarily utilized acquired insults (convulsant drugs, stimulation or brain injury) and genetic manipulations (antisense knockdown, homologous recombination or transgenesis) in rodents. Zebrafish are a vertebrate model system1-3 that could provide a valuable alternative to rodent-based epilepsy research. Zebrafish are used extensively in the study of vertebrate genetics or development, exhibit a high degree of genetic similarity to mammals and express homologs for ~85% of known human single-gene epilepsy mutations. Because of their small size (4-6 mm in length), zebrafish larvae can be maintained in fluid volumes as low as 100 μl during early development and arrayed in multi-well plates. Reagents can be added directly to the solution in which embryos develop, simplifying drug administration and enabling rapid in vivo screening of test compounds4 . Synthetic oligonucleotides (morpholinos), mutagenesis, zinc finger nuclease and transgenic approaches can be used to rapidly generate gene knockdown or mutation in zebrafish5-7 . These properties afford zebrafish studies an unprecedented statistical power analysis advantage over rodents in the study of neurological disorders such as epilepsy. Because the "gold standard" for epilepsy research is to monitor and analyze the abnormal electrical discharges that originate in a central brain structure (i.e. , seizures), a method to efficiently record brain activity in larval zebrafish is described here. This method is an adaptation of conventional extracellular recording techniques and allows for stable long-term monitoring of brain activity in intact zebrafish larvae. Sample recordings are shown for acute seizures induced by bath application of convulsant drugs and spontaneous seizures recorded in a genetically modified fish. Developmental Biology, Issue 71, Neuroscience, Anatomy, Physiology, Neurobiology, Cellular Biology, Molecular Biology, Surgery, Seizure, development, telencephalon, electrographic, extracellular, field recording, in vivo, electrophysiology, neuron, activity, microsurgery, micropipette, epilepsy, Danio rerio, zebrafish, zebrafish larvae VisioTracker, an Innovative Automated Approach to Oculomotor Analysis Institutions: University of Zurich, TSE Systems GmbH. Investigations into the visual system development and function necessitate quantifiable behavioral models of visual performance that are easy to elicit, robust, and simple to manipulate. A suitable model has been found in the optokinetic response (OKR), a reflexive behavior present in all vertebrates due to its high selection value. The OKR involves slow stimulus-following movements of eyes alternated with rapid resetting saccades. The measurement of this behavior is easily carried out in zebrafish larvae, due to its early and stable onset (fully developed after 96 hours post fertilization (hpf)), and benefitting from the thorough knowledge about zebrafish genetics, for decades one of the favored model organisms in this field. Meanwhile the analysis of similar mechanisms in adult fish has gained importance, particularly for pharmacological and toxicological applications. Here we describe VisioTracker, a fully automated, high-throughput system for quantitative analysis of visual performance. The system is based on research carried out in the group of Prof. Stephan Neuhauss and was re-designed by TSE Systems. It consists of an immobilizing device for small fish monitored by a high-quality video camera equipped with a high-resolution zoom lens. The fish container is surrounded by a drum screen, upon which computer-generated stimulus patterns can be projected. Eye movements are recorded and automatically analyzed by the VisioTracker software package in real time. Data analysis enables immediate recognition of parameters such as slow and fast phase duration, movement cycle frequency, slow-phase gain, visual acuity, and contrast sensitivity. Typical results allow for example the rapid identification of visual system mutants that show no apparent alteration in wild type morphology, or the determination of quantitative effects of pharmacological or toxic and mutagenic agents on visual system performance. Neuroscience, Issue 56, zebrafish, fish larvae, visual system, optokinetic response, developmental genetics, pharmacology, mutants, Danio rerio, adult fish Large Scale Zebrafish-Based In vivo Small Molecule Screen Institutions: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Given their small embryo size, rapid development, transparency, fecundity, and numerous molecular, morphological and physiological similarities to mammals, zebrafish has emerged as a powerful in vivo platform for phenotype-based drug screens and chemical genetic analysis. Here, we demonstrate a simple, practical method for large-scale screening of small molecules using zebrafish embryos. Developmental Biology, Issue 46, Chemical screen, chemical genetics, drug discovery, small molecule library, phenotype, zebrafish Using the optokinetic response to study visual function of zebrafish Institutions: University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Optokinetic response (OKR) is a behavior that an animal vibrates its eyes to follow a rotating grating around it. It has been widely used to assess the visual functions of larval zebrafish1-5 . Nevertheless, the standard protocol for larval fish is not yet readily applicable in adult zabrafish. Here, we introduce how to measure the OKR of adult zebrafish with our simple custom-built apparatus using a new protocol which is established in our lab. Both our apparatus and step-by-step procedure of OKR in adult zebrafish are illustrated in this video. In addition, the measurements of the larval OKR, as well as the optomotor response (OMR) test of adult zebrafish, are also demonstrated in this video. This OKR assay of adult zebrafish in our experiment may last for up to 4 hours. Such OKR test applied in adult fish will benefit to visual function investigation more efficiently when the adult fish vision system is manipulated. Su-Qi Zou and Wu Yin contributed equally to this paper. Neuroscience, Issue 36, Zebrafish, OKR, OMR, behavior, optokinetic, vision Dissection of Organs from the Adult Zebrafish Institutions: University of Pennsylvania-School of Medicine. Over the last 20 years, the zebrafish has become a powerful model organism for understanding vertebrate development and disease. Although experimental analysis of the embryo and larva is extensive and the morphology has been well documented, descriptions of adult zebrafish anatomy and studies of development of the adult structures and organs, together with techniques for working with adults are lacking. The organs of the larva undergo significant changes in their overall structure, morphology, and anatomical location during the larval to adult transition. Externally, the transparent larva develops its characteristic adult striped pigment pattern and paired pelvic fins, while internally, the organs undergo massive growth and remodeling. In addition, the bipotential gonad primordium develops into either testis or ovary. This protocol identifies many of the organs of the adult and demonstrates methods for dissection of the brain, gonads, gastrointestinal system, heart, and kidney of the adult zebrafish. The dissected organs can be used for in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, histology, RNA extraction, protein analysis, and other molecular techniques. This protocol will assist in the broadening of studies in the zebrafish to include the remodeling of larval organs, the morphogenesis of organs specific to the adult and other investigations of the adult organ systems. Developmental Biology, Issue 37, adult, zebrafish, organs, dissection, anatomy A Behavioral Assay to Measure Responsiveness of Zebrafish to Changes in Light Intensities The optokinetic reflex (OKR) is a basic visual reflex exhibited by most vertebrates and plays an important role in stabilizing the eye relative to the visual scene. However, the OKR requires that an animal detect moving stripes and it is possible that fish that fail to exhibit an OKR may not be completely blind. One zebrafish mutant, the no optokinetic response c (nrc) has no OKR under any light conditions tested and was reported to be completely blind. Previously, we have shown that OFF-ganglion cell activity can be recorded in these mutants. To determine whether mutant fish with no OKR such as the nrc mutant can detect simple light increments and decrements we developed the visual motor behavioral assay (VMR). In this assay, single zebrafish larvae are placed in each well of a 96-well plate allowing the simultaneous monitoring of larvae using an automated video-tracking system. The locomotor responses of each larva to 30 minutes light ON and 30 minutes light OFF were recorded and quantified. WT fish have a brief spike of motor activity upon lights ON, known as the startle response, followed by return to lower-than baseline activity, called a freeze. WT fish also sharply increase their locomotor activity immediately following lights OFF and only gradually (over several minutes) return to baseline locomotor activity. The nrc mutants respond similarly to light OFF as WT fish, but exhibit a slight reduction in their average activity as compared to WT fish. Motor activity in response to light ON in nrc mutants is delayed and sluggish. There is a slow rise time of the nrc mutant response to light ON as compared to WT light ON response. The results indicate that nrc fish are not completely blind. Because teleosts can detect light through non-retinal tissues, we confirmed that the immediate behavioral responses to light-intensity changes require intact eyes by using the chokh (chk) mutants, which completely lack eyes from the earliest stages of development. In our VMR assay, the chk mutants exhibit no startle response to either light ON or OFF, showing that the lateral eyes mediate this behavior. The VMR assay described here complements the well-established OKR assay, which does not test the ability of zebrafish larvae to respond to changes in light intensities. Additionally, the automation of the VMR assay lends itself to high-throughput screening for defects in light-intensity driven visual responses. Developmental Biology, Issue 20, vision, ON- and OFF-responses, behavior, zebrafish Transplantation of Whole Kidney Marrow in Adult Zebrafish Institutions: Harvard Medical School. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) are a rare population of pluripotent cells that maintain all the differentiated blood lineages throughout the life of an organism. The functional definition of a HSC is a transplanted cell that has the ability to reconstitute all the blood lineages of an irradiated recipient long term. This designation was established by decades of seminal work in mammalian systems. Using hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and reverse genetic manipulations in the mouse, the underlying regulatory factors of HSC biology are beginning to be unveiled, but are still largely under-explored. Recently, the zebrafish has emerged as a powerful genetic model to study vertebrate hematopoiesis. Establishing HCT in zebrafish will allow scientists to utilize the large-scale genetic and chemical screening methodologies available in zebrafish to reveal novel mechanisms underlying HSC regulation. In this article, we demonstrate a method to perform HCT in adult zebrafish. We show the dissection and preparation of zebrafish whole kidney marrow, the site of adult hematopoiesis in the zebrafish, and the introduction of these donor cells into the circulation of irradiated recipient fish via intracardiac injection. Additionally, we describe the post-transplant care of fish in an "ICU" to increase their long-term health. In general, gentle care of the fish before, during, and after the transplant is critical to increase the number of fish that will survive more than one month following the procedure, which is essential for assessment of long term (<3 month) engraftment. The experimental data used to establish this protocol will be published elsewhere. The establishment of this protocol will allow for the merger of large-scale zebrafish genetics and transplant biology. Developmental Biology, Issue 2, zebrafish, HSC, stem cells, transplant Light/dark Transition Test for Mice Institutions: Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University. Although all of the mouse genome sequences have been determined, we do not yet know the functions of most of these genes. Gene-targeting techniques, however, can be used to delete or manipulate a specific gene in mice. The influence of a given gene on a specific behavior can then be determined by conducting behavioral analyses of the mutant mice. As a test for behavioral phenotyping of mutant mice, the light/dark transition test is one of the most widely used tests to measure anxiety-like behavior in mice. The test is based on the natural aversion of mice to brightly illuminated areas and on their spontaneous exploratory behavior in novel environments. The test is sensitive to anxiolytic drug treatment. The apparatus consists of a dark chamber and a brightly illuminated chamber. Mice are allowed to move freely between the two chambers. The number of entries into the bright chamber and the duration of time spent there are indices of bright-space anxiety in mice. To obtain phenotyping results of a strain of mutant mice that can be readily reproduced and compared with those of other mutants, the behavioral test methods should be as identical as possible between laboratories. The procedural differences that exist between laboratories, however, make it difficult to replicate or compare the results among laboratories. Here, we present our protocol for the light/dark transition test as a movie so that the details of the protocol can be demonstrated. In our laboratory, we have assessed more than 60 strains of mutant mice using the protocol shown in the movie. Those data will be disclosed as a part of a public database that we are now constructing. Visualization of the protocol will facilitate understanding of the details of the entire experimental procedure, allowing for standardization of the protocols used across laboratories and comparisons of the behavioral phenotypes of various strains of mutant mice assessed using this test. Neuroscience, Issue 1, knockout mice, transgenic mice, behavioral test, phenotyping

Gospel in the Liturgy From the very earliest times the public reading of parts of the Bible was an important element in the Liturgy inherited from the service of the Synagogue. The first part of that service, before the bread and wine were brought up to be offered and consecrated, was the Liturgy of the catechumens. This consisted of prayers, litanies, hymns, and especially readings from Holy Scripture . The object of the readings was obviously to instruct the people. Books were rare and few could read. What the Christian of the first centuries knew of the Bible , of Old Testament history, St. Paul's theology, and Our Lord's life he had learned from hearing the lessons in church, and from the homilies that followed to explain them. In the first period the portions read were — like the rite — not yet stereotyped. St. Justin Martyr (died c. 167) in describing the rite he knew (apparently at Rome ) begins by saying that: "On the day of the sun, as it is called, all the inhabitants of town and country come together in the same place, and the commentaries of the Apostles [ anamnemoneumata ton apostolon — gospels ], or writings of the Prophets are read as long as time will allow. Then, when the reader has stopped, he who presides admonishes and exhorts all to imitate such glorious examples" (I Apol., 67). At this time, then, the text was read continuously from a Bible, till the president (the bishop who was celebrating) told the reader to stop. These readings varied in number. A common practice was to read first from the Old Testament (Prophetia), then from an Epistle (Apostolus) and lastly from a Gospel (Evangelium). In any case the Gospel was read last, as the fulfilment of all the rest. Origen calls it the crown of all the holy writings (In Johannem, i, 4, præf., P. G., XIV, 26). "We hear the Gospel as if God were present", says St. Augustine ("In Johannem", tract. xxx, 1, P. L. XXXV, 1632). It seems that in some places (in the West especially) for a time catechumens were not allowed to stay for the Gospel, which was considered part of the disciplina arcani . At the Synod of Orange, in 441, and at Valencia, in 524, they wanted to change this rule. On the other hand, in all Eastern Liturgies (e.g. that of the Apostolic Constitutions ; Brightman, "Eastern Liturgies ", Oxford, 1896, p. 5) the catechumens are dismissed after the Gospel. The public reading of certain Gospels in churches was the most important factor in deciding which were to be considered canonical. The four that were received and read in the Liturgy everywhere were for that very reason admitted to the Canon of Scripture. We have evidences of this liturgical reading of the Gospel from every part of Christendom in the first centuries. For Syria, the Apostolic Constitutions tell us that when a bishop was ordained he blessed the people "after the reading of the law and prophets and our Epistles and Acts and Gospels " (VIII, 5), and the manner of reading the Gospel is described in II, 57 (Cabrol and Leclercq, "Monumenta eccl. liturgica", Paris, 1900, I, p. 225); the "Peregrinatio Silviæ" (Etheriæ) describes the reading of the Gospel at Jerusalem (Duchesne: "Origines", 493). The homilies of St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom explain the Gospel as read at Cæsarea, Antioch, Constantinople. In Egypt, St. Cyril of Alexandria writes to the Emperor Theodosius II about the liturgical use of the Gospels (P. G., LXXVI, 471). In Africa, Tertullian mentions the same thing (adv. Marc., IV, 1) and tells us that the Roman Church "reads the Law and the Prophets together with the Gospels and Apostolic letters " (de præscr., VI, 36). St. Cyprian ordained a certain confessor named Aurelian that he might "read the Gospel that forms martyrs " (Ep. xxxiii, P. L., IV, 328). In every rite then, from the beginning, as now, the reading of the Gospel formed the chief feature, the cardinal point of the liturgy of the catechumens. It was not only read in the Liturgy. The "Peregrinatio Silviæ" (loc. cit.) alludes to the Gospel read at cock-crow. So in the Byzantine Rite it still forms part of the Office of Orthros ( Lauds ). At Rome the Gospel of the Liturgy was read first, with a homily, at Matins, of which use we have now only a fragment. But the monastic Office still contains the whole Gospel read after the Te Deum. Gradually the portions to be read in the Liturgy became fixed. The steps in the development of the texts used are: first in the book of the Gospels (or complete Bible) marginal signs are added to show how much is to be read each time. Then indexes are drawn up to show which passages are appointed for each day. These indexes (generally written at the beginning or end of the Bible ) are called Synaxaria in Greek, Capitularia in Latin; they give the first and last words of each lesson ( pericope ). The complete Capitularium giving references for all the Lessons to be read each day is a Comes, Liber comitis, or comicus . Later they are composed with the whole text, so as to dispense with searching for it; they have thus become Evangeliaria . The next step is to arrange together all the Lessons for each day, Prophecy, Epistle, Gospel, and even readings from non-canonical books. Such a compilation is a Lectionarium . Then, finally, when complete Missals are drawn up (about the tenth to the thirteenth centuries) the Lessons are included in them. II. SELECTION OF GOSPELS What portions were read? In the first place there was a difference as to the text used. Till about the fifth century it seems that in Syria, at any rate, compilations of the four Gospels made into one narrative were used. The famous "Diatessaron" of Tatian is supposed to have been composed for this purpose (Martin in Revue des Quest. Hist., 1883, and Savi in Revue bibl., 1893). The Mozarabic and Gallican Rites may have imitated this custom for a time (Cabrol, "Etude sur la Peregrinatio Silviæ", Paris, 1895, 168-9). St. Augustine made an unsuccessful attempt to introduce it in Africa by inserting into one Gospel passages taken from the others (Sermo 232, P. L., XXXVIII, 1108). But the commoner use was to read the text of one of the Gospels as it stands (see Baudot, "Les Evangéliaires", quoted below, 18-21). On great feasts the appropriate passage was taken. Thus, at Jerusalem, on Good Friday, "Legitur iam ille locus de evangelio cata Johannem, ubi reddidit Spiritum" (Per. Silviæ, Duchesne, l. c., 492), on Easter Eve "denuo legitur ille locus evangelii resurrectionis" (ibid., 493), on Low Sunday they read the Gospel about St. Thomas "Non credo nisi videro" (494), and so on. The "Peregrinatio "gives us the Gospels thus read for a number of days throughout the year (Baudot, op. cit., 20). For the rest of the year it seems that originally the text was read straight through (probably with the omission of such special passages). At each Synaxis they began again where they had left off last time. Thus Gassian says that in his time the monks read the New Testament through (Coll. patr., X, 14). The homilies of certain Fathers ( St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, etc.) show that the lessons followed each other in order (Bäumer, "Gesch. des Breviers", Freiburg, 1895, 271). In the Eastern Churches the principle obtained that the Four Gospels should be read right through in the course of each year (Scrivener in Smith, "Dict. of Christ. Antiquities", s. v. "Lectionary"). The Byzantine Church began reading St. Matthew immediately after Pentecost. St. Luke followed from September (when their new year begins), St. Mark began before Lent, and St. John was read during Eastertide. There were some exceptions, e.g. for certain feasts and anniversaries. A similar arrangement is still observed by them, as any copy of their Gospel-book will show ( Euaggelion , Venice, 1893). The Syrians have the same arrangement, the Copts a different order, but based on the same principle of continuous readings (Scrivener, "Introduction to the criticism of the N. Test.", London, 1894, I; Baudot, op. cit., 24-32). For the present arrangement of the Byzantine Church see Nilles, "Kalendarium manuale", Innsbruck, 2nd ed., 1897, pp. 444-52. It is well known that they name their Sundays after the Sunday Gospel, e.g., the fourth after Pentecost is "Sunday of the Centurion " because Matt., viii, 5 sqq., is read then. This brings us to a much-disputed question: what principle underlies the order of the Gospels in the Roman missal ? It is clearly not that of continuous readings. Father Beissel, S.J., has made an exhaustive study of this question ("Entstehung der Perikopen", see below), in which he compares all manner of Comites , Eastern and Western. Shortly, his conclusions are these: The root of the order is the selection of appropriate Gospels for the chief feasts and seasons of the year; for these, the account that seemed most complete was chosen, without regard to the particular Evangelist. The intervals were then filled up so as to complete the picture of Our Lord's life, but without chronological order. First, Easter was considered with Holy Week. The lessons for this time are obvious. Working backwards, in Lent the Gospel of Our Lord's fast in the desert was put at the beginning, the entry to Jerusalem and the anointing by Mary ( John 12:1 , "six days before the Pasch ") at the end. This led to the resurrection of Lazarus (in the East, too, always at this place). Some chief incidents from the end of Christ's life filled up the rest. The Epiphany suggested three Gospels about the Wise Men, the Baptism, and the first miracle, which events it commemorates (cf. Antiph. ad Magn., in 2 vesp.) and then events of Christ's childhood. Christmas and its feasts had obvious Gospels ; Advent, those of the Day of Judgment and the preparation for Our Lord's coming by St. John Baptist. Forward from Easter, Ascension Day and Pentecost demanded certain passages clearly. The time between was filled with Our Lord's last messages before He left us (taken from His words on Maundy Thursday in St. John). There remains the most difficult set of Gospels of all — those for the Sundays after Pentecost. They seem to be meant to complete what has not yet been told about His life. Nevertheless, their order is very hard to understand. It has been suggested that they are meant to correspond to the lessons of Matins. In some cases, at any rate, such a comparison is tempting. Thus, on the third Sunday, in the first Nocturne, we read about Saul seeking his father's asses ( 1 Samuel 9 ), in the Gospel (and therefore in the third Nocturne) about the man who loses one sheep, and the lost drachma ( Luke 15 ); on the fourth Sunday, David fights Goliath "in nomine Domini exercituum" ( 1 Samuel 17 ), in the Gospel, St. Peter throws out his net "in verbo tuo" ( Luke 5 ); on the fifth, David mourns his enemy Saul ( 2 Samuel 1 ), in the Gospel we are told to be reconciled to our enemies ( Matthew 5 ). The eighth Sunday begins the Book of Wisdom (first Sunday in August), and in the Gospel the wise steward is commended ( Luke 16 ). Perhaps the nearness of certain feasts had an influence, too. In some lists Luke, v, where our Lord says, "From henceforth thou shalt catch men", to St. Peter, came on the Sunday before his feast (29 June), and the story of St. Andrew and the multiplied bread ( John 6 ) before 30 November. Durandus notices this ("Rationale", VI, 142, "De dom. 25a post Pent."; see also Beissel, op. cit., 195-6). Beissel is disposed to think that much of the arrangement is accidental, and that no satisfactory explanation of the order of Gospels after Pentecost has been found. In any case the order throughout the year is very old. A tradition says that St. Jerome arranged it by command of St. Damasus (Berno, "De officio missæ", i, P. L., CXLII, 1057; "Micrologus", xxxi, P. L., CLI, 999, 1003). Certainly the Lessons now sung in our churches are those that St. Gregory the Great's deacon chanted at Rome thirteen hundred years ago (Beissel, op. cit., 196). III. CEREMONY OF SINGING THE GOSPEL The Gospel has been for many centuries in East and West the privilege of the deacon. This was not always the case. At first a reader ( anagnostes , lector ) read all the lessons. We have seen a case of this in the story of St. Cyprian and Aurelian (see above). St. Jerome (died 420) speaks of the deacon as reader of the Gospel (Ep. cxlvii, n. 6), but the practice was not yet uniform in all churches. At Constantinople, on Easter day , the bishop did so ( Sozomen, H. E., vii, 19); in Alexandria, it was an archdeacon (ibid., he says that: "in other places deacons read the Gospel; in many churches only priests "). The Apostolic Constitutions refer the Gospel to the deacon ; and in 527 a council, at Vaison, says deacons "are worthy to read the words that Christ spoke in the Gospel" (Baudot, op. cit., 51). This custom became gradually universal, as is shown by the formulæ that accompany the tradition of the Gospel-book at the deacon's ordination (the eleventh century Visigothic "Liber ordinum" has the form: "Ecce evangelium Christi, accipe, ex quo annunties bonam gratiam fidei populo", Baudot, p. 52). An exception that lasted through the Middle Ages was that at Christmas the emperor, dressed in a rochet and stole, sang the midnight Gospel: "Exiit edictum a Cæsare Augusto" etc. (Mabillon, "Musæum italicum", I, 256 sq.). Another mark of respect was that everyone stood to hear the Gospel, bareheaded, in the attitude of a servant receiving his master's orders (Apost. Const., II, 57, and Pope Anastasius I, 399-401, in the "Lib. Pontif."). Sozomenos (H. E., VII, 19) is indignant that the Patriarch of Alexandria sate ("a new and insolent practice"). The Grand Masters of the Knights of St. John drew their swords while the Gospel was read. This custom seems still to be observed by some great noblemen in Poland. If any one has a stick in his hand he is to lay it down (Baudot, 116), but the bishop holds his crosier (see below). The Gospel was sung from the ambo ( ambon ), a pulpit generally halfway down the church, from which it could be best heard by every one (Cabrol, Dict. d'archéol. chrét. et de liturgie, Paris, 1907, s.v. "Ambon", I, 1330-47). Often there were two ambos : one for the other lessons, on the left (looking from the altar ); the other, for the Gospel, on the right. From here the deacon faced south, as the "Ordo Rom. II" says (Mabillon, Musæum italic., II, 46), noting that the men generally gather there. Later, when the ambo had disappeared, the deacon turned to the north. Micrologus (De missa, ix) notices this and explains it as an imitation of the celebrant's position at the altar at low Mass — one of the ways in which that service has reacted on to high Mass. The Byzantine Church still commands the deacon to sing the Gospel from the ambo (e.g. Brightman, op. cit., 372), though with them, too, it has generally become only a theoretical place in the middle of the floor. The deacon first asked the blessing of the bishop (or celebrant) then went to the ambo with the book, in procession, accompanied by lights and incense. Germanus of Paris (died 576) mentions this (Ep. 1, P. L., LXXII, 91; cf. Durandus. "Ration.", IV, 24). See the ceremonies in the "Ordo Rom. I", 11, and "Ordo Rom. II", which are almost exactly ours. Meanwhile the Gradual was sung (see GRADUAL). The "Dominus vobiscum at the beginning, the announcement of the Gospel ("Sequentia sancti Evangelii" etc.), and the answer, "Gloria tibi Domine", are also mentioned by the sixth-century Germanus (loc. cit.). At the end of the Gospel the people answered, "Amen", or "Deo Gratias", or "Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini" (Durandus, "Rationale", IV, 24; Beleth, "Rationale", XXXIX; St. Benedict's Rule , XI). Our present answer, "Laus tibi Christe", seems to be a later one (Gihr, "Messopfer", 444). The elaborate care taken to decorate the book of the Gospels throughout the Middle Ages was also a sign of respect for its contents; St. Jerome speaks of this (Ep. xxii, 32). In a collection of manuscripts the Evangeliaria nearly always stand out from the rest by their special sumptuousness. They are not uncommonly written in gold and silver letters on vellum stained purple — the extreme limit of medieval splendour. The bindings, too, are nearly always adorned with special care. It is on Gospel books that one generally sees ivory carvings, metal-work, jewellery, enamel, sometimes relics. (For descriptions see Baudot, op. cit., 58-69.) The same tradition continues in the East. Allowing for doubtful modern taste in Greece, Russia, Syria, etc., the Euaggelion is still the handsomest book, often the handsomest object in a church. When it is not in use it generally displays the enamels of its cover on a desk outside the Iconostasis. To kiss the book was always from early times a sign of respect. This was done at one time not only by the celebrant and deacon, but by all the people present ("Ordo Rom. II", 8). Honorius III (1216-27) forbade this; but the book is still kissed by any high prelates who may be present (Cærim. epise., I, 30; Gihr, op. cit., 445). For this and similar ceremonies see Baudot (op. cit., 110-19). When the ambo disappeared in the West the sub-deacon held the book while the Gospel was sung by the deacon. He also carried it first to lay it on the altar ( Amalarius of Metz : "De. Eccl. offic.", P. L., CV, 1112; Durandus, loc. cit.). The deacon made the sign of the cross first on the book and then on himself — taking a blessing from the book ("Ordo Rom. I", 11, "ut sigilletur"; Durandus, loc. cit., etc.; Beleth, XXXIX). The meaning of all these marks of reverence is that the Gospel-book, which contains Christ's words, was taken as a symbol of Christ himself. It was sometimes carried in the place of honour in various processions (Beissel, op. cit., 4); something of the same idea underlay the practice of putting it on a throne or altar in the middle of the synods (Baudot, 109-110. During provincial and general synods the Gospel is to be sung at each session. — Cær. Episc. I, xxxi, 16), and the superstitious abuses that afterwards developed, in which it was used for magic (ibid., 118; Catalani, "de codice S. Evangelii", III, see below). The Byzantine Church has developed the ceremony of carrying the Evangelion to the ambo into the elaborate rite of the "Little Entrance" (Fortescue, "Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom ", London, 1908, 68-74), and all the other Eastern Churches have similar stately ceremonies at this point of the Liturgy (Brightman, op. cit., for each rite ). Another special practice that may be noticed here is that at a papal high Mass the Gospel (and the Epistle too) is read in Latin and Greek. This is already noticed by the first Roman Ordo (40). At Constantinople the Patriarch, on Easter Day, reads the Gospel in Greek, and it is then read by other persons ( oi agioi archiereis ) in various languages ("Typikon" for that day, ed. Athens, 1908, pp. 368, 372, Nilles, "Kal. man.", II, 314-15). The same thing is done again at the Hesperinos. The little Synopsis ( Synopsis iera ) of Constantinople (1883) gives this Gospel of the Hesperinos ( John 20:19-25 ) in Greek (with two poetic versions, hexameter and iambic), Slavonic, Bulgarian, Albanian, Latin, Italian, French, English, Arabic, Turkish, and Armenian (all in Greek characters, pp. 634-78). The same custom is observed in Russia (Prince Max of Saxony, "Prælectiones de liturgiis orientalibus", Freiburg im Br., 1908, I, 116-17), where the Gospel of the Liturgy ( John 1 ) is read in Slavonic, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. IV. PRESENT CEREMONY OF THE GOSPEL Except for the disappearance of the ambo, the rules of the Rubrics in the Missal (Rubr. gen., X, 6; Ritus cel., VI, 5) are still almost exactly those we have seen observed in the Roman Rite since the seventh or eighth centuries. After the Epistle the deacon puts the Gospel book in the middle of the altar (while the celebrant reads his Gospel from the Missal ). Liturgical editors publish books containing the Epistles and Gospels, otherwise a second Missal is used (the subdeacon has already chanted the Epistle from the same book). The celebrant then puts incense into the thurible and blesses it as usual. The subdeacon goes down and waits below, before the middle of the altar. The deacon kneeling by the celebrant just behind him at his right says the "Munda cor meum". Then, rising and taking the book, he kneels with it before the celebrant (turning towards the north) and says "Jube domne benedicere". Jube with an infinitive is a common late Latin way of expressing a polite imperative (Ducange-Maigne d'Arnis, "Lexicon manuale", ed. Migne, Paris, 1890, s. v., col. 1235). Domnus is a medieval form instead of dominus , which got to be looked upon as a Divine title (so in Greek, kyr and kyris for kyrios ). The celebrant blesses him with the form in the Missal (Dominus sit in corde tuo . . . ) and the sign of the cross ; he kisses the celebrant's hand laid on the Missal. The celebrant goes to the Epistle side, where he waits; he turns round towards the deacon when the Gospel begins. The deacon, holding the book lifted up with both hands, comes down to the subdeacon's side; they make the usual reverence to the altar, and the procession starts. The thurifer goes first with incense, then two acolytes, then the deacon and subdeacon side by side, the deacon on the right. We have seen the antiquity of lights and incense at the Gospel. All this time, of course, the Gradual is being sung. The procession arrives at the place that represents the old ambo. It is still to the right of the altar (north side), but now inside the sanctuary, so that, except in very large churches, there is hardly any way to go; often the old procession to the ambo (the Latin "little entrance") is represented only by an awkward turning round. Arrived at the place, the deacon and subdeacon face each other, the subdeacon receives the book and holds it up open before him. Originally the subdeacon (two are required by the "Ordo Rom. I", 11, one as thurifer) accompanied the deacon up into the ambo, helped him find his place in the book, and then stood back behind him by the steps. At Milan, where the ambo is still used, this is still done. In the Roman Rite the subdeacon himself takes the place of the desk of the ambo. But the "Cærimoniale Episcoporum" still allows the use of "legilia vel ambones" if there be any in the church. In that case the subdeacon is to stand behind the desk or at the deacon's right and to turn over the pages if necessary (II, viii, 45). There is a difficulty about the way they stand. The "Ritus celebrandi" says that the deacon is to stand "contra altare versus populum" (VI, 5). This must mean looking down the church. On the other hand the "Cærim. Episcoporum" (II, viii, 44) says that the subdeacon stands "vertens renes non quidem altari, sed versus ipsam partem dexteram quæ pro aquilone figuratur". This means the way in which they always stand now; namely, the deacon looks north or slightly north-east (supposing the church to be properly orientated); the book is in the same direction as the Missal for the Gospel at low Mass. The acolytes stand on either side of the subdeacon, the thurifer at the deacon's right. The deacon, junctis manibus , sings "Dominus vobiscum (answered by the choir as usual), then, making the sign of the cross with the right thumb on the book (the cross marked at these words in the Missal is put there to show the place) and signing himself on forehead, lips, and breast, he sings "Sequentia [or Initium] sancti Evangelii secundum N . . ." It appears that sequentia is a neuter plural (Gihr, op. cit., 438, n. 3). 'While the choir answers, "Gloria tibi Domine", he incenses the book three times, in the middle, to its right, and left, bowing before and after. He gives the thurible back and sings the text of the Gospel straight through. He bows at the Holy Name, if it occur, and sometimes (on the Epiphany, at the third Christmas Mass, etc.) genuflects (towards the book). The tones for the Gospel are given at the end of the new (Vatican) Missal. The normal one is a recitative on do falling to la four syllables before the end of each phrase, with the cadence si, la, si, si-do for questions, and a scandicus la, si ( quilisma ), do before the end. Two others, more ornamented, are now added ad libitum . The celebrant, standing at the Epistle side, looking towards the deacon, hears the Gospel and bows or genuflects with him, but towards the altar. When the Gospel is over the subdeacon brings him the book to kiss, he says: "Per evangelica dicta", and he is incensed by the deacon. The Mass then continues. We have noted that the only other persons now allowed to kiss the book are the ordinary, if he be present, and other prelates above him in rank (Cær. Episcop., I, xxx, 1, 3). A bishop celebrating in his own diocese reads his Gospel sitting on his throne, and hears it standing there, holding his crosier with both hands (Cær. Episcop., II, viii, 41, 46). In this case no one else is ever to kiss the book (ibid., I, xxix, 9). In low Mass the ceremonies for the Gospel are, as usual, merely an abridgment and simplifying of those for high Mass. When the celebrant has finished reading the Gradual he says the "Munda cor meum", etc., in the middle of the altar (he says, "Jube Domine benedicere", because he is addressing God ). Meanwhile the server brings the Missal to the north side (this is only an imitation of the deacon's place at high Mass). With the book turned slightly towards the people, the priest reads the Gospel with the same ceremonies (except, of course, for the incense ) and kisses it at the end. V. THE LAST GOSPEL The Gospel read at the end of Mass is a late development. Originally (till about the twelfth century) the service ended with the words that still imply that, "Ite missa est". The prayer "Placeat tibi", the blessing, and the last Gospel are all private devotions that have been gradually absorbed by the liturgical service. The beginning of St. John's Gospel (I, 1-14) was much used as an object of special devotion throughout the Middle Ages . It was sometimes read at children's baptism or at extreme unction ( Benedict XIV, "De SS. Missæ sacrif.", II, xxiv, 8). There are curious cases of its use for various superstitious practices, written on amulets and charms. It then began to be recited by priests as part of their prayers after Mass. A trace of this is still left in the "Cærimoniale Episcoporum", which directs that a bishop at the end of his Mass shall begin the last Gospel at the altar and continue it (by heart) as he goes away to take off the vestments. It will also be noted that it is still not printed in the Ordinary of the Mass, though of course the rubric about it is there, and it will be found in the third Christmas Mass. By the thirteenth century it was sometimes said at the altar. But Durandus still supposes the Mass to be finished by the "Ite missa est" (Rationale, IV, 57); he adds the "Placeat" and blessing as a sort of supplement, and then goes on at once to describe the psalms said after Mass ("deinde statim dicuntur hymni illi: Benedicite et Laudate", IV, 59). Nevertheless, the practice of saying it at the altar grew; eventually Pius V made this practice universal for the Roman Rite in his edition of the Missal (1570). The fact that all these three additions after the "Ite missa est" are to be said, even at high Mass, without any special ceremony, preserves the memory of their more or less accidental connexion with the liturgy. The normal last Gospel is John, i, 1-14. It is read by the celebrant at the north side of the altar after the blessing. He reads from the altar-card with the usual introduction (Dominus vobiscum . . . Initium S. Evangelii, etc.), taking the sign of the cross from the altar. He genuflects at the words, "Et verbum caro factum est", and the server, at the end, answers "Deo gratias". At high Mass the deacon and subdeacon stand on either side, genuflect too, and answer. They do not read the Gospel; it is in no way to be sung by the deacon, like the essential Gospel of the Liturgy. Whenever an office is commemorated, whose Gospel is begun in the ninth lesson of Matins, that Gospel is substituted for John, i, at the end of Mass. In this case the Missal must be brought to the north side (at high Mass by the subdeacon ). This applies to all Sundays, feriæe, and vigils that are commemorated. At the third Mass on Christmas day (since John 1:1-14 forms the Gospel of the Mass) that of the Epiphany is read at the end; at low Mass on Palm Sunday the Gospel of the blessing of palms is read. Of Eastern Rites the Armenians alone have copied this practice of the last Gospel from the Latins. 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|Главная » Файлы » Пед. деятельность в коррекционных ОУ » Предметы группы "Иностранный язык"| КОНКУРС АКТЕРСКОГО МАСТЕРСТВА «GOLDEN MASK» НА АНГ-ЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ |[ Скачать с сервера (9.38Mb) ]||10.02.2013, 23:58| |КОНКУРС АКТЕРСКОГО МАСТЕРСТВА «GOLDEN MASK» НА АНГ-ЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ | Латыпова Резеда Харисовна, МБОУ «Гимназия №2 , учитель анг-лийского языка», Республика Башкортостан Предмет (направленность): предметы группы «иностранный язык» Возраст детей: 5-7 классы Место проведения: вне класса. Аннотация к конкурсу «Golden mask» “Увлекательный мир спектаклей, песен, игр, импровизаций, может оказать учителю действенную помощь в формировании и развитии языковой компетенции, решении задач эстетического воспитания, развитии творческих способностей детей”. Для развития коммуникативности школьников большими возмoжностями располагает система К.С. Станиславского и ее “метод физических действий” в обучении иностранному языку средствами драматизации. В изучении английского языка драматизация превращает предмет в приятное занятие и освобождает изучающих язык от оков страха саморазрушения. Конкурс «Golden mask» рассчитан на участие групп учеников 5-7 клас-сов, которые готовят 4 полилога, несколько интермедий, и исполняют общую песню под музыку телепрограммы КВН (текст написан одним из участников конкурса). Полилоги взяты из пробного издания учебника Филиппова В.Н. «Hallo, Friends - 5» и творчески обработаны автором данной работы. Первый полилог «Peacemakers» рассчитан на группу учащихся из 12 человек, представляющих детей-миротворцев из разных стран. Каждый миротворец имеет элементы атрибутов или символики страны, которую он представляет, а также в ходе инсцени-рования полилога он показывают местонахождение своей страны на карте мира. В конце полилога дети совместно исполняют песню “May there always be sunshine” (Пусть всегда будет солнце). Второй полилог “Rooms and Surprises” содержит сюжет расселения в гостиницу, и в инсценировке участвуют 10 учащихся. В данной сценке Сценка «Overpoliteness» об очень вежливом работнике отеля, не ос-мелившемся потревожить сон американца, разыгрывается тремя очень артистичными учениками. Третий юмористический полилог о забавном уроке в школе «A Lesson Just for Fun» предлагается в стихотворной форме. Учащиеся подходят достаточно креативно к воспроизведению данного сценария. Для последнего полилога “A New Year is Quite Near” понадобится зим-няя экипировка, в которую участники с удовольствием облачаются даже не смотря на жаркую погоду на улице, табличка на магазин, ёлка, куклы. Сценка про любимых персонажей мультфильмов Волка и Зайца, за-канчивающаяся исполнением примирительного танго, вызывает осо-бый отклик у зрителей. Похвала, апплодисменты и незатейливая «Golden Mask» для победителя конкурса, изготовленная из самоклея-щейся бумаги, являются высшей наградой для начинающих актёров и служат стимулом для дальнейшей кропотливой работы над изучением английского языка. Конкурс вдохновляет учащихся на творческие успехи, а также подни-мет их на новую ступень в развитии их личностей, раскрывает их скрытые потенциальные возможности и, даже помогает в выборе их будущей профессии. Предлагаю коллегам применение методики драматизации как одного из эффективных методов обучения коммуникативным навыкам учащихся на уроках английского языка и внеклассной деятельности. Сценарий конкурса актерского мастерства Цели и задачи конкурса: -Развивать умение учащихся использовать пройденный лексико-грамматический материал в различных речевых ситуациях, в условиях сцены. -Развивать артистические данные учащихся. - Развивать у учащихся речевые навыки аудирования и беглого гово-рения с правильным интонированием, дикцией. -Воспитывать уважение к своей стране и стране изучаемого языка. -Развивать мотивацию к более глубокому изучению языка. -Воспитывать толерантное отношение к дружбе между народами, к миру. -Воспитывать навыки сотрудничества и взаимопомощи на сцене. -Развивать чувство юмора. -Способствовать воспитанию самостоятельности в социуме. -Знакомить учащихся с историей, традициями, культурой России и стран изучаемого языка. Teacher: Good afternoon, dear parents! Good afternoon, dear colleagues and students! Glad to see you in this beautiful assembly hall in order to celebrate the end of the school year and to witness a very unusual English lesson – contest “Golden Mask”. Today you are not mere students, you are actors and actresses. You have a good opportunity to show your language skills and actor technique at our today’s drama contest. Let me announce the beginning of the contest “Golden Mask”! ( Applauses) (Students go onto the stage and sing the song, composed especially for the contest). The Contest song Everybody’s ready to become a famous actor, Everybody’s ready to enjoy the contest we are having, I’m Sylvester Stallone! (one of the students sings this line solo) As for me, I’m Nicole Kidman! (one of the students sings this line solo) I’m Charlie Chaplin! (one of the students sings this line solo) We would like to get the “Golden mask”! We are beginning to contest- It’s the most important test. The world’s a very happy place And it has a smiling face! We’ve come to live in peace and love People, animals, stars. And people whether big or small Mustn’t sulk, cry at all! Teacher: Now I’d like to introduce the members of the jury: (Teacher names the jury and applies to them). I hope they will be strict enough to judge our 4 drama polylogues and to find out who will get 'the Golden Mask” for his actor and language skills. And now I’d like to invite the presenter of our contest. They are Adel Panova and Rustam Migranov. It’s the first time they have been the hosts of the contest so could you cheer them up? ( the audience applause) Presenter 1: People all over the world fight for peace. Our planet Earth is tired of wars. The only dream of all people is to live in peace. Presenter 2: I’d like to invite the children peace-makers onto this stage. Peace-makers, you are welcome! (A group of students perform the polylogue and finish it with the song “May there always be sunshine”). Getting to Know Each Other Tutor: Hallo! Welcome to our country. Are you a delegation of children peace-makers from different countries? Chorus: Yes, we are. Tutor: You all work for peace, against war. Chorus: Yes, we do. Everybody does. All over the world. Tutor: Yes, you are quite right. Chorus: And who are you? What are you? What do you do here? You speak English fluently. Tutor: Oh, but I have to. I'm an English teacher. Let me introduce myself. I'm going to be your guide and tutor. Well, let me have a look at my list. Who is Peter Reeds? Peter Reeds: That's me. I am from Leeds, it's in Great Britain. Tutor: Hallo! Glad to meet you, Peter. Peter Reeds: Hallo! Glad to meet you, too. Meet my friend. His name is Paul Norman. Tutor: You are rather tall, Paul. How old are you? Paul Norman: I'm eleven. Tutor: Your hobby must be basket¬ball. Paul Norman: But it isn't. Pete and I like technical modelling. Tonie Roman: Fancy that! My hobby is simpler. It's cooking. Tutor: And what's your name, young lady? Tonie Roman: I'm Tonie Roman, from Dover. Douglas Luck: As for me, I'm a bad cook, but to make up for it, I can take pictures. Tutor : A piece of luck! Douglas Luck: That’s me. Luck is my surname. My first name is Douglas. I'm from London. Tutor: You must be lucky, Doug. And who is Charles Palmer? Charles Palmer: That's me. And this is my sister Darcy. By the way, Darcy knows Russian. She can speak it a little. Elizabeth Best: Really? What a clever girl! Tutor: Now, the next one on my list is Albert Turner. Albert Turner: That's me. But if you want, you may call me Bert for short. I'm from Perth. Tutor: Sorry? Perth? Where is that? I think (that) it's in the USA. Albert Turner: Oh, no. Perth is a port in Australia. I'll show it to you on the map. Tutor: Please tell us something about yourself, Bert. Albert Turner: Well, I am not interested in learning foreign lan¬guages. I like playing foot¬ball. Jane Grace: So do I. Tutor: Wow! A girl playing foot¬ball?! Jane Grace: Why not? I also like playing the piano and danc¬ing. Jane Grace from the USA, from Jamestown, to be exact. Tutor: And who is Smith? No Smith here? Richard Smith: I'm sorry, I'm late. Ugh! I hurried so. Tutor: Poor thing! We feel sorry for you. Richard Smith: Never mind! Better late than never. Tutor: But better never late. You are Smith, aren't you? Richard Smith: Yes, you are quite right. I am Richard Smith, or sim¬ply Dick. My mother usually calls me that. Tutor: Where are you from, Dick? Richard Smith: I'm from the city of New York. Tutor: Another American. Mary Fair: I'm also from America. Tutor: Oh, another American! Mary Fair: You've guessed wrong. Tutor: How come?! Mary Fair: Mary Fair is my name. I'm from Canada, High Prai¬rie. Catherine Grand: I am from Australia, from Canberra. I am Catherine Grand. Tutor: I see. Let me introduce the rest. Shirley Short. Shirley Short: That's me. I'm from Washington. Tutor: William Wind! William Wind: That's me. I've come from Wellington. Tutor: You mean the capital of New Zealand? Oh, that's a long way to go. Jack Black! Jack Black: That's me. I'm from Kan¬sas City. Tutor: Elizabeth Best! Elizabeth Best: That's me. I've come from Quebec. Tutor: Dorothy Fox! Dorothy Fox: That's me. I'm from Bos¬ton. Tutor: Now we know each other well. Oh, it’s time for us to leave for the hotel. And this is a nice cheerful song to cheer you up on the way: May there always be sunshine, May there always be blue sky May there always be mummy, May there always be me! Presenter 1: Thank you, dear peace-makers. It was really great. Rustam, have you ever stayed at a hotel? Presenter 2: No, never. What about you? Presenter 1: As for me I’ve travelled a lot and I stayed at different hotels. One of them had such an odd name “The Fearless Gopher”. Presenter 2: Wow! It means “Бесстрашный суслик” in Russian! (A group of students perform the polylogue “Rooms and Surprises”) Rooms and Surprises Tutor: Now we are back here. Will you tell me your room num¬bers? Peter Reeds: I am in 220 together with Paul. It's on the second floor. Jane Grace: Betty, Shirley and I are in 330. It's on the third floor. Tonie Roman, Darcy Palmer: And our room is... oh, I forget. Let me look at my key. It is 444. Albert Turner, Charles Palmer: The number of our room is 555. Tutor: Well, how do you like your rooms? Mary Fair, Catherine Grand: Ours, number 666, is a dream. Dorothy Fox: A sweet dream like ice¬-cream? Mary Fair: Even better. We have a bedroom. We have a fantas¬tic sitting-room, very light, sunny. We have a balcony. We have All: First class? Congratula¬tions! Douglas Luck, Jack Black: and Idon’t like our room at all. It's 888. Tutor: What's the matter? (What's wrong?) Can I help you in any way? Douglas Luck: I'm afraid, you can't. You see, the window in our room is so small that I can't take photos at all. The room is rather dark. All: What a pity! Poor Doug! Bad luck. Jack Black: Never mind. To make up for it there is a thick carpet on the floor to roll on. Tutor: Dolly, what's up with you? You are looking sad. Is it because your room is bad? Dorothy Fox: I have no complaints about my room. It is number 999. It's nice. But — alas! — It is for one. There is nobody to talk to, to laugh with, and to fool around with— no fun. I'd like to change my room. Tutor: I see. I promise to see to it. Richard Smith, William Wind: And we have a surprise room, 777. Paul Norman: Why? Is there a fountain in the middle of it? Albert Turner: Are there a lot of video games round it? Jack Black: Is there no door, no ceiling, no walls in it? Tonie Roman: What is there in your room? Richard Smith: You'll never guess. You'd better go and see it. Shirley Short: I am eager to see it. What floor is your room on? Richard Smith: On the second floor, just near the lift, to the left of the staircase. Here we are. Come in, please. Dorothy Fox: Oh, such a large soft sofa! And a colour TV set opposite it. It's very convenient. Albert Turner: Such comfortable armchairs! We can hide behind them when we play hide-and-seek. There is a lot of room here. That'll be fun! Mary Fair: But where is the rest of the furniture? A table, a desk, a book-case, a ward¬robe, a fridge? There are no beds here! William Wind: At first we were also surprised. And then-here they are! - they are all in the wall. That's where they are. Douglas Luck: Oh, look, what is here, on the window-sill. Another sur-prise: a picture-book about Indians and some coloured feathers! Paul Norman: Great! Let's play Indians! Jane Grace: We also had a surprise in our room. There was a skip¬ping-rope behind the cur¬tains. Catherine Grand: And in our room there's an aquarium with gold fish. All: Hurray for pleasant sur¬prises! Presenter 2: Adel, I wish I had also stayed at the hotel “The Fearless Gopher”. Your room was wonderful. Was the staff of the hotel polite? Presenter 1: Yes, sure. Presenter 2: Being polite is perfect but being over polite sometimes does harm. Ksenia will tell you one curious story.( Student tells the story, Stu-dent 2 and Student 3 perform it). Narrator: Once an American came to Japan. He had a Japanese servant who was very polite. The American wanted to get up early one morning and said to his servant. American: "Wake me up at six o'clock, please. Don't forget to do it. It's very important." Narrator: At six o'clock the servant entered the American's room very qui-etly and seeing that the American was sleeping, took a sheet of paper and wrote on it some words. Then he left the room as quietly as he had entered it. ( She servant performs it artistically). The American woke up at eleven o'clock, jumped out of bed, looked at his watch and saw the sheet of paper on the table. He read. American: "Dear Sir, it is six o'clock now. Please, get up at once." Presenter 2: Thank you. Adel, what are your favourite subjects at school? Presenter 1: I like Maths, Russian, Physical Education, Music and espe-cially English. I wish I had our English lessons 7 days a week! (Shows a timetable) Let us watch one of our English lessons! ( A group of students perform ”A Lesson Just for Fun”) A Lesson Just for Fun Teacher: Good afternoon, dear students! Pupil: Good afternoon, Anastasiya Dmitrievna! (You may call the real name of the student). Teacher: Who is on duty today? Pupil: It's me. It's easy to say. Teacher: The blackboard is clean. The board-cleaner is wet. I like that. There`s a piece of chalk here. Thank you, my dear. Everything is ready. It's good. Pupil: And everybody's in a good mood. Teacher: What's the date today? Pupil: Oh, it`s easy to say. It's the first of April or May. Teacher: Who is absent? Pupil: Who isn't present? Teacher: Then who is present, tell me, please? Pupil: That and those, this and these. Teacher: Open your books on page 4. Pupil: What for? Teacher: Why? To read the text. Pupil: What's next? Teacher: Read on, please. That will do. Pupil: You made a mistake or two. Teacher: He made a mistake, only one. Pupil: Little fun. Teacher: You read "sand" instead of "sung". Pupil: That was a slip of the tongue. Teacher: I give you "good". Pupil: And a good mood. Teacher: You deserve it, no doubt. Pupil: I'm proud. Teacher: Let's do an exercise in writing. Pupil: Oh, writing is biting! Teacher: You mean, spelling is your weak point, isn't it? Pupil: Yes, a bit. Teacher: No matter how hard you try? But why? Pupil: My mistakes are usually slips of the hand. With an unhappy end. Teacher: Will you correct the mistake in the word "until"? Pupil: Good, I will. Teacher: Can you spell "horse"? Pupil: Of course. Teacher: Don't use your fingers for rubbing out. Pupil: But there's no board-cleaner about. Teacher: Quiet! Who's making noise? Pupil: The boys. Teacher: Will you recite the poem now? Teacher: From memory, of course. Pupil: From bad to worse… Teacher: For homework I want you to learn it by heart. Pupil: We'll instantly start. Teacher: Hand these notebooks and day-books out. Pupil: The books we can't do without. Teacher: You will record the poem on the tape recorder. Pupil: lf it is in order. Teacher: The lesson is over. There's the bell. Pupil: All is well that ends well. (After that Student 1 persuades Student 2 to start learning English and at last she convinces her). Presenter 2: Anastasia Dmitrievna! Here are some new students in you class: (names)! Teacher: Excellent! So what are your names, young ladies? (Students say their names). Teacher: All right, you are welcome to our English class on the first of September! Presenter 2: All of us like holidays. American children like Christmas, Hal-loween and Easter. I like my birthday for instance. By the way it’s on the 8th of November. Presenter 1: Fancy that! And mine is on the 5th of December. But I like New Year best of all. I wish we had New Year just now! One, two, three! My dream come true! (A theatre group performs ”The New Year is Quite Near”!) The New Year Is Quite Near Dorothy Fox: Look! It is snowing! What lovely snowflakes! All the ground is covered with snow. Completely white! Fantastic! Tutor: But it is usual in our parts in winter! Shirley Short: And in our parts it seldom snows but sometimes rains in December. Jane Grace: As well as in autumn and spring and even in the summer months. Tony Roman: I hate rain. Darcy Palmer: And I hate frost. It's rather frosty now, isn't it? I have wool-en socks and warm boots on, and still my nose is cold. I'm shivering with cold, I wish I had my fur coat on now instead of this anorak. Rihcard Smith: You, girls, are so soft. Darcy Palmer: And I know a boy who is always complaining of something. Tutor: You'd better stop arguing and button up your coats arid put up your collars and hoods, so you don't catch a cold. By the way, the best way to get warm is to play snowballs. Children: Hurrah! Let's play snow¬balls, Tutor: And I suggest we pop into this shop first. Darcy Palmer: I see it is called "Mir" which is the Russian for "peace", isn't it? Tutor: You are really bright, Darcy. But the Russian word «Mиp» has an-other meaning. So this shop is called the "Chil¬dren's World". Darcy Palmer: I see. Let's go in. Dorothy Fox: Oh, what a wonderful Christmas tree! It is deco¬rated with silver rain and ici¬cles, golden cones and other decorations. And posters are fixed everywhere: “Happy New Year to you!", "Our best wishes for the coming year!". Mary Fair: Ah! Look! Santa Claus with a huge bag of presents under the fir-tree! Tutor: We call him Father Frost, and the pretty fair-haired girl by him is the Snow Maiden. They are the most popular characters in Rus¬sian folk tales, Jane Grace: And where do they sell dolls here, I wonder? Tutor: Dolls are sold in that de¬partment. Jane Grace: Oh, my! I've never seen such a beauty. Please give that doll with long wavy blue hair, big blue eyes and a pink bow. Shop Assistant: Here you are, my dear. Her name is Malvina, She is from the tale The Little Golden Key". Jane Grace: I'd like to buy it for my younger sister. How much is it? Shop assistant: Six hundred roubles. Jane Grace: It isn't too dear, is it? Shop assistant: No, it isn't, It's quite cheap. You can pay at the cashier's over there. William Wind: Look who is here! Pinocchio, my darling! Please!/give me that good-looking boy with a charming sunny smile. We made friends with him when I was small, Tutor: In this country we call him Buratino. And he is loved by every boy and girl. Here you are. William Wind: My sweetest Pinocchio, I know your nose is too long, your mouth is too big, your arms and legs are thin and you look funny. But I love you dearly in spite of all. Dorothy Fox: I like it here. Do you? Chorus: Sure we do! Presenter 2: It was fantastic! You must be a real Fairy, Adel! Who taught you to do magic tricks? Presenter 1: It’s my secret. I won’t tell anybody about it. The only thing I can tell you, that there’s nothing impossible in this life and all the dreams come true if you really wish it. For example, Mahsum wants to learn how to dance the waltz. I hope he will definitely succeed in it! Max: You know, Jack, I'm dreaming to learn to dance the waltz. My Granny says it is a dance for all times, always up-to-date. What if I ask Betty to in-struct me? She is in a dancing hobby group. Jack: The waltz is out-of-date. I bet she can't dance it. But to make up for it, she can dance lambada, I'm sure. Max: Can she? Then maybe I'll learn both the waltz and lambada from her. Jack: Maybe rain, maybe snow, maybe yes, maybe no. Max: Want a bet I'll learn them? Jack: We'll live and see. Bye! Till tomorrow. (Max and Jack discuss dances. Then Ann teaches Max how to dance the waltz.) Ann: Max, put your left hand on my hip. That’s right! Put your right hand like this. That’s ok! Now step back. Now turn around. That’s great! We may dance to music then! (Ann and Max dance the waltz). Ann: Max, I hope you’ll become a great ballet dancer one day! Presenter 2: If he has such a talented dance-teacher as Ann Romanova he is sure to become as famous as Rudolf Nureev! Good luck, Ann and Max! Presenter 1: All children love cartoons. Do you like cartoons? The cartoon “Just Let Me Catch you, Hare! You have always been up to date. Let’s switch on our TV set and enjoy it again! (3 students perform a scene from the cartoon. The Wolf chases the Hare. The Hare passes through the door which remains open behind him. The Wolf runs after him at a full speed.) Wolf (shouts): Just let me catch you, Hare! (Before the Wolf reaches the door it shuts suddenly and the Wolf bumps into it - bang! The sound of his head's cracking can be heard. He falls near-ly dead. Now he is lying on the floor with his eyes closed. He is groaning piteously. The door opens slightly. The Hare is peeping in and then coming in). Hare: Poor thing! I'm sorry for you. Must we remain enemies forever? No. We can't put up with this enmity. Now the idea of peace is overcoming all bad habits everywhere. If only we could put an end to this enmity. Oh! I've got an idea! (Returns in a white doctor's smock and a cap). Wolf opens his eyes to get up but faints again. He's groaning.) Hare: Now, now, dear. You should be patient. You should be reasonable and lie quiet. I'll look after you. I'll paint your bruises with iodine, bandage your head, give pain-killer and you will get better little. You will feel well very soon. (A few days pass.) Wolf: You have been nursing me all these days. You've healed my head. You've softened my heart. Your little hands are so tender. You are so kind. You are an angel. Hare: I am not. But I dream to be your friend. Wolf: Oh, I'd be happy to make friends with you. Hare (takes off his cap): Here I am, your faithful, reliable friend: Wolf (recognizes the Hare): Ah, Hare!? A friend in need is a friend indeed. Just you let me hug you, Hare! (They start dancing the tango) Presenter 2: Wolf, do you still want to catch the Hare? Wolf: Just let me catch you, Hare! (Starts chasing Hare again.) Presenter 1: Oh, bother! He is always chasing Hare. I think that Wolf and Hare were the last participants of our contest “Golden Mask”. Presenter 2: Dear jury, we are looking forward to the results. (The jury announces the results of the contest “GOLDEN MASK”, give the main prize Golden Mask and diplomas for the best performers and thea-tre groups). Samples of Diplomas ЛИТЕРАТУРА И ССЫЛКИ 1. Филиппов В.“Hallo, Friends”. М., Просвещение, 1996. 2. С. Березникова, ГОУ СОШ "Школа здоровья" № 1159, http://eng.1september.ru/view_article.php?ID=200901404 |Просмотров: 1032 | Загрузок: 189 | Комментарии: 6 || |Всего комментариев: 0|

In Vitro impairment of whole blood coagulation and platelet function by hypertonic saline hydroxyethyl starch © Hanke et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011 Received: 18 October 2010 Accepted: 10 February 2011 Published: 10 February 2011 Hypertonic saline hydroxyethyl starch (HH) has been recommended for first line treatment of hemorrhagic shock. Its effects on coagulation are unclear. We studied in vitro effects of HH dilution on whole blood coagulation and platelet function. Furthermore 7.2% hypertonic saline, 6% hydroxyethylstarch (as ingredients of HH), and 0.9% saline solution (as control) were tested in comparable dilutions to estimate specific component effects of HH on coagulation. The study was designed as experimental non-randomized comparative in vitro study. Following institutional review board approval and informed consent blood samples were taken from 10 healthy volunteers and diluted in vitro with either HH (HyperHaes®, Fresenius Kabi, Germany), hypertonic saline (HT, 7.2% NaCl), hydroxyethylstarch (HS, HAES6%, Fresenius Kabi, Germany) or NaCl 0.9% (ISO) in a proportion of 5%, 10%, 20% and 40%. Coagulation was studied in whole blood by rotation thrombelastometry (ROTEM) after thromboplastin activation without (ExTEM) and with inhibition of thrombocyte function by cytochalasin D (FibTEM), the latter was performed to determine fibrin polymerisation alone. Values are expressed as maximal clot firmness (MCF, [mm]) and clotting time (CT, [s]). Platelet aggregation was determined by impedance aggregrometry (Multiplate) after activation with thrombin receptor-activating peptide 6 (TRAP) and quantified by the area under the aggregation curve (AUC [aggregation units (AU)/min]). Scanning electron microscopy was performed to evaluate HyperHaes induced cell shape changes of thrombocytes. Statistics: 2-way ANOVA for repeated measurements, Bonferroni post hoc test, p < 0.01. Dilution impaired whole blood coagulation and thrombocyte aggregation in all dilutions in a dose dependent fashion. In contrast to dilution with ISO and HS, respectively, dilution with HH as well as HT almost abolished coagulation (MCFExTEM from 57.3 ± 4.9 mm (native) to 1.7 ± 2.2 mm (HH 40% dilution; p < 0.0001) and to 6.6 ± 3.4 mm (HT 40% dilution; p < 0.0001) and thrombocyte aggregation (AUC from 1067 ± 234 AU/mm (native) to 14.5 ± 12.5 AU/mm (HH 40% dilution; p < 0.0001) and to 20.4 ± 10.4 AU/min (HT 40% dilution; p < 0.0001) without differences between HH and HT (MCF: p = 0.452; AUC: p = 0.449). HH impairs platelet function during in vitro dilution already at 5% dilution. Impairment of whole blood coagulation is significant after 10% dilution or more. This effect can be pinpointed to the platelet function impairing hypertonic saline component and to a lesser extend to fibrin polymerization inhibition by the colloid component or dilution effects. Accordingly, repeated administration and overdosage should be avoided. Normovolemia and sufficient coagulation capacity are major goals during early resuscitation of traumatized patients with hemorrhagic shock. Nevertheless, significant morbidity and mortality are related to coagulopathy due to loss and consumption of coagulation factors as well as volume substitution induced hemodilution. After patient admission to the emergency care department definite strategies have been established to improve outcome after severe hemorrhagic shock including transfusion of packed red blood cell concentrates, fresh frozen plasma, cryoprecipitate and coagulation factor concentrates. However, during the prehospital period various crystalloids and colloids have been suggested for treatment of hemorrhagic shock. Whatever fluid is administered, there is at least a dose dependent dilution of coagulation factors which is associated with a further impairment of coagulation. Recently, small volume resuscitation by intravenous administration of small amounts of hypertonic saline hydroxyethyl starch has been introduced for rapid restoration of normovolemia following severe trauma. However, both hypertonic sodium chloride as well as hydroxyethyl starch, impair coagulation and platelet function; the former by altering plasma clotting times and platelet aggregation , the latter by decreasing FVIII plasma concentration and by interference with fibrin polymerization and thus decreasing clot strength [3–6]. Nevertheless, in a porcine model of hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation, in general, the least effects on coagulation were observed following small volume resuscitation by administration of hypertonic saline hydroxyethyl starch for resuscitation . Since small volume resuscitation was associated with alterations in the coagulation system in this animal model as well, we evaluated these complex effects on coagulation and thrombocyte function in vitro in human whole blood and tested the hypothesis that HyperHaes causes impaired whole blood coagulation and platelet function. The study was designed as experimental non-randomized comparative in vitro study. Following institutional review board approval (study number: 2953, University Hospital Düsseldorf) this study was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declarations and European Unions Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine. The guidelines for reporting non-randomized studies were utilized in the drafting of this report. Ten volunteers (six male/four female; average age 33.7 years (range: 26-42 y)) of Caucasian origin participated in the study after oral and written information and written consent. All volunteers were healthy and free of medication. Blood was taken from a basilic vein using an 18-gauge IV catheter and collected in both citrated and heparinzed tubes (Vacutainer, Becton Dickenson, Heidelberg, Germany). Blood was assigned to four different groups: Group A (HH): Hypertonic Saline Hydroxyethyl Starch (HyperHaes®, Fresenius Kabi, Bad Homburg, Germany); Group B (HT): 7.2% hypertonic sodium chloride solution; Group C (HS): 6% hydroxyethyl starch (HAES 200/0.5 6%, Fresenius Kabi, Bad Homburg, Germany); Group D (ISO): isotonic sodium chloride solution, serving as control group. Blood samples were diluted with one of the four fluids (HH, HT, HS and ISO) in a fix proportion of 1:20 (5% dilution), 1:10 (10% dilution), 1:5 (20% dilution), 1:2.5 (40% dilution) and the effects of dilution were compared to undiluted baseline values. Whole blood coagulation Whole blood coagulation was analyzed by rotation thrombelastometry (ROTEM, TEM international, Munich, Germany) in citrated whole blood samples. The technique has been described previously elsewhere [9–11]. In brief, ROTEM analyzes viscoelastic clot characteristics over time in activated whole blood and recognizes both the time course of clotting as well as the firmness of the resulting clot. The following commercially available tests were performed following the manufacturer's instructions: ExTEM (extrinsically activation by tissue factor) and FibTEM (extrinsically activation by tissue factor with addition of Cytochalasin D to inhibit platelet function and display fibrin polymerization only - all tests Pentapharm, Munich, Germany). Since maximum clot firmness (MCF) in whole blood coagulation is mainly determined by platelet function and fibrin polymerization, while clotting times (CT) are dependent on the speed of thrombin generation by clotting factors the chosen parameters were: CT quantifying the time from beginning of the reaction until start of clot formation and MCF indicating clot stability at its highest degree. Since samples for thrombelastometry are recommended to be analysed within two hours we used three ROTEM devices in parallel. Tests were performed in a standard sequence. ROTEM devices were chosen in a random order. Platelet function was determined by multiple electrode aggregometry (MEA) using a novel multiple platelet function analyzer (Multiplate, Dynabyte, Munich, Germany, heparinized whole blood samples) following TRAP activation (thrombin activating peptide, TRAP-test, Dynabyte, Munich, Germany). The technique has been described previously elsewhere . MEA utilizes single uses test cells. These cells contain two pairs of sensor wires extending into a 50% diluted whole blood sample. Platelets are non adhaesive in resting state, but when activated stick to the sensor wires enhancing electrical impedance between wires. These impedance changes are recorded over a period of six minutes. Tests were performed regarding the manufacturer's instructions. As indicator for platelet function the area under the aggregation curve (AUC) was determined indicating overall platelet activity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed at 1:2000 and 1:5400 magnification on samples to evaluate effects of HyperHaes on the cell shape of the thrombocytes, using a Jeol 35 CF SEM and documentation by Orion 6.60 software (Orion Microscopy, Belgium). A power analysis was performed based on results of a previously performed pilot test. Assuming an alpha error of 0.05 with a power of 0.95 we calculated a necessary sample size of 8 to show a significant effect of a 10% dilution of HH on MCF in the EXTEM test. Based on this calculation and to ensure reasonable data we have chosen to increase sample size to 10. After positive testing on normal distribution (Shapiro-Wilk-test) two way ANOVAs with Bonferroni post-hoc testing were performed for statistical analysis. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS for Windows, 13.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL., USA) and GraphPad Prism (Version 4.02, GraphPad Software Inc., San Diego, CA., USA) were used. Values are displayed median ± standard deviation. Considering a confidence interval of 99% an α-error below 0.01 was considered to be statistically significant. Whole blood coagulation Clotting times (CT) were statistically significant prolonged in all tested groups but the control group ISO (figure 1B). ISO did not induce significant differences as compared to baseline (ISO 40% dilution; p = 0.128). Significant influence on CT was found in HH and HT when dilution was 40% (HH: p = 0.0003; HT: p = 0.0002). HS already impaired CT statistically significant when dilution was 20% (p = 0.0022). Fibrin polymerization (FibTEM) was statistically significant impaired in all tested groups (figure 1C). In the control group (ISO) MCF as compared to baseline was significantly reduced when dilution was ≥20% (p = 0.0005). Significant reduction of MCF by HH was found when dilution was ≥10% (p < 0.0001). HT significantly impaired MCF at 40% dilution (p = 0.0006). MCF was significantly reduced by HS throughout the test beginning at 5% dilution (p = 0.0033). AUC was significantly impaired in all tested groups including ISO in a dose dependent fashion (figure 1D). As compared to baseline ISO and HS significantly decreased AUC when dilution was ≥10% (ISO: p = 0.0022; HS: p = 0.0002). AUC was significantly decreased in HH and HT in all tested dilutions beginning at 5% dilution (HH: p = 0.0001; HT: p = 0.0014). Between HH and HT no significant differences were found (p = 0.449) while impairment of platelet function in HH was pronounced compared to HS (p = 0.0011) and ISO (p < 0.0001). HH significantly impairs whole blood coagulation and platelet function in a dose dependent fashion in vitro by reducing platelet function as well as fibrin polymerization. The mechanism can be attributed to the hypertonic saline component and is associated with a dehydration and activation of platelets leading to accumulation of thrombocytes as demonstrated by scanning electron microscopy. HH is suggested for first line treatment in hemorrhagic shock. Since studies in trauma patients are always affected by an inhomogeneous cohort of patients we have chosen a model of in vitro dilution for standardization of study conditions to estimate the effects of HyperHaes and to identify a possible coagulation impairing substance. Since our study was not designed to evaluate effects on circulatory conditions, we did not adapt dilution volumes of the different agents to possible hemodynamic potentials but in a fixed manner as compared to HH infusion alone. Furthermore the study cannot assess or predict effects on blood loss or outcome. In vitro studies on coagulation are limited because complex hemostasis pathways cannot be simulated in a complete natural way. Interaction between primary and secondary hemostasis cannot be displayed in coagulation tests. Regular laboratory tests on coagulation use plasma as matrix for analysis. Therefore we decided to use rotational thrombelastometry and multiple platelet aggregation which assay whole blood as a more physiologically matrix to assess coagulation including platelet function. Furthermore thrombelastometry analyzes the end product of coagulation: the clot itself and its stability over time, which indicates clot building potential at the time of analysis. A dynamic time course of coagulation impairment and possible recovery from impairment cannot displayed in our study. In vivo osmolarity is influenced by numerous factors. Osmolarity in dogs after a 50% blood volume withdrawal and following infusion of 4 ml*kg-1 hypertonic NaCl (2400 mOsmol*l-1, which is comparable to HyperHaes) led to an increase of plasma osmolarity from 307 mOsmol*l-1 to 333 mOsmol*l-1 within 30 minutes . Estimating average plasma osmolarity of 300 mOsmol*l-1 and an osmolarity of 2400 mOsmol*l-1 for HyperHaes in vitro dilution by 5% would suggest a resulting osmolarity of approximately 405 mOsmol*l-1 which is already markedly above physiological levels. These in vitro high osmolarity conditions could compromise the translation of the results into clinical settings. Nevertheless, it remains unclear if compensation mechanisms are able to adjust osmolarity before interfering with platelets. In a different setting of acidosis and diminished coagulation laboratory parameters did not return to normal after compensation of acidosis . Furthermore it could be possible that repeated administration or overdosage of HH could account for a non-physiological increase in osmolarity exceeding possibilities of compensation. Normal blood volume in adults may be estimated to be 70 - 80 ml/kg bodyweight. Accordingly, the recommended HH dose of 4 ml/kg bodyweight in patients with hemorrhagic shock yields a hemodilution of 1:17.5 (5.7%) to 1:20 (5%). Since this mirrors normal conditions without blood loss we have chosen a 5% dilution as lowest degree of dilution for our study. Blood loss would lead to a further reduction in circulating blood volume and thus to a relatively increased portion of infused HH per ml blood volume resulting in an increased test agent/blood ratio, ergo to greater dilution. Blood loss of 50% blood volume then would lead to approximately 1:10 (10%) dilution, 75% blood loss would account for a 1:5 (20%) dilution and 40% dilution would be comparable to 87.5% blood loss. With respect to this consideration increasing blood loss would lead to increasing relative overdosage accounting for possible enhancement of otherwise induced coagulation disorders. Even 5% whole blood dilution with HH significantly impaired platelet function. This effect on thrombocytes cannot be adequately detected in whole blood coagulation. However, MCF was affected in all samples with ≥10% dilution and CT prolongation finally occurred when dilution was 40%. Maximum clot firmness in whole blood coagulation is basically determined by platelet function and fibrin polymerization, while clotting times are dependent on the speed of thrombin generation by clotting factors . Thus, HH affected platelet function and fibrin polymerization in a more severe way than action of clotting factors. Responsible for interference with fibrin polymerization of HH is its HS portion, since we demonstrate a comparable impairment of fibrin clot firmness by HH as compared to HS. It is well known that HS inhibits fibrin polymerization [14–18]. Our data are consistent with these findings. This effect is most likely caused by dilution of fibrinogen and decreased FXIIIa-mediated fibrin cross linking [14, 15]. However, the precise molecular mechanism still remains unclear. The mechanism of action of HH to improve blood pressure is based on mobilization of extravasal fluids along an osmotic gradient by intavasal administration of HH . We suspected this intavasal hyperosmolarity also to be one possible mechanism of interaction between the hypertonic solution and platelets leading to dehydrated and functionless thrombocytes. Platelets treated with and without HH were examined by electron microscopy. In the HH dilution deformed single platelets as well as large aggregates of activated platelets can be seen (figure 2). Such aggregates could account for a loss of platelet function and in vivo could lead to an obstruction of small vessels leading to a reduced platelet count as well. A detection of such aggregates after in vivo administration of hypertonic saline solution has not been done to date and would be of great interest concerning our findings. In experimental settings controversial effects of HH on coagulation have been described. In animal models of uncontrolled hemorrhage treatment with hypertonic saline led to an aggravation of hemorrhage [21–23]. In these studies only hypertonic saline was studied while HS was not administered alone or in combination with hypertonic saline. In a recent study in a model of uncontrolled hemorrhage in pigs after liver injury less hemorrhage after HH administration was observed as compared to the use of colloids alone . However, in this study red blood cells collected by an automated cell saver were simultaneously to the test agent infused. As a consequence the dosage of the hypertonic and hyperoncotic agent was reduced in a relative way by the parallel infusion of red blood cells which could have weakened the coagulation impairing effect of HH. Despite this, to reflect comparable hemodynamic potential greater volumes of colloid infusions were admitted leading to a higher dilution of clotting factors in the control group. Since red blood cell concentrates or cell saver blood is available in the hospital only the settings of this study are more comparable to an admission in the emergency room or the operating theatre than to a preclinical situation. As a consequence conclusions on the influence of these solutions on coagulation and blood loss in a preclinical situation should be drawn with caution. Another hazard might occur when hypertonic saline is used in combination with large doses of colloids due to additional risks of adverse effects of colloids itself as for example anaphylactic reactions or reduction of kidney function which also have to be considered [24–27]. In different clinical situations of major blood loss such as penetrating chest trauma , patients undergoing cardiac surgery [29, 30], or vascular surgery [31–33] studies indicating beneficial effects on outcome have been published. However, results of meta-analysises showed if any only minor improvement of survival no matter if hypertonic saline solution is used exclusively or in combination with colloids [34–36]. Our results indicate HH to cause a dose dependent impairment of platelet function and whole blood coagulation. However, these effects appear to be small in dilutions comparable to expected dilution after treatment of shock when the circulating blood volume is not reduced. From a different point of view this implicates that considering a small therapeutic index the risk of overdosage seems to be high and should be strictly avoided. Whether this also accounts for repeated admission and length of a time interval for possible safe repeated administration of HH cannot be assessed in the present study and may be addressed in future investigations. Furthermore, the recommended dosage of HH is calculated with respect to bodyweight. In clinical situations variables as for example body weight can be assessed easily. In preclinical situations it is much more difficult to assess the patient's bodyweight which could lead to overdosage per se. We calculated our dilution series to compare resulting dilution effects to HH treatment at different degrees of severe blood loss. Since we found greater effects on platelets with increasing dilution due to higher drug levels, we suspect HH treatment to show increasing negative effects on coagulation and platelet function with increasing blood loss due to possible relative overdosage. HH is designed to help stabilizing circulatory conditions in these situations. This implicates that dosage in patients with higher blood loss should be calculated with care, repeated administration should be avoided and the physician should be aware of increasing coagulopathy. Since it remains questionable if our findings can be transferred into clinical settings clinical studies are necessary to evaluate such issues. HyperHaes as an example for hypertonic saline hydroxyethyl starch solution impairs whole blood coagulation and platelet function in a dose dependent fashion. Responsible for impairment of platelet function is the hypertonic saline component, while interference with fibrin polymerization is based on both colloid and dilution effects. Overdosage and relative overdosage due to underestimated blood loss should be avoided and increasing coagulopathy considered in a subtle manner. 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|Número de publicación||US7685049 B1| |Tipo de publicación||Concesión| |Número de solicitud||US 10/184,498| |Fecha de publicación||23 Mar 2010| |Fecha de presentación||26 Jun 2002| |Fecha de prioridad||26 Jun 2002| |También publicado como||US7742962, US8423373, US8762257, US20100100830, US20130211997, US20140316966| |Número de publicación||10184498, 184498, US 7685049 B1, US 7685049B1, US-B1-7685049, US7685049 B1, US7685049B1| |Inventores||Scott F. Singer| |Cesionario original||Trading Technologies International Inc.| |Exportar cita||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan| |Citas de patentes (12), Citada por (32), Clasificaciones (15), Eventos legales (3)| |Enlaces externos: USPTO, Cesión de USPTO, Espacenet| The present invention is generally directed to coalescing data at a client device, and in particular, manages time-sensitive communication received from a network device and/or exchange. Trading methods have evolved from a manually intensive process to a technology enabled, electronic platform. Advances in technology are having an increasingly large and broad impact on trading and the way in which exchanges conduct business. What was previously seen as just a supplement to the traditional pit trading, electronic trading platforms continue to increase in importance and popularity. The advent of electronic trading has meant that a customer can be in virtually direct contact with the market, from practically anywhere in the world, performing near real-time transactions, and without the need to make personal contact with a broker. Electronic trading systems are also convenient for floor brokers on the floor at an exchange for receiving orders electronically. As a result, the number of market participants continues to increase as does market volatility. Such an increase in the number of market participants may result in more competitive prices, while also contributing to the liquidity of the market. However, potential complications may also result. One such complication may be that updates of market data (e.g., price updates, order updates, or fill updates) occur more frequently than can be processed by the software systems monitoring those market data updates. Consider the following illustration whereby a client subscribes to price updates on Microsoft stock (MSFT). Assume that at a certain point in time the volume in the MSFT market becomes increasingly large and price updates start flowing at a rate that is beyond what can be delivered to the client. Most client devices have an internal message queue, which is an ordered list of messages, from which they are taken up on a first in, first out (FIFO) basis by applications running on the device. However, as a result of the increasing flow of price updates, the internal message queue for the client will continue to grow until the market's volume burst subsides (if it does subside). Because the queue will be growing, and the messaging system is obligated to deliver all of the messages in the queue, the slow client will begin to display price updates that are increasingly outdated. In some circumstances like the example given above, the trader will be trading on the basis of old information, which is unacceptable and can have disastrous results. In other circumstances, the internal message queue will backup until ultimately there is a failure (i.e. overflow) that typically results in the most recent prices being dropped altogether, which is also unacceptable and eventually prevents the trader from actively participating in the electronic market altogether. To avoid some of these problems, a trader might purchase a high-end computer with a fast processor(s) to perform billions of operations in a matter of seconds. Usually, but not all of the time, having an increase in processor power might reduce some the issues associated with queue buildup. However, even a computer with the fastest processor(s) can still encounter similar problems because the processor time may be used in processing information associated with other tasks. Thus, other applications, such as a graphical user interface, are prevented from performing their operations on the incoming price updates. Therefore, having a faster computer will not always result in the optimum solution. A need in the art is addressed by providing a system and related methods for coalescing time sensitive information by managing market data updates at a client device residing within an electronic trading environment. A system and related methods for coalescing time-sensitive market data at a network device other than a client device is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/183,845 contemporaneously filed on Jun. 26, 2002, entitled “A System and Method for Data Coalescing at a Network Device,” the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. According to the preferred embodiment, an exchange sends market data to a client device. Software hosted in the client device coalesces the market data so that client applications such as a graphical user interface (GUI) can process fewer market data updates. For example, assume that a client device has received four market updates simultaneously or near simultaneously from an exchange. Rather than queuing all four market updates and processing them individually as found in prior art solutions, the GUI and/or other client applications can simply handle one market update, because according to a preferred embodiment, the four market updates would be coalesced. According to the example above, the required processor time would be dramatically reduced because it only has to processes one market update versus four market updates. Moreover, the GUI could perform other tasks, such as respond to input devices or perform calculations, because it was also freed up by handling fewer market updates. Furthermore, using prior art solutions, by the time the GUI handles the fourth update (or any update) it may already be old information, whereas using the teachings described herein, the one coalesced market update provides the GUI or other client applications with the most current market information. While the present invention is described herein with reference to illustrative embodiments for particular applications, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those having ordinary skill in the art and access to the teachings provided herein will recognize additional modification, applications, and embodiments within the scope thereof would be of significant utility. Illustrative embodiments and example applications will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures to disclose advantageous teachings of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to any particular network architecture, but rather may be applied with utility on any electronic device in any network that can be used for electronic trading. Furthermore, the invention is not limited to a completely electronic trading environment where orders are sent to an electronic matching engine. For example, the invention could be utilized with an electronic trading application that sends orders electronically to a terminal where a person (e.g., a floor broker) executes those orders in a traditional open outcry trading floor. Each host exchange 100 provides different types of information, and relays this information, or a portion thereof, collectively referred to as a data feed, over a network to market participants or traders. A data feed from one exchange may contain different information representing different tradeable objects than another data feed from a second exchange. However, it is not necessary in the preferred embodiment that the data feeds from exchanges can include the same data or different data. As used herein, the term “tradeable objects” refers simply to anything that can be traded with a quantity and/or price. It includes, but is not limited to, all types of tradeable objects such as financial products, which can include, for example, stocks, options, bonds, futures, currency, and warrants, as well as funds, derivatives and collections of the foregoing, and all types of commodities, such as grains, energy, and metals. The tradeable object may be “real”, such as products that are listed by an exchange for trading, or “synthetic”, such as a combination of real products that is created by the user. In general, a data feed 106 may include information representing prices and quantities for a tradeable object. For example, the data feed 106 could include data corresponding to a price and/or quantity at the inside market and/or data corresponding to a price and quantity in the market depth. The inside market includes data corresponding to a tradeable object including the highest bid price with quantity and the lowest ask price with quantity. Data feeds 106 from some exchanges also include data corresponding to the market depth. Market depth is represented by the available order book, including the current bid and ask quantities and their associated prices. In other words, subject to the limits noted below, market depth is each available pending bid and ask quantity, entered at a particular price, in addition to the “inside market.” The data feed 106 can contain other types of market information such as the last traded price (LTP), the last traded quantity (LTQ), order information, and/or fill information. The information in a data feed 106, whether it contains the inside market and/or market depth or more market information, is generally categorized into three groups referred to as price, order, and fill information. In a one embodiment, each host exchange 100 sends a data feed 106 to a gateway 102. The data feed 106 preferably carries all of the information that the exchange 100 provides, such as price, order, and fill information, and alternatively may include more information. The host exchange 100 may send its data feed 106 to the gateway 102 over a dedicated line 108, which is a communications channel that permanently connects the exchange to the gateway. Dedicated lines may be private or leased lines such as T1 lines, which are known by those skilled in the art. Or alternatively, the host may send its data feed to the gateway over a switched network such as a wide area network (WAN), legacy networks that utilize X25 protocol or also IBM LU6.2 SNA protocol, satellite broadcast systems that use leased satellite channels to broadcast price data, or a packet switched network such as ATM or Frame relay, which are both connection methods know by one skilled in the art. According to the embodiment above, if there were five exchanges, then each exchange would have a gateway, and then according to this example there would be five gateways. When a trader wants to participate in the market at two of the five exchanges, he or she can subscribe only to the data feeds that correspond to those two exchanges. If the trader decides to drop one of the exchanges or add another exchange, he or she may preferably do so at any time. In another embodiment, each host exchange sends a data feed to a single gateway. For example, if there were five exchanges, then each exchange would send its data to the single gateway. Then, when a trader wants to participate at two of the five exchanges, he or she can simply subscribe to the data feeds that correspond to those two exchanges at the gateway. Also, if the trader decides to drop one of the exchanges or add another exchange, he or she may do so at any time. In yet another embodiment, some exchanges may have multiple gateways, so that if there were five exchanges, then there might be three gateways supporting each of them; for fifteen gateways. This embodiment allows for a load balancing, among other benefits, of the gateways' workstations. As mentioned earlier, the gateway 102 is a computer (or program) that receives information from the host exchange. As used herein, a computer includes any device with memory and a processor capable of processing information to produce a desired result. Thus, a gateway can be a computer of any size such as a server, workstation, personal computer, or laptop, but generally, the gateway is any computer device that has the processing capability to perform the function described herein. Moreover, it should be understood that the functions of the gateway could be moved to the exchange and/or the client device to reduce or eliminate the need for a gateway. In one embodiment, the gateway 102 receives a data feed 106 from an exchange 100. Preferably, the gateway 102 receives the data feed 106 and converts it to a form compatible with the protocols used by the client device 104 using conversion techniques known in the art. As known by those skilled in the art, the gateway 102 may have one or more servers to support the data feeds, such as a price server 114 for processing price information, an order server 116 for processing order information, and a fill server 118 for processing fill information. Generally, a server is a computer or program that responds to commands from a client in the form of subscriptions. The “servers” here may run on the same machine or may run on independent machines. A trader at a client device can subscribe to price information, order information, and fill information for that exchange. Once a client device has subscribed to the information, the gateway 102 publishes the information to the client device 104. As mentioned before, the client device 104 is a computer that allows a trader to participate in the market hosted at the exchange. In general, it uses software that creates specialized interactive trading screens on the client device's terminal. The trading screens enable traders to enter and execute orders, obtain market quotes, and monitor positions. The range and quality of features available to the trader on his or her screens varies according to the specific software application being run. In addition to or in place of the interactive trading screens, the client device may run automated non-interactive types of trading applications. A commercially available trading application that allows a user to trade in a system like that shown in The example data flow in Turning briefly to Referring to the flowchart in In the preferred embodiment, when an update occurs, the market data included in the update is stored in a data structure 114. The APT 112 and the GUI 116 preferably share the data structure 114. The data structure 114 may be a record or a collection, such as an array, that stores market data into one or more fields. According to one embodiment, the data structure has at least one field that stores price information such as price update 110. For purposes of illustration, assume that price update 110 is an update to the inside market, that is, it contains the best bid price and/or best ask price for tradeable object “ABC.” As mentioned before, the update can include other items of interest such as price updates for the market depth, LTP, LTQ, and so on. In step 202, the market data is stored (temporarily or otherwise). Using the example with price update 110, if there was no previous price information in data structure 114 for “ABC”, and in particular, there was no inside market price updates, then price update 110 is stored into data structure 114. If there was an existing or previous price update value for the same information already in data structure 114, that data is coalesced, that is in one embodiment, the old price update is replaced by the new price update 110. For example, assume that a first market update had only a bid price of five for ABC, and a second market update had a new bid price of seven for ABC, then the coalesced bid price for ABC would be seven. Moreover, coalescing may also include combining market information with other related market information for the same tradeable object. For example, assume that a first market update had only a new bid price of four for “ABC.” This update is put into the data structure 114. Then, if there is a second market update with only a new ask price of six for “ABC,” the data is coalesced by adding the second market update to the data structure 114 (so that the data structure contains a bid price=4 and an ask price=6 for “ABC”). If a third market update has a new bid price of three and last traded quantity (LTQ) of ten both for “ABC,” then the new bid price will replace the old bid price in the data structure 114 (3 replaces 4), and the LTP of four is added to the data structure 114. At this point, the data structure would contain a bid price of 3 (from the third market update), an ask price of 6 (from the second market update), and a LTP of 4 (from the third market update). This example assumes the market updates for one tradeable object, but market updates may occur for more than one object, in which the market updates for the other tradeable objects are coalesced and stored in a similar fashion. In step 204, the GUI is notified that an update in the data structure 114 has occurred if there is not already a pending notification. The GUI may be notified in a variety of ways. One way to notify the GUI is to send a message indicating that an update has occurred. The message may be put into a message queue that provides a list of items for the GUI to perform. For example, a message queue might have the following items in it: mouse move right, mouse left-button click, update notification, . . . , keyboard input, etc. Then, according to this example, when the GUI comes to update notification in the message queue, it will retrieve the update from the data structure at that time, if programmed to do so. Another way to notify the GUI is to set a flag bit to one (or zero, however it is programmed) to indicate that an update is available in the data structure. The flag bit may also be used in combination with the message queue notification. Other ways known by one skilled in the art can be used to notifying the GUI that an update has occurred. Note, however, that according to the preferred embodiment, the GUI is not notified that an update in the data structure 114 has occurred if there is a pending notification. To illustrate, the methods of notification described above are used in an example. For example, if an update notification was already in the message queue, another update notification will not be put into the queue. Instead, the market data for the second update is coalesced with the market data for the first update, such as described above with respect to step 202. Using the example with price update 110, if there is no pending notification to the GUI that the price update 110 (or any previous price update to price update 110) is available, the GUI will be notified by using one of the techniques described above (or any other technique). The notification tells the GUI that a price update is available in data structure 114. If there is a pending notification indicating that an update message has been sent to the GUI, another notification message will preferably not be sent. A pending notification may exist if a previous market update has already been stored into data structure 114 and the GUI has been notified of the update (e.g., in a message queue or through a flag bit). In step 206, market data and GUI notifications are coalesced until the GUI retrieves the update and resets the contents of the data structure per step 208. Using the example above, price information may continue to be sent from the exchange to the client device while the GUI is in the process of retrieving the price update value(s) stored in the data structure 114. Because the price information is continually coalesced in the data structure after the notification of an update, the GUI will retrieve the most recent market update information. In one embodiment, the GUI may also implement an artificial delay in handling a notification, which would provide for user configurable, or auto-tuning, of an overall duty cycle of update processing. For example, the GUI may decide to only process updates at most once per second. According to this example, an update might have occurred, but GUI will not process it until one second has passed since the last time it processed a message like this. This might be useful as a quality-of-service feature, or it could be used to artificially induce maximum update performance in order to differentiate a high-end product from a low-end product. Preferably, notifications may also be coalesced and/or deleted if a pending notification exists. For example, if an inside market price update comes in after price update 110 and the GUI has already been notified about price update 110 (but hasn't yet retrieved it, as in steps 206/208), an update notification will not be sent to the GUI thread. Preferably, step 206 will repeat until the GUI handles the notification and retrieves the coalesced price update information from the data structure 114. Preferably, this action also causes the pending GUI 116 notification to be cleared such as setting a flag bit to zero. Then, when a new price update is stored into the data structure 114, a notification message will be sent to the GUI 116, effectively restarting the coalescing procedure. At step 208, the data structure 114 is cleared. According to the preferred embodiment, as long as the GUI 116 can respond to the price update quicker than when the next price update arrives, all updates are processed by the GUI 116 and no coalescing occurs in data structure 114. In the situation that the GUI 116 is delayed, for any reason, then price update coalescing can occur by replacing the old price update with the new. The amount of coalescing becomes automatically balanced depending on the ability of the GUI thread to receive, process, and respond to its update message. Coalescing of market depth data or any other types of market data happens in a very similar manner to that described above. Market data is delivered to the client device, and a different (or the same) shared data structure holds the coalesced data. The notification message used for each market data is preferably independent of each other. Thus, the GUI responds and handles individual sets of calls and notifications. This allows the user or application to implement client GUI thread pacing of market depth independent of that for inside market updates. It should be understood that it is not necessary to know where the contents of the market data updates are stored to understand the present invention. In a preferred embodiment, the contents are stored into a data structure. According to the preferred embodiment, the contents of the market data updates are stored in separate data structures such as one data structure for the best bid price and quantity, best ask price and quantity, and other items of interest such as LTP, LTQ, and so on. Another data structure stores all of the market depth information for bids (bid prices and their corresponding quantities), while a third data structure stores all of the market depth information for asks (ask prices and their corresponding quantities). However, in another embodiment, this information may be stored only in one data structure (or accessible memory) or in many data structures, depending on how it is programmed. The foregoing description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention. Various modifications to the preferred embodiment will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and the generic principles herein may applied to other embodiments. Therefore, it should be understood that the above description of the preferred embodiments, alternative embodiments, and specific examples are given by way of illustration and not limitation. Many changes and modifications within the scope of the present embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit thereof, and the present invention includes all such changes and modifications. |Patente citada||Fecha de presentación||Fecha de publicación||Solicitante||Título| |US3253263||10 Abr 1961||24 May 1966||Ibm||Code to voice inquiry system and twospeed multi-unit buffer mechanism| |US5339392||28 Dic 1990||16 Ago 1994||Risberg Jeffrey S||Apparatus and method for creation of a user definable video displayed document showing changes in real time data| |US5905868||22 Jul 1997||18 May 1999||Ncr Corporation||Client/server distribution of performance monitoring data| |US5995980 *||23 Jul 1996||30 Nov 1999||Olson; Jack E.||System and method for database update replication| |US6006206||8 Sep 1997||21 Dic 1999||Reuters Limited||Data health monitor for financial information communications networks| |US6058389 *||31 Oct 1997||2 May 2000||Oracle Corporation||Apparatus and method for message queuing in a database system| |US6370569||3 Nov 1998||9 Abr 2002||National Instruments Corporation||Data socket system and method for accessing data sources using URLs| |US6516339||18 Ago 1999||4 Feb 2003||International Business Machines Corporation||High performance client/server editor| |US7212997 *||9 Jun 2000||1 May 2007||Ari Pine||System and method for analyzing financial market data| |US20020120546||18 Dic 2000||29 Ago 2002||Paul Zajac||Mutli-interface financial transaction system and method| |US20020184237 *||3 Abr 2002||5 Dic 2002||Mcfeely Brooks B.||Methods and apparatus for compiling, processing and disseminating equity transaction data| |WO2002017193A1||22 Ago 2001||28 Feb 2002||Goldman, Sachs & Co.||Foreign exchange trading system| |Patente citante||Fecha de presentación||Fecha de publicación||Solicitante||Título| |US7801801||4 May 2006||21 Sep 2010||Rosenthal Collins Group, Llc||Method and system for providing automatic execution of black box strategies for electonic trading| |US7830383||20 Nov 2009||9 Nov 2010||Perttunen Cary D||Determining related stocks based on postings of messages| |US7849000||27 May 2010||7 Dic 2010||Rosenthal Collins Group, Llc||Method and system for electronic trading via a yield curve| |US7912781||26 Jun 2009||22 Mar 2011||Rosenthal Collins Group, Llc||Method and system for providing electronic information for risk assessment and management for multi-market electronic trading| |US7928982||27 Oct 2010||19 Abr 2011||Perttunen Cary D||Visible representation of stock market indices| |US8090637||2 Jun 2009||3 Ene 2012||Trading Technologies International Inc.||System and method for coalescing market data at a network device| |US8228332||25 Jul 2011||24 Jul 2012||Perttunen Cary D||Visible representation of a user's watch list of stocks and stock market indices| |US8229823||29 Nov 2011||24 Jul 2012||Trading Technologies International, Inc.||System and method for coalescing market data at a network device| |US8290850||21 Dic 2006||16 Oct 2012||Trading Technologies International, Inc.||System and method for optimizing the frequency of market information updates in an electronic trading environment| |US8301546||17 May 2011||30 Oct 2012||Trading Technologies International, Inc.||System and method for providing market updates in an electronic trading environment| |US8352344||19 Jun 2012||8 Ene 2013||Trading Technologies International, Inc.||System and method for coalescing market data at a network device| |US8364575||14 Sep 2010||29 Ene 2013||Rosenthal Collins Group, Llc||Method and system for providing automatic execution of black box strategies for electronic trading| |US8407135||13 Sep 2012||26 Mar 2013||Trading Technologies International, Inc.||System and method for optimizing the frequency of market information updates in an electronic trading environment| |US8429059||25 May 2010||23 Abr 2013||Rosenthal Collins Group, Llc||Method and system for providing electronic option trading bandwidth reduction and electronic option risk management and assessment for multi-market electronic trading| |US8456473||17 Oct 2012||4 Jun 2013||Cary D. 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|Publication number||US3529115 A| |Publication date||15 Sep 1970| |Filing date||3 Jun 1968| |Priority date||6 Jun 1967| |Also published as||DE1765536A1| |Publication number||US 3529115 A, US 3529115A, US-A-3529115, US3529115 A, US3529115A| |Inventors||Jawor Tadeusz Bronislaw| |Original Assignee||Molins Organisation Ltd| |Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan| |Patent Citations (7), Referenced by (10), Classifications (7)| |External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet| Sept. 15, 1910 T. B. JAWOR 3,529 1 HEATING DEVICES Filed June 5. 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet l J c M M 1 QZWWZL W W; [A16 fz0ZwQ Sept. 15, 1970 v JAWQR 3,529,115 HEATING DEVICES Filed June 3, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 m a (a l 51/ .5; [/11 Sepf. 15, 1910 v T. B. JAwoR 3,529,115 HEATING DEVICES Filed June 5, I968 s Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent US. Cl. 219-1055 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A heating device, e.g. for preparing plastics material for moulding, utilises a beam of microwave radiation propagated through a wave-guide from a source at one end thereof, past an irradiating zone through which articles to be heated are conveyed, to the other end of the waveguide, and means are provided connecting said other end to an intermediate point of the wave-guide (between the source and the irradiating zone) to form a loop so that the beam passes any point around such loop at least twice. This invention relates to heating devices in which the heating medium is microwave electromagnetic radiation. It has previously been proposed to heat various goods or articles by placing them in a high-intensity microwave beam. For example, articles have been carried on a conveyor belt through a gap in a wave-guide, so that the articles pass successively through a microwave beam crossing the gap. Such an arrangement can be quite effective, but its efliciency is low especially with low loss materials as the beam must be of high intensity but much of the energy in the beam is not absorbed by any passing article and passes on through the waveguide where it goes to waste in a terminating load. It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved heating device, employing microwave electromagnetic radiation as the heating medium, which device is capable of relatively high efficiency. According to the invention, we provide a heating device comprising a source of microwave energy coupled to one end of a wave-guide so as to produce a beam of microwave electromagnetic radiation therealong, including means connecting the other end of said wave-guide to an intermediate point thereon so that the portion of the length of said wave-guide between said inter-mediate point and said other end is formed into a closed loop so that said beam passes any point around said loop at least twice, and means for conveying articles to be heated through an irradiating zone comprising a portion of the path of said beam within said loop. It will be appreciated that, in a device as set out above, although on first passage of the beam through the irradiating zone there will only be a partial absorption of the radiation by the articles, on each subsequent passage of the beam through said zone there will be further absorption so that in total a greater proportion of the energy of the beam will be transferred to the articles than in devices hitherto known. In recirculating the beam it is of course important to prevent the beam or any significant portion of it from returning to the souce, if possible damage to the latter is to be avoided. This may be done by coupling the other end of the wave-guide directly to the intermediate point and providing means to rotate the plane of polarisation of the microwave radiation through 90 during travel of the beam around the loop, a simple form of polarisation filter being interposed between the source and the loop. If a wave-guide of rectangular section is used, it is posice sible to rotate the polarisation plane by forming a length of the wave-guide with a twist. Alternatively, the rotation of the plane of polarisation may be done in the coupling between the other end and the intermediate point; most simply, said coupling may comprise a length of coaxial cable so connected to the other end and to the intermediate point of the wave-guide as to pick up the residual microwave energy when it first reaches said other end and return it to the wave-guide, at the intermediate point, polarised at 90 to the radiation from the source. With the above relatively simple arrangements, however, residual microwave energy reaching the other end of the wave-guide for the second time is incorrectly polarised for passage through the coupling to the intermediate point and must be either absorbed or reflected. Absorption is wasteful, but if reflected then after travelling round the loop in the reverse direction some residual energy may reach the source and to keep this to a safe level the output of the source may need be restricted to a lower level than desirable. At the expense of slightly greater complexity in the coupling between the other end of the wave-guide and the intermediate point, all microwave energy reaching the other end of the wave-guide may be returned to the intermediate point with its polarisation at 90 to that of energy directly received from the source, so that the latter is fully protected. This more complex but preferred arrangement involves the provision of two energy pickups adjacent to the other end of the wave-guide, one collecting energy polarised in the source plane and the other collecting energy polarised at 90 thereto, each pick-up being coupled by coaxial cable to a coupling unit, e.g. a directional coupler in which the energy received frm said two pick-ups is combined and delivered to two couplings at the intermediate point, both injecting energy into the wave-guide with polarisation at 90 to that of the source, the outputs to the two couplings being so phased as to cause the energy returned to the waveguide to be propagated away from the source. Preferably the device includes means for automatic control of the output of the source by feed back of a control signal produced by sensing the intensity of the beam at some convenient part of the loop, so that the heating produced is substantially constant. Also, in some forms of device embodying the invention it is found that some small part of the beam returns to the source after repeated reflections, and such automatic control enables the source to be protected against undesirably high levels of returning radiation without unnecessary limitation of the beam intensity in the loop. For a full understanding of the invention, preferred embodiments thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a diagram of one form of device embodying the invention; FIG. 2 is a section on line IIII of FIG. 1; FIGS. 3 and 4 are views (similar to FIGS. 1 and 2 respectively) of a second form of device; FIG. 5 is a view (similar to FIGS. 1 and 3) of a third form of device; and FIGS. 6 and 7 are detail views of a modification applicable to any of the three forms of device shown in FIGS. 1 to 5. Referring first to FIG. 1, the device there shown includes a microwave source 5 comprising a magnetron oscillator, delivering its output via a radiating antenna RA into a waveguide WG of rectangular section. Said waveguide is formed into a rectangular loop, having angled portions at three corners of the rectangle; one long side of the 3 rectangle is extended past the fourth corner, at which the adjacent short side overlaps the extended long side, making a T junction. The radiating antenna RA is located in the extended long side, outside the rectangular loop. Between the antenna RA and the T junction forming one corner of the loop, a filter F1 is provided in the waveguide. A coupling device CD extends through the walls of the wave-guide where the two sides of the loop overlap at the T junction. Along the short side of the loop remote from the T junction a conveyor belt CB runs through the wave-guide in an enclosing tube ET of insulating material (see also FIG. 2). Said conveyor belt and its enclosing tube pass through openings in the wall of the wave-guide fitted with filter stubs FS. In the long side of the rectangular loop remote from the T junction, the Wave-guide includes a twisted section TS. From this section to the T junction (going in the direction of arrows X) the smaller dimension of the wave-guide is measurable in the plane of FIG. 1, while the remainder of the wave-guide (including the extended long side of the loop and the short side through which the conveyor belt passes) is so orientated that its larger dimension is measurable in said plane. Adjoining the twisted section TS, a further filter F2 is fitted to the wave-guide, and adjoining the filter F2 a sampling coupling SC is also provided; the sampling coupling, in the form of a power divider, extracts a small fraction of microwave energy passing through the waveguide and feeds it to a detector unit D which is adapted to produce an output signal, e.g. a DC. voltage, representing at any instant the intensity of the microwave beam then passing the coupling SC, and said output signal is carried by a control line CL to the source S in which said control signal is applied to control the output of the source in known manner so as to stabilise the intensity of the microwave beam in the wave-guide. The coupling SC may be directional, i.e. may sample only the energy travelling in one selected direction, in which case the filter F2 is placed on the other side of coupling SC and the latter is arranged to sample returning radiation. Turning to the operation of the device described, the microwave beam in the wave-guide travels as indicated by arrows X from the antenna RA past the filter F1 and the T junction, round the loop to the coupling device CD, and thence embarks upon a second journey round the loop. The filter F1 allows radiation from the antenna RA to pass, but reflects radiation polarised at 90 to the plane of polarisation of the beam from the antenna RA. Radiation from the coupling device CD is however polarised at 90 to said plane,-on account of the presence in the loop of wave-guide of the twisted section TS. Hence radiation from the coupling device CD cannot pass the filter F 1 and hence cannot return to the radiating antnenna IRA to damage the source S. The filter F2 is similar to filter F1, but so orientated that radiation polarised at 90 to the aforesaid plane can pass it and hence serving to reflect radiation polarised in said plane. The beam can, therefore, pass from the radiating antenna round the loop of wave-guide, start a second journey round the loop without feeding back towards the radiating antenna RA, and continue its second journey as far as the filter F2. Here, however, it is reflected, because on its second passage through the twisted section TS the beam has its plane of polarisation altered by a further 90, making 180 in all. The reflected radiation returns round the loop, undergoing a 90 polarisation change (in the opposite sense) as it returns through the twisted section; when it reaches the filter F1 the returning beam cannot pass, as its polarisation plane is still at 90 to that of radiation from antenna RA. In part, therefore, the beam will then oscillate backwards and forwards between the filters F1, F2. Part of the beam will however feed via coupling device 'CD to make a further return journey round the loop and this part of the beam then reaches the filter F1 so polarised that it is able to pass. However, the beam will necessarily by this time have undergone a number of successive attenuations and such part of the beam as returns to the radiating antenna can be kept to a safe level by suitable setting of the control means comprising detector D connected to source S. The purpose of the device is to heat material (e.g. pellets of synthetic resin prior to their use in an injection moulding machine) and such material is fed through the device on conveyor belt CB. It will be apparent that in the part of the wave-guide WG through which the belt CB carries the material to be heated the mircrowave beam will be of several times the intensity of the beam generated by the source S and radiating antenna RA, due to the recirculation of the beam described above, hence for any given power delivered by source S, the heating of the material will be correspondingly faster than in known devices wherein no recirculation occurs. The presence of material to be heated, and the absorption thereby of energy from the beam, causes a significant part of the attenuation of the beam on each of its journeys round the loop, and the attenuation due to this cause varies according to the quantity and nature of the material on belt CB. This attenuation is sensed by means of the sampling coupling SC and detector D, and the control of source S in accordance with this sensing causes the output of source S to be increased to balance this attenuation, the control of such increase being however so arranged that the proportion of the radiation which (as explained above) ultimately returns to the radiating antenna is never permitted to reach a level at which damage to the source is possible. The flow of material carried by conveyor belt CB may be allowed to vary, as the consequent variations in microwave beam attenuation are automatically balanced (by the stabilising control exercised through detector D) thus enabling the fastest practicable heating to be obtained in all circumstances. Between the sampling coupling SC and the coupling device CD a phasing network PN is provided, to permit adjustment of the electrical length of the loop of waveguide. Turning now to FIG. 3, various parts of the device here shown are generally similar to those of FIGS. 1 and 2 and hence will not be described again, but merely given the same references on the drawing. The principal difference in the device of FIG. 3 is that the wave-guide WG has no twisted section TS, and is not formed into a complete loop but into a substantially U shape. The end portion of the wave-guide remote from the microwave source S is linked to the coupling device CD by coaxial cable CC, having a pick-up coupling PC in said end-portion. The sampling coupling SC is placed in the cable CC, which cable also contains a phasing network PN, and the coupling PC and coupling device CD are arranged respectively to pick up radiation with the polarisation of source S and to inject energy into the wave-guide with polarisation at to that of the source S. The operation of the device of FIG. 3 is similar to that of the device of FIG. 1; it will however be noted that as the change of polarisation plane is effected by the relationship between the couplings at the two ends of the coaxial cable CC and the wave-guide WG, and hence no twisted section TS is needed, equally it is not necessary to employ a rectangular-section wave-guide and (as shown in FIG. 4) the wave-guide WG of FIG. 3 is of circular section. The device of FIG. 5 again has much in common with the devices of FIGS. 1 and 3 and the same references are given to similar parts. As in FIG. 3, the loop round which microwave radiation circulates is in part made 'of coaxial cable. In the device of FIG. 5, however, a rather more complex cable connection is provided. In the end portion of wave-guide WG remote from source S, there are two pick-up couplings -PC1 and PC2, connected by coaxial cables CCl, CCZ respectively to a directional coupler unit DCU. From the latter unit two coaxial cables CCS, CO4 deliver microwave power to two coupling devices CD1, CD2 respectively for recirculation, the cables CC3 and CC4 containing phasing and/or attenuation networks PANl, PAN2 respectively. Filter F2 is in this case placed between the coupling PC1 and the coupling PC2. The pick-up coupling P02 is arranged to collect radiation polarised in the plane of radiation direct from source S (i.e. on its first passage round the loop) while pick-up coupling PC1 collects radiation polarised at 90 to that direct from the source (i.e. on its second or subsequent passage). Coupling devices CD1, CD2 are both arranged so that radiation they inject into the wave-guide WG is polarised at 90 to that coming direct from the source through filter F1; also, the phases and amplitudes of the energy so injected by devices CD1, CD2 are so regulated by networks PANl, PANZ and the unit DCU that the radiation from said devices propagates forward (i.e. as indicated by arrows X). The networks PANl, PANZ are desirably adjustable to provide correct phasing and amplitude at each of the devices CD1, CD2. A convenient arrangement is for one of said networks to serve as an attenuator and the other as a phase-shifter; the latter may with advantage be arranged to be controlled automatically by the power levels applied to the two inputs of the directional coupler unit DCU, as it is the ratio between these levels that determines the relative phasing of the two outputs from the coupler unit. 1 Sampling coupling SC is in the device of FIG. 5 placed at a point between the coupling devices CD1, CD2 and the part of the wave-guide WG through which the conveyor belt CB passes; said sampling coupling is arranged to extract a fraction of the total microwave beam passing it, i.e. to sample both the radiation direct from source S and that recirculated with different polarisation. In relation to all three forms of device described above, it will be understood that the drawings are diagrammatic and that the form and dimensions of the various parts will be determined in any particular case by conventional methods. For example, the filters F1, F2 are represented as simple dashed lines but may each comprise a plurality of parallel screens, each screen comprising parallel wires, said wires and screens being at carefully set distances from their neighbours. The closed ends of the wave-guide WG of each form of device will normally have adjustable caps to allow tuning of the end portions of the waveguide, so that the antenna RA (FIGS. 1, 3 and 5) and pick-up couplings PC (FIG. 3) and PC1 (FIG. 5) may be correctly spaced from said closed ends, and filter stubs PS (FIGS. 1, 3 and 5) may be adjustable also for tuning purposes. A known characteristic of dielectric heating by highfrequency electromagnetic radiation is that the heat is generated within the material being heated. When pellets, for example, are to be heated by this method, their interior may reach a maximum desired temperature while their outer parts are still at a lower temperature than desired. In the devices described, therefore, there may be included provision for heating the exterior of material travelling on the belt CB. While it may be satisfactory simply to provide means such as radiant heaters adjoining the path of belt CB outside the wave-guide WG, more conveniently radiant heating may be applied simultaneously with dielectric heating by making the section of the wave-guide through which the material passes, or the section of tube ET within the wave-guide, of electrically conductive material of such resistance as to absorb part of the microwave radiation, so that the temperature of that section of wave-guide or tube is raised and the wave-guide or tube itself functions as a radiant heater. It will be seen that the radiant heating thus applied is necessarily kept in a fixed ratio to the dielectric heating. If it is necessary to provide for variation of this ratio, this may be done by providing adjustable cooling by any convenient means. Where no radiant heating is desired, it may be found desirable to provide for cooling of the wave-guide even when the material of the latter is of low resistance. Lastly, although in all three forms of device shown a conveyor belt CB is incorporated to carry material for heating through the device, FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a modification particularly adapted for use when pellets e.g. of synthetic resin, are to be heated. FIGS. 6 and 7 show a part of the wave-guide WG of any one of the devices of FIGS.l-5, namely that part which, in said earlier Figures, accommodates the conveyor belt CB. As best seen in FIG. 6, the conveyor belt and its enclosing tube are omitted, hence removing the need for the filter stubs FS also. This part of wave-guide WG as illustrated in FIG. 6 has a gap occupied by a peripheral portion of a rotatable disc RD. The disc RD has a carrier insert CI, of material not significantly heated when subjected to microwave radiation (e.g. of ceramic or polytetrafluorethylene) and said insert has four carrier pockets CP each containing a pellet P of material to be heated. Elsewhere on the disc RD further similar inserts (not shown) may be provided, so that succesive groups of pellets may be subjected to the microwave radiation by successive partial rotations of the disc RD. What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 1. A heating device comprising a wave-guide a source of microwave energy coupled to one end of said waveguide to radiate said energy as a beam along a path defined by said wave-guide, means connecting the other end of said wave-guide to an intermediate point thereon whereby said connecting means and a part of said waveguide form a closed loop for the transmission of said energy, said connecting means being such that any of said energy reaching said other end passes through the connecting means and is radiated from said connecting means into said wave-guide to travel in a direction away from said source, means for rotating the plane of polarization of the energy through during travel around the loop consisting of said connecting means and said part of said wave-guide whereby said energy radiated by said connecting means into the wave-guide has its plane of polarization at right-angles to the plane of polarization energy entering the loop from the source, a polarization filter interposed between said source and said intermediate point to permit microwave energy from said source to pass therethrough and to reflect microwave energy having its plane of polarization at right angles to that of energy from said source, an irradiating zone comprising a portion of the path of said beam within said wave-guide, and means for positioning articles to be heated in said irradiating zone. 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which the waveguide is of rectangular section and said means for rotating the plane of polarization comprises a length of the wave-guide within the loop which is formed with a 90 twist in the direction of its length. 3. A device as claimed in claim 2 comprising a further polarization filter interposed between said length of waveguide formed with a 90 twist and said connecting means to permit microwave energy from said source to pass therethrough and to reflect microwave energy having its plane of polarization at right-angles to that of energy from said source. 4. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which said means for rotating the plane of polarization is incorporated in said connecting means so arranged that energy passing therethrough is radiated into the wave-guide with its plane of polarization at 90 to that of energy radiated from said source. 5. A device as claimed in claim 4 comprising a further polarization filter interposed between said intermediate point of said loop and said connecting means to permit microwave energy from said source to pass therethrough and to refiect microwave energy having its plane of polarization at right-angles to that of energy from said source. 6. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which said connecting means comprises a length of coaxial cable. 7. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said connecting means comprises two energy pick-ups adjacent to the other end of the wave-guide, one of said pick-ups being arranged to collect energy polarized in the source plane and the other of said pick-ups being arranged to collect energy polarized at 90 to the source plane, a coupling unit, coaxial cable connecting said pick-ups to said coupling unit, said coupling unit having two outputs and means connecting said outputs to said intermediate point of said wave-guide, said coupling unit being so arranged that the phasing of the two outputs is such as to cause the energy returned to the wave-guide to be propagated away from the source. 8. A device as claimed in claim 1, including means for sensing the intensity of the beam in the loop and producing a control signal, and means for feeding back said control signal to the source to control the output thereof. 9. A device as claimed in claim 7 comprising a further polarization filter interposed in said wave-guide between said two energy pick-ups to permit microwave energy from said source to pass therethrough and to reflect microwave energy having its plane of polarization at right- 25 angles to that of energy from said source. 10. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means for positioning articles to be heated in said irradiating 53 zone comprises means for conveying articles through said irradiating zone. 11. A device as claimed in claim 1 comprising a further polarization filter in said wave-guide on the opposite side of said irradiating zone from said source to permit microwave energy from said source to pass therethrough and to reflect microwave energy having its plane of polarization at right-angles to that of energy from said source. 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Cross recurrence quantification analysis of precision grip following peripheral median nerve block © Li and Li; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013 Received: 29 May 2012 Accepted: 21 February 2013 Published: 2 March 2013 Precision grip by the thumb and index finger is vulnerable to sensorimotor deficits. Traditional biomechanical parameters offer limited insight into the dynamical coordination between digits during precision grip. In this study, the thumb and index finger were viewed as “coupled systems”, and a cross recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA) was used to examine the changes of interdigit dynamics and synchronization caused by peripheral median nerve block. Seven subjects performed a precision grip by holding an instrumented handle before and after median nerve block at the wrist. The forces and the torques at each digit-handle interface were recorded with two six-component transducers. For CRQA, the percentage of recurrence rate (%RR), percentage of determinism (%DET), longest diagonal line (Lmax) and percentage of laminarity (%LAM) were computed for the force, torque and center of pressure (COP) signals. Phase synchronization of the thumb and index finger was examined based on the τ-recurrence rate. Paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used for statistical comparisons. The twin-surrogate hypothesis test was used to examine phase synchronization. Nerve block led to significant increases (p < 0.05) for %DET, Lmax and %LAM in all components of force, torque, and COP. Only the normal force met the conditions of phase synchronization for all successfully completed pre- and post-block grasping trials. The probability of synchronization with larger time lags (τ > 0.1 s) increased after nerve block. The percentage of trials that the thumb led the index finger increased from 52% (pre-block) to 86% (post-block). Nerve block caused more deterministic structures in force, torque and COP when the thumb interacted with the index finger. A compensatory mechanism may be responsible for this change. Phase synchronization between the opposite normal forces exerted by the thumb and index finger would be an essential dynamical principle for a precision grip. The nerve block resulted in an increased interdigit phase delay and increased probability that the thumb leads the index finger. The CRQA provides an effective tool to examine interdigit coordination during precision grip and has the potential for clinical evaluation of hand dysfunction. KeywordsMedian nerve block Precision grip Hand Cross recurrence quantification analysis Phase synchronization Nonlinear dynamics Precision grip plays an important role in a variety of daily activities, such as lifting, holding, and handwriting. The seemingly effortless precision grip requires sophisticated spatial and temporal coordination of the digit forces that can adapt to object properties and movement states. This delicate coordination is vulnerable to a number of central or peripheral neurological lesions, such as Parkinsonism , stroke and impaired tactile sensibility . Nerve block provides an effective way to transiently interrupt the sensorimotor system and simulate hand dysfunctions caused by peripheral neuropathies. It was observed that peripheral nerve block impaired grip and pinch strength and thumb abduction and flexion strength . Fine motor control (e.g. precision grip) can also be disrupted by nerve block. The deterioration of precision grip in individuals with peripheral median nerve block involves inaccurate “pulp-to-pulp” contact , excessive grip force and a larger migration area of each digit’s center of pressure (COP) . These findings improve our understanding of some irregular mechanics of precision grip, yet more research is needed to examine how the thumb dynamically coordinates or discoordinates with the index finger during object manipulation. The anatomical and neural arrangement of the thumb and index finger substantiates the two digits as interdependent systems that strongly couple and intelligently match each other during grasping . Their three-dimensional (3-D) forces and torques are under control of both feedforward and feedback mechanisms. The feedforward mechanism allows individuals to program the appropriate motor commands prior to grasping according to previous experiences of the object properties; whereas the feedback mechanism adjusts gripping according to real-time sensory information . However, little knowledge exists about how these mechanisms are involved in the dynamical control of an individual digit or in the digit positioning for object manipulation. It is of interest to study the interaction of the two digit systems during precision grip in order to better understand the dynamical neural control mechanisms for fine object manipulation. The time series of the forces and the torques from the thumb and index systems by nature are highly complex, exhibiting nonlinear and nonstationary characteristics. Such complexity is due to the integration of both the feedforward and the feedback motor control mechanisms which regulates the manual manipulation of objects. Exploration of the inherent information of these complex motor systems requires suitable analytical tools. Traditional time- or frequency-analyses (e.g. Fourier transform or coherence analysis) have limitations regarding the analyses of nonstationary, low-frequency kinetic signals [10, 11]. Some dynamical measures (e.g. fractal dimensions or Lyapunov exponents) were developed for univariate signals with long-range variability, but are limited in quantifying nonlinear interrelations from short bivariate and nonstationary time series . Recently, the cross recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA) has been introduced as an advanced technique for nonlinear, neurophysiological signals. CRQA provides a group of statistical parameters to analyze the structures of a cross recurrence plot (CRP). The CRP is a graphical representation of a matrix whose elements correspond to all the moments when phase-space trajectories of one system pass through the neighborhoods of trajectories of another system . CRQA is particularly suitable for the study of interdigit coordination as it is capable of revealing the interactions of two dynamical systems with robustness against model presumption, nonstationarity transients, outliers, and noise that often limit the use of other methods . In addition, CRQA is an effective tool to analyze the phase synchronization (PS) of two coupled dynamical systems . PS means that phases or frequencies of two chaotic systems become locked, even though their amplitudes remain uncorrelated . PS has been observed in human cognition and behaviors, such as neuron activities , corticomuscular coupling , or binocular eye movements . However, it has yet to be determined whether the thumb and index finger synchronize in their kinetic signals during a precision grip. The aim of this study was to examine the dynamical coordination of the thumb and index finger during precision grip using CRQA, and to identify the inherent changes in the underlying kinetic signals caused by peripheral median nerve block. It was hypothesized that the dynamical structures of the forces, torques, and/or COPs, and the mutual relationships of the PS between the thumb and the index finger would be altered by nerve block. The experimental data used for the current analyses was adopted from our previous study . Seven healthy male subjects (26.9 ± 5.1 years old) participated in the experiment. A peripheral median nerve block was achieved by injecting 4 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine hydrochloride (Astra Pharmaceuticals, Westborough, MA, USA) into the carpal tunnel. Nerve block was confirmed by the Semmes-Weinstein monofilament test with a pre-block score of 2.85 (calculated force: 0.0677 g) across the five digits and post-block scores of 6.15 (127.0 g) in the median nerve distribution and 3.22 (0.1660 g) in the ulnar nerve distribution. The apparatus used in the experiment included two miniature six-component force/torque transducers (Nano17, ATI Industrial Automation, Inc., Apex, NC, USA) that were mounted on a custom-made rectangular aluminum handle (size: 15 × 80 × 130 mm; weight: 341 g). The grip-contact surfaces of the transducers had a diameter of 17 mm and were covered with 180 grit sandpaper. The distance between the two gripping surfaces was 44 mm. During the experimental trials, subjects were asked to use the pads of their thumb and index finger to grip the surfaces of the transducers, then lift and hold the handle as stably as possible for 60 s. Subjects were instructed to hold the handle vertically to minimize tilting. In order to eliminate the effects of visual feedback, subjects turned their head to the left to avoid looking at the handle during holding. Before the formal testing, each subject was given several practice trials to be familiarized with the handle properties and the test protocol. Although unsuccessful grasping trials randomly occurred for some subjects, each subject was instructed to follow a consistent test protocol without discernible changes in experimental setup, feedback condition or grasping posture between the successful and aborted trials. Each subject successfully completed the task three times before and three times after nerve block. Three forces (Fx, Fy, and Fz in the x-, y-, and z-axes) and three torques (Tx, Ty, and Tz around the x-, y-, and z-axes) were recorded from transducers for the thumb and index finger with a sampling frequency of 500 Hz. The coordinate system of each transducer was aligned with respect to a common coordinate system by multiplying by a rotation matrix. The x- and y-axes were the vertical and horizontal directions in the transducer’s surface plane, respectively, and the z-axis was perpendicular to the surface plane. The instantaneous COP at each digit-object interface was calculated using the torques around the x- and y-axes of the grip surfaces (Tx and Ty) and the normal force (Fz). The coordinates of the COP (Px, Py), with respect to each transducer’s coordinate frame, were calculated as Px = −Ty/Fz and Py = Tx/Fz. The three force components (Fx, Fy, Fz), three torques around the x-, y- and z-axes (Tx, Ty, Tz), and two COP coordinates (Px, Py) from the thumb transducer were each paired with its counterpart from the index transducer. These signals were low-pass filtered with a cutoff frequency of 20 Hz. This frequency band is considered to be the physiologically meaningful spectrum for kinetic signals during a sustained isometric contraction [11, 18]. For each signal pair, the holding phase from 10–60 s was retained for CRQA. Cross recurrence quantification analysis CRQA was applied to quantify changes in the regularity and spatiotemporal properties for each of the eight (Fx, Fy, Fz, Tx, Ty, Tz, Px, Py) signal pairs between the thumb and index finger for all successful grasping trials. Using CRQA, the following four parameters were derived: the percentage of recurrence rate (%RR), the percentage of determinism (%DET), the longest diagonal line (Lmax), and the percentage of laminarity (%LAM) . The %RR quantifies regularity by calculating the probability of occurrence of similar states in two systems . Greater %RR corresponds to greater correlation in a time series . The %DET is the percentage of recurrence points that form diagonal structures to all recurrence points in the CRP. If both systems have similar phase space behavior, the number of longer diagonals increases and the number of shorter diagonals decreases, resulting a higher%DET . Therefore, %DET reflects the deterministic or predictable structure between two dynamical systems . The Lmax represents the longest diagonal line found in the CRP. It is related to the exponential divergence of the phase space trajectory and correlation entropy . The %LAM quantifies the density of recurrent points that form vertical line structures in the recurrence map. It demarcates time intervals during which the system’s state is relatively constant compared to intervals of sudden bursts of activity [13, 20]. CRQA was performed using an embedding dimension of 1 , a time delay of 1 sample , and a threshold setting to 10% of the maximum phase space radius . Parameters of CRQA were implemented with the cross recurrence plot toolbox 5.16 of MATLAB (The Mathworks, Natick, MA, USA). Phase synchronization analysis The synchronization of two dynamical systems can be visualized by a line of synchronization (LOS) plotted on the CRP . The LOS segments that are parallel to the main diagonal reveal the time series synchronization at a time instant; while those deviating from the main diagonal show the phases or frequencies of the two systems that were unlocked at that time . Therefore, LOS provides visualization of phase shifts or frequency variations between two systems [13, 23]. If both systems are in PS, p(τ) of the two signals achieves maxima simultaneously and thus the SI approaches 1. By contrast, if systems are not in PS, the maximum p(τ) of each signal does not occur simultaneously, leading to a SI value far less than 1. However, use of SI alone, even if has a value close to 1, is insufficient to ascertain the systems are in PS. A twin-surrogate hypothesis test is an essential inspection to avoid any potential interferences of series randomness or system noise on the SI results. A surrogate should be an independent realization of one of the original systems, such as a mimic system maintaining the same trajectories or attractors as the original one, but with different initial conditions. By comparing the SI calculated from the original system with those calculated from surrogates, a hypothesis test is able to validate the status of PS statistically . In our study, the hypothesis test worked on 100 surrogates for all time series of the force (Fx, Fy, Fz), torque (Tx, Ty, Tz), and COP (Px and Py). Only if the SI of the original signal pair is significantly higher (95% confidence interval [CI], p < 0.05) than those of the surrogates can the null hypothesis be rejected, and the two signals be accepted as in PS for that trial. The probability of PS was calculated as the percentage of trials that met the conditions of PS. When Q1(τ) reaches its maximum, the input value represented as τ, or an integer multiple of τ, indicates the average time lag between the two synchronized systems. At the moment when Q1(τ) reaches maxima, the sign of Q2(τ), either positive or negative, indicates which of the two signal inputs leads the other. For example, if Q2(τ) > 0, the first signal leads the second signal with a lag τ, and vice versa . The τ value was preset at 0.05 s in (4) and (5). Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). The mean and 95% CI of each CRQA parameter were calculated for the conditions before and after nerve block. The normality of CRQA measures was verified by skewness and kurtosis, as well as the Kolmogovrov-Smirnov test. For a measure with a normal distribution, a paired t-test was used to examine the effects of nerve block. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to evaluate the effects of nerve block for a measure that was not normally distributed. PS was examined for each signal pair using the SI and the twin-surrogate hypothesis test (95% CI). All the trials that fulfilled PS were pooled together to examine the distribution of the time lags and the probabilities of one digit leading the other one. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. SI and probability of PS for all interdigit signal pairs for the pre- and post-block conditions Mean of SI (a) SD of SI (b) Precision grip is a common daily activity that requires intricate coordination between the digits. Traditional assessments of precision grip using the grip or load force typically calculated from all of the involved digits are unable to reflect the activity of individual digits, and are insufficient to comprehensively understand the interdigit dynamical coordination. By means of CRQA, this study examined the interdigt dynamical coordination during precision grip before and after nerve block from two aspects: (1) the dynamical structure of the digit systems and (2) the interdigit phase synchronization. Before and after nerve block, the thumb and index finger systems performed at a similar recurrence rate (%RR), but with different diagonal (%DET and Lmax) and vertical (%LAM) patterns in CRPs (Figures 2, 3 and 4). The increased %DET indicates a more deterministic structure of interdigit interaction after nerve block. The increased Lmax after nerve block is a sign of decreased correlation entropy and increased attractor strength. This suggests that after nerve block the interdigit coordination had less of a chaotic behavior, but stronger attractor dynamics . The higher%LAM represents the increased occurrence of laminar states in both systems, meaning more vertical structures than single points were exhibited in the post-block CRP . This result indicates reduced probability of unstable periods in finger coordination after nerve block for the non-dropping trials. It is worth noting that similar changes were also found in forces, COPs and torques (Figures 2, 3, and 4). These results suggest that nerve block changed the dynamical coordination of the thumb and index finger during a precision grip by systematically raising deterministic structures in all prehensile kinetic signals. A compensatory mechanism underlying the control strategy of grip may be responsible for the dynamical changes caused by nerve block. Control of precision grip involves both feedforward mechanisms that exert grip force in anticipation of external loads, and feedback mechanisms that regulate grip force based on signals from the mechanoreceptors . Under the nerve block condition, sensory feedback was intensely obstructed, increasing the potential of instability or even failure during grasping. Correspondingly, the task of maintaining a stable hold evoked a compensatory mechanism to reinforce the feedforward motor control. A higher magnitude of grip force and an enlarged safety margin have been observed after nerve block and could be attributed to this compensatory mechanism . In this study, increased CRQA measures after nerve block suggest that strengthened feedforward motor commands under compensatory mechanisms render a more deterministic interdigit coordination. Interestingly, similar dynamical changes have been recognized in other motor behaviors, showing the reinforced deterministic structures of chaotic systems as a sign of functional degradation; such examples include postural instability in Parkinson’s disease and cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction in diabetes mellitus . By contrast, decreased %DET and Lmax were reported in the power grip strength of patients with metabolic disorders , indicating deterministic structures could be weakened in some cases. A possible explanation for this inconsistency is that the low force level in precision grip leaves a large amount of motor units available under the action of compensatory mechanism; yet, the exhausted motor units’ recruitment during power grip prevents further compensatory adjustment . The compensatory mechanism thereby is task-specific, depending on whether it is under maximal voluntary contraction (e.g. power grip) or submaximal effort (e.g. precision grip). Stable grip requires that the digits apply optimal and coordinated forces to form an equilibrium state. In this study, the signal pair of Fz from the thumb and index finger met the conditions of PS across all successful grasping trials, even under the nerve block condition (Table 1). This finding suggests that, despite weakened tactile afferents or motor control caused by nerve block, the force components perpendicular to the two digit-object contact surfaces reliably synchronized with each other in the form of PS throughout the holding period. This PS was achieved even though there were mismatched amplitudes of forces, torques and COPs between the individual digits. Therefore, it seems that the PS between the opposite normal forces exerted by the involved digits is an essential dynamical principle of a precision grip. This PS-principle, however, would be partially influenced by the nerve block. Firstly, the time lag of synchronization tends to prolong after nerve block. The probability of synchronization with a time lag τ of less than 0.05 s decreased from 90% before nerve block to 81% after nerve block, whereas that with a lag τ of greater than 0.1 s increased from 5% to 14% after nerve block (Figure 6a). Increased time lag raises the risk of asynchrony between the thumb and index finger, which may ultimately lead to a grasping failure. The increased asynchrony helps explain the experimental observation that some subjects dropped the handle at least once after nerve block, despite applying a higher compensatory grip force . This observation suggests that decreased tactile sensitivity or improper motor commands caused by nerve block may destroy the precision grip by disrupting the phase synchrony between digits. The second influence of the nerve block pertains to the leading or lagging relationship between the digits (Figure 6c and d). Before nerve block, the thumb and index finger had approximately equal probabilities (52% vs. 48%) of taking the leading position. After nerve block, the thumb more frequently led the index finger (86% vs. 14%). This finding suggests that under compensatory mechanism, the thumb plays a more dominant role than the index finger in maintaining interdigit synchronization. Reasons associated with this change may include the anatomical (e.g. finger configuration or muscle volume) or functional (e.g. range of motion) differences between the thumb and the index finger . In this study, the CRQA and peripheral median nerve block were jointly applied to investigate the precision grip. CRQA provided an effective way to disclose the abundant inherent information about the interdigt dynamical coordination underlying prehensile kinetics, such as deterministic or stochastic components, structural complexity, periodic patterns, or phase synchronization . This dynamical information is to a large extent independent of force magnitudes that may be easily interfered by handle orientation. Therefore, CRQA is an analytical tool to indentify functionally meaningful actions in fuzzy, complex, and dynamic behaviors . The median nerve block enabled realization of a transient perturbation in healthy subjects through the interruption of the hand sensorimotor system, which mimics symptoms of inflammatory or noninflammatory polyneuropathies or carpal tunnel syndrome [5, 6]. Methods applied in this study will help us understand the mechanisms of digit interaction, and facilitate the diagnosis of sensorimotor deficits in individuals with peripheral neuropathies. Nerve block changes the dynamical coordination of the thumb-index finger systems for a precision grip. More deterministic structures were found in kinetic signals after nerve block. A compensatory feedforward mechanism may be responsible for this change. Static object holding requires PS between the two digits, which could be reliably observed from the normal forces. Nerve block led to an increase in average time delay between two synchronized digits and an augment of probability that the thumb leads the index finger. CRQA is a technique that enables qualitative and quantitative examination of the dynamical changes in coupled systems. Further studies are needed to examine the correlation between CRQA parameters and the severity of hand disorders in different populations. This may facilitate the development of a method for clinical diagnosis of multiple peripheral neuropathies that impair hand sensorimotor function. KL is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, OH, USA. KL is also a faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Control Science and Engineering, Shandong University, China. ZML is an associate professor at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and an associate staff at the Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Orthopaedic Surgery, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA. Center of pressure Cross recurrence plot Cross recurrence quantification analysis - Fx Fy: Fz: Force in the x-, y-, and z-axes - Tx Ty: Tz: Torques around the x-, y-, and z-axes - Px Py: Coordinates of center of pressure Longest diagonal line Line of synchronization Percentage of determinism Percentage of laminarity Percentage of recurrence rate Symmetry measure at specific time delay τ Asymmetry measure at specific time delay τ The authors appreciate the help of Tamara Marquardt and Christine Kassuba in editing the manuscript. This publication was made possible by Grant Number R01AR056964 from NIAMS/NIH. 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|Publication number||US5027134 A| |Application number||US 07/402,193| |Publication date||25 Jun 1991| |Filing date||1 Sep 1989| |Priority date||1 Sep 1989| |Publication number||07402193, 402193, US 5027134 A, US 5027134A, US-A-5027134, US5027134 A, US5027134A| |Inventors||J. P. Harmon, Jefferson P. Ward| |Original Assignee||Hewlett-Packard Company| |Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan| |Patent Citations (6), Referenced by (110), Classifications (6), Legal Events (6)| |External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet| This invention relates to ink-jet printers and, more particularly, to a device for protecting and servicing ink-jet printheads. Ink-jet printers print by shooting drops of ink onto a page. The ink is stored in a reservoir and discharged onto the page through nozzles in a printhead. To print an image, the printhead moves back and forth across the page shooting drops as it moves. A problem with ink-jet printers is that air bubbles can be forced into the nozzles and interfere with the operation of the printhead. Additionally, ink can drool out of the nozzles, dry and clog them. Items such as dirt and paper dust may also collect on the printhead and clog the nozzles. To address these problems, ink-jet printers typically include caps and service stations. A cap encloses and defines a cavity around the printhead when the printhead is not in use. A service station is a location on the printer where the printhead can be serviced and protected. The cap is usually located in the service station. The cap helps prevent ink from drying on the printhead by providing a cavity that can be kept moist. Ink is discharged into the cavity and the moisture from the ink keeps it from drying on the printhead. However, the volume of the cavity can be decreased when the cap encloses the printhead, resulting in a change of pressure within the cavity. If the pressure within the cavity changes, air bubbles can be forced into the printhead's nozzles. Thus, printhead caps are vented to allow the pressure within the cavity to equalize with the pressure outside the cavity so that air bubbles are not forced into the printhead's nozzles. Previously existing caps have been vented through a pump connected to the cavity. An example of such a cap is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,853,717 titled "Service Station for Ink-Jet Printer." Nevertheless, the previously existing pumps, or the tubing associated with the pump, can become clogged with dried ink. When clogged, the cap is not vented, often resulting in printhead damage. Additionally, pumps require moving parts which add undesirable complication and expense. The invented cap and service station protect and clean an ink-jet printhead without requiring a pump and without venting through a pump. The invented cap is vented to atmosphere but uses capillary action rather than a pump to passively keep the vents from clogging. Accordingly, the cost and complexity of a pump is avoided and the necessary elements for an ink-jet printer are minimized. The invented non-clogging cap and service station include a cap that encloses and defines a cavity around a printhead. The cap includes a basin to collect liquid discharged from the printhead and a vent to prevent changes of pressure within the cavity. Capillary spaces are constructed within the cap in such a way that liquid collecting in the basin moves away from the vent to prevent the vent from clogging. The basin, vent and capillary spaces are typically constructed from a wetting material to facilitate capillary action. A drain pan may also be included to receive liquid that overflows the basin. In this manner, the invention provides a vented cap to protect the printhead and uses capillary action to prevent the vent from clogging and causing the cap to malfunction. Furthermore, a wiper may be mounted near the cap to clean the printhead. The cap and wiper together form the invented service station. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an otherwise standard ink-jet printer incorporating the present invention (hidden in this figure) with part of the printer's cover raised and open so that the printhead cartridge can be seen. FIG. 2 is a simplified front view of the printhead carriage and cartridge seen in FIG. 1, and also showing the invented non-clogging cap and service station. FIG. 3 is a rear, perspective view of the invented non-clogging cap. FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the cap of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the invented cap showing a basin, vent and structure forming the capillary spaces. FIG. 6 is a top view of the invented cap's basin and structure forming the capillary spaces. FIG. 7 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of the invented cap, taken along line 7--7 in FIG. 3, showing the capillary spaces. FIG. 8 is a simplified front view of the invented cap and service station shown in their environment before enclosing and servicing the printhead. FIG. 9 is similar to FIG. 8 but shows the invented cap enclosing the printhead. FIG. 1 shows at 10, a typical ink-jet printer with its lid 11 open and raised so that a printhead carriage 12 and a printhead cartridge 14 are visible. Cartridge 14 is mounted on carriage 12 and they both move back and forth on rod 16 and guard 18. In FIG. 1, carriage 12 and cartridge 14 are shown at the extreme right end of rod 16, in the location of the invented non-clogging cap and service station. The cartridge is moved to the service station when the printer is not printing or when it needs servicing. On other printers the service station may be located at the left end of rod 16. Printer 10 also includes an input paper tray 20 and an output paper tray 22. Paper enters the printer from tray 20, moves through the printer, and exits into tray 22. As the paper exits into tray 22, cartridge 14 moves back and forth across the sheet and discharges drops of ink, resulting in a printed image. In FIG. 1, a sheet of paper 24 is shown exiting the printer after printing. Carriage 12 and cartridge 14 are shown in more detail in FIG. 2. As explained previously, carriage 12 moves along rod 16 with cartridge 14 mounted to the carriage. More specifically, carriage 12 is connected to rod 16 so that it is free to rotate about the rod and so that it is off-set and urged against guide 18 by virtue of its own weight. Spacer 26 is attached to carriage 12 and contacts guide 18 so that cartridge 14 is kept the appropriate distance from the paper, which would feed through the printer immediately below guide 18. Spacer 26 may be molded into carriage 12 or attached to the carriage as a separate piece. Cartridge 14 includes an ink reservoir 27 and a printhead 28. As is known in the art, printhead 28 includes nozzles (not shown) through which ink is discharged from the reservoir onto the paper. Resistors in the printhead are used to heat the ink and to discharge a drop through the appropriate nozzle. As carriage 12 moves into the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, printhead 28 contacts a wiper 30. Wiper 30 is simply a blade made from flexible nitrile rubber so that when printhead 28 contacts it, dust and dirt are wiped away. Wiper 30 is cleaned by contacting the edges of slots 31 in cartridge 14 when carriage 12 leaves the service station. In FIG. 2, wiper 30 is shown mounted to a bracket 32. In use, bracket 32 is connected directly to the printer's chassis, but for simplicity, the chassis is not shown. In FIG. 2, printhead 28 is shown enclosed by a protective cap 34 that defines a cavity around the printhead. The cavity is kept moist by drops of ink that have been discharged or drooled into the cavity from the printhead. Ink may be discharged from the printhead into the cavity to clear the nozzles from any plugs of ink or simply to keep the cavity moist. The moisture in the cavity helps prevent ink from drying on the printhead and clogging the nozzles. If too much ink is discharged into cap 34, it drains into ink drain pan 35. If drain pan 35 fills with ink, channel 33 directs the ink to an absorbent pad (not shown). As with wiper 30, the cap and drain pan are held in place by bracket 32 and by the printer's chassis (not shown in FIG. 2). Bracket 32 and drain pan 35 may be attached to the printer's chassis by clips which snap around anchors molded into the chassis, or by any other manner known in the art. The combination of the cap, wiper, bracket and drain pan form the invented service station. Cap 34 is shown in more detail in FIGS. 3 through 7. Compared to FIG. 2, FIGS. 3-5 view cap 34 from the back so that its detailed structure may be seen and understood. Specifically, cap 34 includes a cover 36 with flexible flanges 38 that surround a hole 39. Cover 36 is constructed from a deformable rubber so that when it contacts printhead 28, flanges 38 form a tight seal around the printhead. Hole 39 is positioned over printhead 28 so that ink may be discharged into the hole from the printhead's nozzles. Cover 36 is mounted to a sled 40, which may be molded from a hard plastic. Sled 40 includes a raised portion 42, and cover 36 is placed over that portion. Portion 42 includes an aperture 44 which aligns with hole 39 and which passes completely through sled 40. Sled 40 also includes openings 46, through which posts 48 of basin structure 49 are inserted. Lips 50 on posts 48 help secure structure 49 to sled 40 by forming a tight seal against sled 40. Structure 49 includes a recessed collection area or basin 52 that receives ink discharged or drooled from printhead 28. Any such ink would pass from printhead 28, through hole 39 and aperture 44 into basin 52. Structure 49 also includes walls 56 and ridges 58. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 5, the undersurface of sled 40 includes walls 60 and ridges 62. When structure 49 is attached to sled 40, walls 56 and ridges 58 interleave with walls 60 and ridges 62, as shown in FIG. 7. Walls 60 and ridges 62 on sled 40 encompass walls 56 on structure 49. Similarly, walls 56 and ridges 58 on structure 49 encompass ridges 62 on sled 40. The regions between where the walls and ridges meet form capillary spaces 64. When ink collects in basin 52, capillary motion causes it move into spaces 64. In other words, liquid that collects in basin 52 is wicked into spaces 64 as moisture evaporates because of the surface tension of the liquid and because basin 52 is a relatively large space when compared with spaces 64. To facilitate the capillary action, structure 49 is constructed from a wetting material such as natural rubber. Specifically, structure 49 is made from a copolymer rubber with EPDM and polypropylene, such as Santopreen™ from Monsanto™. As is known by those skilled in the art, whether a surface is wetting affects the capillary action of liquid contained within the surface. Structure 49 also includes vents 66. Vents 66 open to atmosphere through passageway 68 in sled 40. The vents are small enough to create an effective vapor seal while still venting to atmosphere, thereby acting as a safety feature to prevent the printhead from being damaged by pressure changes within the cavity. Nevertheless, vents 66 are also relatively large when compared with spaces 64. As is evident in FIG. 6, sled 40 only has one passageway 68 but structure 49 has four vents 66, two at each end. Structure 49 was constructed with four vents so that its orientation with respect to sled 40 would be the same from either end, thereby facilitating the assemble of cap 34. Only the two vents near passageway 68 are vented to atmosphere. Flanges 38, hole 39, aperture 44, basin 52, spaces 64 and vents 66 all form a cavity. When cap 34 contacts printhead 28, flanges 38 are deformed and the volume within the cavity is decreased. Without vents 66, the decrease in volume would increase the pressure within the cavity and air bubbles could be forced into printhead 28 through its nozzles. However, vents 66 prevent pressure changes within the cavity because they open to the outside atmosphere. Nevertheless, if vents 66 clog with ink, then the cavity would not be vented and air bubbles could be forced into the printhead. The invented non-clogging cap solves this problem because any ink in vents 66 would wick into spaces 64 due to capillar action. If basin 52 filled with ink, it would drain through vents 66, collect on branches 70 and drop into ink drain pan 35. Any ink remaining within the vents would then move into spaces 64 as it evaporated. In this manner, the ventilation of the cavity formed by cap 34 is insured without any moving parts and without a peristaltic pump. The operation of the invented non-clogging cap and service station is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. In those Figures bracket 32 and ink drain pan 35 are not shown so that the motion of cap 34 can be illustrated. FIG. 8 shows carriage 12 and printhead 28 moving toward the service station, or toward the right on guide 18. Cap 34 is also shown resting on part of printer chassis 72. At the position shown in FIG. 8, cap 34 has not contacted printhead 28, while in FIG. 9, carriage 12 has moved into the service station and cap 34 has enclosed printhead 28. In FIG. 8, cap 34 rests in tracks 74 that have been molded into printer chassis 72. Tracks 74 include ramps 76 and cap 34 is supported in the ramps by struts 78 on sled 40. Sled 40 also includes an arm 80 that contacts carriage 12 when the carriage moves toward the position shown in FIG. 9. When carriage 12 enters the service station it pushes against arm 80 and causes cap 34 to move up ramps 76. In that manner, arm 80 uses the motion of the carriage to move cap 34 into position against printhead 28. Additionally, when cap 34 is moved against printhead 28, tips 82 on posts 48 engage slots 31 on cartridge 14. When carriage 34 moves out of the service station or to the left in FIG. 9, tips 82 cause cap 34 to return to its position shown in FIG. 8. In this manner, cap 34 is self-actuating and requires no external control other that the movement of the carriage. Additionally, use of ramps 76 allows printhead 28 to be sealed without the cap sliding across the printhead, thus increasing the life of the cap. Tracks 74 also include level areas 84. These level areas allow carriage 12 to move back and forth to actuate a multiplexer or different gears while the printhead remains capped. Initially, when printer 10 is turned on, a control algorithm causes printhead 28 to fire ink through all the nozzles into cap 34 and basin 52 to clean the nozzles and remove any plugs of ink. The nozzles may also be fired at selected times during printing. The drops of ink that are fired keep the cavity defined by cap 34 moist so that ink will not dry on the printhead when it is not in use. The invented non-clogging cap and service station are applicable to any use involving ink-jet printheads. Specifically, they are applicable to ink-jet printers employing thermal printheads. 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1993||Hewlett-Packard Company||Method and apparatus for automatically cleaning the printhead of a thermal inkjet cartridge| |EP0558219A3 *||16 Feb 1993||27 Oct 1993||Hewlett-Packard Company||Method and apparatus for automatically cleaning the printhead of a thermal inkjet cartridge| |EP0590850A2 *||22 Sep 1993||6 Apr 1994||Hewlett-Packard Company||Printhead servicing station for printers| |EP0590850A3 *||22 Sep 1993||30 Nov 1994||Hewlett Packard Co||Printhead servicing station for printers.| |EP0622199A2 *||7 Apr 1994||2 Nov 1994||Hewlett-Packard Company||Service station for an ink-jet printer| |EP0622199A3 *||7 Apr 1994||14 Dec 1994||Hewlett Packard Co||Service station for an ink-jet printer.| |EP0678389A1 *||21 Apr 1995||25 Oct 1995||Fujitsu Limited||Method of and apparatus for cleaning ink jet head| |EP0713778A3 *||21 Sep 1995||7 Jan 1998||Lexmark International, Inc.||Venting device for ink cartridge| |EP0771660A2||22 Sep 1993||7 May 1997||Hewlett-Packard Company||Printhead servicing station for printers| |EP1048467A1||22 Sep 1993||2 Nov 2000||Hewlett-Packard Company||Printhead servicing station for printers| |Cooperative Classification||B41J2/16538, B41J2/16508| |European Classification||B41J2/165C2B, B41J2/165B1| |16 Oct 1989||AS||Assignment| Owner name: HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY, PALO ALTO, CA., A CORP. O Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST.;ASSIGNORS:HARMON, J. P.;WARD, JEFFERSON P.;REEL/FRAME:005164/0928 Effective date: 19890901 |2 Dec 1994||FPAY||Fee payment| Year of fee payment: 4 |24 Dec 1998||FPAY||Fee payment| Year of fee payment: 8 |19 Jan 1999||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed| |16 Jan 2001||AS||Assignment| Owner name: HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY, COLORADO Free format text: MERGER;ASSIGNOR:HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY;REEL/FRAME:011523/0469 Effective date: 19980520 |23 Sep 2002||FPAY||Fee payment| Year of fee payment: 12

