The cost for attending the IGNITE training is $100 which covers class materials and program costs. $25 is due at registration, and an additional $25 due September 15, at our first IGNITE meeting. The remaining installments of $25 are due during the 3rd and 6th weeks. Please don't let finances keep you from joining us. If God has put IGNITE on your heart but you're having trouble coming up with the funds, please contact us at ignite@ywamsac.com .
To make a payment, please select one of the payment options below. Upon clicking the link, you'll be taken to our processing page for payment.


text:
WSU DTE E-Challenge team works to improve campus energy efficiency
The David Adamany Undergraduate Library is scheduled to be the demonstration site for the WSU DTE E-Challenge team.
A team of Wayne State University professors, students and members of the facility management team are collaborating to improve the energy efficiency of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system of commercial buildings as part of the DTE E-Challenge 5.
The project, "Artificial Intelligence-enabled HVAC Control," uses artificial intelligence to learn occupants' behavior, predict their activity and patterns in a building, and adjust the HVAC usage accordingly.
The team's proposal has advanced to the implementation phase of the DTE E-Challenge 5. DTE and The Engineering Society of Detroit have awarded the team $100,000 toward the implementation of the project. Additional scholarships are provided to the students working on the project of $4,000 per semester for graduate students and $1,000 per semester for undergraduates. In addition, the College of Engineering is providing $100,000 for the project.
"The idea behind the DTE E-Challenge is to develop technologies that improve energy efficiency and reduce energy waste in commercial and industrial buildings," said Masoud Nazari, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and the principal investigator for the project.
"The demonstration site will eventually be one of the buildings on campus. The idea is that we will use artificial intelligence to proactively control the heating and cooling and ventilation system in the building in order to improve energy efficiency, while ensuring that occupants have a comfortable environment."
The project will take place over approximately 18 months. Some of the students are currently collecting information about the building — which is scheduled to be the David Adamany Undergraduate Library — and others are working on the computer science aspects of the project.
"The students are doing a great job," Nazari said. "First the students were working on building analysis. They had a tour and went to the building, they visited different areas and did inventory of the building. They did that to understand what technology exists there and what can be added to make it better based on the proposed technology.
"The students in computer science have worked on developing algorithms that can be used to predict occupancy and activity based on the data we collect from the sensors like the Internet of Things sensors. They did the analysis on energy consumption of the building and came up with the estimation of how much savings we will expect after the implementation of this technology."
Athira Kottilappilly Babu, an electrical engineering graduate student at Wayne State, said she is excited to work on the project and grateful for the opportunity, both academically and for what it could mean for the future.
"DTE E-Challenge is an amazing platform that focuses on leveraging innovative mindsets to provide creative energy conservation solutions that help reduce greenhouse gases and eventually contribute toward a healthy and sustainable world," Babu said. "Projects like this are not only important to provide a platform to explore students' career interests, but also to identify young talent to support technology innovations and breakthroughs for a future sustainable world."
Senior electrical engineering major Zachary Roberts said he's enjoyed being able to learn things he wouldn't necessarily learn in the classroom.
"Projects like this are important because they give students a chance to branch out and do something they wouldn't normally do in their major," Roberts said. "Also, in doing this project, it can help provide insight to further technology and help DTE lower their prices, which, in the end, will help the customers."
Associate Vice President of Facilities Planning and Management Robert Davenport, Senior Director of Facilities Operations Steven Pecic and Director of Utilities and Energy Management Paul Bernard are all part of the team. Associate Professor of Computer Science Dongxiao Zhu, Adjunct Professor of Engineering Dick Green, and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Caisheng Wang are also working on the project.
Nazari hopes the work of the entire team will show energy savings and prove that the technology could be implemented elsewhere in the future.
"The long-term goal is that this technology will become scalable and DTE has a vision to submit the viable Energy Conservation Measures (ECM) to the Michigan Public Service Commission to become commercialized ECMs." Nazari said. "The proposed technology can be expanded to different buildings depending on how successful the technology is and if we can achieve the goals."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
using FileHelpers;

namespace Ghostbot.Modules.ClanWars.Model
{
    [DelimitedRecord(",")]
    public class ClanChallengeStatusRow
    {
        [FieldOrder(1)]
        [FieldQuoted('"', QuoteMode.AlwaysQuoted, MultilineMode.NotAllow)]
        public int Rank;
        [FieldOrder(2)]
        [FieldQuoted('"', QuoteMode.AlwaysQuoted, MultilineMode.NotAllow)]
        public string ClanHtmlLink;
        [FieldOrder(3)]
        [FieldQuoted('"', QuoteMode.AlwaysQuoted, MultilineMode.NotAllow)]
        public int Score;
        [FieldOrder(4)]
        [FieldQuoted('"', QuoteMode.AlwaysQuoted, MultilineMode.NotAllow)]
        public int Active;
        [FieldOrder(5)]
        [FieldQuoted('"', QuoteMode.AlwaysQuoted, MultilineMode.NotAllow)]
        public int Total;
        public Clan Clan => Clan.Parse(ClanHtmlLink);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


