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Top 5 Best Alternative Protein Companies
by Miki Wong Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Mar 29th 20214 mins
Meat consumption is taking a heavy toll on our planet. As one of the most polluting industries in the world after the electricity industry, the livestock industry brings a broad spectrum of harms to the environment. Here are 5 of the best alternative protein companies for meat-lovers to lower their carbon footprints, without sacrificing the taste of meat products, or their nutritional content!
Livestock cultivation is one of the most greenhouse gas-intensive activities – it accounts for up to 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, animals like cows and sheep contain bacteria in their stomachs to ferment food. When passing gas, they emit methane, a gas that is 84 times more concentrated than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
Raising livestock also requires extensive land – it's taking up one-third of the world's total land and this will only increase with an increasing demand for animal products. In order to create more pastures, the industry has become the main culprit for deforestation.
What's more, about 40% of the harvested crops in the world are used to feed animals. Besides, production of animal products requires loads of freshwater. 100 grams of fish and beef require 2 629L and 1 375L of water respectively, compared to plant-based protein like peas (178L) and soybeans (93L). Animal excreta, antibiotics and hormones, fertilisers and pesticides used in livestock feed contaminate the water, thus causing water pollution.
Plant-based meat greatly reduces the environmental impacts of meat consumption and helps avoid the cancer risks that red meat brings.
Plant-based products have about one-tenth the carbon costs of animal-based foods. Meatless meat can make a huge difference for the environment by minimising land use, water use, and combating climate change.
Gardein (Canada)
The award-winning plant-based meat brand is passionate about helping the world eat less meat with their vegan, nutritious and convenient everyday foods. Gardein's top-rated products include meatless chick'n tenders, golden fishless filet, ground beef, breakfast sausage patties and many more. The wide range of products help you skip the meat without missing your favourite foods.
Gardein's creates meat-like fibres from a blend of soy, wheat, pea proteins, potato starch and veggie fibres. Their products are rich in protein, with no cholesterol and trans fat!
Quorn (UK)
As an eco-conscious brand, Quorn's sustainability team closely examines the carbon footprint of their products – from the ingredients of food, the energy used in factories, transportation to the packaging. All the data are made public on their website.
Quorn uses a meat substitute called mycoprotein derived from a fermented natural fungus. Mycoprotein is high in protein with 11g per 100g, and fibre at 6g per 100g. It is also low in fat, saturated fat and carbohydrates. It is a good source of calcium, potassium and phosphorus. Mycoprotein itself is a complete protein which contains all nine essential amino acids for adults.
Their amazing range of products include meatless chicken nuggets, meatballs, fish fingers, minced meat, pepperoni and ham!
OmniFoods (Hong Kong & Canada)
Founded by the Hong Kong enterprise Green Monday, OmniFoods is a food tech company with a Canadian-based R&D team. Established in April 2018, the up-and-coming brand aims to innovate food that will treat the planet, animals and humans better.
Their scientist team innovates food 2.0: healthier and low-carbon alternatives, based on Asian culinary culture while ensuring that the ingredients are cruelty-free, cholesterol-free, antibiotic-free and hormone-free.
In just two years, they have launched OmniPork, OmniPork Luncheon, OmniPork Strip and premade meals in several global markets. The calorie, saturated fat and cholesterol content of OmniPork is 68%, 100% and 100% lower than ground pork respectively.
You might also like: Russia Plans to Use its Forests as a Marketplace for Carbon Offsetting
BY EARTH.ORGEUROPEMAR 24TH 20213 MINS
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Their variety of vegan and nutritious Asian style foods are leading a new wave in the foodtech trend.
JUST (USA)
The American food manufacturing company specialises in making sustainable plant-based eggs with cutting-edge science and technology.
Made from the magic ingredient mung bean which scrambles like eggs, JUST eggs have zero cholesterol and less saturated fat, but a similar protein content to eggs (5g of protein/serving). Simply scramble the liquid egg on a pan or add them to your favourite recipes, from simple omelettes to banana bread and pancakes.
They have also created JUST Egg Folded – a toaster-ready, pre-cooked egg patty. Tuck them into your breakfast sandwiches or chop it up for noodles topping and stir-fries!
Impossible Foods (USA)
Last on our list of the best alternative protein companies, Impossible Foods, one of the biggest plant-based meat companies along with Beyond Meat, is arguably the most meat-like protein alternative on the market.
Being marketed to meat-eating customers and aimed to replace parts of customers' meat purchases, the Impossible Burger famously bleeds, thanks to a meat protein called heme grown from yeast. Not only does it imitate the satisfying beefy taste of burger patties, but it also immensely lowers the carbon footprint of cow cultivation. A new analysis reveals the carbon footprint of Impossible is 89% smaller than a beef burger. Impossible Burger 2.0 uses 87% less water, 96% less land than beef, and cuts water contamination by 92%.
The company is expanding their product range by launching Impossible Sausage and Impossible pork in 2020.
Meat alternatives have a huge potential to save our environment. Right now, however, the share of the market is not big enough to impact those dire problems. We hope the eco-friendly brands introduced above will motivate you to alter your eating habits!
https%3A%2F%2Fearth.org%2Fbest-alternative-protein-companies%2F


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Editorial: Just print your food and eat it?
Pulse Growers adds soybean to name
New study investigates success of local organic farm
Research supports new uses for Manitoba crops
Flax might be a help to people with high blood pressure
Crops, Oilseeds
Buckwheat varietal development is getting a $30,000 boost. Photo: Les McEwan
The federal and provincial governments have awarded $341,000 to Manitoba researchers developing foods as drug alternatives and better genetics from crops produced in the province.
"These projects will explore the attributes of a wide range of crops from buckwheat to flaxseed and focus on the health benefits for consumers in a global market," said Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz in a release.
The projects support the goals of the Grain Innovation Hub, a framework announced by the ministers in May 2014 to make strategic investments in grain production, research and processing in Manitoba, the release said.
"Innovation drives Manitoba's grains sector from seed to farm to customer, creating jobs in the province and supporting our economy," said Manitoba Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Ron Kostyshyn. "Through the Grain Innovation Hub, strategic investments will cement Manitoba's place at the forefront of the grains industry in Canada and around the world."
Projects will receive funding from the Growing Innovation – Agri-Food Research and Development Initiative (GI-ARDI) and include:
Validating food substitutes for cholesterol-lowering drugs (TM Therapeutics, $175,000);
Measuring whether eating flaxseed can help people with high blood pressure (St. Boniface Research Foundation and the Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine, $136,000); and
Breeding buckwheat varieties with new characteristics and health benefits (ManCan Genetics Ltd., $30,000).
"Manitoba-grown and -processed oats, pulses and other healthy ingredients can help people living with high cholesterol," said Lee Anne Murphy, director of TM Therapeutics, a joint project of StepOne Foods Canada and the Manitoba Agri-Health Research Network Inc. "There is currently no practical, easy-to-use and tasty way for consumers to add these products into their daily lives. With support from GI-ARDI, we are evaluating a food-based alternative therapy for almost 20 per cent of the population who can't tolerate statin drugs, which is currently the most widely prescribed treatment for people with high cholesterol."
Project proponents and other stakeholders will also invest more than $865,700 in these three research projects.
The federal and provincial governments are investing $176 million in Manitoba under Growing Forward 2, a five-year, federal-provincial-territorial policy framework to advance the agriculture industry, helping producers and processors become more innovative and competitive in world markets.
Manitoba Beef Producers names new general manager 6 days ago
Manitoba Flavours: Brown Sugar Glazed Chops 6 days ago
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Latest Agriculture ministry articles
Organization in Canada, China, sign memorandum
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Grainews
Feed Watch: July 15, 2019

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


After stumbling blindly out of academia some months ago, Barnaby Lambert took to art writing as means of maintaining an engagement with contemporary art from his unkempt bedroom in West Essex, talking to few but his dogs. When they started talking back, he decided it was high time to leave said bedroom and jump on a plane. The dogs still call every now and again.


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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TearJerker/SamuraiJack
This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.
Tear Jerker / Samurai Jack
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"My home..."
For all its action and adventure, comedy, happy moments, and even horror, there are also the moments that will make us weep for both our titular hero and other victims of Aku. Yes, that includes you big boys out there. And as bad as the past four seasons were, Season 5 really cranked this up.
How Aku's regime has affected some species, the world itself, and other planets. Aku has allowed cruel dictators (like the Chritchellites and the Dominator), assassins (like Scaramouche) and other villains and criminals free will while a lot of species such as the talking dogs, the woolies, the emoji aliens, the blue aliens, Astor and Verbina, and some innocent humans suffer the consequences.
Jack's entire life is one big tearjerker. After Aku returned and layed siege to his homeland, he was taken away from his home to train in order to defeat Aku. When he returns, he finds his father as a weak, decrepit slave deprived of food and water. When he tries to defeat Aku, he fails when Aku manages to fling Jack into a world ruled by the demon. Since then, he's attempted to return to the past and reunite with his parents and spare the universe of Aku's tyranny, only to have nearly every single attempt slip from his fingers. When he's in the future, he sees the ruins of his homeland and the only words he can utter is "My home...". His torment got so bad Jack began to lose his sanity and contemplate suicide. Jack really needs a hug.
The very first episode of this show proves to be one hell of a Downer Beginning. A carefree young prince from Japan watches as his peaceful life is forever ruined by the invasion of a demon named Aku, who kidnaps his father and burns his city to the ground, forcing him and his mother to flee. And so begins the story of Samurai Jack...
He never even got to say goodbye to his father.
Jack's departure from his mother, as she hands him to some sea-faring sailors. From both sides, it's sad. Jack has to watch his mother disappear in the fog, and his mother must let go of her son and await his return.
Later on, after Jack has grown into a man, he returns to his homeland under Aku's brutal occupation. He very briefly reunites with his father, who has been reduced to a frail old slave. Jack then tries to set things right by attempting to assassinate Aku... but only to be flung centuries into the future.
