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Home Sports Ian Thomas – Bio, Wife, Family, Height, Weight, Body Measurements
Ian Thomas – Bio, Wife, Family, Height, Weight, Body Measurements
Ian Thomas is an American football tight end who was drafted into the National Football League (NFL) in the fourth round of the 2018 Draft. Before he got into the NFL, Ian played both football and basketball at Digital Harbor High School before moving on to the University of Indiana for his college football career.
He was subsequently selected by the Panthers during the NFL Draft. Speaking of the young player, the Panthers general manager, Marty Hurney, described his as a player who possesses the complete skill set of a complete tight end. Read on…
Ian Thomas' Bio
The tight end was born on June 6, 1995, Baltimore, Maryland. He was a football and basketball player at Digital Harbor High School but he received no offer letters from Division 1 colleges so he ended up at Nassau Community College in New York from where he graduated in 2016. Afterward, he enrolled at Indiana University for his junior year and after playing for two seasons, he became a became a highly sought-after recruit, ultimately making his way into the Big Ten.
As a junior in 2016, Ian Thomas played all 13 games as a blocking tight end. He recorded just 3 catches for 28 yards and no touchdowns. However, he played with a new zeal during his senior year in 2017, recording a 71-yard touchdown in a game against Georgia Southern. Consequently, he became a pro prospect, earning the Mackey Award Tight End of the Week. He made an overall of 25 receptions for 376 yards and 5 touchdowns in his senior year.
He eventually accepted an invitation to play in the 2018 Senior Bowl and increased his draft stock with his impressive performance during Senior Bowl practices. Ian later played in the Reese's Senior Bowl and was part of Houston Texans' head coach Bill O'Brien's South team that won the North team.
Ready to get into the NFL, Ian Thomas took part in the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and performed all combine drills except the bench press which he chose to skip as a result of a pre-existing shoulder injury. He made a statement at the Combine, tying for the fifth fastest 40-yard dash among tight ends. At the end of the drills, Ian's Combine results were one of the tops among the tight end group. This physically set him above par compared to other members of the class.
He also attended Indiana's pro day but only ran positional drills as he chose to stand on his combine numbers for the other drills. He went on to also attend private meetings and workouts with the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars. At the end of the pre-draft process, a greater number of experts projected Ian to be selected in the second or third round of the NFL draft. While DraftScout.com and CBS Sports ranked the former Indiana player as the fifth best tight end prospect in the draft, Scouts Inc ranked him sixth.
Ian Thomas was finally drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft. He was the 101st overall pick and the 6th tight end selected in that year. His deal with the Panthers was sealed on May 10, 2018, as the team signed him to a 4-year contract worth $3.20 million, including a signing bonus of $747,994.
Debuting in the season opener against the Dallas Cowboys, Ian recorded 4 receiving yards on his first two career receptions.
Family, Wife
Ian Thomas was born to Earl (father) and Martha (mother) and was raised in the east side of Baltimore, a neighborhood riddled with crime. He was one of the nine children of his parents and was particularly close to his mother. Being a quiet child who did not like to talk much, Ian received special attention from his mom who always treated him like a baby just to ensure that he was okay.
Unfortunately, the special love and attention from his mother were cut short in 2004 when she died on Ian's 8th birthday of kidney and liver failure which resulted from an abscessed tooth. His father had no choice but to take up the difficult responsibility of being both father and mother to his nine children. He worked hard to provide for his family and also ruled his family with an iron fist in order not to lose any of his kids to the craziness which characterized their neighborhood.
Ian and his grandmother image source
Just as Ian and his siblings were still trying to get used to life without their mom, death struck again and this time, it was their dad who died from a fatal heart attack. At the age of nine, Ian became an orphan and the family which had always lived together under one roof were forced to split up with some of his siblings sent to live with an uncle.
Unable to stomach this unpleasant development, Ian's eldest brother Clif Farmer, who was 19 at the time, filed for full custody of his three siblings (Ashanta, Earl Jr. and Ian Thomas) and was granted his wish. Faced with the responsibility of taking care of his younger ones, Cliff got a job. The teenage father raised of his three siblings in the Park Heights neighborhood in West/Northwest Baltimore and just like his parents, he was tough on them just to keep them away from the streets.
Even though they were close from an early age, Ian and Clif became even closer. Clif described Ian as his right-hand man while the footballer said his older brother was like his father figure, someone he would go to for anything. Ian Thomas developed into a star football and basketball player during his high school with the guidance of his elder brother and today, the rest is history.
See Also: John Ross (NFL) Biography, Draft Profile, Career Stats and Family
Growing up as an orphan, in an environment known for crime and violence, would have made it very difficult if not impossible for any young man to get to where Ian Thomas is today, but he has proved to many that coming from a seemingly negative background is not an excuse to settle for a life of mediocrity.
There is no information about the tight end's relationship at the moment so we assume he is still single.
Height, Weight, Body Measurements
The Carolina Panthers fourth-round draft pick is not someone that can be missed when he walks into a room. He is 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall, weighs 259 pounds (117 kg), has an arm length of 34 1/8 inches and has massive 11.5-inch hands, the prototypical size for an NFL tight end.
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If only I could've gone back in time and thought of this comic a week ago so that it was the first one of the year!
Li, stop that, calendars are not human food.
"Looking to the Future" ... ... by means of "Eating the Past"???
I do the same thing....but with receipts.


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An air basin is an area within a ring or partial ring of mountains that in the absence of winds holds air and smog within the area.

External links
 http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Air+Basin

