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inah Maria Mulock, who later became Mrs. George Lillie Craik, was born on 20 April 1826. Her father was at the time pastor of an independent nonconformist chapel in Stoke-on-Trent. But the stereotype called up by the phrase "a country clergyman's daughter," which has often been applied to Craik, conveys a grossly inaccurate picture of her early life. Margaret Oliphant's description of Craik's father as a man "whose profession of extreme Evangelical religiousness was not carried out by his practice" (Margaret Oliphant, "Mrs. Craik", Macmillan's Magazine, 57, 1887, p. 82.) only begins to hint at the man's character. He was known to his contemporaries as "Bloody Moloch" and also as "Muley." Both epithets seem justified.
Thomas Mulock was born in Dublin; his family were minor Irish gentry. By about 1812 he was in business as a merchant in Liverpool. The period at the end of the Napoleonic Wars was politically turbulent. Radicalism and democratic reform were afoot; there were riots, demonstrations, and mass meetings of the hungry and disenfranchised. Mulock became a vocal supporter of the other — the reactionary — side. He was known in Liverpool as a brilliant public speaker and a writer of vitriolic letters to the Courier. Some of his satiric pieces about the Radical orator Henry Hunt, which were printed in the London Sun in 1816, were much admired by George Canning (who had not yet matured into the liberalism he was to exhibit as Foreign Secretary). Mulock is said to have been for a time Canning's private secretary.
Evangelical revivalism was also in the air in the postwar years. Before long Mulock came under its influence. In 1817, at the age of twenty-seven, he matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, perhaps intending to take up holy orders. His Oxford career did not last [1/2] long (if indeed it ever began). He began to spew out pamphlets setting forth what one contemporary called "original views on the subjects of theology and Christian practice." (Rev. David Thorn, quoted in Reade, p. 43).
In 1820 Mulock gave a set of lectures on English literature at Geneva and Paris. He had not, however, abandoned his religious fervor; he criticized literature on the basis of the scriptural accuracy displayed by its authors. He pursued his prey by letter as well as lecture; Lord Byron reported that Mulock "wrote to me several letters upon Christianity, to convert me; and, if I had not been a Christian already, I should probably have been now, in consequence. I thought there was something of wild talent in him, mixed with a due leaven of absurdity. . . " (Moore, II, 383).
By 1821 Mulock was in England's industrial midlands, a fertile field for dissenting evangelists. William and Mary Howitt, a writing couple interested in the working class, went to hear him preach in the upper room of a china factory in Stoke-on-Trent. The congregation was mixed; there were several "ladies of wealth" and the rest were potters in their working clothes. The preacher was young and handsome, wearing a blue coat with gilt buttons, a buff waistcoat, and white trousers, his linen impeccable and his "delicately formed" hands adorned with rings. And, as Mary Howitt reported, "In his harangue he plainly intimated to us, that since the days of the apostles, the true faith had been revealed to no one but Thomas Mulock." (Howitt, II, 152-53)
Mulock was at this time lodging in a cottage between Stoke and Newcastle-under-Lyme. The widow of a prosperous Newcastle tanner lived next door with her three unmarried daughters. On 7 June 1825, one of the daughters, Dinah Mellard, was married to Thomas Mulock. The bride was past thirty; the groom dressed in white from head to foot on his wedding day. Dinah Mulock, born the next year, was their eldest child. Her brothers Tom and Benjamin followed at eighteen-month intervals in 1827 and 1829.
Since Mulock was not a staid rural clergyman with a secure living, but rather a charismatic preacher dependent on the favor of his congregation, and a contentious, opinionated, and undependable man, his daughter's childhood was anything but secure. The congregation built their preacher a handsome chapel, but at the same time he was constantly borrowing money — which he never repaid — from his friend William Reade (who married another of Mrs. Mellard's daughters). The money went for furniture, for stair carpeting, [2/3] for a blue topcoat and wool hose, for turkeys to eat and heavy Christmas bills to settle — and also for the expenses of lawsuits. Mulock finally destroyed his golden goose by engaging him in a long argumentative correspondence which ended with a public denunciation of Reade from the pulpit of the Stoke chapel as "a blasphemer and the greatest heretic that had arisen since the days of the Apostles." (Reade, Notes and Queries, p. 501.)
The subject of this desperate controversy was the exact number of Job's sufferings. Mulock's religious writings reveal him to have been a fundamentalist of the most easily satirized sort, whose every sentence is liberally sprinkled with scriptural citations. A portion of his congregation was railed off to hold the Elect; the unsaved sat beyond the pale. His hold on the Stoke congregation was brief (perhaps, indeed, his popularity with the "wealthy ladies" suffered after his marriage) and was before long brought to an end by debt and contentiousness. By the time Dinah Mulock reached her sixth year the chapel building had been taken over by the Quakers, Mulock had been briefly confined to the lunatic asylum, and the family had moved to Newcastle.
The childhood that Dinah Mulock remembered, then, was spent in a terraced house in Newcastle-under-Lyme. One of her essays paints a pleasant picture of its freedoms. The grown-ups were too busy to provide much supervision (and there was no nursemaid looking after the children); boys and girls alike were sent out to play with a blue print pinafore and "trousers" protecting their clothes. On the green and in the field behind the house the children played ball, prisoners' base, and marbles. They built a playhouse in the garden, where they had a fire and roasted potatoes; they dug deep holes in the field for no purpose except to sit in them; they laid elaborate plans to sneak out at night but made the tactical error of going to bed with no complaints and were discovered fully dressed — boots and all — under their nightgowns ("Going out to Play,"). These recollections were written in a magazine article appealing for contributions to build playgrounds in slum neighborhoods, but the tone suggests also Craik's criticism of the inhibiting over-supervision that urban middle-class parents imposed on their children — and especially their daughters.
Dinah Mulock was educated at Brampton House Academy, a day school near her home. The academic quality of the curriculum is unknown, although, judging from her later accomplishments, it [3/4] may have included both French and Latin. An essay on her private childhood reading reveals no particularly deep studies. The earliest books that she adored were cheap woodcut-illustrated copies of the adventure classics — Sindbad the Sailor, Robinson Crusoe — and narratives of travel and exploration, including George Lillie Craik's New Zealanders. The Mulock family were too poor to buy books, and the ones that found their way into the house on loan were chiefly pragmatic; "our elders," she wrote, had "a far stronger bias towards science, mathematics, and general solid knowledge, than towards art or the poetical side of literature" ("Want Something to Read," p. 291). There were no fairy tales. Dinah pored with her brothers over the Boy's Own Book and the Boy's Book of Science and regretted that they had no money to do the experiments. The Mulock children could borrow Chambers's Edinburgh Journal from a neighbor, but they fought so much over who would read it first that they were finally forbidden to bring it into the house.
At some point someone — perhaps an aunt — began to read aloud from Shakespeare, Chaucer, and modern verse. Then, during a winter when the children were shut up indoors with measles, whooping cough, and chicken pox in succession, a friendly bookseller supplied them with stock from his lending library. At the point of transition into adolescence, the future novelist became a fanatic novel-reader: Jane Austen, Mrs. Opie, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Sir Walter Scott, and the earliest installments, month-by-month, of Charles Dickens fed her fancies. By the age often she had written a long poem about her cat Rose entertaining at a supper party and at twelve she was inventing stories to amuse a child she had to look after — and when the child took to waking her at 4 A.M. to beg for another story she quickly learned to build her inventions around the moral of unselfishness ("The Age of Gold," p.297).
Educationally, then, Dinah Mulock had neither the restricted and trivial accomplishments of the young lady with a finishing governess nor the systematic learning imbibed by some of her contemporaries whose fathers undertook seriously to supervise their education at home. Her reading was eclectic; the epigraphs to her first novel include quotations from Shakespeare and Plutarch, Spenser and Coleridge, the working-class poet Kirke White, and the Americans Longfellow and Lowell, from an assortment of Jesuits, martyrs, and bishops — and from Joanna Baillie and Margaret Fuller. But she seldom pursued a subject deeply; she later told a reporter that she [4/5] did not read much because she found people more interesting than books (Harrison, p.538).
Just what Thomas Mulock was doing to support his family in these Newcastle years is not known. His wife had a small income from her father's will and, before long, was augmenting — or perhaps providing — the family purse by keeping a school. By the time she entered her teens Dinah Mulock had enough education to become her mother's assistant. A solicitor in Hanley many years later was fond of telling friends that he had received his first lessons in Latin from the little girl who grew up to be a famous novelist. Thus she discovered young that women could earn money and also, probably, that teaching was not particularly pleasant: she told a friend that the boys "would have had more respect for her if she had not been forced to go among them with the bare neck and arms of the thirteen-years-old girl of the period." (Reade, Mellards, p. 56.)
London and Literature
In the summer of 1839 Thomas Mulock's mother-in-law died. On the strength of the money his wife inherited, Mulock moved the family to London. There life was for a time more comfortable. The boys were sent to school; Dinah Mulock studied languages (including Italian and Greek) with them, learned Irish from a friend of her father's, and, during 1843, went daily from 11 to 2 to learn drawing at the Government School of Design at Somerset House.
Thomas Mulock's theology did not forbid the lighter pleasures. He became acquainted with Charles Mathews, manager of Covent Garden, who allowed the Mulock family the use of a box at the theatre from time to time. Dinah met actors and comedians at the Mathews's; she went to dances and parties and, adolescent that she was, came home to cry because she had been a wallflower (Showalter, "Dinah Mulock Craik", p.9).
More important, her father's contacts allowed her to meet women and men who worked at the profession of literature. George Lovell and his wife Maria, both successful dramatists, were friends, as was the young poet Eliza Leslie. The most significant of the new acquaintances were Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Carter Hall, an industrious couple who were responsible, between the two of them, for over five hundred volumes of tales, novels, juveniles, snippet anthologies, and verse-and-prose pictures of the beauties of practically any geographical area one could name. They lived in Brompton, near where [5/6] the Mulocks were staying in Earls Court Terrace. Mrs. S. C. Hall was also Irish and, although a laborer in the cause of temperance, gave weekly soirees at which Dinah Mulock could meet other authors and painters who belonged to the provincial, nonconformist, and commercial middle class of the London cultural world.