If you want to study along with me, before reading my devotional, read chapters 4 and 5 of Hosea. Try to summarize in your own words what each chapter is about. Write down your questions, see if you can answer those after you read my thoughts by cross referencing other verses, reading a commentary, or reading the first three chapters of Hosea.
Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, for the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land. There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing, and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, and also the fish of the sea disappear.
What are the thinking, actions, and behavior of those who have no knowledge of God? God speaking through the prophet Hosea would say that not knowing God will always lead down a path of destruction. Read carefully again and list the sins there. All of them abusive to self and others. All of them hurtful to God and self.
Yet this path starts out seemingly harmless. First there is a lack of faithfulness and kindness because there is no knowledge of God. Then the list gets increasingly violent and intensifies. All because there is no knowledge of God in the land.
Notice the people have no one to guide them in knowing God. It says in verse 8 that the spiritual leaders feed on the sins of the people and direct them to iniquity. The priests will be punished like the people; there is no difference in how they live than the people walking in darkness.
Do you see around you the fallout from a life that is lived without considering God at all? It is a bleak and empty existence. People all around us are living without acknowledging Him at all and while some have hurt and pain that all can see, some are on the path toward it. Not only will they languish but all of creation experience the consequences of this life as well.
I hope friend you are asking yourself the question I have been asking myself since I read this: what do I do if I have knowledge of God? How do I keep the people around me from destruction? The simple answer is that you must share the knowledge of God with them. And what's simple isn't always what's easy, but if you think of the chaos you see all around you, my prayer is that you and I would be moved with compassion to speak.


text:
FTC, States to Recoup Millions in Relief for Victims Fleeced by 'Pharma Bro' Scheme to Illegally Monopolize Life-Saving Drug Daraprim
'Pharma Bro' Associate Mulleady banned from pharma industry and corporate defendants to pay up to $40 million; Trial set to begin next week for 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli, who masterminded the scheme
The Federal Trade Commission and its state co-plaintiffs, New York, California, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, filed an order in court today that shuts down an illegal scheme masterminded by 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli that fleeced patients dependent on the life-saving drug Daraprim. The order follows a January 2020 complaint against Shkreli, his associate Kevin Mulleady, their company Vyera Pharmaceuticals, LLC, and its parent company Phoenixus AG. Enforcers alleged that Shkreli, currently in prison for securities fraud, and Mulleady hiked the price of Daraprim by 4000 percent and then concocted an elaborate web of restrictions to illegally block competitors from producing a cheaper option.
The order bans Mulleady from the pharmaceutical industry and requires Vyera and Phoenixus AG to provide up to $40 million in relief for victims. Shkreli, who allegedly pioneered the scheme as Vyera's first CEO and continued to mastermind it from prison, is set to begin trial later this month.
"Today's action puts money back in the pockets of drug patients fleeced by a monopolistic scheme," said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. "Martin Shkreli masterminded an elaborate plan to dramatically jack up the price of life-saving drug Daraprim by blocking cheaper options. While litigation against Shkreli continues, the order shuts down the illegal enterprise run by his companies, Vyera and Phoenixus, and bans his associate from the industry. This strong relief sets a new standard and puts corporate leaders on notice that they will face severe consequences for ripping off the public by wantonly monopolizing markets."
The complaint alleges that Shkreli and Mulleady launched Vyera with a plan to purchase a life-saving drug, raise the price dramatically, and use anticompetitive contracts to block competition. Vyera acquired Daraprim in 2015 and immediately raised the list price from $17.50 to $750 per tablet. According to the complaint, Vyera then created a web of anticompetitive restrictions to box out the competition: it entered resale-restriction agreements with distributors that prevented generic companies from procuring the drug for FDA-mandated testing; it entered exclusivity agreements with the suppliers of a critical input known as pyrimethamine API; and it inked data-blocking agreements with two key distributors to prevent them from releasing Daraprim sales data and thereby mask the true size of the market opportunity for potential generic competitors. The complaint alleges that this scheme delayed generic competition for years and caused tens of millions of dollars in harm to consumers.
Upon the federal district court's entry of the stipulated order, Mulleady will generally be banned from working for, consulting for, or controlling a pharmaceutical company for 7 years. Mulleady is also subject to a $250,000 suspended judgment if he is found to have violated the terms of this order.
The order requires Vyera and Phoenixus to pay up to $40 million total in equitable monetary relief – $10 million is guaranteed up front and up to $30 million more is payable over 10 years if the companies' financial condition improves. Vyera and Phoenixus are required to make Daraprim available to any potential generic competitor at list price, and to provide prior notification of any planned pharmaceutical transaction valued at $25 million or more. Mulleady, Vyera, and Phoenixus also are prohibited for 10 years from engaging in any conduct similar to what the FTC and the states alleged in their amended April 2020 complaint.
With respect to every defendant except Shkreli, this settlement resolves all claims brought by the FTC and the state co-plaintiffs, as well as those brought in a related class action suit.
The Commission vote authorizing staff to seek entry of the Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York was 4-0. On Dec. 7, 2021, the order was filed by staff and entered by the court. Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips issued a statement.
The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about how competition benefits consumers or file an antitrust complaint. For the latest news and resources, follow the FTC on social media, subscribe to press releases and read our blog.
Six More States Join FTC and NY Attorney General's Case Against Vyera Pharmaceuticals, Martin Shkreli, and Other Defendants
Vyera Pharmaceuticals, LLC
Statement of Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips Regarding Vyera Pharmaceuticals, LLC
Health Care Competition
Competition in the Health Care Marketplace


