text:
America's Record-Long "Expansion" Was Just The Rich Getting Richer As The Middle Class Died
On July 1, many - us included - wrote lengthy articles, pointing out that the longest US economic expansion in history is now a fact.
Sadly, when peeling back the layers of the centrally-planned onion, the reality is far less euphoric, and as Reuters writes today, this historic expansion - mostly of asset prices - achieved just one thing: it made the rich richer while crushing the middle class, with Reuters reporting that the number of billionaires in the United States has more than doubled in the last decade, from 267 in 2008 to 607 last year.
John Mathews, Head of Private Wealth Management and Ultra High Net Worth at UBS said: "The rich have gotten richer and they've gotten richer faster. The drive or the desire for consumption has just gone upscale."
At the same time, the signs of struggle and stagnation for lower income levels have also been presenting themselves. The wealthiest 20% of Americans hold 88% of the country's wealth, a share that has grown since before the crisis. On the other end of the spectrum, "the number of people receiving federal food stamps tops 39 million, below the peak in 2013 but still up 40% from 2008 even though the country's population has only grown about 8%" as the middle class was crushed and as millions dropped out, and down, into the lower class.
Regardless, 10 years ago, this kind of growth wasn't thought possible. The financial system was teetering on the brink of disaster and people feared that bank failures could permanently undermine capitalism. But now, it looks as though many of the signs of the wealth that proceeded the financial crisis are again presenting themselves.
The report laid out a couple of examples of the wealth effect:
The cost of a dinner at the French Laundry, the chic California restaurant, is up 35% to $325 per person, from $240 10 years ago, beating inflation by nearly 20%.
Undergraduate tuition at Ivy League mainstay Columbia University is a hair under $60,000 a year, up by half from $39,000 in the 2008 school year.
The U.S. stock market, measured by the S&P 500, has tripled in the last decade.
Hedge fund boss Ken Griffin set a record for a U.S. home sale when he bought a $238 million penthouse condominium on "Billionaires' Row" just off New York City's Central Park.
However, rents in places like New York have risen more than twice as fast as wages, which puts pressure on lower income residents. And the amount of people sleeping in New York's shelters is 70% higher than it was 10 years ago, as the ranks of the homeless soar.
Carolyn Valli, CEO at Central Berkshire Habitat For Humanity, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts said: "Under-resourced areas are not getting any better; the housing opportunity for them is not getting any better. High healthcare costs and a lack of large employers mean fewer jobs in some areas. Food, utilities and housing costs, meanwhile, remain high. It doesn't feel like a boom yet."
The widening inequality gap continues to be a popular topic among Democratic presidential hopefuls as policymakers are starting to believe that the expansion could be on the precipice of slowing down. Many worry that as rates start to tick up and the US continues its trade war with China that a fragile lower income citizen could be put into an even more precarious financial situation.
But naturally, this didn't stop Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell from recently stating: "The benefits of this long recovery are now reaching these communities to a degree that has not been felt for many years. Many people who in the past struggled to stay in the workforce are now getting an opportunity to add new and better chapters to their life stories. All of this underscores how important it is to sustain this expansion."
We're guessing Powell didn't read our recent article about income inequality and the decline of the middle class. It includes these two charts that are so simple, even a Fed chair could understand them.


New in my www.istockphoto.com portfolio: Patterned ceiling and window detail at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. Go directly to this image at www.istockphoto.com. RobHuntley.ca / Stock Photography information.
Close-up detail of a stone wall. Web site: www.robhuntley.ca Click on the image to go straight to the same image on my website.
Yellow leather detail. Scan of a yellow and tan leather briefcase. Web site: www.robhuntley.ca Click on the image to go straight to the same image on my website.
Patterned ceiling detail at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. Web site: www.robhuntley.ca Click on the image to go straight to the same image on my website.


Even before the Comanches claimed West Texas, Spanish explorers were already familiar with the Llano Estacado-the Staked Plains- and with Ector County. By 1684 three important Spanish expeditions had traveled through our area. Their written accounts described Ector County's lush grasses but the lack of people to convert, easily available water and typical riches delayed any permanent settlement in the area until nearly 200 years later.
In 1849, gold fever brought Captain Randolph E. Marcy of Fort Smith, Arkansas through our area and rekindled the interest in its development. Marcy had been ordered to find the shortest route to the gold fields of California. His expedition eventually brought him east from the Monahans sandhills through Ector county, across Midland County to Mustang Spring, just west of Stanton. His work served as a guide for Captain John Pope of the topographical Engineers of the US Army who came to West Texas in 1854 and is credited with bringing the railroad through Ector County.
To those desiring more details of the location in Ector County of Marcys crossing please Read the data from Howell Engineering report of 1996. This denotes the path to the sign now posted on Highway 302 showing Marcys Crossing. History quotes show Marcy had great difficulty crossing the sand hills from Monahans to Ector County. With the loss of animals because of the lack of water and the slow head way thru the sand with the heavy wagons; some of the wagons were abandoned in the sand. He was most thankful to find the water at Mustang Spring.
The Heritige Of Odessa Foundation, Anne Sherburn.


The union men of Grand Rapids have declared war on the Chinamen. At the meeting of the Trades and Labor council held last night in the Central Labor union hall on Canal Street, strong resolutions were passed urging that all union laboring men discontinue their patronage of the local Chinese laundrymen. The delegate who made the motion to adopt the resolution and a number of other speakers, who discussed the subject, asserted that the present war in China had nothing to do with the matter, but it was evident from the vote that the sentiment against the Chinks was anything but friendly. The only friend Chan Hoy and his fellow celestials had in the assembly was a painter, who asserted that the "heathen Chinee" was the only washerwoman in town who would undertake the job of washing his overalls. After the vote had been taken and the resolutions declared adopted the painter delegate insisted that he would continue to patronize the Chinamen. It is unlikely that he will be disciplined in the matter.
The resolutions adopted were as follows" "Resolved. That the members of the Trades and Labor Council solemnly pledge themselves not to patronize any of the Chinese laundries in the city in the future and be it furthermore.
"Resolved. That the delegates of the various unions represented in the Council be instructed to use all honorable means to pass resolutions looking toward the same end, pledging their members to withdraw their patronage from said laundries.