References

Atmospheric circulation

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Lev Ponomarev: "Alekseeva and I stirred up something important." Lev Ponomarev on his arrest, the fate of human rights defenсe, and unfinished cases
posted 29 Dec 2018, 05:14 by Rights in Russia [ updated 29 Dec 2018, 12:04 ]
An extract
Source: Novaya gazeta
In early December, Russian human rights defence lost two of its bulwarks: Lev Ponomarev for the 16 days his administrative arrest lasted, and Liudmila Alekseeva forever. By decision of the court, Ponomarev, her comrade-in-arms of long standing, could not attend the farewell to Alekseeva, which the president did attend, one of the strangest and most significant stories of the year. Novaya Gazeta special correspondent Iulia Polukhina met with Ponomarev on the day of his release.
-- Lev Alexandrovich, what do you think was the real reason rather than the pretext for your arrest?
-- There are several factors here. First, I've been working hard on the "New Greatness" and "Network" projects. On 28 October, we held a rather childish action with the parents of the young people charged in these cases, specifically, a walk near the FSB [Federal Security Service] building. I have no doubt that the FSB is a vindictive organization. They knew I was one of the action's organizers. The parents formally made the request, but they were relying on my experience, of course. I was the main organizer of the 16 December action, which was supposed to be aimed against the violence, torture, and impunity in which the law enforcement agencies engage.
When the Ukrainian sailors were seized in Kerch, we on the organizing committee decided to devote the action to two theses: no to war and no to tyranny. That is, about Russia's foreign policy and also its domestic policy. Although there were a fair number of declarants, to a significant extent I was the action's engine.
These gentlemen knew full well that if I was removed from this group, the action would not be successful.
In addition, I said that it was being planned for between 10 December and 20 December, and 20 December is the Day of the Chekist. They celebrated the centenary of the VChK [All-Russian Extraordinary Commission] last year, and this, I believe, was a challenge to society. In my view, our FSB is the special service of the new democratic state that arose in 1991. Publicly, though, they say we are continuing the traditions of the VChK and NKVD [People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs]. FSB Director Bortnikov spoke about this in an interview a year ago.
-- Formally, though, the arrest wasn't connected in any way with the upcoming action or in general with claims against the FSB?
-- Everything together led to them giving permission to illuminate [sic] me from life for a while, and it just took them a long time. After the 28 October action, someone wrote a denunciation against me only on 15 November. The denunciation's point was that my call for the action already held had been discovered on the Internet. They could arrest me for that, but it was two weeks later that they thought up the denunciation and then decided to wait another two weeks and arrest me right by the entrance. They knew I'd come because evidently they'd been following me. Because predicting my arrival home was fairly hard, but here they were, my fine friends, standing right in front of my entrance and saying: "Let's go."
In fact, they brought me by force to the Meshchanskoe OVD [District Internal Affairs Department] and filed a report saying I'd violated some law, and I wrote I hadn't violated anything. Then there was the trial, and they sentenced me to those days.
-- The days are over, but are you going to continue to dispute the decision about administrative arrest?
-- Of course I am. I'm not a lawyer myself, but Genri Reznik, even if he has been a friend for thirty years, would not take up my defense and risk his reputation if this case were not totally groundless and legally senseless.
-- You were in the special detention center with various people. Did you help any of them as a human rights activist?
-- When they put me in the cell, there were nearly 12 people on two-tiered bunks, and everyone except for me and one other prisoner smoked so much you could suffocate. When I realized that this was going to be hard, I asked the special detention center employees to move me to a cell with fewer people. Instead, they removed some of the prisoners from mine, left four or five, and asked them to blow their smoke out the small window.
At first there was very bad food, but when ONK [Public Oversight Commission] member Babushkin went there on the second day to check up, they started feeding me twice as well. I'm not certain that after I left they're going to feed the prisoners all right again.
All the Moscow special detention centers are serviced by a single OOO [limited liability company] that won the catering bid. After Babushkin's visit, the food was edible, but obviously wasn't 250 rubles' worth, though that was the sum they signed for every day.
-- Didn't your cellmates look askance at you due to that treatment by the administration?
-- In my cell I got along easily with everyone, and they quickly understood what human rights activists were and would complain to me about things.
There were two Chechens I did manage to save.
These two 20-year-old fellows had been caught stealing candy in a store—worth mere kopeks. They were jailed for an administrative offence and were facing a criminal case. They were trying to link the two men and make a criminal group out of them. I asked my lawyer to go to court for them and help. He demolished the entire accusation and the boys were released and went to Chechnya. Right now I'm working on another case of someone from the special detention center, but I can't talk about it yet.
-- Were you counting on being let out to say goodbye to Liudmila Alekseeva?
-- If I may, I won't start with the farewell. It's important to say how much she and I worked together and how much we accomplished together. We were a tandem, we absolutely were. You couldn't say she and I always thought in unison, but she would sign my statements, which were often pretty drastic, and her authority helped collect other signatures under them. For instance, there was the open appeal to President Putin. It was entitled, "Make yourself clear, Mr. President." Its essence was as follows. In the fall of last year, Putin opened a "Wall of Sorrow" on Sakharov Avenue and said quite definitively that we should do everything we can to make sure the tragedy is not repeated. Simultaneously, that interview with Bortnikov comes out. He says that we're counting the centenary of the glorious organization from the creation of the VChK, we have done a great deal for our Homeland, and though there were minor distortions, we ourselves condemned and overcame them. Now we have turned to the president to clarify whether he thinks Bortnikov is following his line or running counter to it. The appeal was signed by the oldest human rights activists: Alekseeva, Kovalev, Borshchev, Gannushkina, and me.
For me it was a very great loss that I did not say farewell to Alekseeva.
But I understand why they didn't let me. What was the farewell procedure? The casket on stage, members of the Moscow Helsinki Group sitting next to it, a free seat in the first row where Putin could sit if he wanted to. In any event, when he entered, he shook hands with one of the MHG members. Imagine if that had been me.
What an irrational picture that would have been:
Ponomarev and Putin shaking hands and then Ponomarev returning to the special detention center.
They'd thought all this through and decided to avoid the embarrassment.
-- Please recall for us how you and Alekseeva, two such solitary figures, found yourselves together, in tandem, as you put it.
-- In 1996, I decided I would engage in public work and not return to my scholarly activities. At the time, Alekseeva was working in the office of an American labor union but did not feel comfortable there. Together we decided to revive the Moscow Helsinki Group. We held a congress and then by a decision of Yeltsin's were given an office, and in 1997 the first grants.
Later, though, I realized that it was better for us to go our separate ways. MHG is a separate group with its own tradition, and I had begun to create a Russia-wide human rights movement.
-- On which cases did you intersect and work together over these years?
-- There were many such cases, and not all of them are finished. (For more detail, see "Alekseeva's list." -- Iu. P.) But here's the main thing: together we tried to unite the human rights activists. Together she and I created the Russian Human Rights Council, where we met regularly and worked out common positions, coordinated.
She and I stirred up something very important: we said that human rights activists would not register voluntarily as "foreign agents." At first opinions on this issue were not unanimous. Alekseeva and I convened a conference, and we agreed there at the conference that none of the human rights activists would voluntarily label themselves this way. This was done jointly, through the joint efforts of the Helsinki Group and the movement "For Human Rights." This was our very important action.
-- Now, since Liudmila Mikhailovna's passing, how do you see your further work?
-- I will continue to work with the other oldest human rights activists, Borshchev and Gannushkina. We must unite human rights activists for joint activities, actions, and so forth. [Read more in Russian]
Translated by Marian Schwartz

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Marta Cunha MRCVS
Marta qualified in 2017 from a veterinary university in Portugal and decided to come to the UK afterwards, to progress her veterinary skills. She has been working at our practice since September 2018 and has loved every minute due to our close team and friendly clients. She has particular interest in dentistry, ultrasound, soft tissue surgery and internal medicine. In her spare time she likes to spend time with her partner, travel, visit family and friends and play violin and ukulele.
Jess Friar BVetMed MRCVS
Jess graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2016, and after a year out to take care of her young son, she joined The Old Golfhouse in 2017. She has a special interest in clinical pathology, and before starting with us worked on placement in several laboratories. She has also developed an interest in emergency and critical care work. Jess enjoys reading and doing artwork in her spare time. She has four cats, a pygmy hedgehog, two fish and two axolotls.
Jake Greenacre MRCVS
Jake graduated in 2017 after five years of studying at the Royal Veterinary College. When he was training he spent a lot of time with us here at The Old Golfhouse and is very happy to have returned to the practice as a veterinary surgeon. Jake enjoys the challenge of an interesting internal medicine case and in the future wants to pursue a postgraduate certificate focusing on anaesthesia and analgesia. In his time off he likes to read books and graphic novels as well as going to the cinema as often as he can.
Martin Tubby BVetMed MRCVS
Martin graduated from the Royal Veterinary Collage in 2014 and after a year in a small animal clinic, joined The Old Golfhouse to pursue his keen interests in surgery and exotic animal practice. He enjoys seeing any patient with fur, feathers or scales and has also developed a passion for wound management and rehabilitation. Martin enjoys music and spending time in the county with his wife and fellow Old Golfhouse vet Jess and son. Martin has four cats named Angus, Jasper, Munchkin and Teddy, as well as a pygmy hedgehog called Peggy and two axolotls.
Wiktoria Wiechecka BVetMed MRCVS
Wiktoria graduated from the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland in 2011 and joined The Old Golfhouse in June 2016. Her main interests are diagnostics, dermatology and soft tissue surgery. Wiktoria also has keen interest in exotic animals. Currently she's deepening her knowledge in the field of small animal diseases as she is in the middle of a postgraduate course. The biggest satisfaction in her everyday practice is to restore patients to health, giving back a joy of life to them and to their owners. Wiktoria lives in the countryside with her partner, dog called Mulan and cat, Stefan.