In this video we are going to talk a little about level design.
Just an intro to get you started.
is a practically horizontal surface or area.
something that can have a little bit of life in it.
But it's just a tiny corner of the world.
plan out in the mind.
into a volume, into a space, basically.
what's going to be in their spaces.
you will have to think about these walls.
think about obstacles, traps, natural dangers, and artificial ones.
Like falling to your death.
You will have to design a space that you can explore like a maze.
And maybe get lost in it.
a real interesting analogy in this terms.
You will have to think about how to escape these worlds, how to escape this maze.
And you will have to define the architecture involved in your space.
It can be extremely simple.
at the end of this video is also about Micro and Macro design.
what is going to be the scale of the world.
The playable world or the world in general.
Is it going to be a tiny, tiny place?
A tiny corner of the galaxy, or the galaxy itself?
too, in two parts, just after this video.


In November 1999, the Industry Numbering Committee directed NANPA to assign the 855 NPA code for toll-free service. On June 25, 2010, the Wireline Competition Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized the opening of the 855 toll free code commencing at 12:00 p.m., Eastern Time, Friday, October 1, 2010.
On August 2, 2010, in response to the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions' SMS/800 Number Administration Committee (SNAC) request to modify the October 1, 2010 date for opening the 855 toll free code, the FCC agreed to delay the opening by 24 hours, to Saturday, October 2, 2010, at 12:00 pm, to lessen the impact on regular customer activities that take place during the normal business week.
I do think that test numbers were assigned to 855, as technically 866 and 855 were assigned at the same time. Many providers "opened them up" in their switches thinking it was going to be used at the same time as 866. BTW, test numbers tend to be in the 8yy-250-03xx range.
I'm surprised we need any more toll-free exchanges. It's not like long distance costs much like it used to. Everyone is on cell phones now, so a number being "toll-free" makes little difference to most people.
You're forgetting that while residential customers have been enjoying unlimited long distance since the late 90's, a large number of carriers who provide business services won't do that, as they tend to chew through enough minutes to make flat rate billing unprofitable unless you interconnect with people that re-originate through a skype client or something.
As for cell phones, I can still see where a world without toll-free numbers would be a problem. I know a number of people who'll blow through their minute allowances very, very quickly.
Besides, while we may not necessarily need toll-frees, I get the feeling companies think they add to a professional image, or help perform route distribution to either multiple call centers, or over a carrier they're confident will survive an onslaught of calls like the one people who air TV commercials get. No, seriously, people actually call the numbers on those commercials. Someone who works for a company that provides service for just that sort of an arrangement tells me a typical commercial will generate about 200 calls when it airs. That's not the only case either. Try calling any large airline during the holidays, or when unusual weather conditions cancel a flight.
The great thing about a toll-free is it's non-geographic; you don't necessarily have to make it terminate to the same number from every location. If a business that gets insane amounts of traffic has a DID on, say, a switch in Colorado they use for customer service, and the terminating switch or the tandem it homes off encounters a circuit busy condition, they're sunk. With a toll-free, that doesn't necessarily have to be the case.
You're right, you're not just imagining it. I recall a handful of commercials back in the day that were advertising 855 toll free numbers.
i am agree with @dmine45, i think he has a point to notice regarding the 855 toll free number. what do you say about this?