|Publication number||US5256341 A| |Application number||US 07/904,585| |Publication date||26 Oct 1993| |Filing date||26 Jun 1992| |Priority date||1 Jul 1991| |Also published as||DE69201328D1, DE69201328T2, EP0521773A1, EP0521773B1| |Publication number||07904585, 904585, US 5256341 A, US 5256341A, US-A-5256341, US5256341 A, US5256341A| |Inventors||Gerard Denis, Rene Hudebine| |Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan| |Patent Citations (6), Referenced by (39), Classifications (39), Legal Events (5)| |External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet| This invention relates to the infrared heating of preforms having a fairly thick wall made of plastic, especially polyethylene terephthalate (PET), for the blow moulding or stretch-blow moulding of receptacles like bottles, flasks or the like, and especially to improvements in the methods and apparatuses that implement such heating. In the prior art, the preforms are heated in scanning furnaces fitted with infrared radiation lamps arranged along the trajectory followed by the preforms, which can also be rotated about their axes, in order to be heated in a uniform fashion. The preforms are heated solely from the outside and, in view of the fairly significant thickness of their walls, the result is the formation of a temperature gradient of sizable value between the external and internal sides of the walls, the internal sides being cooler than the external sides. During the blow moulding or stretch-blow moulding process which, based on the heated preform, leads to a receptacle with a thin wall, the rate of stretching is different for the internal side and for the external side of the preform wall, the internal side having the highest stretching rate. For example, with a cylindrical receptacle 80 mm in diameter blown from a preform with an internal diameter of 12 mm and an external diameter of 20 mm, the crosswise stretching rate (equal to the ratio of the final diameter over the initial diameter) varies from 6.6 for the internal side of the cylinder to 4 or its external side. However, even though the internal side is the most distorted, it is the one that is the coolest in the heating processes in use. The result is the possibility of faults occurring (ungluing of the internal and external layers of the wall), which are more likely the greater the thickness of the wall. This problem becomes more serious with reusable bottles, flasks, etc. because the physical/chemical constraints produced by the cleaning operations between two successive uses require fairly substantial thicknesses (for instance 0.8 mm) for the walls of the receptacles, which equates to a thickness of about 4 to 8 mm for the walls of the preforms. One solution might be altering the heating conditions so that the internal side of the preforms reaches a satisfactory temperature. However, this leads to another major problem whereby the external side reaches an excessively high temperature whereat an undesirable modification of the physical-chemical features of the plastic material occurs. Attempts have been made to attenuate this difficulty by arranging the heating means so that they could approximately homogenize the temperature along the entire thickness of the wall, but this does not resolve the problems associated with the different stretching rates on the internal and external sides of the wall of the preform, or prevent the chance of incidents which might stem therefrom. Furthermore, an increase in the temperatures translates into an increase in the consumption of electrical energy and/or an increase in the length of exposure of the preforms, and therefore results in a slowdown of the rate of production. At the very least, the result is an increase in the manufacturing costs which is inadmissible. The purpose of the invention is basically to propose an original solution to the heating of preforms which will make it possible to avoid the difficulties encountered up to now, even in the case of preforms with very thick walls such as those which are to be used for the manufacturing of reusable bottles, flasks or the like made of PET, without any increase in treatment time and without any increase in the consumption of electrical energy, if not a significant decrease in such consumption. To this end, an initial aspect of the invention involves a method for heating preforms with a fairly thick wall made of plastic, especially polyethylene terephthalate (PET), for the manufacturing by blow moulding or stretch-blow moulding of receptacles such as bottles, flasks, etc., the heating comprising the radiation of preforms with infrared radiation emitted by at least one source that is external to the preforms to heat the latter roughly crosswise to their axes, the infrared radiation including an initial wavelength band B1 which is absorbed by the plastic material which makes up the wall of the preforms and a second wavelength band B2, distinct from the initial band B1, which is not absorbed by the plastic material and which penetrates inside the internal volume of the preforms. The method is basically characterized in that: a) in the internal volume of the preforms, the wavelengths, located in the second band B2, of infrared radiation which penetrates inside the internal volume are modified to transform then into radiation included in the first band B1, b) infrared radiation with modified wavelengths is reemitted towards the wall of the preform, and c) the infrared radiation with modified wavelengths, being absorbed by the plastic material which makes up the wall of the preform in the vicinity of its internal surface, heats the plastic material in the vicinity of the internal surface so that the temperature Ti of the internal side of the wall of the preform is greater than the temperature Te of the external side of said wall. With the invention, the preform is heated under ideal conditions for operations that it must ultimately be subjected to, in other words, on the one hand, the two sides, external and internal, of its wall are heated, thus producing an increase in temperature at least of the entire material, and on the other hand a decreasing temperature gradient from the internal side to the external side is created (in other words the inverse of the decreasing temperature gradient from the external side toward the internal side encountered in the traditional heating processes that are solely external to the preform), which is entirely in concordance with the difference in stretching rates suffered by the sides during the subsequent blow moulding or stretch-blow moulding operation. Thus, the distortion of the material during the shaping of the receptacle is facilitated, and the ungluing of layers of material one from the other is prevented. The result is an improved usage of energy by the heating means since the radiation, which penetrated inside the preform and which until now had been lost, now contributes to the heating of the material. The result, as regards the obtaining of a specific temperature for the material, is a decrease in the heating time of more than 30%, a significant decrease of consumed electrical energy and the possibility of designing furnaces for faster heating in scan heating facilities, and hence a substantial savings in the cost of these installations. Practically speaking, the conversion of the wavelengths of radiation entering into the internal volume of the preforms and the reemission of the radiation at modified wavelengths are obtained by introducing a core in the internal volume. The latter is dimensioned so that the space between the surface of the core and the internal wall of the preform is such that the temperature Ti of the internal surface of the preform, resulting from the absorption of radiation reemitted by the core in the vicinity of the internal surf ace, is greater than the temperature Te of the external surface of the preform. Tests have indeed shown that the less space between the surf ace of the core and the internal wall of the preform, the more significant is the heating of the latter. If it is desired that the temperature profile of the wall of the preforms is not uniform lengthwise and/or angularly (by rotating around the axis of the preform), an irregular space may be provided between the core and the internal wall of the preform and/or the core may be configured with an irregular surface. In particular, the core may have a surface that displays brilliance and/or an irregular color. Indeed, tests have shown that a brilliant core is less capable than a matte black core of converting wavelengths that reached its surf ace and reemitting modified radiation. The same thing was highlighted with cores of different color but in different ratios. Thus, it is possible to implement the process of the invention to manufacture receptacles with complex shapes, wherein the manufacturing process involves distortion that is not homogeneous of the entire material, which is followed by non-homogeneous heating of the preforms. According to a second aspect of the invention, an installation for heating preforms with a fairly thick wall made of plastic material, especially polyethylene terephthalate (PET), for the manufacturing by blow moulding or stretch-blow moulding of receptacles such as bottles, flasks, etc., the installation including heating means that incorporate at least one source of infrared radiation located outside of the preforms to heat them roughly crosswise to their axes, the infrared radiation including an initial wavelength band B1 which is absorbed by the plastic material which makes up the wall of the preforms and a second wavelength band B2, distinct from the initial band B1, which is not absorbed by the plastic material and which penetrates inside the internal volume of the preforms, comprises: a) wavelength converter means for infrared radiation arranged inside the preforms and set up to convert the infrared radiation with wavelengths included in the second band B2 into infrared radiation with wavelengths included in the first band B1, and b) reemitting means for reemitting the infrared radiation at modified wavelengths towards the wall of the preforms, the converter and reemitting means being arranged so that the temperature Ti of the internal side of the wall of the preforms is greater than the temperature of the external side of said wall. Preferably, the converter means and the reemitting means are mutually combined and include a core that is introduced inside each preform and having a treated surface, allowing a space from the internal wall of the preform such that the temperature Ti of the internal side of the wall obtained by heating the plastic material having absorbed the infrared radiation reemitted by the core with a modified wavelength is greater than the temperature Te of the external side of the wall. In order to obtain a non-homogeneous heating lengthwise and/or angularly of the preform to facilitate the manufacture of receptacles with complex shapes, the surface of the core is not parallel at all points to the internal surface of the wall of the preform so that the space between the surfaces is irregular lengthwise and/or angularly, and/or the surface of the core is treated such that it is not regular lengthwise and/or angularly. In the latter case, the core may have a surface which is brilliant and/or displays a non-regular color. It is desirable that the space and surface treatment are such that the interval between temperatures Ti and Te, respectively, of the internal and external surfaces of the wall of the preforms should be at least +50° C. FIG. 1 is a sectional view that illustrates a proposed preform heating installation in conformity with the invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram, on an enlarged scale, illustrating the operation of the installation in FIG. 1; FIGS. 3 and 4 are curves that illustrate, respectively, the transmissiveness of PET and the depth of penetration of the infrared radiation inside the PET according to wavelength; FIG. 5 is a variant of the embodiment of FIG. 1; and FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C are cross-sectional views taken on lines AA, BB and CC, respectively, through the core of FIG. 5. FIG. 1 shows a preform 1 with a fairly thick wall made of plastic material, especially polyethylene terephthalate (PET), for the manufacturing by blow moulding or stretch-blow moulding of a receptacle such as a bottle, flask, etc. The preform 1, obtained, for example, by injection moulding, has a body 2 with a thick wall and an end 3 which acts as the threaded collar of the future receptacle with its shape and measurements finalized. The blow moulding or stretch-blow moulding stage for the shaping of the receptacle is preceded by a heating stage designed to soften the plastic material and especially the PET, in order to facilitate the subsequent mechanical distortion stemming from the moulding. The heating stage occurs in a furnace, especially a scanning furnace, for which FIG. 1 only shows the elements required for an understanding of the invention. The furnace includes a row of infrared lamps (diagrammatically illustrated by arrows 4) arranged along the trajectory (here perpendicular to the drawing plane) followed by the preform that has to be heated, and which emit infrared radiation towards the body 2 of the preform and roughly crosswise to it. Uniform heating of the body 2 is obtained, with a single unilateral row of heating lamps, by making the preform rotate (arrow 5) at the same time as it is shifted or advanced lengthwise inside and through the furnace. A reflector (not shown) can be placed facing the lamps, on the other side of the trajectory followed by the preforms (to the right of the preforms in FIG. 1). The infrared radiation lamps that are currently used inside furnaces for the heating of preforms have an emission spectrum between about 0.35 and 6 microns. The plastic material that comprises the preform has a transmittance which varies with the wavelength of the ray. FIG. 3 shows the variation of the transmittance (in % of a PET film which is 50 μm thick for wavelengths included between 0.4 μm and 2.5 μm; FIG. 4 shows the variation of the depth (in meters) of penetration of the infrared radiation inside the PET according to the wavelength (penetration depth being the distance for which I/Io=e-1, I being the intensity of the radiation at the depth considered and Io the initial intensity). Based on these curves, and especially that in FIG. 4, it can be seen that the part of the radiation emitted by the heating lamps of which the wavelengths reaching into the inner volume of the preform to transform it into radiation of which the wavelengths included in the previously mentioned band B1 and then to reemit that radiation at modified wavelengths towards the wall of the preform by making sure that the heating in the vicinity of the internal side of the preform (heating due to the absorption of radiation reemitted at modified wavelengths) is greater than the heating in the vicinity of the external side of the preform (heating due to the absorption of radiation coming directly from the heating lamps) . To that end, a core 6 is introduced inside the preform, which has a surface 7 that is treated in whole or in part and which allows a space e to subsist with the internal side 8 of the wall 2 of the preform. Based on the radiation emitted by the heating lamps (arrow 4), a fraction (arrow 11) of the radiation whose wavelengths are located in the band B1 is absorbed by the plastic material comprising the wall and heats the latter at the vicinity of the external side 10 . (temperature Te) The fraction (arrow 12) of the radiation whose shorter wavelengths are located in band B2 is not absorbed by the plastic material and is transmitted through the preform to the core 6, whose surface treatment makes it behave more or less like a black core and heats up to a temperature T. The result is that the core 6 emits in turn (Wien's law) a radiation with an optimal wavelength λmax =2898/T (λmax in μm and T in 0 K) back towards the wall of the preform (arrow 13). By adapting the surface of the core 6, it can be ensured that its temperature T is such that the wavelengths of the reemitted radiation are located in the band B1 ; the result is that the reemitted radiation (arrow 13) is absorbed by the plastic material that comprises the wall of the preform and heats it at the vicinity of the internal side 8 (temperature Ti) . Thus, the wall of the preform is heated at both its internal and external sides, while the source of heating is not at all altered and remains outside of the preform in a unilateral configuration. Furthermore, an appropriate choice for the surface 7 of the core 6 and the space e can ensure that the internal side 8 of the wall of the preform is raised to a temperature Ti which is significantly greater (in actuality at least 5° C.) than the temperature Te of the external side 10 of the wall; a positive temperature gradient ΔT=Ti -Te (Ti >Te) is thus produced between the internal 8 and external 10 sides. In FIG. 2, the curve C depicts a possible variation of the temperature inside the thickness of the wall, between Ti and Te. It is thus assured that the plastic material will be locally heated to the appropriate temperatures without any risk to the stretching rates that it will be subject to during the process of blow moulding or stretch-blow moulding. The smaller the space e, the greater the energy reemitted by the core which reaches the internal side 8, the higher the temperature Ti, and therefore the wider the temperature differential Ti -Te. For a specific value of space e, a core with a black matte surface triggers heating of the internal side which is greater than a core with a light and brilliant surface. In the first case, the temperature Ti can be 20° C. greater than temperature Te, while it will only be 10° C. greater in the second case. In view of the influence of those parameters, it is clear that the heating of the preform can be modulated or separated into zones, lengthwise as well as angularly, by varying the surface and/or the space e of specific zones of the core. In particular, it is possible to modulate the heating of the preform by zones to facilitate the manufacture of receptacles with complex shapes and/or that display a variable thickness. In FIG. 1, the core 6 has a simple shape which corresponds roughly to the shape of the internal side of the preform, so that the space e is approximately constant. During heating, the core 6 can also be driven in rotation (arrow 14) in synchronism with preform 1, or else not be driven, the preform 1 rotating alone around the core. In FIG. 5 a core 6 is depicted with a complex shape, with a space e that is not constant both lengthwise and angularly and of which some zones, such as at 15 and 16, are brilliant (for example polished metal) while the remainder of the core is of a dark shade (for instance matte black). FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C are sections taken on lines AA, BB and CC, respectively, of FIG. 5, and depict the shapes of the various sections of the core. In such a case, the core must rotate in synchronism with the preform to preserve the angular thermal discontinuities. As such and from what precedes, the invention does not restrict itself at all to those of its embodiments that have been specifically thought of; on the contrary, it encompasses all variants. |Cited Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title| |US3436524 *||5 Jun 1967||1 Apr 1969||Research Inc||Heat energy receptor-radiator wall| |US3787170 *||20 Oct 1972||22 Jan 1974||Phillips Petroleum Co||Rapid heating of parison preforms| |US4044086 *||21 Jul 1975||23 Aug 1977||American Can Company||Method for making a blow molded oriented plastic bottle| |US4315725 *||17 Jun 1980||16 Feb 1982||Yoshino Kogyosho Co., Ltd.||Jig for orientation-blow molding piece| |US5032700 *||8 Jun 1988||16 Jul 1991||Toyo Seikan Kaisha, Ltd.||Method of heating thermoplastic bottle of preform and method of controlling temperature of heating member utilized by the heating method| |GB2095611A *||Title not available| |Citing Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title| |US5681521 *||14 Apr 1994||28 Oct 1997||Sidel||Process and equipment for heat treatment of the body of a preform or of an intermediate-stage container made of a thermoplastic material| |US5954982 *||12 Feb 1997||21 Sep 1999||Nikon Corporation||Method and apparatus for efficiently heating semiconductor wafers or reticles| |US6033279 *||12 Aug 1997||7 Mar 2000||U.S. Philips Corporation||Method of manufacturing a display device with reduced thermal stress| |US6113840 *||25 Jul 1997||5 Sep 2000||Sidel||Process for heat treatment of the body of a preform or of an intermediate-stage container made of a thermoplastic material| |US6258313||4 May 1999||10 Jul 2001||Container Corporation International Inc.||Stretch blow molding process and apparatus for the manufacturing of plastic containers| |US6336801||21 Jun 1999||8 Jan 2002||Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.||Die assembly for a meltblowing apparatus| |US6361301||21 Feb 2000||26 Mar 2002||Plastipak Packaging, Inc.||Heater assembly for blow molding plastic preforms| |US6444159||4 May 1999||3 Sep 2002||Sidel, Inc.||Blow mold shell and shell assembly| |US6447281||10 Sep 1999||10 Sep 2002||Sidel, Inc.||Blow mold shell and shell holder assembly for blow-molding machine| |US6733716||21 May 2001||11 May 2004||Sabel Plastechs Inc.||Method of making a stretch/blow molded article (bottle) with an integral projection such as a handle| |US7033656||12 Apr 2002||25 Apr 2006||Graham Packaging Pet Technologies, Inc.||Graded crystallization of container finishes| |US7150624||24 May 2000||19 Dec 2006||Uniloy Milacron Inc.||Sealing blade| |US7153455||10 May 2004||26 Dec 2006||Sabel Plastechs Inc.||Method of making a stretch/blow molded article (bottle) with an integral projection such as a handle| |US7687011 *||11 Sep 2002||30 Mar 2010||Krones Ag||Device and method for controlling the temperature of preforms| |US8287270||30 Sep 2009||16 Oct 2012||Printpack Illinois Inc.||Methods and systems for thermoforming with billets| |US8303290||30 Apr 2009||6 Nov 2012||Sidel Participations||Method and installation for the production of containers| |US8354051||16 Sep 2009||15 Jan 2013||Sidel Participations||Method and installation for the production of containers| |US8546277||7 Feb 2008||1 Oct 2013||Sidel Participations||Heating plastics via infrared radiation| |US8662876||10 Jun 2008||4 Mar 2014||Sidel Participations||Installation for heating the bodies of preforms for blow-moulding containers| |US8753106||15 Oct 2012||17 Jun 2014||Printpack Illinois, Inc.||Billet carrier assembly| |US9144934 *||8 Sep 2010||29 Sep 2015||Koninklijke Philips N.V.||Method of heating a preform, a driving arrangement, a preform heating system and a computer program| |US20030194518 *||12 Apr 2002||16 Oct 2003||Nahill Thomas E.||Graded crystallization of container finishes| |US20040070119 *||26 Jan 2002||15 Apr 2004||Mauro Fibbia||Manufacturing method for polyethylene-terephtalate containers with out-of-centre mouth| |US20040245678 *||10 May 2004||9 Dec 2004||Belcher Samuel L.||Method of making a stretch/blow molded article (bottle) with an integral projection such as a handle| |US20050046085 *||11 Sep 2002||3 Mar 2005||Klaus Voth||Device and method for controlling the temperature of preforms| |US20060110558 *||11 Jan 2006||25 May 2006||Graham Packaging Pet Technologies, Inc.||Graded crystallization of container finishes| |US20070284788 *||27 Jul 2005||13 Dec 2007||Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.||Process for Producing Hollow Molded Product of Thermoplastic Resin| |US20110074057 *||30 Sep 2009||31 Mar 2011||Printpack Illinois, Inc.||Methods and Systems for Thermoforming with Billets| |US20110272863 *||16 Feb 2010||10 Nov 2011||Peter Lindner||Preform heater using gas, method, and apparatus| |US20120160822 *||8 Sep 2010||28 Jun 2012||Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.||Method of heating a preform, a driving arrangement, a preform heating system and a computer program| |DE10144537B4 *||11 Sep 2001||22 Jul 2010||Krones Ag||Vorrichtung und Verfahren zum Temperieren von Vorformlingen| |EP1342550A1 *||27 Feb 2003||10 Sep 2003||Eastman Chemical Company||Method and device for predicting temperature profiles throughout the thickness of a polymer preform, and a preform and a container made according to them| |EP1779994A1 *||27 Jul 2005||2 May 2007||Mitsui Chemicals Polyurethanes, Inc.||Method of producing thermoplastic resin hollow molded product| |EP1779994A4 *||27 Jul 2005||30 Nov 2011||Mitsui Chemicals Inc||Method of producing thermoplastic resin hollow molded product| |WO1999010160A1 *||19 Aug 1998||4 Mar 1999||Industrieservis Gesellschaft Für Innovation, Technologie-Transfer Und Consulting Für Thermische Prozessanlagen Mbh||Method and device for hot-forming thermoplastics| |WO2002062549A2 *||26 Jan 2002||15 Aug 2002||Sipa S.P.A.||Method and apparatus for conditioning pet preforms and method and apparatus for manufacturing pet containers with out-of-center mouth| |WO2002062549A3 *||26 Jan 2002||21 Nov 2002||Alberto Armellin||Method and apparatus for conditioning pet preforms and method and apparatus for manufacturing pet containers with out-of-center mouth| |WO2003022551A1 *||11 Sep 2002||20 Mar 2003||Krones Ag||Device and method for controlling the temperature of preforms| |WO2003047311A1 *||3 Sep 2002||5 Jun 2003||Aisapack Holding Sa||Method and device for heating plastics using infrared radiation| |U.S. Classification||264/492, 432/10, 432/31, 425/526, 425/174.4, 392/418, 392/407, 264/458, 264/521, 392/411| |International Classification||B29C49/64, B29B13/02, B29C49/06, B29L22/00, B29C35/08, B29B11/00| |Cooperative Classification||B29C49/06, B29B2911/1404, B29B2911/14653, B29B2911/1402, B29B13/024, B29C49/6463, B29C49/6436, B29L2031/7158, B29B2911/14033, B29B11/00, B29B2911/14026, B29C49/6454, B29B2911/14713, B29K2067/00, B29L2023/22, B29B2911/14106, B29B2911/14133, B29C2035/0822| |European Classification||B29C49/64B5, B29C49/64B4, B29B11/00, B29B13/02D2, B29C49/64B4C| |26 Jun 1992||AS||Assignment| Owner name: SIDEL, FRANCE Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST.;ASSIGNORS:DENIS, GERARD;HUDEBINE, RENE;REEL/FRAME:006201/0715 Effective date: 19920622 |26 Mar 1997||FPAY||Fee payment| Year of fee payment: 4 |27 Apr 2001||SULP||Surcharge for late payment| Year of fee payment: 7 |27 Apr 2001||FPAY||Fee payment| Year of fee payment: 8 |30 Mar 2005||FPAY||Fee payment| Year of fee payment: 12

Spirit and Community by Richard Rice The church is a continuation of the Spirit-anointed event that was Jesus Christ. — Clark Pinnock The growing interest in things spiritual When he was writing his systematic theology back in the 50s and 60s, the famous theologian Paul Tillich wondered if he could even use the word spirit. He felt that modern culture was so out of touch with the spiritual that the word had lost its meaning. Things are entirely different today. People everywhere are concerned about spiritual matters. Bookstores now offer a variety of titles under the topic of "spirituality." Angels have become popular figures. Glossolalia now appears not only in Pentecostal churches, but in mainline denominations, too. Faith healings are no longer the province of backwater preachers. Benny Hinn is a figure of international Dramatic spiritual experiences are not the province of the few. Almost every family contains stories of inexplicable or "supernatural" phenomena. One man I know offers the following list from his own experience. "My grandmother, a young girl from Sweden, was scheduled to cross from England to America on a new ocean liner in 1911, but they didnt finish constructing the ship in time. So, instead of sailing on the Titanic, she came to America on the "Several years later, she enrolled at an Adventist college near Chicago. Arriving late for the school year, she found that an important examination was scheduled for the next day. She was just getting learning English and wanted to postpone the test, but the principal refused. In a dream that night she saw a teacher standing in the front of a classroom, writing questions on the blackboard. When she took the test the next day, the test the questions were the very ones she had seen in her dream the night before. "In 1970 I received two items in the mail on the same daya letter of acceptance to my first choice in graduate programs and a letter from my employing conference that granted me a leave of absence. Was it sheer coincidence, or had God answered my prayers in a remarkable way? "One afternoon in the late 70s our two-year-old son vanished outside our house. We searched in vain around the neighborhood, the fear rising in our throats. He was eventually returned to our front door by two men we had never seen before, and have never "On a visit to Barcelona two years ago we became hopelessly lost. We drove around the city for hours, it seemed, unable to find our destination. Although we asked for directions several times, we could barely understand them and were unable to follow them. Our frustration was turning to desperation, when a car stopped beside us driven by a man with several children with him. Hoping he could speak English, we rolled down our window and asked for help. He didnt just give us directions, he patiently led us through the city, street by street, for the next 45 minutes until we reached our destination. Then he waved pleasantly and took off. We never saw him again. "Years ago a young woman I know claimed that God was calling her to be a prophet. She was a brilliant student, and it was difficult to believe that she would make up a story like this. But within a few months it was obvious that she had suffered a complete mental breakdown. And she has needed professional help ever since. "I felt the Spirit in a powerful way on one occasion when I was 13 years old and going through a deeply religious phase in my experience. I studied my Bible daily and prayed intently, sometimes for long periods of time. One evening I was praying for the gift of the Spirit with great earnestness, when my body was filled with a power I had never felt before. The best description of the sensation is one Ellen White gives of her own experience, when she says, "Wave after wave of glory passed over me." Thats how I felt. I was convinced at the time that God had answered my prayer, and I have never doubted that conviction. Nothing like that has never happened to me Remarkable coincidences, audible voices when youre alone, mysterious helpers, revealing dreams, physical transportwhat do we do with experiences, and reports of experiences, like these? Do we accept them at face value? Do we flatly reject them? If we allow that God can and does act in dramatic ways, are events like these exceptions, or do they occur on a regular basis? These are some of the questions we need to wrestle with. To answer them, we need to develop a perspective on the Holy Spirits fundamental work. The Spirit gives life We can easily come up with a list of the Spirit's activities. From Bible studies and Sabbath school lessons, we know that the Spirit participated in the worlds creation (Gen 1:2), inspired the biblical writers (2Pet 1:21), brings about the new birth provides spiritual guidance (Jn 16:13), bears fruit in lives of Christians (Gal 5:2-23) and gives gifts to the church (1Cor 12:28-29). But behind all these specific activities lies one fundamental function. The Spirit is the source of life. Its work is to animate The life-giving work of the Spirit appears throughout the Bible, beginning with creation. According to Genesis 1, the Spirit hovered over the watersan indication that life is about to break forth. And according to Genesis 2, the spirit, or "breath of life," entered the human body God had fashioned, transforming it a "living There is one Hebrew word for both "breath" and "spirit." The breath from God that brought life to humans animates other creatures, too. "All have the same breath," says Ecclesiastes 3:19; "man has no advantage over the animals." In one of the great creation Psalms, the Spirit of God and life-giving breath are closely associated: "when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created" (Ps 104:29-30). We see the Spirits life giving power in one of Ezekiels memorable visions. A valley of dry bones came to life when God sent breath into them (Ezekiel 37:5. 10). The Letter of James states a principle that underlies biblical thought when it asserts, "the body without the spirit is dead" (Jas 2:26). As described in the Bible, the human spirit is not just respiration or life-force; it involves consciousness, feelings and emotions, such as fear, anger, joy and pride (Gen 41:8; Jg 8;3; Gen 45:27). It is also related to specific states of consciousness and certain emotional experiences. When an intention, attitude or emotion is particularly strong, the Bible sometimes describes it as a spirit that comes to reside within a person, like a force that enters from outside. It might be an evil force, like jealousy (Num 5:14-30), hatred (Jg 9:23), and prostitution (Hos 4:12), or a good force, like justice (Is 28:6) or supplication (Zech 12:10). The Bible also describes Gods Spirit as the source of unusual human abilities. It accounted for Samson's extraordinary physical strength (Jg 15:14), for Mary's ability to give birth without having been with a man (Lk 1:35), for the power of John the Baptist's ministry (Lk 1:15), and for the various abilities of members of the Christian church (1Cor 12). These endowments are related to the Spirit's life-giving role. The Spirit is the source of every persons life. And when certain people have distinctive abilities, it shows that the Spirit's life-giving power is present to an unusual degree. Such people are more "alive," in certain respects, than humans ordinarily are. The Spirit creates community The role of the Spirit in the plan of salvation rests solidly on the Spirits basic role in creation. It is an application of its life-giving power. The principle, the body without the spirit is dead, applies to the church as well as to individual human beings. Unless the Spirit animates, enlivens, inspires, the body of Christ is nothing but a corpse. The Spirits fundamental work in salvation is to give life to the church, to bring to life the body of Christ. So closely connected are Spirit and church that we cannot understand the church unless we understand the Spirit. On the one hand, the community is the creation of the Spirit. On the other hand, the creation of community is the Spirits most important work. We may have to reach a bit to appreciate this function, because our concept of the Spirits work, like our concept of the religious life generally, is something we typically think of in individual terms. Our natural tendency is to think of the Spirit as working in us individually, one by one, reaching into the inner recesses of our souls. Important as this is, the more fundamental work of the Spirit is to bring us into a community, a new kind of community, a community that exists nowhere else in human Like many people, my love for music vastly exceeds my ability to produce it. Whenever I see a grand piano sitting on a stage I am reminded of a painful episode in my musical past, a piano recital I participated in when I was 14 years old. My teacher at the time, someone named Sid, held his student recitals on Sunday afternoons in the auditorium of the local womens club. He liked Sundays because parents werent working and he could get a good audience for his students. As one of the older kids I was scheduled near the end of the program, so I had time enough to get really nervous. Not only that, but Sid came up with the idea that all the performers should sit in a circle around the piano in full view of the audience and come to the keyboard one by one when it was time for them to play. As a result we had to squirm and sweat while everyone looked on. I sat folding and unfolding my hands, playing my number over and over in my mind, until I could hardly remember any of it. Finally, my turn My recital piece that year was "Ritual Fire Dance," by Manuel de Falla. Its an exciting composition, with lots of dramatic effects that call for heavy pounding on the keys. That allowed someone like me to compensate for a lack of musical skill with sheer physical strength. I was giving it everything I had, when suddenly, about halfway through the number, the piano rolled away from me. It didnt go far, just a foot or so before it stopped. But I didnt know what to do. I could still reach the keys, but they were uncomfortably far away. I certainly didnt want to stop in the middle of the pieceI wasnt sure I could ever start againso, I kept playing with one hand, reached down with the other and dragged the bench toward the piano. For several measures things were fine, and then the piano moved again. So, I reached down and pulled the bench forward a second time. This went on for the rest of the piecethe piano kept moving and I kept following it until my number came to a merciful conclusion. Around the punchbowl after the recital I got lots of compliments about my performance. Nobody mentioned the music. They only talked about my skill at maneuvering the bench as I chased the piano across the stage. I thought a lot about that occasion, and I think the piano was trying to tell me something. It took me awhile to figure it out, but eventually I got the message: God put you on earth to do something other than play the piano. Fortunately, piano solos were not the only musical outlet available. I also joined choirs and bands, and performing with a group changed everything. One mistake didnt ruin a performance, so there was much less pressure. And more important, the members of a group could reach musical levels together that they could never attain on their own. Somehow our individual efforts formed a whole that was greater than its parts. Individually, we had modest talents, but working together, we could sound terrific. The same principle holds in other areas, too. Working together, people often surpass everything we expect from them as individuals. Basketball fans will never forget the championship series of 1977 between the Portland Trailblazers and the Philadelphia Seventy-sixers. It figured to be totally one-sided. Philadelphia had an all-pro line-up that included the likes of Julius Erving, George McGinnis, Lloyd Free. The Portland team had a bunch of average players and center Bill Walton, their only stand-out. Looking at the rosters, experts predicted a sweep. And it was, but not the one they expected. Instead of caving in to Philadelphias superior talent, the Portland team played way "over their heads," and after dropping the first game, won the next four to take The startling outcome generated a flood of commentary. How could a team of no-names defeat the best line-up in the league? One sports writer summed it up this way: "Philadelphia was a team of stars, but Portland was a team with stars." The Trailblazers blended into a team, the Seventy-sixers didnt. The players were too concerned with individual success. No matter how talented they are, athletes preoccupied with their own statistics are often less effective than those who put the team first. The same truth applies to Christianity. What people are together is more fundamental, more important, and more effective than what they are individually. Our culture makes it hard for us to understand this, and so does our religious heritage. Most of us were raised to believe that Christianity is essentially a private matter, between an individual and God. But unless we understand the priority of community, we will never understand the church. And unless we accept this priority, we will never become the church. The most we can ever be is a collection of people who have a few things in common. The Spirit creates a special kind of community. The New Testament not only affirms the priority of the Christian community, it also affirms its uniqueness. The Spirit creates a kind of community that is unlike any other. What people are together is often more fundamental, more important, and more influential than what they are individually. This is true of many groups, but togetherness is more important than ever when it comes to the church, because the church is what gives individuals their Christian identity. We don't make the church what it is, the church makes us what we are. For those of us from highly individualistic cultures like the USA, and possibly Australia, this is difficult to grasp. For us, the primary unit of human reality is the individual, rather than the group. The principal figure in American folklore is the cowboy, who rides off the range and cleans up the town all by himself with nothing more than his trusty six-shooter. Then he mounts up and rides off into the sunset. We dont know where he comes from or where hes going. We know nothing of his background or his family. We may not even know his name. Many western heroes wore masks to hide their identity. But we admire their solitude and anonymity. Anything worth doing is better, it seems, if you can do it by yourself. This cultural attitude often plays a major role in the way we look at the church. We tend to think of the church as a collection of individuals, each of whom is striving to reach the individual goal of salvation. The church is like a health club or a grocery store. Its value lies in the fact that it meets our individual needs. We want to be saved and the church has resources that will help us get there. Our visceral individualism makes it difficult to perceive the type of community that church involves. The Spirit brings into existence a distinctive quality of existence. It not only makes the church a community, it makes the church the body of Christ. The Spirit moves over a massive, chaotic diversity of human beings and brings it to life. It takes people you could not imagine together in any other social arrangement, transforms them inwardly and outwardly, individually and collectively, and brings forth the body of Christ. Without the creative power of the Spirit, the church is nothing but a collection Not only does the Spirit create the church, the creation of the church is the Spirits most important function. In fact, so closely related are Spirit and church that we cant understand one without the other, and Christian thinkers have sometimes concluded that Spirit and church are simply two aspects of the same doctrine. The Apostles Creed, the most famous expression of Christian faith since the New Testament, affirms faith in God, Christ, Holy Spirit and Church. While some theologians hold that there are four articles of faithFather, Son, Spirit, and churchothers maintain that there are only three. They see the church and the Spirit as two aspects of the same article of faith. To affirm the Spirit is to affirm the church, and vice versa. 1Cor. 12:14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 1Cor. 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. When Paul compares the church to a body, we ordinarily view it as an illustration of the fact that people with different personalities and abilities can learn to get along by recognizing that they can complement each other. But the apostles point is more radical than that. He is really saying that Christian existence is essentially social. In other words, church membership is essential to spiritual life. If we are really parts of the same body, then we need each other for our very survival. Separated from each other, members of the church have no more life than a severed body part. No organ of the body can live on its own; neither can a solitary Christian. It is a spiritual as well as a biological principle: nothing has life in isolation. So, being part of the body is not just the best environment for spiritual flourishing. Connecting to the body gives us our only chance of survival. Pauls description makes another point as well. In the complex reality of the church, each member not only depends on others to survive, each member acquires its identity from its relation to the others. There are two sorts of communities we belong to. There are communities we create, and there are communities that create us. My wife and I have memberships in a health club and a shopping club, I guess youd call it. In each case, the organization exists for the private benefit of the members. We go to the health club because it has exercise and weight machines we like to use. We go to price club because it gives us good deals on the merchandise we need, and a lot of the merchandise we dont need! These institutions are not important parts of our lives. We dont list these memberships on our CVs. If they closed, we wouldnt feel that we had lost something of great personal significance. They are important because we belong to them, not the other way around. But things are quite different when it comes to other groups we belong to. The best example is our families. A family is not an organization of convenience put together to serve private, individual needs, like better deals on automobile tires. A family is something that makes us what we are. It gives us our identity. Like a family, then, the members of the church draw their identity from participating in the body of Christ. They are important because they belong to the church. Comparing the church to a body makes another point, too. This is the fact that the church is Christs body. He gives the church its identity, and he is responsible for the unique kind of life it makes possible. When Jesus talked to his disciples on the night before his crucifixion, he laid out the essential principles of the life that he had come to offer them. It was a life whose central quality was love. Not the sort of love that exists in any ordinary relationships, but the kind of love that he had revealed to them. Love one another as I have loved you, he said. From statements like this (and especially from Jesus high priestly prayer), we see that Jesus wants to bring his disciples into the circle of love that binds him to the Father. The Spirit that unites the Father and the Son also unites Christ with his followers, and it unites Christs followers with one another. This means that the love that binds believers to one another reflects the very love that binds the Father and the Son. The church is a community whose inner reality reflects Gods own reality. Indeed, the church is the means of bringing human beings into Gods own life. The Spirit, then, gives the church its vital connection to Christ and makes the church his body. It creates such close contact between Christ and his people that they live in him, and he lives in them. As a result, the church shares the life that Jesus lived. Like Christ, its members are children of God, incorporated into his family. Like Christ, the church is devoted to the work of the kingdom. It lives to serve human beings, especially those in great need. Like Christ, the church exhibits self-sacrifice and compassion. Like Christ, the church encounters opposition and suffering in the world. And, perhaps most striking, the church, like Christ, reveals God to the world. Two interesting verses from Johns writings, one from the Gospel, the other from his first epistle, support this "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known" (John 1:18). "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us" (1John 4:12). The identical opening phrases suggest a similar purpose in the statements that follow. The invisible God is revealed in the life of Jesus, and in the life of the Christian community. Gods own love for humanity becomes visible in the love that Christians display toward one another. So, the church shares Christ's experiences, Christ's character, and Christ's work. When the Spirit gives life to the Christian community, it also gives it a distinctive character. It creates an atmosphere, a mystique, all its own. Successful organizations strive to develop a strong sense of corporate identity. At Disneyland, all the workers are called "cast members," whether they are actors, salespeople, or janitors. They are told to think of themselves as being "on-stage" whenever they encounter the public. The chaplain at Harvard University tells the students that they belong to the greatest educational institution that ever existed. Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics told his legendary basketball teams that they would win simply because they were Celtics, and they proved him right with one championship after another. Leaders in every area know that an organization cannot achieve its full potential without a group spirit. So, they strive to cultivate a strong sense of identity. It is the Holy Spirit who gives the Christian church its sense of identity. It generates the ethos, the distinctive characteristics, the sense of identity, that Christians have in common. It creates a community whose members know and care for each other, who are deeply committed to certain values, and who share a strong sense of We have taken time to spell out the Spirits relation to the church because this perspective on its work is basic to any understanding of the Spirit that is faithful to the NT. Consequently, whatever people say about the Spirits activity, whatever they claim about their encounters with the Spirit or the power of the Spirit in their lives, it must be referred to the Spirits work in creating and guiding the church, the community that is Christs body. The gifts of the Spirit With this picture of the Spirit and the church in mind, we are in a position to understand the nature of spiritual gifts, as Pauls describes them. The main term Paul uses to refer to the Spirits work through "mutual ministry" is charisma, meaning "gift." And for Paul the word encompasses virtually the whole of Gods saving activitiessonship, glory, covenant, giving of the law, worship and promises, justification, faith, eternal life, even Christ himself. Paul also sees the gifts as ongoing features of the communitys life. There is no indication that the gifts were meant to last for a limited period of time. They were not given just to get the community started. To the contrary, Paul desired that the church in Corinth should have all the gifts it needed right up until the time of Christs return (1Cor 1,7). Pauls writings contain five main lists of gifts, three in 1Cor 12, if you count vs. 28 and verses 29-30 as different lists. If we look at these lists carefully, and the discussion surrounding them, a number of important characteristics emerge. - utterance of wisdom (insight into Gospel) - knowledge (understanding of OT and Christian traditions) - faith (re special circumstance) - healings (not miraculous; cf. following gift) - miraculous works (exorcisms) - prophecy (knowing Gods will intuitively) - discernment of spirits (whether from God, demon, or human opinion) - tongues (glossolalia) - interpretation of tongues (glossolalia) - workers of miracles - speakers in various kinds of tongues - miraculous works - Concrete acts of service - Financial aid - Ministry of guiding - Merciful actions - Pastors and teachers An examination of these lists supports the following conclusions about the They are open-ended in character. The lists are not exhaustive. There may be other possibilities for spoken and practical ministry in the church. Paul nowhere provides a systematic or full description of the gifts available to the Christian community. Paul would recognize any instructive contribution of a constant member as a gift. They are individually, but not evenly, distributed. Each person in community receives at least one charisma for the benefit of fellows. But not all have the same gift, and some obviously have more gifts than others. They are ranked according to their benefits, not according to their appearance. The Corinthian error was to evaluate the gifts on the basis of their form, attaching greater significance to the more dramatic gifts. But Pauls lists show that quite ordinary, practical actions are more valuable than those dramatic ones, such as wishes to eradicate any distinction between gifts made on the basis of appearance. Instead, the gifts are graded on the basis of their effect. Those that make the most profitable contribution to the communitys growth are accorded the highest importance. As a result, certain gifts of speech predominate over those of deed. Paul gives first place to apostles because of their crucial role in the founding of the church. Perhaps the apostle possesses all the basic gifts. Second are prophets, who communicate to community those things that it needs to hear directly from God for its concrete encouragement, admonition, and direction. They are exercised on any appropriate occasion. In texts where lists of the charismata occur, the primary context for Pauls discussion is not the "church" but the "body," not the gathering of Christians together but the local Christian community itself. So the gifts are exercised not only in church services, but also worship services. They can be exercised on other occasions when Christians are in contact with one another, although the full range of gifts to the community becomes evident only when all The purpose of the gifts. What is the purpose of the Spirits gifts? The key word for understanding Pauls concept of spiritual gifts is edification. The gifts are granted to individuals not primarily for their own enjoyment but for the building up of the community (1Cor 12:7, Eph 4:12). In church the service of others, not oneself, is the goal. In fact, it is precisely through seeking to fulfill the needs of others, rather than an individual quest for the charismata themselves, that various members of the community will come into a greater experience of the gifts (1Cor 14:12). We see this basic principle in Pauls famous statement, "all things should be done for edification" (1Cor 14:26). Therefore, gifts should only be exercised when the objective is to build up the body of Christ. The exercise of the gifts. If edification broadly understood is the purpose of the gifts, how should the gifts be exercised? These are the basic principles of the Spirits operation: balance, intelligibility, evaluation, orderliness, loving exercise (105). In a proportionate way. More time should be given to the more important, more fundamental, gifts, viz., the ones that promote the communitys understanding. These include prophecy and teaching and those gifts directed toward growth of the communitys understanding. These gifts promote the psychological and social harmony of the community. Still, lesser gifts should not be ignored just because others are more inherently helpful. The higher gifts should not dominate in an unbalanced way (14:29). All aspects of the churchs life should develop in proper relation to one another. Within an intelligible context. One of the main criteria by which contributions are judged is their intelligibility. This is particularly evident in the case of glossolalia. This gift is not without rational content, but this content is hidden from the mind of the person giving expression to it. The gifts incommunicability, not its irrationality, makes it presence inappropriate in the gathers. See 14:18-19. Five words with my mind are better than 10,000 words in a Under the individuals self-control. Self-control must characterize everyone exercising a gift, even with respect to the more spectacular gifts (tongues, spirits of prophets 14:32). Neither prophecy nor glossolalia are ecstatic phenomena that the speaker has no control over. In fact, this is the distinctive mark of the Christian exercise of charismata. Those who have the gifts are able to control them (12:2). Paul avoids all the Greek words for ecstatic experiences (the words common in Hellenistic religious circles to talk about extraordinary charismatic phenomena, especially those of an ecstatic kind): ekstasis, entheos, empneusis, enthusiamos, and probably pneumata. These words apply to people who are manipulated by idols so they have no control over what they say or do. Within a framework of love: the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. This is the most basic principle of all, according to all Pauls discussion of gifts (1Cor 13; Rom 12:8-9; Eph 4:15). All contributions must take place within framework of loving behavior among the members. The fruit of the Spirit must always accompany the gifts of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love (Gal 5:22). Since love is not rude, does not insist on its own way, and is not jealous or boastful, it is easy to see its relevance to the previous criteria for spiritual gifts. When we place the gifts in the context Paul provides, it is clear that there is one fundamental test their exercise must meet. They must contribute to the building of community. In Pauls scheme of things, that is the one criterion by which every aspect of Christian practice must be evaluated. So, the gifts of the Spirit are not private experiences, they are public. And their purpose is not personal, but communal. Genuine manifestations of the Holy Spirit will build up the Christian community, strengthen the corporate life of the church, edify members in the body of Christ. That is the central goal of the Spirits work in the world. Spiritual Discernment IndexNext

This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers. In 2006, 4.5 metric tons of MDMA, popularly known as Ecstasy was seized, worldwide (World Drug Report, 2008). Such vast quantities of drugs are being manufactured to meet a considerably large demand -- recreational drugs for human consumption. In the same year, New Zealand had a prevalence rate of MDMA use for those aged 15-64, of 2.6% (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2008). Considering studies have indicated ecstasy use in 60-80% of rave attendees (Branigan et al., 1997 as cited in Winstock, Griffiths & Stewart, 2001) but possibly up to 96% (Winstock, Griffiths & Stewart, 2001), it can be assumed that the sensory stimuli and engaging environment of a rave (a large group of people, typically young, who gather to dance to techno or dance music) is considered particularly inviting for drug use. In fact, poly-drug use is common in this environment, as is taking multiple or particularly high doses of MDMA to achieve the desired effect (Winstock, Griffiths & Stewart, 2001). It is for these reasons, that careful examination of the effects of 'club drugs', both short-term and long-term may be so crucial to the health of multiple generations. A transporter-mediated releaser of serotonin, and to a lesser degree dopamine, an acute dose of MDMA may release up to 80% of the brain's central serotonin stores (Vollenweider et al., 2003; Green, 1995; as cited in Schifano, 2004), which may account for the drugs short term enhanced mood effects, and delayed effects of depression, anxiety (Hando, Topp & Hall, 1997; Parrot, Sisk & Turner, 2000, as cited in Schifano, 2004). Other studies have also indicated that MDMA promotes hyperactivity in animals via indirect stimulation of the 5-HT1B receptor (Rempel, Callaway & Geyer, 1993, as cited in Schifano, 2004), with restlessness, tremor and excitation appearing as possible corroborating effects in humans (Liechti et al., 2000, as cited in Schifano). Similar stimulant-like effects in humans may be a result of noradrenaline release that has also been seen in studies, with a sympathomimetic effect on the body (Baumann, Wang & Rothman, 2007; Rothman et al., 2001, as cited in Schifano, 2004). In addition to possible NA-induced effects of arousal, MDMA has been shown to release acetylcholine in rat brain slices (Fischer et al., 2001) and also has affinity for histaminic receptors (Bataglia et al, 1988, as cited in Schifano 2004) which could potentially induce further physiological arousal, motor and memory effects (Schifano et al., 2004). Though anxiety was not reported explicitly, Schifano et al. (2004) claimed use of a scale to reveal some low to moderate anxiety in human users, with women scoring higher on these items. This would be consistent with animal studies indicating anxiogenic effects of MDMA (Ho, Pawlak et al.; Navarro, 1999, Gurtman et al., 2002;)(Gamm et al., 2000; McGuire, 2000; Parrott et al., 2000; Schifano et al., 1998; Verkes et al., 2001, as cited in Gurtman et al., 2002). However, the nature of MDMA and its effect on anxiety is not entirely clear, and there is also considerable evidence to the contrary, suggesting an anxiolytic effect (Navarro, Rivera et al., 2004) as well as numerous studies of subjective effects in humans citing pleasant and mood-enhancing effects (Baylen & Rosenberg, 2006). A number of variables may be responsible for the contention, including dosages and a possible change from anxiogenic effects at low doses, to anxiolytic at high doses (Lin et al., 1999). Additional confounding factors may include the choice of method for testing and measuring anxiety, number of consecutive doses, lack of MDMA purity control and the fact that many of the studies were retrospective (Lin et al., 1999). Parrott (2004) points out that animal research has suggested that administration of MDMA under hot, crowded or noisy conditions may be utilized to boost the arousal effects of MDMA, as seen in increased reinforcing properties of MDMA and methamphetamine under high temperature conditions (Cornish et al., as cited in Parrott, 2004; Cornish et al., 2008; Banks, Sprague, Czoty & Nader, 2008) auditory stimuli (Feduccia & Duvauchelle, 2008), the aggregate toxicity phenomenon (Gunn & Gurd, as cited in Parrott, 2004) and O'Shea et al's 2005 study finding ambient temperature to increase MDMA-mediated extracellular DA and 5-HT in the nucleus accumbens, a region which figures prominently in incentive properties of drugs. Parrott also postulates that other stimulating properties of raves, such as bright lights and loud noise may increase the state of hyperarousal by MDMA-using attendees, but also that such conditions may lead to increased negative effects as well. It is therefore possible, that the combination of stimulating environmental conditions, such as loud music, may increase the anxiogenic or anxiolytic effects of MDMA. This report aims to help elucidate the effects of MDMA and related drugs on anxiety, particularly in the presence of a strong environmental stimulus, in this instance, a loud techno dance track selected for its similarity to those played at raves, on the anxiogenic or anxiolytic effects of the included drugs. Awareness of the dangers of MDMA consumption, as well as initiatives to find legal alternatives with similar subjective effects may have led to the use of N-substituted piperazine analogues such as 1-benzylpiperazine (BZP) in similar settings as MDMA (Baumann et al., 2005). Studies comparing BZP with amphetamine and methamphetamines showed similarities regarding induction of turning behaviour in rats with nigrostriatal lesions of the dopamine pathway, suggesting BZP may contribute to dopamine release (Oberlander, 1979). Baumann et al., (2005) found that BZP stimulated extracellular 5-HT and DA increases in vivo, and appeared to result in dose-dependent behavioural changes such as increased sniffing, head-bobbing and ambulation. The authors also notice an apparent predominance of effect on DA systems over 5-HT. Such behavioural findings are consistent with prior research indicating methamphetamine and amphetamine-like properties in rats (Jones et al., 1980 as cited in Baumann, 2005; Hayase et al., 2005 as cited in Herbert & Hughes, 2009; Oberland, 1979; Herbert & Hughes, 2009; Lin, Bangs, Lee, Kidd & Russell, 2009, Yarosh, Katz, Coop & Fantegrossi, 2007). Other studies in rodents have confirmed an increased locomotor activity with BZP administration at high doses (30mg/kg and 100mg/kg), also consistent with findings of BZP as a behavioural stimulant (Fantegrossi et al., 2005). As a stimulant, considered to have similar subjective properties as MDMA, it is reasonable to suggest that BZP may also be susceptible to environmentally enhanced effects when administered in highly-stimulating conditions, and as such, makes an interesting comparison for the effects of MDMA. Methylone, a β-ketone analogue of MDMA has also been known to have amphetamine-like and MDMA-like properties, despite sparse research examining its effects empirically. Acting upon the synaptic cleft to increase 5-HT, DA and NA concentrations via inhibition of monoamine reuptake transporters (Cozzi, et al., 1998, 1999 as cited in Kamata et al., 2006), methylone is being increasingly abused as a designer drug in Japan, the U.S and Europe (Katagi & Tsuchihashi, 2002; Uchiyama et al., 2008; Zaitsu et al., 2008; Becker et al., 2003; Johansen, 2003; Casale, Hays, Spratley & Smith, 2006; Bossong, van Dijk & Niesink, 2005, as cited in Shima, Katagi & Tsuchihashi, 2009). As the molecule itself and its main metabolites retain a similar structure to MDMA, it is proposed it may have similar health risks and adverse effects (Kamata, 2006; Shima, Katagi & Tsuchihashi, 2009). Although little is known about methylone as yet, the increase in its use a possible substitute for MDMA, and structural similarities are sound reason for inclusion as an MDMA-like drug in order to observe effects of said drugs on anxiety under certain environmental conditions. Eighty PVGc hooded rats (male n=40; female n=40), bred and raised to adulthood (4-5 months) in the University of Canterbury's breeding facilities, were divided into groups of 8 rats of each sex in 5 drug conditions: Saline, Saline and music, MDMA and music, methylone and music, and BZP and music. The saline condition is used as a control to compare with Saline and music, to differentiate an effect of music without drugs. Drug and music conditions can be used as indicators of the effect of drugs under auditory stimulation, compared with the controls, and also to compare between drugs. All rats were housed in standard conditions, with food and water available ad libitum. Drug dosages for MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) were set at 10mg/kg for female rats. Male rats were initially administered with 10mg/kg of the appropriate drug also, but following the illness and premature death of 5 of the 8 males in the MDMA condition around Day 2, male drug dosages were reduced to 5mg/kg for the remainder of the experiment. The male rats which died prematurely were replaced with males of similar age and weight. Dosage levels for methylone (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylcathinone, or bk-MDMA) were 8mg/kg for males and females, dosages for BZP (benzylpiperazine) were 20mg/kg for both sexes. Apparatus used for each drug condition included a black, wooden 4x4 open field maze with a small camera attached to sit directly overhead; a wooden and plastic Y maze with a small attached holding compartment and sheet metal sleeve inserts painted black (3 sleeves) and white (1 sleeve); acoustic startle cages, placed inside darkened compartments in a quiet room. Day 1 of the experiment consisted of intra-peritoneal drug administration of the appropriate drugs to the designated rats in each condition, then placement of the saline and music (henceforth referred to as Music), MDMA and music, methylone and music, and BZP and music rats (all to be henceforth referred to by the drug name only) in individual open-field mazes in a room containing a sound system playing a single techno track loudly on loop. Rats were given 20 minutes free exploration of the open-field maze to allow for drugs to take effect, then the experimenters observed the rat behaviours for 5 minutes, recording the presence of any of the following behaviours at 3 second intervals: rearing, grooming, head-weaving, tremor, fore-paw treading, circling, backing and ataxia. Observation also included noting which square the rat occupied at each interval, from which number of transitions, as well as time spent in centre and corner squares were obtained. Additionally, faecal boluses were counted after completion of the 5 minute observation. Mazes were cleaned after each round of testing. Saline rats were treated using the same procedure, with the exception of their location in a separate, quiet room. Immediately following the open-field test, rats were moved into a non-music room and run through a standard Y-maze test. Rats were placed in the holding compartment for one minute, before being allowed to explore the maze with 1 white and 1 black sleeve in place (placement of each colour arm determined prior) for 6 minutes. Rats were then returned to the holding compartment while 2 fresh black inserts replaced the explored ones, then released again. Position of the rat in the central stem, left arm or right arm was recorded, to obtain 180 seconds of behaviour data regarding rat position in the Y-maze. Following the Y-maze testing, rats were placed into one of 5 MED startle boxes for an acoustic startle test consisting of 100ms 95-dB white noise bursts. All tests are conducted with one rat, identified by colour-coding the tail, from each drug condition simultaneously, then a second round of one rat from each drug condition and so forth in a specified order, thus each rat had drugs administered and was tested approximately 24 hours apart each day. Additionally, all female rats were tested for Days 1-11, with male rats being run through procedure for 11 days following a short time after completion of female rats. Days 2-9 only the open-field maze was used to collect data, with procedure remaining the same as on Day 1. Day 10 procedure was identical to Day 1, in order to quantify the effects of chronic drug administration, including the Y-maze and acoustic startle procedures following the open-field maze observation. Day 11 also followed the same procedure as Day 1, however all rats received only a saline injection. Day 1 results provide all Acute condition data, as a measure of the effects of an initial drug dose, Day 10 data is used for the Chronic condition, as an indicator of the effect of consecutive days of drug administration and Day 11 data is used for the Saline condition results, as an indicator of residual effects after chronic drug administration. Startle responses for drug and administration conditions were obtained from the acoustic startle test, and is being used as an indication of anxiety levels and physiological arousal. Results of a repeated measures ANOVA indicates significant main effects for time on startle F(2, 150) = 45.445, p<0.001, and a Tukey HSD test showing both Acute and Chronic conditions to have significantly higher responses than Saline, at a p<0.001 level. However, a significant main effect did not occur for drug , F(4, 75) = 1.14, p = 0.34. Figure 2. Mean Startle for Phases. Figure 1. Mean Startle for Drug Conditions. Figure 3. Mean Startle for Drugs Across All Conditions. A significant interaction effect was also found for administration and drug F(8, 150) = 2.85, p < 0.01 (see Figures 1-3). Examination of post-hoc Tukey HSD tests for the startle data reveals MDMA Chronic responses are significantly higher than MDMA Saline at a p<0.001 level, Methylone Saline at a p<0.05 level and BZP Saline at a p<0.01 level. Methylone Acute also has significantly higher responses than MDMA and BZP Saline at a p<0.01 level, and methylone Saline at a p<0.001 level. Additionally, methylone Chronic results are significantly higher than Saline and Music Saline conditions at a p<0.01 level, and MDMA, methylone and BZP Saline conditions at a p<0.001 level. BZP Acute shows significantly higher responses than BZP Saline at a p<0.05 level, as well as BZP Chronic being significantly higher than MDMA Saline a p<0.05 and BZP Saline at p<0.001. Transitions indicates the number of times a rat moved between the delineated squares in the open-field maze grid, and acts as a measure of activity. Repeated measures ANOVA results of number of transitions between squares in the open-field maze grid indicate a significant main effect of drug, F(4,75)=32.298, p<0.001. Post-hoc analyses indicated MDMA transitions to be significantly higher than all other drugs, at p<0.001, and BZP to be significantly higher than the two controls, music and saline at a p<0.05 level. A significant effect of administration was also found, F(2,150)=97.667, p<0.001, with the acute condition showing significantly higher transitions than both chronic and saline conditions, at p<0.001 (see Figures 4-6). Figure 5. Mean Transitions for All Phases. Figure 4. Mean Transitions for All Drugs. Figure 6. Mean Transitions for Drugs Across All Conditions. The interaction of drug and administration was also significant, F(8,150)=41.734, p<0.001. Post-hoc analyses indicate the number of transitions for MDMA Acute is significantly higher than all other drug/administration conditions at a p<0.001 level. Transitions for methylone Acute are significantly greater than Saline and Music Acute, Music Chronic and MDMA Saline at a p<0.05 level. Methylone Acute transitions are also significantly higher than methylone Chronic, methylone Saline and BZP Saline at a p<0.01 level. BZP Acute transitions are significantly higher than transitions for Saline and Music in the Acute, Chronic and Saline conditions at a p<0.001 level. Transitions are also significantly greater than MDMA Chronic and Saline, methylone Chronic and Saline and BZP Saline at the p<0.001 level, as well as BZP Chronic at a p<0.01 significant level. BZP Saline transitions are also significantly lower than those of the Saline Acute condition at a p<0.001 level. Time Spent in Corners Repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant main effects for the drug condition , F(4,75)=6.9281, p<0.001, with post-hoc tests indicating significantly less time spent in corners by MDMA rats and all other drug conditions, including controls, at a p<0.05 level. A significant main effect was also found for administration conditions , F(2,150)= 13.248, p<0.001, with Tukey HSD tests showing significant differences between the Acute condition and both Chronic and Saline conditions at a p<0.001 level. A significant interaction effect, F(8,150)=23.427, p<0.001 was also uncovered, with significant differences between the MDMA Acute time spent in corners and all other conditions at a p<0.001 level (see Figures 7-9). Figure 8. Percentage Time Spent in Corners for All Phases. Figure 7. Percentage Time Spent in Corners for All Drugs. Figure 9. Percentage Time Spent in Corners Across All Conditions. Time spent in novel arm Time spent in the novel arm of the Y-maze can be interpreted in a number of ways; it can be used as a memory test, or in this case, as a possible indicator of anxiety. Repeated measure ANOVA indicated a significant main effect for the drug condition, F(4,75)=4.3533, p<0.01. Tukey post-hoc analyses show that the methylone condition rats spent a significantly lower proportion of time in the novel arm than rats in the MDMA condition, at a p<0.01 level. No significant main effect was seen for the administration condition, F(2,150)=.65225, p=.52. However, a significant effect was seen for the interaction of drug and administration conditions, F(8,150)=2.3797, p<.05 (see Figures 10-12). Further analyses highlight that the methylone Chronic condition rats spent significantly less time in the novel arm than the saline Chronic and MDMA Chronic rats at a p<0.05 level, and significantly less time than music Acute (p<0.01) and MDMA Acute (p<0.001). Figure 11. Mean Percentage Time Spent in Novel Arm for All Phases. Figure. 10 Mean Percentage Time Spent in Novel Arm for All Drugs. Figure 12. Mean Percentage Time Spent in Novel Arm Across All Conditions. Examination of Saline drug condition rats indicates only one significant difference between administration conditions, with rats in the Chronic condition spending a smaller proportion of time in the corners of the open-field maze, however the significance level for this difference was borderline (p=0.05). It is possible that this occurred as a result of the rats becoming accustomed to the testing process, but in any case, it is not considered problematic. As Saline drug rats only ever received saline injections for 11 consecutive days no differences were expected other than those which could be accounted for by chance variation, and other than time spent in corners, no significant differences were found. A similar result was expected for Music condition rats, with the possible exception of a slight decline in anxiety as subjects became accustomed to the auditory stimuli they were exposed to for the 11 consecutive days. As the results indicated, no significant differences were seen in Music rat results. A comparison of the Saline drug condition rats with Music condition rats on all administration condition reveals no significant differences, from which we can infer that the presence of the techno music track alone was not sufficient to affect any of the measures being examined. Though it may be noted that startle responses for Music rats were slightly, though not statistically significantly, higher than Saline rats, which may be a result of the auditory stimuli, and that this difference is ameliorated by Day 11, which could be a result of habituation to the stimuli over repeated exposures. Examining the results for the MDMA condition, we can see a notably high number of transitions being made in the open-field test in the acute administration phase, coupled with a low proportion of time spent in the corner squares. It seems reasonable to conclude that this is a result of the hyperactivity that has been shown to occur with MDMA use, likely due to the physiologically arousing properties of the drug (Rempel, Callaway & Geyer, 1993, as cited in Schifano, 2004; Baumann, Wang & Rothman, 2007; Rothman et al., 2001, as cited in Schifano, 2004; Fischer et al., 2001; Bataglia et al, 1988, as cited in Schifano 2004; Schifano et al., 2004). While it is possible that the hyper-locomotion could be attributable to restlessness or a desire to escape from the open-field maze, this wouldn't be consistent with the startle response results, which put the MDMA acute condition well within the range of the controls, even on the lower side of the Music Acute group. Further investigation shows the highest observed proportion of time spent in the novel arm for the Y-maze. These results all suggest a fairly low level of anxiety, compared with the other drug conditions, and even somewhat compared with the controls, which serves as evidence for MDMA as having some anxiolytic properties (Navarro, Rivera et al., 2004). However, when we then look at the results for the MDMA group in the Chronic phase, after 10 consecutive days of MDMA administration, a different picture emerges. The startle response has increased, to the point of being significantly higher than is seen by the same group when no longer under the influence of MDMA. We can also see that the hyperactivity initially seen in the Acute phase has dropped significantly to the point of no longer differentiating the group from any of the other drug or control conditions for either transitions or time spent in corner squares. Results for the Y-maze also show some decrease in time spent in the novel arm. Examining the results for the MDMA Acute and changes in the Chronic phase, it appears that repeated administration on consecutive days appears to detract from possible anxiolytic effects or increase anxiogenic aspects. This could potentially be related to the demonstrated dose-dependent effects of anxiolysis and anxiogenesis with MDMA (Lin et al., 1999), as well as MDMA's nonlinear pharmacokinetics (Schifano, 2004; Baumann, Wang & Rothman, 2007) as given the effects of MDMA on the body, more than 24 hours may be required in order for the neurotransmitter levels in the brain to return to their prior levels. For example, assuming MDMA may in fact release up to 80% of the brain's central 5-HT stores with one use( Vollenweider et al., 2003; Green, 1995; as cited in Schifano, 2004) resulting in longer-term negative effects such as depression and anxiety (Hando, Topp & Hall, 1997; Parrot, Sisk & Turner, 2000, as cited in Schifano, 2004; Gurtman et al., 2003; Ludwig, Mikhov & Schwarting, 2008), after multiple administrations on consecutive days, it is unlikely that the drug will be capable of having the same initial anxiolytic effects and possibly showing compounded negative sequelae (Britt & McCance-Katz, 2005). Compared with the MDMA results, anxiogenic effects may be more apparent, with startle responses in the Acute condition being the highest of all conditions, though not to the point of statistical significance when comparing with controls. Some increased locomotion is apparent in slightly elevated transitions, though not to the same degree as MDMA, which could possibly be due to the inhibiting effect of higher anxiety levels on the desire to explore or move around. Looking at the Y-maze results also suggests a lack of propensity to explore the novel arm of the Y-maze. From this we might extrapolate that methylone has less of an anxiolytic effect in low or initial doses than MDMA does. Furthermore, when considering the Chronic phase for methylone, it can be seen that, similar to the MDMA group, the startle response shows an increase, reaching significance when compared with the methylone groups own saline phase. Additionally, number of transitions remains low, and time spent in corners correspondingly high. Notably, the preference for the novel arm drops to a level significantly lower than controls also. From this data it is suggested that methylone may undergo a similar change in effect with repeated consecutive administration as suggested for MDMA above, which would be congruent with their chemical similarity (Kamata, 2006; Shima, Katagi & Tsuchihashi, 2009). Finally, BZP startle responses for the acute phase suggests significantly higher anxiety compared with the saline phase, though not with controls. A stimulation effect does appear to be occurring, as evidenced by the significantly elevated number of transitions seen in the acute and chronic phases, which as with MDMA and methylone, drops to a non-significant level. Time spent in the corner squares fails to show significant difference from other conditions, though it is slightly low (though non-significantly) in the acute phase, corresponding somewhat with the greater number of transitions. Y-maze preferences show little change over different administration phases, with only slight, but non-significant, preference to avoiding the novel arm. The focus of this study has been of a retrospective nature, and as such was not set up specifically for the purpose of examining measures of anxiety in MDMA, methylone and BZP exposure in rats. For this reason, the measures used may not have been optimal for measuring the variable in question. Had the focus been planned ahead of time, use of a test such as the elevated plus-maze would likely have been more appropriate. Other issues with procedure may also have contributed to a lack of clearly differentiating effects, such as the use of a large number of observers/coders of rat behaviour may have resulted in blurred criteria for behaviour or procedure which might produce confounding variation in the data. Also notable in the limitations was difficulty controlling the levels of ambient noise, both for the saline condition which theoretically required consistent quiet, and in determining the volume of the audio track, which was not specifically measured. In conclusion, the data appears to support the idea of an initial small anxiolytic effect of MDMA, followed by a reversal of effect with repeated, consecutive administration for 10 days. It is postulated that this may be related to the neurochemical effects of the drug having a longer-lasting effect, and the non-linear pharmacokinetics which could create a compounded negative effect on subsequent exposures (Schifano, 2004; Baumann, Wang & Rothman, 2007; Britt & McCance-Katz, 2005, Gurtman et al., 2003). Further evidence for this may be apparent in the premature illness and expiry of a number of the male rats in the MDMA condition. Why this would occur only in the male sex is not apparent, though there have been suggestions of increased sensitivity to MDMA for male rodents (Allot & Redman, 2007), however the consecutive exposure effects may have contributed to this, as the subjects survived past initial exposures. The experiment may also provide further evidence for the similarity of the overall effects of methylone to MDMA, while suggesting possible differences in the initial exposure, which could be reasonably attributed to methylone's different effects on the neurotransmitters of the central nervous system (Cozzi, et al., 1998, 1999 as cited in Kamata et al., 2006). Some evidence for anxiety and hyperactivity with BZP administration can also be seen, though the results are less conclusive than those for MDMA and methylone. Further research into the differing effects of MDMA and methylone would be both fruitful and prudent, given the increasing interest in methylone consumption by designer drug users (Katagi & Tsuchihashi, 2002; Uchiyama et al., 2008; Zaitsu et al., 2008; Becker et al., 2003; Johansen, 2003; Casale, et al., 2006; Bossong, van Dijk & Niesink, 2005, as cited in Shima, Katagi & Tsuchihashi, 2009). Studies which look specifically at the effects of repeated, consecutive exposure to MDMA to elucidate changes in result would also be relevant, due to the immense popularity of the drug.

|Ruling dynasty of Morocco and Al-Andalus| The Almoravid empire at its greatest extent, c. 1120. |Languages||Berber, Arabic, Mozarabic| |Religion||Islam (Sunni); minority Christianity (Catholic), Judaism| |•||1040–1059||Abdallah ibn Yasin| |•||1146–1147||Ishaq ibn Ali| |•||1147 est.||3,300,000 km² (1,274,137 sq mi)| |Today part of| Part of a series on the |History of Morocco| Part of a series on the |History of Mauritania| The Almoravids (Berber: Imṛabḍen, ⵉⵎⵕⴰⴱⴹⴻⵏ; Arabic: المرابطون, Al-Murābiṭūn) were a Berber imperial dynasty of Morocco, who formed an empire in the 11th century that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus. Founded by Abdallah ibn Yasin, their capital was Marrakesh, a city they founded in 1062. The dynasty originated among the Lamtuna and the Gudala, nomadic Berber tribes of the Sahara, traversing the territory between the Draa, the Niger, and the Senegal rivers. The Almoravids were crucial in preventing the fall of Al-Andalus to the Iberian Christian kingdoms, when they decisively defeated a coalition of the Castilian and Aragonese armies at the Battle of Sagrajas in 1086. This enabled them to control an empire that stretched 3,000 kilometers north to south. However, the rule of the dynasty was relatively short-lived. The Almoravids fell—at the height of their power—when they failed to quell the Masmuda-led rebellion initiated by Ibn Tumart. As a result, their last king Ishaq ibn Ali was killed in Marrakesh in April 1147 by the Almohads, who replaced them as a ruling dynasty both in Morocco and Al-Andalus. The term "Almoravid" comes from the Arabic "al-Murabitun" (المرابطون), which is the plural form of "al-Murabit"—literally meaning "one who is tying" but figuratively meaning "one who is ready for battle at a fortress". The term is related to the notion of Ribat, a frontier monastery-fortress, through the root r-b-t (ربط "Rabat": to tie to unite or رابط "Raabat": to encamp). Another theory states that the name "Almoravid" comes from a school of Malikite law called "Dar al-Murabitin" founded in Sus al-Aksa, modern day Morocco, by a certain scholar named Waggag Ibn Zallu. Ibn Zallu sent his student Abdallah ibn Yasin to preach Malikite Islam to the Sanhaja Berbers of the Adrar (present-day Mauritania). Hence, the name of the Almoravids comes from the followers of the Dar al-Murabitin, "the house of those who were bound together in the cause of God." It is uncertain exactly when or why the Almoravids acquired that appellation. al-Bakri, writing in 1068, before their apex, already calls them the al-Murabitun, but does not clarify the reasons for it. Writing three centuries later, Ibn Abi Zar suggested it was chosen early on by Abdallah ibn Yasin because, upon finding resistance among the Gudala Berbers of Adrar (Mauritania) to his teaching, he took a handful of followers to erect a makeshift ribat (monastery-fortress) on an offshore island (possibly Tidra island, in the Bay of Arguin). Ibn Idhari wrote that the name was suggested by Ibn Yasin in the "persevering in the fight" sense, to boost morale after a particularly hard-fought battle in the Draa valley c. 1054, in which they had taken many losses. Whichever explanation is true, it seems certain the appellation was chosen by the Almoravids for themselves, partly with the conscious goal of forestalling any tribal or ethnic identifications. The name might be related to the ribat of Waggag ibn Zallu in the village of Aglu (near present-day Tiznit), where the future Almoravid spiritual leader Abdallah ibn Yasin got his initial training. The 13th-century Moroccan biographer Ibn al-Zayyat al-Tadili, and Qadi Ayyad before him in the 12th century, note that Waggag's learning center was called Dar al-Murabitin (The house of the Almoravids), and that might have inspired Ibn Yasin's choice of name for the movement. Contemporaries frequently referred to them as the al-mulathimun ("the veiled ones", from litham, Arabic for "veil"). The Almoravids veiled themselves below the eyes with a tagelmust, a custom they adapted from southern Sanhaja Berbers. (This can still be seen among the modern Tuareg people, but it was unusual further north.) Although practical for the desert dust, the Almoravids insisted on wearing the veil everywhere, as a badge of "foreignness" in urban settings, partly as a way of emphasizing their puritan credentials. It served as the uniform of the Almoravids. Under their rule, sumptuary laws forbade anybody else from wearing the veil, thereby making it the distinctive dress of the ruling class. In turn, the succeeding Almohads made a point of mocking the Almoravid veil as symbolic of effeminacy and decadence. The Berbers of the Maghreb in the early Middle Ages could be roughly classified into three major groups: the Zenata across the north, the Masmuda concentrated in central Morocco, and the Sanhaja, clustered in two areas: the western part of the Sahara and the hills of the eastern Maghreb. The eastern Sanhaja included the Kutama Berbers, who had been the base of the Fatimid rise in the early 10th century, and the Zirid dynasty, who ruled Ifriqiya as vassals of the Fatimids after the latter moved to Egypt in 972. The western Sanhaja were divided into several tribes: the Gazzula and the Lamta in the Draa valley and the foothills of the Anti-Atlas range; further south, encamped in the western Sahara desert, were the Massufa, the Lamtuna and the Banu Warith; and most southerly of all, the Gudala (or Judala), in littoral Mauritania down to the borderlands of the Senegal River. The western Sanhaja had been converted to Islam some time in the 9th century. They were subsequently united in the 10th century and, with the zeal of neophyte converts, launched several campaigns against the "Sudanese" (pagan peoples of sub-Saharan Africa). Under their king Tinbarutan ibn Usfayshar, the Sanhaja Lamtuna erected (or captured) the citadel of Awdaghust, a critical stop on the trans-Saharan trade route. After the collapse of the Sanhaja union, Awdagust passed over to the Ghana empire; and the trans-Saharan routes were taken over by the Zenata Maghrawa of Sijilmassa. The Maghrawa also exploited this disunion to dislodge the Sanhaja Gazzula and Lamta out of their pasturelands in the Sous and Draa valleys. Around 1035, the Lamtuna chieftain Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Tifat (alias Tarsina), tried to reunite the Sanhaja desert tribes, but his reign lasted less than three years. Around 1040, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, a chieftain of the Gudala (and brother-in-law of the late Tarsina), went on pilgrimage to Mecca. On his return, he stopped by Kairouan in Ifriqiya, where he met Abu Imran al-Fasi, a native of Fes and a jurist and scholar of the Sunni Maliki school. At this time, Ifriqiya was in ferment. The Zirid ruler al-Muizz ibn Badis, was openly contemplating breaking with his Shi'ite Fatimid overlords in Cairo, and the jurists of Kairouan were agitating for him to do so. Within this heady atmosphere, Yahya and Abu Imran fell into conversation on the state of the faith in their western homelands, and Yahya expressed his disappointment at the lack of religious education and negligence of Islamic law among his southern Sanhaja people. With Abu Imran's recommendation, Yahya ibn Ibrahim made his way to the ribat of Waggag ibn Zelu in the Sous valley of southern Morocco, to seek out a Maliki teacher for his people. Waggag assigned him one of his residents, Abdallah ibn Yasin. Abdallah ibn Yasin was a Gazzula Berber, and probably a convert rather than a born Muslim. His name can be read as "son of Ya Sin" (the title of the 36th Sura of the Qur'an), suggesting he had obliterated his family past and was "re-born" of the Holy Book. Ibn Yasin certainly had the ardor of a puritan zealot; his creed was mainly characterized by a rigid formalism and a strict adherence to the dictates of the Qur'an, and the Orthodox tradition. (Chroniclers such as al-Bakri allege Ibn Yasin's learning was superficial.) Ibn Yasin's initial meetings with the Gudala people went poorly. As he had more ardor than depth, Ibn Yasin's arguments were disputed by his audience. He responded to questioning with charges of apostasy and handed out harsh punishments for the slightest deviations. The Gudala soon had enough and expelled him almost immediately after the death of his protector, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, sometime in the 1040s. Ibn Yasin, however, found a more favorable reception among the neighboring Lamtuna people. Probably sensing the useful organizing power of Ibn Yasin's pious fervor, the Lamtuna chieftain Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni invited the man to preach to his people. The Lamtuna leaders, however, kept Ibn Yasin on a careful leash, forging a more productive partnership between them. Invoking stories of the early life of Muhammad, Ibn Yasin preached that conquest was a necessary addendum to Islamicization, that it was not enough to merely adhere to God's law, but necessary to also destroy opposition to it. In Ibn Yasin's ideology, anything and everything outside of Islamic law could be characterized as "opposition". He identified tribalism, in particular, as an obstacle. He believed it was not enough to urge his audiences to put aside their blood loyalties and ethnic differences, and embrace the equality of all Muslims under the Sacred Law, it was necessary to make them do so. For the Lamtuna leadership, this new ideology dovetailed with their long desire to refound the Sanhaja union and recover their lost dominions. In the early 1050s, the Lamtuna, under the joint leadership of Yahya ibn Umar and Abdallah ibn Yasin—soon calling themselves the al-Murabitin (Almoravids)—set out on a campaign to bring their neighbors over to their cause. From the year 1053, the Almoravids began to spread their religious way to the Berber areas of the Sahara, and to the regions south of the desert. After winning over the Sanhaja Berber tribe, they quickly took control of the entire desert trade route, seizing Sijilmasa at the northern end in 1054, and Aoudaghost at the southern end in 1055. Yahya ibn Umar was killed in a battle in 1057, but Abdullah ibn Yasin, whose influence as a religious teacher was paramount, named his brother Abu Bakr ibn Umar as chief. Under him, the Almoravids soon began to spread their power beyond the desert, and conquered the tribes of the Atlas Mountains. They then came in contact with the Berghouata, a Berber tribal confederation, who followed an Islamic "heresy" preached by Salih ibn Tarif three centuries earlier. The Berghouata resisted. Abdullah ibn Yasin was killed in battle with them in 1059, in Krifla, a village near Rommani, Morocco. They were, however, completely conquered by Abu Bakr ibn Umar, and were forced to convert to orthodox Islam. Abu Bakr married a noble and wealthy Berber woman, Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyat, who would become very influential in the development of the dynasty. Zaynab was the daughter of a wealthy merchant from Houara, who was said to be from Kairouan. In 1061, Abu Bakr ibn Umar made a division of the power he had established, handing over the more-settled parts to his cousin Yusuf ibn Tashfin as viceroy, and also assigning to him his favourite wife Zaynab. Ibn Umar kept the task of suppressing the revolts that had broken out in the desert. When he returned to resume control, he found his cousin too powerful to be superseded. In November 1087, Abu Bakr was killed in battle - according to oral tradition by an arrow, while fighting in the historic region of the Sudan. Yusuf ibn Tashfin had in the meantime brought the large area of what is now known as Morocco, Western Sahara, and Mauritania into complete subjection. In 1062 he founded the city of Marrakech. In 1080, he conquered the kingdom of Tlemcen (in modern-day Algeria) and founded the present city of that name, his rule extending as far east as Oran. Ghana Empire and the southern wing According to Arab tradition, the Almoravids conquered the Ghana Empire sometime around 1076 CE. An example of this tradition is the record of historian Ibn Khaldun, who cited Shaykh Uthman, the faqih of Ghana, writing in 1394. According to this source, the Almoravids weakened Ghana and collected tribute from the Sudan, to the extent that the authority of the rulers of Ghana dwindled away, and they were subjugated and absorbed by the Susu, a neighboring people of the Sudan. Traditions in Mali related that the Soso attacked and took over Mali as well, and the ruler of the Soso, Sumaouro Kanté took over the land. However criticism from Conrad and Fisher (1982) argued that the notion of any Almoravid military conquest at its core is merely perpetuated folklore, derived from a misinterpretation or naive reliance on Arabic sources. According to Professor Timothy Insoll, the archaeology of ancient Ghana simply does not show the signs of rapid change and destruction that would be associated with any Almoravid-era military conquests. Dierke Lange agreed with the original military incursion theory but argues that this doesn't preclude Almoravid political agitation, claiming that the main factor of the demise of Ghana empire owed much to the latter. According to Lange, the Almoravid religious influence was gradual and not heavily involved in military strife; there the Almoravids increased in power by marrying among the nation's nobility. Lange attributes the decline of ancient Ghana to numerous unrelated factors, only one of which can be likely attributable to internal dynastic struggles that were instigated by Almoravid influence and Islamic pressures, but devoid of military conversion and conquest. This interpretation of events was disputed by later scholars like Sheryl L. Burkhalter (1992), who argued that, whatever the nature of the "conquest" in the south of the Sahara, the influence and success of the Almoravid movement in securing west African gold and circulating it widely necessitated a high degree of political control. The traditional position says that the ensuing war pushed Ghana over the edge, ending the kingdom's position as a commercial and military power by 1100. It collapsed into tribal groups and chieftaincies, some of which later assimilated into the Almoravids while others founded the Mali Empire. After the death of Abu Bakr (1087), the confederation of Berber tribes in the Sahara was divided between the descendants of Abu Bakr and his brother Yahya, and would have lost control of Ghana. Sheryl Burkhalter suggests that Abu Bakr’s son Yahya led the Almoravid expedition to conquer Ghana, and that the Almoravids would have survived the loss of Ghana and the defeat in the Maghreb by the Almohads, and would have ruled the Sahara until the end of the XII century. |This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)| In 1086 Yusuf ibn Tashfin was invited by the Muslim taifa princes of Al-Andalus in the Iberian Peninsula to defend their territories from the encroachment of Alfonso VI, King of León and Castile. In that year, Yusuf ibn Tashfin crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to Algeciras, and defeated Castile at the Battle of az-Zallaqah (Battle of Sagrajas). He was prevented from following up his victory by trouble in Africa, which he chose to settle in person. He returned to Iberia in 1090, avowedly for the purpose of annexing the taifa principalities of Iberia. He was supported by most of the Iberian people, who were discontented with the heavy taxation imposed upon them by their spendthrift rulers. Their religious teachers, as well as others in the east, (most notably, al-Ghazali in Persia and al-Tartushi in Egypt, who was himself an Iberian by birth from Tortosa), detested the taifa rulers for their religious indifference. The clerics issued a fatwa (a non-binding legal opinion) that Yusuf was of sound morals and had the religious right to dethrone the rulers, whom he saw as heterodox in their faith. By 1094, Yusuf had annexed most of the major taifas, with the exception of the one at Saragossa. The Almoravids were victorious at the Battle of Consuegra, during which the son of El Cid, Diego Rodríguez, perished. Alfonso, with some Leónese, retreated into the castle of Consuegra, which was besieged for eight days until the Almoravids withdrew to the south. After friendly correspondence with the caliph at Baghdad, whom he acknowledged as Amir al-Mu'minin ("Commander of the Faithful"), Yusuf ibn Tashfin in 1097 assumed the title of Amir al Muslimin ("Commander of the Muslims"). He died in 1106, when he was reputed to have reached the age of 100. The Almoravid power was at its height at Yusuf's death: the Moorish empire then included all of Northwest Africa as far eastward as Algiers, and all of Iberia south of the Tagus and as far eastward as the mouth of the Ebro, and including the Balearic Islands. In 1108 Tamim Al Yusuf defeated the Kingdom of Castile at the Battle of Uclés. Yusuf did not reconquer much territory from the Christian kingdoms, except that of Valencia; but he did hinder the progress of the Christian Reconquista by uniting al-Andalus. In 1134 at the Battle of Fraga the Almoravids dynasty was victorious and even succeeded in slaying Alfonso I of Aragon in 1139. |This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)| Three years afterwards, under Yusuf's son and successor, Ali ibn Yusuf, Sintra and Santarém were added, and he invaded Iberia again in 1119 and 1121, but the tide had turned, as the French had assisted the Aragonese to recover Zaragoza. In 1138, Ali ibn Yusuf was defeated by Alfonso VII of León, and in the Battle of Ourique (1139), by Afonso I of Portugal, who thereby won his crown. Lisbon was conquered by the Portuguese in 1147. According to some scholars, Ali ibn Yusuf was a new generation of leadership that had forgotten the desert life for the comforts of the city. He was defeated by the combined action of his Christian foes in Iberia and the agitation of Almohads (the Muwahhids) in Morocco. After Ali ibn Yusuf's death in 1143, his son Tashfin ibn Ali lost ground rapidly before the Almohads. In 1146 he was killed in a fall from a precipice while attempting to escape after a defeat near Oran. His two successors were Ibrahim ibn Tashfin and Ishaq ibn Ali, but their reigns were short. The conquest of the city of Marrakech by the Almohads in 1147 marked the fall of the dynasty, though fragments of the Almoravids (the Banu Ghaniya), continued to struggle in the Balearic Islands, and finally in Tunisia. Abdallah ibn Yassin imposed very strict discipline measures on his forces for every breach of his laws. The Almoravids' first military leader, Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni, gave them a good military organization. Their main force was infantry, armed with javelins in the front ranks and pikes behind, which formed into a phalanx; and was supported by camelmen and horsemen on the flanks. They also had a flag carrier at the front who guided the forces behind him; when the flag was upright, the combatants behind would stand and when it was turned down, they would sit. Al-Bakri reports that, while in combat, the Almoravids did not pursue those who fled in front of them. Their fighting was intense and they did not retreat when disadvantaged by an advancing opposing force; they preferred death over defeat. These characteristics were possibly unusual at the time. After the death of El Cid, Christian chronicles reported a legend of a Turkish woman leading a band of 300 black African female archers. This legend was possibly inspired by the ominous veils on the faces of the warriors and the dark skin colored blue by the indigo of their robes. - Abdallah ibn Yasin (1040–1059) – founder & spiritual leader - Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni (c. 1050–1056) - Abu Bakr ibn Umar (1056–1087) – partitioned reign from 1072. - Yusuf ibn Tashfin (c. 1072–1106) - Ali ibn Yusuf (1106–43) - Tashfin ibn Ali (1143–45) - Ibrahim ibn Tashfin (1145–1147) - Ishaq ibn Ali (1147) |Almoravid family tree| - G. Stewart, Is the Caliph a Pope?, in: The Muslim World, Volume 21, Issue 2, pages 185–196, April 1931: "The Almoravid dynasty, among the Berbers of North Africa, founded a considerable empire, Morocco being the result of their conquests" - SADIQI, FATIMA, The place of Berber in Morocco, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 123.1 (2009): 7-22 : "The Almoravids were the first relatively recent Berber dynasty that ruled Morocco. The leaders of this dynasty came from the Moroccan deep south." - Extract from Encyclopedia Universalis on Almoravids. - Nehemia Levtzion, "Abd Allah b. Yasin and the Almoravids", in: John Ralph Willis, Studies in West African Islamic History, p. 54. - P. F. de Moraes Farias, "The Almoravids: Some Questions Concerning the Character of the Movement", Bulletin de l’IFAN, series B, 29: 3-4 (794-878), 1967. - Messier, Ronald A. The Almoravids and the meanings of jihad, Santa Barbara, CA. Praeger Publishers, 2010. - Ibn Abi Zar, p. 81. - Ibn Abi Zar's account is translated in N. Levtzion and J. F. P. Hopkins, eds (2000), Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History, University of Ghana,pp. 239ff. For tentative identification of the ribat, see Moraes Farias (1967). - Ibn al-Zayyat (1220). التشوف إلى معرفة رجال التصوف [Looking to know the men of Sufism]. p. 89. - Qadi Ayyad. ترتيب المدارك وتنوير المسالك لمعرفة أعلام مذهب مالك. [Biographies of Eminent Maliki Scholars]. pp. 839–40. - ʻAbd al-Wāḥid Dhannūn Ṭāhā (1998). The Muslim conquest and settlement of North Africa and Spain. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-00474-8. (online at Google Books) - Mones (1988), p. 119; (1992), p. 228. - Lewicki (1988), pp. 160-61; (1992), pp. 308-09. - M. Brett and E. Fentress (1996), The Berbers, Oxford: Blackwell, p. 100. Revealingly, the 36th Sura begins the salutation "You are one of messengers" and the imperative duty to set people "on the straight path". Ibn Yasin's choice of name was probably not a coincidence. - Shillington, Kevin (2005). History of Africa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-333-59957-0. - Shillington, p. 90. - Ibn Abi Zar, p. 87. - Ibn Abi Zar, p. 89. - P. Semonin (1964) "The Almoravid Movement in the Western Sudan: A review of the evidence" Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, v.7: p.58 - R.A. Messier (2010) The Almoravids and the Meanings of Jihad, Sant Barbar: Praeger. p.209 - Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition). Cambridge University Press. - Robinson, David. Muslim Societies in African History (New approaches to African History) - Ibn Khaldun in Levtzion and Hopkins, eds. and transl. Corpus, p. 333. - Nehemia Levtzion, Ancient Ghana and Mali (New York, 1973), pp. 51-2; 58-60. - Masonen & Fisher 1996. - Insoll 2003, p. 230. - Lange 1996, pp. 122–59. - Lange, Dierk (1996), "The Almoravid expansion and the downfall of Ghana", Der Islam 73, pp. 122-59. - Gómez-Rivas, Camilo. Law and the Islamization of Morocco under the Almoravids, p. 13. - The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 3: From c.1050 to c.1600 - Burkhalter, Sheryl L. Listening for Silences in Almoravid History: Another Reading of “The Conquest That Never Was" - North Africa, Islam and the Mediterranean World: From the Almoravids to the Algerian War (History & Society in the Islamic World), pg 59 By Julia Ann Clancy-Smith - al-Bakri, pp. 169-72. - al-Bakri, p. 166. - Juvaini, A. Messier, Ronald (2010). The Almoravids and the Meanings of Jihad. p. 118. - Ibn Khaldun, Abderahman (1377). تاريخ ابن خلدون: ديوان المبتدأ و الخبر في تاريخ العرب و البربر و من عاصرهم من ذوي الشأن الأكبر [The history of Ibn Khaldun: Record of the Beginnings and Events in the History of the Arabs and Berbers and their Powerful Contemporaries]. 6. دار الفكر. - Ibn Abi Zar al-Fassi, Ali Abu al-Hassan (1326). روض القرطاس في أخبار ملوك المغرب و تاريخ مدينة فاس [The Garden of Pages in the Chronicles of the Kings of Morocco and the History of the City of Fes]. Uppsala University. - al-Bakri (1068). كتاب المسالك و الممالك [Book of the Roads and the Kingdoms]. دار الكتاب الإسلامي, القاهرة. - Ibn Idhari al-Murakushi, Ahmad (1312). البيان المغرب في أخبار الأندلس والمغرب [Book of the Amazing Story in the Chronicles of the Kings of al-Andalus and Morocco]. جامعة الملك سعود. - Brett, M. and E. Fentress (1996), The Berbers. Oxford: Blackwell. - Hrbek, I. and J. Devisse (1988), "The Almoravids", in M. Elfasi, ed., General History of Africa, Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century, UNESCO. 1992 edition, Ch. 13, pp. 336–66. - Lewicki, T. (1988), "The Role of the Sahara and Saharians in relationships between north and south", in M. Elfasi, ed., General History of Africa, Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century, UNESCO. 1992 edition, ch.11, p. 276-313. - Levtzion, N. and J. F. P. Hopkins, eds (1981), Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 2000 edition. - Messier, R. A. (2010), Almoravids and the Meanings of Jihad, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger. - Mones, H. (1988), "The conquest of North Africa and Berber resistance", in M. Elfasi, ed., General History of Africa, Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century, UNESCO. 1992 edition, Ch. 9, p. 224-46. - Moraes Farias, P. F. de (1967), "The Almoravids: Some Questions Concerning the Character of the Movement", Bulletin de l’IFAN, series B, 29:3-4, pp. 794–878. - Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Almoravides". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. - Insoll, T. The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. eScholarID — Royal house — |Ruling house of Morocco

