ROI is calculated by the amount spent on a specific hire, and it goes further to add in costs post-offer: training time, lost production, etc., to measure the actual costs involved in affecting the hire and whether it was worthy of the effort. Beyond the cost to bring a staff member on board, ROI can be used to calculate the actual time it takes to repay the investment in the new hire.
Some qualities recruiters need are obvious: professionalism, emotional maturity, persistence, and the ability to handle rejection. But other qualities may be overlooked or not considered at all. With unemployment at historic lows, talent shortages affecting all industries, and skills gaps putting the pressure on employers, recruiters are at the forefront of meeting staffing demand. To get the job done, the best recruiters wear many hats.
In an age of recruitment by algorithm, many look at hiring as an exercise in mathematics. There's sourcing ROI, funnel metrics, cycle times, and dozens of other calculations we're told to examine to raise our level of success in the hiring arena. For all the algorithms, recruitment ultimately comes down to working with people – and people are notoriously averse to being just a number.


text:
Q: Writing a script that exports results depending on user input Is there a way to tell Export to hold its arguments and just Export.
I tried to use SetAttributes[Export,HoldRest];Attributes[Export] and HoldRest now appears as one of its attributes but running the following still returns error since it is not stopping the evaluation of its arguments.
file=FileNameJoin[{NotebookDirectory[],"squares.m"}];
Export[file,If[Length[$ScriptCommandLine]==1,
    Print["No expressions were given to square."],

    args = Rest[$ScriptCommandLine];
 squares = Quiet @ Map[Replace[ToExpression[#], {$Failed:>ToString[#,InputForm]^2, x_ :> x^2}]&, args];
    MapThread[Print["The square of ", #1, " is ", #2, "."]&, {args, squares}]
],"Text"];

A: I think trying to write the code so that everything is done in one Export expression is going about it wrong. I simply don't see any advance to it.
Here a script that I wrote that I believe does what you are trying to accomplish with simple, straightforward code. Besides working, it has the advantage of being easy to understand and debug.

#!/Applications/Mathematica.11.3.0.app/Contents/MacOS/wolframscript

argv = Rest @ $ScriptCommandLine;
argc = Length @ argv;
If[argc == 0, Print["No expressions were given to square."]; Exit[]];

file = FileNameJoin[{$HomeDirectory, "Desktop", "squares.txt"}];

Module[{vals, sqs, recds},
  vals = Select[(ToExpression /@ argv), NumberQ];
  sqs = vals^2;
  recds =
    MapThread[
      ToString[StringForm["The square of `1` is `2`.", #1, #2]] &, {vals, sqs}];
  Export[file, recds];
  Exit[]]

A Terminal session to test this script went as follows:

The file produced by the 1st execution of squares looked like this:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Custom Templatetags not working properly i'm trying to send data to a TemplateTags called order_details. This templatetags looks for info in database then render the informations list calling another template. When i print just before returning i got the html showing up in the logfile. But nothing show in the rendered page.
@register.filter
def order_details(data):
params = EParamCmd.objects.filter(command=data.id, default=False)
dictfunction = {}
for p in params:
    if p.param.typ == 'function':
        dictfunction[p.param.name_inf] = CustomFunction.objects.get(name_inf=p.value)
t = get_template('Formulaire/order-details-params.html')
c = {'params': params, 'func': dictfunction}
LOG.info(t.render(c))
return str(t.render(c))

The LOG.info shows the html that should be displayed in this template:
{% load tags %}

Liste des paramètres :

        {{order|order_details}}

When i return 'Hello' in the templatetags it show up.
Thanks.

A: Thanks for thoose who took time trying to answer but it was entirely my fault. Seems like it was some caches issues on my end.
Apologize.


Nikon Coolpix L340 Review of Compact Digital Camera For you who are looking for compact digital camera, this Nikon Coolpix L340 review will tell you how this camera can be a good option for you. This camera is designed for you who are expect for good quality compact digital camera. The quality of the lens and many features that this camera offers will definitely amaze you. We are going to discuss briefly about this camera to know how it could be a perfect compact digital camera for you.
This compact digital camera is designed ergonomically to perfectly and comfortably fit in your hand. Although it is considered as compact digital camera, the design looks like DSLR camera. It will allow easily grab and control your camera. The design allows you to get more stable zooming, shooting and recording. This camera also provide 3.0" LCD screen that will help you to view the object when you are capturing something. This camera uses four AA batteries to power up the camera. It is compatible with alkaline, lithium and Nikon rechargeable battery.
Nikon Coolpix L340 uses NIKKOR Glass Lens that allows you to zoom farther, get sharper image, and high quality video. Due to high quality lens, this camera can zoom 28 times for close up image. The Dynamic Fine Zoom feature will help you easily and smoothly zoom. There is also Vibration Reduction (VR) feature that will help you to stabilize your camera and reduce vibration when you are zooming. The Nikoor Glass Lens also offers 20.2 Megapixel CCD sensors that will give your brighter and clearer image.
This camera is also designed to help you operate the camera. There are 16 scenes models that you can choose such as beach, sunset, night, and more. For you who don't like to choose many options, there is Easy Auto Mode. This mode will let the camera the scene that fits your situation.
For you who love filming moment, this camera also provides movie button that allows you recording High Definition 720p video. This quality will give you sharp image in the video. This camera also provide built-in microphone that can catch the sound when you are filming. You can share your video or pictures by using audio video cable to connect the camera to TV or other compatible devices.
Those are some features that offered by this compact digital camera. Hopefully, this Nikon Coolpix L340 review can be a good reference for you who are looking for good compact digital camera. This camera definitely will answer your needs.


A former professor and former student from the Charlotte School of Law have sued the ABA, accusing it of negligence in accrediting the school.
Charlotte graduate Ese Love and former professor Barbara Bernier say the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar knew or should have known the school was not complying with accreditation standards, the complaint in U.S. ex rel Bernier v. Infilaw says. The ABA's imprimatur misled students like Love and teachers like Bernier into joining a school that was focused more on profit than legal education, they argue.
[P]laintiff Love has more than $350,000 in student loan debt from a discredited school; plaintiff Bernier left a tenured professorship at a different, accredited law school for a position at Charlotte School of Law. Plaintiffs estimate that most graduates have more than $238,000 in debt.
The amended complaint was filed May 8 after some claims in the original lawsuit were dismissed. Bernier filed the case in 2016 as a whistleblower lawsuit under the False Claims Act, which forbids defrauding the federal government. The government declined to intervene in August, the same month that the Charlotte School of Law closed over its lack of a state license. The ABA pulled its accreditation in February. Multiple former students are suing the school separately.


There have been a few weddings this year, but more and more there are also babies being welcomed into the world. Making something for a new baby, much like making something for a wedding couple, or a friend, gives me time to think about the new arrival and the joy the new family will experience.
In 2008 I made a set of matching Christmas stockings for a couple of friends. My friend and her boyfriend wanted matching homey looking stockings. She and I worked together to create the stockings as a surprise for him. In those days I didn't know about Ravelry, and so I consulted google for stocking patterns. I found one my friend liked and ordered a paper copy of the pattern. I knit up the stockings and secretly passed them to my friend when they came for a visit in the summer. Of course I didn't take any photos of the completed stockings.
The pattern seller had upgraded their services since 2008 and I was able to re-purchase the pattern as a PDF from Annie's Woolens. I made guesses about the colors. I knew I had used Red Heart acrylic yarn on the first stockings, so at least there weren't too many options. The pattern is worked top down, and construction mirrors that of a traditional short row heel sock, except with bigger yarn and bigger needles. I think that the original stockings have my first ever attempts at short row heels. My duplicate stitch skills are much improved over last time, thanks in large part to this tutorial.
The end result is a very good match to the original stockings. I added ornaments to the trees to make this one extra special.


The City of Holyoke held the 2018 Inaugural Ceremony on January 2, 2018, at the City Hall Auditorium. Mayor Alex B. Morse was sworn in for his fourth term along with other elected officials including City Clerk, Treasurer, City Council, and School Committee members.
The day began with an Ecumenical Service at the United Congregational Church of Holyoke, followed by the ceremony held in the City Hall Auditorium.
The ceremony started with a procession of the Holyoke Caledonian Pipe Band and the Auxiliary Police Color Guard. The event's Master of Ceremonies, Kathleen Anderson, welcomed the singing of the National Anthem performed by Leanese Ramos. Veteran Services Director, Jesus Pereira, recited the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the Invocation given by Pastor Eliel Gonzalez. The administering of oaths to the City Clerk, Mayor Alex B. Morse, City Council, and the School Committee came next. Mayor Alex B. Morse then gave the Inaugural Address. The ceremony ended with the Holyoke High School Madrigal Choir singing 'God Bless America'.


text:
Love our Colleges
Colleges in Hackney and their staff deserve better funding and fair pay so they can continue to support local people and the national economy.
This week I met with students from New City College, which now runs Hackney Community College, to talk about the Love Our Colleges campaign. The campaign highlights the vital importance of Further Education Colleges.
Cuts to further education funding have led to courses closing and a significant reduction of free learning hours for adult learners. Further education colleges cannot afford any more funding cuts.
Overground delays
Many people in Hackney rely on the London Overground service to commute to and from work. However, the London Overground service is frequently missing out stops in Hackney, in order to reduce delay times.
I have raised this issue with Transport for London and asked them to state how they will address this problem. It is unfair that Hackney residents face long delays on a regular basis.
Hidden gems of Hackney
There are many places of interest in Hackney that may not be so well known. If you would like to recommend a hidden gem in Hackney to feature please let me know.
Hackney's floating church
I recently attended an event where the Bishop of Stepney, Adrian Newman, officially launched the St Columba community's new barge. However, they have a more exciting addition coming soon: a permanent floating church coming in the summer of 2019.
Last Saturday I hosted a coffee morning at Pembury Community Centre in Hackney Central. I was joined by the Mayor of Hackney, Phillip Glanville, and Councillors Caroline Selman, Vincent Stops and Sophie Conway.
Hearing your feedback and discussing local issues is very important to me. Please look out for my next coffee morning or roving surgery near you.
Hackney probation services
As your MP, I am always keen to hear your views. I would like to hear how you feel about probation services in Hackney. If you've had experiences with them, please tell me: Are they doing enough? How has your experience been? What improvements can be made? Email me your thoughts at meghillier@parliament.uk by 11th October.
save our buses - update
I met with TfL again to discuss their new proposals to cut further bus links in Hackney. These levels of cuts are unacceptable, and the proposal to remove the 48 bus will leave people without a viable alternative.
I encourage anyone who will be affected by these changes to sign Hackney Labour's petition to urge TfL to change their decisions. You can find a link to the petition below.
https://www.hackney-labour.org.uk/myroute/
Visit to Hackney Quest
This week I met with Hackney Quest and the London's Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement. I listened to young people's ideas about how to put an end to youth violence in Hackney and discussed how a long-term approach was needed over short-term initiatives.
To find out more about the work Hackney Quest does for the community click visit http://www.hackneyquest.org.uk/
Visit to Wentworth Nursery
I visited Wentworth Nursery School in Hackney Wick to meet with children, parents and staff and discuss the successes and challenges in providing early years education.
Cllr Chris Kennedy also met parents and we discussed special educational needs provisions in Hackney. Government has cut funding to councils by over 40% in the last eight years, stretching the funding support for children's special needs.
Wheelchair basketball at the Copper Box
I was delighted to join Path to Success, a charity which supports 12 elite para-athletes to compete at the next Olympics
I met so many inspiring athletes, including the London Titans basketball team, at the Copper Box for a charity Wheelchair Basketball game. For more information about how to support this fantastic cause, see: https://www.pathtosuccess.org.uk/
Hackney Council's Charter Against Modern Slavery
I signed Hackney Council and the Co-op Party's Charter Against Modern Slavery, alongside Mayor Philip Glanville and Diane Abbott MP.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: OOP PDO Statement Error I wrote this fulltext search function, but it throws me this error:

SQLSTATE[42000]: Syntax error or access violation: 1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '?' at line 1.