text:
DIRECTOR DUO ESCOTT AND LANCE JOIN THE GUILD
The Photon Group has taken a 51% stake in BWM, Australia's largest independent agency group, which also comprises Cox Innall Communications, and PPA AdCafe. The balance of 49% remains owned by managing partners Rob Belgiovane (pictured), Paul Williams, and Jamie Mackay. The three maintain day to day management control of the business.
BWM has grown strongly and steadily over the last few years, reaching $18.5m revenue averaging 20% profit. The deal entails an upfront cash payment of $7.3 million as well around 1.3 million Photon shares, taking the total purchase price to approximately $13.8 million.
Says BWM Group CEO Paul Williams: "we wanted to consolidate our independent status but in a more robust way that will give us the resources and partners we require to continue to deliver a world class service with strong growth. The Photon partnership gives us the backing for our continued development and helps underwrite our growth strategy to be a top 5 Australian agency group over the next 3 years."
Adds ECD Rob Belgiovane: "Photon was a considered choice..for us versus the multinational option. It allows us to access the capital and business expertise, but by same token ability to maintain independence of management.
Adds partner James Mackay: "It also provides additional security for our staff, management board and clients and helps us continue to attract the most talented people in the business….. so we can continue to provide a contemporary creative culture with quality delivery and unique challenger thinking across all channels."
At least when SEE got bought out by Photon, the SEE guys were honest. Their press release went something like: WHOO FUCKING HOOO!!! WE'RE RICH!!!! RICH BEYOND OUR WILDEST DREAMS!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
'consolidate our indedpendent status in a more robust way'... that's a nice spin on an independent selling out to a holding company.
nice cut and paste from Adnews lynchy
Add all three: "Plus we got the chance to SERIOUSLY FUCKING CASH IN!!!!"
lynchy said...
4:21... we all had the same press release, but I found out about it before the press release came through and had it on the blog well before AdNews.
Rob Belgiovane is a very small and very rich man.
Guy's and gal's....what do you want out of advertising?
Really..think about it. Awards get you respect but precious little money.
What do we (I count myself in) want? An upgrade to movies?....A show at an Art gallery?...what's our goal as creative people?
Is Rob any less a guy becuase he tokk the money for the company he built up?
Is he selling out?
My question is...as creative people what is our long term goal?
SOUL DOUBT.
As Paul Arden says, think about the money, at least it's honest.
We can all be artists starving in the proverbial garrett, it's not as hard as what we do. Bad artists starve just like some good ones. Really good ones make a shitload.
So if you don't want to think about the money and you care for creative integrity, resign tomorrow and go make art, it's as easy as that.
I know I won't be.
What do I want out of advertising?
Firstly, to have a long career in an industry that's more enjoyable than most others.
To be responsible for the sort of work that gives us a good name. The work that wins both awards and the hearts of real (non-ad) people.
To make money. Money's good, it lets you pay for cool stuff like travel, food, clothes, books, and lets you live in a decent place in a cool suburb and drive a decent car and not have to worry about whether you can afford to eat out or not.
I also want to work with good people who care, people who make me laugh and make we want to front up to the office every day.
That's it. Do mainly good work, some great work and hopefully not too much shit work along the way (although everyone does shit work, the thing that separates us is how much GOOD/GREAT stuff we do)... make decent money... work with good people who inspire me, and have some fun along the way.
Listen you precious idiots, and no I'm not Belgo, don't you want to make money for your grist and grind? Start an agency, put your cock or clitoris on the block, wait ten or so years and maybe, just maybe, if you're good, you'll make a lot of money. Detractors who think this is not the aim of the business forget that we are the most vocal part of capitalism. Whinge, complain, be poor and weep. Or be smart, work hard , be good and reap.
By the way, I leaked the article to Lynchy a day ahead of the other media. Why? because I trust him and reckon he has more interest in the business than any of the other
corporate, who cares types.
I agree with your
(wo)man above. Plus, I got into advertising so I could have a life like Tom Hanks in 'Big' without having to work for a toy company.
I've nearly saved enough for my bunk bed by the way.
I posted "SOUL DOUBT." It's great to see the response. You've just cemented my own beliefs as to why I've chosen this industry. Good on BWM.
I like the sentence from 7:24 "The work that wins both awards and the hearts of real (non-ad) people".
Sadly, advertising people are drown in adwards show than doing great work. I think award show is killing the industry.. but still, awards that keep your bank account flowing.


You are at:Home»Latest»Hugh Keevins – a Muppet or a Puppet?
Hugh Keevins – a Muppet or a Puppet?
HUGH KEEVINS was interviewed yesterday on Celtic TV and he apologised for his remarks in his Sunday Mail column 20 years ago regarding Celtic's signing of Lubo Moravcik.
We have covered this already this morning and you can watch his appearance on Celtic TV HERE.
"Just clocked Hugh Keevins 'apology' for doubting the suitability of Lubo as a player when he signed for Celtic 20 years ago . The bold Keevins made his authoritative declaration that Celtic should have spent the money on John Spencer rather than the unknown (to Hugh, that is), pal of Dr Jo.
It is difficult at times to determine whether Keevins is just plain dumb (i.e. a muppet) or does he know that what he says works well in the secretive world of the SMSM (i.e. a puppet).
He thinks BFDJ is a pundit …and so on!
🙈 "I got it 100% wrong!" says @shinjukushug.
"Firstly I always find it dubious when someone who "isn't Celtic" tries to spend Celtic's money.
Secondly he seemed to get a kick out of winding Celtic fans up and tried desperately to be controversial against us to make his snarky self relevant.
Thirdly it would suggest he was toeing the establishment line in order to maintain employment.


text:
York était une circonscription électorale fédérale du Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada, dont le représentant a siégé à la Chambre des communes de 1867 à 1914.