You likely haven't heard about... The World's New ... Or how it could mean 950% gains for YOU! 950% gains for YOU! You might remember this incident from a few years ago... In July 2009, former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, pulled a coin out of his pocket during the G8 Summit, a meeting of the world's eight wealthiest countries. The coin had been minted in Belgium, and it bore the words "Unity in Diversity" across the top. "Here it is..." Medvedev said. "You can see it and touch it." Medvedev's "world-changing" coin. Of course, this is an idea that's been thrown around since the 1940s, when world-renowned economist John Maynard Keynes conceptualized the Bancor (something very similar to what Medvedev had in his pocket at the G8 Summit). Needless to say, nothing ever came of the former Russian president's coin. And while it's not impossible, we're decades away from any sort of united world currency. Bottom line: In the three years since Medvedev's big reveal, I can count at least four new currencies — including the South Sudanese pound — that have entered into circulation. One of these currencies was quietly introduced a full two years before Medvedev ever made his speech... And it's now making people rich. In fact, it could mean future gains of 950% for you. Today I'll tell you how. First, let me show you just how profitable this currency has already been for some folks... Ken Mukai and the $1.1 Million PizzasIn 2010, civic engineer Ken Mukai spent over a million bucks on two pizzas. I know, it sounds outrageous. But get this: A few years ago — around the time Medvedev was pulling that newly minted coin from his pocket — Ken thought it would be a good idea to order two pizzas using a new form of currency that he'd been quietly hoarding. He set up the transaction, paid 10,000 units of this currency to get the pies delivered (about $30 worth), and sat back to enjoy a nice, hot dinner. In fact, here's a verified photo of the pizzas that I was able to secure, thanks to a few contacts I have: Now, while Ken may have thought what he did was pretty clever, I can only assume he's been kicking himself ever since. That's because something groundbreaking occurred shortly thereafter... A few months after Ken placed his pizza order, the currency he used rose in value from the 14 cents per unit it was worth at the time... to more than $5.00 per unit. Then it jumped to $20... $25... $60... and then to more than $100 PER UNIT! Today, you'll find that the 10,000 units of currency Ken shelled out just three years ago are worth nearly $1.1 MILLION. That's a far cry from the $30 it was worth when he bought the pizzas. In just three years, this currency handed those who owned it an unimaginable 870 times their money on each unit they were holding. A mere $100 investment back at the beginning of 2010 is worth $87,042 today. In 2013, this currency has gone up in value 15-fold. That's how fast things are taking off. And I'm not talking about any kind of forex play or monetary fund here, either. This is a bona fide currency — just like the dollar or the euro — that just so happened to explode in value. There are countless documented stories about folks who found themselves newly minted millionaires, virtually overnight... Like college senior Daniel Teague, who got in a bit later than Mukai did, grabbing roughly 500 units at around three bucks each. Once the price hit $20 per unit, he went all in, buying up as much of this currency as he could afford. Today, his hoard is so valuable (worth many millions) Teague wears an engraved ring that holds the passcode to his account. And consider the case of Christopher Cook. He bought $27 worth of this currency when it was brand new out of what he calls "sheer curiosity" — and then promptly forgot about them. That's not hyperbole, either... He literally forgot he had ever made the purchase. Only when prices started going ballistic did he remember the transaction... And once Christopher recalled that he had some of this currency stashed away, he suddenly found himself $880,000 richer. It's the stuff dreams are made of. That's a 3 million percent gain. To get the full effect, though, let me show you what this price explosion looks like in chart form: You'll be hard-pressed to find anything like what I just showed you. The long and short of it is, once people realized this currency was for real, the price went absolutely ballistic. No other investment in the universe I know of would have paid you that kind of cash. Not silver. Not gold. Not Google. That's why I put this presentation together for you... I'm going to reveal what this currency is, how high it could go in value, and — most importantly — how you can get your hands on a pile of it right now. Use This Currency to Buy Anything from a New Television to a Pair of Alpaca Socks... Or Simply Use It to Get Rich The new currency that's taking the world by storm has nothing to do with dollars, gold, silver, or any foreign currency you've been told to invest in. I'll reveal the specifics in just a moment... First I want to share a handful of facts with you on why people are currently buying up as much of this particular currency as they can. Fact #1: It's Government-Proof Because of the unique way this currency is produced, it cannot be inflated by any government, central bank, or Fed Chairperson on earth. Only a certain amount of this currency can be physically produced — so there's no way to increase supply past a certain amount. No matter how intense demand ever gets, there will only be a very limited supply available (which is why we've seen the price shoot through the roof in recent months). Trust me; I've tried to purchase this currency several different times... Until I learned the secret of how to get my hands on some, there just wasn't any available. Simply put, unlike the U.S. dollar — which has been printed into near extinction — there is no way to over-produce this particular currency, no matter what happens. Fact #2: It's Bank-ProofThe U.S. banking system is based on trust... We put our hard-earned savings into an account that's named by a string of meaningless numbers and hope the money stays there. Yet, as we've seen in the recent past, banks continually lend our money out in waves of credit bubbles — while keeping a tiny portion in reserve. In other words, if we all decided to run and pull out our money... there is no guarantee the money would be available. Consider the following... A co-worker of mine recently went to purchase a new car, and his bank told him he could only take out $15,000. That's all they had on hand — even though it was his money that he'd earned fair and square. Not only that, but we also have to assume banks are taking the proper measures to keep thieves from accessing our accounts... stealing our money... and running off into the sunset with it... And yet this very thing happens with alarming regularity. I know a handful of people who have had to fight tooth and nail to recover money that their banks were "protecting." That's why the currency I'm telling you about today has gained such a following. This new currency comes with inherent protection against all of these things... And banks will NEVER be able to lend your money or charge you outrageous fees. In fact, with this currency, banks will never have access to your money in the first place. Fact #3: It's Extremely Limited What would it be like if the government told us only a certain number of dollars would ever be produced? You can only imagine the pandemonium that would ensue... People would go crazy trying to get their hands on as many dollars as they could. The value of each single dollar would skyrocket, and those who started hoarding early would be the world's newest millionaires. Well, that's exactly what's going on right now with the currency I'm introducing you to today. Only a certain amount of it will ever be produced. Once that cap is hit, no more will be put into circulation... EVER. That's because this is a physical cap, not some theoretical one. And in this respect, it's much like gold or silver: Once the final nuggets of gold and silver have been mined out of the earth, no more can be produced. It just can't happen. Now, in case you're wondering, more than HALF of this currency has already been produced and is now sitting in the hands of early-bird investors. The good news is there's still some up for grabs right now — but like I say, people are scooping it up as soon as it becomes available. And this brings me to my final point... Fact #4: It's Liquid It may seem goofy to say you can spend a currency, but think about it for a second... If you're in the United States and you have a few euros in your pocket, what do you have to do in order to spend them? You have to go somewhere and exchange them for dollars. The same goes for any other currency you might have on hand. And, of course, you'll pay a fee for that. You can't just walk into a store with a handful of Kuwaiti dinars and hope to buy a new coat... Yet if you own the currency I've been telling you about today, you can spend it in Brazil, America, Spain, Japan, and... well, I think you get the idea here. You can spend it anywhere, any time you like. If you had some right now, you could go and buy anything from electronics to shoes to precious metals to alpaca socks, if you're so inclined... - An Arkansas man recently walked into a local BBQ joint and used this currency to buy a pulled pork sandwich. - Two soccer teams in the UK have actually held fundraisers using this currency. - A U.S. law firm in Manhattan has started accepting this currency as payment for its services. You see, this isn't an investment that ties you down. It's completely liquid. But for a lot of people, that doesn't even matter. You see, they're not spending this currency... They're using it to get rich. So there you have, in a nutshell, why this currency has become increasingly hard to obtain. I'm guessing you're curious as to what this currency looks like and what it's called. Well, I'm going to show you a picture momentarily. Before I do that, I want to briefly cover one last important detail... This Currency is Going Global As I said earlier, this currency is quite hard to obtain because of the limited amount that's currently available. |The first ATM of its kind| However, there's been such demand that specialized ATMs are now being produced that allow anyone to exchange fiat currencies from around the world for the currency I'm telling you about today. That's right. Much like you'd go to a bank and withdraw cash using your debit card, you'll be able to step up to an ATM and buy as much of this currency as you want — provided there's some available. The machines take currencies from more than 200 countries and have the ability to make the exchange for you in just 15 seconds. And this isn't just conjecture... On October 30, 2013, the first machine went live. A Canadian woman, the very first person to use the machine, bought $200 worth of this new super currency. "It's really simple," she said. "We're thinking of going to [a local sausage eatery] for some bratwurst." A reporter who was on the scene couldn't resist... He bought $100 worth for himself and was quite pleased to find that the value of the currency went up a few bucks in the very first hour he owned it. |The historic first buyer proudly displaying her ATM receipt| The initial machine was such a success that four more machines are planned for installation across the country by December. The co-founder of a company that produces these ATMs has said: "We are optimistic that we will see our machines in all continents by the end of the year." I think you can see what I'm getting at here... This currency, while in crazy demand, hasn't truly hit the mainstream yet. In fact, 75% of U.S. consumers haven't even yet heard of this currency. You're probably one of them. But you can bet they'll take notice when that ATM pops up at their local grocery store. I can only imagine what will happen to this currency's value once this happens. The minute folks all over the globe can walk up to a machine and access this currency, those who've been missing out will want to own as much as they can get their hands on... Just like the mania stage of a gold bull market. The price could increase beyond anything we've seen so far... more than what I've already shown you. There's no telling what the ceiling is here for folks who take notice right now and make sure they've claimed their stakes before the true tidal wave hits. I mean, when was the last time you saw an ATM specialized around a single currency — to be installed on a global scale? Because it's never happened. So, with that, let me finally reveal what this currency looks like... There you have it. That's the currency I've been telling you about. It has different forms, of course, just like any other currency... but I wanted to at least give you an idea of what I'm talking about here. How Do You Get Your Hands on This Currency and Put Yourself in Position to Pull in Gains of 950%? It's actually pretty easy — if you know the secrets I've uncovered, such as: - The best way to get this currency into your hands - The best time of day to purchase this currency - The amount you should buy based on your investing capital - The easiest way to manage this currency - The fastest way to get rich using this currency ONLY Before I get too far ahead of myself here, let me quickly introduce myself. My name is Nick Hodge. Many of you are already familiar with my financial expertise through my work at Angel Publishing in Baltimore, Maryland... Or perhaps you've read one of my best-selling investment books, or seen one of my numerous television appearances. If you don't recognize my name, I can tell you I've always understood the mantra, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." I started a landscaping business by the time I was 12... made up my own fliers, maintained a client list, and billed customers with invoices I created on the computer. I've always believed everyone has the ability to excel at whatever they put their minds to — and I've lived every day of my life trying to do just that. So when it comes to my current occupation, I stop at nothing to find THE best investment opportunities for my readers: It doesn't matter if money can be made in stocks, precious metals, real estate — or, as you can see today, the world's most explosive underground currency. Heck, I've even looked into in starting churches and buying into vineyards... Put simply, there's not a stone I won't turn over if I think money can be made on the other side. And I'll go to any extent I feel necessary to make sure things are on the "up and up" before I recommend something other folks might be putting their hard-earned cash into. What I'm getting at here is this: I don't simply sit behind a desk like most other "experts." I do the real, boots-on-the-ground research other analysts are too lazy to do. I've flown thousands of miles just to take a tiny helicopter into the Canadian wilderness to see a company firsthand... stood on the edge of 500-foot-deep mines... and attended $5,000/seat conferences in California, Chicago, and elsewhere... And it's served my readers and me quite well over the past several years. In fact, since 2006, I've delivered some of the best gains in the industry. I don't like to "toot my own horn," but it's 100% true. Just to give you an idea, I've shown readers gains of: - 159% on Xethanol, Inc. - 119% on Cree - 316% on Akeena Solar - 245% on Organovo - 391% on BYD Company - 426% on Alternate Energy Holdings - 113% on DNI Metals Of course, I know you'll be quick to point out that those are all stock gains. And you'd be absolutely correct. But I'm not only about earning money with stocks... While I do research stocks on a daily basis — and the companies behind them — I also keep my eyes open for other opportunities that stand to be even better. As an investor... I know you are, too. That's why I decided to branch out and create a new community for these out-of-the-box opportunities called Like Minded People. It's a way for people to congregate, talk, and find out about the most unique investment opportunities currently circulating. In other words, it's NOT your run-of-the-mill advisory service... Sure, there are stock picks — but you'll also get access to things few people in the world know about. The currency I've been telling you about today is one of those things... And that's why I've compiled a comprehensive report on the matter... It details everything you need to know to get in a position to get rich — earning up to 950% in the near future. I mean, we're looking at retire-early type of profits here. That's how profitable I believe this new currency to be. And I think the folks I've shown you earlier in this presentation prove that quite clearly. So enough about all that. Now's the time to reveal how YOU could start buying this currency today. I'm Going to Give You a Report on This Currency a Report on This Currency Of course, I can't possibly include every last detail on this currency right here in this presentation... So I burned the midnight oil and drew up a comprehensive report on how you could start grabbing this currency up today... outlined step-by-step instructions on how to make your first purchase... and detailed specific ways you can earn as much as 950% in the coming months. I call this report, "Currency 'X': An Alternative Guide to Riches." And I'd like to give you the report right now. This comprehensive, one-of-a-kind report details ALL of the unique secrets I've uncovered in my research. This is not a two-page waste of time that reveals the name of a currency and does nothing more... No, this report gives true insight on several things rank-and-file investors aren't aware of, like: - The best way to get this currency into your hands right now – As with any currency transactions you might make, there are trusted sources and scam artists. I've vetted hundreds of sources that currently deal in this currency, and I'll give you the most efficient and secure ones. - The best time of day to purchase this currency. This may sound strange, but there's actually a very specific time of day that gives you the best possible shot at obtaining this currency... Like I've said several times already, competition is cutthroat right now. So I've done hours of research and found the exact time of day that you should be gobbling up units of this currency as fast as you can. - The amount you should buy based on your investing capital. As with any investment, you have to be rational. You never want to sink 100% of your capital into anything. But this isn't stocks, bonds, or anything like that... so I'll outline the best place to start and how much to start with. - The easiest way to manage this currency. There are many different ways to manage your hoard of this currency, and I've made sure to include THE best ways to handle your newfound stash. - The fastest way to get rich using this currency ONLY. Forget standard investing... there's a way to get rich using ONLY this currency — and I'll show you how to do it. But before I tell you how shockingly little this report actually costs, let me tell you about something that I am giving you for FREE today, should you decide to check out "Currency 'X': An Alternative Guide to Riches." Along with Your Exclusive Currency Report... I'd like to give you A FULL YEAR'S access to the Like Minded People Community – FREE of charge As I said earlier, I recently started a small community for folks who like to learn about alternatives in the world of moneymaking. It's called Like Minded People, and I've been brimming with excitement ever since this community went "live" a couple of months ago. A LOT of work went into launching this... and I think you'll agree when I show you the list of things you'll have access to the minute you receive your FREE sneak peek at Like Minded People. First off, you'll have full access to these three essential reports: - "Bucking the System: Your 3 Simple Steps to Get Started" - "My Secret to Real Wealth: The 3 Investments You Must Own Today that have Nothing to Do With the Stock Market" - "How to Break the Bank: The Best Way to Protect Your Wealth" You could easily make or save tens of thousands of dollars this year alone from what you discover in those special reports. If that's not enough, I also created other somewhat controversial (yet incredibly useful) reports, including: - "On Our Own Together: The Foundation of Like Minded People" — I reveal why I've created this community and the numerous ways you'll benefit as a new member. - "Freedom from Centralized Power: What You REALLY Need to Know about Guns and Precious Metals" — In this report, you'll discover the five simple steps you can take over the next few weeks to significantly make yourself (and your family) 10 times more self-reliant and less dependent on "the system." - "The Next Level: Capitalizing On Market Shifts" — As you may know, each time the markets shift, people stand to make a substantial fortune. However, most people don't recognize when these shifts are going to happen. In this special report, you'll discover where I see the upcoming shifts occurring... and how to profit from them. 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Go to the main menu Skip to content Go to bottom REFERENCE LINKING PLATFORM OF KOREA S&T JOURNALS > Journal Vol & Issue The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication Journal Basic Information Journal DOI : The institute Of Webcasting, Internet And Telecommunication Editor in Chief : Volume & Issues Volume 9, Issue 6 - Dec 2009 Volume 9, Issue 5 - Oct 2009 Volume 9, Issue 4 - Aug 2009 Volume 9, Issue 3 - Jun 2009 Volume 9, Issue 2 - Apr 2009 Volume 9, Issue 1 - Feb 2009 Selecting the target year Optimal Power Allocation of Opportunistic Transmission Relay Systems in Rayleigh Fading Channel Kim, Nam-Soo ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 1~8 Though the wireless ad-hoc network which is recently highly focused is power limited network, one of the main research topic is power saving. We propose a optimal power allocation strategy and derive the optimal power of the opportunistic transmission relays for minimum outage probability of the power limited network. It is shown that the proposed optimal power allocation has always better performance than that of the equal power allocation. Transmitter Detection Technique with Spreading Code Slicing Scheme for AT-DMB System Kim, Yoon-Hyun ; Bae, Jung-Nam ; Lim, Jong-Soo ; Cho, Kyung-Ryong ; Cha, Jae-Sang ; Kim, Jin-Young ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 9~14 In this paper, we proposed spreading code slicing technique for efficient transmitter detection in AT-DMB system with single frequency network. At the transmitter, the spreading code for transmitter identification inserted using slicing technique on forehead of null symbol and then transmitted. In this point, it requires high correlation characteristic spreading code. At the receiver, peak to peak value calculated by correlation process before signal demodulation. The transmitter information by proposed technique is employed to implement the single frequency network (SFN) which is proposed for solving a frequency inefficiency problem of the MFN. The results of the paper can be applied to wireless multimedia digital broadcasting system. A Method to Customize Cluster Member Nodes for Energy-Efficiency in Wireless Sensor Networks Nam, Chooon-Sung ; Jang, Kyung-Soo ; Shin, Dong-Ryeol ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 15~21 The goal of wireless sensor networks is to collect sensing data on specific region over wireless communication. Sink node gathers all local sensing data, processes and transmits them to users who use sensor networks. Generally, senor nodes are low-cost, low power devices with limited sensing, computation and wireless communication capabilities. And sensor network applies to multi-hop communication on large-scale network. As neighboring sensor nodes have similar data, clustering is more effective technique for 'data-aggregation'. In cluster formation technique based on multi-hop, it is necessary that the number of cluster member nodes should be distributed equally because of the balance of cluster formation To achieve this, we propose a method to customize cluster member nodes for energy-efficiency in wireless sensor networks. Adaptive Switching Equalization for SC-FDMA System Kim, Joo-Chan ; Bae, Jung-Nam ; Kim, Jin-Young ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 23~28 In this paper, we proposed and analyzed the performance of the adaptive switching equalization for SC-FDMA system. It is well known that SC-FDMA system have a fairly similar structure to OFDMA system. Furthermore, SC-FDMA system has great advantage of low PAPR compare to OFDM system. However, this system often suffers from wireless channel characteristics such as multipath fading and increased channel impulse response and so on. To reduce this channel influence, it strongly requires efficient adaptive equalization. Therefore, the proposed system operated upon two modes namely, ZF mode for slow speed and MMSE mode for high speed. From the simulation results, we can confirm that the proposed scheme has more efficient performance from the system complexity point of view. So we can expect that the proposed system will be applied design of 3GPP LTE uplink. An Efficient Stochastic Channel Selection Algorithm for Cognitive Radio Networks Pham, Thi Hong Chau ; Koo, In-Soo ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 29~35 An efficient stochastic channel selection algorithm for cognitive radio networks is proposed and analyzed in this paper. With the new algorithm utilizing quality of channels, the stationary level of the channels in idle state and history performance, we can find the best channel for secondary users to transmit data. Moreover, this method not only restricts channel switching of secondary users but also adapts to random resource environment of cognitive radio network. The advantages of the proposed algorithm are demonstrated clearly through computer simulation. Study on Effective Sensing Algorithm for Distinction between DTV and CR Systems Lee, So-Young ; Kim, Yoon-Hyun ; Kim, Jin-Young ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 37~42 Cognitive radio (CR), which is proposed as a technology that utilizes the frequency resources effectively, has studied to relive scarcity of the frequency resources. Also, FCC revises the regulation to reuse the TV white spaces for applying CR system and allows to use the TV white spaces by CR devices and use of CR device may be regularized after conversion by DTV in 2009. If CR system's signal appeared in pilot's position, pilot sensing performs false alarm detection because pilot sensing scheme confuse DTV signal and CR system. In order to improve false alarm detection, we propose distinction scheme between DTV and CR system using PN511 sequence in this paper. An Optimal Path Routing in Wireless Mesh Network Lee, Ae-Young ; Roh, II-Soon ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 43~48 Wireless mesh networks, unlike Ad-hoc network, has low mobility and multi-path communication between terminals and other networks because it has the backbone structures. Most studies are advanced on finding the optimal routing path in multi-hop wireless mesh network environment. Various routing metric, minimum number of hops(Hop_count) and ETX, ETT metric, are proposed to wireless mesh networks. However, most metrics cannot identify the high throughput routing paths because this metric uses a different measurement parameters in each direction. So actual delivery rate does not provide to this metric. This paper describes the metric and implementation of IETC as a metric. This paper shows the improvement in performance. A Cluster Formation Scheme with Remaining Energy Level of Sensor Nodes in Wireless Sensor Networks Jang, Kyung-Soo ; Kangm, Jeong-Jin ; Kouh, Hoon-Joon ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 49~54 Sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks operate in distributed environments with limited resources and sensing capabilities. Especially, a sensor node has a small energy. After the sensor nodes are distributed in some area, it is not accessible to the area. AIso, a battery of sensor node cannot change. One of the hot issues in wireless sensor networks maximizes the network lifetime through minimizing the energy dissipation of sensor nodes. In LEACH, the cluster head is elected based on a kind of probability method without considering remaining energy of sensor node. In this paper, we propose a cluster formation scheme that the network elect the node, which has higher energy level than average energy level of overall sensor network, as cluster head node. We show the superiority of our scheme through computer simulation. Position Estimation of a Mobile Robot Based on USN and Encoder and Development of Tele-operation System using Internet Park, Jong-Jin ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 55~61 This paper proposes a position estimation of a mobile robot based on USN(Ubiquitous Sensor Network) and encoder, and development of tele-operation system using Internet. USN used in experiments is based on ZigBee protocol and has location estimation engine which uses RSSI signal to estimate distance between nodes. By distortion the estimated distance using RSSI is not correct, compensation method is needed. We obtained fuzzy model to calculate more accurate distance between nodes and use encoder which is built in robot to estimate accurate position of robot. Based on proposed position estimation method, tele-operation system was developed. We show by experiment that proposed method is more appropriate for estimation of position and remote navigation of mobile robot through Internet. A Study on AES Extension for Large-Scale Data Oh, Ju-Young ; Kouh, Hoon-Joon ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 63~68 In the whole information technology area, the protection of information from hacking or tapping becomes a very serious issue. Therefore, the more effective, convenient and secure methods are required to make the safe operation. Encryption algorithms are known to be computationally intensive. They consume a significant amount of computing resources such as CPU time and memory. In this paper we propose the scalable encryption scheme with four criteria, the compression of plaintext, variable size of block, selectable round and software optimization. We have tested our scheme by c++. Experimental results show that our scheme achieves the faster execution speed of encryption/decryption. An Extented Vorocast Mechanism based on VON Lim, Chae-Gyun ; Kang, Jeong-Jin ; Rho, Kyung-Taeg ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 69~73 Network Virtual Environments (NVEs) is a virtual world where users exchanges messages via network connection. A limited visibility sphere called area of interest (AOI) is used to reduce the load created by the interactions between users. VON-Forwarding model is proposed as an effective methods to reduce network bandwidth in P2P network environment. Vorocast and Fibocast originated from Von-forwarding resolves the problems to receive the same messages repeatly. In this paper, We proposed an Extended Volocast scheme to improve the problem not to get consistency except a limited area near to the center of AOI. The proposed scheme maintains the consistency about the broad area into AOI by adjusting geometrical series . We perform simulation experiments to show that the proposed scheme provide better performance compared to the other schemes. Frame Management Method to Support QoS of MAC Protocol Based TDMA in Mesh Network Environment Jang, In-Yong ; Lee, Sun-Young ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 75~87 It is difficult to support QoS service in existing MAC Protocols in Wireless Mesh Network environments. while DCF can not support QoS, EDCA is operated with prioritized channel access method but can not give full performance. This thesis proposes frame management method to support QoS in Multi-Media DCF(MMDCF) MAC Protocol working in wireless mesh network. MMDCF uses ACH phase in TDMA frame to perform selection and elimination. Prioritized phases's count m and Fair Elimination phases's count n determine contention level and make string probability to only one win the contention. Forced TDMA Frame release method can support QoS requirements. MMDCF results good performance and good channel efficiency to support QoS requirements better than EDCA in multimedia stream environments. ETI(Expected Transmission Interference) for Interference-aware Byeon, So-Young ; Roh, II-Soon ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 89~94 In wireless mesh network, nodes are communicates as like as Ad-Hoc. Nodes of Wireless Mesh Network must have a good QoS and a algorithm for good path. ETX, ETT and WCETT are proposed Wireless Mesh Network routing methods. But these have Interference problem. This paper propose ETI(Expected Transmission Interference) based on ETT for good path selection. This paper show the algorithm and improved performance in simulation than other algorithms. Exhibition Monitoring System using USN/RFID based on ECA Kim, Gang-Seok ; Song, Wang-Cheol ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 95~100 Nowadays there are many studies and there's huge development about USN/RFID which have great developmental potential to many kinds of applications. More and more real time application apply USN/RFID technology to identify data collect and locate objects. Wide deployment of USN/RFID will generate an unprecedented volume of primitive data in a short time. Duplication and redundancy of primitive data will affect real time performance of application. Thus, security applications must filter primitive data and correlate them for complex pattern detection and transform them to events that provide meaningful, actionable information to end application. In this paper, we design a ECA Rule system for security monitoring of exhibition. This system will process USN/RFID primitive data and event and perform data transformation. It's had applied each now in exhibition hall through this study and efficient data transmission and management forecast that is possible. A Web-based Real-time Odor Monitoring and Device Management System Shen, Meiling ; Kim, Sang-Chul ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 101~109 The people around industrial complexes and polluted areas suffer from the many occurrences of odors, and frequently issue a request for solving the odors to their local government in charge of those areas. Recently local governments whose regions have a number of such areas have a great interest in monitoring odor occurrences and gathering air on demand. This paper proposes a system in which a user can perform real-time monitoring the values of odor and atmospheric sensors, and the management of odor sensing devices using the Internet browser. Compared to previous systems, the system has an advantage of providing the functions for controlling and managing a number of devices irregardless of the location of the user. Also, the system is built around a blackboard-based multi-process architecture, enabling the easy incorporation of a new software model to be found useful. To our experiment, users showed great satisfactions in terms of the easiness of use. Our system has been installed and operated in an area of a local government in which odors are likely to occur. A Head Selection Algorithm with Energy Threshold in Wireless Sensor Networks Kwon, Soon-II ; Roh, II-Soon ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 111~116 LEACH is a important hierarchical protocol in wireless sensor network. In LEACH, the head is randomly selected for balanced energy consume. In LEACH-C, the node that has more energy than the average value is selected for the network life cycle. However, the round continues, the improved protocol is needed because the energy and network are changed. In this paper, LEACH, LEACH-C is not considered the energy consumed in the round because of wasted energy and reduce the time for presenting a new round time was set. And proposed the new algorithm using the energy threshold for the cluster head selection and the round time. In simulation, we show the improved performance compared to existing protocols. Design Method for Cost Efficient Survivable Network Song, Myeong-Kyu ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 117~123 There are two types of survivability. We find the characteristics of them for networks. And using the dual homing, we analysis the routing cost and link cost. Also we propose the cost-efficient heuristic design method of network topology in order to use survivability. By design samples, we analysis the cost efficiency and show that the new design method can be used to design network topology for survivability easily. Service Discovery for Telematics Application using Bluetooth and UPnP Kim, Hee-Ja ; Jean, Byoung-Chan ; Lee, Sang-Joung ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 125~134 Ubiquitous are not courted in time and place of users and must offer service in network freely. There is telematics by representative application service during it. telematics service must provide service that is personalized according to time and place. Also, user who use telematics service must offer service that can use automatically even if do not request service. Therefore, in the paper wish to embody service discovery way design in telematics environment because treatise that see uses UPnP through PDA that is user Mobile terminal. PDA connected by local server of telematics service point and Bluetooth communication, and use finding UPnP device and service that is linked with local server using UPnP. Design UPnP device that provide service to user in telematics environment. Construct telematics service test bed to test service discovery. Because constructed system applies UPnP on Bluetooth communication base, service discovery system implementation and test. Implementation of Multi-function Sensor Module for Vessel Safety Monitoring Choi, Jo-Cheon ; Cho, Seung-Il ; Kim, Seong-Kweon ; Kim, Jai-Hyun ; Choi, Gyoo-Seok ; Cha, Jea-Sang ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 135~139 In order to cope with safety issues regarding fisher vessels, a device is required with the real-time monitoring for the safety and risk factors for a capability of informing and alerting function. In embedded modules, there is a trouble that we should design device drivers and application programs for usage of the multi-function sensors in order to detect risk factors. In this paper, we designed hardware circuit and implemented control program of the sensor part using PIC18F, in order to control and process the input and output data of multi-function sensors without device drivers and application programs. We confirmed the operation of multi-function sensor module to generate output data according to sensor operation. Distributed Identity Management Model using SAML in Digital Ecosystem Jang, In-Yong ; Youm, Heung-Youl ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 141~154 Digital Ecosystem is a new word for dynamic IT business environments. Digital Ecosystem can consist of various enterprise federations such as competing, collaborating and stable or unstable ones. They make it difficult to implement identity management for the environment. Existing solutions are either too restricting and inflexible to support the dynamic nature of ecosystems since they are too complex and difficult to adopt. This paper is to propose an distributed identity management model for automated processing of identity information between ecosystems. It is featured with being practical, clear and easy to deploy. And it is based on the new OASIS SAML3.0 standard to provide interoperability between existing identity technologies. This paper presents the basic and extended identity model for single service and multiple services. The model presented in this paper can be applied to enterprise context easily. SAR Image Processing Using Wavelet-based Sigma Filter and Edgemap Go, Gi-Young ; Park, Cheol-Woo ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 155~161 Any classification process using SAR images presupposes the reduction of multiplicative speckle noise, since the variations caused by speckle make it extremely difficult to distinguish between neighboring classes within the feature space. This paper focus an argument of effective filter for preserving the weak boundaries by using the proposed method. To reduce speckle noise without blurring the edges of reconstructed image use wavelet-based sigma filter. As a result, the edge information of reconstructed image reduce blurring. Simulation results show that proposed method gives a better subjective quality than conventional methods for the speckle noise. Cleaning Method of Impulse Noise Using Mean Shift Segmentation Kwon, Young-Man ; Lim, Myung-Jae ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 163~168 In this paper, We proposed the efficient method of cleaning impulse noise using mean shift segmentation. This method do its job for the pixel which is identified as impulse noise using mean shift segmentation instead of all pixel of image by the existing method. we found that the quality of image is improved by measuring the sum of square error in result image and impulse noise is cleaned efficiently by doing experiment. The effect on Aesthetics of Mobile Edu-games Contents An, Kyung-Whan ; Hwang, Myeong-Cheol ; Kim, Jai-Hyeon ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 169~173 We analyzed in this study on aesthetic areas of Mobile Edu-games Contents developers and users respectively in Mobile Platform. As a result, it indicates that through the aesthetics of Edu-games and the effectiveness of animation layout, women developers and users take more interest in storytelling and animation layout than men developers and users. We can estimate that Edu-games Contents in portable mobile platform is popular as it often contains easy learning materials and fun activities can enhance effective learning. Performance Analysis of OFDM Systems with Turbo Code in a Satellite Broadcasting Channel Kim, Jin-Young ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 175~185 In this paper, performance of OFDM systems with turbo code is analyzed and simulated in a satellite broadcasting channel. The performance is evaluated in terms of bit error probability. The satellite channel is modeled as a combination of Rayleigh fading with shadowing and Rician fading channels. As turbo decoding algorithms, MAP (maximum a posteriori), Max-Log-MAP, and SOVA (soft decision Viterbi output) algorithms are chosen and their performances are compared. From simulation results, it is demonstrated that Max-Log-MAP algorithm is promising in terms of performance and complexity. It is shown that performance is substantially improved by increasing the number of iterations and interleaver length of a turbo encoder. The results in this paper can be applied to OFDM-based satellite broadcasting systems. The Optimal Communication Method for Efficiency Improvement of an Integrated Operation System Lee, An-Kyu ; Lee, Ho-Hyun ; Lee, Dong-Hoon ; Hong, Sung-Taek ; Kim, Nam ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 187~193 My company currently is operating more than 30 numbers of wide area waterworks which are divided provincially into seven section and integrated operation system (hearafter IOS) in each center plan to operate several decades of waterworks facilities. Four of them, Jeonbuk, Metropolitan, Cheung Chong and JeonNam, has been completed and the others, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam and Gangwon, are under construction. Above all, the methods are reviewed, which have been applied in IOS system to be installed already. I propose the optimal way to communicate efficiently. Study on Verification Evaluation of Wireless Network Introduction for Waterworks Supervisory and Control Lee, An-Kyu ; Park, Eun-Chul ; Lee, Dong-Hoon ; Hong, Sung-Taek ; Kim, Nam ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 195~200 In this paper, we verified the reliability through local examination by introducing a wired network that is operated at the local waterworks to wireless LAN based Wi-Fi network. The adopted wireless network compared to the existing wired network through saving cost and reducing breakdown points have been proven to be effective qualitatively and quantitatively. This study proved that wireless networks could be introduced for the advancement of operations management of existing metropolitan water supply and the local waterworks that are operating currently. Development of Secure Healthcare Protocol using RFID Baek, Jang-Mi ; Jeon, Byung-Chan ; Choi, Gyoo-Seok ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 201~210 Studies on human-centered services are approaching their highest peak with the emergence of a new concept of the network environment, a ubiquitous environment. Among these ubiquitous service technologies, services related to health care are very closely related to the current social environment. In this paper, With social aging and changes in ubiquitous IT environment, studies on health care, which is among the essential application services and which has been defined as a key application technology, and studies related to it have been conducted. In addition, healthcare services, which are essentially applicable to the ubiquitous environment, were suggested by analyzing existing healthcare studies and drawing from them the requirements for such. This paper proposes management protocol for serious case except from health care research. This system is constructed database using RFID, it has location information. It provides procedures to consistently monitor the status of patients and process the outcome in real-time. Rediscovery of Broadcast Spectrum in the Era of Broadcasting and Telecommunication Convergence: Positioning in NGN Kim, Ki-Hong ; Hwang, Sung-Ho ; Min, Jun-Ki ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 211~217 In this paper, we discussed convergence in terrestrial broadcasting and wireless communication with respect to technology and service models. Especially, retrieval and relocation of TV broadcast spectrum after upcoming D-TV transition is investigated so that the benefit for broadcasting and communication industries as well as spectral efficiency to be maximized. Also, the role of TV broadcast spectrum as a utility for convergence of two industries is investigated based on open spectrum, open platform and open application initiatives. A Study on the Effects of Mobile Communicational Devices on the Emotional Stability of the Elder Person Kim, Soo-Yeoun ; Choi, Myung-Sin ; Chung, Chang-Duk ; Hong, You-Sik ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 219~226 This study is focused on examining the use of information and communication technology among the factors that contribute to the psychological stability of the aged. To identify the appreciation and experience of information and communication technology, we have itemized mobile technology and internet technology which are the most broadly utilized technologies by the elderly, and suggested a methodology to measure the effects that information and communication technology have on their psychological stability. We surveyed more than 100 people over 55 year old in Seoul. The findings of the study showed that the group of users who use wired internet and mobile technology are less depressed and have more self-esteem than the group of non-users. It was also shown that the more skilled they are at utilizing the technology, the less feelings of depression and loneliness, and the more self-esteem they have. A study on the Green ICT product service quality assurance in foreign country Kim, Seong-Kweon ; Lee, Kyung-Ryang ; Chung, Sam-Young ; Kim, Jai-Hyun ; Cha, Jae-Sang ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 227~231 Recently, the global warming phenomenon has been taken notice of. The global warming phenomenon has given enormous bad impact to social economic fields as well as ecological areas by rising sea levels and weather calamities. To cope with the phenomenon most developed countries adopted the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve the target of the Kyoto Protocol, the developed countries are operating organization-run green quality assurance and labelling systems with their standardized methods to evaluate the environmental and greenhouse gas impact for ICT products and services. This paper introduces several countries standards which can be applied to evaluate the reduction effect of greenhouse gas emission and green ICT quality assurance which also can be applicable for recycling and managing of ICT products. This paper is expected to be used as a policy data for ICT related government bodies and industry areas. A Study on the Revitalization Plan of Broadcasting Environment Advancement Service on Support Program Joe, Sharon ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 233~237 This paper is to analyze the of the revitalization plan of Broadcasting environment Advancement service on Support Program. we looking for convergence public service platform build-up for revitalization plan For the revitalization plan of Broadcasting environment Advancement service analysis, we reclassified the Broadcasting Public Advancement Service and Broadcasting system Advancement Service and Broadcasting human power Advancement Service, also broadcasting & communications convergence public service environment. As a result, we suggest 3- solutions for the revitalization plan of Broadcasting environment Advancement service. Step 1, is Broadcasting system Advancement Service R&D system Step 2, a system complement Step 3, make up on the Mid- and Long-Run project. we make an additional remark 3 practical proposal. revitalization plan of Broadcasting environment Advancement service build-up project to contribute to the improvement of Koreans' daily life. Moreover, this research will be used as a valued basic material in the pursuit of the future Broadcasting environment Advancement convergence projects. Research on Digital Music Industry of Korea through SWOT Analysis Oh, Han-Seung ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 239~244 Digital Music Industry of Korea has had its dominance over existing Record-based Music Industry since the year 2000 influencing the entire music industry. This implies the perspective for this emerging field by defining various factors based on environmental analysis. SWOT analysis, mostly used for setting up the marketing strategy is very useful analytic tool for this manner. The potentials and possibilities were saught for this emerging Digital Music Industry to have connectivity with other Media and Entertainment Industry, focusing on its strength, weakness, opportunities and threats, four variables of SWOT analysis. A Study of User Interface Design Method on Ubiquitous Computing Environments for the Aged Lee, Joong-Yeub ; The Journal of The Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, volume 9, issue 6, 2009, Pages 245~251 Recently, human life and the low birth rate and aging population has increased exponentially. Entry into an aged society in the present case and the different policy alternatives, and is a reality. Resolution of one of these older active community participation and production activities to foster a rich life, infants need to be able to build a ubiquitous environment can be damaging. Latest IT technology in the development of intelligent life on all human life even more convenient by combining the computer and try to build a productive environment is. You simply connect your computer to the elderly rather than older users to use, efficient and productive way to improve efforts to follow. Emerging as an alternative to the more efficient interfaces for ubiquitous computing, user interface design criteria, albeit a little uncomfortable by suggesting improvements of the elderly and their participation in production activities helped to improve the quality of life. Ubiquitous environment, as well as means to improve the living environment of older people live independent lives, as given us is that you can get the premise of this study was in progress.Thus, by analyzing the characteristics of the elderly for the elderly by offering more efficient way to interface design for a new era of ubiquitous pushing back the boundaries of the elderly have been instruments to achieve social vitality.

Trox Stock Rocks in 2014 Board: Value Hounds Intro 101-- titanium dioxide In 1993, Dennis H. Reilly at DuPont, advised that the global overcapacity for titanium dioxide was so massive and prices so low, he predicted producers would continue to underinvest in the business creating shortages when demand increased. Returns on capital in mining and production were low for two decades and operating at a loss was not unusual for some of the big TiO2 producers. The cycle is analogous to natural gas but perhaps even more exaggerated. Natural gas at $2 to $3 is a losing business and yet it takes time for E&P to cut production and rein in overproduction. TiO2 is similar and more unpredictable with cycles that are almost nonsensical. Where normal business cycles often promote healthy competition, the cycles in titanium dioxide tend to be destructive to both producers and the industries that depend on titanium dioxide as a raw material. Mr. Reilly went on to remark that the industry was so dysfunctional that coordinated action among the suppliers was needed to correct it. It differs from natural gas – there are 5 or 6 TiO2 producers that account for 70% of titanium dioxide supplies and Dupont is around 40% of that. Competition is broader and spread across dozens of companies in natural gas. After a decade or so of hardship and low prices in the 1990’s, antitrust litigation was brought against DuPont, Kronos, Millenium, Huntsman, and Tronox for price fixing. In a desperate attempt to bring prices up, they agreed to work together albeit illegally and began to co-ordinate price increases. Beginning in the early 1990’s TiO2 prices were unprofitably low, improved by the late 1990’s only to fall again in 2001. The suit alleged that prices were fixed in response to the 2001 crash. Increases started shortly after a series of industry meetings in 2001-2002. The rate hikes were initiated by DuPont and quickly followed by the other producers in unison. In spite of the apparent collusion, by 2008, the industry was again experiencing low to no profits and high raw material and energy costs resulting in a huge inventory overhang that was further exacerbated by the global financial crisis. TiO2 producers hit rock bottom in 2008. The industry responded by cutting inventories and shutting in capacity, making it difficult to re-start the supply chain when the market recovered. Supplies became tight by 2010 and paint was in such short supply even road maintenance had to be put on hold with no paint for centerline stripes. With tight supplies, the TiO2 producers began a series of price increases in 2010 through 2011-- 8% in 2010 and almost 40% in 2011 -- 2011 was the best year the industry had in a couple of decades. End users began to build inventory and the record profits of 2011 were followed by a slow 2012 as paint companies held more inventory than they were using and began destocking. Prices fell and volume dried up. Cycles are complicated by lagging response to increased demand. There is always a precipitous balance between oversupply with unprofitable pricing and undersupply/high prices with inventory hoarding. TiO2 production can’t be started fast after shutting down plants and mining operations, creating a business disrupting lag. New mining operations take on average about six to eight years to enter the supply chain and production facilities are expensive to start up at around $450 million keeping barriers to entry high and production in the hands of the few. There will be no new TiO2 pigment plants built outside China before 2013 to 2014. That leaves the industry open to big cyclical swings over the next few years. In 2008-2009 demand declined 9% -- a rare event. Growth is normally steady and slow and rarely hits negative numbers. Conventional wisdom says that it follows the rate of GDP. TiO2 producers permanently shut down 7% of global capacity in response to 2008 effectively ensuring short supply during recovery, no extra capacity to absorb demand and high prices. Expectations were high for a brisk 2012 but that ground to a halt in Q3 taking many in the industry by surprise. It’s a difficult industry to predict and cycles are complex. That brings us to Tronox Tronox wins the title of messiest company to evaluate—ever. It’s an unappealing story at present but may turn in to a beautiful business at some point. It got a favorable write-up in September 2012at the Value Investors Club with a share price of $26. The VIC thesis was TROX was undervalued on a free cash flow yield basis and its low share price was the result of destocking of TiO2 by customers and the bottoming out of the cycle. The analyst was in favor of stock repurchases at the undervalued share prices. Tronox bought shares at high September prices that went on to lose 38% of their value two months later. Management must have known by September that Q3 was going to disappoint the market but did the buybacks at high prices anyway. During the second and third quarters of 2012, they repurchased approximately 12.6 million Class A Shares -- 10% of the total voting securities at a cost of $326 million. Tronox management gets a demerit right from the start for the ill-timed, questionable stock repurchases. Tronox Incorporated was spun off from Kerr-McGee in 2006 along with a high debt load and a lot of legacy environmental liabilities. In 2009, they declared bankruptcy, unable to pay debt and environmental obligations and emerged from the BK in February 2011 sans debt and environmental expenses. After being a pink sheet stock for more than 12 months, they were listed on the NYSE in June 2012 as Tronox Limited. In September 2011, Tronox offered shares and cash for part of South African mineral sands miner Exxaro. In June 2012, the companies consolidated and listed on the NYSE. Tronox shareholders received $12.50 and one class A share. At the same time, Exxaro shareholders got Class B shares for partial interest. Exxaro retained 26% of the South African and sold its 50% in the Australian joint venture in Triwest to Tronox that now owns 100%. There were 63.5 million class A shares and 49.8 Class B shares that underwent a 5 for 1 share split at the end of June 2012. That further complicates looking at charts and documents that do not reflect the split. Year-over-year comps become more difficult. There are also predecessor/successor adjustments, proforma results, split-adjusted results and a switch from a January year-end to December. Tronox is based in Western Australia. The titanium dioxide it refines is critical to coatings, plastics, and paper and most importantly paint. Tronox now has its own mineral sands mining business consisting primarily of two product streams—titanium feedstock and zircon. Titanium feedstock is used to manufacture TiO2. Zircon is used for the manufacture of ceramics, refractories, TV glass and a range of other industrial and chemical products. The combined company has global operations in North America, Europe, South Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. They operate three TiO2 facilities -- Mississippi, The Netherlands, and Western Australia, representing approximately 465,000 tonnes of annual TiO2 production capacity. The Australian and South African mines can produce approximately 723,000 tonnes of titanium feedstock and approximately 265,000 tonnes of zircon. The company is able to supply their own feedstock and sell to third parties. Tronox is the third largest producer of TiO2 from chloride technology; the second largest producer of titanium feedstock; the second largest global producer of zircon. Supply and Demand Historically, the majority of their revenue has come from the sale of TiO2 (86% and 93% in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011). With the Exxaro mineral sands acquisition, revenue has become more diversified and TiO2 sales decreased to 57% (3 mos) and 73% (9 mos) of total revenue. After a banner 2011, TiO2 sales are slowing in 2012 due to continued customer destocking and declining demand, primarily as a result of weaker residential and commercial construction in Europe and Asia. While TiO2 has no substitute there are threats to its historically reliable increasing demand in the paint industry. Since paint/pigments make up 77% of TiO2 sales, any decreased end product use is going to negatively impact growth over the long-term. Dow chemicals brought its polymer Evoque to market in 2011 and will begin heavy promotion in 2012-2013. Evoque is a polymer that efficiently disperses TiO2 in paint so less TiO2 can be used for equal hiding capacity. Evoque polymers surround and attach to the surface of TiO2 particles. As the two materials come together, they form a composite that makes TiO2 better dispersed and more resistant to crowding. Dow believes up to a 20% reduction in titanium dioxide will be possible, while maintaining the paints ability to cover and hide the original surface. Dow also makes Ropaque (introduced 30 years ago) and combining Ropaque with Evoque can decrease TiO2 by up to 50% and still keep paint’s ability to hide and cover equal to or better than the pure TiO2 containing product. PPG has already targeted a 4% decrease in TiO2 use discussed in the Q3 conference call. Sherwin Williams also mentions decreasing concentrations of TiO2 in paint. The vertical integration of feedstock and TiO2 gives Tronox a secure low cost source of raw materials. The ability to balance production with feedstock supplies at predictable pricing will give them the opportunity to expand and stabilize margins. That may be the single best catalyst for an investment thesis. Margins in Q3 contracted with low utilization and a return to excess capacity. Gross and operating margins are not likely to improve over the next few quarters—traditionally the slowest in the industry. They should recover when macro issues improve and during peak demand quarters, boosting earnings in excess of revenue growth. At the earliest that would be Q2 and Q3 of 2013. Tronox emerged from bankruptcy in February 2011 and provides financial results back to 2008 but are unable give any further data claiming it is too costly to provide it per an SEC ruling. The financial documents they do provide are complicated by various one-time charges for the reorganization and the acquisition, proforma and successor/predecessor differences and a switch from their January to December year-end. What can be consistently tracked is the disastrous 2008 and recovery in 2011 before the acquisition. This is the pure titanium dioxide business. The high growth and expansive margins were short-lived and by the third quarter of 2012, Tronox was back to negative growth and negative margins. This decline was across the sector and seems to have taken Tronox, DuPont and Kronos all by surprise. Tronox shares dropped 21% and Dupont was down 10% after disappointing Q3. [See Post for Tables] Gross margins improved more than 3-fold from 2008 to 2011 and the company went from operating at a loss to operating margins of 19.5%. The high cost of sales in 2008 are responsible for the worst gross margins and biggest net losses in 4 years. Cash flow from operations was negative in both 2008 and 2009, recovering to $250 million in 2011. Exxaro does not appear in the consolidated results until June 15 2012. It adds two weeks of revenue to Q2 and is present for all of Q3 2012. In 2009, operating income went from negative operating earnings to over $67 million accounting for the outsized increase of 49-fold. Tronox continued to post positive growth numbers up through 2011 as volume, pricing and margins improved. Business was good through the first quarter of 2012, but by Q3, was back to low margins and no growth. June 2012 is slightly distorted by two weeks of Exxaro revenue. That revenue was left in as cost of sales could not be be adjusted to account for Exxaro. The June quarter was also saw a tax benefit, altering net income and increasing net margin and net growth. In tow out of four years, the company has had tax benefits and has NOLs going forward that may be used. I left it in. Growth and margins were in an accelerating decline by the second quarter. By Q3, gross margins were worse than the annual 2008 figure and disappointing since supplying their own feedstock should relieve some of the pressure on gross margins. Their margins should show highly competitive improvement over industry peers as the cycle moves up again. Unfortunately, anticipating upturns in the TiO2 cycles is not easy. Third quarter 2012 What happened in Q3 to derail an apparent recovery in the TiO2 sector? Pigment sales decreased by 30% as destocking by end users continued far beyond company predictions for destocking and the move into restocking. Exxaro revenue in Q3 was $207.1 million of the $487.3 million in total revenue for the quarter. The legacy business sales were $280 million and significantly worse than the Q3 2011 revenue of $465. The growth was only possible with the acquisition. Total revenue increased 5%. TiO2 sales made up 57% of Q3 revenue compared to 86% one year ago. The diversification obviously improved sales. During 2012, both the minerals and pigment businesses are seeing declining volumes on market weakness in China, Europe, and North America. This may never correct in China as China is expected to be able to supply almost all of its TiO2 from internal sources. China may still need to buy feedstock. Europe and North America will not provide much of a market until the GDPs of both return to higher growth. One of the more troubling developments is the increased cost of goods sold -- + 44% on 5% revenue growth. The increases reflect the higher pigment production costs, higher expense for raw materials and chemical products, and higher per unit costs due to lower capacity. I might have expected the vertical integration of their own feedstocks would help offset the effects of low utilization. Instead, raw materials cost increased rather substantially. Part of the increased cost of sales was $85 million in step up charges for Exxaro inventory. Backing that out gives a gross margin of 21%--still below Q3 2011 levels(28.1%). Operating margins adjusted to 9.6% from (7.8%). Operating margins Q3 2011 were 21%. During 2012, they cut pigment production volume in response to decreased sales from ongoing customer destocking and global economic concerns. Reduced capacity utilization increased the cost per unit and negatively impacted margins. Gross for the third quarter and the nine months declined due to lower sales volumes of TiO2 and zircon, and third party purchases of ore. Gross margin declined due to higher input costs for TiO2 but adding back the step up charge for Exxaro inventory improves it from 4% to 21%. DuPont as the largest TiO2 producer is a good indication of how the sector is affected. They fell short of analysts’ expectations and are responding quickly by cutting 1,500 jobs in an effort to offset underutilization. DuPont reported net income of $10 million (1¢ per share earnings) compared with $452 million, or 48¢ per share Q3 2011. Excluding one-time items, earnings were 44¢ compared to 69¢ in 2011. Revenue from continuing operations totaled about $7.4 billion, down 9% from $8.1 billion. Share dropped nearly 10% in response. The CEO cited weak demand resulting in a return to overcapacity much the same as Tronox reported. The sector was hoping that market demand was going to continue to absorb capacity and support price increases. From record sales and volumes in Q3 2011, Dupont saw an 18% decline in volume and 19% drop in sales in 2012. The recovery of 2011 is not sustainable and end users are still in the process of winding down overstock. Tronox is predicting slow sales through the first half of 2013. Cash flow, debt, share repurchases and dividend Free cash flow for the first nine months of 2012 is ($23) million with $68 million in cash flow from operations (CFFO) and $91 million spent on capex. There was no free cash to pay the $31 million in dividends and issuing debt helped finance the dividends and the share repurchases. Two one-time items occurring in January 2011 complicate the 2011 cash flow. Backed out, cash flow from operations for 2011 is approximately $250 million. That would not include any Exxaro numbers. Free cash flow for 2011 is around $110 million and an improvement over 2008-2010. That has not held into 2012. Cash flow from operations for the first nine months (includes Exxaro for 3 1/2 months) is only $68 million. With the short history of the merger, it’s not possible to anticipate normal cash flow levels for the combined companies. Tronox Limited is not insulated or diversified away from these cycles entirely as titanium feedstock depends on titanium dioxide sales and both are at the mercy of paint sales. The combined company free cash flow for nine months is ($23.2) million with capex at $91.2 million. They paid $31 million in dividends and spent $326 million repurchasing shares. Cash flow will not continue to support this level of shareholder returns and investment for the dividend and decreasing share count may be disappointing. The planned special dividend has already been cancelled. Tronox bought shares at $26 even though by September they must have known an unprofitable, low margin Q3 with muted guidance would bring share prices down –- questionable motives and judgment. If the current downward cycling of TiO2 continues, share repurchases will be stopped and the dividend may be suspended. Total debt is $1,638 million and there are covenants governing dividend payments and the issuing of new debt. The dividend will not be able to be paid from issuing new debt as it was this year. The debt to capital ratio is 37% and while not dangerously high, there is little headroom for increasing that under current economic conditions. For nine months the interest coverage ratio was 28X, but will decrease as the interest on the new notes is annualized. Tronox had negative operating income for the third quarter and is predicting Q4 will be more of the same. A dividend that can be cut will not put much of a floor under the current price of $15 and ongoing negative earnings and eroding cash flow may continue to pressure share price. The dividend is now $1.00 per annum with a 6.6% yield. The special dividend will not be paid. Exxaro Mineral Sands’s operates KZN Sands and Namakwa Sands, both located in South Africa, and the Tiwest Joint Venture in Australia (now 100% owned by Tronox). They produce titanium feedstock, including ilmenite, chloride slag, slag fines and rutile, and co-products pig iron and zircon. Triwest both mines minerals and produces TiO2. In 2011, Exxaro produced 277,000 metric tons of titanium slag, 195,000 tonnes of zircon, 110,000 tonnes of synthetic rutile and 76,000 tonnes of titanium dioxide pigment, resulting in combined revenue of $907 million. Aproximately 90% of the world’s consumption of titanium feedstock was used for TiO2 pigment, with the remainder being used for the production of titanium sponge for titanium metal manufacturing and other uses, such as the production of fluxes for welding rods and as a metallurgical flux in iron and steel making. Tronox revenue is 77% from TiO2. The naturally occurring high-grade titanium minerals required for the production of TiO2 pigment are in limited supply. In response, the industry developed “beneficiated” products that can be used as substitutes for, or in conjunction with, naturally occurring titanium minerals. Two processes have been developed: one for the production of titanium slag and the other for the production of synthetic rutile. Both use ilmenite as a raw material. Exxaro gives Tronox a supply of both high-grade titanium and the means to make synthetic rutile. Exarro had negative earnings in 2009 and had net profits of around $1 million in 2010. By 2011 they had recovered and earnings were approximately $287 million. Margins in 2011: 40% operating margins 39% operating margins (with a tax benefit) When the macro-environment improves, the Exxaro acquisition should help expand margins —- a potential catalyst. Knowing when the cycle is going to turn is difficult. Without high demand for coating and paint, both the mining and TiO2 businesses will be slow. CFFO in 2011 was $220.3 million compared to $95.9 million in 2010. They were cash flow negative in 2009. Tronox ix expecting market conditions for TiO2 pigment in Q4 to be similar to Q3. If that’s the case, they will have negative earnings (-0.14¢ in Q3) and may turn operating cash flow negative if the results are worse than Q3. During the third quarter, average selling prices of TiO2 were approximately 6% lower than Q2. Given the softening of sales volumes in the pigment segment, they expect further price declines in the fourth quarter. The company anticipate sales volumes of its mineral sands (excluding Zircon)will remain steady and prices will be higher in Q4 2012 compared to 2011. Ore contracts have been subject to low locked in pricing and those unfavorable contracts began to expire in June. Sherwin Williams and PPG both warn of slower paint/coating sales in the last quarter of 2012 to at least the first half of 2013. This is consistent with Tronox guidance. Asia/Pacific will be especially weak according to Sherwin Williams. PPG and Sherwin Williams also discuss TiO2 inventory, pricing and decreasing its use in paint formulations in their recent conference calls. Conditions in 2012 going into 2013 will not be a repeat of 2011. End users are using up inventory and will be buyers again, but even with destocking ending, restocking may be slow until Q2 and Q3 2013 when painting season commences. There is mention of decreasing the TiO2 used in paint-- PPG says it plans to cut TiO2 consumption by 4%-6%. Both companies anticipate stabilization and possibly decreases in the price of TiO2. Robert J. Wells - SVP, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs: What we mean by stability is that pricing is no longer – does not appear to be rising. We do not believe that the price increase announced by the industry affected in July was very successful. So, it appears that TiO2 pricing is stabilized. Translation: TiO2 has no pricing power in the current environment and expect revenue and margins for Tronox to reflect that. Robert J. Wells - SVP, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Just as a reminder, Bob, the North American market consumes less than 25% of global supply of TiO2. So, we’ve got 75% – more than 75% of the global TiO2 market that’s struggling for volume even if North America is relatively strong. Translation: International markets are weaker than North American markets and make up the biggest percentage of consumption. With the macro picture internationally and overseas even weaker than NA, expect global sales to suffer. Charles E. Bunch - Chairman and CEO TiO2 costs, as we look at them in the third quarter of 2012, were still up versus the third quarter of 2011, although the trend here in 2012 as we've moved through the year has been for lower prices for TiO2 in all the regions. Translation: none needed—pricing power non-existent. David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank Chuck, you discussed your efforts to reduce your usage of TiO2; I believe you had a 4% to 6% target for this year? Charles E. Bunch - Chairman and CEO Yes and we are still on track through the first three quarters of this quarter we were tracking at a little over 3%. So we feel that for the full year we will be into certainly the 4% to 6% range, probably as we roll up all the numbers it will be kind of on the low end of that range or a little over 4%, but certainly within our target and we feel we still have opportunities as we go into 2013 and beyond to continue the more productive use of TiO2 in our formulation. Translation: OMG! Dow was right—TiO2 can be reduced in paints and coatings and the new product formulation is comparable. The economics of changing the formulas are good enough to convince a major end-user (PPG) to start reformulating their paint. Evoque (the Dow polymer) can be used to reduce TiO2 content and still maintain hiding capacity. It can be used with the same concentration of TiO2 to create superior hiding ability. Don Carson - Susquehanna Financial Group Speaking of inventory, we've seen about a $0.13 per pound price drop in TiO2, are you admitting it's a slow seasonal quarter for architectural paint, but are you drawing down your TiO2 inventories further in anticipation of more price reductions next, and then just clarification on your TiO2 reduction comment of 4% to 6%, is that total TiO2 or is that high quality chloride product an in part of what you are doing is substituting the low grade Chinese TiO2 into your formulation? Charles E. Bunch - Chairman and CEO that would be total TiO2. That's not substitution of sulfate or chloride, that's not in that calculation. And as I have mentioned in the earlier question, we still are going to hit at least the low end of that target which is a 4% productivity improvement in the usage for our overall TiO2, our formulation. And on the inventory destocking, we probably had a more inventory relative to sales early in the year, but as we've seen supply loosen up and pricing stabilized, we've worked down that inventory, so I would say now heading into this fourth quarter and into 2013, we have what I would call normal inventory levels for TiO2, so we're not trying to further destock from this level. Translation: some important trends noted here. PPG is going to find ways to reduce TiO2 by 4%-6% and that does not include using the lower grade TiO2 from China. They don’t mention Evoque or Ropaque but that is probably what’s being put into their paint. They also mention destocking is winding down—Tronox has been saying the same thing. TiO2 pricing has come back to earth and end users will eventually be buyers again. I would not expect much purchasing in Q4 2012 or Q1 2013. They may start ramping up in anticipation of the busy painting season by Q2 2013. With better TiO2 prices for end users, there will be less hoarding and more normal supply and demand. However, demand will be seasonally down for a couple of quarters and long-term, could be a few percentage points lower if big companies start using Evoque in quantity. Valuing Tronox is difficult with too little information and no data in the filings over numerous business cycles. There is not a long history available—it goes back to 2008. We can’t appreciate more than one cycle from the bottom in 2008 to the top in 2011. That history is peppered with adjustments and one-time charges/credits, an acquisition, and a change in year-end. There are also changes in the world of paint and coatings that are altering historical demand and we have no idea how much impact that will have. Then there is the seemingly endless gloomy macro-environment that cannot be completely quantified and whose end can’t be predicted. What is the market pricing in now? TiO2 growth mirrors GDP. If we take the average GDP to be 3% then we get a rough framework to build a growth model on. China and Asia/Pacific often have higher growth than 3% and Europe/North America can be in negative numbers. In addition there is the looming threat of paint polymer additives that are going to decrease the use of TiO2 by some of the biggest paint manufacturers. If we give the company 1% growth for 10 years and 0% terminal growth at an 11% discount, the value is $16. A catalyst considered by the model was the probable expansion of margins as the company sees better sales seasonally and the Exxaro acquisition increases margins as a source of lower cost feedstock. The mining operation itself has better margins and as it becomes a bigger percentage of annual revenue, will improve on the existing TiO2 margins. Free cash flow is not predictable or consistent and the next 2-3 quarters are at risk for negative cash flow as sales continue to slow. The dividend will be at risk and the stock price may not have seen the bottom yet. There is no hurry to buy Tronox and waiting and watching for three to six months may help clarify what the combined companies are capable of during the trough of the cycle.

MINK STOLE, THE CULT CLASSIC ACTRESS FROM BALTIMORE, IS THE MIDDLE CHILD OF TEN. SHE BEGAN ACTING IN HER LATE TEENS WITH HER GOOD FRIEND JOHN WATERS. MINK IS BEST KNOWN FOR HER STARRING ROLES IN THE VERY FIRST OF HIS FILMS — IN FACT, SHE’S BEEN IN JUST ABOUT EVERY FILM HE’S EVER MADE. SHE HAS AMASSED A HUGE FOLLOWING OF ADORING FANS, MYSELF INCLUDED. I WAS ABOUT 13 YEARS OLD, THE FIRST TIME I WATCHED PINK FLAMINGOS, MY FIRST OF MANY JOHN WATERS FILMS TO COME. THE TALENTED ACTRESS, WHO PLAYED DOZENS OF MEMORABLE CHARACTERS SUCH AS PEGGY GRAVEL, CONNIE MARBLE AND OF COURSE, TAFFY DAVENPORT, INVITED DIRTY TO HER HOME IN BALTIMORE (WHICH IS LITERALLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE HOUSE WHERE SHE GREW UP). SEVERAL STRONG CUPS OF COFFEE LATER, SEATED IN HER DINING ROOM WITH A FAIRLY PANORAMIC VIEW OF SUBURBAN BALTIMORE, I CAME TO DISCOVER THAT MINK IS A VERY SWEET, INTELLIGENT AND SENSITIVE PERSON. SHE OPENED UP ON HER EARLY YEARS IN BALTIMORE AND THE FILMS THAT MADE HER A STAR. TEXT Paul Bruno PHOTOGRAPHY David Kimelman STYLING Karen Azoulay DIRTY: YOU HAVE SOME GREAT ART! MINK STOLE: My taste in art — there is nothing on my walls that I don’t love. Half of it came from thrift shops, half of it didn’t, and most people would be hard pressed to determine which is which. I have a friend that only likes representational art, and it’s like, “How many barns can you look at?!” And I really like her and her work, I have a piece of her work up, but she would NEVER put my stuff up. D: AND IN PARTICULAR, WHEN IT COMES TO ART, THERE REALLY IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG, ALTHOUGH PEOPLE LOVE TO GET INTO ARGUMENTS OVER ART ALL THE TIME. MS: — It’s so subjective. I would probably never put something on my wall that was obscene, just because I wouldn’t real enjoy looking at it. MS: It’s not because I think it shouldn’t have happened or been created, or that no one else should have it, everything has it’s place. D: YOU WERE BORN NANCY PAINE STOLL — WHEN AND WHERE DID THE NAME MINK COME FROM? MS: Well my last name is Stoll. When I first met John Waters, and we were working on our first film together, which is something that nobody ever sees because you can’t watch it — it takes three 8mm projectors with a tape recorder to show — D: BEFORE MONDO TRASHO? MS: Before Mondo Trasho — it was called Roman Candles. I never really cared for the name Nancy Stoll because, first of all, it’s a double syllabary, which I think is annoying. Now, if I had been really clever, I probably could have gone with Nancy Pain, which could have been really punk! But I didn’t! I ended up saying to John, “Pick me a name.” And this was the era of the Warhol superstar, and Roman Candles being triple projected, you know, John was very influenced & inspired by those early Warhol films, Chelsea Girls in particular. You know stars like Viva and Ingrid Superstar and Ultraviolet. So Mink Stole was sort of obvious — and this was long before drag queens were using puns as names. So I thought it was a cool name, I liked it. John started introducing me to people as Mink, and people started calling me that. I mean it really wasn’t just a stage name, it became my name. Also, when I was born, Nancy was a very common name. It was like today’s… Jennifer. There weren’t so many Jennifer’s when I was a child. Jennifer was unusual. But there was at least one other Nancy in almost every one of my classes, so having a name that was only mine, I knew who they were talking to! But when I introduce myself to people who don’t know who I am, they’re like, “Meg?” D: SO WHEN WAS THAT, WHEN YOU FIRST MET JOHN WATERS? MS: It was 1966. It was in Provincetown and I was a teenager — we were both teenagers. Well, no. John’s a little older than I am, but we were both young! D: I KNOW YOU WERE BORN & RAISED HERE, BUT HAVE YOU ALWAYS LIVED IN BALTIMORE? MS: I was born and raised here, but I was gone for 30 years. I lived in New York for a dozen years! I lived in New York during the entire 80s. I watched the destruction of the Upper West Side. D: WHAT A GREAT TIME TO BE IN NYC! MS: It was a great time to be there, but watching what was going on with the city was so depressing. I lived on 91st street and Amsterdam, and when I moved into the neighborhood in 1979, if I had on matching socks, I was the best dressed girl in the hood! By the time I left, which was 1989, I felt like I needed a Chanel suit to go out to the corner for a pack of cigarettes. I really hated that. I went to Europe for six months and left a neighborhood that I thought was still kinda on the funky side, and when I came home there were women in fur coats walking little dogs, and all new people in my building looking at me like I was street trash! But I thought to myself, “My rent is like half of yours!” D: THAT ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE THE NEW YORK STORY, YOU KNOW, HOW QUICKLY NEIGHBORHOODS CHANGE. MS: It just flew by — and that was way before Guiliani and the renovation of Times Square. I mean, change is inevitable, but it was just sad to me that this multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-economic neighborhood with all these buildings where families had lived for generations was being torn down to build (whispers) ugly condos for rich people. D: IT’S STILL HAPPENING… MS: Well, Manhattan is for the rich. It was ALWAYS tough to live there, but possible! I know people living in tiny apartments, SHARING, and they seem to be okay with it. I couldn’t do that. And then I moved to L.A., where I stayed for 18 years. D: WHICH DID YOU PREFER? MS: Well, I love Baltimore for many many reasons. I feel very grounded here. I mean, not only am I living directly across the street from the house I grew up in, which, if you could crawl back into the womb, I kind of did! The person that lives behind me, I’ve known since I was a child. The boy next door when I was growing up lives around the corner. And the neighborhood has not visually changed since I was born. D: THIS IS MY FIRST TIME IN BALTIMORE, BUT DRIVING HERE, LOOKING AT THE HOUSES, I COULD SENSE THOSE EARLY FILMS, THE AESTHETIC IS STILL INTACT. MS: Not far from here is where Serial Mom was shot. I had someone not too long ago that this was city living! City living to me, is New York — and even L.A.. I love Baltimore, but it doesn’t have the resources of those cities, which is unfortunate. You know, there’s no fabric district, no flower district, there’s no Chinatown. If you’re looking for fabric, you’re very limited here — you can get your polyester from Joanne’s, but there is very little variety — and not everything needs to be high-end! I miss those things about city living. I miss the sunny winters of L.A.. The grayness that we have for a good part of the winter is difficult for me. I also miss a great many people; I made some really great friends in L.A., and worked with some wonderful musicians that I wish I had access to. I mean I work with great musicians here, but I would love to bring some of my west coast musicians and my east coast musicians together, and I’m not really able to do that. D: SINCE WE’RE ON THE SUBJECT TELL ME ABOUT HOW YOU GOT INTO MUSIC, AS SOME PEOPLE MAY NOT BE AWARE YOU HAVE A BAND. MS: Well my first band was in L.A., and that started when a friend of mine named Brian Grillo (SP), who used to be with a band called Extra Fancy, came to see a Shakespeare play I was doing (I was doing A Winter’s Tale with the L.A. Women’s Shakespeare Company). I played the singing peddler, and I had to sing! And he came and heard me sing and said, “I didn’t know you could sing!” I didn’t really consider myself a singer, I was just doing what the part called for. Anyway, he had written a song and was putting together one of these Sunday afternoon beer busts, at a leather club in Silverlake (SP), and he asked me if I would perform the song for him. He got me a guitar player, a bassist, and an electric violin player to accompany me, so I sang the song… and the crowd went crazy, people were screaming for more, and I was like, “I don’t have anymore! I’ll sing it again though!” And so I sang it again and it was just so much fun. The electric violin player didn’t want to play with me anymore because the bartender didn’t give her any free drinks that night. I mean I got her a drink that night, but because the bartender didn’t offer her one without my intervention, her nose was a bit out of joint! But Brian introduced me to some other musicians, and we put together a little band and did some more of these beer bust gigs. Then one day we were doing a gig at Tom of Finland day at this leather bar and it was really really hot, and by the time we got up to play nobody cared because I was a girl. You know earlier in the day no one would have minded, but by the end of the night, all they were interested in was getting some. It was time — who am I going home with time, and that wasn’t me! I mean I’ve learned that my welcome in gay bars runs out after a certain hour! D: THE GAY AGENDA! MS: Yes! Suddenly the agenda shifts, and I am suddenly no longer remotely interesting. I mean, I don’t mind this, I mean I think it’s sad that gay men are so… focused, but it’s not for me to judge. I mean I couldn’t change it regardless of how I feel, but all of a sudden warmth turns to chill and then it’s time for me to go. When I’m really good, I try to get out before that happens. Anyway, that was the day my bass player fell in love, and that was also the day I learned that I needed a drummer! (laughs) The weird part about doing these performances at my age and already being known to a certain extent, is that I was bad! You have to learn it, you have to develop your skills, and I was learning in public, on stage! Because that’s the only place that you can. People would come up to me and say how great I was, but I didn’t think it was. I’d be grateful and thankful because it’s rude to deny a compliment, but I knew it wasn’t. I knew that they were really being nice. It’s hard to have to learn in public! Artists, for instance, get to paint in private, and only show the ones that they like. Photographers get to discard the photos that don’t turn out. But performing can only be learned on stage. D: YOU NEED THAT REACTION FROM THE CROWD. MS: You have to have it. D: I WOULD IMAGINE THAT YOU BECOME VERY SENSITIVE TO THE AUDIENCE’S REACTION? MS: It was exhilarating and painful. And exhilarating and painful. But worth pursuing. Of course, various people came to see us play — I was really lucky the day that I met Christian Hoffman (SP), who was an extraordinary musician, and without even knowing his pedigree, I said, “I need a keyboard player, come play with us,” to which he agreed. And then I found out who he was, and that he played with Klaus Nomi & the Mumps, and he had all this history, and we got along fabulously. He was wonderful to work with. He is one of the musicians that I would love to bring over here. It may be possible. I’m getting ready to do some fundraising, so if I get enough money together I will bring him. D: EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE! MS: Yes, it is. I’m putting a few songs that he wrote on the album, so even if I can’t have his playing, I can have his music. D: YOU’RE WORKING ON AN ALBUM RIGHT NOW? MS: I am, yes! I will have to do some fundraising to finish it, because it’s taking way longer than any of us anticipated, and I don’t want it to be bad! I want it to be really good, and in order to do it well, it takes time. D: ARE YOU YOUR OWN WORST JUDGE? MS: Yes and no. It’s very hard for me to be totally objective, but I am probably more objective than many other people might be. I can tell when I sound good. I can tell when I sound bad. But I don’t listen to myself sounding good and say, “Wow, that really sucks.” I can tell when it’s better. I’ve found what works for me is to replay a track I recorded and listen to it time and again, because it’s the only way you can really hear it. I’ve learned over and over that what feels REALLY GOOD on stage, sounds really shitty! The experience is like, “That felt so good, I know it must have been really brilliant!” but the reality is often very different. So yes, I am a harsh critic, I always want it to be better, but I’m not going to beat myself up. Although I must say, and this is probably true for most performers, 99% of the show can be fantastic, and that 1% that you either missed a lyric, or screw up in some other way, that’s what haunts you. But that’s the kind of musician I want to work with, the one that remembers that 1% and works harder. D: GETTING BACK TO YOUR ACTING CAREER, I WAS CURIOUS IF YOU HAD ANY PROFESSIONAL TRAINING, OR WAS IT MORE OF A SITUATION THAT YOU THREW YOURSELF INTO, LIKE YOUR MUSIC? MS: I was thrown into it! It was basically like, “Hey guys, let’s make a movie,” which was one of the things that made us fabulous, and one of the things that we got kicked around about, I mean we were often called amateurs. OFTEN! And it really pissed me off, because we may have been untrained, but we were not unprofessional. We showed up on time, we knew our lines, we did our jobs. There are many levels of professionalism, and when it came to work product, we did not take drugs on set, we did not drink on set, we did not ad-lib our lines, we didn’t fuck up our lines. That would make John mad, and you didn’t want to make John mad! D: SO THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR IMPROVISATION? MS: We never improvised — we weren’t allowed! D: I THINK PART OF THE BRILLIANCE OF JOHN WATERS’ SCRIPTS ARE THE ABSURD LINES AND THE CONTRADICTION BETWEEN THESE VERY ECCENTRIC, IRREGULAR, OFTEN TRASHY CHARACTERS, WHO ARE SPEAKING INCREDIBLY ELOQUENTLY AND PRETENTIOUSLY! THESE HILARIOUS, BUT LONG AND SEEMINGLY DIFFICULT TO MEMORIZE LINES! MS: Especially for Edith Massey! (laughs) Poor Edith! She had so much trouble with them, I mean it was hard for her because she didn’t even know what she was saying half the time, and she would try so hard! There was actually one scene in Desperate Living that I improvised on demand where John said, “I didn’t write anything for this scene so just make something up,” and I was like, “WHAT?!!! I don’t know how to do that, I never did that!” I obviously had to though, when Peggy Gravel was concocting her rabies potion she says something like “a pinch of bat, a touch of rat,” I made those lines up. But generally, the lines were very specific. Over the years, and in the more recent films, John relaxed a bit, because he had more assistance. A script supervisor, and a first and second A.D., to whom he could delegate. But when it was John and only John, and maybe the lighting guy and the camera man, he had to have absolute control. I mean, he’s kind of a control freak — IN THE NICEST POSSIBLE WAY! I mean I love John, I have no bad words about John. But he had to keep control! I mean, he was also the driver! He used to come pick me up from my mother’s house! When I met him we were both still living at home. That’s how young we were. We grew up together. D: THAT’S WHAT I FIND AMAZING AND INSPIRING ABOUT IT — IT WAS SOMETHING THAT YOU WERE ALL INSPIRED BY AND WANTED TO DO. MS: It was more fun than anything else that was going on! D: YOU GUYS CAME TO BE KNOWN, ALL THE EARLY DREAMLAND FILMS PLAYERS, FOR HAVING VERY FEW INHIBITIONS: SEX SCENES WITH LIVE CHICKENS, GETTING SHOT WITH A PISTOL IN THE ASS, GETTING NUDE, OR IN OUTRAGEOUS COSTUMES — WAS THERE EVER ANYTHING THAT JOHN ASKED YOU TO DO BACK IN THE DAY THAT YOU ABSOLUTELY REFUSED TO DO? MS: There was just one thing, for me anyway. In Pink Flamingos, he wanted me to set my hair on fire. When he first asked me, I had just broken up with my boyfriend, we were in Provincetown, I said, sure, why not; it’ll be fun. And he held me to it! However, when the time came, and we were actually going to do this, I started to have second thoughts. Here is what was going to happen: I was going to be sitting in chair, and somebody was going to light a match to my head, while somebody else would be ready with a bucket of water— none of these people were professional stunt people by the way! And I wasn’t supposed to react. I was supposed to sit there while my hair was burning, and do nothing. Mind you, my hair was so processed, it was bleached white, and then inked. I mean it was so flimsy, and with one take and one take only to do this! Plus, at the end of the movie, Divine eats dog shit! Nobody would have remembered anyhow! I could have been bald for the rest of my life over a completely forgettable moment! But I was more concerned about the fact that as a person I was not going to be able to pull it off — to not react as someone lit a match to my hair! Ooooh, but he was not happy. He was not happy! We have both agreed, in recent years, although I always knew that it was a bad idea, that I made the right decision. D: HOW WAS IT SUPPOSED TO FUNCTION IN THE PLOT OF THE FILM? MS: Oh, I forget! I think somebody was supposed to yell, “Liar liar, hair on fire!” probably Divine, at some point after David & I set the trailer on fire, I mean I don’t have an original script, unfortunately. They were hand written. These were the days before Xerox. We’re old! D: AND BEFORE DIGITAL FILMING! MS: OH MY GOD YES! Everything was film! D: DID YOU GUYS DO TONS OF REHEARSALS BEFORE STARTING TO FILM? MS: In the early days, we would get together and film on weekends, and pick a night or two during the week I mean during Pink Flamingos, we didn’t have any idea how the film was going to end! We didn’t have a fill script when we started. During the filming of that movie, John and I lived together, we lived in the Marble’s house— D: WAS THAT PIT OF A BASEMENT WHERE CONNIE AND RAYMOND MARBLE KEPT THEIR KIDNAPPED HITCHHIKERS REALLY A PART OF THE HOUSE? MS: NO! That pit was actually sort of the basement of the house that we would use as a base when we were filming at the trailer. You never saw the house that the basement was a part of. D: DID YOU ALWAYS KNOW THAT YOU WANTED TO BE A PERFORMER? DID GROWING UP ONE OUT OF TEN CHILDREN HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT? MS: I think your childhood has to do with everything. I don’t know that specifically being one of ten had anything to do with it. I was always looking for attention, and usually getting it very negatively. I was a histrionic child. Everything was huge! And mostly everything was bad — I was not happy. I don’t think that it was necessary to have an unhappy childhood to be creative — I don’t think it hurts though! I think people who peak in high school are the sad ones. So it’s fine that I was not a happy kid. When I look back on it, it doesn’t seem as dreadful. Now, it’s harder for me to remember all the bad parts, which is lovely because it used to be all I remembered! Part of coming home was releasing myself from the childhood memories, because I live here! This is the scene of all the crimes, and yet I am living here happily! By coming home I have wiped those bad slates clean, and I hadn’t really thought about it until now! Thank you so much for that catharsis! D: I’LL BE SENDING YOU A BILL. MS: It’ll cross in the mail with mine! D: WHEN YOU GUYS WERE MAKING THESE EARLY FILMS, DID YOU EVER STOP AND THINK ABOUT WHERE YOU GUYS MIGHT END UP? MS: No. Maybe John did — John was the ambition. He was the driving force and the creator, but he was also very lucky to know people who would go along with him! And we were all lucky to be able to go! (laughs) It was a symbiotic relationship, but John was the engine that drove the train, and John always wanted to be famous. I wouldn’t have dared dream of being famous — I was terrified, a small town girl! And like I said, being one of ten kids, I was so insecure! I mean to me, low self esteem was conceit! I had to really work hard over the years to build up any self confidence at all because I had none going into all of this. So for me, the idea one day I would get emails from strangers thanking me for something I did 30 years ago was completely unimaginable. It happens all the time and it still really thrills and moves me. I am really humbled by it — I don’t take any of that for granted. Plus, to be honest, all of the attention was on Divine! If Divine was in the room, nobody saw me! While Divine was getting huge amounts of attention and getting to be on stage with Elton John and Grace Jones, nobody was calling for me. Which was… tough at times! But I begrudge Divine none of it, Divine worked very very hard. D: DIVINE WAS AMAZING! MS: Amazing! And a really hard worker, and a generous performer. I worked with Divine on stage as well, and I loved working with him because he was focused, and talented…. (puts on child’s voice) BUT I WAS TOO AND NO ONE WAS LOOKING AT ME! He totally eclipsed me. All eyes were on Divine, although I did hold my own on screen! D: WHEN DID IT FINALLY HIT YOU THAT ALL THAT CREATIVE WORK AS TEENAGERS HAD SUCH A MAJOR PAYOFF? MS: It was about twelve years ago. It wasn’t the first time somebody ever said, “love your work,” but my friend Peaches Christ invited me to be his first live celebrity guest on a show he had been doing for years called Midnight Mass. I got there and was standing in the back of the theater waiting for Peaches to call me on stage and I see an animatronic figure of me as Peggy Gravel stirring rabies potion that I have no idea how he had made! Someone had also put together a film montage of clips of my scenes from the movies, and when I walked onto that stage I received a standing ovation, and I nearly burst into tears. It was totally mind-blowing to me! And it was really great because it was the encouragement that I needed to go on and start doing one-woman shows, it helped me when I was putting the band together and starting to do shows. It was an amazing moment in my life. D: HOW DID ANNE BAXTER DESCRIBE IT IN ALL ABOUT EVE? “WAVES OF LOVE COMING FROM THE FLOODLIGHTS” (FACT CHECK) MS: Yes! And it was the firsts time I had ever gotten that. I mean it wasn’t the first time anyone had ever given me applause, I had done plays and stage work, blah blah blah blah blah. But this was the first time that the applause was all about me. It was just me walking on stage! It was like HELLO WORLD! D: CAN I ASK YOU HOW YOUR FAMILY REACTED TO THOSE EARLY FILMS? MS: Oh, they hated it. They truly hated it. And my mother, from who I got my histrionic bent, totally believed that this was all intended to make her life hell… but that was just a side benefit. That was just a perk. She used to see me.. (shudders) she used to make me crazy… well, what I looked like back then! I was wearing black nail polish, I had hair the color of a Raggedy-Anne doll. There was one time, and I just have to laugh thinking about it: it was around the time of Multiple Maniacs so I didn’t have the orange hair. I played multiple parts in multiple maniacs, and I was getting dressed for the scene where I was meant to be an audience member, and I put on this little blonde wig and this sweet dress and I was just like… BLEGH! But my mother thought I looked, “so pretty! Why don’t you look like that all the time?” They really were not happy with the whole thing. To this day I have a sister who really can’t… I mean she is very supportive and comes to my shows but she has a hard time with a lot of it. I don’t think she’s seen a lot of my films. My mother came to see my first film, Roman Candles, and she was appalled. So she didn’t see another one until Polyester. Which was fine! She didn’t need to see all of that! It only would have upset her, and I wasn’t out to upset her. I mean my very existence upset her, and the fact that people knew that I was her daughter upset her. I mean people would come and tell her that they saw me in this movie — and most of those people liked the films! But she was still just mortified. She was a good democratic woman, but she was socially conservative. She was ,”what will the neighbors think,” conservative. But now, everybody’s fine! I still don’t expect them to go back and watch Pink Flamingos. D: DO YOU? MS: (Sarcastically Grandiose) Yes, I sit in a darkened room and watch all my old films by myself, like Norma Desmond. NO! I will watch them if I can’t get out of it. Next weekend I’m hosting a double showing of Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble, and what I’ll do is introduce it and then I’ll leave. Sometimes I’ll watch it. I watched Pink Flamingos last summer when I was in Austin with Peaches (Christ) and they were showing it at the Alamo Draft House, and it was this theater that’s a restaurant, and they wait on you as you watch the movie, and I was sitting in this balcony with all this food and liquor — and for me Pink Flamingos is like home movies! And I’m the only one left alive! D: THAT WAS MY NEXT QUESTION! MS: One of the kidnapped girls in the pit is still alive, Channing, the butler, is still alive; he lives in Provincetown. Cookie’s gone, Divine is gone, Edith’s gone, David’s gone. D: AND MARY? MS: Mary Vivien Pierce is still alive actually. She lives in Nicaragua, but she has had many physical problems. I mean I’m not only alive and healthy and still functioning! (Knocks on dining table) I feel incredibly blessed. And I hate to use the word blessed because it sounds religious and I’m not. But I feel incredibly lucky, I feel like I have had a lot of good fortune. And I was blessed with good genes. It’s the only reason I’m sorry I didn’t reproduce, and it’s a valid reason because I came from really good stock. D: SO WHAT PROJECTS ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT, ASIDE FROM WORKING ON AN ALBUM? MS: I just got back from L.A. I went out to work on Eating Out 4 & 5. They’re just wrapping up — they’re shooting booth at once, with the same cast. You know, it’s the gay coming of age story of a boy coming out. Casey, (played by Daniel Skelton) the pretty, young, sweet, no-hair-on-chest boy. They’re big on that! I can’t tell you that much about them, of course. They’re sort of formulaic, but they’re sweet stories and I can say that my character gets a boy toy in the next ones. I get a very pretty boy toy! Aunt Helen gets some! D: WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LIKE LISTENING TO? WHO ARE SOME OF MINK STOLE’S FAVES? MS: I listen to the classics. The holy trio: Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughn. And Billie Holiday & Peggy Lee. I like vocalists. I like K.D. Lang, Willie Nelson and Tony Bennett. My favorite album rite now is Sade’s new album! She has an amazing voice and she has very good people working with her. The arrangements are stellar. They’re smooth and they’re easy, and they’re not overproduced. D: SO I TAKE IT YOU’RE NOT A JENNIFER LOPEZ FAN? MS: I’m not not a Jennifer Lopez fan! You know, I only have so much time in the day! (Laughs) Periodically I’ll put my Pandora on Lady Gaga, just so I can know what’s going on in music, but I can’t tell the difference between her and Rihanna and Ke$ha. They all sound fairly alike to me. I wouldn’t know an Eminem song if I fell on it. The BeeGees and Abba for getting housework done are fabulous. MINK STOLE AT WORK Mink Stole as Peggy Gravel in John Waters’ DESPERATE LIVING Mink Stole as Taffy Davenport in John Waters’ FEMALE TROUBLE Mink Stole and Kathleen Turner in a scene from John Waters’ SERIAL MOM

Fic: Mother's Day Author: Sosa Lola Fandom: Goof Troop Written for: the Goof Troop Family Contest at GoofTroop-MaxBradley Summary:The gang drives to the cemetery on Mother's Day. Thanks to izzy-chan13 for being my wonderful editor! It was a special day, and special days needed special food that could only be found in old hidden recipes. Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandma Goofinia's hot chili chicken curry was the perfect dish for the occasion. Trying to balance himself on the kitchen table, a chair, the microwave, and a pan, Goofy was finally able to reach the old folded piece of paper taped on the kitchen fan. Fortunately, he was able to snatch the recipe before he came crashing to the floor. "Ahyuck! Piece of cake!" He grinned, waving the recipe. Then he scratched his head, "Or is that a chicken?" Cooking was the easiest part, minus the accidents, but Goofy was a pro when it came to accidents. He always came out in one piece; it was not the same case for the kitchen or his own clothes. "Yikes, Pop!" Max's gasp startled him. Goofy looked over his shoulder and found Max covering his eyes at the sight of his father's exposed rear end. Goofy giggled bashfully and used the burning pan that was on the stove to cover his behind, causing the food to spill on the floor. The hot metal on his bare skin sent him flying to the ceiling, yelling his trademark scream. He went halfway through the ceiling with his lower half dangling in the kitchen, "Say, I didn't know my bedroom is on top of the kitchen." Max's voice drifted up from the kitchen, "I take it Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandma Goofinia's hot chili chicken curry isn't ready yet?" "Not yet, Maxie!" Goofy tried to push himself up and out of the hole he was stuck in unsuccessfully. "Okay then, I'll just go ahead." "Don't forget Peg's present!" After a few more tries of pushing himself out of the hole, Goofy realized that if he couldn't push himself up, maybe he could push himself down. Using his feet on the other side of the hole, he was able to free himself. Down he fell right on the hot spilled food on the kitchen floor. Needless to say, he created a new hole in the ceiling following that familiar howl again. A great powerful force sent Pete flying out of the door to the front yard of his house. He jumped to his feet and looked at his fuming wife standing in the doorway, blocking his way into the luxury of his couch in the living room. Whatever portions of anger that had been boiling inside Pete had completely faded away at the sight of Peg's crossed arms, who was tapping a foot with a flash of torture in her eyes. He waved his arms desperately, "But, Pumpkin Sparkle, this isn't fair." "It's Mother's Day for God's sake; it's a day to show mothers a sign of appreciation. And it only comes once a year. Your children saved their allowances to buy me twopresents." "That's because they're two." He winced when the pulps in her eyes burst into flame. "And… and it's Mother'sday. You're not my mother." "Well, the way I see it, if you don't show me a wrapped up sign of appreciation in the next four hours, you won't have a wifeeither." "But, Sugar Muffin!" The door snapped shut in his face. He let out a despairing sigh and turned around to find the little Goof shuffling his feet on the ground uncomfortably. "What are you doing here?" Pete snapped at him. "Came for the party," the kid said nervously. What a shock, Peg invited the Goofs again. Pete's eyes bored into the neatly wrapped up box in Max's hands, "What's that?" "A present for Mrs. P." "Why? She's not yourmother." The boy flinched but smiled anyway, "But it's Mother's Day." Pete grated his teeth and took a couple of menacing steps toward Max, "Well, let me tell you something about Mother's Day. It's just a Hallmark holiday set to rob my wallet!" He paused when Max blinked up in confusion at his outburst. Pete calmed himself down and placed a gentle hand on Max's shoulder, "Now, son, listen to me. Mother's Day is an occasion between a man and his mother, see? Just Mothers' way of pay back for the nine months pregnancy and breastfeeding and what not. If you ain't got a mother, you don't need to spend. So, consider yourself lucky and live this day like any other day." "But what?" Pete placed clenching fists on his hips, looming over the boy, "The only woman you should give this to is in a cemetery." Max's mouth hung in shock and his eyes stung with tears before he stormed out of Pete's yard and back to his house. Pete snickered, "That should get rid of them Goofs." "PETE! YOU'RE STILL HERE?" Pete winced and then looked back at his house, watching Peg shooting daggers at him through the window. He should have snatched that present from Tiny Goof before he ran off. He eyed the tree house in interest. "Say, maybe the boys got something useful in there." Goofy had to get the chicken curry right this time, or else he'd be running out of ingredients and his trips to the supermarket usually took more hours than cooking. He thought it better to add more chili pepper, 'cause if it didn't set their mouths on fire they wouldn't need to drink all the water in Pete's sparkling pool. The ingredients jumped out of his hands when he heard a sudden creaking noise of the front door followed by footsteps rushing into the house. No answer. Goofy slipped out of his torn apron and peered out at the hallway, "Max?" The front door was wide open, which increased his confusion and worry. Dear God, let it not be burglars again.He didn't have time to repair the old traps from last time. Pushing the door shut, he noticed Peg's present lying on the stairs. Fetching the present, he made his way up the stairs toward Max's room. He stopped midway when he noticed his clothes flying out of his bedroom. Dodging his favorite orange sweater as he walked into the room, Goofy found Max digging into his closet, "Say, what are you doing here, Maxie?" "Looking for her picture." A shoe smacked Goofy's nose—"Ouch! Whose picture?" "How come you never showed it to me all these years?" Goofy used the door as a shield against the next flying shoes, "Showed you what?" This time Goofy didn't dodge a flying sock and it ended up hanging on his muzzle, "Oh." He stared right into Max's accusing eyes and his grip on Peg's present tightened, "I'm sorry, Max. I don't have a picture of her." "You don't?" Max asked incredulously. Goofy made his way through mountains of clothes, placed the present on the nightstand, and then sat on his bed, "I lost them during the house explosion in 1987 you know, before we moved into the trailer." Max sat next to his father and frowned up at him, "How come you never showed them to me beforethe explosion, Pop?" Feeling something in his chest swelling, his eyes stinging, Goofy tried his best to keep his emotions under control, "You were too young. I didn't wanna upset ya." A piercing scream snapped them out of their conversation. Through the window, Goofy saw Pete flying through the air and landing on something metal. "Oh, I really hope it's not what I think it is." Goofy looked out of the window and then breathed a sigh of relief. Pete had just crashed into his old car. "My little daisies are safe and sound, ah-yuck." The unfamiliar look of sadness on Goofy's face broke Peg's heart to pieces, but not as much as a depressed Max clinging to his father's leg and hiding his face from her. They'd never brought up Goofy's late wife, other than a curious Pistol asking about it that one time. Peg made sure her family kept their mouth shut in front of Goofy and Max, especially her bonehead of a husband, who started whistling innocently upon her defiant stare. Butt-kicking his glaring kids into the house, Pete attempted to escape inside but Peg grabbed his ear and dragged him out. She wouldn't be surprised if he had a hand in Goofy's change of plans for today. "So, you see, Peg, we won't be able to attend the party after all." Goofy handed her the Mother's Day present and gave an apologetic shrug. Peg leaned against the doorframe of the front door and admired the tiny teddy bears on the wrapping paper, "That's all right, Goofy. Sorry about your car." She threw a pained glance at what remained of the automobile. "Yeah, it's so trashed you could hardly notice. That poor old thing. I got it when…" He paused and threw a swift glance at Max, "I'll fix it when we get back." Peg bit her lower lip, "Well, since Pete broke your car, you should take ours." She completely ignored Pete's shocked exclaim of protest. "It's all right, Peg. We can take a taxi." "Don't be silly, Goofy. That will cost a fortune! Listen, you look worn out. Why don't we drive you there?" "But, the party…" "Without the two of you, it won't be much of a party anyway. We can go for pizza afterwards." Goofy sighed and side-hugged Max tightly. "Thanks, Peg." Pete inched closer to Peg, rubbing his gloved hands together, "So, uh, no party then, huh?" Peg glared at him, "You're stillgetting me a present!" He smacked his face and grunted. PJ squirmed in the backseat of their car, trying his hardest not to pay attention to the grumblings of his dad next to him. Mom had taken the wheel, not trusting Dad to drive after the accident with Mr. G's car – PJ was glad his dad didn't bring up the subject of that fireworks stash hidden inside the pillows of the tree house, which was the real reason behind the car smash. The muttered curses usually tempted PJ. The foul language he'd hear from his dad was the only thing he could brag about in school. This time, all he wanted was the bliss of window-distraction, which he couldn't have since he idiotically thought he'd win a bet against Pistol. Now he was stuck in the middle seat between a grumpy father and a tiny sister who was using his thighs as a table for her tea party with her dollies. That little weasel never looked outside the window even once. He then stared at the back of Max's head in the front seat; sitting right in front with Mr. G taking the passenger side. This whole situation was seriously awkward – emphasis on the word "serious." There was no room for deep stuff in his friendship with Max. Most of the time, they'd be shooting water balloons at Pistol and their pets or reading comic books for free in the aisles of a bookstore before getting caught. Excruciatingly awkward discussions, like why Mr. G never gave Max any chores to do around the house while PJ slaved day and night at home, were better off swept under a rug. Now the closest PJ ever came to put the words "mom" and "Max" in the same sentence was when Max had lied to Miss Pennypacker about Mr. G getting married. PJ had said that Max probably needed a mom, because, well, every kid needed a mom, right? But talking about Max's birth-mother? Out of the question. PJ's mom had made sure that the subject was entirely taboo. "I'll have to make a stop at that gas station," Peg said quietly, pulling over. Thank God; this kid needed a breather. Visiting a dead person at the cemetery wasn't exactly a picnic. This whole trip was killing him—the not-talking-thing coupled with the droopy faces and the load of gopher on his chest, reminding him of the trips home from school on Report Card Day… It was time for a Time-Out. The second the car stopped, PJ tripped over Pistol and her teapots and cups and flew through the open window. After several failed attempts to free himself, stuck in the narrowly opened window, Pistol was generous enough to punch him out. Obviously, she was in it for revenge. Finally, there was some air to breathe, albeit it had a mighty stench of gasoline. But this was much better than being inside the car. The air he breathed in was knocked out of him by the "gentle" pat his father gave him on the back. The blow sent him crashing down, his face scrapping up against the rough ground. Rubbing his aching nose, he glared up at his father who paid him no attention as he was busy leering at the convenience store. Was his old man thinking that he'd find a Mother's Day present at a convenience store in a gas station in the middle of nowhere? As Dad strode toward the store with a glint in his eye, PJ rolled his eyes. Of coursehe was. "Mommy Mommy Mommy—can I have a fifty dollar bill? Can I? Can I?" "Fifty?What for, Pistol-kens?" "Why, for snacks, obviously. It's a road trip requirement, and there's like six of us, and it's a long way, and we need our sugars and carbonadates." "Carbohydrates," Mom corrected. "That too!" Pistol said in excitement. Mom shrugged, "Oh, well, better take care of the powerful hunger of a snack attack." PJ smiled at Pistol gratefully and walked over to where they stood as Mom handed the car keys to Mr. G. "Goofy, would you please stay with the car while we go snack-shopping?" "Sure thing, Peg." Mom looked down at Max with a warm smile on her lips, "Max, sweetie, are you coming with us?" Max glued himself to his father, "I-I'll stay with my dad." A flash of hurt crossed over her face. Come to think of it, Max seemed to be a little apprehensive around Mom throughout the trip. What was that all about? Mr. G crouched next to Max and ruffled his hair, "Go with them, son. Get your old man one of them sugars and carboh-carbo-what Pistol said." Max shrugged and walked toward them, or more accurately, toward PJ. With a gulp, PJ turned away and made his way into the store. He quickened his steps when Max called after him and hid behind one of the aisles. There was a sour feeling of guilt crashing down on him–then it hit him—the painful feeling of slow death in the car was because he was too scared to talk to Max. Too scared to say or do the wrong thing. And much too scared to have the serious moment. Twizzlers, M&M's, Skittles, Cheetos, Cracker Jacks, and Pixy-Stix. Pistol filled the trolley with all kinds of delicious junk food. Mommy eyed her choices in disapproval and pushed the trolley toward the section of icky veggies. Pistol rolled her eyes and stood before the chocolate bar shelves, regarding them with a critical eye. Mommy would not approve of her taking everything in sight, so she had to choose wisely. She needed a second opinion. Where did PJ disappear to? Turning around, she found Max staring ahead at nothing, hands in pockets and face sad and pathetic. Something inside her chest hurt and there was a heavy feeling in her throat. She looked back at the stacks filled with chocolatey goodness and grabbed a Snickers bar. Walking over toward Max, she handed it to him with a toothy grin. Max looked at it in confusion for a second and then accepted it. There was a hint of a smile on his lips that made Pistol happy with herself. She grabbed Max's hand and dragged him behind her, "C'mon, let's find Mommy." Mommy was at the freezer aisle, picking drinks. Pistol peered at the trolley and noticed that most of the yummy snacks she'd picked were replaced by nuts and dried fruit. She picked up a carrot and her face twisted in disgust, "Mommy, are you serious?" "Gotta have something healthy on the way, sweet-cheeks. Max, what kind of soda does your father like?" "Pepsi is fine," Max said, then took it back, "Oh, no! Not Pepsi, it gives him painful boils." "Gives him dehydration." "How about we just ask Mr. G what he wants?" Pistol suggested as she regarded both of them in boredom. Max started to walk toward the exit, "I'll go ask him." Pistol pushed him back in his place, "No, you stay here. I'll go." "He's my dad." "It's my idea." "Pistol, you can go. Max, hon, I want you to help me…" Pistol didn't hear the rest as she ran out of the store like a flash. Outside, she noticed Daddy blowing a spleen again on two strange men. If he didn't get Mommy a present in the next hour and a half, he'd be dead meat. Their car was still there, but Mr. Goof was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he took a nap inside the car. Pistol jumped up and down, but the window was too high. She tried opening the door; it clicked and it opened. Mr. G shouldn't have left the car doors unlocked like this. Nobody was in the front seat, so Pistol jumped to the backseat, but didn't find anything except for the dollies waiting for her. Wait, where was Bunny? Oh, poor Bunny was lying down on the floor mat. She leaned down to pick him up when, suddenly, the engine started. Pistol lost balance and fell down next to Bunny. She heard a loud ugly laugh from the front seat, "Those schmucks! Can't believe we were able to fool 'em again." "They ain't bright, Wally. They never were." Pistol's eyes widened in horror. Kidnappers! They didn't know it yet, and she had to make sure they wouldn't. She zipped her mouth shut and held her breath for as long as she could before she almost passed out, and then a sharp gasp escaped her lips. She smacked her hands on her mouth when she released the loud noise. "What's that sound?" Pistol bit her lip. "Hey, Wally, lookie there. It's a little girl." Pistol jumped to the backseat and poked the kidnapper's nose with Bunny, "Step away, you thief of cars and little girls and dollies! I got a bunny and I'm not afraid to use it!" The kidnapper's eyes went wide with shock. Pistol smiled, Way to go, Bunny! "Yo, Wally, someone is tailing us," Kidnapper whose name Pistol didn't know said to Wally. Pistol looked back and saw Daddy rushing after them in a white van with Mommy in the passenger seat and PJ and Max in the backseat, She squealed in happiness, "Daddy!" "The dweeb is your father?" Kidnapper said. Wally brought out a knife, "Just like last time." He threw the knife at the van Pete was driving, but he turned the car to the right and the knife missed the tire. Pistol clapped, "Go, Daddy!" "Watch it! A bump on the road!" Wally shrieked. Pistol grabbed the seatbelt and stared desperately at her parents. An unexpected bump in the road! It sent PJ and Max bouncing from the backseat to the trunk. PJ figured he should pitch this to a commercial company about seat belt safety. He rubbed on his sore head and jumped from the trunk to the backseat and then to the front seat. "What are you doing?" Peg exclaimed when he tried to exit through his mother's window. "I'm gonna save Pistol just like I'd saved Max before." "I'm coming with ya!" Max jumped right after him. "You can't be Phony without Baloney, my man." She folded her arms over her chest impatiently and glared at her husband, "Why don't you go with them and the three of you can be Gweazly!" Dad clutched the steering wheel, "But, Peppermint—who's gonna drive the van?" "I will, you big chicken!" "Don't worry, Mom," PJ assured her, "Max and I can handle it." They clambered their way to the hood of the van with a bit of difficulty. When PJ's gaze locked with Pistol's, he placed a finger on his lips in warning. She sealed her lips and remained silent. When the van was at a close distance to the car, PJ grabbed Max's hand and they leaped onto the trunk. The happy smile on Pistol's face warmed PJ's heart as his mind started to race with ideas on how to save her. "That's weird," Max yelled next to him over the din of the running motors, "I think I heard my dad." PJ bit on his lower lip when one of the crooks saw them on the view mirror and grabbed Max's hand again, "Jump!" They jumped on the top of the car and landed with a loud thud. "I'm sure they heard that!" Max said with concern. "Time for the Bumpinator." PJ held Max's hands for balance as he stood stiffly on the moving car. When the crook's head popped up from the side of the passenger seat, PJ bumped him out of the car and into the road. They shifted to the other side, anticipating the other one to take a peek as well. He did and was bumped away for good. PJ and Max hollered in victory and high fived each other before the car took a sudden turn. Max almost fell off of the car; PJ grabbed his foot just in time. Held upside down, his best friend was able to peer inside the car, "Peej, your sister took the wheel!" "Pistol!" PJ screamed, smacking his face with his other hand when he heard her wild, happy giggles. With a grunt, PJ pulled Max up to the top of the car and now the two of them tried to keep themselves from tripping over. PJ crawled to the front and peered down at Pistol through the front window. He tried to reason with her with a scowl, but Pistol wiped his face with the windshield wiper. She'd never wise up. "Pistol, look out!" Max shrieked. PJ yelled in terror when they crashed into a tree. The blow sent PJ flying back, banging the trunk open, and then landing on his butt on the street. The last thing he saw before he passed out was his closest friend flying over the cemetery fence. "My head," Max whimpered, pushing himself into a sitting position and rubbing on his throbbing head with both hands. Opening his eyes, he froze in place when he saw the gravestone in front of him: Penny Goof. 1951 – 1981. His lips parted in shock and his heartbeat quickened. There it was: what he came over to see. He unconsciously rose to his feet and just stared. The universe around him paused, still and motionless. The only sound he could hear was the raging of his heart; he saw nothing but the name carved in stone. He used to ask so many questions back then, but Dad had always managed to change the subject. Then came the time when he stopped asking all together. He barely noticed her absence; his dad keeping Life busy with his crazy antics and non-stop escapades. For so many years, Dad had been able to fill in that void skillfully, playing the roles of both a mother and a father without any complaints. He rarely thought about needing a mother, thanks to his father's devotion and love. A gentle hand clasped his shoulder and Max found himself lost in Mrs. Pete's warm eyes, "Oh, Mrs. P." Max jerked away from her grip, She sighed, "Max, have I done something wrong?" "No, why would you say that?" "'Cause whenever you see me you act like I'm Cruella de Vil." She crouched to his height level, "What's the matter?" Max lowered his gaze to his feet, "It's just that… Mother's Day should be about being thankful to your mother. And, you're not mine. The only woman I should get a present for is, well…" He glanced at the gravestone. "Let me guess, the wise man who told you this has a big ball of jelly for a stomach and his initial P stands for Pin-head." Max shrugged. While he knew Mr. Pete was being his usual jerk self, there was a truth to his words. It wouldn't be fair giving another woman a present that was meant to be for his mother, even though she wasn't there anymore. He never knew her at all; he had never felt her warmth, and he had never heard her voice. She never tucked him in at night, never made him ketchup spaghetti, and never stayed up all night helping out with a school report. "Well, I guess since we're here… There." Mrs. P handed him the present they'd given her. Max stared down at the present, "But this is yours, Mrs. P." She shook her head with a sad smile, "It's not mine, sweetie." Sitting on her knees, Mrs. P untied the ribbon and helped him rip off the wrapping. Max opened the box and took out the wool scarf his dad had knitted last week. He was captured by the message Dad had sewn at the end of the scarf, "Best Mother in the World." "It's beautiful," Mrs. P whispered. Max looked at the gravestone one more time before holding up the scarf over Mrs. Pete's head and putting it on her neck. She looked down at the scarf and then up at him in confusion. "This was always meant to be yours, Mrs. P. You may not be my mother, but I know you, and I know that you are the best mother in the world." Her eyes glittered with unshed tears before pulling him into a tight hug. Max buried his face in her shoulder and breathed in her fancy, feminine perfume. He hoped his mother would understand and wouldn't hate him for this. Something twisted inside him when he thought of the pained cry in Mr. Pete's trunk. Max pushed himself out of Mrs. P's embrace and darted out of the cemetery right toward Mr. Pete's crashed car, heading toward the trunk where he'd heard his father's voice. He found Dad sitting inside the opened trunk, his eyes brimming with tears. Dad looked up and they stared at each other in silence. Max swallowed, watching the tears flowing down his dad's cheeks. An unbearable pain glistening in those big tearful eyes. Max hopped into the trunk with his father and side-hugged him, resting his head on his shoulder, "I'm so sorry, Dad." Dad reached with his arm around Max's shoulders and hugged him back, "Sorry about what?" "I was so focused on my stupid woes; I didn't realize that this whole thing hurts you more than me." "I never knew her. But you did and that means you miss her more." Dad sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes, "Having them pictures lost was a short-lived bliss." He looked at Max with a forced grin, "But it wasn't fair to her. She should be remembered. I owe her that." Max smiled up at him, "Let's visit her more often then, Pop." Dad's tearful smile became more genuine, "Make it our Mother's Day tradition." Max rested his head back on his father's shoulder, "Mrs. P loved her present." "Well, she doesn't seem to like Pete's present." Max sat up straight and looked over at Mrs. P throwing what appeared to be a cheap necklace in her husband's face and yelling at him on the top of her lungs. "Better go over there," Dad said, slipping out of the trunk and walking toward them. "Don't Cherry-pick me! See this? Thisis a Mother's Day present!" She held up the scarf Dad had made for her. Dad stood between them, "Now, Peg, be not the last one to quarrel, nor the first to make up." Max shook his head at Dad misquoting things again and crossed his legs, watching his father stop the fight. Hearing someone clearing his throat, Max looked at PJ standing awkwardly on the sidewalk. "Hey," PJ whispered uncomfortably. Max smiled, "Hey." "So, uh, you okay?" "Nothing a slice of pizza won't fix." "I am seriously hungry, if that's what you mean." PJ rolled his eyes and jumped into the trunk with him, "Oh, man, don't wanna sound like a bad friend, but are we ready for the mushy-talky stuff?" Max grimaced and smacked him on the head, "Dude, you've gone right to home run. You skipped a whole base." PJ clutched his head with a wince, "And we're in what? Second base?" "We did sleepovers, right?" "So, what's third base?" Max smirked and jumped off the trunk, "Doing best friend's house chores." PJ smiled and followed him, "You know, I think we're ready for this base." Max draped his arm around his best friend's shoulder and led him toward their parents, "Not until one of us saves the other from an ultimate death." "News flash, dude-in-distress: I've saved your butt more than your video games collection." "Depends on the location. The three key words to reach third base is location, location, location." "That's one word three times."