I am new to OOP & PDO,
is my prepare statement in the correct syntax ? Or did i go wrong anywhere else ?
Did I implement the :q parameter right in the query ?
 public function searchFullTextPanel($q)
 {
  try
  {
   $stmt=$this->db->prepare("SELECT id,firstname,lastname,adresse_str,adresse_plz,adresse_ort,adresse_land,telefon,email,image_name FROM partner WHERE MATCH (firstname,lastname,adresse_str,adresse_plz,adresse_ort,adresse_land,telefon,email) AGAINST :q");

   $stmt->bindparam(":q",$q);
   $stmt->execute();

           if($stmt->rowCount()>0)
          {
       while($row=$stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC))
       {
        // doing stuff
       }
      }
  else
  {
   ?>

   fml...

   <?php
  }
 }
 catch(PDOException $e)
  {
   echo $e->getMessage();
   return false;
  }
 }

A: AGAINST :q Should be AGAINST (:q)


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text:
April 20, 2018 by Carolyn Foote Edelmann
"When the world is too much with me," — and, ever since 11/16/16 it has been overwhelmingly so! — I turn to my heroes of old. Thoreau. Rachel (Carson). Eleanor (Roosevelt). Ed Abbey. They inspire me, stiffen my spine, balance me, serve as quintessential examples. Ed does all this, PLUS, he makes me laugh. Yes, right out loud, in the middle of the night, when I least expect it.
But it's Ed's prophetic wisdom that sustains me now, in this time worse than 1984, worse than Lord of the Flies…
Pictures of Ed seem few and far between — this isolate one who reached the entire world. Here is a stock photo of Ed in his beloved Red Rock Country. Thank you, Alamy.
I wrote in the first page of Ed's The Journey Home,: (first published in 1970) "Oh, Edward, where are you now?! There is no one to speak/write/CRY OUT against greed, destruction, war on the land itself. No one to protest the ruin of our land/air/water/future!"
As though Ed himself (no one calls him Edward – it's my 'pet name' for my hero) had answered, I wrote his stunning proclamation: "WE HAVE CONNIVED IN THE MURDER OF OUR OWN ORIGINS."
Wizard. Prophet. So long ago, to have realized, to have dared call attention to the wasting of the West, of liberty itself! "The earth is not a mechanism but an organism." "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." Truth-teller, par excellence: "Yosemite is no more wild nature than Central Park!" Insisting that we should ban cars in our parks, he asserts, "You've got to be willing to walk!"
America's parks Abbey considers essential to the survival of democracy: –"treasures best enjoyed through the body and spirit, not through commercial plunder!." Which leads to one of my all-time favorite Abbeyisms: "The best cure for the ills of democracy is MORE democracy!"
Ed Abbey holds a particular hatred for those who would destroy his beloved desert, all in the form of 'progress': "Vegas is creeping out everywhere."
Abbey warns against "ration[ing] the wilderness experience." One of his quotes I've used as my e-mail signature proclaims "Long live the weeds and the wilderness!"
At his most exuberant, this author –who refuses to be called a naturalist–, exclaims, "O, to be a buzzard!" One appeared at his (forbidden desert) funeral, delighting every mourner, all of whom has memorized so many of E.A.'s salient points, –circling, slowly, lazily, approving procedures below. Those who know me, know I'm sure Ed borrowed that vulture's physical body, for a fitting farewell.
Most chilling, always, are Ed's musings on the dangers of our country's losing true liberty. "Our own nation is not free from the dangers of dictatorship. And I refer to internal, as well as external, threats to our liberties." Abbey decries "the tendency upon the part of the authoritarian element always present… to suppress individual freedoms; to use the refined techniques of police surveillance…, in order to preserve, not wilderness, but the status quo, the privileged positions of those who now so largely control the economic and governmental institutions of the United States."
(Have you noticed how rarely is used the term "United States" in post-1916 Amerika? cfe)
In 1970, Ed warns of "the two-legged flesh-skinned robot, her head, his head, its head, wired by telepathic radio to a universal central control system."
(Does anyone besides me cringe whenever I hear 'the man or woman in the street' use that ghastly Weather Channel command, "Stay Safe." It's right up there with "Shelter in place," which commands were rampant after the Boston Marathon Massacres. We are being coached during every storm to follow mandates that were the tools of tyrants. cfe)
Edward Abbey probably had very little patience with matters of clairvoyance. How else, though, do we explain his agony over, "When reality becomes intolerable; when the fantasies of nightmare become everyday experience, deny that reality; obliterate it; escape, escape, escape." "Every train of thought seems to lead to some concentration camp of nightmare."
The heart of the matter with Edward Abbey comes down to his conclusion in this final chapter of "The Journey Home": "WE CANNOT HAVE FREEDOM WITHOUT WILDERNESS." He quotes one of his own heroes, the legendary Dave Brower, in case we are missing the point: "A WORLD WITHOUT WILDERNESS IS A CAGE."
(David Ross Brower was a prominent environmentalist and the founder of many environmental organizations, including the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, Friends of the Earth (1969), the League of Conservation Voters, Earth Island Institute (1982), North Cascades Conservation Council, and Fate of the Earth." Wikipedia)
Abbey goes out on yet another flawless limb: "I SEE THE PRESERVATION OF WILDERNESS AS ONE SECTOR IN THE WAR AGAINST THE ENCROACHING INDUSTRIAL STATE."
"IF WE WISH TO GIVE OUR CHILDREN A TASTE OF THE GOOD LIFE, WE MUST BRING A HALT TO THE EVER-EXPANDING ECONOMY, and put the growth-maniacs under medical care."
In case we didn't get his point, about the importance of wilderness as a place where humans can rediscover themselves; as well as as "coyotes, lions (he means mountain lions), eagles and badgers; a place to re-experience freedom, the place "to learn what the lion has to teach," Abbey declares, "All government is bad, including good government."
"I am an extremist," he insists in his naturalist-denying preface, merrily confessing his "extreme intransigence." Edward Abbey raves about being "far out on the very verge of things, on the edge of the abyss, where the world falls off into the depths. That's where I like it. E.A."
My hero describes his writings as having been "stirred in a blackened iron pot over a smoking fire of juniper, passionflower and mesquite. Agitate. "(italics Ed's). He calls his words "a slumgullion", which, "like any stew, makes a tasty, nutritious and coherent stew… Society, too, is like a stew 00 If you don't keep it stirred up, you get a lot of scum on top."
Travel with Ed. Revel with Ed. Experience and re-experience Canyonlands and Arches and Death Valley and even Hoboken, and always the sere, saguaro-studded landscape in which he earned is deathless nickname, Cactus Ed.
Realize that to lose untrammeled wilderness is to lose the very liberty for which this country was founded in the 1770's. Let Edward Abbey, seer, open your eyes, stiffen your spine. The times, our troublous times, demand it!
Posted in "1984", "Cactus Ed", "Lord of the Flies", "Shelter in place.", "Stay Safe", "The Journey Home," by Edward Abbey, "The world is too much with me", agitate, Arches National Park, authoritarian element, burial, buzzard, Canyonlands, David Brower, Death Valley, Democracy, desert, Destruction, dictatorship, Ed Abbey, Eleanor Roosevelt, extremist, freedom, government, greed, Henry David Thoreau, hero, heroines, Heroism, industrial, Industrial state, liberty, mountain lion, parks, prophet, Rachel Carson, robot, saguaro cactus, society, Thoreau, Uncategorized, war, weeds, Wild, wild beauty, wild creatures, wild nature, wilderness, wilderness experience, wizard, Yosemite	| Tagged "The Journey Home," by Edward Abbey, "The world is too much with me", Abbeyisms, activist, Arches, buzzard, Canyonlands, children, clairvoyance, country, David Brower, dictatorship, earth, Edward Abbey, Eleanor Roosevelt, environment, extremist, freedom, good life, government, Hoboken, industrial complex, Industrial state, internal threats, liberty, mountain lion, nature, nightmare, planet, politics, prophecy, Protest, Rachel Carson, seer, society, the wilderness experience, truth, truth-teller, Tyranny, United States, weeds, wilderness, wisdom, Yosemite | Leave a comment
September 30, 2017 by Carolyn Foote Edelmann
SERENITY, SPIRITUALITY AND SUN: Remembering Santa Fe & Taos
Santa Fe Indian Museum, New Mexico Skies
Sometimes, I am compelled to take NJWILDBEAUTY readers into my 'memory bank', especially on gloomy New Jersey days. The entire sky this morning is filmed with grey, –somewhere between fog and soot. It's hard for me even to remember sun. But it was ever-present in Santa Fe and Taos in the spring.
STORYTELLER, BY A. E. HOUSER, Santa Fe Indian Museum
Two of 'my' Intrepids and I, as you know, undertook a Georgia O'Keefe pilgrimage in Santa Fe and Taos. Janet Black and Jeanette Hooban were part of this quest. Carolyn Yoder is the fourth — not present in O'Keeffe Country at that time. Sometimes we call ourselves The Four Musketeers — Janet (of Manhattan) being d'Artagnan; as in not always near enough to partake of every challenge. All for one and one for all, and always seeking — art, history, courage..
In Houser's "Storyteller" above, a man's image of a strong woman inspires us, "stiffens our spines" in the urgent causes on every side in thus 21st Century.
Motherhood statue at Pearl S. Buck Estate — Buck adopted six children of mixed race, spent her lifetime insisting upon honoring what we now call 'diversity'
"Gone, but Not Forgotten" — Pearl S. Buck's being and ideals
Here, she rests in her beloved Bucks County, PA,
surrounded by bamboo and lilies.
All four of us, as you well know, require regular doses of strong women, Eleanor (Roosevelt, of course) above all. Abigail Adams. Pearl S. Buck. And Georgia, always Georgia, — modern in art and dress and life, before there was much 'modern' in the United States. As this interweaving of strong women unfolds this morning, I sense that each, that all, would insistently approve of the motto of Al Gore's splendid new film on climate change: "BE INCONVENIENT!" (This has become my motto for my upcoming birthday year."
All of these women lived by strong and high ideals. Each engendered practical change, against all odds, from the 1700s through the 20th Century. They stood against prejudice and insularity, for compassion and courage. They took bold actions; wrote strong words; painted reverberant works to convey the truths by which they lived. We honor them, especially by visiting their sites, for courage, for being the original Intrepids.
Augustus St. Gauden's Statue in Washington D.C., which comforted Eleanor in her travails.
Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial, Riverside Park, NYC
Prayer, by A. E. Houser: Santa Fe Indian Museum
When I began this blog, I thought it was going to be about wallowing in the wild, complex, ever-changing sunlight on the mountains and adobes of New Mexico.
Sun on Simple Adobe, so very Georgia! (Indian Museum, Santa Fe)
The Universe had other ideas. I need to enshroud myself with strength and courage.
Iconic Georgia O'Keeffe by Alfred Stieglitz from Internet
The world as we know it is being altered exponentially, by political forces seemingly beyond our control. I've 'been there' before, as Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanese sought to rearrange the world. I never understood how the Germans or the Italians could go along with those tyrants.
It never occurred to me that our own country could be usurped and taken in directions with which most of us do not agree. Politically and climactically, we are poised to lose everything we hold dear.
Abigail and Eleanor and Pearl and Georgia stood firm against currents of their time. For women, for freedoms, for children of other lands, for art, for feminine dress itself, in Georgia's time, and against prejudice..
It's up to us to do likewise.
"John, remember the women," Abigail Adams 1770's –As Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, were being composed…
In the lexicon of Alfred Stieglitz, publicizing all art, especially Georgia's, " The spiritual was opposed to material and modern art was materialism's antidote," insists the catalogue from "Georgia O'Keeffe, Living Modern", [Brooklyn Museum exhibition]. Brilliantly authored by Wanda M. Corn, it goes on to assert that "Stieglitz described his artists, not as ordinary beings, but as gifted modern seers." He found their avant-garde work "healing and therapeutic for those living in an age dominated by commerce and business."
Realize that Stieglitz and O'Keefe's first command of the art stage took place in the 1920's!
As the values of our Founding Fathers and Mothers, our powerful authors, out iconic artists are increasingly trampeled, "BE INCONVENIENT!?
The Harsh Southwestern Landscape seems a breeding ground for strength:
Posted in "BE INCONVENIENT!", "Be Inconvenient!" -- theme of Gore film on Climate Change, "Grief Statue" - Adams Statue, Washington D.C., "TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY!", "their fortunes and their sacred honor", "These are the times that try men's souls.", 21st Century, A. E. Houser, Sculptor, Abigail Adams, Adolf Hitler, Adventure, Albert Gore, Alfred Steiglitz, Photographer, America, American, American Revolution, art, Augustus Saint Gaudens, author's home, Battles, beauty, books, Brooklyn Museum O'Keeffe Exhibition 2017, Bucks County, Carolyn P. Yoder, catastrophic climate change, children of mixed parentage, children of other lands, Citizens' Rights, climate change, Climate-Change Deniers, Constitution of the United States, Courage, Democracy, diversity, Eleanor Roosevelt, election 2016, enemies, environment, excellence, excursions, expeditions, exploration, Fascism, fellowship, feminist, Founding Fathers, Founding Mothers, Friendship, Georgia O'Keeffe, Germans, graves, grief, heroines, Heroism, Hitler, Independence, Indian Museum of Santa Fe, Indians, Italians, Janet Black, Japanese, Jeanette Hooban Photographer, liberty, memories, mentor, mentors, museums, New Mexico, Pearl Buck Author, Pennsylvania, Perkasie Pennsylvania, pilgrimage, politicians, politics, quest, Roosevelts, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, sculpture, The Arts, The Intrepids, the planet, Travel, Tyranny, Wanda M. Corn - Author - O'Keeffe Catalogue, war, World War II	| Tagged "Be Inconvenient!" -- theme of Gore film on Climate Change, "The Intrepids", 1770's, 21st Century, A. E. Houser, Sculptor, Abigail Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, art, Brooklyn Museum Art Exhibition, Citizens' Rights, Constitution of the United States, courage, Declaration of Independence, Eleanor Roosevelt, friends, Georgia O'Keefe, Indian Museum of Santa Fe, liberty, mentors, perils, photography, pilgrimage, politics, portraits, Protest, quest, rights, Santa Fe, sculpture, Southwest, sun, Taos, travel, Tyranny, Wanda M. Corn O'Keeffe catalogue author | 9 Comments