Histoire

Cette circonscription a été créée par l'Acte de l'Amérique du Nord britannique en 1867 et correspondait au Comté de York. Elle faisait partie des 15 circonscriptions fédérales originelles et fut abolie en 1914 lorsqu'elle fusionna avec le territoire du Comté de Sunbury inclus dans la circonscription de Sunbury—Queen's pour donner naissance à la nouvelle circonscription de York—Sunbury.

Liste des députés successifs

Cette circonscription fut représentée par les députés suivants :

¹ Élection partielle à la suite de la démission de M. Fisher

² Élection partielle à la suite du décès de M. Pickard

³ Élection partielle à la suite de l'annulation de l'élection précédente

⁴ Élection partielle à la suite de la démission de M. Crocket

Voir aussi

 Liste des circonscriptions électorales fédérales canadiennes

Liens externes

 Parlement du Canada

Ancienne circonscription fédérale au Nouveau-Brunswick
Comté d'York (Nouveau-Brunswick)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
POLITICO New York PlaybookPOLITICO New York ProNew York Education ProNew York & New Jersey Energy ProNew York Health Care ProNew York Real Estate ProCity Council Agenda + Bill TrackerAfternoon Albany Pro
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo
Psaki: Schools can open safely 'including in Chicago'
By NICK NIEDZWIADEK
The escalating teachers union dispute in the nation's third-largest school district has put the Biden administration at odds with a key labor constituency over the safety of in-person learning amid a holiday-inflected Covid spike.
"Long story short we want schools to be open, the president wants them to be open, and we're going to continue to use every resource and work to ensure that's the case," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday.
The Chicago Teachers Union on Tuesday night voted to not report to schools — a move that prompted the city's school officials to cancel both in-person and remote instruction. The union said that the city's leaders "have yet to provide safety for the overwhelming majority of schools" and that its members intend to work remotely until they are satisfied their concerns are sufficiently addressed.
The White House said that all school districts can and should have the resources necessary to safely continuing operating for face-to-face instruction, pointing to the large pot of money allocated to schools as part of the American Rescue Plan passed early last year.
"We know they can be open safely, and we're here to make that happen," Psaki said.
The Biden administration has been steadfast in its belief that schools should stay open despite the mounting pressure from teachers unions and others. Psaki said Wednesday that teachers "selflessly serve their communities" but that the nation is "more than equipped to ensure schools are open" and to "ensure that children are not enduring the mental health impact of not being in school, that there are not gaps in learning. This includes schools everywhere, including in Chicago."
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, said Tuesday night that the city is continuing to work to resolve the dispute with the teachers union, while also pleading with teachers to return to their classrooms. Her office did not immediately return an email seeking comment on Psaki's Wednesday comments.
"We are committed to remaining at the table with CTU leadership and negotiating a fair agreement," Lightfoot wrote on Twitter. "But what we cannot accept is unilateral action to shut down the entire district, depriving hundreds of thousands of students of the safe, in-person schooling environment they need."
Psaki said that the administration is working with state and local officials to ensure that funding is being sent out to, and utilized by, school districts in order to meet their respective needs. The press secretary added that unnecessary disruptions pose further risks to children's mental health and learning — both of which have suffered during the pandemic that has entered its third calendar year.
The Chicago Teachers Union said it is in alignment with the White House and that the issue is with the mayor's handling of the city's schools.
"The Biden administration has done everything that they were supposed to do, and we agree with them completely," CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said in an interview. "The failure is with implementation. The failure is with administration."
While Chicago is on the forefront of the tension over keeping classrooms open, given the spread of the virus and its Omicron variant in the U.S., but similar tensions are percolating throughout the country. Many school districts face staffing shortages and issues such as testing availability that have exasperated parents and educators in recent weeks.
The standoff also poses political complications for the White House ahead of a challenging midterm election for Democrats and risks irking teachers unions, a long-standing ally. Biden in particular has made a point to regularly tout his pro-labor credentials, including his marriage to Jill Biden, a long-time community college professor and National Education Association member.
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text:
Raywood is a town in northern Victoria, Australia.  The town is in the City of Greater Bendigo,  north of the state capital, Melbourne.  At the , Raywood had a population of 318.

Raywood Post Office opened on 4 January 1864.

Golfers play at the course of the Raywood Golf Club on Speke Street.

Raywood is the home of the Bendigo Gliding Club.