Is it necessary to presuppose the intellectual equality of those you teach? To be an educator at all it seems likely that one would have at least an implicit theory of mind, such that one knows what one is doing (or, at least, what one aspires to be doing) when standing at the front of the classroom. Is education merely the transplanting of gobbets of information onto the blank slate of a student's mind (we could call this the Lockean approach), or are we drawing out forms of rational and creative capacity possessed (equally?) by students qua rational beings? Jacques Rancière contributes much to this debate, particularly in his work on the unusual educator Joseph Jacotot in The Ignorant Schoolmaster. This paper attempts to analyse the possibility of what could be called the "utopian rationalism" of Jacotot (and of Rancière himself), within the context of the modern university. Rancière's work will be read alongside that of Pierre Bourdieu and Ivan Illich as other crucial figures in the understanding of the way in which educational achievement relates to certain assumptions about what teaching involves. Ultimately, it may be that the modern university is antithetical to any possibility of establishing true equality among its players – Rancière's position at times invokes the possibility of a radically de-institutionalized autodidacticism that predicates all learning merely on the basis of the will of those desiring to learn. This stance is the very opposite of the Lockean approach, which emphasizes the passivity of the student-receiver. Can the contemporary university bear the weight of Rancière's challenge? Mainstream education arguably operates with two major contradictory imperatives: that one should in principle be able to teach everyone openly and equally and, at the same time, one must constantly rank these same students via tests, marks, and, in the case of higher education, final degree classifications. The rationalist educator is constitutively torn. But how to reconcile the desire to – on some level – treat students equally, with the simultaneous recognition that injustice necessarily lies at the heart of all assessment? Here I will primarily draw on elements of the university system in the UK, although some claims will be recognizable in the US context. This paper tries to make some sense of the links between, on the one hand, the "everybody knows" type of social fact we repeatedly have to hand – for example, that 7 per cent of people in the United Kingdom attend private schools, that class mobility in Britain is at an all-time low, that some schools get all their pupils to apply to Oxbridge, while others send none (regardless of their A level scores), etc. – and the theoretical and philosophical assumptions that underpin any conception of education. From the start, I think it is important at once to recognize "the facts" but also to put the anger generated by them to both practical and theoretical use. When we see the missed educational opportunities, the subtle but pernicious mechanisms whereby students are told or, more often, tell themselves, "I can't do this," "this is not for me," "I don't belong here," we should recognize that all these things are cause for intense frustration, but to stop with the acknowledgment of them would be to concede too much to the existing state of affairs. Furthermore, there is a way in which these kinds of sentiments, far more often held by those who are more carefully reflecting on their increasingly schizophrenic role as students than those assured of their place in "the world" after years of confidence-bolstering at expensive schools, may possess a utopian kernel if their collective and class dimensions are exposed. But what if one were to reverse the order of observation and begin not with concrete inequalities in education, of which there are almost too many to enumerate, but with a seemingly impossible assertion: that education is a question of what all students equally have, namely a baseline intelligence? As Socrates puts it in the Meno with reference to the slave boy: "This knowledge will not come from teaching but from questioning. He will recover it for himself." Equality may also be something one wishes for in a future to come, after fundamental shifts in the arrangement and order of society. But this is not Rancière's point at all. Equality is not something to be achieved, but presupposed. Even Socrates – perhaps especially Socrates – is too much of a master figure: "Socrates interrogates in order to instruct. But whoever wishes to emancipate someone must interrogate him in the manner of men and not in the manner of scholars." Perhaps Rancière is a little harsh on Socrates, especially as Rancière opposes to him the idea of "someone who effectively knows no more than the student" – didn't Socrates systematically demonstrate his own lack of knowledge? Nevertheless, there is much to this idea of thinking of education without hierarchy, of paying attention to what is most generic in thought, for student and teacher alike. The supposed relationship between rationalism and education has a long and intricate history, from Plato's demonstration of mathematical capacity in the Meno to Paulo Freire's humanist conception of pedagogy as a political strategy. But what exactly is the relationship between pedagogy and rationalism in practice? What might a contemporary rationalism in higher education look like, given the myriad economic and social contradictions at work in the contemporary academy? Theories about the supposed "naturalness" of intellectual inequality between classes are once again in the ascendancy, as if genetics, or IQ tests for that matter, were directly translatable into the life-experiences and choices of individuals. Even aside from such reactionary idiocies as the supposed genetic hierarchy of classes in education, what we could call "market cynicism" reigns supreme, with a degree increasingly understood as the product purchased for a certain amount of money and a certain quantity of time served. This cynicism emerges both from within the institution and is increasingly to be found in students as well, forced by their financial status and the rhetoric of the university to think of themselves in purely economic terms. If one thing characterizes the current status of students in the university, it is confusion. Confusion about their status – are they clients, as the university brochure is at pains to assure them, or are they subjects-supposed-to-be criticized (or even failed)? Are they buying a degree, or are the students themselves the "product" to be sold (or to sell themselves) to employers? The "split student" of contemporary academia is depoliticized precisely because he or she is uncertain what his or her demands might be, or to whom to make them. The pressure on universities, too, to serve up as many adequately qualified students as possible has led to well-documented grade inflation and an ambivalence towards previously abhorred practices such as plagiarism. Torn between the imperative to behave "more like a business," to increase its income through extra-academic activities, such as hosting corporate events, and its historical drive to explore and build upon the accumulated knowledge of centuries, the modern university is as confused as the split students who attend it. We could update Foucault's question – "Is it surprising that prisons resemble factories, schools, barracks, hospitals, which all resemble prisons?" – with the amended query "what is so astonishing about the fact that our universities resemble our businesses, our shopping malls, our corporate meeting rooms – all of which in turn resemble our new proto-privatized universities?" The shift from disciplinary societies to control societies, so acutely described by Foucault and Deleuze, means that, indeed, "[c]ontrol is short-term and of rapid rates of turnover, but also continuous and without limit, while discipline was of long duration, infinite and discontinuous." The university has been transformed from a "closed environment" to an eminently porous one, with spaces of further and higher education doubling up as conference centres, spaces for credit card companies to hawk their wares, where books are replaced by corporate-sponsored computers and lab equipment. Theories of universal pedagogy, that is to say, "a pedagogy that takes nothing for granted," and the attempt to put these into practice may seem out of place in this brave new world of student consumerism and universities-as-businesses, an archaic throwback to outmoded, optimistic Enlightenment models of generic capacity and the promise of knowledge for all. Yet, perversely, the assumption of universalist, egalitarian, rationalist (although not in the sense the market would understand it) principles (or axioms, as we shall see) in education may be precisely the way out of a certain deep cynicism that pervades the attitudes of students toward their degrees, of lecturers to their students, and of the university to its responsibility to educate, and not merely to train. As Deleuze puts it: "For the school system: continuous forms of control, and the effect on the school of perpetual training, the corresponding abandonment of all university research, the introduction of the 'corporation' at all levels of schooling." Although he is certainly prescient with regard to the omnipresence of the corporation, it is interesting (and depressing) to note that university research has itself become encoded in another kind of control and monitoring of information (the Research Assessment Exercise results, the continual quest for rankings, the pressure to have as many citations as possible). The idea of "perpetual training" is indeed one of the hallmarks of contemporary political thinking about education; Labour's key manifesto pledge to get 50 per cent of young people into higher education would create a heavily indebted, desperate workforce, and prevents too many 18-year olds appearing on the job market for employment that doesn't exist. Rancière, pedagogy, and immaterial labour Here we turn to contemporary theories of intellectual equality in the work of Jacques Rancière, in the light of certain empirical conditions and factors (above all the confusion noted above). The utopian elements of his work on education help to reveal just how bad things are as they stand, which is all the more reason to move so far away from a mere noting of "the facts" of contemporary university life. First a few words about what I take to be Rancière's position on education. I take this reading from The Ignorant Schoolmaster, originally published in France in 1987. Although his work is by no means prescriptive, and is characterized above all by a careful and detailed historical intricacy, we can take elements of his work on education as a relatively clear framework. The most important of these for my purposes is the axiomatic assumption of intelligence. Rancière's conception of intelligence is worthy of careful exposition in this regard. Rancière's claim is disarmingly simple yet explosive the moment it touches on educational practice. Rancière takes his cue from the maverick nineteenth-century pedagogue Joseph Jacotot, whose simple question was "[w]ere all men virtually capable of understanding what others had done and understood?" What this means, as Peter Hallward puts it, is that: Everyone has the same intelligence, and differences in knowledge are simply a matter of opportunity and motivation. On the basis of this assumption, superior knowledge ceases to be a necessary qualification of the teacher, just as the process of explanation – together with metaphors that distinguish students as slow or quick, or conceive of educational time in terms of progress, training, qualification, and so on – ceases to be an integral part of teaching. Rancière, via Jacotot, asserts that "all people are equally intelligent," and that furthermore, knowledge is not necessary to teaching nor explication necessary to learning. This might of course mean that we are undermining the role of the lecturer or teacher from the start. The educator is no longer the source of or repository for greater understanding or knowledge, nor does he or she remain the figure behind the original meaning of "pedagogue" (leading the child). To rid education (and politics too, for that matter) of the figure of a certain kind of "master" is Rancière's guiding ambition. If, against the backdrop of really existing social hierarchies and class divisions, we make a decision to place concrete observation and description to one side and rather make equality both "a point of departure" and a "practice," what can we mean? Would this even be possible when the grossly divided and divisive reproduction of economic and cultural capital in all its entrenched and repetitious forms greets us at every turn? There is an important link to be made between the pedagogical situation I am describing here and broader changes in the nature of work. Paolo Virno, in particular, has made much of the idea that it is only now, when the differential traits of the species (i.e., that which separates us from other animals, namely verbal thought, the transindividual character of the mind, and the lack of specialized instincts) are the "raw material" of capitalist organization, that we can return again to the question of a politics of human nature. This immediately touches upon the question of "generic capacity" in an educational context, and links directly to what Marx referred to as the "general intellect" – the knowledges that constitute the heart of social production in the broadest possible terms. The question of "generic capacity," the idea of an intelligence shared by everyone and no one in particular, is both the omnipresent manifestation of contemporary immaterial labour and yet the question most strangely obscured in education. Massimo De Angelis and David Harvie have gone a long way to making clear the connections between the more general tendencies of intellectual labour in the post-Fordist context and the demands of contemporary academia: Work in academia seems to capture the basic features of immaterial labour: a form of directly social work, in which the form of social cooperation is crucial in defining the "output," a form of doing that is necessarily grounded on relational awareness, and that produces affects (our students are, after all, our "customers" and they will be compiling a "customer satisfaction" ques¬tionnaire at the end of their courses with us). It goes without saying that academic work is also a context for the production of ideas, research papers and books; moreover that this production is "biopolitical" and can occur at any moment of the 24/7 span: we both have experienced waking up in the middle of the night with the solution to a problem insoluble during 9 to 5, or have reached an insight that will find its way into a paper while playing with a child. The proximity between the "social" nature of the work undertaken by both the student and the lecturer is both menacing and potentially promising. Once the illusion of mastery has been broken and students and staff alike feel themselves "on the same side" as part of an institution nominally committed to learning and wider social issues, then the generic, social nature of the pedagogical scenario may take on a more significant role. In Virno and others, this potentiality involves the "peculiar public character of the intellect" as the site of both current practices of exploitation and potential sites of resistance. All of these questions come into sharp focus when geared towards educational institutions and players – the "school," the "university," the "student," the "teacher." If we are to accept the claim that we live in an age in which "flexibility," the capacity to communicate, and the ability to manipulate lan¬guage have more importance in the graduate job market than the facility of doing any one thing in particular (summed up in the ubiquitous but meaningless phrase "transferable skills"), then students and their lecturers are really very much on the same side, whether they like it or not. Whilst Rancière is critical of the entire apparatus of learning and the term "pedagogy" in particular, deeming it tainted by its association with the division between passive student and master explicator, his posing of the question "who has the right to think?" – i.e., the question of equality – is the guiding one here for several reasons. Higher education no longer operates in terms of excluding those not deemed suitable to attend, but rather operates on a principle of what we might call "differentiated inclusion". That is to say, almost anyone can go to university, and indeed is encouraged to do so both by governments keen on avoiding having to find jobs for 18-year olds and by loan companies who make a profit on the interest on student debt. In this sense, the discussion of cultural capital in Bourdieu must be updated to reflect the fact that education is less about excluding those who "shouldn't" be there, than of including everyone within higher education in a hierarchical way (the same kinds of students tend to go to the same kinds of universities, like attracts like). Not all universities carry the same weight, socially or academically, and it is clear that there has been a lock-down, a kind of social stasis, in terms of the kinds of people who go where. One among many recent reports tells us that Oxford and Cambridge have failed to raise the share of students they take from state schools. Clearly there are plenty of mechanisms in place to ensure the more-or-less smooth reproduction of class hierarchy, many of which in Britain are hundreds of years old. Class, and the entrenched generational repetitions of private school privilege, for example, cannot be ignored. However, these empirical facts can temporarily be suspended, and regarded anew, when one begins with a certain form of abstraction vis-à-vis education, namely the axiomatic assumption of equality. Pitching the question of capacity to learn at this level invites the open-ended question of whether universities are necessary at all. It is worth briefly remembering the ideas of Ivan Illich in Deschooling Society, at least one of which prefigures the pedagogical possibilities of the Internet (or at least a certain kind of use of the Internet): I will use the words "opportunity web" for "network" to designate specific ways to provide access to each of four sets of resources. "Network" is often used, unfortunately, to designate the channels reserved to material selected by others for indoctrination, instruction, and entertainment. But it can also be used for the telephone or the postal service, which are primarily accessible to individuals who want to send messages to one another. If someone wanted to discuss an article, a book, a theorem or even simply a word, they could enter their interest and details onto a database and make matches. Illich conceives of these meetings taking place in coffee shops during lunch-breaks or after work, but it's clear that the Internet goes further than this by allowing the discussion to take place in the very domain in which the initial desire is announced. The planning of educational institutions must begin, Illich argues, not with the question, "'What should someone learn?' but with the question, 'What kinds of things and people might learners want to be in contact with in order to learn?'" Rancière takes this abolition of mastery even further when he argues that one can teach and learn together something that one knows nothing about: "[Jacotot] proclaimed that one could teach what one didn't know, and that a poor and ignorant father could, if he was emancipated, conduct the education of his children, without the aid of any master explicator. And he indicated the way of that 'universal teaching' – to learn something and to relate it to all the rest by this principle: all men have equal intelligence." Illich's networks and Jacotot's axiom, combined with an understanding of the nature of contemporary immaterial labour, may well render the university obsolete, too much the bastion of cynical marketing and a lack of any genuine learning. As Mary Evans puts it in her attack on contemporary higher education, Killing Thinking: "perhaps the real democratization of the universities will lie in the departure of future generations from them." Intelligence for all Let's say we haven't yet given up on the university completely and want to apply Rancière's ideas in practice. What dangers lie ahead? There are certainly temptations at work for both the lecturer and the student in the classical teacher-pupil hierarchy. One temptation is the patronizing attempt to over-identify with the imperative "not to learn" supposedly possessed by students. We could call this the "slacker" temptation – of course all students want to do is smoke dope and play Playstation! This model of teaching presupposes two intellectual classes: those who (contingently) want to learn (the lecturer him- or herself) and those who do not (most students, and by extension, most everybody). This approach is a kind of mastery, disavowed in this case and all the more pernicious for it – I know enough to tell you that you do not need to know. It is the supercilious attitude of the newspaper columnist who chucks in references to Marx, postmodernism, etc. before airily informing the less-informed reader that he or she doesn't need to bother finding out anything about them for him- or herself. Equality of intelligence is here smothered by the laziness, not of the students, but of the teacher, who churns out information without really believing that the audience will be interested in receiving it. As Rancière puts it, "explication is the work of laziness". The fear masked here, both by assuming student apathy and by preserving the knowledge you yourself possess, is the idea that actually there is nothing "special" about your capacity to learn. As Bourdieu and Passeron put it: The whole logic of an academic institution based on pedagogic work of the traditional type and ultimately guaranteeing the "infallibility" of the "master," finds expression in the professorial ideology of student incapacity, a mixture of tyrannical stringency and disillusioned indulgence which inclines the teacher to regard all communication failures, however unforeseen, as integral to a relationship which inherently implies poor reception of the best messages to the worst receivers. Of course, the question of mastery cannot simply be sidestepped as easily as all that. While autodidacticism, individual or collective, may well be the ideal mode of learning, the one closest to both the will and the intelligence we presuppose belongs to all, simply turning one's back on the systems of domination and hierarchy that characterize the society of which education is merely a part is impossible. Stimulating, rather than instructing, students will hopefully encourage an already existing will to learn, rather than "stultify," in Rancière's terms; but the question of other, perhaps more pernicious, desires is never too far away. Plato is one of the first to recognize, in the Phaedrus, "the way in which the speaker who knows the truth may, without any serious purpose, steal away the hearts of his hearers." Even if the more straightforwardly oppressive elements of education are stripped away, the erotics of pedagogy, and those forms of hierarchy that are predicated on a romantic attachment to the teacher on the basis that he or she "knows more" than the student are hard to deny and perhaps even harder to prevent. Perhaps recognizing these residual forms of pedagogical asymmetry, Rancière will not, in the end, simply cut the head off the teacher-king or queen. As he puts it, for Jacotot, on the one hand, "the method of equality was above all a method of the will. One could learn by oneself and without a master explicator or when one wanted to, propelled by one's own desire or by the constraint of the situation." On the other, "[t]he students had learned without a master explicator, but not, for all that, without a master." Jacotot's method transfers the mastery inherent in the pedagogical situation from the figure of the teacher to the solidity of the book. It is the book that becomes the more democratic (admittedly), though none the less sanctified, teacher: "Instead of paying for an explicator, couldn't a father simply give the book to his son and the child understand directly the reasonings of the book?" The danger of shifting the master from person to object doesn't necessarily overturn the hierarchy of student and teacher, just shifts it from the classroom to the library. This is an important sticking point. If we take the somewhat Lutheran line that true learning is the will-driven learning of an individual with a text, motivated by the admission of the shared ignorance of the "master," then what, say, of Illich's plans mentioned above regarding more collective modes of learning? If the hierarchical mode of teacher-student learning involves one person in a position of power over many, then Rancière's solution seems to propose instead a one-on-one relationship between the reader and the text. But wouldn't a collective – if paradoxical – form of autodidacticism be more egalitarian, precisely because it would accept the minimal empirical claim that each of us has something to learn from the other? Books can be just as dogmatic masters as any human. Autodidacticism nevertheless clearly remains a superior political model to that of the "master" inscribing on the tabula rasa of the passive student's mind. Rancière's radical notion of equality entails both that any individual can teach him- or herself and that teachers can teach what they don't know. The empirical nags away at this, bit by bit, however. What about those radically different starting points? What, to be blunt, about class? In order to finalize some of these thoughts on Rancière and the academy, it is worth placing the insights of Jacotot alongside those of another important thinker of education and inequality: Pierre Bourdieu. Rancière is extremely critical of Bourdieu, despite some seemingly shared concerns. Overall, Rancière mounts a kind of disciplinary critique of his countryman, arguing that Bourdieu attempts to inaugurate a new science, a new form of mastery, a kind of sociological structure to reinstate the separation between those who understand and those who do not. Sociology suffers, argues Rancière, from the need to make secret what lies on the surface: Condemned to remain within the apparent movement of doxa, prevented from returning it to a real movement that would no longer be a part of his domain, [the sociologist] divided the apparent movement into two. He hollowed out a dimension of paradox in the platitude of the doxa: it is because everybody knows that nobody can know. Nevertheless, Bourdieu and Passeron's claims were a revelation to a generation of thinkers who wanted other explanations than the purely economic for the ways in which class reproduces itself. One is struck, Rancière says at least, by the "original commonality" of Bourdieu's problematic. "Cultural capital" includes all of those forms of knowledge (not capacities) that directly relate to one's educational and cultural status. One of these forms of cultural knowledge, according to Bourdieu and Passeron, is aspiration itself, which has a self-perpetuating effect in the context of education and the likelihood of going to university. Their theory of cultural capital tries to make sense of the advantages that tend to accrue to the same kinds of people from the same kinds of background. In this sense, it is usually understood in isolation from exam results or other kinds of academic achievements, which aim to measure native intelligence. Instead, it incorporates modes of comportment such as attitude towards study, information learned outside of the school, and the cultural knowledge possessed by the family of the student in question, particularly those regarded as elite (opera, theatre, art, classical music, "serious" literature, etc.). "Cultural capital" began life as a primarily educational term, and it can be used as a tool to explain why middle-class parents are much better able to understand the "rules" of their child's school and seek improvements – for example, asking for extra help for their child or knowing the right "language" to be able to talk to teachers on parents' evenings. It became a central term in attempts to understand why class mobility is often so limited, even when intelligence is taken into account. It describes the forms of extra-curricular knowledge that students from certain backgrounds possess, which, although not directly transmitted by the educational institution, are highly valued by it. Cultural capital went on to become important in more general studies of class culture, beyond its narrower educational focus, and is widely used to explain various kinds of "elimination," examining the process which ensures that middle class children go on to get middle class jobs, for example. The problem of analyzing such self-perpetuating social processes is of course that one can end up tangled in them, trapped within their sticky webs. Rancière is extremely critical of the structures by which Bourdieu seeks to explain working class involvement (or lack thereof) in higher education, such as the theory of cultural capital outlined above. He summarizes Bourdieu's claims about working class students in the following way: "they are excluded because they don't know why they are excluded; and they don't know why they are excluded because they are excluded." Without the axiomatic assertion of equal intelligence underneath his analysis, Bourdieu runs the risk of reproducing his theories of reproduction without thereby also providing the tools to undermine them. In this vein, Rancière argues that "the sociologist's weapons are those of his adversary" – the statistical tables, the "everybody knows" kind of facts, opinion polls – mediums that can mask as much as they reveal. Nevertheless, Bourdieu's claims about cultural capital cannot fail to continue to resonate in an educational system that increasingly privileges the empty form of higher education as a marker of aptitude for a certain kind of job, a certain kind of lifestyle, and, above all, the replication of a specific and increasingly divisive class system. A speech by Lord Plummer, an Old Etonian, beautifully exemplifies the importance of sheer form over educational content: "They taught us nothing at Eton. It may be so, but I think they taught it very well." Rancière's master without mastery points to a way in which the assumption of egalitarian intelligence might be understood, but what happens when the assumption of generic intelligence reaches the analysis of educational practice? Might not Bourdieu and Passeron be of some use after all? Their classic claims regarding reproduction in education and the concept of cultural capital arguably remain of relevance to any understanding of the mechanisms at play "behind the back" of the agents concerned: An educational system based on a traditional type of pedagogy can fulfil its function of inculcation only so long as it addresses itself to students equipped with the linguistic and cultural capital – and the capacity to invest it profitably – which the system presupposes and consecrates without ever expressly demanding it and without methodically transmitting it. It has to be said that taking on board both Rancière's Jacotot as well as Bourdieu and Passeron is complicated. In the first place, the context for both, as noted in the earlier, was one of exclusion – of those deemed "not cut out" for education or for the university, the literal poor or the culturally impoverished. We must acknowledge a changed landscape: not exclusion, straightforwardly, but a peculiar form of staggered expansion. The supposedly elite institutions are still there at the top, the old-boys and girls networks still churning out elite fodder for the same kinds of jobs – politics, diplomacy, high-end culture industry work, etc. At the same time, the expansion of higher education and the re-branding of ex-Polytechnics as universities in the UK has created a situation in which no one need be excluded. It is no longer a question of keeping them out, but of ensuring they go where they are supposed to. A further change comes at the economic level. As noted, fees have created a kind of split-subject of the university: the "client" who pays for a service and yet is still a subject "supposed to be criticized" or even failed. Endless feedback forms, along the lines of customer satisfaction surveys, entail that students are supposed to know how well that which they don't yet know is being conveyed. We could call this "the subject supposed to know how it will know what it doesn't yet know." It is a subject a long way from possessing Rancière's "method of the will," and getting further away from it all the time. A notion of "intellectual will" not predicated on academic approval would be an¬other, more positive, matter altogether – but for that we might need a new Jacotot: The problem is not to create scholars. It is to raise up those that believe themselves inferior in intelligence, to make them leave the swamp where they are stagnating – not the swamp of ignorance, but the swamp of self-contempt, of contempt in and of itself for the reasonable creature. It is to make emancipated and emancipating men. It seems we are stuck then, between a broken, cynical university and an incomplete, problematic, autodidacticism. Trying to think beyond the university from within it remains a serious problem. It is hard not to imagine that best of all would ultimately be to entirely detach knowledge, understanding, and intellectual enquiry from the university completely. But how? Rancière's axiomatic positing of the equality of intelligence allows us to answer the key educational question, "who has the right to think?" with the simple answer: "everyone." Bourdieu's observations and Illich's networks could help us to fill out Rancière's insight with the empirical weight of how far we have to go and the utopian promise of a pedagogy to come. Much is yet to be done. Plato, "Meno," Plato: The Collected Dialogues, ed. Edith Hamilton & Huntington Cairns (New Jersey: Princeton university Press, 1999), 370. Jacques Rancière, The Ignorant Schoolmaster, trans. Kristin Ross (Stanford: Stanford university Press, 1991), 29. Ibid., 29-30. See, as the latest particularly egregious example, Bruce Charlton's claim that "higher social classes have a significantly higher average IQ than lower social classes" in Rebecca Attwood, "Elite institutions' class bias simply reflects 'meritocracy,'" THE, May 22, 2008. See, for example, Mary Evans's claim that "The surveillance between teachers and pupils is, of course, mutual. Teachers are expected to record the presence of their students, while students are asked to record comments on their teachers." Killing Thinking: The Death of the universities (New York: Continuum, 2004), 59. See also her claim that "[t]he spectre of the student who attends no lectures or seminars and yet emerges with an outstanding degree in final examinations is clearly a terror to the QAA [Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education]." Ibid., 117. See, for example, John Gill, "Keep it Stupid, Simple," THE, October 23, 2008. Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. Alan Sheridan (London: Penguin, 1977), 228. Gilles Deleuze, "Postscript on the Societies of Control," October 59 (Winter 1992): 3-7. This summary of Bourdieu's position can be found in Roy Nash, "Bourdieu on Education and Social and Cultural Reproduction," British Journal of Sociology of Education 11. 4 (1990): 436. Deleuze, "Postscript on the Societies of Control," 7. Félix and Victor Ratier, "Enseignement universal: Emancipation intellectuelle," Journal de philosophie pancécastique, 5 (1838): 155. Quoted in The Ignorant Schoolmaster, 4. Peter Hallward, "Staging Equality: On Rancière's Theatrocracy," New Left Review 37 (January-February 2006): 114. Rancière, The Ignorant Schoolmaster, 16. See Paolo Virno, The Grammar of the Multitude, trans. Isabella Bertoletti, James Cascaito & Andrea Casson (New York: Semiotext(e), 2004). It should of course be noted that "immaterial labour" refers, in the context of education, to the kinds of general skills seemingly inculcated in and "desired" from contemporary graduates, not as a general claim about global labour, which remains overwhelmingly ma¬terial. There is no doubt, however, that the student produced by contemporary British universities is primarily a creature with no skills other than "transferable" ones that lack content, as well as being entirely in hock to debt. Massimo De Angelis and David Harvie, "Cognitive Capital and the Rat Race: How Capital Measures Ideas and Effects in UK Higher Education," Historical Materialism (2009). Paolo Virno, "General Intellect," trans. Arianna Bove, Generation-Online, www.generation-online.org. "Who has the right to think?" is Kristin Ross's gloss on Rancière's approach to education. See her "Rancière and the Practice of Equality," Social Text 29 (1991): 57-71. "Oxbridge takes fewer state pupils," BBC News, June 5, 2008. Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society (London: Penguin, 1973), 55. Ibid., 111. Rancière, The Ignorant Schoolmaster, 18. Evans, Killing Thinking, 152. Rancière, The Ignorant Schoolmaster, 117. Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron, Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture, 2nd ed., trans. Richard Nice (London: Sage, 1990), 111. Plato, Phaedrus, trans. Benjamin Jowett (London: Dover, 1994), 66. Rancière, The Ignorant Schoolmaster, 12. Ibid., 4. Jacques Rancière, The Philosopher and His Poor, trans. John Drury, Corinne Oster, and Andrew Parker (Durham: Duke university Press, 2003), 170. Bourdieu and Passeron, Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture, 9. Rancière, The Ignorant Schoolmaster, xi. Rancière, The Philosopher and His Poor, 168. 'Systems of Education and Systems of Thought', in M.F. D. Young, ed. Knowledge and Control: New Directions for the Sociology of Education. London: Macmillan, 1971. Quoted in Pierre Bourdieu: Agent Provocateur, Michael Greenfell (New York: Continuum, 2004), 72. Bourdieu and Passeron, Reproduction, 99. Rancière, The Ignorant Schoolmaster, 101-102. Retrieve from: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2010-07-01-power-en.html

GHOLD - THE WORLD OF SIX SUN Somewhere in the universe, beyond time and space and also beyond the limits of our understanding, the world of GholD exists. There, every morning the sun rises in another direction, following the rhythm of a six- day-week. A great variety of beings populate the lands and seas of their home world, in which "technology" is not a known term, whereas however, magic does work. The history of GholD spans several thousands of years, full of the rise and decline of mighty empires, full of great wars of Good and Bad fighting each other, but we have also to mention the times of peace and understanding, encompassing the most amazing cultural achievements. One of these achievements is the Grand Slam, which presents perhaps the best way from war to peace. This biggest sporting event of the southern continent had begun as a war between goblins and men - and today, all peoples of the world celebrate this festival of mutual From all corners of the continent, the most strange creatures comes into the big capital of the Empire of Men every 5 years in order to participate in the games. rumor is that notice of the Grand Slam had even reached the northern continents, and so, everybody hopefully expects the day when a ship out of unknown countries anchors in the harbor of HodT CrownguarD, bringing new players for the grand Games. This year, everybody's attention is attracted by the dwarves, who participate in the Games for the first time. All people respect and fear these tough little guys out of the western mountains. One can hear rumors of the champion of the dwarven as being a legendary hero, and also the king of all the proud dwarves clans is expected as a visitor to the Games. The big question is: Will a newcomer rise up into the top class of Grand Slammers - or even achieve the title? RULES OF PLAY Since the reformation of game rules in the year 11216, the famous Grand- Slam-Tournament has consisted of three leagues... The first match is an elimination contest with 8 players, who fight each other in pairs. The pairs of opponents, and the winners of this contest form the pairs of the second fight. Logically, only 2 players are left at the end of the second game. These two will then fight in the final in order to decide who is the winner of the first league. The winners of every fight have to participate in an intermediate game after each game. This intermediate game is called "Revenge of the Beloms".. As everybody knows, the FUMB has pushed through this game part with great vigour. The winner of the whole league must also pass a qualification, an event which is called "The Remarkable Six Faultons". Anybody who fails in this qualification (which demands great dexterity) cannot go up into the next group of competitors. The participants of the second league are veterans with considerable experience in the Games; they don't even need to pass the first league (indeed only beginners, like your dwarf, compete in the first match - or fighters who have been disqualified in the last Games). winner of the first elimination contest has joined them, the second group also consists of 8 players, and again there is an elimination contest in order to find out the next league winner.. The pitch is now separated by a waist high wall, thus making the game more difficult. This is especially so with the Homerun, because now you have to move up to the middle of the baseline in order to start the run (because of the gap in the barrier). After an additional (and more difficult) "Remarkable Six Faultons"- event, the winner of the second league joins the final round, there meeting only three players - the winners of the last 3 GRAND SLAM-tournaments. He has to beat them one after the other in order to finally obtain himself the yellow jerkin and the golden metal; but watch out, because all three opponents have magical powers which they The whole event is accompanied by a bonus-point-scoring system which has proven itself very helpful in evaluating the performance of individual players, and the betting business does take profit from it. The Main Game First to appear on the screen are the pairs of the first match, formed by lots, one atop the other. The gamer's character - the dwarf - appears in the top left corner. Continue by pressing fire. Now the dwarf's next opponent is presented in detail (giving name, race, profession, game skills, character, and last, but not least important, the sponsor!). Continue by pressing fire. Now the main game begins! The dwarf is placed in the foreground, and each of his opponents plays in the background. Six beloms squat at each baseline.. It is the player's task to kick his own beloms across the pitch to the opponent. If you have successfully kicked all your own beloms, you can start to make your "homerun", which means running across the pitch to the opponent's baseline. If you reach that, you are the winner! While kicking beloms, the most important things are to avoid the opponent's beloms and to hit the opponent with your own beloms as often as possible. In case of a player being hit, he remains lying on the ground for a certain amount of time. This amount of time increases in the course of being hit several times. This is then the other player's best chance to kick as many beloms as possible to the other side and to pour out a stream of vituperations on the Which leads us to the so called "Pelvans", the penalty in the GRAND MONSTER SLAM. Pelvans are given if you have kicked a belom into the audience, either accidentally or deliberately. Particularly opposing fans who are very much irritated about your vituperations tend to kick a belom "into the blue". If then a pelvans is given (look at the roaring dragon at the left sideline), the pelvans-creature sinks down a rope to the pitch and places itself on the pelvans-point ("P") of the executing player. This player may now choose how to kick the pelvans to the other side: straight forward, angled to the right, or angled to the left. At the moment of shooting, the other player must already have made his mind up in which direction he is going to run in order to catch the pelvans at his baseline. (This is merely a game of chance. The player being shot at with the pelvans may choose the direction in which to run by moving his joystick before the moment when the pelvans is kicked off by the opponent. If you suppose that the pelvans will come directly towards you, of course you won't run off to either side, but rather remain in your position!) Scoring: Every single game is worth a certain number of points, which the winner will receive. Additionally, he will obtain a time bonus when having finished the game especially quickly. Joystick left/right: Move along the baseline Pressing fire and keeping it pressed: Collect strength for a belom-shot. The longer the dwarf keeps the fire button pressed the higher and further he will shoot. Move joystick forward to the left or right while keeping fire button pressed: Determine direction of shot. The longer you keep the joystick in the chosen direction, the greater the side- angle will become. Let go fire button: Shoot Joystick forward, angled left/right: Special Shoot. When you determine the angle of shooting without simultaneously collecting strength, and then kick off the belom, you will make a low shot across the barrier. Joystick down and press fire: Irritate opposite fans! Joystick up / up left / up right and press fire: Determine direction and kick of the pelvans. Joystick left / in the middle / right: Determine direction in which to run when wanting to catch a pelvans. Possible only before the opponent has kicked of the pelvans. Joystick up and press fire: Start on the homerun. After every main game, the pairs of this fight as shown at the start will appear once again. The losers of the game are now covered by the so called "loser curtain" (by the pelvans also called "robe of The Revenge of the Beloms After every main game which the dwarf has won he has to compete in an intermediate game, giving him the chance to increase his score (but he may also loose points!). Basically, the aim of the intermediate game is to keep off the beloms (still in bad temper from the main game) by use of the so called "shove-off pole" (a pole with wooden pushers at both ends). The beloms will then try to reach the dwarf from eight directions, in order to knock him over by a precisely aimed tickling-attack. The dwarf tries to prevent them from doing so by pushing them away with the shove-off pole (so called "push off"). Of course, the dwarf is not allowed to win this game (a condition demanded by the beloms). A short notice in addition: Try to shove-off all oncoming beloms (recognizable by their trail of dust, kicked up by their about 200 feet) in an active way, rather than only blocking the way with a pole end. hoved-off beloms fly from the pitch and need more time to reach their starting point again. Scoring: The display on the right side of the screen shows how many beloms you must shoot away in the current intermediate game, before you go to the ground, In case you don't manage to shove off enough beloms, you'll lose points from your current score. In case you push off a lot more beloms, your score is increased. Joystick left / middle / right: Aim shove-off pole. Joystick in all six other directions: Push with the shove-off This way you can cover only six of the eight directions from which the beloms will attack you.. So, from time to time, change your basic position in order to cover all eight directions in the long run. Joystick left / right and press fire: Move into another basic The Remarkable Six Faultons After every league you have to pass the qualification of the 6 faultons, who in their spare time form a successful singers' sextet, in order to go up to the next match. The dwarf's task is to grasp: By means of a well-aimed kick, he has to deliver a belom into the open mouth of a faulton. Don't be too afraid of this! The beloms have be expressively instructed that they will be spat out again by the faultons after the qualification game! In order to go up to the second league, you have to successfully "feed" 2 faultons; for the third league you will need four hits. If you don't pass this qualification you have to repeat the previous match, much to the enjoyment of the competitors; in addition you lose all your points collected during the last match. (This is also a result of a reformation of the rules. Until then, the goblins had lost every qualification in order to collect more and more points by repeating the same league over and over again. Certainly this way was an expression of their professional attitude, because the GRAND SLAM is the goblins's national sport. Scoring: Every belom delivered into a faulton's greedy mouth provides you with points. In case you don't pass the qualification, you will lose all points acquired during the qualification and during the Keep fire button pressed: Determine strength of shot. Let go fire button: Shoot. The dwarf is moved from one kick-off point to the other automatically. PC-users, attention: F1 key = "master key" THE GRAND MONSTER SLAM Once upon a time on a beautiful Nes (a Monday according to earth standards) in the year 10365 the goblins paced their bags in order to wage war against men They hadn't at this time the slightest idea that they would find their place in history as the founders of "sport" on the world of GholD. No, our little friends with their pointed ears had no idea of this when they formed their forces of no less than 7000 soldiers in actual fact they didn't have much idea about anything at ESC: Stop game Space: Fire button Their extent of their ignorance became fully evident two months later after they had tried to conquer the first outpost of mankind - a desert fortress, an incident later known as the "Great Embarrassment". In order to understand properly what happened then, we should mention that goblins are quite skillful in manufacturing mechanical devices which combined with some surprising magical powers makes them rather gifted as engineers and technicians. Accordingly the main force of their military was a number of monstrous war machines mainly catapults which were drawn - by groaning and swearing pullers - through forests and swamps and over hills and mountains until finally the desert of OhgruhN was reached, sundering the realms of men and goblins. Quickly the big catapults (which unfortunately tended to produce their little defects now and then) were switched to desert operation. The magazines of the repeating catapults were filled with stones. The goblins marched on ready to overcome this last obstacle on their journey. After some days the above mentioned desert fortress was in The goblin hordes set up their artillery and then shouting their terrible war cry "Bash, beat, duff them in!" they let go a veritable hailstorm of boulders against the walls of the surprised fortress. For five minutes rubble darkened the sky; then all was totally calm - in the fortress where people were recovering from the shock (luckily nobody had been hurt) and in the goblins ranks because they had no more rocks. Finally a low giggling noise then loud laughter resounded from the ramparts of the fortress when the inhabitants realized the mistake the goblins had made. A normal desert is made of sand and nothing else. Despite this the goblins tried angrily to maintain the siege. When the first experiments with sand failed to show the desired effect the marksmen filled their machines with crates pitchers spare wheels and such like even draft animals and slaves didn't get around being used in this way but it didn't help. The goblins' weapon had become Eventually the commander in chief saw no other solution than to go directly against the fortress but doing this his brave army experienced their next fiasco. From the ramparts of the fortress they were attacked with the very same stones which the goblins themselves had used up some hours ago. Doubtless an amazingly clever idea produced by the chief of the fortress named Ree Sycling. And indeed no goblin reached the high battlements. Covered with bruises of every kind and look the brave goblin warriors withdrew but not without taking their stones with them which they had just received back so very unexpectedly and then ... Three years later. The great desert war between men and goblins neared its end. Exhaustion had spread itself through the ranks of both sides. Wherever one looked one could recognize hints of weakening of the fighting spirit, yes, even first tender affinities between both sides. For example: the goblins had provided men with catapult technology in exchange of regular water deliveries from the fortress thus avoiding an awful lot of running and getting bruises because the dearly desired shooting stones could now be obtained more easily. The damage on both sides proved small because at an early stage of the conflict regular breaks between shooting phases had been arranged meeting the interests of both parties. All in all it could have gone on this way for many years but weariness had descended on men and goblins and all the material used by both and so in the year 10368 a peace was signed with an impressing ceremony. In fact both sides discovered nice features in the character of the opposing side and besides they could learn a lot from each other. In remembrance of this historical event in the desert it was agreed to meet each other again every three years in order to exchange some honorable catapult shots as part of a big festival. The next group to join the party were the halflings. Being very curious as part of their very nature they soon invited themselves to the regular peace festival with every intention of participating in the catapult shooting. In order to achieve this they immediately started a war against goblins and men threw some symbolic cobble stones and after five minutes they selflessly asked for peace for being allowed to the jubilee and for fare and draught. It took no longer than the third jubilee festival to see the participation of for more peoples including elves and imps, a fact which presented the festival board with some veritable problems. At first four declarations of war arrived at the same time (luckily followed by four capitulations immediately afterwards) and secondly the catapult shooting of now seven parties against each other lead to unimaginable confusion. The organizers found an answer to this problem by introducing a slight change in the festivities. from now on big targets were to be shot at which was less fun but proved to be of an advantage in avoiding the number of bruises. Thus the memory day of the "Great Embarrassment" developed step by step into a big festival consuming several days, a festival of peace and understanding between races. Certainly it would have remained so if the powers of evil hadn't got wind of it! During a routine torture of an elf the orcs learned of the festival and it is a small wonder that a whole bunch of shady riff-raff appeared at the next jubilee. It was their leader, Brank, who stood up for the peoples of the darkness by shouting: "Let's join the party!". From then on the festivities were never the same again. According to their nature the orcs instantly created an awful mess by wheeling their catapult around by 90 degrees in the middle of a competition an opening fire on a neighboring elven team. The elven reacted the same way ... In short the way of feasting for a little while became very much similar to the early times; after the big chaos the orcs declared war (thus rather bewildering the organizers) whereas the capitulation - necessary to follow - took its time (5 years). Finally the Orcs were successfully integrated into the games which now were hold every five years. Together with them all the other peoples of darkness became participants because meanwhile the Orcs had sent messengers in all six directions, messengers, who in their turn were captured and tortured by other evil races. Finally there remained nobody on GholD who didn't learn to know - one or the other way - of the GRAND SLAM. Parallel to this development the rules of the games were decisively changed partly with the intention to reduce conflicts between competing teams: the catapults were abolished and instead the best representatives of all races threw stones at each other The competition was organized as an elimination contest. The influence of the evil races is clearly recognizable in the abolition of the targets. Thus the principal rules of the GRAND MONSTER SLAM were formed as we know them today but let's remain at some other important The most significant modification of the game was the introduction of the beloms. This mountain people, nearly unknown until then, one day appeared before the board of organizers and applied for participation in the games. Well the honorables of the board looked carefully at these spherical furry beings - with a diameter of roughly 30 cm - withdrew for discussion and afterwards made a contract with the beloms. On closely looking this contract was not exactly what the beloms had originally wanted but on the other hand they were now allowed to participate in the games - or not? Probably the most famous "participants" in the Grand Monster Slam, the beloms, usually say of themselves that they are a nomad people. Indeed there is a noticeable migration of beloms from the top of the border mountains (separating the empire from the desert) down to the fertile lowlands. This migration has gone on for several hundred years and doesn't show any signs of stopping. Unfortunately for the beloms the truth seems to be different from what the beloms declare. Research has proven that the belom's homeland is indeed to be found between the rocks of the high mountains but their so called "migration of the peoples" seems to be random event, much more than a planned action. As everybody knows the beloms' bodies are very round things and every creature's common sense will easily understand that beloms are very much suited for ... erm, rolling down Especially in times of a high density of belom population these round little fellows crowd on narrow mountain ridges and on the mountain peaks in such a form that the great jostling leads to a massive "roll-down" an incident greatly feared by the people in the mountains who the speak o a "belom-fall". It is small wonder that only the toughest boms survive a belom-fall their form of the "survival of the fittest". The games of the Grand Monster Slam seem to take profit from this . Of course if you ask any belom about this correlation he will deny it as well as the theory that the beloms will become a sea folk in a not very far future. Beloms have already been sighted at the sea shores and beaches of the empire and the statement of some belom-leaders that these have been beloms on holiday is Nonetheless when the next GRAND SLAM was held the stones were replaced by beloms and not before then theses cozy little balls of wool clearly recognized what they had agrees to - but under the threat of a contract of 50000 gold coins it was too late to think otherwise. At the same time further modifications of the rules were put into effect for example the tournament system introduced by the warrior people of the Eagle Mountains. From then on the GRAND MONSTER SLAM ceased to be a mass turmoil carried out in the special arena which had been build for that purpose but followed the orderly tracks of an elimination contest (much of the displeasure of the peoples of darkness). it appeared that no race on GholD remained that didn't want to take part in the games but not all of them could qualify themselves e.g. the skeletons proved to be too rickety, the vampires too bloodthirsty and the zombies too lazy. The revived mummies unfortunately tended to stagger over their own loosely hanging bandages. There was such a crowd of hopeful sportscreatures that the games moved to the biggest city of GholD, HodH CrownguarD, being the very capital of the Empire as the name already suggests. However if anyone had expected that the games would now rnove on smoothly he/she/it proved to be very much mistaken. A further change in rules (namely the kicking of the beloms replacing the former throwing) was followed by a shocking scandal when before the start of the games an unknown perpetrator filled some unhappy boms (short for beloms) with lead. This was rather disadvantageous for the elves whose Grand Slammer Bernardantilus suffered a multiple fracture of the foot. So the elves boycotted the games for some decades together with some other races friendly with them until the perpetrator (a pelvans) had been found and filled with lead in his turn. Of course this wasn't the only incident worthwhile mentioning. We shouldn't forget to mention also the so called faultons, who made fun of catching beloms with their mouth and swallowing them when beloms came flying by. Despite of the rules not banning such behavior - or rather because of it - this custom produced serious consequences: the beloms collectively joined the "Society of Kicked Animals" (SKA) thus giving this formerly very inconspicuous organization considerable political weight because of the drastically rising number of members and of course membership fees. So great became the pressure of the SKA on the board of organizers that the faultons were banned from the games for good but when the faultons in their turn threatened to found a "Syndicate of Sadistic Players" (cheered by the evil races with great howling) this people of perfectly spherical amphibians could return to the biggest sporting event of GholD through the backdoor. The faulton's big mouths were from then on used for qualification game separating the individual Grand-Slam- Elimination-Rounds from each other. To cut it short: The games were ready for a new form of organization. Solid rules had to be laid down in order to avoid nasty incidents like that with the faultons and so the sports messengers of all races of GholD met in the year 11218 to give the Grand- Monster-Slam the form still valid in our day. This of course couldn't be achieved without creating discord. For example the introduction of the "three-step-rule" (which means one has to make at least three steps while crossing the pitch in the homerun) made the giants leave the games forever. Then there were the vain pelvans, obviously favorites of the emperor, which categorically demanded to be allowed participation in the games which lead to introducing the famous "pelvans" (named after the race); yes, even the beloms raised their voices once more! In the meantime they had founded the FUMB (Fighting Union of Maltreated Beloms) and vigorously pushed through the "bom-punching" as an intermediate bonus round, commonly known as the "revenge of the beloms". The newly participating pelvans couldn't help making nasty remarks and called this extension of the games procedure a "dwarf rebellion" which got them the beloms' wrath and the dwarves' hostility (people nowadays believe that dwarves try to make as many pelvans as possible during a game). Eventually the board of organizers passed the definite version of the rules therewith giving the Grand Monster Slam its current form. The Games nowadays: In the year 12847 the Grand Monster Slam appears to be more splendid than ever. The festivities accompanying the games have gone on for four cycles now and on the streets and lanes of HodH CrownguarD merry people enjoy themselves continuously while the games go on. From all parts of known GholD creatures flock to the city in order to look at the sporting show although the Grand Monster Slam stadium has no more than 1348 seats. Behind their protectively risen claws people whispered that murders have been committed in order to obtain a seat in the bowl. Nevertheless black market prices have risen to astronomical level. Fortunately for those who don't find a place in the bowl there is no reason for moaning because all can participate in the super festival accompanying the games. In addition the tv rights have been sold to the "Union of Professional Clairvoyants" (UPC) who offer their services at all public places. All in all this big event still offers one or two extra gold coins of potential profit. Besides the restaurants and inns whose business runs high during the games many little crafts shops offer "sport bandages" which are needed for first aid not only by the Slam players but also by many dedicated fans.. On the other hand sponsors overvalue the public relations effect of the Grand Monster Slam every now and then. "Filikili's craft's defile" (today an unimportant smithy in the middle of the dwarves' realm) for example couldn't manage an international breakthrough in spite of excessive arena advertisements because the greatest part ot the audience cannot read. Even the self made slogan "With Filikili's happy axe any elf you may decap" could only be deciphered by the elves present. Which brings us to the "ogrice", the public guards and help service maintaining law and order when disappointed and/or drunken fans of different races fight each other. Very remarkable indeed that the ogres, not very helpful under most circumstances, have volunteered for this task and for no payment at all! one of the ogres' most important jobs is to take all weapons from spectators on entering the stadium. Unfortunately the board of organizers had been forced to take this measure because of repeated acts of violence against referees. most spectacular case was when a referee had been pulled into two halves by an ogre before the eyes of the audience. The ogre had been disqualified because of "accidentally" crushing a belom under his feet. Remark of palvanish eyewitness: "Looks like a halfling now.". Until today many referees are used to inconspicuously vanish in the crowd in order to avoid harassment because even the ogrice has difficulties in guaranteeing the discipline of the audience. The custom of uttering discontent by throwing smaller creatures (preferably goblins and pelvans) onto the pitch never could be Despite of all such adversities the Grand Monster Slam remains a big festival of friendship and understanding. To quote Dorin Ironhand, chair dwarf of the board of organizers on opening the current Grand Monster Slam: "Simply duff'em up!" Rolf Lakamper in charge of the game design: When I conceived the basic idea of GMS and told Hartwig about it I had no idea about what I had started: Day after day Hartwig proved his intimate familiarity with the realms of fantasy by presenting new monsters who had applied to him for participation in the Games! We selected the best players and then my work at the program began: Orcs, halflings, dwarves and elves had to be put together peacefully into the computer. The beloms developed a preference to make use of even the slightest faults in the program and to not only fly across the pitch but also through the whole memory! It was particularly interesting to provide the monsters with characters and an understanding of the play. So you will find among them the uncontrolled and lazy ogre Brunf who on the other hand has a mighty kick! A tactically experienced play is the chief feature of Gnarl whereas Stig "Firy" Grunf is the old war horse of the Games. In fact the opponents program follows several parameters like e.g. talent for observation, slyness, power of kick, laziness, resistance and so on. In this way every character has its own strength and weaknesses and with just a little experience and observance the dwarf has a really chance of winning. In case your computer starts dripping water, don't panic, this is because Zsch'luk has its in between baths! Volker Marohn, PC program conversion: When we considered how to provide the player's opponents in the Grand Monster Slam with personalities of their own we quickly agreed that a mere random figure algorithm or a control along table wasn't worth it salt. We had to give the monsters up to a certain degree a real artificial intelligence! I suggested the Heshenberg algorithm, a model creating predictable, but no stereotype reactions. Each opponent is classified by a set of reaction parameters describing his or her physical and mental abilities. We started with a set of parameters equal for all opponents. Then the appalling development of personalities began. Soon, Drunfluk reacted other than Stig "Firy" Grunf who again behaved not like Hiro-Sha but they all together didn't do what they should have done! In those times the saying was devised: if computers won't do what they should it is a) a power failure b) a virus c) the Hershenberg algorithm Finally we succeeded in stopping the anarchic development of our monster personalities and persuaded the creatures to volunteer for the Grand Monster Slam. Still every opponent has its own individual character with all their strengths and weaknesses. Not a single one of them is unbeatable! Read the passages on the presentation screen and observe the opponents' reactions during the game. Even though you may not be one of the quickest reacting performers of the joystick you will anyway have a real good chance when adapting your play to the opponent's weaknesses. So don't disgrace your dwarf! And if anything in the opponents' behavior should confuse you ... simply ask Professor Hershenberg! Hartwig Nieder-Gassel, graphics and design: The Grand Monster Slam is the first product to be published under the label Golden Goblins. I have sound experience in fantasy illustration based on my activities in the German role-playing-scene but the fact something as untechnological as fantasy is easily adaptable to the technical world of computers I had to discover by myself. If you dig into the very nature of fantasy you will certainly find out that a lot of work and love of detail has to be invested in the background of any fantasy action plot. If not the Grand Slam players will only appear as curious looking characters who participate in a strange sport because of unknown reasons. On the other hand if you tell the gamers that the best fighters of all races of this fantasy world meet regularly because some thousand years ago the goblins fought a war because of which they are still being laughed at today, the whole event becomes a sound thing and the gamer will then be a participant rather than a mere spectator wielding a joystick. So after Rolf had developed the basic game idea as well as the game components it was my job - and it proved to be a rewarding one - to work out the complete game background besides creating the screen graphics. This background is now presented to you in this booklet. I took the background from a role-playing-campaign I had written some years ago together with a friend of mine. We had created the fantasy world of GholD and called it to life by role-playing (based on the D&D-system for anyone who is interested in it). This proved to present enough colorful background material for the Grand-Monster-Slam. Players who are familiar with this form of gaming will find that the creatures populating the Grand Monster Slam are also familiar to them, well, most of them. Pelvans for example and beloms have been thought out by Rolf and really should be marked with an (c). Thus the Grand Monster Slam became a big fun for all of us and if the Golden Goblins some day create another fantasy style game, it certainly will be located on the world of GholD as well presenting a good chance of meeting familiar faces again. The Grand Monster Slam was developed by: Rolf Lakamper: Responsible for the project, original Amiga program, Volker Marohn: Pc program conversion Gisbert Siegmund: Atari ST program conversion Hartwig Nieder-Gassel: Original Amiga graphics, graphics conversion for Atari ST and PC (EGA), game design,, artwork, package design and Olaf Menges: Graphics conversion C64 Andreas Gortz: Graphics conversion C64, PC (CGA) The rest of the goblins (Bettina Wiedner, Holger Ahrens, Jorg Prenzing), Thomas Schichtel and Philip Ridgeway-LeGresley, Kristin Dodt, Uwe Schaffmeister, Rachel Gauntlett, Bernard Morell,Alexandra "Mouse" Nolle, Marc A. Ullrich and those who pack everything in Music: Chris Hulsbeck The lead miniature are factured by Hobby Products GmbH Setting: Fotosatz Lorenz GholD, the world of six suns, was created by Hartwig Nieder-Gassel and Golden Goblins is a trademark of Rainbow Arts. Grand Monster Slam (c) by Rainbow Arts

1 13 Security and Privacy in RFID Applications Paweł Rotter Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies Seville, Spain Currently at: AGH-University of Science and Technology, Automatics Department Kraków, Poland Open Access Database 1. Introduction RFID technology raises a number of security and privacy concerns, which may substantially limit its deployment and reduce potential benefits. Public consultations led by the European Commission with citizens, RFID manufacturers, system integrators, academic institutions and public bodies confirm that privacy and security is a major concern (www.rfidconsultation.eu). Features which make RFID especially vulnerable among information systems are: 1. Wireless transmission between tag and reader: Most of the attacks on RFID systems described in the next part of this chapter exploit the air interface. 2. The limited resources of the tag: The low power supply and small memory of low-cost passive tags limit the extent to which security measures can be applied. 3. The small size of tags: RFID tags can be almost invisible, 1 which allows them to be attached to items carried by people without their consent or even their knowledge. The most common threat is unauthorised access to the data stored on the tag or sent via the air interface. Attackers can achieve this either by reading the tag with an unauthorized reader (rogue scanning) or by eavesdropping on a legitimate communication. Access to the data on the tag is a threat in itself, but it can also be the first step to other types of attack. For example, in a replay attack, the attacker repeats the authentication sequence captured when it was emitted by an authorized tag, and in this way he may usurp the identity of another person. The attacker can also make a duplicate of the tag, with has the same functionality. Another threat is the malicious modification of the memory content of the RFID tag, with a view to changing attributes reported by the tag or using the tag as a carrier of malware. Denial of service can be avoided by blocking (putting the anti-collision protocol in a practically infinite loop) and frequency jamming. By reverse engineering and side channel attack, the attacker may discover algorithms and data on the tag (including the cryptographic key). Moreover, 1 The smallest passive tags commercially available in 2006 are of size mm (Harrop et al. 2008). Source: Development and Implementation of RFID Technology, Book edited by: Cristina TURCU, ISBN , pp. 554, February 2009, I-Tech, Vienna, Austria 2 238 Development and Implementation of RFID Technology protection measures for RFID-based cards are more difficult to apply than for contact cards. Finally, RFID systems may be the subject of attack to backend, like any other information system. Depending on the application in which an RFID system is commercialized, security and privacy threats should be differently treated. Some applications demand high levels of security (like access control systems) and privacy (like e-documents), while for others, like livestock tracking or some manufacturing processes, these concerns are less important. Also, types of risk depend on the application. For presentation in this chapter, we have selected the set of application areas where the most relevant privacy and security issues arise. (However, where the same issues appear in different applications, we have not tried to discuss all of them.) We have looked especially at those applications which are large in economic terms and involve a large number of users. Detailed criteria are presented at the beginning of Section 3. The four selected application areas are: item-level tagging, electronic ID documents, contactless smart card and RFID implants. Item-level tagging is foreseen to be the main RFID application in terms of market value and number of tags, and the most pervasive one. The main privacy concern here is unauthorized tag reading. When tagging at item level becomes common, if appropriate countermeasures are not applied, attackers will be able to find out what items a person has in a bag (e.g. what type of medicine), the price and brand of clothes, etc. A set of tags attached to items usually carried by a person may allow his identification and tracking. There are many countermeasures, which can reduce and even eliminate the risk, but just the possibility of massive invasions of privacy and a big brother scenario has an important impact on image of RFID and its social acceptance. Electronic identity documents may use different technologies. Nevertheless, for electronic passports, RFID has been selected, as it is more appropriate for the booklet form of e- passports than, for example, contact smart cards. The combination of two privacy-sensitive technologies i.e. RFID and biometrics brings particular concerns about privacy. The main threats are: secret reading of personal data and biometrics, copying the passport, tracking the passport s owner, and theoretically even the construction of a bomb which could be triggered by a passport of a specific nation or individual. Though several security measures have been proposed in the ICAO specification (Basic Access Control, Active Authentication, and Extended Access Control) there is ongoing discussion as to whether the protection they offer is sufficient. Contactless smart cards and single-use RFID-based tickets increase convenience and efficiency in public transport and allow additional services to be offered. They provide detailed information about traffic patterns which can be used in traffic management (schedule optimisation) and enable new payment plans, like fee per kilometre. Apart from security risks typical to each RFID application based on wearable tokens, privacy is a special issue for public transport applications, since travel patterns of individuals can be recorded and stored in a central database. RFID implants for identification and authentication of people are probably the most controversial among RFID technologies. They provide a permanent and physical link between the person and the tag. The first implant was approved for commercial use by the FDA in Since then, about two thousand people were injected with tags, mostly in order to be included in a healthcare information system. This system provides online access to medical record of a patient based on ID number communicated by the implant. In the future RFID implants may have a wide range of applications. However, privacy and security issues, as well as possible health risks, may limit or even stop further deployment of this technology. 3 Security and Privacy in RFID Applications 239 Our purpose was not to give a complete discussion of all applications where privacy and security is important, which would be rather repetitive. Instead, we provided four examples, which cover the most of issues. Threats and measures in, for example, access control systems or electronic payment will be similar to those which are discussed here. In this chapter, we focus mostly on the technical aspects of security and privacy and the technical countermeasures, but there are also legal, social and economic challenges related to security issues. Moreover it is important to bear in mind that security and privacy protection need to be followed by the creation of user trust and awareness. Even a secure system will not be successful if the user s perception of security and privacy protection is low. This chapter is structured as follows: in Section 2, we present in more detail the threats mentioned above and corresponding countermeasures. In Section 3, we discuss selected applications. We provide a summary and conclusions in Section Threats to RFID systems state of the art In this section, we present the threats to RFID and corresponding countermeasures see Fig. 1. We focus on those risks which are not an issue in other information systems. We do not Relay attack (2.3) Legend: Change of tag content (2.7) Jamming (2.9) Unauthorized False tag Physical tag destruction (2.8) Rogue scanning (2.1) Eavesdropping (2.2) Blocking (2.9) Attacks typical for all information systems Tag cloning (2.4) Tracking of people (2.5) Replay attack (2.6) Reverse engineering Side channel attack (2.11) RFID Tag Radio interface Reader Network Backend Fig. 1. Threats to RFID systems and number of subchapters where they are discussed 4 240 Development and Implementation of RFID Technology discuss attacks on the backend of the RFID system, which are similar to attacks on non-rfid information systems. Exhaustive information about risks and countermeasures in information systems can be found in, for example (Hansche et al., 2004). It is interesting to observe that one type of attack may be a preparatory step for another one. For example, eavesdropping may enable cloning of the tag; this may then result in a replay attack and the final consequence may be unauthorized access to a restricted area. These kinds of relations imply that a single vulnerability of the system, even if it is not perceived as a problem in itself, may threaten security and privacy in areas which are not directly related to it. 2.1 Rogue scanning A fake reader can be used for unauthorized reading of information from a tag. The range of a reader may be extended several times beyond the standard communication distance. For example for standard ISO 14443, used in proximity cards like MIFARE and in electronic passports, the standard communication range is 10 cm. Kirschenbaum & Wool (2006) built a home-made reader able to operate from 25 cm at a cost of $100. Further extension of the range up to about 35 cm is possible, probably at a similar cost. Fortunately, range increase is not only a matter of reader parameters. Simulations led by Kfir & Wool (2005) show that ISO cards can be read from maximum distance of 55 cm in the worst-case scenario, where there is only man-made noise and sophisticated signal processing by the attacker. For larger distances, it is not possible to separate the signal from the noise. However, even 25 cm is enough to read a card in someone s pocket. Using short-range tags wherever possible makes rogue scanning more difficult. Shielding with an anti-skimming material (e.g. aluminium foil) when the tag is not in use, protects it from scanning. A specific and common countermeasure against unauthorized tag reading is the authentication of the reader. Risk can also be reduced by moving sensitive information to a protected database in the system s backend. In this case, in order to retrieve information based on an ID number read from the tag, the user must authenticate himself to access the backend part of the system, where authentication methods are not limited by the constraints of RFID technology. However, it should be noted that keeping personal data in a central database is generally perceived as more privacy invasive than when they are kept only on tokens owned by users. Moreover, although the back office can include stronger security than RFID tags, there is always some risk of compromising all the records in one attack. Other concerns related to central vs. local storage are discussed in Section 5.1 of the report (Snijder 2007). Another countermeasure against rogue scanning is to let the tag send information only when it is activated by the user (e.g. by pressing a button), thus the possibility of unauthorized reading is limited to moments when a legitimate communication is demanded. This solution is appropriate for active tags, like car remotes, where the communication can be initiated by the tag. However, for most low-cost passive tags or smart cards, this solution is not practical. Also, in many applications, the full automation of the process is RFID s main asset. Many privacy concerns can be avoided by permanent deactivation of tags which are not going to be used any more. This possibility has been foreseen in the EPC Global standard and will probably become common with the massive deployment of RFID in retail. 2.2 Eavesdropping Eavesdropping on a legitimate communication is a secret monitoring of data sent via the air interface between an RFID tag and a reader. The attacker does not need to power the tag, 5 Security and Privacy in RFID Applications 241 which is already powered by a legitimate reader. Because of this, the maximum range for eavesdropping may be significantly larger (for the same type of tag) than for rogue scanning. Eavesdropping is a passive action the attacker does not emit any signal and is therefore very difficult to detect. The most common countermeasure is encryption of data transmitted between tag and reader, so the signal can still be eavesdropped but not understood. There are, however, several challenges. As we mentioned in the introduction, RFID tags have limited resources. In low-cost passive tags, the total number of gates is about 500-5,000 (Weis, et al., 2004) and not more than half of them can be dedicated to security. 2 Realization of advanced cryptographic algorithms requires from several thousand to about 25 thousand gates. Small amount of power that can be harvested by a tag antenna is also a limitation for processing data. Another issue is related to protection and administration of keys. If symmetric cryptography is applied, all tags and readers share the same secret, and there is a risk that it can be retrieved from any tag. Tags are generally not tamper-resistant and even if a cryptographic algorithm is well defined and does not allow an attacker to obtain the key from a communication, there is a risk that the key will be revealed by spying into the manufacturer s documentation, reverse engineering (of tag or reader) or by a side-channel attack. Advanced asymmetric cryptography algorithms are often too heavy for RFID, and neither are they free from problems with key management. Another possible countermeasure is shielding the tag and reader during information exchange. However, this is rarely applied, as it is not very practical. It is also important to use the standard with the smallest communication range sufficient for a given application. 2.3 Relay attack Relay attack is a type of man-in-the-middle attack (Kfir & Wool 2005), where the attacker creates a connection between a legitimate reader and the victim s legitimate tag, as shown in Fig. 2. From the point of view of the RFID system, the communication looks as if the legitimate tag and the reader are close to each other when, in fact, they are communicating through the communication channel, usually wireless, established by the attacker. In this way, the attacker may authenticate himself in an access control system or a payment system. The maximum distance between a legitimate tag and an attacker s reader (called sometimes a leech ) is the same as in the case of rogue scanning, but the distance between a legitimate reader and an attacker s device which simulates a legitimate tag ( ghost ) is much longer up to 50 m. A successful relay attack against an RFID system complying with the ISO 14443A standard has been proven to be feasible (Hancke 2005). Since the attacker only re-transmits information, without the need to understand it, the authentication protocol (e.g. challenge-response) does not protect against this kind of attack. This threat can be countered by using short range tags and by shielding tags (e.g. by keeping them in bags containing aluminium foil, when not in use). There is also a specific countermeasure against relay attack distance bounding protocol which estimates the distance between the reader and the tag, based either on response time (Hancke & Kuhn, 2005; Reid et al., 2006) or signal-to-noise rate (Fishkin & Roy, 2003). 2 The number of gates in tag increases from year to year but still memory and power harvested by the antenna are strong limitations to the security on the tag side. In most applications the manufacturers focus rather on reduction of tag costs than increasing memory size. 6 242 Development and Implementation of RFID Technology any distance leech 50 cm Attacker devices ghost 50 m 10 cm Legitimate devices any distance Legitimate devices a Fig. 2. A legitimate communication (a) and relay attack (b). Maximum ranges refer to ISO and are based on theoretical results received by Kfir & Wool (2005) 2.4 Cloning the tag Cloning means making a duplicate of an RFID tag. A clone may be similar in form to the original or be a larger device with the same functionality. Duplicates can be used to access a restricted area, abuse private data or make an electronic transaction on behalf of a victim. Cloning can be prevented by the use of cryptographic methods for authentication of the tag. If a challenge-response protocol is used, information which can be obtained by the attacker using the air interface (e.g. by eavesdropping) is not sufficient to duplicate the tag. Although reverse engineering, in theory, may allow duplication of any electronic circuit, these methods require special equipment and a very high level of knowledge. Moreover, there are countermeasures which can be applied at the circuit manufacturing stage. Authentication of the tag should be based on well established cryptographic algorithms, which are constantly analysed by researchers. Although their security has not been mathematically proved, it can be assumed that their vulnerabilities are well known. The use of proprietary methods, where security is supposed to be based on secrecy of the algorithm, is generally not recommended. There are at least several examples where RFID authentication protocols, developed in laboratories of big companies, have been cracked. The best known cases are the cracking of Digital Signature Transponder (Texas Instruments) and of MiFare (Philips), described in Section 3.3. On the other side, looking at almost twenty years of contact smart card history, we cannot agree with popular opinion that security should be based only on the secrecy of the key. Especially when it comes to chip design, public chip schemes would make it much easier to retrieve the key directly from the circuit and therefore manufacturers make a considerable effort to hide the structure and mislead those who try to discover it (see section on reverse engineering). Another frequent reason for security gaps (in the two cases mentioned and many others) is too short encryption keys. Short keys mean lower power consumption and lower cost, so manufacturers try to use the shortest keys which, at the moment, seem safe. However, the lifetime of a solution like this is often longer than foreseen and, due to progress in technology, the size of the key is no longer sufficient. Unfortunately, when the system is already deployed on a large scale (like DTA and MiFare), the cost of security updates is enormous. b 7 Security and Privacy in RFID Applications Tracking of people Tracking of people takes place when an attacker follows the movements of individuals through the RFID tags they carry with them. Tracking can be performed with rogue readers placed, for example, in doors, or by the deployment of eavesdropping devices in the proximity of legitimate readers. Many countermeasures to reduce the risk of tracking have already been mentioned, like using short range tags, shielding them, authentication of readers and disabling tags when not used. However, we can foresee that, in the future, people will carry many RFID tags with them and therefore a personal device which controls access to them, possibly integrated in their mobile phones or PDAs, may be very useful like the one proposed by Rieback et al. (2005). There are also countermeasures which can be implemented at tagdesign stage, such as: pseudonyms (changing identifiers) or estimation of distance from the reader (Garfinkel et al. 2005). 2.6 Replay attack In the case of replay attack, the attacker abuses another person's identity by repeating the same authentication sequence as the one provided by an authorized person. A replay attack may be led by a clone of the legitimate tag or by re-sending the eavesdropped signal from a PC equipped with an appropriate card and antenna. In order to perform a replay attack, an attacker has to obtain some information which is sent by the tag during normal communication. The first line of defence is therefore to counter eavesdropping and unauthorized tag reading. A specific countermeasure against replay attack is authentication of the tag e.g. with a challenge-response protocol. If the protocol is well designed, the key necessary for calculation of response cannot be deduced from information exchanged through the air interface. 2.7 Malicious change of the tag content As a result of malicious change of the tag content, the attributes of an item described by the tag may be distorted or an authorized person may be falsely rejected by the access control system. Furthermore, writable tags may become carriers of malware, e.g. data on RFID tag can be maliciously modified in such a way that they are interpreted by the system as a command. An example of a successful attack of this type is the SQL injection described by Rieback et al. (2006). In some writable tags, memory content can be protected by temporarily or permanently disabling writing capability ( lock and permalock functions in standard EPCglobal Class 2 Gen 2). Malware on RFID tags cannot affect the system if the implementation excludes the possibility of interpretation of the tag s data as a command. This is similar to switching off macros in MS Office which protects the system from running malicious code embedded in documents. Using sophisticated equipment, like a focused ion beam, it is also possible to change the content of memory (EEPROM or ROM) in non-writable tags. This technique can be used to set a secret key to a known (zero) value, but it also requires that the location of the key in memory is known, expensive equipment, a high level of knowledge and considerable effort. In high security applications, measures like protective layers on chips and memory scrambling make this kind of attack impractical. 8 244 Development and Implementation of RFID Technology 2.8 Physical tag destruction Physical tag destruction, e.g. by heating in a microwave or hitting with a hammer, is the easiest and the cheapest way to disrupt RFID systems. This is a particular issue for applications where RFID tags are used not only for identification purposes, but also for the protection of items against theft, like in retail or in libraries. RFID tags in e-passports can be destroyed by owners who have concerns about possible abuse of their privacy especially as an e-passport with a non-working RFID tag is still valid (Wortham 2007). 2.9 Blocking and jamming Blocking is performed with a blocker tag, which simulates the presence of an enormous number of tags and causes a denial of service (non-ending interrogation of physically nonexisting tags by the reader). However, blocking may also be a useful mechanism and serve, as originally proposed, for the protection of consumer privacy, when a blocker tag protects from unwanted scanning (Juels et al. 2003). Another threat to the air interface is jamming, which paralyses the communication of an RFID system by generating a radio noise at the same frequency as that used by the system. Blocker tags and jamming devices are easy to detect and localize immediately after starting operation and appropriate warning functionalities can be built into a system Reverse engineering The term reverse engineering is usually used for invasive methods of discovering circuit structure and even values of voltage at different points of the circuit during its operation. The goal is to retrieve the algorithm or the cryptographic key, often with the final purpose of copying the tag. This kind of attack requires a high level of knowledge and experience, as well as specialized and expensive equipment, like micromanipulators, focused ion beams, laser cutters, microscopes and chemical etching equipment. The manufacturers of contact smart cards apply a wide variety of measures, which can also be used in contactless solutions, although with some limitations resulting from limited power supply. Typical measures are: dummy structures which do not have any function except to mislead attackers, scramble buses and memory cells, form protective shields on the top of chip (especially memory) and encrypt memory content. Active protection is also possible: sensors included in the circuit can detect symptoms of attack like change of voltage, clock frequency, temperature, etc. - for details, see Chapter of a monograph (Rankl & Effing 2004). Due to resource limitations, RFID-based cards allow only limited protection and especially active methods are rather beyond this limit. There are also methods of reverse engineering at the logical level, without any physical manipulation of the circuit. For example, details of the algorithm used in DST were discovered from a general outline which was published, together with observed challengeresponse data for different values of the key, which could be arbitrarily set on blank tokens available from the manufacturer Side channel attacks Channel side attacks are based on information gained from physical implementation of cryptosystem, like power consumption, time of computations or electromagnetic field (Bar- El 2003). Power analysis attack is based on the fact that different operations consume different power. Analysis of power changes can provide information which, combined with other 9 Security and Privacy in RFID Applications 245 cryptanalysis methods, can help to recover the secret key. In timing attack, the attacker analyses time needed to perform operations. For example, in straightforward implementation, PIN comparison is done byte by byte and returns no-match result after the first difference. Based on time, it can be deduced which byte caused the rejection of a PIN number and a guess can be made, byte by byte. Analysis of the electromagnetic field around the chip during its operation is more difficult for RFID than it is for contact chips, because of the interference with a stronger field which comes from the communication with the reader. However, as shown in (Carluccio at al. 2005), after separation of the antenna from the chip, the electromagnetic field generated by operation of the chip can be analysed. A basic countermeasure against side channel attacks is to design hardware and software to keep power consumption steady and ensure that the time taken by calculations does not depend on data or partial results of the operations. This can be achieved by avoiding conditional execution of any part of the code, even if the result of the calculation is not going to be used. In hardware design, manufacturers can add dummy registers and gates, which balance the consumption of energy but, again, resources for this kind of measure are very limited. An exhaustive list of references on side channel attacks can be found at 3. Discussion of selected applications In this section, we will discuss the application areas which we found especially important and sensitive to privacy and security threats. Our selection is based on several criteria: The importance of the application in terms of economics (market value, number of tags) and social impact (number of users, social implications). Security and privacy-related criteria, proposed in (Rotter 2008): Range of deployment of the system In systems operating locally within a restricted area, information between readers and the backend of the system is exchanged through a local network. Applications of this type, like some manufacturing processes or access controls, are generally less sensitive to security risks, as the physical security of the place is the first barrier to attacks. At the other extreme are global systems, where breaking security gives access to the data on millions of tags worldwide, or to a central database. Type of link between an RFID tag and identity-related data Privacy risks only exist in systems where it is possible to establish a link between the RFID tag and the identity of a person. Systems where it is not possible to link a tag to the identity of a person, for example most industrial and livestock tracking systems, do not raise any privacy concerns. In item-level tagging for example, or in anonymous tickets in public transport, a tag can be temporarily linked to identity. In some other applications, this link is fixed and defined in the system like e- Passports, payment systems, (e.g. Speedpass) and personal tokens for access control. Future applications of this type include credit card systems, location-based services and mobile phones equipped with Near Field Communication. Finally, systems based on RFID implants are the most privacy-sensitive as the link between a person and an RFID tag is physical and not very easy to remove. Demand for security Demand for security depends mostly on two factors: a) the size of potential damage, in terms of loss of money, loss of customers or, for example, disclosure of 10 246 Development and Implementation of RFID Technology privacy-sensitive information, and b) the level of motivation of attackers, related to the potential prize they could win if they are successful. These two factors are often correlated but not always: for example, in medical information systems, wrong treatment may cause serious damage. In general, however, attacker motivation is much lower than it is, say, in payment systems or e-passports. In the case of security (not privacy) demanding applications, we pay more attention to the public sector, as we believe that the business sector will more easily find a proper balance between expenses for security measures and losses caused by insufficient security. Coverage of the most relevant issues related to security and privacy in the set of selected applications. We do not offer a complete overview of all the application areas where privacy and security is relevant - for example, we do not discuss e-payment and access control. However, the privacy and security issues in these areas are similar (at least qualitatively) to those related to transport or other presented applications. 3.1 Item-level tagging RFID is becoming very popular in logistics and the supply chain (Bose & Pal, 2005), where it is employed as a kind of barcode with new, very desirable features. For example, unlike printed barcodes, RFID tags do not have to be in line-of-sight to be read, and they enable multiple scanning (e.g. the whole truck or basket at once) allowing for further automation in many industrial processes. In contrast to a barcode, which replicates an identification number only, tags may contain other information e.g. product details or, if combined with sensors, the history of storing conditions, mechanical shocks, etc. Threats to the privacy and security of users Item-level tagging brings privacy threats, which may limit its deployment. RFID tags attached to objects people have bought can be interrogated by someone to reveal what items they have in their shopping bags (including, for example, medicines) or the prices they paid. Moreover, although the set of things a person carries changes, it does not usually change completely. Such a set, called the RFID shadow or RFID constellation of a person (Garfinkel et al., 2005), if regularly updated, may serve to effectively track that person. RFID tags used for retail cannot be read from more than several meters, even if the standard reading distance is extended by a more powerful reader. However, if attackers placed readers at the entrances of shops, metros, airports, etc., they would be able to track individuals. This possibility has raised concerns for some privacy organizations and individuals, like those presented in (Albrecht, McIntyre 2005). Moreover, there is a potential risk of physical attack on a specific individual, based on his/her automatic identification. In the case of electronic passports some attention has been paid to the possibility of constructing a bomb triggered by information received from the RFID chip in the e-passport of a specific person or citizen from a specific nation ( Americansniffing bomb ), see e.g. (Juels et al., 2005). An RFID constellation could be used in a similar way and some features of tags used for item-level tagging make them even easier to exploit for potential attackers. First, they have a longer standard range, typically centimetres, compared with 10 cm for the standard 14443A tag used in e-passports. In both cases, the standard range can be extended: for e-passports to about cm, but for tags used in retail considerably further. Second, the e-passport has security protection mechanisms, which

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The oil change interval depends upon how dirty the combustion is in the engine and how much blow by gets into the oil but long term field tests show oil drain intervals increased about 3 times that of old technology oils. Recommended change intervals are around 10,000 miles in gasoline engines. Big diesels are much longer. Silver Series is the only oil on the market that pays for itself without causing other problems. Some of the new " higher performing" oils improve fuel economy by sacrificing bearing life. The silver chemistry is immune to oil dilution by antifreeze. This turned out to be important for a number of customers who had leaks from the coolant system into the oil. This normally results in a trashed engine but it has not with Silver Series customers. Over the years we have gotten feedback from customers that Silver Series makes engines, transmissions, and differentials quiet. A major transmission manufacturer found the same thing but this was just casual observation by an engineer. Finally we measured the sound produced in a commercial transmission with factory fill lubricant then again with Silver Series in the transmission. The sound with silver was attenuated in the 1000 Hz to 5000 Hz region. This is the center of the human hearing range. The absolute sound level was changed by a small amount. Silver does not pass sound at the same frequency as steel so sound is being reflected at surfaces where silver has deposited. This effect was predicted long ago based on quantum mechanical considerations but not reported until now. It is true that Silver Series lubricants can make mechanical devices appear to be quieter since the sound is attenuated in the most sensitive region of human hearing. The effect can be quit striking in a big noisy diesel engine. Silver Series contains no toxic components. The amount of silver is small. If swallowed it would do the same thing as mineral oil. It will be a powerful laxative. The EPA agreed to disposal in the same system as standards lubricants. I agreed not to sell Silver Series into marine uses. Silver is toxic to bacteria that live in lakes and streams. Since Silver Series contain no phosphorous or zinc, using them can result in reactivation of catalytic converters. A number of long term tests reproduce the results seen in a 5 L Ford in Arizona. Silver is a high-temperature carbon-burning catalyst, so diesels run cleaner. One quality of silver that has made it very popular with mechanical engineers, is its high temperature capability. Some aerospace research reports silver on steel systems operating in the 600 C range. This is red-heat range. Field data and internal research data indicate that the silver-based lubricants have a high temperature capability far above the melting point of aluminum and bearing materials. No one knows the upper temperature limit of Silver Series. The seals melt and the aluminum in pistons melt before the upper temperature limit is reached. In journal bearing applications, the thermal conductivity of the bearing shell material is a very important property. The reason for this is heat generated during rapid loading (combustion pulse) in the lubricant must be transferred to the bearing rapidly to prevent oil film collapse. Silver has both high density and extremely high thermal conductivity, so it is one of the best materials available for journal bearings. Placing a very thin layer of a noble metal between two steel surface prevents transfer of metal from one surface to the other. This is very important during break-in or run-in. Initially, new machined surfaces are very rough. The break-in process finishes the machining process. With silver in the system during break-in, surfaces are forced to run-in by plastic deformation rather than by removal of material. The result is that steel surfaces run in using silver-based lubricants are extremely smooth. Little metal transfer occurs. This is important, since the potential of atomically smooth working surfaces is within practical reach for the first time. Surface filling of low areas on working surfaces occurs as well. This is observed if a section of the working surface is cut out and placed in a surface mapping instrument. Micro voids in the metal are filled with silver, resulting in a very flat surface. This filling of surface defects will prevent further degradation of the surface. This micro repair occurs at the micron and smaller range, so it is not apparent with conventional methods, such as a light microscope. Silver is the same color as steel to the eye. The silver on a steel surface is detectable using very simple surface friction studies. Friction is extremely sensitive to surface chemistry. For the consumer, the refinishing process adds performance gradually. This performance is best described by " Pleasability Factor" used by application engineers. The consumer notices that the engine starts fast, and runs nice! These are rather obscure terms, but they indicate that the consumer is pleased with what is observed and what is not present. Unlike old technology, it is not possible to deplete or wear out metallic silver, since is continuously recycled inside an engine. Mother Nature gave silver a unique property. In an engine, its lowest energy state is metallic silver. Basic thermodynamics drives chemical reactions to products in the lowest energy state. This leaves only one pathway that limits the useful life of silver-based lubricants in an engine. This is accumulation of dirt and other abrasive debris. In lay terms, the internal combustion engine oil sump is being used as a garbage dump. Sooner or later the lubricant that is introduced as new clean oil is changed into something "unknown", due to addition of fuel by products and dirt. At this point, the lubricant has to be changed. This oil change point is at much longer oil change intervals than possible with old technology. The actual oil change interval is extremely dependent on the application, the efficiency of the combustion process and quality of the fuel. Examples - Diesels that generate abrasive soot have shorter oil change intervals than the new clean-burning diesels. Engines with fuel injection have longer oil change intervals than older carbureted engines. Silver in an engine lubricant apparently performs a function very similar to that reported for copper in engine oils. Addition of a very small amount of copper in the oil results in observation of increased oxidation stability. Likewise, the silver-based lubricants are exceptionally stable to oxidation in a fired engine. This is apparently a surface catalysis effect. By blocking the iron on a steel surface from participating in oxidation chemistry, the rate of oxidation reactions is reduced considerably. The amount of iron and other transition metals found in engine oil are also reduced considerably by reduction in wear rate, so the observed oxidation stability could be due to multiple positive functions. The above does not mean that Silver Series lubricants will not oxidize eventually. It does place the oxidation stability so far out of range, that other limiting factors like dirt and grim accumulation in the oil appear first. What you are looking at is a standard SEM ( Scanning Electron Microscope_)image of the nose of a 2.3 L Ford camshaft run in Silver Series. The silver on the surface is white. On the right is Scanning energy image where silver is blue and steel red. NASA did the imaging. Clearly the lubricant does what is claimed. The silver-based lubricants refinish working surfaces and decrease surface friction. The data collected on silver-based lubricants shows new use rules. A 20W silver-based lubricant will outperform an old technology 50W in both wear and efficiency in fired engines. This allows the use of much lower viscosity silver-based lubricants than is allowed by old technology rules. Old technology rules indicate that use of a high-viscosity lubricant will prolong engine life. With the silver-based lubricants, long term wear is not very dependent upon oil viscosity. This fundamental change is being met with much resistance, so higher viscosity silver-based lubricants are available to satisfy the owner and not the engine. Some people ask if Silver Series is a synthetic. We make only synthetic lubricants. The silver is the key factor in Silver Series. We make a synthetic to satisfy some people's belief that the term synthetic means something useful. It does mean better cold flow performance in extreme conditions, like found in Canada or Alaska, but is not required in the main part of the USA. Silver is a soft metal compared to steel. It was found long ago that if a soft metal is used in a bearing shell a very forgiving system is generated. All machining processes generate very small deviations from perfectly round and absolutely true alignment. The steel will not yield but the soft metal will yield to generate the desired alignment. This discovery made the manufacture of the piston engine practical. Also, soft metals have the tendency to not bond to steel strongly at the atomic level. This helps prevent metal transfer that destroys bearings. One might expect the silver based lubricants to be very costly, but most formulations sell for the same price as other premium lubricants. The primary reason why silver-based lubricants are usually priced on the top end of the lubricants scale is not due to the silver contained but to the cost of extremely pure base oils and components that have to be used. The effectiveness of silver as an antiwear is so much greater than conventional wear inhibitors, that silver is very cost effective. Silver Series Lubricants use advanced fluid mechanics to generate thicker films under high loads. In lay language-Vast Over kill. During the research phase of development of Silver Series lubricants other additional properties were found that make these elegant lubricants exceptional and very practical. Special note for RX7 owners. I have a 87 bought just for fun. Had to learn a lot about it since it was purchased in pieces., It smoked a great deal so I blended a 20W50 with a high temp viscosity near 60W . After running it for no more than 10 min. No smoke at all. Apparently, the 1.3 L Wankle is a very loose engine that needs a high viscosity low friction oil. : "[Many] use oils containing molydisulfide. This poisons my silver chemistry. All of them will have to do a double oil change, but I get orders anyway." -- Ron Spence (June 17, 2008) The Silver chemistry is not compatible with any other lubricant chemistry so mixing or dilution is not possible. The sulfur in regular oils converts silver to black silver sulfide which not a very good lubricant. Changing to Silver Series reeps such benefits that it is worth any small inconvienience. Just change the oil and filter. The exceptions are oils like Mobil 1 and Casterol that contain Moly disulfide. I recommend that the oil be changed to one like walmart's 5W30 cheap oil. The moly disulfide is in the oil to cheat an engine test so the oil can get the starburst emblem. If the engine has Slick 50 in it I tell them to forget Silver Series. I also don't deal with racing people. Removing all the friction in a race engine just helps the guys blow it up faster. I had a Sprint car come off the track with the tech needle showing 13,000 RPM. This was a Chevy 350. Near zero friction in the piston ring area does not allow the rings to heat up so in old or "loose ring " engines oil consumption may be a problem. GM cars with an oil sensor may trigger the warning light since the Silver Sries lubricant does not contain zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate which is the wear inhibitor in all API graded oils. All of the performance data published for Silver Series lubricants is from fired engines either on a test stand or in a vehicle. Some of the preliminary data was generated in a section of a production engine. No bench test data is published. There are two reason for this. The most important is that data derived from bench testing is always suspect since a bench tester is not the real final application. Most bench testers are properly used only by researchers in the materials and lubrication area to research some of the finer points prior to full scale testing or to generate publication quality data. This publication quality data might or might not apply directly to full scale fired engine behavior. Engines are extremely complicated. Attempting to reproduce the behavior of an engine invariably leads to a bench test that is so complicated that it is much simpler and less expensive to use a real engine. If Silver Series lubricants are placed in real fired engines they perform consistently over a very long period. If placed in a bench tester, random results are obtained. This is not a new discovery. Most bench testers have evolved along with old technology. Numerous optimizations were made in materials and test conditions to achieve a good correlation with full scale test results. It was assumed that the base chemistry of the lubricant would be unchanging. This has been true for so long this base assumption was forgotten. If Silver Series is tested in a bench tester and odd results are obtained, the report will contain either a ? or a Fail Test flag. The ? is the correct flag since Silver Series performs in fired engines consistently. The bench tester is producing odd results since it does not truly reproduce the real system. NASA in Cleveland owed me a favor so they ran a nose of a camshaft run on my silver oil in their surface mapping instrument and silver was all over the surface. Wear is reduced tremendously. My '89 Ranger has over 276,000 miles on it's drive train and it is still in new condition. Did some horse trading this Winter and got a 2001 Neon. Baseline highway mileage is 27 MPG for this car. It is now clocking in 34 MPG. It has a KN air filter so that may help too. Silver Series is compared to Pennzoil. Both are 5W30s. Oil is sampled at intervals and analyzed for iron, lead. copper and aluminum. I used the local Caterpillar lab. Later we found that the amount of improvement in wear depends on the metallurgy used. In a diesel Silver Series 15W40 was compared to Shell Rotella. Silver Series was 5X better on wear reduction. Article in the Kane Co Cronical May 28 1997. Other newspaper have dismissed this new technology as fake immediately. The earliest mechanical use of silver published in the modern literature was in a steam engine in the 1890's. Later, silver was used in a prototype piston engine in 1925. This was an era of experimentation in engines from all aspects. The silver was used in crankshaft journal bearings. Gold was also used. The silver bearing lay dormant until about the 1940's, when World War II interrupted the supply of chromium and nickel. Chromium and nickel are used in corrosion resistant coatings. This forced the use of silver in the Allied machines. The development of electroplating technology for silver allowed the development of silver-plated aircraft crankshaft journal bearings. In this use, silver was far superior to other bearing metals in its resistance to fatigue failure and was worth the added cost in aircraft to assure that the best and most reliable engines were available. During the '50's and '60's, silver found use in helicopter engines, since this application required absolute reliability. The development of reliable turbine engines forced silver out of the engines in helicopters, but silver found a new use in some combat helicopters in the tail rotor gears. Silver-clad rotor gears were (are) used, since the silver cladding provides a solid lubricant in case of lubricant supply failure to the rotor gears in a combat zone. Pilots of these combat helicopters indicate that the extra time added by using silver clad gears makes the difference in an uncomfortable hard landing and a crash. Today, silver is found in some marine gears and in severe duty bearings, where the retainers are silver plated. Silver is used in numerous applications throughout the aerospace industry. Here, the silver is deposited by a number of techniques not using electro-deposition. Most of the silver cladding uses one of the vacuum chamber techniques. The railroad diesel engines used today, have silver clad turbo-charger bearings. Throughout the history of the use of silver in mechanical devices, silver was used when extreme performance was required. The main reason why silver is not used extensively today is cost. Silver-clad components require repair on a regular basis, since the silver wears away from the working surface. In a sealed bearing, the silver plating on the retainer wears away, but in this application the silver is deposited on bearing races and rolling elements, so with a compatible lubricant, this is as close to a self-repairing system as may be attained. Some heavy truck transmissions still use silver-plated retainers and require a special lubricant that is compatible with silver. In the lubricants area, the first mention of a silver-based lubricant was in the mid '40's when a US patent was issued to Morgan of Conoco. This was a silver-based grease. There is no mention of the actual performance of this grease, except for physical properties. Silver, along with many other metals, was mentioned in the '70's in the Russian literature as a powder mixed with oil. The Russian literature called these mixtures "plating lubricants". Their intent was to introduce metal into the lubricant and have the metal plated onto working surfaces by physical transfer. Silver was also mentioned during the '70's in a US patent that used finely ground silver sulfate as a gear lubricant. No performance data was reported for any of these mentions of silver in lubricants, but it is obvious that their intent was to place silver into a lubricant and have the silver transferred to working surfaces to capture the performance of silver. Greases that contain particles of silver are sold today in applications that require electrical conductivity and as anti-seize compounds. These silver-based lubricants contain macro size silver particles. They are used only in a very narrow range of applications. Previous attempts to place silver in a lubricant were based on physical methods, such as grinding and ultra-shear devices. With silver, the physical size limit of any physical process is limited by power per unit volume. As the size is decreased, power input increases. Attempts to place silver in a lubricant using a physical method resulted in ill-behaved lubricants that either settled on standing or had very limited application potential. Silver Series lubricants are the most recent mention of silver in a lubricant. These new lubricants are transparent, so they do not have settling or stability problems. As a result, they have a very wide range of applications. As was envisioned by previous researchers, the silver in the lubricant does find its way onto metal working surfaces. This is observed by advanced surface mapping spectroscopic techniques. Silver Series lubricants are the extreme performers envisioned by previous researchers. What was not envisioned by previous researchers is a host very positive performance properties that were discovered during their development. Silver-based lubricants provide a unique set of performance advantages that together, set them in a class by themselves. Some of these were predicted long ago, but there are other performance advantages that are a pleasant surprise. Of course, well-behaved silver-based lubricants were not available until recently, so no direct experimental data was available. The performance properties of silver based lubricants are best classified as predicted from the history of silver and performance discovered during their recent development by LAR. Lubricant Additives Research LLC We moved to Florida email@example.com Ron Spence, Ph.D., invented this technology in 1994. He has been making and selling these high tech lubricants since 1998 under an EPA approved permit. He holds a B.S., MS, and Ph.D. in Chemistry. : "I am supposed to be retired but still intend to make these lubricants 'til I die. I think people need to know about these lubricants." Spence received a B.S. in Chemistry from the U of Alabama, a M.S. and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the U of South Florida. He spent about 25 years working in research for oil companies and one bearing company. His area of specialization is called tribochemistry. This is the basic science of friction and wear as seen by a chemist. Engineers working in this area are called tribologists. : "It took a strange combination of fields of expertise plus some nonlinear thinking to result in a new lubricant like Silver Series. It is not like anything else. It required forgetting all the old rules and finding out what the new rules are for silver based lubricants." The wholesale price of Silver Series is about $28/gal No retail quantities or pricing presently offered. "2 gallon cases on a trial basis, but 6 gallon cases are standard or 55 gallon barrels". All Silver Series lubricants are full synthetic blends. Shipping varies considerably with location. My apology about the recent price increase but my suppliers are raising the price of all my purchased components. If you consider the saved fuel by using Silver Series the return in investment is still exceptionally good. Here is some real data from my Ford Ranger 2.3L 5 speed. Without my lubricant this vehicle gets 24 MPG in mixed highway/city driving . With my lubricants in the entire drive train it gets 29 MPG. If I drive 20,000 miles per year my lubricant saves $570. That is better than the exotic new technologies that sell for thousands of $s. I recently did some trading and got a 2001 Neon. The EPA states 28 MPG for this vehicle. After about 600 miles using my 5W30 the gas mileage was 33 MPG. Lubricant Additives Research makes a 5W20, 5W30, and a 10W40. These are now Full Synthetic "These lubricants have been in everything that burns alcohol, gasoline or diesel, including the 350 Cummings and 440 Cat." If you are using Mobil 1, RoyalPurple Casterol or any other oil that contains Moly Disulfide, a double oil change is required to get rid of the moly disulfide. If you are using Slick-50 don't try to use Silver Series. Sulfur and chlorine react with silver rendering it not effective. Silver Series has been manufactured for about 15 years. Thousands of gallons have been manufactured during that time. The silver lubricant technology is proprietary, since publishing it in a patent would result in very expensive litigations defending the patent. The US EPA agreed to hide the permit, so it is not published. J. Ronald Spence, Ph.D. President. Apopka, Fl, 32712 Please use firstname.lastname@example.org if you don't hear back from me. Ron Directory:Fuel Efficiency - main index FUEL TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES Template:Electric Vehicles footer - more EV listings VEHICLE HARDWARE MODIFICATIONS There was an error working with the wiki: Code I will use this section for testimonials from customers Adrian Akau- Hawaii Subject: Re: Inquiry Date: Monday, November 10, 2008 1:09 PM Thanks for writing I had intended to send you a note on Saturday. I finished off the synthetic oil in September and then ran the regular oil for about 6 weeks (my son does most of the driving) for the 3,000 miles. Then about the end of October I put in your silver oil. However, since I am old and do not drive too much (except to drive once every 10 days or so for food to Hilo), my son drove the Echo until this past Saturday as he uses it to drive people with disabilities around. Then this past Saturday, I drove it for the first time to Hilo which is 52 miles from Pahala where I live. The road is pretty straight but must pass over the National Park area which is at an altitude of 4024 feet so there is about 25 miles uphill and 25 miles downhill. For the most part, the slope is gradual but some parts have fairly steep slopes, some of which go for up to about 2 miles. Here are my findings: 1. I could not tell on level ground if there was any increase in power by the position of my pedal when the ground was level or there was a slight slope. 2. On the uphill part: There was a pronounced difference. I had a heavy load and the power in the car was sufficient to bring it up all the hills without down-shifting. In fact, for the first time on one of the hills, the motor actually accelerated from 45 mph to almost 50 mph which is the first time this ever happened. I usually have to start that section of the hill at about 60 just to get up it without too much deceleration and never before has the motor had sufficient power to keep it at 45 or above on this grade beginning at 45 (I had to slow down to 45 because a car in the front had to take a turn just where the slope began). The Echo motor is 1500 cc but the weight is 2200 pounds and I always had the impression that the power was not sufficient because of all the shifting (it is an automatic). I have to tell you that the power of the motor for the first time is adequate because of the oil you supplied. I am grateful to you for developing this product. I have not kept any mpg accounts as yet but with the increase in power, I am sure that it will be better than before. If there is any way I could assist you with the sales of your product, please let me know. We have automotive dealers in Hilo who might be willing to carry your product. At least now the price of gasoline here has dropped from just above $5/gallon to $3.75/gallon. Best regards and thank you very much for developing this good oil,

Check against delivery Twenty-five years ago, Europe was still in the grip of the Cold War. Half of Europe was still behind the Iron Curtain, and the people living there were unable to travel and speak freely. On the night of 5–6 February 1989, a young waiter named Chris Gueffroy was shot and killed in an attempt to cross the Berlin Wall. We did not know it then, but he was to be the last person to be shot while trying to flee to the West. Just a generation ago, but this was the start of a period of momentous events. Many of the countries that previously lay behind the Iron Curtain have developed from single party states into democracies, from planned economies into market economies. From cultural uniformity to a revival of some of the strongest elements of our diverse European cultural heritage. These countries are now our allies in NATO, members of the EU and hence our partners in the EEA. The Government’s European policy is all about the values we believe in, the wealth creation that ensures our livelihoods, and the friends we depend on. The European cooperation is the greatest project for peace and democracy in history. The EEA Agreement, which has served the Norwegian business sector so well for 20 years, is part of this project. Norway has everything to gain from close cooperation with those who are our closest friends in the international community. You can sometimes get the impression from the public debate in Norway that the EEA Agreement limits the rights and opportunities of Norwegian citizens and companies. This is completely wrong. Yes, the EEA Agreement sets the ground rules for important segments of our economy and society. And yes, there may at times be too much micromanagement. But the important thing is that we have a common set of rules in Europe, and that – through the EEA Agreement and our other agreements with the EU – Norwegian companies and citizens have access to the broader European community. In areas where the common European market needs regulation, it is better to have a single set of rules than 31 different sets of national rules. The fact is that common rules offer Norwegian citizens more rights and opportunities. That is why maintaining and further developing the EEA Agreement is one of Norway’s core interests. That is why the EEA Agreement is a mainstay of Norwegian European policy. This year as we celebrate our Constitution, we should remember that in 1814 we were part of a broader European picture, as we still are in 2014. Our Constitution was inspired by European ideas: the rule of law, the balance of power and fundamental freedoms. These principles could not be taken for granted then. Nor can they be taken for granted today. But they are in many ways at the heart of what European cooperation is about: common rules for the protection of the individual, for protection against the abuse of power. The events that have been taking place in Ukraine are a reminder that these principles cannot be taken for granted even in Europe in the 21st century. Developments in Ukraine have highlighted just how important it is to be part of a European cooperation based on peaceful coexistence, common values, principles of international law, economic integration and collective security. Seeing tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets for hours on end in the biting cold to demand that the President signed an association agreement with the EU made a strong impression on us all. At the same time, the protests in Kiev showed that, although it is in the throes of its deepest economic and social crisis, the EU has not lost its attractiveness. This is due to the greater political freedom and economic prosperity that comes with European integration. When the Berlin Wall was torn down 25 years ago, Ukraine and Poland had approximately the same per capita gross national income (GNI); today Poland’s GNI is twice as high as Ukraine’s. The crisis in Ukraine and Russia’s subsequent behaviour must be met with a unified European response. It is therefore more important than ever for Europe to have an effective common foreign policy. Europeans are justified in expecting the EU to guarantee democracy and the principles of international law within Europe and to promote these principles in neighbouring countries. Norway can be a useful partner in this work, which is particularly important given that the crisis in Ukraine and the Western countries’ response to Russia’s behaviour are being dealt with by EU bodies. For Norway, as a non-member, this creates certain challenges. We are in the midst of a crisis, and it is crucial that we show solidarity with our allies in NATO and coordinate our response with our partners in the EU. Our ongoing dialogue with the EU on security and defence policy is therefore vital for keeping up to date with what is happening in EU processes in this area. This dialogue is also important for further developing the cooperation between Norway and the EU in the area of foreign and security policy. The development of defence capabilities in the EU is an important question in this context. Our close cooperation gives us a platform for defending fundamental European values. This is why Norway has aligned itself with the EU’s restrictive measures. In consultation with our partners in EFTA, we have also decided to postpone further negotiations on a free trade agreement between EFTA and the Russian-led customs union. Since the change of government in Kiev, the political part of the association agreement with the EU has been signed. Work is now underway to prepare the ground for the signing of the rest of the association agreement including the provisions on free trade. The agreement will bring Ukraine a big step closer to the EU, while also committing the country to implementing important reforms. Ukraine is the largest country in the EU’s Eastern Partnership, but the EU is also important for the other countries in the partnership. Negotiations on association and free trade agreements with Georgia and Moldova have already been completed, and the EU has brought forward the date for the signing of these agreements to June this year. Norway is supporting the EU in the further development of the Eastern Partnership. We are financing projects in all the partner countries and are working to coordinate our efforts with those of the EU and other donors. We are also providing project support within the framework of the Partnership, and are taking part in the Information and Coordination Group established by the EU for friends of the Partnership. Norwegian efforts and initiatives to support the countries in the Eastern Partnership will become even more important in the years to come. It is also important to support the European Neighbourhood Policy in promoting economic, political and social development to the south of our common Schengen border. It is in our interests that the countries of the Middle East and North Africa become more stable and offer greater economic opportunities to their inhabitants. This is an area where development policy, foreign policy, security policy and European policy are closely interconnected. The Minister of Foreign Affairs highlighted the importance of North Africa in his address to the Storting earlier this spring. North Africa presents major security challenges for Europe. Weak and unevenly distributed economic development, high unemployment rates, and, in certain countries, weak governance and porous borders are creating problems in terms of organised crime, terrorism and not least migration flows to the rest of Europe. In our view, the challenges of migration and security in the Mediterranean region require a broad, long-term international engagement in countries of origin as well as countries of transit. It is therefore in in the interests of Norway and Europe as a whole to help to build up inclusive institutions and political processes in our neighbouring countries to the south, and thus help to stabilise the region. Norway’s efforts in North Africa are closely coordinated with those of the EU, and should be seen as part of the development of a coherent Norwegian Mediterranean policy. We are now intensifying our efforts in Tunisia in line with this coherent approach. Tunisia has led the way in implementing reforms in the wake of the Arab Spring. The country is undergoing an inclusive democratisation process, and moderate Islamists and secular forces have reached agreement on a democratic constitution unlike any we have seen in the region. A successful democratisation process in Tunisia is crucial for stability in the country and important for the rest of the region. Further developing relations with Tunisia is a high priority for the EU and its member countries in the European Neighbourhood Policy. As a member of Schengen and the EEA, Norway shares the EU’s interest in working to achieve sustainable stability in North Africa. The focus of our efforts will be on areas such as democracy and human rights, job creation, the environment and energy. Our intensified efforts vis-à-vis Tunisia will of course be closely coordinated with the EU. The instability that we are witnessing in the EU’s neighbouring regions both to the south and to the east reminds us once again that European policy is all about the values that we believe in and the value creation that ensures our livelihoods. There is a gap in the level of both welfare and freedom between the EU and its neighbouring countries. Norway will take part in the work to increase welfare and freedom in the EU’s neighbourhood. If we are to influence the development of EU policy, we must cooperate and participate in the arenas that are open to us. We are able to have most impact when we become involved in political processes at an early stage and can thus help to develop solutions that are good for both Norway and Europe. It is precisely the need for early involvement that is at the heart of the Government’s European strategy, which will be presented soon. The strategy will cover the period up to the next parliamentary election in 2017. It will outline the Government’s main European policy priorities and how we will work to achieve them. It also points out that early involvement will not be possible unless there is openness and debate at an early stage in the development of EU policy. Let me give some examples of political issues that are being given priority by the Government and that we would like to see a debate on, both in the Storting and in society as a whole. Norway has major interests in the area of energy and climate policy. Recent events in Ukraine have pushed energy security even higher up on the European agenda. Norway is a major supplier of both renewable and non-renewable energy to the European energy market. Through the EEA Agreement, Norway participates fully in the internal energy market. Most of Norway’s gas is exported to the European market, and it plays a vital part in ensuring security of supply in Europe. In April the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) drew attention to the role of natural gas as a bridge to a renewable energy future. The EU’s long-term strategy choices will be highly significant for us. In addition to the work to complete the internal energy market, two other important and partially related processes are underway in the EU this spring. In March, the European Council requested the Commission to draw up a plan to reduce EU dependence on energy imports. The plan, which is to be presented next month, will examine diversification of energy sources and transport routes, energy efficiency and the development of infrastructure, in the EU as well as in third countries. Energy markets operate on commercial principles. However, as an important energy producer and major exporter to the EU, Norway will, in practice, be affected by measures taken by the EU. Besides, there are some proposals being discussed in Europe that may be inconsistent with the open, market-based approach taken in Norway and the other Nordic countries. It is therefore important that we follow these developments closely, consider their significance for us and put forward our points of view. The other important process is the development of the 2030 policy framework for climate and energy. The final decision on this policy framework is due to be taken at the latest in October this year, so that the EU has an ambitious policy in place before the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015. We submitted our views on the policy framework ahead of the European Council meetings in December and March. The Government welcomed the Commission’s proposals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and emphasised the importance of further strengthening the EU Emissions Trading System. The Government agrees with the Commission on the need to complete the internal energy market and to strengthen integration between the countries concerned. This will improve utilisation of resources and energy security. With regard to the new targets set out in the 2030 policy framework, Norway has emphasised the importance of well-functioning energy markets. European energy policy must be designed to ensure that the necessary investments are actually made. We have also pointed out that Norwegian hydropower can play a useful role in the European power supply system, and that natural gas can be used to ramp up energy production to balance variable output from new energy sources and as a replacement for coal. EU targets are not binding for Norway, but they determine the framework for our most important trading partners, and the subsequent EU legislation may be incorporated into the EEA Agreement. Therefore, the Government will continue to follow these processes and consider on an ongoing basis whether there is need for further input from Norway. We intend to provide any new input straight away, and not at some later stage. Another issue that the Government wishes to raise for discussion is the export of social security benefits. The free movement of persons is a key principle of the European community we are – and want to continue to be – part of: where each and every one of us has the freedom to seek employment in a community of 31 countries and 500 million people. In two days’ time, we will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the common Nordic labour market, which is a cornerstone of the Nordic cooperation. On 1 May, it was ten years since the EU gained ten new member countries. Since this eastward enlargement of the EU – and hence the EEA – Norway has been one of the countries in the EEA that has received most labour immigrants in relation to its population from the new member countries. Labour immigration from the rest of Europe has benefited Norway, and continues to do so. The rural districts in particular have benefited from this new source of labour. However, high levels of labour immigration also give rise to certain challenges. There are several indications that the export of social security benefits will increase in the years ahead. Our strong economy and Norwegian companies’ need for labour, combined with continued high unemployment rates in other parts of Europe, suggest that people from other EEA countries will continue to come to Norway to find jobs. At the same time, there is an increasing number of Norwegians who want to spend parts of their lives abroad. The principles of the free movement of persons and of non-discrimination on the basis of nationality are crucial for ensuring that the internal market functions well to everyone’s benefit. Against this backdrop, we must consider whether we have struck the right balance in our welfare system, so that it both supports the right to freedom of movement for persons within the EEA and is sustainable in the long term. The Government is therefore examining issues relating to the export of welfare benefits in a European context. It is important to underline that the Government does not intend to stop or reduce pensions that are paid to people resident outside Norway. Pensions are benefits that are normally earned over a long period of time on the basis of paid contributions. We are looking into the possibility of making changes in other areas, such as child benefit, cash-for-care benefits and unemployment benefits. This debate is not just taking place in Norway. It is therefore important that we consider these questions now, at the same time as our partners in other European countries. Moreover, this is an area where Norway has useful experience and knowledge that we can contribute to the European debate. Let me also mention a third area where early involvement is important – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the US. This partnership is currently under negotiation and could represent a quantum leap in transatlantic economic ties. It can have huge implications for us; 70 % of Norway’s imports are from the EU and the US, and they receive 86 % of our exports. The various ministries have carried out a preliminary study of the potential consequences of this partnership for Norway. I would like to emphasise that there are strong grounds for optimism: TTIP will probably lead to significant economic growth in our two most important markets, and this will be beneficial for the Norwegian economy. However, we cannot deny that we may face challenges. Under TTIP, exporters in the EU could have better conditions in the US than Norwegian exporters. At the same time, Norwegian exporters could lose advantages that they have enjoyed in the EU compared with US competitors. Norway’s seafood exports, in particular, could be badly affected. The competitiveness of Norwegian fish exports is likely to be considerably reduced, given that Norway does not have tariff-free access for its fish exports to either the EU or the US. Seafood is our second most important export industry, and the potential for growth is considerable. Therefore Norway considers it crucial to increase its market access for seafood. This is a matter that the Government takes very seriously. We will endeavour to improve our market access for fish, for example under the EEA Agreement, and we will consider every opportunity for gaining the best possible access to the US market. Norway’s formal rights in the EEA would not be affected by a partnership between the EU and the US. Norwegian companies will still be subject to a common regulatory framework for the whole of the EEA. However, we must be aware that TTIP could affect the further development of this framework. The EU and the US have different views on the precautionary principle, and rules in areas of importance for health and the environment, for example on chemicals, also differ. At the same time, both parties emphasise that the partnership will not affect the current level of protection. Tackling barriers such as differences in technical regulations and approval procedures is an important part of the TTIP negotiations. These are also key areas in the EEA Agreement. It is too soon to say how the Commission will involve its expert groups and committees, which Norway participates in under the EEA Agreement, in this process. But there is reason to believe that they will be drawn in as the TTIP negotiations progress. It will therefore be important for us to take full advantage of our opportunity to participate in these groups, and to make use of all the other channels available to us for obtaining information and putting forward our views. At the meeting of the EEA Council on 13 May, we pointed out the significance of TTIP for the EEA/EFTA countries and the need for ongoing information about the process from our colleagues in the EU. Ultimately, this is also a question of Norwegian welfare, Norwegian jobs and Norwegian competitiveness. Increasing Norway’s competitiveness is one of the Government’s main priorities. When it comes to production costs, Norway will never be the cheapest country, so we have to be smart. That is why the Government attaches so much importance to knowledge, research and innovation. The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020, and the EU programme for education, training, youth and sport, Erasmus+, are designed to promote the achievement of the goals set out in the EU’s overall strategy for enhancing Europe’s competitiveness. Norway participates in these two programmes and makes a significant financial contribution: at today’s exchange rate, Norway’s contribution will amount to some NOK 23 billion during the period 2014–20. The Government therefore considers it important to ensure that we make the most of Norway’s participation in these programmes. We need to make sure that teachers, students, researchers and business leaders across the country are aware of the opportunities for project funding that are available from the EU, and help them to succeed in the competition for funding. This will help to both enhance the quality of Norwegian research and education and strengthen Norwegian competitiveness and value creation. The EU market is by far the most important market for the Norwegian business sector. The Government is seeking to secure the best possible access to the EU market for Norwegian companies, by promoting harmonisation of rules and stable and predictable framework conditions. It is important for Norwegian companies that the process of incorporating new legislation into the EEA Agreement and of implementing new legislation in Norwegian law is speeded up. The number of legal acts that have been adopted by the EU but that have not yet been incorporated into the EEA Agreement is currently close to 600. We are working with our EFTA partners and the EU to reduce this number. It is worth noting here that we are increasingly finding ourselves waiting for the EU to complete its legislative process and that the ball is not in our court. The number of cases still waiting to be dealt with by Norway has been reduced significantly since the Government took office. Joint efforts are being made under the auspices of EFTA, as well as at national level in each of the EFTA countries, to reduce the backlog of outstanding cases in the somewhat longer term. We should start seeing the results of these efforts later this year. Alongside these developments, we are continuing our important work on current EEA matters. I would like to mention a few of these: The EU’s new Posting of Workers Enforcement Directive was adopted a week ago. The Enforcement Directive will play an important role in ensuring that the rules set out in the Posting of Workers Directive are properly applied, and will help to prevent social dumping. It is good that the EU countries have managed to reach agreement on a joint platform for better enforcing EU rules on the posting of workers. The text, as adopted, allows states to impose additional control measures at national level over and above those listed in the Directive. This is in line with what we have been seeking to achieve in this area, and will allow us to maintain and further develop our own rules for posted workers from EEA countries. I would like in particular to say a few words about the important issue of the EU’s new guidelines for regional aid, which regulate Norway’s scheme for differentiated employers’ national insurance contributions. The development of the new rules clearly revealed just how important it is for Norway to follow such processes closely, to respond to developments and to put forward our views. The new regional aid rules were adopted last summer and will enter into force this July. They will restrict the extent to which Norway can reduce employers’ national insurance contributions in several sectors. Since the new Government took office, we have been in dialogue with the EFTA Surveillance Authority and in contact with the Commission on the sector limitations in the new rules. Our aim is to promote our views on how the rules can be interpreted, seek clarification as regards a number of specific effects, and to agree on other possible solutions. We are seeking the narrowest possible definition of the sector limitations in the rules, and a distinction between horizontal and more sector-specific instruments. The Minister of Finance and the Minister of Local Government and Modernisation wrote to the Commission about the sector limitations on 28 April. Last week I met representatives of the Commission and was told that the decisions made in summer 2013 still stand. At the same time, the Commission invited us to take part in a further expert-level dialogue on the interpretation of the rules and on what other forms of aid will be possible under the new rules. As the Minister of Finance has announced, the Government will submit a separate proposition on the matter. The Government has noted that on 8 April this year the European Court of Justice declared the Data Retention Directive to be invalid on the grounds that it severely interferes with our right to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data. It is now up to each individual country to consider which legal acts to introduce in this area, within the framework of the European Convention on Human Rights and the EEA Agreement. In a letter dated 11 April to the Presidium of the Storting, the Prime Minister made it clear that Norway will not incorporate legislation in this area into Norwegian law before the matter has been considered by the Storting again. There are also a number of important matters relating to the energy sector, Mr President. The EU’s aim of establishing a fully functioning internal energy market by 2014 is to be achieved through the implementation of three legislative packages. We are currently considering the details of how to incorporate the third package into the EEA Agreement. Further discussions with the Commission are planned on the question of Norway’s participation in the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and on other adaptations to the legislation. Our aim is for Norway to have clarified the necessary adaptations by the summer so that we can return the matter to the EU with a view to reaching agreement on the incorporation of the third energy package into the EEA Agreement. I would also like to mention the internal market for electronic communications, a growth industry in which Norway is a significant player. Last autumn the Commission presented a package of measures aimed at establishing a European internal market for electronic communications. We want to see harmonised rules for electronic communications and their uniform application throughout the EEA. The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), an independent, advisory EU body made up of representatives of the national regulatory authorities for electronic communications in the EU member states, has a key role to play in the development and implementation of the rules. We are therefore seeking full participation rights in BEREC for the EEA EFTA countries, equal to those of the EU member states, with the exception of the right to vote. EU agencies and supervisory bodies are playing an increasingly important role in policy development and the implementation of legislation in the EU, and Norway participates in a number of them. There is an increasing tendency for these agencies and supervisory bodies to be given direct decision-making authority, which raise questions in relation to both the two-pillar structure of the EEA Agreement and the Norwegian Constitution. Under the two-pillar structure, the basic principle is that it should be an EFTA body that exercises authority vis-à-vis an EEA EFTA state. As regards the Norwegian Constitution, the practice since the EEA Agreement entered into force has been to deal with new EEA legislation under Article 26, second paragraph, of the Constitution, which requires the consent of the Storting. This provision of the Constitution has been interpreted as meaning that powers may be transferred to an international body enabling it to make decisions that have a direct effect on legal entities in Norway, provided that the transfer of powers is considered not to encroach too far on constitutional powers. If the powers given to agencies or supervisory bodies are considered to encroach too far on constitutional powers, adaptations will be required before the legislation can be incorporated into the EEA Agreement. Such adaptations are not intended to give the EEA EFTA states special treatment, but to adapt the EFTA/EU cooperation to the fundamental principles of the EEA Agreement and Norway’s constitutional framework. The EEA cooperation is unlikely to be able to function effectively if the EFTA countries are not able to formally participate in EU agencies and supervisory bodies. In the last instance, this could mean a loss of market access and unequal conditions of competition for Norwegian companies and other affected parties. Moreover, participation in various EU agencies and bodies gives us an opportunity to be involved in the development of EU policy, to participate in expert networks and also gives us access to information that is vital for the implementation of legislation at the national level. The Government therefore gives high priority to finding solutions that enable us to participate in new EU agencies within the framework of the EEA Agreement. There are also agencies in the area of justice and home affairs in which it would be useful for Norway to participate. There are not many of them at present, and none of them has decision-making authority of the type I have just described. The Government therefore attaches importance to developing arrangements for Norwegian participation in relevant agencies in this area. People move more and more freely across borders within the EU and EEA, and this unfortunately applies to criminals as well. There is an increasing number of foreign citizens serving sentences in Norwegian prisons. A bilateral agreement with the EU on association with the framework decision establishing a system for the transfer of sentenced persons would make it possible for Norway to transfer foreign prisoners to their home country more quickly than is currently the case under the Council of Europe convention. At present, we are giving high priority to concluding bilateral agreements with relevant countries, following the same principles as the framework decision. Let me return now to the situation in Europe. I am pleased that we are now seeing signs of economic recovery, although there is still a significant degree of uncertainty. In the last quarter of 2013, the economy of the euro area grew by an annual rate of 1.1 %. This was the third quarter in a row that the economy of the euro area showed positive growth. Moreover, in contrast to the growth in previous quarters, growth in the fourth quarter was broad based. For the first time since the first quarter of 2011, economic activity increased in all the major countries in the euro area simultaneously. Even in countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal, the economy is now showing signs of recovery. And last month, when Greece issued government bonds for the first time in four years, the market reaction was more positive than expected. A series of tough austerity measures have put public finances on a more sustainable footing. This year fiscal policy will continue to have the effect of reducing demand for goods and services, but to a much lesser extent than in previous years. But unemployment remains high, and it will take time to achieve the level of growth necessary to significantly reduce unemployment. The social challenges look set to last much longer than the economic ones. In several countries the financial crisis has highlighted the need for structural reforms. The reforms that have been implemented have been designed to strengthen competitiveness and stimulate growth, as well as to make it easier to service and reduce the high debt burden in both the private and public sectors. The EU has also strengthened political and economic cooperation. One example of this is the creation of a banking union, involving the establishment of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the Single Resolution Mechanism and the gradual development of a Single Resolution Fund. Agreement has also been reached on common EU rules for dealing with failing banks. Several of the reforms that have been implemented affect the internal market and as such go straight to the heart of our cooperation with the EU. Three new financial supervisory authorities have been established, for example, and this has implications for the Norwegian authorities and our financial institutions. We want to be involved, but we need to find a way of participating that is compatible with Article 26 of the Constitution and the EEA Agreement’s two-pillar structure. Finding a solution that meets our needs as well as those of the EU is no easy task. It is important however that we agree on a solution to this matter as soon as possible. Until we have done so, the legislation establishing the supervisory authorities cannot be incorporated into the EEA Agreement. Nor can legislation that transfers further powers to these authorities. The revised Directive on Deposit Guarantee Schemes was adopted by the EU in the middle of April. Full harmonisation of the level of coverage for national deposit guarantee schemes at EUR 100 000, which was introduced in 2009, is continued in the latest revision of the Directive. A transition period up to the end of 2018 has been agreed for countries that provide higher coverage than EUR 100 000. In practice this arrangement only applies to Norway. The revised Directive also establishes a transition period of 10 years for building up funds to the target level and reducing repayment periods. This means that it will be ten years before a fully harmonised deposit guarantee system is in place in Europe. Because the revised Directive makes the European Banking Authority the competent authority, the necessary adaptations must be agreed on before it can be incorporated into the EEA Agreement. Once a solution has been found, we will consider how the Directive is to be incorporated into the EEA Agreement. The Government will keep the Storting informed of developments in this matter. It is clear that restructuring in the wake of the financial crisis will take time. One of the reasons is that it also raises some fundamental questions about international solidarity, the sustainability of the welfare state, and how the social consequences of the crisis should be addressed. These are important questions that can only be answered through comprehensive political processes, both in the individual countries and at the European level. It is important that the effects of the restructuring measures do not undermine confidence between governments and citizens. This week’s elections to the European Parliament will give us an indication of where we stand in this respect. Many people have predicted increased support for the less mainstream parties that are critical of the EU. This should be a reminder of the importance of ensuring that key decisions have the support of the general public. We must not allow the economic crisis to be replaced by a crisis of confidence. The financial crisis has also highlighted the need for a robust European market. The EEA and Norway Grants have a role to play here. Negotiations on the new funding period for the EEA and Norway Grants scheme and on market access for seafood after 30 April 2014 began on 22 January. The EU is demanding a significant increase in Norway’s contribution to the scheme compared with the previous period. The EU has proposed that much of this increase should come in the form of a separate contribution aimed at reducing youth unemployment in a range of EU countries, including some that do not qualify for support under the EEA and Norway Grants or from the EU Cohesion Fund. Norway cannot accept this. We support the idea that, in the future, some of the funding under the scheme can be used to stimulate innovation and growth so that more young Europeans are able to find work, but only within the framework of the established criteria for the EEA and Norway Grants. So far in the negotiations we have indicated our willingness to continue to provide funding at the current level. We have referred to the fact that in the EU budget for the period up to 2020, the EU’s contribution to reducing economic and social disparities in Europe is lower in real terms. We have also pointed out that several of the beneficiary states have seen positive economic development in recent years. The EEA and Norway Grants are intended to promote economic and social development and reduce disparities in Europe. Only countries that receive support from the EU Cohesion Fund are entitled to receive support under the Grants scheme. Negotiations on the continuation of tariff quotas for fish and fishery products are taking place in parallel with the negotiations on our contributions to the scheme, and the two processes are being dealt with together. An important task in the time ahead will be to find a way of bringing the process forward. It is the Government’s view that the EU needs to change its approach. We have conveyed this message, most recently in the meeting of the EEA Council on 13 May, and will continue to do so at meetings with representatives of the EU and EU member states, at both political and senior official level. As I mentioned at the beginning of this address, the EEA Agreement is 20 years old this year. But it was originally conceived in 1989. That was the year when the then President of the European Commission Jacques Delors launched the idea of establishing a large European Economic Area with common rules. And it was also the year when courageous people took to the streets in the autumn darkness and tore down the Wall. It was about choosing the path for the future. It was about becoming part of the European family. The EEA Agreement is our gateway into the European family. Conceived in the 1980s, born at the beginning of the 1990s, it was a child of its time. But I would like to stress, as I draw to a close, that the EEA Agreement has worked well for Norway for 20 years and it continues to do so. One of Norway’s objectives when negotiating the Agreement was to be able to continue on a course that we had followed through much of the 20th century – close integration into European affairs, an open economy, and acceptance for the principle of free trade as a basis for our welfare state. And we have succeeded in this. The advantages have been greater than many had hoped, and the disadvantages fewer than many had feared. The Government will build further on this. The EEA Agreement has allowed Norway to fulfil its main objective, namely to ensure that Norway can participate in the internal market, and benefit from the free movement of goods, services, capital and persons. We see the results of this every day in our daily lives, in our work and in our business activities. The freedoms and rights we are guaranteed under the EEA Agreement are all about both the values we believe in and the wealth creation on which we all depend.