Turning 50 this month, Medicare has received a report card predicting reasonable long-term health for the program, but warning of future challenges posed by a surge of millions of baby boomers into the system in coming years. It also hinted at a possible return next year to a temporary shift in Medicare premiums, with some beneficiaries paying an additional amount for doctors' services.
Medicare's hospital trust fund, which collects workers' contributions from payroll taxes to fund Part A coverage, will be able to fully support the program until 2030, according to the 2015 Medicare Trustees Report that was unveiled July 22. That projected date — when the fund is likely to turn the corner into insolvency — is unchanged from last year but 13 years later than the trustees projected in 2009.
Although that is good news, the program still faces steep future challenges as 10,000 boomers turn 65 every day. Only five years from now, Medicare will have over 64 million enrollees, 10 million more than today. For now, those new beneficiaries are younger and healthier than others in the program, so they're not placing much of a burden on it through claims. Nonetheless, like a snake swallowing a sheep, the system will eventually strain at the seams if no changes are made.
"AARP believes we can reduce costs and find significant savings in Medicare using responsible solutions rather than applying harmful cuts to beneficiaries in an attempt to save money," commented AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins.
Although Medicare expenditures were lower for Part A hospital insurance and Part D prescription drug coverage in 2014, Part B costs rose slightly higher than were expected. As a result, the standard Part B monthly premium — always set at 25 percent of the previous year's costs — is expected to increase, after staying flat for three years.
"While Part B premiums will be finalized later this year, approximately 70 percent of beneficiaries are expected not to see a premium increase in 2016 because it is projected that there will be no cost-of-living increases in Social Security benefits," Medicare officials said in a press release. Their premiums would stay at $104.90 a month, because under the law people who receive Social Security benefits cannot pay higher premiums in years when there is no cost of living adjustment (COLA).
The other 30 percent — those who don't have their Part B premiums automatically deducted from Social Security checks — would pay $159.30 a month in 2016, the report predicted. This situation was last seen in 2010 and 2011, the last time no Social Security COLAs were given.


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Loss/Gain in Weigh Flow Controllers.
FLOW8000 is a controller for loss-in-weight feeders which discharge material from a supply hopper at a constant rate into a continuous process, eg in the food, chemical or cement industry.
The material is continuously discharged from (or added to) the supply hopper with screw- , rotatory – or vibratory feeders. FLOW8000 measures the actual flow rate, compares it with the desired nominal value and corrects any deviation by adjusting the speed of the drive motor. When the material in the supply hopper reaches a predetermined low level, the feeder locks in and continues discharging of material at constant rate, while the hopper is refilled to pre-set target. After refilling the hopper, the loss (gain)-in-weight cycle resumes.
Ideal for injection moulding machines, extruders and continuous mixers.
Suitable for both analog or digital load cells of any type.
Recording of all data in a batch log, daily and shift totals, error reports.


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Cloud Child
Ball Pond Bobby
Atishoo!
Chicken Licken
Enormous Turnip
The Frog Prince & Other Tales
Terry Jones Fairy Tales
Dr Nose Travels Through Time
Baba Yaga Bony Legs
Sweetie Pie
Youth & Adults
Genie in a Bottle
Sex 'n' Chips
Skin Deep Circus
DNA Cabaret
The Cabinet of Hearts
Also available as an interactive theatre play session 'A Walk in the Woods' with
A playful exploration of the familiar story of Hansel and Gretel taking a leap from the reality of many family situations into the fantasy of a gripping adventure story. Carefully crafted to delight young children and their families through its visual charm, and to touch people of all ages on a variety of levels, DNA take a child-centred approach to create an unusual and engaging version of this popular fairytale.
Sweetie Pie has at its heart the modern dilemma of children in single parent families today. Kes and Lily, played by puppets, love their father but Lily will not accept Dad's new girlfriend Lizzie and tries to convince Kes of Lizzies evil intent by playing Hansel and Gretel with him. In a series of transformations, children and parents are taken on a wondrous and chilling adventure into the heart of the woods where a witch lives in a gingerbread house.
Hannah Ringham (pictured right) starred with Adam Bennett in this production.
This production is a contemporary treatment of Hansel and Gretel using rod puppetry, object theatre, physical performance and an unusual adaptation of Victorian paper theatre. Sweetie Pie has an original musical score by Jon Owen.
At a recent 'Enchanted Worlds' exhibition of art and artefacts inspired by fairy tales at the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, the set, puppets and props were featured. Here is the transcript of the audio commentary.
"Dynamic New Animation (usually known as DNA) is a well-known puppet theatre company based here in Preston. This is one of their sets for a modern adaptation of the Hansel and Gretel story they call Sweetie Pie. They use it to explore the issues of jealousy and mistrust that can occur in today's single-parent families between children and their parent's new partner.
In the DNA version of the story, the two children are called Kes and Lily. They live with their father, whom they love, but they don't get on with their father's new girlfriend Lizzie. Lily is especially upset and believes that Lizzie has evil intentions towards them. Lily tries to convince Kes that she is right and role-plays Hansel and Gretel with him to show the parallels that are happening. As the play unfolds both adults and children go into the woods, where they meet the wicked witch in her gingerbread house - which you can see here.
In the original Brothers Grimm version of the story, the children's real mother who wants to get rid of them. In later versions it was a step-mother. In either case, the evil mother goes against the nurturing maternal ideal of western culture. In academic analysis of the story, the wicked witch is thought to represent the evil mother and so, by vanquishing the witch, the children are overcoming problems they've faced at home."
Amanda Draper
Keeper of Fine Art
Workshop Information
A workshop for up to 20 children making gingerbread men and houses can accompany this show.
Ages Suitable for four to seven year olds
Suitable venues For theatres and arts centres
Availability not currently touring


Your MIND is a POWERFUL weapon. LEARN to be a warrior and wield it INTENTIONALLY (MIND-fully).
Your attitude colors what you see. A negative attitude keeps you CLOSED and inflexible.
Give up your sense of security that comes from holding onto beliefs that you may be clinging to out of fear.
Be OPEN and WILLING, and ACCEPT people and new ways of seeing the world for more PERSONAL FREEDOM.
When something goes wrong, is YOUR RESPONSE one that's OPEN to LEARNING? Do you analyze yourself and see what you did wrong? Take responsibility? Or do you immediately blame other people or play the victim?
BE A CURIOUS STUDENT toward the experiences in your life to avoid turning bitter and resentful.
You are not in charge of everything that happens to you in life, but a lot of what happens is in YOUR CONTROL and it's your responsibility to CHOOSE what to do with what you can control.
How you think of yourself is what you will manifest in your life. Keep a positive attitude about yourself, about your life.
Being THE BEST YOU POSSIBLE is a PRACTICE. Learn how by using the Classic Wisdom for the Modern Human Self Study Guide to get to know who you really are and what you are really like (as opposed to assuming you know!) for optimal personal wellness.
Next Next post: "Know Thyself" Sure, but HOW?


Our little Great War museum at the Manor House Stables will be open on both the Saturday and Sunday 12th and 13th March 2016. Entry is free (although donations are gladly accepted!) and opening times will be from 10am to 4pmon both days. Michael Credland (author of 'Great War Memorials of Lincolnshire') will be there both days to answer questions about the exhibition. There will also be an opportunity for people to bring along their relatives' stories and artefacts and learn more about what they did in the Great War.