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Date posted online
Ted Cruz March 12,1947 to May 13, 2022. He lived in San Patricio, N.M., with his wife, Jo Ann. There will be a...
Ted Cruz March 12,1947 to May 13, 2022. He lived in San Patricio, N.M., with his wife, Jo Ann. There will be a Celebration of Life on Saturday July 9, 2022 at Fulton...
San Patricio N.M., NM
Eleanor Lucile Frey
Eleanor Lucile Frey, passed away at the age of 86 on July 3, 2022. She was born on July 23, 1935, in Okanogan, Wasyh.,...
Eleanor Lucile Frey, passed away at the age of 86 on July 3, 2022. She was born on July 23, 1935, in Okanogan, Wasyh., the eldest child of David P. and Alice V. Farnsworth...
Davis Mortuary
Rye, CO
Stella Gagliardi
Stella Gagliardi, 91, passed away July 2, 2022. Visitation, 3 to 7 p.m. Monday, July 11 at TG McCarthy Funeral Home. Funeral ervice, 11 a.m....
Stella Gagliardi, 91, passed away July 2, 2022. Visitation, 3 to 7 p.m. Monday, July 11 at TG McCarthy Funeral Home. Funeral ervice, 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 12 at Holy Family Catholic Church. Burial at...
TG McCarthy Funeral Home
Max Jimenez Jr.
Max Jimenez Jr., passed away peacefully on June 29, 2022, surrounded by dear family and friends. A life-long Puebloan, Max was born on March 23,...
Max Jimenez Jr., passed away peacefully on June 29, 2022, surrounded by dear family and friends. A life-long Puebloan, Max was born on March 23, 1927. After graduation from Central High School in 1945,...
Imperial Funeral Home
Steve Glorioso
Celebration of Life for Steve Glorioso, 1 p.m. Saturday, July 16, at St. Mary Church in Walsenburg. Reception to follow at Delaney Hall.
Walsenburg, CO
Larry Thomas Mathis
was born Dec. 31, 1934, in Colorado Springs, Colo., to Horace and Sue Mathis and passed away July 1, 2022. Larry's family moved to Seattle,...
was born Dec. 31, 1934, in Colorado Springs, Colo., to Horace and Sue Mathis and passed away July 1, 2022. Larry's family moved to Seattle, Wash. and then returned to Denver, Colo. In 1948, Larry...
Montgomery & Steward
Dr. Leon F. Neuenschwander
In Loving Memory of Dr Leon Fredric Neuenschwander PhD (Lee Neuenschwander) June 5, 1946 to June 1, 2022. Born in Murray, Utah, Leon Neuenschwander...
In Loving Memory of Dr Leon Fredric Neuenschwander PhD (Lee Neuenschwander) June 5, 1946 to June 1, 2022. Born in Murray, Utah, Leon Neuenschwander grew up with parents, aunts and uncles which help shaped...
Lorenzo "Larry" Ortivez
Lorenzo "Larry" Ortivez, born March 8, 1927, passed away July 1, 2022. Preceded in death by his parents, Anastacio and Carmalita Ortivez; Bernadette "Bernie" Ortivez;...
Lorenzo "Larry" Ortivez, born March 8, 1927, passed away July 1, 2022. Preceded in death by his parents, Anastacio and Carmalita Ortivez; Bernadette "Bernie" Ortivez; Johanna Olivarri; and siblings. Survived by his wife, Nancy Ortivez;...
Roselawn
Melba L. McClure
95, Melba left this world to be with her father in Heaven on Fathers Day. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, neighbor and...
95, Melba left this world to be with her father in Heaven on Fathers Day. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, neighbor and friend. She will be dearly missed here on earth but...
George Baca
George Baca, 96, of Pueblo, Colo, passed away on June 14, 2022, at his granddaughter's home in Arvada, Colo. George was born in New Mexico...
George Baca, 96, of Pueblo, Colo, passed away on June 14, 2022, at his granddaughter's home in Arvada, Colo. George was born in New Mexico to Fred and Rita Baca on June 22, 1925. He...
Archdiocese of Denver Mortuary
Brett Jay Chapman
33, 06/26/2022, Montgomery & Steward.
Glenna Duncan
Brian Raymond Goodwin
Michael Hutchins
Dick D. Lepetsos
Rex Allen Manning
Larry T. Mathis
87, passed away July 1, 2022. Service, 11 a.m. Friday, July 8, in the Montgomery & Steward Chapel. Full notice Wednesday and at www.MontgomerySteward.com.
Julio B. Medina
Michael Ray Sandoval
Michael Ray Sandoval, 51, passed away June 18, 2022. Rosary, 10 a.m. July 7, 2022, with memorial Mass to immediately follow, both at St. Leander...
Michael Ray Sandoval, 51, passed away June 18, 2022. Rosary, 10 a.m. July 7, 2022, with memorial Mass to immediately follow, both at St. Leander Parish. Online condolences, www.angeluspueblo.com.
Angelus Chapel Mortuaries
Barbara Jean Aragon
Barbara Jean Aragon, 75, passed away June 24, 2022. She was born Sept. 29, 1946, in Sugar City, Colo., to Oris and Margaret Vigil who...
Barbara Jean Aragon, 75, passed away June 24, 2022. She was born Sept. 29, 1946, in Sugar City, Colo., to Oris and Margaret Vigil who preceded her in death along with sister, Flora (Leo) LePrairie;...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Builders borrow best ideas from military for construction and traffic sites
By PopSci.com Guest Blogger: Carolyn Whelan | Published Jan 14, 2009 4:41 AM
Just back from the Transportation Research Board conference and meetings, Carolyn Whelan, a New York-based freelancer focused on alternative energy, climate change, trade, and travel, is guest-blogging for PopSci.com, focusing on new emissions-cutting technologies for infrastructure and transport which may play a prominent role in the Obama administration.
Like retailers did with the Internet, transit officials are borrowing a host of space-age applications from the military, enabling real-time reaction, response, repair, and rerouting in routine and emergency situations.
Or so said gadget and system developers at the Transportation Research Board's annual shindig this week, where some 10,000 folks in the road, rail, air, and boat transit world meet to talk riveting topics like pedestrian wait times at stop lights and measuring traffic flow over snow.
But emerging smart and 3D technologies are shaking things up this year, particularly in the lab and at construction and repair sites. Among them is the Fixed Terrestrial 3D Laser Scanning System, which helps bridge and road builders speed up construction because they can instantaneously measure depth and space remotely.
It used to be that surveying engineers would risk contamination, slippage into roaring rivers, or broken legs from dangerous climbs as they painstakingly poke with depth meters to measure earth contours, obstacles, and available space in which to construct bridges and tunnels. But, tweaking technology used by the military, the construction sector's knock-off uses lasers to measure the distance between the device and the area being photographed with great precision.
Among sites being mapped: Boston's Big Dig, to pinpoint every millimeter of potholes requiring filling with a pricey polyester-based concrete; a section under the Golden Gate bridge, which must be reinforced for earthquakes with great care to avoid destabilizing earth around the historic former military base at the Presidio; and, a short drive away, Berkeley's MacArthur Maze, near Oakland's Bay Bridge, where a collapsed bridge connector in 2007 had to be quickly rebuilt following a tanker fuel spill and fire. Scanning and modeling the area enabled bridge builders to accelerate selection of materials and workers, and construction time.
Other areas which use this technology include the oil and gas, mining, and archaeological excavation industries, to feed data to archaeologists so they can gauge the difficulty and time associated with extracting artifacts safely.
Another military application being tried out by builders uses passive RFID to track material samples being tested.
Builders are also turning to Wi-Fi, also widely used by the military, to track and measure productivity at work sites in real time. After a colossal transportation change, such as a bridge collapse following terrorist attacks or a natural disaster, the system replaces the standard practice of time studies using humans and stopwatches. Digital cameras collect and wirelessly send images of repair and replacement progress in real time for offsite analysis and quick response such as evacuations or rerouting.
Read more of Carolyn's work, from ScientificAmerican.com, Fortune, Newsweek, the International Herald Tribune, and more.
The star reflects on a dangerous form of transportation, plus acting, tightrope walking, and why there's no need to resist feeling afraid.
The sole cable linking Tonga to the global internet backbone in the South Pacific was broken after the eruption.


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Has The Mota Group Quietly Shut Down? The Curse Of The Lily Drone Strikes Again
In October we published a brief investigation into goings on at the Mota Group, the company that purchased the marketing and branding rights to the original (and doomed) Lily Drone project.
As part of the Mota Group's marketing efforts, the company used its newly acquired list of let down Lily backers to help fund and sell a new but limited version of the drone the original project had intended to take to market. The Mota Group was able to directly target the very people who had received refunds from the original Lily project and offer them discounts on the new drone.
It came to our attention that there were plenty of unhappy customers who felt mistreated by the Mota Group for a variety of reasons. The company website itself was also riddled with fake reviews and fishy marketing practices, while several buyers had problems with their shipments and felt let down once again.
As well as a discount, many backers of the original Lily project were offered share options ahead of the company's purported IPO if they made a purchase.
The new drone did hit the market and get out to customers. But the San Jose company was later found to have overstated revenue for 2016, before agreeing to a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and withdrawing its IPO registration statement.
Read more: Fake Reviews and Lily Next-Gen No-Shows: Is the Mota Group Letting Customers Down?
To this day, DroneLife is still getting messages from disgruntled Mota Group customers.
So what's the latest? Well, it looks like big (and bad) news.
Has the Mota Group Shut Down?
A quick browse of the Mota Group's social media channels and the official Lily Camera's social media pages show that all have been untouched since before the turn of the year.
The Mota Group website is also blocked or disabled. As well as that, the official Lily Drone website (http://www.lily.camera), part of the branding package bought and run by the Mota Group, is also unavailable to access.
This would chime with reports we've been getting of annoyed Lily customers who are having their support tickets ignored completely, as well as stories that the customer phone number is no longer operational.
It would also suggest that the Lily Drone has struck again, once again leaving unlucky customers out of pocket and in search of answers.
We've attempted to contact members of staff at the Mota Group and are yet to receive any replies. It's not looking good.
Malek Murison is a freelance writer and editor with a passion for tech trends and innovation. He handles product reviews, major releases and keeps an eye on the enthusiast market for DroneLife.
Email Malek
Twitter:@malekmurison
Subscribe to DroneLife here.


It is becoming all to common in cities around the country. Thieves are targeting valuable backflow prevention devices to steal and sell for scrap metal. Recently, in a report by the San Diego Union Tribune a 47-year-old Vista man was arrested Tuesday in connection with a wave of brass plumbing device thefts reported across North County.
"Most of the backflow devices were stolen from businesses that were forced to shut down while repairs were made. The thefts caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage," police Lt. Neal Griffin said.
In response to the more than 40 backflow thefts in since January North County agencies are working together to crack down on thieves and the recycling businesses that pay them.


GOLFBUDDY, the developer of distance measuring devices made exclusively for golfers, is introducing the latest generation of golf GPS devices this spring, as it launches the aim W10 GPS watch and the Voice 2 GPS.
The new aim series from GOLFBUDDY stands for Accurate, Innovative, Measurable; and those three qualities are at the heart of its latest technology.
The aim W10 GPS watch is GOLFBUDDY's most advanced smart golf GPS watch with features that include a full-colour touch screen, zoom in feature for when close up detail is needed, in-depth hole view with dual arc distance and distances to front, centre, back and hazards. Digital scorecard, automatic course updates via Bluetooth, 13 hours battery life in GPS mode and GOLFBUDDY casting to a smartphone add practical benefits to the unrivalled golf applications to make the aim W10 the hottest GPS watch for 2019.
The Voice 2 GPS combines GOLFBUDDY's advanced GPS technology with unmatched simplicity of use. The Voice 2 features audio distances to front, centre and back of the green along with a clear visual display. At just 4.5 cm square this unit is incredibly discreet and versatile and is easily clipped to a belt, cap or kept in the pocket. 14 hours battery life in GPS mode and 11 pre-loaded languages finish off this easy to use, great value talking GPS unit.
All GOLFBUDDY GPS systems provide pinpoint accuracy and are developed exclusively for golf. Combining the most advanced GPS components and technology with a preloaded library of 40,000 courses worldwide, GOLFBUDDY GPS will guide you accurately through any round, on any golf course on earth. Backed up by U.K. based customer support, the latest GPS technology from GOLFBUDDY is set to be a huge hit for 2019.