The Samurai Called Jack
A group of aquatic aliens meet Aku to request refuge on Earth after their planet's oceans were drained. When Aku admits he was responsible, the alien leader's son (rightly) calls out Aku on being a monster. Aku then fires his Eye Beams at the boy, which seemingly vaporizes him. The boy's grieving father is then informed that he wasn't outright killed, but was instead taken to the Pit of Hate.
Jack sees the carnage ◊ that Aku's forces have done to a town of talking dogs. And this is only the latest in a long series of atrocities by this tyrant.
Jack, the Woolies, and the Chritchellites
Jack's discovery that the Woolies are not stupid animals like the Chritchellites claimed they were, but rather they're an entire civilization that was enslaved. And all the Woolies have suffered the Chritchellites' cruelty for decades.
Jack and the Warrior Woman
Sure, most viewers were certain that Jack's new friend "Ikra" was really Aku and was going to betray him, but that almost made it worse! The audience guessed it, Jack could have guessed it, he really should have known; his loneliness and his compassion were both expertly exploited. Aku rubbing salt in the wound doesn't help, either.
Jack: (kneeling down with sorrow and frustration) "I will destroy you Aku. I swear it!"
Jack and the Lava Monster
Jack fights his way through a maze of death, only to confront a near-invincible giant lava monster. Then we learn that the Lava Monster was actually a Viking warrior, who was imprisoned in solid stone after failing to defend his homeland from Aku. He learned to form the stone around him into a monstrous body, and he can only be freed to enter Valhalla if killed by another warrior in honorable combat. Which Jack does, sending the fallen Viking on to eternal rest.
The Single Tear the viking sheds as he can only watch as Aku destroys his home and killed his loved ones.
The very fact that the viking witnessed his own family's deaths, including his two young sons. All while Aku was laughing. It just goes to show how truly brutal and evil Aku is.
Aku's Fairy Tales
It's somewhat depressing to see the children play Jack vs. Aku, when you think about it. The ones playing Samurai Jack (nearly all of them) are bullies ganging on one kid just because he looks like Aku.
At least they find common ground when they laugh at an elder's warnings that Aku is watching them. It's not the Aku-looking kid they hate necessarily. It's just his bad luck his hairstyle resembles Aku's horns.
Aku's efforts to make the children like him may not all be for pragmatic reasons. When one of his stories didn't get the positive response he'd hoped for, he was sad rather than frustrated.
Jack Learns to Jump Good
The Wild Man's backstory. He had been enslaved alongside his fellow men when he was just a baby. Thankfully, the small blue apes helped free him from his fate. But it's still not a happy implication of how Aku's tyrannical regime has no standards as to who is enslaved under his rule.
The despondency of the Wild Man and the Tribe when talking about the Red Gorillas who make their lives a living hell, and apparently follow them, just so they can steal their food and destroy their home. This is especially poignant if you've ever dealt with an oppressor who just won't stop.
Wild Man: "We peaceful like flower, know not how to protect ourselves... OTHER TRIBE TAKE FOOD, SMASH HOME, NEVER LEAVE US ALONE!!! ...We pick up pieces, replant somewhere else. We scared... now like before, we find new home..."
Jack and the Ultra-Robots
Jack coming across the villages razed by the Ultra-Robots, especially since the first two have one remaining survivor tell Jack what happened before apparently dying. The third village has no survivors left to tell the tale to Jack, so he instead looks at the denizens' corpses and has tragic Imagine Spots of how the Ultra-Robots' victims died.
Not to mention the Ultra-Robots' backstory. Aku forced a scientist named Exdor to create these killing machines, "promising" to spare his village. Cue Exdor's horrified reaction when the robots' rampage began.
Jack Remembers the Past
This whole story is very heartbreaking, as it deals with Jack reminiscing on nostalgic childhood memories of his ruined hometown.
As pictured above; the worst part is when he sees his family crest on the bell, and he realizes where he is and starts crying.
Jack: (falls to his knees) "My home..."
And yet... he's perfectly capable of putting it behind him when someone needs help, as shown at the end of the episode. His home is gone, but the fight is not over, and his kingdom did not die for nothing.
Jack and the Monks
Jack screaming in complete and utter fury when a bot destroys a time portal before his own eyes. His voice never quite breaks like that in the rest of the series.
At a few points while Jack climbs the mountain, he just sounds so defeated.
Jack: "It... is... impossible."
The ending:
Monk: "Have you forgotten?!"
Jack: "No. I have not forgotten."
Jack and the Spartans
The Spartan King mentions that he is the fifth ruler to fight in the war. That is likely decades of fighting in a Hopeless Forever War, again, and again, and again, while your neighbors are destroyed one by one, by an enemy you cannot permanently defeat. And there is no hope, no hope at all...
The Spartan King snapping at Jack over his assistance, then immediately apologizing for his insolent tone. Even a Spartan spirit cannot hold forever...
The Spartan Prince taking his father's place on the front lines, not knowing if he will ever return.
This exchange:
King: "Your numbers have dwindled. I fear you will not survive another attack..."
Soldier: "No my king! We will never give up! We WILL FIGHT!!"
And this exchange:
Prince: "But I must be by your side..."
King: "No my son, if something happens to me... you will be king".
Prince: "I will not fail you, father."
Note that Jack said the exact same thing to his father in the first episode.
Jack is Naked
A small one. When Jack tells the girl who stole his clothes it's not right to steal from others, the girl apologizes and explains she's orphaned. She then breaks down into tears telling him she was so hungry.
Sadder still, perhaps she's been caught before and people have gotten angry at her, unaware she didn't know better.
Jack and the Zombies
Aku has stolen Jack's sword, has him pinned down, and is about to stab him through the heart. Jack, unable to escape, closes his eyes and says what he believes will be his last words:
Jack: "Forgive me, Father. I have failed you."
Jack and the Travelling Creatures
After Jack had spent the whole episode traveling and passing test after test to prove his worth, he finally stands before a genuine time portal. There is a Guardian in front of it, and Jack humbly asks to be allowed to use it and is denied. He sounds so jaded after he realizes that he has to fight yet again.
Jack: "I had hoped that just once, I would not have to battle for my goal, because it is noble and just. But I see that this is impossible."
After the Guardian curb stomps Jack, he decides not to kill him off after all.
Guardian: "You can't use it yet, Samurai Jack. Not yet... Not yet."
Jack and the Creature
Jack gets angry at the Creature for eating his chance of returning home, even though it didn't mean to. Like any innocent pet, the creature is visibly sad that it upset Jack and doesn't fully understand why he's angry.
When the Creature finds Jack has indeed left the next morning, the poor thing looks every where for Jack, calls for him, and finally huddles in a shivering ball of anxiety. That last part is sobering when you realize that's how pets act in real life when they're abandoned, especially when it was over the smallest mistake.
Even Jack has a somewhat remorseful expression, not too different from a pet owner who did like their pet, but won't admit to themselves it's wrong to abandon their friend like that.
Although it's just a Disney Death for Jack, from the Creature's viewpoint, its poor friend is dead. Just yesterday, Jack was angry at it (justified as it ate a time-travel crystal). And now, he's been seemingly killed before it could make it up to Jack and earn his forgiveness.
Jack and the Haunted House
Jack encounters a scared, crying little girl. He follows the girl to her dark and empty house, where he gradually discovers some horrific events — her brother, mother, and father have all been... disappeared by some nameless demonic entity. And worse still, Jack finds that the girl was being forced by the demon to help it lure him into a trap.
The Birth of Evil, Part 1
The Black Mass that would eventually become Aku mindlessly inflicts horror upon the world, first destroying the dinosaurs on its landing, then killing a family of cavemen who were just trying to save one of their own, then absorbing an innocent farmer's dog. We get to see the unfortunate man discover his pet's fate, and his cries of anguish are heartbreaking.
The Emperor's departure from his pregnant wife, as he prepares and sets off to try and destroy the evil monster.
The very fact that the Emperor was the one who (unintentionally) created Aku is a definite case of cruel irony.
The Emperor being forced to watch helplessly and screaming in agony and terror, as he watches his homeland and everyone within it (including his pregnant wife) getting terrorized by Aku is heartbreaking. It's a cruel reminder that, despite being a humorous character, Aku is still both a literal and figurative monster.
Watching the Emperor's men attempt to fight off Aku is kind of depressing. The men are attempting to defend the people of their homeland, only for them to be wiped out instantly by Aku.
Bordering on Heartwarming, there's the Emperor finding his wife amongst the ruins of their home. She's very much alive, but he was still worried for her safety after previously watching Aku destroy their city.
The Emperor seals away Aku, finds his wife and gets to hold his newborn son, but even he can tell that his is only the end of the battle, not the war. And we the audience know that it will only be a few years before Aku returns, bigger and badder than ever before.
The Aku Infection
It takes a while for Jack to grasp what's happening to him. He's perturbed by the black marks and unsettled to hear himself talk about requiring payment for rescuing someone, but he doesn't notice how exaggerated his bad mood is until he's spattered by fluid after killing an innocent robot; at which point he's horrified, and it only gets worse from there.
During a highly distressing Split-Personality Takeover when only his eye is visible, that eye weeps before he attacks the Lizard Monks. Eventually they restrain him and tell him what's happening. He begs for help weakly, but there's only so much they can do; only he can remove the evil influence, and only by using the good within himself. Hearing that he sounds like he's in tears, saying he can't do it.
Seeing the time portal destroyed in front of his eyes by his own hands only served to break Jack's spirit further.
While Jack is trying to fight the illness his spirit, represented as a young boy, says he can't do this alone. Images of his parents appear. They try to console him, and finally he says in a very quiet, broken voice: "I was not there for you." In this moment, you realize that in spite of him not making a spectacle of it, Jack is wrecked with guilt about having failed to protect his loved ones.