Decide and Commit means that you have a plan and you're sticking you it. This all happens before you get down on the shot. Remember, no matter what you decide to do, it's your decision.
It's very important that you believe in yourself and in your decision. If you don't, the balls don't lie. If by any chance you are not fully committed to your choice, force yourself to stand up, make a new plan and address the shot again. If a rowdy teammate or a passing server catches your eye, you are no longer fully committed to the shot.
Stand up, recommit yourself, and address the shot again. How many times have you not given 100% to the shot but pulled the trigger anyway? Let's decide and commit to breaking that bad habit today.
Stay Down during the entirety of the shot. Don't be a Jack-in-the-box. Developing a consistent stroke can only happen by keeping your head down the entire time. Give yourself the best chance at pocketing the ball by allowing your stroke to follow through on a consistent, level plane.
It's particularly easy to hop up on a shot when we are not committed to it, uncomfortable with something, or just being careless. Record yourself or have someone take notice of this for you.
Are you hopping up from nerves or excitement? If so, make a point to consciously stay down from now on until every single ball has stopped moving (or a ball is coming at you). Exaggerating this action will only help reinforce it.
Follow through completely. When you finally pull the trigger, your shooting arm should be fully accelerated and your cue tip should be pointed into the table through where the cue ball once was. Ideally, this happens without dropping the elbow but in some instances it's unavoidable. Follow though completely on each and every shot to achieve the best results.
You don't see Tiger Woods stopping his club once he contacts the golf ball. Following through completely not only maximizes the momentum of the forward stroke, but it also helps you identify any flaws in your stroke. If your follow-through finishes with your cue tip pointing up in the air, then you have excessively dropped your elbow.
You may even be gripping the cue too tightly. If your follow-through finishes to the left or the right, then you may not be pulling back straight. Staying down after the follow-through gives you the chance to notice all these things.
Frank Says: "A great way to achieve maximum consistency is with the fully Bluetooth enabled OB DigiCue BLUE! Use the app and get instantaneous feedback on your stroke."
Follow these steps to improving your consistency. Train yourself to go through the checklist every time you come to the table. Pocket more balls and have more fun!
Player, writer, and Denver billiard instructor Samm Diep shares tips on basic care, instruction, and etiquette. Check back frequently for more articles.


My four-year-old son and I arrived to school early last Friday, so he had time to play with his friends before classes started. Normally, I would walk him to his classroom and he would give me a kiss on the cheek before he joins his classmates inside.
Ouch! That hurt! Just when did he start not needing Mommy?
I said okay, but that still hurt!
This entry was posted in Motherhood, Musings, Personal, Pre-Kindergarten. Bookmark the permalink.
4 Responses to Poignant Mommy Moment!
I definitely know how that feels!
aaww.. does that mean it's time to let go? lol!


text:
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Your gift empowers Bill with choice. After working hard and saving all his life, Bill is diagnosed with cancer at age 62. Unable to work, Bill is using his savings for extensive chemo and radiation. Nearing the end of his treatments, Bill's hoping he will be able to return to work again soon. Until then, he relies on the local food pantry to help with groceries.