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Welcome to Issue #1 of the Digital Transformation Digest
#Digital Transformation Digest
Since Digital Transformation strategies and initiatives are top-of-mind for most companies, First Line will be routinely publishing a blog post titled the Digital Transformation Digest. We will feature examples of how companies are transforming the way they operate and how consumers interact with their products and services.
This month's Digital Transformation Digest features how robotics, wearables, self-driving buses, augmented reality and chatbots are transforming the way companies operate and how consumers interact with their products and services. We hope you find this digest informative and inspiring.
Recent Digital Transformation Cases
What is the hottest theme of industrial automation nowadays? Robots: they are everywhere. Traditionally, robots have been used primarily in manufacturing. But other industries, including healthcare, shipping and logistics, food services, retail, hospitality, and others are also starting to use robots. Business Insider analysts expect robotic shipments to nearly triple between 2015 and 2021 and manufacturing will continue to be the top adopter of robots.
Retailers and warehouses are also active implementing the use of robots and drones. Walmart and Amazon are not the only companies working on drone delivery now. In July, 7-Eleven partnered with Flirtey to complete the first FAA-approved autonomous drone delivery from a store to a customer's home.
Estonian startup Cleveron is making an attempt to one-up Amazon's Lockers with a more advanced solution with its public debut of the PackRobot Cleveron's home country of Estonia. How does it work? Not everyone can be home when a package shows up, and no one wants to wait in line at the post office or FedEx. The towering PackRobot takes and dispenses every item through a single port, after which hidden systems measure the package and put it in a spot that's exactly the right size, adjusting the height of internal shelves to fit the maximum amount inside. It's kept cool and dry, and when customers arrive to collect their items, it pops out at the same spot every time.
It's no secret that Amazon is embracing industrial robots for fulfillment tasks; but now the company is looking to the academic community to bring even more to robotic warehouse automation. To help showcase these advances, teams from 28 international institutions participated in the second annual Amazon Picking Challenge. The big winner was Delft Robotics, a team based in the Netherlands. Delft won both the pick and stow tasks.
Amazon is not the only pioneer of digital transformation. The startup Shipwallet has a clever idea. By devising algorithms and developing machine-learning techniques, Shipwallet aggregates all the various shipping options from hundreds of logistics companies and uses algorithms to offer up suitable options – that will vary depending on the product. Although it's still early days for the Swedish company, Shipwallet is notching up 500,000 transactions a month by tapping into that convenience factor.
What else? Robot-powered restaurants could soon put fast food workers out of a job. A robot-powered burger joint is coming to San Francisco.
Another main trend of digital transformation is wearables. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report titled "The Wearable Future" wearable technology is admittedly "the next big thing," and already recognized as a new industry. Forecasted to reach $6 billion by 2018, with close to 130 million wearable devices shipped by 2018, wearable tech is going to change the world in a similar way the smartphone did, but in a much shorter period of time. The main adopters of wearables are the retail, fashion, entertainment, advertising, healthcare, and gaming industries. But wearables could also transform even the construction industry. Some of the wearable tech gadgets that are making waves with construction companies can be found here.
Self-driving cars can be used for more than personal needs. Mercedes-Benz has developed the Future Bus with CityPilot because mobility "cannot be met by private transport alone". The Mercedes-Benz Future Bus's CityPilot technology is based on the Highway Pilot system found in the autonomous Mercedes-Benz Actros truck; but with adaptations that make it suitable for an urban environment. As a result, the bus is able to recognize and communicate with traffic lights, allowing it to drive through the intersections they control.
Retail digital transformation affects shoppers. A new demo spotted by Mashable offers a glimpse of US-based startup Magic Leap's augmented reality technology in shopping. In the video, which CMO Brian Wallace released at a conference in China, a user appears to measure a space and shop for baby-friendly lamps to fill it. You can see one of the lamps appear in 3D in the user's room, and even accommodate shifts in perspective as she approaches.
Chatbots are another example of a disruptive technology. Pizza Hut will soon expand its menu ordering options to social media with the launch of its own interactive chatbot. Chatbots use artificial intelligence and preprogrammed responses to automate simple tasks like composing an email, booking a trip, or ordering food.
That concludes our whirlwind tour of how digital transformation is disrupting many industries and business operations. We'll continue next month with more about digital transformation initiatives from around the world.
Based on materials from:
www.zdnet.com
arstechnica.co.uk
wtvox.com
readwrite.com
mashable.com
www.cnet.com


The University of Gothenburg must cancel this procurement. The University´s research group was not granted research approval from the Tanzanian government, which means that the University is unable to perform the survey.
The Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD) at the University of Gothenburg requires partners to implement a large-scale household survey, elite interviews and data collection at the village level in Tanzania. The survey will consist of 5 000 face-to-face interviews conducted in 200 different locations in the Tanzanian/Kenyan/Zambian border. The partnership requires continuous collaboration with GLD providing technical expertise on questionnaire development, sampling, survey training and monitoring. For further information, read the tender documents.
Please read the tender documents for detailed information.