The Princess and the Bounty Hunters
The ending was particularly heart-wrenching. Princess Mira, an Anti-Villain who actually has a noble reason to claim the bounty on Jack (believing that doing so will free her oppressed country from Aku), works so hard to set up a well-laid trap. In the end, Jack curb stomps the bounty hunters, leaving her as the last one standing. When she realizes she can't defeat Jack, she drops her weapon and cries, solemnly accepting that she can never save her people. It's sad to see her so tragically accept this fate. Though he knows he didn't kill her, Jack doesn't even acknowledge her presence or offer to help her. What's especially poignant is that, knowing Jack like we do, he would have gladly helped her. All she had to do was ask! But she's too filled with pride to do so.
The Four Seasons of Death
The end of the "Winter" segment: a tribe of mountain giants used enormous amounts of resources and efforts to forge an invincible sword, with one of their priests sacrificing his life to give it the power of lightning, they select their greatest fighter and send him against Jack... And all their efforts are for naught when Jack's sword slices through it with ease. The giants' champion just falls on his knees in despair after the "fight".
The Tale of X-49
Along with the previous Anti-Villain Episode mentioned above, the ending was just plain tragic. One of Aku's former robot henchmen, X-49, turned out to be a tin man with a heart who just wanted to stop killing people, and also spend his life with his pet dog Lulu. But when Aku holds the dog hostage, X-49 is given the impossible One Last Job of killing Samurai Jack. It ends in the only way we can expect it to, with Jack slicing down X-49. The poor robot tells Jack to take care of Lulu, leaving the samurai feeling confused and worried.
Jack and the Baby
Jack's search for the Baby's parents, yielding no results.
At one point during the journey, the Baby that Jack is trying to escort home gets wet in the rain. Jack pleads to himself that the poor baby isn't getting sick. It's sad for any parent (even surrogate ones) to see an infant come down with something. And Jack's quietly pleading voice nails it.
On a meta-level, this marked the last episode of the first 4 seasons, before the show was cancelled, before 13 ensuing years of loose ends and wondering if Jack ever made it back to the past.
At the beginning, a family of blue humanoid aliens are running from an army of Aku's robots, only to be surrounded. The mother looks into her daughter's eyes and uses her antenna to communicate the words "I love you", the daughter doing the same. Sure, Jack saved them, but we basically just witnessed a family trying to Face Death with Dignity.
Jack is broken. He reveals just how bleak everything has become. Jack has been trapped in the future for over 50 years, yet he hasn't aged. But he is still no closer to finding his way home and setting things right, while Aku's rule over Earth has gotten even more oppressive despite Jack's best efforts. Jack has now reached his lowest point ever, and is basically just a shell going through the motions.
Jack's guilt over constantly failing to save the world from Aku's tyranny are now manifesting in a series of nightmarish hallucinations; where Jack's parents angrily accuse him of abandoning them to their fate, and many other innocent victims futilely plead for his help. The poor guy can't catch a break, not even when he's alone and away from fighting enemies.
Despite the hallucinations, the loss of his way back home, and the grittier, even more violent tactics, perhaps the most jarring and tear-jerking sign of how broken Jack has become over the years, is when danger erupts on the horizon and Jack — once the quintessential Chronic Hero — simply turns away from people in need without even looking back. It takes severe attacks from his guilt to get him to turn around, days later, and by the time he does arrive, the village in trouble has already been completely slaughtered — leaving nothing else to do but execute the perpetrator, Scaramouche.
We also learn another heartbreaking truth: Jack lost his sword, his iconic and trustworthy weapon, basically a part of himself. One can only imagine how Jack must feel, aside from being unable to defeat Aku.
Fridge-Tear Jerker: in the previous 4 seasons, Jack was more accustomed to walking, almost like it was his way of keeping himself from becoming a Stranger in a Familiar Land when he returned. But now that he's lost hope he'll return, riding that motorcycle seems to indicate he's given in to the modern world around him.
On both a meta-level and an In-Universe level, the fact that both Jack and the audience have been denied a conclusion for years. Although while Jack's been waiting 50 years and the audience has only waited 12, it makes no difference. The fans can easily empathize with Jack's torment just the same.
Despite being set up to be Jack's most dangerous opponents to date, the Daughters of Aku have been shown to be very tragic villains. As vicious and dangerous as they are, they're ultimately just seven girls who were raised from birth in horrible conditions (including being brutally beaten for the smallest slights by their own mother) to become the elite warriors they are now, with zero choice in the matter. Basically, they're victims of Aku's tyranny as much as everyone else.
Even Aku seems like he's become depressed because of his stalemate with Jack, lacking the energy he had from the earlier seasons. The fifty years haven't been kind to either one of them. His mental state has deteriorated to the point he's having conversations with himself. Despite the humorous tone of the "therapy session", it really highlights just how tired Aku is of the whole stalemate. He's been under self-imposed house arrest for so long, that he's become a sad puddle (quite literally during his therapy session) of his former magnificence.
The exchange with him and his scientists, which is a rather somber meta-joke about the old Aku (Mako) being gone, and the new Aku (Greg Baldwin) not being exactly the same as the old one.
Jack's inner debate reveals that he's tired of fighting and thinks it's become pointless. His subconscious demands that he put an end to his miserable life already. Worse, from what we know of Jack's state of mind, he's likely had this "conversation" before.
Jack's subconscious: It's time to end it, don't you think?
Jack: Never. They're just machines. I'll find a way. I always have.
Subconscious: When you had the sword! But now it's gone! There's no hope!
Jack: I've been doing fine without it.
Subconscious: Well, listen to you. And what are you going to do when Aku finds you and realizes you have no sword?
Jack: Aku doesn't know. And he hasn't shown himself in years. He keeps thinking that one of his machines can defeat me.
Subconscious: Maybe he's right. You haven't faced anything so powerful. How much longer can you keep this up?
Jack: It always seems bad at first, but then I find a way. They're just nuts and bolts. Just nuts and bolts...
Subconscious: Who cares anymore?! There's no way home! There's nothing to fight for! There's no more honor! Come to think of it, the only honorable thing to do is—
Jack: Quiet!
Subconscious: NO! I WON'T SPEND ETERNITY IN THIS FORSAKEN TIME!
Jack: What do you want from me?
Subconscious: ... I want it to end. Aren't you tired? Wouldn't it be great to be free of all of this? Our ancestors are waiting for us. They want you to join them.
Even worse, it takes the form of Jack's classic look, beardless and in white robes. As if to further sink the fact a hero from a lot of people's childhoods is sick of living.
The look on Jack's face as he hides inside a coffin inside a tomb where there's millions of them with only a firefly as his only source of light, his face perfectly portrays his fear and desperation to survive. The way he just begins to cling to his weapon like a Security Blanket makes him look more like a child afraid of the dark, rather than a warrior trying to survive. Kinda makes you want to give the poor guy a hug.
Sadder still, this grave helped signify the absence of life, which made Jack's plight all the more tense. You could tell the king had a tough, mustachioed appearance while alive by his temple's carved murals. Now all that's left is a jaundiced skeleton with cobwebs on it, long forgotten and abandoned, with any evidence of his rule eclipsed by Aku's. Which is then desecrated and cleaved into bits during the fight with the Daughters of Aku. Whoever he was, he did not get to rest in peace in an imposing, regal manner at all. Nor did the skeleton of the person Jack holed up in a coffin with, which was pulverized by the Daughters of Aku as well.
Towards the end of the episode, Jack manages to kill one of the Daughters of Aku by slitting her throat. But afterward, her mask falls off and she bleeds blood, not oil. Jack has just taken a human life for the first time in decades! His reaction is one of pure horror.
Jack, suffering a stab wound, lets himself fall into the river and be swept away to his potential death. Having killed a human being appears to have been the final push into making him outright suicidal.
What probably made Jack's shock worse is that one, this woman is young enough to be his child or grandchild, and two, he may have recognized that she was Japanese like him.
Just think about the life of that Daughter for a moment. From her very birth, she was made to be an unthinking weapon for Aku's sake. She was horribly mistreated during her childhood, just so that she could be a perfect killing machine, and was taught to abandon her own sisters if they didn't perform up to standards. And she died in service of her abusive mother and a malevolent deity she had no real knowledge of. Hers was a severely bleak life that wasn't even graced with a happy ending.
The subplot shown throughout the episode is a huge one, especially for its symbolism. As Jack travels through a forest, he passes by a lone white wolf which later gets into a fight with four tiger-like alien creatures. While the wolf is badass enough to kill the other beasts and achieve a narrow victory, it seems that he doesn't survive the battle. Well, at least not until the next episode, where it turns out that it survived.
It was but one episode ago that we were introduced to a very tough and dangerous-looking Jack fully clad in armory and weaponry. Now absolutely all of that rugged exterior is gone and he's been rendered a helpless mess.
The Daughter whom Jack killed in the last episode is brought out of the temple by her sisters, not for the others to mourn or vow vengeance for, but to just leave her body outside while calling her a failure.
Ashi: "Death is failure."
The fact that the Daughters are so ignorant of the world, to the point they think a male deer is a minion of Aku, and can't even understand the deer's affection for his mate (kissing and friendly gestures), it really does remind you that they probably have never been hugged, kissed, or told "good job" by their mother (or anyone else) in their whole lives.
After a Freak Out! over killing one of the Daughters last episode, Jack accepts that he has no choice but to eliminate the others, then does so with grim efficiency. It's heartbreaking, especially considering how idealistic he was during the original series, although mitigated somewhat because he gave them the opportunity to avoid conflict.
Worth noting: Jack gave the Daughters more of a chance than his father did with the assassins in that flashback. Even after they insisted that their destiny was to kill him, he hesitated a moment, and tried talking them down for a few more moments before finally going on the attack. It's not that he had no guilt about cutting them down — it's that he recognized that he had no choice.