Thomas Mulock was again writing pamphlets on subjects both religious and political. He held a succession of vague posts with short-lived organizations; in 1842 it was the "National Employment and Education Society" and in 1843 the "Institution for Assisting Heirs-at-Law," which he felt called upon to defend against charges that it was merely a scheme for mulcting hopeful inheritors. When Mrs. Mulock's mother died, Mulock had been persuaded by those who had a sound view of his wife's best interests to allow her inheritance to be put into a trust administered by two Newcastle merchants. In those days — more than thirty years before the first Married Women's Property Act — anything belonging to a wife was automatically her husband's; the trust arrangement could not reserve the money to her own use, but it could at least assure that the interest would be paid only at her request, and that the principal would remain intact to be passed to her children after she died.
Mulock spent a good deal of effort in the early 1840s trying to break the deed he had executed. He claimed to believe that the trust was merely a device for enriching rascally lawyers; clearly, he very much regretted having done the decent thing and wanted desperately to get his hands on his wife's capital. The trustees did make various advances to Mrs. Mulock in excess of the interest due to her; the largest, in 1842, was for 176 pounds.
In that year, 1842, Mrs. Mulock's health began to fail, and Dinah, at the age of sixteen, had to assume most of the housekeeping duties. In 1844 she took her mother on a visit to Staffordshire, possibly in search of health but possibly, also, because the household was on the verge of collapse. Mulock entered his name on the books of Gray's Inn, apparently with a wild idea of becoming a lawyer himself. He also became secretary to the Manchester-London Direct Railway scheme, a speculative balloon which soon came crashing down. On 17 April 1845 the husband of one of Mrs. Mulock's sisters wrote to the husband of another:
In confidence I am sorry to inform you that all is up with poor Mulock. His wife, who cannot live long, and his daughter, I saw in this neighbourhood [6/7] a day or two since on their way to Newcastle to set up a school again, as soon as Mrs. M. is able. Mr. M. will in all probability go through the Insolvent Court; he wants to avoid it by getting his wife's money, but the trustees are firm in withholding it. I advise a school again. The boys are with their father in London. (Reade, "Dinah Mulock and Her Father", Notes and Queries, 2 Feb. 1924, p. 79.)
Mrs. Mulock's health did not improve. She died on 3 October 1845. And after her death Thomas Mulock deserted his children entirely. He refused to have anything to do with them or to contribute to their support. Dinah Mulock was nineteen years old; she would not receive the money coming to her from her mother's trust until she was of age, in two more years. The Mulock children, wrote one of the trustees, "were left entirely destitute for a time till they could get into employment. . . . " (Reade, Mellards, p. 70).
The precise facts surrounding this failure of the family ideal were not ever known to Dinah Mulock's contemporaries. Some accounts of her early life had the most respectably conventional story, that the author's father had died, leaving his widow and three children to struggle along on a small annuity, which Dinah began to supplement by writing stories. But the version told by her friends and admirers reflected their own conception of heroic womanhood: that because her mother was "untenderly treated" by her father, "the young Dinah, in a blaze of love and indignation, carried that ailing and delicate mother away, and took in her rashness the charge of the whole family, two younger brothers, upon her own slender shoulders, working to sustain them in every way that presented itself, from stories for the fashion books to graver publications" (Oliphant, p. 82).
Removing the breathless adjectives, and considering the exploratory trip to Newcastle and, indeed, Thomas Mulock's subsequent refusal to speak to the children, there may be a core of truth in the story. The elements added provide details important to the image of the ideal woman. At first glance it might seem that this version showed Dinah Mulock declaring her independence from the image: defying her father, breaking up the family, and taking on the patriarchal prerogative of providing support and protection. But the story insists that she did so with the sanction of woman's finer moral nature and greater capacity for self-sacrifice in the service of others. Moreover, the presence of the invalid mother in all reported versions of Dinah Mulock's earliest writing years provides the ingredient [7/8] necessary to explain why she took up authorship rather than any other means of earning a living.
The stories of entry into the profession, as Elaine Showalter points out in A Literature of Their Own, are almost a distinct genre in the history of nineteenth-century feminine writers (Showalter, chap. 2). Either financial necessity or high moral purpose were virtually prerequisites: the desire for self-expression, or success, or fame, or public influence was not consonant with true womanhood. The accounts of Dinah Mulock's early career invariably emphasize that she had two brothers to care for — but, as a matter of fact, Ben, the youngest, was already sixteen by the time Mrs. Mulock died; most boys of that age, except in the very highest classes, would have been already at work in Victorian England. Once her mother had died, Dinah Mulock had no real need to maintain a home; she had both the qualifications and the experience to go out as a governess. There were also numerous aunts and cousins — some of them quite well-off — scattered about England, who would almost certainly have opened their homes to a helpless young woman had she sought their care and protection.
Dinah Mulock chose instead to take up the only profession in which, as she was later to write, women could compete with men "on level ground — and . . . often beat them in their own field." (A Woman's Thoughts about Women , chap. 3.) As early as 1841 she had written some verses on the Princess Royal's birth which were published in the Staffordshire Advertiser, Chambers's Edinburgh Journal printed some more of her poems in the summer of 1845, not long before Mrs. Mulock's death. Mrs. S. C. Hall was almost certainly the literary angel; she was a regular contributor to the magazine and acted as Robert Chambers's London contact, identifying and sending to him the work of possible new talent. With the start of the New Year, in January 1846, the poems signed "D. M. M." began to appear regularly. Chambers also supplied some pieces to be translated from French for the "Column for Young People." Dinah Mulock recalled her talent for fashioning moral tales for children and sold one to the Religious Tract Society.
These first years of her professional life must have been bitterly difficult. The trustees came through with small advances from time to time in order to save the three Mulocks from utter destitution, Tom Mulock, the elder of the two brothers, gave up his study of painting and articled himself to the captain of a merchant ship. (Tom's contemporaries in art school were the young innovators who were shortly to become the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; Holman [8/9] Hunt admired Tom's good looks and his drawing ability, and remembered that Dinah used sometimes to sit with him in the British Museum as he copied from models [Hunt, I, 105]). Just before the start of his second voyage he fell from the ship into the dry dock where it was berthed; both thighs were broken and he died, after a few days of intense suffering, on 12 February 1847.
Two months later Dinah Mulock turned twenty-one and was paid her share of the capital from her mother's trust. Placed at interest, it would have yielded her about forty pounds a year. Although whole families of the working poor survived on little more, it probably required about a hundred pounds a year for a single adult to manage at a minimum acceptable level of comfort and decency. Ben was studying to be a civil engineer; they lived together in lodgings on an obscure street off Tottenham Court Road. And, throughout the year that Jane Eyre was published and the doors of higher education were opened to women, Dinah wrote and wrote and wrote. Although one of the difficulties encountered by the new Queen's College for Women was the necessity of finding suitable chaperones for the students, Dinah Mulock forged ahead by herself, through the streets and into the editors' offices, placing a poem here, a story there, an article elsewhere, making her contacts, learning her craft, and grinding out the words. She managed to turn out five-thousand-word stories every two or three weeks, and to sell them to weekly magazines, to more prestigious monthly journals, and to Lady Blessington's fashionable annuals.
The way that she wanted to see this work can be glimpsed between the lines of Cola Monti, a children's book which she published in 1849. The title-page motto is "God Helps Those Who Help Themselves." The hero, a poor but talented young painter, does not simply hang about the fringes of the fine-art world depending on crumbs (as do many of his friends), but throws his very best efforts into commercial work. He learns to be careful, dependable, and punctual: therefore he is able to support himself as an illustrator. Ultimately, of course, he produces a painting that is the surprise hit of a Royal Academy exhibition.
Popular Success
By the end of 1848 Dinah Mulock had managed, with the children's books and the mountain of tales, to put herself far enough [9/10] ahead so that she could afford the time to work on a full-length novel for adults. The Ogilvies was published late in 1849 — It attracted a certain amount of attention. Mary Russell Mitford (at that time the grand old lady of British letters) thought that it had come from the pen of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Stebbins, p. 31). Jane Welsh Carlyle asked a friend to get her a copy of the book, reporting that "the authoress's name is Molock or something very like it, and it is published by Chapman. It must be rather curious to see, for I am told by Madame Pepoli the Molock is eighteen, has read 'absolutely no books,' and seen 'nothing whatever of society;' — and the book is coming to a second edition — 'circulates in families,' and will yield profit." (Froude, Letters and Memorials, II, 90-91).
Already the public were getting the facts wrong, and bending the professional writer into their own conception of what a young lady author should be, but at least they were reading the book. Olive followed in the next year. Chapman paid £150 for the copyright of each novel; it was not munificent, but it was more than most beginners were offered. Dinah Mulock's apprenticeship was relatively short, by either Victorian standards or our own. Five years after being left absolutely destitute at the age of nineteen, she was by twenty-five an accepted professional, able to write in a number of genres and to place what she wrote with a variety of editors.
When Ben turned twenty-one in the summer of 1850, he took his civil engineer's training and his share of their mother's estate and departed for Australia. Left without "protection," his sister joined forces with Frances Martin, a woman even younger than herself. They were, as a woman who heard of them from Mrs. Gaskell reported, "two handsome young girls, living in lodgings by themselves, writing books, and going about in society in the most independent manner, with their latch-key. Such a phenomenon was rare, perhaps unexampled in those days" (Shaen, p. 64.). (Frances Martin later promoted education for the blind and founded the Working Women's College now known as Frances Martin College.)
They had a wide circle of friends. Some were no doubt met at Mrs, S. C. Hall's soirees. George Lillie Craik, whose New Zealanders had inspired the garden playhouse of the Newcastle childhood, had been appointed Professor of English Literature and History at the University of Belfast but was frequently in London; he was writing popular educational works for the Chambers brothers. Camilla Toulmin, another of the regular contributors to Chambers's, introduced Dinah Mulock to the dramatic poet John Westland Marston; she [10/11] became godmother to his son Philip (also later a poet), born in 1850. She kept up contact with some of the artists who had been Tom's friends; it was perhaps through them that she met Sydney Dobell and his brother Clarence. Her friendship with Alexander Macmillan also dated from this period. His shop was still in Cambridge, but he was beginning to publish books by the Christian Socialists; it was reported that Dinah Mulock was among the disciples who visited Frederick Denison Maurice at his rooms in Lincoln's Inn.