March 5, 2017 by Carolyn Foote Edelmann
Where Are the Presidencies of Yesteryear?
"The nation that forgets its history is condemned to repeat it…"
Guess which president…
"X delighted in the presidency. The nation was infected with his enjoyment of the office. For the first time, not only was the president's policy always on stage, but so was his personality, — the warming smile, the striking phrase… The country adored reading about [the president and his family]."
"Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end…" (composite…)
"William James wrote, 'I have rejoiced in X so far.'"
"The nation was enchanted"
The nation was "embark[ing] on a new quest for social justice."
"Reform was in the air."
[The president] "responded to widespread desires for a better civilization."
My Hero:
TR Naturalist!
Theodore Roosevelt. 1902, with his favorite niece, Eleanor, just home from her idyllic schooling with Mlle. Sylvestre in London. "This was to be an American, and therefore a better, century…" Joseph P. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin: Norton….
Edmund Morris' TR masterpieces below.
Doris Kearns Goodwin's Bully Pulpit, as well.
Where to turn if you are seriously in need of excellence, of honor…
Essential Theodore Roosevelt Biographies
And my friends wonder why I insist, I never wanted to enter the 21st Century…
Stand by the Country, President Theodore Roosevelt
The Inimitable Alice!
Alice Roosevelt Longworth Quote about her Father: as President, he upstaged Eleanor and Franklin at their wedding…
Posted in "TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY!", "This Land is OUR Land" song and realities, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, America, American, authors, books, candidates, current events, Darrin Lunde, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Edmund Morris, Eleanor Roosevelt, election 2016, environment, excellence, Family, FDR, Habitat, Heroism, History, Joseph P. Lash, liberty, Mlle. Souvestre, Eleanor's Headmistress at London School, naturalist, naturalists, Nature, Preservation, Preserves, President Franklin Roosevelt, President Theodore Roosevelt, presidents, reform, Roosevelts, The Four Freedoms, Theodore Roosevelt, Willilam James	| Tagged Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Darrin Lunde, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Edmund Morris, Eleanor Roosevelt, ER, excellence, FDR, honor, integrity, Mlle. Marie Souvestre - Eleanor's Headmistress at London School, naturalist, nature, preservation, preservationists, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President Theodore Roosevelt, reform, Roosevelt Wedding, the country, the presidency, TR, William James | Leave a comment
"CACTUS ED" ABBEY ON MY MIND
"The earth is not a mechanism, but an organism." Ed Abbey, The Journey Home
[Being in the Southwest] "is a treasure best enjoyed through the body and the spirit…, not through commercial plunder." Ed Abbey, The Journey Home
"Are we going to ration the wilderness experience?" Ed Abbey, The Journey Home
Delicate Arch, Canyonlands, from Internet
The more I experience of man's inhumanity to the Planet, –especially in overpopulated, pipe-line-threatened New Jersey–, the more I need Ed Abbey at my side.
Right now, horrified at the success of the multi-billion-dollar-funded Climate Change Deniers (see This Changes Everything – Capitalism vs. the Climate by Naomi Klein), I'm reading Adventures with Ed by Jack Loeffler. The author hiked and ate and drank and discussed and even fought with Ed during his lifetime.
The two made a solemn pact that neither would let the other die in a hospital. A pledge Loeffler was barely able to keep, but did. The secret burial site required by Ed was facilitated, honored and often visited by Loeffler. He would bring beer, –one poured for Ed; one drunk by himself, whenever he made that pilgrimage.
Everything about which we have been warned by Naomi Klein and 350.org and James Hansen and and Elizabeth Kolbert and Bill McKibben and probably even Rachel Carson and even the Nobel Prize Committee and Al Gore, is described in chapter and verse of anything by and about Abbey.
A professed non-naturalist and determined "desert rat", — who claimed to want to turn into a vulture upon dying–, Ed showed us the Southwest as the Poster Child for military/industrial/Big Coal/Big Gas/Big Copper ruinations.
McKibben issued his clarion call when The End of Nature was published in 1989. He is still calling. Abbey's pivotal Desert Solitaire brought us to attention to commercial despoilations of our planet, especially in the Southwest, in 1968 Is anybody listening?
My first attention to the plight of our pPlanet came through Ed's articles, as well as through his seminal non-fiction work, Desert Solitaire.
My first protests began and accelerated with the proposal to dam the Grand Canyon (!yes!) and another to build an enormous coal-fired generating station on the Kaiparowits Plateau, fouling the Four Corners region sacred to countless Indian tribes.
In those enlightened days, popular magazines published words and memorable images of the beauties we seemed fated to lose, as we now stand to lose New Jersey's last green spaces to Pipelines conspiracies. That's when I joined the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, and 'adopted whales' through a Provincetown non-profit, as my daughters' main Christmas presents.
Ed, whom I did not yet 'know' from that one volume (still most successfully in print) said it first. Working as I do for D&R Greenway Land Trust, though I am speaking here as my very private, very opinionated self, I see perils to nature at every turn. Some of which incursions we can prevent, and in some cases turn around. Every year of the benighted 21st Century, it becomes more and more clear to me that Ed was a remarkable prophet, as well as a stirring author. (Read his novel, The Monkey Wrench Gang, if you don't believe me.)
Ed is carefully quoted by Jack Loeffler, –from a speech Abbey was asked to give to St. John's College in Santa Fe, in his beloved New Mexico: "WILDERNESS IS WORTH SAVING FOR ITS OWN SAKE." This was 1975. "Not for human benefit or pleasure. Wild things and wild places have a right to exist and to continue existing… Bees. birds, animals, snakes, buzzards, bugs, whatever, have a legal and moral right to continue. Even rocks have the moral right to continue being rocks."
Those of you who read my US 1 (Business) Newspaper Cover Story on Four Shady Walks this week [princetoninfo.com], have absorbed my passion for the towering boulders of the Sourlands trail off Hopewell's Greenwood Avenue. This haven taught me that not only trees and flowers, animals and insects, –but the very rocks themselves–, exude spirit. One is changed, –of course for the better–, in their midst. One is stilled, inspired and strengthened merely walking among them. Even more-so, sitting upon the most majestic rocks at the end of the blue trail, their ancient reality, their connection to creation, seeps into and surrounds one.
You who read this blog, who did read NJ WILD all those years with the Packet, have seen images of those rocks. They impact me like Chartres and Mt. St. Michel. But you must go there in timelessness. You must allow them to realize that you are open to their beings, and sometimes, even their messages. You might apologize aloud for humans who ferried them away and pulverized their eminences into gravel and Belgian blocks. To say nothing of the angry and misguided who defaced them with (now effaced, but never forgotten) wild graffiti last fall. You might also make amends to noble beech trees along the trail, scarred by (to me, inexplicable) human need to carve their initials upon their sacred skin.
Ed insists, and I have always agreed, the Bible has it wrong. "Man was NOT put here to have dominion over all things… The earth was here first, and all these living things before us." Ed, also, –whose great joy was scrambling over rocks and boulders, mountains and peaks, preferably in sere desert landscapes–, goes on to tell the St. John's students: "Is it not possible that rocks, hills, and mountains, may enjoy a sentience, a form of consciousness, which we humans cannot perceive, because of vastly different time scales?" His most outrageous proposition, which I find irresistible, is "…consider that we are thoughts in the minds of mountains, or that all humanity is a long, long thought."
His (temporary, for Ed never gave UP on these themes) conclusion is, "As mind is to body, so is humanity to earth. We cannot dishonor one without dishonoring and destroying ourselves."
The Intrepids and I turn together to Eleanor Roosevelt and Georgia O'Keeffe, to stiffen our spines for the battles demanded in the 21st Century, to carry on to victories small and large upon which the Planet's very survival depends. Privately, every single year, I turn to Ed.
Ed ruminates on reverberations of research: "Science leads to technology…, and industry. It's what [science] can lead to that could be bad… Things go wrong, and scientists (and the Army Corps of Engineers, adds Carolyn-of-New-Jersey) are called in to think up remedies. More and more, the system comes to rely upon remedial tinkering. It becomes ever more centralized until utter collapse is inevitable." Outrageous Ed dares to say "the sooner, the better", which quip I do not applaud. But his conclusion is essential, "Then, maybe, we can stamp out this blight, this cancer of industrialization."
When our beautiful –state, with its marvelous green preserves of forest and farmland–, is reduced to a "What Exit?" joke… When everyone's view of this entity formerly known as The Garden is a plethora of tanks and chimneys and wires and overpasses. When our sacred Shore is eyed by Big Power as one long limitless oilfield — it's time to pay attention to Ed. Read him. Write letters to editors. Protest every pipeline suggestion/appropriation. Support your local land trusts, who are trying to turn the tide of ruination decried by Ed Abbey, the Hemingway of preservation.
Posted in "Cactus Ed", "This Changes Everything - Capitalism vs. the Climate" by Naomi Klein, 350.org, authors, Bill McKibben, books, catastrophic climate change, Citizens' Rights, Climate-Change Deniers, coal, Courage, Destruction, Ed Abbey, Eleanor Roosevelt, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction, Environmentalists, Ernest Hemingway, fossil fuels, Garden State, Georgia O'Keeffe, Habitat, Heroism, Hiking, imperiled, Jack Loeffler, James Hansen, Jersey Shore, loss, mountains, Naomi Klein, Author, Nature, New Jersey, New Mexico, NJ Shore, Pipeline, politicians, Protest, Rachel Carson, SACRIFICE ZONES rquired by fossil fuel extractionists, Shore, Sixth Extinction, Southwest, The Intrepids, the planet, Wild, wilderness	| Tagged "desert rat", 350.org, adventure, Adventures With Ed, Al Gore, beauty, Big Copper, Big Gas, Big Oil, Climate-Change Deniers, despoilation, Ed Abbey, Grand Canyon, Greenpeace, Jack Loeffler, James Hansen, Kaiparowits Plateau, military-industrial complex, nature, New Jersey, New Mexico, pipeline, preservation, Protest, Rachel Carson, ruination, Sierra Club, Southwest, trails | 4 Comments
March 29, 2016 by Carolyn Foote Edelmann
Hyde Park Memories
Mosaic in Lobby of FDR/ER Library, revealing the lay of the land and our pilgrimage to excellence, last weekend and last May…
Eleanor's Val-Kill Cottage, her blessed hideaway in her final years
NJWILDBEAUTY readers know I have just returned from the Hudson River Valley, with two dear members of the Intrepids, Jeanette Hooban and Janet Black. We were on yet another Eleanor-and-Franklin-quest. Mountains taught us that they have nothing to do with with other weathers in nearby regions, nor even with sophisticated forecasts. Many a day was grim and grey, but mountains sustained us, and Springwood and the FDR/ER Library significantly expanded our knowledge of our two heroes.
Top Cottage, designed by FDR as getaway from his formidable mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt
Top Cottage won't be open til May, so we Intrepids will plan another journey.
Here are images from a sunnier time in Hyde Park and Rhinebeck. Travel with us – having all the advantages, and none of the disadvantages of our getaway.
Carolyn Yoder and Jeanette Hooban, resting on the front porch of Springwood, FDR's boyhood home in Hyde Park
Spring Blossoms in FDR's Garden at Springwood and the FDR/ER Library
Spring in Eleanor's Rose Garden, as Violets hint of the roses to come
Resting in the Peace they Forged – our Heroes, Eleanor and Franklin in the Rose Garden, accompanied by their boon companion, the faithful Scottie, Fala
Perhaps we should credit the examples of Eleanor and Franklin, where courage and persistence are concerned, with the continuing fortitude of the Intrepids.
Despite mountain-birthed weather systems last weekend, Jeanette and Janet and I made repeated pilgrimages into sites vital to Eleanor and Franklin, without whom the world would not have been saved from the most dire Depression and all those wars.
Our hikes were curtailed, but our history-quest expanded and expanded.
Gastronomic treats abounded in nearby Rhinebeck.
And purple mountain majesties brooded impressively over all, often reflected in the shimmering broad Hudson River that sustained 'my' president. Janet rode home to Manhattan in a sleek train that hugged the river's shore. Mountains seemed carved of slate, reflected in waters running orange and coral and tangerine and pink and mauve, right outside her window.