text:
The Condor and the Cows: Isherwood's Long Journey
This has been a most wonderful evening. Gertrude has said things tonight it will take her ten years to understand.
Alice B. Toklas
I'VE MADE IT MY GOAL to read the entire oeuvre of late British-American author, Christopher Isherwood, over a twelve-month period. This profile constitutes the twelfth in a series of twenty.
Isherwood, Christopher. The Condor and the Cows. New York: Random, 1948.
Writers don't do this much anymore: take long journeys to foreign countries like those found in South America and pen a single book about it, but that's what Isherwood does in The Condor and the Cows. He writes about his trip taken with lover-at-the-time and photographer, William Caskey, one that spans six months in 1947-48.
"The meaning of the title should be evident, but perhaps I had better explain that the Condor is the emblem of the Andes and their mountain republics, while the Cows represent the great cattle-bearing plains, and, more specifically, Argentina—no offense intended" (3).
It is an interesting concept, recording all your impressions from a single trip: your conveyances, whether they be ships by which you travel five days from one continent to another, or whether they be the relatively new airplane, which can soar above mountains and shorten days-long trips to a few hours. You record the food you eat. The pillows upon which you lay your head. Trains traveling through a dust storm on the Argentine plain, yielding a gritty experience from one end of your sleeping car to the other. Chauffeurs driving ninety miles per hour across that plain because the road is smooth and there is relatively little traffic and because the matron in charge shows no reason to be concerned.
North American schools seem to teach little about geography anymore, the different types of maps that one can study in advance of a trip, during, and after: climate maps, economic, physical, political, road, or topographical maps. Isherwood's partner provides the frontispiece map for The Condor and the Cows: an inkling of their half-year journey from Curaçao to Cartagena, to Medellin, to Bogotá, to Quito and Guayaquil, to Trujillo and Lima, to Machu Picchu and Cuzco, to Lake Titicaca, to Arequipa, and finally Buenos Aires (not on this map). Isherwood details every morsel of food they eat, every visit they make with friends who live in various cities, the new friends he and Caskey make along the way, every drop of liquor, details of minor illnesses borne on such a long expedition, clothing natives wear, commentary on local and national and continental politics. Little is out of his focus, and he and the publisher include twenty-four pages of Caskey's photographs [see photo gallery below for just a few]. I admire the author's due diligence in writing down enough of the bones of his trip to amount to 217 pages of interesting, sometimes titillating, reading that, year by year, may become more so because it also has become a bit of history.
From Left to Right: Bamboo Tenement in Guayaquil | Paco Lara Entering Bullring, Bogotá | Guambia Indians | Country Girl, Pisac | A Gaucho, Argentina (All Photos by William Caskey)
A few nuggets derived from Isherwood and Caskey's voyage:
"We stopped at El Banco just after dark . . . [o]n the narrow gangplank the two streams of human beings collided, surged and mingled; a yelling mob of white-cotton clothes and dark bodies—yellow, red, velvet black and plum purple, with an occasional, strangely arresting blond head. Above the confusion the ship's band played its lively clattering music, and through the open doors of the church on the hill there was a glimpse of a priest at the altar, a remote quiet candle-lit figure, saying vespers" (34-5). A lovely description despite Isherwood's slightly racist point of view.
We witness that POV here again as he describes Guambian Indians: "The men have short glossy black hair, shocked up into an untidy tuft, and lively impudent black eyes. Some look strikingly Mongolian. Their mouths are a bit apelike. They smile readily and don't in the least mind if you examine their ornaments or their clothes" (67). Isherwood's descriptions are not as insulting as perhaps his patronizing and paternalistic tone. Perhaps we can forgive him if, for no other reason, we remember he is a product of the imperialistic British Empire, born in 1904.
When caught in a certain badlands between Ecuador and Columbia, a town called Pasto, the author remarks: "We were put down at the Hotel Granada, a shabby wooden building with inside balconies around a central dining room. The bedrooms are like stables. Windowless, with great barn-doors closed by padlocks. The combined shower and toilet—the only one on the ground floor—is unfit for pigs. While we were eating a tepid greasy supper, in strolled the mail-car driver with his girl. On seeing us, he smiled without surprise but didn't offer a word of explanation or excuse [earlier they've had an altercation]. We neither washed nor shaved, brushed our teeth in bottled mineral water, and went sadly and shiveringly to bed at eight-thirty" (75).
Here the author compensates for his grumpy-tourist temperament with the following account: "And at this very moment, like a miracle, the rail-bus appeared. We waved our arms frantically, hardly daring to hope that it would stop. It did stop. We scrambled thankfully on board.
That is the irony of travel. You spend your boyhood dreaming of a magic, impossibly distant day when you will cross the Equator, when your eyes will behold Quito. And then, in the slow prosaic process of life, that day undramatically dawns—and finds you sleepy, hungry and dull. The Equator is just another valley; you aren't sure which and you don't much care. Quito is just another railroad station, with fuss about baggage and taxis and tips. And the only comforting reality, amidst all this picturesque noisy strangeness, is to find a clean pension run by Czech refugees and sit down in a cozy Central European parlor to a lunch of well-cooked Wiener Schnitzel" (80).
Isherwood now echoes his title with this anecdote: "Mr. Cooper used also to keep a boa-constrictor and two condors. But the boa had to be gotten rid of; it was always trying to get at the other animals, or escaping and terrifying the neighbors. The condors flew away, which is a great pity; perched on the roof, they must have given the house the air of a Charles Addams drawing in the New Yorker.
"He describes how a party of his friends were riding along a narrow trail in the high mountains when they saw three condors and fired at them. The condors disappeared—to get help, apparently—for they returned a few minutes later with twenty-five others, and all of them swooped down upon the pack-train. In the confusion, two horses fell over the precipice; their riders jumped clear just in time. Condors will peck the eyes out of cows and then drive them with their wings off the edge of a cliff; the cows get killed and the condors eat them" (125).
Very subtly Isherwood tells what he believes has happened to the indigenous Indians when attacked by the Conquistadors long ago. "These people, like the Chinese peasants [referring to another trip, made in 1938 with W. H. Auden, detailed in Journey to a War], have an uncanny air of belonging to their landscape—of being, in the profoundest sense, its inhabitants. It would hardly surprise you to see them emerging from or disappearing into the bowels of the earth" (143).
It is not beneath Isherwood's dignity to criticize others: "Cuzco is right on the trans-Andean tourist trail. This hotel is full of tourists. The majority are North American—middle-aged women schoolteachers, mostly. Grimly devout, complaining but undaunted, they make their way over the mountains from Lima to Buenos Aires—gasping in the high altitudes, vomiting and terrified in planes, rattled like dice in buses, dragged out of bed before dawn to race along precipice roads, poisoned with strange foods, tricked by shopkeepers, appalled by toilets" (145). This is an interesting comment, especially in light of the fact that he seems to echoing some of his own prissy complaints listed above.
In Buenos Aires, Isherwood makes arrangements to stay with an acquaintance from his Berlin days of the 1930s: Berthold. The author tells a long story, which I will not cite in full, in which Berthold tells of visiting New York City and running into someone he had known previously, someone whom he'd buried in Africa, thinking the man was dead! What a second-hand tale this makes. (186-8).
"Argentina, like the United States, has practically liquidated its Indian problem. And much the same manner" (193). In the same breath that he is criticizing the US for wholesale liquidation, Isherwood is betraying his own racist bent with the words "Indian problem," as if the subjects are unwanted vermin that must be disposed of. It is perhaps a warning to all of us in this era: our words of judgment could, in future years, wind up similarly betraying us.
Nonetheless, even sixty-eight years after its publication, Isherwood's prose seems fresh, if only because he is able to write down crisp first impressions of lands he has wanted to visit since he was a child, and yet temper his prose with the studied hand of a professional author.
Some Wait Forever
Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.
Flora Lewis
Born April 25, 1918*
(*Sources vary; some say 1920, and others 1922.)
Edith Carron
April 25, 2016, Lara Vapnyar, "Waiting for the Miracle": Thirty-year-old Vadik arrives in New York City from Moscow, connects with a Staten Island buddy and wife, and later hooks up with Rachel, a young woman he meets in a diner—all in his first twenty-four hours. ¶ Vapnyar's title, a Leonard Cohen song, is also the story of Vadik's life, and perhaps the lives of all immigrants like his Staten Island friends, Sergey and Vica: a slight disappointment that the big promise of capitalism may have come true for everyone but them. At one point you believe Vadik must marry Rachel:
"Days, week, months, even years later, whenever Vadik thought of their conversation (and he thought of it a lot) he would marvel at how easy it had been" (83).
But no, due to a certain insecurity, the fear of settling down too soon with one woman, he leaves her a note ("You're beautiful.") and disappears while she sleeps. He does try to locate her but never succeeds, and his idealization of her—their comfortable sex and easy conversation—hardens into a graven image. Vapnyar captures an alien sense we all have at times, that no matter what we do, we just may not fit in anywhere on earth. Her novel, Still Here, is due out in August.
Illustration by Edith Carron.
Marlon James, Magician
To invent good stories, and to tell them well, are possibly very rare talents, and yet I have observed few persons who have scrupled to aim at both . . . .
James, Marlon. A Brief History of Seven Killings. New York: Riverhead, 2014.
At the end of 2015, I watched BBC America as Mr. James won the Booker Prize in London—an approximation of America's National Book Award. Because I'm constantly juggling the reading of several books, I have a difficult time with rather lengthy tomes—this one is 688 pages—but Brief History is well worth the time, is worthy of the many accolades it has received. On the cover some reviewers call it is a masterpiece. Only time will tell on that score, but it is certainly a hearty and substantive read, plenty of red meat for any reader.
You know you're in for an exhilarating ride when the author provides a cast of characters totaling seventy-six. Now only thirteen actually narrate, but still, thirteen alternating points of view provide great layers of texture to the narrative, a broadening of its scope. The first two parts take place in 1979 and fictionalize the assassination attempt on the life of musician Bob Marley—referred to as the Singer. The third part takes place in 1979, the fourth in 1985, and the fifth in 1991—the aftermath that keeps unfolding. A coda of sorts, consisting of twelve short chapters, serves as a very satisfying denouement, in which everyone's questions are answered.
Yet the novel is so much more than an inside look at Jamaica's drug trade. I'm not sure any writer has ever captured Jamaican life in the manner that James does. First, he succeeds in recreating, in print, not only one but probably several Jamaican dialects (much like Twain does in Huckleberry Finn). Do I know that for sure? No. It's a guess. But I do know this. The text seems authentic. Nowhere in the book, do you find the word "Goddamn," except when an American is speaking. You will run across, scores of times, the words "Bombocloth" or "bloodcloth." If you let your imagination run wild, you can guess what kind of cloth is a bloodcloth. This male-dominated society would rather use iconography of menstruation to swear than risk the wrath of the Pentecostal God that reigns over its shores. Then there is the word, "fuckery." Beautiful. James's prose is so clean, free not only of traditional syntax but free of conventional thought, as well. He recreates a world you will never see when your cruise ship stops for the day in Montego Bay.
Three paragraphs, and I've barely touched on the novel, but here are what I deem to be some pretty fine nuggets:
Dead people never stop talking. Maybe because death is not death at all, just a detention after school. You know where you're coming from and you're always returning from it. You know where you're going though you never seem to get there and you're just dead. Dead" (1).
What a fabulous opening. And there's more from this character, who is actually dead—Sir Arthur George Jennings, a former politician, a ghost!
"Me want enough money to stop want money" (55).
—Demus, a gang member
"The white man say we're fighting for freedom from totalitarianism, terrorism and tyranny, but nobody know what he mean" (73).
—Bam-Bam, a gang member
"Certain parts of town you let the baby walk the street and you leave him when he play in the shit water. And when him get sick so that he is just a ballooning, bursting screaming belly that used to be a baby, you take your time to go to clinic which too packed anyway and the baby dead while you waiting in the line, or maybe you take pity and cover the baby with your pillow the night before and either way, you see and wait, because death is the best thing you could do for him" (179).
—Papa-Lo, don of Copenhagen City, 1960-1979
"Please, please, please, please, please shut up. Just shut up. I'm going to go find my head" (308).
—Kim Clarke, unemployed woman. Reminiscent of woman's speech in Hemingway's story, "Hills Like White Elephants," in which she uses "please" seven times (no commas) to demand that a man to stop talking. Effective in both cases.
"—Eh, what do you really think you know about the Central Peace Council? I bet you didn't know that it was a joke. Peace. Only one kind of peace can ever come down the ghetto. It's really simple, so simple even a retarded man can catch the drift. Even a white man. The second you say peace this and peace that, and let's talk about peace, is the second gunman put down their guns. But guess what, white boy. As soon as you put down your gun the policeman pull out his gun. Dangerous thing, peace. Peace make you stupid. You forget that not everybody sign peace treaty. Good times bad for somebody" (387).
—Josey Wales, don, speaking to Alex Pierce, journalist for Rolling Stone
"It is a thing to watch, the kind of feeling that take up a white man every time you take him to Port Royal. You wonder if this is the same spirit that leap up in them as soon as they land on any rock. I'm betting it is so, from as far back as Columbus and slavery. Something about landing from sea that make a white man free to say and do as he please" (411). Whoa!
—Josey Wales, head enforcer, don of Copenhagen City, 1979-1991, leader of the Storm Posse
"Now something new is blowing through the air, an ill wind" (430).
—Sir Arthur George Jennings, ghost, repeats this phrase--something new is blowing—scores of times in this chapter. "Tony McFerson stands up first with a wide smile on his face, a heave and a sigh of relief one could see from four hundred feet away. The third bullet goes through his neck sideways, explodes the medulla and kills everything below the neck before his brain realizes he's dead" (432). What description!