See also
 Raywood railway station

References

External links

Towns in Victoria (Australia)
Bendigo
Suburbs of Bendigo


text:
February recipe: Chocolate chip shortbread
Shortbread is another of those seemingly simple recipes that turns out to have as many variations as there are cooks. Some recipes stipulate butter, some vegetable fat, some a mixture of the two. Some use oatmeal, ground semolina or cornflour as well as, or instead of, wheat flour. Some tell you to cook the shortbread at a low temperature for a long time so that it doesn't colour at all, others tell you it should be pale golden and one or two say golden brown. Some recipes just use fat, flour and sugar, others add various additional ingredients such as chopped cherries, almonds or chocolate chips. Some shape the mixture into rounds, some into fingers and some into segments of a large circle ("petticoat tails"). You take your choice, according to personal preference. I make several variations, and in the winter chocolate chip shortbread tends to be the most popular. Why in the winter? Because in the summer the chocolate melts on your fingers.
Here's the recipe:
Chocolate chip shortbread
6 oz (approx 170 g) self-raising flour
4 oz (approx 125 g) butter
2 oz (approx 60 g) light brown soft sugar
2 oz (approx 60 g) chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate (milk or plain, as you prefer)
Grease a square shallow baking tin about 7" (approx 18 cm) square.
Mix the flour and sugar in a bowl.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Stir in the chopped chocolate or chocolate drops.
Press the mixture into the baking tin.
Bake in a moderately hot oven about 180 C for about 20 minutes until golden brown. If you prefer pale shortbread, bake in a moderate oven about 150 C for about an hour until pale golden.
Cut the shortbread into fingers while it is still in the tin and still hot. Leave to cool in the tin for at least 5-10 minutes before trying to remove it, as when it is hot it is very crumbly and inclined to break up.
Lift the shortbread fingers out onto a wire rack to finish cooling
Keeps in an airtight tin for a week or two. In theory.
Labels: biscuit, chocolate chip shortbread, February, Recipe
The Whispering Bell, by Brian Sellars. Book review
Quaestor2000, 2009. ISBN 978-1-906836-01-6. 208 pages.
Disclaimer: The Whispering Bell is published by Quaestor2000, who are also publishing my novel Paths of Exile. However, I read The Whispering Bell before Quaestor2000 expressed interest in Paths of Exile.
The Whispering Bell is set in seventh-century 'Anglo-Saxon' Mercia, mainly in what is now the Derbyshire Peak District and the area around modern Sheffield. The main narrative spans the period from 633 to about 644, with a prologue in 620. All the main characters are fictional.
Orphaned by famine and war and raised as the ward of her father's friend, a wealthy warrior, Wynflaed grows into a beautiful and accomplished woman, never knowing that she had a younger sister left behind by accident. When Mercia goes to war against Northumbria, Mercia's king sends men to attack Wynflaed's foster-father, who belongs to a rival faction. Only the kindness of the attackers' leader, a young warrior called Wulfric, saves Wynflaed and her family from death. When Wulfric asks for Wynflaed as his wife, she is delighted to accept, and his father grants her lands and mining rights in the hills of the Peak District as her morning gift*. Wynflaed's intelligence develops the near-defunct lead mine into a valuable asset, and with a loving husband and two healthy children it seems she has everything she could wish for. But her husband's avaricious brother has designs on Wynflaed's property, and news of Wulfric's supposed death in battle gives him his chance. Outlawed and enslaved, if Wynflaed is to survive and regain what is rightfully hers she will need all her courage – and help from some unexpected quarters.
The novel is slow to start, and requires concentration to keep track of the large number of characters in different locations. I also found the prologue confusing because it took me several chapters to see how it linked to the main story. Once it gets going, however, it develops into a complex tale of love, friendship, loyalty and betrayal, with some unexpected turns.
The story focuses on the lives of relatively ordinary people, the middle-ranking warrior-farmers or people further down the social pecking order such as a mule-driver, a miner and a widow who takes in lodgers. Kings and aristocrats and their wars form the background to the story, but are not its main players. Details of daily life, such as buildings, food, farming, jewellery and possessions, are beautifully described, including a central role for the technology of mining and smelting lead. It's known that the Romans exploited the lead ores of the Peak District, and the monks of Repton Abbey owned a lead mine at Wirksworth in the ninth century (when the Danes took it from them). A lead mine at Bakewell is also recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. What happened in between is – as usual – a mystery. The Whispering Bell takes the premise that the lead resources were mined in the seventh century, on a rather smaller scale than the earlier Roman workings, which I think is highly plausible. I was delighted to see it play a key role in the story.