Those forested slopes crowning the landscapes reminded us that FDR was a legend and an enemy (depending upon party) in his time for creating crucial National Parks, –especially saving the Everglades; and attending to the needs of wild creatures, –particularly the American bald eagle and the trumpeter swan. Coming upon a clear-cut in the West, our president, my president, is quoted in Douglas Brinkley's new book on FDR and land preservation, as hoping that the "s.o.b. who logged that is roasting in hell." As a child, we never heard language like this. As a greatly disillusioned adult, I rejoice in his accuracy, even prophecy. For the clearcutting seems to go on unabated, nature's foes seeming to say "the hell with carbon sinks."
There wouldn't be an Assateague without Franklin's courage, nor my beloved Monomoy Wildlife Refuge off Chatham, Massachusetts. This president buttressed the legendary Rosalie Edge of Hawk Mountain Refuge, above nearby Hamburg, Pennsylvania, in stopping the most egregious raptor slaughter in our land.
I confess to having assumed that TR was the National Park President. Yes, but his relative, his successor, knew the essentiality of saving wild America, especially her coastlines.
So much that makes America America, we owe to Roosevelts.
In case you wonder, that's why THIS preservationist keeps making pilgrimages to the Hudson River Valley.
And why she brought home Brinkley's Rightful Heritage – Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America, to take its place ultimately alongside Brinkley's The Wilderness Warrier — Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America.
Franklin's and Eleanor's Train Station
Posted in Adventure, Appreciation, Assateague Wildlife Refuge, Douglas Brinkley, Eleanor Roosevelt, expeditions, FDR, fellowship, Heroism, History, Hudson River Valley, Hyde Park, Monomoy Wildlife Refuge, museums, Peace, Rhinebeck New York, Rosalie Edge, sea, Shore, spring, Springwood - FDR's Home in Hyde Park, The Intrepids, Theodore Roosevelt, threatened species, Val-Kill, Eleanor's Haven in Hyde Park, war	| 4 Comments
LIBERTY THOUGHTS
Island Beach – Intrepids Walk into the Nor'Easter, in my Favorite Ten-Mile Preserve
NJWILDBEAUTY readers know I cherish and require New Jersey's wild natural spaces. Frankly, my passion for NJ open space is right up there with my need of Cornwall's and Brittany's. It's why I pour myself into preservation every week at D&R Greenway Land Trust. Although centered in Princeton, we save the land in seven counties, approaching the 20,000-acre mark.
Cedar Ridge Preserve, Welcome Sign and Welcoming Meadow
Lovely Cedar Ridge, like all of our preserves, bel0ngs to the people, in the best American tradition. Wild creatures thrive here. Hunters have restored a stone wall of yesteryear. A majestic oak stand sentinel at the center of the trails. The 'two-legged, the four-legged, the winged', as the Lenni Lenape named them, are free in this multi-faceted setting just off Van Dyke Road beyond Hopewell, because it was preserved.
Terrestrial Box Turtle, Safe and Free on the Forest Floor of Cedar Ridge
The box turtle reminds me of FDR's Four Freedoms, so beautifully illustrated in four enormous canvases at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Never forget these freedoms.
Choose only to vote for people who increase:
FREEDOM OF WORSHIP
Every once in awhile, I have to visit other states in quest of wild beauty, spectacular hikes, and always history. Don't get me wrong, NJ has HISTORY in capital letters. I've read that 75% of the significant battles of our Revolution took place on NJ soil. And three significant early victories — the two battles of Trenton and the single one at Princeton. Our Founding Fathers traveled through our state on their way to forging liberty at Philadelphia. Words penned there could have cost every delegate his "life, fortune and sacred honor." Two nearby New Jerseyans paid with their lives for Signing that sacred Declaration – Stockton and Hart.
General Washington examined the Delaware from Goat Hill, below Lambertville, before his significant Christmastime crossing. John McPhee claims that the shad of that sacred river sustained the troops at Valley Forge. And some also insist that rations of Jersey Ligntnin' — applejack made particularly in our Pine Barrens– were issued to instill courage as needed.
George Washington's View From Goat Hill Preserve, Below Lambertville
The General and his bootless heroic men defended liberty at Monmouth, where extreme summer heat may have been our secret weapon. We would not have become the literal Land of Liberty without New Jersey.
For me, there's a special, inexplicable connection between lighthouses and liberty:
East Point Light and Flag, Delaware Bayshore
Partly on account of the courageous and brilliant Adams of Massachusetts, we secured true freedom from the tyranny of George III. Never forget that John daringly defended those accused of the so-called Boston Massacre. Otherwise, he insisted, all the words spoken and penned in Philadelphia would have meant nothing.
Sometimes I have to return to his state for deep doses of history, heroism, and nature herself. Chatham Mass.was my summer home for at least a decade of summers. Glorious even in fog, Chatham seems to hold light by day and by night, filling me recently, as NJWILDBEAUTY readers know, with scenes seemingly unchanged since the 1970's.
Chatham's light has brought safety in storms for decades beyond counting. Let that light fill you, and and do whatever you can to increase the light of true liberty in our land.
Chatham Light and Flag
Leeds Point, Pine Barrens Fishing Village
In rustic Leeds Point (home of the Jersey Devil, also in the 1700's) fishermen and clammers and crabbers remain free to ply their generational trade, moving silently along tidal creeks through wetlands. Many wetlands in that region have been preserved through the foresight of Forsythe – Edmund B., a politician far ahead of his time in realizing how important open space is to true liberty.
FDR Sculpture, FDR Library, Hyde Park NY
Two of my all-time heroes are Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and his intrepid activist wife, Eleanor. Next week I'll be in his ancestral home, Springwood, with two of The Intrepids. We'll make pilgrimage to 1930's murals, evoking rural ways and the Depression out of which FDR pulled us all, in the post office he dedicated in Rhinebeck.
Rhinebeck, New York Flag. at Historic Post Office
Flags of Beekman Arms, Rhinebeck, New York
Our first meal will be at the Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck, pre-Revolutionary haven and living museum. Their Tavern seems even now to echo with the sound of pewter tankards, banged on weathered tables, as Revolutionaries of New York insisted, "Give me liberty, or give me death."
My friends know, if I could return in any era, I'd choose Philadelphia in the 1770's. I'd have to have been a man then, of course. We'd all be there – Tom and John and Ben and George and Richard Stockton and I hope Tom Paine, banging those tankards at the City Tavern by my beloved Delaware River.
From our thoughts and this cacophony would flow the liberty which sustains us today. Do not, for God's sake, lose it!
These two never lost sight of what really matters in America.
Our Heroes, Eleanor and Franklin
Posted in "their fortunes and their sacred honor", Activism, Adventure, Appreciation, beauty, Berkshires, Cape Cod, Chatham Massachusetts, D&R Greenway Land Trust, Declaration of Independence, Delaware River, Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge, Eleanor Roosevelt, excursions, FDR, fellowship, Fishing, Founding Fathers, George Washington, Goat Hill Preserve below Lambertville, Heroism, Hiking, History, Hudson River Valley, Hyde Park, Island Beach State Park, Jersey Shore, John McPhee, Lenni Lenapes, liberty, Lighthouses, Natural New Jersey, Nature, New England, New Jersey, Norman Rockwell, Patriotism, Philadelphia, Pine Barrens, Preservation, Princeton, Rhinebeck New York, Saltmarsh, Shore, Storms, The Four Freedoms, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, tidal wetlands, Tom Paine, Travel, Voting, walks, Wetlands, Wild, wild beauty, wild creatures, wild nature, woods	| 4 Comments
THE REAL FOURTH OF JULY – Courage the norm, rights the motive…
Star-Spangled Banner on Stern of Twilight Steamboat on the Flooded Mississippi River
I am an old-fashioned patriot. I mean really old-fashioned, as in the time of and the paradigm of the Founding Fathers.
When people ask, lightly for them, "In what era would like to have lived?", I always say the 1770's in Philadelphia. Only not as a woman. None of this Betsy Ross business, nor even the brilliant Abigail, urging John, "Remember the women."
No, I don't even care which man I am, so long as I am a man, and off to the City Tavern with Toms (1 and 2 — Jefferson and Paine), John (Adams of course), Ben – who needs no surname, and George, Father of our Country in many ways beyond war. I have a powdered wig and those dusky pantalons, and white long stockings, and uncomfortable-looking shoes with sort-of high heels and shiny buckles. Night after night, in the rustic taverns, lit by candle or gaslight, I am saying with my buddies, "Give me Liberty, or give me death."
Hancock House, Scene of British Massacre of Patriots, Salem County NJ after Battle of Quinton Bridge — its upstairs room is said still to reveal splotches of true Patriots' blood – slaughtered in sleep
I don't have any patience with the skim-milk liberty of the 21st Century. I bristle when the Fourth of July is termed a Freedom Fest. In our country now, which our Founding Fathers would never recognize, the more we prate of liberty and freedom, the less we have.
America The Beautiful — Pole Farm's Red Barn, Fields and Berries
This scene of barn and fields is my personal American icon. It stands for Independence, such as farmers lived and passed on through generations. It stands for salt-of-the-earth people, who worked with the earth, not in spite of it, to feed families and neighbors, to nourish not only bodies, but the very spirit of our land.
Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were farmers. They knew the solid safety of our country rested on rural realities. Not in slogans, let alone in the renaming of airports.
Those inalienable rights for which our Forefathers pledged and some lost their fortunes and lives, tho never their sacred honor, are trampled daily in 21st-Century Washington, by mega-corporations, in our very un-free media, in books, in trade deals, in intra-country negotiations.
Eleanor Roosevelt's International Bill of Rights, for which she (the only woman at the United Nations) thought and fought and negotiated and declared, seems a figment of imagination. Lost in the shuffle, and worse. Her proudest achievement – trampled in the dust.
Reeds Beach Flag, One of NJ's Land's Ends, Battered by Sandy, Returning to Life
Our entire country won the war of Revolution here, where I live now, in Lawrenceville (then Maidenhead) and in Trenton's two Christmas battles, and in nearby Monmouth and in distant Yorktown, thanks to the French Fleet and heroic Lafayette. It was also won in small towns, such as Concord and Lexinbton and on Bunker Hill in Boston, and in kitchens where wives and children melted the family pewter and silver and whatever other metals, to create bullets to defeat the tyrranical Brits.
Proud Names of the Greenwich Town Tea Burners in Salem County NJ
Give Me Libert;y, or Give Me Death – Tea Burners' Monument, Greenwich Town, Salem County, NJ
in weeks and months before the written Declaration, and in the interminable years thereafter, the man and woman in the streets, in the fields, and even in tea-burning ceremonies in Greenwich New Jersey and yes in Princeton, as well as in Boston, courage was the norm, and rights were the motive..
My Country, 'tis of Thee, Sweet Land — in Spring Leaves, Rhinebeck NJ
Heroes were also our norm in those decades, and they didn't only wear pantalons. Resistance was as fierce among wives and daughters of our Founding Fathers, as among the men in Philadelphia. In many cases, the women were nearer to the maurading British, gunpowder, cannonfire, destruction by many means of their homes and communities. Their spines were as stiff as those of their mates, negotiating in various capitals, riding to country taverns with muffled horses' hooves, standing on balconies and reading declarations of rights.
Flag and East Point Light, Delaware Bayshore, New Jersey
Life. Liberty. The Pursuit of Happiness. How simple they sounded when I was a child. How they fired the soldiers in WWI and WWII, especially on D Day and beyond. How rare those qualities seem now.
We fought for them, even more than for our flag.
I am greatly disturbed always that the Stars and Stripes became a symbol of aggression and revenge, instead of freedom and inalienable rights, from the first moments of 9/11 ever onward.
Do you ever wonder where all those flapping auto-flags came from, within hours of the dissolution of the Twin Towers? Who alerted the flag-manufacturers?
Before 9/11, we never saw those flags except in rare personal presidential motorcades, as when JFK motored through Detroit and Illinois before his impossible election.
After 9/11, little flags were everywhere and big ones inexplicably on bridges and overpasses. Why? In those days, it seemed, our banner stood for vengeance, even war.
One of Five Covered Bridges of Bennington VT, where the Green Mountain Boys Helped Create and Preserve Liberty in Our Land
I happen to love the Stars and Stripes.
All year, I've been photographing them hither and yon, to try to recapture the pride and honor of Fourth of July as a child.
Beekman Arms Flags, Rhinebeck NY, where Revolutionary sentiments were pounded into the tavern tables
Hence the collection. What does it mean to YOU?
Posted in Courage, Declaration of Independence, Delaware Bay, Eleanor Roosevelt, Fourth of July, George Washington, Green Mountain Boys, Greenwich Town Salem County NJ, Lafayette, liberty, Salem County New Jersey, Tea Burning of Greenwich, Thomas Jefferson, Tom Paine	| Tagged 1776, 9/11, Abigail Adams, Battle of Bennington, Battle of Princeton, Battle of Quinton Bridge, Battle of Yorktown, Battles of Trenton, Ben Franklin, Brits, City Tavern, Concord Mass., courage, D-Day, Delaware Bayshores, Eleanor Roosevelt, flags, Fourth of July, freedom, Freedom Fest, George Washington, Green Mountain Boys, Greenwich Town Salem County NJ, Hancock House, Hancock House Massacre, honor, International Bill of Rights, John Adams, Lafayette, Lexington Mass, liberty, Mississippi River, My Country 'tis of Thee, Old Glory, Philadelphia, Reeds Beach, Salem County, Star Spangled Banner, Tea Burning of Princeton, Tea burnings, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Twilight Steamboat, Twin Towers, World War I, World War II | 6 Comments