"But Weeper have this thing where he just can't get along with any woman, or rather this thing where no woman can tell him what to do. Then again Griselda is not a woman. She a vampire who cock drop off a hundred years ago. She lose her patience with him and when a madwoman like her lose her patience with you she would make even a hardcore Jamaican rudie go, Bombocloth bitch yuh wicked no fuck. Was just a matter of months before she kill Weeper herself" (465).
—Josey Wales, speaking of Weeper, a gang enforcer, Storm Posse head enforcer, Manhattan/Brooklyn
"Right now everybody know that whoever shoot the Singer was aiming for the heart but get the chest and only because he exhale instead of inhale, right? I mean, it even in the book on him" (544).
—Tristan Phillips, inmate at Rikers
A Brief History of Seven Killings is one of those major works I know I shall read again—largely because there is so much to digest and understand. It's that dense with irony, with meaning. It's that enjoyable, if I dare use such a word.
Not To Be a Poet
Divorced men are more likely to meet their car payments than their child support obligations.
Rebecca Mock
April 18, 2016, Colin Barrett, "Anhedonia, Here I Come": Poet Bobby Tallis, twenty-nine-year-old denizen of a "First World Western" country utilizing Euros (answer to the riddle: Ireland), nonetheless supports himself by penning cartoon porn for AllFreeekArt. ¶ Some iteration of this character has emerged in literature before: John Kennedy Toole's Ignatius J. Reilly, Salinger's Holden Caulfield, maybe even Kerouac's Dean Moriarty. However, if Bobby is angry like the first two, he buries it with the help of alcohol and weed. And if he is like Moriarty, he has neither wheels nor the exuberance to see beyond the senior-citizen building in which he lives because it is both cheap and quiet. ¶ I confess that I had to look up a-n-h-e-d-o-n-i-a: the lack of pleasure or ability to experience it. It is the key, as any word appearing in the title should be, to understanding this narrative about a failed young poet, who fairly wallows in his obscurity, his quiet life of words, until he learns that his muse-mentor, also a failed poet, has changed his allegiance to a twenty-two-year-old woman who has just won her first publishing contract. Upon learning this, Bobby pounds down five pints and trudges home. Against the fire department's wishes, he enters his gas-laden building and opens a window in his apartment:
"He put the joint in his mouth and brought the lighter to it. Friction: he looked out across the city sky and flicked the lighter's wheel, prepared for the night to go up all around him, but the night, as the night was wont to do, rolled impersonally on. After a while, Bobby began to hear the Dopplered gulling of the sirens as the fire trucks made their approach" (69).
Bobby is about to suffer the ultimate inability to feel or experience pleasure, and I'm not sure I care. Barrett's collection, Young Skins, was published in 2015.
Illustration by Rebecca Mock
"The Burglar" Tells Three Stories Simultaneously
Time is the nervous system of narration, whether factual or fictive. If it gets confused some of the minutiae of human nature are certain not to work, not to glow, not to strike home.
Yorulmaz | Strick & Williams
April 11, 2016, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, "The Burglar": Structured in fifty-nine short segments, sometimes only sentence-length, Bynum's story is about a husband, a wife, and the man who is burglarizing them. ¶ I love stories that make an examination of our lives, or better than that, a distillation, a breaking down of how we live: race issues, working housewives rating or vetting termite killers during half-days off, TV series and their writers who push the envelope, jobs that very heavily depend on your performance via viewer ratings, the electronic gadgets which are so expensive at first but wind up being junk by the time a burglar sticks them in an unused bag, and still we won't let go even if it means getting a bloodied eye. ¶ In her quick-start scenes, Bynum is attempting to tell three stories simultaneously, attempting to put film on paper. And in large part she succeeds. For the traditional reader the ride may be tough going until you pick up the patter or pattern, and by then you'll be obliged to read at least the beginning again, to see that, as any good story, Bynum has laid out all the clues from sentence one. Now, ready, set, go figure how one of the TV characters becomes the burglar! The author's Ms. Hempel Chronicles came out in 2009.
Photo-Illustration by Oezden Yorulmaz.
Design by Strick and Williams
Have The Conversation Now
Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life.
Volandes, Angelo E. The Conversation: A Revolutionary Plan for End-of-Life Care. New York: Bloomsbury, 2015.
Medical Doctor Volandes offers a plan for terminal patients to share with their family members and loved ones concerning how and when their lives should end. He informs the reader that "only 24 percent of Americans older than sixty-five die at home; 63 percent die in hospitals or nursing homes, sometimes tethered to machines, and often in pain" (3). He blames the medical profession—doctors like him—for their failure "to have discussions with patients about how to live life's final chapter" (3). If you should become a terminally ill patient, you must have The Conversation with your doctor.
I am reminded of a scene from the Mike Nichols's 2001 HBO film Wit (based on Margaret Edson's play), starring Emma Thompson as a highly educated woman dying from late-stage Ovarian cancer. A kind nurse played by Audra McDonald asks Thompson what her wishes are when her heart stops. Thompson indicates she prefers DNR status: Do Not Resuscitate. Thompson's young intern, a former university student of hers, makes an error on her chart, and the Full Code treatment to revive her ensues instead. McDonald, fortunately, is on hand to remind the doctor, and Thompson is allowed to die in relative peace—as she's wished. All too often, according to Volandes, Americans are not afforded the courtesy of having The Conversation, and patients are subject to CPR, when statistics show that only a small number of the elderly survive such efforts.
At the same time, Volandes explains that medical doctors are trained in the following manner: "To doctor patients is to learn how not to die" (8). They and their staffs often can't help themselves. With all the lifesaving equipment and procedures available to them, physicians forget the old saw, "First, do no harm," and forge ahead because they can. Volandes states, "Patients can drive change by having greater knowledge of their options, while doctors can drive change by communicating and advocating for those choices . . . every doctor knows that in the end, we all find ourselves on the patient's side of the stethoscope" (9).
Most of the research, he tells us, indicates that terminal patients are healthier and have a better outlook at the end of their lives if they know what their choices are, and the two choices are pretty much this: you either want to be at home, made comfortable with pain control, or you want to be Full Code, where the hospital staff does everything to keep you alive until your loved ones say "Turn it off." The doctor's book is simply written and lacks the dry, overladen rhetoric of medical speak. Instead, he employs moving anecdotes about patients facing the end of their lives, including one about his own father. He describes the video he produces to screen for patients and their loved ones to help them decide how their lives should end, instead of, defaulting to the hospital.
I plan to keep The Conversation handy and study it when and if the time arrives. I could always get hit by a truck!
"God's Work" Not So Mysterious
People have always asked me why I'm drawn to material about kids, and for me, it's—I remember being at that age and feeling completely and utterly powerless. You know, there's so many things you wanna do and so many things you're told you can't do.
Ned Vizzini, It's Kind of a Funny Story
Carucci | Brand
April 4, 2016, Kevin Canty, "God's Work": Sixteen-year-old Sander helps his evangelistic mother deliver door-to-door colorful pamphlets about God's salvation. ¶ Canty's narrative about the abstractions of religion is rooted in the concrete of our world: hot summer days more like spring because of clear skies and beautiful flowers, the incessant heat, cool creek water in the park where a young girl reveals the flesh of her thigh to Sander. Heat, in particular, Canty emphasizes, especially as poor Sander's body does what adolescent bodies do best: become tumescent when stimulated. This Sander is fractured into two persons:
"'I'll pray on it,' Sander says and his mother radiates approval, and at that exact moment he splits into two people, the one he has always been and some itchy, wayward newborn" (71).
The former Sander belongs still to his mother, is faithful to all she holds dear. The "newborn" Sander contrives to obtain his mother's consent to meet alone with Clara, a girl with a very Eve-like snake rising over her shoulder in the form of a tattoo. From here to story's end, one feels what has been present all along, two invisible but opposing forces fighting for dominion over this lad—most of the conflict beneath the surface of his everyday life. It may be one of the most revealing stories concerning the power of religion that I've ever read. Many of us likewise have been split into two personages: one who believes and one who simply cannot. Kevin Canty's forthcoming novel, The Underworld, comes out later this year.
Photograph by Elinor Carucci
Design by Christopher Brand
Levin is Paul Revere of Cyberspace
For any writer, the ability to look at a sentence and see what's superfluous, what can be altered, revised, expanded, and, especially, cut, is essential. It's satisfying to see that sentence shrink, snap into place, and ultimately emerge in a more polished form: clear, economical, sharp.
Levin, Adam, and Beau Friedlander. Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identify Thieves. New York: Public Affairs, 2015.
When you aren't an expert in a particular field, you can be cowed by someone who is (supposedly) an expert. That's how I feel as I read Levin's book Swiped. It's a clever title. You think at first: Oh, he's talking about how you swipe your card in a reader when purchasing an item, and then you get caught up in the pun. He's really talking about when someone else swipes your card and swipes it in a reader or uses it to swipe your data. As a student of rhetoric, I'm always suspicious of what seems like hyperbolic speech, oversell, overkill. At the same time, Levin could be Paul Revere, and most of us just haven't heard his cry. Although Levin's book provides a great deal of usable information, I do believe he could have honed it down to one well-edited magazine article, and it would have been just as effective. You be the judge.
Let me share a few of the nuggets I found interesting:
"More than 500 million photographs are uploaded to major websites every day. More than 2 billion pictures are taken on mobile devices every day" (Kindle Location 85). Elsewhere Levin cautions against using geotagged photos at websites like Facebook because it can give thieves clues to your PII (personally identifiable information). It probably begins with the settings in your camera or iPhoto. I think it makes sense NOT to geotag.
"Debit cards increase your exposure to fraud. Use a credit card" (Kindle Location 578). Levin asserts that "carefully placed cameras" (by thieves?) can record PIN numbers as you enter them in an ATM or device at your favorite store. Not sure what his authority or source is on this assertion, and he's assuming that thieves could EASILY install their own cameras at ATM stations. Seriously?
He warns against the free release of your social security number: "With your Social Security number in the wind, whoever finds it—or, more likely, whoever buys it on one of the many black-market information exchanges on the deep web—holds the keys to every part of your life. What that means—plain and simple—is that you're going to need an efficient way to keep one eye over your shoulder, all the time" (Kindle Location 591). The paranoiac tone notwithstanding, Levin's advice is probably good. Elsewhere in the book, he directs the reader to keep only a COPY of your Medicare card in your wallet with all but the last four numbers blacked out, the "M" or "F," as well. This way, you can still inform someone who needs the number (medical personnel) but protect yourself from unwarranted use if someone should steal your wallet. He also warns against carrying your Social Security card (or copy) for the very same reasons.
At one point Levin makes a list: "We expose our most sensitive personal information any time we
Pick up a phone, respond to a text, click on a link, or carelessly provide personal information to someone we don't know;
Fail to properly secure computers or devices;
Create easy-to-crack passwords;
Discard, rather than shred, documents that contain PII;
Respond to an email that directs us to call a number we can't independently confirm, or complete an attachment that asks for our PII in an insecure environment;
Save our user ID or password on a website or in an app as a shortcut for future logins;
Use the same user ID or password throughout our financial, social networking, and email universes;
Take [online] quizzes that subtly ask for information we've provided as the answers to security questions on various websites.
Snap pictures with our smartphone or digital camera without disabling the geotagging function;
Use our email address as a user name/ID, if we have the option to change it;
Use PINS like 1234 or a birthday;
Go twenty-four hours without reviewing our bank and credit card accounts to make absolutely sure that every transaction we see is familiar;
Fail to enroll in free transactional monitoring programs offered by banks, credit unions, and credit card providers that notify us every time there is any activity in our accounts;
Use a free Wi-Fi network [i.e. cafés or even airports] without confirming it is correctly identified and secure, to check email or access financial services websites that contain our sensitive data" (Kindle Location 668-678). These tips are all good advice. I only question whether we need to check our accounts EVERY DAY. Perhaps every second or third day, even once a week?
"The deep web is a hidden part of the Internet. It consists of a vast number of sites, most of them thoroughly boring, that can't be found by a traditional search engine like Google. To access these sites, you need a password, a specific URL, a sophisticated understanding of how computers communicate, or sometimes all of the above. The deep web is four hundred to six hundred times larger than the 'surface web,' that is, the familiar sites you can access via search engines and see every day" (Kindle Location 781).
Hm, yes, okay. On the one hand, I want to run screaming into the street. On the other, I want to laugh. So . . . the deep, dark web is LARGER than our mere regular Internet? But it is also harder to break into? Perhaps the underworld of crime has always been that way, but something about Levin's tone makes me wary. Moreover, he repeats many, many times that everyone, EVERYONE, will be hacked or in some way attacked by parties wanting access to our personal digital information. Mathematically, that doesn't seem possible. It's like saying EVERYONE will have a car accident in his or her lifetime, or EVERYONE will contract TB or AIDS. Some people just won't.
All these admonitions, in a nutshell, are what Levin's book is about. If I were to liken it to a musical form, I would say it is a rondo: Theme ABACADA or perhaps Variations on a Theme. He keeps repeating the same themes in slightly different ways. A full quarter of the book consists of five appendices, which repeat oft-harped-on information presented earlier.
Again, Levin seems to offer the reader/consumer/citizen-of-the-world valuable data, but his Paul Revere appeal could have been reduced to bite-sized pieces. He could have skipped many of the useless or situation-specific anecdotes and provided the reader with a little card to keep in the wallet or purse. Sometimes too much information can also be too little.