As the novels and stories continued to earn their way, the lodgings were exchanged for a small house near Camden Town, where Dinah Mulock was able to give parties of her own. Among the people who came was Margaret Oliphant, another young novelist just at the beginning of her career; she recalled in her autobiography hearing Miss Cushman (the actress famous for her performance as Romeo) recite a song of Kingsley's, and she remembered looking about at the other guests "rather as one looked at the figures in Madame Tussaud's, wondering . . . whether the commonplace outside might not cover a painter or a poet or something equally fine — whose ethereal qualities were all invisible to the ordinary eye" (Cogshill, p. 39). Dinah Mulock's friends, like herself, were hard-working; George Lovell, for example, was Secretary of the Phoenix Insurance Company by day and a popular dramatist in his spare time. Margaret Oliphant also remembered being rather frightened by a deformed man in a wheelchair who was always at Dinah Mulock's parties; this would have been Frank Smedley who, as editor of Sharpe's London Magazine, had printed some of her earliest stories. When the spiritualist craze struck London, the parties were sometimes devoted to seances.
The young Dinah Mulock was described as a "brilliant conversationalist," always full of vitality and high spirits (Ward, p. 107) .Although late photographs show her looking uncomfortably like Queen Victoria, she was as a young woman tall and slim; the word "willowy" was often used, and a letter written at the age of fourteen complained that she felt like a giantess among Londoners. A photograph taken as late as 1869 shows her still unfashionably thin for mid-nineteenth-century tastes. Although she was not a conventional beauty, it was hard for her admirers to believe that she had so miserably failed in woman's vocation as to voluntarily remain single — or, worse yet, to have been unchosen. Her brother Tom's death was transmuted into a version of the "fiance lost in the war" story that teenagers [11/12] circulate about their favorite maiden teacher. The rumor was that she had been engaged to a "gentleman suited to her both in age and disposition" who, it was agreed, would spend two years in travel before the marriage, and that when she went to the docks to welcome him home he became so excited that he missed his footing, fell into the water, and was drowned (Shaylor, p. vi).
She had many admirers. A "bevy of attendant maidens" (Oliphant, p. 82). was always clustered around her. She believed that working women had to help one another: she wrote a long story to be sold to raise funds for the Governess's Benevolent Institution. Sometimes she invited the girls from a nearby reformatory over to the house to sing with her. And she served as mentor and pathbreaker for other ambitious young women; she was always full of enthusiasm for their projects and designing schemes to promote them. Her intensity and forcefulness were uncomfortable to less assertive Victorian women; Margaret Oliphant complained that she had a way of "fixing the eyes" of the people she talked to as if she meant to read their minds (Cogshill, p. 38).She also learned, of necessity, to be forceful in her business dealings. Some friends recalled that in early years she had been "happy-go-lucky" about what she earned; more probably she had neither the skills nor the leverage to do much except take whatever was offered. As new editions and cheap reprints of her first three novels continued to pour money into Chapman's coffers she realized what an advantage publishers gained by the outright purchase of copyrights. The years of daily creative effort were leading to physical and mental exhaustion. She nerved herself to ask Chapman if he didn't think it would be more fair to pass along some of the profits her work was earning. In the summer of 1856 she wrote to her friend Macmillan about finding some regular literary work — perhaps reading manuscripts — that would require less strain and uncertainty. (Showalter, A Literature of Their Own, pp. 50-51.)
It proved to be unnecessary; it was, in fact, perhaps merely a symptom of her state of mind just after finishing a novel that made her feel particularly insecure because it was of a different sort than the ones she knew she could sell. In 1852 she had driven to Tewkesbury with her friend Clarence Dobell, had looked at the alleys and the buildings, and had seen the name "John Halifax" on a tombstone in the abbey churchyard. Frances Martin and other friends had talked and laughed over "dear John," had commented, criticized, and helped to read proof. She had a new publisher — Henry Blackett, [12/13]introduced to her at his request by Mrs. Oliphant. She knew enough now to negotiate carefully; Blackett, it is reported, came so to fear her business sharpness that he would turn pale when he thought about her. John Halifax, Gentleman was published in the spring of 1856. It has never since that day been out of print. Its author was financially secure and also famous.
Dinah Mulock's books had never carried her name on the title page; each in succession had been identified as "by the author of the novels preceding it. There was not any real pretense of anonymity, however; reviewers used her name freely and when — as was later to happen with George Eliot — someone else tried to take credit for John Halifax, Gentleman, she promptly fired off a letter to set the matter straight. She was, however, very annoyed when Chapman began to advertise new editions of the books which he still owned as "Mulock's novels." The idea that she was continuing to earn him money that he failed to share with her undoubtedly contributed to the annoyance, but the letter that she wrote emphasized her wish to avoid personal publicity. The public position that she now held was the product not of her person but of her work. "The Author of John Halifax Gentleman" was someone to be listened to. She wrote less fiction; Chambers's and other magazines now turned to her for essays on serious subjects and social causes in which she spoke with the authority of a woman of stature.
Her personal life, however, was again shadowed. Ben drifted back from Australia, having given up engineering for photography. It is impossible to penetrate sufficiently between the lines of Victorian reticence to discover whether his difficulty was drink, opium, or mental instability; he "appeared and disappeared, always much talked of, tenderly welcomed, giving her anxieties much grudged and objected to by her friends, but never by herself" (Oliphant, p. 82). In 1859 she took a lease on "Wildwood," a cottage near Hampstead in what was then quite a rural area, surrounded by trees and a garden and a mile away from the nearest omnibus line. Ben lived with her at times; at others he was off to Brazil, and perhaps to Russia, to photograph railway works. In 1862, when an American in London for the Exhibition was taken to meet Dinah Mulock at Wildwood, Ben was there and was obviously unwell (Harrison, p. 538). Early in the next year he came suddenly home and said "Sister, I am going mad — you must take care of me." She watched him constantly for seven weeks, afraid that he would commit suicide, until her own health broke [13/14] down. Finally he had to be put in an asylum; he tried to escape, was badly injured, and died on 17 June 1863. His sister sublet Wildwood and went to live in lodgings at Wemyss Bay, on the Clyde (where she had spent several summers), perhaps for her health, perhaps to escape the pressures and unhappy memories of the house she had taken for Ben's sake. (The lease at Wildwood, incidentally, was taken over by Eliza Meteyard, another of the energetic, independent, single women who was making her own way as a professional writer.)
Marriage and Later Years
There may also have been a further reason for her residence — this time prolonged well past summer — in the vicinity of Glasgow. Dinah Mulock was nearing forty, and had for at least ten years considered herself likely to remain a single woman, if not an old maid. The story of her romance was dramatic enough to have been told in several conflicting versions.
It will be remembered that George Lillie Craik, the historian and writer, had been a friend of Dinah Mulock in her earliest publishing years. He had a nephew of the same name, who was born in 1837 and was therefore eleven years younger than Dinah Mulock. She may have met him with his uncle at the time that she was a young independent writer and he a schoolboy or little more. The younger George Lillie Craik had been educated at Glasgow High School and University and gone into business for himself in Glasgow as an accountant. Sometime in the early 1860s he was badly injured in a railway accident in or near London. One version of the story has it that he was carried to Wildwood, which Dinah Mulock had thrown open to receive victims of the wreck at the bottom of her garden; another that the surgeons asked if he knew anyone in London who could be summoned and he managed to remember the name of his uncle's friend, who hurried to the hotel where he had been taken and held his hand while his leg was amputated. It does seem certain that he spent several weeks at Wildwood convalescing and that sometime, then or after he returned to Glasgow, someone proposed.
It is an extraordinary case of life imitating art that the features of this story should so closely coincide with the model of sexual relationships that is an almost archetypal feature of the women's [14/15] novels of the 1860s. Dinah Mulock had written several versions of it herself. The implications of its literary use (the achievement of equality between the sexes by the illness or disability of the male, the expression of love as a function of the maternal instinct, the exercise of woman's power through the caritative womanly virtues) will be discussed in due course. Her later works suggest also one other value: the very fortuitousness of the circumstances confirmed her ideal that women must find love without seeking it. The woman who is in business for herself, without parents to smooth the path of romance, must at all costs avoid setting up for herself, like Becky Sharp, in the business of husband-hunting.
The coincidence of life and art and the emotional attractiveness of the scene no doubt account for the wide circulation of various accounts of the story. None of them, needless to say, came directly from the parties involved; another reason for the confusion was that both courtship and marriage were conducted with discretion and privacy. Dinah Mulock did not want to hurt her numerous interested friends, but she felt that fuss and festivity were entirely unsuitable for a woman of her age. They were married by special license on 29 April 1865 at Trinity parish church in Bath, where some of her aunts lived, and took furnished rooms at a farmhouse near Glasgow while they looked for a house.
In the meantime, however, Alexander Macmillan had been casting about for a partner who might undertake the business side of his burgeoning publishing house. He was attracted to the idea of a fellow Scotsman who was a trained accountant and perhaps also reluctant to see the "dear Lady Dinah," who was a "very useful" contributor (Graves, pp. 147, 188) to his shilling monthly magazine, move as far away as Glasgow. On 12 April he wrote to a friend for candid information about Craik's business capacity and by 1 July the offer had been made and accepted and the Craiks were staying with the Macmillans while waiting for a cottage to be decorated.
The circle of London acquaintances seems quickly to have accepted Mr. and Mrs. Craik as an ideal couple. Jane Welsh Carlyle wrote to her husband, after seeing them later that summer, that they "did not look at all ill-matched. His physical sufferings have made up in looks the ten years of difference. He has got an excellent imitation leg, and walks on it much better than American James" (Froude, III, 279). Craik dropped happily into the literary life and enjoyed meeting the firm's authors. All accounts of his character emphasize his kindness, [15/16] straightforwardness, and simplicity; forty years after his death the older employees at Macmillan's still remembered how he would call out, as he passed their desks, "Is your hearrt in your worrrk?" (Morgan, p. 69) He offended one of the self-important personages among the firm's authors by ordering him to come in through the shop like everyone else because it was a trouble to the housekeeper to open the private door (Nowell-Smith, pp. 148-49).