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Did the Ottomans suffer a long term decline?
asked 07 Nov 2020 in category Ottomans
Khilafah (Caliphate)
Ottoman Caliphate
Ottoman History
Ottoman Decline
Ottomanist Scholars
In a Nutshell: Following a large number of new studies from the 1980s to 2000s, along with the re-examination of Ottoman history using previously unused sources and methodologies, historians have reached a consensus that the notion of long term Ottoman decline was a myth. The Ottoman Empire did not stagnate or decline, but rather continued to be a vigorous and dynamic state for most of its existence. The decline thesis has been criticized as teleological, regressive, Orientalist, simplistic, and one-dimensional and described as a concept which has no place in historical analysis. Over the last twenty years or so, historians of the Ottoman Empire have rejected the narrative of decline in favor of one of crisis and adaptation. Rather than speaking of Ottoman decline, it would be more accurate to say that what had occurred was an adjustment of Ottoman methods of rule and the balance of power within the empire to changing circumstances. Background The Ottoman decline thesis or paradigm (often referred to as the "Sick man of Europe") refers to an obsolete historical narrative which once played a dominant role in the study of the Ottoman Caliphate's history. According to the decline thesis, following a golden age associated with the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire gradually entered into a period of general stagnation and decline from which it was never able to recover, lasting until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1924. This thesis was used throughout most of the twentieth century as the basis of both Western and Republican Turkish understanding of Ottoman history. However, by 1978, historians had begun to re-examine the fundamental assumptions of the decline thesis. Ottoman history has been subjected to distortion and propaganda by many Western orientalists and nationalists who portrayed the Ottoman Caliphate as just an empire, little different to other empires, with salacious Sultans and obscurantist scholars. They argued the Ottomans killed and raped non-Muslims and carried out genocides with few to counter this propaganda. The researcher Jonathan Grant whilst reviewing a potential military declined noted in the field of Ottoman history, scholars use of the term decline presents several problems as implicit in any notion of "decline" is some kind of comparison to some measure, whether it be other powers or its own imperial past. As historians have employed the concept, the unit of measure if mentioned at all is often overly broad or inappropriate to the Ottoman context. "In its broadest application, Ottoman "decline" has served as a negative judgment on Islamic society as a whole and its inability to match the march of progress and rising power of Western society since the seventeenth century. In this instance the unit of comparison is the civilization. Such a basis for comparison is ill-chosen because the notion that the strength of a civilization can be measured in military success is an obviously dubious proposition, as the examples of Renaissance Italy or the thirteenth-century Mongols make clear. Besides selecting a vague unit of measure, proponents of the decline thesis tend to be rather imprecise about the scale by which they measure the Ottoman "decline." For example, they may posit an economic or cultural/social decline that contributed to a military decline, but invariably this so-called decline was in relation to an economically expanding "West." However, neither the "West" nor "Islamic society" was a monolithic entity, and within each civilization there existed states with varying degrees of military capability. Most often scholars have used the term the West or Europe generically, when they actually meant England, France, and Holland. The use of these western European states as the basis for measuring Ottoman military decline has obscured the actual Ottoman conditions by placing them in the wrong context. The Ottomans did not operate in western Europe, but rather in eastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. In fact decline is not a useful term at all, because it reflects more a moral judgment passed by Europeans convinced of their own superiority than an accurate assessment of Ottoman capabilities." New Research Following publication of a number of new studies following the 1980s through to the 2000s, along with a re-examination of Ottoman history using previously unused sources and methodologies, historians reached a consensus that the alleged long term Ottoman decline was a myth. In fact, it did not stagnate or decline, rather continued to be a vigorous and dynamic state for most of its existence. The decline thesis has been criticized as teleological, regressive, Orientalist, simplistic and one-dimensional, described as a concept which has no place in historical analysis. Over the last twenty years or so, historians of the Ottoman Empire have rejected the narrative of decline in favor of one of crisis and adaptation. Metin Kunt (1995) notes students of Ottoman history have learned better than to discuss a "decline" which supposedly began during the reigns of Sulayman's ineffectual successors and then continued for centuries. Tezcan Baki (2010) states Ottomanist historians have produced several works in the last decades, revising the traditional understanding of this period from various perspectives, some of which were not even considered as topics of historical inquiry in the mid-twentieth century. The conventional narrative of Ottoman history, that in the late sixteenth century the Ottoman Empire entered a prolonged period of decline marked by steadily increasing military decay and institutional corruption, has been discarded. Ehud Toledano (2011) states In the scholarly literature produced by Ottomanists since the mid-1970s, the hitherto prevailing view of Ottoman decline has been effectively debunked. Christine Woodhead (2011) says Ottomanist historians have largely jettisoned the notion of a post-1600 'decline'. Despite this dramatic paradigm shift among professional historians, the decline thesis continues to maintain a strong presence in popular history, as well as academic history written by scholars who are not specialists on the Ottoman Empire. In some cases this is due to the continued reliance by non-specialists on outdated and debunked works, and in others to certain political interests benefiting from the continued perpetuation of the decline narrative. Contemporary Ottomanists and scholars praise the Ottoman institution for its administration, institutions, justice, tolerance, diplomacy, and military might. The Ottomans actually ruled by Shari'a which gave protection of life, property, and honour to all non-Muslims and allows complete freedom of religion. Toledano argues the increased scope and sophistication of Ottoman studies makes a uniform view difficult to justify: "...that the processes that unravelled during the period of so-called decline as manifestations of remarkable adaptation to changing realities, which reflect the resourcefulness, pragmatism, and flexibility of the Ottoman imperial system, rather than its ineptitude". Overemphasis on local and Arab historiography, "has managed to submerge imperial history and pronounce the virtual disintegration of Ottoman central authority, its projected power, economic significance, and sociocultural influence". Likewise the Ottomanist Soraya Faroqhi when considering Ariel Salzmann's research: "Recent work concerning Ottoman provinces, often focused on the Arab world, has permitted us to better understand the dynamics inherent in seventeenth and eighteenth-century decentralisation, which can no longer be regarded as a manifestation of 'Ottoman decline' and a precondition for proto-nationalism." The Ottomanist Carter Findley in his research explains how the complex Ottoman system fundamentally changed between 1603 and 1838. Whilst scholars saw such changes as a decline, if certain things fell during this period, others rose with no single upward or downward trend emerging over the two centuries. He goes on to say "Even the shorter-term trends mask divergent trajectories followed by different parts of the imperial system." Analogously, the period seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are characterised as decentralisation and weakening state power: "yet the formation of new provincial power centres signify emergence of new interlocutors between state and society and the creation of denser centre-periphery linkages, at least until late eighteenth century crises provoked a trend back towards centralisation." Rather than speaking of Ottoman decline, it would be more accurate to say that what had occurred was an adjustment of Ottoman methods of rule and the balance of power within the empire to changing circumstances. Suraiya Faroqhi, a leading Ottomanist expert, cites earlier scholars who realised with the commencement of archival studies, details as well as major generalisations would need to be modified or even totally discarded. She cites errors present in secondary literature passed over by generations: "Some errors may be just amusing, such as the story that the heads of the Ottoman religious-cum-legal hierarchy, the seyhulIslams, if executed, were ground to death in a gigantic mortar and pestle... Others are more serious and have much hampered research, such as the inclination to explain anything and everything by Ottoman decline." Donald Quataert, a leading Ottomanist, commented: "Given the nationalist logic of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century history writing, the Ottoman legacy has been difficult to assess and appreciate. The biases come from many sides... Old fears have persisted to the present day and arguably have been transformed into cultural prejudices... Moreover, nationalist histories have dismissed the place of the multi-ethnic, multi-religious formation in historical evolution... In the more than thirty countries that now exist in territories once occupied by the Ottoman Empire the Ottoman past until recently has been largely ignored and/or considered in extremely negative terms." Others have argued Arabs and Turks in seeking a new identity and foundation for their states exhibited similar hostility, preferring to go back to the Pharaohs, Kings of Babylon and the Hittites of pre-Ottoman Anatolia. This hostility and often vilification, appears less to actual Ottoman policies and more to their state building