Edging into Fridge Horror is the fact that Jack didn't know the girls had zero say in their destiny and no choices. He assumed they were willing assassins who made the choice to come after him. In fact, his resolve to fight back hinged on that thought when he remembered his father fighting those bandits.
Just think for a moment about the futility of their entire lives. They were abused throughout their childhood, just so that an evil cult could get the chance to meet Aku. Jack knew nothing about their lives, nor did Aku even know they existed, but most of them were killed off in short order with no consequence whatsoever. We the audience got to see highlights of their upbringing, but even we never got to know them as actual characters beyond their purpose.
There's something profoundly sad about Ashi's ranting at Jack after he defeats her and kills all her sisters. Here is a young woman who was constantly abused throughout her entire life to the point where she doesn't even understand what emotions like love are, and after seeing all of her sisters dead and her life's mission failed, she doesn't even have the emotional capacity to cry or feel sadness for what she's lost, she can only defiantly curse Jack even as she falls to her (possible) death.
Further reinforcing this is the way Jack closes his eyes for a moment after letting Ashi fall, his expression solemn. Even after resolving that he'd have to kill the Daughters of Aku, it's clear that he didn't take any satisfaction in the deed.
After going through a lifetime of abuse and killing all but one member of the cult that raised them, the Daughters' lives have ended. The deity they sacrificed their lives for, in more than one way, is completely oblivious to their existence. The sole person who is still alive that knows them personally is callously indifferent to their survival. They died thinking they were failures, and the only person who came closest to mourning them is the man they were sent to kill, a man they were taught to hate for no reason other than the twisted views of the cult.
The episode starts with Jack finding Ashi's wounded body, causing him to hallucinate several crows calling him a killer and murderer. Jack has to stubbornly insist that he offered the Daughters mercy, and that they chose their path. Despite Gaining the Will to Kill, he's very clearly not okay with it.
Literally the only way Jack can keep from succumbing to his guilt is by insisting that the Daughters "chose their path", that they tried to kill him of their own will, and that they could have turned back any time they want to. Imagine how he's going to react if/when he finds out that they didn't choose the path; that they were the playthings of their mother's desires, and that they were so brutally conditioned by her and the other adult cult members that at the time of their deaths, they likely couldn't even conceive of there being another way to live their lives, let alone have made a conscious, meaningful decision to do so.
Jack's inner hallucinations suggesting that he just let Ashi die, and not without reason. Jack is apparently still so remorseful over killing all her sisters, that he wants to spare an "innocent" girl who feels nothing but violent hatred for him.
Ashi's reaction at the end of the episode when she sees Jack be gentle to a ladybug, and having a flashback to the High Priestess squashing a ladybug while she was admiring its beauty. She goes from trying to murder Jack to just dropping her scythe and sinking to the ground. Ashi is so broken that her reaction to seeing someone perform an act of simple tenderness leaves her basically confused to the point of not knowing what to do. Making matters worse for her is that the person performing the act of tenderness is the man she was raised and conditioned to kill, and had killed her sisters.
Young Ashi's fascination with the ladybug that flew by her as she sparred with one of her sisters. She stops fighting so that she can let it land on her hand and smiles at it, only for her mother to call it a distraction to her training before heartlessly crushing it. Ashi was absolutely capable of empathy and kindness, until her mother utterly stomped it out of her.
The Scotsman's final confrontation with Aku, who effortlessly kills the old man in front of his family. This is somewhat lessened by the fact that he immediately comes back as a ghost (and doesn't seem to feel sad about his fate at all), but for a moment we all thought that one of the series' most iconic characters (behind Aku and Jack) was gone for good.
True to his word, Jack shows Ashi proof of how malevolent Aku is, just as he promised. It's not too far before he brings her to a single, beautiful tree in a dinghy grey valley. But seeing that one tree becomes Harsher in Hindsight once Jack reveals to Ashi (and the audience) that it wasn't always the only tree around. A long time ago, it used to be surrounded by other trees, making up a whole scenic forest. Then, we fade in to the present, where it is the last tree left in the valley. At some point, Aku had destroyed all but this one tree as a show of his dominance. And the worst part? Unless it means something else, its leaves falling indicates that it's dying. However, the tree appears to be a Japanese maple, which sheds leaves all year round.
More importantly, there's a slight expression of devastation on Ashi's face when it dawns on her that Aku exists to destroy the very thing she's been fighting to protect. She's just learned that her "benevolent creator" is actually a destroyer.
It's even Harsher in Hindsight; that tree is the same tree Jack is standing under in the final moments of the series, as the sun lights up the beautiful, unblemished forest around him. Ashi's sacrifice ensured that the forest would never be destroyed, but she never lived to see it in it's full glory.
Jack believing that he accidentally caused all of the kids to be electrocuted to death. This was enough to prove his worst fears and make himself submit to the phantom samurai (the Omen) from his nightmares, following it somewhere to possibly attempt suicide.
For every misery Jack has experienced throughout the series, from the countless failed attempts to complete his lifelong quest to defeat Aku and return home, to all the many horrors he's seen inflicted upon the world, Jack always seemed to pick himself up and keep venturing onward despite every setback. But not this time. He has finally been broken.
At the end, Ashi happens upon the children's bodies and realizes that they're merely knocked out, not dead. She is overjoyed at having saved them, only to realize that Jack is gone. Her voice crying out for him is like that of a lost child looking for her father.
XCVII
A flashback to Ashi's past reveals that as a child, the High Priestess had Ashi and her sisters thrown into a pit of burning hot rocks while naked. That skintight black bodysuit you thought Ashi was wearing? That's not a suit at all; it's her own burnt, blackened skin! If you thought Ashi's mother was a horrible parent before, wait till you see this moment.
According to both Phil LaMarr and Genndy Tartakovski, that was a quasi-living magical darkness drawn from the Pit of Hate and bonded to their skin. This might not be an improvement.
Which either means that the Daughters never bathed growing up or had to do that ritual regularly. Given the cult's mindset, either is incredibly possible.
There's something a little bit sad about the fact that after Samurai Jack defeated and humiliated him, Da Samurai hung up his sword instead of trying to become a more honorable warrior. Da Samurai seems resigned to the fact that he never was, and never will be, a badass fighter. To this day, he doesn't just still hang around the exact same tavern where he and Jack had met, he now runs the place as a cranky old bartender full of regrets with all his Glory Days behind him.
Heck, you can't help but feel sorry for all the patrons. They used to be the toughest fighters, but have lost their mojos after Jack took them down a peg or two and are now just a bunch of washouts. How much pride have they lost? So much that even Demongo finds them sad excuses for warriors.
The Omen's purpose is finally revealed: to tempt Jack into committing suicide for his failure in defeating Aku, and the resultant dishonor he suffered by losing his sword. He pulls no punches in coaxing and shaming Jack, by mentioning the innocent lives that were lost in the wake of his failures. If not for Ashi arriving to remind him of his success with restoring a little bit of hope to the world, and that he did in fact save the kidnapped children from the previous episode, Jack might not be alive!
This bears exploring: while we saw him so close to the brink of despair in previous episodes, Jack still tried to act as a hero, even with his depression and hallucinations nearly breaking him. Here? He didn't even look up, even as Ashi kept trying to get through to him. He didn't even flinch until Ashi revealed that the children had survived. Jack wasn't just close to the Despair Event Horizon - he'd just about passed it. Sadly, there is some truth in this—to a samurai, once they commit failure, any good or success they have done before will not matter. Keep in mind, these values of honor were ingrained in Jack since birth.
XCVIII
The episode begins with a flashback to circa 50 years ago, which reveals how Samurai Jack's current madness and despair began.
First, Jack climbed up a mountain to reach a time portal — and this one is note (at least as far as anyone knows) the last portal in the world. Jack actually managed to jump inside and enter the time portal, only for Aku to pull him out before he can return to the past. Aku then blows up the portal with his Eye Beams, and taunts Jack over how he will never get home now.
What makes the moment even sadder is the look of pure joy on Jack's face as he's diving down the portal, only for it to be wiped off when Aku pulls him out of it. It's just soul-crushing. Made even worse by Jack's anger at Aku for destroying the portal, as described further below...
Jack is now boiling with pure fury. Before Aku leaves, he uses his dark magic to corrupt and transform the three cute little goats that had tried to help Jack into ferocious giant beasts. The enraged Jack is tricked into taking out his anger on the three goat-monsters, who revert to their original selves after he killed them all. Jack is then shocked and saddened when he realizes what happened.
The deaths of the three little goats was what led to Jack losing his sword; or rather, the sword losing him. Jack's sword slipped out of his hands, and then fell down a deep pit. Because Jack had lost control of his emotions and tainted the blade with innocent blood, he was now spiritually unworthy, and it disappeared from the physical plane. This is why Jack can neither go home nor kill Aku.
Jack: "I did not lose the sword... the sword left me."
Back in the present day, when Jack and Ashi go down into the cavern created by Aku's eye beams, Ashi shines a light on three notable stones at the basin. It's painfully obvious that Jack erected graves for the goats he killed. Or maybe not, it could just be a suggestive visual, because Ashi looks really forlorn as she's surveying the ground
Upon the return trip to the mountain, Jack spies a certain skeleton... the rotted-away corpse of one of the goats he killed, offset with a haunting bleating sound. Ashi even unknowingly (or perhaps knowingly but left without options) tears a horn off the skull of one as an Improvised Weapon.
Ashi killing her mother, the High Priestess. Abusive to the nth degree or not, that was still her last remaining family. This moment is tragic not so much because she died, but because someone this awful to their own children deserved such a fate. In other words, the High Priestess's choices led her to this path. Ashi could only wish her mother never chose such a path that made her so horrible. Worth noting however, is that if Ashi hadn't have done that, her mother would have killed Jack and HER.