Myles Hainsworth - I signed because I believe that public debate over some of the most pressing issues of our time (terrorism, human rights, globalisation) has been constrained by ideology: arguments made and positions taken are too often determined by the orthodoxy of the Left or Right. Stubbornly toeing the ideological line, no matter what, leads inevitably to ludicrous and dangerous inconsitencies and hypocrisies on both sides. What is needed is intellectual honesty, a willingness to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, even if it is across ideological/political ‘enemy’ lines. It is better to occasionally find oneself with strange bedfellows than to preach always with the same choir. Justin Hall - Trapped in a never-ending process of state suppression, horrific poverty, and shocking military, cultural and social defeats, the average Muslim living in the Middle East has nothing else. Corrupt governments ensure the stability of their own regimes by financing their own secret police and military while turning a blind eye to radical mullahs: they justify the corrupt regime, and the regime will turn a blind eye to their fundamentalist, revolutionary rhetoric. The result? An oppressed people whose only outlet is religion, which becomes radicalized to conform to the population’s own radicalism. Religion becomes a solution, the only solution in a society that offers little else. It becomes the only remaining alternative to failed democracy, failed socialism, failed fascism and failed monarchy. A panacea for withering economic growth, state-sponsored suppression and, to a great extent, humility in the face of a powerful, rich and functioning democracy in the form of Israel and American influence on the policies on Middle Eastern regimes. It is imperative that we approach this complex, explosive issue through a bipartisan, unified front. It is only through productive dialogue from opposing parties that we can arrive at a clear, practical solution that addresses the fundamental reasons for terrorism. Michael Halsey Jr. Fabian Hamilton - I agree with the manifesto and its forward looking principles. I am especially impressed with its embrace of freedom and its rejection of racism and anti-semitism. The points made about the growing respectability of anti-Zionism are especially important. James Hamilton - The Euston Manifesto is a long, long overdue restatement of internationalism and universal human rights. These things are have dwindled into talking points for comfortable people in safe places; they must become once again a shield against human suffering and a weapon against those who would inflict it. The monument to volunteers in the Spanish Civil War on London’s South Bank stands as a reminder that we once understood this, here in the United Kingdom. The Euston Manifesto shows that we have not, all of us, entirely, forgotten. Julian Hamm - As The Usual Suspects has it: “If you want to be in power you don’t need money or guns or even people. You just need the will to do what the other guy won’t.” The Left seems to have lost the will, not just to fight for what it believes in, but even to apply their fundamental principles in an impartial and self-consistent way. I think it is vital that we explicitly state that behaviour that would be villified in our own society should be equally villified in others. The liberal democratic project is perhaps mankind’s single greatest cultural achievement, bringing countless benefits to millions. It is not a zero-sum game. We are not democratic at the expense of others. But others are totalitarian to the cost of all. This is a profound and important document and I welcome it without reservation. Lauren Hammer - I signed to contribute my voice to a wave of commitment to basic human values, which I believe I and the left must defend and support in our world of increasing corporate, government, and individual greed. Richard Hammond - In the spirit of compromise (there are always going to be areas of reasonable disagreement and that should be welcomed), this is the best ditillation of most of the principles of progressivism that I ascribe to and which have, in many cases, been obscured in the rhetoric of partisanship in this country (America) and which should be adopted as a clear response to anyone who asks the question, “What is (or should be) liberalism/progressivism.” Well done. Joseph Hanke - I agree with everything in the document. I wish more other people did. Jon Anta B. Hansen Simon Hardeman - I am fed up with lies, incompetence, greed and short-termism. We need a new movement with a coherent, yet not dogmatic, ideology. And it needs to be fun, too, to get noticed. Matt Hardin - The Manifesto represents the most positive statement I have seen from the left in a while. The reflex anti-West sentiment deployed by the most vocal of “the left”, has discredited any resistance to the policies of the conservatives who no longer govern for the benefit of the people but for the benefit of capital. This has left the field wide open for erosion of civil liberties in our democracies, loss of hard-fought working and social conditions and a resurgence of oppression in the name of religion. Any statement of belief that explicitly denies oppression wherever it is found (on the left or the right) and supports freedom for all (rich or poor) as a basic right not as an extended privilege is a welcome rallying cry that will show what the left stands for not merely what it rejects. Tim Harding - How refreshing! I heartily endorse The Euston Manifesto. For most of my life I had some sympathy towards ‘left of centre’ politics. But 9/11 was my epiphany. What shocked me was not only the terrorist atrocities, but the morally bankrupt attempts by leading leftist spokesmen to excuse the inexcusable. I found myself strongly agreeing with people like Christopher Hitchens and being repulsed by people like Noam Chomsky, Ward Churchill and George Galloway. Imogen Hardy - Because political debate in this country is fast becoming a shrieking match over irrelevancies at a time when we are in desperate need of clear thinking on vital issues. John Hardy - I signed because I agree, and because I feel that religiosity is a creeping menace to a free, just, liberal and liberated society which needs to be countered rather than tolerated because of political correctness Robert Harlow - Emotionally, I would like to see blood in the streets. Rationally, as with the Manifesto, I am committed to tough diplomacy and when that fails, regime change. Culturally, I am a consenting citizen of a successful country whose default position is Red Tory. The Manifesto is that in spades. Finally, let there to be (so to speak) blood in the steets until we are rid of the unthinking, confused, sentimental, egregious soft left. I sense that the Manifesto is dedicated to this project. Therefore, I sign Frank Harr - I sign this, but not without reservations. I do not know what social and economic justice are and I suspect their supporters. I am not sure of the program for genome research that is put forth. I also have developed an increasingly jaundiced view of the Palestinians and how they deal with things in the last ten years. However, I am a Liberal, and I know the importance of ideals even if they are unattainable. I also know the difference between liberating a country and not doing very well and letting it die under its own dictators. I appreciate this document, even with those segments that I agree with less than wholly, and feel that even if I can’t get behind all of its articles, I can get behind its supporters. Thank you. It has been a long time to be lonely as a Liberal who was for the Afghan and Iraqi wars and a long time to be without support on the question of terrorism. Matthew Harris - As a Liberal Democrat who wholeheartedly embraces the values embodied in the Euston Manifesto, I applaud this initiative. It is absolutely vital that liberals and progressives are encouraged to support this agenda and to oppose the dangerous nonsense that is routinely spouted on the Left of British politics today. Michael Harris - This is the finest expression of my global outlook in print. We must be aware of globalization and its challenges. We must intervene to protect the rights of our brothers and sisters. Our world does not stop at Dover - we are internationalists not little Englanders. Tom Harris - For too long the anti-war movement has been getting away with labelling everyone who supported intervention in Iraq as a “neoconservative”. I’m grateful to those who drafted the Euston Manifesto for recognising an obvious truth that has so far been obscured: that sometimes, military action can be justified on human rights grounds even if - God forbid - it’s supported by America! Bernard Harrison - I just came across your group, through the Euston Manifesto having been mentioned in a recent article in the New Republic by my friend Alvin Rosenfeld. I have read your manifesto, find it extremely refreshing, and am happy to add my name to it. As a retired academic in his mid-70’s, living outside London, I’m not sure that I can be of much practical help to you. Many of the political stances you favour, however, are espoused, and maybe even advanced, in my recent book “The Resurgence of Anti-Semitism: Jews, Israel and Liberal Opinion” Rowman and Littlefield, Inc., Lanham, NY, &c. (2006). If that book should prove of any interest or use to you, so much the better. Tony Harrison - In the words of Faulkner, “indifference is the essence of inhumanity.” Gary HARTSTEIN - Restating the fundamental principles upon which liberals and democrats can agree has, unfortunately, become terribly important. The polarisation of our politics, indeed of our entire social discourse, has so deeply affected the CONTENT of our social and political thought, that it was time for a new declaration of the ideas underpinning our strengths as a society. The elegance and simplicity of the Manifesto are almost moving. Yannick Hartstein - The Cold War proved that only a strong and professed attachment to fundamental values (shared with some on the Right) could lead to victory against totalitarian forces. If we are to fight against the undercurrents of and rootcauses of terrorism and violence, as well as new forms of authoritarianism, we must renew that pledge to robustly defend what we believe in - and never fail to say so critically. Simon Harvey - It’s inspiring to see a return to a solid Left ideal rooted in basic liberal values and clear thinking, and not so mired in confused identity politics and kneejerk cynicism that we lose control of our own vision. Matthew Harwood - I signed because the Euston Manifesto is no less than the Common Sense of the 21st century. With clarity and concision, it captures all the principles I have held dear since college. If there is going to be a Left, it must be democratic and egalitarian. The Euston Manifesto understands this and has given the Left a new ethos to rally around. Thank you. Dani Haski - I have always thought of myself as left leaning but over the last few years I have been increasingly distressed by statements from so-called left groups aligning themselves with anti-democratic, anti-semitic and anti-egalatarian organisations and regimes. Even here in Australia, the land of the “Fair Go”, I have been confronted with erroneous propaganda dressed up as fact, which blames America for its own woes yet dismisses genuine debate on the nuances of international foriegn policy. Enough is enough. This manifesto gets back to basics. It articulates principle which should be self evident to any genuine democrat and I hope we can harness the power of the internet to create ‘a new internationalism’ which inspires all of us to embrace our diversity and fulfil our potential, no matter where we live. Lance Haworth - I’m a proud Center-Right Liberal Secular Democrat from a Northern mill town and this political manifesto is the first i have read and agreed with every principle of it. Mark Hayward - I sign this as an ordinary British citizen and amateur historian committed to reason and rationality, exasperated by the tide of anti democratic, superstitious and downright murderous claptrap, which we all are supposed to accept and never criticise. The free world must speak out against the suppression of the individual in the name of irrational ideologies such as religion, communism, new age mysticism, homeopathy, what ever. Which seem to be preferred by the modern “left” to liberal democracy, which for all its failings is still the most perfect form of governance yet devised by humans. Every day I meet idiots who spout slogans rather than reason and would prefer to be run by the Taliban than the wonder that is a liberal parliament. I am distraught at creping creationism in British and American schools and the espousal of irrational twaddle by ill-educated and un-elected fools personified by the next monarch of the UK. I am appalled at the tolerance of China’s oppressive oligarchy and the abhorrent regimes in charge, even in loosely allied nations in the Middle East. The left has gone off the proverbial rails and this manifesto is a breath of fresh air. Tom Head - I have felt isolated from many U.S. liberal circles in the wake of 9/11. I am particularly offended by: - The resurgence of the word “Zionism,” and the marginally antisemitic “Israel Lobby” language that I have encountered on the far Left ; - The sudden lack of interest in liberal circles in human rights abuses abroad, most notably the Darfur genocide ; - A disturbingly cynical and anti-intellectual undercurrent in liberalism that rejects all self-criticism and other reflection of independent thought ; - The bizarre doctrine of “Sovereignty,” by which the Taliban was supposed to be an acceptable government, with which we should not intervene, simply because it was in control of a nation ; - The tendency of many of my fellow liberals to exploit xenophobia whenever they feel it to be in their best interests, represented most recently by some of the language that came out of the response to the Dubai port deal ; - Senseless bigotry directed against conservative Christians and Jews, coupled with senseless fawning directed at far more conservative Muslim leaders abroad ; and - The irrational hatred of _all_ Republicans, and the complete and ill-advised merger of liberalism and Democratic partisanship. I wholeheartedly sign the Euston Manifesto; I am proud to do it. Please put my name at the bottom of your public list. Aaron Heath - Since Iraq, which I opposed on strategic grounds (not ideological ones), I have become increasingly despondent with much of the left. The left has always been a coalition of moderates, Marxists, liberals, and greens. However the rabid anti-Americanism, in much of the current leftist discourse, clouds any serious comparison between misguided democracies and totalitarian tyrannies. There is one-single element of the manifesto I would challenge: - ‘unembarrassed to claim that the Iraq war was fought on behalf of Jewish interests…’ Which seems to be an affront to the commitment to free enquiry. The motives for the invasion of Iraq were numerous, and to condemn as heresy, the interests of Israel, as a reason for American intervention, is intellectually bankrupt. This theory is not anti-Semitic, and to dismiss it as such is contrary to free enquiry. This is not to suggest I concur with this view, but I feel to dismiss the theory outright, is not approaching the subject with an open-mind. Otherwise I can completely adhere to the founding principles of the document. And even as an economic, as well as social, libertarian, I believe this is a set of principles I can adopt as my own Philip Heaton - At last a point of view that is based on fundamental principles, recognises the complexity of a democratic and modern world, and stands up for values that are consistent and uncompromising. Simon Hebditch - I believe in the principle of the “realignment of the left” - a position I have adhered to for years since being a Young Liberal activist in the 1960s. Of course, a huge amount has changed in the political environment but the concept that there is a constituency for real radicals in the labour movement and left leaning liberals is central to my political philosophy. I see the work around the Euston manifesto as a way to reinforce the need for a new progressive politics which also picks up on the principles of democracy and internationalism - with human rights at the centre. Martin Hebert - At last, here is a compendium of statements and concepts which articulates nearly all of my political thinking of the last few years. I heartily endorse all of the ideas presented herein, as I understand them. Mark Heinlein - This Manifesto is the most coherent, understandable, respectful summation of my beliefs that I have ever seen. Thank you! Michael Heiser - I couldn’t agree with your manifesto more, as a liberal who has been supporting the Bush adminstration’s prosecution of the war on terror. Thomas Hemsley - Because i believe their proposals are the best way forward. Blake A. Hendricks - The Kurds deserve justice and freedom, just as everyone else in the world does. I’m against many of America’s economic policies, but bringing down fascist dictators is a policy I can support.Socialists should never support fascist, despotic, or theocratic regimes. Never. Michael Hendricks - If I don’t stand for something, I stand for nothing. The Manifesto crystalizes what I have thought for a long time. I sign as an opportunity to stand up and say so. Chris Henjum - It’s amazing how 1960s polarization alienated so many of my fellow signatories. I grew up with a competent, moderate Democrat as President. Many of his followers, however, thought being a centrist meant you couldn’t state a position without a pollster at your side. Now that Dean has made Democratic partisanship okay again, more Dems can actually speak their mind. I believe most would say that US involvement abroad is vital to world interests, as long as we seek true coalitions, hold our leaders accountable and listen to our military and intelligence. My liberal beliefs compel me to support peace and democracies everywhere. George W-style rhetoric is only half the battle; our country desperately needs George HW-style diplomacy and competency. The Euston manifesto is a perfect articulation of my hope for the future. David Henshaw - I’m not a natural joiner of organizations or signer of petitions, but it struck me recently that almost every film we are making at the moment is either directly or obliquely to do with the assault on the Enlightenment. The President of the USA awaits the Rapture. The President of Iran awaits the imminent return of the 12th Imam. God help us all. Randall Hensley - Because it’s what’s right. Brian Hermon - I am 21 years old and a liberal. Since the Iraq War I have found it increasingly difficult to politically identify myself with my friends. I find it tough to interpret what it means to be a “liberal” or “left wing” anymore. Do my values of social progression and social justice clash with my belief that democracy should be pursued in Iraq? Am I not on the Left if I am not anti-American? For my friends the promotion of democracy or “liberal internationalism” is simply a euphemism for a new imperialist order. I disagreed, and still disagree, with the American justification for war in Iraq. But the war happened. The West is now entangled in Iraq, and we owe it to the Iraqi people to help them have a chance at peace. I found this manifesto to be brave in challenging “Leftish” impostors while offering an olive branch to those who seek to advance liberal values. JOSE RICARDO HERNANDEZ ESCOBAR José Hernández Prado - These are my viewpoints and I thought I was alone in the world. Wonderful! Juan A. Hervada - I agree with the manifesto and I have recently re-read Orwerll… Prof. Susannah Heschel Andreas Hess - Living and working in Dublin (as a German citizen) I am astonished and saddened to see how over the last few years the left/liberal spectrum in Ireland has increasingly become anti-American. This is strange in a country that was once one of the most pro-American countries in the EU. I can only hope that plenty of Irish (and of course German) citizens will sign the Manifesto. A Europe that wants to sever ties with the U.S. is not a Europe I want to live in. Any attempt at breaking transatlantic relations should be resisted. This is why I think that the Euston Manifesto is a timely call for change. Frankie Heywood - I am saddened and perplexed by the attitudes of many on the Left, including some of my dearest friends, regards the United States and Iraq. The anti-Americanism and hatred of Bush, when combined with Political Correctness, perverse forms of feminism, and general psychobabble, make for strange but deeply unpleasant and reactionary forms of thinking, which many on the Left seem to enjoy indulging themselves in. I welcome the formation of an alternative (? movement)which engages in rational discussion focussing on the defence of democratic and open societies, and which challenges the emotivism and sloppy thinking which is all too dominant at present. Victoria Hiley - I signed up because I think it’s vital that movements like this have my support: it’s one thing to criticise the Stopper left, quite another to be active in opposing them. Barbara Hilliard - In the face of the Bush/Blair/Howard mindless invasion of Iraq and other continuing physical verbal and economic aggressive behaviours, any chance to stand up and be counted in the name of liberal democratic humanitarian ethical standards is to be grasped with both hands. Bill Hilton - Because George Orwell never dies 🙂 Christian Hirst - I am a PhD student at the University of Queensland, Australia. I am researching changes to Australian foreign and defence policies post-september 11. As a progressive democrat my instincts, post-9/11, have been to broadly support the direction of Australian, US and British foreign/defence policy. Many of my friends and colleagues are confused by my support for the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I am glad that I am not alone (although, working in academia, it does feel like that sometimes!). Marko Attila Hoare Joseph M. Hochstein Brendan Hodges - I have spent the whole of my adult (and adolescent!) life fighting racism and now find myself at odds with many former comrades on the left who have apparently taken leave of their senses by supporting (or appeasing) Islamist terror and oppression. Lets hope that we can build a broad movement dedicated to confronting oppression and totalitarianism in all its forms - political and theocratic. Julie Hoffman - There is very little in the manifesto that I take great exception to and much that I agree with even though I would not define myself as a member of the Left (or the Right). It is necessary to say that Democracy, the rule of law, seperation of Religion and State, and the Pursuit of Happiness may be flawed but they are better for more people than any other alternative. If we waste time tearing each other apart on the side issues, we deserve the chaos and misery that can bring. I especially appreciate the historical perspective on the role of the United States in the great experiment that is the growing democratization of the world. We are not a perfect Nation, but our government is set up to self correct and I believe that it will. In addition I agree that Acts of Terrorism against civilians are unacceptable. Period. Now if we could only get everyone to pay attention to our effect on the environment… Michael Hogan - I think it is an excellent foundational document - a declaration of principles couched in the context of today. I have signed so that I may contribute in whatever small way to making this a true manifesto - a reclamation of the Left (and of my own sanity and self-respect along the way). Ed Holloway - Because it is time to stand up and be counted David Holmes - A movement to counter the disgraceful activities and beliefs of those who call themselves ‘the left’ is long overdue. I believe the Euston Manifesto is well posied to reclaim that ground and I wholeheartedly support its principles - “I didn’t leave the left, it left me”. John Nicholas Holmes - I have followed Nick Cohen’s thinking in the Observer since he started, and I find the Chomsky/Galloway/SWP posturing and moral relativism nauseating. The knee-jerk Anti-Americanism of a lot of the left is bad-tempered nonsense. I did protest against the Vietnam war in the 60s - but I think it is wrong to say that what we are doing in Iraq is the same. The multi-cultural relativism extends into my professional field of youth work, where, say, domestic violence is looked on differently, if it occours in different cultures. All power to your elbow KNeil Holmes - Primarily because I am upset by so-called liberal consensus that terrorism is the understandible consequence of America and Britains foreign policy .Also I am meeting increasing amounts of people with blatant anti-semetic views dressed up as anti-zionism . Graham Holtham - I am just a rank and file Labour party and union member and was inspired to read and sign after reading Nick Cohens book “Whats Left”….this reflected and clarified to me the discomfort I felt listening to some views expressed on the Left.Like Mr Cohen I regard many of the views expressed in liberal publications as nothing to do with Left views as I know it…Tragically in some ways the so called Right wing better reflects the views of the average Labour member and voter here on Tyneside.I agree with every word of this manifesto and wish to express my support (for what its worth). I particularly agree with your stance not to be seen as zealots and your acceptance that not everything the right has to say is wrong…it is the duty of all democrtas to accept valid arguments,no matter the source.It is just tragic that the “new left seems to have nothing admirable or principled to say anymore. Paul Gerard Holzapfel - To affirm the universal rights of humanity and to continue to stive for a society where liberty and justice are the pillars of the ideal. Mike Homfray - I was opposed to the Iraq war because I felt that not enough attempt had been made to seek international agreement. I was, and remain, concerned as to the policies of the current US government. However, the progress of the anti-war movement, with its seemingly uncritical support for fundamentalist Islam and unwillingness to make any criticisms at all of anything classed as ‘third world’ leaves a lot to be desired. James Hood - This document has helped me crystallize my thoughts regarding the State of the Left. This approach is internally consistent and does not favour one group over another. It is time for the Euston Manifesto. Brian J Hook Jeffrey Hook - I became a member of a left wing political organization because I wanted to change the world and make things better for humanity. But all I have found on the left so far are reactionaries, hypocrites, elitists, and conservatives. I ask myself, “Where are we going”? I never seem to get a proper reply from these people. Its time for a new direction for humanity, for progress, and enlightenment. The only way this can be achieved is through solidarity. The only place I have found these things so far is in this Manifesto. Thank you, and lets keep up the struggle. John Hopkins - At a social event with friends I was disturbed by the casual nature of anti-American sentiment and when I elected not to let the remarks pass unchallenged I was surprised and disappointed to be labelled pro-American. No-one can ignore the mistakes made by the US, the UK, or many other democratic countries. But it would be wrong to stay silent when the rights conferred on us all by those societies result in a torrent of self-hatred and a desire to excuse or applaud regimes where genuine abuses are common-place because they espouse anti-American sentiments. The inclination to take sides rather than engage in robust debate with the acknowledgment of error on both sides drives us further into extremism - the real enemy of us all. Peter Horne - to register my support for the manifesto’s aims and to register my disgust at the left’s unwillingness to stand up for the basic human rights of ordinary people everywhere. David Hornsby - This Manifesto gives me hope. Hope for a better world. Larry Horse - Great organizing tool. It succinctly explains all the reasons that I emphatically voted against Bush, and why all of us who supported the war must call for Rumsfeld’s retirement so that we can save the noble mission in Iraq. Will Howard - I want to be associated with a politics that thinks. The manifesto is a thoughtful approach to issues, and though I don’t agree with absolutely every point it makes, I think the approach is a healthy one. Ysabel Howard - I am a student of Voltaire and a Taoist with Marxist roots extending back into the C19th. The current prissy, irrational, authoritarian, freedom-hating excuses for the Left are frankly dismaying. The cuddling-up to theocrats and misogynists is appalling. Where I come from the Left is atheist and feminist. I like the post-Enlightenment, post-Marx, post-Woodstock modern world and have no desire to be dragged back into the C12th under a government to whom the abolition of Parliament is conceivable; the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill freaked me. ‘We the people’ are the sole source of power in a democracy not the passive and obedient recipients of what our masters dole out to us. Isn’t there something about power in the hands of the many not the few? Jim Howe - To support a stand against irrational and superstitious ideas and attitudes about science, politics, ethics, and economics. To support a stand in favour of rational, ethical open discussion and sharing of expertise, knowledge and resources in our finite world. Matthew Howe - I am a staunch American libertarian. While there are several items in the manifesato I take issue with, on the whole I find it a document of enormous import and, more crucially, common sense. I have often found myself disagreeing with the “left” in both America and across the world, but until recently, I have always found myself respecting them. That respect was mostly lost in the current and apalling orgy of mud-slinging that has become political dialogue from the “left.” I found the Euston Manifeso a long overdue antidote to this amazingly irresponsible “scorched earth” approach to politics. While we may disagree on certain issues now, and certainly will in the future, you have earned my profound thanks for attempting to restore political debate to what it should be - an open and frank exchange on the issues, for courageously acknowledging liberalisms failings over the decades, and for restoring what has always been the most important aspect of “liberalism” - the desire to bring freedom and justice to all the people’s of the world. Jonathan Hoyle - I think this is a major step forward for those who support genuinely progressive politics in the UK. The Left has become bogged down in the politics of Israel and US bashing for too long and has lost sight of the causes it used to fight so passionately for. For example, workers’ rights, tolerance of race, sex, ethnicity and sexuality. Globalisation presents many challenges to those on all sides of the political spectrum. It must not be naively dismissed as a capitalist tool but welcomed as a force for good that can pull workers out of poverty. It’s negative consequences of pay inequality must be managed intelligently and carefully. Geraint Hughes - I served in Iraq, and saw men and women in uniform do more to help its people than all the clowns, scumbags and creeps in RESPECT, SWP and other alphabet soup movements will ever achieve in their lives. Nothing more to be said. A.J. Hyman - I am proud to say that I am a social democrat. To the depths of my heart, I believe fully in the sanctity of the individual and the protection of human society, and the absolute human and civil rights that each of us should enjoy! I believe all of you feel the same way. However, for a long time, I have felt betrayed, disgusted, and isolated by a terrible trend which, in my opinion, has seen social democracy corrupted by racists and fascists who have co-opted the rhetoric and organizations of social consciousness for their own malignant agendas. IMHO, much of the so-called “Left” has been hijacked by people who have no interest in advancing the “good”. But this manifesto, and the work of this group, now give me great hope! Peter Hyman - I signed the Manifesto out of appreciation of finally finding a like minded group of thinkers that recognised that the ‘liberal left’ of politics had been captured by the ‘neo-stalinists’ of the extreme left. I was forced into the ‘right-wing’ of politics by default. A position I found un-comfortable to say the least but preferable to the rantings of the extreme left. Finally, I can return to the ‘liberal left’ and know that there are like minded people prepared to stand up and be counted as defenders of liberal democracy and social justice.

For Disclaimer, please see Chapter 1. Misplaced People by Devize © 2004 (firstname.lastname@example.org) * * * * * Chapter 26: Giving Up Smoking i She had made it through the night. Morien sat in the passenger seat of the Volvo, listening to the engine muttering about the hour. Her father sat hunched behind the wheel. A dull light reflected onto his spectacle lenses, making them and his thoughts impenetrable. The sun had risen, colourless and subdued behind a bank of cloud. The Welsh countryside glimmered under a covering of dew. Birds wavered between grey sky and green landscape, the haze of purple mountains in the far distance standing vigil. Everything seemed to be veiled and quiet, unwilling and unable to face the onslaught of the coming day and reality. She had made it through the night. Her body echoed with pain and exhaustion, but she forced her body out of the car, barely stopping to talk to the doctor, half-running down the now-familiar hospital corridors, as they echoed in turn with her footsteps. Sullivan was left far behind. These corridors seemed as reverent and still as a church. No, Morien thought, a small, country chapel compared to the cathedral that was St Vincents. And in her headlong rush she felt as if she was the only living thing remaining. But she needed to see her whatever state she was in now, she needed to see her. By a miracle, she had made it through the night. It was a quiet room, small, containing only a few beds, making room for equipment. Machines that hissed, machines that beeped, machines that dripped. That morning, beyond the nurses station, only one bed was occupied, in the corner. There was a chart at the foot. Not much of it made sense, but one thing caught Moriens eye at the head of the page. Name: West, Rosamund Sarah Bailey. Rosamund West. Why had she hidden herself away for so long? She walked round the bed, conscious of her own heartbeat keeping time with the EEG, conscious that it wasnt that long ago since Striker had crept into her hospital room and watched and wondered. Had she felt like this: so reverential, so in awe, as if shed come in to confess her sins? Gently she sat herself down, her head bowed for a moment, and then she reached out and wrapped her hand round Strikers still fingers. Her lovers hair seemed so dark against the white of the pillow. Her skin was ashen, as if every drop of blood in her had haemorrhaged through Moriens fingers to stain the floor of the Salem Chapel. Her chest and abdomen were a mass of bandages, too thick to disclose any movement. She looked entombed. Tubes punctured her skin, her arms, snaking past her head like a hidden Medusa. Morien could hear the hiss and click of the machine that supported her breathing. A plastic mask covered her nose and mouth, clouding with air. She squeezed the hand in hers and opened her mouth, but was suddenly unsure of what to say. Words that had only been part of the drone the night before, this morning, finally came to the fore. Vascular surgery, they had said. Transfusion. Blood. So much blood. And a lifetime of thoughts and expressions and phrases procedures, surgery, discussed, dismissed, pursued, imagined, until Morien could feel the scalpel parting her own skin. And all now condensed to a single word. "Hi," she started. "Its me. I... I...." She took a breath. This was Striker. "How did you do this? How did you do this for someone you didnt even know?" She gazed down at the quiet face. "Youre a remarkable person, Rosamund West. But then, you said yourself, youve got a way with more than words." She squeezed her hand again. Striker was unresponsive. The machine hissed and clicked. "I took a leaf from your book, though. Almost literally." She pulled a book out of her bag, and held it up for Striker to see. But her eyes remained closed lashes resting long and dark against her cheeks. "I hope you dont mind." She placed the book on the edge of the bed and, briefly, brushed her fingers over the worn cover: Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales. Then she picked a tale. "Once upon a time, in a country a long way from here, there stood a flourishing city, full of commerce; and in that city lived a merchant so lucky in all his ventures that it seemed as if fortune waited on his wishes." ii And to the beat of the cardiograph, the expectant hush of the ventilator, the room bore witness to the merchants downfall, his beautiful daughter, and the Beast with whom he made a dreadful deal. The room seemed still quieter as Moriens voice died away on the happy ever after. She closed the book and put it to one side. Still clutching Strikers hand, she rested her chin on her own outstretched arm simply to watch her lover breathe; watch the breath cloud the mask; willing her chest to rise and fall. It was still touch and go, they had said. Words bandied around from last night, this morning and in-between still flittered in her head. Laparotomy. Organ donation. Love. Miracle . Words from a lifetime ago: "Hello, love, can you hear me? Youre in hospital." "Can you tell how deep that wound is?" "We almost lost her early this morning," a consultant had murmured at her as shed made her entrance. "Wed almost given up on her. But her condition started to improve just a little while ago. Nothing we did. She wants to live. Shes still unconscious, but shes stable. However, I must warn you, its still ." Touch and go . She touched a finger to an alabaster cheek. In a moment in time, shed changed from a knight to an Arthurian lady. My Lady Rosamund. MY lady Rosamund. "Hold on," she whispered. The EEG beat strongly. The ventilator hissed in regular time. * * * * * She soon came to know the hospital as if she was following a thread through a labyrinth. However far she strayed the canteen, the toilets shed always find her way back to Strikers bedside. But she would never stray for long. Mostly she sat by the bed, one hand resting on a motionless arm, the other propping up a sketchpad, a jotter, a book. Sometimes shed read out loud, sometimes simply to herself, sometimes the book was forgotten on her lap and shed simply stare at the cool marble of her lovers skin. The gentle planes of her face. Shed talk to her, about everything and nothing. Sweet nothings in the unhearing ear. Ideas, plans, wishes. And all too often shed find herself drifting off, falling into sleep next to Striker as if she could reach her there. This way, minutes stretched into hours, stretched into... but here time had no meaning. But shed find herself awakened by an abrupt Welsh voice, or a soft Welsh voice, depending on the shift. And shed wait outside, listening to the voices of the consultants and nurses talking in hushed medical tongues. Or shed find her father waiting to take her home, talking of food and rest and things that didnt seem important. Home, now, was only a blur of hot restlessness and waking dreams in the dark. Counting each clock tick until it was time to go back to the hospital. In the dawn hours shed find herself padding downstairs to the sitting room, unveiling the canvas, touching the picture; a mark here, a stroke there. No colour. No colour in life or art. But now the room had started to change from the first time the nurse had shaken her awake and shooed her out on that first day of vigil. It was still too quiet, but in that quiet there was a new spring. Vase by vase, almost bud by bud, flowers started to bloom; creeping round the walls, transforming the still church into a living arbour. From Idomeneo, from Kishen, from Drake.... Messages of support, hope, love. Still too quiet. Just the hiss of the ventilator, the beeping of the EEG. She took the book out of her bag, flicking through the familiar stories. Such a lot had happened since the American bad girl had turned storyteller for a friendless stranger. She remembered sitting on a train and thinking of her voice before shed even met her. What was the poem? Morien closed her eyes and recited: "Gweld y more gynta yw'r agosa yr awn at ddarganfod gwir ryfeddod. Saif yno'n arlais, i'n didol, yr amlinell rhwng nef a daear, gofod a dyfroedd."iii Language like a magic spell. And a sound beyond the silence. The slightest movement under her hand. Fingers slowly curled up to touch her own. Something mumbled, incomprehensible under the plastic mask. "Cariad?" She was on her knees now. The EEG picked up the beat, the ventilator wheezing. Another hand inched up and touched the mask, gripping it just enough for it to move. And the rusty whisper of a voice, barely more than a movement of cracked lips, allowed a single word. "Oh God, Striker." Moriens utterance was as tiny as her lovers, muffled by a sound half-sob, half-chuckle. And the first light of a blue gaze through half-closed eyelids. The first glimmer of dawn, as the sun cracked the horizon. The first slight curve of her mouth as that gaze met green. And Morien was speechless. Strikers hand shook on the mask, fighting against the tough elastic, and for a moment, the opaque plastic obscured her mouth again. The ventilator hissed briefly. And then the fingers moved again, regaining strength for just a short time. Morien glanced back at the nurses station. "Should you be doing that?" There was the tiny flash of humour in the lidded eyes, like brilliance through clouds. "Fuck it." The nurse was coming. Morien could feel the disturbance in their air. Strikers mouth moved, a touch of a dry tongue on drier lips. "Where... am I?" Morien placed a gentle hand on Strikers forehead. It felt lukewarm, clammy... alive. "Youre in hospital, my love, in Caernarfon." Strikers eyes momentarily closed, the mask slipped back over her face. Morien could feel the puzzlement under her fingers, and a jolt of cold worry ran through her. The nurse was at her shoulder. Others entering the room. "Cariad," she whispered. "You know who I am, dont you?" The nurse persuaded her to her feet. A doctor took her place at Strikers side. A single connection left, hands still touching. And, just for a moment, Striker opened her eyes again. As blue as the sky over the bay. Her fingers bent under Moriens, a single finger lingered on her palm. Always, my love, that finger said. Always. * * * * * Gentle moments of consciousness. Growing longer. Now time mattered more than anything. Morien would find herself staring at Striker for hours; just watching and waiting. Roles reversed - the irony wasnt lost on her. Watching her stillness, broken only by the tiny movements of sleep as insignificant and beautiful as cloud-shadows across a dormant land. Watching for the signs of waking the flex of a muscle, a muffled sigh, a blink... once... twice.... The slightest movement of a tubed arm, and the mask would be pulled off. "Youre still here." "Where else would I be?" A breath so deep she almost moved the bandages. "Out havin fun." "No fun without you, cariad." Morien clutched her hand to her, cradling it in her own. "How are you feeling?" Striker looked at her, an eyebrow raised slightly. "Like Ive... been shot." She put the mask back on her face, just for a moment, breathing as deeply as she could. Morien smiled down at her. "Okay, so that was a stupid question." "Are you okay?" The question was soft and muffled, but still caught Morien by surprise. "You get shot three times, almost died and youre asking if Im all right?" The mask came off again. "Are you?" came out as a wheeze, a noise that made Moriens chest constrict. "Cariad, please put that back on." Striker put the mask back on, but her hand grasped Moriens, asking the question that her blue eyes echoed. "No. Im not all right. I almost lost you." Striker lifted Moriens hand, placing it on her own cheek, nuzzling it gently; a strange mixture of soft skin and cold tubing to Morien. But the skin was warm, and Striker was alive. That was all that mattered. She looked down at her loves face: her eyes dark, shuttered rings against white marble. There was silence in the room again, and again the machines filled the void. But neither woman seemed to hear them. Morien eventually spoke: "I dont know what to call you anymore." Striker looked at her, her eyes unfathomable gauging Moriens thoughts. And then away. The mask covered her face, until: "Striker." "But your names ." "Striker." She struggled for breath. "No one calls me Rosie anymore." She glanced beyond Morien. The nurse was approaching. Striker held out a hand, wanting just a few more moments alone with Morien and the nurse seemed to relent. She clutched the smaller womans hand to her, and captured her eyes with her own, needing to explain. "Rosie died twenty two years ago." Moriens own breath caught in her throat. She closed her eyes, unable to bear the bleakness in Strikers gaze. Unable to bear the thought of the pain this woman had endured over the years. But she remembered what Striker had said just a few days before. Somewhere inside her was that ten-year-old girl. She opened her eyes again, wondering whether to say what she was thinking, unsure of whether it would hurt this woman she loved. She licked her lips and spoke. "Youre wrong, you know. Rosies only been asleep." Strikers brow creased a little, as if she was thinking, as if she was troubled. Morien continued. "I want to call you Rosie," she said. Striker seemed to be examining their joined hands; slowly she entwined their fingers. "Well see," she finally said, and slipped the mask back on her face. She looked so tired. So pale. So strange that a woman of such height and presence could look so small and fragile. Her eyes drifted shut. "You need to sleep," Morien said, brushing an errant lock from the damp forehead. There seemed to be an answering smile behind the mask: the laugh lines deepened around Strikers closed eyes. Morien shifted, intent on leaving her to her rest, but Striker still held her hand. And then that breathy whisper came again, muffled behind the mask. "Morien ." "Dont speak, cariad, sleep." A hand came up again, the mask was removed and Striker regarded her from under heavy-lidded eyes. "I love you." A breath. "Just had to say it." And then the mask was back on, her eyes closed and her face relaxing into slumber. And again Morien watched her, warm breath rising like mist against the plastic covering her mouth. "Damn it, Rosie Striker whatever the hell your name is you dont half know how to get a girl." But here, at the end, she couldnt say the same words in return. Not yet. There was something she had to settle first. She put her head down on the bed a cheek resting against bandage. Striker didnt smell smoky any more too clean, too clinical but still there lingered the faintest scent of musky roses. She closed her eyes and listened to Striker breathing. * * * * * Night had risen like a tide. Morien had fallen asleep on the sofa; her mind full of noise: beeps, hisses, and three words that filled her life, which followed her into her dreams. And each time she opened her eyes awake or asleep Striker would be there, until she wasnt sure whether she was in the sitting room in the cottage, the work-in-progress on the easel to one side, or in the Intensive Care Unit next to her lover. But an alien noise punctured the rhythm, dragging her into alertness and to an upright position. She got to the phone a few seconds before Sullivan, aware that the call could be from the hospital. She was getting better, wasnt she? "Hello?" Morien said, her voice thick with nerves. There was nothing but crackle on the line. Was that someone breathing? An old, forgotten fear reared up inside. Another crackle. And then: "Mo... its me." Me? Who the hell was me? "Ive been trying to get hold of you for days. I phoned home, but there was never any reply. Whats happened to the answerphone?" The voice was familiar: a soft-plum voice that she remembered from somewhere, some time years ago. "I got hold of Drake in the end. He told me you were spending some time in Lleuadraeth. Are you okay?" Oh. Morien blinked. Recognition soaked into her like a warm cup of tea. "Sophie?" "Yes, Mo. Sorry, the lines not brilliant. You sound a little...." "Where are you?" "Er... somewhere near Cuzco. Listen, darling, theres been some stuff going on here and I really need to talk to you. But... Mo... I need to know if youre okay. Not being able to get hold of you has really freaked me out." "Im fine, Soph, Im...." Morien looked up at her father. His face was a soft cloud of concern. He didnt say a word, merely regarded her with a questioning gaze. Heavily, she sat down on the chair. "Actually Im not all right. So much has happened, I...." She was aware that, despite herself, tears were starting to fall again and her voice was shaking. But she looked at Sullivan, smiling at him reassuringly, and he smiled in return and nodded and turned back upstairs. "Soph, how much time have you got? We really need to talk." * * * * * Early morning: the dark still clinging to the corners. Shed woken up in pain and alone. The way the light fell in the room, the mechanical fritinancy, and beyond the sudden patter of raindrops on the windowpane... she was back in London. Waking up in pain and alone. The strange underscore of Dannys sound experimentation in the next door bedroom, she would reach for the cigarette packet, the bottle shed left under the bed, and a book. Fairy stories, myths, poetry... reading to someone in her head Shakespearean sonnets dedicating them to her desire, wreathed in smoke and misery. Or was it Vinnies? Catching forty winks on the settee in the staff room on a quiet weekday night. Listening to the sounds of the medical world. But something had happened, hadnt it? Shed been woken by the sound of a siren.... A woman, unconscious, close to death. Half-awake, half-asleep, barely-alive and wondering if the EEG was going to shoot her. The clack of shoes roused her, and the mental jolt made her cry out with pain, except the sound she made was barely a murmur. Then there were drugs, and a calm Welsh voice, and daylight coming through the windows. But there was still a part of her that wanted nicotine and alcohol and literature. But most of all... She wanted Morien very much. Her body was asleep; numb from the waist up. It was hard to move her arms. The tubes that attached her to the various pieces of medical equipment felt like chains. But her mind seemed to be painfully awake.... Aside from the hisses and beeps, and the familiarity of a waking hospital, she kept hearing voices, sirens, gunshots. Morien whispering her name... except it wasnt Morien. "Rosie," the voice said. "Rosie." Nurses would come in and out (or maybe it was Striker who came in and out). Some would be chatty if they saw she was awake. Some would be informative. Some would be quiet if they thought she was asleep. They would bring soothing words and medical equipment and more flowers and doctors.... She must have been asleep for hours. How long had it been now? Time to cut out the hard stuff, fuck-up. She gathered her strength, and pulled the mask over her head, merely holding the plastic in her hand, if she needed it. No more dependencies... Except... She held the mask to her mouth. There was a quiet and gentle bustle at the door. Friendly greetings passed at the nurses station. An auburn vision with a smile like sunrise. The room suddenly seemed brighter. Morien felt like running to her when she saw Striker, overjoyed to see her already awake. She was propped up, the head of the bed had been raised slightly, and pillows stacked beneath the patients head and shoulders. She still seemed gaunt and pale, as if she was in shadow. As if she was still bathed in the dark light of an Underground station, shades playing across her skin. But the sparkle in her eyes was pure summer sky. She moved forward struggling not to throw her arms, and thus her baggage, round the sick woman. As if seeing her dilemma, slowly, Striker reached out a hand to Morien, and Morien grasped it, but the blue eyes moved to the bags Morien was clutching. She removed the mask. "Watcha got?" she asked. Her voice was still a rough whisper, but the tone was unmistakable Striker. "Nice to see you too," Morien said, and taking advantage, she bent down and gave Striker a lingering kiss on the cheek. Her eye was caught by a new vase of flowers standing on a table near the bed: a rainbow of carnations, chrysanthemums and freesias. "Who are they from?" Striker fumbled, finally plucking the little florists card from where it rested by the pillows, and Morien understood why she kept it there. The two-word message would have meant the world to her lover. It simply said: Satta, sis. Morien smiling, carefully placed it back by the pillows where Striker could see it. "What does that mean?" she asked, sitting, trapping a hand. Satta. It meant she was all right. They were all right. There was nothing to worry about. It meant she had one of the best friends no, two of the best friends a woman could have. It meant Morien was here. "Theyre beautiful," Morien said, but she was looking at the light in Strikers eyes as she said it. But then she let go of Strikers hand, and reached down to the plastic carrier bag that had come to rest under the chair. Carefully, she drew out a single hydrangea bloom. "Mr Maguire called me over as I left the house, handed me this." Striker looked shocked. Puzzled. "Mr Maguire?" Morien smiled. "Do you think itll fit in here?" She tucked it into the closest vase, where it contrasted handsomely with the other flowers. "Oh, and I ought to warn you, Mrs Jenkins is knitting you a bed jacket." "What?" Striker almost choked. Morien gripped her hand as she took deep breaths from the mask. "Dont worry. Itll probably be very tasteful. And pink. She wasnt sure of the size, so shell most likely get Dad to try it on first." Striker spluttered into the mask, and Morien caught a hiss from beneath: "Dont make me laugh. Please dont make me laugh." Morien gave Striker a moment to recover before saying, "Ive got some other stuff too." She reached into her tapestry bag, pulling out a pile of papers. "Thats from Dai News." She placed a neatly folded copy of USA Today on the table. "Its actually USA Yesterday, we always were a bit slow up here. And this arrived this morning." She handed Striker an envelope, which the invalid opened with numb fingers. Inside was a card showing a fine art print and pronouncing best wishes from Drake and Kerensa and Get well soon, because we want to meet you properly. "And theres this...." Morien opened this envelope, to Strikers relief. Another card showing a cartoon cat tucked up in bed. Inside was written, in a spider-like, teachers hand, a greeting that made her breath catch: To a woman with real guts Get well and come home soon, "And this is from Dad, too," Morien continued. She handed Striker a pile of what looked like computer hardcopy. "Thats right, isnt it? Philadelphia Phillies? He used one of the school computers and printed as much as he could off their website: news and results and match reports...." She looked at Striker, expecting an answer, but was startled to see her crying. "Striker?" "I dont believe it," her voice barely a whisper almost lost in her breathing. "Everyones so...." She winced in pain as a sob shook through her. "Hey...." Morien reached forward, gently, resting her cheek against Strikers shoulder. Placing a gentle hand over her arm. "Its okay. Youre a hero, you know?" Striker shook her head, a tubed hand covering her face. "Striker, you saved me. In so many ways. Youll always be my hero." Morien reached up and removed the hand from Strikers face, kissing the palm. "My protector." Another kiss. "My knight in worn-out sneakers." Another kiss. "Besides... I havent finished yet." Again she reached into her bag. "I brought you some books.... I thought youd like to read." A couple of paperback novels from Moriens own collection, Strikers copy of Alices Adventures in Wonderland, and a book of Shakespeares Sonnets were placed carefully on the table. This woman was a miracle.... "And this...." She fished into the carrier again and brought out a red rosebud. "Its not as impressive as the other flowers, but I saw it in the garden and...." Striker looked at her: green catching blue. Tears were still running down her face. They seemed to be doing that a lot lately. She clutched the rose in her hand. "Its beautiful, I love it," she whispered. "I love you." Morien smiled, feeling like crying herself. "I took the thorns off. I didnt want you to...." Too much blood had been spilled. Too much sleeping had been done. Striker took a few breaths with the mask. Then, "Morien...." There was a pause, which made Morien worry. Striker couldnt meet her eyes. "Tell me they got them," the whisper finally came. "No one told you?" She shook her head. "They got them." Striker closed her eyes and seemed to sink further into the pillows. "Its over, cariad, you neednt worry." "No its not," was the hushed reply. Morien caught her unveiling gaze and held it. "You cant contact him." Striker looked away, lost in the roses closed petals. "Youll be a witness against him. It could prejudice the case if you did." The slightest twist of her mouth. "Striker, this man is ultimately responsible for everything that happened to Danny, to the Boom Shack ." And Strikers lips moved. "Paully." And there was tiniest ghost of a nod. A sigh that seemed to have come from the ventilator, had it not been for the telltale slump of Strikers head. Morien pulled her chair even closer. Her tone was light when she spoke. "But who says we need Gilbert Lamprey? Theres always electoral rolls." "For which region." It was less a question and more the resigned statement of someone who had been there, thought of that. "How about the online register? That covers the whole country." Striker glanced at her. "I cant... get on it." Morien lifted an eyebrow. "Maybe not, but you might know someone who can. I dont know... someone who works for a council, say...." Strikers eyes widened. "Morien...?" "Theres no guarantee ." "I know ." "But maybe well get a lead ." "A lead ." "But only when youre better. When were home." It seemed to take a conscious effort for the American to tamp down her excitement. But then she seemed to relax into the pillows, almost for the first time. She smiled, took a breath, and looked around at the gestures of strangers, acquaintances, friends... her lover. Home? I think I am home. She sniffled, then her lips twisted into a wry smile. "Nothing from Dean." "Dean?" Moriens forehead creased as she frowned. "Dean Powell? Whats he got to do with anything?" The EEG beeped. The ventilator hissed. Finally, Morien spoke. "Striker... Ive been talking to Sophie." There was a long pause. Suddenly, Striker seemed to find the EEGs screen very interesting. "Hows she doing?" she asked. "Shes fine. We had a long chat, sorted a lot out. It was good to talk to her." "Good," Striker said. Her voice was high, and breathless. She rolled the rose stalk between her fingers, holding it as if it was a cigarette, and hoped that Morien couldnt see her hands shaking. Moriens eyes twinkled little flashes of inner starlight in the deep green sea. "Shes met someone." Strikers head spun round, her mouth fell open. "Shes getting married," Morien continued. "His names Arturo." "Arturo?" Striker felt the breath shed been holding bubble loose and she winced as she stifled a ridiculously girlish giggle. "I know, even Sappho was married. Hes a local artist. He helps local children find themselves through art." "It certainly worked on Sophie." Striker said in an ebullient exhalation. Suddenly, she couldnt seem to stop grinning. Morien laughed. "I told her about you." "You did?" Strikers grin faded. Morien took back one of Strikers hands, and slowly drew little, teasing circles on her palm. "I told her I was in love with you." The EEG beeped. The ventilator hissed. A warmth spread through Strikers body that shed never known before. Suddenly she felt as if she could breathe unassisted. Suddenly, she felt like tap dancing round the ward. But the slightest attempt at movement reminded her that shed been shot three times. And that shed never taken tap dancing lessons. Her chest was heaving, the EEG was skipping, the nurse at the station was looking worried, and she could feel her own ridiculously big smile stretching her face. She took a breath: "You are?" "Mmm hmm. Im crazy about you." Striker slammed the mask back on her face, gasping for breath, but shining blues never losing contact as Morien threw her head back and laughed a laugh of total joy. "Hey, sweetie," Striker breathed at last. "Yeah?" Moriens eyes crinkled at the endearment and caressed Strikers hand with her thumb. "Say Arturo again." The sigh this time was one of pure contentment. Striker couldnt resist reaching up and touching a soft auburn lock with a finger. Running another down the line of Moriens cotton headscarf. It was navy again this time with small red roses round the edge. But none so beautiful as her own lady of flowers. "Youre weird," her lady smiled. "I cant believe youre getting off on me saying my ex-girlfriends fiancés name." "Your fault... for sounding the way you do." The rose positively waltzed between Strikers fingers. Morien leaned forward, her mouth tantalisingly close to Strikers ear. Her lips tickled Strikers earlobe as she said, "Theres a much nicer name I could say." Striker closed her eyes. Striker gave a breathy groan. "You trying to kill me?" "Thats not funny." Striker smiled. Her eyelids dipped. Morien reached out and stroked a lock of dark hair from her pale forehead, and watched as the blue gaze drifted shut. As inevitable as sunset. "Its a beautiful name." Morien pulled back and Striker opened her eyes only to lose herself in the tenderness that was shining in her lovers gaze. But sleep was coming, and she fought against it, even though she knew Morien would be there gentle, sweet, loving when she woke up again. There was one last thing to say. Something shed wanted to say from the beginning. She took a deep breath from the mask. "Morien, Ive been thinking ." "What?" Morien looked worried. "Maybe this is crazy..." a breath, "...after all thats happened. But I want to start again." "What do you mean start again?" "I mean ." She clutched Moriens hand in her own and took a gulp of air. After all they had been through together, how could this still be so terrifying? She looked Morien in her beautiful deep-ocean eyes. "Hi," she said, "my name is... Rosamund West. Ive seen you around and and I think youre so beautiful. I was wondering maybe if youd like to come out with me some time?" i The title of the sweet Wendy Cope poem of love conquering cigarettes ii Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch again. This time 'Beauty and the Beast'. iii For a translation, please see Chapter 2. Thank you to all those who have mailed me during the course of posting. Its been a pleasure to hear from every single one of you. And a special mention to Lynne and Christine for their enthusiasm, and to Boots for keeping me thinking, keeping me on my toes and warning me of the dangers of scatter guns and groin-pooling! Thank you to The Academy (damn, this is beginning to sound like an Oscars speech Id like to thank my lawyer, my hair stylist, the gnome who sits in the newsagents and anyone called Dai) But seriously, thank you so much to those at The Academy for putting up with the endless submissions. And most of all to Steph, at whose feet I am currently prostrated, for her patience, dedication and general stick-with-it-ness. Steph NO MORE BLOODY FOOTNOTES!!! And to DG, without whose love I couldnt have written this. Return to the Academy

April 17, 2010 ECW Barely Legal 1997, April 13, 1997, ECW Arena, Philadelphia, PA Announcer: Joey Styles WWE Extreme Rules is coming up, so with that in mind and the fact that the anniversary of this show took place this week, itís time to look back at the first time Extreme came to PPV. Iíll preface this by saying that I didnít watch ECW during this period. I was aware of it and followed it online, but it was never on where I live and thus I didnít actually get to see any of it until the TNN era. In recent years, having gone back and watched some of their older shows, I havenít really been impressed or anything. Maybe itís one of those things where you had to be there at the time, or whatever, but I also donít care too much for hardcore wrestling in general, so maybe I wouldnít have even liked it anyways. Iíll never really know I suppose, but I can still see if the companyís biggest show ever up to that point holds up today. Joey Styles starts out the show in the ring running down the card for this evening, but heís quickly interrupted by the entrance of the ECW Tag Team Champions, The Dudley Boys along with Sign Guy Dudley and Joel Gertner. They bully Joey out of the ring and then D-Von cuts a promo on the crowd which leads us to the opening montage. When we come back, Gertner does the official introduction for his team which leads us into the match. Opening Match, ECW Tag Team Championship: The Dudley Boys (w/Sign Guy Dudley & Joel Gertner) vs. The Eliminators The challengers clear the champs out of the ring to start. Sign Guy tries a sneak attack, which is no sold and he ends up taking Total Elimination. Dudleys attack, starting with a powerbomb/diving headbutt combo on Kronus for 2. Tilt-a-whirl slam/splash combo on Saturn also gets 2. Suplex/crossbody combo gets another 2 on Kronus. Saturn ducks a double clothesline, flips off the ropes and hits a double dropkick. He clotheslines D-Von, but runs into a side slam. The Dudleys try 3D on Kronus, but Saturn breaks it up. The Eliminators take over, dropping both D-Von and Bubba with a series of kicks. They then get stereo powerslams and twisting top rope splashes. The champs bail, so Kronus flips Saturn onto them, and then follows with the Space Flying Tiger Drop. Joey marvels about a man of Kronusí size pulling off that move, and sure maybe he is the only one of that size to do it, but that doesnít make him a great wrestler or anything. Another thing about Joey while Iím at it; Why does every damn move have to be named after the guy performing it? Itís one thing to have a move named after you if youíve actually innovated something, or even if youíre using it as a finisher, but calling something a ďSaturnsaultĒ as opposed to a moonsault, for example, as though heís the only guy in the world doing that move is just stupid in my opinion. So back in the ring, Saturn gets D-Von with a springboard spinkick, while Kronus nails Bubba with a handspring elbow. Kronus then slams Bubba to setup a top rope elbow by Saturn. Springboard moonsault by Saturn on Bubba. Kronus powerslams D-Von and then hits a 450 splash. They hit some double team kicks and then Total Elimination on Bubba for the 3 count and the Titles at 6:32. Gertner claims victory on points, but that just gets him a Total Elimination as well. This was six and a half minutes of these guys (mostly The Eliminators) doing every big move they could think of with no rhyme or reason whatsoever behind them. It came across like an exhibition where they just took turns doing stuff until it was time for someone to win. The subplot here was that both teams were claiming to be the best tag team in wrestling at this point, but even with WWF and WCW deemphasizing tag teams around then, I donít think either of them was based on this performance. * for the spots because thatís all there is to rate it on. Over to Joey who hypes up the Three Way Dance later on which leads to a video package on The Sandman. Joey then announces that the scheduled match between Lance Storm and Chris Candido is off because Candido tore his bicep. Candido is here though, so Joey throws it to him in the ring. He talks about his career coming full circle as he was here for the first ever ECW show in this building, and then goes off about how pissed he is heís not in the main event. He runs down everyone in the Three Way Dance, and promises to be involved in the show one way or another tonight. Lance Storm vs. Rob Van Dam RVD comes out as the replacement opponent for Storm. They lockup and Storm gives him a clean break in the corner. Then they go again, and RVD gives him a cheapshot on this break. Storm comes off the ropes and somersaults over RVD before coming back with a clothesline. RVD kicks out of a wristlock and gets a springboard crossbody for 1. He then tosses Storm to the floor and nails a somersault plancha. Back in, a top rope legdrop gets 2. He whips Storm to the corner, but Storm leaps to the top and comes off with a back elbow. He dropkicks RVD to the floor, but misses a dive. RVD whips him to the barrier and then moonsaults off of it. He brings a chair with him as they get back in the ring so that he can whip Storm to the corner and then throw the chair at him, bouncing it off his face. He then dropkicks the chair in Stormís face in the corner. Five Star Frog Splash hits, but itís obviously not his finisher yet as Storm kicks out at 2. He throws the chair at Storm again, but then follows up by missing a somersault splash in the corner. Storm gets him with an inverted powerslam on the chair and then nails a spinkick. A handspring splash sets up a flying shoulderblock for 2. He then goes to a Boston crab, which is quickly switched to the single leg crab, but RVD makes the ropes in any case. What incentive there is for Storm to break the hold there when he canít be disqualified is another one of the questions you just donít ask. RVD holds on to the ropes on an Irish whip, so Storm charges, but gets backdropped to the apron. Storm comes back with shoulders, but RVD drops him and hits a guillotine legdrop. Storm ducks the Van Daminator and hits RVD with the chair. With Storm making headlines recently for his criticism of chairshots to the head it should be noted that he did just that to RVD here, but tapped him as lightly as he possibly could while still making contact. So chairshots to the head can either look great and be dangerous, or be safe and look terrible. Thereís no reason for them not to be banned altogether. Storm then gets a sitdown powerbomb on the chair for 2. He goes up, and legdrops RVD, again onto the chair for another 2. They trade go behinds, with RVD then kicking him low. He follows with a screwed up springboard elbow that the fans let him know about, but it still gets 2. Storm gets a German suplex for 2 and then uses a couple more lovetap chairshots. RVD basically no sells them and pops right up with the Van Daminator and that gets the 3 count at 10:12. The post match sees RVD make Jim Molineaux come back in the ring and raise his hand properly. Storm then wants a handshake, but RVD isnít here for respect. Heís mad about being nothing more then a fill in here tonight, but says he took the match because he knew that a win here would make him worth more money ďhere and elsewhereĒ. His gimmick at this point was that he was just using ECW as a springboard to one of the big two. Ironically enough while many guys in the company were doing just that, RVD ended up sticking with ECW. As for the match, it actually had some semblance of being a wrestling match, unlike the opener, but was still mostly a collection of moves. *1/2 We get more Three Way Dance hype, this time focusing on Terry Funk as heís shown getting a Lifetime Achievement award last night, and then kneeling at his Fatherís grave as heís dedicating the match tonight to him. Menís Teioh, Dick Togo, & Taka Michinoku vs. Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada, & Masato Yakushiji Up next we have a match imported from Michinoku Pro Wrestling, of which Joey tells us to expect a very fast paced Lucha style. Teioh, Togo, and Taka, who would go on to all be part of Kaientai in the WWF, are here tonight as bWo Japan, just to ensure that ECW is spoofing every aspect of the nWo. Taka and Hamada start with Hamada hitting a sequence of armdrag, dropkick, snapmare, slam, and another snapmare. Yakushiji comes in off the op then slams Taka and drops a leg for 2. Tags to Sasuke and Teioh with Teioh elbowing him down and Togo coming in with a senton. Tags, by the way, are optional here, with a partner being able to switch off when the legal man leaves the ring. Teioh then hooks a camel clutch and Togo dropkicks Sasuke in the face. Togo then takes over with a senton for 2. Yakushiji is in and gets worked over by Togo. Tag to Teioh who gets a delayed vertical suplex for 2. Back to Togo, who gets his backdrop countered to a rana, and then is armdragged to the floor. Taka takes the same armdrag out. Hamada and Teioh go next, trading shots. Hamada takes him down with an armbar, but Taka comes in and dropkicks him in the face. A backdrop try sees Hamada land on his feet with Teioh grabbing hold of him, but he avoids Takaís charge and Teioh get s nailed. Hamada nails a back suplex and tags Sasuke so they can hit a double elbow. Sasuke and Teioh go though a crazy acrobatic display that ends with Sasuke getting a 2 count. Yakushiji and Taka switch in with Yakushiji nailing a dropkick, but getting caught in the wrong corner in the process. Teioh keeps trying to toss him to the floor, but he keeps getting back in before Teioh can join him. Finally Teioh is too slow getting in, and Yakushiji gets him with a baseball slide headscissors. In the ring, Togo dropkicks Hamada, but Hamada comes back with one of his own and a rana for 2. Teioh gets cradled for 2 and then the tecnicos work over Taka with a triple team. Taka fights out of Sasukeís single leg crab and hits an ensiguiri, and then nails a running forearm in the corner. Now the rudos have a chance to triple team, with Togo and Teioh bulldogging Sasuke and then holding him upside down for a dropkick from Taka. They showboat for a bit and then Taka dropkicks him in the face again. Togo gets a suplex for 2. Sasuke kicks off Teiohís spinning toehold, but still takes a DDT. He does escape allowing Yakushiji in, but he takes the Michinoku Driver from Taka which only gets 2. Now Yakushiji is cut off for awhile, taking a top rope kneedrop from Taka for 2 and the a somersault senton from Togo. Teioh hits a back suplex for 2. Hamada gets in and eats a spike piledriver, but gets out and Yakushiji gets back in. He takes a triple team powerbomb and is covered, but Sasuke makes the save at 2. The bWo tries the powerbomb on him now, botching it the first time, and then on the second try Sasuke counters to a rana on Teioh for 2. Sasuke then comes off with a Quebrada on Taka and Teioh for 2. He knocks Togo to the floor with a handspring elbow, and then follows up with an Asai moonsault. Hamada gets atomic dropped to the floor by Taka, who then gets him with a plancha. Yakushiji gets a top rope dropkick on Teioh for 2 and then a suplex and moonsault for another 2. Teioh reverses a whip and gets a tornado DDT to take over. Powerbomb gets 2 before Hamada and Togo take over. Togo hits a powerslam for 2. Hamada gets the boots up on a corner whip and then hits a swinging DDT for 2. Rana is countered to a powerbomb for 2. Togo goes up, but Sasuke crotches him and Hamada ranas him from the top. Yakushiji goes up and gets another rana, and then hits a suicide dive to the floor. Taka and Sasuke are in next with Taka getting a belly to belly suplex and a top rope dropkick. Michinoku Driver hits, but it only gets 2 again with Yakushiji making the save. Taka goes up again, but this time Sasuke dropkicks him coming down. Quebrada gets 2, so then he follows with a powerbomb and a dragon suplex which finally gets the 3 count at 16:56. Great match here, and easily the best thing on the show. I hope that the ECW guys were watching this because then they could have learned how to build a match around doing highspots instead of just doing an exhibition of highspots. ****1/2 Thatís followed by a promo from Stevie Richards who basically says that tonight will validate his entire existence when he wins the Three Way Dance and then goes on to beat Raven. ECW Television Championship Match: Shane Douglas (w/Francine & The Riot Squad) vs. Pitbull #2 Douglas cuts a pre match promo running down the fans, proclaiming himself great, and taking credit for injuring Pitbull #1, who is shown at ringside in a neckbrace. Also, if Douglas wins, the masked man that has been hounding him lately must unmask as Ravishing Rick Rude. They didnít do a great job explaining everything here, so Iím just slapping the bits and pieces together as best I can. The Pitbull charges in, but Douglas is on him. They trade for a bit until Pitbull sends him off the ropes and hits a backdrop. He then gets a spinkick and clothesline before going to a front facelock. Douglas low blows out of that and they continue trading basic stuff for a bit. Itís apparent pretty early on these guys donít have much chemistry. Douglas avoids a backdrop, but takes a low blow, followed by an atomic drop and clothesline for 2. Pitbull chokes him on the ropes and then sets up a powerbomb, but itís countered to a rana. Pitbull hits a clothesline anyways and tries the powerbomb again, and itís countered again, this time with the rana putting Pitbull on the floor. Back in, Douglas hits three piledrivers, trying to break this Pitbullís neck as well. He then gets a dropkick to the back of the head, and a suplex before hooking a camel clutch. The Pitbull elbows out and gets Douglas with a throat toss, and inverted atomic drop, and a clothesline. Corner whip sees Douglas leap back at him, but he catches him. After putting him down once, Pitbull picks him back up and drops him to the floor through a table. He whips Douglas to the barrier near Pitbull #1 who hops the rail and starts beating on Douglas until the Riot Squad intervenes and drags him to the back. Meanwhile, Pitbull #2 has tossed a section of guard rail into the ring, but he himself ends up getting dropped on it first. Douglas nails a couple of ballshots, and then rolls him to the floor so he can drop the rail on him from the ring. He nails Pitbull with a chair before getting him back in and working him over some more. Douglas comes off the top, but is dropkicked. They clothesline each other and then Pitbull hits a shoulderblock and a powerslam for 2. Back elbow also gets 2 as does a dropkick. He hits a press slam, but then we see Francine pass Douglas a foreign object which he nails Pitbull with twice. Francine then passes him a piece of the broken table, which he further breaks over Pitbullís head for 2. A shot with a chair gets another 2, as does a shot with the bell, as does another shot with the broken table. Pitbull gets up and whips Douglas to the corner, but itís the corner where the TV belt was hanging so Douglas grabs that and nails Pitbull with that as well. Douglas then charges into a boot and takes a pumphandle powerslam for 2. Pitbull then goes into Douglasí boot to find the infamous chain with which he nails Douglas. Douglasí Triple Threat ally Chris Candido runs in and gets nailed as well. Pitbull then goes for former manager Francine, but gets rolled up for 2. Irish whip is reversed and Pitbull nails a clothesline. Douglas ducks a second clothesline and nails the belly to belly suplex which gets the 3 count to retain at 20:44. Douglas seemed like he was trying to build up an epic classic here, but the Pitbull was not the kind of worker that was going to happen with as he seemed out of place for that style. It wasnít terrible or anything, although it was probably a bit longer then it needed to be. ** After the match, the masked man announces that heíll be a man of his word, but that he also wants Francine. He comes out wearing a Simply Ravishing robe, although itís clearly not Rude. He kisses her, which leads to Douglas attacking, but now one of the Riot Squad members unmasks as the real Rick Rude to make the save. The decoy turns out to be other Triple Threat member Brian Lee, who completes the turn on Douglas by chokeslamming him leaving himself and Rude to celebrate in the ring. Taz cuts an intense close up promo letting Sabu know that he knows that Sabu fears him. He promises to choke him out tonight. Taz (w/Bill Alphonso & Team Taz) vs. Sabu So this is a grudge match of former partners taking place with well over a year of buildup. They start with a staredown and then trade slaps. Taz ducks a shot and nails a clothesline to put Sabu on the floor. Back in, Taz goes to work and quickly goes for the Tazmission, which Sabu blocks. Joey gets all excited about Sabu apparently being the first guy to ever block it. Taz goes to an ankle lock instead, which is broken, but he keeps control with a bodyscissors. He pounds away at Sabu, bloodying his nose up in the process. Sabu takes a break on the floor, and then returns to send Taz to the floor with a springboard kick. He follows with a baseball slide and then dumps Taz over the barrier to setup getting a chair in the ring and connecting with a double jump springboard plancha. They brawl in the crowd for awhile and we canít really tell whatís going on. They keep cutting away to Fonzie running around the ring for some reason while this is going on. Finally they make their way back to ringside with Taz clotheslining Sabu back over the barrier. In the ring, Taz maintains control on the mat, but Sabu fights up and nails an ensiguiri. He then hits a flipping legdrop, and then gets a chair and throws it at him. Sabu then uses it to hit Air Sabu in the corner, but a second try sees him get caught and flapjacked on the chair for 2. Clothesline gets another 2 for Taz. He hits a spinebuster, but Sabu then hooks the tight to toss him to the floor. This time the double jump springboard misses and Taz belly to bellies him over the rail. As he gets Sabu back in the ring, Team Taz helpfully sets up some tables straddling the ring and the barrier. They fight to the floor where Sabu gets Taz on the table. He stops short on a leap as Taz makes it to his feet. Taz tries a northern lights suplex, which is countered to a swinging DDT, which in turn is countered by Taz holding the ropes and Sabu goes crashing through the table to the floor. Sabu gets up and they trade shots on the floor, and then they get in with both guys selling the effects of the match so far. Sabu sets Taz on top and takes him down with a rana for 2. He then drops a leg off the top as well. After more trading of shots, Taz comes back with a Tazplex and a vertical suplex. Sabu blocks a T-Bone and hits one of his own, but then makes the mistake of mocking Tazís pose while Taz pops right up and does it behind him. Taz misses a clothesline though and Sabu hooks his own Tazmission. Taz suplexes him to break it and then hits a T-Bone Tazplex. Tazmission is hooked and Sabuís arm drops three times to end it at 17:48. After the match, Taz grabs the mic and says that he respects Sabu for giving him the fight of his life and wants to shake his hand. Sabu not only does that, be he also raises Tazís hand in victory. This show of respect pisses off Sabuís partner Rob Van Dam though, who runs in and attacks Taz. Taz fights back, but then Sabu attacks him and the double team beatdown is on including Sabu putting him through a table. Fonzie gets in the ring to confront them, but then reveals that heís actually with them, leaving Taz behind and calling him a loser. RVD lets us know that if we want to book him, we should go through Fonzie and by the way, he loves to work Mondays. I really liked this match. The story was good with each guy having their strengths and Taz eventually suckering Sabu towards his own style and then beating him with it. Iíll call it the second best match on the show and the best one from ECW itself. *** Joey then brings out Tommy Dreamer and Beulah to do guest commentary for the next match, although Beulah actually says nothing the entire time and Tommy adds very little. Three Way Dance: Big Stevie Cool (w/Da Blue Guy, Hollywood Nova, 7-11, & Thomas ďThe InchwormĒ Rodman) vs. The Sandman vs. Terry Funk So the winner here gets an immediate shot at Raven for the ECW Title in the main event. The match originally had Tommy Dreamer instead of Terry Funk with the idea being that all three guys hated Raven and wanted a piece of him, but Tommy voluntarily gave up his spot so that his mentor Terry Funk could get one last shot at becoming World Champion. Sandman wants to share a beer with Funk, who declines so Sandman downs it himself and then spits it in Stevieís face. They start with a double headlock and Sandman being sent off the ropes and shoulderblocking Stevie. They trade chops for a bit until Stevie schoolboys Sandman for 2. Funk goes for the spinning toehold on Sandman, but Stevie takes him out with a flying forearm. They double team Funk with Sandman slamming Stevie on to him. They look to set it up again, but this time Sandman suplexes him instead. Funk gets up with four swinging neckbreakers on Stevie for a 2 count while Sandman goes to the back and grabs a ladder. He nails both guys with it, getting 2 on Funk. He then stands it up and starts climbing. Funk joins him, but then decides to hit a moonsault on Stevie instead. Of course by ďhitĒ I mean brush him with a leg, but the effort was there. Sandman works over both guys, slamming Stevie on the ladder for 2. Stevie comes back and dropkicks it in his face for a 2 of his own. Funk then gets a 2 count by headbutting Stevie. Sandman sets the ladder in the corner, but gets whipped into it himself and covered by Funk for 2. Stevie slams Funk for 2 and then he and Sandman hit a double elbow for another 2. They then climb the ladder for no apparent reason, so Funk just tips it over on them. Funk then does the helicopter spot with the ladder, knocking both guys over repeatedly. He and Sandman take turns ramming each other to the ladder until Stevie comes off the top and seesaws it into both of them. He then hits the Steviekick on Sandman, but it only gets 2. He also hits it on Funk, but Funk also kicks out at 2. Sandman tosses him to the floor and drops the ladder on him. He then throws Stevie in to the crowd. Funk nails both guys with a chair, and then gets Stevie in the ring where he nails a suplex. Sandman has found more plunder, this time a garbage can that has a piece of sheet metal wrapped around it. He throws this at Funk, and then Covers Stevie for 2. He beats Stevie with the can and then suplexes it onto him for 2. Funk joins him for a spike piledriver on Stevie. Sandman gets the ladder on Stevie and then drops a leg for 2. He then seesaws it into Stevie, but Funk throws a chair at him and covers Stevie himself for 2. Funk and Sandman rejoin forces for a double powerbomb and this time share the cover which gets the 3 count to eliminate Stevie at 15:44. The match continues with Sandman charging at Funk but getting backdropped to the floor. While there, Sandman pulls out a roll of barbed wire, but Funk nails him with the trash can. Funk then pulls Sandmanís shirt over his head and works him over with punches. He then whips Sandman with the wire. Sandman comes back with a can shot, then wraps the barbed wire around himself and hits a bodyblock. He goes up top and drops a leg for 2. Stevie, whoís still milling around, gets on the apron and Sandman runs into him too. Funk puts the can on Sandmanís head, with Stevie getting in the ring and nailing a Steviekick on him. Funk moonsaults, him and covers for the 3 count to win it at 19:11. Funk gets his shot at the World Title right now. *3/4 Main Event, ECW Championship Match: Raven vs. Terry Funk The show is rapidly running short on time at this point so Ravenís music hits immediately following the bell and he comes out to get this one underway by hitting Funk with the belt. He then gets the drop toehold on the chair, followed by just hitting him with the chair. Funk is a bloody mess at this point with the doctor coming in to check on him, but it keeps going. Raven keeps working him over and then drops a table on him. He then sets Funk on the table and leap on him to put him through it. The Nest runs in now with large woman wrestler Reggie Bennett beating Funk up and nailing a piledriver. Tommy Dreamer remains at the commentary position, saying he promised that he wouldnít run in no matter what. Raven gets on the mic to address Tommy, letting him know that heís gonna end Funkís career and mocks Tommy. Tommy gets up, but Big Dick Dudley attacks. The Nest has stacked some tables near the commentary position for Dudley to chokeslam Tommy through, but Tommy blocks it and puts Dudley through them instead. He then fights off the Nest and makes his way ringside. Sadly they donít have a camera there and all we can see is Raven watching this happen from the ring. Tommy makes it in and nails Raven with a DDT. Funk covers, but it only gets 2, although the timekeeper thought it was the end and rung the bell. I donít get why it wasnít the finish though because Funk immediately small packages Raven and that gets the real 3 count to win the ECW Title at 7:45 (very little of which was actual wrestling). Iíll give the match ľ* because there was really nothing to it other then the storyline stuff, but it did seem like a big moment when Funk won the belt. So, this was an okay show overall here. The biggest highlight was the M-Pro six man, although I wonder how ECW felt about the outsiders coming in and stealing the show on the companyís biggest night. Taz/Sabu was good on its own, but if I had been around for the entire buildup I may have felt differently about it. Nothing here outright sucked, but there were things that definitely didnít work for me and could have been done better, specifically the Tag Title match and the TV Title match. Thumbs in the Middle for ECW Barely Legal 1997 and Iíll call it a recommended show pretty much because itís where ECW peaked. After this they became too big for their own good and all the problems started popping up.

|Publication number||US5080951 A| |Application number||US 07/389,042| |Publication date||Jan 14, 1992| |Filing date||Aug 3, 1989| |Priority date||Aug 3, 1989| |Publication number||07389042, 389042, US 5080951 A, US 5080951A, US-A-5080951, US5080951 A, US5080951A| |Inventors||David W. Guthrie| |Original Assignee||Guthrie David W| |Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan| |Patent Citations (9), Referenced by (76), Classifications (22), Legal Events (3)| |External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet| The present invention relates to an improved, nonwoven fabric having superior cloth-like characteristics including superior tear resistance and liquid absorbency. Nonwoven materials are well known and have found wide spread use in an eclectic variety of applications from molded interior automobile parts to hospital bandages. The application for which a nonwoven material will be used determines the desired characteristics of the material Nonwoven materials used for disposable products such as industrial and/or home-use wipes, hospital towels, surgical gowns, wound dressings and the like should have the following characteristics: (1) minimal linting, (2) maximum liquid absorbency, (3) flexibility, (4) tear resistance or tensile strength, (5) resistance to the separation of any laminated layers, and (6) softness or cloth-like aesthetic properties. Because disposable products are a significant commercial application of nonwoven materials, substantial effort has been expended in the prior art to develop nonwoven products with the above-enumerated characteristics (referred to hereinafter as "cloth-like characteristics"). Examples of prior art, disposable nonwoven materials having some of these cloth-like characteristics can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,892, to Storey et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,566, to Braun; U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,060, to Yoshida et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,066, to Newman. An example of a prior art method of making a nonwoven product may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,113 to Hermasson et al. It is an object of the present invention to provide a disposable, nonwoven fabric with improved strength and increased liquid-absorbency. It is another object of the present invention to provide a durable, long-lasting, absorbent, disposable nonwoven fabric that can be used for industrial application at significant savings attributable to the durability and absorbency of the fabric. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a nonwoven fabric with minimal linting and other cloth-like characteristics such as softness and flexibility. It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a process for producing such an improved nonwoven fabric. These and other objects of the invention are accomplished by providing a nonwoven fabric with an intermediate area of absorbent fibers The intermediate area is substantially sandwiched between two outer areas--a top outer area (the melt fiber area), and a bottom outer area (the reinforcing area). The melt fiber area is comprised partly of melt bonding fibers while the reinforcing area is comprised of a nonwoven material such as a spunbond, meltblown or bonded carded web. The areas of the nonwoven fabric are bonded first by a needling process which entangles the fibers. The needle entanglement causes some fibers to extend through the entire thickness of the fabric and beyond the surface, thereby leaving short segments of filaments protruding from the exterior surface of the reinforcing area. The areas are further bonded by a thermal process that melts at least some of the melt fibers. The thermal process may incorporate use of a heated roll with a raised pattern on its surface so as to create alternating areas of lesser and greater compaction. The areas of lesser compaction provide void spaces for enhanced liquid absorbency, while the areas of greater compaction enhance liquid absorbency by providing denser areas for liquid flow (wicking). The method for manufacturing the improved nonwoven fabric of the present invention is comprised of applying an area comprised partly of absorbent fibers onto a continuously advancing area of reinforcing synthetic fibers; applying an area comprised partly of melt fibers on top of the absorbent fibers; interconnecting the three areas by entanglement of the fibers by needling; and finally, passing the needled areas through a calendar having at least one roll heated to a temperature sufficient to melt some of the melt fibers. The final product may be wound onto a supply roll. FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of an installation for manufacturing the improved nonwoven fabric of the present invention. FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view through one embodiment of the improved nonwoven fabric of the present invention before calendaring. FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view through one embodiment of the improved nonwoven fabric of the present invention after calendaring in which one of the calendar rolls is engraved with lands and grooves. FIG. 4 illustrates melt fiber welds between fiber ends protruding through the surface of one embodiment of the nonwoven fabric of the present invention after passing through a calendar having both rolls heated. The nonwoven fabric 2 of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, is comprised of an intermediate absorbent area 20 sandwiched between a melt fiber layer 24 and a reinforcing area 16. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a preferred embodiment of an apparatus for manufacturing the nonwoven composite of the present invention. The apparatus shown in FIG. 1 comprises a conveyor belt 10 which is driven by rollers 12 and 14. An area of reinforcing fibers 16 is laid onto the conveyer belt 10 from roll 18. The area of reinforcing fibers 16 may be comprised of nylon, polyester, cotton or other synthetic or natural fiber filaments. The area of reinforcing fibers 16 may be a mixture of fibers that includes melt fibers The fiber filaments that comprise the area of reinforcing fibers 16 may be a nonwoven material in the form of a spunbond, meltblown, wet or dry laid or other reinforcing fibers. Onto this reinforcing area 16 are layered the fibers of the intermediate absorbent area 20. The fibers of the intermediate absorbent area 20 may be comprised of any natural or synthetic absorbent fibers, for example rayon, cotton, polyester, nylon, glass, carbon or polyolefin fibers. The area of absorbent fibers 20 is layered from air laid device 22. The absorbent fibers may be mixed with other fibers, for example melt fibers such as polypropylene or polyethylene melt or bicomponent fibers. If the nonwoven fabric is to be used to absorb hydrophilic liquids, a hydrophilic fiber will be used as the absorbent fiber. If the nonwoven fabric will be used to absorb oleophilic liquids, an oleophilic absorbent fiber will be used. Melt fiber area 24 is placed on top of the intermediate absorbent area 20 from the air laid device 26. Melt fiber area 24 may be comprised of any fiber having a significantly lower melting point than the fibers in the intermediate absorbent area 20, for example, polypropylene or polyethylene melt fibers. The melt fibers in the melt fiber area 24 may be mixed with other fibers such as for example, polyester, cotton or nylon. The three areas of fibers are then passed through a needling device 28 after which they are passed through a calendar 30, preferably including top roll 32 and bottom roll 34. One or both of rolls 32 and 34 is heated to a temperature sufficient to melt at least some of the melt fibers in melt fiber area 24 and that may be present in intermediate area 20 and/or reinforcing area 16. One or both of the calendar rolls 32 and 34 may be impressed with a pattern of lands and grooves to form a raised pattern. The pressure at which the calendar rolls 32 and 34 operate may be varied. Lower pressures produce softer, more drapable, and more cloth-like nonwoven fabric 2. Higher calendar 30 pressures produce a stiffer and more abrasion resistant nonwoven fabric 2. Because of the tensile strength and tear resistance provided by the reinforcing area 16 and the needle entanglement, in addition to the strength provided by the fiber welds that occur when the melt fibers melt, high pressures are not required in the present invention to produce a fabric 2 of superior tensile strength and tear resistance. Thus, a fabric 2 according to the present invention can be made using substantially lower calendaring pressures than are required for conventional nonwoven fabrics Any calendaring pressure above 0 p.s.i. will produce a nonwoven fabric according to the present invention. After passing through the calendar 30, the finished fabric 2 may be collected onto supply roll 46. FIG. 2 depicts the nonwoven fabric 4 after it has emerged from the needling device 28. Fibers from intermediate absorbent area 20, melt fiber area 24 and reinforcing area 16 are entangled throughout the crossection of the fabric with some fibers 36 extending beyond the surface of the reinforcing area 16. Fibers 38 are entangled between the melt fiber area 24 and the intermediate absorbent area 20, while fibers 40 are entangled between the absorbent area 20 and the outer reinforcing area 16. FIG. 3 depicts a preferred embodiment of the nonwoven fabric 2 of the present invention which is formed after the areas of needled fibers have emerged from the calendaring step of the manufacturing process. The calendaring process compresses the fabric and at least partially melts the melt fibers. The nonwoven fabric is impressed with a pattern of lands 44 and grooves 48 on one side from the lands and grooves engraved on one roll of the calendaring device 30. Some of the melt fibers that were intermixed within the intermediate absorbent area 20 have melted to adjacent absorbent fibers to form a scattering of fiber welds (not shown in the figures) between the fibers that comprise the intermediate absorbent area 20. The melt fibers in the melt fiber area 24 are at least partially melted and in melting have formed melt fiber welds with adjacent fibers (not shown in the figures). Some of these fiber welds (not shown in the figures) capture the ends of fibers that extend through the crossection of the nonwoven composite. If both calendar rolls are heated, fibers that protrude through the surface of the reinforcing area 16 also may be held in place by fiber welds 42 between adjacent protruding fibers 36 as shown in FIG. 4. Any melt fiber in the reinforcing area 16 will also melt to form fiber welds (not shown in the figures) between fibers in reinforcing area 16. The protrusion of fibers 36 through the reinforcing area 16 gives that area a soft cloth-like feel. Because these protruding fibers 36 are anchored to the fabric 2 as discussed above, they are not easily pulled away from the nonwoven fabric 2 and, as a result, the fabric has minimal linting. The protrusion of absorbent fibers 36 through the reinforcing area 16 of the nonwoven fabric 2 gives the fabric greater water absorbency and wetability than previously known nonwoven products. Liquids coming into contact with the protruding filaments 36 that protrude through the reinforcing area 16 are drawn along these filaments and into the intermediate absorbent area 20 by capillary action. Liquid absorbency is further enhanced by the pattern of raised 44 and compressed 48 areas which creates a funnel effect and provides apertures through the melt fiber area 24 into the intermediate absorbent area 20. The noncompressed areas 44 of the nonwoven fabric 2 provide reservoirs for holding the absorbed liquid while the compressed areas 48 provide channels for liquid flow (wicking). The tensile strength of the nonwoven fabric 2 is greater than that found in similar previously known products because none of those products known to the inventor utilizes all three means for providing tensile strength that are utilized in the present invention, namely (1) the entanglement of fibers between intermediate area 20 and both the melt fiber area 24 and the reinforcing area 16, as well as entanglement of fibers through the entire crossection of the fabric extending from the melt fiber area 24 through the surface of the reinforcing layer 16; (2) the fiber welds between fiber filaments within the fabric crossection provided by the disbursement of the melt fibers throughout the fabric and their subsequent melting; and (3) the incorporation into the fabric of reinforcing area 16 comprised of reinforcing fibers which inherently have a high tensile strength and which are bonded to the fabric by the entanglement of fibers as well as by the two types of spot welding. Because of the use of all three means for providing tensile strength, the area of compaction or spot welds through the three areas is not essential and if used can be kept to a minimum and still yield a product with greater tensile strength than previously known products By keeping the area of compaction to a minimum, absorbency and softness are maximized. The nonwoven fabric 2 of the present invention provides superior resistance to the separation of layers than previously known products because of the entanglement of fibers between the areas and through the entire width of the fabric. The present invention also provides a nonwoven fabric with superior softness and cloth-like aesthetic qualities because of the cloth-like feel that results from the protrusion of fiber ends 36 through the surface of the reinforcing area 20 of the fabric 2. The void space within the intermediate absorbent area 20 enhances the cloth-like flexibility and feel of the nonwoven fabric of the present invention. The invention is not limited to any specific embodiment or to the specific embodiment described in the following Example but a variety of modifications are possible within the scope of the appended claims. The nonwoven fabric of the invention was prepared using the apparatus shown in FIG. 1. The reinforcing fibers were comprised of spunbonded nylon monofilaments (100% continuous filament nylon 6, 6 produced by James River Corporation, Greenville, S.C. and sold as PBN-TT™ Spunbond Nylon). The intermediate absorbent area was comprised of a mixture of 85% rayon (Fibro® 1.5 in. length×1.5 dpf from Courtlands North America, Inc. N.Y., N.Y.) and 15% melt fibers, (100% polypropylene staple fibers, Type 185, 1.5 in. length×2 dpf, from Hercules, Inc. Wilmington, Del.). The melt fiber area was comprised 100% of carded polypropylene staple fibers (Type 185, 1.5 in. length×2 dpf, from Hercules Inc. Wilmington, Del). The fabric areas were compressed in a vertical calendar at a pressure of 90 psi. The top roll of the calendar was impressed with a raised pattern to provide a final fabric having a pattern of areas of lesser and greater compaction. The top roll of the calendar was heated to 310° F. and the bottom roll was not heated. The final product had the following properties: ______________________________________Basis Weight: 2.5 oz/yd2Thickness: .022 inDensity: 9.17 lb/ft3Strip Tensile: MD 16.25 lb/in CD 3.31 lb/inElongation: MD 45.52% CD 51.96%Trap Tear: MD 10.0 lbs CD 4.2 lbsAbrasion Minimal lintResistance:______________________________________ Using the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the nonwoven fabric of the invention may be prepared using spunbonded polyester monofilaments (Reemay, Inc., Old Hickery, Tenn.) for the reinforcing area. The intermediate absorbent area may be comprised of 65% polypropylene staple fibers (Type 101, 1.5 in. length×1.8 dpf, from Hercules, Inc. Wilmington, Del.). The melt fiber area may be comprised of 70% polyethylene melt fibers (Type 201, 1.75 in. Length×3 dpf from Hercules, Inc. Wilmington, Del.) and 30% polypropylene staple fibers (Type 101, 1.5 in. length×1.8 dpf, from Hercules, Inc. Wilmington, Del.). The fabric areas may be compressed in a verticle calendar having a top roll impressed with a raised pattern at a pressure of 90 psi. The top of the calendar should be heated to 270° F. with the bottom roll not heated. The final product will have a density of 6.30 lb/ft3, a basis weight of 2.5 oz/yd2 and other characteristics similar or equal to the characteristics of the final product of Example 1. |Cited Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title| |US4205113 *||Mar 30, 1978||May 27, 1980||Nordifa Industritextiller AB||Fashion felt| |US4211227 *||Jul 3, 1978||Jul 8, 1980||The Kendall Company||Surgical sponge material| |US4355066 *||Dec 8, 1980||Oct 19, 1982||The Kendall Company||Spot-bonded absorbent composite towel material having 60% or more of the surface area unbonded| |US4373000 *||Jul 31, 1981||Feb 8, 1983||Firma Carl Freudenberg||Soft, drapable, nonwoven interlining fabric| |US4542060 *||May 18, 1984||Sep 17, 1985||Kuraflex Co., Ltd.||Nonwoven fabric and process for producing thereof| |US4550725 *||Nov 30, 1983||Nov 5, 1985||Phillips Petroleum Company||Method and apparatus for absorbing moisture| |US4568581 *||Sep 12, 1984||Feb 4, 1986||Collins & Aikman Corporation||Molded three dimensional fibrous surfaced article and method of producing same| |US4668566 *||Oct 7, 1985||May 26, 1987||Kimberly-Clark Corporation||Multilayer nonwoven fabric made with poly-propylene and polyethylene| |US4784892 *||May 12, 1986||Nov 15, 1988||Kimberly-Clark Corporation||Laminated microfiber non-woven material| |Citing Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title| |US5310590 *||Feb 4, 1993||May 10, 1994||Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company||Stitchbonded articles| |US5387454 *||Mar 28, 1994||Feb 7, 1995||Textilmaschinenfabrik Dr. Ernst Fehrer Aktiengesellschaft||Process of making a velour needle felt| |US5401552 *||Jan 28, 1994||Mar 28, 1995||Slt Environmental, Inc.||Geocomposite liner| |US5466516 *||Sep 10, 1993||Nov 14, 1995||Matarah Industries, Inc.||Thermoplastic fiber laminate| |US5543004 *||Mar 2, 1994||Aug 6, 1996||Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company||Stitchbonded articles and method of making same| |US5547731 *||May 25, 1993||Aug 20, 1996||Tesch; 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Healthcare Group Lp||Compression device with improved moisture evaporation| |US8016779||Apr 9, 2007||Sep 13, 2011||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression device having cooling capability| |US8021388||Oct 8, 2008||Sep 20, 2011||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression device with improved moisture evaporation| |US8029450||Apr 9, 2007||Oct 4, 2011||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Breathable compression device| |US8029451||Oct 14, 2008||Oct 4, 2011||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression sleeve having air conduits| |US8034007||Apr 9, 2007||Oct 11, 2011||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression device with structural support features| |US8070699||Apr 9, 2007||Dec 6, 2011||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Method of making compression sleeve with structural support features| |US8075977||Apr 7, 2010||Dec 13, 2011||The Procter & Gamble Company||Tufted laminate web| |US8079970||Sep 22, 2010||Dec 20, 2011||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression sleeve having air conduits formed by a textured surface| |US8109892||Apr 9, 2007||Feb 7, 2012||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Methods of making compression device with improved evaporation| |US8114117||Sep 30, 2008||Feb 14, 2012||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression device with wear area| |US8128584||Apr 9, 2007||Mar 6, 2012||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression device with S-shaped bladder| |US8162861||Apr 2, 2008||Apr 24, 2012||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression device with strategic weld construction| |US8235923||Sep 30, 2008||Aug 7, 2012||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression device with removable portion| |US8506508 *||Apr 9, 2007||Aug 13, 2013||Covidien Lp||Compression device having weld seam moisture transfer| |US8539647||Jul 19, 2006||Sep 24, 2013||Covidien Ag||Limited durability fastening for a garment| |US8597215||Sep 16, 2011||Dec 3, 2013||Covidien Lp||Compression device with structural support features| |US8622942||Nov 11, 2011||Jan 7, 2014||Covidien Lp||Method of making compression sleeve with structural support features| |US8632840||Jan 31, 2012||Jan 21, 2014||Covidien Lp||Compression device with wear area| |US8652079||Apr 2, 2010||Feb 18, 2014||Covidien Lp||Compression garment having an extension| |US8673097||Jun 5, 2008||Mar 18, 2014||Velcro Industries B.V.||Anchoring loops of fibers needled into a carrier sheet| |US8721575||Jan 31, 2012||May 13, 2014||Covidien Lp||Compression device with s-shaped bladder| |US8740828||Nov 9, 2011||Jun 3, 2014||Covidien Lp||Compression device with improved moisture evaporation| |US8753459||Jun 5, 2008||Jun 17, 2014||Velcro Industries B.V.||Needling loops into carrier sheets| |US8877316||Dec 16, 2003||Nov 4, 2014||The Procter & Gamble Company||Cloth-like personal care articles| |US8992449||Aug 12, 2013||Mar 31, 2015||Covidien Lp||Method of making compression sleeve with structural support features| |US9078793||Jun 18, 2012||Jul 14, 2015||Velcro Industries B.V.||Hook-engageable loop fasteners and related systems and methods| |US9084713||Aug 22, 2011||Jul 21, 2015||Covidien Lp||Compression device having cooling capability| |US9107793||Dec 2, 2013||Aug 18, 2015||Covidien Lp||Compression device with structural support features| |US9114052||Mar 19, 2012||Aug 25, 2015||Covidien Lp||Compression device with strategic weld construction| |US9119443||Jun 18, 2012||Sep 1, 2015||Velcro Industries B.V.||Loop-engageable fasteners and related systems and methods| |US9205021||Jun 18, 2012||Dec 8, 2015||Covidien Lp||Compression system with vent cooling feature| |US9293748||Sep 15, 2014||Mar 22, 2016||Hollingsworth & Vose Company||Multi-region battery separators| |US9364037||Sep 9, 2013||Jun 14, 2016||Covidien Ag||Limited durability fastening for a garment| |US9387146||Apr 8, 2013||Jul 12, 2016||Covidien Lp||Compression device having weld seam moisture transfer| |US20020187700 *||May 17, 2002||Dec 12, 2002||Gryskiewicz Stanley Michael||Bonded fluff structures and process for producing same| |US20040242097 *||Dec 16, 2003||Dec 2, 2004||The Procter & Gamble Company||Cloth-like personal care articles| |US20050196583 *||Apr 8, 2005||Sep 8, 2005||Provost George A.||Embossing loop materials| |US20050208259 *||Apr 8, 2005||Sep 22, 2005||Provost George A||Forming loop materials| |US20050217092 *||Apr 8, 2005||Oct 6, 2005||Barker James R||Anchoring loops of fibers needled into a carrier sheet| |US20060225258 *||Apr 8, 2005||Oct 12, 2006||Barker James R||Needling loops into carrier sheets| |US20070178273 *||Feb 1, 2006||Aug 2, 2007||Provost George A||Embossing loop materials| |US20080069846 *||Sep 12, 2007||Mar 20, 2008||Korean Research Institute Of Bioscience And Biotechnology||Protease, a Gene Therefor and the Use Thereof| |US20080113152 *||Nov 14, 2006||May 15, 2008||Velcro Industries B.V.||Loop Materials| |US20080249440 *||Apr 9, 2007||Oct 9, 2008||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Method of Making Compression Sleeve with Structural Support Features| |US20080249441 *||Apr 2, 2008||Oct 9, 2008||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression device with strategic weld construction| |US20080249443 *||Apr 9, 2007||Oct 9, 2008||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression Device Having Weld Seam Moisture Transfer| |US20080305297 *||Jun 5, 2008||Dec 11, 2008||Velcro Industries B.V.||Anchoring loops of fibers needled into a carrier sheet| |US20080305704 *||Jun 5, 2008||Dec 11, 2008||Velcro Industries B.V.||Needling loops into carrier sheets| |US20090062703 *||Oct 14, 2008||Mar 5, 2009||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression Sleeve Having Air Conduits| |US20090203280 *||Jun 5, 2008||Aug 13, 2009||Velcro Industries B.V.||Needling loops into carrier sheets| |US20100081975 *||Sep 30, 2008||Apr 1, 2010||Tyco Healthcare Group Lp||Compression Device with Removable Portion| |US20100196653 *||Apr 7, 2010||Aug 5, 2010||John Joseph Curro||Tufted laminate web| |EP0756924A3 *||Jul 28, 1996||Apr 8, 1998||Günter TESCH||Process for manufacturing sheets, particularly coverings| |EP2159043A2||Dec 16, 2003||Mar 3, 2010||The Procter and Gamble Company||Tufted laminate web| |EP2159043A3 *||Dec 16, 2003||Nov 17, 2010||The Procter and Gamble Company||Tufted laminate web| |WO2000053835A1 *||Mar 6, 2000||Sep 14, 2000||Kimberly-Clark Limited||Wiper| |WO2015094459A1||Oct 13, 2014||Jun 25, 2015||The Procter & Gamble Company||Method for fabricating absorbent articles| |WO2015094460A1||Oct 13, 2014||Jun 25, 2015||The Procter & Gamble Company||Method for fabricating absorbent articles| |WO2015095438A2||Dec 18, 2014||Jun 25, 2015||The Procter & Gamble Company||Method for fabricating absorbent articles| |WO2015095440A1||Dec 18, 2014||Jun 25, 2015||The Procter & Gamble Company||Method for fabricating absorbent articles| |U.S. Classification||428/85, 442/416, 442/415, 428/172, 428/171, 428/913| |International Classification||D04H13/00, B32B5/08| |Cooperative Classification||D04H11/08, D04H1/732, D04H1/485, D04H1/498, D04H3/14, D04H1/559, B32B5/08, Y10T442/697, Y10T442/698, Y10T428/24612, Y10T428/24603, Y10S428/913| |European Classification||D04H13/00B5, B32B5/08| |Aug 22, 1995||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed| |Jan 14, 1996||LAPS||Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees| |Mar 19, 1996||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee| Effective date: 19960117

I hope you slept well last night and that you are feeling fresh, alert and focused because today, we are going to look at the topic of the Trinity as part of our series on Elim’s “Core Beliefs”. St Augustine, one of the greatest and most influential Christian thinkers of all time, spent 30 years of his life writing a colossal work of 15 volumes that he simply, but perhaps rather unimaginatively called, “About the Trinity”. He was, then a bit of a whiz at our topic today and this is what he said about it after all that study: “. . . in no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more laborious, or the discovery of truth more profitable.” In other words, when studying the Trinity, it’s vital to be accurate and get it right; it is very hard work to understand it; but, there can be a real blessing if you persevere. That, if you like, gives us both our challenge and our target for this morning’s message. I should point out though that St Augustine also said: “if you deny the Trinity you will lose your soul “ which, I have to say is bad enough but possibly just as worrying for anyone in my position this morning, he went on to say: “if you try to explain it you will lose your mind!“ Thanks Pastor! I’m sorry to say too, that this is not the only bad news. In fact, I need to come clean right from the start, that there is no actual mention of the word “Trinity” anywhere in the pages of the Bible! Now, I think you’ll agree, for someone about to lead a Bible study on the subject, , that’s a bit of a setback – it’s like having the rug pulled out from under your feet. But yes, rather disappointingly, none of the writers in the Old Testament or the New Testament use that term at all and it took until around 170 years or so after the death and resurrection of Jesus before a chap called Tertullian came along and used the term for the first time. So, “the Trinity” is not a Biblical term - it’s a theological term introduced by theologians to help us grasp a concept, which while not stated explicitly in the Bible, is nevertheless, as I hope we’ll see this morning, very much a part of its truth. With the help of the Holy Spirit I’m hoping to achieve three things this morning. 1.First, I want to try and lead us into having a personal glimpse of the reality of the Trinity – now how many sermons offer you that? 2.Next, I want to take us on a short sprint through just a little of the Biblical evidence that supports the doctrine of the Trinity. 3.Finally, I’m really hoping, and praying, that we get to see that far from being a dry and dusty topic of interest only to theologians, or perhaps to those without Sky television, a Smartphone, or anything better to do, that the Trinity is in fact of fundamental importance to all of us as we seek to live our lives for God. Page 16 of the little blue book, “The Message”, on which this series is based, gives Elim’s definition of the doctrine of the Trinity. It says: : “We believe that the Godhead exists co-equally and co-eternally in three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and that these three are one God, sovereign in creation, providence and redemption.” If you are anything like me you might find it helpful to get the big picture of the Trinity clear first before getting into the detail. So let’s begin with “a glimpse at the reality of the Trinity” by looking at the account of what happened on the day that Jesus Christ was baptised in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. Let’s read the account from both John’s Gospel and from Matthew’s gospel. John 1:29–34 (NIV84) 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” Matthew 3:13–17 (NIV) 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” To help us grasp the significance of this event I want you to try and imagine that you were actually there at the time. Caught up in that vast crowd of people beside the Jordan River, like the others there, you have been stirred by the wave of stories about John the Baptist passing from one to another. You found yourself drawn by these testimonies to find out the truth for yourself and have trekked to the Jordan. You are now completely engulfed in the exhilaration of the moment and are being pulled into the experience as you hear for yourself the magnetic, powerful, and even at times terrifying, preaching of this wild looking Nazarite. With beard to his waist and hair to his knees, this desert prophet, John the Baptist, is everything and more than you’d been led to expect from the stories that had brought you here. The reputation and message of this man had swept tsunami-like through the nation and literally multitudes were flocking to hear his message and being profoundly moved - almost impelled, to respond personally to his fiery and insistent call to repentance; a call emphasised and magnified by his own strange appearance, alien lifestyle and total and tireless commitment to his message. As you gather with these crowds by the banks of the Jordan, John the Baptist, is at the very height of his ministry and many, though John was strongly denying it, were now beginning to suggest that this man might at last be the promised Messiah. Imagine your excitement, your anticipation, as you stand among that huge crowd listening to every word from the booming voice of the wild man preaching and demanding a response. It is as though the very atmosphere is calling out to the throng to repent and come to God. Imagine how you feel as you see one after another, competing, pushing forward, to launch into the waters of the Jordan to be baptised for the forgiveness of their sins. Perhaps, you are even near enough to see Jesus arrive at the river - aware now that His time has come. Having laid down His carpenter’s tools for the last time in Nazareth, he has walked the 70 dusty miles to Bethabara on the Jordan. You actually hear John the Baptist in his bellowing voice, moved by the Holy Spirit, declare before all that this man, is the “Lamb of God” who “takes away the sin of the world” and the hair on the back of your neck stands up on end. Your heart is pounding and your mind is in overdrive as you try to come to terms with what you are witnessing here. Then, pressing forward you are right on the river bank as Jesus goes into the waters to submit to baptism. You hear John deferring to Jesus and wonder for a moment how such a great man as John, so fiery and full of power, could be suddenly so submissive and be suggesting that he was the one who should be baptised, not Jesus. You hear Jesus affirming that it is right to fulfil all righteousness and then see him plunged under the waters and then arise. Like a bolt from the blue it dawns on you in vivid personal revelation that this Jesus is the Messiah – the Son of God. Then, wonder of wonders, looking up, it’s as though the skies have opened, and with your own eyes you see something you cannot describe but just know inside is the very Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, descending, swooping down out of the heavens like a dove to alight and remain on Jesus as He stands there still soaked by the water. Then suddenly, you hear it, a voice like none you’ve ever heard before, fills the ears and hearts of all around, with such penetrating power, and holiness that neither a syllable of the sound nor an iota of the meaning is lost on any present. You hear with your own ears the reverberating voice of the Father speak out those sweetly intimate words: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” If you had been a witness to this event, you would surely be able to testify yourself to the truth of the Trinity. There would be no doubt in your mind about what you have seen. In the company of a huge crowd of people all intent on finding God’s best for their lives and ready to commit themselves to God’s mercy and forgiveness, you have witnessed in the space of just a few short minutes, an event that you could never forget in a lifetime - the THREE persons of the Trinity all present at the same time. •You have seen Jesus recognised by John as the Messiah and confirmed by the very voice of the Father to be the Son of God; •You have heard with your own ears the Father’s audible voice breaking through from Heaven. •You have watched with your own eyes as the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus as he rises out of the waters of baptism. For you, at that moment, there would be no doubt in your mind that the God whom you worship, the One God, manifests Himself as three distinct persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But perhaps too, while experiencing or reflecting on all this, you would also have picked up certain other aspects of the Trinity. 1.You might have picked for instance, that John, whose whole ministry focus was the need for repentance from sin, instantly knew on seeing Jesus that He didn’t need to be baptised as a sign of repentance for His sins. John immediately recognised that Jesus was completely sinless – clear evidence that He was in fact the Son of God. 2.You might have picked up the significance of the Father’s phrase, “with You I am well pleased “ which though rendered in English in the present tense is actually timeless in intent and indicates that the Father is pleased with His Son at all times. “With you I am always and eternally pleased”, the Father was saying. The Father’s love and delight in Jesus never had a beginning and will never come to an end. This love, as we shall see, is the very hallmark of the Trinity. 3.You might have been moved by the complete and perfect commitment of the Son to fulfil the Father’s eternal, but also terrifying plan, of redemption for the world. For Jesus, significantly aged 30 at this time, according to Luke 2:23, the age at which priests are appointed, and now ceremonially washed as required by the Law through His baptism in the Jordan, rose from the waters, to begin His priestly role as the suffering and sacrificial servant, the Messiah. 4.And, if you had known then what we know now, you might also have realised that as the Holy Spirit came down on Jesus to empower Him, that Jesus was to live His earthly life, NOT out of His own divine resources and power as the Son of God, but instead to live as a human being, dependent FULLY on the presence of the Holy Spirit that remained on Him. He was to be the example, the forerunner, of the life that you and I are called to live as Christians, a life accessed by faith and resourced and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Having then witnessed for ourselves the reality of the Trinity, it’s now time to put on your spiritual trainers as we take a short sprint through just a little of the Biblical evidence that supports the doctrine of the Trinity The Trinity has been described by some as a Divine mystery, and so it is only really available to us, as we make a faith response and receive a personal revelation of its truth. We are NOT therefore looking to PROVE the Trinity, because as a spiritual mystery it cannot be contained within the constraints of a simple logical explanation. That would be like trying to pour the waters of all of the world’s oceans into a small glass - it’s not going to happen, it’s impossible! Instead, we’ll simply try to spark some personal revelation by looking at what the Bible says, and let the Holy Spirit do His work in our hearts. Elim’s doctrinal position on the Trinity is the classic Christian position – it’s not something they have made up themselves; it is the truth accepted by all the mainstream Christian churches – not only the Protestants - the Anglicans, the Methodists, the Baptists, the Brethren, the Pentecostals and so on, but also the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. In Elim’s words, the core of the doctrine of the Trinity is that “God exists . . . in three Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and that these three are one God.” It seems to me then that there are two things we need to do to see the truth of this. First, we need to see that the God we worship is ONE. Then, we need to see that this one God is in fact also THREE. Simple! 1.Let’s look then to see whether the Bible tells us that there is ONE God – that God is one? Many verses in the Old Testament tell us very plainly that God is one. The famous verse, Deuteronomy 6:4: says: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” In Isaiah 44:6 we read:“. . . I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.” And in Isaiah 46:9: “. . . I am God, and there is no other;” But in case you are thinking that this is only an Old Testament idea – we also find lots of evidence in the New Testament too. For instance, just taking Paul’s letters as an example, we find him telling the Roman church in: Romans 3:30 (NIV84) 30 . . . there is only one God, telling the Corinthians in: 1 Corinthians 8:4 “. . . that there is no God but one” and telling the Ephesians in : Ephesians 4:5–6 (NIV84) that there is “ 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all,”. Get the picture? God is ONE. It could not be clearer. Some people though are in fact so impressed by references like these that they use them to reject the whole idea that God is a Trinity. Interestingly though, the Hebrew word translated “one” in that Deuteronomy passage: “The LORD our God, the LORD is one” is the word “ehad” which is the same word used in Genesis 2:24 to describe Adam and Eve becoming “one flesh” where it clearly indicates the UNITY of these two people within the PLURALITY of that first marriage. The Bible isn’t suggesting that Adam and Eve literally became one person but rather that they are distinct persons completely united at a fundamental level in a permanent commitment and relationship. So you could say that while this verse is declaring that “the LORD is one”, it also provides foundational evidence for the doctrine of the Trinity. Both the Old Testament and the New then strongly affirm what we call MONOTHEISM – that is, that there is one God. And though Christians, from the start, affirmed that Jesus Christ was uniquely God come in human flesh, there is no Bible evidence to suggest that they ever believed themselves to be anything other than believers in one God – quite the reverse. So, God is ONE, but is He also THREE? This, of course, is the tricky bit. So let’s be clear what we are saying here before we go any further and start looking for evidence. We are NOT saying that there are three Gods - this is an error that theologians call “tri-theism”. Nor are we saying that God is one being who took, or takes, on three different roles at different times. This is an error that theologians call “modalism”. God didn’t reveal Himself first as the Father, then as the Son and finally as the Holy Spirit or even sometimes as the Father, sometimes as the Son and sometimes as the Holy Spirit. No. The Bible tells us that there have always been and will always be, three distinct “persons” who make up God. In fact, you and I witnessed them for ourselves, all present, together, at the same time, just a moment ago as we looked in on John’s baptism of Jesus! The Father is and always will be God. Jesus did not become God when He was born at Bethlehem or when He rose out of the water at His baptism. He always has been and always will be God. There has never been a time when the Holy Spirit was not around and was not God. Rather, we are saying that God is eternally manifest and revealed as three distinct and infinite persons. Whilst having different and identifiable roles, each operates as one in purpose, will, and action, and critically, all share equally in the divine essence – none is either superior or inferior to the other. On this basis, the Father is wholly and eternally God, the Son is wholly and eternally God and the Holy Spirit is wholly and eternally God. So, if you like, it’s wholly, wholly, wholly as well as holy, holy holy! So, HOW can we show that each of the three persons of the Trinity are God? Well, to put it simply, suppose that you fixed up with God to meet Him outside Starbucks for a coffee. No, perhaps we’d better make it Costa - better coffee (!), and I think they pay their taxes! How would you recognize God when He arrived if you hadn’t arranged for Him to be wearing a red carnation? Well, you would recognize God by His characteristics, by what He looks like - what the theologians call His attributes. We can find the attributes of God indicated throughout the pages of the Bible, but because we only have a limited time this morning we’ll just consider three – perhaps the most obvious distinguishing characteristics of God. If we can find evidence of these characteristics being present in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, then jackpot! We’ll have found our Trinity. The three attributes I have chosen are: 1.God is omnipotent –that is, God is all-powerful; 2.God is omniscient – that is, God is all-knowing; and thirdly, 3.God is omnipresent – that is, God is present everywhere at the same time. So let’s look at evidence of OMNIPOTENCE first then. Is the Father omnipotent? Well the prophet Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 32:17 (ESV) 17 ‘Ah, Lord GOD! (that’s YAHWEH – and it relates to the use of “Father“ in the New Testament) It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” Well if the Father made the heavens and the earth – that is surely sufficient evidence to support the case that He is omnipotent. Literally, NOTHING is too hard for Him. Is Jesus, the Son omnipotent? Well think about Jesus woken from sleep in the boat on the lake by His frightened disciples fearing for their lives in the violent storm. Jesus just stands up and rebukes the angry winds and waves with a “Quiet! Be still!” and they instantly obey. That’s impressive power! Or think of His amazing miracles or His power over sickness, demons or death wherever He went. But sticking with creation - Paul declares of Jesus in Colossians 1:16 (NIV84)” 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” I think the evidence is conclusive – the Son is also omnipotent. And, is the Holy Spirit also omnipotent? Well, it is clear that He also participated in the creation of the earth as the first two verses of the Bible tell us: Genesis 1:1-2 (NIV84)” 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” But the Holy Spirit’s creative power is also evident elsewhere in such verses as Job 33:4 (NIV84) where Job’s young but wise friend Elihu declares: “4 The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” And David, speaking of the creatures of the world says this: Psalm 104:30 (NIV84) “30When you send your Spirit, they are created,“ So obviously there is plenty of evidence that the Holy Spirit is also omnipotent. Nothing perhaps provides a clearer picture of the omnipotent power of God than creation. While, men and women, who of course are made in the image of God, can be spectacularly creative – look at the scientific advances that are now being made, or the fantastic engineering feats or new electronics technologies, or the brilliant creative works of artists, authors, film producers and the like. But spectacular as these are, we do not yet show any ability to bring something out of literally nothing. That is an attribute of God – and the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Bible tells us, can each do just that. Secondly then, are the Father, Son and Holy Spirit OMNISCIENT? Is there evidence that they are all-knowing? In John’s first letter he tells us of the Father: 1 John 3:20 (NIV84) 20 . . . For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” In Hebrews 4:13 (NIV84) it says”13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.” And there is a brilliant passage in 1 Chronicles where David is passing over the plans and responsibility of building the Temple to his son Solomon and we hear David say in 1 Chronicles 28:9 (NIV84): 9 . . . “for the LORD (YAHWEH, Father) searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.” God the Father knows everything, not just our deeds, the things we openly do, but even what is going on in our hearts and in our thought life! God the Father is indeed all-knowing. He is omniscient. Listening open-mouthed to Jesus as He explained what was about to happen to Him, John records the disciples, the people who knew Him best, saying this: John 16:30 (NIV84)” 30 Now we can see that you know all things . . . ” In John 4:29 (NIV84) we read the testimony of the woman Jesus had spoken to at the well. She declared to the townspeople: 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Jesus sees our deepest secrets. So, the Son too is omniscient. What about the Holy Spirit? Well in 1 Corinthians 2:11 (NIV84) we read:” 11 . . . In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” If the Holy Spirit knows the Father’s thoughts and the Father as we’ve seen, knows everything, then the Holy Spirit Himself knows everything. So, the Holy Spirit too, the Bible tells us, is omniscient, He knows everything. Thirdly then, are the Father, Son and Holy Spirit OMNIPRESENT? Are they present everywhere? Well about the Father Jeremiah says this: Jeremiah 23:23–24 (NIV84) 23 “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD (YAHWEH, FATHER), “and not a God far away? 24 Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.” Nothing could be clearer, the Father is omnipresent. What about Jesus? Well of course we know that while living on earth as a man, Jesus was constrained by His humanity like the rest of us, to one place at a time. But looking forward to the time when He was to be glorified and seated again at the right hand of the Father in Heaven and teaching His disciples about prayer He said: in Matthew 18:20 (NIV84)” 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” - that is, any and every two or three, anywhere and everywhere at any and every time and indeed, at the same time! And, before His ascension to glory, as Jesus gives His disciples His commission he said in: Matthew 28:20 (NIV84) 20 . . . And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” That’s every “you” at the same time and for all time. To my mind that makes Jesus omnipresent. Finally then, what about the Holy Spirit, is He omnipresent? Well we need look no further than Psalm 139:7–10 (NIV84) for a very clear statement that He is. “7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit then are each individually and together omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. So that’s the jackpot! They are all God, and God, though clearly ONE, is equally clearly THREE! So when you’re waiting outside Starbucks or Costa for that coffee with God, you’ll have no problem recognising Him when He arrives – even if He forgets to wear a red carnation. But just in case there is any doubt lingering in your mind, let’s allow the Bible to summarise: •Of the Father we read in: Isaiah 45:22 (NIV84) 22 “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God (YAHWEH, Father), and there is no other.” •Of the Son we read in that wonderful prophetic scripture that we often hear at Christmas: Isaiah 9:6 (NIV84)” 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, MIGHTY GOD, . . . “ •Finally, of the Holy Spirit we read in the account of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:3–4 (NIV84)” 3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? . . . You have not lied to men but to God.” A clear confirmation that the Holy Spirit is God. While much more could be said on this, let’s finish by giving this study a practical focus and see how the Trinity can affect our lives as Christians. I want us to see an amazingly brilliant aspect of the Trinity that God impressed on me right from the start as I began to study for this message. In fact, this is so good that I really think that this is the key thing that God wants us to take away from our study this morning. 1.We have already defined the Trinity, but it might help to describe the Trinity as: a perfect COMMUNITY based on a perfect RELATIONSHIP comprising the three eternal persons, each of infinite power, and yet UNITED in such total intimacy and oneness, that they function perfectly in different but completely complementary and interdependent roles to accomplish their shared purpose. 2.Now here is what God impressed on me. In the very essence of God the Trinity, of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is LOVE. Let me confirm that from the Word of God. 1 John 4:8 (NIV84) says:” 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God IS love.” It is this love that defines and cements the relationship of the three persons of the Trinity and produces their perfect unity. Paul speaks of the binding power of love in Colossians 3:14 (NIV84) where he says: “14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” It is love that binds the Trinity together. 3.This love though, is a very special kind of love. It is NOT romantic love; it is not sexual love; each of which, without denigrating either, carries a strong element of the selfish, of self-satisfaction. Even at its very best such love is reciprocal; it’s heart, at best, is the mutual benefit of the parties involved. The Greek word for love used in 1 John 4:8 “God is love” is agápē and agápē love describes an utterly selfless love, not based at all on self-interest, or motivated even by mutual interest. Rather it is a unique love that will go to literally any length at all to secure the well-being of another. The love that the Trinity exudes and lives and IS, is agápē love. And, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each contribute this kind of perfect, utterly selfless love, as part of the community and relationship that we call the Trinity. 4.Now here’s the really brilliant bit. In that well-known verse: 1 Peter 1:23 (NIV84) , which is speaking about us as Christians, it says:“ 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable,. . .”. As new creations in Christ we receive the agápē love of the Trinity through that eternal, “imperishable seed of God” at the conception of our newly created spirit. If you like, when we are born again we get the agápē gene. If we don’t have it, John is saying in 1 John 4:8, we don’t know God – we aren’t God’s children. But, if we are God’s children, then no matter what our feelings may tell us, we do inherit the agápē love of the Trinity. 5.So the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, brings us, gives us, in the new life that is born in us when we become Christians, the agápē love that is part of the very essence of God Himself. That is a very precious thought! And here’s part of the beauty of it. Just as this love is part of what makes the community and relationship and unity of the Trinity, the Trinity, so agápē love is also what makes the community and relationship and unity of the church, the church. As individuals, while we are very much aware of our shortcomings, we need to see that this latent agápē love will come bursting out in our lives as we we give ourselves to live more and more in a self-less submission to the Holy Spirit and to a total commitment to what the Father calls us to do as individuals. As I close this morning, and invite the worship team to come back up, I want to read to you three scriptures that speak very clearly about our special relationship with the Trinity and then leave you with a challenge. 1.Ephesians 4:6 (NIV84)” 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and IN all.” That’s a verse that tells us that the Father is IN us. 2.Colossians 3:11 (NIV84)”11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is IN all.” That’s a verse that tells us that the Son is IN us. 3.1 Corinthians 3:16 (NIV84) 16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives IN you? That’s a verse that tells us that the Holy Spirit is IN us. Our personal challenge from the doctrine of the Trinity this morning then, is to accept and act by faith on this amazing truth that the agápē love of the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is IN us. Now in the words of : 2 Corinthians 13:14 (NIV84) 14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God (the Father), and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Fifty-seventh General Assembly Fifth Committee (Resumed) 53rd Meeting (AM) IN FIFTH COMMITTEE, AFRICAN GROUP ADVOCATES ADEQUATE FUNDING FOR UN MISSIONS IN SIERRA LEONE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) continued its consideration of peacekeeping financing, the African Group advocated providing adequate funding for two major African missions -- the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) and the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) -– in order to enable them to successfully implement their mandates. The representative of Nigeria stressed that UNAMSIL remained a flagship mission that all Member States could be proud of. The Organization’s commitment in stemming the tide of the conflict had helped to prevent the escalation of the crisis in Sierra Leone and had assisted the eventual return of peace to that country. Despite the apparent calm, however, serious security challenges persisted and needed to be addressed. The United Nations, therefore, should remain constructively engaged to ensure the maintenance of the hard-earned peace. Also on behalf of the African Group, the representative of Gabon said that given the vastness of the territory, the volatility of the situation and the wide range of critical tasks before it, MONUC needed to be provided with adequate resources. The Mission had proven to be one of the most complex missions in the United Nations peacekeeping history, and for its achievements to be sustained, there should be a sufficient deployment of troops. Recruitment and training of civilian police would guarantee a smooth future exit strategy, he added. As a new budget was to be submitted later in the year in connection with the revision of MONUC’s mandate by the Security Council, for now, the African Group wished to explore the merits of providing the Secretariat with a degree of flexibility, which would ensure the Mission’s ability to fulfill its mandate in the field. In that connection, Ghana’s representative wondered how the Secretariat envisioned the operations of the mission under current circumstances when some foreign troops had moved out of the eastern part of the country, and MONUC’s presence there was not adequate. Also this morning, Canada’s representative (also on behalf of Australia and New Zealand) advocated a simple, transparent, equitable and fair system of reimbursement for troop-contributing countries, saying that additional information was needed on the implications of proposed changes before a decision could be made in that respect. As the Committee turned to the 2004/2005 budget outline for the International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO, speakers noted that the proposed amount represented a 5.4 per cent increase in real terms and questioned the inclusion of particular requirements in the estimate. Also participating in the discussion were representatives of Japan, United Republic of Tanzania, Jordan, China, Cuba and the United States. Responding to questions and comments from the floor were Director of Peacekeeping Financing Division, Catherine Pollard, and Chief of the Economic, Social and Human Rights Service, Ali Khamis. The Committee is expected to meet next at 10 a.m. Thursday, 22 May. The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning was expected to continue its consideration of various reports on the administrative and budgetary aspects of peacekeeping financing (for more detailed information, see Press Release GA/AB/3566 of 19 May). Also before the Committee was a Secretary-General’s report (document A/57/761) containing a proposed budget outline for the International Trade Centre United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)/World Trade Organization (WTO) for the first year of activities for the coming biennium (SwF 33.13 million) and a projection of requirements for 2005 (SwF 33.53 million). Those resources will be used to strengthen the capacity of the International Trade Centre in the fast growing area of trade in services and expand the number of country networks participating in the “World Tr@de Net” programme. The proposed outline represents an increase of 5.4 per cent in real terms. The change is mainly related to the creation of several posts (three P-4; two P-3; 1 P-2; and 5 G-level), as well as reclassification of three posts. JEAN CHRISTIAN OBAME (Gabon), speaking on behalf of the African Group on the financing of United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), welcomed the efforts by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and invaluable support by all troop-contributing countries to the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Group appreciated the progress made so far in the deployment of both civilian and military components of the Mission, which was needed for the successful completion of phase 3. Also welcome were the achievements in ensuring a sustained political dialogue among the parties to the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement and the support provided to the Neutral Facilitator of the inter-Congolese dialogue. The MONUC had played an important role with regard to political settlement, improved living conditions, increasing respect of human rights and facilitating a voluntary disarmament, demobilization, reintegration, repatriation and resettlement (DDRRR) process. However, MONUC had proven to be one of the most complex missions in the United Nations’ peacekeeping history, he continued. For its achievements to be sustained, there should be a corresponding deployment of troops, which should keep the peace process interfaced with recruitment and training of civilian police to guarantee a smooth future exit strategy. Given the vastness of the territory, the volatility of the situation and the wide range of critical tasks before the Mission, MONUC needed to be provided with adequate resources to facilitate timely contingent troop deployments and to ensure full and successful implementation of its mandate. The Africa Group, therefore, viewed sufficient troop deployments as a prerequisite to the implementation of programmes leading to compliance with a ceasefire and disengagement plan, as well as progress towards voluntary DDRRR. Provision of adequate resources would also enable the Mission to fulfill the requests of the Council aimed at increasing the number of personnel in its human rights component and enhancing the capacity of the Mission. He noted that the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) had recommended maintaining the budget and staffing of the Mission at their current levels and requested the Secretariat to submit a new budget before the end of 2003, which should reflect the changes to the existing mandate. The African Group wished to explore the merits of providing the Secretariat with a degree of flexibility to enable the establishment of important posts until the Committee had an opportunity to consider the new budget. Such commitment authority would ensure MONUC’s ability to fulfill its mandate in the field. It was also crucial in view of external variances, which were likely to affect the situation in the country. Recent unfortunate incidents at Ituri and Bunia highlighted the urgent need for enhanced performance of the Mission. The Group remained concerned about the crippling and perennial issue of high vacancy rates, which ran as high as 38 per cent for international staff, 47 per cent for national staff and 45 per cent for military contingent deployments. The number of 47 per cent for civilian police grossly affected the overall objective of advancing the restoration of peace and security in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Therefore, he called on the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and Office of Human Resources Management to redress that situation in the overall context of financing of all peacekeeping missions. The Group remained ready to consider any additional staffing and financial resources for MONUC in the context of the next budget. Turning to the airfield services contract for MONUC, he recalled the recommendations of the Office of Internal Oversight Services, the board of auditors and the ACABQ on the matter and noted that the oversight bodies continued to follow the issue. He welcomed the efforts of the Secretariat which had undertaken a detailed study and an exercise of replacing the existing airfield services contract in the Mission. That was a step in the right direction. He hoped that many of the shortcomings previously identified by the oversight bodies would be fully addressed. The Group called upon relevant Departments to take necessary measures to penalize contractors for non-performance, in accordance with the provisions contained in the contract. Concerning procurement and contract management, the Group requested the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Office of Central Support Services to ensure strict respect for and enforcement of the procurement rules and regulations of the Organization. The importance of ensuring best peacekeeping practices, with a clearly defined code of ethics to guarantee transparency, fairness and accountability of all staff could not be over-emphasized. NONYE UDO (Nigeria), speaking on behalf of the African Group on the financing of United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) said UNAMSIL remained a flagship mission that all Member States could be proud of. The Organization’s commitment in stemming the tide of the conflict had helped to prevent the escalation of the crisis in Sierra Leone and had assisted the eventual return of peace to that country. Despite the apparent calm, however, serious security challenges persisted and needed to be addressed. The United Nations, therefore, should remain constructively engaged to ensure the maintenance of the hard-earned peace. She noted five benchmarks outlined by the Secretary-General that needed to be filled in order to determine the extent of the Mission’s drawdown. They included: building the capacity of the army and police; reintegration of ex-combatants; and a cessation of hostilities in Liberia. In that connection, she noted that, in the second phase of the drawdown of troops in May, the number of troops would be some 13,000. In the third phase, from August 2003 to the end of 2004, the number of troops would drop from 13,000 to 5,000. It seemed as if the drawdown process was being accelerated. She wanted to know which benchmarks the drawdown strategy was following. Accelerated drawdown in itself would be desirable as long as it was matched with the development of national capacities required to ensure continued peace. The final reduction to 5,000 troops was closely linked to the achievement of critical benchmarks, most significantly, the development of the Sierra Leone police and armed forces to maintain security, and was predicated on the much greater risks in phase 3. The Group urged the Secretariat to be guided by those considerations as it continued to monitor UNAMSIL. The Group also wanted to know if the Secretariat had complied with Council resolution 1470 (2003) that requested the Secretary-General provide detailed plans for the remainder of the drawdown. She reiterated the need for the Secretariat to be guided in its formulation of an exit strategy while taking into full consideration of the security conditions both within Sierra Leone and the region as a whole. There was a need to develop adequate rule of law capacity by training civilian police, developing adequate infrastructure and strengthening the justice system. Regarding the Mission’s budget, she said sufficient resources should be made available to UNAMSIL to address any operational changes that might occur during the implementation period. The Group trusted that no action would be taken regarding resource allocation that might prejudge the actions taken by the Council after it reviewed the Secretary-General’s recommendations in his report. The Group remained concerned by high vacancy rates in the Mission and wanted to know what steps the Secretariat was taking to remedy the situation. In that regard, the Group reiterated its support for the decentralization of authority to field missions for recruitment from local and regional levels to meet the Mission’s staffing needs. It was important to ensure that adequate staffing was retained that would be commensurate with the responsibilities required by the Mission. SHINICHI YAMANAKA (Japan) said Japan was concerned with recent developments surrounding MONUC and continued to support the Mission’s activities. He noted that the Secretary-General would be reporting to the Security Council in May with recommendations for an expanded role for MONUC. He also noted the ACABQ recommendation that the budget and staffing table be maintained at the current level and that a new proposed budget was to be submitted for consideration in the fall. In that connection, he recalled General Assembly resolution 49/233A, which related to peacekeeping operations with budgetary requirements subject to fluctuation and the Assembly’s decision that budget estimates be approved twice a year -- for the periods from 1 July to 31 December and from 1 January to 30 June. While he basically supported the ACABQ’s recommendation, he said MONUC was a case of peacekeeping operations with budgetary requirements subject to fluctuation. Resolution 49/233A should, therefore, be applied in the case of MONUC, and budgetary requirements should be approved only for the period from July to December. As the Committee responsible for administrative and budgetary issues, it should make a proper decision in accordance with the established framework. He expected that all posts would be fully justified in the new 2003/2004 budget in terms of the new concept of operation, organizational structure and workload. On financing of MONUC, JOHN J. NG’ONGOLO (United Republic of Tanzania) said his country belonged to the Great Lakes Region and Southern African Development Community (SADC), as did the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His Government was very concerned over the developments taking place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which tended to undermine the progress already achieved by the United Nations in restoring peace and security there. He called upon the people of that country to refrain from any activities, which could undermine the efforts of the international community to restore peace there, as peace and security in the Democratic Republic of the Congo meant peace and security in the region and also within the SADC. Tanzania was a poor country struggling to get out of the vicious cycle of poverty, he continued. Despite its difficult situation, however, it had been granting refuge to people fleeing the neighbouring countries, whenever there was a political upheaval there. The influx of refugees was constantly overstretching the already meager resources and leading to environmental degradation in his country. Restoration of peace and security in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was a very important matter for the United Republic of Tanzania, and he associated himself with the position of the African Group on the matter, emphasizing the importance of increasing the resources provided to MONUC to enable the Mission to implement its mandates effectively. He was encouraged by the decision of the Security Council to send a mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi with a visit to the United Republic of Tanzania in June to assess, among other things, the situation on the ground. His Government was ready to cooperate with the United Nations in the restoration of lasting peace in the Great Lakes Region. HAROLD ALDAI AGYEMAN (Ghana) said he fully shared the views of the African Group on MONUC, but he wanted to seek clarification on several issues. The ACABQ had recommended maintaining the budget and staffing of the Mission at their current levels and requested the Secretariat submit a new budget before the end of 2003. He wanted to know how the Secretariat envisioned the operations of the mission under current circumstances when some foreign troops had moved out of the eastern part of the country and MONUC’s presence there was not adequate. Also, some countries indicated that they would be sending troops to that area, and he wanted to know what the status of such an international force and its relationship to MONUC would be, at least until the Council took action on the issue. Turning to the airfield contract for the Mission, he said the board of auditors had noted some instances of non-performance by the contractor, yet the contract had been renewed. He wanted to know how the contract had been renewed without an assessment of the performance of the contractor, while instances of non-performance had been noted. Why had the contract been granted to the same company? He also asked whether fair comparison had been ensured among various bidders. Noting that a request had been made to increase the number of United Nations volunteers, he asked about the current status of volunteers in the Mission and requested that a list by nationality be provided to the Committee in informal consultations. MOHAMMAD TAL (Jordan) asked for a written copy of the presentation made by the Controller yesterday. CATHERINE POLLARD, Director of the Peacekeeping Financing Division, responding to delegates, said the Secretariat had made progress in lowering the vacancy rates for MONUC. As of 30 April, the vacancy rate for international staff was some 18 per cent compared to 38 per cent as noted in the performance report. She had noted the questions on the airfield services contract and would provide detailed information during informal consultations. Regarding UNAMSIL, some improvement had been made in the number of vacancies for international staff. She would respond to the issue of the application of benchmarks also at the informal consultations. Regarding the budget and the impact related to troops, she said the Secretariat had prepared a budget based on 13,000 military personnel. While the ACABQ had recommended appropriation of the full amount, it had recommended assessment of a lower amount, which would represent financial implications of drawing down to 11,000 troops. Should the drawdown not take place as planned, based on the developments in the Mission, and additional funds were needed, the Secretariat would approach the Assembly through the ACABQ, as it had done in 2003 with another mission. Ms. UDO (Nigeria) asked the Secretariat for a list of volunteers for UNAMSIL. As the Committee turned to the review of the rates of reimbursement, PETER HAMMERSCHMIDT (Canada), also speaking on behalf of Australia and New Zealand, said that the delegations he represented attached great importance to peacekeeping and contributed troops, observers and civilian police to peacekeeping operations. They also attached great importance to the efficient and effective administration of various operations. That included the need for a simple, transparent, equitable and fair system of reimbursement to troop-contributing countries. He went on to say that the rate of reimbursement should be set at a level that was fair to all troop-contributing countries and beneficial to the peacekeeping system as a whole. It should accurately reflect the essential additional costs incurred by troop contributors for their participation in peacekeeping operations. It should be representative of the situation on the ground and provide appropriate guidance on the validity and analysis of data and the periodicity of the review. Also, it should be based on the principles of financial control, audit and confirmed delivery of services. Upon the recommendation of the Fifth Committee, the Assembly had requested that the Secretariat conduct a comprehensive review of the methodology in resolution 55/274, he continued. While he thanked the Secretariat for its work in undertaking the review, he had hoped it would be more comprehensive. Though some elements, such as the periodicity, had been refined, the report largely just added two components to the existing formula. Additional information was also needed on the implications of the proposed changes, he said. Among other things, the delegations he represented needed to know more about how the principles of verification and financial control would be applied to the post-deployment medical costs and peacekeeping-related training. And most importantly, expert-level consideration of the administrative and financial implications of the proposed changes would be required to determine the overall impact on the peacekeeping budget. Members of the budgetary and administrative committee would find it difficult to pass judgement on the implementation of the proposal without first knowing the full consequences of doing so. Responding to comments and questions, Ms. POLLARD said that in the past, the General Assembly had requested the Secretariat to conduct reviews of the rates based on the methodology adopted in 1973. In 2000, it had been decided to consider the methodology underlying the current calculations. In view of the absence of consensus in the post-Phase V Working Group, the report before the Committee had been presented in response to resolution 55/274. By the terms of that text, the Secretary-General had been requested to submit to the Assembly for its approval a methodology for the reimbursement for troop costs and a questionnaire to be submitted to troop-contributing countries on the basis of elements and guidelines contained in the same resolution. Cognizant of the technical nature of the matter, Member States might wish to convene a technical working group, for which the Secretariat would provide the necessary support. Regarding transparency, financial control and confirmed delivery of services, she said the proposed methodology laid out various cost elements for which Member States should be reimbursed on an equal basis. In addition, it proposed that the survey be sent to all former and current troop and police contributors. Furthermore, when troop cost reimbursements were made for a particular mission, all troop-contributing countries were paid at the same time. Verification and payments were based on the monthly troop strength reports, which provided actual numbers of troops deployed, rather than the maximum planned strength stipulated in the memoranda of understanding. That procedure followed the reimbursement procedure for contingent-owned equipment, whereby actual reimbursements to troop-contributing countries were based on verification reports of equipment deployed, against the equipment reflected in the memoranda of understanding. Should Member States decide that the principle of confirmed delivery of services should extend beyond the Secretariat’s current interpretation, the Secretariat would welcome guidance from the General Assembly on the qualitative criteria to be applied to the delivery of services. Yesterday, the European Union had stated that a convincing case had yet to be made on the merits of including isolated new variables into the methodology, she recalled. The addition of post-deployment medical costs to the methodology had been predicated on the Organization’s responsibility to ensure that returning troops should be in good medical condition. The methodology proposed that such costs be included in the standard rates, without further need for verification that post-deployment examinations had been undertaken. An analogy could be made with current reimbursement arrangements for the repainting of equipment to national colours upon repatriation from the mission area. As for the addition of peacekeeping-related training costs, she said that in the working group, proposals had been made to do that either under letter-of-assist arrangements concluded with troop-contributing countries on a case-by-case basis, or as part of the standard rate of reimbursement. The proposed methodology recognized that including training costs in the standard rates calculation would meet the principles of simplicity, transparency and equitable reimbursement. Using letter-of-assist arrangements would result in additional administrative support for negotiations based on actual costs, the range of which could vary from one troop-contributing country to another. In addition, the development of proposed manual on training would serve as a more standardized basis for equitable reimbursement through the standard rates. Responding to question regarding an overall review involving experts as requested by the ACABQ, she said that in its 2000 report, the Advisory Committee had not made a specific recommendation for the matter to be reviewed by experts. In its report of 4 April 2001, the ACABQ had recommended that, pending a comprehensive review of the methodology of reimbursement for troop costs, the Assembly might wish to consider, as an ad hoc arrangement, increasing the standard monthly rates of reimbursement by 4 to 6 per cent. It had also recommended that consideration be given to having recourse to a group of qualified individuals who would make proposals on the methodology and the elements on which it was based. Having considered the ACABQ report, the Assembly had made its requests in resolution 55/274, and the Secretary-General’s report before the Committee had been submitted in response to that text. As for the financial implications, they could be generated only upon the approval of the new methodology by the Assembly. Should it so decide, the Assembly might request the Secretariat to provide the financial implications on the basis of a methodology that it approved, for which a test survey could be conducted. However, in light of the response rate to past reviews by troop-contributing countries, the Assembly would need to provide the Secretariat with guidance and benchmarks on the number of responses to a survey that would meet its criteria of “comprehensive” information. International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO ALI KHAMIS, Chief of the Economic, Social and Human Rights Service of the Programme Planning and Budget Division, introduced the Secretary-General’s report, saying the present outline had been prepared following consultations with the WTO and the International Trade Centre (ITC) and had been considered by the WTO Budgetary and Finance Committee last week. That committee had noted the budget outline. On the basis of the Fifth Committee’s recommendation, a full-fledged budget fascicle would be presented to the General Assembly in the fall. In the past, on the basis of the Secretary-General’s report and the ACABQ’s recommendations, the Fifth Committee had recommended that the General Assembly take note of the documents. The Committee Chairman, Murari Raj Sharma (Nepal) said he had been informed that the Advisory Committee had nothing to add to what was in its report. HUANG XUEQI (China) said that currently, documentation for the annual session of the ITC Joint Advisory Board was in English, French, Spanish and Russian. In 2002, the proposal had been made to add Arabic and Chinese as official languages for that meeting. The ITC had said it would submit the request to its parent organization for further consideration. While considering the 2003 budget, the Committee on Budget and Finance had decided that the WTO would undertake half of the cost of adding the two languages once approved by the General Assembly. In September 2002, at its twenty-ninth session of UNCTAD’s Trade and Develop Board, Arab and Chinese delegates had proposed adding Arabic and Chinese as official languages and had decided to submit such a proposal to the General Assembly for its consideration, he said. However, the 2004-2005 budget outline did not reflect the addition of the two languages. The six official languages were equal in status, and the ITC annual session should use all six official languages. In view of the fact that the budget outline was not complete, he requested that informal consideration of the issue be delayed. Mr. KHAMIS, responding to comments, said the Secretariat was fully aware of the discussions that had taken place in the UNCTAD/WTO joint advisory group. The Trade and Development Board had included a decision that it would desirable for documentation to be issued in the two other languages, and had recommended that the General Assembly consider the proposal in the light of its recommendation. The Board’s report would be submitted during the Assembly’s fifty-eighth Session. The legislative bodies of the WTO were ready to follow the General Assembly’s decision on the issue and would be ready to pay half the cost involved for adding the two languages. The Secretariat’s view was that the addition of the two languages could be absorbed through the rearrangement of the ITC’s resources. The Secretariat had not included the addition of the two languages in the current outline as it was awaiting the Assembly’s formal decision. Ms. GOICOCHEA (Cuba) asked for clarification regarding the proposal related to the absorption of the cost of translation of documentation into Arabic and Chinese. Should such a decision be made, she wanted to know how that would be possible. On what basis had the outline been proposed? Once the translation had been endorsed, would the Secretariat revise the estimates? She also wanted to obtain information about the reasons why the joint review of procedures had not been initiated, which had been recommended by the ACABQ. What were the deadlines and when would it be undertaken? Would it have an impact on the amounts that the Committee was considering? THOMAS A. REPASCH (United States) noted that the proposed outline for the ITC showed an increase of 5.4 per cent. That was 10 times the increase proposed by the Secretary-General for the regular budget. It seemed that every time the budget of the ITC was presented, it went up, but there was no evidence of priority setting and efforts to eliminate obsolete activities. He wanted to know what the requirements were for setting priorities and eliminating obsolete activities within the ITC. Mr. KHAMIS said that issue of absorption of the cost, should the Assembly approve the addition of languages, was based on an estimate, but followed the same methodology as for the regular budget. The ITC’s programme of work had been mandated for the next two years, and the estimates could be modified at the end of the process. The actual amounts would be approved later, when the budget as a whole was submitted. The ITC had indicated that it might be able to absorb the costs involved. As for the joint review recommended by the General Assembly last December, it had not been carried out, because the Secretariat had been very busy with the preparation of the programme budget. There was an intension to carry out those consultations in the near future with the objective of submitting the report in the fall. He also took note of the United States’ statement regarding the increase of the budget by 5.4 per cent. One should look at the increase in the context of the overall increase in part IV of the proposed regular budget (international cooperation for development). While overall budget increase was much lower, in part IV it constituted 5.2 per cent. Consequently, the increase for the ITC fell within the overall level of the increase for the economic and social levels of the Secretariat. ITC was part of the overall economic and social sector, and the priorities for that sector had been approved. Ms. GOICOCHEA (Cuba) said that she appreciated the answers. Her country attached great importance to the activities of the ITC, particularly technical cooperation, and was in favour of the proposed outline. When the budget was discussed, she would address that matter further. She was concerned over the concept of absorption, however. While it was true that the outline was a preliminary estimate, it was based on the need to carry out the Organization’s activities. At this point, she felt it was premature to say that if the translation into Chinese and Arabic was included, the resources would be absorbed. Mr. REPASCH (United States) said his country also placed great importance on the critical activities for the United Nations and thanked Mr. KHAMIS for answering his question about priority-setting. He understood that the General Assembly had decided that the area of trade should be treated as a priority, but the budget outline included very specific requests for posts and resources. If it was possible to make such proposals, wouldn’t it also be possible to indicate what kinds of activities were obsolete or ineffective? He would assume that the budget proposal would contain specific proposals for priority setting and indications where activities could be eliminated in accordance with what was required from all managers within the United Nations. The Committee was then informed that the Secretariat would respond to all questions on the ITC budget outline in informal consultations. Ms. GOICOCHEA (Cuba) said she accepted the fact that information would be provided during the informal consultations. However, when specific questions were posed, Secretariat representatives were required to answer those questions in formal meetings, so that those answers could be reflected in the formal record. Mr. HUANG (China) said he hoped representatives of the ITC would provide more detailed clarification on the issue of including Arabic and Chinese as official languages of that body. He hoped the proposals would be given full consideration and would be listed in future budget proposals. * *** *

Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE:FUN) JP Morgan TMT Conference May 15, 2013 9:20 a.m. ET Matthew Ouimet – President & CEO Hi, I am pleased to welcome Cedar Fair to the JP Morgan TMT conference. With us today is President and CEO Matt Ouimet. Mr. Ouimet has served as Cedar Fair’s President since June 2011 and was named CEO in January 2012. He has over 20 years of experience in the Amusement Part and Entertainment Industry including positions at the Walt Disney Company and Starwood Hotels and Resorts, thank you for joining us today. The only a small portion of your business your First Quarter results were pretty strong. What were the major drivers for this strong results? Great place to start. First of all, welcome everyone in the room and those who are listening in webcast. So, our First Quarter generally represents less than 5% of our revenue for the year. We only have because we are primarily seasonal parks, only year-round park we have is Knott’s Berry Farm in Southern California that I hope some of you are familiar with. And do we feel very good about our First Quarter. We reported results last week and we are up on the revenue basis about $14 million for the quarter. But I caution you that it is only 5% to start with usually revenue for the year. But we also have Easter timing shift which was important to acknowledge. So the first quarter contained the Easter and Spring Break session which normally falls in the April and so we were also reported that our revenue through April which normalizes for the extra operating days and for the holidays we are up about 12.5 million. I will tell you that the catalyst for their growth in that quarter was the performance in that Berry Farm obviously because it was open. But the other catalyst that is more reflect out for revenue is our growth in our Season Pass Program which has been a very successful program over the last couple of years and I can give you a little color on that. So what seems to be playing out and I think its playing out for the whole industry is Season Pass Programs across the industry are viewed as great value by the consumer. They’ve always been a value purchase for the consumer because they pay themselves back in about two and half visits but what we are also seeing is they are aligning with what we call the over committed consumer from the time standpoint where the time property at issue which we identify which is I was explained to people when I played the league I played six or eight games then we withdrawn and we went on family vacation. If you have a son or daughter that plays sports these days I suspect they are in the traveling team and they are (inaudible) that I gonna to see you know the drill right and so what we see is lot of people are choosing to buy the Season Pass because they can come in time and commence the match up with that schedule. The other question that always is the question of Season Pass Program is when is enough, when is the ceiling hit, right for 40% of our attendants last year shared our parts came through the Season Pass Program. That’s up from about 33% as much as two years ago as soon as two years ago and if you think about it, the Season Pass guys are also the ones who are brining either their neighbor or their sister along so if it’s 40% on a direct basis there is some other factor on top of that, so I would like to separate where attendants is directly or indirectly related to the Season Pass Program and I think that will continue to grow. Because the other thing that happens is just when you think the market is fully penetrated you see that there is a social influenza and neighboring influenza you have to buy and see kids come with your neighbors. So the Season Pass Program they feel really good about. Deferred revenue was up 30% as in the First Quarter and is not all Season Pass revenue but it is a good indication where we are this year. Okay, you also mentioned on your recent call that pre-booking for Hotel stays and group business grew up nicely during the quarter, can you give us a little color what’s driving the trend? I think, the Hotel booking where we primarily have Hotels, we have camp across in most of our Resorts but the Hotel base for the most parts Cedar points as industrial higher and I am hopeful that most of the people in this room and on the call are where that we built the newest, biggest, and baddest as they like to stay in the industry we like superlatives in the industry obviously for marketing best in the world. Longest wing coaster in the world is called Gatekeeper and based upon the strength of Gatekeeper I think it is what helping the booking and I will talk about another device in a minute but we had – Cedar Point have been open for 144 years, not many amusement parks can say that. But last weekend was the opening weekend for Cedar Point and we had the most successful opening we’ve had in 144-year history. It’s not because the manage – the one thing we did is we had great success on the Season Pass Program with an Installment Purchase Program. So you can buy our Season Passes over six payments for most cases and that addresses this issue with the consumer. I think one it is an affordability issue for consumers because there are some consumers where $400, $100 for Season Pass for four people is something that they need the budget strictly. The other is there is some consumer that doesn’t’ needed from affordability standpoint but they like to pre-pay their purchases. In that regard, not only do we sell passes that way but for the first time this year we opened up our Hotel bookings and let you book like you want to cruise. You get to pay over three payments. The third one you book and third about 60 days out and another third before you check in and that was about 20% of our booking so far here to date at our Hotels and I think it is an another program that will continue. With the economy continuing to improve what are your expectations for the Staycation which been benefitted in Cedar Fair over the last couple of years. I think we all are, I was originally little suspicious of the term Staycation, you kind of see here, hear these new buzz words but I will tell you that phenomenon clearly played out through the economy as we thing about it – it was an economic disincentive to take a longer trip. It didn’t have overtime which in the middle-class America is a very important device for the extras if you will or you didn’t’ feel secure about your jobs so people stayed closer to home and is certainly must applied out in the Regional Amusement Park business because everybody had record years. I think what we are seeing now is Staycations are going to migrate to what we are calling Funcations which is during this time period we re-trained America that road trips were fun and lot less easy than going through an airport with bunch of kids and it is not easy to go through an airport with a bunch of colleagues so I think what you are going to see is that actually the ritual visit for the two or three hour four hour drive to Regional Amusement Part will survive very well as the economy recovers. I don’t think we will lose people because of that and will actually pick up those people who we have lost because of economic situation as the economy improves. Okay, I mean kind of changing gears here. How do you think about your capital expenditure strategy over time? So I’ve been in the industry for about little over 20 years may be it’s a little over 25 years at this point. And you always want to believe when you look at the economic model that you can spend less capital. But the reality is the consumer gives you that reality check and so we spend on average we target 9% of revenue from marketable capital. New rides of attractions that would appeal for a repeat visit and the important aspect of that is the aspect duly recaps so much of repeat customers coming within couple of miles. They need a new catalyst for reason for visit and so we spent 9% of revenue. We were very diligent about where we spend that, what we invest in, which type of rides etcetera and so that we get the most at the each of our parks and it is combination of -- we did a -- we are back in all our parks, 11 major parks. We are back in each of parks for the last seven years and looked at every ride, every attraction if you will entertainment offering that we put in to the parks we graded them, we said okay they are green we love to use ten more of those, yellow kind of in between and red lets somebody else do it next time. And then we identified the GAAP analysis for each of our parks and we look at it on a lot of basis but generally okay doesn’t need and a new thrill ride, doesn’t need family rides, or doesn’t need water or doesn’t need new shows so this is the basic pockets and based upon the GAAP analysis, we have a plan now for the next three years of how we will spend our capital across our parks and not surprisingly there will be major investments the largest investments will be made in our largest parks because that’s where you can do the deal, but also every park will have something new to advertise a market each year and so that’s how we think about our capital spending. Okay and you mentioned earlier Gatekeeper which recently opened, can you talk a little bit about the size of that investment and what your typical expectations are for an investments of that size? Sure, so the Gatekeeper investment was about $30 million but $25 million roller coaster steel trains -- roller coaster trains and about $5 million for the Hardscape and the reinvention of the gate if you were the finance to Cedar point so what i like to say is about coaster flies directly over the front gate – was at brave if you will so -- but $25 million is very significant investment and certainly $5 million more to reinvent the front gate was also an important aspect for gate that hadn’t been reinvented in about 50 years. So one of the things we are careful because they are capital investment is that some times you think you have taken risk by spending less money you got to be careful that you got to get – maneuvers of fighter pilot ride and so each of the maneuvers in the G4 stresses are study based upon that – the longest wing coaster – we are to make them maneuvers more comfortable. They are less thrilling but they are more comfortable and therefore more repeatable. Because, the idea is that we have some roller coasters for your ride once you get off to go okay I will do that next year may be, right but you want a people get right back in line and they don’t want to get back in line right away because it’s probably an hour or half or two hour wait so that means there is other visit right but you want a comfortable and after that they want to re ride a and the fortunate thing about this coaster and I have written it more than a dozen times at this point is it does deliver the exactly that its very thrilling but it’s very smooth and this is one reason why this coaster is longer than most coasters. Okay, heading into 2013 and following the first full year of your front fought initiatives while you are using this excited about? It continued to be most excited about the value of proposition that the consumer recognizes, I will explain that a little bit, right, so for doing record we in the industry are doing record with a – and some record profitability for the last three years and heading into our fourth year with the same – they are making this choice versus other choices and so I think I feel really good about that which means that we have an opportunity to continue to deliver value but also drive revenue management in a way that would be more familiar to the Hotel industry but more familiar with the Cruise industry etcetera and those systems are now going to place to allow us to do that. This was an industry that for the longest time lived off heavy discounting and trained the consumer to expect a certain price for each of markets. Somebody asked me the other day whether the demographics would definitely love the different parks ride so the demographics were different enough in those markets to drive different pricing. The reality is it’s not the demographic differences that drive the pricing differences, it’s the legacy pricing we trained the consumers in each of the markets to expect certain price. So Season Pass and Kings Dominion may be $20 more than a Season Pass of Kings Island it is nothing to do with demographic market, it just the legacy. And so overtime, I think we got to be very disciplined about keeping the value of proposition because that’s where you get the privilege of pricing up and so we will continue to invest in that but getting the value extracted if you will given the consumer great value but also given the Unit holders great value we will continue to push pricing. And Season Passes which I said earlier may represent 50% of our attendance this year. We are up so far this year substantially in units but we are also up substantially in price. Now what you need to be careful of this the consumer is pretty smart. So if you go too fast, they will tell you and then you got to step backwards and step backward on pricing are more clumpsy that would like to believe. I think I’m most excited consumer still says that its great value proposition we are going to continue to push it. The other is that the new rides attractions besides Gatekeeper because I have added -- we have added a new roller coaster in Santa Clara California. With roller coaster that we think it would be very successful in our park out there in California’s great adventure, We doubled the size of the water parking Kansas city and consolidated water park with our amusement parking in Kansas city on one ticket and the number of other initiatives around that are like that and then I got to give credit to our marketing team, I think they have done extraordinary job in our marking program and so take those assets I just talked about new marketing program and our pricing strategy and we feel pretty good about this year. Your introduction of Fast Lane last year appeared to be very successful, what are your expectations for the second year of the concept? So Fast Lane for those who are familiar it is front of the line pass you can buy as you enter the park. Fast Lane came from the realization that we have the economies is bifurcated to these days and if you have a consumer discretionary product that you track you can see that very clearly and so you got these benefit oriented consumers who don’t really aren’t really price sensitive, they buy the front ticket, they take it with the park at the front gate, they walk in and they immediately turn around and pay $50, $60 or $70 more for front of the line pass and so the industry we probably relate to the party and those front line passes and so we have very good success for the last year but we didn’t find the pricing ceiling so we took the pricing up this year as good business people do and we also introduced a second tier products. So each of our parks today you can walk in and buy a Fast Lane or a Fast Lane Plus. Fast Lane Plus is the premium product that gives all the new rides and attractions including Gatekeeper. Fast Lane gives you all the rides interaction except for the two most popular in the park. So somebody else who is willing to wait in line for Gatekeeper -- excuse me but once you get in front line and the other buys the lesser pass but the vast majority of people are still buying Fast Lane passes we would expect. And one of the new benefits of the new attraction is it increases the capacity of your ability to sell Fast Lanes and some Gatekeeper gave us x thousand more season passes we could earn Fast Lane passes we could sell over the course of the year because it expanded the capacity. We do sell out of Fast Lane. We do that intentionally because you have to make sure that product is worthy of the price you are charging and that it doesn’t negatively impact the other people but it has been very successful and I think we are going to continue program. Can you talk a little bit about integration of CRM and point of sale and doing a testing of our IT technology and where you see the most opportunity in the near term and as longer term? Yeah, so we have a CRM database up and running for the first time in a more sophisticated way what we have traditionally done and when we talk about CRM, I think it’s important for the audience to understand that CRM is the ability to take a transaction and attach it to an individual or household. Fewer systems always like you measure transactions and compare transactions between parks but the ability to attach the transaction to a household is where you fundamentally convince an increment of the acre right and so that I am very excited about and it’s up and running and we are able to see a lot more on an individual by individual basis what’s happening. And the reason that’s important I think ultimately the industry needs to get to the point and we will get to the point the industry can decide what they want to do that they have almost two different P&Ls. We have a Season Pass holders P&L because it represents 50% of year business and we have a other P&L for other ticket types and the reason that’s important as I tell people the answers are in the end of the curves and if you take 50% and merge it with 50% you just get average and so I think the CRM system will allow us to figure out that will be able to encourage incremental behavior. The other thing we learnt last year in the catalyst for the (inaudible) were that in the warm summer guys spend more time in the water parks than they do in the amusement park and if they spend more time in the water park they spend less and I will ask people why – (inaudible) and you don’t go back to the locker so we came up with this system (inaudible) bracelets pre-loaded cash so now when you check in to (inaudible) you can over to booth you can buy $30 and put it as wrist band on your son daughter needs or nephew. One of the idea came was in the Cruise industry and this all inclusive thing has psychic value that poses well at out ones. Here is your 20 bucks don’t ask me again. Do you want, and then whether is an amusement park or the water park they can spend that money and what we’ve done to the bracelets are designed two different types one is just a basic classic plastic bracelet that you would through away and dispose the other is more of collectible that you wear back to stores and it stores the cash on a season basis, so you can come back and if you go home with $4 left and you’re coming back. If you go to high school and somebody says what’s happening and you say went to (inaudible) this weekend, right and so I would logged to believe that in the industry we were testing and (inaudible) this year with every anticipation would be successful and then we would roll out that to the parts, I do think we’re going to need train the consumer to understand the benefit of this bracelet. You’ll see us not only discount them the cash value for a while, get$10 for $8 worth etcetera so that we can train the consumer how to do this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if alternatively the amusement park industry mixes fundamental like Fast Lane. You shop at the front gate, you buy 10 or 20 bucks put it on your kids and you have a great day and obviously the spending is less just improves with that so that’s the nature of the your funding. And as it relates to the cost structure and with the addition of high margin revenue what are your expectations for margin expansion gone for it? So, when you get an ample staff as comparison which I know it’s difficult if you are not looking at our books like we have, we have the best margins in the industry and have 36%-37% in operating margins and what I like to say is we can grow that margin and/or we can grown margin dollars and I think we got to be careful. I have no doubt we’ll sustain our operating margin, I think that overtime we will be able to grow there, but we want to make sure is that we are not doing at the expense of margin dollars, right and so we will continue to invest and the experience of gaskets we are experienced and we can continue to drive pricing and that means it may be extended park hours and may be other things that consumer values to make sure that we can continue to push pricing so I think you’ll see our margin percentage grow, I know you’ll see a margin dollars grow, but I don’t know that the industry has earned the right to be more than 40%. So, I think you’ll creep up at the some point the consumer checks you on that little bit, we will continue to invest in the product. Okay. Given your strong free cash flow how do you think about uses of cash? Okay. I tell people and there’s no secret, there are two different aspects of our role as a senior manager one is to generate the cash, the other is to decide to what to do with it under the capital allocation and Cedar Fair to great degree the investments at Cedar Fair predicated on our strong yield that we pay our distribution so, this year we’ll pay $2.50 which is roughly a couple of days ago anyways was a 6% yield ruled us in that today and so that’s everything we make a decision and bounce up against the distribution and what we said about the distribution is we’ll continue to what we call a quality distribution we said at a level that is clearly sustainable we’ve also said that we’ll grow that distribution as EBITDA gross, to the extent that we generate more cash than we need to reinvest in the business then we’ll go through the classic analysis of what else to do with the cash, do we pay down debt, do we buy back stock , do we make other investments that we hadn’t contemplated or do we increase the distribution. But a little difference in some of the other situations had been associated with before we always bump that up against the distribution and so instead gone in some linear format if you will we tend to bump that up against the distribution, by all indications if we have a record year again we will be in good shape from cash standpoint, we do have about $405 million dollars I have answered it out there in 9 and 8th they really aren’t affordably callable until the Fall of next year -- Summer Fall of next year and at that point in time it would be good time to take another step back and look at our capital allocation. Okay and with Cedar now public and sets as a strong player in the industry, how do you think about the competitive landscape?. So what’s great about the history you’ll not see another major regional amusement park business country in our lifetime they just -- it's too expensive to take too much land and entitlement issues etc, the only one that was attempted was in (inaudible) beach several a few years ago and close before the season is over. So, the way we think about it is a couple of ways one is we don’t consider those names competitors with considering comparables and I think from a management standpoint it gives me an opportunity to see some information and now the Cedar is public and success is doing what they are doing to be able to encourage ourselves to take advantage of best practices and benchmark. We don’t overlap in almost any markets at all which is a nice thing and I think the other thing that from investor’s standpoint is now that we no longer have to defend while six flags you know went through bankruptcy, we validated the business model across the industry. So the business models helps the there’s I would be a little self indulgent to say there is quality management in each of those organizations and our results are speaking for that so I feel really good about our business particularly, but I feel good about the industry. Okay. Let’s open it up for questions from the audience. So, the measurement is right for cap or (inaudible) length of stand the park etcetera and so we know it’s certain band that right per cap as long as we can deliver that then our net promoters score stays within in a very high band. One of the questions because in this industry there’s always the risk of chasing attendance versus profitability when you chase the attendance it roads the guest experience and so when I fast got to the Disney reserve we were having lot of very cheap Season Pass attendance and impacting the overall guest experience, when we fix up we just very surprised, but that’s how we think about it and I’ve got a protected value proposition and that promote our score what really helps is a season pass order because they don’t try to do everything and they are much more comfortable on the experience and they don’t come on your peak days and so the fact is they wanted the strategic benefits of greater Season Pass base is what I just described in some of the capacity utilization. The other phenomenon I’ll just touch on it is Halloween period, so if you -- the bigger stage is yours are in the Halloween period and the reason is because we basically double our capacity because the entertainment is on the midway not just on the rides and lot of people they are amazes they are not doing the rise in attractions, so actually that helps us a lot and that’s one of those things were if the (inaudible) it is the actually the better the experience, I would guess to a certain level, but that’s how we think about it’s very important for us I want to continue to drive (inaudible) and only do if they go home feel particularly about the value they got. Can you talk about the season pass holders, with the season pass holders what percent of go to other parks not just one park and does that have an effect on the way you target season ticketing and then the other question is with the expenditure that’s outside of the attendance ticket or for season pass holders they’re not paying to get into the park, but I’m wondering about the per capital spend for the season ticket or the non-season ticket holders that’s not a entrance state? Sure, so first question we do sell a Platinum Pass, it is good at all of our parks, vast majority of our guests because of the regional nature of the business do not crossover between parks or higher might be the exception we’ve a park in parks in Kings Cincinnati and King Island and we have Cedar Point, so you get a lot of traffic from Columbia Symbol directions about two hours, but generally the Platinum Passes has other benefits that people buy it for they don’t crossover greatly between parks. The Season Pass holder performance as you might expect them to perform so they come they visit about four – four and half times on average, but be careful averages are not what the answers are and so they do a classic they come opening day, they come in the first week, they’re excited about they want to use it, in some cases they started for it in September last year. On their first visit they do you’d expect they come in, they excited they stayed long, they buy food and beverage, they buy merchandise when they go home they look very much like you are average customer, this is in between the middle for the most parks their food and beverage spend and their merchandize spent is less than average visitor, they’ve already done that or they’re averaging out there entertainment dollar, so they’re going home, they’re reading and only coming for three hours like the length of the stay is shorter so they eat less right and then by the time they get Halloween they repack up again and they do the whole thing by the Halloween merchandize by the (inaudible). They are the most profitable customer we have on an annual basis. There was a period of time in the industry, when the industry didn’t like Season Pass holder (inaudible) promotional and intellectual because it’s the declining per cap as I just described, but the reality is that you make a lot more money often from possibility factor and the influence factor the sister-in-law, the brother-in-law they’re bringing so, but that’s expand their pattern and so what’s important about that is our CRM system being able to identify how allow them performed will allow you to get that incremental purchase of some sort in the middle, we’ve always known whether they were coming or not (inaudible) the odds are going to renew the pass right so other things we can do is send them to come back and lot of times we drop them you know two tickets to $10 to bring new costs etcetera like that and everybody and that’s the most successful promotion we give Season Pass holders, because they really you know the kids have friends you’ve got cousins, you got other people can’t afford to come whatever it is so we will continue to work with Season Pass holders on that basis, hope you understand. You said next summer or next fall might be a good time to think about rethinking your capital allocation policies could that also include rethinking where your run your balance sheet in terms of leverage. I think the balance sheet actually so we’ve announced our guidance for this next year if we cannot guidance we’ll be about 3.7 times total average in the fall, I think that’s the level I’m comfortable with, the level with board is comfortable with, we’ll continue to be -- to play attention that where were I think relatively conservative on that basis, but if the cost of debt today and that 3.7 times with their EBITDA grown it is I don’t see a rushed up to pay down debt below that level. And the covenants have been invited to the point where they’re not relevant anymore with this latest refinancing or shouldn’t be relevant I guess there will be accurate statement. Okay, looks like there are no more questions from the audience I guess we’ll ramp up with that. 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My husband plans to retire in 3 years (at age 67) and I plan to retire in 7 years (at age 62). We began focusing on dividend growth investing in 2013 but have been invested in mutual funds for decades. Our current DGI retirement portfolio is comprised of the following 64 DGI stocks: ABBV, ABT, AMGN, AVA, BBL, BMY, CAH, CBRL, CCP, CLX, CMCSA, COP, CSCO, CVX, D, DEO, DLR, DUK, ED, EMR, EPD, GE, GILD, GIS, HCP, IBM, JNJ, KHC, KMB, KMI, KO, LMT, LNT, MCD, MMM, MMP, MO, MRK, MSFT, NEE, NOK, O, OHI, OMI, PEP, PFE, PG, PM, SCG, SEP, SO, SYY, T, TUP, UL, UPS, UTX, VTR, VZ, WEC, WMT, WPC, XEL, and XOM, In addition, I manage our millennial daughter's dividend growth retirement portfolio of the following 34 stocks: AAPL, ABBV, ABT, AMGN, BMY, CAH, CBRL, CCP, CSCO, D, DIS, DLR, EMR, GILD, JNJ, KMB, KO, MCD, MMM, MMP, MSFT, OMI, PEP, PFE, PG, PM, SCG, SO, T, V, VTR, VZ, WEC, and XOM. Bob is retired from a career in law enforcement including more than 20 years as an instructor of Investigative Interviewing. He is a Dividend Growth investor using dividend yield from low beta stocks for income and preservation of capital. Bob has self managed his portfolio since early in 2011. He hopes to encourage discussion among those already in retirement and receiving income from their portfolios. My curent portfolio is available here: I believe that everyone needs a portfolio business plan. Here's a copy of ours:: http://seekingalpha.com/article/2426965-our-retirement-portfolio-business-plan-legacy-edition-part-two A list of Dividend Growth Safety Superstars for the past decade is available here: http://seekingalpha.com/article/2255863-a-review-of-the-dividend-safety-superstars Six-time CEO, followed by founding, in 2003, highly successful strategy development and executive performance-improvement consulting business. Semi-retired (not working full time but serve on corporate Boards). Mr. Berger is the creator and developer of the YDP screening tool, a chart system and its analysis for screening and monitoring dividend income equity investments. The recipient of Seeking Alpha's Outstanding Performance Award, he also has been Seeking Alpha's #3 ranked Author for Income Investing Strategy & #4 for Utilities. 20 years of sitting in the board room gives me unique insights into Oil & Gas investments and corporate deal making in general. Additionally, he offers a Premium Research subscription service for boosting income while reducing market risk using covered option writing on a dividend income equity portfolio. Residing in Brazil gives me a local's inside view on the pulse of its economy, politics, investment climate and breaking news. A view of my front yard is available here. A former Chief Operating Officer, Director, Vice President and General Manger of Oil and Gas for Southern Pacific's Oil and Gas Operations, Business owner, geologist, and cribbage player, I've been an investor for over 48 years (started young at 13) and learned my lessons the way that makes them stick, by hard knocks and both big and little mistakes. Hopefully I can share some of those lessons with others. I am an American expatriate that decided to retire at age 57 in 2009 and now live in Brazil. As an early retiree I invest for income and manage portfolio risk by screening for strong and reliable historic data along with favorable fundamental and technical current trends. I spend 6 months/year living at home in Brazil and 6 months/year traveling the world. I have structured my financial positions so that I live virtually tax free with much of my income exempt from US tax since I live ex patriot and a lot of my US derived income over the annual ex-patriate exemptions is held in my tax free ROTH and tax deferred IRA/SIMPLE plans. This enables my tax savings to pay for my 6 months of annual traveling :) . My investing is for income and appreciation with a balance of low to moderate short term risk and low long term risk. To accomplish this I use quality dividend payors with a long track record of steady or increasing dividends along with slowly appreciating equity prices. I target a 6 to 9 % yield and almost exclusively require a minimum history of 5 years of steady/increasing dividends and no decreases in dividend ever or at least past 10 years. I diversify through sector, country and currency unit the stocks are traded in, and security type (equity, royalty trust, REIT, mlp, etf, and ADRs). I use covered call writing to enhance my portfolio yield with no added risk. In fact, it lowers the risk substantially. Once I identify a stock I want to own and an entry price for it, I write cash covered puts at or below that entry price (with a minimum of 1%/month time premium. Thus i obtain at least a 12% annualized yield before compounding just from the option premium. Likewise, I use the sale of cash covered puts to generate income and and generally get an entry point at 5 to 10% below my acceptable entry level price if/when the put stock does get presented. Thus my strategy provides a 12% pre compound yield on cash and entry into stock purchases at a 5 to 10% discount from "retail". Because I only select stocks that I am willing to hold long term for their reliable dividend yields of > 6%, I am not concerned much with market volatility or short/midterm risk. Indeed, market volatility is my friend since it increases the premiums paid on the options I sell. I also selectively sell covered calls on positions I hold long so as to add to my yield that way while not taking on any additional risk. This strategy has kept me happily living off my portfolio income and traveling 1/2 the year while my portfolio has been slowly increasing in value even after my harvesting income for living expenses. Of course my income will incrementally increase when social security kicks in for me in a few more years and I may then slightly mofidy my goals and strategies. Readers can get an e-mail once a day from Seeking Alpha that lists all newly published articles of ALL the authors they follow in a single e-mail. To get these updates: - a - Click "Alerts" along the top menu tab (just left of the green PRO tab) - b - Scroll all the way down, and check the box for "author alerts" (2nd box from the bottom) - c - Then you'll be notified by Seeking Alpha once per day of new articles by all authors you follow (in a single e-mail) Named by Fortune as one of its "50 Great Investors". Acknowledged as Cash Flow From Operations (CFFO) expert by WSJ, Fortune, Forbes.com and Smartmoney.com after developing a CFFO algorithm that predicts bankruptcies for seemingly healthy large NYSE and NASDAQ traded companies. Markowski also has CFFO algorithms that identify severely undervalued companies. In September 2007 Equities Magazine column predicted the 2008 collapses for all five of the U.S. major brokers including Lehman, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch. Wholesale sell recommendations for the five based on macro-analysis of brokerage industry's negative cash flow due to "sub-prime mortgage revenue". Founded: TrophyInvesting.com (2016), Dynastywealth.com (2014), Onlinefinancialsector.com (2007), StockDiagnostics.com (2002). Currently: Analyst for Dynasty Wealth (focused on finding and covering disruptor companies that have 100X to 1,000X potential within 5 years). Passion is recommending shorts for hyped companies that have inherently flawed negative CFFO models and ten baggers for those which are extremely undervalued based on their CFFO. Does not trade the markets and is instead a buy and holder. Began career with Merrill Lynch in 1977 and was employed in early years by Oppenheimer and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette. Became CEO of a firm in 1990 that subsequently went out of business due to the firm’s having a net capital deficiency on January 15, 1991, the day before the first Gulf War broke out. Markowski voluntarily left the broker industry in 1991. Most of his activities since have been in the financial information industry. The SEC and the NASD subsequently barred Markowski in 1995 from associating with a broker dealer. The bar related to activities that occurred in 1990, and before the war's breaking out which caused a severe lack of liquidity for the markets resulting in the firm's going out of business. Markowski appealed his bar to the U.S. Supreme Court which denied to hear his appeal. Markowski was not barred from being a registered investment advisor (RIA). However, Markowski chose not to pursuit a career as a RIA. My purpose is to purchase great companies at great value. My goal is to assemble a portfolio of dividend growth stocks that will continue to pay and increase their dividends annually in order to achieve my goal of financial independence. Financial independence for me is to have my dividends cover my living expenses come retirement (or sooner would be better!). I have called my portfolio the Accelerating Dividends Portfolio. My portfolio consists of the following stocks right now: Core: HAS, OHI, SBUX, CAH Supportive: LYB, EXR, WYN, ABBV Speculative: TGT, T I am still working on my investment plan and when it is ready I will share it with you. As for myself, I am a part-time, self-educated investor who works a full-time day job as a criminal intelligence analyst. I bring my thought process from my job with me to much of my daily life. I like to ask questions, particularly some that are hard and not really talked about. I like to find data and do analyses in order to support or refute my ideas and answer my questions. I came across the dividend growth investing model when I was searching for a better way to invest my money. I love and advocate the dividend growth investment model because it has touched me the most and helps me to sleep well at night. I have been enthralled over the last few years with finances (if I could change careers, I would move to financial advising in order to pursue this interest full-time). This interest has stirred within me a great desire to learn and although there is always more to learn, I continue to enjoy the challenge of acquiring more knowledge and experience. I enjoy applying what I have learned particularly in my writing here on Seeking Alpha. I also apply many of my analytic skills and thinking to my articles in order to stimulate discussion to get many points of view. This helps me enhance my own opinion, perspective, and thought process. I hope that what I share will be of worth to the Seeking Alpha community. I hope you will follow me along this journey towards financial independence and accelerating dividends! Dave Fish is Executive Editor for The Moneypaper and co-manager (since 1999) of the MP 63 Fund (Symbol: DRIPX), a fund that invests exclusively in companies that offer Direct Investment (or Dividend Reinvestment) Plans. He is also the author of the U.S. Dividend Champions spreadsheet (and PDF), which is updated at the end of each month...and lists companies that have increased their dividend payout for at least 25 consecutive years. (Separate tabs list "Contenders" that have increased their payouts for 10-24 years and "Challengers" that have increased their payouts for 5-9 years.) http://dripinvesting.org/Tools/Tools.asp I am a medical professional, but I have been studying investing for many years so that I can control my own portfolio. DGI seems to be the best way for me to invest for my retirement while being able to sleep at night. I have also been successfully trading cash secured puts for extra income. I share my experience on my websites, Tradingcsps.com and my blog Tradingputs.com. Ron Hiram currently manages investment portfolios and assists earlier stage companies in their capital raising efforts. He served as Chief Executive Officer of Cellnet Solutions, Ltd., a supplier of remotely managed networks of public wireless terminals providing voice as well as value-added data services in developing countries, from April 2008 until March 2010. From 2003 to May 2008, Mr. Hiram was a Managing Partner of Eurofund 2000 L.P., a venture capital fund focused on Israeli-related companies in the telecommunications, information technology and microelectronic spheres. Previously, from 2001-2002, Mr. Hiram co-headed TeleSoft Partners' investment activities in Israel. TeleSoft Partners is a Silicon Valley venture capital fund focusing on companies developing telecommunication-related technologies. Between1994-2000, Mr. Hiram served as Managing Director and Partner at Soros Fund Management LLC ("Soros"), an international hedge fund in New York, devoting the bulk of his time to private equity investments. Prior to joining Soros, Mr. Hiram worked at Lehman Brothers for thirteen years (also in New York), most recently serving as Managing Director of a workout and restructuring group. Mr. Hiram has served on the boards of directors of companies publicly listed in the U.S., including Ulticom, Inc. since January 2000 and Comverse Technology, Inc. from 1985-1986 and from 2001-2006 (including as chairman of the board from May 2006 to December 2006). Mr. Hiram also served on the board of TASE listed E. Wardinon Ltd. (2005-2007) and on the boards of numerous privately held companies. Mr. Hiram received an M.B.A. from Columbia University in 1981 and a B.Comm. from the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa, in 1979. Power Hedge is an independent stock research and analysis firm with a passion for macro- and microeconomic analysis. Power Hedge focuses our research primarily on dividend-paying, international companies of all sizes with sustainable competitive advantages. Power Hedge is neither a permabear nor a permabull. However, we believe that, given the current structural problems in the United States, the best investment opportunities may lie elsewhere in the world. The firm's strategy is primarily buy and hold, but will stray from that strategy on occasion. Our ideal holding period is forever, however we realize that both internal and external forces can impact an investment. For this reason, we believe that it is vital to keep a close eye on all of your investments. We do not believe in changing an investment based on short-term market swings. Traditionally, we have not always responded to comments but in order to improve the quality of our research, comments will be reviewed and we will respond to issues regarding errors or omissions. This does not include our premium service, "Renewable Energy Profits," which is available from the Seeking Alpha Marketplace. This service does include detailed discussions with our team both on the reports themselves and in a private forum. Jeff is a mortgage broker, published author and educator. He is a value/dividend investor who specializes in long term growth. He lives in a beautiful seaside town in BC Canada with his wife and two children. Like hundreds of thousands of other small investors, my wife & I are longer-term investors, focused primarily on Dividend Growth in high quality companies with durable earnings. My actual portfolio can be viewed on my page, In Dividend Growth We Trust. (Scroll down) I am both blessed & grateful my wife shares in the requisite grunt work essential to limiting downside risk inherent with investing. We are partial owners in a handful of wonderful companies, constantly seeking to expand our investment horizon and fortify our financial future. Like many of you, ours is a journey, which has included some detours but never deterred us from our destination. I seek to liberate investors from the chains of borrowed opinions by teaching metric awareness that leads to the formation of your own opinions. I am a retail investor that gathers, processes and analyzes significantly more data than average. I share that data in my articles. I let the data do the talking. I am only taking dictation as the data tells its message. I am a retired engineer with a PhD in Engineering Science (mostly exotic math) together with a Masters in Statistics. I currently manage my website www.superchargeretirementincome.com, where I use my math background to select high-return, low-volatility investments. I also love teaching so I also provide a number of tutorials about all aspects of investing. I am an avid reader and have read just about every book I could find on the stock market. I am still learning so I welcome comments and suggestions. Over the years I have learned that there is no “holy grail”; you cannot receive a good return without taking risks. However, you can choose your investments to reduce risks and those are the kind of investments I like to make. Although financial markets are my passion, engineering is my profession. I have spent the last 30+ years as a program manager at a large aerospace company, working on improving defenses for our U.S. Army customers. Brad Thomas is a research analyst and he currently writes weekly for Forbes and Seeking Alpha where he maintains research on many publicly-listed REITs. In addition, Thomas is the Senior Analyst at iREIT Forbes and Editor of the Forbes Real Estate Investor, a monthly subscription-based newsletter. Thomas has also been featured in Forbes Magazine, Kiplinger’s, US News & World Report, Money, NPR, Institutional Investor, GlobeStreet, and Fox Business. He was the #1 contributing analyst on Seeking Alpha in 2014 (as ranked by TipRanks) and he is currently writing a book on the legendary investor Donald Trump. Thomas has co-authored a book (The Intelligent REIT Investor) that is available on Amazon. Thomas received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business/Economics from Presbyterian College where he played basketball. He resides in South Carolina with his wife and kids. Alan Brochstein, CFA, was the first investment professional to devote himself to sharing his observations about the cannabis industry from an investor's perspective publicly. He runs 420 Investor, a subscription-based due diligence platform for investors interested in the publicly-traded cannabis stocks and is also the founder of New Cannabis Ventures, a content aggregation site focused on investors and entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry. Alan has worked in the securities industry since 1986, primarily with the responsibility for managing investments in institutional environments until he founded AB Analytical Services in 2007 in order to provide independent research and consulting to registered investment advisors. In addition to advising several different hedge funds and investment managers, including Friedberg Investment Management, where he participated as a member of its investment management committee, Alan was also a senior analyst for the independent research firm Management CV. In 2008, he began providing a first-of-its-kind subscription-based service for individual investors, Invest By Model, which offered two different portfolios that investors could replicate in their own accounts for $20 per month. Alan also offered The Analytical Trader at Marketfy, where he used fundamental and technical analysis in a disciplined process to offer specific trade ideas geared towards swing traders. Alan launched www.420Investor.com in late 2013 as the premier source of information for "Green Rush" investors seeking to capitalize on the proliferation of legalized medical and recreational cannabis. In March 2014, Alan, who is a member of the National Cannabis Industry Association, began to focus solely on the cannabis sector. He launched www.NewCannabisVentures.com in late 2015. You can follow Alan on Facebook (www.facebook.com/420investor) or on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Invest420). Alan also moderates a large LinkedIn group focused on the cannabis industry, Cannabis Investors & Entrepreneurs (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/6523904) Retiree interested in stocks and financial instruments, especially dividend producing stocks. In the 20th century, I was an electrical engineer with Dominion Resources. I use a dividend growth investment style. Quick rules of thumb for complex questions, like fair value p/e using the Gordon model, price = growth and total liabilities/total assets ratio for leverage calculations provide a starting point for my investment decisions. As a retiree, preservation of capital is paramount. I have 10 kids and 28 grand kids with 3 great grand kids now. I bought my first stock a good 70 years ago and have been trading dividend paying stocks and profiting from them for well over 50 years now. I sell when I think it is needed but I buy for the long term. I am somewhat of a bottom-fisher - I like to look for the deal on a company I want to own anyway. I have traded commodities in the past, but I prefer to use ETFs for them instead of buying them now as they trade easier and make it easier to keep my two personal portfolios balanced overall. In my Core Portfolio - I keep at 85% dividend paying stocks with a 7+ year record of RAISING them along with 15% Gold and Silver. I rarely sell these but spend time weekly on each one keeping up with the news and reports on them. In my Speculation (or Exploration) Portfolio - I keep stocks that cut their dividend and were sold, but re-purchased them when they dropped to a point where they are attractive again. A trade sequence on these usually ends up with me having a zero-cost basis for the shares I kept and cash ahead also. I also keep stocks in this one that I know are trading in a channel so I buy low and collect dividends until they go back up to my target price and I - again - have a zero cost-basis and free stock when I sell. This is also where stocks that I have found attractive because of low value metrics and are trending up are kept for as long as I am in the trade. As Jesse Livermoore said "No stock is too low to sell or too high to buy." He made millions by following the trends and never lost money unless he went against his own disciplines. I try to keep that in mind with my trades. I have had a wide range of jobs in my lifetime - Law Enforcement, Professional Gambler and Gold Prospector among them. I use my experience to help me figure out what comes next. The Parsimony community is made up of thousands of do-it-yourself dividend and income investors working toward one common goal...generating consistent income! Our strategy is simple:1. Buy great dividend stocks at reasonable prices.2. Enhance income with conservative option strategies.3. Manage risk through diversification and exit strategies. Our research (which includes dividend stock rankings, single stock Buy Zone reports, stock screens, and model portfolios) will give you all the tools you need to build and monitor your own DIY Dividend Portfolio and super charge that portfolio with conservative option strategies (cover calls and cash-secured puts). For more information about our subscription services click the links below: - DIY Dividend Portfolio - Triple Income Portfolio (stocks + options) Consultant / Investment research writer, focusing on natural resource companies & select other small cap opportunities. MBA, Financial Analysis, Top 12 rated business school, New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business. Designated a Chartered Financial Analyst, "CFA" He's published hundreds of investment articles & CEO interviews on a number of prominent [Metals & Mining] and [Investment] websites including: EpsteinResearch, InvestorIdeas, InvestingNews, MiningFeeds, Equity.Guru, Investing.com, Equities.com, CNAFinance, CountingPips, StockHouse, SeekingAlpha, TalkMarkets, CEO.CA, Investor-SMS.de, SmallCapMarkets. On Twitter: @peterepstein2 Email: email@example.com Elliott Gue knows energy. Since earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of London, Elliott has dedicated himself to learning the ins and outs of this dynamic sector, scouring trade magazines, attending industry conferences, touring facilities and meeting with management teams. For seven years, Elliott Gue shared his expertise and stock-picking abilities with individual investors through a highly regarded, energy-focused research publication. Elliott Gue’s knowledge of the sector and prescient investment calls prompted the official program of the 2008 G-8 Summit in Tokyo to call him “the world’s leading energy strategist.” He has also appeared on CNBC and Bloomberg TV and has been quoted in a number of major publications, including Barron’s, Forbes and the Washington Post. In October 2012, Elliott Gue launched the Energy & Income Advisor (www.EnergyandIncomeAdvisor.com), a semimonthly online newsletter that’s dedicated to uncovering the most profitable opportunities in the energy sector, from growth stocks to high-yielding utilities, royalty trusts and master limited partnerships. The masthead may have changed, but subscribers can expect the same in-depth analysis and rational assessments of investment opportunities in the energy sector. Five Plus Investor is business owner and an avid follower of the stock market, managing seven different types of portfolios for family and friends. Five Plus Investor invests in multiple types of investments, with the goal of achieving relatively high dividend yield that has a reasonable margin of safety. She enjoys contributing to Seeking Alpha as she has time, with her core audience being new investors and retirees. Charles (Chuck) C. Carnevale is the creator of F.A.S.T. Graphs™. Chuck is also co-founder of an investment management firm. He has been working in the securities industry since 1970: he has been a partner with a private NYSE member firm, the President of a NASD firm, Vice President and Regional Marketing Director for a major AMEX listed company, and an Associate Vice President and Investment Consulting Services Coordinator for a major NYSE member firm. Prior to forming his own investment firm, he was a partner in a 30-year-old established registered investment advisory in Tampa, Florida. Chuck holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance from the University of Tampa. Chuck is a sought-after public speaker who is very passionate about spreading the critical message of prudence in money management. Chuck is a Veteran of the Vietnam War and was awarded both the Bronze Star and the Vietnam Honor Medal. David Hunkar (pseudonym) holds a Masters Degree in Finance and Economics. He is a part-time consultant for a financial consulting firm where he manages portfolios for manages portfolios for self and family. He has been an investor for the past ten years. David focuses on foreign stocks trading in the US markets including the OTC market. He concentrates on high dividend yield and dividend growth stocks. ETFs are his another favorite investment vehicle. In addition to his contributions here at Seeking Alpha, you can also visit him at his blog www.topforeignstocks.com Mark's mutual fund is launching December 15, 2011. He is a self taught private investor who operates the website Fund My Mutual Fund (http://fundmymutualfund.com); a daily mix of market, economic, and stock specific commentary. Fascinated by the market since an early age, he discovered mutual funds as a teenager in the 80s and moved to equities by the mid 90s. The origin of the website is/was to leverage the power of the internet in developing a transparent track record to attract investors for his potential "long/short" mutual fund. His equity focus is identifying secular growth trends and the companies most likely to benefit from these macro trends. Stocks are identified through fundamental analysis, although basic technical analysis is used in determining entry and exit points. You can receive Trader Mark's latest posts daily by subscribing free via RSS reader (http://feeds.feedburner.com/FundMyMutualFund) or subscribing free via email (http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=1109639). With a degree in economics from the University of Michigan, a broader understanding of the economy as a whole, along with interpreting investor psychology, is also a major interest for Mark. To follow on Twitter, username: fundmyfund Michael Johnston is the co-founder and senior analyst at ETF Database, an online investment resource for ETF investors. ETF Database offers a proprietary ETF Screener that allows investors to filter the universe of 900+ ETFs to find the right fund. ETF Database also provides news, analysis, commentary, and actionable investment ideas on a daily basis. Tim Iacono is the founder of the investment website 'Iacono Research', a subscription service providing market commentary and investment advisory services specializing in natural resources. He also writes a financial blog known as 'The Mess That Greenspan Made', a sometimes irreverent look at the many and varied after-effects of the Greenspan term at the Federal Reserve. Use the links below to visit Tim's website/blog. Scott Grannis was Chief Economist from 1989 to 2007 at Western Asset Management Company, a Pasadena-based manager of fixed-income funds for institutional investors around the globe. He was a member of Western's Investment Strategy Committee, was responsible for developing the firm's domestic and international outlook, and provided consultation and advice on investment and asset allocation strategies to CFOs, Treasurers, and pension fund managers. He specialized in analysis of Federal Reserve policy and interest rate forecasting, and spearheaded the firm's research into Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS). Prior to joining Western Asset, he was Senior Economist at the Claremont Economics Institute, an economic forecasting and consulting service headed by John Rutledge, from 1980 to 1986. From 1986 to 1989, he was Principal at Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, a financial services firm that specialized in sophisticated hedging strategies for institutional investors. Visit his blog: Calafia Beach Pundit (http://scottgrannis.blogspot.com/)

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynaecologic cancer, in large part because of its early dissemination and rapid development of chemotherapy resistance. Spheroids are clusters of tumor cells found in the peritoneal fluid of patients that are thought to promote this dissemination. Current models suggest that spheroids form by aggregation of single tumor cells shed from the primary tumor. Here, we demonstrate that spheroids can also form by budding directly as adherent clusters from a monolayer. Formation of budded spheroids correlated with expression of vimentin and lack of cortical E-cadherin. We also found that compared to cells grown in monolayers, cells grown as spheroids acquired progressive resistance to the chemotherapy drugs Paclitaxel and Cisplatin. This resistance could be completely reversed by dissociating the spheroids. Our observations highlight a previously unappreciated mode of spheroid formation that might have implications for tumor dissemination and chemotherapy resistance in patients, and suggest that this resistance might be reversed by spheroid dissociation. Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women (Jemal et al., 2010). The incidence of ovarian cancer is lower than many other tumor types, but its mortality is higher – over 50% – and this has not appreciably changed in the past eight decades, although a small, recent trend towards improvement has been seen (Jemal et al., 2010). Ovarian cancer differs from almost all other solid tumors in that its primary mode of dissemination is directly across the peritoneal space, rather than through the vasculature (Shield et al., 2009). Individual tumor cells can be shed into the peritoneum, and a current model proposes that their aggregation into spheroids – free-floating multicellular clusters – facilitates their transit and implantation (Ahmed et al., 2007; Shield et al., 2009). Spheroids have been observed in the ascites of ovarian cancer patients and are believed to make a significant contribution to intraperitoneal spread (Allen et al., 1987; Burleson et al., 2006; Burleson et al., 2004). Most of our understanding of spheroid cell biology has come from in vitro culture of cancer cell lines. Spheroids can be produced from many cancer cell lines under conditions that favor cell-cell over cell-matrix adhesion, such as growth in serum-free media, or the “hanging drop” method (Kelm et al., 2003; Lund-Johansen et al., 1989). Not all cancer cell lines form spheroids, and the features that allow spheroid growth are not well characterized. A major property of cultured spheroids, including spheroids from ovarian cancer cell lines, is resistance of spheroid cells to cytotoxic drugs compared to the same cells grown as monolayers (Frankel et al., 1997; Green et al., 2004; Green et al., 1999). This drug resistance is proposed to arise from one or more factors, including creation of a physical barrier to drug penetration; induction of genes or signalling pathways that enhance survival, such as drug efflux pumps; and selection for a subpopulation of drug-resistant cells, which could include cancer stem cells (Desoize and Jardillier, 2000; Hirschhaeuser et al., 2010; Kerbel, 1994-1995). We observed a novel means of spheroid formation for four ovarian cancer cell lines cultured in standard media. When the cells were grown as adherent monolayers, spheroids arose directly from the monolayer in dense regions and areas of vertical cell growth. Spheroid budding correlated with the absence of cortical E-cadherin and the presence of vimentin filaments throughout the cells of the monolayer, suggesting that the ability of a cell line to form spheroids was a property of the cell line rather than a biological change only at the site of budding. Serial passage of ovarian cancer cells between spheroid and monolayer culture induced progressive resistance to the chemotherapy drugs Paclitaxel and Cisplatin, and dissociating the spheroids back into monolayers could reverse this drug resistance. Our observations suggest that these cancer cell lines have acquired the ability to form spheroids by budding from an adherent monolayer, that a similar process might occur in vivo, and that dissociating spheroids could improve ovarian cancer cell sensitivity to chemotherapy. A novel means of spheroid formation: budding from a monolayer When we cultured A2780 ovarian cancer cells as a monolayer in standard culture media supplemented with 10% FBS, we observed formation of multilayered colonies similar to those typically associated with loss of contact inhibition. Upon continued culture, these colonies expanded both vertically and horizontally. Frequently, rounded spherical clusters of cells arose from these colonies and appeared to be attached to the monolayer by a narrow stalk. These cell clusters eventually (within 2–3 days) detached from the monolayer, producing floating spheroids in the media that were morphologically identical to spheroids of this cell line formed by aggregation in commercially-available serum-free spheroid media (Fig. 1A–C). The spheroids were of relatively uniform size, (30 to 100 μm), similar to the size of spheroids formed by aggregation. We called this novel type of spheroid production “budding” to distinguish it from aggregation or clonal expansion from a single cell, both of which are established mechanisms of spheroid formation. To assess the morphology of these budded spheroids and their relationship to the underlying monolayer, we stained them with the vital DNA dye DRAQ5 and imaged them using a water-immersion lens with confocal sectioning. Imaging of living cells was necessary because fixation caused the spheroids to break off from the monolayer. This live-cell imaging of spheroids in various stages of budding revealed a variety of spheroid morphologies, including large mounds and round balls attached to the monolayer at a single point (Fig. 1D,E). We tested the viability of budded spheroids by several methods. DNA staining with DRAQ5 showed occasional cells with condensed nuclei consistent with apoptosis, at the same frequency as in the parental monolayer. When we trypsinized spheroids and stained with Trypan blue dye, a majority of cells (∼90%) excluded the dye. Finally, spheroids could be transferred to a new culture dish coated with 2% Matrigel and spread as a monolayer without obvious cell death. We also tested growth factor requirements of budded spheroids, to determine whether the budding process depended on the presence of serum or added growth factors. Commercial spheroid media is typically supplemented with a cocktail of growth factors, some of which are proprietary, instead of serum. We tested spheroid budding by replacing serum-containing media with spheroid base media lacking these added growth factors. Remarkably, A2780 spheroids could bud from a monolayer, adhere to a new dish to form a new monolayer, and produce new budded spheroids, in a continuous cycle for over five weeks, in base media without any growth factors except for a 2% solution of growth factor-reduced Matrigel used to adhere them to the dish. This suggests that the ability to form budded spheroids does not require supplemental serum or growth factors added to the spheroid media. Spheroid budding was not unique to A2780 cells. We found that four out of six ovarian cancer cell lines produced budded spheroids: A2780, SKOV3, HEY, and OVCA420 (Fig. 2). For most of these, spheroids detached from the monolayer spontaneously and were found floating in the culture media. Neither of the cell lines that failed to form spheroids (BG1 or OVCA433) formed multilayered colonies, suggesting that vertical growth of the monolayer might be a prerequisite for spheroid formation. Spheroid budding correlates with epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers Spheroid budding could be due to a biological change in a subset of cells within the monolayer, or to a global property of the cell line. To distinguish between these possibilities, we performed a microarray experiment to compare gene expression in A2780 cells grown as monolayers or budded spheroids. This showed no major differences in gene expression between monolayers and spheroids (data not shown), suggesting that altered gene expression is unlikely to be responsible for local changes within a subset of cells that form a budded spheroid. We next asked whether ovarian cancer cell lines capable of forming budded spheroids showed any properties that differed from cell lines that failed to form budded spheroids. We focused on proteins associated with the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process that promotes cancer progression and loss of traditional epithelial polarity (see Discussion) (Ahmed et al., 2010; Godde et al., 2010). We performed immunofluorescence for E-cadherin, which is typically found at sites of cell-cell contact in epithelial monolayers, and vimentin, which is typically expressed in mesenchymal cell types. Of six ovarian cancer cell lines assayed, three showed a lack of E-cadherin at cell-cell borders and the presence of vimentin filaments throughout the cytoplasm, a typical pattern for cells that have undergone an EMT (Fig. 2). These three cell lines (A2780, SKOV3, and HEY) were also capable of forming budded spheroids. A fourth cell line, OVCA420, showed lack of cortical E-cadherin and lack of vimentin; OVCA420 cells formed budded spheroids at a much lower frequency. In contrast, two cell lines showed strong expression of E-cadherin at cell-cell borders and either no vimentin (BG-1) or a low level of patchy vimentin expression (OVCA433). Neither of these cell lines formed budded spheroids. Thus, lack of cortical E-cadherin and the presence of vimentin filaments correlated strongly with the ability of an ovarian cancer cell line to form budded spheroids. Serial passage of ovarian cancer cells between monolayer and spheroid culture increases resistance to cytotoxic drugs Ovarian cancer cell line spheroids formed by the liquid overlay method were reported to show resistance to Paclitaxel but remained sensitive to Cisplatin (Frankel et al., 1997; Kobayashi et al., 1993). We tested the drug sensitivity of A2780 and HEY spheroids as compared to monolayers, to determine if spheroid formation in the absence of serum conferred drug resistance. We were able to compare spheroids to monolayers in identical media conditions by first seeding monolayers in media containing serum to promote attachment to the dish, and then replacing the media with spheroid media. Likewise, spheroids formed by budding in serum-containing media were transferred to spheroid media prior to drug treatments. We tested sensitivity to Paclitaxel and Cisplatin using cells grown in serum free media for at least 24 hours prior to drug treatment. Cells were exposed to either drug for 24 hours, and then trypsinized, stained with Trypan blue, and counted to determine cell viability. As expected, cells grown in monolayers were sensitive to both drugs, with approximately 30% of cells viable compared to vehicle-treated samples (Fig. 3). Interestingly, the first generation of A2780 and HEY cells grown as spheroids were also sensitive to Paclitaxel and Cisplatin, with approximately 30% of cells viable compared to vehicle-treated controls (Fig. 3). This was seen both for budded spheroids and for spheroids formed by aggregation. Thus, initial spheroid growth did not confer drug resistance to either of these cell lines. This was true despite significantly slower cell growth within spheroids as compared to monolayers (the doubling time for monolayer cells in spheroid media was ∼24 hours, versus a doubling time for spheroid cells in the same media of ∼48 hours). This result implies that neither the spheroid microenvironment nor the slower proliferation rate it conferred was sufficient to produce resistance to these drugs. In a separate study, we found that serial passage of the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 as spheroids caused a wave of epigenetic changes associated with EMT, which included acquisition of drug resistance (Guttilla et al., 2012). These changes increased with each successive generation of spheroid passage. To test whether serial passage of ovarian cancer cell spheroids could promote drug resistance, we cultured A2780 and HEY cells for several generations of spheroid growth. Rather than trypsinizing spheroids to create the subsequent generation, we allowed them to dissociate spontaneously by transferring them to a culture dish with media containing FBS, in which they spread as a monolayer. Once the monolayer had adhered, we trypsinized the cells, transferred them to serum-free media, and allowed them to form spheroids by aggregation. We repeated this for three cycles, to produce first, second and third generation monolayers and spheroids. This method of serial passaging might approximate an in vivo situation in which spheroids must undergo at least partial spontaneous dissociation to implant on serosal surfaces. In all cases, drug testing was done on samples processed in parallel that had not previously been exposed to any drugs. Compared to first generation spheroids, spheroids from the second and third generation showed increasing drug resistance to both Paclitaxel and Cisplatin. For A2780 cells treated with Paclitaxel, cell viability increased from 37% in first generation spheroids, to 87% in second generation spheroids, to 91% in third generation spheroids (Fig. 3). For A2780 cells treated with Cisplatin, viability increased from 32% in first generation spheroids, to 84% for second generation spheroids, to 91% in third generation spheroids. HEY cells showed a similar progressive increase in drug resistance. For HEY cells treated with Paclitaxel, viability increased from 37% for first generation spheroids, to 78% for second generation spheroids, to 90% for third generation spheroids. For HEY cells treated with Cisplatin, viability increased from 29% for first generation spheroids, to 82% for second generation spheroids, to 86% for third generation spheroids. These data suggest that serial spheroid culture induces progressive drug resistance with each cycle alternating between monolayer and spheroid culture. Interestingly, whereas previous reports of multicellular drug resistance showed an association with spheroid compaction, with these two ovarian cancer cell lines, subsequent generations of spheroids showed similar or slightly reduced compaction, similar to MCF-7 cells grown serially as spheroids (Guttilla et al., 2012; Kobayashi et al., 1993; St. Croix et al., 1996). Dissociation of ovarian cancer spheroids restores sensitivity to cytotoxic drugs Spheroid drug resistance could be due to reversible or irreversible mechanisms. Since our method of serial spheroid passaging alternated between spheroid and monolayer culture, we were able to test the drug sensitivity of the intervening monolayer for each spheroid generation. As with serial spheroid generations, this was done in parallel samples that had not previously been treated with any drugs. Media conditions and initial cell numbers were kept constant. Remarkably, dissociation of spheroids into monolayers completely restored drug sensitivity for every generation. A2780 monolayers treated with Paclitaxel showed 28%, 31%, and 30% viability for first, second, and third generation monolayers, respectively, and these monolayers treated with Cisplatin showed 30%, 29%, and 31% viability, respectively. For HEY cells, monolayers treated with Paclitaxel showed 29% viability for all three generations, and monolayers treated with Cisplatin showed 30%, 29%, and 34% viability for first, second and third generation monolayers. Thus, the drug resistance induced by serial passaging between monolayer and spheroid culture was completely reversible, despite the generation of resistance during successive spheroid generations. Implications of spheroid budding from a monolayer We describe here a novel means of spheroid formation – budding from a monolayer of adherent cells – that required minimal growth factor support and could continue for many cycles of budding and dissociation. Our observation raises the possibility that this means of spheroid formation could contribute to ovarian cancer dissemination in patients. Spheroids could form by budding from the primary ovarian tumor, and these budded spheroids could dissociate and float across the peritoneum. This could represent an additional means of spheroid formation for cancers that can form spheroids by aggregation of single tumor cells, and it could represent an alternate mechanism of spheroid formation for tumor cells that lack the ability to form aggregated spheroids. Budding was associated with vertical growth, continued cell-cell interactions, and eventual release of the budded spheroid from the monolayer. Since cell lines capable of budding lacked obvious cortical E-cadherin, cellular cohesion within the bud is likely to be mediated by other cadherin- or integrin-based cell-cell interactions such as through N-cadherin. At this point, we do not know the detailed mechanism of the budding process. Because it correlated with a lack of cortical E-cadherin and with the presence of abundant vimentin, and both of these findings were uniform across monolayers, we believe the ability to form budded spheroids could represent a global property of the cancer cell line rather than a biological change limited to distinct sites within the monolayer. If this hypothesis is correct, it implies that the actual site of budding is likely to be random within the monolayer. The final step in budding is release of the spheroid from the monolayer. This might be due to selective cell death, although we were unable to observe an increase in dying cells near the spheroid base. Alternatively, spheroids could detach from the underlying monolayer through microenvironmental signals as they enhance their attachments within the spheroid. Studies of the biology of spheroid budding will be useful for understanding its relationship to loss of contact inhibition and the creation of a spheroid microenvironment. Connection between spheroid budding and EMT EMT is a phenomenon typically associated with epithelial cells, for which the normal physiologic state is one of abundant cortical E-cadherin expression and lack of vimentin. In contrast, normal ovarian surface epithelium is mesodermally-derived and expresses high levels of vimentin without cortical E-cadherin (Ahmed et al., 2007; Auersperg et al., 2001). The relatively unique ability of the ovarian surface epithelium to undergo EMT-like behavioural changes such as cell migration in response to ovulation is thought to represent a homeostatic mechanism for maintaining a continuous, intact epithelial layer (Ahmed et al., 2010). During tumorigenesis, ovarian cancer cells can adopt an aberrant mullerian differentiation pattern, in which they gain expression of cortical E-cadherin and lose expression of vimentin (Ahmed et al., 2010; Auersperg et al., 2001; Hudson et al., 2008). At later stages of the disease that are associated with greater dissemination, ovarian cancers lose this pattern and again become cortical E-cadherin negative and vimentin positive (Ahmed et al., 2010; Auersperg et al., 2001; Hudson et al., 2008). Ovarian cancers may thus show a high degree of phenotypic plasticity, as described for normal ovarian surface epithelium, and the concept of EMT in this tumor type may be more complex than in others (Ahmed et al., 2007). We hypothesize that a lack of cortical E-cadherin and the presence of vimentin alone is insufficient for spheroid budding, because immortalized ovarian surface epithelium (IOSE) cells with this pattern did not form budded spheroids (data not shown). However, this EMT-like pattern in malignant ovarian cancer cells correlated with the ability to form budded spheroids, suggesting it might contribute to the budding process or be a marker for the ability to form budded spheroids. Reversible drug resistance in ovarian cancer spheroids Despite their slower growth, spheroids formed by budding or aggregation initially showed sensitivity to cytotoxic drugs that was equivalent to monolayers. This was followed by progressive acquisition of drug resistance during several cycles of spheroid passaging. This acquired drug resistance was not due to prior drug exposure, because each generation of spheroids had not been exposed to any drugs prior to testing their drug sensitivity. Therefore, it must have been induced by the sequential culture protocol. The mechanism of progressive drug resistance upon serial spheroid passaging remains unexplained. Breast cancer cells cultured serially as spheroids underwent an EMT with reduced expression of E-cadherin and gain of vimentin expression (Guttilla et al., 2012). However, the ovarian cancer cells we tested express abundant vimentin and minimal E-cadherin at baseline, consistent with these EMT-associated properties prior to the acquisition of drug resistance. Thus, a traditional EMT cannot fully account for the acquired drug resistance. It is possible that these cancer cell lines exist in a state of partial EMT that is enhanced upon further cycles of spheroid culture. The resistance of A2780 cells to Paclitaxel upon multicellular spheroid growth was demonstrated by Kerbel's group 15 years ago (Frankel et al., 1997). Interestingly, that study also tested Cisplatin treatment and found that resistance upon spheroid culture did not extend to this agent (Frankel et al., 1997). Our finding of Cisplatin resistance could be due to the method of spheroid growth (serum free growth with added growth factors instead of liquid overlay in the presence of serum). Further, our study did not demonstrate drug resistance with the first spheroid generation, while Frankel et al. observed resistance in de novo spheroids. Finally, our finding of resistance to two drugs with distinct mechanisms of action (microtubule stabilization versus DNA crosslinking) suggests the resistance is unlikely to be specific to the drug mechanism, but might arise from alterations in drug transport or the cell death machinery. What additional differences between first, second, and third generation spheroids could confer drug resistance? Genetic changes are unlikely, because these would not be rapidly acquired, reversible, or reproducible in two different cell lines. We also do not think the reduced growth rate of spheroids is responsible, because this reduced growth rate was seen in the first generation of spheroids, which were not drug resistant. Spheroid size and compaction also did not change appreciably from one spheroid generation to the next (Fig. 3E), arguing against a purely physical change being responsible for progressive drug resistance. A further experiment to test whether spheroid size could account for differing drug sensitivity by size-selecting spheroids through a 40 μm filter did not show greater drug resistance in larger spheroids (data not shown). Epigenetic changes are a possible explanation for increasing drug resistance upon serial spheroid culture, but these would have to be rapidly reversible or be counteracted by monolayer growth. Altered signalling pathways that block cell death might be engaged upon loss of integrin contacts with the extracellular matrix and restored upon reestablishment of these contacts. However, this would not explain the progressive increase in drug resistance from one spheroid generation to the next. The explanation for the progressive drug resistance might therefore include a combination of epigenetic and signalling changes, possibly with some EMT characteristics. Studies to test the mechanism of drug resistance are ongoing. Regardless of the drug resistance mechanism, our study demonstrates that drug sensitivity can be restored to ovarian cancer cells, even after multiple rounds of spheroid formation, by simply dissociating the cells. This is true for two independent ovarian cancer cell lines and for two drugs with different mechanisms of action. This is consistent with findings by other groups that show dissociation of spheroids from other cancer types reverses drug resistance, and suggests that strategies to dissociate spheroids in vivo could be effective in increasing the efficacy of cytotoxic drugs (Frankel et al., 1997; Green et al., 2004; Green et al., 2002; Kobayashi et al., 1993). Ovarian cancer spheroids might be especially amenable to dissociation since they are confined to the peritoneal space. Strategies to dissociate ovarian cancer spheroids in vivo could include calcium chelators that disrupt cell-cell contacts. Remarkably, intraperitoneal chelators such as EGTA have been well tolerated in animals at reasonably high doses (Llobet et al., 1991; Llobet et al., 1990). To date, we are not aware of the use of antiadhesive agents as a means to chemosensitize tumors in human trials, although anti-N-cadherin antibodies were given as a single agent (without concomitant cytotoxic drugs) and were well tolerated (Perotti et al., 2009). For ovarian tumors, many of which do not express E-cadherin, these therapies would need to target other cadherins and possibly integrin family members. The intraperitoneal dissemination of ovarian cancer makes this tumor a particularly attractive candidate for testing anti-adhesive approaches. Materials and Methods A2780 cells were purchased from European Collection of Cell Cultures (ECACC, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK) and grown in RPMI 1640 with 2mM Glutamine and 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS, not heat inactivated). OVC433 and OVCA420 cells (gift from Dr. Laurie Hudson, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM) were grown in MEME plus 0.5% penicillin/streptomycin, 1% Glutamine, 1% Sodium Pyruvate, and 10% FBS. BG1 cells (gift from Matthew Burow, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA) were grown in DMEM plus 10% FBS. SKOV3 cells (gift of Zou Changpeng, University of CT Health Center, Farmington, CT) were grown in DMEM-F12 plus 10% FBS. HEY cells (gift from Dr. Robert Bast, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas) were grown in DMEM-F12 plus 10% FBS. All cells were kept at 37°C in a 5% CO2 incubator. Aggregated spheroids were formed by culturing cells in serum-free media on low adhesion tissue culture plates in one of two commercial media preparations: Mammocult Mammosphere media supplemented with a proprietary cocktail plus heparin and hydrocortisone (Stem Cell Technologies, Vancouver, BC, Canada), or Mammary Epithelium Spheroid Media supplemented with hydrocortisone, bovine pituitary extract, epidermal growth factor (rhEGF), insulin, and antibiotics (Lonza Walkersville Inc., Walkersville, MD). Budding spheroids were formed by culturing cells in their regular growth media on adherent plates and allowing spheroids to form spontaneously. HEY cells were cultured as a monolayer in their regular growth media followed by growth in Mammocult media (Lonza) for budding. We tested several methods of dissociating spheroids: trypsinization, calcium chelation with EGTA, mechanical trituration, and allowing spheroids to dissociate spontaneously by plating them in serum-containing media or plating them in spheroid media on plates pre-coated with 2% Matrigel (growth factor reduced, phenol red free; BD Biosciences, Bedford, MA). Spontaneous dissociation was associated with the least cell death, and resulting monolayers showed equal ability as standard monolayers to produce new budding spheroids. Cells were grown on glass coverslips to near-confluence. E-cadherin was detected after fixing cells in 4% formaldehyde, using a rat anti-E-cadherin antibody from Invitrogen (Camarillo, CA) (dilution 1∶80) and Oregon-green goat anti-rat secondary antibody from Molecular Probes (Eugene, OR). Vimentin was detected after fixing cells in ice-cold methanol for 5 minutes, using mouse anti-Vimentin antibody Ab-2 (Clone V9) from Thermo Scientific (Fremont, CA) (dilution 1∶100) and Alexa-568 anti-mouse secondary antibody (Molecular Probes). DNA was stained with Hoechst stain at 10 μg/ml. Coverslips were mounted using 0.5% p-phenylenediamine in 20 mM Tris 8.8 and 90% glycerol. Budded spheroids could only be imaged live, as fixation caused these spheroids to detach from the monolayer. Phase contrast imaging was done using a 4× or 20× objective on a Nikon inverted microscope (TE2000-U, Nikon Instruments, Melville, NY) equipped with an ORCA AG CCD camera (Hamamatsu Photonics, Bridgewater, NJ) and controlled by MetaMorph software (Molecular Devices Corp, Sunnyvale, CA). Fluorescence imaging of budded spheroids was done on cells grown on glass coverslips. Cell nuclei were stained with DRAQ5 (Biostatus, Leicestershire, UK) at 5 μM for 20 minutes prior to imaging. Cells were imaged live using a 40× 1.2 NA c-apochromat water immersion lens on a Carl Zeiss, Inc. LSM510 laser scanning confocal microscope equipped with a MetaDetector spectral detector (Thornwood, NY). Optical sections were collected at 0.5 μm steps. Immunofluorescence was imaged using a 60× objective on a Nikon TE2000-U microscope with a spinning disk confocal head (Perkin Elmer; Wellesley, MA) controlled by MetaMorph software. Paclitaxel (Taxol, Sigma Aldrich, St Louis, MO) was reconstituted as a 10 mM stock solution in DMSO. Cis-Diammineplatinum (II) dichloride (Cisplatin, Sigma Aldrich) was reconstituted as a 5 mM stock solution in phosphate buffered saline (PBS). Spheroids and monolayers were plated at 1×103 cells/well in 24 well low adhesion plates in regular growth media containing serum (monolayers) or Lonza spheroid media (spheroids). Monolayer 2 was produced from the spontaneous dissociation of Spheroid 1 onto a culture dish in media containing FBS; Spheroid 2 was produced from the natural budding of Monolayer 2 or the aggregation of Monolayer 2 cells; Monolayer 3 was produced from the natural dissociation of Spheroid 2; and Spheroid 3 was produced from the natural budding or aggregation of Monolayer 3. To eliminate effects of serum on drug bioavailability and cell proliferation, media for all spheroids and monolayers was exchanged for Lonza spheroid media after 24 hours of growth, and cells were cultured for an additional 24 hours in this media before drug treatment. Monolayers or spheroids were treated with Paclitaxel or Cisplatin at a final concentration of 7 μM for 24 hours. These treatments were done on samples processed in parallel, so no drug treatment was done on cells that had previously been exposed to any drug. Viability was determined by trypsinizing cells, staining with Trypan blue, counting, and calculating total numbers of viable and dead cells, in triplicate, in at least two independent experiments for each condition. Drug sensitivity for budded spheroids and spheroids formed by aggregation in serum free media were found to be the same; thus, most drug experiments were done using aggregated spheroids since we could generate greater numbers of these more quickly. Graphs of drug resistance were made using Prism (GraphPad Software, La Jolla, CA). We thank Ann Cowan for help with imaging; and Bruce White and Kevin Claffey for helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was funded by the University of CT Health Center and the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center. Competing interests The authors declare that there are no competing interests. - © 2012. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

In this session you will learn about: - Strategies for building a billion dollar company through serial acquisition; - Common things that business owners do wrong from a buyer's perspective; - Reasons why acquirers say "no" to buying a business; - Executing on a multi-stage liquidity event; and - Determining the perfect time to sell your business. About the GuestTerry Freeman is a long-time energy services, construction and maintenance executive, investor and board director. He was with Flint Energy Services Ltd. as CFO and Board Director for 20 years, helping oversee its growth from $20 million in revenue to $2 billion and its eventual sale to URS. During a five-year stint as a Managing Director for Northern Plains Capital, a niche private equity firm specializing in oil field services and energy industrial companies, Terry assisted in the deployment of $140 million over three funds in 19 different businesses. More recently, Terry started Corrosion and Abrasion Solutions Ltd., a service company providing industrial sand blasting and coating services to energy producers and transporters, pipe and steel fabricators and others. He remains on the Board of Directors for a number of other energy services companies. You can also get this Podcast by: Read the Full Transcript HereNoah Rosenfarb: Hi. It’s Noah Rosenfarb here with another episode of our Divestopedia Exit Strategy Podcast. Today’s guest is Terry Freeman. Terry is a long-time energy services, construction and maintenance executive, investor, and board director. He has a depth of experience in mergers and acquisitions of companies from $20 million to $2 billion. Terry’s a great guest for all of you, listeners, who are thinking about what your eventual exit might look like. For those advisers to owners of companies, Terry’s got great experience and great stories so we’re happy he’s here to share them with us today. Thanks so much, Terry, for getting on the call. Terry Freeman: Thanks for having me, Noah. Noah Rosenfarb: Great. Let’s jump right into it, Terry, and maybe talk to our listeners about a story that you think would be valuable to them. Maybe you could start with kind of the biggest deal you’ve done and what happened in that course of events, what you did right and what you would have done different if you’re able to go back in time. Terry Freeman: Sure. The biggest company I’ve involved in building was Flint Energy Services. We started that really in 1992 when I joined a private company that was doing roughly $20 million a year in revenue and built it into a $2 billion public business through a series of acquisitions and private equity backing from a US based private equity firm that specializes in energy services. What was intriguing about that - and probably the biggest mistake we made at times - was just the pace we went at it. At times, we probably moved too quickly, at times too slowly, and it’s really kind of finding your pace to which you’re comfortable with and having an organization that can perhaps leap ahead of where you’re going to be rather than trying to catch up constantly through that process. We probably did almost 35 acquisitions over a ten-year period so we were constantly busy and often trying to catch up on our infrastructure to accommodate what we were buying next. It was a lot of fun but a lot of challenge. Noah Rosenfarb: One of the things I’ve noticed about people who are in the serial acquisition business, you know, growing their companies, is that they tend to notice a lot of common mistakes that the owners have made of their acquiring firms, either their failure to prepare a variety of ways that the owners didn’t capture more value and that the acquirer probably would have paid more had the owner done a few things. What would you say out of those 35 acquisitions? Were there any common themes of things that the owners had done poorly where they could have probably got more money out of you had they spent some time? Terry Freeman: You’re exactly right, Noah. I think the biggest fault we all have when we’re selling businesses is recognizing that the buyer’s buying it for what it is tomorrow, not what it was yesterday. Quite often we end up with advisers or others who are solely focused on an EBITDA history track, probably don’t spend enough time on normalizations and really understanding maybe what was anomaly in operations and also where that business is headed - what is the growth profile, why is that really achievable, and why should the buyer pay a higher multiple based on an EBITDA projection that is substantially better than what history has been. Those are the things I would focus on. The other piece of it would be the lack of identification of addressable market. One thing smaller businesses tend to either don’t have knowledge on is just the size of their market and where they participate, so are they a 5% market share with a great fairway growth or are they an 80% market share where probably they’re going to get eroded over time? A buyer wants to know those kinds of things and typically that’s hard information to get, particularly in construction and maintenance type sectors, so people tend to just ignore it or carry on without that level of detail. Noah Rosenfarb: Do you feel as an acquirer you are often getting great value because the sellers weren’t prepared? Terry Freeman: I don’t know if often would be the right word but I’d say yes, you definitely do get better value when the seller is not fully prepared and hasn’t had a professional approach to preparing information. It’s an advantage for the buyer. Noah Rosenfarb: As an acquirer, what were some of the things that you did and ways that you looked at potential acquisition targets, and maybe combined with that, what were some of the deals that you said no to? Was there a common theme among the owners were you had to say no and took a pass? Terry Freeman: The biggest no really came down to organizational fit and the strength of the second tier of management. Quite often, an entrepreneur will find it difficult to fit into a bigger organization where they’re not calling all the shots, and the piece that lots of our guys didn’t like was they couldn’t make capex decisions any longer, because there was a consolidated capex budget and they couldn’t go out and buy every piece of equipment that they wanted. I always referred to as yellow iron fever in a lot of the construction businesses that we were involved in. Where we saw guys that couldn’t adapt to a change in their level of control, we would pass. Also, if they didn’t have any kind of training in succession where if the owner got hit by a bus the business would collapse, then we’re probably less interested. Not quite as relevant as you get bigger in size and you have organizational depth as an acquirer that you can inject into a business, but then you’re not going to pay up for that either. If you have to be supportive and drive change and growth and the organization can’t support that on its own then you’ll probably pay less. Noah Rosenfarb: Tell me about your eventual sale of Flint. What prompted that? Did the money need to get back to the investors or was there another reason, and how was that process? Terry Freeman: It actually was a multiple stage process. We went public in 2001 through a reverse takeover process. There wasn’t a lot of liquidity at that time. The company we bought was thinly traded and it took some time to build up into a real sound public business. It was several years later in 2005 where we went to the market and raised capital to do further acquisitions, and a secondary offering for some of the long-term shareholders that we created that liquidity event at that stage. We became more of a real full trading public entity so liquidity was at the option of the holder after that time period. Eventually, a much larger public construction business, URS, bought Flint lock, stock and barrel in 2012 primarily for access to the energy services construction market as well as the oil sands in Alberta. That was the ultimate liquidity event. Noah Rosenfarb: Did you still maintain an active role with URS or were you liquidated in that also? Terry Freeman: No. At that point I was a board member and the board was liquidated and that was that. It was over. Noah Rosenfarb: Was it a fun ride? Terry Freeman: It was a very fun ride. For me, it was almost 20 years from investing in the original private company in 1992 through fruition. It was great to see a lot of people mature and grow and. I think about one of my colleagues that started cleaning equipment in the back at our original shop and now runs a business that’s almost a billion dollars. The M&A strategy, while it often gets criticized as being unsuccessful in destroying shareholder values can actually be pretty accretive if you do it well. Noah Rosenfarb: So what would you say were some of those keys to doing it well for the listeners on the call that are thinking about their eventual exit but like this concept of, "I’ll buy people at a 3x multiple and I’ll sell it as a 6x multiple. Terry Freeman: The arbitrage is awesome if you can get it. That does come with scale so you can get a larger turn if you actually create something that’s either into somebody’s way or has a more meaningful market position than where you start. That’s part of the equation. The other thing is to really stick to your macro thesis through thick and thin. Understand what your business is. Don’t get distracted by adding on a whole bunch of different pieces that don’t really fit with your core and become hard to manage, and just really focus on being excellent at what your primary thesis is. Noah Rosenfarb: That’s good advice. Maybe you could share some more stories. I know you and I had kind of exchanged some information about the Elite camp. Maybe you could tell our listeners what happened there and what some lessons learned were. Terry Freeman: Sure. Elite, we invested in through a private equity firm I was a partner in and it had really two business lines at the start, very small entities, management that was quite entrepreneurial but really had a difficult time growing. It was a theme we saw in many of the small investments we made through Northern Plains. Well, people might have had a good business idea and believed that they could support growth. They really didn’t have the skills set to manage additional people and double and triple and quadruple the size of the business. In that case, we had to change out management. We sold one of the divisions, which was what I refer to as a dumb iron equipment business, and focus solely on the business we’re good at which was remote accommodations. We brought in some management from competitors that took it to another level. I think the lesson learned there is that sometimes you have to be prepared to pay up and make people whole when they can leap-frog your company ahead of level. That’s what we did in that case and it really paid off well because we had strong operational leadership and grew the business from roughly a nine million dollar top line to almost 40 at the point of sale and we were able to really pack that up with an additional growth profile because we understood specifically what that business was. So all the things about staying disciplined, staying focused on the thesis and really understanding where you were in the market and where you could capture growth paid off for us in the long run. Noah Rosenfarb: One of the unique things I heard there is investing money that some people might consider high-risk as a sole business owner or a founder of a company, in talent. I think private equity firms, for the most part - at least those that are successful - have recognized what you described, and that is you have to pay the play and have the team that you need for the three years and not the team that you needed for the last three years. Do you find that owners that might be struggling with their existing management team and the investment that they need to put into the company to hire the right talent to help them get to that next stage, that they’re great private equity candidates? Terry Freeman: They are, as long as they’re willing to accept advice and recognize that they have to augment their team. Loyalty is a great thing but you also have to accept that maybe your long-term players that got you to a certain level can’t take you beyond that level and that they have to perhaps find a different role or be, you know, ring-fenced in some duties. That’s sometimes hard for an entrepreneur so as long as you have that very frank discussion, upfront, about talent and about perhaps the necessity of augmenting talent, I think that works. The other thing that’s important as a private equity sponsor is that you have at least some representation within your firm that’s had operational experience. The things I’ve seen that go sideways are where you’re a pure financial buyer and you don’t really have an appreciation for what it takes to make a business work and you get so focused on EBITDA, return on capital or all the things that eventually turn into value that you forget about the fact that there’s a thousand people out there trying to drive that number everyday. The number doesn’t happen without the people performing. Noah Rosenfarb: Yeah. Did you have a similar experience at McCoy? What happened there? Why don’t you tell our listeners a little bit about that story? Terry Freeman: Sure. McCoy is a public company, which I sit on the board of. In that particular instance - and this part of the story is all public - we really helped to narrow the focus. It was kind of a - the one board member, I like his reference. He calls McCoy now a complex pure play relative to historical conglomerate that it was. We got rid of a lot of extraneous businesses that were low margin and not contributing much to earnings, so the market and analyst now really understand the story. It’s become a real pure play drilling products business in manufacturing that has gone up substantially in value through subtraction. We got rid of a big part at top line that didn’t contribute and we actually saw an increase in the share price. McCoy continues to be a public company. We brought on a number of US-based people in Houston that have really taken it to another level as well, so both the investment and talent and the focus on pure play have really helped that business. Noah Rosenfarb: Was there a founder involved in the company as you did these divestitures? Terry Freeman: Not in the McCoy situation. McCoy has been around for a hundred years and it’s been public since 95, so the founders were long gone. Noah Rosenfarb: I don’t know if you’ve seen the track of divesting out of low margin or unprofitable business lines. I think it’s something that outsiders often can visualize and articulate to ownership but if the owners were integral in their creation of those business lines, you know, they often have a bit of, "I don’t want to get rid of my baby." Did you have that at McCoy at all even though no one was particularly the birth father of any of those business lines? Terry Freeman: Maybe a little bit, because the CEO had actually run several of the businesses so he had an appreciation for them, but fundamentally really believed in the strategy of getting to a pure play situation so we didn’t have a lot of pushback. As a buyer of businesses I really look for those kinds of opportunities where you see something non-core to a conglomerate or a public company that maybe isn’t getting an 11 isn’t going to get any future capital to grow. Those things can be great buys too. Noah Rosenfarb: Yeah. Walk me through your iron story, Iron Derrickman. Terry Freeman: Iron Derrickman was interesting because it was an illustration of when’s the right time to sell and when’s the right time to try and drive value. The people that started Iron Derrickman were great innovative people who developed a really cool technology to handle pipe, you know, drilling operation that was far safer and more productive than what was done historically but they were not manufacturers. They had a number of prototypes working in the field. Their next step would have been to actually run their own manufacturing business or a third-party and try to manage it that way but they recognized they didn’t have that skill set internally. Great engineers but knew nothing about how to do that part of the business so the decision was made to sell it at that stage by demonstrating the potential in the market and putting it in the hands of a business that had manufacturing, knew how to do that well and can take it to that next level and recognized the value they would create through that process, partially in an earnout and partially in an upfront payment. In that case, we really minimized the risk of failure in a part of a business the management wasn’t strong at, and got off at perhaps earlier than it ultimately became truly profitable. Noah Rosenfarb: When you look at that kind of situation in owners that are listening to our call, they may be thinking, "Oh, I don’t want to sell yet. I’ve got to implement this, I’ve got to implement that. I don’t want to sell too soon," what advice do you have for them about timing and how to find that right timing? Terry Freeman: I think if you try and sell right at the top of the market, you will often fail because that buyer still wants to know that there’s a fairway for growth. If that’s your objective to get to the absolute peak of earnings, that’s going to be a very hard thing to drive the value you think you’re worth. In our business, energy services, it’s very cyclical, so when you think about timing and creating value if you can eliminate as much technicalities you can through constant revenues and relationships with customers that allow you to say, "Okay, I’m not going to go completely in the ditch like my competitors or other entities in this space." You can drive more value that way too. Maybe your timing revolves around having signed a master service agreement with a customer that gives you a longer term perspective on revenues and you have a five-year window that you can demonstrate, as opposed to saying, "Okay, I’m on the last six months of my relationship with that customer and I haven’t resigned yet." Those are the kinds of things I’d pay attention to in trying to drive value in the particular sector that we operate in. Noah Rosenfarb: I want to pick up on one of your comments. We created an ebook for those of our listeners that are interested you can go on my corporate website which www.freedomexit.com and download 53 value factors. You mentioned these service agreements, which is one of the 53 value factors that we described to owners, different ways that they could create value in their company and somehow it’s through, you know, things that could be simpler to implement if you just knew that they were important, like a service agreement with one of your suppliers or your customers. Terry, maybe you could continue the conversation around talking to your employees and one of the ways that owners during these 35 acquisitions that you did or when you deployed private equity money into 19 different companies. How did you counsel owners to talk to their management team and to talk to their employees around their exit and their involvement of you and their company? Terry Freeman: That’s a very intriguing question. Typically, the owner of a private business won’t want his employees getting distracted because quite often it’ll have a big impact on performance. You either have to go completely tight hole or you’re not disclosing anything and doing due diligence off-site if you can, or you have to open up and kind of embrace the situation. I’m involved in one business right now that’s going through an exit process and they’ve been very upfront with the employee base and what they’ve told them is, "For the long-term success of this business, we need a different shareholder base." That might be private equity. It might be being involved in a larger public company, but really the shareholder base we have now needs to exit. They’re not prepared to support the business with the kind of growth profile we think we can take it to. Therefore, we’re going to make a change in ownership. It won’t affect your day-to-day job, it won’t affect your compensation, it won’t affect many of the things that impact your wellbeing, but that’s what we’re going to do, so we’re in that process. Being upfront about that takes away a lot of the rumormongering and the difficult conversations that people have, and they usually project the worst. That quite often lets the air out of the balloon around some of those issues. I would say in probably 90% of the businesses we acquired, we did see a degradation in results in the quarter after the deal closed because when you’re buying smaller businesses typically you’re using a lot of the management resources that typically are focused on execution through due diligence, through negotiation, through all of those time-consuming processes that you have to look after when a deal’s being done, so quite often you will have an issue around execution, maybe in a couple of months prior to close and then the quarter afterwards. Everybody’s tired. The other sensitive situation is around customers. In the end, most of the feedback we got doing customer diligence where we go out and visit the key customers for anything they’re requiring, was as long as I still see, you know, Joe or Jill across the table after the deal closes and you’re not changing my pricing, I don’t care who owns it. I just want my service delivered. I think that’s quite often the case with employees too. If they have the same leader, the same direct report that they had prior to the deal, their life doesn’t really change that much. So if you can give them that level of comfort, comp doesn’t change. My boss doesn’t change. A lot of the noise goes away. I would tend to do that sooner rather than later once you’re, you know, to be certain that a deal’s going to close. Noah Rosenfarb: Do you think the upfront disclosure of, "We need a new owner," is better or it’s case by case to being totally silent until after the deal is closed? Terry Freeman: Absolutely case-by-case. Quite often, if let’s say it’s a competitor situation. You wouldn’t want that getting out because they’ll start to poach your people. If they’re a prospective buyers why would they pay up when they can just hire them? Also, if you’ve been in a growth mode where, let’s say you’ve hired people in a progressive smaller entrepreneurial organization, away from big staid slow pubcos on the premise that they’re going to have some freedom and the chance to create something. If you enter a sale process and you’ve got that kind of management mix, they may be very unhappy about having left a big situation and then having to roll back into one almost immediately, so case by case for sure. Noah Rosenfarb: Great advice. What other advice do you have for owners that are contemplating their exit? Maybe some best practices or some things you’ve seen that have really helped owners in the short term and the long term. Terry Freeman: I think the things that would spring to mind there would be really focusing on normalizations and building your historical EBITDA to a level that proformas any acquisitions you’ve done, any business lines that you’ve added and really working back through that history so you understand your business. People get too fixated on, "Well, I got 4 times my EBITDA or 6 times my EBITDA," and less on the big number which is the actual EBITDA itself. If you can work hard on that, I think that’s step one. Step two is really focusing hard on what the year ahead represents. If you’re not doing some budgeting process or a three-year, five-year model, you should start doing one. I recall, you know, the board chairman of Flint used to tell me my job as chief financial officer or CFO didn’t stand for Chief Financial Officer. It stood for Chief Forecasting Officer. Knowing where you’re going tomorrow will create value for you because that’s really what the buyer’s going to be focused on. They’ll send in their third-party accounting guys to vet history and tick and bop what happened yesterday, but the decision makers are going to look at what’s going to happen tomorrow. I think the third thing would be really spending time on the customer base in the addressable market so that you have a clear path to what’s going to support the growth you put into your forecast. If I’m going to broaden my customer base by adding three key master service agreements, here are the particular companies I’m going after. Maybe it’s 3 out of 10 so I don’t have to hit on the 100% to reach that growth profile and really having concrete steps that you can demonstrate. You have the people and the equipment and support to execute on, it will really give that buyer confidence. Those would be the three things I’d focus on. Noah Rosenfarb: How about your experience in private equity and deploying capital. What would you say to owners that are contemplating, "Should I go with private equity deal or should I just sell 100%?" Where would you tend to advise those owners on how private equity firms could either be a good fit or maybe not a good fit? Terry Freeman: I think you want to recognize firstly that there are many fish in that sea of private equity players and they all have different strengths, so you want to find someone that’s going to be a true partner to you. if you’re going to roll over your equity position on the premise that their capital and expertise and connections are going to support growth, you’re taking a bet on them just like they’re taking a bet on you, so you need to do as much due diligence on the private equity firm as they’re doing on your businesses. So get some references from previous investments they’ve done, talk to entrepreneurs that they exited with as well as people that didn’t make it to the final cut and exited from an employment perspective before the exit was engineered. So I would go through all those steps and then I would think, the real question is, "Can I make more selling 100% today or can I make more by taking somebody else’s capital, owning a smaller chunk of what ends up being a bigger pie and realize more value that way as well as making my own life better, so maybe it’s a question of taking a little bit of risk capital off the table now, deal with some personal financial things you want to deal with, and then you’ve got a ton of freedom and a balance sheet that allows you to pursue those growth options you really want to pursue, because that’s where the fun begins. If you have a vision for growth and private equity capital can get you to that vision, then there’s nothing better. Noah Rosenfarb: Yeah. Anything else you’d like to share with our listeners about either, you know, the role of the CFO and the importance of the CFO, the role of private equity or the importance of a board? Any advice that you have? Terry Freeman: I think the most important advice I give anybody in business whether they’re looking at doing transactions, being a CFO and dealing with the board or anything is really you want one version of the truth in your numbers so if you’re building a forecast and you’re working historicals into it, it’s the same numbers that you have in your external financials and internal financial reporting. You’re not trying to monkey around with different versions of history. You may have different versions of the future based on levels of investment or different businesses you enter into. Really, everybody understands the numbers the same way, whether it’s ops or the private equity guys you want to bring to the table or the board, because you spend too much time working through, "Well, I adjust to this," or, "I adjust to that," or, "I’ve taken this out of cost of sales and moved it into SG&A." Just don’t do it. Just have one version for everybody. I think the other thing I would say is, if you plan properly, there’s no reason to be scared of M&A. Lots of people buy into this and 80% of M&A deals fail, but if you use due diligence to really develop an execution plan rather than just using it as a vetting process on history, your chances of success go way up. Finally, as a CFO, spend as much time as you can in operations. One of the reasons I left being a CFO for a public company is the job became more about SOX and IFRS and technical accounting detail, unless about building the business and helping operations people succeed. I think that’s really the joy of being a CFO, was being fully conversant in what’s happening in the operations and doing the things at the finance level of support what goes on in whatever your field is. Noah Rosenfarb: Yeah. So what led you to start Corrosion and Abrasion Solutions? How did that come about? Terry Freeman: In our private equity world, we looked at a number of different sectors that would have gone into our next fund, had we done another fund, but rules change relative to private equity in Canada so we elected not to pursue a fourth fund from Northern Plains and I hate to see a good idea go to waste so I started Corrosion and Abrasion Solutions myself with some partners in the theory that it’s a sector that has a lot of mom and pops that are not meeting market requirements for investment and technology capacity and providing a full professional service to the industrial customer. Much like Flint provided that for the construction sector, we see it at a different level in a subcontract service like codings and blasting, and the inability of industrial owners to manage their corrosion problems that we can consolidate that sector in the same way and provide a more fulsome comprehensive corrosion management service to the customers we want to provide it to. So it’s got the macro features in terms of industry spend. It has the ownership features within a mom and pop oriented market and it’s got the profitability and market share gain that you can get by performing consolidation that would lead us to any kind of private equity investment. Noah Rosenfarb: And in your role there in doing acquisitions, do you look for them independently? Do you work with outside advisers? How’s that working for you now that you have all of this experience yourself? Terry Freeman: Right now, the contacts have come primarily through our operations people, so they’re word of mouth, which typically works best for us. There have been a few who you’ve seen from advisers, but we haven’t closed on any that have been presented to us by outside advisers. Nothing against that process but when you’re in a biddign situation, typically you don’t have the same level of bargain when you’re sole sourcing. At this stage, in our formative track over the first year of operation, it’s been more financially beneficial for us to go out and sole soucre them where we’re really the only game in town. Noah Rosenfarb: That’s all ways the best way. If you could do it, right? Terry, I really appreciate you sharing your expertise and your experience with our audience. If any of our listeners have an interest in contacting you, what’s the best way for them to get a hold of you? Terry Freeman: Email is the best way to contact me. My email is firstname.lastname@example.org. Noah Rosenfarb: Great. That’s also going to be on the Divestopedia website along with Terry’s bio and a transcript of this podcast. Thanks so much to all of our listeners for tuning in to us, the Divestopedia Exit Strategy podcast. My name is Noah Rosenfarb. I’m the author of Exit: Healthy, Wealthy and Wise, and I’m a longtime counselor to business owners seeking advice on how to get the best exit. Thanks so much again for listening and we’ll speak with you again soon. All of our listeners, don’t forget to rate us on iTunes and leave your feedback there. Thanks.

Was this video useful to you? Rate this video from 1 to 5. Harmony 11 - How To Build a Cut-out Character Prepare the superhero drawing from Lesson 3 and learn how to break down the character to prepare it for cut-out animation. - 1. Interface — 21m - 2. How To Draw and Animate — 27m - 3. How To Paint — 22m - 4. How To Import Bitmap Images — 25m - 5. How To Build a Cut-out Character — 43m - 6. How To Use Bone Deformer — 49m - 7. How to Animate a Cut-out Character — 18m - 8. How to Create Templates — 19m - 9. How to Setup a Scene and Animate Objects and the Camera — 18m - 10. How to Create a Multiplane — 10m - 11. How to Import Sound and Add Lip-Sync — 12m - 12. How to Add Effects to your Scene — 38m - 13. How to Export a Movie — 27m Welcome to the tutorial How to Build a Cut-out Character. In this tutorial, I'm going to teach you about the different style of animation called Cut-out and show you how to prepare your character to use within that style. In case you don't know what Cut-out is, let me explain it to you. What we did in the previous tutorials was called traditional or frame-by-frame animation. That's when you draw many, many versions of the same character with only slight differences, that when played in succession, give the illusion of movement. With Cut-out on the other hand, there's a lot less drawing involved. What we would do is take a solid drawing like this, cut it up into its major parts, rotate its parts to create key frame poses and then allow the software to create the in-between drawings between those key frame poses. Between the last tutorial and this one, I cleaned up the Timeline quite a bit. I deleted our Rough layer and our Clean layer because both of those layers had to do with the traditional animation style. I also took our Superhero layer and renamed it Line Art. If we take a look at that quickly, it's just the outlines that were created using the Pencil Tool. Then I took the background elements that were imported in the last tutorial and I grouped them. You can see that they're all there but disabled from view. I also took these two layers, the Colour and Line Art and scaled them so that they're larger and centered within the camera frame. The first thing we need to do is create a bunch of new layers for each individual body part of our hero character. However before we start doing this, we need to disable something in our Preferences panel. If you're using Mac, go to Stage > Preferences. If you're using Windows, go to Edit > Preferences to bring up the Preferences panel. Then go to the Advanced tab. Then what we're going to disable is Element Module Animate Using Animation Tools Default Value. I'm going to un-click that and then click on the OK button. Now what we've essentially done is now when we create a new drawing layer, the drawing layer will be created without these little [+] signs that you see here beside the Colour and Art Layer. If we click on this [+] sign, you'll see that there's a bunch of sub-layers that say things like Position, Rotation, Scale, Skew and what this means is that we can animate this drawing layer because these values exist. However we don't want to animate our drawing layer. We're going to use something called Pegs that we will attach to our drawing layers in order to animate those drawings. We want to separate our drawing layer from all its position information so that we can manipulate the drawing separately without affecting the position and vice versa, position and element without affecting the drawing. This'll become more clear as we rig our character, but for now just know that's why we disabled that option. Now let's continue to create all of those layers that we need for the individual body parts of our superhero character. We can do that once again by clicking on this icon here in the Timeline, the Add Drawing Layer button or we could use the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl] + [R] on Windows or [Command] + [R] on Mac. This brings up the Add Drawing Layer dialogue box. I'm just going to create a couple layers so you can see how the naming convention is done. Normally we write the name of our characters, so in this case I'll name mine Hero_ and then the name of the body parts, so in this case, we could write Arm and then underscore again and whether it's the right or left arm. In terms of right and left, we usually use our write, so the animator's right or left side, not the character's right or left. If you find this confusing, what you could use is the number #1 or #2 and because we read from left to right, #1 would be the arm closest to our left and #2 would be the arm closest to our right. I'm going to use a big "R" to represent Right. Then if you click on the Apply button, you can see that it's created here in your Timeline View and you could continue creating other names without having to open and close the Add Drawing Layer dialogue box. I'll just create few more. Those are just a few to start with. You may have noticed that I only created a single layer for the right arm and then the left arm, and the right leg and the left leg. But in fact we will be breaking down each limb into three parts, that being, in the case of the arm, the upper arm, the lower arm and the hand, and in the case of the leg, the thigh, the leg and the foot. We don't ever break down the individual fingers of a hand. That's way too detailed, so once again, we're only going to break down the arm into three parts. As you may have noticed, the place of breakdown is always at the joints, so the shoulder, the elbow, the wrist, the hip, the knee, the ankle, so logical places of rotation and movement. I'm only going to trace a few of the body parts, probably just the neck and the torso to let you see how that's done and I just realized that I didn't create a layer for the neck, so let's do that quickly. I'm going to disable everything from view in the Timeline and I did that by clicking on these little eyeballs here, well I first enabled everything and then disabled. Then I'm just going to enable our Hero_Neck layer and the Line Art layer because we're going to make our trace from our model and it's easiest at this point to use the Line Art rather than the Colour Art. I'm going to select my frame and actually I think this is best done in the Drawing View, so we'll move to the Drawing View and turn on the Light Table so we can see our character. We have our black swatch selected from our Superhero palette. I'm going to select the Pencil Tool. I think 5 might still be a little thick, maybe I'll change this to 2. We'll see how that looks. Then I'm going to zoom in, rotate my canvas slightly and trace the neck. Okay, 2 might be a bit thin. As you may notice here, I've completed this line in order to complete the body part and it's going to hide behind the head, so you won't see it anyway. But then in order to complete this section of the neck, and if I turn off the Light Table you might better understand what I mean, I could do one of two things. I could choose the Stroke Tool again from here which creates invisible lines or I could keep my Pencil line and then just change the maximum size to 0, which would then allow me to essentially draw an invisible line. Once again, I'm getting the Error message that you won't be able to see that line unless I enable Show Strokes and then once again, you can do that by using the keyboard shortcut [K]. So we can see it right there and I might just fix it up a little bit, so something like that. If we turn on the Light Table again, we'll see that it might overlap a bit with the collarbone, so I'll just lift this up a bit to avoid that. You can continue drawing all of your body parts and then colour them in or you can colour them in right away. The first thing I'm going to do is merge my Pencil lines. I can do that by selecting them all with the Select Tool and clicking on this button right here, the Merge Pencil Lines button. But I just forgot that I don't want to merge these two that intersect so I just really want to merge these two lines and that extra line here, so that's better to give it a smoother look. You can also flatten everything, but I'll colour them in first. The reason that I kept the Colour model is because I want to be able to sample from it in order to get the proper colours. This skin colour is this one right here, so I can use that to paint the neck. There must be a gap somewhere here, which is why it filled the entire shape. So I'm going to undo that and select Close Large Gaps, and then paint just the neck part and not the collar of the shirt. Then if I toggle back to the Colour View, I can do the same thing. I can use the Colour Picker to choose the colour of the triangular section of the hero's uniform, go back to the Neck layer, use [Alt] or [Option] + [I] to bring up the Paint Tool and then paint the collar of the shirt. The other thing I'd like to add is that there is a shadow right here underneath the chin, so I'm going to add that to my neck as well. This time I'm going to use the Stroke Tool, so maybe something like that because if you notice here, it's really close to the collar of the shirt, the shadow. So we know the head is going to fall about there. Then I can, while I'm here, sample the colour of the shadow, go back to the neck, select the Paint Tool and then colour in the shadow. That's our first piece, our neck piece. I'll select [K] to disable Show Strokes and I just realized that I'd also like to merge these two lines. That's our first traced cut-out piece. Let's also draw the torso so you can see how this neck would connect to the piece below it. Let's look for the torso here in the Timeline. Let's deselect the neck and let's select the frame where we'd like to draw the torso. Let's turn on our Light Table so we can see the torso. I'm going to zoom out. Let's select our black line again, along with our Pencil. I think we changed our maximum size to 0, so let's change it back to 3, and let's begin our trace. Another thing we can choose as we're tracing our lines to avoid things like this is we can click on this button here, the Line-Building Mode and that'll automatically merge the lines as I'm tracing. You can see that as I drew this section of the line, it automatically became joined or connected to the line before it. I'm going to speed up this section of the video, as tracing and colouring body parts is somewhat of a repetitive process, but of course I will slow down the video again if there's anything I feel needs explaining. Now that we're done tracing and colouring the torso, let's take a look at what it looks like with the neck. To do that, let's go to the Camera View. Let's disable both the Colour layer, as well as the Line Art layer, but let's enable the Hero_Neck. As you can see, it blends very well with the torso, especially around the bottom edge. The two pieces look like a single drawing, but because they are each on their own layer, they can be moved, manipulated and animated separately. I'm going to continue tracing the various body parts of our hero character, but I'm going to do this off-camera. But you will of course have the sample material to take a look at all the various layers that I will have created, as well as what the traces look like on those layers. Now that I've completed tracing all the various body parts onto different layers, let's take a look at what I've done. If we scroll in the Timeline, you can see all the various layers and you can also notice that I've made a few changes. I re-coloured the costume a little bit, making the gold a bit darker. I also repositioned the character so that the wings are spread out and not collapsed, and that the character is in a more neutral position, which will make it easier to rig. On the business of rigging, let's proceed with the first step and that's to add a peg to all the layers. To do this, I'm going to select them all in the Timeline by clicking, then [Shift] clicking all the layers that I want to add a peg to and you'll notice that I'm excluding the Line Art, Colour Art and the Background group. Then all we need to do is click on this icon right here, which is the Add Peg button. Now every single layer has its own peg and in fact the peg has the same name as the layer, except that there's a –P at the end and a different symbol to distinguish it from its drawing layer. Then what I'm going to do is right-click and select Collapse/Expand > Collapse All or you could use the keyboard shortcut . Now all we see in the Timeline are the pegs with their drawing layer hidden beneath. Let me show you quickly how to create a hierarchy by parenting in the Timeline. It's as easy as taking a layer, and dragging and dropping it on top of the layer that you would like to parent it to. Let's take an example like the legs. If I scroll down, we see here that we have the right thigh, leg and foot. I'd like to parent my leg to my thigh, and my foot to my leg. If you think about it, that makes a lot of sense because then if we move the thigh, then the leg and the foot will have to follow, and if we move just the leg, which is this part here, the shin, then the foot will have to follow. The foot itself can move independently. To do this, you just have to click on the Leg layer, drag and drop it over the thigh and now if we un-collapse the Thigh layer, you'll see that there's the leg peg and a leg drawing beneath. We have the thigh peg, the leg peg, the leg drawing and the thigh drawing. If we collapse the leg peg, we can take the foot, the right foot here, and drag it over the leg and drop it. Now if we un-collapse the leg, we see that we have the thigh peg, the leg peg, the foot peg, the foot drawing, the leg drawing and the thigh drawing. That's how you would create a hierarchy in the Timeline. The other thing that you may notice is that unlike the drawing layers here, their peg layers still contain the [+] icon, so the [+] signs that we deleted at the start of this tutorial. If I click on one, you'll see that all the position information still remains within the peg. We see the Velocity Angles, Scale, Skew, etc. What this means is that with every peg that house the drawings, this is the drawing here, and if we'd like to see the drawing for 60 frames we would extend that drawing here, we can create movement or we can animate this drawing through its peg. If we want to create a key frame for this leg and then have it rotate 90° between frame #1 and frame #10, those key frames would appear here on the peg layer and only the drawing would appear on the drawing layer. In some programs, you might notice that they create the key frame directly on the drawing, so that's not what we're going to do in this case. All of this to say that even though I'm showing you that you can parent in a hierarchy in the Timeline, we're actually going to do it through the Network View. I'm going to undo everything I just did and now let's take a look at the Network View. It's hidden here behind the Colour View and I'm actually going to expand it, and then also drag this window a bit so that it takes up about half the size of our screen. In case your Network View does not look like this and all of these little blue boxes are bunched up somewhere, you can actually select them all and then click on one of these two buttons, either the Order Network Up or Order Network Down. It doesn't matter which one. The Order Networks settings dialogue box will open. Don't worry about the values inside. Just click on the OK button and it should fan out your Network View like this. The Network View functions similarly in a lot of ways to the Timeline View. You can do a lot of what you can do in the Timeline View in the Network View, except for the timing of your animation. However, the two are not directly connected and do not function exactly the same, and in fact, the Network View is more powerful than the Timeline View in that it is not a slave to this layer stack. For example, the helmet will always appear in front of the eyebrows because it sits higher in the Timeline View layer stack. However, in the Network View that doesn't have to be so. You can often drag a second wire from a specific module and have it exist both behind or in front of other drawing modules. Like I just showed you, can have two instances of the same module appear in your Camera View with it only existing as a single module in the Network View by using things like that, by dragging several wires from the box. A good example of that would be when you create a shadow. If you did it in the Timeline, you would have to reproduce the exact element twice and add a shadow effect to it because it would become transparent and disappear. You would have your solid object and your shadow object with the shadow effect on it. However in the Network View, you don't need to create two layers or two modules. You can just pull a second wire from your module and then attach to the shadow effect. In that way, you can work more dynamically. You're not restricted to this layer stack. In case you haven't figured it out yet, each of these blue boxes, what we call modules, is analogous to a layer in the Timeline. But when you're working in the Timeline View and you've created things in a certain way like, for example, when we created our background group here, it may translate differently in the Network View and vice versa. They don't look exactly the same like, for example, our background group that we created here. It's not locked but it is disabled. And if we move over here and we zoom in using the keyboard shortcut , you'll see that our background group here is red, which says that it's disabled. That might be confusing to you because here, it appears in white and here, it appears in red, although it is the same function. It just means that they're disabled. But it's little things like that that could be a bit confusing, so just be aware that you shouldn't necessarily expect to see identical results in both. In saying that, it's better if you start working in one to mainly continue working in either the Network View or the Timeline, but not to jump back and forth a lot between the two. In saying that, I think we should get started on creating our hierarchy in the Network View. I'm going to use [Shift] + [M] to reset our view. But I'll zoom out a bit so we can see all of our network. Just as I did in the Timeline View, I'm going to select all the modules that I want to add a peg to, so it's everything up to this blue box, so nothing in red. Then I'm going to go to the Network View Menu here at the top left corner and select Insert > Parent Peg. Now as you can see, a green peg module appears on top and attached to every blue, what we call, read module, which is really just like a drawing layer in the Timeline View. If we zoom in closer, you can see that just like in the Timeline, they each bear the name of the drawing layer that they are a parent of and they also retain that –P to indicate that they are a peg. Now let's look for our legs. Here we have the right foot, the right thigh and the right leg. Actually let me just move that over a little bit more. You might be wondering why I have the foot in front of the thigh and leg instead of vice versa. That's because I want the foot to be covering the right leg. What we're looking at is this right here. We want our foot to be covering the leg, but I actually want the thigh to be covering the leg as well. That's because if we take a look at this leg, and I can do that be grabbing the Transform Tool, selecting this leg, clicking this button here in the Timeline, Sentron Selection, so this is what we're going to _____ in the Drawing View because it's selected, go to the Drawing View and then turn on the Light Table so we can see the whole body, you can see right here that this leg has a solid black line, that the right thigh above it actually has a section where the black line is missing. Then when we rotate the knee, it won't look like two cut-out pieces, but it'll look like a seamless fill between thigh and leg. There are three different things I could have done here. I could have removed the solid black line on the leg. So if we take a look at that, so this part of the leg, and then kept the solid black line on the thigh so that when this leg was on top of the thigh, it would give the same effect. As long as part of the black border edge is missing on one of these two pieces, when a rotation is made, it'll look seamless. If I wanted to actually have the ordering be foot, leg, thigh, so the foot is covering the leg and the leg is covering the thigh, that's one thing I could have done. Another thing I could have done is reorder in that order, so foot, leg, thigh and then even though we wouldn't see a black circle on top of the thigh, what I could have then done is taken this leg, selected it and then nudged it backwards along the Z-axis. If you think of the X-axis as from left to right, the Y is up and down, the Z is backwards or forwards into space, so towards us or back into the camera. I could nudge this backwards, so it'll still appear behind the thigh even though it will appear in front of the thigh in the Timeline View. Or we could do is what I have here, is we could have the foot covering both the thigh and the leg. If we passed this drawing in front of these two, it would appear in front, but that when I do the parenting of hierarchy, even though the foot will appear in front of the leg, the leg will still be able to control it. I'll show you what I mean. We're going to take another wire from the peg of the thigh and connect it to the leg. This means that every time I move the thigh, the leg will have to follow because all the position information of the thigh is controlled here and it controls this drawing and now it also controls all the position information of this peg and this peg's drawing. Then what I could do is connect the leg to this foot. It would look something like this. Then every time I move the leg, the foot would have to follow and then the foot, of course, would move independently. But then if we follow these wires down into the composite, which is down here, you can see that the foot still exists in front of the thigh and the leg, and if you actually hover over this node, you can see that it says Foot in the little tool tip. This one says Thigh and this one says Leg. Like I said, rigging is a really creative process and there's no one right way of doing it. I' m going to do what I did for the right leg now for the left leg. It's just right here. I'm just moving a few things around so you can see the hierarchical structure a bit better. Now if we take a look in the Timeline, like I said, they aren't analogous to each other because here we see Thigh, Leg, Foot as we would expect to see and along with the drawings going in reverse order, Foot, Leg Thigh. But if you think about it, this is the hierarchy we created, but here it looks like the thigh and the leg appear in front of the foot when really we know that the foot is in front of the leg and the thigh. Because in case I didn't explain it properly, in the Composite Module, the modules that are attached closest to the left here or closest to this light blue aqua node appear in front of those at the end, which means that this foot should appear in front of this thigh and this thigh should appear in front of this leg. That's what I mean about them not being exactly equal to one another. In addition to creating that hierarchy for the legs, what I'm going to do is group a few of the modules together and I might speed through this process, but I'll explain it all to you afterwards. I just regrouped all of the facial features, so the eyes, nose, mouth, as well as anything that belongs to the head, so the ear, the helmet, the hair, etc. into a single group. I attached them to a composite so that we can get rid of all these ports that you see in the multi-port out. I'll show you what I mean in a minute. First, we're just going to go into the properties of the composite, and make it Pass Through, which means that nothing will be flattened and you can see that by the shape changing of the composite. Then if we click on this top button and we get rid of all the little connections from the group here, we can then just connect in a single port and let's rename our group by clicking on this little yellow button there. Let's call it HeadG for Head Group. Let's go back in and we're going to do some more grouping. Now I'm going to group everything but the helmet, which is actually in two pieces, the head and the ear. We're going to do the same thing and you need only to select one of these nodes and then just drag it away and it automatically pops out of the composite. Let's attach our group and let's rename it to Facial Features_G. Then within that, let's also group just the eyes and each eye individually. In this case, we're going to parent the pupil, which is actually the iris, the iris and the pupil to the eye, and the eye being the white of the eye. So the white of the eye, if we move it, will take the pupil with it. But the pupil itself can move individually within the white of the eye. It doesn't really matter if one eye set, so the whites of the eye, as well as the pupil and iris, exist in front of another because they never overlap or cross over each other, so if you place one further along the composite than the other, it's really not a big deal. In this case, because there's only two, you might just want to put them back in without a composite. It doesn't really matter. We can go back to the facial features group and like I said, it doesn't matter if the left eye appears before the right eye or the right before the left eye. Let's group these ones as well and I'm using [Command] + [G] to group in the Network, but you can use [Ctrl] + [G] in Windows. We're going to do the same thing. We're going to let the whites of the eye control the movement of the pupil, so they move together, but the pupil can move separately if it needs to. We're going to exit out to the facial features group and it's already plugged in and let's just name both our groups, so we don't get confused as to what they contain. So that's the right eye group. I like to write all my group names in capital letters so that not only by the paler colour, the pale blue colour, but also by the capital letters, I'm able to recognize this as a group. Let's do the same thing here. And of course, a –G to indicate Group. In addition to this, I want to add a few more pegs to control major sections of the body. If we go back to the Camera View, I'd like a peg to control all of the upper body, which includes both arms, the torso, the wings plus the wing backpack and the head with all of its helmets and facial features. And another one to control the lower body, which would be the hips and both legs. You can add a peg by dragging it here from the Module Library, which is hidden behind the Timeline tab, or you could use the keyboard shortcut [Command] + [P] on Mac or [Ctrl] + [P] on Windows. We need two pegs, which is perfect. I'm going to go into the properties of this one by clicking on the little yellow box. I'm going to rename this one Upper-Body-P for Upper Body and do the same for the other one, Lower-Body-P. I will attach the upper body peg to the neck, the hand, the forearm, the upper arm, the torso, as well as the other arm, which is over here somewhere. There we go. We have the three pieces for the wing, as well as the other arm. And bring them over here. You might be wondering why I did not order it, the arms, as a hierarchy as I did with the legs and that's because we're going to rig them in a different tutorial using deformers. So that's why I haven't touched those yet, but I just wanted to show you the basics of rigging a cut-out puppet and you can, if you don't want to use deformers, rig the arms in a similar manner. I'll refer you to the Harmony User Guide if you want a really detailed look into how to rig an entire cut-out character. As you can see, as I attach the pegs to the various pieces of the upper body, we see them being selected here in the Camera View, so that's always a good indicator. We see that we're missing the entire head still. If I go over here, we have the head group, but I'd like to add a peg to the head group to move the entire group. Let's name this Head G Peg, so Head Group Peg and we'll attach that as well to the upper body. Now let's take a look at the lower body peg. So that's one of the legs. Here's another leg minus the peg, which is just over here, as well as the hips, which we still need, which I saw over here as well. Let's attach all these things to the lower body peg and to all of this, so to both the lower and upper body peg, we're going to attach something called a master peg. Let me create one more peg and let's attach it to both the upper body and the lower body, and let's rename it Hero Master Peg. The reason I'm putting the Hero there is because if you have multiple characters and you see the peg collapse, the main peg collapse in the Timeline View and you see Master, you won't know if that's for this hero character or say, another character in the Timeline. So it's always good, as often as possible, to have the name of your character mentioned in the name of the layer or the module. So we'll do that. As you can see, the entire character has now been highlighted in the Camera View. What the master peg will control is everything. If I want to have this entire character be scaled down, so all of the body parts, and moved to the, let's say, lower left corner of the Camera View, I would do all of those transformations on this peg. Or if we go up here and collapse it, this layer here in the Timeline View, and then if I need individual body parts rotated, such as, let's just say, we want to bend the character forward, we would key frame those movements on the upper body peg. And then if we want an arm to move out, then we would key frame those movements on the individual pegs of these pieces. So that's how that would work. I'm going to show you how to animate a cut-out character in a different video tutorial. For now, that's it for the tutorial How To Build a Cut-out Character. Stay tuned for the next tutorial How To Use the Bone Deformation.