text:
Live Mock Draft Grades
by Nathan Grimm
Updated on March 14, 2019, 11:41 am ET
After a successful maiden voyage last spring, Rotoworld once again hosted a live fantasy baseball mock draft this year. Live on Rotoworld.com Wednesday morning, our own D.J. Short and Ryan Boyer, and Yahoo Sports' Andy Behrens and Scott Pianowski, took on each other and eight Rotoworld Draft Guide subscribers to see who could build the best team.
I was asked to blindly hand out individual roster grades afterward, choosing one overall winner from the 12 teams. I didn't stream the draft as it happened and was simply sent the results via email on Wednesday afternoon. The names of the owners were only given to me once I was ready to publish this write-up, so no bias was at play.
After the round, the overall selection number is in parentheses next to the player's name -- (1) is the first overall pick, (24) is the No. 24 pick in the draft, etc. That helps provide some context when comparing a player's value here as compared to his average draft position (ADP).
This is all based on standard 5x5 fantasy scoring with the following roster setup: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, UTIL, UTIL, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, P, P, BN, BN.
Team 1 (D.J. Short)
1. (1) Mike Trout (LAA - OF)
2. (24) Freddie Freeman (Atl - 1B)
3. (25) Blake Snell (TB - SP)
4. (48) Daniel Murphy (Col - 1B,2B)
5. (49) Xander Bogaerts (Bos - SS)
6. (72) Kenley Jansen (LAD - RP)
7. (73) Zack Wheeler (NYM - SP)
8. (96) Matt Chapman (Oak - 3B)
9. (97) Mitch Haniger (Sea - OF)
10. (120) Andrew McCutchen (Phi - OF)
11. (121) Raisel Iglesias (Cin - RP)
12. (144) Miguel Cabrera (Det - 1B)
13. (145) Ender Inciarte (Atl - OF)
14. (168) Joey Lucchesi (SD - SP)
15. (169) Danny Jansen (Tor - C)
16. (192) Joe Musgrove (Pit - SP)
17. (193) Jesus Luzardo (Oak - SP)
18. (216) Kevin Gausman (Atl - SP)
19. (217) Matt Barnes (Bos - RP)
20. (240) Paul DeJong (StL - SS)
Team overview: I'm trying to pace myself to avoid peaking too soon, like giving out the Golden Ticket before the one really beautiful girl walks by on an episode of Singled Out, but I'm really in like with this team. Trout, of course, provides the single best foundation available, but getting Freeman at 24 overall is a coup, and the lineup as a whole is a great mix of bankable stats and a few upside plays. If there's a weakness it's the rotation depth -- Lucchesi isn't an ideal No. 3, and only five of the six starters will even begin the year in the majors, likely -- but I'm a fan of the speculation on breakouts from Musgrove and Luzardo. In all, a well-rounded team that should vie for a title, and ultimately, my favorite of the draft.
Favorite pick: McCutchen. The Freeman pick is probably the best value, but the drafter didn't really have to do much there, just sit and say "thank you." McCutchen is one of my favorite undervalued guys this year, as I think the move to a better park and a stacked Phillies lineup will be very good for the veteran.
Least-favorite pick: Chapman. He's certainly got his believers, but I'm not sure he'll be better than some of the third basemen drafted behind him (Donaldson, Andujar, Myers).
Team 2 (Cullen S.)
1. (2) Mookie Betts (Bos - OF)
2. (23) Giancarlo Stanton (NYY - OF)
3. (26) Juan Soto (Was - OF)
4. (47) Khris Davis (Oak - OF)
5. (50) Cody Bellinger (LAD - 1B,OF)
6. (71) Corey Seager (LAD - SS)
7. (74) Matt Carpenter (StL - 1B,2B,3B)
8. (95) Dee Gordon (Sea - 2B,SS,OF)
9. (98) Charlie Morton (TB - SP)
10. (119) Josh Hader (Mil - RP)
11. (122) Dallas Keuchel (Hou - SP)
12. (143) Rich Hill (LAD - SP)
13. (146) Tyler Glasnow (TB - SP,RP)
14. (167) Billy Hamilton (KC - OF)
15. (170) Kenta Maeda (LAD - SP,RP)
16. (191) Dellin Betances (NYY - RP)
17. (194) Will Smith (SF - RP)
18. (215) Andrew Miller (StL - RP)
19. (218) Collin McHugh (Hou - RP)
20. (239) Jesse Winker (Cin - OF)
Team overview: My first instinct was to not like anything about this team, but upon further review, the offense balances power and speed well, albeit at the cost of some batting average. The pitching, though, falls short of the mark, which will happen when you don't take your first pitcher until Round 9. It's a high-risk, high-reward group of starters, but this owner will need a lot of things to go right for the staff to get enough wins and strikeouts to compete in those categories, and saves don't appear to be in the equation, either. If I squint hard enough I can see a competitive team, but it's a gambit. (They don't even have a catcher, for crying out loud.)
Favorite pick: Winker. To get a guy with the upside of Winker as your last-round pick is a nice value to say the least. I'm bullish on Winker to have a nice batting average and on-base floor with 20-plus homer upside and the counting stats that come with it in GABP.
Least-favorite pick: Keuchel. Keuchel's appeal slips with each passing day as he goes unsigned. Baking in the time it will take him to get up to speed -- assuming he signs any time soon -- I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze at this price.
Team 3 (Frank W.)
1. (3) Jose Ramirez (Cle - 2B,3B)
2. (22) Corey Kluber (Cle - SP)
3. (27) Manny Machado (SD - 3B,SS)
4. (46) Jack Flaherty (StL - SP)
5. (51) George Springer (Hou - OF)
6. (70) Jose Abreu (CWS - 1B)
7. (75) Yasiel Puig (Cin - OF)
8. (94) Sean Doolittle (Was - RP)
9. (99) Wil Myers (SD - 3B,OF)
10. (118) Corey Knebel (Mil - RP)
11. (123) Shane Bieber (Cle - SP)
12. (142) Willson Contreras (ChC - C)
13. (147) Elvis Andrus (Tex - SS)
14. (166) Rick Porcello (Bos - SP)
15. (171) Carlos Santana (Cle - 1B,3B)
16. (190) J.A. Happ (NYY - SP)
17. (195) Justin Smoak (Tor - 1B)
18. (214) Eduardo Escobar (Ari - 3B,SS)
19. (219) Jimmy Nelson (Mil - SP)
20. (238) Nick Markakis (Atl - OF)
Team overview: This team has balance, but it almost has too much safety to truly compete. Where is the upside? Safe, bankable floor in the early rounds is the name of the game, but is there a next level for guys like Porcello, Happ, Smoak, Escobar, Markakis? A couple of those names to provide balance is fine -- even though I might not take a few of them at all in a 12-team league -- but the counterbalance to those should be a couple high-ceiling shots in the later rounds. This team won't embarrass itself, but it likely won't win very often, either.
Favorite pick: Andrus. I'm a big believer in his chances of bouncing back this year. Maybe not to the extent of that fantastic 2017 season, but I think he's going to be a steal going as late as he is in most drafts.
Least-favorite pick: Smoak. First base isn't deep this year, but there are better darts to throw, especially with Abreu and Santana already in tow, than the 32-year-old.
Team 4 (Dan G.)
1. (4) Nolan Arenado (Col - 3B)
2. (21) Gerrit Cole (Hou - SP)
3. (28) Carlos Carrasco (Cle - SP)
4. (45) Joey Votto (Cin - 1B)
5. (52) Jean Segura (Phi - SS)
6. (69) David Dahl (Col - OF)
7. (76) Brad Hand (Cle - RP)
8. (93) Jose Leclerc (Tex - RP)
9. (100) Luis Castillo (Cin - SP)
10. (117) Aaron Hicks (NYY - OF)
11. (124) Nomar Mazara (Tex - OF)
12. (141) Yoan Moncada (CWS - 2B)
13. (148) Yusei Kikuchi (Sea - SP)
14. (165) Amed Rosario (NYM - SS)
15. (172) Welington Castillo (CWS - C)
16. (189) Austin Meadows (TB - OF)
17. (196) Chris Paddack (SD - SP)
18. (213) Josh Bell (Pit - 1B)
19. (220) Brad Peacock (Hou - RP)
20. (237) Hunter Renfroe (SD - OF)
Team overview: There's a balance here that feels really impressive on the whole. Every box was checked, but not at the expense of anything -- none of the picks feel like egregious reaches aimed at filling open spots rather than taking the best player available. I especially like the pitching staff, which has a rock-solid foundation of Cole and Carrasco, a couple of top-10 starters, and then aims for upside with Castillo, Kikuchi, Paddack and Peacock. Even the late-round fliers like Bell and Renfroe have merit. It's hard to nitpick this club.
Favorite pick: Peacock. The right-hander has been tremendous as a reliever and appears to be in the driver's seat for the fifth starter spot with the Astros after Josh James' quad injury. I'm in on that ceiling this late.
Least-favorite pick: Paddack. I might get booed off the stage for panning everyone's Cactus League Cy Young Award winner, but the reality is, we don't know how many innings Paddack will log in 2019, and when they might come. There's not a ton of risk at this stage, but there are still late-round darts I'd have liked more.
Team 5 (Andy Behrens)
1. (5) Max Scherzer (Was - SP)
2. (20) Francisco Lindor (Cle - SS)
3. (29) Javier Baez (ChC - 2B,3B,SS)
4. (44) Anthony Rendon (Was - 3B)
5. (53) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Tor - 3B)
6. (68) Mike Clevinger (Cle - SP)
7. (77) Tommy Pham (TB - OF)
8. (92) David Robertson (Phi - RP)
9. (101) Miles Mikolas (StL - SP)
10. (116) Wade Davis (Col - RP)
11. (125) David Peralta (Ari - OF)
12. (140) Matt Olson (Oak - 1B)
13. (149) Yasmani Grandal (Mil - C)
14. (164) Nathan Eovaldi (Bos - SP)
15. (173) Stephen Piscotty (Oak - OF)
16. (188) Marcus Semien (Oak - SS)
17. (197) Cesar Hernandez (Phi - 2B)
18. (212) Adam Eaton (Was - OF)
19. (221) Freddy Peralta (Mil - SP)
20. (236) A.J. Minter (Atl - RP)
Team overview: One of my favorite sayings, rattled off mostly as justification for doing something stupid, is, "fortune favors the bold." But this group of hitters even makes me nervous, despite its sky-high ceiling -- Lindor and Guerrero are already injured this spring, Rendon and Pham have a laundry list of past health issues, and few aren't predicting regression from the volatile Baez this year. The pitching staff carries a lot more certainty, anchored by the consensus first pitcher off the board this year in Scherzer. If you're passing up a premium hitter by taking a pitcher with your first-round pick, though, I'd just prefer a little more stability in those early-round hitters.
Favorite pick: Eaton. There's obviously risk here, too, but after pick 200 it's hard to get too upset about the downside. The upside is the on-base machine he's been in the past, scoring plenty of runs while touching double-digit homers and steals at the top of the Nationals lineup.
Least-favorite pick: Robertson. I'm just fine with Robertson's skillset, but his role in Phillies manager Gabe Kapler's bullpen should give pause. Taking him ahead of guys with defined roles like Leclerc and Doolittle is risky.
Team 6 (Gary J.)
1. (6) J.D. Martinez (Bos - OF)
2. (19) Paul Goldschmidt (StL - 1B)
3. (30) Trevor Bauer (Cle - SP)
4. (43) Jameson Taillon (Pit - SP)
5. (54) Gary Sanchez (NYY - C)
6. (67) Blake Treinen (Oak - RP)
7. (78) Marcell Ozuna (StL - OF)
8. (91) Victor Robles (Was - OF)
9. (102) Travis Shaw (Mil - 1B,2B,3B)
10. (115) A.J. Pollock (LAD - OF)
11. (126) Jose Peraza (Cin - SS)
12. (139) Mike Moustakas (Mil - 3B)
13. (150) Jurickson Profar (Oak - 1B,2B,3B,SS)
14. (163) Edwin Encarnacion (Sea - 1B)
15. (174) Byron Buxton (Min - OF)
16. (187) Ross Stripling (LAD - SP,RP)
17. (198) Shane Greene (Det - RP)
18. (211) Jonathan Schoop (Min - 2B,SS)
19. (222) Pedro Strop (ChC - RP)
20. (235) Alex Reyes (StL - SP)
Team overview: I don't know that this team has enough speed -- Robles and Peraza are the only real threats that don't carry the immense unpredictability Buxton does -- so runs might also be lacking, but it's a team built to mash. That's good, because they're going to have to outscore the opponent on most nights with, uh, two guys slated to begin the year in a team's rotation. Stripling and Reyes are interesting, high-upside plays, but they can't be your third and fourth "starters." Some of those speculative bench bat selections would have been better utilized beefing up that staff.
Favorite pick: Robles. It might have been Strop before the hamstring injury put his readiness for the season in jeopardy, but Robles has 15-homer, 30-steal upside and isn't being drafted as such.
Least-favorite pick: Ozuna. I'm just concerned about a National League outfielder who only recently even began playing the field in spring games because of concerns about his right shoulder.
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Nathan Grimm
Nathan Grimm is a baseball writer for Rotoworld. He can also be found on Twitter (@Nate_Grimm).