processes. Doumani's study of the Arab region of Ottoman Palestine notes: "...most Arab nationalists view the entire Ottoman era as a period of oppressive Turkish rule which stifled Arab culture and socioeconomic development and paved the way for European colonial control and the Zionist takeover of Palestine... The intellectual foundation for this shared image can be traced to the extensive literature published during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by Westerners bent on discovering... the Holy Land from what they believed was a stagnant and declining Ottoman Empire" A number of historians cleared up Western cultural propaganda by stating facts which present the Ottoman Caliphate in a new light in relation to their minorities. "It is an undeniable historical fact that the Turkish armies have never interfered with the religious and cultural affairs in the areas they conquered." (J. W. Arnold) "Jewish people must always recall the Ottoman Empire with gratitude who, at one of Judaism's darkest hours flung open its door widely and kept them open" (Cecil Roth Historian) "An important testimony to the toleration of Moslem rule is the fact that even persecuted Christian and other sects took refuge in Mohammedan land to enjoy there the undisturbed exercise of their several cults." (Felix Valvi, London, p.925) "The Ottoman Empire would not have lasted for six hundred years... You cannot for six hundred years suppress, subdue or bully a lot of people of different ethnic groups. And in any case, if you ill treat your subjects, then the tax is not collected from them." (Prof. Jeffrey Lewis of Oxford University) "The Ottomans had one of the most tolerant policies towards non-Turks of any empire of its day. The three communities of Jews, Greeks and Armenians were virtually autonomous within the empire." (P.F. Peters, The Australian, 1994) "It is well to remember that when the Crusaders were butchering their Moslem prisoners in Palestine, when the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition were in full swing, when Cromwell's troopers were massacring the Catholics of Ireland... when Protestants in France were being exterminated by order of the French king, when Jews were being subjected to countless persecutions and barbarities in every European country... Moslems, Christians and Jews were dwelling side by side, in perfect amity in Asia Minor." E Alexander Powell, The Struggle for Power in Moslem Asia, 1925, p.120) "The Turks, as a nation, are almost ludicrously innocent of the propagandist's art... The Ottoman institution came perhaps as near as anything in real life could to realising the ideal of Plato's Republic." (Arnold Toynbee) "There was emigration from independent Greece into the Ottoman Empire, since some Greeks found the Ottoman government more indulgent master than their own Greek government." (Roderic H-Davison, historian of the Ottoman Empire.) "The religious toleration of the Ottoman Government was complete and the state never interfered in anyway with what the Christians did or taught in their schools or the churches... It was impossible to desire more absolute liberty of worship or teaching." (Gratan Geary, Through Asiatic Turkey, London, M.S. and R. Sampson, 1878) "The tolerance shown to foreign beliefs and hostile faiths by the Ottoman law and Ottoman officials which enabled them to establish their own religious institutions and to shape their own education was such that... the thousand year old Liberty reigning in France in the field of sects and beliefs, dating from the times of the ancient Gaul, could not be compared with it." (Talcot Williams, Turkey, A World Problem of Today, 1922, p. 194) Conclusion The notion of a long term Ottoman decline is a myth. The Ottoman Empire did not stagnate or decline at all, but rather continued to be a vigorous and dynamic state long after the death of Suleiman the Magnificent. Over the last twenty years or so, historians of the Ottoman Empire have rejected the narrative of decline in favor of one of crisis and adaptation. References Rifa'at Abou-El-Haj, Formation of the Modern State: The Ottoman Empire, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries Karen Barkey, Bandits and Bureaucrats: The Ottoman Route to State Centralization Linda Darling, Revenue Raising and Legitimacy: Tax Collection and Finance Administration in the Ottoman Empire, 1560–1660 Cornell Fleischer, Bureaucrat and Intellectual in the Ottoman Empire: The Historian Mustafa Ali, 1541–1600 Jonathan Grant, Military Technology Diffusion in the Ottoman Empire Jane Hathaway, Problems of Periodization in Ottoman History: The Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Centuries Douglas Howard, Ottoman Historiography and the Literature of 'Decline' of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Halil Inalcık, Military and Fiscal Transformation in the Ottoman Empire, 1600–1700" Cemal Kafadar, On the Purity and Corruption of the Janissaries Metin Kunt, The Sultan's Servants: The Transformation of Ottoman Provincial Government, 1550–1650 Ariel Salzmann, An Ancien Régime Revisited: Privatization and Political Economy in the Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Empire
answered 07 Nov 2020 anonymous
In a Nutshell: Following a large number of new studies from the 1980s to 2000s, along with the re-examination of Ottoman history using previously unused sources and methodologies, historians have reached a consensus that the notion of long term Ottoman decline was a myth. The Ottoman Empire did not stagnate or decline, but rather continued to be a vigorous and dynamic state for most of its existence.
The decline thesis has been criticized as teleological, regressive, Orientalist, simplistic, and one-dimensional and described as a concept which has no place in historical analysis.
Over the last twenty years or so, historians of the Ottoman Empire have rejected the narrative of decline in favor of one of crisis and adaptation. Rather than speaking of Ottoman decline, it would be more accurate to say that what had occurred was an adjustment of Ottoman methods of rule and the balance of power within the empire to changing circumstances.
The Ottoman decline thesis or paradigm (often referred to as the "Sick man of Europe") refers to an obsolete historical narrative which once played a dominant role in the study of the Ottoman Caliphate's history.
According to the decline thesis, following a golden age associated with the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire gradually entered into a period of general stagnation and decline from which it was never able to recover, lasting until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1924. This thesis was used throughout most of the twentieth century as the basis of both Western and Republican Turkish understanding of Ottoman history.
However, by 1978, historians had begun to re-examine the fundamental assumptions of the decline thesis.
Ottoman history has been subjected to distortion and propaganda by many Western orientalists and nationalists who portrayed the Ottoman Caliphate as just an empire, little different to other empires, with salacious Sultans and obscurantist scholars. They argued the Ottomans killed and raped non-Muslims and carried out genocides with few to counter this propaganda.
The researcher Jonathan Grant whilst reviewing a potential military declined noted in the field of Ottoman history, scholars use of the term decline presents several problems as implicit in any notion of "decline" is some kind of comparison to some measure, whether it be other powers or its own imperial past. As historians have employed the concept, the unit of measure if mentioned at all is often overly broad or inappropriate to the Ottoman context.
"In its broadest application, Ottoman "decline" has served as a negative judgment on Islamic society as a whole and its inability to match the march of progress and rising power of Western society since the seventeenth century. In this instance the unit of comparison is the civilization. Such a basis for comparison is ill-chosen because the notion that the strength of a civilization can be measured in military success is an obviously dubious proposition, as the examples of Renaissance Italy or the thirteenth-century Mongols make clear.
Besides selecting a vague unit of measure, proponents of the decline thesis tend to be rather imprecise about the scale by which they measure the Ottoman "decline." For example, they may posit an economic or cultural/social decline that contributed to a military decline, but invariably this so-called decline was in relation to an economically expanding "West." However, neither the "West" nor "Islamic society" was a monolithic entity, and within each civilization there existed states with varying degrees of military capability. Most often scholars have used the term the West or Europe generically, when they actually meant England, France, and Holland.
The use of these western European states as the basis for measuring Ottoman military decline has obscured the actual Ottoman conditions by placing them in the wrong context. The Ottomans did not operate in western Europe, but rather in eastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. In fact decline is not a useful term at all, because it reflects more a moral judgment passed by Europeans convinced of their own superiority than an accurate assessment of Ottoman capabilities."
Following publication of a number of new studies following the 1980s through to the 2000s, along with a re-examination of Ottoman history using previously unused sources and methodologies, historians reached a consensus that the alleged long term Ottoman decline was a myth. In fact, it did not stagnate or decline, rather continued to be a vigorous and dynamic state for most of its existence.
The decline thesis has been criticized as teleological, regressive, Orientalist, simplistic and one-dimensional, described as a concept which has no place in historical analysis. Over the last twenty years or so, historians of the Ottoman Empire have rejected the narrative of decline in favor of one of crisis and adaptation.
Metin Kunt (1995) notes students of Ottoman history have learned better than to discuss a "decline" which supposedly began during the reigns of Sulayman's ineffectual successors and then continued for centuries.
Tezcan Baki (2010) states Ottomanist historians have produced several works in the last decades, revising the traditional understanding of this period from various perspectives, some of which were not even considered as topics of historical inquiry in the mid-twentieth century. The conventional narrative of Ottoman history, that in the late sixteenth century the Ottoman Empire entered a prolonged period of decline marked by steadily increasing military decay and institutional corruption, has been discarded.