Welcome to the latest episode of The Florida Project – the podcast where three dudes mostly talk about Walt Disney World. In this episode, we'll discuss some nonsense in small topics and then will play a game of Disney Villains: Who Would Win in a Fight. Since we're pre-recording due to our October travel plans, we won't have all of our usual segments this week. All of that and more is coming up in this week's episode of The Florida Project!
What is your favorite comic book villain?
What is your favorite 80s movie villain?
What is your favorite 90s TV villain?
What is your favorite literary villains?


I like Wahoo Fitness. Wahoo doesn't just have a great name, it also comes up with great ideas. I hate to use a phrase like "thinking outside the box" but that's exactly what the folk at Wahoo do, regularly. While other fitness technology companies are happy to tow the line and follow in the wake of the major players, Wahoo Fitness always seems to be thinking about new and better ways to do things, and the results of that thinking are truly innovative products.
The Wahoo Fitness RFLKT, for example, made using your iPhone as your cycle computer both simple and safe. After all, the last thing you want to worry about if you crash your bike is smashing your £600 phone to pieces! And then there's the Wahoo cadence sensor that did away with the need for magnets, instead building an accelerometer into the sensor that straps to the crank – a design that Garmin adopted for its Edge 1000. The Wahoo Fitness KICKR meanwhile changed the face of turbo trainers, with none other than Team Sky adopting it.
The Wahoo Fitness TICKR X continues the company's tradition of innovation, taking something as mundane as a heart rate monitor and making it, well, better.
On the surface the TICKR X looks just like any other chest strap heart rate monitor, but Wahoo has baked a few special features into this little pebble.
For a start the TICKR X is a hybrid wireless device that supports both Bluetooth SMART and ANT+. This means that you can pair the TICKR X with pretty much anything. Want to use it with your favourite running app on your smartphone? No problem. Want to pair it with your Garmin Edge cycle computer? Easy as pie.
However, you don't actually have to pair the TICKR X with anything to use it. Unlike any other chest strap heart rate monitor I've encountered, the TICKR X will actually log your activity internally, allowing you to download your data to your chosen app at your leisure. Great if you don't want to have your phone with you in the gym or while you're running.
But what would the TICKR X be measuring without being paired to another device? Surely all you'd end up with is your heart rate during your workout, right? Wrong!
You see the TICKRx is much more than just a clever heart rate monitor, Wahoo has also stuffed it full of cutting edge sensors that will track your every move. So if you go for a run equipped with only your TICKR X it will log every step you take, estimate your distance and calories burned, as well as track your heart rate during your workout.
The TICKR X doesn't just track your steps, though, it tracks pretty much every movement your body makes. So it's just as adept at counting reps when you're squatting, or doing pushups, making it the ideal companion for strength-based workouts as well as cardio sessions.
And if you want to see how versatile the TICKR X really is, just download the free Wahoo Fitness 7-Minute Workout app. While there's no shortage of great fitness apps out there, the 7-Minute Workout is simply brilliant when combined with the TICKR X.
The app itself is made up of 12 different gym exercises such as pushups, squats, lunges, planks, etc. It's designed to be a pretty intensive HIIT workout, with you pushing yourself to complete as many reps of each exercise within the allocated time.
By default you have 30 seconds to perform each workout with a 10 second rest period between each set. But the really clever part is that if you're wearing a TICKR X, the app will automatically count your reps for you, so you know exactly how you're doing during your workout.
The exercises are designed to be done using just your body weight, so you could, for instance, do your 7-Minute Workout while you're halfway through a 10k run in the park. But if you want to make it more challenging, there's nothing stopping you from adding some weight to the equation.
If you upgrade to the premium version of the app – for a pretty insignificant £1.49 – you can mix up the order of the exercises, adjust the exercise time as well as the rest period. You'll also get a log of all your workouts, which will show you what days you've trained, but strangely doesn't tell you your rep count for each exercise.
Once again Wahoo Fitness has created a product that's a little different and a bit more innovative than the run-of-the-mill competition. Although the TICKR X isn't the first chest strap heart rate monitor to include accelerometer functionality – the Garmin Forerunner 620 used a similar device to power its Running Dynamics features – it has taken the concept to another level, and made the functionality pretty much universal.
Unlike most fitness tech manufacturers, Wahoo Fitness is happy for you to use its hardware with any app, platform or device that you see fit. Yes, the TICKR X works brilliantly with the 7-Minute Workout and Wahoo Fitness apps, but it will also happily pair with almost any app, running watch or cycle computer you might want to use it with. And the fact that the TICKR X has built-in storage means that you don't even need to have it connected to an app or device to record your effort when you're doing it.
The 7-Minute Workout app is a great little HIIT programme that really shows off just how clever the TICKR X is. It's also really easy to fit this workout into a regular routine, especially if you struggle to work up the inclination to train in the evenings after a long day in the office.
At £79.99 the TICKR X looks expensive compared to your average chest strap heart rate monitor, but this is by no means your average chest strap heart rate monitor. Given the plethora of tricks it has up its sleeve, it easily justifies its price point.
If I have one criticism, it's that the chest strap itself isn't as comfortable as those from Garmin or Polar, and it has a habit of twisting while you're wearing it, but that's the smallest of gripes for what is an otherwise outstanding bit of kit.
If you've been thinking of getting yourself a heart rate monitor to use with your favourite smartphone app, or to pair with your GPS running watch or cycle computer, splash out and go for the TICKR X.