Below you will find Solar Decathlon news from the Affordability archive, sorted by date.
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers have corrected the Affordability Contest results after discovering a minor error in the scoring spreadsheet calculations.
The big buzz word in Washington, D.C., these days is budget. In the solar village at West Potomac Park, cost savings are top of mind for the decathletes as well.


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The Niagara News is the community newspaper of Niagara College located in Welland and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is created and produced by the students of the Niagara College Journalism program.
Niagara College names Sean Kennedy as next president
Q&A with Franziska Emslie, YWCA Niagara
Passion and skill: the story of an Iranian karate champ
Hockey's moment of truth
French legend Henry a coup for Montreal Impact
Niagara College Knights take mid-season breath
Niagara College grad self-publishes book
Celebrating Dr. Dan's legacy at Niagara College
Disney+ now streaming
Black Friday shopping madness
Province's $26.2-million pledge not universally applauded
05 Feb 2014 Posted by Paul Dayboll
By BRITTANY ERWIN
A provincial $26.2 million promise for a planning study towards building a new hospital in the Niagara region has some residents viewing it all as "a waste of money."
As part of the ongoing Feb. 13 byelection basket of promises, Ontario Minister of Health Deb Matthews made the announcement at the site adjacent to the QEW last month.
The hospital, she says, will be built within the next 12 to 18 months, adding it is all about creating efficiency, saving money and providing up-to-date care for patients.
The Grassi family, from Toronto, agreed to donate 30 acres of land at Montrose and Lyons Creek Roads. for the project. Niagara Falls City council agreed to allocate $22 million towards the hospital and the Fort Erie town council voted to contribute $3 million.
Each town in the Niagara region has its own hospitals, which allow easy access to medical care for those within each city/town.
This allows for easy transportation for those who are close, and for those who have mobility problems, such as the elderly and those without a vehicle.
Shelby Burse, a first-year student in the Business Administration program, at Niagara College, Niagara-on-the-Lake campus, says, "I don't think it's going to make that big of a difference. The other hospitals are still going to be there, the only change is that it will be closer for others that are near it."
Without funding and services, which are being taken away from the smaller hospitals, these current hospitals will close and the mega-hospitals handle the services.
One already exists in the north end is St. Catharines, and one proposed for the outskirts of Niagara Falls.
People in the smaller communities, or at a distance from the new billion-dollar hospital in St. Catharines, protested the decision disagreeing about proper services for health care.When the original plans were announced to build a new hospital in northern St. catharines, while changing Fort Erie and Port Colborne hospitals into urgent care centres, angry residents gathered at Douglas Memorial Hospital in the border town to protest.
At the time, three people were arrested, one of whom was DMH chief of family practice.
Thomas Dexter, 47 of Welland, was charged with obstructing a police officer, Dr. David Henry, 64, of Fort Erie, was charged with mischief under $5,000. And Terry Nicholls, 51, of Welland, was charged with mischief.
Ontario Progressive Conservative party leader Tim Hudak, said in November that it was time to build a new hospital in Niagara Falls and close four other health-care facilities.
Burse also says, "Their way of showing that they care, when in all reality, all hospitals are the same, it's the staff that have the problems. It's just another hospital, nothing to get over excited about, but then again, that's just my opinion."
"Wasting money for bigger things. Also with a mega-hospital, can you imagine how much staff they are going to need in order to maintain efficiecy? They will need more staff and specialists and, of course, more money!"
Madison Garratt, in the Broadcasting — Radio Television and Film program, says, "Another hospital isn't going to help wait times. It's just another way to waste money."
Written by Paul Dayboll
RT @DaveJTheTrib: .@WPFFA_481 extricate driver of car following Hwy 140 crash, airlifted to hospital https://t.co/Z7oZOYhfja @FCWFES @Eckha…
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Hockey's moment of truth
Niagara News, Niagara College's Community News Source
Welland, Ontario, Canada