Ehud Toledano (2011) states In the scholarly literature produced by Ottomanists since the mid-1970s, the hitherto prevailing view of Ottoman decline has been effectively debunked.
Christine Woodhead (2011) says Ottomanist historians have largely jettisoned the notion of a post-1600 'decline'. Despite this dramatic paradigm shift among professional historians, the decline thesis continues to maintain a strong presence in popular history, as well as academic history written by scholars who are not specialists on the Ottoman Empire. In some cases this is due to the continued reliance by non-specialists on outdated and debunked works, and in others to certain political interests benefiting from the continued perpetuation of the decline narrative.
Contemporary Ottomanists and scholars praise the Ottoman institution for its administration, institutions, justice, tolerance, diplomacy, and military might. The Ottomans actually ruled by Shari'a which gave protection of life, property, and honour to all non-Muslims and allows complete freedom of religion.
Toledanoargues the increased scope and sophistication of Ottoman studies makes a uniform view difficult to justify:
"...that the processes that unravelled during the period of so-called decline as manifestations of remarkable adaptation to changing realities, which reflect the resourcefulness, pragmatism, and flexibility of the Ottoman imperial system, rather than its ineptitude". Overemphasis on local and Arab historiography, "has managed to submerge imperial history and pronounce the virtual disintegration of Ottoman central authority, its projected power, economic significance, and sociocultural influence".
Likewise the Ottomanist Soraya Faroqhi when considering Ariel Salzmann's research:
"Recent work concerning Ottoman provinces, often focused on the Arab world, has permitted us to better understand the dynamics inherent in seventeenth and eighteenth-century decentralisation, which can no longer be regarded as a manifestation of 'Ottoman decline' and a precondition for proto-nationalism."
The Ottomanist Carter Findley in his research explains how the complex Ottoman system fundamentally changed between 1603 and 1838. Whilst scholars saw such changes as a decline, if certain things fell during this period, others rose with no single upward or downward trend emerging over the two centuries. He goes on to say "Even the shorter-term trends mask divergent trajectories followed by different parts of the imperial system." Analogously, the period seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are characterised as decentralisation and weakening state power:
"yet the formation of new provincial power centres signify emergence of new interlocutors between state and society and the creation of denser centre-periphery linkages, at least until late eighteenth century crises provoked a trend back towards centralisation."
Rather than speaking of Ottoman decline, it would be more accurate to say that what had occurred was an adjustment of Ottoman methods of rule and the balance of power within the empire to changing circumstances.
Suraiya Faroqhi, a leading Ottomanist expert, cites earlier scholars who realised with the commencement of archival studies, details as well as major generalisations would need to be modified or even totally discarded. She cites errors present in secondary literature passed over by generations:
"Some errors may be just amusing, such as the story that the heads of the Ottoman religious-cum-legal hierarchy, the seyhulIslams, if executed, were ground to death in a gigantic mortar and pestle... Others are more serious and have much hampered research, such as the inclination to explain anything and everything by Ottoman decline."
Donald Quataert, a leading Ottomanist, commented:
"Given the nationalist logic of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century history writing, the Ottoman legacy has been difficult to assess and appreciate. The biases come from many sides... Old fears have persisted to the present day and arguably have been transformed into cultural prejudices... Moreover, nationalist histories have dismissed the place of the multi-ethnic, multi-religious formation in historical evolution... In the more than thirty countries that now exist in territories once occupied by the Ottoman Empire the Ottoman past until recently has been largely ignored and/or considered in extremely negative terms."
Others have argued Arabs and Turks in seeking a new identity and foundation for their states exhibited similar hostility, preferring to go back to the Pharaohs, Kings of Babylon and the Hittites of pre-Ottoman Anatolia. This hostility and often vilification, appears less to actual Ottoman policies and more to their state building processes.
Doumani's study of the Arab region of Ottoman Palestine notes:
"...most Arab nationalists view the entire Ottoman era as a period of oppressive Turkish rule which stifled Arab culture and socioeconomic development and paved the way for European colonial control and the Zionist takeover of Palestine... The intellectual foundation for this shared image can be traced to the extensive literature published during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by Westerners bent on discovering... the Holy Land from what they believed was a stagnant and declining Ottoman Empire"
A number of historians cleared up Western cultural propaganda by stating facts which present the Ottoman Caliphate in a new light in relation to their minorities.
"It is an undeniable historical fact that the Turkish armies have never interfered with the religious and cultural affairs in the areas they conquered." (J. W. Arnold)
"Jewish people must always recall the Ottoman Empire with gratitude who, at one of Judaism's darkest hours flung open its door widely and kept them open" (Cecil Roth Historian)
"An important testimony to the toleration of Moslem rule is the fact that even persecuted Christian and other sects took refuge in Mohammedan land to enjoy there the undisturbed exercise of their several cults." (Felix Valvi, London, p.925)
"The Ottoman Empire would not have lasted for six hundred years... You cannot for six hundred years suppress, subdue or bully a lot of people of different ethnic groups. And in any case, if you ill treat your subjects, then the tax is not collected from them." (Prof. Jeffrey Lewis of Oxford University)
"The Ottomans had one of the most tolerant policies towards non-Turks of any empire of its day. The three communities of Jews, Greeks and Armenians were virtually autonomous within the empire." (P.F. Peters, The Australian, 1994)
"It is well to remember that when the Crusaders were butchering their Moslem prisoners in Palestine, when the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition were in full swing, when Cromwell's troopers were massacring the Catholics of Ireland... when Protestants in France were being exterminated by order of the French king, when Jews were being subjected to countless persecutions and barbarities in every European country... Moslems, Christians and Jews were dwelling side by side, in perfect amity in Asia Minor." E Alexander Powell, The Struggle for Power in Moslem Asia, 1925, p.120)
"The Turks, as a nation, are almost ludicrously innocent of the propagandist's art... The Ottoman institution came perhaps as near as anything in real life could to realising the ideal of Plato's Republic." (Arnold Toynbee)
"There was emigration from independent Greece into the Ottoman Empire, since some Greeks found the Ottoman government more indulgent master than their own Greek government." (Roderic H-Davison, historian of the Ottoman Empire.)
"The religious toleration of the Ottoman Government was complete and the state never interfered in anyway with what the Christians did or taught in their schools or the churches... It was impossible to desire more absolute liberty of worship or teaching." (Gratan Geary, Through Asiatic Turkey, London, M.S. and R. Sampson, 1878)
"The tolerance shown to foreign beliefs and hostile faiths by the Ottoman law and Ottoman officials which enabled them to establish their own religious institutions and to shape their own education was such that... the thousand year old Liberty reigning in France in the field of sects and beliefs, dating from the times of the ancient Gaul, could not be compared with it." (Talcot Williams, Turkey, A World Problem of Today, 1922, p. 194)
The notion of a long term Ottoman decline is a myth. The Ottoman Empire did not stagnate or decline at all, but rather continued to be a vigorous and dynamic state long after the death of Suleiman the Magnificent. Over the last twenty years or so, historians of the Ottoman Empire have rejected the narrative of decline in favor of one of crisis and adaptation.
Rifa'at Abou-El-Haj, Formation of the Modern State: The Ottoman Empire, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries
Karen Barkey, Bandits and Bureaucrats: The Ottoman Route to State Centralization
Linda Darling, Revenue Raising and Legitimacy: Tax Collection and Finance Administration in the Ottoman Empire, 1560–1660
Cornell Fleischer, Bureaucrat and Intellectual in the Ottoman Empire: The Historian Mustafa Ali, 1541–1600
Jonathan Grant, Military Technology Diffusion in the Ottoman Empire
Jane Hathaway, Problems of Periodization in Ottoman History: The Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Centuries
Douglas Howard, Ottoman Historiography and the Literature of 'Decline' of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century
Halil Inalcık, Military and Fiscal Transformation in the Ottoman Empire, 1600–1700"
Cemal Kafadar, On the Purity and Corruption of the Janissaries
Metin Kunt, The Sultan's Servants: The Transformation of Ottoman Provincial Government, 1550–1650
Ariel Salzmann, An Ancien Régime Revisited: Privatization and Political Economy in the Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Empire
Why was fratricide practice by the Ottomans? (1 answer)
What do Ottomanist scholars and researchers think about the alleged Ottoman decline? (1 answer)
Why did European powers refuse to call the Ottomans a Caliphate? (1 answer)
Was the banning of the printing press contributory to Ottoman decline? (1 answer)
Did the Ottomans suffer a long term economic decline? (0 answers)
Did the Ottomans suffer a long term military decline? (0 answers)
Did the Ottomans suffer a long term intellectual decline? (0 answers)