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Technical Conference Highlights Advancements in Ethanol
by Chuck Beck
More than one hundred of those on the cutting edge of the U.S. ethanol industry gathered recently for a Commercial Ethanol Technology and Research Workshop, discussing the latest in industry advancements. The group's optimism toward the future of ethanol was apparent in the presentations which covered process improvements and next-generation technologies.
The event was hosted October 28-29 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota by BioFuels Journal, a trade publication headquartered in Decatur, Illinois. BFJ publisher and event organizer Myke Feinman was pleased with the outcome.
"We are very pleased with how the conference went," Feinman said. "We had a nice crowd as well and we even doubled last year's attendance by getting 110 attendees total."
Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), was invited to give a state of the industry address to kick off the event. Jennings touched on some of the hurdles facing ethanol on Capitol Hill, and the frustration of some policy and regulatory decisions seeming to be influenced by ethanol critics instead of by science. Case in point – Tim Searchinger, architect of the "indirect land use change" theory against biofuels being named to the EPA's peer review committee on that topic. Searchinger is not a scientist, but a lawyer whose career has been spent working against farmers.
"This is not a gentleman who is a scientist or agronomist or economist, or even someone who has taken the time to really painfully study indirect land use and its implications," Jennings said. "What he is portraying is not accurate and it's not validated by the measurements. He's a very dangerous man because he's got the ear of a lot of the mainstream media, and he served on the EPA peer review to essentially validate his own ideas, so we have our work cut out for us."
Jennings emphasized the importance of ethanol advocates speaking out, especially to their Members of Congress who can work on these issues in DC. Also, the power of speaking out in your own community cannot be underestimated. Whether at the coffee shop, a basketball game, or at the grocery store, don't hesitate to speak up if you hear ethanol misinformation.
The technical portion of the workshop got underway with a look at some key new technologies that will play a crucial role in the industry as it moves forward. The anaerobic digestion of thin stillage to create biogas was discussed by Dr. Patrick Hirl of Stanley Consultants. David Winsness of Greenshift presented on corn oil extraction and back-end fractionation, processes which can cut energy usage while improving production yields. New fractionation technologies mean ethanol producers can now get more of the extracted product than ever before.
Fractionation was a popular topic at the event, discussed by four different companies. According to panel moderator John Caupert from the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center, fractionation is the most talked-about technology in the corn ethanol industry today. He believes that, as the economy improves, more ethanol producers will adopt fractionation processes.
Brian Williams of Buhler told attendees that fractionation helps ethanol producers by giving them logical solutions to issues facing the ethanol industry such as volatile corn prices, limited distillers grain compatibility for swine and poultry, and the "food and fuel" debate.
Reg Ankrom with Cereal Process Technologies emphasized the gains that can be achieved through this technology, stating that precision milling can yield 20 percent more ethanol.
Fractionation improves operating margins, helps yield higher margins, and is a natural hedge to corn, according to Neal Jakel of Delta-T. Some of the key questions producers should ask when looking at adding fractionation to their facility include the kind of performance the system would offer, who is offering the technology or system, and which feed products are optimal to produce.
Leon Langhauser with Lai-Pro concluded the panel by emphasizing how efficient fractionation technology is for producers.
Jeff Broin, CEO of ethanol producer POET, was on hand to give a keynote address on the evening on day one of the workshop. He updated attendees on the company's progress in its cellulosic ethanol development and discussed what a big advantage the improvement in corn yields gives the ethanol industry.
"Corn yields today are literally three times what they were 50 to 60 years ago, so we have tripled corn yields in less than 60 years," Broin said. "So what's going to happen in the future? You'll see 300 bushel corn 20 years from today."
Day two of the conference focused on cellulosic ethanol and biomass feedstock sources. Jeff Scharping of ICM, Inc. discussed Total Kernel Optimization, which allows ethanol producers to get at more components of the corn kernel and to produce more products and operate at a higher efficiency.
Converting the corn's bran to steam, for example, can create a syngas that replaces 40 percent of a plant's natural gas usage. With this technology, ICM offers a 10,000 Btu/gallon guarantee for a plant drying DDGS. He noted that ICM can help a facility with modeling – looking at the entire chain from corn farming practices to shipping the corn, to processing it – to help determine the ethanol's carbon footprint. All this is important now with the national conversations about land use change, CO2, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Scharping said that he's excited "cellulose is here," stating that advancements are good for the entire industry.
A panel on biomass logistics covered the methods of collecting, harvesting, and handling next-generation feedstocks.
Stuart Birrell of Iowa State University discussed three key components: harvest technologies, transportation and storage, and producer acceptance. What is the capacity of the machine (the combine)? What are the seasonal labor requirements? Will the biomass be collected in a wet (silage) or dry (hay) model? A single-pass or multi-pass operation? Will the farmers accept the new practices? A large percentage of adoption will be necessary, according to Birrell.
Iowa State is working through these questions and creating harvesting techniques and equipment that it hopes will be the most feasible for the farmers and biofuel producers alike.
Mike Schuster of Laidig Industries gave a "biomass 101" overview, emphasizing that the characteristics of biomass make it much more difficult to handle than grain, and therefore specialized equipment and handling procedures will be required. Materials like corn cobs, stover, wood chips, and municipal waste are fibrous and inconsistent, and are now flowable like grain.
The form and method of receiving biomass at a biofuels production facility is important, as is the sizing of the particles. Schuster emphasized that the facility needs to take control of its optimal particle size and should not assume that the biomass will always be delivered to the exact specifications of size, moisture, or cleanliness. Storage is also a consideration by the end-user, whether it should be automated or manual.
Schuster encouraged biofuels producers looking at biomass to recognize and address the unique handling characteristics of the material, take responsibility for the size and quality of the material, and consider automated, on-demand storage for more process flexibility.
Dr. Mark Stowers of POET concluded the day's speakers with an update on Project LIBERTY, the addition of cellulosic ethanol production at the company's existing corn ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa. Stowers noted that there are 100 different collaborators involved in the project.
POET's primary focus is corn cobs, which comprise 12 to 25 percent of the above-ground weight of the stalk and provide 16 percent more carbohydrates than the stover alone. They hope to take the stover off the bank end of the combine through a towable solution that separates the stover and the cobs on-the-go. During 2009 they have targeted 25,000 acres across South Dakota and Iowa to test four different methods for collecting the cobs.
POET will need 770 bone dry tons (BDT) per day to supply the ethanol plant. In 2012, this will mean 315,000 acres and 252,000 tons of cobs collected.
Presentations from the conference can be viewed online at www.biofuelsjournal.com.