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Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 11 Review: The Ground Shifts Beneath Us
Jack Ori at January 15, 2020 9:46 pm .
Will Choi ever learn to mind his own business?
He spent most of Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 11 minding the Abrams' instead, and even discovering that he was wrong about who his patient was didn't deter him.
Choi apologized to Marcel for his judgmental behavior by the end of the hour, but I'm not so forgiving.
This isn't the first time Choi has stuck his nose into patients' business, and it never ends well.
Half of the reason he and April got into that fight on Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 9 was due to Ethan informing the army that a soldier had disobeyed orders, causing his patient all sorts of problems.
He learned nothing from that, taking it upon himself to decide whether or not Abrams' wife had the right to make medical decisions on his behalf.
This can't be my Sam. Are you sure?
Mrs. Abrams
Permalink: This can't be my Sam. Are you sure?
Choi's attitude was obnoxious from the moment he met Michelle Abrams. He thought she was too young to be Abrams' wife and didn't make any attempt to hide his feelings.
And once Michelle decided to turn off the machines, Choi fought it bitterly when it wasn't his decision to make.
Ultimately, it didn't matter whether or not Michelle was a golddigger who wanted to kill off her comatose husband so that she could get her hands on his life insurance money or if she was acting out of love.
She was next of kin, so it was her decision, and Choi wasted the ethics committee's time on trying to impose his opinion.
And why on Earth couldn't he leave it alone once he found out that the patient wasn't Abrams, resuscitated the guy and reunited Abrams with his wife?
Abrams really should have an advance directive written up now that he knows that certain doctors won't take Michelle's word for it when it comes to his wishes should he be incapacitated.
Of course, Choi was so convinced that Michelle had ulterior motives that he probably would have questioned whether Abrams signed the paperwork freely if there had been one.
Abrams had the last laugh, though, and that was fun.
Now that Choi knows that Abrams' wife is the rich one, maybe he'll learn a lesson for next time, though I doubt it.
Choi's attitude was obnoxious enough on its own, but he also made Marcel sympathetic, and I don't want to like Marcel.
I still think the way Marcel's relationship or fling or whatever it was with April started in a suspicious, potentially non-consensual way, and Marcel's been off my list ever since.
And encouraging April to lie to Choi isn't a good idea.
Maggie: Great news about you and Ethan.
April: Thanks. All I want is to marry Ethan and forget this ever happened.
Permalink: Thanks. All I want is to marry Ethan and forget this ever happened.
After watching Days of Our Lives for over 30 years, I know this type of secret will come out at the worst possible time, and with Choi mending fences with Marcel, that's even more guaranteed.
This one is going to get ugly. I wouldn't be surprised if it all blew up at Ethan and April's wedding.
Meanwhile, Will's safe injection site idea was a good one. Too bad it got ruined by political considerations.
Chicago Med is the second medical drama of the 2019-2020 season to address the issue of safe injection sites--New Amsterdam did it first--and I'm thrilled this idea is getting so much air time.
It may be counterintuitive, but Will and Dr. Charles' stats were right. Safe injection sites help save lives.
The board members who questioned this weren't considering the fact that people are going to use anyway, even if the hospital doesn't condone drug use.
Safe injection sites simply ensure that they do it safely.
Dr. Charles' story brought that point home.
When Will thanked him for sharing it, I wondered if Charles had made it up to make the point. He hadn't, of course, but it was plausible.
Natalie: So that's it? We're just gonna leave Gwen's husband in the dark?
Sharon: Gwen is afraid that he'll use it against her in the custody battle.
Natalie: If someone was trying to take Owen from me, I don't know what I would do. But Devon's father has the right to know what happened.
Sharon: I agree. Devon's father should know the truth. But that truth has to come from Gwen.
Permalink: I agree. Devon's father should know the truth. But that truth has to come from Gwen.
Sadly, Will is going to have to go underground because Gwen would only approve the site if Sharon and Natalie kept her secret.
I'm not sure whether Natalie did the right thing. Like Choi, she is always minding everyone else's business.
On the other hand, Gwen neglected her baby -- which could have had even more serious consequences than her ex-husband's wrath.
The baby nearly died and Gwen could have lost custody anyway if the team had called the cops.
That's why Natalie might have been justified in saying something, though it would have been nice if Mark had asked Gwen about it instead of assuming.
Finally, what was up with the switched identity trope? That seemed to put Chicago Med squarely into soap opera territory.
I was glad Abrams turned out to be alive, but having the embryos turn out to be switched too was a bit much.
At least the two sets of parents bonded over it.
It has to be rough to learn the baby you're carrying is not yours and the one that is yours might be dying.
17 Shocking Cliffhangers That Wrapped Up the Spring 2019 TV Season
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What did you think, Chicago Med fanatics?
What's your best guess for when April and Marcel's secret will come out?
Is Will setting himself up for serious trouble?
And is Choi on anyone else's last nerve?
Hit SHARE COMMENTS and share your thoughts.
Missed the episode? No problem. Just watch Chicago Med online right here on TV Fanatic.
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The Ground Shifts Beneath Us Review
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.
Tags: Chicago Med, Reviews
Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 11 Quotes
Maggie: The manifest says the victim's name is Samuel Abrams. What?
Choi: It's just our head of neurosurgery is named Sam Abrams, but there's got to be a million Sam Abramses, right?
Permalink: It's just our head of neurosurgery is named Sam Abrams, but there's got to be a million Sam...
Will: I'm going before the board to propose a safe injection site.
Maggie: Safe injection of what?
Permalink: Safe injection of what?
Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 11 Photos
Chicago Med Season 5 Episode 11
The Ground Shifts Beneath Us
Chicago Med Season 5
Chicago Med Review: Minding Other Peoples' Business


Here we are on the 4th day of the 12 Days of Shopping Local series, and it just so happens there's a Christmas Open House happening this weekend at Angel Wings & Country Things (a.k.a. Angel Wings & CT). It started yesterday and continues today until 6:00, and Sunday from 12:00 to 5:00. Owner Nicole Kems has a reputation for putting on quite a spread for her fall, spring, and Christmas open houses, and many loyal customers have been anxiously awaiting this one. Let's take a look inside!
Angel Wings & CT is on the west side of the square, at 116 N. 1st Ave.
Angel Wings & CT moved to its current location on the west side of the square just over a year ago, in September of 2013. One great benefit of the move was the increase in space, which enabled the store to expand into more women's clothing, a much appreciated addition in Winterset.
Nicole works hard to find unique, boutique-quality items at prices that are affordable. "I have to do a lot of sifting," she said. "I want them to be touchable, wearable, and affordable. We're all on a budget!" She started with a small amount of clothing and then kept adding more and more, as people sometimes bought it faster than she could get it unboxed.
Nicole knows some professionals from Des Moines who drive to Winterset to buy their clothing at Angel Wings, and they don't tell anyone where they go, because they want it to be their secret!
A lot of busy ladies find that they need something for a wedding or funeral in a hurry, and Angel Wings is pleased to be able to meet this clothing need in Winterset. They have plans to continue to grow it.
Right now, they are featuring a lot of festive items for holiday parties!
And of course, to complement your outfit, there's a stunning array of jewelry and accessories.
… or keep you toasty warm. There are hats and gloves, too. They all make great stocking stuffers!
Of course, Angel Wings & CT has always been known for its junk angels, repurposed creations, and other distinctive decor. This still abounds in the store.
The thoughtful selection of Christmas decorations is no exception, and there's so much to see!
If you're interested in antiques and collectibles, Angel Wings & CT is a source for those too, including a couple of spool cabinets currently on hand.
The belt bracelets on top of this cabinet are made by Michelle Sellers.
To top it off, there are delicious candies and snacks available, such as the popular Coffee Crunch, Coffee Bark, Christmas Cookie Crunch, and more. These make great stocking stuffers, and are also an easy contribution to a holiday gathering.
Click here for a printable version of this card.
Their holiday hours have now begun as well, which gives you the opportunity to visit them on evenings and Sundays. People have been suggesting that they stay open late during the holiday season for years, and now they're giving it a try. Let's show Nicole it's worth it!
Merry Christmas from Angel Wings & CT!