Jack nostalgically reminisces and tells Ashi about his childhood in the past... which then turns very heartbreaking when he explains how his old family, friends, and experiences are now no more than mere memories, because he's unable to time-travel back to the past.
Jack's inner-self appears one last time. Not the clean-shaven, mean, anger-crazed version of him, mind you; but the bearded, kinder, yet hopeless version of him. And he has a very sobering warning for Jack about falling in love with Ashi, while he's still got a quest to accomplish and cannot age. It's the first time that Jack's ever grown to love someone on a very intimate level, which means that when worst comes to worst, the loss would be utterly devastating.
Inner Jack: (with grave concern in his voice) "Be careful."
Jack: "I know. This has never happened before."
Inner Jack: "What are you going to do?"
Jack: "...I don't know."
Jack then tries to leave Ashi behind, attempting to give her affection a stiff upper lip for her own good. However, Ashi's already been through this before and it ticks her off, causing her to run after him... which inadvertently leads her into meeting Aku, thus triggering a tragic chain of events described further below.
The Guardian (seems to) have been killed and his time portal is destroyed, which very likely means Jack is indeed stuck in Aku's dystopian future forever, with no chance of ever returning to the past and arriving home. He can only defeat Aku in the present, but that's it.
A meta-example: a lot of fans were very hopeful that the Guardian was still alive, and worried the writers forgot about him. Unfortunately, they did not forget... to hammer down the last nail sticking up in the whole "all the time portals are destroyed" plot angle. They went back over these old episodes with a fine-toothed comb and made sure the Guardian's involvement in the grand scheme was addressed, but in the cruelest way possible.
In a way, Scaramouche's final death, even if he did deserve it. He may have been a psycho murderer, but he seems to have been completely loyal to Aku. Scaramouche went through great lengths to inform Aku about Jack's lost sword, and was rewarded with a new body... but then Aku discovered the truth about that sword (which Scaramouche had no way of knowing about), so he destroyed the robot for all his trouble.
Even more so considering that Scaramouche actually did lead Aku to the right place at the right time. It was only when Aku came out of his fortress due to Scaramouch's prompting, that he found out about Ashi and was able to use her to actually win and get Jack's sword. So Scaramouche deserved his reward over his death in the end.
Aku realizes a very shocking revelation about Ashi — she is the literal Daughter of Aku. Ashi is horrified by Aku's explanation that she was never fully human to begin with, that her crazy mother had intentionally conceived her and all the other sisters by impregnating herself with the essence of the Master of Darkness himself.
Aku exploits the newfound knowledge of his "fatherhood" by placing Ashi's mind and body under his control, forcing her to fight Jack against her own will. He soon painfully morphs her into a demon in his own image. Fully aware of what she's become, Ashi begs for Jack to destroy her... but he refuses.
If you see Ashi's suit change as an allegory for cancer, it's even more disheartening to see her morph back into an evil costume. First, she had was under the influence of the Aku Cult (cancer). Then, after meeting Jack, she struggled and overcame the Dominator's torture (enduring chemotherapy, and remission). Then, she actively removes her suit and makes herself a new one out of leaves (healing). And now, Aku ruins it by taking over Ashi's body (relapse).
Lacking the will to kill his one true love, not even in self-defense, Jack just gives up. Jack personally surrenders to Aku, by allowing his sword to be taken away. A defeated Jack is left at the mercy of the demonized Ashi and her victorious father. This is the lowest point Jack has ever fallen into.
As with all final episodes in a series, just the fact that this is the end as a whole can conjure up tears. And judging by the entire direction that Jack's long journey has taken him, it will more likely than not end on a bittersweet note. It does.
Aku, after a period of indecision, decides that he'll have Ashi execute Jack.
The sight of those who came to rescue Jack as repayment for all the help he'd given them being injured and falling.
In a very weird way, Aku's death. Yes, it was a long time coming and he wholeheartedly deserved his fate, but his hilariously hammy antics have kept us entertained for so many years that it's truly sad to see one of Cartoon Network's most iconic villains finally meet his end after being kept alive for so long. But what really sells it is Aku's reaction to Ashi breaking free from his control and using his time travel power to send Jack to the past to kill him. There's no Big "NO!", no Villainous Breakdown, no Skyward Scream, no hamminess of any kind. Just a quiet, subdued, downright fearful "Oh no" accompanied by an expression of pure, genuine horror. In that moment, Aku knew it was all over. After fighting Jack for 50 years In-Universe, after trying and failing every scheme in the book to destroy him, after throwing countless numbers of robots and bounty hunters at Jack, after going out of his way to destroy every time portal in existence to keep him from returning home, after spending most of those 50 years hiding in fear of Jack's sword, Aku had completely and utterly failed. His death was upon him, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. And he doesn't just die, he's completely erased from existence itself.
Ashi says that she will cease to exist (with Aku's death) when she and Jack are about to marry. It was quite inevitable that if Jack did return to the past by some miracle, it would have to end that way for her. She fades away in his arms, leaving her bridal clothing. It's like the ending to Gurren Lagann all over again!
Ashi's facial expressions as her and Jack went through the time portal right before she held his hand indicates that she knew even back then what was going to happen, as does how she immediately knows what is happening to her just before she fades away, which becomes much more heart-breaking and Harsher in Hindsight if you take the previous episode into account. In that episode Jack confided to Ashi how beautiful his home used to be, that he missed it dearly, and that he was never going to see it again. That it was only a memory to him now. In the end going back to the past was purely Ashi's choice. She didn't ask him whether or not she should do it, she just did on her own accord. Think about it for a moment: Ashi loved Jack so much that she chose to sacrifice her own life, her very own ''existence'', in order to get Jack back home.
As people on Reddit and Toonzone have pointed out, even in death, Aku still managed to hurt Jack by taking something he can never get back: Ashi. Also, Jack's line in Episode C about not wanting Ashi to become "just another memory" ends up being a lot Harsher in Hindsight.
Even after everything he's been through over the course of five seasons, Jack still loses the love of his life and ends up with a Bittersweet Ending.
Ashi's entire life is very sad. Raised in an evil cult, horrifically abused by her mother, losing all of her sisters, finding out everything she believes in is a lie, and finally experiencing love and freedom through Jack, only to be brainwashed and controlled again, this time by her father Aku, who forces her to nearly kill Jack. And just when it seems like she's finally gotten her Happily Ever After, she fades away, unable to exist without Aku siring her in the first place. And this happens right as she's walking down the aisle, on her wedding day.
All of Jack's friends from future would have been Ret Gone along with Ashi as killing Aku means that he couldn't kill or displace human populations for the next several centuries nor be able to invite various alien races to Earth, thus negating them from being born. Even if they still exist under a happier future, none of them will remember ever meeting Jack; even though he's a legendary hero now, all those events he took part in never happened. The only one who'll remember these events is Jack himself, unless he somehow decides to chronicle his adventures. There is a silver lining to this: they are finally free from the living hell that was Aku.
Though there's a chance they'll still exist in the future, just as very different people than what they were before, since they no longer have to live (and never have lived) under Aku's tyranny.
The final shot of the episode. Jack, standing alone on a hill, his long journey finally done, faces out towards the beautiful hills of his homeland, each of them covered in blooming cherry trees, his hair and gi blowing gently in the wind, underneath a cherry tree in the distinct half-shape of a heart, representing his broken heart at losing Ashi, that is gently shedding its blossoms down around him, as a shaft of light from the sun shines through the tree's branches, representing his resolve to continue living his life without Ashi, and to remember the brief time they spent together, as sad, subdued, yet beautiful music plays before fading to black. A sad, but beautiful way to close out the series.
Japanese vocal: "Renchaku ha na hanasanai" (This unforgettable love I will not let go)
A very special credit is listed in the voice cast.
Past Aku — Mako
This story from the 34th issue of Cartoon Network Action Pack. During his travels, Jack meets a mute Combat Hand Fan-wielding geisha woman who Jack names Jill. They travel together for entire seasons, with Jack getting closer to her as time passes, until he suddenly discovers she's really Aku. When asked why, Aku claims it's to teach Jack a lesson, that Jack will always be alone. Yes, not only did Jack fall for this trick again, but the relationship lasted longer than with Ikra. What's worse, unlike with Ikra, where he was tricking Jack into leading him to a time portal, Aku had no reason to do it other than for his own amusement. Jack is so distraught, he can't even summon the energy to attack Aku. He just falls to his knees in despair as Aku flies away.
After the final episode, the original Cartoon Network Studios logo opens and closes with Samurai Jack. Hits harder for the kids that watched Samurai Jack when they were younger and get to see their childhood one last time.
So many fans have complained about the way it ended, mainly that poor Jack never got a chance to be truly happy! So much so that many of them have drawn or written alternate endings and posted them on youtube. At least two people have drawn up petitions and posted them online begging Genndy to create an alternate ending to the show, and one has already gotten over 1,400 signatures! After all these years, the fans love Jack so much they want to see him finally happy after all he's been through!!
So many fans did not like this ending. So much so that they've refused to watch the reruns at 8:30 PM or 3:30 AM on Saturday/early Sunday with the result that the ratings went down so much it will be pulled from the schedule entirely. The 8:30 PM showing will be replaced by a new ep of Dragon Ball Super and with the return of Cowboy Bebop at 3:30 AM, the Toonami block has been extended to 4 AM and Jack will be removed starting September 9, 2017. The fans love Jack so much they can't bear to see him hurt again.
Seeing Toonami accordingly run a second full marathon of the final season, this time as a definitive farewell. Basically, this is the last hurrah of the series.
In a way, this cover of "My Way" by Greg Baldwin as Aku himself. It's rather hilarious, yes, but it's still rather sad as Aku accepts the fact that he's dead for good. It almost seems an honorable way to say goodbye to an iconic Cartoon Network villain.
Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat
TearJerker/Western Animation


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Clean Air in London Awards 2013
Posted by Simon Birkett on 7 March 2013
Bianca Jagger, Founder and Chair of The Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, receives award and special mention
Inaugural Clean Air in London Awards recognise 24 contributions to improving air quality
Keith Taylor MEP (Green) joins four MEPs and others as an Honorary Founder Supporter
Clean Air in London announces its inaugural Clean Air in London Awards which recognise individuals who have made a valuable personal contribution to improving air quality in London.
Bianca Jagger, Founder and Chair of The Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, receives a special mention.
Simon Birkett, Founder and Director of Clean Air in London, said:
"The Clean Air in London Awards 2013 recognise 24 people who have made a valuable personal contribution to improving air quality in London.
"It is impossible to single out any one person. However, Bianca Jagger deserves a special mention for helping Clean Air in London to reach a much wider audience over the last year. For over three decades she has been a voice for the most vulnerable members of society, campaigning for human rights, civil liberties, peace, social justice and environmental protection throughout the world. Ms Jagger's advice, encouragement and support for Clean Air in London have made a real difference.
"It is tremendous to recognise also the contribution of many other people from across the political spectrum and from campaigners to scientists and business leaders. Individually and collectively, these wonderful people have ensured that air pollution is regaining the attention it deserves.
"Clean Air in London is also pleased that Keith Taylor MEP has accepted an invitation to become an Honorary Founder Supporter of Clean Air in London. Keith is playing a key role in championing UK and European air quality during the Year of Air in 2013. Mr Taylor joins Jean Lambert MEP (Green), Sarah Ludford MEP (Liberal Democrat), Claude Moraes MEP (Labour) and Charles Tannock MEP (Conservative) and others who have been Honorary Founder Supporters since 2007.
"Last but not least, I want to pay tribute to the many existing supporters, sponsors and clients of Clean Air in London who are still making an amazing contribution to the Clean Air in London campaign. In many cases, these individuals and organisations have been involved for nearly seven years."
Existing Honorary Founder Supporters, Sponsors and Clients:
https://cleanair.london/about/
The Clean Air in London Awards 2013 aim to broaden and deepen the impact of the Clean Air in London campaign by recognising those who have made a valuable personal contribution to improving air quality in London.
Existing supporters, sponsors and clients already make such a contribution and so have not been eligible for an Award. CAL aims to present the Awards annually. Clean Air in London will be pleased to present the Awards personally in coming weeks.
Only senior politicians are eligible to become new Honorary Founder Supporters except in exceptional circumstances.
The following people have been presented with a Clean Air in London Award 2013 (alpha order):
Bianca Jagger Founder and Chair, The Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation
Leading politicians
Caroline Allen Green, Islington
Victoria Borwick AM The Deputy Mayor of London, Conservative
Barry Gardiner MP Ed Miliband's Special Envoy for Climate Change and the Environment, Labour
Robin Meltzer Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Richmond Park, North Kingston and New Malden
John Tomlinson Chairman of the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee, City of London Corporation
Isabel Dedring Deputy Mayor, Transport and Deputy Chair, Transport for London
Elliot Treharne Air Quality Manager
Professor Bernard Fisher Former Chair, Institute of Air Quality Management
Dr Fintan Hurley Scientific Director, Institute of Occupational Medicine
Professor Frank Kelly Chair, Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants and Head of the Environmental Research Group, King's College London
Dr Brian Miller Principal Epidemiologist, Institute of Occupational Medicine
Business people and consultants
Edward Dearnley Consultant
Iarla Kilbane-Dawe Consultant
Steve Moorcroft Director, Air Quality Consultants and Chair, Air Quality Committee, Environmental Protection UK
Simon Pratt Managing Director, Portico. Formerly, Chief Executive, The Knightsbridge Apartments
Local campaigners
Jonathan Callaway Deputy Chairman, The Putney Society
Tim Henderson
Dr Stanislaw Prokop
Caroline Russell Chair, Islington Living Streets
Non-governmental organisations
Louise Duprez European Environmental Bureau
David Kidney Head of Policy, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
Tamsin Omond Climate Rush
Anne Stauffer Deputy Director, Health and Environment Alliance
Honorary Founder Supporter
Keith Taylor MEP Green
Note: Listed in alphabetical order


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Official dates and tickets to be confirmed!
Why See An Enemy of the People?
Dates and theatre yet to be confirmed!
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins makes his Broadway debut this coming season, with a brand-new translation and treatment of Henrik Ibsen's political and moral drama An Enemy of the People, that remains relevant and newsworthy to this day. This new production will be helmed by Thomas Ostermeier, following its premiere in Berlin in 2013. Jacobs-Jenkins's star is on the rise, following this work Everybody and his 2015 play Gloria, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
When Dr. Thomas Stockmann discovers toxic contamination in the water used at the local baths, he expects to be hailed as a hero. But since the baths are the town's main source of revenue, the community fights to silence him? and Dr. Stockmann learns that there are forces more powerful than truth. An incisive tale about the high price of free expression.
The pillar of a small Norwegian community discovers that the local spa is polluted. After publishing the information, he finds that his neighbors are furious with him for tarnishing the town's main source of income. Should he retract his statement and save his skin? Or hold to the truth and save his professional integrity? The play saw a revival at Broadway's Samuel J.Friedman Theatre in 2012 to rave reviews, starring Boyd Gaines and Richard Thomas. The timely nature of this drama coupled with the ongoing crisis with poisoned water in Flint, Michigan makes the urgency of the story all the more real.
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text:
Home State Publications Social services for pregnant and parenting adolescents : a legal guide - Page 35
Social services for pregnant and parenting adolescents : a legal guide
Social services for pregnant and parenting adolescents : a legal guide - Page 35
People Acting as if They Were Parents
The law allows health providers to accept consent for a minor from
someone acting as her parent. ( The legal term is a person standing in loco
parentis.) Being in loco parentis means taking on informally the rights and
duties of a parent, especially the burden of support. 14 Unfortunately, it is
quite difficult to be confident that a person wanting to consent actually is
in loco parentis. It is difficult to know who is supporting a child and to
judge whether a particular adult intends to act as a parent— or, if so, how
fully and for how long. Thus, many providers hesitate to accept consent
from an individual on the assumption that she or he is in loco parentis.
People Acting for an Absent Parent
North Carolina law lets a parent transfer the power to consent to treat-ment
for a child to someone else when " the parent is unavailable for a pe-riod
of time by reason of travel or otherwise." 15 To do so, the parent must
have sole or joint custody of the child and transfer his or her authority in
writing. No parent, however, may authorize another person to agree to the
withholding or withdrawal of life- sustaining procedures for a child.
Adult Consent Not Needed in Emergencies and Other Situations
At his or her discretion, a physician may treat16 a minor whose parents
are unavailable if
1. despite reasonable efforts the physician cannot reach the
proper adult during the time the minor needs treatment; or
22 Social Services for Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents
14. State v. Pittard, 45 N. C. App. 701, 263 S. E. 2d 809 ( 1980).
15. G. S. 32A- 28 through - 34.
16. " Treatment" does not include surgery. It is defined as " any medical procedure
or treatment, including X rays, the administration of drugs, blood transfusions, use
of anesthetics, and laboratory or other diagnostic procedures employed by or or-dered
by a physician licensed to practice medicine in the State of North Carolina that
is used, employed, or ordered to be used or employed commensurate with the exer-cise
of reasonable care and equal to the standards of medical practice normally em-ployed
in the community where said physician administers treatment to said minor."
G. S. 90- 21.2.
Title Social services for pregnant and parenting adolescents : a legal guide
Creator Dellinger, Anne M.
Contributor Moore, Jill D.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Institute of Government.
Subjects Health--North Carolina
Women--North Carolina
Teenage mothers--Services for--North Carolina
Teenage mothers--Legal status, laws, etc.--North Carolina
Teenage pregnancy--North Carolina
Minors--North Carolina
Description "With immigration and language section by Jill D. Moore"--Cover.; Includes bibliographical references. Anne Dellinger.
Publisher Institute of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Agency-Current University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina (System)
Standard Number ISBN: 1560114215; ISBN: 9781560114215
Physical Characteristics xiv, 107 p. ; 23 cm.
Format Instructional materials
Digital Characteristics-A 343 KB; 120 p.
N.C. Public Health Collection
Related Items Also available via the Internet: http://www.adolescentpregnancy.unc.edu/pdf/appbook2.pdf; http://www.adolescentpregnancy.unc.edu/pdf/appbook2.pdf; http://worldcat.org/oclc/51106679/viewonline
Audience Grade 10
Adult/continuing education
Pres File Name-M pubs_socialservicespregnant072002.pdf
Title Social services for pregnant and parenting adolescents : a legal guide - Page 35
Full Text People Acting as if They Were Parents The law allows health providers to accept consent for a minor from someone acting as her parent. ( The legal term is a person standing in loco parentis.) Being in loco parentis means taking on informally the rights and duties of a parent, especially the burden of support. 14 Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to be confident that a person wanting to consent actually is in loco parentis. It is difficult to know who is supporting a child and to judge whether a particular adult intends to act as a parent— or, if so, how fully and for how long. Thus, many providers hesitate to accept consent from an individual on the assumption that she or he is in loco parentis. People Acting for an Absent Parent North Carolina law lets a parent transfer the power to consent to treat-ment for a child to someone else when " the parent is unavailable for a pe-riod of time by reason of travel or otherwise." 15 To do so, the parent must have sole or joint custody of the child and transfer his or her authority in writing. No parent, however, may authorize another person to agree to the withholding or withdrawal of life- sustaining procedures for a child. Adult Consent Not Needed in Emergencies and Other Situations At his or her discretion, a physician may treat16 a minor whose parents are unavailable if 1. despite reasonable efforts the physician cannot reach the proper adult during the time the minor needs treatment; or 22 Social Services for Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents 14. State v. Pittard, 45 N. C. App. 701, 263 S. E. 2d 809 ( 1980). 15. G. S. 32A- 28 through - 34. 16. " Treatment" does not include surgery. It is defined as " any medical procedure or treatment, including X rays, the administration of drugs, blood transfusions, use of anesthetics, and laboratory or other diagnostic procedures employed by or or-dered by a physician licensed to practice medicine in the State of North Carolina that is used, employed, or ordered to be used or employed commensurate with the exer-cise of reasonable care and equal to the standards of medical practice normally em-ployed in the community where said physician administers treatment to said minor." G. S. 90- 21.2.