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The Armstrong Institute offers a range of training opportunities, educational conferences and other services that are available to health care professionals everywhere.
For industry, the institute also offers the Usability Testing and Evaluation Service that can help clients to identify and address use-related hazards of medical devices and products.
See how our Global Collaborations team can help your organization in its pursuit of zero patient harm.
Gain tools and strategies for reducing harm in our in-person workshop.
Participate in our interactive online patient safety courses.
Learn about national patient safety and quality conference and symposiums.
Attend free educational webinars to improve your organization.
Sign up for e-mail updates about training and education opportunities.
Members of the Johns Hopkins Medicine community can take advantage of the opportunity to attend institute-led workshops as well as other programs offered especially for them. These include several types of fellowships, a teamwork training program, online educational modules and grand rounds. Please visit Programs for Johns Hopkins Medicine to learn more.


Hard to Find One Owner C 300 Sport 4matic, Well Equipped with Premium 2 Package including Keyless-Go, Burmester Surround Sound System, Multimedia Package, Navigation, Sport Package, Illuminated Star, Rear Deck Spoiler, Backup Camera, Blind Spot Assist, Panorama Sunroof, Heated Steering Wheel, LED Headlamps, Heated Front Seats. The Mercedes-Benz C 300 Sport's pristine good looks were combined with the Mercedes-Benz high standard of excellence in order to make this a unique find. Outstanding fuel economy and sleek styling are two great reasons to consider this C-Class. This AWD-equipped vehicle handles well in any weather condition or terrain. You'll benefit from superb handling, improved steering and excellent acceleration. CARFAX BuyBack Guarantee is reassurance that any major issues with this vehicle will show on CARFAX report. CARFAX shows that this is a one-owner vehicle. Call Mercedes Benz of Draper at 801-222-4400 or See at 11548 South Lone Peak Parkway in Draper for a Hassle Free Test Drive.


The Rusty Fork Ranch bed-n-coffee is in the epicenter of Temecula Wine Country. Surrounded by vineyard views and wineries, our bed and breakfast style experience makes adventuring around the entire region quick and easy. 8 minutes to Old Town and 5 minutes to every vineyard means Uber and Lyft are ideal during your vacation.


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Will the UN Intervene in Mali?
Below is an update from EuroNews about the situation in Mali, where Salafists have taken control of the northern part of the country. The government of Mali wants the United Nations to intervene, but the UN — perhaps constrained by its de facto control by the OIC, and thus the Muslim Brotherhood — is reluctant to get involved.
Many thanks to Michael Laudahn for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
2 thoughts on "Will the UN Intervene in Mali?"
Anonymous on September 29, 2012 at 10:28 pm said:
The UN is the most useless, corrupt piece of sh*t ever devised. The next thing we'll hear is that they have intervened… on the side of the Islamists. Yet another terror state is created.
RonaldB on October 1, 2012 at 8:46 am said:
The last thing we need is for the UN, with US financing and likely US soldiers, to intervene in every third world dispute, afterwards being involved in a long, costly, and ultimately valueless occupation against guerrilla forces.
Muslim societies have one of two types of government: a dictatorship which will suppress the worst parts of Islam, or an Islamic government that fully suppresses any imaginable human rights.
A government imposed by the West is alien to the culture, like a badly-matched tissue transplant, and will be rejected as soon as western forces are withdrawn. The end result is only to weaken the western countries by killing their soldiers and draining their money.
Our best strategy is to keep the Muslim in the Muslim countries, and keep our borders strong.


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Mary was born in Birregurra in 1887 in regional Victoria. She was described as a "shy, quiet and humble" child. She won scholarships to secondary school and the University of Melbourne and graduated in medicine in 1910.
In 1916 Mary became the first president of the Catholic Women's Social Guild (now the Catholic Women's League of Victoria and Wagga Wagga).
In 1920 Mary gave up her career as a doctor in Australia to go to India to care for the poorest women and children. She became a religious Sister with the Society of Jesus Mary Joseph in Guntur and for many years ministered to thousands of patients who could not otherwise have received care.
She founded the Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI), whose members today care for 21 million people a year.
Mary is only the second Australian to be considered for official recognition as a saint.
She was declared a Servant of God in 2013.


Clean patterns and lines with surprising color combinations meet to form the Asics Tiger Gel-Lique. Mesh and suede upper for enhanced style. EVA midsole for premium comfort. Carbon rubber outsole for durability and traction.


The statistics on the growing epidemic of type 2 diabetes are staggering as it is now estimated that over 100 million Americans have diabetes or prediabetes and are at high risk of developing diabetes. If things do not change one-half of all Americans adults will develop the disease by 2020. It is a serious issue that will bankrupt our society on many levels if the tide is not turned.
Currently, one out of every five United States federal health care dollars is spent treating people with diabetes. The average yearly health care costs for a person without diabetes is $2,560; for a person with diabetes, that figure soars to $11,744. Much of that increase is related to the costs of drugs.
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is the largest and most powerful organization dealing with this deadly disease. Though the ADA does a great deal of good, I wonder if the agenda of the organization is more to be a front for the pharmaceutical industry rather than trying to offer effective answers to patients with diabetes. The ADA's Standards of Medical Care for Type 2 Diabetes focuses on the complete overreliance on the drug treatment of diabetes and its complications while completely ignoring the use of critical nutritional support.
When medical historians look back at these sorts of position papers they will refer to them as marketing propaganda promoting the dark age of pharmaceutical interventions. These guidelines were obviously written by individuals closely tied to the drug industry – it's a travesty. The major shortcoming of pharmaceutical interventions in type 2 diabetes are that they do not impact the progression of the disease and in many cases actually accelerate the underlying disease process and increase mortality. Yet, this approach is the only one offered by conventional medicine.


It seemed like a hundred little things.
Nothing earth-shattering or life-threatening, but just enough irritation to feed the bitter attitude that was already there.
The bitter attitude that had taken over without warning.
Sure, looking back at this list I can see how minor these things were. Just a part of life, really. But at the time, each small frustration held a great deal of power in my life. That's when I realized I'd let frustration take control.
Frustration is something we feel when we are unhappy with our circumstances. And the truth is, frustration is going to happen. But how do we allow ourselves to get to the place where we feel frustrated every single day?
How do we respond to frustration?
It usually begins with one tiny annoyance, something I could pass over without mentioning. But instead of letting it go, I fix my mind on it. I feed it. I allow it to grow and become a much bigger deal than it ever needed to be.
"You'll never believe what happened at work today," becomes my favorite conversation-starter when I come home from work. And when I put those feelings first, I give frustration more power.
The good news is, there's hope.
The promises in this verse offer hope for when we've let frustration gain control in our daily lives. Claiming these promises will put frustrated feelings in their rightful place. Because the way to take control away from frustration is to pay more attention to God's presence than my feelings.
Delight. Joy. Gladness. These are the feelings God has toward us. There's something remarkable that happens when we think on these things instead of those tiny annoyances. What would happen if we replaced our "You won't believe what happened at work today…" with "You won't believe what God did today..."?
The results would be mind-blowing.
So let's speak delight, joy, and gladness into our circumstances. Let's proclaim the promises of Zephaniah 3:17 and put frustration back where it belongs. When we replace frustrated feelings with feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit, we will give God control over our decisions, attitudes, and hearts.
We're talking about how to combat frustration every week in June here at kristinebrown.net. Join us each Friday for your weekly devotion. Subscribe here to have your devos delivered to your inbox! Join the conversation on our Facebook page here.


Ford Explorer 2014 Black Int.
Transmission: Automatic Color:Black Interior Color: Black Average Vehicle Review: (4.3 reviews) Less than 12 hours after I bought the car, the center control panel began intermittent shut downs. The took two weeks to solve and repair. Four months after I bought the car (this week), the climate system failed and will not turn on. I couldn�t get the car in until after Christmas, so here I sit unable to use the car again.
Transmission: Automatic Color:Black Interior Color: Black Average Vehicle Review: (4.3 reviews) Comfortable ride and dependable.
Transmission: Automatic Color:Black Interior Color: Black Average Vehicle Review: (4.3 reviews) Good size and smooth ride.
Transmission: Automatic Color:Green Interior Color: Black Average Vehicle Review: (4.3 reviews) It seats 8. You can also easily lay the third row seat down if you need the extra space in the back. It's a comfortable riding vehicle. Plenty of leg room in the back rows.
Transmission: Automatic Color:Blue Interior Color: Black Average Vehicle Review: (4.3 reviews) Roomy.


The demand at the railway stations has fallen below the companies' expectations since people prefer prepaid auto-rickshaws and prepaid taxis.
Cab aggregators Uber and Ola have decided not to proceed with plans to expand parking spots and kiosks at railway stations, Business Standard reported.
The two companies are pausing the acquisition of additional parking rights since the return on investment has not been high, and because drivers have complained about the waiting time at stations.
"Unlike airports, railway stations are located at the centre of the city and only limited parking spaces are available in its premises," a source told the paper.
Drivers prefer being mobile instead of waiting for hours at a railway station, since they can use that time to pick up new rides, the report said.
The two companies currently have parking spaces at railway stations in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru.
"At times it is difficult for them (customers) to locate an Uber or an Ola cab. Many do not like lugging luggage while locating a taxi," a source told Business Standard.
The Indian Railways charges the cab aggregators a fixed license fee for the demarcated parking spaces and booths.
At major stations, only 10 cabs are allowed to be parked at a time.
The Indian Railways earned about Rs 20 crore in 2018-19 from the parking spaces.