Wynflaed, the central character, is beautiful, intelligent, sweet-natured and thoroughly good, almost to the point of being too perfect, and the villain is pretty much unadulterated evil (though he is given a reason for his actions). For me, the large cast of secondary characters were the most vivid and memorable, from the none-too-bright but faithful young mule-driver Eadwin to the bawdy Widow Guthrum (Terry Pratchett's Nanny Ogg would get on famously with her), the embittered miner Eofar, the kindly outlaw Rabbian (a sort of prototype Robin Hood) and the viper-tongued, fiercely independent Emma. There is a strong sense of a real, complex, changing world full of unexpected opportunities and setbacks, populated by real people busy getting on with their own lives.
The way the paths of Wynflaed and her (unrecognised) sister cross and re-cross in the novel has to be understood as the working of implacable Fate (Wyrd, an important concept in Old English), otherwise it might feel like rather too many coincidences. A good many things are left for the reader to work out from hints and clues in the text (e.g. the identity of Wynflaed's lost sister), so this is a novel that rewards close attention. Sometimes I'd have welcomed a little more spelling out. Although the ending of Wynflaed and Wulfric's story is pretty clearly resolved, I felt I wanted to know what happened to some of the other characters, especially Emma and Rabbian.
Landscape descriptions capture the narrow valleys, sparkling brooks and limestone uplands of the White Peak, and convey a sense of the wonder and mystery of its great natural caverns. A helpful map at the front of the book shows the location of the main places and allows the reader to follow the various characters' journeys. I should perhaps mention that the dialogue is liberally sprinkled with those four-letter words traditionally considered 'Anglo-Saxon'. For the most part they are used straightforwardly to describe the, ahem, body parts and activities in question, rather than as expletives, but readers who find words like c--- and f--- offensive may like to take note. The language uses a large number of archaic terms, so readers who aren't familiar with Old English will be glad to know that a glossary at the back provides translations.
A complex tale of greed, jealousy, loyalty, betrayal and love set in the turbulent world of seventh-century England.
*Morning gift (Old English: morgengifu). A gift of money or property made by the bridegroom's family to the bride the morning after consummation of the marriage. It was solely hers by right, remained her property even if she was widowed, and she could manage it or dispose of it without consulting her husband.
Labels: 'Anglo-Saxon', book review, Brian Sellars, England, historical fiction, Mercia, Peak District, seventh century, The Whispering Bell
Interview on BBC Radio Suffolk
I talked to Georgina Wroe on BBC Radio Suffolk about Paths of Exile and Anglo-Saxon England on Tuesday 17 February. You can listen to the interview by playing the video below.
Labels: 'Anglo-Saxon', 7th century, England, historical fiction, history, interview, Paths of Exile
Suffolk spring
Snowdrops forming a carpet of blossom
A sculptural tree stump
Catkins in the sunshine.
A handsome (if rather out of focus - sorry about that) garden visitor. This smart-looking male pheasant, along with a friend, has taken to coming to our garden this winter. Not only is there food around, I think the birds are bright enough to work out that they're comparatively safe in a garden where they're only likely to be shot with a camera.
Labels: photo, spring, Suffolk
A wood turner's workshop
Wood was the standard material for tableware such as cups, bowls and plates in early medieval ('Anglo-Saxon') England, as discussed in an earlier post. These items would have been made by turning, in which the wood being worked is rotated and a sharp-edged cutting tool used to cut the desired shape. This naturally produces circular items. Nowadays a power lathe is used, in which the wood is mounted on a spindle driven by an electric motor and rotated continuously. The early English also produced circular wooden items on a lathe, but not an electric one. How was it done?
Sizeable wooden items such as bowls were probably made using a machine called a pole lathe. Regia Anglorum's site has a drawing of this ingenious machine (scroll down to the bottom of the page). A rope is wound around the lathe, and connected at its lower end to a foot treadle and at its upper end to a springy pole. The craftsman presses down on the foot treadle, causing the lathe and the object mounted on it to spin against the cutting tool, and bending the pole down. Then he lifts the tool clear, releases the treadle, and the elasticity of the pole causes it to spring back up. The pole pulls on the rope, the rope rotates the lathe backwards, and the work returns to its original position ready for another cutting stroke. Repeat, a great many times, until the object has been turned to the desired shape.
Because a pole lathe requires the object to be accelerated from rest to cutting speed and back again at every stroke, it is far less efficient in time and power than a continuously rotating lathe. However, it can be made from simple and readily available materials, and in skilled hands it can be surprisingly effective (see Robin Wood's Battle of the Bowls video on his website). A pole lathe leaves characteristic discrete spiral tool marks on the item being made, and requires long-handled cutting tools (Leahy 2003). A fragment of a tool rest from a pole lathe was found at Coppergate (York), and long-handled hooked cutting tools consistent with use on a pole lathe have been found at Coppergate and in a pit dated to the ninth century at Portchester Castle, Hampshire (Leahy 2003).