According to the stereotype of Victorian matrimony, Craik should have objected to his wife's working, and that he did so is duly reported as fact in several biographical sketches. There is, however, no evidence in the record of Dinah Craik's bibliography that she ever considered abandoning her career to become a full-time wife. She published a novel in each of the five years after her marriage; she continued to write for magazines and began again to work at children's stories; she did some translations and helped her husband read manuscripts for Macmillan.
The money went for a house: The Corner House, at Shortlands, a new exurban community to the southeast, near Bromley. Designed by the young architect Norman Shaw (who later created the buildings of New Scotland Yard), the house was a modern antique, complete with thick uneven glass in the window frames, and was finished in the summer of 1869. Mrs. Craik did not hesitate to tell her friends that she had built the house with books. House-building could be seen, of course, as an extension of woman's ideal function — but the building of a gentleman's residence also provided satisfactorily solid evidence of the financial position she had achieved entirely by her own efforts.
Mrs. Craik had also quietly been supporting her father for the past several years. He had continued to drift — to Inverness, where he edited a newspaper, to France, to Ireland. His last years were spent in Stafford. He wrote pamphlets — from personal experience — about both lunatic asylums and debtor's prisons; he was jailed once for contempt of court and, on another occasion, summoned by his landlord over a rent dispute. In testimony during the latter case he rather pathetically told the court that he had "a daughter whose powers the world well knew — a very celebrated writer — a daughter who was very kind and obedient to him, and who was worthy of every respect and honour." (Reade, "Thomas Samuel Mulock, 1789-1869," p. 502.) Perhaps she did manage to preserve an appearance of respect and obedience to a now-failing old man; Craik formally bought his father-in-law's manuscript life of Canning, [16/17] though there was no possibility that Macmillan's would ever publish it. Thomas Mulock died at last on 11 August 1869.
Only one thing was lacking to complete the transformation of the independent young professional into the perfect Victorian matron. That one thing, however, nature refused to supply. Mrs. Craik, whose essays made a point of distinguishing between submission to the inevitable and mere weak helplessness, and who had written in one of her novels about the duty "not only passively to accept joy or grief, but to take means to secure the one and escape the other" (A Noble Life, chap. 12), took matters into her own hands: as she had once chosen a profession, she now chose to become a mother. A baby girl about nine months old had been found abandoned in the road on 1 January 1869. Mrs. Craik went promptly to the parish workhouse and brought it home. The Craiks named her Dorothy — "the gift of God." We have trouble realizing how unconventional the act was in an age that believed strongly in eugenics, bad blood, and hereditary taints of character; the National Children's Home did not even begin its first experiments with placing children in families until some time later, and British law did not give an adopted child the same rights as a birth child until well into the twentieth century — although Mrs. Craik wrote a propaganda novel on the subject in 1886.
The anecdotes told of Mrs. Craik in her later years tend to reflect the tellers' interest in seeing her as the domestic ideal. It was said that she made all of her own clothes and her daughter's. The duties of wife and mother were reported to take precedence over the writing; one friend admired the way she could entertain a houseful of guests "well cared for in every detail — just slipping out of their ken during the mornings while she achieved her daily stint of work" (Matheson, p. 212). Yet she did continue to publish regularly (though her output was diminished in the years of Dorothy's early childhood). She could command as much as £2000 for the copyright of a book. She also needed the public platform from which to express herself and influence others. The suspicion of unwomanliness was avoided by emphasizing the ways in which she put herself out to serve people. She had a residence at Dover, in charge of a housekeeper, which was continually lent to friends; she made elaborate plans so that three or four different people might have the use of her carriage in one afternoon.
Yet her character was still informed by the independence and individualism that had led her to compete on her own and to survive. When the widowed Holman Hunt wanted to marry Edith Waugh, [17/18] the younger sister of his first wife, Mrs. Craik chaperoned the bride to Switzerland for the ceremony, which would have been illegal in England. (Diana Holman-Hunt, p. 284.) She annually invited the shopgirls from a big London store out to Corner House for a half-holiday; when someone asked how she entertained them she replied "Oh, like other ladies," and didn't appear to notice that the answer startled her listeners (Keddie, p. 314). She continued to help other professional women; the Civil List pension of £60 a year which had been awarded to her in 1864 in recognition of her services to literature was always passed along to struggling writers, and the sightseeing trips that provided the narrative for articles in Macmillan's new illustrated magazine of the 1880s gave her an excuse to take groups of independent young women on holiday with her. She had always been a working woman and continued to think of herself as one; shortly before her death she wrote to Oscar Wilde, suggesting with some asperity that the title of the magazine he was proposing to edit for Macmillan should be changed from Ladies' World to Woman's World.
Dinah Craik died suddenly of heart failure on 12 October 1887, while in the midst of preparations for Dorothy's wedding. Her last words were reported to have been "Oh, if I could live four weeks longer! but no matter, no matter!" (Martin, p. 539). The position that she held in contemporary life and letters is partially indicated by the composition of the committee that was formed to place a memorial to her in Tewkesbury Abbey. Its members included Lord Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, Mrs. Oliphant, Sir John E. Millais, Professor T. H. Huxley, and James Russell Lowell.
Last modified 16 August 2007


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Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences are seeking participants for a clinical trial examining whether two polyunsaturated Omega-3 fatty acids are effective treatments for depression.
The two fatty acids being studied -- docosahexanoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) -- are found naturally in fish oil, flaxseed and walnuts. Previous studies have indicated that nutritional supplements that contain Omega-3 fatty acids can be an effective treatment for depression, but this is the first to systematically test the two specific fatty acids against each other and against placebo in a large sample of people with major depression. DHA and EPA have anti-inflammatory properties and help stabilize brain cell membranes, both of which play a role in mood regulation.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored study, held in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital, will recruit a total of 300 adults ages 18-80 who are experiencing significant symptoms of major depressive disorder and are in good health. The five-year study is designed to test the safety, effectiveness and tolerability of DHA and EPA against each other and a placebo. Participants will receive one of the two drugs or a placebo for eight weeks in a randomized, double-blind manner.
Major depression affects at least 15 percent of the adult population. Unlike normal emotional experiences of sadness, loss or passing mood states, major depression is persistent and can significantly interfere with an individual's thoughts, behavior and physical health. While it can be effectively treated, it is a leading cause of disability in the U.S. and in many other countries.
The Cedars-Sinai team, lead by principal investigator and department chair Mark Hyman Rapaport, M.D., will examine the effect of the therapies on participants' symptoms, quality of life and psychosocial function. They will also examine how fatty acids in the blood and proteins involved in immune function are affected by Omega-3s. Participants will receive free and confidential evaluation and treatment as part of the study. No healthcare insurance is required. A comprehensive medical evaluation -- including physical examination, laboratory tests and EKG -- may be provided at no charge.
"The reported side effects of Omega-3 treatments have been mild and include upset stomach and a fishy taste in the mouth. There do not appear to be risks to the liver or adverse interactions with most other medications," said Rapaport, though he added that people who have bleeding disorders or who are taking blood thinners should not use Omega-3 fatty acids. Check with your doctor first.
For more information on the study, call 1-888-CEDARS3.
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Secular textbooks now fill our classrooms, while the Ten Commandments have been removed from their walls. Is this the vision held by those who worked to found this nation? What faith did our founding fathers truly believe and practice in their daily lives, and what does it really matter for us? Were they God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians or simply enlightened Deists, Transcendentalists, and Unitarians?
Today the debate rages on, becoming a polarizing cultural issue, the outcome of which will lead to a vastly different nation in the years ahead. This probing study:
- Examines the facts that have created debate for years among educators, scholars, and historians
- Studies the intimate papers, diaries, and letters of the founders themselves
- Helps solve this mystery of our nation's past so that we can best guide its future.
Meticulously documented, ?Faith of Our Founding Fathers? by best-selling author Tim LaHaye details the Christian principles of these early Americans, and notes how the argument for the separation of church and state has led us to the vast secularization of our culture. Studying the original writings of those who shaped this nation will help Christians present the case for renewing the former vision for this great country.
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Madfa, A. and Abu Kasim, Noor Hayaty and Hamdi, M. and Rahbari, R.G. and Bayat, M. (2010) Thermo-mechanical stress in multilayered dental post due to temperature gradient. University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Thermo-Mechanical_Stress_in_Multilayered_Dental_Post_Due_to_Temperature_Gradient.pdf Download (24kB) |
Objective: To analyse thermo-mechanical stress in endodontically treated teeth restored with Multilayered Structured Dental Posts (MSDPs) under cold and hot conditions using Finite Element Analysis (FEM). Methods: Three MSDPs of multilayer design of xTi-yHA composition added to a zirconia layer (model A), an alumina layer (model B) and a titanium layer (model C) were compared with zirconia (model D) and titanium (model E) posts. The fractions of Ti and HA was varied gradually. Changes in temperature of an endodontically restored tooth model were calculated as a result of hot and cold response. The resulting thermo-mechanical stresses were analysed and compared using FEM in models A, B, C, D and E. Results: It was noted that Models A, B and C returned to near body temperature better than that Models of D and E. There was no evident difference in all MSDPs models. The smallest Von Mises thermal stresses were observed in MSDPs (models A, B and C) compared to models D and E. There were no also differences in Von Mises thermal stresses for all MSDPs. The magnitude of interface of stresses in models D and E with the surrounding tooth structures were greater than those in MSDPs especially in area close to middle third of the dental posts. The peak stress by thermal irritant for models D and E are approximately three times higher than models A, B and C. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that pure zirconia and titanium posts produced greater thermal stresses than MSDPs.