Social services for pregnant and parenting adolescents : a...


I wish you all are in good health and good spirit. This is very much important to note that – we, the members of ADP3, are not going to participate in the agitation programme of NFADE. This is because we are not still the part of NFADE. We acknowledge that the struggle of NFADE is for a good and genuine cause. We have moral support to their agitation programme.
Friends, here is a good news! The spirit of our association spread all over the country! Following are the stations where the units of ADP3 has already formed.
33. DDK Tura, the list is increasing every day. Thank you.


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Hardware with a purpose
The functional category offers new solutions for opening and closing doors, bearing weight, home storage, and more
All cabinet and furniture hardware is functional, as every piece performs a task. But the industry likes to separate pulls and knobs from the crowd, categorizing them separately as decorative because they have more perceived aesthetic value. Cabinetmakers may often disagree – many hidden hardware products such as slides, hinges and struts are beautifully engineered, and visually pleasing. The essential difference of course is that change in decorative hardware is driven by design trends, while advances in functional hardware are powered primarily by ergonomics and engineering.
Among the more evident movements in functional hardware of late have been gentle stops and starts, self-closing and foot-operated opening devices, top-hinged upper doors and several accommodations for other advancing technologies such as LED lighting, wireless device charging and audio-visual elements. Hidden shelf supports are also enjoying increased popularity, as are commercial elements in domestic settings such as barn door hardware and open shelving.
Panels and pockets
As might be expected, the pandemic has changed the market for functional hardware. Chip Kessler at Outwater Plastics Inds. (outwater.com) reports that his company has seen a surge in demand for its PDK clamp series. Those are small panel clamps that work with clear plastic panels to create screens and other PPE (personal protective equipment) products. Woodshops all over the country are using their CNC capabilities to ramp up production in this area. The Outwater hardware is designed to hold sheets in position either temporarily with clamps or permanently with screws, and it does so in a number of different configurations. The company is also supplying hands-free door pulls and both plastic and metal connecting clips for various clear panel thicknesses. As a sign of the times, the New Jersey showroom is open (masks are required) but the Arizona showroom is still closed as of the end of November.
Upper cabinet doors that open from the bottom (top-hinged) are becoming very popular because they allow a better view of the cabinet interior, and they're also less intrusive in a crowded kitchen where open doors might impede traffic. Kesseböhmer USA (cleverstorage.com) recently added Freespace to its family of lifters, and the company says it's the most compact and lightweight lifter available today. This is a hinge-free flap fitting with a sleek, compact design and serious load-bearing ability. The installation depth is less than 2-1/2", so it can be fitted in very shallow cabinets while holding large doors.
U.S. Futuba (usfutaba.com) is a family operated hardware distributor with headquarters in Santa Ana, Calif. And among its latest catalog additions are a pair of hardware kits for flat rail bypass barn doors. The hardware for the surface mount option is steel with a powder-coated finish, and the black wheels are made from polyformaldehyde (POM). This kit can handle a pair of standard interior (1-3/8") or exterior (1-3/4") door panels up to 200 lbs. combined. The top mount version comes in either powder-coated or stainless steel and is designed for thinner doors from 1-3/16" to 1-3/4", but with a higher weight capacity of 300 lbs. combined. A 4′ rail extension that is pre-drilled for a soft close mechanism is available only in a steel matte finish.
Blum's EasyStick automatic stop and the AvanTech YOU drawer system from Hettich America.
Another solution for dealing with large openings is the pocket door, and a new hardware package from Sugatsune (sugatsune.com) was designed so that all of the components could be accessed without damaging the pocket. Even the rollers can be removed without ripping into walls. The FD80H pocket door system is available with two-way soft-closing dampers for recessed or surface mounted applications. If anything should happen with the system, it has been designed so that all of the hardware components can be accessed and removed simply by taking off part of the track and removing the door. This also makes it easy to update the door. Sugatsune has also introduced new sliding door handles (item HC-3051).
Also for sliding doors, the new 116RC from Accuride (accuride.com) is a state-of-the-art, heavy-duty, linear track system. It has ADA-compliant linear motion and design, and in addition to sliding doors it will also accommodate large screens, panels, movable walls and barn doors. The track supports up to an impressive 793 lbs. and the aluminum track comes in a choice of 94.5" and 142" long. Woodshops can choose between strong stainless steel or quieter polymer ball bearing carriages.
For smaller doors, Osborne Wood Products (osbornewood.com) has introduced a bifold barn door hardware kit for cabinets. It lets cabinet shops install small barn doors in spaces that don't allow for the traditional extended (wide) track. One side of the door remains in place while the other opens in the same fashion as the familiar closet bifold. But the hardware makes it look like a sliding barn door, and the moving end can pop off the track and allow the pair of doors to act like a regular hinged cabinet door. Ball bearing wheels glide along the track, and the kit has all the hardware needed for two folding doors (up to 100 lbs.) and it comes with various track lengths. Osborne has also introduced the Recessed V Stabilizer for solid wood panels. This is a simple device that is attached to the underside of a tabletop or counter, and it runs across the grain to minimize warping, wash-boarding, cupping or gapping over time as moisture content changes. The stabilizer bar fits into a recessed groove created by a custom router bit or CNC tool.
The Freespace lifter from Kessebohmeer USA
Hinge hardware
The Italian manufacturer Salice (salice.com/us/en) introduced a new universal hinge in 2020 that can be used with a very wide range of door materials and thicknesses. In addition to the classic cup for wooden doors, there is a plate-fixed version that is bonded to glass doors or mirrors, and a third version with a screw-fixed plate for doors made of materials that are becoming increasingly popular such as metal, ceramics, cements, quartz composites, HPL, HDF and MDF. These plates have screws that were developed specifically to obtain the highest holding strength in materials with a minimum thickness of 8 mm (5/16"). The slots on the plate also work with almost any alternative fixing method. Simply changing the position of the cup or the plate on the door lets the universal hinge work in a number of special applications and overlays, including inset doors. The hinge's seven pivoting movements also accommodate half-inset doors, and doors with molded or mitered edges. There's a soft closing version with integrated silicone-oil dampers and it's even possible to convert a sprung hinge into a hinge with integrated soft-close, or vice versa. This hinge is also available with the Push self-opening system for handle-less doors. It comes in a nickel-plated or titanium finish with a complete range of hinge arm and flange cover caps that can be personalized on request. The universal hinge is compatible with all Salice mounting plates and is fully adjustable in three directions.
Projects managers requiring hinges with a high degree of durability may want to take a look at the line of institutional hinges from Grass America (grassamerica.com). They offer the perfect solution for institutional casework in schools, hospitals and commercial environments where the cabinetry needs to stand up to a considerable amount of use. The MB 8010 hinge system has all-metal construction and is designed for frameless cabinetry. It offers high load-bearing capabilities and opening angles up to 270 degrees. Another Grass innovation has been created to solve problems with interior corner doors in kitchens. The company offers several solutions here, including the Tiomos, Nexis, Nexis 21 and the 975 VZ. These PCC (pie-cut with a cup) hinges connect two folding doors in a corner cabinet and providing wide access to the interior of the cabinet. They can be combined with other space maximizing features such as the classic lazy Susan.
Properly locating functional hardware such as hinges and slides can be a challenge, and to that end in September Blum (blum.com/getintouch) released its EasyStick solution in North America. The Stanley, N.C. company's new assembly device was engineered to complement its MiniPress P machines. It works with models from 2007 or later, and it takes the guesswork out of hole locating and drilling for Blum hardware. By entering specifications through its digital interface, stops on the device move automatically to the correct drilling positions. It's ideal for shops that may not have a dedicated CNC machine for such specialized applications. It's compatible with a range of Blum products and custom configurations, and these can be saved and easily accessed for future work. From setting the ruler to locating and drilling holes for front fixing brackets for Blum's box systems, the EasyStick's digital interface will notify users if an update is available, which can be easily loaded using a USB stick.
The Space Step from Richelieu (richelieu.com/us/en) is an interesting use of Blum hardware. It lets woodworkers create a pull-out storage unit that also helps customers reach higher than their normal physical reach. Among the suggested applications is giving children a boost so they can help with countertop chores, or letting adults reach the top shelf in a closet – and do so without the need for a portable stepladder or straddling an unsteady chair. It's basically a kit that lets designers plan taller furniture, and also creates new additional storage space in the base area.
Salice's new universal hinge.
Shelves, closets and hinges
Woodshops with clients who want to add industrial strength shelving to a project will like an upcoming product from A&M Hardware in Mount Joy, Pa. (aandmhardware.com). Mike Bright says that his company will be adding a new adjustable bracket in that category early next year.
It will be available in either a black or white powder coated finish. The vertical arms are 15" long and there is a junction block included, so a shop can line up multiple arms for height and this allows for increased adjustability. Horizontal supports will be available in several lengths.
Rev-A-Shelf (rev-a-shelf.com) is based in Louisville, Ky. and many of its newest functional hardware is at home in closets. The company's new closet rods have a unique notch and groove design that provides added strength and eliminates pole spinning. There's a guard that protects the finish from scratches, and the 1-5/8" diameter poles are available in multiple finishes to match other closet accessories. They can be quickly installed in standard 32 mm pattern holes. It can be installed in front of clothes in the closet or under a fixed shelf, or perhaps behind a cabinet door.