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Home > Generosity > Rachael Flatt: From Olympic Rink to Research Lab
Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Rachael Flatt: From Olympic Rink to Research Lab
Jul 1, 2019-- There's little Rachael Flatt, former Olympic figure skater, can't achieve on or off the ice. Flatt's impressive skating career includes being the 2008 World Junior champion, a winner of four silver medals on the Grand Prix series, and the 2010 U.S. national champion. Flatt went on to represent the United States at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver during her senior year in high school and placed 7th. Now a graduate Clinical Psychology student at the University of North Carolina, she's set her sights on developing digital mental health tools to help athletes struggling with body image concerns and eating disorders. In this piece, writer Emily Barr gives readers an inside look at what it was like for Rachael to grow up under the spotlight, how she learned to make peace with public scrutiny, and why she's determined to change the mental health landscape for future generations. (1686 reads)
Take ActionOne in five Americans is affected by a mental health condition with many suffering from associated shame and stigma. Visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness to learn more about warning signs and symptoms and take the pledge to be stigma-free. [more]
Trauma in the Body: An Interview with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk
Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.


Hey there friends! Happy Friday!! Whew, this week flew by. I'll have to make this quick as I'm shooting two weddings this weekend and have lots to do to prepare.
2 weddings! Wow, you're amazing, one tuckered me out.
So creative! Love your bw montage of photos ~ Love the dog too! Great shots!
Wow! 2 weddings! I'd be terrified to do even one. As always I love your images. It's time for me to catch up on your blog.


The Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe made its public debut on the eve of the Geneva motor show.
The new model, which goes under the internal codename C117, has been given a significantly more muscular appearance.
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe will become the first series-production road car to feature an advanced tilt function capable of leaning the car into corners when it goes on sale towards the end of this year.
Sensual clarity as an expression of modern luxury – this was the focus for the designers, and is the design philosophy of Mercedes-Benz.
So let's take a look at it and find out some details about the brand new luxury car Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe!
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe styling flourishes are aimed at visually separating the S-class Coupe from the saloon more than previous versions of the big two-door have done.
"At the centre of our work is sensual clarity as an expression of modern luxury, because this is precisely what gets to the heart of our brand philosophy – the bipolarity of intelligence and emotion", says Wagener, Vice President Design at Daimler AG.
Mercedes has confirmed one initial engine for the new S-class Coupe. The twin-turbo 4.6-litre V8 petrol unit is carried over from the CL, but with a series of detailed changes that boost its power output by 20bhp to 448bhp while retaining the same 516lb ft maximum torque rating.
Headlights equipped with 47 Swarovski crystals are available at an extra cost. 17 angular crystals make up the daytime running lamps and 30 round crystals form the turn signals.
The flowing profile of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe embodies sensual clarity in a modern way. It is characterised by typical rear-wheel drive proportions, which are emphasised by the Mercedes-typical signature, the dropping line.
The high-quality switchgear and huge screens remain, but the newcomer gets unique touches like an exclusive set of diamond-quilted seats available in brighter colours such as Bengal Red and Porcelain White.
Inside, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe features frameless doors, a dashboard largely carried over from the S-Class sedan and a sporty, coupe-specific three-spoke flat-bottomed steering wheel.
On top of the optional tilt function, the new car's Magic Ride Control system also boasts a road scanner function. This uses the stereo camera mounted within the windscreen to digitally scan the road surface and automatically alter the stiffness of the hydraulic dampers in order to improve the ride comfort.
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe is built for those who really want to drive. It will go on sale in November 2014 at a price starting from around £100,000.
We hope you enjoyed our article about the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe | Luxury Car.
Let us know what you think about the newcomer from Mercedes in the comments section bellow!


text:
Q: error: The model expects 3 input arrays, but only received one array. Found: array with shape (10, 20, 50, 50, 1)  main_model = Sequential()
 main_model.add(Conv3D(32, 3, 3,3, input_shape=(20,50,50,1)))'
 main_model.add(Activation('relu'))
 main_model.add(MaxPooling3D(pool_size=(2, 2,2))
 main_model.add(Conv3D(64, 3, 3,3))
 main_model.add(Activation('relu'))
 main_model.add(MaxPooling3D(pool_size=(2, 2,2)))
 main_model.add(Dropout(0.8))
 main_model.add(Flatten())

 #lower features model - CNN2
 lower_model1 = Sequential()
 lower_model1.add(Conv3D(32, 3, 3,3, input_shape=(20,50,50,1)))
 lower_model1.add(Activation('relu'))
 lower_model1.add(MaxPooling3D(pool_size=(2, 2,2)))
 lower_model1.add(Dropout(0.8))
 lower_model1.add(Flatten())

 #lower features model - CNN3
 lower_model2 = Sequential()
 lower_model2.add(Conv3D(32, 3, 3,3, input_shape=(20,50,50,1)))
 lower_model2.add(Activation('relu'))
 lower_model2.add(MaxPooling3D(pool_size=(2, 2,2)))
 lower_model2.add(Dropout(0.8))
 lower_model2.add(Flatten())

 merged_model = Merge([main_model, lower_model1,lower_model2],mode='concat')
 final_model = Sequential()
 final_model.add(merged_model)
 final_model.add(Dense(1024,init='normal'))
 final_model.add(Activation('relu'))
 final_model.add(Dropout(0.5))
 final_model.add(Dense(2,init='normal'))
 final_model.add(Activation('softmax'))
 final_model.compile(loss='binary_crossentropy', optimizer='Adam', metrics=
 ['accuracy'])
 train=train_data[-10:]
 test=train_data[-2:]
 X = np.array([i[0] for i in train]).reshape(-1,20,50,50,1)
 Y = [i[1] for i in train]
 test_x = np.array([i[0] for i in test]).reshape(-1,20,50,50,1)
 test_y = [i[1] for i in test]
 final_model.fit(np.array(X),np.array(Y),validation_data=
 (np.array(test_x),np.array(test_y)),batch_size=batch_size,nb_epoch =
 nb_epoch,validation_split=0.2,shuffle=True,verbose=1)

i'm using 50x50 images contained in 20 chunk and that's y my numpy array is 20x50x50
1st and 2nd modelsI'm using sequential model for multi scale 3d cnn network...i don't know y i'm getting this kind of result
see val_acc,val_loss stays the same in every epoch


MY AK Fam – we have a special treat for you!!
After teasing new music over the weekend, Alicia announced a secret live performance planned for this Thursday, April 21 at New York City's Highline Ballroom. Those in attendance will be among the first in the world to hear some of Alicia's new songs!
Only a few hundred tickets are available for this very special event, which will start at Midnight on Thursday night.
Tickets go on sale Wednesday, April 20 at 10am EST, but you'll need the password below to buy tickets. There is a 2 ticket limit per person.
And if you saw Alicia's Snapchat message on Saturday, stay tuned for more news coming soon!


At last, all correspondence chess rating lists (from the server start, march 2006) are available by clicking "Rating lists" and following "The older rating lists"... 1 year of ratings by page.
As it was asked by a few players for a long time, only players who were REALLY active (who finished at least one game at most 1 year before or 1 year after the period) are listed in.
Many informations and good memories :) The worst part is that I can see clearly the reality: About 50% players left in about 4 or 5 years. The peak was about 900 players, there are now only 261 active correspondence chess players. Time to find new ideas, definitely.
It may have disastrous consequences on the number of games lost on time (and its own consequences), unfortunately :/ But if others ask for it also, I could envisage it for some tourneys.


At the Pre-Assembly of the European Representatives Meeting 2016, participants came together after a workshop on refugees in Europe. Starting off the process with the expert who was present, the participants started drafting a collaborative statement of the ERM 2016 on the Refugee Crisis. At the business meeting, more women were also invited to participate in refining the draft.


Being grateful is one thing, having gratitude is quite another. Lately,I've been following several Video Blogs (vlogs for short) posted by a group of people I am friends with in a private Facebook group. The current topic they're doing a video challenge on is Gratitude. Periodically, a topic is set by a moderator around which the members then post vlogs in response to. I usually participate in the challenges or activities that are set in this group. Thus far, the huge one for me was a 30-day video challenge last year that was a real life- changer for me. This time, I am just watching.
I've come up with a few of my own challenges this month. In so doing, it has enabled me to recognise how Gratitude, and more importantly, expressing Gratitude has improved over the arc of my life. Faithfully logging entries into my Gratitude Journal during the healing process of overcoming depression made a major impact on improving myself. Re-examining difficult events, and the people that have come in and out of my orbit with sincere Gratitude, rather than spite or anger has provided me a whole new perspective – one of Acceptance and Love, rather than Resentment and Hatred.
My family. My children have been my greatest gift. They challenge me. They keep me going. They make me laugh. They have kept me wanting to live in my darkest days.
My grandparents. Although they can drive me crazy sometimes.. they have demonstrated what true love is. How to last in a relationship. They have taught me the power of tolerance, patience and acceptance. They have also supported me in tough times.
My Creativity. Although I sometimes view myself as being cursed, to Create regularly to be able to function properly.. I am also ever so grateful to be blessed to be able to see the world around me through a different lens to most. I feel more deeply, hear the music more passionately and create beautiful things is a blessing. I have a gift and wouldn't me my Unique self without it.
My ailments.Being extremely sick over the years has made me Grateful for when I'm not. It has made me take responsibility for eating healthy, and exercising regularly. Being sick made me appreciate how short and precious life can be. I am grateful for how it slowed my body down to heal, forcing me to reflect on how to keep it in a healthy state.
Friendships. I am grateful for the strong friendships I hold close to my heart. Knowing that they have my back, knowing I am looked after when I am vunerable. I also have gratitude for the friendships that ended badly. They allowed me to recognise when I am not being treated how I deserve, and made me see my worth.. To truly see what I Deserve.
Travel. I am grateful that I have been able to see some of the world. It has given me a desire to see more of the world. It has allowed me to appreciate culture and places that are very different to where I call home. It has given me a deep appreciation for the country I call home. I feel safe here, I have clean water, access to medical facilities, supermarkets, nature, open roads, I am free to come and go as I please. It has made me see that I am a gypsy at heart, that I suit wandering and discovering and that I can simplify my life and shed the stuff that I previously felt I needed around me to feel complete.
What things are you grateful for? Share below some of the things you would list as being on the top of your list in your Gratitude Journal if you had one!