Item Type: | Article |
Funders: | UNSPECIFIED |
Additional Information: | Associate Prof. Dr. Noor Hayaty Binti Abu Kasim Department of Conservative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Self-Repair; Culture-Conditions; Composite Resin; Dental Pulp Stem Cell; Functionally Graded Design; Multi Layered Post; Functionally Graded Dental Post; Soft Skills; Clinical Pairing; Dental Pulp Stromal Cells; Long-Term Expansion; Thermo; Mechanical Stress; Multilayered Dental Post; Temperature Gradient |
Subjects: | R Medicine R Medicine > R Medicine (General) R Medicine > RK Dentistry |
Divisions: | Faculty of Dentistry > Dept of Conservative Dentistry |
Depositing User: | Associate Prof. Dr. Noor Hayaty Abu Kasim |
Date Deposited: | 08 Feb 2012 02:28 |
Last Modified: | 16 Jan 2020 07:38 |
URI: | http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/2553 |
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New York – Oil prices have jumped by about one-third since the summer on signs of stronger economic growth around the world and fear of instability in the Middle East.
So far, however, the run-up isn't setting off alarm bells. Prices remain far below their 2014 peaks. And U.S. producers are pumping at a record rate, leading some experts to bet that the higher prices won't last long.
At midday Monday, Brent crude, the benchmark international price, was down 27 cents to $63.25, while the standard for U.S. oil was up 10 cents to $56.84.
Those are sharp increases since mid-June — about 35 percent for U.S. crude, nearly 40 percent for Brent.
"That means slightly higher inflation, but we're not talking about unmanageable prices," said Diane Swonk, chief economist of DS Economics. "If it got back to $100 a barrel, then we would have a real problem."
Swonk said discretionary spending by consumers seems to be holding up despite the increase that has already shown up at the pump. In her mind and those of other economists, we are in better shape to manage higher energy prices for many reasons including a stronger economy and job growth.
Still, consumers will feel the effect, even if it's less dramatic than price spikes in 2008 and 2014. In the U.S., the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline has risen 30 cents since early July.
Moody's Analytics estimates that if the elevated oil prices last a year, they would cost U.S. consumers $30 billion and shave a couple tenths of a percentage point off the nation's economic output.
Chris Lafakis, an energy analyst at Moody's, said airlines and delivery companies such as FedEx and UPS will see profits reduced partly because they can't raise prices quickly enough when fuel costs rise. Oil-producing countries and oil companies — including U.S. outfits such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Devon and Anadarko — are the obvious winners, he said. Third-quarter profit at Exxon and Chevron was about 50 percent higher than a year ago, thanks to higher prices.
Jet fuel, which is closely tied to the price of oil, accounts for about one-third of an airline's operating costs — rivaling labor as the biggest expense. Helane Becker, an analyst for Cowen and Co., said that with oil in the mid-$60s, she expects airlines to attempt to raise ticket prices.
If fuel prices continue to rise, Becker said, airlines will cut back on plans to increase flying next year. That could tighten the supply of airline seats, driving prices yet higher.
Andrew Kenningham, chief global economist at Capital Economics in London, said however that the impact of higher oil prices on companies and households will be limited because for the year as a whole, average oil prices are up only slightly over 2016.
"So far the price moves have not been huge, so the economic impact shouldn't be that large," Kenningham said. He called the increase in average prices for 2017 "trivial" compared with the collapse from around $115 to less than $30 a barrel that occurred between mid-2014 and early 2016.
Crude prices began rising this summer as positive signs rolled in for the world's biggest energy-hungry economies: the U.S., Europe and China. Prices were also influenced as expectations grew that OPEC would continue to limit production next year, and on rising tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer, is in the midst of an internal power struggle. Its ambitious crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, has ordered the arrests of rivals, and some think he could take a tougher line against Iran, Saudi Arabia's rival for pre-eminence in the Middle East. That raises uncertainty about future oil supplies from the oil-rich region.
However, many market-watchers expect such Mideast tensions to boost oil prices only temporarily — unless a direct conflict breaks out between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Meanwhile, higher prices are encouraging U.S. companies to pump more. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that domestic production hit a record 9.62 million barrels of oil a day in the week that ended Nov. 3, bouncing back from less than 8.5 million barrels a day as recently as October 2016.
Oilfield-services company Baker Hughes reported Friday that the number of U.S. oil rigs showed the biggest one-week increase since June.
The drilling frenzy in the U.S. could frustrate OPEC's attempt to limit supplies and bolster prices.
Analysts at Germany's Commerzbank say drilling activity tends to rise about four months after a rise in oil prices. So, they concluded, "there is much to suggest that last week's rise in drilling activity marked the start of a trend."
"It is most likely that oil prices will drop back," Kenningham said. "Investors continue to anticipate that prices will drop."
As reported by Vos Iz Neias


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Although life expectancy rose in some provinces, the overdose epidemic that has rattled B.C. in recent years pushed Canada's life expectancy down for the first time in 40 years.
Data release by Statistics Canada Thursday found that life expectancy in Canada fell for the second year in a row between 2016 and 2017, dropping by 0.3 years for men and 0.1 years for women.
In B.C., where 1,491 people fatally overdosed in 2017, life expectancy that year dropped by 0.28 years for men and 0.05 for women.
Life expectancy did increase in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Nunavut.
Life expectancy in Canada has increased about 0.2 each year between the mid-1990s and 2012, and then 0.1 till 2016.
Women born in 2017 are expected to live to 84 years old, while men are expected to live till 79.9 years old.
Researchers found that although older people were living longer, younger people, especially men, were not.
Men aged 22 to 44 saw the most marked drop in life expectancy. Coroner data shows that this age group is one of the most affected by both overdose deaths and car crashes.
Among both men and women in 2017, more than one-quarter of 4,108 drug overdose deaths occurred in people between the ages of 30 and 39.
READ MORE: Opioid crisis may be shortening British Columbians' life expectancy: report
READ MORE: Drugs, alcohol and lack of seatbelts top reasons for fatal car crashes: B.C. coroner
READ MORE: Carfentanil, an opioid more toxic than fentanyl, linked to more deaths in B.C.
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True Reformers - DVD SetTrue Reformers - DVD SetThis six-episode series explores the lives of Saints Ignatius of Loyola, Thomas More, Francis de Sales, Philip Neri, Charles Borromeo, and Teresa of Avila. As True Reformers introduces you to these great saints, you'll want to stay friends with them for life, even unto eternity, as you discover how they spearheaded the Church's rebirth after the turbulence and confusion caused by the Protestant Reformation.Join Dr. Christopher Blum in the first comprehensive study program to present a specifically Catholic worldview that addresses the Protestant Reformation, 500 years later. True Reformers is ideal for adult faith formation, men's and women's groups, catechist formation, and young adult ministries and features six episodes on three DVDs. Episode Listing: Episode 1: Saint Thomas More and the Age of the Author Have more questions about True Reformers? Check out the FAQ, call us at 866-767-3155, or email customer service. |
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Shannon is most well known for his time as the head coach at Miami from 2007-2010. Before that, he was a defensive coach on either the Hurricanes or the Miami Dolphins every season since 1991.
In short, you'd be hard pressed to find an assistant coach with a better resume than Shannon. He was a part of three national championship teams at Miami, has NFL experience, produced several highly ranked defenses and draft picks, and even spent the past season in Fort Worth with TCU, so he's familiar with that fertile recruiting area as well.
And, obviously, Bielema is putting an emphasis on recruiting South Florida, so grabbing a coach with about 20 years of experience in the area is a huge benefit for Arkansas.
Bielema said when he was hired that his primary reason for coming to Arkansas is to be able to hire and retain quality assistants, and he's clearly been doing a great job of that thus far.
Here's the release from UA:
FAYETTEVILLE –Randy Shannon, who has won three national titles as a player and coach, has been named Arkansas' linebackers coach, head coach Bret Bielema announced Sunday.
"Randy Shannon is a great coach and a great person," said Bielema. "He has been a part of multiple national championship teams and, more importantly, he changed the lives of numerous young men. He has spent nearly his entire coaching career at Miami, and his defenses consistently ranked inside the top 10 nationally. I think a lot of people know Randy got a lot of great things done at Miami and most recently with TCU. He is a disciplinarian who has high standards, and he is skillful at relating to his players. He is a coach players turn to for guidance, and his players have always been prepared and played with intensity and desire."
Last season, Shannon coached linebackers at TCU following a four-year stint as head coach at the University of Miami, where he led the Hurricanes to a 28-22 record from 2007-10. Before rising to the head position, Shannon was the defensive coordinator for Miami from 2001-06 and was an assistant coach for the Hurricanes from 1991-97. In between his stints on the Coral Gables campus, Shannon spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the Miami Dolphins. Shannon, who lettered at Miami from 1985-88, was part of three of the Hurricanes' five national championships as a player and assistant coach.
Shannon's linebacker unit excelled in TCU's first season in the Big 12. Kenny Cain was a second-team All-Big 12 selection by the Associated Press and the conference's coaches, and Joel Hasley was an AP honorable mention all-conference performer. Cain made a career-high 14 tackles in a victory at Texas, the most for a TCU linebacker in a game since 2004, and Hasley ranked ninth in the conference in tackles for loss per game.
As a team, the Horned Frogs led the Big 12 in rushing defense and total defense and ranked second in the conference in scoring defense and pass efficiency defense. TCU's average of 103.92 rushing yards per game allowed was 10th in the NCAA, and the team's average of 332.00 total yards allowed per game ranked 18th in the country despite facing five of the nation's top-12 offenses. TCU also led the Big 12 in third-down defense, first downs allowed and three-and-outs per game.
In 2010, Miami earned a 7-5 record, including a 5-3 mark in the ACC, and a berth in the Sun Bowl. In 2009, Shannon guided his team to the program's best mark since the 2005 campaign as Miami made its 35th overall bowl appearance, finishing 9-4 overall and 5-3 in ACC play. Four Hurricanes earned first team All-ACC honors, and Miami was one of only nine teams to rank in the top 35 in both total offense and total defense. Miami knocked off three teams ranked in the Top 25 in its first four games, had nine players earn All-ACC postseason honors and saw its offense put up 5,199 yards, the most since 2002 when the team played for the national championship.