The abandonment of Guadalcanal by Japanese forces in February 1943 ended a grueling six-month campaign and brought the first American offensive operation of World War II to a victorious conclusion. It was, however, only the beginning of a difficult Allied advance through the Solomon Islands, attended by savage fighting on land, at sea and in the air. At the northwestern end of the island chain the Japanese directed their defensive efforts from a well-developed naval base on New Britain, the name of which soon became notorious among all Allied servicemen in the South Pacific: Rabaul. It was from Rabaul that Japanese warships and aircraft were staged before being hurled south against the advancing Allies. Rabaul in turn was frequently the target of air raids by the U.S. Army’s Fifth and Thirteenth air forces, the U.S. Marines, and the Royal Australian and Royal New Zealand air forces. Regardless of the outcome of such attacks, the Allies could almost invariably count on a hot reception from air groups, or kokutais, of Mitsubishi A6M Zeros, flown by the best pilots in the Japanese navy, and from scores of anti-aircraft (AA) positions. By November 1943, however, the constant attrition of fighting over the Solomons was taking its toll on Rabaul’s capabilities. And at that point, a new threat appeared. A new generation of U.S. naval aircraft carriers, built to replace those lost in 1942, were ready to join the offensive, manned by sailors and airmen who had been intensely trained by the combat-seasoned survivors of the battles of the Coral Sea, Midway, the eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz. Joining the surviving carriers Saratoga and Enterprise were new 27,000-ton Essex-class fleet carriers and 11,000-ton Independence-class light carriers. Along with the veteran Grumman TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bombers and Douglas SDB-4 Dauntless dive bombers on their decks were two new aircraft–the Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter and a new dive bomber, the Curtiss SB2C-1 Helldiver. While his fleet buildup and the Allied advance up the Solomons proceeded, the American commander in chief in the Pacific (CINCPAC), Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, decided on an alternate plan to advance on Japan by seizing strategically selected island groups. The first targets would be Makin and Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati), but before those invasions commenced, Nimitz sent his new task forces on a series of minor raids. The first occurred on August 31, 1943, when aircraft of Task Force 15.5, built around the carriers Yorktown, Essex and Independence, attacked Marcus Island in the North Pacific. That was followed by strikes against Tarawa and Makin by the carriers Lexington, Princeton and Belleau Wood from September 17 to 19. Wake Island was next, hit by planes from Essex, Yorktown, Lexington, Cowpens, Independence and Belleau Wood on October 5 and 6. The Wake strike saw the first confrontation between carrier-based F6F-3s and A6M2 Zeros–with the Hellcat coming away the victor–and the first successful use of a submarine, Skate, to rescue downed carrier airmen. The damage inflicted in the raids was hardly crippling to the Japanese, but it gave the U.S. Navy airmen and sailors experience–and even more valuable self-confidence–for the greater campaigns to come. The first major operation for Nimitz’s new carriers came not in the Central Pacific, however, but in the Solomons to the southwest. And their first real challenge would come from Rabaul. On November 1, 1943, U.S. Marines landed in Empress Augusta Bay on the island of Bougainville, bringing American forces to the upper region of the Solomons. The Japanese reacted by sending a force of cruisers and destroyers to annihilate the beachhead, but it was intercepted by an American cruiser-destroyer force on the early morning of November 2 and repulsed with the loss of the light cruiser Sendai and the destroyer Hatsukaze. Later that day, 78 Fifth Air Force planes–North American B-25s of the 3rd, 38th and 345th bombardment groups, escorted by Lockheed P-38s from the 39th and 80th fighter squadrons and the 475th Fighter Group–attacked Rabaul and were intercepted by 112 Zeros. Rabaul’s air defenses, under the overall command of Rear Adm. Jinichi Kusaka, included three carrier groups that had been dispatched there just the day before, while their ships underwent refit in Japan. The caliber of the pilots was reflected in their performance. Warrant Officer Kazuo Sugino from the carrier Zuikaku’s air group was credited with shooting down three enemy planes. Shokaku’s carrier group included Warrant Officer Kenji Okabe, famed for scoring seven victories in one day during the Battle of the Coral Sea, but its star in the November 2 air battle was Petty Officer 1st Class (PO1C) Takeo Tanimizu, who scored his first of an eventual 32 victories by downing two P-38s. From light carrier Zuiho, Ensign Yoshio Fukui downed a B-25 but was then himself shot down, possibly by Captain Marion Kirby of the 475th Group’s 431st Squadron. Fukui survived with a burned right foot and insisted on returning to action. The loss of nine B-25s and nine P-38s earned the November 2 raid a place in Fifth Air Force annals as ‘Bloody Tuesday,’ but the Japanese recorded 18 Zeros destroyed or damaged in addition to bomb damage to Rabaul’s ground installations. The Japanese needed a more powerful naval force to destroy the American beachhead. Admiral Mineichi Koga, commander of the Combined Fleet, dispatched Vice Adm. Takeo Kurita’s Second Fleet, comprised of the heavy cruisers Takao, Maya, Atago, Suzuya, Mogami, Chikuma and Chokai, the light cruiser Noshiro and four destroyers, from Japan to Rabaul. Chokai and a destroyer had to be detached on November 4 to tow two transports that had been crippled by American air attacks to the northwestern Pacific base at Truk in the Caroline Islands. A Consolidated B-24 spotted the rest of Kurita’s fleet off the Admiralty Islands and duly reported 19 ships heading toward the western entrance of St. George’s Channel at Rabaul. The Second Fleet’s arrival was bad news to Admiral William F. Halsey, commander of U.S. Navy forces in the Southwest Pacific. With most of the U.S. fleet preparing to invade the Gilberts, he did not have one heavy cruiser to oppose Kurita’s powerful veterans. He did, however, have a small carrier detachment, Rear Adm. Frederick C. Sherman’s Task Force (TF) 38, which had supported the bombardment of Buka and Bonis. The carriers Saratoga and Princeton were fueling from the tanker Kankakee northwest of Rennell Island when Halsey sent them a dispatch on November 4, ordering, ‘Task Force 38 proceed maximum formation speed [to] launch all-out strike on shipping in Rabaul and north thereof (order of targets: cruisers, destroyers). Retire thereafter….’ Rabaul was then believed to have as many as 150 aircraft–quite a hornet’s nest for two carriers to stir up. Even the aggressive Halsey knew the risks involved, but Saratoga and Princeton were the only weapons at his disposal that had a realistic chance of neutralizing the threat to the Bougainville beachhead. Joined by the anti-aircraft cruisers San Diego and San Juan and nine destroyers, the flattops headed north. The weather favored TF 38 when it arrived at its designated launching point, 57 miles southwest of Cape Tokorina and 230 miles southeast of Rabaul, on the morning of November 5. The sea was smooth, allowing the destroyers to keep station, while overcast skies lessened the chances of being observed by Japanese patrol planes. Saratoga’s Air Group 12, headed by Commander Henry H. Caldwell, sent every plane it had into the sky–33 F6Fs, 16 TBFs and 22 SBDs. Princeton sent up 19 Hellcats and seven Avengers. Lieutenant Commander Joseph J. Clifton, leader of Saratoga’s fighter squadron VF-12, later said, ‘The main idea of the orders was to cripple all of them that we could rather than concentrate on sinking a few.’ Two hours after launching, the 97 planes reached their targets–Simpson Harbor, the inner anchorage at Rabaul, and the outer roadstead at Blanche Bay–and a curtain of AA fire. Again the Americans got a break from the weather, which was so clear over Rabaul that they could see for 50 miles. That was especially welcome under the circumstances, because although Sherman and Caldwell had trained their aircrews rigorously to hit moving targets, they had not had time to prepare a detailed plan of attack for the Rabaul strike–much of it was worked out by group and squadron commanders over their radios. The Japanese already had a total of 59 A6M3 Zeros in the air, but they had expected the Americans to break into small groups as they neared the targets. Instead, Caldwell simply directed one large formation through the gantlet of AA fire, letting it split into smaller groups only at the last moment before making their attacks. Unwilling to go through their own flak, the Zeros milled around while ‘Jumping Joe’ Clifton’s Hellcats went after them. Ignoring the curtain of AA shellfire, Caldwell led his group across Crater Point in order to swing upwind of the enemy ships. Then his SBDs deployed and the TBFs went down low to start their torpedo runs. By then, the Japanese ships were either steaming for the harbor entrance or taking evasive action. One heavy cruiser fired its main 8-inch gun battery at the TBFs. As they pulled up from their attacks, the SBD and TBF pilots found themselves dodging over or around ships for four or five miles. Miraculously, all but five fighters and five bombers emerged from the wild melee, although most of the survivors suffered some damage. Casualties amounted to seven pilots and eight crewmen killed or missing. Caldwell, who had been directing the dive bombers from above, found himself and one of Princeton’s Hellcats being chased by eight Zeros. His rear turret was disabled and his photographer, Paul T. Barnett, was dead, but Caldwell managed to fend off his attackers with his nose machine gun. Lieutenant H.M. Crockett of Princeton’s VF-23 took more than 200 hits in his Hellcat–and a few in himself–yet he managed to land aboard Princeton without flaps, while Caldwell brought his Avenger back to Saratoga ‘with one wheel, no flaps, no aileron and no radio.’ Total American losses in the attack came to 13 aircraft–far fewer than the 49, including 20 probables, claimed by the Japanese. While the Hellcat pilots were credited with 21 victories and the TBFs and SBDs claimed another seven, the Japanese recorded the loss of only two Zeros and their pilots: PO1C Hiroshi Nishimura from Zuikaku, and Zuiho’s Chief Petty Officer Kosaku Minato. The attack did not sink any ships, but it accomplished its mission. Lieutenant James Newell’s Saratoga-based bombing squadron VB-12 caught Maya refueling, and one of his SBDs sent a bomb down her smokestack and into her engine room, causing damage that would keep her out of commission for five months. Takao took two hits under the waterline, Atago was damaged by two near misses, and Mogami took some damaging bomb hits. Chikuma and light cruisers Agano and Noshiro were also damaged, the latter by a torpedo hit. Destroyer Fujinami was hit by a dud torpedo, and Wakatsuki was holed by near misses. All the warships but Maya were able to retire under their own power, but the naval threat to the beachhead at Bougainville had been neutralized. A follow-up attack by Maj. Gen. George C. Kenney’s Fifth Air Force was a virtual anticlimax. After recovering their planes at 1 p.m., Sherman’s carriers retired. Japanese searchers spotted them at 2:45, and Kusaka dispatched 18 Nakajima B5N2 torpedo planes (code-named Kate by the Allies) to sink the carriers. At 7:15 the Japanese found a target, and on the following day, Radio Tokyo reported the results of what it called the First Air Battle of Bougainville: ‘One large carrier blown up and sunk, one medium carrier set ablaze and later sunk, and two heavy cruisers and one cruiser and destroyer sunk.’ That sanguine report turned out to have been one of the most absurdly inaccurate of the Pacific War. In actuality, LCI(L)-70 and patrol torpedo boat PT-167 had been escorting LCT-68 back from the Treasury Islands when they came under attack about 28 miles southwest of Cape Tokorina. The wing of one low-flying B5N had struck PT-167’s radio antenna, and it fell into the sea, leaving its unexploded torpedo imbedded in the boat’s bow. The PT boat’s 20mm guns sent a second B5N crashing in flames, so close that her crew was drenched by the splash. LCI(L)-70 underwent 14 minutes of attacks, but thanks to her shallow draft, three torpedoes passed harmlessly under her keel. A fourth porpoised and punched into the engine room, killing a crewman but failing to explode. Rear Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson, commander of the III Amphibious Force, subsequently commended PT-167’s skipper Ensign Theodore Berlin for his courageous defense and concluded with the appraisal, ‘Fireplug Sprinkles Dog.’ Upon learning of the success of his gamble, a relieved Halsey radioed Sherman, ‘It is real music to me, and opens the stops for a funeral dirge for [Prime Minister Hideki] Tojo’s Rabaul.’ Halsey then ordered long-range bombers to find the retiring Japanese ships and’sink the cripples.’ They failed to prevent the Japanese from reaching Truk, however, and Halsey was rumored to have wanted the carriers to attack that bastion as well. The upcoming invasion of the Gilberts precluded such an idea, but Halsey did persuade Nimitz to detach three more carriers, Essex, Bunker Hill and Independence, to join Saratoga and Princeton in a follow-up raid on Rabaul. The effectiveness of Task Group (TG) 50.3, under Rear Adm. Alfred E. Montgomery, was nullified early on, when his entire cruiser force and two destroyers were detached to support Wilkinson’s III Amphibious Force off Tokorina. By the time Halsey’s operations officer had gathered enough destroyers to restore Montgomery’s screening force, it was November 8. The attack was scheduled for November 11, at which point the Japanese would be forewarned. Saratoga and Princeton–collectively redesignated TG 50.4 for this raid–launched their attack from a point near the Green Islands, 225 miles southeast of Rabaul. Flying through soupy weather, the Americans attacked a light cruiser and four destroyers, but the Japanese managed to evade their attackers in rain squalls. Foul weather caused a second strike to be aborted, ending ‘Ted’ Sherman’s participation in the raid. In addition to their regular air groups, the three carriers of TG 50.3 were joined by two land-based Navy squadrons from New Georgia–VF-17 from Odonga and VF-33 from Segi Point. The arrival of 23 Vought F4U-1As from Lt. Cmdr. John T. Blackburn’s VF-17 aboard Bunker Hill provided an interesting reunion for its pilots. Originally meant to operate from Bunker Hill, the squadron was reassigned to the Solomons because its long-nosed Corsairs, with their cockpits located too far back on the fuselage, were judged unsuitable for safe operation from carrier decks. They had commenced combat operations on November 1, and all of them landed aboard the carrier without a mishap. Twelve F6F-3s of VF-33, commanded by Lieutenant John C. Kelly, joined the 12 Hellcats of Lt. Cmdr. Harry W. Harrison’s VF-6 and the 12 F6F-3s of Lieutenant L.L. Johnson’s VF-22 aboard Independence. Another novel addition to Bunker Hill’s arsenal was VB-17 under Lt. Cmdr. James E. Vose, equipped with 23 brand-new Curtiss SB2C-1s. This would be the Helldiver’s combat debut, and pilots speculated on how it would compare with the old Dauntless. It took an hour for the strike forces to rendezvous for their approach to Rabaul, and after the earlier strike by TG 50.4, Kusaka was fully alerted. When the second attack force arrived over Cape St. George at 8:30, it was met by 68 Zeros. Fighting their way through a gantlet of fighters, flak and rain, Essex’s planes reached the channel at 9:05, followed by those of Bunker Hill and Independence, while the Japanese ships again scurried under the cover of clouds. ‘We came in at 12,000 feet with the dive bombers,’ recounted pilot Jim Shearer of VT-9, ‘and then pushed over into the sea, so our division pulled up over a ridge where there was a hell of a lot of anti-aircraft, and then down to 300 feet to pick up those jokers as they cleared the harbor. Thank God for the weather! We broke out of a rain squall, dropped our fish on a Mogami-class cruiser and then went back into a rain squall again. Then we really tooled it down the channel and out of there.’ The target Shearer described was probably the light cruiser Agano, which suffered a damaging torpedo hit, as did the destroyer Naganami. Least fortunate of the Japanese ships was the destroyer Suzunami, which was loading torpedoes when VB-9’s SBDs roared down on her. Her hull was split, and she sank near the harbor entrance. The light cruiser Yubari and destroyers Urakaze and Umikaze suffered slight damage from strafing. Striving to protect the bombers, 12 Hellcats of VF-9 got into a wild free-for-all with 35 Zeros over the harbor mouth at 9:15 a.m. Lieutenant Junior Grade Hamilton McWhorter III, who had already earned the nickname of ‘One Slug’ after downing a Zero over Wake, added two more Zeros to his score and probably downed a third, but came back with 11 bullet holes in his fuselage and wing. Lieutenant Keenen ‘Casey’ Childers and his flight of F6Fs were jumped. ‘I never did see who was shooting at us,’ he reported, ‘but one of them got behind my wingman and myself and my wingman pulled up ahead of me with his belly on fire. He waved that he was O.K., went on and landed in the water, and got out all right in his raft.’ Behind him, Japanese fighters were trying unsuccessfully to drop small wing bombs on the SBDs. VF-9 claimed 14 victories that morning, including two by Lieutenant Armistead B. Smith, Jr., and one by Lt. j.g. Eugene A. Valencia–the first of 23 that would make him the third-ranking U.S. Navy ace. Commander Michael P. Bagdanovich, leading Bunker Hill’s Air Group 17, directed VB-17’s new SB2Cs to attack the Japanese cruisers, to be followed by VT-17’s Avengers. The Helldiver crews reported seeing bombs with time fuses bursting in midair, along with numerous Zeros. Four Zeros of the 253rd Kokutai attacked Lieutenant Robert B. Wood’s SB2C-1C, which raced out of Simpson Harbor at maximum speed while his gunner, chief radioman W.O. Haynes, downed two of their attackers before being seriously wounded. At that point, F6F-3s of VF-18 came to the rescue, and Lieutenant James D. Billo and Ensign John J. Sargent, Jr., claimed the remaining two Zeros. Wood made it back to Bunker Hill, where 130 bullet holes were counted in his plane. The day’s activities cost VB-17 one Helldiver to the Zeros, one to the flak and two operational losses. Lieutenant William F. Krantz of VT-17 launched a torpedo at a heavy cruiser, but as he turned left he was bracketed by AA fire from the cruiser and a destroyer. ‘One burst almost blew me upside down; as I passed near the destroyer, a heavy plume of smoke poured out of the right side of my engine,’ he later recalled. ‘I next fired my machine guns at the small enemy ship and headed for St. George Channel.’ At that point, Krantz came under attack by enemy fighters. ‘I dropped to the top of the waves to prevent them from flying underneath me,’ he said. ‘My gunner, V.S. Case, accounted for two, and an F6F picked off one as he pulled away from my aircraft.’ Krantz’s attackers may have included Seaman 1st Class Masajiro Kawato, an 18-year-old Zero pilot who had joined the 253rd Kokutai just a month earlier. Kawato claimed to have set a TBF on fire before being shot down and wounded in the leg by two Corsairs. He bailed out over Simpson Harbor and swam ashore. Actually, VF-17’s F4Us did not take part in the raid, but Kawato may have been downed by one of VF-9’s Hellcats. Meanwhile, Krantz tried to reach Empress Augusta Bay but was forced to ditch his Avenger near Buka Island. He, Case and O.L. Miller drifted on a life raft for 12 days before landing at Cape Orford on New Britain Island, from which they were finally rescued on March 26, 1944. After returning to their carriers, aircrews wolfed down sandwiches and prepared to take off for a second strike. Then, suddenly, the tables were turned on them. A Zero had spotted TG 50.3, and while it circled above the task group, Kusaka launched his counterattack at noon–27 Aichi D3A2 dive bombers and 14 B5N2s, escorted by 67 Zeros, followed by a flight of Mitsubishi G4M2 medium bombers–one of the largest anti-carrier strikes since the war in the Pacific began. Also apparently joining the attack force were a few Kawasaki Ki.61 Hien (‘swallow’) army fighters. They may have been sent there for repairs from the 78th Sentai (group) at Wewak, New Guinea, which had previously been based at Rabaul. American SK radars picked up the enemy at 1:13 p.m. at 119 miles and closing. Montgomery dispatched a routine contingent of interceptors but otherwise continued arming his second strike. Then, at 1:51, a fighter reported enemy planes 40 miles away. When fighter directors asked how many, a Corsair pilot replied: ‘Jesus Christ, boys, there’s a million of them! Let’s go to work!’ Some of VF-17’s Corsairs did just that, driving seven D3As and several G4Ms back up the St. George Channel. One of the twin-engine bombers was splashed by Lt. j.g. Howard M. Burriss, who also downed a B5N2 in flames and shared in the destruction of another with one of VF-33’s Hellcats. One of the Ki.61s was claimed by VF-17’s commander, Lt. Cmdr. Tom Blackburn. A second exploded under the guns of Ensign Frederick J. Streig, who also forced a Zero to ditch in the water. VF-17’s top scorer that day was Ensign Ira C. Kepford, who shot down three D3As and a B5N2, while Lieutenant Thaddeus R. Bell downed two D3As. A total of 18.5 victories were claimed by ‘Blackburn’s Irregulars’ that day, but their Corsairs were operating at the limits of their range and two of them ran out of fuel. Ensign Bradford W. Baker sent a Zero down in flames, but as he tried to return to his base, his engine stopped over Wilson Strait. Baker ditched and was later rescued by a flying boat. Similarly, after downing a B5N2, Ensign Robert H. Hill also had to make a water landing when his fuel ran out, but he was subsequently picked up by a PT boat. Meanwhile, the carriers took up a triangular formation within a 2,000-yard radius with the destroyers ringing them in a 4,000-yard circle, pooling their AA guns for mutual support rather than separating as they had done in past battles. Two dive-bomber gunners fired from the rear of their parked planes. One 40mm shell detonated a falling bomb. At 2:12, Montgomery sent a general order over the TBS (talk-between-ships) system–‘Man your guns and shoot those bastards out of the sky!’–and then reluctantly canceled the second strike on Rabaul. The Japanese came in three waves, starting with D3A2s. Fighters from VF-9, just taking off from Essex as they came down, fired into the dive bombers a few seconds later and claimed to have shot down some of them before retracting their landing gear. Gene Valencia, already with one Zero to his credit from the morning strike, downed a D3A and a B5N and shared in the destruction of a second torpedo bomber with Lt. j.g. Edward C. McGowan. In addition to the shared kill, McGowan was credited with a D3A, a B5N2 and a Ki.61, while Lt. j.g. Albert Martin, Jr., downed two D3As and two B5Ns, and Lt. Cmdr. Herbert N. Houck accounted for two B5Ns and a D3A. Lieutenant Junior Grade George M. Blair ran out of ammunition but managed to bring down a torpedo bomber by dropping his belly tank on it. Leading VF-18’s Hellcats against Bunker Hill’s assailants, Lt. Cmdr. Sam L. Silber shot down two D3As, while Lieutenant Robert C. Coats downed two B5N2s and Lt. j.g. Armand G. Manson downed a D3A at 2 p.m., followed by a B5N 15 minutes later. Lieutenant Clement M. Craig from Independence’s VF-22 may have unwittingly scored his first victory over a misidentified American seaplane over Wake Island back on October 5, but there was no disputing the identity of the D3A he shot down at 2 p.m. on November 11. Even bombers got into the act. Ensign William H. Harris, an SB2C-1 pilot of VB-17, was returning from an anti-submarine patrol at 2 p.m. when he encountered some incoming D3A2s and engaged them, shooting down one plane and damaging another. ‘Bucky’ Harris was subsequently awarded the Air Medal for his actions and went on to fly Corsairs in 1945, bringing his score up to five and acedom. Shearer was coming back to Essex when he found Japanese aircraft firing down on his TBF, while the ship’s guns fired at him as well as at the Japanese planes. ‘I was trying to form up,’ he said, ‘when our AA took off a piece of my right wing. From then on I was just concentrating on keeping the plane flying, when some Jap joker makes a head-on run at me and fills my engine full of slugs. There was nothing to do but make a water landing–power off, too. ‘We got the raft out all right and sat there watching the fleet steam away fast,’ he continued. ‘Once in a while some Jap would make a strafing run on us. Sitting there, pitching up and down, you could see columns of smoke all over the place where crashed Japs were burning. You’d see one of those `Kates’–he’d be coming in to drop his fish with about six fighters trailing behind him. One would shoot and peel off to the left and another would shoot and peel off right and finally somebody would blow him up. ‘My gunner and radioman were getting worried after the fleet passed out of sight. But I knew they’d be back because they’d seen us. So I said, `If they’re not coming back in half an hour we’ll start some tall navigating for Australia.’ But sure enough, in less than half an hour a can [destroyer] came back with a ladder over the side amidships. I started up the side when an AA gunner in a battle helmet looked over the rail. The helmet fell off and conked me–`Possible concussion,’ the doctor said.’ Destroyer Kidd had left formation to pick up the TBF crew and was attacked by two B5Ns, but her guns shot down both of them. Aboard the carriers, observers counted 11 Japanese planes burning on the horizon. The dive-bombing attack was followed by two waves of torpedo planes, then more dive bombers. Geysers splashed all around the ships from near misses. One burning D3A tried to make a suicide dive into Essex, but a few seconds before reaching the carrier it exploded. The wing came down so close under Essex’s stern that men on deck could not see it hit the water. The action lasted 46 minutes, but for some of the Americans it seemed like 46 years. One old gunner’s mate was heard to remark, ‘Ships fightin’ ships is right and so’s planes fightin’ planes, but ships fightin’ planes just ain’t natural.’ Less-experienced sailors acted quite nonchalant afterward, but the Guadalcanal veterans shuddered at what might have been and marveled at the casualties–only 10 sailors injured, none mortally. Back at Rabaul, Kusaka got another optimistic report from his returning airmen–one cruiser blown up, two carriers and three other ships damaged. The Japanese also claimed 71 American planes that day, including several by Warrant Officer Saburo Saito, a shotai (section) leader from the Zuikaku air group, who was credited with eight victories in six days and who would finish the war with a total of 19. Such glowing reports left the veteran Kusaka far from convinced that the enemy threat had been eliminated. He ordered Maya, Chokai and three destroyers to leave for Truk and dispatched a squadron of G4M2s to ‘crush the enemy.’ They failed to find the carriers, though 11 of them found and attacked Task Force 39–light cruisers Montpelier, Cleveland and Columbia and seven destroyers under Rear Adm. A. Stanton Merrill–but scored no hits. After the bombers returned, Kusaka grimly reviewed his losses for the day. Six Zeros had been destroyed defending Rabaul. The attack on Task Group 50.3 had cost him all 14 of his B5N2s, 17 D3A2s, several G4M2s and two more Zeros. Innumerable other aircraft limped home with battle damage. The five fighter pilots killed included Zuikaku’s division officer, Lieutenant Shigeru Araki, and Zuiho’s air group commander, Lieutenant Masao Sato. On the American side, the carriers’ success at fighting off an all-out land-based air attack and the overall attrition inflicted on Japanese air power more than made up for the disappointingly modest results of the attacks on enemy shipping. By the end of an hour, the Americans were claiming at least 50 enemy planes destroyed. The carriers lost a total of six TBFs and eight F6Fs, and none of the ships suffered any damage. As Task Group 50.3 retired from Rabaul, intelligence officers tallied up the pilots’ claims and recorded an unprecedented total of 137. VF-9 alone was credited with 55, an all-time high for any U.S. Navy squadron. VF-18 claimed 38, and the torpedo and dive bombers were credited with 12. The Americans’ claims were grossly exaggerated, but the damage they did inflict was significant enough as it was. Two days after the raid, Koga ordered the riddled Shokaku and Zuikaku air groups withdrawn from Rabaul to Truk, while fresh units were transferred from the Marshall Islands to relieve them. The absence of those air groups from the Marshalls would prove to be a fortuitous break for the Americans when they landed at Tarawa and Makin on November 20. Aboard Essex, a VF-9 member composed a bit of doggerel that expressed both pride and fatigue at the end of a very busy day: Now that Rabaul is over, none of them got away Fifty-five Japs is a record, shot down in a single day! Now that Rabaul is over, I want to spend my days Back in the States just reading Army communiques! That was not to be, for the main event was yet to come. At Pearl Harbor, while Admiral Nimitz was making final preparations to launch the Gilbert Islands offensive, code-named Operation Galvanic, he gave his own epilogue to the November 1943 Rabaul raids: ‘Henceforth, we propose to give the Jap no rest.’ This article was written by Jon Guttman and originally appeared in the November 1999 issue of World War II magazine.

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, GCB (January 26, 1880 – April 5, 1964) was an American general, United Nations general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and later played a prominent role in the Pacific theater of World War II. He was a highly decorated US soldier of the war, receiving the Medal of Honor for his early service in the Philippines and on the Bataan Peninsula. He was designated to command the proposed invasion of Japan in November 1945. When that was no longer necessary, he officially accepted the nation's surrender on September 2, 1945. MacArthur oversaw the Occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951. Although criticized for protecting Emperor Hirohito and the imperial family from prosecution for war crimes, MacArthur is credited with implementing far-reaching democratic reforms in that country. He led the United Nations Command forces defending South Korea against the North Korean invasion from 1950 to 1951. On April 11, 1951 MacArthur was removed from command by President Harry S. Truman for publicly disagreeing with Truman's Korean War Policy.MacArthur fought in three major wars (World War I, World War II, Korean War) and was one of only five men ever to rise to the rank of General of the Army. Early life and education Douglas MacArthur, the youngest of three brothers, was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1880 while his parents were stationed there. His parents were Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur, Jr. (at the time a captain), a recipient of the Medal of Honor, and Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur (nicknamed "Pinky") of Norfolk, Virginia. Douglas MacArthur was the grandson of jurist and politician Arthur MacArthur, Sr., a Scottish immigrant. (The remainder of MacArthur's ancestry was English.) He was baptized at Christ Episcopal Church in Little Rock on May 16, 1880. In his memoir Reminiscences, MacArthur wrote that his first memory was the sound of the bugle, and that he had learned to "ride and shoot even before I could read or write—indeed, almost before I could walk and talk." MacArthur's father was posted to San Antonio, Texas, in 1893. There, Douglas attended West Texas Military Academy (now known as T.M.I.: The Episcopal School of Texas), where he became an excellent student. After two rejections, MacArthur entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1898. His mother also moved there to a hotel suite overlooking the grounds of the Academy. (The story is that his mother would use a telescope to look over into his room to ensure that he was studying.) An outstanding cadet, he graduated first in his 93-man class in 1903. For his prowess in sports, military training, and academics he was awarded the coveted title of "First Captain Of The Corps Of Cadets." Upon graduation MacArthur was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Memorial statue at the United States Military AcademyAfter leaving West Point, MacArthur served his first tour of duty in the Philippines. Later, MacArthur served as an aide-de-camp to his father, and visited Japan during the Russo-Japanese war. In 1906 he was aide-de-camp to President Theodore Roosevelt. Leaving the White House in 1907, MacArthur performed engineering duties in Kansas, Milwaukee, and Washington D.C. until his assignment to the General Staff (1913-1917). Vera Cruz Expedition MacArthur distinguished himself by several acts of personal bravery in the Vera Cruz Expedition of 1914, including a railroad chase back to American lines. For these he was recommended for the Medal of Honor, although this was denied on the grounds that his actions had exceeded the scope of his orders. These duties were performed while he was serving on the Army General Staff. MacArthur was later in charge of dealing with the National Guard Bureau within the War Department. In early 1917, prior to U.S. entry into World War I, MacArthur was elevated two grades in rank from major to full colonel. Upon his promotion to full colonel, he transferred his basic branch from the Corps of Engineers to the Infantry. World War I Brigadier General MacArthur at a French Chateau, September 1918During World War I MacArthur served in France as chief of staff of the 42nd ("Rainbow") Division. Upon his promotion to Brigadier General he became the commander of the 84th Infantry Brigade. A few weeks before the war ended, he became division commander. During the war, MacArthur received two Distinguished Service Crosses, seven Silver Stars, a Distinguished Service Medal, and two Purple Hearts. Douglas MacArthur made it his policy to "lead... men from the front." Because of this policy, and the fact that he usually refused to wear a gas mask while the rest of his men would, he had respiratory problems the rest of his life. Still, he was the most decorated American officer of the war, and General Charles T. Menoher once said that he was the "greatest fighting man" in the army. Post–World War I In 1919 MacArthur became superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which had become out of date in many respects and was much in need of reform. MacArthur ordered drastic changes in the tactical, athletic and disciplinary systems; he modernized the curriculum, adding liberal arts, government and economics courses. He also took the first major step to formalizing the as yet unwritten Cadet Honor Code when, in 1922, he formed the Cadet Honor Committee to review all honor allegations. In October 1922, MacArthur left West Point for the Philippines. From 1922 to 1930, MacArthur served two tours of duty in the Philippines, the second as commander of the Philippine Department (1928–1930); he also served two tours as commander of corps areas in the states. In 1925, he was promoted to major general, the youngest officer of that rank at the time, and served on the court martial that convicted Brigadier General Billy Mitchell. He headed the U.S. Olympic Committee for the 1928 Summer Olympics. General MacArthur was married twice. His first marriage, on February 14, 1922, was to socialite Louise Cromwell Brooks, the divorced wife of Walter Brooks Jr, and the stepdaughter of Edward T. Stotesbury, a wealthy Philadelphia banker. She obtained a divorce from MacArthur in 1929 on the grounds that he had failed to support her. MacArthur was married to Jean Marie Faircloth of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on April 30, 1937. Their only child, Arthur, was born in Manila on Feb. 21, 1938. Arthur graduated from Columbia University in 1961. "Arthur" was a family name - being the name of MacArthur's grandfather, father and eldest brother. Since his brother Arthur MacArthur III was deceased at this point and had failed to give that name to his own son (naming him instead Douglas MacArthur II), MacArthur "laid claim" to the name for his son, thus Arthur MacArthur IV. One of MacArthur's most controversial acts came in 1932, when President Hoover ordered him to disperse the "Bonus Army" of veterans who had converged on the capital in protest of government policy. MacArthur was criticized for using excessive force to disperse the protesters. According to MacArthur, the demonstration had been taken over by communists and pacifists with, he claimed, only "one man in 10 being veterans." The Veteran's Administration files quoted by David Halberstam in "The Coldest Winter", state that 93% of the Bonus Army were veterans, of whom 67% had served overseas during the World War. Similarly, PBS' The American Experience has further supported this position by showing that the Bonus Army was composed overwhelmingly of First World War veterans whose pacifist politics were typical of the era - pacifism was not an uncommon belief among the general public of the 1930s. It has also been reported that MacArthur never received the orders telling him not to stop the marchers and that the orders were hidden from him by other officers who wanted the Army troops to storm the Bonus Army camps. Chief of Staff MacArthur finished his tour as Chief of Staff in October 1935. MacArthur's main programs included the development of new mobilization plans, the activation of a centralized air command (the General Headquarters Air Force), and a four-army reorganization which improved administrative efficiency. He supported the New Deal by enthusiastically operating the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). He brought along many talented mid-career officers, including George C. Marshall, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. However, MacArthur's support for a strong military and his public criticism of pacifism and isolationism made him unpopular with the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. Following his retirement in December 1937, he reverted to his permanent grade of major general, and accepted an offer in the Philippines. Field Marshal of the Philippine Army When the Commonwealth of the Philippines achieved semi-independent status in 1935, President of the Philippines Manuel L. Quezon, a personal friend since his father had been Governor General, asked MacArthur to supervise the creation of a Philippine Army. MacArthur elected not to retire but to remain on the active list as a major general, and with President Roosevelt's approval he accepted the assignment. Among MacArthur's assistants as Military Adviser to the Commonwealth of the Philippines was Dwight D. Eisenhower. (Some years later, Eisenhower was asked if he knew MacArthur. He replied, "Know him? I studied dramatics under him for seven years!" MacArthur retorted that Eisenhower was the "Best clerk I ever had".) When MacArthur resigned from the U.S. Army in 1937, his rank again became that of a general, and he was made Field Marshal of the Philippine Army by President Quezon. (MacArthur is the senior officer on the rolls of the Philippine Army today—he is also the only American military officer ever to hold the rank of field marshal). In July 1941 Roosevelt recalled him to active duty in the U.S. Army as a major general and named him commander of United States Armed Forces in the Far East promoting him to a lieutenant general the following day. In December, he became a four star general yet again when the Japanese attacked across a wide front in the Pacific. Following the outbreak of war with Japan, MacArthur was offered and accepted a payment of $500,000 (an enormous sum at the time) from President Quezon of the Philippines as payment for his pre-war service. World War II On the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 8, 1941, in Manila), MacArthur was Allied commander in the Philippines. He had over eight hours warning of a possible Japanese attack on the Philippines, and express orders from Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall to commence operations. “For all his posturing as an expert on Far Eastern affairs, he grossly underestimated the capabilities of the Japanese”. MacArthur's failure to take defensive or offensive action resulted in Japanese air superiority over the Philippines—MacArthur's inaction during the critical hours has been given as the reason for "an enormity of loss no less than that in Hawaii". A misplaced reliance by MacArthur on his air commander of only two months, General Lewis H. Brereton, has been used as an excuse by his defenders. Despite clear warnings of Japanese aggression, Brereton had not transitioned his air defenses to a war footing, and like the air commanders at Hickam Field at Pearl Harbor, failed to disperse aircraft properly in camouflaged revetments to limit damage from incoming air raids. Brereton's difficulties were magnified by the fact that the Far East Air Force (FEAF) was mostly a motley collection of obsolescent U.S. and Philippine Air Force planes. The FEAF was, however, in possession of 72 operational front line P-40 Warhawk fighters. MacArthur's lack of aggressiveness led to most U.S. aircraft being caught on the ground and destroyed. Later, MacArthur would publicly defend his air commander while privately concluding he was incompetent; he transferred Brereton out of the Philippines as soon as possible. Brereton claimed he had requested permission to launch 35 B-17 Flying Fortresses (his entire heavy bombing force) to attack Japanese shipping in nearby Taiwan. Some historians have seen this proposed use of B-17s as a departure from their intended use, to scout for incoming attacking forces or to attack Japan proper. Others note that Hoyt Vandenberg's plan for the defense of the Philippines by air, with its beginnings in 1939 and an update in August 1941, included the use of heavy bombers as a "striking force" to counter Japanese forces in Asia. Brereton's subsequent defense of his request for offensive action contained the implication that a Taiwan attack would have preserved the majority of the B-17 force. Though the bombers were scrambled in response to an early alert, they returned to refuel just as Japanese aircraft attacked Clark Field, and 17 were destroyed on the ground. MacArthur and his Chief of Staff, General Sutherland, later disputed Brereton's account of the Japanese attack on the Philippines. One of the prewar Philippines defense plans assumed the Japanese could not be prevented from landings in Luzon and called for U.S. and Filipino forces to abandon Manila and retreat with their supplies to the Bataan peninsula. MacArthur, aware of large-scale pre-war air defense plans by Vandenberg and an even more extensive proposal by Clayton Bissell calling for as many as 780 pursuit (fighter) aircraft to be based in the Philippines, decided to slow the Japanese advance with an initial defense against the Japanese landings. In the event, the Japanese could not be stopped, and the Allied troops barely escaped destruction retreating back to Bataan. Through MacArthur's errors and because of the rush to retreat to Bataan, food to be transferred from Manila to Bataan fell into Japanese hands. Early in April 1942 the Allied forces on Bataan surrendered due to Japanese superiority in aircraft and materiel. MacArthur's headquarters during the Philippines campaign of 1941-2 was on the island fortress of Corregidor. His fortress was clearly marked and was the target of Japanese air attacks, until Manuel Quezon cautioned MacArthur "not to subject himself to danger." In March 1942, as Japanese forces tightened their grip on the Philippines, MacArthur was ordered by President Roosevelt to relocate to Melbourne, Australia, after Quezon had already left. After first discussing with his staff the idea that he resign his commission and fight on as a private soldier in the Philippine resistance, with his wife, four-year-old son, and a select group of advisers and subordinate military commanders, MacArthur left the Philippines in PT 41 (commanded by Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley). After he left, command of the defense of Bataan was handed over to Major General Jonathan M. Wainwright. MacArthur was unwilling to leave control to Wainwright, and tried to run the battle from three thousand miles away. He ordered his men not to retreat, but General Edward P. King disobeyed orders by surrendering when he saw that the situation was hopeless. This surrender led to the Bataan Death March, in which over 5,000 Filipinos and 1,000 Americans died. MacArthur visiting the Australian House of Representatives in March 1942MacArthur reached Mindanao on March 13, and boarded a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber three days later; on March 17, he arrived at Batchelor Airfield in Australia's Northern Territory, about 60 miles (100 km) south of Darwin, before flying to Alice Springs, where he took the Ghan railway through the Australian outback to Adelaide. His famous speech, in which he said, "I came out of Bataan and I shall return", was first made at Terowie (a small railway township in South Australia) on March 20,. Upon his arrival in Adelaide, MacArthur abbreviated this to the now-famous, "I came through and I shall return" that made headlines. Washington asked MacArthur to amend his promise to, "We shall return". He ignored the request. Also, during this period, President Quezon decorated MacArthur with the Distinguished Conduct Star. For his leadership in the defense of the Philippines, MacArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor (April 1, 1942) - a decoration for which he had twice previously been nominated. His citation read: "For conspicuous leadership in preparing the Philippine Islands to resist conquest, for gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against invading Japanese forces, and for the heroic conduct of defensive and offensive operations on the Bataan Peninsula. He mobilized, trained, and led an army which has received world acclaim for its gallant defense against a tremendous superiority of enemy forces in men and arms. His utter disregard of personal danger under heavy fire and aerial bombardment, his calm judgment in each crisis, inspired his troops, galvanized the spirit of resistance of the Filipino people, and confirmed the faith of the American people in their Armed Forces." Arthur and Douglas MacArthur were the first father and son to be awarded the Medal of Honor. (They remained the only pair until 2001 when Theodore Roosevelt was awarded one posthumously for his service during the Spanish American War. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. had earned one posthumously for his service during World War II). MacArthur's Medal of Honor plaque affixed to MacArthur barracks, USMAMacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA). Australian Prime Minister John Curtin put MacArthur in command of the Australian military, which — following the isolation of the Philippines — was numerically larger than MacArthur's American forces, but to the Australians' chagrin most were deployed thousands of miles away, in North Africa, defending Great Britain in that struggle with the Axis powers. The Allied force under MacArthur's command included a small number of personnel from the Netherlands East Indies and other countries. One of MacArthur's first tasks was to reassure Australians, who feared a Japanese invasion. The fighting at this time was predominantly in and around New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies. On July 20, 1942, SWPA headquarters was moved to Brisbane, Queensland, taking over the AMP Insurance Society building (now MacArthur Central). In August 1942, after requesting a replacement for Brereton, MacArthur was finally given a new and fiercely aggressive air commander, Gen. George C. Kenney. Kenney and MacArthur immediately forged a close relationship. Allied airpower, which had up to this point been timid and inconclusive, was transformed by Kenney into a new and fearsome offensive weapon. Kenney would later develop low-level skip bombing techniques that his aviators would use to repulse a planned Japanese naval invasion of New Guinea in 1943, with thousands of Japanese casualties and dozens of ships sunk. Australian successes at the Battle of Milne Bay and the Kokoda Track campaign came in late 1942, the first victories by Allied land forces anywhere against the Japanese. When it was reported the 32nd U.S. Infantry Division, a poorly trained and ill-equipped National Guard unit, had proved ineffective in the Allied offensive against Buna and Gona, the major Japanese beachheads in northeastern New Guinea, MacArthur told U.S. I Corps commander, Robert L. Eichelberger, to assume direct control of the division: Bob, I'm putting you in command at Buna. Relieve Harding ... I want you to remove all officers who won't fight. Relieve regimental and battalion commanders; if necessary, put sergeants in charge of battalions and corporals in charge of companies ... Bob, I want you to take Buna, or not come back alive ... And that goes for your chief of staff, too. Allied land forces commander, General Thomas Blamey, did not want the 41st U.S. Infantry, another inexperienced unit. National Guard division, to reinforce the Gona assault, and requested 21st Australian Infantry Brigade be sent instead, as "he knew they would fight". This was done but a regiment of the 41st later went to Gona. In March 1943, the Joint Chiefs of Staff approved MacArthur's plan, Operation Cartwheel, which aimed to capture the major Japanese base at Rabaul by taking strategic points to use as forward bases. During 1944 this was modified so as to bypass Rabaul and other heavily-defended Japanese bases, allowing the Japanese forces there to "wither on the vine." Initially, the majority of MacArthur's land forces were Australian, but increasing numbers of U.S. troops arrived in the theater, including Marines, the Sixth Army (Alamo Force), and later the Eighth Army. MacArthur's advancement of land forces westward along the 1,500 mile (2,400 km) northern coast of New Guinea was sequenced specifically for terrain selected on the basis of its ability to be made into landing strips for tactical support aircraft. By advancing in leaps always within the range of his fighter-bombers (typically P-38 Lightnings), he could maintain air superiority over his land operations. This provided critical close air support and also denied the enemy sea and airborne resupply, effectively cutting the Japanese forces off as they were under attack. MacArthur's strategy of maneuver, offensive air-strikes, and force avoidance would eventually pay off: unlike the ground forces in the Central Pacific theater, infantry troops in operations under MacArthur's command consistently suffered fewer casualties. "I have returned" — General MacArthur returns to the Philippines.Allied forces under MacArthur's command, covered by aircraft from Halsey's carriers, landed at Leyte Island on October 20, 1944 — fulfilling MacArthur's vow to return to the Philippines. The carriers were tied up for months providing air support until the rainy season ended (something which critics claim MacArthur doubtless should have foreseen, after living on the islands for a decade). Only then could MacArthur's engineers build airstrips on shore. He consolidated his hold on the archipelago after heavy fighting in the Battle of Luzon and Battle of Manila. Despite a massive Japanese naval counterattack in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Japanese forces were unable to stop the invasion or do more than slow the reconquest of the islands. MacArthur made full use of amphibious and combined operations, while utilizing paratroop, motorized infantry, and even indigenous guerrilla forces for special operations and to multiply his force advantage. With the reconquest of the islands, MacArthur moved his headquarters to Manila, where he announced his plan for the invasion of Japan (Operation Downfall), to commence November 1, 1945. The invasion was pre-empted by Japan's capitulation. On September 2, MacArthur accepted the formal Japanese surrender aboard Missouri, thus ending World War II. Post–World War II Japan Main article: Occupied Japan General MacArthur and Emperor Hirohi to MacArthur was ordered on August 29 to exercise authority through the Japanese government machinery, including Emperor Hirohito. Some believe MacArthur may have made his greatest contribution to history in the next five and a half years, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan (SCAP). However, some historians criticize his work to exonerate Emperor Hirohito and all members of the imperial family implicated in the war (including Princes Chichibu, Asaka, Takeda, Higashikuni and Hiroyasu) from criminal prosecutions. As soon as November 26, 1945, MacArthur confirmed to admiral Mitsumasa Yonai that the emperor's abdication would not be necessary. MacArthur exonerated Hirohito and ignored the advice of many members of the imperial family and Japanese intellectuals who publicly asked for the abdication of the Emperor and the implementation of a regency. For example, Prince Mikasa (Takahito), Hirohito's youngest brother, even stood up in a meeting of the Privy Council, in February 1946, and urged his brother to take responsibility for defeat while the well-known poet Tatsuji Miyoshi wrote an essay in the magazine Shinchô titled "The Emperor should abdicate quickly." According to Bix, "months before the Tokyo tribunal commenced, MacArthur's highest subordinates were working to attribute ultimate responsibility for Pearl Harbor to Hideki Tojo" Citing the debates between Truman, Eisenhower and MacArthur, Bix argues that "immediately on landing in Japan, Bonner Fellers went to work to protect Hirohito from the role he had played during and at the end of the war" and "allowed the major war criminal suspects to coordinate their stories so that the Emperor would be spared from indictment." According to John Dower, "This successful campaign to absolve the Emperor of war responsibility knew no bounds. Hirohito was not merely presented as being innocent of any formal acts that might make him culpable to indictment as a war criminal. He was turned into an almost saintly figure who did not even bear moral responsibility for the war." "With the full support of MacArthur's headquarters, the prosecution functioned, in effect, as a defense team for the emperor." As Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, MacArthur also gave immunity to Shiro Ishii and all members of the bacteriological research units in exchange for germ warfare data based on human experimentation. On May 6, 1947, he wrote to Washington that "additional data, possibly some statements from Ishii probably can be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as "War Crimes" evidence." The deal was concluded in 1948. MacArthur and his GHQ staff helped a devastated Japan rebuild itself, institute a democratic government, and chart a course that made Japan one of the world's leading industrial powers. The U.S. was firmly in control of Japan to oversee its reconstruction, and MacArthur was effectively the interim leader of Japan from 1945 until 1948. In 1946, MacArthur's staff drafted a new constitution that renounced war and reduced the emperor to a figurehead; this constitution remains in use in Japan to this day. He also pushed the Japanese Diet into adopting a decentralization plan to break apart the large Japanese companies (zaibatsu) and foster the first Japanese labor unions. In an address to Congress on April 19, 1951, MacArthur said: “ The Japanese people since the war have undergone the greatest reformation recorded in modern history. With a commendable will, eagerness to learn, and marked capacity to understand, they have from the ashes left in war’s wake erected in Japan an edifice dedicated to the supremacy of individual liberty and personal dignity, and in the ensuing process there has been created a truly representative government committed to the advance of political morality, freedom of economic enterprise, and social justice. ” These reconstruction plans alarmed many in the U.S. Defense and State Departments, believing they conflicted with the prospect of Japan (and its industrial capacity) as a bulwark against the spread of communism in Asia. Some of MacArthur's reforms, such as his labor laws, were rescinded in 1948 when his unilateral control of Japan was ended by the increased involvement of the State Department. MacArthur handed over power to the newly-formed Japanese government in 1949 and remained in Japan until relieved by President Truman on April 11, 1951. Truman replaced SCAP leader MacArthur with General Matthew Ridgway of the U.S. Army. By 1952, Japan was a sovereign nation under the democratic constitution MacArthur had pushed for, which had been in effect since 1947. In late 1945, Allied military commissions in various cities of the Orient tried 4,000 Japanese officers for war crimes. About 3,000 were given prison terms and 920 executed; the charges included the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, and the sack of Manila. The trial in Manila of General Yamashita Tomoyuki, Japanese commander in the Philippines from 1944, was under MacArthur's direction and has been particularly criticized. General Yamashita was hanged for the massacre of Manila which he had not ordered and of which he was probably unaware. The massacre of Manila was ordered by Vice Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi who was nominally subordinate to General Yamashita. Iwabuchi had killed himself as the battle for Manila was ending. Main article: Korean War In 1945, as part of the surrender of Japan, the United States agreed with the Soviet Union to divide the Korean peninsula into two occupation zones at the 38th parallel north. This resulted in the creation of two states: the western-aligned Republic of Korea (ROK) (usually referred to as South Korea), and the Soviet-aligned and Communist Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) (usually referred to as North Korea). After the surprise attack by the DPRK on June 25, 1950 started the Korean War, the United Nations Security Council authorized a United Nations (UN) force to help South Korea. MacArthur, as US theater commander, became commander of the UN forces. In September, despite lingering concerns from superiors, MacArthur's army and marine troops made a daring and successful combined amphibious landing at Incheon, deep behind North Korean lines. Launched with naval and close air support, the daring landing outflanked the North Koreans, forcing them to retreat northward in disarray. UN forces pursued the DPRK forces, eventually approaching the Yalu River border with China. MacArthur boasted: "The war is over. The Chinese are not coming... The Third Division will be back in Fort Benning for Christmas dinner." With the DPRK forces largely destroyed, troops of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) quietly crossed the Yalu River. Chinese foreign minister Zhou Enlai issued warnings via India's foreign minister, Krishna Menon, that an advance to the Yalu would force China into the war. When questioned about this threat by President Truman and Secretary of State Dean Acheson, MacArthur dismissed it completely. MacArthur's staff ignored battlefield evidence that PLA troops had entered North Korea in strength. The Chinese moved through the snowy hills, struck hard, and routed the UN forces, forcing them on a long retreat. Calling the Chinese attack the beginning of "an entirely new war," MacArthur repeatedly requested authorization to strike Chinese bases in Manchuria, inside China. Truman was concerned that such actions would draw the Soviet Union into the conflict and risk nuclear war. President Harry S. Truman's draft order terminating MacArthur as Supreme Commander, Allied Powers, Commander in Chief, Far East; and Commanding General, U.S. Army, Far East.In April 1951, MacArthur's habitual disregard of his superiors led to a crisis. He sent a letter to Representative Joe Martin (R-Massachusetts), the House Minority Leader, disagreeing with President Truman's policy of limiting the Korean war to avoid a larger war with China. He also sent an ultimatum to the Chinese Army which destroyed President Truman's cease-fire efforts. This, and similar letters and statements, were seen by Truman as a violation of the American constitutional principle that military commanders are subordinate to civilian leadership, and usurpation of the President's authority to make foreign policy. MacArthur had ignored this principle out of necessity while Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) in Japan. MacArthur at this time had not been back to the United States for eleven years. By this time President Truman decided MacArthur was insubordinate, and relieved him of command on April 11, 1951, leading to a storm of controversy. MacArthur was succeeded by General Matthew Ridgway, and eventually by General Mark Wayne Clark, who signed the armistice which ended the Korean War. General Ridgway reported directly to MacArthur before replacing him. Ridgway commented on MacArthur's strengths: “ I had the deepest respect for MacArthur's abilities, for his courage and for his tactical brilliance.... I had profound respect for his leadership, his quick mind and his unusual skill at going straight to the main point of any subject and illuminating it so swiftly that the slowest mind could not fail to grasp it. He was, despite any weakness he may have shown, a truly great military man, a great statesman, and a gallant leader. ” But Ridgway also understood his weaknesses: “ ...the hunger for praise that led him on some occasions to claim or accept credit for deeds he had not performed, or to disclaim responsibility for mistakes that were clearly his own; the love of the limelight that continually prompted him to pose before the public as the actual commander on the spot...his tendency to cultivate the isolation that genius seems to require, until it became a sort of insulation...that deprived him of the critical comment and objective appraisals a commander needs...; the headstrong quality...that sometimes led him to persist in a cause in defiance of all logic; [and] a faith in his own judgment that created an aura of infallibility and that finally led him close to insubordination. ” Return to America MacArthur returned to Washington, D.C. (his first time in the continental U.S. in 11 years), where he made his last public appearance in a farewell address to the U.S. Congress, interrupted by thirty ovations. In his closing speech, he recalled: "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away... And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away — an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Good-bye." In 1945, MacArthur gave his Gold Castles engineers' insignia to his chief engineer, Jack Sverdrup. This insignia continues to be worn by the Army's Chief of Engineers as a tradition. On his return from Korea, after his relief by Truman, MacArthur encountered massive public adulation, which aroused expectations that he would run for the presidency as a Republican in the 1952 election. However, a U.S. Senate Committee investigation of his removal (which largely vindicated the actions taken by President Truman), chaired by Democrat Richard Russell, contributed to a marked cooling of the public mood, and hopes for a MacArthur presidential run died away. MacArthur, in Reminiscences, repeatedly stated he had no political aspirations. == 1952 to death == In the 1952 Republican presidential nomination contest, MacArthur was not a candidate and instead endorsed Senator Robert Taft of Ohio; rumors were rife Taft offered the vice presidential nomination to MacArthur. Taft did persuade MacArthur to be the keynote speaker at the 1952 Republican National Convention. The speech was not well received. Taft lost the nomination to Eisenhower; MacArthur was silent during the campaign, which Eisenhower won by a landslide. Once elected, Eisenhower consulted with MacArthur and adopted his suggestion of threatening the use of nuclear weapons to end the war. In 1956, Congressman Joseph William Martin, Jr. introduced a proposal to elevate MacArthur to six star rank. This caused problems for President Eisenhower, and the issue died in the Senate. MacArthur became head of Remington Rand Corporation and spent the remainder of his life in New York. MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk MacArthur's grave at the MacArthur MemorialMacArthur and his second wife, Jean Marie Faircloth MacArthur, spent the last years of their life together in the penthouse of the Waldorf Towers (a part of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel), a gift from Conrad Hilton, the owner of the hotel. The Waldorf became the setting for an annual birthday party on January 26, thrown by the general's former deputy chief engineer, Major General Leif J. Sverdrup. At the 1960 celebration for MacArthur's 80th, many of his friends were startled by the general's obviously deteriorating health; the next day he collapsed and was rushed into surgery at St. Luke's Hospital to control a severely swollen prostate. After his recovery, MacArthur methodically began to carry out the closing act of his life. He visited the White House for a final reunion with Eisenhower. In 1961, he made a "sentimental journey" to the Philippines, where he was decorated by President Carlos P. Garcia with the Philippine Legion of Honor, rank of Chief Commander. MacArthur also accepted a $900,000 advance from Henry Luce for the rights to his memoirs, and began writing the volume that would eventually be published as Reminiscences. President John F. Kennedy solicited MacArthur's counsel in 1961. The first of two meetings was shortly after the Bay of Pigs Invasion. MacArthur was extremely critical of the Pentagon and its military advice to Kennedy. MacArthur also cautioned the young President to avoid a U.S. military build-up in Vietnam, pointing out domestic problems should be given a much greater priority. Shortly before his death, he gave similar advice to the new President, Lyndon Johnson. In 1962, West Point honored the increasingly frail MacArthur with the Sylvanus Thayer Award, an award for outstanding service to the nation; the year before, the award had gone to Eisenhower. MacArthur's speech to the cadets in accepting the award had as its theme Duty, Honor, Country: The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished, tone and tint. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen vainly, but with thirsty ears, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll. In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield. But in the evening of my memory, always I come back to West Point. Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country. Today marks my final roll call with you, but I want you to know that when I cross the river my last conscious thoughts will be of The Corps, and The Corps, and The Corps. I bid you farewell." MacArthur spent the last years of his life finishing his memoirs; he died on April 5, 1964, of biliary cirrhosis, before their publication in book form - they had begun to appear in serialized form in Life Magazine in the months just prior to his death. After he died, his wife Jean continued to live in the Waldorf Towers penthouse until her own death. The couple are entombed together in downtown Norfolk, Virginia; their burial site is in the rotunda of a museum (formerly the Norfolk City Hall) dedicated to his memory, and there is a shopping mall (MacArthur Center) named for him across the street from the memorial. General MacArthur chose to be buried in Norfolk because of his mother.

Maynard James Keenan fronts Tool, the only multi-platinum art-metal band whose members even its fans would have trouble picking out of a lineup. Since its 1990 debut, the Los Angeles quartet has intentionally shunned the media spotlight, preferring instead to let its dense, hyper-ambitious albums—including the recent 10,000 Days, whose brain-bending artwork features a built-in stereoscopic viewer—tell their own story. Understandably, the anti-image campaign has led to rumors, misinformation, and a biography that listeners have embraced as open-source code, and Keenan couldn't be happier about it. But there's more to the 42-year-old singer than his enigmatic stage presence: He's also a pundit, a father, a winemaker, a former Army cadet, and an underappreciated funnyman with a Mr. Show cameo under his jiu-jitsu belt. On the eve of Tool's fall European tour, Keenan let The A.V. Club see a little of each. The A.V. Club: The last press campaign you did focused as much on your political views as on the music. Given how outspoken you are, why don't you do more interviews? Maynard James Keenan: Because I'm not an educated man. I only know what I'm told, and I'm not told that much; I have no frame of reference for how to place things in history [that would let me] be a responsible leader. All I can do is be an artist, and basically waffle on about my feelings—which helps people, you know, get through a root canal, but it doesn't really help them deal with political stuff. All I can do is say I smell a rat. I don't know where it is or what kind of rat it is, but as an artist, I can express how [I feel about it]. But I couldn't responsibly stand up and tell people which way to go, because then I'm just as guilty as the people who are telling everybody else what to do and where to go. AVC: Given how many records Tool sells, do you feel your message just gets diluted anyway? MJK: Oh, it's going to get diluted. I tested the water with the political album A Perfect Circle did. [Until 2005, Keenan was pulling double-duty in A Perfect Circle; the political album was 2004's covers EP eMOTIVe. —ed.] I didn't even write those songs; I was just letting people hear what was said before me, the things that inspired me as a child, and things that were said during various turbulent times. And I was fucking crucified. If you go back and listen to that album and just forget that it's covers, it's a good album, but I was crucified because of its content, because there's an army of little fucking brats out there just going into every little chat room, talking shit and undermining anybody who has anything to say. It's like this insane, 1984/Big Brother infrastructure. AVC: Do you purposely keep what you sing about in Tool more cryptic for that reason? MJK: Yeah, because I think it's more important just to inspire people to wake up one day and pick up a book and start feeling it out for themselves. You can't tell them to read the book. You've just got to do this thing and emote in a certain way, and maybe bring up something now and then that they may get. It's just like being in a martial-arts class, where you're clipping along, you've been doing this damn thing for 10 years, and all of a sudden, one day, something clicks. And as soon as you get it, and you get that feeling in your body and that look on your face, you look over and your sensei is looking at you, nodding, going, "You got it right." You know, and then you move on. But until you get it yourself, you're just not going to get it. AVC: On the tour behind 2001's Lateralus, you used the idea "Go get out there and do something positive, create something…" as a sort of onstage rallying cry. You don't seem quite so positive these days. Why the change? MJK: Well, I think [the situation in America] is going to have to come to a head, because it's gone so far, and the people that have been duped are embarrassed, but they're not going to do anything about it. They're going to toe the line just to see if it pans out in their direction so they can say, "See, I was right." It really is imploding; it's getting nuts everywhere—and it's this crazy nationwide, if not global, push for this polarizing religious fanaticism that's just infecting everything. One of the Baldwin brothers is now preaching? Jesus fucking Christ. AVC: And there's Kirk Cameron from Growing Pains, who runs a ministry. MJK: That's what I mean. Whether they're serious or not, it's difficult to say—but it's the kind of thing that only ends in bloodshed. You know what I mean? It's so polarized that there is no gray area, and it comes down to a religious war. AVC: So you're looking forward to getting out of the country on this next tour? MJK: No, because it's probably going to be worse for me over there. I don't know what the solution is, other than just hoping that we can weather the storm, and then looking to places like Europe, post-World War I and II, where the communities that survived are the ones that were already surviving: They had their own little localized economy and farmers and trade, just to get through the winter. They're the ones that survived, and have survived, and will survive. So that's kind of the positive. [Laughs.] That's my silver lining in the cloud: starting a wine community in Arizona, hoping that the United States [will go] through an entire saturation of winemaking, and then level out to where it ends up being a cottage industry and people are just surviving locally, no matter what happens with the clowns running things. AVC: You have a reputation for being reclusive and elliptical, even to people who are close to you. Do you think you're difficult to work with? MJK: No, not at all. We just don't suffer fools lightly. You know, we're artists, and we really work hard at what we do, and we just assume that when we go to talk to a journalist, they're as passionate about their art as we are about ours. And then you end up talking to this buffoon who has no business managing a Starbucks. [Laughs.] So we just got into this funk right away, doing interviews—we were like, "You know what? Fuck this. I'm not doing this shit." We'd just go out and do what we do, and the people would come one by one and then tell a friend, and they'd tell a friend, and they'd start coming out and seeing what we're about. Eventually, that may catch up to where we have people showing up knowing what we're about, and knowing that this is a conversation between two humans who are passionate about what they do. When that happens, then I'm willing to talk to the guy. AVC: Do you feel out of touch with your audience? MJK: For the most part, I have no idea who those people are—especially when we're traveling through Europe. And it's not all our fault; it's a whole series of events. [You play] heavy music, and your record company, which has never owned an album anything like what you're doing, immediately markets you to the obvious stinky kid with the dreadlocks and the B.O. and the urine on his shoes because he's been sleeping in his own filth in a festival in the middle of the rain. They basically market right to that guy. And then you realize the only people showing up to your shows are those primates—these weird, cretin people… Then, let's say you're at a coffee shop, and you've got a friend sitting next to you, and you've been reading some Noam Chomsky, or you're reading The Onion, and you look over and see a bunch of kids [who] look like they could be made of cheese, because there are flies everywhere. And you go, "Hey, you want to go where they're going?" and everybody goes, "Fuck no." And they're wearing Tool shirts. Why would you want to go there? Why would anybody other than those kids wanna go see Tool if that's our representative in that area? So it ends up being a no-win situation. Of course, that's a completely extreme example. AVC: Well, it is, but Tool exploded into the mainstream during the nü-metal era. Unlike Korn and Limp Bizkit, though, you're still vital. Why do you think that is? MJK: We've stayed vital among people who got it. But in the areas of the world that weren't exposed to it, it's kind of weird to go back to those places. AVC: It's still a feat to have a record that debuts at No. 1, in spite of its really long, difficult, challenging songs. MJK: Oh yeah, absolutely. Believe me, I'm absolutely delighted; I'm absolutely surprised and grateful that there's a lot of people out there that get what's going on. But you know, I'm the negative-Nancy, curmudgeon, glass-half-empty-with-a-leak-in-it guy—which is basically the fuel that fires me up anyway. Without that, we wouldn't have me. AVC: Is Tool still challenging for you? MJK: Absolutely, because the challenge for us has always been to find that space where we all meet in the middle. When you're in a rehearsal space, like the one we've been in since day one, in 1990, [you think], "Okay, yeah, I want—I'd love to go this way…" But you can't even let that enter your mind; you've just got to listen to what's happening and then react to what's happening from everybody. And whatever that result is, that's what ends up making it on the album. And in that way, since we're all four completely different individuals who are also growing in completely different ways [and] experiencing different things, that middle spot is going to be moving every time we get together. So in theory, the results should be different every time. AVC: Looking back, Tool has gone out with Tomahawk, Meshuggah, Isis, Mastodon—that's a pretty forward-thinking lineup of opening acts over the years. Do you think you've had a hand in expanding people's consciousness in that way, as well? MJK: In a way, yeah. Over the years, we've taken out people that we liked, and as time goes on, of course, all of our musical tastes have gone in different directions. Now we've kind of got it down to where as long as two guys vote for it, we'll take that one. [Laughs.] Don't get me wrong: I like Isis and Mastodon, but I would much prefer to take out Peaches or Autolux or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; just something that's out of the ordinary, but it's not heavier or darker than Tool. But that's the beauty of our band: We're all such diverse thinkers. So now I get to tour with Mastodon and Isis, and I would have never made that decision. It's great for me, 'cause now I've been exposed to music that I wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to. AVC: You cited Meshuggah as an inspiration for 10,000 Days—it's definitely there in the sort of rhythmically dense, deceptively complex, almost modal nature of the songs. MJK: I'm a Meshuggah fan, but I'm not that much of a Meshuggah fan. You know, I grew up listening to Joni Mitchell. The melody is what I gravitate to—and it's my job to listen to what's happening when those guys go down these staccato, rhythmic, insane mathematical paths. It's my job to soften it and bring it back to the center, so you can listen to it without having an eye-ache. [Laughs.] AVC: You're the human element. MJK: Not the human element—I'm more the unpredictable, irrational, emotional element. AVC: Do you ever jump online to read fans' interpretations of your songs? MJK: Oh, God, no. AVC: It's amazing, the depth that people go into. The general idea seems to be that you're gradually revealing clues with each new album. MJK: Isn't that great? They're playing it backwards, and they're like, "You've got to get a Slurpee, but only half-full, and when you're drinking the Slurpee, right at that last slurp, the rhythm of the slurp coincides with…" My God. Are you kidding me? AVC: Some people think there are three tracks on 10,000 Days that supposedly form one hidden track that's the key to the whole album. It's as if people want to believe there's going to be some ultimate aesthetic payoff. MJK: [Laughs.] We can barely decide whether we're going to do a baseball cap or a beanie. You know what I mean? Now, granted, if you subscribe to the whole spiritual, energetic level, when you get into that weird, meditative state… I'm trying to think of the word… Sufis? I don't remember—the whirling dervishes. When you get into that weird state, at some point, your body clicks out, and you have a weird out-of-body experience, and so you can tap into those things unconsciously. So if people are reading into those kind of things that basically had nothing to do with us, that are just us clicking in a moment and being true to that whirling-dervish process of emoting with each other, some of that stuff just might naturally, accidentally come out. But it's not in any way a product of our design. AVC: You were what, 25 when this band started? MJK: Good God. Yeah, I think it was: 25, 26. AVC: At that age, it'd be hard to believe that you or anyone would have this grand scheme you're planning to reveal all these albums later. MJK: [Laughs.] Not at all. AVC: Where the press is concerned, you're known for being controlling of your public image. Does it bother you when fans do weird things with the band's identity? MJK: I'm sure we're still victims of our own initial concepts, but initially, because we knew that we were going to be emerging in the wake of Nirvana and getting lost in the shuffle, we wanted to make sure that whatever that first impression [people had] of us was a lasting one. So we whispered instead of yelled; we said no instead of yes—and that worked for us in the beginning. And I think that initial impression was good for us, because you ended up seeing the things we wanted you to see, not something somebody else wanted you to see about us. Of course, the downside is that you have an equal amount of people that called themselves journalists who were denied access and are still bitching about it, saying that we're difficult and hard to reach. [In reality], they didn't do their homework, and we basically shut them down. AVC: You don't print lyrics, but you make them available online. Why not simply make them part of the package, like your artwork? MJK: Reading is more of a left-brain process, and listening to music is a right-brain function. And the right-brain function is far more emotional and has softer edges, so when you first hear the album, you should hear it and feel it. When you start "reading" it, then you're thinking it, and you rob yourself of that initial impression of how the sounds affect you. [Laughs.] I'm going to burn some sage right now—I'm about to burn some incense for this conversation. But seriously, I believe that when you go into a gallery or a museum, the most powerful pieces are the ones that don't have the words in the corner that distract you from the larger piece. You know, if the Mona Lisa had "Eat At Joe's" in the corner, that's all you would remember. AVC: The packaging for 10,000 Days really is remarkable—what sort of negotiating did you have to do with the label to allow it? MJK: We had to look at the record company and show them, "See, this is what we make when we tour. This is what we make on album sales. We don't need to make albums. You want us to make an album, dinosaur? How's that tar pit doing for you?" If they want to survive into the next millennium, they have to figure out a way, but we get to have fun with our album artwork, because they understand that it's something they have to do to be relevant in this new world order. AVC: What's in your wine glass in the album's artwork? MJK: It's a 1963 Burmester port. AVC: When did your love affair with wine begin? MJK: I think it was meant to be. I'll backtrack in a second, to give you the history that led me up to planting my first vine, but [after] I planted my first vine, I was at a Thanksgiving dinner with some relatives, and they relayed to me that my great uncle on my father's side, and my father's grandparents, had or have vineyards in what was northern Italy, which became southeast France. But they made wine: Italian guys, northern Italy, making wine, and I had no idea. So, I thought that was kind of synchronous—you know, here I am, finding my way back onto the proper path, having skipped a generation. But, yeah, I think just being a small-town guy on the road, all of a sudden you're watching your accountants and agents and managers walking around with these glasses of red juice that look pretty appealing, and they're oohing and aahing over it while you're, like, stuck with a bag of chips, sniffing your fucking bandmate's ass and feet all the way to fucking Boise. And you're going, "What the fuck's in that glass, and who paid for that?" And, of course, I did. So we just started taking their bottle when they weren't looking, and I was indulging a bit and realized, "Hey, there's something to this." As time went on, I discovered more, and had that kind of epiphany when you actually have that one bottle with the right meal that really makes sense. And then I headed off into my decadent wine-collecting stage, which segued into me looking outside my door in Arizona and looking at the land, going, "Man, this is definitely vineyard property; this could happen." So we started breaking soil. AVC: To most people, Arizona wouldn't seem like wine country. MJK: Oh, it's great—we're up about 5,000 feet, 4,000 feet in some spots, and Dick Erath, the guy who pretty much pioneered pinot noir in Oregon, sold his winery and his label just recently and bought land next to some land that I'm buying down in the Wilcox area, in Arizona. So he sees what I see in Arizona, that there's potential for amazing, intense, sun-driven wine. AVC: So there are very few of you making wine up there? MJK: Very few, and we're up against a teetotaling Republican community perception of what this is all about. So there are lots of hurdles—but I think we'll be able to navigate them, because at the end of the day, it's going to foster exactly what these people are claiming to want to foster, which is family values, small community, self-sufficient farmers surviving. AVC: If anything, it'd seem to lend a good name to the area. It's not like you're making bathtub gin. MJK: Oh, yeah, definitely. That's the thing—if we can make this work, then it's not just busloads of blue-haired geriatrics on a budget [visiting] there to buy a rubber tomahawk and a glass of tea. It's going to be people that want to come through and do a bed and breakfast, buy some local wine and go to a nice restaurant, which there are very few of. But as time goes on, there'll be more competition, and therefore better chefs, better restaurants, people trying a little harder. AVC: How did you end up in Arizona? MJK: Kind of by accident. I had a dream where I was supposed to be in this place and I had never seen it; it looked like it might be Arizona, but it didn't look like any of the places I had been there: Phoenix or Flagstaff, neither of which I had any interest in living in. Tim Alexander, the drummer for Primus, used to live in the town that I live in now, Jerome, and he said, "Let's go check out this town; let me show you what it's all about." So I went up there with him and realized, "Oh, this is my dream; this is what I was seeing." Who knows—it could've been that the places I had driven through in Tuscany on tour had at some point stuck in my mind. You know, some rolling hills in southern France or something. But it came out in that dream. So I went, changed my license over, and bought a house. AVC: Do you have a favorite so far of the wines you've released through your winery, Caduceus? MJK: I've only released three so far. There's the classic cabernet, which I think is going to be one of my high-end wines. It's a long, long-aging wine that you can lay down; it's definitely an investment, but it's not my favorite. There's the [Nagual de La] NAGA, which is a super Tuscan-style blend, a Sangiovese cabernet; lots of fruit, cherries—a real Brunello di Montalcino-style of wine, which I really like. But the one that's my favorite is kind of an experiment: I took some Shiraz-style Syrah, added just a touch of Malvasia, which is an Italian, white varietal, to it, and it gave it this really approachable nose; you smell it, and it's all these flowers and honey, but then you drink it, and it's like a big Shiraz. So it's a nice introduction to wines, because you can just sit down and have a glass of this, and you don't really have to understand it. It just presents itself to you. But it's not deceiving: Like Yellowtail Shiraz, you get that at the grocery store, and it's basically not even grape juice; it just tastes like wood juice. It's seductive, but it's not really wine. But the Premier Paso, the Shiraz-Malvasia blend, is one of those wines that, if you get a bottle, you're either going to be a fan of wine, or you're not. AVC: Are you worried about the stigma attached to "celebrity wines"? MJK: It's going to happen—there's nothing I can do to avoid it. But the one difference that I can see so far, having to prepare for that battle, is that they're not making the wines; they have somebody doing it. I'm making the wines. I'm on tour right now, so I can't be around nearly as much as I'd like, but as soon as I get off break… I mean, I came back from a U.S. tour on [Oct.] 7th, and on the 9th, I was up crushing grapes at 6 a.m. I missed a good portion of the crush throughout September, but I was there for what I could be there for. AVC: You're also a partner in a restaurant. MJK: Yeah, in L.A.—Cobras & Matadors. AVC: How do you stay focused on all these major ventures at once? MJK: I think of it as planning for the future. I have the energy for it now, and when I don't have the energy for it, I'll back off on what I need to back off on. Right now, I'm doing okay juggling, but yeah, it's definitely something you have to pay attention to. With all the little irons in the fire, some of them fly, some of them don't, but the only way any of them are going to fly is if you're passionate about them and you actually get involved in them and do them. Some people are okay with just putting their name on something and letting it sell. But the proof is in the pudding—especially with wine. They can talk all they want, but if you drink—you open a bottle, and you know. AVC: Any celebrity wines you recommend? Supposedly Francis Ford Coppola's line is worth trying. MJK: Oh, yeah—the Coppola wines are actually pretty good. I haven't had anything this year, but what I remember having, it actually was relevant. I would avoid at all costs anything resembling Vince Neil's wine… AVC: Vince Neil has a wine? MJK: Oh, good God—you can't even get near the glass. You pour it, and you're like, "Oh, my fucking God—are there pickles in here?" AVC: You've studied martial arts under Rickson Gracie, who's widely considered one of the greatest practitioners of jiu-jitsu on the planet. What has that training taught you about yourself, your strengths and abilities? MJK: It's definitely a humbling experience. You realize that, when you're a guy my size, you're going to get your ass kicked no matter what. [Laughs.] I have some skills that I can use, but I'm just a small guy—and it really taught me that when it comes to males and their testosterone levels, and what happens in a situation where those testosterone levels are elevated, there's no amount of reasoning and discipline in the world that can take a middle-skilled or lower-skilled guy and make him realize that it's not okay to hurt somebody. It's kind of like the Stanford Prison Experiment mentality—when it gets to a certain point, it's just pit bulls fighting. I learned that the hard way: You're in there just trying to train, trying to learn, trying to develop your thing, and then all of a sudden, there's this 190-pound guy who just cannot control himself; he does not realize that every day, he bench-presses 300 pounds, and I only weigh 150, dude. So when you push on me, you've got to remember that. They don't remember that. AVC: So do you teach him a lesson? MJK: Well, I mean, if I can—if I'm fast enough, yeah. And that's the beauty of jiu-jitsu: If I am fast enough and I am skilled enough, yes, I can teach him a lesson. Generally? No. [Laughs.] AVC: There's a Tool concert clip floating around on YouTube where you appear to choke a fan who runs onstage to embrace you. Was that for real? MJK: Yeah, that was a gig where some dickhead got onstage—and it had already been one of those nights where, you know, a lot of things went wrong, and people were testing my patience, and then some kid got on my stage. Sorry! AVC: Given how little press you do, fans mostly just have these weird, disconnected snapshots of you: Maynard choking a fan; Maynard onstage in kabuki drag; Maynard performing as an evangelical preacher. Is the real Maynard somewhere between all these? You can break out the incense again if you want… MJK: I'm just going to get in the lotus position for this one—got a little New Age crystal enema going here… Mmm. [Laughs.] But it's all slices—I mean, who the fuck is Christian Bale, really? Does it matter? I think in order for us to be entertainers—and let's face it: We're entertainers; we're not philosophers in any way—we're just basically clowns. That's what we are. So you dress up like a clown, and it makes it easier to be a clown. It allows you to express yourself freely, to step out of your own body and just have fun with the character. Hopefully, somebody gets something out of it. I know I get something out of it. I have fun. AVC: That's a side of you not many people see: You're actually really funny. For instance, you named your winery after an ancient symbol for healing, but your vineyards, Merkin, are named for a pubic wig. MJK: [Laughs.] It's about time somebody fuckin' got that! Jesus Christ, I thought I was alone out here. AVC: Even in Tool, there's always been this contrast between the really dark, serious music and these song titles that are completely ridiculous. MJK: Yeah, you know—talking about adolescent anal rape by a family member while I'm wearing a fucking Bozo The Clown wig with kabuki makeup: "Are those real tits? Did he get real tits put on?" AVC: Do you wish more people paid attention to that humorous aspect of what you do? MJK: No. I mean, it might be interesting to know that I was involved in comedy: I was on a couple of episodes of Mr. Show. I was friends with Bill Hicks—we were going to do a tour together before he died. Once again, it's just an element of discovery. It's not my job to educate you about all this stuff. You either get it or you don't. If you read up, and you're a person who has enough of a knowledge base and a frame of reference, then you're probably going to get some of the jokes. In the big picture, it doesn't really matter; there's plenty of jokes and humor out there for other people. My big thing is, for Christmas, I always buy people subscriptions to The Onion—that's my big present every year. And for the most part, my friends get it. But I love having that newspaper sitting out in places where somebody picks it up and doesn't know what it is, and just starts to get fucking pissed off: "How can they say this?!" In a similar way, I'm not sure if you've ever heard The Phil Hendrie Show here in L.A., but that's the most entertaining two hours of driving you'll ever have, just listening to people get worked up: "You can't say Thomas Jefferson was a rapist! You can't teach that in school!" "Yes, I have to teach the kids; it's the truth…" [Laughs.] People just freaking the fuck out. AVC: You originally moved to L.A. to start Tool—what drew you to the city? MJK: I was working in pet stores on the East Coast, in Cambridge, [Mass.], and I just decided that I was sick of the cold weather up there, and that horrible drizzle that just continues on into August. So I ended up hooking up with somebody out here who had a line on some pet stores that I could get into and do my thing. I did a lot of interior work—rearranging and organizing stuff in the stores; I did layouts and that kind of stuff. So I moved out here to do that, and of course, I got fired right away. So I started working on sets, and, you know, when I first moved out here, I had met Adam [Jones, Tool guitarist] and some people, and they heard me singing on some old demo that I had done way back in college, and they wanted to start a band, but I was reluctant. I kind of wanted to do it to prove a point, but I also ended up saying yes to it just because, you know, I wanted to fucking shout; I just wanted to let it out, all the frustration of having been fired, and I lost my apartment, my dog got run over, my girlfriend left, car got repoed—you know, all that shit like within the space of a month or two. So I was ready to scream. Ready to "emote." AVC: You moved around a lot as a kid. Do you feel like your quest for discipline—your stint in the Army, the spatial-design work you did in school, the martial-arts training, the interest in philosophy—stems from a desire to plant roots somewhere? MJK: Yeah, I think it might be, and I think that's what I've found in Arizona. I finally got up there, got into the traffic, met some people who, as right-wing as they are, are still more grounded than anybody you meet at a fucking opening in L.A. And so it's a little refreshing—although, you know, you'd like to think they would be okay with your brother's gay marriage. But, other than that, it's… I kind of refer to Arizona as the evil anti-California. You know how there'll be these superheroes whose egos got split in half, and they're kind of fighting each other, but they're actually mirror images of each other and completely integral? That's basically Arizona and California. AVC: You're a dad, and your son, obviously, is growing up in very different circumstances from you. What sort of values do you want to pass down to him? MJK: I think it's really important for people who have some kind of access to this industry, or some kind of success, to understand that this is not the real world. If you really want your children to grow up in a stable environment that's going to foster actual skills that will translate globally, you can't do it here. Either that, or you have to put them in a situation where they're going to grow up in a different way. AVC: When you say "here," you're talking about L.A.? MJK: Yeah, L.A.—it's just a bad place. It's the kind of place that fosters drug-addicted kids by the time they're 17. There's just too much ego stimulus here at too early an age, and all of a sudden, that novelty wears off a little, and the attention they get—you know, because attention is not recognition; attention is attention—starts to wear off when they get into those early teens, so they start turning to another stimulus. And pretty soon, they're fucked-up. [Laughs.] You know, not everybody can bounce back like Drew Barrymore.

46 F3d 803 United States v. Vertac Chemical Corporation Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology 46 F.3d 803 40 ERC 1001, 63 USLW 2483, 25 Envtl. L. Rep. 20,491 UNITED STATES of America,* Plaintiff-Appellee, VERTAC CHEMICAL CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant. Hercules, Incorporated; Uniroyal Chemical, Limited; Defendants. Standard Chlorine of Delaware, Inc., Third Party-Defendant. ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF POLLUTION CONTROL AND ECOLOGY, Plaintiff, VERTAC CHEMICAL CORPORATION; Defendant-Appellant. Hercules, Incorporated, Defendant. Nos. 94-1946, 94-1956, 94-1960, and 94-2006. United States Court of Appeals, Submitted Nov. 14, 1994. Decided Jan. 31, 1995. Scott Slaughter, Washington, DC, argued (Steve A. Weaver, Charles Moulton, Robert R. Ross, and Timothy Dudley, on the brief), for Vertac in 94-1946. W. Gordon Hamlin, Jr., Atlanta, GA, argued (E.A. Simpson, Jr., V. Robert Denham, Jr., LeAnn Jones, Ronald A. May and Charles L. Schlumberger, on the brief), for Hercules in 94-1956. Steven W. Quattlebaum, Little Rock, AK, argued (Susan H. Shumway, on the brief), for Uniroyal Chemical in 94-1960. Charles L. Moulton, Little Rock, AK, argued, for Arkansas Dept. of Pollution Control and Ecology in 94-2006. Vicki L. Plaut, Washington, DC, argued (Myles E. Flint, Paula J. Casey, A. Doug Chavis, John A. Bryson, John A. Sheehan, and Michael J. Cianci, Jr., on the brief), for appellee. Before McMILLIAN, WOLLMAN and HANSEN, Circuit Judges. McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge. Vertac Chemical Corp. (Vertac), the Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology (ADPCE), Hercules, Inc. (Hercules), and Uniroyal Chemical, Ltd. (Uniroyal) (collectively appellants), appeal from an interlocutory order entered in the United States District Court1 for the Eastern District of Arkansas denying their motions for summary judgment and granting a cross-motion for summary judgment brought by the United States of America. United States v. Vertac Chem. Corp., 841 F.Supp. 884 (E.D.Ark.1993) (Vertac ). For reversal, appellants argue that the district court erred in holding that the undisputed facts establish as a matter of law that the United States cannot be held liable as either an operator or an arranger within the meaning of Sec. 107(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 9607(a). Hercules additionally argues that the district court erred in holding that it is not entitled to immunity under Sec. 707 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA), 50 U.S.C. app. Sec. 2157, or implied indemnity from the United States. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the order of the district court.Background This case began as a cost recovery action brought by the United States under CERCLA against numerous potentially responsible persons associated with a former herbicide manufacturing facility located in Jacksonville, Arkansas (the Jacksonville facility). The present appeal arises from motions for summary judgment filed by Vertac, ADPCE, and Hercules, and a cross-motion for summary judgment filed by the United States. By memorandum opinion and order dated October 12, 1993, the district court granted the United States' motion and denied the motions brought by Vertac, ADPCE, and Hercules. Vertac, 841 F.Supp. 884. This appeal followed.2 The following summary of facts is largely taken from the district court's statement of undisputed facts.3 See id. at 886-88. During the late 1950s, Reasor-Hill Corp. owned and operated the Jacksonville facility, where it manufactured, among other things, chemical herbicides known as 2,4-D4 and 2,4,5-T.5 In December of 1961, Hercules purchased the Jacksonville facility from Reasor-Hill. In 1964, in response to contract solicitation proposals published by the United States, Hercules submitted and won competitive bids to supply the United States with an herbicide known as Agent Orange, to be used as a defoliant in Vietnam. Hercules began producing Agent Orange, a mixture of the butyl esters of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, at the Jacksonville facility. From 1964 through 1968, Hercules produced and supplied Agent Orange to the Department of Defense (DOD) under rated contracts or orders and directives issued pursuant to the DPA, 50 U.S.C. app. Sec. 2061 et seq. The DPA provides, among other things, that the President has authority to designate a contract or order as a "rated order" which shall take priority over the performance of any other contract or order, on grounds that it is deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense. Rated orders may also require the suppliers of a government contractor to give the government contractor similar priority. A "directive" is an official action taken by the Department of Commerce (DOC) under its regulations. It requires a person to take an action or to refrain from taking an action and may take precedence over a rated or unrated contract, to the extent stated in the directive. The rated orders and directives issued to Hercules were subject to rules promulgated by the Business and Defense Services Administration, a unit of DOC. The rated contracts contained standardized government contract terms and conditions. The contract specifications, which governed matters such as physical properties of the product, packaging, labeling, and quality control, were mainly developed by the United States Army. Hercules and other manufacturers were allowed some input regarding the contract specifications. While DOD allowed Hercules limited opportunities to negotiate and modify the terms of the contract specifications, the specifications remained substantially dictated by DOD. The rated contracts also subjected Hercules to the terms of the Walsh-Healey Act, 41 U.S.C. Sec. 35. Under the Walsh-Healey Act, Hercules was required to meet certain health and safety standards. Regulations under the Walsh-Healey Act gave the Department of Labor authority to conduct random inspections at the Jacksonville facility, which it did on two occasions during the period Hercules was producing Agent Orange. In 1967, the United States issued a directive ordering Hercules to accelerate its production and delivery of Agent Orange. As a result, Hercules devoted all of its efforts at the Jacksonville facility to producing Agent Orange. When Hercules was still unable to meet the United States' production demands, it contracted for the foreign importation of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D. The government facilitated this importation by waiving import duties, pursuant to 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2383, which provided for duty-free treatment of emergency war materials purchased abroad. None of the raw materials used by Hercules for the production of Agent Orange was ever owned or directly supplied by the United States. The United States did, however, issue directives to Hooker Chemical (Hooker), to ensure Hooker's supply of tetrachlorobenzene (TCB) to Hercules and other producers of Agent Orange. The United States also did not hold any financial ownership interest in the land, buildings, tools, machinery, or equipment used by Hercules during the time Hercules was producing Agent Orange. In fact, Hercules protected certain aspects of its Agent Orange production process as proprietary information. No representative of the United States ever hired, fired, disciplined, managed, or trained any Hercules personnel who worked on the production of Agent Orange. The United States knew or should have known that the production of Agent Orange produced wastes. Some of the wastes generated by the production of 2,4,5-T contained hazardous substances, including dioxin. The rated contracts between Hercules and the United States did not address the manner in which Hercules was to handle wastes generated by the production of Agent Orange. Hercules chose to bury wastes generated by the production of 2,4,5-T on-site, which had been its practice before it began producing Agent Orange for the United States. Hercules chose to bury the wastes without consulting representatives of DOD or DOC. The United States did not take part in designing, performing, or supervising activities related to the handling, treatment, or disposal of wastes while Hercules owned and operated the Jacksonville facility. Hercules profited from its sales of Agent Orange to the United States under the rated contracts. After Hercules stopped supplying Agent Orange to the United States, it continued to produce and sell to commercial customers other products manufactured with the use of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. We review a grant of summary judgment de novo. The question before the district court, and this court on appeal, is whether the record, when viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, shows that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); see, e.g., Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510-11, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Get Away Club, Inc. v. Coleman, 969 F.2d 664, 666 (8th Cir.1992); St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. FDIC, 968 F.2d 695, 699 (8th Cir.1992). Where the unresolved issues are primarily legal rather than factual, summary judgment is particularly appropriate. Crain v. Board of Police Comm'rs, 920 F.2d 1402, 1405-06 (8th Cir.1990). In the present case, the district court held as a matter of law that, under the undisputed facts of the case, the United States cannot be held liable as either an operator or an arranger under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 9607(a)(2) and Sec. 9607(a)(3). Vertac, 841 F.Supp. at 890. The district court also held as a matter of law that Hercules is not entitled to immunity under the DPA or implied indemnity from the United States. Id. at 891. We agree. Under CERCLA, there are four classes of responsible persons who may be held liable for response costs incurred by the United States or another person. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 9607(a). One class includes persons who operated a facility at the time hazardous substances were disposed of at the facility. Id. Sec. 9607(a)(2) (owners and operators of facility at time of disposal). This court recently addressed the legal standards for determining an individual's operator liability under Sec. 9607(a)(2) in United States v. Gurley, 43 F.3d 1188 (8th Cir.1994) (Gurley ). We determined under the facts of that case that an individual's actual exercise of control over the waste disposal activities conducted at a dump site resulted in personal liability under CERCLA. Id., 43 F.3d at 1192-95. In the present case, we consider the legal standards for determining the government's operator liability under Sec. 9607(a)(2), which we view as similar to corporate liability. As noted in Gurley, 43 F.3d at 1192-93, the statute itself does not provide much guidance; it simply imposes liability upon "any person who at the time of disposal of any hazardous substance owned or operated any facility at which such hazardous substances were disposed of." 42 U.S.C. Sec. 9607(a)(2). The Third Circuit, however, recently addressed this precise issue and held that the United States was an operator under CERCLA in a case involving similar, but not identical, facts to those of the present case. FMC Corp. v. United States Dep't of Commerce, 29 F.3d 833 (3d Cir.1994) (en banc) (FMC ).6 Upon review, we agree with the Third Circuit's conclusion that operator liability may result from actual or substantial control exercised by one entity over the activities of another. Id. at 843-45. Determining whether an entity has exerted such actual or substantial control requires a fact-intensive inquiry and consideration of the totality of circumstances. Id. at 845. In the present case, we hold that the United States cannot be held liable as an operator under CERCLA because it did not exercise actual or substantial control over the operations at the Jacksonville facility. In FMC, the Environmental Protection Agency brought a CERCLA action against potentially responsible persons seeking response costs for cleaning up hazardous substances at a facility in Front Royal, Virginia (the Front Royal facility). The owner of the site, FMC Corporation (FMC), sought contribution from the United States pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 9613(f). FMC alleged that the United States was liable as an owner, operator, and arranger under 42 U.S.C. Secs. 9607(a)(2) and 9607(a)(3) because the War Production Board (WPB)7 exercised control over the manufacture of high tenacity rayon at the Front Royal facility during the 1940s. Following a bench trial, the district court held that the United States was liable as an owner, operator, and arranger. On appeal, the Third Circuit affirmed, discussing only the United States' liability as an operator.8 29 F.3d at 843-45. The Third Circuit applied an "actual control" test for operator liability as set forth in its decision in Lansford-Coaldale Joint Water Auth. v. Tonolli Corp., 4 F.3d 1209 (3d Cir.1993) (corporate liability). FMC, 29 F.3d at 843. Under the "actual control" test, the Third Circuit considered whether the United States had exercised "substantial control" over the production of high tenacity rayon at the Front Royal site. That standard in turn required, at a minimum, "active involvement in the activities" at the Front Royal facility. Id. Based upon the specific facts of the case, the Third Circuit concluded that the United States had exercised actual control over the activities at the Front Royal facility during the relevant time frame. The Third Circuit reasoned as follows: In our view, it is clear that the government had "substantial control" over the facility and had "active involvement in the activities" there. The government determined what product the facility would manufacture, controlled the supply and price of the facility's raw materials, in part by building or causing plants to be built near the facility for their production, supplied equipment for use in the manufacturing process, acted to ensure that the facility retained an adequate labor force, participated in the management and supervision of the labor force, had the authority to remove workers who were incompetent or guilty of misconduct, controlled the price of the facility's product, and controlled who could purchase the product. While the government challenges some of the district court's findings, it simply cannot quarrel reasonably with the court's conclusions regarding the basic situation at the facility. In particular, the government reasonably cannot quarrel with the conclusion that the leading indicia of control were present, as the government determined what product the facility would produce, the level of production, the price of the product, and to whom the product would be sold. A key fact in FMC was that American Viscose, the owner of the Front Royal facility at the time high tenacity rayon was manufactured, had been ordered by the WPB to convert its facility to production of high tenacity rayon, rather than the regular textile rayon it had been producing. Id. at 836. In other words, American Viscose itself did not choose its product; "the government determined what product the facility would produce." Id. at 843. Thus, the United States was directly and entirely responsible for introducing a new manufacturing process at the Front Royal facility. That manufacturing process generated hazardous substances that were disposed of on-site. Moreover, the United States implemented the required plant conversion by leasing government-owned equipment and machinery and contracting with a third party to install the equipment at the Front Royal plant. Id. at 837. By contrast, in the present case, Hercules elected to bid for the Agent Orange government contracts. To the extent Hercules had to change its operations to produce Agent Orange, as opposed to other herbicides using 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, those changes resulted from its own decision to seek the government's wartime business. Vertac, 841 F.Supp. at 886, 890. Another important fact in FMC was that the United States "exerted considerable day-to-day control over American Viscose" during the relevant time period. FMC, 29 F.3d at 844. For example, the United States participated in managing and supervising workers, and even appointed a full-time representative to reside at Front Royal to address problems at the facility concerning manpower, housing, community services, and other related matters. Id. at 837. By contrast, in the present case, no representative of the United States ever managed or supervised any Hercules personnel during the relevant time period. Vertac, 841 F.Supp. at 888. Upon review, we hold that it cannot genuinely be disputed that the United States was never actively involved on a regular basis in, and thus never exerted substantial control over, operations at the Jacksonville facility while Hercules was producing Agent Orange. Moreover, the facts that Hercules was required to comply with the worker health and safety regulations under the Walsh-Healey Act, and that on two occasions inspectors visited the Jacksonville plant to investigate such compliance, are insufficient bases for imposing CERCLA liability on the United States as an operator of the facility. See, e.g., United States v. Dart Indus., Inc., 847 F.2d 144 (4th Cir.1988) (state environmental agency not an owner or operator of waste site under CERCLA despite allegations that agency issued permits for waste storage, performed inspections, and failed to effectuate a cleanup); United States v. New Castle County, 727 F.Supp. 854, 867-70 (D.Del.1989) (state's regulation of hazardous waste site insufficient to establish operator liability where state did not have a financial or proprietary interest in the site and did not actively participate in daily management and operations of the site). In sum, the United States was not sufficiently involved, directly or indirectly, in the activities that took place at the Jacksonville facility to constitute actual or substantial control. Accordingly, we hold that, under the facts of the present case, the United States cannot be held liable as an operator of a facility under Sec. 9607(a)(2).Arranger Liability CERCLA also imposes liability for response costs on "any person who by contract, agreement, or otherwise arranged for disposal or treatment ... of hazardous substances owned or possessed by such person, by any other party or entity, at any facility owned or operated by another party or entity and containing such hazardous substances." 42 U.S.C. Sec. 9607(a)(3). This court addressed the legal standards for finding arranger liability under CERCLA in United States v. Northeastern Pharmaceutical & Chem. Co., 810 F.2d 726 (8th Cir.1986) (NEPACCO ), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 848, 108 S.Ct. 146, 98 L.Ed.2d 102 (1987), and United States v. Aceto Agric. Chems. Corp., 872 F.2d 1373 (8th Cir.1989) (Aceto ). Appellants argue that the United States is an arranger under NEPACCO and Aceto because it had authority to control, and did control, many aspects of the production of Agent Orange. Upon review, we agree with the district court's analysis of this issue. Liability under Sec. 9607(a)(3) requires, among other things, that the hazardous substances be "owned or possessed by" the person who arranged for the disposal. In NEPACCO, we explained that "[i]t is the authority to control the handling and disposal of hazardous substances that is critical under the statutory scheme.... We believe requiring proof of personal ownership or actual physical possession of hazardous substances as a precondition for liability under CERCLA Sec. 107(a)(3), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 9607(a)(3), would be inconsistent with the broad remedial purposes of CERCLA." 810 F.2d at 743. NEPACCO involved a question of whether or not a corporate employee could be found to have "owned or possessed" hazardous substances within the meaning of Sec. 9607(a)(3) by virtue of his specific responsibilities within the corporation, his knowledge of the hazardous nature of substances with which he was dealing, and the specific actions he took. In the present case, we must consider whether or not the United States "owned or possessed" hazardous substances within the meaning of Sec. 9607(a)(3) by virtue of its statutory authority under the DPA and the Walsh-Healey Act, its presumed knowledge that the production of Agent Orange was generating hazardous wastes, and the specific actions it took to facilitate Hercules' production of Agent Orange. Appellants maintain that the United States constructively possessed the hazardous substances disposed of at the Jacksonville facility because the United States had the authority to control, and did control, the product made at the facility and the raw materials necessary to make that product. We disagree. To begin, we note that a governmental entity may not be found to have owned or possessed hazardous substances under Sec. 9607(a)(3) merely because it had statutory or regulatory authority to control activities which involved the production, treatment or disposal of hazardous substances. Our holding in NEPACCO, when read in the context of the facts of the case, certainly does not suggest such a broad interpretation. In NEPACCO, we concluded that a corporate employee constructively possessed the hazardous substances at issue because he, "actually knew about, had immediate supervision over, and was directly responsible for arranging for the transportation and disposal of the NEPACCO plant's hazardous substances." 810 F.2d at 743. In the present case, by contrast, the United States did not immediately supervise, or have direct responsibility for, the transportation or disposal of any hazardous substances generated at the Jacksonville facility. Vertac, 841 F.Supp. at 887-88. Appellants maintain, however, that they are not merely relying on the United States' regulatory powers as a basis for asserting arranger liability under NEPACCO. They contend that it is the additional contractual relationship between Hercules and the United States, as governed by the DPA, that gives rise to the latter's liability as an arranger. We again disagree. As stated by the district court, "there is no dispute that Hercules actively sought Agent Orange contracts by participating in competitive bidding and that it made a profit from each contract." Vertac, 841 F.Supp. at 890. Moreover, "the relationship between the United States and the contractor under the DPA is one of buyer and seller, except that the buyer (i.e., the United States) has the power to require the seller to perform the contract and to give it priority over other contracts." Id. Finally, Hercules was given opportunities to negotiate some terms of the contract specifications and, as a result, some of those terms were changed or modified. Id. at 886. Thus, while NEPACCO certainly suggests that circumstances may exist where a government contract involves sufficient coercion or governmental regulation and intervention to justify the United States' liability as an arranger under CERCLA,9 the undisputed facts in the present case do not support such a finding. Appellants rely, in the alternative, on this court's decision in Aceto. In Aceto, the appellants, pesticide manufacturers, argued that they could not be liable as arrangers of hazardous waste disposal where the wastes were generated by an independent contractor whom they had hired to formulate technical grade pesticides into commercial grade pesticides. The complaint alleged that the appellants owned the technical grade pesticides used in the formulation, the work in process, and the resulting commercial grade product. 872 F.2d at 1378. On appeal, this court affirmed the district court's denial of the appellants' motion to dismiss, noting that the appellants actually owned the hazardous substances, as well as the work in process. Id. at 1381-82. In other words, the complaint alleged that, throughout the production process, the appellants retained actual ownership of the hazardous substances in question. Therefore, a claim of arranger liability had been sufficiently alleged, even though the appellants were never actually involved in the treatment or disposal of the hazardous wastes. Id. at 1382. Appellants in the present case argue that Aceto applies because the United States (1) supplied the raw materials to Hercules for the production of Agent Orange by issuing directives to Hooker requiring Hooker to supply TCB to Hercules, giving Hercules authority to enter rated contracts with its suppliers, and waiving import duties for some of Hercules' foreign suppliers, and (2) constructively possessed the hazardous substances and the work in process by having the authority to control the supply of TCB, Hercules' production process, and the end product. We agree with the district court's determination under Aceto that the United States did not supply the raw materials to Hercules and did not own or possess the raw materials or the work in process. See Vertac, 841 F.Supp. at 888-89. Although the United States took steps to facilitate Hercules' acquisition of TCB, the United States was never actively involved in supplying Hercules with any such raw materials. Nor did the United States own or have any financial interest in any of Hercules' suppliers. Cf. FMC, 29 F.3d at 837 (government built and retained ownership of sulfuric acid plant adjacent to facility to assure adequate supply of sulfuric acid). The facts simply do not support the conclusion that the United States actually or constructively supplied Hercules with its raw materials. It also cannot reasonably be inferred that the United States constructively owned or possessed the raw materials or the work in process that generated hazardous wastes at the Jacksonville facility. As previously discussed, the undisputed facts establish that the United States' actual involvement in the operations of the Jacksonville facility was sporadic and minimal. Accordingly, we hold that, under the facts of the present case, the United States cannot be held liable under CERCLA as an arranger of hazardous waste disposal under Sec. 9607(a)(3).10 Hercules' immunity and indemnity arguments Hercules additionally argues on appeal that it is immune from CERCLA liability arising out of its performance of the Agent Orange contracts and that the United States has an implied duty to indemnify Hercules. The district court rejected these arguments in its summary judgment order without discussing its reasons. Vertac, 841 F.Supp. at 891. Upon careful review of the undisputed facts and the arguments presented on appeal, we affirm the district court's decision. Hercules bases its immunity argument on Sec. 707 of the DPA, 50 U.S.C. app. Sec. 2157, which provides: No person shall be held liable for damages or penalties for any act or failure to act resulting directly or indirectly from compliance with a rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant to this Act [sections 2061 to 2071 of this Appendix], notwithstanding that any such rule, regulation, or order shall thereafter be declared by judicial or other competent authority to be invalid. No person shall discriminate against orders or contracts to which priority is assigned or for which materials or facilities are allocated under title I of this Act [sections 2071 to 2076 of this Appendix] or under any rule, regulation, or order issued thereunder, by charging higher prices or by imposing different terms and conditions for such orders or contracts than for other generally comparable orders or contracts, or in any other manner. Hercules argues that the language of Sec. 707 is clear and unambiguous and that nothing in its language supports an interpretation that would exclude Hercules' CERCLA liability, or any other liability, arising out of its performance of the Agent Orange contracts. In response, the United States argues that the language of Sec. 707 is not clear and unambiguous and that the interpretation advanced by Hercules would have the absurd result of allowing a government contractor to violate the laws with impunity, so long as it is performing a rated contract. In Hercules, Inc. v. United States, 24 F.3d 188, 203-04 (Fed.Cir.1994) (Hercules ), the Federal Circuit was similarly required to examine the scope of the immunity provided by Sec. 707. The Federal Circuit considered the relationship between Sec. 707 and Sec. 101(a) of the DPA, 50 U.S.C. app. Sec. 2071(a), which authorizes the President to designate certain government contracts for priority over other contracts when necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense. Noting, as a general rule, that statutory provisions enacted together must be read harmoniously, the Federal Circuit reasoned "[t]o hold that section 707 protects contractors against a risk which is greater than that created by the statute with which it operates would violate this rule." 24 F.3d at 204. Accordingly, the Federal Circuit concluded "the protection afforded by section 707 of the DPA extends no further than the risk imposed by section 101(a) of the DPA." Id. We agree. Accordingly, we hold in the present case that Sec. 707 does not shield Hercules from liability it may have under CERCLA arising out of its performance of the Agent Orange contracts because such immunity would exceed the risk imposed by Sec. 101(a).11 Accord United States v. General Dynamics Corp., 1988 WL 160862, 1988 U.S.Dist. LEXIS 17256 (N.D.Tex. June 9, 1988) (Sec. 707 immunity does not apply to liability under the Clean Air Act). Hercules separately argues that it is entitled to indemnity from the United States arising out of Hercules' immunity under Sec. 707, the United States' waiver of immunity, and the United States' liability under CERCLA. Because Hercules is not entitled to immunity under Sec. 707, its implied indemnity argument must also fail. In light of our interpretation of Sec. 707, it cannot genuinely be disputed that the United States never implicitly promised to indemnify Hercules for the type of liability at issue in the present case. See Hercules, 24 F.3d at 204 (government's use of DPA to issue rated orders for production of Agent Orange did not create an implied-in-fact contractual obligation that government must indemnify contractor for tort liability to third parties). Accordingly, we hold that Hercules is not entitled to immunity under Sec. 707 of the DPA or implied indemnity from the United States. For the foregoing reasons, the order of the district court is affirmed. Title per counsel. Because of multiple cross-, counter- and third-party issues, caption is 106 pages long. Full caption is on file with the Clerk's Office of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, MO The Honorable George Howard, Jr., United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas The United States asserts that this court lacks jurisdiction to consider Uniroyal's arguments on appeal because Uniroyal failed either to join in the other appellants' motions for summary judgment or to oppose the United States' cross-motion for summary judgment. We note, however, that Uniroyal did "adopt by reference pursuant to Rule 10(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure the responses of the State [of Arkansas], Vertac and Dow to the Motion for Summary Judgment of the United States." See Appellee's Supplementary Appendix at 139. That adoption is sufficient to confer appellate jurisdiction, and we have considered Uniroyal's arguments to the extent they are within the proper scope of issues on appeal Appellants do not argue that the district court erred in stating the undisputed material facts. Rather, they maintain that the district court erred in applying the law 2,4-D is 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid 2,4,5-T is 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid. The manufacture of 2,4,5-T creates a by-product known as TCDD or dioxin FMC Corp. v. United States Dep't of Commerce, 29 F.3d 833 (3d Cir.1994) (en banc) (FMC ), had not been decided at the time the district court rendered its decision in the present case The War Production Board was later subsumed within the Department of Commerce By an evenly divided vote, the Third Circuit also affirmed, without discussion, the district court's holding that the United States was liable as an arranger under Sec. 9607(a)(3). FMC, 29 F.3d at 845-46 Cf. FMC, 29 F.3d at 845-46 (affirming without discussion the district court's ruling that the government was liable as an arranger under CERCLA) Our conclusions that the United States is neither an operator nor an arranger under CERCLA obviates the need to address the United States' sovereign immunity arguments We agree that Sec. 707 "provid[es] a defense for a DPA contractor against a suit by a non-government customer in the event that the DPA contractor is forced to breach another contract to fulfill the government's requirements." Hercules, Inc. v. United States, 24 F.3d 188, 203 (Fed.Cir.1994). However, we do not comment on the extent to which Sec. 707 might provide immunity under other circumstances not presented in this case

I am doggedly committed to the idea of universal religious liberty not because it is American or self-serving but because it is biblical. As a pastor, I am obligated to follow the Word of God even when doing so puts me at odds with contemporary public opinion. When the day comes that I do not have the courage to do so, I will relinquish my pulpit to a better man. The biblical case for religious liberty is not merely some marginal case; it is a case made as nearly invincibly as any found in the biblical text short of such matters as the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Indeed, scripture so plainly declares it that I have not, before now, bothered to articulate it publicly. That has been a mistake on my part, and I write today in order to correct it. In doing so, I have it as my ambition to live up to the words of 2 Timothy 2:22-26. 22So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (ESV) Specifically, it is my aim to keep my own passions at check. I aim to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with pure-hearted believers who read my words today. I hope in my writing to be kind to everyone and to adopt the tone of a teacher, not a demagogue. Some of those who read this may be Muslims or people of other non-Christians faiths (some of which I will mention by name below). Toward them, I aspire to act with gentleness (even if that gentleness exposes me to criticism from other believers who may have no desire to live out 2 Timothy 2:22-26 with regard to Muslims and who are determined to speak of and to them in only the harshest of terms), because my heartfelt desire is not to defeat them but to invite them into the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which has come down from heaven to all people. Of course, I must also consider whether I am disobeying the admonition to avoid foolish, ignorant controversies. The adjectives are important here, I think. From what we know of the Apostle Paul's life (he wrote 2 Timothy), he was a man often embroiled in controversy. Either he often disobeyed his own instructions in this matter (a possibility, since we speak here of imperfect, fallen Paul rather than sinless Jesus) or Paul believed that Christian leaders should indeed sometimes engage in those controversies that are neither foolish nor ignorant. He did participate in controversies where he thought the arguments on the other side were foolish ("O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you…?" Galatians 3:1, ESV), but in those cases the controversy itself—the subject matter under discussion—was very important. Does the question of whether there will be a Muslim cemetery on the outskirts of Farmersville rise to that level of importance? In and of itself, probably not. If I were a missionary in China and if the Chinese government were banning a Muslim cemetery, I would be less inclined to join the controversy. If I were a missionary to a place where there are fewer Christians than in China—if I were a missionary to upstate New York or Boston—I would be less inclined to join the controversy. But here in Farmersville, Texas, enough Christians are involved in this turmoil that the central question, although it formerly concerned a Muslim cemetery, now concerns the proper way for Christian people to behave toward those who need the gospel. If city government were populated with secularists and if it were atheists spouting Philippics at local meetings, I would let it pass. But as things presently stand, the cause of the gospel is disserved if no one will stand up and place on the record the New Testament point of view. This point of view must gain public attention so that those who need the gospel might know that there are Christians who are prepared to behave toward them with the kind of gentleness demanded of the Lord's servants in 2 Timothy 2. Thesis: We must not fight false belief by appealing to the government or other forms of coercive force; rather, we must fight it by testifying to the truth. The Biblical Texts I take these not in canonical order but in the order that I think makes for the best logical flow. I will first offer not a text but the absence of a text. Neither Jesus nor any apostle ever did anything that even approximately resembles having a false religion zoned out of town by city government. 33So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to Him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" 34Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about Me?" 35Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You over to me. What have You done?" 36Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from the world." 37Then Pilate said to Him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." (ESV) In this statement, Jesus contrasts His kingdom with all of the governments of this world. But it is not just a general contrast; Jesus gave specific application. Because His kingdom is not of this world, His followers do not fight worldly battles for it. Period. I'm no pacifist. I'm not saying (nor was Jesus, I don't think) that Christians cannot serve in the military or the police force to use worldly force for worldly obligations. I'm not even saying that a Christian who is a private citizen could not fight against a home-invasion intruder who was trying to harm one of your children. We have obligations detailed in Romans 13:1-7 (ESV) by which part of what we "owe" to the state may be military service or some other form of public service that requires fighting. But we are not called to fight SPIRITUAL battles in this way. We are not called to go on the offensive against false belief in this way. Rather, Jesus said that His way of fighting is "to bear witness to the truth." 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 3For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (ESV) This critically important passage reiterates and expands upon Jesus' statement to Pilate that his servants belong to a different kingdom with a different way of fighting. Yes, we "walk in the flesh," but that is no excuse for us to "[wage] war according to the flesh." We shouldn't do so because our weaponry is not suited to that kind of fighting. They are not worldly, fleshly weapons. Rather, they are weapons with "divine power to destroy strongholds." What does that mean? It means destroying "arguments" and "lofty opinion[s]" and "thoughts." The state wields a fleshly sword against bodies. The church wields a gospel sword against ideas. Friends, you'll completely miss the point if you conclude that this is about a limitation put upon the church. Not at all; it is about an extra empowering that Christians have that put government coercion in the Little Leagues while Christian soldiers using spiritual weapons are swinging for the fences in the "big show"! Because we know this about government: Government can never make a convert; it can only make hypocrites. That's because city zoning ordinances will never change an opinion or take captive a thought. All it can do is send down the police department to say, "You can't bury that person here." If your ambitions are no higher than that, then the Planning & Zoning Commission can help you, but if you want to win people to Christ, then you need to set aside these fleshly weapons, disengage from the zoning battle, and join the spiritual war. It's not that we war BOTH according to the flesh AND with these spiritual weapons; the apostle says that we "are not waging war according to the flesh." Now, there is punishment for "every disobedience," so this is not about ignoring the falsehoods and wrongdoing of those who do not know Christ. Those who persist in rejecting Jesus Christ—be they Muslim, Buddhist, agnostic, or just plain lost—will all (I say it in fear and trembling) receive grave, eternal punishment for their disobedience. But the punishment comes "when [our] obedience is complete." When will that happen? At the end of the age (as I'll demonstrate in a later passage). 51When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem. 52And He sent messengers ahead of Him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for Him. But the people did not receive Him, because His face was set toward Jerusalem. 54And when His disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" 55But He turned and rebuked them. 56And they went on to another village. (ESV). So, a village of people rejected Jesus. James and John were outraged on the Lord's behalf, and they wanted to punish these villagers for their unbelief. Jesus not only declined, but he also rebuked them for this. Then Jesus modeled the appropriate response: He just left the village alone and went on. We all need to consider that the very moment when we think we're being the most zealous for Jesus might be the moment when we are earning our largest rebuke from Him. Keeping that in mind would probably make us all a lot more humble, particularly when it comes to the temptation to play the role of enforcer against unbelief or false belief. Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 24[Jesus] put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' 28He said to them, 'And enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' 29But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, "Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn."'" 36Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." 37He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are he sons of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear (ESV). This parable is explicitly, directly about religious liberty. I have to admit, I have only rarely heard it preached about religious liberty. I have actually heard it preached against church discipline, or in favor of the corpus permixtum of paedo-baptist churches. But Jesus left us very little latitude in our interpretation of this parable, since He gave us the interpretation Himself. The field is not the church; it is the world. The problem in the parable is that the field, which should've had only wheat, regrettably has both wheat and weeds in it. The real-life problem that this parable represents, according to Jesus, is that the world, which should only have in it Christians (the sons of the kingdom), regrettably has both Christians and those who reject Christ (the sons of the evil one). The world is this way because of the work of the devil, just as the field in the parable was in its condition because of the actions of an enemy. Dear Farmersville, we live in a world with Muslims in it. That was true a year ago no less than it will be true ten years from now. What will we do about it? Well, in the parable, the natural inclination of everyone who loved the owner of the field was to go out and do some weeding. I do not fault you, dear friends, for wishing the world were a pure place where there are no people who reject Christ and follow Mohammed instead. To have an inclination to defend your Christian way of life by using governmental force to drive out the Muslims may be a powerful instinct within you that is difficult to overcome. But I implore you to hear the words of the Master. I'll go further, but it really shouldn't be necessary. The answer to all of our impulses to go out weeding the world (or even little sections of it) on the basis of people's religious convictions is simply that Jesus has said no. Why not? Is Jesus overly fond of weeds? Not at all. But Jesus is far more protective of the wheat than you or I will ever be. And every time Christians empower the state to punish bad belief, it always, 100% of the time, without a single exception in the history of mankind, winds up with the force of the state punishing people for faithfulness to right belief. That always happens no matter what are the motives of the people who get that particular ball rolling (more on that later). Jesus just doesn't trust you with this assignment. Instead, Jesus is reserving this task for Himself, and He has told us exactly when He is going to do it. It will happen "at the end of the age." When Jesus comes back, he'll relocate everyone who persists in denying Jesus Christ. He won't do it like you or I will. Some of us, I fear, would gleefully watch the Muslim foreigners slip off to perdition, but what about your Texan neighbor or colleague or even family member who is not a follower of Christ? Some weeds we like better than others. That we treat the two differently shows why we can't be trusted with the weeding. So, at the end of the age, the Righteous Judge Himself will sort out the wheat from the weeds and will consign the weeds to their sad, avoidable fate. Yeah, but isn't it different if you've got a religion in which some people have done some bad things? Well, let's see whether there's anything like that in the New Testament. Would you think that people who had been murdered for following Jesus would have a greater right than anyone in Farmersville has to seek immediate governmental intervention and force used to prevent the opponents of Christianity from moving in? Let's see what the role is for such people while we await the end of the age. 9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar [in Heaven] the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. OK, so here's how much differently Heaven sees things than we do. God's plan is to wait and do nothing because they haven't killed enough Christians yet. So, anything in my mind that would reject that idea as totally unreasonable is an idea in my mind that rejects the teaching of Revelation 6:9-11 and the authority of God. It's an attitude of which I need to repent if it is there. What are Christians supposed to do between now and the second coming of Jesus? Preach the gospel. Watch and be ready in our own lives. Wait patiently. Leave the judgment of the world to God. That's it. And that's true for you if the unbelievers are friendly to you and it's equally true if they're trying to kill you. It's true if you live in first-century Galatia and it's true if you live in twenty-first-century Texas. It's true with regard to your relationship with the guy who does your taxes who spends his Sundays fishing on the lake and it's true with regard to your relationship with the guy who sells you gasoline who spends his Fridays at a mosque. Now, even though the ultimate judgment from God doesn't come until the end of the age, if we're talking about people who have committed a crime, then there's a Romans 13 role for government to bring partial, imperfect, temporary justice into the situation. Of course, no one has even bothered to allege that the Islamic Association of Collin County has committed a crime or is planning to commit a crime, and if they had, the proper people to call would be the police department or the FBI, not the Planning & Zoning Commission. But for Christians (of whom those who live in Farmersville have suffered far less than the martyrs, by the way, if we've suffered anything at all) to mobilize in order to invoke the secular sword of government against people just for what they believe or do not believe? That's just the opposite of waiting and leaving this kind of judgment of religious conscience to God alone at the end of the age. 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 12For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you” (ESV). As a final entry (I could go on, but this is already too long and I think I've made my point), I give you another explicit scriptural command separating out our responsibility as Christians (Hey, if you've got a member of your church who thinks Mohammed may have been onto something with that whole Quran thing, then by all means, kick that person right out of your church!) from God's responsibility as God. We judge matters inside the church. God judges matters of faith for those outside the body of Christ, and He has chosen not to do so until the end of the age. Not the church. Not the preachers. Not the city government. God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death (ESV). OK, so I said the last one would be the final entry, but I couldn't resist doing just this one more. If we really want to win, the way to do that isn't by running to the city council. The way to do that is by testifying to the truth and laying down our lives. That is the way of Jesus. When we finally get to Heaven, dear brothers and sisters, the places of honor will not go to Charles Martel and Vlad the Impaler. The places of honor will go to Peter and Paul and James and John, to Perpetua and Polycarp and Hubmaier and Bonhoeffer, to Abedini and Elliot and Saint and Fletcher, and to a thousand nameless unknowns who have faithfully kept the word of their testimony and have laid down their lives for the gospel. This way of zoning out the "undesirables" and protesting the burial of the dead is not the way that they have shown us. It is not the way that Christ has shown us. It cannot be supported from the scriptures. It should not be displayed in our lives. Considering the Old Testament Someone will now object, "But what about the Old Testament? What about Elijah on Mount Carmel? What about Joshua at Ai? Those are good questions, and if we were Orthodox Jews, you'd have me over quite the barrel. But with a Christian understanding of the relationship between the New Testament and the Old Testament, the competing claims of those who follow a New Testament understanding of the relationship between Christianity and the state on the one hand and those who wish to make the Old Testament a pattern for church-state relations on the other hand are resolved quite decisively. I give you three points to consider. These Old Testament stories support none of the positions advocated in the Farmersville debate. Old Testament Israel was expected to be a Theocracy or a Monarchy in which all idolatry was punished severely at the hand of the theological state. When people argue for the demolition of the Buddhist Meditation Center, the eviction of the Mormons, the rounding up and punishment of all of the atheists and agnostics, and the slaughter of all of the leaders of false religious movements, and the replacement of the city council with the ministerial alliance, then someone will be advocating that we follow the examples of Elijah and Joshua. No one is advocating for anything that approaches consistency with the pattern of Old Testament Israel. But why is that? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? It is a good thing. It is not because Christian leaders in Farmersville lack the courage to seek what the Word of God truly demands. It is not because, as people on the left often claim, the Bible is a muddled mishmash of conflicting rules out of which people can cherry-pick what to follow and what to ignore. No, not at all. The reason why no Christian in this debate is calling for us to return all the way back to the way of Old Testament Israel is because of the fundamental truths that the New Testament teaches us about the way that the coming of Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament and about the way that the second coming of Jesus will fulfill what remains open after His first coming. The Civil Law of the Old Testament is no longer in force for Christian believers. In saying this, I am depending upon a tripartite division of the Old Testament law that hearkens all the way back to the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth-century. Even if you have never heard anyone speak of the "ceremonial law," the "civil law," or the "moral law," with regard to the Old Testament, you, Christian in Farmersville, are living your life the way you are living based upon this concept. In saying that, I admit that I am making certain assumptions. I am assuming that you eat bacon. I am assuming that you do not stone to death your children if they rebel against your authority. I am assuming that you have not recently built an altar upon which you have sacrificed a lamb to God. I am assuming, however, that you feel obligated not to worship an idol, not to steal, not to kill, not to commit adultery, and to honor your father and mother. Perhaps you do not know WHY you pick and choose from the Old Testament in this way, but I am assuming that you do so, whether you understand the reasons behind it or not. Well, in a minute you'll know the reasons behind it. As Christians we observe that Jesus and the Apostles dealt with the Old Testament Law in three different ways. First, there are many, many elements of the Old Testament Law that are re-affirmed and continued into the New Testament. The standard of one-man-one-woman marriage was reiterated by Jesus Himself (that post on Facebook you read notwithstanding; Matthew 19:3-12). Jesus not only reiterated but also doubled-down on several Old Testament commands in His Sermon on the Mount, including prohibitions against murder (Matthew 5:21-26, ESV), adultery (Matthew 5:27-30, ESV), wrongful divorce (Matthew 5:31-32, ESV), and false witness (Matthew 5:33-37, ESV). These portions of the Old Testament that are enduring guides to Christian behavior, many of them reiterated explicitly in the New Testament, are what we mean when we refer to the "moral law." Jesus fulfilled these portions of the Law completely, to be sure. His death and resurrection thereby secure for us salvation in spite of our failures to live up to the moral law. But nothing about what Jesus did on the cross made it any less of a bad thing for me to murder you. Now, because of Jesus, I can go to Heaven even if I am a murderer, but murder is still bad. The "moral law" consists of those Old Testament laws that remain in force because they have been reiterated in the New Testament. Thus, if in spite of all that I have given you above from the New Testament you were able to demonstrate to me that the New Testament anywhere reiterates to us a command to treat unbelievers the way that Samuel the High Priest treated Agag, then it will be my new role not to beseech you to call for less government intervention to keep unbelievers at bay in Farmersville but to lead you to call for more. I do not claim to have perfect knowledge of the New Testament, but in my studies on this topic I have yet to find it. Second, there are aspects of the Old Testament Law that were fulfilled completely in the life and work of Jesus. Many items from the Old Testament fall into this category, but the one on the lowest shelf is the entire priestly and sacrificial system of the Old Testament. The sons of Aaron no longer slaughter animals in order to take away our sins because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice when He died on the cross and because Jesus serves now as the ultimate High Priest who intercedes for us (for this, consider pretty much any part of the Book of Hebrews, but especially Hebrews 7:26-28). These portions of the Old Testament are what we mean when we refer to the "ceremonial law." Jesus did not set aside these items because anything was wrong with them. It's just that the only purpose these laws ever had was to point people forward to what Jesus was going to do when He came. Once Jesus had come, these laws had been fulfilled completely in Him. Yes, certainly there is a sense in which Jesus in His coming fulfilled all of the Law completely, not just certain parts of it (in that He kept it all completely and demonstrated the purpose for which all of it was given). What's different about the ceremonial law is that after Jesus had ascended back to Heaven, no purpose whatsoever remained for the observance of these points of the Old Testament Law. Why would I sacrifice a goat when I have available to me the sacrifice of the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world? The "ceremonial law" consists of those Old Testament laws that have been set aside forever now that Christ has come. Third, we observe that there are aspects of the Old Testament Law that are suspended because we have not yet come fully into the Kingdom that Christ will some day establish. It will become clear in my explanation of this that I am a pre-Millennialist, but I think that Christians of any biblically cognizable eschatological persuasion should be able to agree with the basic thrust of what I am saying. Above I have already (OK, not really, but I'm leaving this in here so you can know that this actually was once even longer than it is now) written about that crescendo moment in Revelation 11:15, further immortalized by Handel's "Hallelujah" Chorus, when the seventh angel blew the seventh trumpet and the loud voices of heaven declared, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever" (ESV, pronouns referring to deity capitalized because I like that). Because we are now strangers and aliens inhabiting a kingdom to which we do not rightfully belong, there are aspects of the life of Old Testament Israel which we are not supposed to pursue. The "civil law" consists of those Old Testament laws that have been suspended awaiting the second coming of Christ because they pertain peculiarly to His kingdom, which I think we will see when Christ establishes His Millennial Kingdom on Earth as promised in Revelation 20. I have already covered in the New Testament section above the biblical texts that drive me to view our relationship with the coming kingdom in this way. I think we have been commanded explicitly by Christ to "stand down" in the enforcement of temporal judgment against unbelievers until the coming of Christ. This is, for example, why we are permitted to have something like a democratic republic as (we hope) we have in America. There is absolutely no basis in the Old Testament for a government like ours. None. I defy anyone to produce evidence of it. And I guarantee you, my brothers and sisters, there are no polling places awaiting us in the heavenly kingdom. And there will be no religious liberty there, either. The regulations and punishments of the Old Testament will pale in comparison to the perfect standards of Heaven and the infinite torments of Hell. We nevertheless rightfully have our republic and our religious liberty and our comparatively lenient laws because Jesus has not yet restored the kingdom and none of us have the wisdom or power to establish it for Him. Understood as "our tutor to lead us to Christ" (Galatians 3:24, NASB), I think the Old Testament narratives illustrate quite well why we should prefer religious liberty today over Old-Testament-style theocracy. The governmental system of Old Testament Israel proved to be utterly inept at stopping idolatry (as a citation, I give you the entire Old Testament), but it did manage quite well, as Jesus lamented, to "kill the prophets and stone those sent to [them]" (Luke 13:34, ESV). This is simply because there are no men but Jesus who are sinless enough to wield such power. The Old Testament civil law is good, but "sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment [deceives people] and through it [kills them]. So the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good" (Romans 7:11-12, ESV). This has not only been true for Ancient Israel, but it has also proven true in every last instance in which religious liberty has been set aside in favor of theocracy. There's always some good reason to justify it, but in the end it always ends up powerless to stop the infidels but effective at persecuting the faithful. Look no further than Europe, where as early as the eighth and ninth centuries people like Charlemagne were building a Holy Roman Empire, consolidating the spiritual power of Christianity and putting it under the "safe keeping" of the temporal sword of the state. What does Europe look like today? Those churches who were so confident that the government would protect them are the dead state-churches of Europe, mausoleums for and monuments to the hubris and foolishness of man. And what did they get in return for selling their souls? Did they keep out the Muslims? No, Europe is awash with Muslims. And what else happened along the way? The Catholics persecuted the Reformers, the Reformers persecuted the Evangelicals, and eventually our Founding Fathers had to flee Europe for the Americas in order to find liberty from the dungeons and guillotines of other Christians to follow the plain teachings of Jesus Christ. Jerusalem killed the prophets and stoned those sent to her. Rome killed the prophets and stoned those sent to her. Paris killed the prophets and stoned those sent to her. London killed the prophets and stoned those sent to her. Such has been the case everywhere—everywhere without exception—where men determined to give sinful men in human government the power to persecute people for wrong belief. It always happens this way because true belief will always trouble sinful men. The courageous believer will always have some critique to offer of his society and his leaders. There will always be some Salome somewhere who lusts for the head of a John the Baptist, simply because Christ will always have a John the Baptist somewhere who is ready to stand up and declare the truth. Therefore, every human government will eventually get mad at the true believers, and every human government empowered to do so will eventually use its power to persecute the true faith. Has it occurred to you that God has given us this example in the Old Testament to be our tutor to lead us to Christ? Has it occurred to you that these sad and sinful narratives of Old Testament Israel are designed to make us despair of human government and to long for the coming kingdom of Christ? Persuade Jesus to descend and become Mayor of Farmersville, and then I will gladly see city government discriminate among people for their beliefs. I have no such trust in Joe Helmberger, as nice as man as he is. Every Christian ought to seek a consistent rationale by which he or she understands the relationship between the Old and New Testaments and then seek to live consistently by its implications. I believe that I am doing so, but I welcome and will consider thoughtfully and prayerfully any critique of my position that is based upon the teachings of the New Testament. If anyone will answer this essay with an expository biblical case that shows where scripture commands me to run to the government to keep the Muslims out of Farmersville, then I will recant publicly, disavow my previous writings on the subject, and give vocal leadership to the other side of this issue. It is my obligation, after all, to be a servant of Christ rather than a stubborn blowhard who is more interested in saving face than serving Christ. It would take courage to change my position, but far less courage than Christ has instilled in the martyrs down through the ages. Would you have me on the other side? Then the task before you is clear: Show me from the scriptures where I am wrong and you are right.