Remarkably, the pole lathe used in Anglo-Saxon England remained in use until the early twentieth century. It was most commonly used by the "bodgers", itinerant woodworkers who made small components such as chair legs in the beech forests of the Chiltern Hills for use in the furniture industry. But a few craftsmen still used it to make larger objects such as wooden bowls. One such was a man named George Laidley, who worked as a bowl turner using a pole lathe in a workshop on Bucklebury Common near Reading. In 1959, after his death the previous year, his lathe and workshop were acquired by the Museum of English Rural Life at nearby Reading University, and described in detail in a book by Philip Dixon (Dixon 1994).
George Laidley's grandfather had built the workshop in 1826. The floor area was dug out to form a rectangular pit around three feet deep. Six stout timber posts formed the main structural elements of the walls, one in each corner and one in the middle of each of the long sides. Cladding of some type, probably split or sawn boards (later replaced with corrugated iron), was fixed between the posts to form the walls. The roof may have been thatched (later replaced by a tiled roof). Two pole lathes, one large and one small, were placed on the floor of the pit, so that the craftsman and any visitors stepped down to enter the workshop. The pit gradually filled up with a hundred years' worth of wood shavings, to such an extent that part of one lathe rotted away among the shavings and had to be replaced.
If this sounds familiar, it's because George Laidley's workshop bears a remarkable resemblance to the sunken-featured buildings (SFBs, also known as sunken-floored buildings or in German Grubenhauser) identified in archaeological excavations of early English settlements. At first it was thought that people lived in the bottom of the pit, which would have been cramped, squalid and uncomfortable. For this reason alone I've always been sceptical that SFBs were used as routine living accommodation. People 1500 years ago were just as bright and inventive as today, even if they had access to less technology, and they would surely have made themselves as comfortable as circumstances allowed. This isn't to say that no-one ever lived in a SFB. If SFBs were used mainly as workshops, they could still have been used as overflow accommodation or for low-status individuals, much as medieval servants slept in the kitchens or apprentices slept at the back of the workshop, and I daresay it wasn't unheard of for a drunken husband reeling home after one too many to be banished to the shed by his annoyed wife. (At least the thick layer of wood shavings in the wood turner's workshop might have provided reasonably comfortable padding and insulation).
If you want to imagine how an Anglo-Saxon SFB might have looked and how it might have been used, you could do much worse than look at George Laidley's wood turning workshop.
Dixon PH. The Reading lathe. Cross Publishing, 1994. ISBN 1-873295-65-0.
Leahy K. Anglo-Saxon crafts. Tempus Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-7524-2904-3.
Posted by Carla at 10:51 am 3 comments
Labels: 'Anglo-Saxon', crafts, history, wood turning
Paths of Exile now available
Paths of Exile was officially published by Quaestor2000 on 30 January 2009, and is now available from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, and Amazon.com. Also available from Woodbridge Books, Woodbridge, Suffolk, Transreal Fiction, Edinburgh and Waterstones. Other bookshops should be able to order copies, certainly in the UK and maybe in some other countries as well.
It is also available from the Book Depository via Amazon Marketplace with worldwide shipping available. The publisher also offers direct sales, with worldwide shipping, via Amazon Marketplace (click on the Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com links above), slightly higher price than The Book Depository but with immediate despatch. For countries not covered by Amazon Marketplace, the publisher also plans to sell via Ebay.co.uk, with worldwide shipping, soon.
Britain, 605 AD. When his homeland of Deira is invaded by a powerful neighbouring kingdom, Eadwine finds himself on the run for his life. Homeless, penniless and friendless, literally with a price on his head, he must evade his enemies, avenge his brother's murder and rescue his betrothed. Along the way, he will lose his heart to another woman and discover a shattering secret that challenges all the ideals he holds dear.
Carla Nayland pulls the curtain back on the little known period of seventh century Britain to reveal the fascinating world of Eadwine. Filled with unforgettable characters and wonderful historical detail, Paths of Exile is historical fiction at its most intriguing.
Michelle Moran, bestselling author of The Heretic Queen
"Paths of Exile" is an epic tale of battle, honour, loyalty and betrayal that is at once exquisitely entertaining and utterly convincing. Carla Nayland's prose is irresistible, luring the reader from the comforts of the 21st century into the harsh and often bloody reality of Saxon England. A triumphant debut that demands a sequel
Russell Whitfield, author of Gladiatrix
A powerful novel. I was completely transported to the world of seventh century Britain. A strong new voice in the field of historical fiction; Carla Nayland has written a fine book.
Elizabeth Chadwick, award-winning author of The Wild Hunt, A Place Beyond Courage, The Greatest Knight and other novels
... an exciting, tautly-plotted tale that's action-packed thriller, murder mystery, tragedy and romance all rolled into one and set in an authentic landscape I can see and touch and feel. But it's much more than that, mainly because the author has peopled her story with flesh-and-blood-characters who are both convincingly of their own time and yet, with all their fears and hopes, not at all alien to us.
Sarah Cuthbertson (full review here)
Labels: 'Anglo-Saxon', England, historical fiction, Northumbria, Paths of Exile