All of Shannon's Miami teams were able to uphold UM's academic success off the field. His UM football teams achieved NCAA Academic Progress Rates (APR) of 978, 977, 969 and 966, which have all ranked in the top 10 nationally. The 978 APR in the 2010 APR report was tied for the sixth-highest rate in the country. The 977 APR in the 2009 report was the seventh-highest rate in the country out of 119 Bowl-Subdivision football programs. Those rates also were the second highest in the Atlantic Coast Conference and highest among all schools in Florida.
In his second season in 2008, he guided the Hurricanes to the program's 34th overall bowl appearance at the 2008 Emerald Bowl. Miami finished the season 7-6 and one game out of first place with a 4-4 mark in the ACC. The squad had a five-game winning streak, which was the longest for the Hurricanes since 2005. Freshman linebacker Sean Spence was named the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year and kicker Matt Bosher was a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award given to the nation's best kicker. Linebacker Sean Spence, defensive tackle Marcus Forston, defensive end Marcus Robinson and returner Travis Benjamin earned Freshman All-America honors. Miami also ranked No. 7 nationally in pass defense, 25th in tackles for loss and 28th overall in total defense yielding 317.56 yards per game. The 2008 Hurricanes also ranked in the top four in the ACC in punt returns, pass defense, scoring offense, net punting and tackles for loss.
Shannon coached Miami to a 31-3 win over Marshall in his head coaching debut on Sept 1, 2007. The Hurricanes went on to finish 5-7 and 2-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. His Hurricanes showed promise for the future of the program. Miami's 2008 signing class ranked as the top class in the country byESPN.com. The 2009 signing class ranked in the top 10 nationally as Miami signed six players ranked in the ESPN.com Top 150.
Prior to being named head coach at Miami, Shannon was the school's defensive coordinator for six seasons and coached top 10 defenses in five of those six seasons. In his first season back, 2001, the Hurricanes won their fifth national championship and he became the first UM coach to be named the winner of the Frank Broyles Award, presented annually to the nation's top assistant coach. The Hurricanes had 25 defensive players taken in the NFL Drafts from 2002-07, including 12 first-round picks.
Shannon produced defenses that rank among the best in the history of the program. Despite a 7-6 record in 2006, the defense ranked seventh in the country in total defense, allowing just 255.5 yards per game, fourth in rushing defense with a school-record 67.9 yards allowed per game and 13th in scoring defense at15.5 points allowed per game.
In 2005, Shannon was named defensive coordinator of the year by Rivals.com. His aggressive 4-3 scheme led the nation most of the season in nearly every category and finished No. 1 in pass defense with a mark of 152.17 yards per game allowed and pass efficiency defense at 89.48. The Hurricanes also ranked fourth in total defense at 270.08 yards per game allowed and scoring defense with a mark of 14.25 points per game allowed, and their average of 117.92 rushing yards per game allowed ranked 23rd in the nation.
In 2004, Shannon's defense ranked ninth in the country in pass defense despite having three new starters in the secondary. The UM defenses in 2002 and 2003 led the nation in fewest passing yards allowed, and the 2003 unit was fourth nationally in pass efficiency defense with a mark of 96.16 rating while finishing second in the nation in total defense at 257.5 yards per game allowed. The 2003 Hurricanes also ranked fourth in the country with an average of 15.1 points per game allowed.
His 2002 unit led the nation with 119.7 passing yards per game allowed and in pass efficiency defense with an 83.91 rating, while finishing seventh in the nation in total defense at 285.0 yards per game allowed. That year, Miami fielded an entirely new starting unit in the defensive secondary.
In 2001, Miami led the nation in turnover margin by forcing a school-record 27 interceptions and 45 turnovers. Miami defenders allowed a national-best 9.4 points per game, led the nation in pass efficiency defense with a 75.60 rating, ranked second in pass defense with an average of 138.2 yards per game allowed through the air and was sixth in total defense with an average of 270.9 yards per game allowed. The 2001 Hurricanes gave up just 12 touchdowns while adding seven touchdowns of their own.
In his six seasons as defensive coordinator, the Hurricanes had seven All-America players, and he tutored eight other All-Americans as a position coach. As a head coach and defensive coordinator, he's coached 14 defensive players who were selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.
He was a graduate assistant in 1991 when the Hurricanes won their fourth national championship and in 1992 became a full-time assistant coach working with the defensive line. From 1993-97 he coached linebackers, including Ray Lewis, a 13-time Pro Bowl selection and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year who was a first-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in the 1996 NFL Draft. Shannon was a defensive assistant with the Miami Dolphins in 1998 and 1999 before assuming the role of linebackers coach in 2000.
As a player at Miami, Shannon was a four-year letterman at linebacker and the starter on the 1987 national championship team. He received the Christopher Plumer Award for most inspirational player as a senior in 1988. Shannon concluded his career in 1988 when he ranked fourth on the team in tackles, sacks and tackles for loss, while leading the team in passes broken up and forced fumbles.
Shannon attended Miami's Norland High School and earned all-state and honorable mention All-America recognition from Street & Smith's as a senior linebacker. He also lettered in basketball, averaging 19 points per game, and competed in the triple jump on the track and field team.
An 11th-round draft choice of the Dallas Cowboys in 1989, he became the first rookie to start at outside linebacker for Dallas since 1963 and also was a standout on special teams. Shannon played for the Cowboys for two seasons before going into coaching.
Randy Shannon Coaching History
Dec. 2012 Arkansas (Linebackers)
2012 TCU (Linebackers)
2007-10 University of Miami (head coach)
2001-06 University of Miami (defensive coordinator)
2000 Miami Dolphins (linebackers)
1998-99 Miami Dolphins (defensive assistant)
1993-97 University of Miami (linebackers)
1992 University of Miami (defensive line)
1991 University of Miami (graduate assistant)
Home Town: Miami, Fla.
Birthdate: Feb. 24, 1966
Bowl Games: Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, 2012; Sun Bowl, 2010; Champs Sports Bowl, 2009; Emerald Bowl, 2008; MPC Computers Bowl, 2006; Peach Bowl, 2005; Peach Bowl, 2004; Orange Bowl 2004; Fiesta Bowl 2003; Rose Bowl 2002; Carquest Bowl, 1996; Orange Bowl, 1995; Fiesta Bowl, 1994; Sugar Bowl, 1993; Orange Bowl, 1992


text: Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The story is mostly set at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, an academy for young wizards and witches. It focuses on Harry's struggle against evil wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents in his quest to conquer the wizarding world. The success of the novels has made Rowling the highest-earning novelist in history, and the series has spawned films, video games, and Potter-themed merchandise. All seven books have been made into motion pictures by Warner Bros.


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By Catherine Harwood, Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies
The use of chemical weapons in Syria in
August 2013 has generated widespread international outrage. International
actors have condemned the use of chemical weapons and have employed the
language of international criminal law to convey the severity of the violation.
The UN Secretary-General stated that "[a]ny
use of chemical weapons anywhere, by anybody, under any circumstances, would
violate international law. Such a crime against humanity should result in
serious consequences for the perpetrator." Similar sentiments were expressed
by the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. US
President Obama also labelled
chemical weapons "a crime against humanity, and a violation of the laws of
war". The use of chemical weapons is
prohibited under both conventional
and customary
international law and may be prosecuted as a war crime. But does the
prohibition extend to liability under international criminal law as a crime
against humanity?
Many voices have called on the Security
Council to refer Syria to the ICC.
Although practical prospects of referral remain doubtful, the ICC is in
principle an appropriate institution to conduct international prosecutions
regarding the situation in Syria. If a prosecution is initiated, many may
expect to see the use of chemical weapons reflected in the charge sheet. In light of this, the question whether the
use of chemical weapons could amount to a crime against humanity is explored by
reference to the Rome Statute. This inquiry explores the statements by the UN
Secretary-General and others that any and all uses of chemical weapons amount
to crimes against humanity.
- The use of chemical weapons as a war crime
Despite the wide prohibition of the use of
chemical weapons in international law, the Rome Statute does not expressly
prohibit 'chemical' weapons. However,
several provisions indirectly prohibit their use in international and
non-international armed conflicts. At first glance, article 8(2)(c)(xx), which
prohibits the use of weapons "of a nature to cause superfluous injury or
unnecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate", appears most
applicable. However, this provision only prohibits
weapons listed in an annex to the Statute, which has never been created. In addition, it only applies to international
armed conflicts, which would exclude the conflict in Syria.
The Rome Statute also prohibits the use of employing
"poison or poisoned weapons" under articles 8(2)(b)(xvii) and 8(2)(e)(xiii);
and "asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials
or devices" in articles 8(2)(b)(xviii) and 8(2)(e)(xiv). These broad provisions
arguably include chemical weapons, but they have not yet been applied in
practice. Some controversy surrounds the interpretation of these provisions, as
noted by Dapo Akande and Bill Schabas, who both
consider that the Statute can and should be read as prohibiting chemical
The use of chemical weapons could also be
prosecuted when used in prohibited circumstances or when their use leads to
prohibited results. The use of chemical weapons could be prosecuted where it
amounts to an attack that is directed against civilians under arts. 8(2)(b)(i)
and 8(2)(e)(i); or is an intentionally disproportionate attack under art.
8(2)(b)(iv). Curiously, the latter prohibition does not apply to
non-international armed conflicts. Prosecutions could also result when the use
of chemical weapons results in death or great suffering or injury to protected
persons under the Geneva Conventions under arts. 8(2)(a)(i) and (iii) and 8(2)(c)(i).
In short, both the use and consequences of chemical weapons may be prosecuted
as war crimes. More extensive prohibition against their use would be possible
if chemical agents were listed in the annex referred to in article (2)(c)(xx),
and if this provision also applied to non-international armed conflicts.