Mutational study of sapovirus expression in insect cells © Hansman et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2005 Received: 28 January 2005 Accepted: 23 February 2005 Published: 23 February 2005 Human sapovirus (SaV), an agent of human gastroenteritis, cannot be grown in cell culture, but expression of the recombinant capsid protein (rVP1) in a baculovirus expression system results in the formation of virus-like particles (VLPs). In this study we compared the time-course expression of two different SaV rVP1 constructs. One construct had the native sequence (Wt construct), whereas the other had two nucleotide point mutations in which one mutation caused an amino acid substitution and one was silent (MEG-1076 construct). While both constructs formed VLPs morphologically similar to native SaV, Northern blot analysis indicated that the MEG-1076 rVP1 mRNA had increased steady-state levels. Furthermore, Western blot analysis and an antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that the MEG-1076 construct had increased expression levels of rVP1 and yields of VLPs. Interestingly, the position of the mutated residue was strictly conserved residue among other human SaV strains, suggesting an important role for rVP1 expression. The family Caliciviridae is made up of four genera, Sapovirus, Norovirus, Lagovirus, and Vesivirus, which contain sapovirus (SaV), norovirus (NoV), rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus, and feline calicivirus strains, respectively. Human SaV and NoV strains are agents of gastroenteritis. The prototype strain of human SaV, the Sapporo virus, was originally discovered from an outbreak of gastroenteritis in an orphanage in Sapporo, Japan, in 1977 . Chiba et al. identified viruses with the typical animal calicivirus morphology, called the "Star of David" structure, by electron microscopy (EM). SaV strains were recently divided into five genogroups (GI to GV), of which GI, GII, GIV, and GV strains infect humans, while GIII strains infect porcine species . The SaV GI, GIV, and GV genomes are each predicted to contain three main open reading frames (ORFs), whereas SaV GII and GIII have two ORFs. SaV ORF1 encodes for non-structural proteins and the major capsid protein (VP1). SaV ORF2 (VP2) and ORF3 (VP3) encoded proteins of yet unknown functions. The NoV genome is organized in a slightly different way than the SaV, since ORF1 encodes all the nonstructural proteins, ORF2 encodes the capsid protein (VP1), and ORF3 encodes a small protein (VP2). Human SaV and NoV strains are noncultivable, but expression of the recombinant VP1 (rVP1) in a baculovirus expression system results in the self-assembly of virus-like particles (VLPs) that are morphologically similar to native SaV [3, 4] In a recent NoV expression study, a single amino acid substitution in the rVP1 gene affected VLP formation but not rVP1 expression . In a different study, inclusions of NoV ORF3 and poly(A) sequences in a construct increased the expression levels of NoV rVP1 and the stability of VLPs when compared to constructs without these sequences . Recently, cryo-EM analysis of SaV VLPs and X-ray crystallography analysis of NoV VLPs predicted the SaV shell (S) and protruding domains (subdomains P1 and P2) that were based the NoV domains [7, 8]. Chen et al. also described strictly and moderately conserved amino acid residues in the capsid protein among the four genera in family Caliciviridae. The purpose of this study was to compare the time-course expression of two different SaV rVP1 constructs in a baculovirus expression system by Northern blotting, Western blotting, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and EM. Our novel results have indicated that nucleotide point mutations increased the yields of SaV VLPs in insect cells, offering an alternative explanation for the increased expression levels of rVP1 and yield of VLPs. Wt, MQG-1076, and MEG-1076 constructs Northern blot analysis Western Blot analysis A thin band of approximately 55 K was also detected in the culture medium that appeared at 4 and 5 dpi for Wt and MEG-1076 constructs, respectively, and increased each day thereafter. In a different experiment, we determined the amino acid sequence of the MQG-1076 upper and lower bands by an Edman's degradation method. We discovered that the first three amino acid residues were MQG for both the upper and lower bands. This result indicated that the 55 K bands for these constructs were likely truncated or C-terminal deleted forms of rVP1. A thin band of 60 K was detected at every dpi in the cell lysate for the MEG-1076 construct (Fig. 3B), however the intensity of this band did not increase to the same extent as the MEG-1076 60 K band in the culture medium (Fig. 3A). This suggested that immediately after translation the majority of rVP1 was rapidly exported from the cells to the culture medium, though a fraction accumulated within the cells. This may also explain why no 60 K bands were detected in the cell lysate for Wt construct. The VP2 amino acid sequence was the same in all constructs. We did not detect rVP2 during the time-course expression of the MQG-1076 construct using the antiserum raised against E. coli expressed VP2 (data not shown). Antigen ELISA and EM analysis of Wt and MEG-1076 VLPs Amino acid analysis Expression of the human SaV rVP1 in a baculovirus expression system was first reported in 1997 . In that study, the full-length VP1 gene, ORF2, and poly(A) sequences were included in a construct (Sapporo strain, GI). The second human SaV reported to form VLPs was with a construct (Houston/90 strain, GI) using only the VP1 sequence, i.e., lacking ORF2 and poly(A) sequences , while the third human SaV reported to form VLPs used a construct (Parkville strain, GI) with only VP1 and ORF2 sequences, i.e., lacking poly(A) sequence . We recently expressed human SaV GI, GII, and GV rVP1 with constructs (Mc14, C12, and NK24 strains, respectively) that included ORF2 and poly(A) sequences . Additional information on human SaV rVP1 expression is lacking, although it appeared that the yields of human SaV VLPs were typically low for these three genogroups. In this study, we compared the time-course expression of two different Mc114 SaV rVP1 constructs in a baculovirus expression system (Fig. 1). The MEG-1076 construct had two nucleotide point mutations, one in the VP1 gene in which resulted in an amino acid substitution, and one in the VP2 gene in which was silent. Although both constructs formed VLPs morphological similar to native SaV, the levels of transcription, translation, and VLP formation were clearly different. As shown in Figure 2B, the MEG-1076 rVP1 mRNA had increased steady-state levels and greater stability when compared to those of the Wt rVP1 mRNA. This difference was understood to be due to the nucleotide mutations in the MEG-1076 construct, since a similar result was observed in a NoV expression study . Bertolotti-Ciarlet et al. found that a nucleotide point mutation in a NoV rVP1 construct (ORF2-A U G → A C G-ORF3+3' UTR construct, represented in bold) had decreased levels of rVP1 mRNA at 36 hours post-infection, by approximately 50%, when compared to a construct without the mutation (ORF2+ORF3+3' UTR construct). Bertolotti-Ciarlet suggested that the RNA secondary structure or changes in the mRNA stability could be responsible for the different steady-state levels, but this was not proven. Also, the MEG-1076 construct had increased levels of rVP1 expression and yields of VLPs in the culture medium when compared to those of the Wt construct (Fig. 3A). On the other hand, the concentration of rVP1 in the cell lysate remained more or less the same during the time-course expression for the MEG-1076 construct. And for the Wt construct, rVP1 was not detected in the cell lysate, although this may have been related to the low expression levels (Fig. 3B). Our results showed that the MEG-1076 construct had a 6-fold increase in yields of VLPs in the culture medium (Fig. 4), which corresponded to approximately 80 μg of CsCl purified VLPs from 200 ml of culture medium (at 6 dpi), but less than 5 μg of CsCl purified VLPs in the cell lysate (data not shown). These results suggested that either (i) immediately after translation the majority of rVP1 was exported from the cells to the culture medium where the majority of VLPs were folded but a fraction were simultaneously folded within the cells or (ii) VLPs were folded within the cells and then the majority of VLPs were immediately exported from the cells to the culture medium, though a fraction remained within the cells. In a recent NoV expression study, a single amino acid substitution in the rVP1 gene affected VLP formation but not rVP1 expression . In that study, a (native) histidine residue at position 91 (relative to NoV Snow Mountain Virus strain amino acid VP1 sequence) was found to be essential for VLP formation and a construct with a substituted (mutant) arginine residue at this position failed to form VLPs despite expressing rVP1. Interestingly, that study found a single amino substitution was critical for the formation of VLPs, whereas our results showed that a single amino acid substitution was beneficial, i.e., increased the yields of VLPs. Bertolotti-Ciarlet found that inclusions of NoV ORF3 and poly(A) sequences in a construct increased the expression levels of NoV rVP1 and the stability of VLPs when compared to constructs without these sequences; and suggested that expression of other caliciviruses (NoV and SaV) rVP1 that resulted in low yields or unstable VLPs may be due to constructs that lacked the VP2 gene . An alternative explanation was that point mutations influenced steady-state levels of mRNA and stability, which in turn influenced VLP formation. In our case, one or two nucleotide point mutations caused an enhancement of transcription, leading to increased yields of SaV VLPs in insect cells. Furthermore, many of these studies that expressed calicivirus rVP1 in insect cells only examined rVP1 expression and yields of VLPs but not rVP1 mRNA transcription [11–14]. However, another reason for the increased yields of VLPs may be associated with adaptation of SaV rVP1 to the baculovirus expression system and insect cells, since a similar result was observed with porcine enteric calicivirus in primary kidney cells . Although the growth rate and replication efficiency of the recombinant baculoviruses themselves and differences in the levels of virus replication might account for such variation, we observed similar results using other MOIs, that is, the MEG-1076 construct continued to express greater yields of VLPs than the Wt construct (data not shown). Another explanation may have been differences in the extents to which these baculoviruses induce apoptosis and all these may result from features in the baculovirus skeleton rather than from the inserted SaV sequence. Such effects might for instance affect the number of adherent cells harvested or the degradation rates of both proteins and RNAs. However, we found that the MQG-1076 construct, developed from a separate experiment, had similar expression levels to that of the MEG-1076 construct (data not shown), which may eliminate the possibility that the baculovirus skeleton played a role in the increased yields of VLPs. On the other hand, we could not demonstrate whether the nucleotide mutations in VP1 and/or in ORF2 affected the transcription, a construct with only one of these mutations would be needed. Nevertheless, our results indicate that translation was exclusively affected by the single amino acid substitution in VP1. Therefore, the final increase in yields of VLPs may have been coupled at multiple levels, involving one or both of the nucleotide mutations in VP1 and VP2. We did not detect rVP2 during the time-course expression of the MQG-1076 construct (data not shown). The Wt and MEG-1076 constructs had an identical amino acid sequence, which would suggest a similar negative-result. NoV studies have found that inclusion of VP2 increases the stability of VLPs, though the expression level of NoV rVP2 was low . These results may suggest that (i) SaV rVP2 was expressed at undetectable levels, (ii) SaV rVP2 was not expressed in the insect cells, or (iii) SaV rVP2 was degraded in the insect cells. The SaV GI, GIV, and GV genomes are each predicted to encode a third ORF (ORF3) overlapping the VP1 gene, whereas SaV GII and GIII have only two ORFs. The functions of SaV ORF2 and ORF3 still remain unknown. The amino acid substitution (N → S) for the MEG-1076 construct occurred in the VP1 gene at residue 358. This asparagine residue was recently identified as a moderately conserved residue among the caliciviruses capsid proteins , but more importantly, the residue was strictly conserved among 21 different SaV GI, GII, and GV strains and belonged to a strictly conserved amino acid motif, NGDV (Fig. 5). However, when we included SaV GIII and GIV strains (PEC and Hou-7, respectively) we found that only the GD amino acids were strictly conserved though several other amino acids nearby were also strictly conserved (Fig. 5). These data further suggested that this site played an important role in the regulation of SaV VLP formation. Recently, the cryo-EM analysis of SaV was determined and compared to NoV X-ray crystallography structure . Chen et al. analysed 30 different VP1 amino acid sequences of calicivirus strains belonging to the four genera in the family Caliciviridae and identified strictly and moderately conserved residues, and predicted the P1 and P2 domains of SaV VP1 based on NoV X-ray crystallography structure. Based on these predictions, the residue at position 358 (amino acid sequence) was found as a moderately conserved residue among the caliciviruses. This arginine residue was predicated to be in the P2 domain, which is defined as the outer most protruding domain for NoV and thought to provide strain diversity . Further high-resolution structural analysis of SaV VLPs is clearly needed in order to determine the precise domains and regions of SaV. However, our expression results have indicated that only approximately 80 μg of purified VLPs from 200 ml of culture medium was possible (data not shown), thus in order to determine the X-ray crystallography structure of SaV, a minimum increase in expression level of about 20-fold would be required: a challenging feat. Materials and methods Virus strain, RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis SaV GI Mc114 strain (GenBank accession number, AY237422) was isolated from a male infant seven months of age from the McCormic Hospital, Chiang Mai, Thailand on the 7th May 2001 . RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were performed as previously described . PCR and sequencing Our initial SaV rVP1 construct (MQG-1076 construct) was amplified with ExTaq DNA polymerase. However, this construct was later found to have two nucleotide point mutations in ORF1 at positions 4 (G AG → C AG) and 1076 (AA T → AG T) and one nucleotide point mutation in ORF2 at position 1895 (GTG → GTA) (relative to the VP1 start and represented in bold). Primer and PCR errors likely introduced these mutations. These three nucleotide point mutations resulted in two amino acid substitutions in the VP1 gene, one at the second residue, where glutamic acid (E) → glutamine (Q), and one at residue 358, where asparagine (N) → serine (S). The nucleotide point mutation in ORF2 did not result in an amino substitution. Despite the two amino acid substitutions, the MQG-1076 construct formed VLPs. We designed another construct (MEG-1076) using the pDEST8-MQG-1076 as template but with a new sense primer and used KOD-plus DNA polymerase according to the manufacture's instructions (Toyobo, Japan). The MEG-1076 construct had the same nucleotide point mutations at positions 1076 in VP1 and 1895 in VP2 as the MQG-1076 construct but not at nucleotide 4 in VP1 (Fig. 1). Lastly, we designed a third construct with the native sequence (Wt construct) using KOD-plus DNA polymerase and the original cDNA . PCR-amplified fragments were cloned into the Gateway Expression System (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif.) as previously described . The insert sequences of the pDONR8 plasmids were confirmed, including the partial upstream and downstream sequences on the plasmids in which were found to be identical for the Wt and MEG-1076 constructs. Sequencing was performed as previously described . Expression of rVP1 in insect cells Recombinant bacmids were transfected into Sf9 cells (Riken Cell Bank, Japan) and the recombinant baculoviruses was collected as previously described . The expression of the rVP1 constructs were analyzed by infecting recombinant baculoviruses at a MOI of 14.5 in 2.7 × 106 confluent Tn5 cells in 1.5 ml of Ex-Cell 405 medium followed by incubation at 26°C. The total culture medium was harvested 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 dpi. The culture medium was centrifuged for 10 min at 3,000 × g, and further centrifuged for 30 min at 10,000 × g. The VLPs in the culture medium were further concentrated by ultracentrifugation for 2 h at 45,000 rpm at 4°C (Beckman TLA-55 rotor), and then resuspended in 30 μl of Grace's medium. The cell lysate from the first centrifuge was resuspended in 200 μl of Grace's medium and stored at 4°C. Total RNA was prepared from the attached cells at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 dpi with 1 ml of Isogen (Nippon Gene, Japan). For 7 and 8 dpi, the cell culture medium (containing unattached cells) was collected and centrifuged for 5 min at 3,000 × g, the supernatant removed, and then the cells were dissolved with 1 ml of Isogen. The cells were stored at -80°C. RNA was purified by a chloroform/ ethanol method (Nippon Gene, Japan). Briefly, RNA was mixed with chloroform, centrifuged at 12,000 × g for 15 min at 4°C, and the aqueous layer collected. This was repeated once, and then the aqueous layer collected and mixed with isopropanol and stored overnight at -20°C. The solution was mixed, centrifuged at 12,000 × g for 15 min at 4°C, and the supernatant discarded. The pellet was resuspended in 80% ethanol, centrifuged at 12,000 × g for 15 min at 4°C. This was repeated once, and then the pellet air-dried and resuspended in 25 μl of TE, and stored at -80°C. The amounts of purified RNA were determined spectrophotometrically (Bio-Rad, USA). The same amounts (500 ng) of total RNA were loaded for each construct and each dpi onto a 2% denaturing agarose gel containing formaldehyde. The amounts of total RNA were compared using SYBR Gold staining (Invitrogen, USA). RNA was transferred to a positively charged nylon transfer membrane (Hybond-N+; Amersham Biosciences, Ireland) under vacuum (VacuGene XL; Pharamacia LKB, Sweden) and analyzed by Northern blotting according to the DIG Northern Starter Kit (Roche, USA), except for a minor modification. Briefly, a RNA probe corresponding to Mc114 VP1 position 157 to 1283 (anti-VP1) was generated from a PCR fragment (native sequence) according to the manufacture's instructions (Roche, USA). Hybridization was performed overnight at 68°C with anti-VP1 in 10 ml of ultrasensitive hybridization buffer (Ambion, Canada). After hybridization, immunological detection was performed according to the manufacture's instructions (Roche, USA). Western blotting, ELISA, EM, and protein sequencing Western blotting, ELISA, and EM were used to examine rVP1 expression as previously described . However, it should be acknowledged that the hyperimmune rabbit and guinea pig antisera were raised against the MQG-1076 VLPs. Protein sequences were determined by an Edman's degradation method. Amino acid alignment VP1 nucleotide sequences were translated using Genetyx software (software development Co. Version 11.2.2) and submitted to online ClustalW at DDBJ http://spiral.genes.nig.ac.jp/homology/welcome-e.shtml. In total, we aligned different 21 SaV GI, GII, GIII, GIV, and GV sequences, and included: Arg39, AY289803; Bristol, AJ249939; C12, AY603425; Cruise ship/00, AY289804; PEC, AF182760; Dresden, AY694184; Hou-7, AF435814; Houston/86/US, U95643; Houston/27/90/US, U95644; London/29845/92/UK, U95645; Lyon/598/97/F, AJ271056; Manchester, X86560; Mc2, AY237419; Mc10, AY237420; Mex340/1990, AF435812; Mex14917/00, AF435813; NK24, AY646856; Parkville, U73124; Potsdam, AAG01042; Plymouth, X86559; Sapporo/82/Japan, U65427; and Sakaeo-15, AY646855. 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Selective Enhancement of Specific Capacities Through Psychedelic Training Willis W. Harman and James Fadiman From: PSYCHEDELICS, The Uses and Implications of Hallucinogenic Drugs, Bernard Aaronson and Humphrey Osmond, editors, Doubleday & Company, 1970. Copyright Aaronson & Osmond, Harman & Fadiman. The following article is an overview of the paper: Harman, et. al., in Psychedelic Reports 19, 211-27, 1966, "Psychedelic Agents in Creative Problem-Solving: A Pilot Study." (This article discusses exploratory work that was interrupted early in 1966 when the Food and Drug Administration, as a strategy in combating the illicit-use problem, declared a moratorium on research with normal human subjects. In view of the preliminary nature of the work, it would not under ordinary circumstances have been submitted for publication. However, because of the significance of the hypotheses, and because they are consistent with experience gained in a previous study of four hundred subjects who received psychedelics in a therapy context, and because of the hope that when it is again possible to resume psychedelic research the non-medical applications will get long-overdue attention, the decision was made to release these results in their present, unfinished form.) Amid much controversy over the place of psychedelic chemicals in contemporary culture, we have quietly entered a third phase of the research on human uses of these agents. The first phase, typically identified in the literature by the use of the adjective "psychotomimetic," was characterized by dominance of a priori structured models. Seriously underestimating the effects that such preconceptions might have on the content and aftereffects of the subjective experience, researchers variously reported that psychedelics mimicked mental illness (when given in a setting that provoked it), illuminated Freudian theory (when administered by a competent Freudian), evoked Jungian archetypes (when administered by a sensitive Jungian), substantiated the tenets of behavior therapy (by increasing suggestibility and modifiability), and demonstrated the soundness of the existential approach. The second phase, adopting Osmond's neologism "psychedelic," was characterized by an emphasis on allowing the drug session to run its natural course, in an attempt to minimize the influence of the conceptions and interpretations of the therapist or monitor. Care was taken to provide such expectations, rapport, and environment that the experience would be as non- threatening as possible. Opinions varied as to what constitutes optimum set and setting, and subjects and experimenters varied. As a consequence, reported effects range from ecstasy to psychosis, from community to isolation, from greatly enhanced mental and perceptual abilities to greatly impaired abilities. From this work emerged a variety of psychotherapeutic applications, well summarized by Hoffer (1965), as well as widespread, mainly illicit, use with sensual, philosophical, and transcendental goals. Growing out of this informal experimentation and clinical research, largely as a consequence of suggestive spontaneous occurrences, the possibility gradually emerged that specific kinds of performance might be selectively enhanced by deliberate structuring of psychedelic-agent administrations. Thus a third phase of psychedelic research began. Whereas, in the first phase, experiences tended to be controlled and delimitednever mind if inadvertentlyby preconceptions of experimenter and subject, and in the second phase they tended to be more uncontrolled and wide-ranging in scope, now the emphasis was to be on deliberate selection of specific aspects of the psychedelic experience and of specific parameters of functioning. As these experiments on specific performance enhancement through directed use of the psychedelics have gone on in various countries of the world, on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and as, furthermore, some, at least, of the informal exploration has been in defiance of existing laws governing use of the psychedelic agents, publicly available information on results is scant and scattered. In the remainder of this chapter we shall discuss one pilot study in which the particular type of performance chosen for attention was creative problem-solving ability. The implications of the work are, we believe, much broader than this particular application. Indeed, the basic assumption underlying setting up the project, and not negated by any of our observations during the course of the research, is that, given appropriate conditions, the psychedelic agents can be employed to enhance any aspect of mental performance, in the sense of making it more operationally effective. While this research was restricted to intellectual and artistic activity, we believe the assumption holds true for any other mental, perceptual, or emotional process. The psychedelic agent acts as a facilitator, an adjunct to the situation it facilitates, neither good nor evil, efficacious nor powerless, safe nor dangerous. Rationale Behind the Creative Problem-Solving Study Reports in the literature on psychedelic agents that deal with effects on performance are inconclusive or contradictory. Changes in performance levels have been intensively investigated, both during and after the drug session. Instrumental learning has been found to be impaired during the drug experience in some studies, enhanced in others. Similarly, contradictory results have been noted for color perception, recall and recognition, discrimination learning, concentration, symbolic thinking, and perceptual accuracy (Mogar, 1965a). In some of the research, where impairment was reported, the drug was used as a stresser with the intention of simulating psychotic performance-impairment. Practically all of the formal research in which improved performance was claimed subsequent to the drug experience has been in a clinical context. Performance enhancement during the drug experience has been sporadically reported in both experimental and clinical research, but not in general where the psychotomimetic orientation was dominant. Our experience in clinical research (Mogar and Savage, 1964; Fadiman 1965; Savage et al., 1966) had been amply convincing with regard to the possibility of long-term performance enhancement through employment of the psychedelic agents in a clinical setting. We also had much evidence with regard to the subtlety and pervasiveness of the influence of set and setting. Furthermore, although they had not been deliberately sought, there were numerous spontaneous incidents of what appeared to be temporarily enhanced performance during the drug experience itself. These observations led us to postulate the following 1. Any human function, as generally elicited, can be performed more effectively. This amounts to an acknowledgement that we do not function at our full capacity. 2. The psychedelics appear to temporarily inhibit censors that ordinarily limit the mental contents coming into conscious awareness. The subject may, for example, discover his latent ability to form colored imagery, to hallucinate, to recall forgotten experiences of early childhood, to generate meaningful symbolic presentations, etc. By leading the subject to expect enhancement of other types of performancecreative problem solving, learning manual or verbal skills, manipulating logical or mathematical symbols, sensory or extrasensory perception, memory and recalland by providing favorable preparatory and environmental conditions, it may be possible to improve the level of functioning in any desired respect. 3. Both objective and subjective indicators of mental performance are appropriate to use in establishing whether there has indeed been an improvement (or impairment) of performance. As Table 1 indicates, commonly observed characteristics of the psychedelic experience seem to operate both for and against the hypothesis that the drug session could be used for performance enhancement. In this research we attempted to provide a setting that would maximize those characteristics that tend toward improved functioning, while minimizing those that might hinder effective functioning. For several reasons we chose to focus our efforts on creative problem solving. One was its obvious utility, an important consideration at that juncture because of the increasing pressure for stricter regulation of the psychedelics by those who doubted that they were good for anything at all. Another factor was that many of the observed spontaneous occurrences had been of this sort. Finally, because of extensive recent research activity in the field of creativity, a number of relevant objective measures were available for use. Interest centered on three questions: 1. Can the psychedelic experience enhance creative problem-solving ability, and if so, what is the evidence of 2. Can this result in enhanced production of concrete, valid, and feasible solutions assessable by the pragmatic criteria of modern industry and positivistic science? 3. Working with a non-clinical population and with a non-therapy orientation, would there nevertheless result demonstrable long-term personality changes indicative of continued increased creativity and self- actualization? The subjects in these experiments were twenty-seven males engaged in a variety of professional occupations (sixteen engineers, one engineer-physicist, two mathematicians, two architects, one psychologist, one furniture designer, one commercial artist, one sales manager, and one personnel manager). Nineteen of the subjects had had no previous experience with psychedelics. The following selection criteria were established: 1. Participant's occupation normally requires problem-solving 2. Participant is found to be psychologically stable as determined by psychiatric interview- examination. 3. Participant is motivated to discover, verify, and apply solutions within his current work capacity. Each group of four subjects met one another during an evening session several days before the experimental day. (In one of the groups, one subject had to be eliminated, which left only three.) The proposed sequence of events during the experimental session was explained in detail. This initial meeting also served the function of allaying apprehension and establishing rapport and trust among the members and the staff. Subjects were told that they would experience little or no difficulties with distractions such as visions, involvement with personal emotional states, and so on. The instructions emphasized that the experience could be directed as desired. Direct suggestions were made to encourage mental flexibility during the session. An excerpt from those instructions is quoted below: Some suggestions on approaches: Try identifying with the central person, object, or process in the problem. See how the problem looks from this Try asking to "see" the solution, to visualize how various parts might work together, to see how a certain situation will work out in future, etc. You will find it is possible to scan a large number of possible solutions, ideas, data from the memory etc., much more rapidly than usual. The "right" solution will often appear along with a sort of intuitive "knowing" that it is the answer sought. You will also find that you can hold in conscious awareness a number of ideas or pieces of data processes simultaneously, to an You will find it is possible to "step" back from the problem and see it in new perspective, in more basic terms; to abandon previously tried approaches and start afresh (since there is much less of yourself invested in these earlier trials). Above all, don't be timid in the ambitiousness with which you ask questions. If you want to see the completed solution in a three-dimensional image, or to project yourself forward in time, or view some microscopic physical process, or view something not visible to your physical eyes, or re-experience some event out of the past, by all means ask. Don't let your questions be limited by your notion of what can and what Approximately one hour of pencil-and-paper tests were administered at this time. Subjects were told that they would take a similar battery during the experimental session. To insure that the problems to be worked on were appropriate for the purpose, each participant was asked to present his selection briefly. By the end of the preparation session, participants were generally anticipative and at ease. They had been given a clear picture of what to expect, as well as information on how to cope with any difficulties that might arise. The session day was spent as follows: 8:30 Arrive at session room 9:00 Psychedelic material given. Mescaline sulphate (200 mg). 9-12 Music played, subjects relaxed with eyes closed 12-1 Psychological tests administered 1-5 Subjects work on problems 5-6 Discussion of experience; review of solutions. Participants were driven home after this. They were given a sedative, which they might take if they experienced any difficulty in sleeping. In many cases, however, they preferred to stay up until well after midnight, continuing to work on insights and solutions discovered earlier in the day. Each subject wrote a subjective account of his experience within a week after the experimental session. Approximately six weeks after the session, subjects were administered questionnaires that related to (1) the effects of the session on post-session creative ability and (2) the validity and acceptance of solutions conceived during the session. These data were in addition to the psychometric data comparing results of the two The literature on creativity includes analytical description of the components of creative experience, the personal characteristics of creative individuals, and the distinguishing features of creative solutions. From the participants' reports, it was possible to extract eleven strategies of enhanced functioning during the session. The relationship of these strategies to enhanced functioning should be self-explanatory. Those readers interested in the relationship of these aspects to current research and theory on creativity can refer to the detailed technical discussion in Harman, McKim et al. (1966). The factors are listed below with representative quotations from the subjects' reports. 1. Low Inhibition and Anxiety: "There was no fear, no worry, no sense of reputation and competition, no envy, none of these things which in varying degrees have always been present in my work." "A lowered sense of personal danger; I don't feel threatened any more, and there is no feeling of my reputation being at stake." "Although doing well on these problems would be fine, failure to get ahead on them would be threatening. However, as it turned out, on this afternoon the normal blocks in the way of progress seemed to be absent." 2. Capacity to Restructure Problem in Larger Context: "Looking at the same problem with (psychedelic) materials, I was able to consider it in a much more basic way, because I could form and keep in mind a much broader "I could handle two or three different ideas at the same time and keep track of each." "Normally I would overlook many more trivial points for the sake of expediency, but under the drug, time seemed unimportant. I faced every possible questionable issue square in the face." "Ability to start from the broadest general basis in the beginning . . ." "I returned to the original problem.... I tried, I think consciously, to think of the problem in its totality, rather than through the devices I had used before." 3. Enhanced Fluency and Flexibility of Ideation: "I began to work fast, almost feverishly, to keep up with the flow of ideas." "I began to draw . . . my senses could not keep up with my images . . . my hand was not fast enough . . . my eyes were not keen enough . . . I was impatient to record the picture (it has not faded one particle). I worked at a pace I would not have thought I was capable of." "I was very impressed with the ease with which ideas appeared (it was virtually as if the world is made of ideas, and so it is only necessary to examine any part of the world to get an idea). I also got the feeling that creativity is an active process in which you limit yourself and have an objective, so there is a focus about which ideas can cluster and relate." ". . . I dismissed the original idea entirely, and started to approach the graphic problem in a radically different way. That was when things started to happen. All kinds of different possibilities came to mind...." "And the feeling during this period of profuse production was one of joy and exuberance.... It was the pure fun of doing, inventing, creating, and playing." 4. Heightened Capacity for Visual Imagery and Fantasy: "Was able to move imaginary parts in relation to each ". . . it was the non-specific fantasy that triggered the "The next insight came as an image of an oyster shell, with the mother-of-pearl shining in different colors. I translated that in the idea of an interferometer-two layers separated by a gap equal to the wave length it is desired to ". . . As soon as I began to visualize the problem, one possibility immediately occurred. A few problems with that concept occurred, which seemed to solve themselves rather quickly.... Visualizing the required cross section was "Somewhere along in here, I began to see an image of the circuit. The gates themselves were little silver cones linked together by lines. I watched the circuit flipping through its paces.. . ." "I began visualizing all the properties known to me that a photon possesses and attempted to make a model for a photon.... The photon was comprised of an electron and a positron cloud moving together in an intermeshed synchronized helical orbit.... This model was reduced for visualizing purposes to a black and white ball propagating in a screw-like fashion through space. I kept putting the model through all sorts of known tests." 5. Increased Ability to Concentrate: "Was able to shut out virtually all distracting "I was easily able to follow a train of thought to a conclusion where normally I would have been distracted many "I was impressed with the intensity of concentration, the forcefulness and exuberance with which I could proceed toward the "I considered the process of photoconductivity.... I kept asking myself, "What is light?" and subsequently, "What is a photon?" The latter question I repeated to myself several hundred times till it was being said automatically in synchronism with each breath. I probably never in my life pressured myself as intently with a question as I did this one." "It is hard to estimate how long this problem might have taken without the psychedelic agent, but it was the type of problem that might never have been solved. It would have taken a great deal of effort and racking of the brains to arrive at what seemed to come more easily during the session." 6. Heightened Empathy with External Processes and Objects: ". . . the sense of the problem as a living thing that is growing toward its inherent solution." "First I somehow considered being the needle and being bounced around in the groove." "I spent a productive period . . . climbing down on my retina, walking around and thinking about certain problems relating to the mechanism of vision." "Ability to grasp the problem in its entirety, to 'dive' into it without reservations, almost like becoming the problem" "Awareness of the problem itself rather than the 'I' that is trying to solve it" 7. Heightened Empathy with People: "It was also felt that group performance was affected in . . . subtle ways. This may be evidence that some sort of group action was going on all the time." "Only at intervals did I become aware of the music. Sometimes, when I felt the other guys listening to it; and it was a physical feeling of them listening to it." "Sometimes we even had the feeling of having the same thoughts or ideas." 8. Subconscious Data More Accessible: ". . . brought about almost total recall of a course that I had had in thermodynamics; something that I had never given any thought about in years." "I was in my early teens and wandering through the gardens where I actually grew up. I felt all my prior emotions in relation to my surroundings." 9. Association of Dissimilar Ideas: "I had earlier devised an arrangement for beam steering on the two-mile accelerator which reduced the amount of hardware necessary by a factor of two.... Two weeks ago it was pointed out to me that this scheme would steer the beam into the wall and therefore was unacceptable. During the session, I looked at the schematic and asked myself how could we retain the factor of two but avoid steering into the wall. Again a flash of inspiration, in which I thought of the word "alternate." I followed this to its logical conclusion, which was to alternate polarities sector by sector so the steering bias would not add but cancel. I was extremely impressed with this solution and the way it came to "Most of the insights come by association." "It was the last idea that I thought was remarkable because of the way in which it developed. This idea was the result of a fantasy that occurred during Wagner [Note: the participant had earlier listened to Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries.'].... I put down a line which seemed to embody this [fantasy].... I later made the handle which my sketches suggested and it had exactly the quality I was looking for.... I was very amused at the ease with which all of this was done." l0. Heightened Motivation to Obtain Closure: "Had tremendous desire to obtain an elegant solution (the most for the least) ." "All known constraints about the problem were simultaneously imposed as I hunted for possible solutions. It was like an analog computer whose output could not deviate from what was desired and whose input was continually perturbed with the inclination toward achieving the output." "It was almost an awareness of the 'degree of perfection' of whatever I was doing." "In what seemed like ten minutes, I had completed the problem, having what I considered (and still consider) a classic 11. Visualizing the Completed Solution: "I looked at the paper I was to draw on. I was completely blank. I knew that I would work with a property three hundred feet square. I drew the property lines (at a scale of one inch to forty feet), and I looked at the outlines. I was blank. Suddenly I saw the finished project [Note: the project was a shopping center specializing in arts and crafts]: I did some quick calculations . . . it would fit on the property and not only that . . . it would meet the cost and income requirements . . . it would park enough cars . . . it met all the requirements. It was contemporary architecture with the richness of a cultural heritage . . . it used history and experience but did not copy "I visualized the result I wanted and subsequently brought the variables into play which could bring that result about. I had great visual (mental) perceptibility; I could imagine what was wanted, needed, or not possible with almost no effort. I was amazed at my idealism, my visual perception, and the rapidity with which I could operate." Results: Subjective Ratings As mentioned above, several weeks after the experimental session all participants were asked to complete a brief questionnaire. Here they rated their experience with respect to nine characteristics relevant to enhanced functioning. Items were rated on a five-point scale from MARKED ENHANCEMENT (+2) through NO CHANGE (O) to MARKED IMPAIRMENT (-2) . The average ratings are listed in Table 2. These data, too, seem to substantiate the hypothesis of enhancement of both verbal and Results: Psychometric Data Test-retest scores on some of the measures used showed dramatic changes from normal to psychedelic-session conditions. Most apparent were enhanced abilities to recognize patterns, to minimize and isolate visual distractions, and to maintain visual memory in spite of confusing changes of form and color. Specific tests used included the Purdue Creativity, the Miller Object Visualization, and the Witkin Embedded Figures. This last test has been reported to be stable under a variety of experimental interventions including stress, training, sensory isolation, hypnosis, and the influence of a variety of drugs (Witkin et al., 1962). With these twenty-seven subjects, enhancement was consistent (p<.01), and in some cases improvements were as great as 200 per cent. (For a fuller description of the psychometric evaluation, see Harman et al., 1966.) The practical value of obtained solutions is a check against subjective reports of accomplishment that might be attributable to temporary euphoria. The nature of these solutions varied; they included: (1) a new approach to the design of a vibratory microtome, (2) a commercial building design, accepted by the client, (3) space probe experiments devised to measure solar properties, (4) design of a linear electron accelerator beam-steering device, (5) engineering improvement to a magnetic tape recorder, (6) a chair design, modeled and accepted by the manufacturer, (7) a letterhead design, approved by the customer, (8) a mathematical theorem regarding NOR-gate circuits, (9) completion of a furniture-line design, (10) a new conceptual model of a photon, which was found useful, and (11) design of a private dwelling, approved by the client. Table 3 outlines the initial results of attempting to apply the solutions generated in the experimental sessions back into the industrial and academic settings of the subjects. (These data were obtained by questionnaire and follow-up interview six to eight weeks after the session.) A quote for a follow-up report written several months after the session is typical of the relative usefulness and validity of the session-day solutions: "In the area of ionospheric source location and layer tilt analysis, I was able in the weeks following the session to build on the ideas generated to the extent of working out the mathematics of the schemes proposed, and of making them more definite. The steps made in the session were the correct ones to start with . . . the ideas considered and developed in the session appear as important steps, and the period of the session as the single most productive period of work on this problem I have had in the several months either preceding or following the session." Many subjects in the follow-up interview reported changes in their modes of functioning that were continuous with the enhancement reported for the session itself (e.g., continuing visualization ability). Table 4 lists the result of a questionnaire dealing with changes in work effectiveness. The results given in Table 4 indicate that approximately half the subjects reporting were still noticing some change in their performance level several months after the experimental session. These results are particularly interesting in view of the relatively low dosage and the fact that no suggestion was made at any time that continuing changes of this nature were expected. The deliberate anticipation of enhanced performance level, the incitement to a high degree of motivation, and use of a sheltered and non-critical atmospherenone of these were directly suggestive of long-term personality changes or permanent therapeutic benefit. Yet a certain amount of such change seems to have occurred. One implication is clear: We are dealing with materials and experimental situations that have long-term effects; it would be foolhardy and irresponsible to treat this kind of research as if it were isolated from the fabric of the subjects' lives. Comments and Speculations We had originally intended to follow this pilot study with a controlled experiment employing a double-blind design, in which a fraction of the subjects receive an active placebo. This would have addressed the question of whether suggestion alone could account for the performance enhancement. Because of interruption of the research program by government fiat, this extension was never carried out. The need for controlled hypothesis-testing research in this perplexing area of chemical facilitation of mental functioning has become a common plea, and rightly so. But equally needful of furthering is the exploratory sort of research that aims at invention of conceptual models and hypothesis construction. Because of the controversy surrounding use of the psychedelic agents, this latter type of research is even more likely to be slighted. In the research described, we employed naive subjects. There are clear methodological virtues accruing from the use of untrained subjects. However, when the central question is not one of pharmacological effects, but rather the degree to which certain processes can be facilitated, the more experience the subjects can gain the more we are likely to learn about the process. Thus we would urge the desirability of further investigations employing a series of sessions for each subject. A similar comment holds with regard to selection of subjects. Clinical studies already referred to indicate that those subjects who are more stable and productive beforehand 4 tend to "benefit considerably from the psychedelic experience along the lines of self-actualization, richer creative experience, and enhancement of special abilities and aptitudes" (Savage et al., 1966). Subjects for this pilot study were deliberately selected to be persons with known reputations as creative individuals. In general, we would expect the outcomes of this kind of research to be more fruitful with gifted rather than "merely normal" subjects. In contrast with reports of other researchers, we experienced little difficulty in getting subjects to work on psychological tests. Many studies seem to indicate a temporary debilitating effect of psychedelics on higher cortical processes. It seems to us that variables that affect results on these kinds of tests include attitude and motivation as well as ability. We found that discussing this problem with subjects in the preparatory meetings eliminated any tendency in the experimental session to shrug off the tests as meaningless or to resist them as disconcerting. In short, on the tests, as well as in problem solving, by establishing an anticipation of improved performance, we seemed to obtain results that support it. Assuming that these findings are eventually substantiated by additional research, they find their most obvious application to problem solving in industry, professional practice, and research. Here the procedure could play a role similar to that played by consultants, brainstorming, synectics, and other attempts to augment and "unstick" the problem solver's unsuccessful efforts. A quote from one of our subjects illustrates the "I decided to drop my old line of thinking and give it a new try. The 'mystery' of this easy dismissal and forgetting did not strike me until later in the afternoon, because I had many times before this session indulged in this line of thinking and managed to work up the whole thing into an airtight deadlock, and I had been unable to break, much less dismiss, this deadlock. The miracle is that it came so easy and natural." A much more important application in the long run, we believe, is the use of the psychedelic agents as training facilitators to gradually upgrade the performance level of already effective personnel. This would require establishment of accepted training procedures and certification provisions for those qualified to use them. This may seem to be a utopian projection from our present state, but we live in an age of rapid change, and it is perhaps not out of the question within a decade. Among consequences of this line of exploration, the most significant of all, in our estimation, is the gaining of new knowledge of the mysterious higher processes of the human mind, the framing of new and more productive research questions, and the eventual effect on our image of manof what he can be, and of what he is, of the vast potentialities he has seemingly only begun to tap. SOME REPORTED CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE(back to text) (as found in the literature and in subjects' reports) |Those supporting creativity||Those hindering creativity| |1. Increased access to unconscious data.||1. Capacity for logical thought processes diminished.| |2. More fluent free association; increased ability to play spontaneously with hypotheses, metaphors, paradoxes, transformations, relationships, etc.||2. Ability to consciously direct concentration reduced.| |3. Heightened ability for visual imagery and fantasy.||3. Inability to control imaginary and conceptual sequences.| |4. Relaxation and openness.||4. Anxiety and agitation.| |5. Sensory inputs more acutely perceived.||5. Outputs (verbal and visual communication abilities) constricted.| |6. Heightened empathy with external processes, objects, and people.||6. Tendency to focus upon "inner problems" of a personal nature.| |7. Aesthetic sensibility heightened.||7. Experienced beauty lessening tension to obtain aesthetic experience in the act of creation.| |8. Enhanced "sense of truth," ability to "see through" | false solutions and phony data. |8. Tendency to become absorbed in hallucinations and illusions.| |9. Lessened inhibition, reduced tendency to censor | own by premature negative judgment. |9. Finding the best solution seeming unimportant.| |10. Motivation heightened by suggestion and providing | the right set. |10."This-worldly" tasks seeming trivial, and, hence, motivation decreased. | MEAN SUBJECTIVE RATINGS OF FACTORS(back to text) RELATED TO ENHANCED (all ratings refer to behavior during the session) n = 27 |Values|| Mean || S.D. | |1. Lowering of defenses, reduction of inhibitions and anxiety||+1.7||0.64| |2. Ability to see the problem in the broadest terms||+1.4||0.58| |3. Enhanced fluency of ideation||+1.6||0.69| |4. Heightened capacity for visual imagery and fantasy||+1.0||0.72| |5. Increased ability to concentrate||+1.2||1.03| |6. Empathy with external processes and objects heightened||+0.8||0.97| |7. Empathy with other people heightened||+1.4||0.81| |8. Data from "unconscious" more accessible||+0.8||0.87| |9. Enhanced sense of "knowing" when the right solution appears||+1.0||0.70| OUTCOME OF PROBLEMS ATTEMPTED IN EXPERIMENTAL SESSION* Many subjects attempted more than one problem during the ONE MONTH AFTER SESSION DATE |new avenues for investigation opened||20| |working model completed||2| |developmental model to test solution authorized||1| |solution accepted for construction or production||6| |partial solution obtained being developed further or being applied||10| |no further activity since session||1| |no solution obtained||4| |total number of problems attempted*||44| (back to text) WORK PERFORMANCE SINCE SESSION (n=16) key: -2 marked impairment; -1 significant impairment; 0 no |key|| -2 || -1 || 0 || +1 ||+2| |1. Ability to solve problems||0||0||8||8||0| |2. Ability to relate effectively to others||0||0||8||5||3| |3. Attitude toward job||0||0||7||8||1| |5. Ability to communicate||0||0||10||5||1| |6. Response to pressure||0||0||7||8||1| +1 significant enhancement; +2 marked enhancement (back to text)

THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 567, April 25, 2010 Authoritarian sycophants in the lamestream media Send Letters to email@example.com Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy. (Was that an ad for paper towels, garbage bags or toilet paper?, I just buy what's on sale). NOTA wins once, abolish the office forever. Have a plumber pound the "YES" button out from the bottom of the desk. (Locking in the NO button can't be trusted, electrons are slippery). Fuck that second chance. I'm kind to animals (I shoot straight), most children and women. Not to politicians (they can bleed out on the sidewalk they require me to maintain). I damn near bled out on my front porch a couple weeks back when a vein in my left ankle poppedglad La Esposa is a nurse who also (I know too, but I was in sort of a panic, what with the spewing blood) knew about where to apply pressure for the hour before the ambulance we pay taxes for (and were billed for the other day, the ambulance not just the usual) finally showed up. Does lemon juice remove blood stains from pressure-treated wood? It's been several years (too long, I know) since the last treatment with Thompson's Water-Seal. But if I apply it now, that porch will always look like I clubbed, stripped, and ate a baby seal on it. I don't eat carnivores (unless I'm really hungry) and don't like to leave my front porch looking that way. One of these days people should get rid of the word evolution and replace it with something like differentiation. Human beings do not all have the same genetic code. At least 50 percent of the human race's genes are so different from the other half that their clitorides (correct fancy Latin spelling to match correct spelling further on) and ovaries are outside of their bodies and their vaginae (yeah that's the correct spelling according to my snobby Latin writing spell check program. Who knew?) are gone. I won't even get into differences in the shapes of noses, hair, eye and skin color, height, handedness, and IQ derived from genes. When the common ancestor of humans and apes started mutating who said they had to have the same mutations? And who said that evolution, or rather differentiation, isn't happening among humans even now? A recent report on women's breasts getting larger claims that at least part of this change is due to genetic change. Women with genes for larger breasts have better reproductive success (attract more mates) and have more kids. This is evolution at work via sexual selection. Not all evolution is good or even as pleasant as the example cited above. Orthodontists and optometrists are making a living off the fact that since we don't need jaws big enough to fit our teeth and twenty/twenty vision to survive people with "defective genes" are not dying before they reproduce and raise their children to adulthood. Most evolution happens over resistance to viral and bacterial infections. People with lower levels of resistance die before they can reproduce or have their ability to provide for their progeny compromised. Keep this up long enough with populations separated sufficiently by space, especially if they are exploiting different food sources and exposed to sufficiently different pathogens and environmental conditions, and you will eventually get one species differentiating into others. To which E.J. Totty replied: My remarks interspersed with your own below: Albert Perez wrote: The idea of 'evolution' is that of achieving something which wasn't in evidence priorly. The mere act of procreation is akin to 'mixing and matching.' But nothing 'new' comes of it. Genetic diversity imparts nothing new to the genome, and the only way that would happen is if a space alien with compatible DNA were to mate with a human. My Mother was a space alien ... ;-) You neglect to consider the 'environmental' aspects which have a far greater affect on how the body develops. People develop physical abnormalities as a result of many things, but mostly it has much to do with the parents predisposition to certain affects which are then passed on to their offspring. And then of course, additional environmental factors will affect them. Developing fetuses are impacted by just everything the woman carrying them. For instance, what possible environmental factor was the causative agent which produced genetic hemophilia? Since not everyone is afflicted with that genetic disorder, then we may presume that it was caused either by the absence of a requirement or the imposition of something which changed the genetic structure of a progenitor. Another example is the Celtic Curse, or that malady particular to those with a Celtic lineageusually Irish, Scots, and some English and Welshwhich causes the body to go out of its way to store iron in greater quantities than is needed. Ireland's soil is notoriously iron poor and it is thought that some ancestor way back when developed that genetic predisposition as a way to compensate for the environmental lack of iron. Now, is that a matter of 'evolution' or merely a matter of adaptation? I will say the latter, for the simple reason that nothing else changed. You see? That quality of the genome to adapt to a severe situation speaks to its ability to move things around in order to adjust to the circumstances of the environment. But that can't in any way be said to be 'evolution.' So, those matters you mention are very likely the result of one or another genetic deviation as a result of environmental influences. You talk about braces and wisdom teeth. How about this: I had a baby's tooth that lasted until I was 47, and it was only that the second tooth was coming in that pushed it out. Tell me: Why did that happen? The laws of Man are more the matter of convenience than of necessity. I say that because it is more convenient that we all manage to associate peacefully than it is for any degree of necessity. The corollary: When push comes to shove, people have exhibited the trait of 'dumping the law' out of 'necessity.' A loaf of bread is still a loaf of bread, sliced or not. Now I will suppose that the term 'differentiate' could well be a valid when making superficial distinctions regarding the various breeds of Man, but when the term is used in the biological sense it fails on its primary premise: Subspecies in the animal kingdom seldom seek mates from another subgroup. Humans aren't that way. But of course some humans seem to want sex with any other species that will submit! More it is I will think, that through the long history of humanity with children raised to be respectful of others rights, that the lessons have become ingrained, but only in the cultural sense. Ingrained, but certainly not inherited. Think: Lord of the Flies. A most astute remark A more astute remark I could not even begin to pretend or suggest: It whacks the nail on the head thusly! E.J.Totty and evolution When E.J. Totty says, in his letter in the April 18th issue: "The strongest evidence which supports my side of the argument is just this: Were Man to have had a common ancestor with the primates, then they too would have all of the genetic material that man has" he shows that he doesn't understand evolutionary biology. If that were indeed the case, then the simplest cyanobacterium would have the same genetic code as a human. They are, after all, our ancestors just like the early primates; just a bit further removed. Genetic material gets mixed (sexual reproduction), it gets transferred from species to species (through viral "infection" in some cases), it gets copied wrong, and it gets damaged. Since most of our genetic material is "turned off", most of the mutations occur in these "junk" areas and do nothing. However, those mutations are still there, waiting for something to flip the switch and turn them on. The environment is one thing that can provide that "something". The environment is not static. Each new change in the environment causes the organisms to have to change to keep up. It is a constant process. Sometimes they are able to use one of those previously "switched-off genes" to their advantage. And then, evolution occurs. This reminds me of the silly argument that the evolution of the eye was impossible, since a "half an eye" is useless and would not give its bearer an adaptive advantage. Tell that to the protists with "eyespots" that are nothing but light-sensitive areas. In the land of the blind, the critter that can sense where the light is is king. Recently I saw a video of a gecko jumping across the air to reach a new perch. In slow motion you could see him flapping his little featherless forelimbs. Science deniers claim that a "half-a-wing" gives no evolutionary advantage, yet tell that to a little dinosaur who evolved a tiny fringe of protofeathers on his already flapping front legs, and could therefore jump just a tiny bit further than his competitors. The constant clamor for "the missing link" is ridiculous. I could show you a rainbow and you would ask for the "missing link" between green and red. So I point out yellow. Then you ask for the "missing link" between yellow and red. I show you orange. Then you ask for a "missing link" between orange and red, and I show you orangish-red. Being a spectrum, this could go on indefinitely, with you never being satisfied. Species, in their historical existence, are the same way: a spectrum that blends seamlessly from one to the next, but with us only seeing individuals and assigning them to some species without seeing their origins and common ancestors. Each new species that is shown the science denier, to answer their demand for "the missing link", only causes them to ask for a new "missing link". There is not "a" missing link, each individual is a missing link. I'll guarantee you that the great apes we see today have evolved into "something else" compared to their ancestors who existed at the time of the split that produced humans and gorillas/chimps/orangutans. Humans did not evolve "from" apes, since we are still fully ape. I don't care what Darwin's personal faults were. He was not the only scientist getting the evolutionary light bulb over his head at that time in history. If not Darwin, someone else would have figured it out, published first, and gotten the credit (or blame). It was an idea whose time had come, due to the confluence of evidence from many branches of inquiry and the loosening grip of superstition. Unfortunately, it seems superstition is benefitting from the swing of the pendulum once again. I continue to be amazed by traditional leftwingers. On the one hand they make it abundantly clear that they distrust American political leaders (wise of them) distrustful of the majority of Americans because of the bigotries to which so many of pur countrymen subscribe (I commend their intelligence), and view police of whatever stripe as fascist jerks (here I find their attitude exaggerated as I know many cops who are trying to respect and protect people's rights, but I admit it's a good test assunption to help keep one's teeth in one's head). On the other hand they wish to surrender control of our economy, freedom of speech, press and religion to politicians, desire that government pander to the passions of the mob (18th Century meaning) and express a belief that only police officials should be trustedf with guns. Their desire to surrender political, economic and armed power to those whom they define as unworthy confuses me. It cannot be that they see this power as devolving to themselves as events of the last fifty years shows them unable to gain and hold power. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. Re: "Evinces a Design" by L. Neil Smith One of the bad things Obamanistas want to do, according to El Neil, is "amnesty for illegal aliens that will eventually allow them to vote the left into power forever." This from the same writer who states, just a few paragraphs earlier, "Most people now understand that advertised ideological differences between "progressives" and "conservatives", and between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, are a bald-faced lie, and that, in terms of their practical effect on the everyday life of the average individual, they areor might as well bea single all-consuming entity." This boogeyman of "illegal aliens" (amazing to read that phrase in a site devoted to liberty) amounts to them voting for one wing of the "Boot On Your Neck" Party that is no different from the other wing? This is supposed to upset us? Let's be clear here. Any notion of "illegal" aliens is statist. And arguing they will make things even more statist is demonstrably false. People come to this country for freedom; more than they are used to, anyway. They know how bad it can get when there is no freedom. How many Mexicans do you know who don't pay taxes? They are the good guys; they don't feed the beast! I've known a lot of immigrants from a lot of places. They are clearly less statist than the "natives", on average. Some day America will break up. If we are lucky and work hard on it, perhaps one of the new Americas will be free. There will be no notion of "illegal" immigrants in this free America. There will only be immigrants who want to be free, and emmigrants who don't want to be free. What's the problem? Now I Remember Several people whose value on liberty and erudition I respect have suggested that several of the states secede from the Union. To a certain degree I support this notion. A weakening of the central government would definitely stop it from messing with our liberties. Perhaps it would be better if the states whose value freedom highly form separate nation states from those who do not. Yet I remain uncomfortable with the notion, and now I remember why. Remember the miniseries Amerika back in the 1980's? I myself had all but forgotten it until a totally illogical train of thought brought it to mind. The story is that basically the Soviet dominated UN divides the unresisting US into satrapies enjoying the benefit of socialist rule. I have to ask myself, if the US was broken up by secession by some of the states would the most of them fall into this type of government? The answer keeps coming back to one idea: maybeso we need to keep the current system in place and bring it into the service of liberty. A stimulus success story.... Begin Forwarded Message: The Stimulus at Work Some have said that the stimulus hasn't saved any jobs, but here is a case where at least one job was saved. Oregon State University Athletic Director BobDeCarolis was considering firing their basketball coach, Craig Robinson, after an 8-11 start (2-5 in the Pac 10 conference). When word of this reached Washington , Undersecretary of Education Martha Kanter was dispatched to Corvallis with $17 million in stimulus money for the university. Craig Robinson's job is safe for this year. For those of you unfamiliar with Coach Robinson, he just so happens to be Michelle Obama's brother. Just a coincidence I'm sure! End Forwarded Message L. Neil Smith OH THE TRAGEDY! OH THE HORROR! L. Neil Smith The Mises Institute had a seminar in Phoenix, fiefdom of your friend and mine Sheriff Arpaio, on the 10th of April, 2010, entitled "The Inflationary Path to Despotism": Those presentations are online, I finally finished listening to them today. Anyone who wants to understand or debate the present economic mess would do themselves a great favor by listening/watching these presentations. Just the quotes from "the elite" demonstrating their stupidity, ignorance and arrogance are well worth the effort. I have no reason to believe that the present and historical level of "stupidity" being demonstrated in Washington City is real. The depth of malice by those who inhabit that swamp only seems like stupidity from the outside because of how utterly incomprehensible such motivations are to "normal" people. On Monday April 19th 2010 I saw and read about eight referrences to the Oklahoma City Bombing on mainstream media news. I saw one, maybe two references to the Battle of Lexington. I'm sure many of the bosses would be happy to see the American people forget that this nation was born in armed resistence to tyranny. I'm sure many would love to strengthen the fear of terrorist fanatics to get people to submt to what they conceive to be benevolent despotism disguised as democracy. So, next year, perhaps it would be good to organize 236th Birthday Parties for the US on 19 April. Party hearty dudes! After reading Paul Bonneau's latest response, I would like to point out that I can take criticism as long as it is constructive and not hostile. Mr. Bonneau may not have attended to make his criticism sound like a personal attack, but when he accused me of being a person who likes to beg for his freedom it sounded hostile. I am willing to have a reasonable debate with anyone, as long as there is no hostility. I still believe that it is a bad idea to openly carry a firearm during a protest. Mr. Bonneau may not care about image, but I believe that it can be used against the movement if we are not careful. I will explain more in an article that I plan to submit in the near future. As I write this people are getting angry at the state of Arizona for passing a law regarding immigration. A lot of people feel it is harsh and tyrannical (me among them, to put in a disclaimer.). But... When Dubya was elected he promised he would push through immigration reform. He didn't pass it before 9-11. He got distracted by 9-11 (though arguably just immigration reform would make it harder for terrorists to sneak into the country). His party blocked his efforts at making reform. When the Democrats took control of Congress after the 2006 general election they did not deal with this issue. Ever since President Obama has been in office he and his Congress have not dealt with the issue (except to exclude illegal aliens from "Obamacare". No se hacen innocentes, dude.) If the Federal Government will not meet its obligations the states will step in. If they are scared and upset enough they will pass tyrannical laws.What is happening in Arizona and what has happened earlier in other states are prime examples of this. As long as we inflict government on ourselves we must face the fact that when those with authority (the right to use power because of some moral basis) fail to act justly they invite those with power and tyrannical inclinations to act unjustly in acts of autocracy or demagoguery. That is what happened in Arizona and will happen elsewhere. To which Dennis Wilson replied: Once again I will say it. I said it with detailed proof in the 2007-June-10 issue of TLE and many times since, so please pay attention: REALLY! Its TRUE! The US Constitution does NOT authorize immigration control!P.S., that goes for EXIT control also!! What that means, Al, is that in spite of your erroneous assertions, the Federal government HAS NO OBLIGATIONS regarding this issue, except to butt out! As for Arizona, in spite of some recent advances, I am utterly appalled at the dominant racist attitude as exhibited in this recent State action. To which A.X. Perez replied: I agree with you. In fact I do not claim the Federales have any obligation except to butt out, it is the Feds who claim these power and authority and the obligation(s) that go with them. Yet they have failed to exercise this power in a manner that meets the obligations they claim. This creates a perceived vacuum of power which bigots, autocrats, and demagogues rush to fill. By the way, since the Constitution does not give the Feds the power to control immigration this power falls to the States under the Tenth Amendment. Until the Feds pass just regulation of immigration (announce the country willm let anyone in) they have no right to complain about Arizona or any other state passing ther own immigration laws. To which Dennis Wilson replied: You asked, so I will answer. Your "new" argument is merely a rehash of your originaland contains the same errors that I detailed in my article and my replies. How about something simple, like this: Those who deny freedom to other people cannot morally claim freedom for themselves. I am utterly appalled at, and explicitly repudiate, the open, blatant, naked racism of Arizona's (and the Federal government's) tyrannical attempts to deny me the voluntary services of people from Mexico. Best regards. I'm sorry I was unable to convince you. To which A.X. Perez replied: I think we're talking past each other. Last try. The Feds have no right under Constitutional law to regulate immigration. I think we agree on this point. When in a display of sheer naked force they tyrannically exercise this power anyhow they do so badly, leading to greater acts of tyranny. I am not conceding that they have the authority to do this, I am simply acknowledging that they are in fact exercising this power and criticizing their exacerbation of the situation. Criticizing a thief for incompetence in his crimes is not conceding him the right to steal, it is simply pointing out he isn't good at thieving. In the matter of immigration, the Federal government is acting tyrannically and apparently incompetently and I am calling the Feds on this. To be honest why should they get it right? the current inefficient system allows the creation of a permanent class of underpaid labor who dare not seek state assistance in protecting their rights, creates an excuse for checkpoints, and gives the cops another excuse to require that we have our papers in order. I should screw up so profitably! By the was I was not "arguing" in favor of the current system. I was describing the system as I perceive it and expressing my disdain for the incompetence of the Feds in this case. Cash and Carry I have frequently asserted that in Texas it is theoretically possible to complete all paperwork and pass Federal Instacheck to buy a gun before your credit clears to purchase said gun. This assertion assumes you can write quickly and fill out your Federal paperwork correctly and that the Instacheck system is working (big assumption that last one). If you have to apply for credit on the spot or your credit/debit card company gets a notion you are making an unusual purchase and gets fussy this works (talked to gun store clerks to verify). Please note this is in Texas where you don't need a permit to buy pistols, full length rifles, and full length shotguns. This is one more reason to buy firearms cash, takes less time to complete the purchase. If the Feds flush your Instacheck info the way they're supposed to (huge assumption) and there is no particular need for the Feds to check your vendor's 4473 files (don't know how creative your local ATFE guys are so can't tell how effectively this "need" can be ginned up) cash is very anonymous. Anyone who can get into my checking account/debit card files knows I bought a Taurus 9mm Millenium Pro back in July of 2008. Even a check leaves a footprint (an eight hundred dollar check to The Collector's Gun Exchange is probably for a gun, ammo, and accessories.). Of course y'all knew that. But who really thinks about using cash being faster? So next time you get the notion to buy a gun and thimk you really aren't worried about busybodies getting into your business, consider whether it's faster to pull cash out of the bank than wait for your credit to clear or to argue your bank into letting you make an unusually large purchase on your debit card. To be honest it probably isn't, but it gives you an excuse to protect your privacy a little better. Happy 100th Birthday, Boy Scouts of America, Now Grow Up! To start this off, I am a Cubscout Packleader, and a Boyscout Assistant Troopleader. I am NOT anti-Scouting. But I DO have problems with it. I have 4 children, 3 boys and the youngest child is a girl. She has watched her brothers go through scouting (one working on Eagle, one a Star scout, and the youngest in his last year of Cubs, prior to going into Boy Scouts), and she doesn't get it why SHE can't do it herself. But enough background. Here's what I wanted to say. 100 years ago, America was introduced to Boy scouts (created in England by Lord Baden-Powell) with the introduction of the first US Scout troop. Over the years, Scouts have supported the war effort in both WWI &WWII, by scrap metal drives, victory gardens, aiding Civil Defense Wardens, blood drives, freeing adults from minor tasks so they could aid the war efforts, and by many other methods. Eagle Scouts (the highest award a boy can earn) aids boys in getting better jobs (employers take it as a sign of both integrity and dedication in addition to showing a hard worker), attain higher rank quicker in the military, and are 10 times more likely NOT to be involved in drugs, alchohol, and criminal difficulties. The Girl Scouts were established to let girls have some of the opportunities that boys have (not a bad idea when it was introduced, but we have progressed farther than that). Mostly, I yield to none on the way America has lead the world in innovations in politics, economics, and the sciences. But we are CONTINUING our abysmal record of starting off leading a civil reform, stopping halfway, and letting the rest of the world pass us. Yup, I'm talking about equal rights for females. In Scouting around the world, except for some backwards Muslim countries where women are still kept imprisoned as propertyof the male in their life, it is NOT Boy Scouts over here and Girl Scouts over there. It's just Scouts, segregated only in sleeping arrangements and bathing. But in backwards America, we're no better than an Arab extremist insisting that women remain covered in Bhurkas, subservient, and second-class citizens at best. Isn't it time we grew up, America?? The next thing we need to grow up on is even simpler. Gay doesn't equal pedophile. I have met hundreds of gay men and women over the years. Two of them were pedophiles. I have met hundreds of straight men and women who have wound up convicted of pedophelia. Personally, I think there is no crime worse than pedophelia, and I would cheerfully shoot every pedophile I meet. But letting an openly gay man be a scout leader is less dangerous than letting your 12 year old son be a Catholic Altar Boy. And with the emphasis these days on 2-deep leadership (Never having less than 2 leaders present when there are no parents around, the boys are even safe from the closet pedophillic leaders they may already have. So again, it's time to grow up, America. Well, those are MY opinions of it. The BSA (Boy Scouts of America) IS an excellent organization, doing wonderful things for boys from every walk of life, and it deserves your support. but by becoming involved in scouting, and gently (or not so gently) urging us to grow up would be a wonderful thing. Just remember, as a privately owned and run organization, they have the right to deny membership to whoever they so desire, so we must chang their desire, NOT try to legislate away the rights of any private organization to run itself it's own way. That's what I'm doing, won't you join me and others to helps us step into the 21st century?? To which Richard Bartucci replied: Dunno about that "less dangerous than letting your 12 year old son be a Catholic Altar Boy" bit. I was myself a Roman Catholic altar boy for a bunch of years straddling Second Vatican Council, and the most "dangerous" thing about the job was tripping over your cassock. That and encounters with hot wax. I look back on all those years and tend now to think of myself (and all the other altar boys in my parish) as having been short-shrifted. Not once did any priest so much as leer at any of us. If anything, I got the distinct impression that they considered us a bloody nuisance, and would rather have served Mass without having any of us around to keep in line during services. They didn't even bother to recruit new altar boys as I recall. We took care of that ourselves, extorting likely candidates into the corps as older guys literally grew out of their cassocks. Not exactly a "status" role, and we had to put the pressure to younger brothers and cousins becausethe way we saw itsomebody had to get up there and handle the cruets. Besides, if the parents were going to haul us to Mass every damned Sunday, serving on the far side of the rail beat the hell out of sitting in a pew being bored out of your skull. The only perq of the job I remember was the tips you got for serving wedding masses. Could be pretty lucrative. Funerals? Fuhgeddaboudit. But no sex. Zero. None. And none in any of the other parishes in which any of my contemporaries and parochial school classmates served. Not "no scandals revealed" but nothing whatsoever anywhere. And I can be pretty sure of that because if anybody was getting anything in the way of tickle-and-poke along with the Pater Nosters, he sure as hell would've been bragging about it. The priest in question probably would've been swamped by horny Italian-American kids who'd happily hump a hippopotamus if we could pin one down long enough to make a run at it. From Boy Scouts I know far less. Apart from first aid and my first encounter with structured firearms safety rules, I got pretty much nothing out of it. Growing up in farm country, I got more than sufficient time in the woods on my own and with the guys in my home town, running around the Pine Barrens (which is an area of if-the-plane-goes-down-there-good-luck-finding-it wilderness in South Jersey about the size of Yellowstone National Park) pretty much as we pleased, so the Boy Scouts seemed to us nothing more than an excuse for the grown-ups to cut in on our fun. Having raised one daughter and with a bunch of granddaughters coming up, I can see the sense in having the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts concert their activities. The Girl Scouts teach some skills which I realize young men could and should acquire to their personal benefit, and there's nothing in the Boy Scouts' repertoire of activities in which Girl Scouts could not participate with equal enjoyment. Moreover, structured familiarization with the tropes of the opposite sex would, I think, help to reduce the alienation that makes for so damned much discomfort in adolescent interactions across gender lines. A bit less of the Mars/Venus dichotomy and a bit more down-to-Earth, if you catch my drift. F'rinstance, I was a married man before I learned the finer points of devising a rustic latrine for the distaff side. Better by far to have put that knowledge in my personal storehouse while working on merit badges in the BSA, don'tcha think? To which A.X. Perez replied: Contrary to current Anti Catholic Church propaganda the fact is 5 to 9 percent of Catholic Clergy are inclined to pedophilia as compared to a general population rate of 4 to 8 % of the general population. Attempting to cover up and not applying Torquemada's methods to deal with pedophiles has caused the Church to get a bad rap. This brings several points to mind; How do RC clergy compare to other clergy (and even secular groups) entrusted with the care of young people re percentage of pedophiles who enter? How and how effectively have other groups screened to prevent infiltration by pedophiles? How do other groups discipline pedophiles? Do other groups also have a problem with covering up pedophilic and other sexual misconduct? Is the Catholic Church being unfairly singled out for attention on this issue and other groups being given passes? If so is this a result of the Church setting a high standard for itself that it fails to live up to or is this a result of antiCatholic (or at least anti Institutional Church) bigotry? To which Richard Bartucci replied: In addition to other religious denominations with "youth outreach programs," it would be worthwhile also to look into organizations such as the Young Men's Christian Association (which has long had a reputation for hanky-panky of this nature) and the old Boys' Clubs of America, which would seem to me a sort of fish-in-a-barrel (or would that be "chicken-in-a-coop"?) venue for those of such inclinations as are under discussion here. Likewise organized sports like Little League. peewee football, and the many child soccer leagues which proliferate unnaturally and teach American children the vices associated with an activity damned near as boring and pointless as golf but of great appeal to nations prone to both socialism and the cult of the caudillo. I do not really trust the appetites of grown men who deliberately devote time and attention to flocks of small boys in short, baggy pants, all in pursuit of exercises better suited to Guatemalans than to the children of the American Revolution. Help Support TLE by patronizing our advertisers and affiliates. We cheerfully accept donations!

Natural gas is a fossil fuel used as a source of energy for heating, cooking, and electricity generation. It is also used as fuel for vehicles and as a chemical feedstock in the manufacture of plastics and other commercially important organic chemicals. Natural gas is more abundant in the United States that ever before because of hydraulic fracturing—also called fracking—a technique that extracts gas that was once too difficult or expensive to reach. Gas is second only to coal in generating electricity. Natural gas development has serious impacts on the quality of our air and water. As a result of fracking, communities in shale plays across the country have experienced increases in harmful air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds and ground level ozone. And although natural gas burns cleaner than coal, its use may actually accelerate the pace of climate change through methane vents and leaks. Natural gas is made mostly of methane, and methane is a powerful greenhouse gas – many times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Leaks in pipes and equipment used throughout the natural gas development and distribution process mean that significant amounts of methane are being released into the atmosphere. Learn more about the health impacts of natural gas operations below. What is natural gas? Natural gas is a fossil fuel formed underground over millions of years from the remains of plants, animals and microorganisms. Like all fossil fuels, it is “non renewable”—there is a finite amount of it, and once it is depleted, there is no more available for future needs. As a non-renewable resource, natural gas is consumed much faster than nature creates it. Natural gas is generally found a mile or more beneath the earth’s surface, but is sometimes found at shallower depths. Natural gas is a combustible mixture of hydrocarbon gases, consisting primarily of methane—but also containing smaller amounts of other substances such as ethane, propane and butane, along with hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. Many of these gases, like methane, are greenhouse gases: they trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. What is methane? Methane is the primary component of natural gas—typically about 70% to 90% by volume. It is a molecule, CH4, made up of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. The combustion of methane produces heat, water (H20), and carbon dioxide (CO2). Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, many times more potent than carbon dioxide, which is currently the largest contributor to human-caused climate change. Greenhouse gases in our atmosphere trap the sun’s heat on our planet. Too much of these gases in the atmosphere trap too much heat, fundamentally changing the climate of our planet. Methane emissions accounted for about 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2012. Close to 30% of those emissions came from the production, transmission, and distribution of oil and natural gas. In the absence of new regulations, methane emissions from the oil and gas sector are projected to rise more than 25% by 2025. Other major sources of methane emissions include crude oil production, the cattle industry, and landfills. Methane is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. Its awful rotten-egg odor comes from mercaptan, which is deliberately added to the gas as it’s processed so that you can smell a gas leak in your home or on your block. What is shale gas? Shale gas is natural gas that has been mined from shale formations. Shale is fine-grained, organic-rich, sedimentary rock. Shale can contain oil and natural gas in its layers. Millions of years ago, the remains of ancient plants were trapped in layers of mud, preventing normal decay. That mud was buried under the earth and exposed to high temperatures and pressures, chemically transforming the sediment to rock, called shale, and the trapped particles into natural gas, called shale gas. As shale was formed, clays in the mud compressed and layered—making it difficult for the trapped oil and gas to rise through the formation. Today natural gas producers use horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to break up the shale and release the trapped oil and gas. This has increased the amount of shale gas that can be extracted and brought to market. In 2001, shale gas accounted for only 2% of total U.S. natural gas production. In one decade—because of technological developments in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing–that number grew to 30%. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that shale gas production will increase significantly between 2009 and 2035. By 2035, shale gas is projected to reach nearly half of total domestic natural gas production. And natural gas consumption as a whole is predicted to increase in the coming decades. The brisk and far-reaching scope of shale gas extraction has led to profound public concern about the negative impacts of irresponsible gas development on human health and our air, water and land. What is a “shale play”? Most of the shale gas in North America is concentrated in ancient sedimentary basins in distinct geographical areas, or “shale plays.” There are currently over twenty active shale plays in the United States. Shale plays cross state lines, following geological rather than political boundaries. Top shale plays in the US include the Bakken, Barnett, Eagle Ford, Fayetteville, and Marcellus. Click here for a map of U.S. shale plays. What is fracking? During the hydraulic fracturing process, commonly referred to as “fracking,” millions of gallons of water, combined with sand and chemicals – some of them toxic–are injected down a well bore under intense pressure to create tiny fissures in the shale, allowing the trapped oil or natural gas to flow into the well. Hydraulic fracturing is not new. It has been used in oil and gas wells for decades. What’s new is the combination of hydraulic fracturing with horizontal drilling. With horizontal drilling technology, the well bores turn sideways – think of a bendable straw – to reach much further into and along the shale formation. It’s this recent combination of technologies that has made it profitable to produce shale gas in areas that were once prohibitively expensive for gas industry development. Fracking is increasing. Shale gas extraction through fracking has driven US production of natural gas to record levels. More than 80,000 wells have been drilled or permitted for drilling using fracking since 2005, according to a 2013 report. Fracked wells have short lives. They are often capped within a few years of creation. However, compared to traditional natural gas wells, they tend to be more productive. As a result, shale gas production has increased from less than 5 billion cubic feet per day in 2000 to more than 40 billion per day today. Well pads and associated infrastructure (pipelines, condensers, separators, compressors, and more) now encroaches on urban areas, school grounds, suburbs, and other places where people live, learn, work, and play. What is venting? - Venting is the direct release of natural gas into the atmosphere, without burning it first. This can happen at several points along the natural gas lifecycle, including well completion, well maintenance, pipeline maintenance, and tank maintenance.Because methane is the primary component of natural gas, venting delivers large quantities of methane directly into the atmosphere. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas – 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period.Methane is not the only component of natural gas, however. Wherever methane is vented, other harmful pollution such as volatile organic compounds are also entering the air. This pollution may impact the health of nearby communities and contribute to smog formation.Together with flaring, venting was responsible for the loss of more than 260 billion cubic feet of natural gas in the US in 2013, according to the Energy Information Administration. What is flaring? Flaring is the practice of burning off excess gas at the well pad. It produces harmful pollution. Flaring eliminates excess gas and protects pipes from becoming over-pressured. Natural gas from oil wells is frequently flared when there is no pipeline infrastructure in place to transport the gas to market. Flaring burns 98% of the methane in natural gas, a potent greenhouse gas that is the primary component of natural gas. Without flaring, that methane would otherwise be vented to the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. But flaring produces both carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas – and nitrogen oxides (NOx), which contribute to smog formation. Flaring can also lead to emissions of soot, carbon monoxide and other pollutants that harm human health. Flaring also creates light pollution. The flares of North Dakota are now visible from space. On top of these health and environmental impacts, flaring wastes natural gas – a finite, domestic energy resource that could otherwise be used to heat our homes and power our country. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), with supporting data from EPA, estimates that around 40% of the natural gas vented and flared on onshore federal leases could be captured at a profit to the operator with currently available technologies. More than 260,000 million cubic feet of natural gas was flared and vented in the US in 2013. Widespread, wasteful, and polluting flaring of natural gas in shale oil fields is a failure of regulation. There are proven and typically profitable technologies that allow oil and gas companies to prevent flaring and curb methane and toxic air pollution. Robust BLM and EPA standards are needed to end wasteful flaring. Together with venting, flaring was responsible for the loss of more than 260 billion cubic feet of natural gas in the US in 2013, according to the Energy Information Administration. What hazardous air pollutants come from natural gas operations? Leaks, venting, and flaring at natural gas well sites and processing plants release other pollutants besides methane that can threaten air quality and public health, including the following hazardous air pollutants (HAPs): - Exposure to benzene can cause skin and respiratory irritation, and long-term exposure can lead to cancer and blood, developmental and reproductive disorders; - Long-term exposure to toluene can cause skin and respiratory irritation, headaches, dizziness, birth defects and damage the nervous system; - Ethylbenzene can cause irritation of the throat and eyes, and dizziness and long-term exposure can cause blood disorders; - High levels of xylene exposure have numerous short-term impacts, including nausea, gastric irritation and neurological effects, and long-term exposure can negatively impact the nervous system; and - Exposure to n-hexane can cause dizziness, nausea and headaches, while long-term exposure can lead to numbness, muscular atrophy, blurred vision and fatigue. - Workers inspect a natural gas valve at a fracking site in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region. - According to EPA, areas with natural gas development can have increased levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). The air quality impacts of these emissions vary based on local conditions, but they can be significant, even in rural areas. For example, wintertime ozone levels in excess of the nation’s health-based air quality standards have been recorded in parts of Wyoming and Utah, where natural gas and oil production are the only significant industrial activities. - Community air monitoring has detected high concentrations of some potentially dangerous compounds and chemical mixtures near natural gas operations in some states. Some research indicates that air pollution from natural gas operations can drift long distances, impacting air quality in downwind states. Other sources of air pollution related to fracking include engines and other combustion sources used throughout the industry. In 2009, a Southern Methodist University study estimated that the combined amounts of VOCs and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from oil and natural gas production in the Barnett Shale of North Texas were comparable to amounts of those emissions from the roughly four million cars and trucks in the Dallas Fort-Worth metro area. The Barnett Shale is a geological formation underlying 5,000 square miles of Texas, including at least 17 counties, and the city of Forth Worth. Finally, water pollution is another potential risk from natural gas operations. Yale University researchers have identified more than 150 chemicals associated with reproductive and chemical toxicity that are used routinely in US fracking operations, highlighting the significant risk to drinking water. What are injection wells? - Injection wells are holes, from hundreds to thousands of feet deep, used to dispose of industrial waste, such as polluted water from fracking.The fracking process requires the injection of copious amounts of water into well bores, to help create fractures in the shale. Fracking one well uses more than 4 million gallons of water. That water comes back up out of the well bore as “produced water,” or wastewater – millions of gallons that may be laced with chemical additives as well as naturally occurring hazards such as salt, heavy metals, and radioactive substances.Natural gas operators use injection wells to dispose of the water so that it doesn’t contaminate local groundwater. Although not technically part of the fracking process, injection wells are a critical component of the natural gas life cycle.Injecting millions of gallons of highly pressurized water deep underground into injection wells across the country has increased seismic activity in some regions. According to the US Geological Survey, Oklahoma has been the hardest hit by recent increases in earthquakes; other states seeing fracking-related increases in earthquakes include Texas, Arkansas, Ohio, and Colorado.Injection wells also pose the risk of leakage and water contamination. The wells have no special containers at the bottom of the hole; the polluted water can seep into the surrounding geological formation. Impermeable layers theoretically prevent the industrial waste from leaking or seeping; but earthquakes are among the many unpredictable factors that could alter the integrity of injection wells. Such wells do fail; there is little information about how often, or what might be the consequences. Can fracking cause earthquakes? - While hydraulic fracturing does have micro-seismic impacts, the earthquakes that have gained attention are not the result of the hydraulic fracturing process. Rather, they are linked to the deep well injection of wastewater that is produced after a well is hydraulically fractured. - A fracking site in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. In deep well injection, produced water laced with salts, heavy metals, carcinogens, or radioactive substances is trucked from the well pad and injected into disposal wells – holes anywhere from hundreds to thousands of feet deep. Along with the fracking boom, injection wells are also on the rise, and these wells have been linked to increased seismic activity. According to the US Geological Survey, Oklahoma has been the hardest hit by recent increases in earthquakes; other states seeing fracking-related increases in earthquakes include Texas, Arkansas, Ohio, and Colorado. The increasing incidence of earthquakes points to the need for better rules for injection wells, including improved analysis of the geology surrounding injection wells and better monitoring of pressure in the wells. Does natural gas production make smog worse? Yes. Methane is a chemical precursor to ground level ozone, or smog. Smog is a powerful lung irritant that triggers asthma attacks, interferes with lung development, and increases heart attacks, among other health impacts. Smog is not emitted directly but instead is formed in the atmosphere through the reaction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as methane, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the presence of sunlight. Oil and gas development produces significant amounts of smog-forming pollution and is directly linked to ozone problems in states like Wyoming, where previously pristine air quality has deteriorated to levels that violate the nation’s health-based air quality standards for ozone. Wyoming families are now experiencing unhealthy levels of ozone concentrations on some days comparable to some of the nation’s most polluted urban areas. Natural gas operations have also been linked to smog pollution in Texas, Colorado, and Utah. Without rigorous pollution control measures, the problem of ozone pollution will worsen as the pace of oil and gas development surges across the country. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that shale gas production will triple between 2009 and 2035, and that by 2035 shale gas will account for nearly 46% of domestic energy production. In some communities close to oil and gas development, there is inadequate ozone monitoring. People need to know whether the air they are breathing is safe. Children, the elderly, and people with existing respiratory conditions are the most at risk from ozone pollution. Children are more vulnerable to the damaging effects of ozone because their lungs are still developing—and because children tend to spend more time outdoors than adults. Ozone pollution also contributes to climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), ozone is the third-largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide and methane. How else do natural gas operations affect nearby communities? - Air pollution is not the only area of concern for communities near natural gas operations. Here are some other issues that nearby communities are grappling with: - Contamination of drinking water — Yale University researchers have identified more than 150 chemicals associated with reproductive and chemical toxicity that are used routinely in US fracking operations, highlighting the significant risk to drinking water from potential leaks and spills. - Water management—The fracking process requires the use of water to inject into well bores and help create fractures in the shale. Fracking one well uses more than 4 million gallons of water. Careful use of water is especially important in areas prone to drought and in sensitive ecosystems; - Wastewater management—The fracking process produces wastewater that can be laced with chemical additives and naturally occurring hazards. This water is often called “produced water.” It is generally not safe to release this water back into the groundwater system. Wastewater must be handled, stored, transported and either disposed of or recycled in ways that protect people and the environment. Spills and leaks in waste containment facilities are a major problem in the industry; - Well integrity—Poor construction and operation of wells – especially in casing, cementing and pressure management –can lead to the contamination of drinking water; and - Local community impacts—Communities can be overwhelmed by the impacts of gas development activities, such as infrastructure development, truck traffic, lights and noise, and burdens on local government resources. - Drill rig set up for winter natural gas drilling in Wyoming How much methane leaks into the air from natural gas operations? According to EPA data, oil and gas operations leak roughly 8 million metric tons of unburned natural gas annually. That’s enough natural gas to heat over 5 million homes. Just how much methane is released into the atmosphere during these processes is uncertain because the measured data is limited and the technology used to extract natural gas has evolved rapidly in recent years. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated the methane leak rate at a little more than two percent. But a recent study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suggested it might be twice that in northern Colorado. Other studies suggest it could be higher still. An academic review of hundreds of studies indicates that official estimates of methane leaks from the oil and gas sector are considerably lower than actual leak rates. Random leaks and malfunctions probably account for a large portion of methane emissions from oil and gas operations, highlighting the need for regular, ongoing monitoring. Leak detection, done with infrared cameras, should be a routine part of oil and gas operations; data indicate that more than 90% of the gas leaking from connectors, valves, and regulators at oil and gas facilities could be prevented through leak repair that would pay for itself within one year. In October 2015, methane gas began escaping from a Southern California Gas Company storage facility in Aliso Canyon, California, affecting thousands of families in surrounding communities. The disaster is spewing a massive plume of methane and other air pollutants into the air; this one leak is shaping up to be a major contributor to our nation’s overall methane pollution. The fix will take months, according to Southern California Gas Company, Meanwhile, more than a thousand families have had to leave their homes. Currently, there are no regulations to protect us from the methane leaks that are happening at every stage of oil and gas development, from the moment of drilling and fracking, to delivery through ancient, crumbling pipes, to your doorstep. Much of the oil and gas industry is fighting methane regulations across the board—they’ve gotten used to operating in a realm that is beyond the reach of rules. That’s why its essential to develop federal rules that protect us from natural gas leaks from existing infrastructure. How much methane leaks from pipelines in towns and cities? In addition to leaks from oil and gas wells and infrastructure, methane also leaks from urban natural gas pipelines. Researchers know very little about this kind of urban leakage. The leak rate may depend on the age of the pipelines and storage infrastructure. A February, 2015, study of methane leaking from natural gas pipelines, storage facilities, and other sources in the Boston area showed a leak rate as much as three times greater than previously estimated. According to the Harvard University researchers, the leaks could heat 200,000 homes a year and waste $90 million annually. - Pipeline construction and sand tankers in Wyalusing, PA (5) Is natural gas extraction dangerous? Yes. Current production practices – including the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking – have resulted in unacceptable impacts on air, water, landscapes, people and communities. Irresponsible natural gas development presents serious risks to people’s health and the environment in several ways, including: - Human exposure to toxic chemicals and the waste products of gas extraction; - Contamination of groundwater and surface water from spills, problems with well construction and operation, and failures at waste storage facilities; - Global warming impacts through the release of methane—a powerful greenhouse gas; - Harmful air pollution—both local and regional—from equipment and activities involved in drilling, extraction and pipeline transportation; and - Negative impacts on the quality of life in communities. How can the natural gas industry reduce emissions? There are many strategies that natural gas producers can use to reduce emissions of methane and other hazardous air pollutants. “Green completions” can reduce emissions from the gas well when drilling is over but production hasn’t started. That’s when the well bore must be cleaned out to get it ready for production. In the past, a significant amount of gas was vented or flared during that process. Green completions improve the process by capturing that gas instead, generally with portable equipment brought right to the wellhead. A 2012 federal requirement made it mandatory for drillers to use green completions by 2015. This requirement may help reduce the practice of venting methane directly into the atmosphere. Mandatory green completions are an important first step in reducing air pollution—but they cover only new sources, and don’t address existing wells, pipelines, and other oil and gas infrastructure. New source standards for green completions don’t address venting or flaring from wells and other infrastructure that are already built or in operation. In order to address that much larger source of emissions, standards that address “existing sources” of industrial pollution from the oil and gas industry are needed. Green completions are one example of how flaring and venting of methane and other harmful emissions from the natural gas industry can be reduced, often with economic benefits for the gas developers—who are otherwise wasting product they could be selling. - North Dakota’s Bakken shale — a primary area for fracking How can states limit pollution from natural gas? - Many states have made efforts to regulate natural gas production on a local level, and some have been successful.Major oil and gas producing states like Colorado, Ohio, and Wyoming are instituting ongoing leak detection and repair programs to limit methane emissions, with the goal of reducing costly waste in the oil and gas industry, and improving public health in surrounding communities.In February, 2014, Colorado approved regulations on the natural gas industry to reduce methane emissions. The Colorado regulations – which were backed by four of the largest natural gas developers in the state – include requirements to use leak-proof valves and conduct regular inspections for methane leaks. Learn more about Colorado’s program here.Learn more about Ohio’s program here.Learn more about Wyoming’s program here.Meanwhile, dozens of localities have enacted bans and moratoria on fracking due to concerns about health impacts in nearby communities. - Modern natural gas well detail How can the federal government limit pollution from natural gas? The fracking industry enjoys exemptions from key provisions of the Clean Air Act and other federal environmental laws. But new and upcoming regulations may significantly limit fracking pollution. A 2012 federal requirement made it mandatory for companies to use green completions by 2015. This requirement may help reduce the practice of venting methane directly into the atmosphere. These standards for the oil and natural gas sector are also called New Source Performance Standards, or NSPS. They are an important first step in reducing air pollution—but they cover only new sources, and not all new gas wells are included. Moreover, they don’t address existing oil and gas wells, pipelines, or other oil and gas infrastructure – where a lot of methane can also be emitted. In January, 2015, the Obama Administration announced that it would issue regulations of the oil and gas industry that would cut methane emissions 45% from 2012 levels by 2025. These regulations will focus on reducing leaks from oil and gas operations. In August 2015, EPA proposed to limit methane emissions from new sources in the oil and gas industry. This proposal is just one piece of the puzzle in reducing methane emissions 45% from 2012 levels by 2025. The proposed methane limits require industry to capture gas after fracking oil wells, instead of dumping it in the air; periodically check for and fix methane leaks; and apply proven emissions control technologies already widely used in transmission facilities. These are common-sense, cost-effective provisions that will reduce methane emissions by about 25%. These standards focus on wells and other infrastructure that have not yet been built, addressing “new sources” only. Such “new source” regulations are only a first step. Meaningful limits on pollution from this industry will only come when existing sources – the thousands upon thousands of wells and pipeline miles and compressor stations already in operation – come under federal anti-pollution regulations. It is expected that the Obama administration will propose pollution standards for existing sources of methane pollution in 2016. In January, 2016, the Bureau of Land Management proposed standards to limit methane emissions from oil and gas operations on federal and tribal lands. The rule addresses flaring, venting, and leaking of methane on these lands. Oil and gas operations on federal and tribal lands emitted over 1 million tons of methane in 2013, about 12% of the industry’s total emissions. Does using natural gas help or hurt our climate? Carbon dioxide is the largest source of industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Natural gas releases far less carbon dioxide when burned than coal. Because coal accounts for a large portion of our carbon dioxide, replacing coal with natural gas for electricity generation could, in theory, reduce carbon dioxide emissions. But carbon dioxide is not the only significant greenhouse gas. Methane (CH4), the primary component of natural gas, is a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2), and it is an important contributor to human-made climate change. Pound for pound, methane can trap heat about 25 times more effectively than carbon dioxide over a 100-year timeline. Over a shorter timeline, the impact of methane is even greater. This is because methane breaks down relatively quickly in the atmosphere. This means that even small amounts of methane can significantly contribute to climate change in near-term decades. Methane can leak at many points along the natural gas life cycle. Even very small leaks at the point of production, along the pipeline system, or at the local distribution system can erase any potential climate change benefits of switching from coal to natural gas. Leaving aside important questions about local air quality, groundwater contamination, and other community concerns relating to natural gas operations, the climate benefits of natural gas depend on a well-monitored, well-maintained, and well-regulated system from extraction to transmission to end-use. Right now, that’s not what we have. The EPA has estimated that in 2013, the oil and gas industry released more than 7.3 million metric tons of methane into the atmosphere from their operations—a three percent increase over 2012—making it largest industrial source of methane pollution. Is natural gas better than coal? Natural gas has the potential to be good for our air because it means we are burning less coal. But as fracking increases, more and more concerns come to light – such as methane leaks, community impacts, and injection well failures. Burning coal for energy releases huge amounts of climate-warming carbon dioxide and other dangerous air pollutants, including mercury. Natural gas burns cleaner than either coal or oil, with lower emissions at the smokestack of greenhouse gases, smog-forming pollutants, mercury, sulfur dioxide, soot and other contaminants. But compared to alternative energy sources such as sunlight and wind, natural gas is still a polluting fossil fuel. Output from renewable energy technologies harnessing the wind and the sun can vary over the course of a day or a season. Since we want to increase the amount of renewables used in the US, it’s important to have readily available energy sources that can quickly fill in the gaps. Unlike coal-fired plants, natural gas power plants can adapt their output quickly, making them better suited than coal plants as supplements to intermittent wind and solar energy generation. But the pollution caused by natural gas exploration, drilling and transport may outweigh these cleaner-at-the-power-plant benefits. That’s because of leaking toxic air pollutants and methane, a potent greenhouse gas and the major component of natural gas, all along the chain of extraction and production. The scope of such leaks is unknown; but some communities near oil and gas activity are suffering from debilitating air pollution. Research on rates of methane leakage is ongoing. Coal fired power plants—the biggest carbon polluters–are closing at a rapid clip. Low natural gas prices play a large role in these coal plant closures. Utilities are using more natural gas as natural gas prices continue to outcompete coal. What gives EPA authority to regulate methane emissions? Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is required to limit pollutants that are dangerous to human life and health. A 2011 Supreme Court decision affirmed that greenhouse gases are harmful to health, laying the legal groundwork for EPA to issue regulations that limit these harmful emissions. When the Clean Air Act was written, in the 1970s, the dangers of climate change were understood by only a handful of scientists and policymakers. However, the architects of the Act foresaw that there could be as-yet-unknown harmful pollutants that would require regulation, and so the law was written to allow for pollutants not explicitly identified in the original language of the Act. Although methane itself, like carbon dioxide, is not a toxic pollutant, the effects of its unchecked release in our atmosphere is changing the climate in a way that is harmful to human life and health – through climate change. Last updated: January 2016 TOPICS: Natural Gas

Chapter IV THE SPANIARDS RETREAT-DISTRESSES OF THE ARMY-GREAT BATTLE OF OTUMBA THE Mexicans, during the day which followed the retreat of the Spaniards, remained, for the most part, quiet in their own capital, where they found occupation in cleansing the streets and causeways from the dead, which lay festering in heaps that might have bred a pestilence. They may have been employed, also, in paying the last honours to such of their warriors as had fallen, solemnising the funeral rites by the sacrifice of their wretched prisoners, who, as they contemplated their own destiny, may well have envied the fate of their companions who left their bones on the battle-field. It was most fortunate for the Spaniards, in their extremity, that they had this breathing-time allowed them by the enemy. But Cortes knew that he could not calculate on its continuance, and, feeling how important it was to get the start of his vigilant foe, he ordered his troops to be in readiness to resume their march by midnight. Fires were left burning, the better to deceive the enemy; and at the appointed hour, the little army, without sound of drum or trumpet, but with renewed spirits, sallied forth from the gates of the teocalli. It was arranged that the sick and wounded should occupy the centre, transported on litters, or on the backs of the tamanes, while those who were strong enough to keep their seats should mount behind the cavalry. The able-bodied soldiers were ordered to the front and rear, while others protected the flanks, thus affording all the security possible to the invalids. The retreating army held on its way unmolested under cover of the darkness. But, as morning dawned, they beheld parties of the natives moving over the heights, or hanging at a distance, like a cloud of locusts on their rear. They did not belong to the capital; but were gathered from the neighbouring country, where the tidings of their rout had already penetrated. The charm, which had hitherto covered the white men, was gone. The Spaniards, under the conduct of their Tlascalan guides, took a circuitous route to the north, passing through Quauhtitlan, and round lake Tzompanco (Zumpango), thus lengthening their march, but keeping at a distance from the capital. From the eminences, as they passed along, the Indians rolled down heavy stones, mingled with volleys of darts and arrows on the heads of the soldiers. Some were even bold enough to descend into the plain and assault the extremities of the column. But they were soon beaten off by the horse, and compelled to take refuge among the hills, where the ground was too rough for the rider to follow. Indeed, the Spaniards did not care to do so, their object being rather to fly than to fight. In this way they slowly advanced, halting at intervals to drive off their assailants when they became too importunate, and greatly distressed by their missiles and their desultory attacks. At night, the troops usually found shelter in some town or hamlet, whence the inhabitants, in anticipation of their approach, had been careful to carry off all the provisions. The Spaniards were soon reduced to the greatest straits for subsistence. Their principal food was the wild cherry, which grew in the woods or by the roadside. Fortunate were they if they found a few ears of corn unplucked. More frequently nothing was left but the stalks; and with them, and the like unwholesome fare, they were fain to supply the cravings of appetite. When a horse happened to be killed, it furnished an extraordinary banquet; and Cortes himself records the fact of his having made one of a party who thus sumptuously regaled themselves, devouring the animal even to his hide. The wretched soldiers, faint with famine and fatigue, were sometimes seen to drop down lifeless on the road. Others loitered behind unable to keep up with the march, and fell into the hands of the enemy, who followed in the track of the army like a flock of famished vultures, eager to pounce on the dying and the dead. Others, again, who strayed too far, in their eagerness to procure sustenance, shared the same fate. The number of these, at length, and the consciousness of the cruel lot for which they were reserved, compelled Cortes to introduce stricter discipline, and to enforce it by sterner punishments than he had hitherto done,- though too often ineffectually, such was the indifference to danger, under the overwhelming pressure of present calamity. Through these weary days Cortes displayed his usual serenity and fortitude. He was ever in the post of danger, freely exposing himself in encounters with the enemy; in one of which he received a severe wound in the head, that afterwards gave him much trouble. He fared no better than the humblest soldier, and strove, by his own cheerful countenance and counsels, to fortify the courage of those who faltered, assuring them that their sufferings would soon be ended by their arrival in the hospitable "land of bread." His faithful officers co-operated with him in these efforts; and the common file, indeed, especially his own veterans, must be allowed, for the most part, to have shown a full measure of the constancy and power of endurance so characteristic of their nation,- justifying the honest boast of an old chronicler, "that there was no people so capable of supporting hunger as the Spaniards, and none of them who were ever more severely tried than the soldiers of Cortes." A similar fortitude was shown by the Tlascalans, trained in a rough school that made them familiar with hardships and privations. Although they sometimes threw themselves on the ground, in the extremity of famine, imploring their gods not to abandon them, they did their duty as warriors; and, far from manifesting coldness towards the Spaniards as the cause of their distresses, seemed only the more firmly knit to them by the sense of a common suffering. On the seventh morning, the army had reached the mountain rampart which overlooks the plains of Otompan, or Otumba, as commonly called, from the Indian city,- now a village,- situated in them. The distance from the capital is hardly nine leagues. But the Spaniards had travelled more than thrice that distance, in their circuitous march round the lakes. This had been performed so slowly, that it consumed a week; two nights of which had been passed in the same quarters, from the absolute necessity of rest. It was not, therefore, till the 7th of July that they reached the heights commanding the plains which stretched far away towards the territory of Tlascala, in full view of the venerable pyramids of Teotihuacan, two of the most remarkable monuments of the antique American civilisation now existing north of the Isthmus. During all the preceding day, they had seen parties of the enemy hovering like dark clouds above the highlands, brandishing their weapons, and calling out in vindictive tones, "Hasten on! You will soon find yourselves where you cannot escape!" words of mysterious import, which they were made fully to comprehend on the following morning. As the army was climbing the mountain steeps which shut in the Valley of Otompan, the videttes came in with the intelligence, that a powerful body was encamped on the other side, apparently awaiting their approach. The intelligence was soon confirmed by their own eyes, as they turned the crest of the sierra, and saw spread out, below, a mighty host, filling up the whole depth of the valley, and giving to it the appearance, from the white cotton mail of the warriors, of being covered with snow. It consisted of levies from the surrounding country, and especially the populous territory of Tezcuco, drawn together at the instance of Cuitlahua, Montezuma's successor, and now concentrated on this point to dispute the passage of the Spaniards. Every chief of note had taken the field with his whole array gathered under his standard, proudly displaying all the pomp and rude splendour of his military equipment. As far as the eye could reach, were to be seen shields and waving banners, fantastic helmets, forests of shining spears, the bright feather-mail of the chief, and the coarse cotton panoply of his follower, all mingled together in wild confusion, and tossing to and fro like the billows of a troubled ocean. It was a sight to fill the stoutest heart among the Christians with dismay, heightened by the previous expectation of soon reaching the friendly land which was to terminate their wearisome pilgrimage. Even Cortes, as he contrasted the tremendous array before him with his own diminished squadrons, wasted by disease and enfeebled by hunger and fatigue, could not escape the conviction that his last hour had arrived. But his was not the heart to despond; and he gathered strength from the very extremity of his situation. He had no room for hesitation; for there was no alternative left to him. To escape was impossible. He could not retreat on the capital, from which he had been expelled. He must advance,- cut through the enemy, or perish. He hastily made his dispositions for the fight. He gave his force as broad a front as possible, protecting it on each flank by his little body of horse, now reduced to twenty. Fortunately, he had not allowed the invalids, for the last two days, to mount, behind the riders, from a desire to spare the horses, so that these were now in tolerable condition; and, indeed, the whole army had been refreshed by halting, as we have seen, two nights and a day in the same place, a delay, however, which had allowed the enemy time to assemble in such force to dispute its progress. Cortes instructed his cavaliers not to part with their lances, and to direct them at the face. The infantry were to thrust, not strike, with their swords; passing them, at once, through the bodies of their enemies. They were, above all, to aim at the leaders, as the general well knew how much depends on the life of the commander in the wars of barbarians, whose want of subordination makes them impatient of any control but that to which they are accustomed. He then addressed to his troops a few words of encouragement, as customary with him on the eve of an engagement. He reminded them of the victories they had won with odds nearly as discouraging as the present; thus establishing the superiority of science and discipline over numbers. Numbers, indeed, were of no account, where the arm of the Almighty was on their side. And he bade them have full confidence, that He, who had carried them safely through so many perils, would not now abandon them and his own good cause, to perish by the hand of the infidel. His address was brief, for he read in their looks that settled resolve which rendered words unnecessary. The circumstances of their position spoke more forcibly to the heart of every soldier than any eloquence could have done, filling it with that feeling of desperation, which makes the weak arm strong, and turns the coward into a hero. After they had earnestly commended themselves, therefore, to the protection of God, the Virgin, and St. James, Cortes led his battalions straight against the enemy. It was a solemn moment,- that in which the devoted little band, with steadfast countenances, and their usual intrepid step, descended on the plain to be swallowed up, as it were, in the vast ocean of their enemies. The latter rushed on with impetuosity to meet them, making the mountains ring to their discordant yells and battle-cries, and sending forth volleys of stones and arrows which for a moment shut out the light of day. But, when the leading files of the two armies closed, the superiority of the Christians was felt, as their antagonists, falling back before the charges of cavalry, were thrown into confusion by their own numbers who pressed on them from behind. The Spanish infantry followed up the blow, and a wide lane was opened in the ranks of the enemy, who, receding on all sides, seemed willing to allow a free passage for their opponents. But it was to return on them with accumulated force, as, rallying, they poured upon the Christians, enveloping the little army on all sides, which with its bristling array of long swords and javelins, stood firm,- in the words of a contemporary,- like an islet against which the breakers, roaring and surging, spend their fury in vain. The struggle was desperate of man against man. The Tlascalan seemed to renew his strength, as he fought almost in view of his own native hills; as did the Spaniard, with the horrible doom of the captive before his eyes. Well did the cavaliers do their duty on that day; charging, in little bodies of four or five abreast, deep into the enemy's ranks, riding over the broken files, and by this temporary advantage giving strength and courage to the infantry. Not a lance was there which did not reek with the blood of the infidel. Among the rest, the young captain Sandoval is particularly commemorated for his daring prowess. Managing his fiery steed with easy horsemanship, he darted, when least expected, into the thickest of the melee, overturning the staunchest warriors, and rejoicing in danger, as if it were his natural element. But these gallant displays of heroism served only to ingulf the Spaniards deeper and deeper in the mass of the enemy, with scarcely any more chance of cutting their way through his dense and interminable battalions, than of hewing a passage with their swords through the mountains. Many of the Tlascalans and some of the Spaniards had fallen, and not one but had been wounded. Cortes himself had received a second cut on the head, and his horse was so much injured that he was compelled to dismount, and take one from the baggage train, a strong-boned animal, who carried him well through the turmoil of the day. The contest had now lasted several hours. The sun rode high in the heavens, and shed an intolerable fervour over the plain. The Christians, weakened by previous sufferings, and faint with loss of blood, began to relax in their desperate exertions. Their enemies, constantly supported by fresh relays from the rear, were still in good heart, and, quick to perceive their advantage, pressed with redoubled force on the Spaniards. The horse fell back, crowded on the foot; and the latter, in vain seeking a passage amidst the dusky throngs of the enemy, who now closed up the rear, were thrown into some disorder. The tide of battle was setting rapidly against the Christians. The fate of the day would soon be decided; and all that now remained for them seemed to be to sell their lives as dearly as possible. At this critical moment, Cortes, whose restless eye had been roving round the field in quest of any object that might offer him the means of arresting the coming ruin, rising in his stirrups, descried at a distance, in the midst of the throng, the chief who, from his dress and military cortege, he knew must be the commander of the barbarian forces. He was covered with a rich surcoat of feather-work; and a panache of beautiful plumes, gorgeously set in gold and precious stones, floated above his head. Rising above this, and attached to his back, between the shoulders, was a short staff bearing a golden net for a banner,- the singular, but customary, symbol of authority for an Aztec commander. The cacique, whose name was Cihuaca, was borne on a litter, and a body of young warriors, whose gay and ornamented dresses showed them to be the flower of the Indian nobles, stood round as a guard of his person and the sacred emblem. The eagle eye of Cortes no sooner fell on this personage, than it lighted up with triumph. Turning quickly round to the cavaliers at his side, among whom were Sandoval, Olid, Alvarado, and Avila, he pointed out the chief, exclaiming, "There is our mark! Follow and support me!" Then crying his war-cry, and striking his iron heel into his weary steed, he plunged headlong into the thickest of the press. His enemies fell back, taken by surprise and daunted by the ferocity of the attack. Those who did not were pierced through with his lance, or borne down by the weight of his charger. The cavaliers followed close in the rear. On they swept, with the fury of a thunderbolt, cleaving the solid ranks asunder, strewing their path with the dying and the dead, and bounding over every obstacle in their way. In a few minutes they were in the presence of the Indian commander, and Cortes, overturning his supporters, sprung forward with the strength of a lion, and, striking him through with his lance, hurled him to the ground. A young cavalier, Juan de Salamanca, who had kept close by his general's side, quickly dismounted and despatched the fallen chief. Then tearing away his banner, he presented it to Cortes, as a trophy to which he had the best claim. It was all the work of a moment. The guard, overpowered by the suddenness of the onset, made little resistance, but, flying, communicated their own panic to their comrades. The tidings of the loss soon spread over the field. The Indians, filled with consternation, now thought only of escape. In their blind terror, their numbers augmented their confusion. They trampled on one another, fancying it was the enemy in their rear. The Spaniards and Tlascalans were not slow to avail themselves of the marvellous change in their affairs. Their fatigue, their wounds, hunger, thirst, all were forgotten in the eagerness for vengeance; and they followed up the flying foe, dealing death at every stroke, and taking ample retribution for all they had suffered in the bloody marshes of Mexico. Long did they pursue, till, the enemy having abandoned the field, they returned sated with slaughter to glean the booty which he had left. It was great, for the ground was covered with the bodies of chiefs, at whom the Spaniards, in obedience to the general's instructions, had particularly aimed; and their dresses displayed all the barbaric pomp of ornament, in which the Indian warrior delighted. When his men had thus indemnified themselves, in some degree, for their late reverses, Cortes called them again under their banners; and, after offering up a grateful acknowledgment to the Lord of Hosts for their miraculous preservation, they renewed their march across the now deserted valley. The sun was declining in the heavens, but before the shades of evening had gathered around, they reached an Indian temple on an eminence, which afforded a strong and commodious position for the night. Such was the famous battle of Otompan, or Otumba, as commonly called, from the Spanish corruption of the name. It was fought on the 8th of July, 1520. The whole amount of the Indian force is reckoned by Castilian writers at two hundred thousand! that of the slain at twenty thousand! Those who admit the first part of the estimate will find no difficulty in receiving the last. Yet it was, undoubtedly, one of the most remarkable victories ever achieved in the New World. 1. Lorenzana, Viage, p. xiii. 2. The last instance, I believe, of the direct interposition of the Virgin in behalf of the metropolis was in 1833, when she was brought into the city to avert the cholera. She refused to pass the night in town, however, but was found the next morning in her own sanctuary at Los Remedios, showing, by the mud with which she was plentifully bespattered, that she must have performed the distance--several leagues--through the miry ways on foot! See Latrobe, Rambler in Mexico, letter 5. 3. The epithet by which, according to Diaz, the Castilians were constantly addressed by the natives; and which--whether correctly or not--he interprets into gods, or divine beings. (See Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 48, et alibi.) One of the stanzas of Ercilla intimates the existence of a similar delusion among the South American Indians,--and a similar cure of it. 4. Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 147. 5. Herrera mentions one soldier who had succeeded in carrying off his gold to the value of 3,000 castellanos across the causeway, and afterwards flung it away by the advice of Cortés. "The devil take your gold," said the commander bluntly to him, "if it is to cost you your life." Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 11. 6. Gomara, Crónica, cap. 110. 7. The meaning of the word Tlascala, and so called from the abundance of maize raised in the country. Boturini, Idea, p. 78. 8. "Empero la Nacion nuestra Española sufre mas hambre que otra ninguna, i estos de Cortés mas que todos." Gomara, Crénica, cap. 110. 9. For the concluding pages, see Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.,--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128,--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 13,--Gomara, Crónica, ubi supra,--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 89,--Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 6,--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 147, 148,--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 25, 26. 10. "Su nombre, que quiere decir habitacion de los Dioses, y que ya por estos tiempos era ciudad tan famosa, que no solo competia, pero excedia con muchas ventajas á la corte de Tollan." Veytia, Hist. Antig., tom. I. cap. 27. 11. The pyramid of Mycerinos is 280 feet only at the base, and 162 feet in height. The great pyramid of Cheops is 728 feet at the base, and 448 feet high. See Denon, Egypt Illustrated, (London, 1825,) p. 9. 12. "It requires a particular position," says Mr. Tudor, "united with some little faith, to discover the pyramidal form at all." (Tour in North America, vol. II. p. 277.) Yet Mr. Bullock says, "The general figure of the square is as perfect as the great pyramid of Egypt." (Six Months in Mexico, vol. II. chap. 26.) Eyewitnesses both. This historian must often content himself with repeating, in the words of the old French lay,-- 13. This is M. de Humboldt's opinion. (See his Essai Politique, tom. II. pp. 66-70.) He has also discussed these interesting monuments in his Vues des Cordillères, p. 25, et seq. 14. Latrobe gives the description of this cavity, into which he and his fellow-travellers penetrated. Rambler in Mexico, let 7. 15. "Et tot templa de251;m Romæ, quot in urbe sepulcra 16. The dimensions are given by Bullock, (Six Months in Mexico, vol. II. chap. 26,) who has sometimes seen what has eluded the optics of other travellers. 17. Such is the account given by the cavalier Boturini. Idea, pp. 42, 43. 18. Both Ixtlilxochitl and Boturini, who visited these monuments, one, early in the seventeenth, the other in the first part of the eighteenth century, testify to their having seen the remains of this statue. They had entirely disappeared by 1757, when Veytia examined the pyramid. Hist. Antig., tom. I. cap. 26. 19. "Agricola, incurvo terram molitus aratro, 20. "Y como iban vestidos de blanco, parecia el campo nevado." Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 13. 21. "Vistosa confusion," says Solís, "de armas y penachos, en que tenian su hermosura los horrores." (Conquista, lib. 4, cap. 20.) His painting shows the hand of a great artist,--which he certainly was. But he should not have put fire-arms into the hands of his countrymen, on this occasion. 22. "Y cierto creímos ser aquel el último de nuestros dias." Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 148. 23. Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 14.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 27. 24. It is Sahagun's simile. "Estaban los Españoles como una Isleta en el mar, combatida de las olas por todas partes." (Hist. de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 27.) The venerable missionary gathered the particulars of the action, as he informs us, from several who were present in it. 25. The epic bard Ercilla's spirited portrait of the young warrior Tucapél may apply without violence to Sandoval, as described by the Castilian chroniclers. 26. Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 13. 27. The brave cavalier was afterwards permitted by the Emperor Charles V. to assume this trophy on his own escutcheon, in commemoration of his exploit. Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128. 28. The historians all concur in celebrating this glorious achievement of Cortés; who, concludes Gomara, "by his single arm saved the whole army from destruction." See Crónica, cap. 110.--Also Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 27.--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 47.--Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 13.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 89. 29. "Pues á nosotros," says the doughty Captain Diaz, "no nos dolian las heridas, ni teniamos hambre, ni sed, sino que parecia que no auiamos auido, ni passado ningun mal trabajo. Seguímos la vitoria matando, é hiriendo. Pues nuestros amigos los de Tlascala estavan hechos vnos leones, y con sus espadas, y montantes, y otras armas que allí apañáron, hazíanlo muy bie y esforçadamente." Hist. de la Conquista, loc. cit. 30. Ibid., ubi supra. 31. The belligerent apostle St. James, riding, as usual, his milk-white courser, came to the rescue on this occasion; an event commemorated by the dedication of a hermitage to him, in the neighborhood. (Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala.) Diaz, a skeptic on former occasions, admits his indubitable appearance on this. (Ibid., ubi supra.) According to the Tezcucan chronicler, he was supported by the Virgin and St. Peter. (Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 89.) Voltaire sensibly remarks, "Ceux qui ont fait les relations de ces étranges événemens les ont voulu relever par des miracles, qui ne servent en effet qu'à les rabaisser. Le vrai miracle fut la conduite de Cortés." Voltaire, Essai sur les Mœurs, chap. 147. 32. See Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 47.--Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 13--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 110.