text:
The Shadowed Throne
Laela the half-breed raised in the South is now the Queen of the North. The seemingly invincible King Arenadd Taranisaii and his partner, the dark griffin Skandar, are missing. The Northerners blame Laela for Arenadd's disappearance, but she knows the truth … With only her griffin partner Oeka to help her rule, Laela struggles to maintain power and tensions mount with Arena Laela the half-breed raised in the South is now the Queen of the North. The seemingly invincible King Arenadd Taranisaii and his partner, the dark griffin Skandar, are missing. The Northerners blame Laela for Arenadd's disappearance, but she knows the truth … With only her griffin partner Oeka to help her rule, Laela struggles to maintain power and tensions mount with Arenadd's cousin, Saeddryn, who believes she is the rightful ruler. Laela is forced into a desperate fight to stay queen as the entire North is plunged into a brutal civil war. To win, she will need the help of her new friend, the odd shapeshifter Kullervo, and a surprising griffin ally from the past. But the true test of Laela's strength will come when the deadly Shadow that Walks returns …
30 review for The Shadowed Throne
J.F.R. Coates – May 15, 2018
Certainly my favourite of the series so far, I feel like the author is finally getting a better grasp on her characters and focusing the plot. Most of this good work came in the form of Kullervo, who was involved in most of the best moments. I worry the third book in the series could fall back into recycled plotlines from the first series, but hopefully this will not be the case.
Chase – Jul 14, 2021
Not as big of a leap in plot quality as the previous book was in comparison to The Fallen Moon series, but it definitely manages to build upon the good foundations set by The Shadow's Heir. Some old plot points from The Fallen Moon are brought back into the spotlight and explained and expanded upon, and some familiar faces make a return, which was a pleasant surprise. Definitely kept me interested in the book throughout. In fact, I'd say the strongest part of this book was the character developme Not as big of a leap in plot quality as the previous book was in comparison to The Fallen Moon series, but it definitely manages to build upon the good foundations set by The Shadow's Heir. Some old plot points from The Fallen Moon are brought back into the spotlight and explained and expanded upon, and some familiar faces make a return, which was a pleasant surprise. Definitely kept me interested in the book throughout. In fact, I'd say the strongest part of this book was the character development. For the first time since I started reading this whole series (from The Dark Griffin), I actually found myself being invested in certain characters and caring for them. The character development in this book was an unexpected but definitely pleasant surprise. Very excited to read the final book in this second trilogy and see how it all wraps up, because it is getting quite exciting and interesting, despite the fact that some of the plot feels a little bit.. familiar. But not too familiar for it to take away from the reading experience, at least for me. Very solid work by Taylor.
Polly – Aug 08, 2018
The story continues with the next generation of players. I love this series, it's deep and very original. The story continues with the next generation of players. I love this series, it's deep and very original.
Shaheen – Oct 29, 2012
Taylor's gorgeous writing hooks me again! The Shadowed Throne is impeccably plotted and wonderfully told, figuratively carrying me away into another land. I'm not sure I'll survive the wait until the concluding volume of the series. Since the groundwork was beautifully laid out in the previous title, The Shadow's Heir, is great to see that Taylor jumps right into the action and doesn't waste time specifically re-orienting readers into the world. Which isn't to say that I was confused at any point Taylor's gorgeous writing hooks me again! The Shadowed Throne is impeccably plotted and wonderfully told, figuratively carrying me away into another land. I'm not sure I'll survive the wait until the concluding volume of the series. Since the groundwork was beautifully laid out in the previous title, The Shadow's Heir, is great to see that Taylor jumps right into the action and doesn't waste time specifically re-orienting readers into the world. Which isn't to say that I was confused at any point - even a year after reading The Shadow's Heir, I found that Taylor made it very easy to slip back into the story, its characters and places. This cunningly created world is enhanced by the sequences (and there are quite a few!) told from the eyes of griffins. These are my favourite, because of the vastly different way that griffins see the world and order their priorities, although it's always somewhat of a shock to me reminded how not-human they are. Laela's story continues to captivate me - she found her way to her people, saved them, and is now ruling them as Queen. Her struggles to balance her beliefs and dreams with her need to carry on Arenadd's complicate her journey, as does the inevitable opposition from Arenadd's cousin Saeddryn. But I actually wanted a little more growth from Laela, and expected the story to focus a little more on her. The Shadowed Throne aims to tell Laela's story, but achieves this through exploring the lives and motivations of those around her - from her griffin Oeka, to the strange new-comer Kullervo. Which is rather a new way for me to read a story, but I ended up being really invested in all the peripheral characters and enjoyed how their stories wove in with that of the young Queen. One of the things I've always admired about Taylor is the way she probes cultural and social mindsets, and in particular, how she's handled the attitude of the Northerners. After their lengthy oppression and slavery at the hands of the Southerners, and only two decades after being set free by Arenadd, the Northerners are just as obsessed with the purity of blood and supremacy as their enemy. I wasn't exactly surprised by how vehement some of them are in their pursuit of revenge, but I'm still waiting for good sense to kick in and for them to realise that maybe they're better off just trying to live nice and peacefully ... I'm not too hopeful though. In previous books I've despaired at how the Gods in the story-world treat their followers - and how it's usually the most loyal who are mistreated the most. It almost physically pains me to see how the Night God treats Arenadd, but I sort of understand it. However, Saeddryn is absolutely loyal and pious in her faith, and I almost, almost, feel sorry for her! But since she's definitely my least favourite character (it's a close call between her and Oeka though), I'm not ready to feel bad for her yet! My only teeny-weeny negative about this book: it ends on a slight cliff-hanger and the story's gotten to interesting that I am desperate for the next one! I really need to know what happens. Taylor's a masterful storyteller, and I'm glad I could experience this again with The Shadowed Throne. Readers already familiar with her work will love her latest offering, and I'd suggest to fans of Fantasy looking to dip into her work to begin with the prequel trilogy, The Fallen Moon, which deals with Arenadd's amazing journey, but they could equally go straight to the first novel of this series, The Shadow's Heir. A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review. You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic .
Gina – May 02, 2015
I love this series so far and I love how different it is from most fantasy these days. I felt myself trying to figure out who's side I was on a lot while reading this. [Spoiler Warning] Like I hate Saeddryn a lot but like the character Laela was becoming made me wonder who I would side with. In the end I would side Laela mainly because everyone she trusted is just leaving her. She wasn't prepared to be a Queen overnight people! ugh this series stresses me out because I hate seeing a character get I love this series so far and I love how different it is from most fantasy these days. I felt myself trying to figure out who's side I was on a lot while reading this. [Spoiler Warning] Like I hate Saeddryn a lot but like the character Laela was becoming made me wonder who I would side with. In the end I would side Laela mainly because everyone she trusted is just leaving her. She wasn't prepared to be a Queen overnight people! ugh this series stresses me out because I hate seeing a character getting ganged up on by people who choose not to hear the truth. Anyway read it, it's great and K.J.Taylor is an amazing writer with a grippig writing style. I'm off to the 3rd book! :D
Katharine (Ventureadlaxre) – Jul 18, 2013
Katharine is a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This review is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team. To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over. Katharine is a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This review is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team. To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over.
Trilby Johnson – Feb 05, 2016
Much slower than the first novel and less focus on our Heroine who is struggling as a young Queen surrounded by power struggles. Love how each party's perspective is explained and underlies the truth that we all see what we want to see. I hope there is another episode coming soon. Much slower than the first novel and less focus on our Heroine who is struggling as a young Queen surrounded by power struggles. Love how each party's perspective is explained and underlies the truth that we all see what we want to see. I hope there is another episode coming soon.
Tarrin Gackstetter – Aug 15, 2014
Well-written. The reason I give this 4 stars is because the author often has characters explaining their actions and it detracted from the plot. Everything else from the twists to the character development is great, if odd.
Raquel – Mar 16, 2013
Loved it and can't wait for the next book!! Loved it and can't wait for the next book!!
S.J. – Jul 12, 2015
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Didn't enjoy this as much as the first book in the risen sun series. Enjoyed the fact that now Laela has a brother but didn't find as much action and intrigue as the first book. Didn't enjoy this as much as the first book in the risen sun series. Enjoyed the fact that now Laela has a brother but didn't find as much action and intrigue as the first book.
Elaine Brown – Aug 17, 2014
I thought it was really good. Definitely worth reading if you've kept up with the series. I thought it was really good. Definitely worth reading if you've kept up with the series.
Leanne – Mar 25, 2013
EPIC!!!!!! now to wait for the next one.........
Earlyshirley – Aug 08, 2013
Rollicking good yarn. Ends a bit abruptly...a cliff hanger...and now I have to wait for the release of the next book.
Bethwyn Badger – Jul 19, 2013
Aurealis awards nomination.
Natalie Van Sistine –
Courtney –
Maggie –
Tania –
Sarah –
Ramsha Raees –
Kathy –
Tori –
Laura Lea –
Alex –
Ben –
Kristin –
Jack Johnson –
Stephen –
Biowolf –
Shivendra –
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