- The use of chemical weapons as a crime against humanity
Under articles 7(1) and 7(2)(a) of the Rome
Statute, crimes against humanity are prohibited acts listed in article 7(1)
when committed in the context of a "widespread or systematic attack directed
against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack", "pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or
organizational policy to commit such attack." The Elements of Crimes provide
that a relevant attack is a "course of conduct involving the multiple
commission of acts referred to in [article 7(1)] against any civilian
population […] The acts need not constitute a military attack. It is understood
that 'policy to commit such attack' requires that the State or organization
actively promote or encourage such an attack against a civilian population". ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II interpreted the
contextual elements of crimes against humanity in the Bemba confirmation of charges decision. The PTC held that "[t]he
commission of the acts referred to in article 7(1) of the Statute constitute
the 'attack' itself" (para. 75). The attack must be either widespread or
systematic. A widespread attack is "large-scale"; "over a large geographical
area or an attack in a small geographical area directed against a large number
of civilians" (para. 83). The civilian population "must be the primary object
of the attack and not just an incidental victim of the attack" (para. 76). The
state or organisational policy may be "made by groups of persons who govern a
specific territory or by any organization with the capability to commit a
widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population". An attack that
is "planned, directed or organized - as opposed to spontaneous or isolated acts
of violence" (para. 81) is sufficient to satisfy this requirement.
The list of prohibited acts in article 7(1)
strikes twice against the statement 'the use of chemical weapons is a crime
against humanity': first, at the level of contextual elements; and secondly, in
respect of the prohibited acts. An 'attack' is comprised of prohibited acts referred
to in article 7(1); and only those acts listed in article 7(1) may amount to
crimes against humanity. The use of chemical weapons is not listed in article
7(1). Rather, potential consequences of the use of chemical
weapons are relevant, such as murder (article 7(1)(a)) and "other inhumane acts
of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious
injury" (article 7(1)(k)). Thus, the consequences of chemical weapons, not their
use per se, could amount to an attack
as well as the prohibited acts. Although the use of chemical weapons and their
terrible consequences often go together, they are distinguishable.
Assuming that the use of chemical weapons results
in prohibited acts listed in article 7(1), several other criteria must be met
before these consequences may amount to crimes against humanity. The attack
must be widespread or systematic. The civilian population must also be the
primary object of the attack. This element may be difficult to prove in an
armed conflict, as it might be argued that chemical weapons were intended to be
used against combatants and that the civilian population was an incidental
victim. However, it could be contended that
the indiscriminate nature of these weapons means that any use must be regarded
as making the civilian population the primary object of attack, despite any
military motive. The attack must also be pursuant to a state or organisational
policy. There are many possible scenarios in which this criterion would not be
met. Chemical weapons might be deployed in violation of military orders; used
in an unplanned or unorganised way; or used without the organisation's active encouragement.
Thus, even if the 'use of chemical weapons' is interpreted widely to include
the consequences of use, only those consequences that are planned and sufficiently
serious may amount to crimes against humanity.
- Concluding thoughts


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Eat|See|Hear, a premier LA outdoor movie series presented by Showtime, will be showing "The Princess Bride" this Saturday at Santa Monica High School.
The event will also include live music and the following food trucks: Schmuck Truck, MOEggrolls, India Jones, Bun Truck, Coolhaus, Brasil Kiss, and My Delight Cupcakery.
General admission tickets for the event are $10 and can be purchased online, as can $20 popchips-sponsored "Fashionably Late" tickets that allow attendees to arrive late and still have access to premium reserved seating. There will also be a limited number of passes available at the door for $12.
This classic comedy is about Buttercup who is engaged to Prince Humperdinck and gets kidnapped and held hostage. The story takes us through the adventures of her beloved Westley, her childhood beau, who must save her.
The doors will open at 5:30 pm, the bands will play at 7 pm, and the movie will start at 8:30 pm. For more information, visit eatseehear.com.
Saturday, May 25 from 5:30 pm to 11:30 pm
Santa Monica High School
601 Pico Boulevard


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NNN Column - Ratiocination
The links below will take you to the pages for the installments of the column on the NNN website. To return to this page, just use your web browser's "Back" button.
Dr. Eric Gaze, Bowdoin CollegeA column devoted to ratios in all their guises: indices, coefficients, percentages, rates, scales, conversions, etc. Ratios are comparisons between the relative size of two quantities, a simple idea which – surprisingly – underlies much of the way we use numbers to communicate.
- Social Security and the "Celtic Tiger" - 8/14/08
- Planck's Constant: Motion and Rest - 10/1/08
- The Full Monty... in Proportion - 1/16/09
- Dividend Yielding PE Ratios - 6/30/09
- Fertile Myrtle and the Most Important Statistic...In the World! - 9/15/09


text: Esquire's Pierce Criticizes Breitbart.com's Report On Obama Daughters' Vacation Pierce: "'Rightwing Entertainment Complex' Are Going To Get Someone Killed" Written by Andrew Lawrence Published 03/26/13 12:38 AM EDT Esquire's Charles P. Pierce has criticized Breitbart.com for reporting the specific location where President Obama's teenage daughters are vacationing for spring break, warning that such actions by the "'rightwing entertainment complex' are going to get someone killed." On Monday, Breitbart.com's Matthew Boyle published the location and the name of the resort where the Obama daughters are staying for spring break, ignoring the long-standing journalistic tradition that media outlets should not report on a president's minor children when they are not attending "official and semi-official events." Pierce responded to Breitbart.com in a blog post, arguing that there was "no possible news value" to the report other than to incite readers and that "[s]ooner or later" the "'rightwing entertainment complex' are going to get someone killed": What possible interest does this serve, except to titillate the dark and envious nether parts of Boyle's 22 readers? (No link, because fk that pudgy little monster.) There is no possible news value to this. Sooner or later, the frolicks of what my pal Boehlert calls the "rightwing entertainment complex" are going to get someone killed.


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(visited by Wolfgang Seel)
30-Mar-2009 -- Continued from 27N 13E.
This Confluence lies in the northwestern part of the Awbāriy Sandsea in an area not very much frequented other by sand freaks like me. The point lies on top of a dune chain.
Since it was almost sunset, we decided to put camp at a beautiful dune terrace 200 meters short of the Confluence. Equipped with our obligatory sunset cocktail set, we walked the short distance to take the required pictures.


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Beyond the common belief that eating carrots improves your eyesight, most of us don't know much about the relationship between nutrition and our eyes. We tend to take them for granted, especially if our vision is good. But all of us—women in particular—would do well to pay more attention to the issue. According to the Women's Eye Health Task Force at Boston's Schepens Eye Research Institute, Americans' vision problems are increasing at near-epidemic rates, and women comprise two-thirds of those affected.
Eye disease is on the rise for many reasons, among them greater longevity. "Vision itself also declines because of how we use our eyes—constant 'near work' in schools and on computers," says Marc Grossman, OD, LAc, author of Greater Vision (McGraw-Hill, 2001). Older women are more likely to suffer from a cataract (clouding of the eye's lens). And for a variety of reasons, they are also more likely to develop ocular symptoms associated with rheumatological diseases such as lupus, and macular degeneration, in which the retina's macula—the source of clear, sharp vision—gradually breaks down. Prevent Blindness America cites 1 in 3 people over 65 as at risk for this major cause of blindness, with women twice as likely to develop it. In addition, as women age, hormonal changes can contribute to dry-eye syndrome, in which decreased tear production fails to lubricate the eye's surface adequately.
Nutrition plays an active role in eye health. In fact, recent research shows that more than a quarter of the nutrients absorbed from food go toward nourishing our sight. "Diets of processed foods and sugar don't nourish the eyes," Grossman says, and because eyes are directly exposed to air and ultraviolet rays, they are more vulnerable to free radical damage. "The resulting oxidative stress reduces the level of naturally occurring antioxidants in the eyes over time, which is the major factor behind most eye disease."
To keep your eye health as sharp as possible, keep the following vision-care tips in view.
Get your A to Zinc
The antioxidants found in many vitamins and minerals can both prevent and reduce the free radical damage and oxidation that lead to macular degeneration and cataracts. Patients with advanced macular degeneration who took antioxidants twice daily experienced a 25-percent reduction in the disease's progression and maintained significantly better sight in their stronger eye, according to a study by the National Eye Institute (Journal of the American Optometric Association, 1996, vol. 67, no. 1).
Among the most effective antioxidants for eyes is vitamin A, which aids night vision, color vision, and the ability to adapt to changes in light. Good vegetable sources of beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the body, include winter squashes and orange root vegetables such as carrots and yams. Zinc, found in poultry, wheat, and mushrooms, assists vitamin A absorption and helps prevent night blindness and macular degeneration. Riboflavin (vitamin B2), found in beans and whole grains, regenerates antioxidants after they've neutralized free radicals and prevents eye burning and itching, loss of visual acuity, and light sensitivity. Grossman recommends striving for a daily intake of 15,000 to 25,000 IUs of beta-carotene (three to five times the RDA), 30 mg of zinc, and 10 mg of riboflavin, augmenting your diet with supplements as necessary.
Vitamin C—which is more concentrated in healthy eyes and adrenal glands than almost anywhere in the body—provides a natural filter against UV rays, Grossman says. It also helps synthesize glutathione, an eye antioxidant produced by the body, whose diminished levels may lead to cataracts, macular degeneration, and glaucoma. In addition to eating citrus fruits, peppers, tomatoes, and cruciferous vegetables rich in vitamin C, Grossman recommends supplementation of at least 500 mg a day. Vitamin E—together with vitamin C, alpha-lipoic acid, and cysteine (an amino acid found in eggs, as is vitamin E)—also protects against lens damage from UV rays, decreasing cataract risk by up to 45 percent. Selenium, found in Brazil nuts, garlic, and seafood, aids vitamin E absorption and helps the body produce its own antioxidants.
Opt for omega-3s
Omega-3 fatty acids in cold-water fish, flaxseed oil, hempseed, and walnuts have been shown to protect against macular degeneration. Because of the high mercury levels found in some fish, Grossman instead recommends taking 1 to 2 teaspoons of high-quality fish oil per day.