Another one-touch pop-out from Rev-A-Shelf is the pop-out Valet Rod that holds up to 35 lbs. (perfect for heavy dry-cleaning bags). A telescoping version of the valet rod is also available. Then there's the Elite pant rack pullout that slides out on full-extension, soft-close slides, showing off many pairs of pants at once. It has separately hinged, non-slip, steel hanger arms.
Rev-A-Shelf's Tresco lighting division (trescolighting.com) has added SNAP panels, which are 12" x 12", razor-thin LED light panels that can be broken down to 3" x 3" squares and connected back in any configuration, creating a perfect solution with complete light uniformity. Also new at Tresco is the FreeDim series of wireless remotes and dimmers that let a customer control kitchen accent lighting, even from another room. And Tresco's new European inspired Alpha LED lighting, which was designed by the German engineering company Halemeier, is ideal for commercial displays, closets, drawers, shelves, and cabinet applications. It offers a multitude of features including motion detection, wireless installation and Center Spot Reduction optics that use a unique diode configuration to eliminate glare.
Emtek (emtek.com) has updated its popular heavy duty, square barrel, solid brass hinge. It's now available in a new, thinner leaf option. While similar in style, the new Square Barrel Hinge option has a more standardized thickness of 0.125" vs the original 0.180" and features a small step on the wing near the knuckle which provides a more pronounced square hinge profile when the door is closed. The hinge barrel also features no exposed screws for an aesthetically clean look.
Drawer building
Häfele America Co. (hafele.com/us/en) has introduced a remarkably simple and fast way to build drawers using the company's newest piece of functional hardware, the Ixconnect Claw (item CC 8/5/30). This single part connects wooden drawers quickly and easily without tools. The completely invisible claw connector requires some simple machining, saves time and increases shop efficiency. All that's needed is a few standard drill holes (front: 8 mm; side: 5 mm) for the Claw to draw into the perpendicular panel material and make a nice, tight fit. Wooden drawer panels as thin as a half inch can have a reliable, invisible connection when the claw bites into the MDF panels. The company also supplies the Ixconnect Rear Panel Connector (item RPC D 5/24) that locks the bottom and rear panel in position when it snaps in place, again without tools.
The new and quite beautiful AvanTech YOU drawer system from Hettich America in Buford, Ga. (Hettich.com/en-us) is difficult to categorize as simply functional hardware because of its slim and sleek aesthetics. It offers a wealth of design options in terms of color, shape and materials. The system's flexibility is due in part to a common drilling pattern and it also has a lot of vertical, lateral and tilt adjustment. That lets a woodshop get exactly the right reveal on drawer fronts, and the controls are all hidden inside the side panels of the drawers. Just slide the exterior casing back, release the front panel and make any necessary adjustments. The panel drops forward, which makes it very safe to work on larger, wider fronts.
A new heavy-duty system (225 lbs.) from Fulterer (fultererusa.com), the FR56, uses ball bearing slides with various functions and mounting methods. These include full extension, a gray plastic anti-tilt mechanism (item FR 5619), and an interlocking feature that lets the woodshop build stacking drawers that can be secured. This latter uses round aluminum pins that are cut to the appropriate lengths to simultaneously lock or unlock several stacked drawers.
Hardware Resources (hardwareresources.com) designs, engineers and manufactures an extensive line of products for the kitchen, bath and closet industries under four brands: Jeffrey Alexander, Elements, Task Lighting, and Hardware Resources.
The company sells only its own products, among which is the new EZ Open heavy duty (100 lbs.), soft close drawer slide (series 303-325) that can be ordered in either 3/4 or full extension versions. The zinc slide comes in 10" to 28" lengths, in 2" increments, and is soft-close.
Finally, Bainbridge Mfg. has introduced some new epoxy, adjustable drawer slide sockets (left and right versions) that make it easier for a woodworker to fasten the back end of slides to the cabinet. Measuring 7/8″ x 5/16″, they come in 8mm (item 6003) and 10mm (item 6004) pegs, so you just drill the holes and clip them in place. Packaging quantities are 25, 100 and 250.
This article was originally published in the January 2021 issue.
Hardware Heaven
There' a lot of different ways to have a door open and drawer slide, evident from the current offerings from suppliers and manufacturers.
Getting a handle on hardware
Get smart & outsource
A recent article (Oct. 2) by Tim McKeough in The New York Times ("Putting a designer's polish on Ikea products") describes how a supplier used off-the-shelf Ikea boxes and custom designer doors to create a small but very stylish New York kitchen – for $1,600 without the doors.
Of Grit and Grain
Sanding solutions in the modern shop include CNC heads, new abrasives, versatile wide belts, and more.
The Changing Face of Cabinet Building
An update on current manufacturing trends, new accessories, consumer preferences, and more.
Removing the pain
New sanding solutions include wide belt through benchtop machines, aggregate heads, next generation abrasives, and more.
The latest clamping and holding solutions for bench and CNC work.
Machinery manufacturers offer an array of compact solutions to save on floorspace.


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Woody Roseland On Life With Cancer: A Call to Action To Make a Difference
Woody tells his story of recurring cancer and how that became a motivation for him to make a difference in this humorous and engaging TEDxMileHigh talk titled, "You Are Here."
More on BoingBoing.
Top 10 Things You Should Know About Poverty In America
BillMoyers.com reports:
"Last week, the research and advocacy organization Demos held a policy conference in Washington on 21st century poverty issues.... The inspiration for the gathering was the 50th anniversary of Michael Harrington's seminal exposé The Other America. Even before the recession, millions of Americans were living in poverty. Now, with many more out of work, economic inequality on the rise and proposed cuts to the social safety net, the issue is more relevant than ever."
The infographic highlights some findings presented at the conference.
Is the Internet Making Us Crazy?
Newsweek reports on new research about how technology and our online activity contributes to loneliness, depression, and compulsive behavior.
"The first good, peer-reviewed research is emerging, and the picture is much gloomier than the trumpet blasts of Web utopians have allowed. The current incarnation of the Internet—portable, social, accelerated, and all-pervasive—may be making us not just dumber or lonelier but more depressed and anxious, prone to obsessive-compulsive and attention-deficit disorders, even outright psychotic. Our digitized minds can scan like those of drug addicts, and normal people are breaking down in sad and seemingly new ways."
"People tell her that their phones and laptops are the 'place for hope' in their lives, the 'place where sweetness comes from.' Children describe mothers and fathers unavailable in profound ways, present and yet not there at all. 'Mothers are now breastfeeding and bottle-feeding their babies as they text,' she told the American Psychological Association last summer. 'A mother made tense by text messages is going to be experienced as tense by the child. And that child is vulnerable to interpreting that tension as coming from within the relationship with the mother. This is something that needs to be watched very closely.' She added, 'Technology can make us forget important things we know about life.'"
From Russell's Teapot Comics.
Love and Use
Tithe on Gross or Net Income?
Piles Of Money by Talia Felix
The Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics provides an interesting, albeit somewhat academic debate on whether tithing should be based on gross or net (after tax) income, based on Scripture. The original article is from Covenant Community Church of Orange County.
New study says American families are overwhelmed by clutter, rarely eat together, and are generally stressed out about it all
The Boston Globe reports on a study where a team of UCLA anthropologists and archeologists studied 32 middle-class Los Angeles families over four years:
"The rise of Costco and similar stores has prompted so much stockpiling — you never know when you'll need 600 Dixie cups or a 50-pound bag of sugar — that three out of four garages are too full to hold cars."
"Managing the volume of possessions is such a crushing problem in many homes that it elevates levels of stress hormones for mothers."
"Even families who invested in outdoor décor and improvements were too busy to go outside and enjoy their new decks."
"Most families rely heavily on convenience foods even though all those frozen stir-frys and pot stickers saved them only about 11 minutes per meal."
"A refrigerator door cluttered with magnets, calendars, family photos, phone numbers, and sports schedules generally indicates the rest of the home will be in a similarly chaotic state."


Forget Christmas. Back-to-school season is truly the most wonderful time of the year! | ECHOage - Get great gifts. Give to charity.
← Great news, parents! Fear can be fixed.
Forget Christmas. Back-to-school season is truly the most wonderful time of the year!
Don't get me wrong – the slowed down pace of summer coupled with not having to pack school lunches makes summer pure joy. But, it's been eight weeks now and it's time to outsource the bickering siblings to our kind government for six hours a day. Like any change of pace, summer was refreshing but I welcome the routine and structure that the school year offers.
Back to school also makes me feel nostalgic. As I prep my six kids heading off to elementary school, memories of this season come flooding back. Without question, the very BEST part of back-to-school season is all those shiny new school supplies. We head off to the shops with our school supply lists in hand, eagerly filling our shopping cart.
Nothing says "fresh start" like crisp white paper, clean colourful binders, sharp pencils and backpacks that don't have a squashed banana at the bottom. To me, new school supplies bring hope and promise. Hope for academic success in the next grade. And the promise of a more organized school year.
Having a good list is key. My kids range in age from Junior Kindergarten to Gr. 8, so there are very different supplies required. While everyone needs paper, pencils and erasers – when do calculators and geometry sets enter the scene? It's best to have an understanding of what each kid needs before heading off into the mayhem of the shopping centers to face the other back-to-school shoppers.
In my many years of back-to-school planning, I've learned a thing or two. And now I love to share my tips and advice with other parents about the topic. So, although the long weekend is known as Labour Day, here at Mabel's Labels, we celebrate "Label Day Weekend". There's a lot going on, including a Facebook & Twitter event on September 2nd, from 9pm-11pm where I'll be chatting with other parents about back to school. (There might even be some giveaways…) Hope you can make it!
What memories do you have from your back to school days? Did you like the feeling of fresh paper under your fingertips, or was having a sniff of the liquid paper more your thing?
Julie Cole is co-founder of Mabel's Labels Inc., the leading provider of kids' labels, and a proud mom of six.