Eat your greens, yellows, and oranges
Carotenoids—including alpha- and beta-carotene along with xanthophylls, lutein, and zeaxanthin—add yellow, orange, and red color to food. They may also be our vision's best assets. Studies increasingly reveal the power of lutein (found in dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale, and collard greens) and zeaxanthin (found in corn, peaches, mangoes, and other yellow produce) to guard against macular degeneration and even reverse some of its effects. Both increase the retina's macular-pigment density, which protects it from degenerating or tearing. Harvard researchers found that eating 6 mg of lutein a day (roughly 1/4 cup cooked spinach) lowered the odds of macular degeneration by 43 percent (Journal of the American Medical Association, 1994, vol. 272, no. 18). Another lutein study showed improvement in visual function in one or both eyes of subjects with macular degeneration. And because lutein filters out UV rays, cataract risk also dropped by up to 65 percent in those who ate spinach and other greens five or more times per week, according to another study.
Cooked tomatoes are a good food source because cooking releases lutein from tomatoes' cell walls, says Grossman. When taken as individual supplements, vitamin A and lutein compete for absorption, so they should be consumed separately. For the same reason, Grossman recommends taking lutein and zeaxanthin separately from beta-carotene.
Skip unhealthy fats and sugar
Traditional Chinese Medicine views the liver as the primary meridian responsible for eye health, according to New Paltz, New York acupuncturist Michael Edson, MS, LAc. A healthy liver supports vision by contributing to the free flow of energy and blood throughout the body and by converting beta-carotene into vitamin A.
Avoiding fried foods and partially hydrogenated fats (which place undue stress on the liver) can help improve night vision, adaptation to bright light, and adequate tear production, he says. Cut down on sweets, too, says Grossman, because sugar has been shown to impair the lens' ability to keep itself clear. (He does note that adequate amounts of vitamin C can prevent and even reverse this negative effect.) And stay hydrated. Drink the recommended eight to ten glasses of water a day, and avoid carbonated, caffeinated, and alcoholic beverages that dehydrate eye tissue and lead to reduced tear production and dry, uncomfortable eyes.
Herbal help
Bilberry, a European version of blueberries, is called the "vision herb" because it improves night vision and can prevent glaucoma, cataracts, and computer-vision fatigue. Its antioxidant flavonoid compounds also strengthen retinal capillaries and can prevent or treat early-stage macular degeneration. Recommended doses for prevention and treatment range from 120 mg to 300 mg per day in capsules or tablets. Clinical trials also have shown that 120 mg to 240 mg of ginkgo biloba can be used to treat early-stage macular degeneration.
For complete nutritional protection for eyes, Grossman recommends a liquid supplement that, when taken sublingually, provides recommended doses of bilberry and ginkgo together with retina-strengthening lutein and zeaxanthin.
Insightful lifestyle
You can take simple steps every day to protect your eyes. To guard against retina-damaging UV rays, choose wraparound, UV-blocking sunglasses, along with a broad-brimmed hat or visor. Avoid cigarette smoke: Smoking increases the risk of macular degeneration 2.4-fold in women, depletes antioxidants like vitamin A, and causes about 20 percent of all cataracts, increasing female smokers' risk by 63 percent. If you use eyedrops, choose tear substitutes without preservatives, or vitamin A-based drops that provide antioxidant protection. Preservatives in most commercial eyedrops actually decrease production of tears or even damage corneal cells, Grossman notes.
Regular exercise—at least 20 minutes daily—improves circulation throughout the body, including the eyes with their many small vessels, and helps eliminate toxins, Grossman says.
Researchers found that glaucoma patients who took brisk, 40-minute walks five days a week for three months reduced their intraocular pressure by approximately 2.5 millimeters, similar to the reduction seen with beta-blockers. Beta-blockers, often used in glaucoma eyedrop treatments because of their ability to lower intraocular pressure, can also cause undesirable side effects such as fatigue, elevated blood sugar levels, and weight gain. Exercise offsets all of these potential side effects. To get a comprehensive picture of your eye health, be sure to visit your optometrist or ophthalmologist at least every two years, and annually if you're over 50. In the meantime, remember that eating a healthy diet, supplementing wisely, and protecting your eyes from daily environmental damage can help you see more clearly for years to come.
Phyllis Edgerly Ring wrote "Dread Your Annual?" for the October 2003 issue.


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The island is unforgettable because of its endless beaches
Naxos is the largest and the most fertile of the Cycladic islands, lying almost at the center of the Aegean. It is 103 nautical miles from Piraeus, has an area of 448 mC and 20,130 inhabitants.
Fertile valleys, high mountains, springs, picturesque villages, Byzantine churches and medieval towers compose the landscape of this beautiful island.
The island is unforgettable because of its endless beaches. On the southwest side the beaches are made up of kilometres of white sand and crystal clear waters.
Naxos has the cosmopolitan atmosphere of a modern tourist resort, but at the same time has kept its traditional colour and it's local culture. Its capital is the town of Naxos or "Hora", on the northwestern coast and has been in the same place since antiquity.
The most beautiful part of it is under and around the castle.
"Hora" is full of quiet coffee shops, cosmopolitan cafes and pastry shops where one can enjoy a cup of coffee, juice or taste the local pastries, any time of day. However the fun does not stop there. For the late night adventurers there are numerous bars overlooking the sea, situated on the sea front or in the picturesque alleys around the castle, offering a great view while you enjoy your drink. If you feel like dancing, the djs at the clubs will try to make you have a great time until the early hours of the morning.
Entering its port one can't miss the Palace Isle with its enormous marble gate, the only remains left from the 6th century BC Temple of Apollo and the perfect place to enjoy one of the most beautiful sunsets in the Aegean.
Setting out of "Hora" you will meet about 40 villages with their 15.000 locals. Every village has its own history, maintains its traditional customs and habits and is ready to welcome any well-meaning visitor. It is a place where it is still possible to lose the label of "tourist" and become more of a "traveler" or "explorer".
Trekkers and mountain bikers will be satisfied with the marvellous paths that pass by villages, watermills and Venetian castles and through forested areas. The highest mountain in the Cyclades, Mount Zeus (1,004m), is suitable for climbing and cave explorations.
History and culture are just around the corner, Naxos is one of the few islands, which has been inhabited continuously since ancient times (end of the 4th millennium B.C.) till today.


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We've had this on here before, but it will now have a permanent spot. Thank you Rocky for reminding me once again. A great commercial from Anheuser-Busch.
The following text was copied from the Department of Defense's website:
America Supports You: Anheuser-Busch Extends Military Tribute
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2006 – A tribute program that provided free admission to Anheuser-Busch theme parks to more than 900,000 members of U.S. and coalition armed forces and their families has been extended through 2006, company officials announced.
Anheuser-Busch launched "Here's to the Heroes" in February 2005 to acknowledge the service of military men and women and the sacrifices made by their families, officials said.
"It is gratifying to all of us at Anheuser-Busch that so many members of our armed forces took advantage of this program and honored us with a visit," said Keith M. Kasen, chairman and president of Busch Entertainment Corp., the family entertainment division of Anheuser-Busch. "This is a difficult time for our men and women in uniform, and we are honored to give them something back."
The program provides a single day's free admission to any one SeaWorld or Busch Gardens park, Sesame Place, Adventure Island or Water Country USA for the servicemember and as many as three of his or her direct dependents.
Any active duty, active reserve or Ready Reserve servicemember or National Guardsman is entitled to free admission under the program. He or she need only register, either online at www.herosalute.com or in the entrance plaza of a participating park, and show a Defense Department photo ID.
Also included in the offer are members of foreign military forces serving in the coalitions in Iraq or Afghanistan or in the United States attached to American units for training.
Inactive, standby and retired reserve members, military retirees, U.S. Merchant Marine and civilian DoD employees are ineligible for the program.
The program "is one small way we can acknowledge and thank the soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and Coast Guardsmen whose service helps to preserve the freedom and safety of every American," Kasen said. "It's important to all of us at Anheuser-Busch that we show our gratitude to the men and women of our armed forces and their families for the sacrifices they make on our behalf."
Here's to the Heroes is the fourth tribute to military personnel offered by Anheuser-Busch since Yellow Ribbon Summer welcomed servicemembers home from the Gulf War in 1991. More than 3 million people have visited Anheuser- Busch Adventure Parks free under these programs.
The company has supported the military for more than 150 years, and in 2005 launched the Here's to the Heroes Tour, which allowed everyday Americans to record video messages of support and thanks for the men and women of the U.S. military. The Heroes Tour traveled more than 29,000 miles to towns and events across America from April through December, collecting messages from more than 11,000 Americans. With the help of the Defense Department's "America Supports You" program, the messages were aired on American Forces Radio and Television Service on U.S. military bases in more than 177 countries and on 150 bases in the United States throughout 2005.
Three Anheuser-Busch parks -- SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and SeaWorld San Diego -- operate year-round. The company's remaining parks are seasonal, with varying opening dates this spring. Each park's operating schedule is available online.
The company's other U.S. theme parks are Busch Gardens Williamsburg, SeaWorld San Antonio, Discovery Cove in Orlando, Sesame Place near Philadelphia, Water Country USA in Williamsburg and Adventure Island in Tampa.
(From an Anheuser-Busch news release.)
Also found a great site called, America Supports You. Check it out! It includes musical and video tributes too.


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$4.87 $5.38
--4x reinforced blood tank Treble Hooks with stainless steel forged double loop for strong tensile strength and corrosion resistance.
--3D Fish Eyes: 3D simulation eyes, big and bright, more tempting reflective better.
--Full pelagic kill, target fish such as bass, blackfish, sea bass, grouperetc.
--It is a great complement to any angler's fishing tackle box.
Product Category:fishing lure
Color: red head white, red head silver colorful, green pattern, blue colorful, silver colorful, pink colorful, yellow back luminous; Specification: 10g, 20g; 4 times strengthened blood trough three hooks, stainless steel forged double circle, strong tensile strength, corrosion resistance; full water layer killing, target fish alice, perch, black fish, black bass, grouper etc.
Packing list:
fishing lure * 1
Note:Light shooting and different displays may cause the color of the item in the picture a little different from the real thing. The measurement allowed error is +/- 1-3cm.


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Wildlife Research Institute
Non-Profit Research and Education Since 1971
The White Pine Society
The choice . . .
. . . is ours.
For many people, the spirit of the forest is the stately white pine towering over the other trees. Now
98% of Minnesota's White Pines are gone. We must manage the last 2% sustainably.
The purpose of this site is to inform and motivate.