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Privacy Policy
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, "The Company", "we", "us" or "our") takes steps intended to meet privacy principles and requirements with respect to personal information under applicable Canadian and other applicable privacy legislation. The purpose of this statement is to inform our customers and other individuals we deal with ("you" or "your") how we collect, use, disclose and protect your personal information both on and off-line. Personal information is information about an identifiable individual, as more particularly described under applicable privacy legislation. This statement applies to our collection, use and disclosure of personal information in Canada, and other jurisdictions, subject to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), if, and to the extent applicable. This statement does not apply to information about our employees or to information that is not personal information.
01. Personal Information We Collect
The Company and its agents and representatives collect personal information in a number of circumstances in the course of its business. Since the information you submit to us on line may not be encrypted, we cannot guarantee the absolute privacy of that information. Personal information we collect includes:•contact information such as name, address, email address and telephone number;
- information provided when you register or otherwise provide information on our web site;
- information provided when you complete questionnaires or surveys;
- information provided when you participate in a promotion or contest;
- information provided otherwise such as by telephone, by mail or through our web site;
- records of customer calls or product-related comments or inquiries;
- such other information we may collect with your consent or as permitted or required by law.
02. Use of Personal Information
The Company generally uses personal information for the following purposes:
- receiving and replying to your requests, inquiries and comments;
- with your consent, sending you information about products and promotions offered by The Company and / or contacting you to conduct telephone surveys and market research;
- with your consent, sending coupons from time to time;
- providing customer service;
- administering promotions and contests;
- creating a data base of individuals who have registered to receive information from us;
- understanding your preferences, needs and interests and, with your consent, offering you products and information that are likely to be of interest to you and personalizing your experience when visiting our web site such as by presenting you with information and offerings that we think will be of interest to you;
- improving our products;
- managing our business, including customer relations;
- ensuring the security of our business operations including our web site;
- managing, administering, collecting or otherwise enforcing accounts;
- maintaining business records for reasonable periods and as required by law, and generally managing and administering our business, including defending and prosecuting legal claims;
- meeting legal, regulatory, insurance, security, accounting and processing requirements;
- purposes disclosed at the time of collection of personal information; and
- otherwise with consent or as permitted or required by law.
03. Collection of Your Personal Information
The Company collects personal information for the following commercial purposes:
- to establish and maintain responsible commercial relations and to provide ongoing service, and communication;
- to understand customer needs, trends and preferences;
- to evaluate, develop, enhance, market or provide The Company' products and services;
- to manage and develop The Company' business and operations;
- to meet legal and regulatory requirements;
- to protect The Company against error and fraud; and
- for any other purpose to which an individual consents.
- for any other legitimate grounds for collection or use of Personal Information.
04. Disclosure of Your Personal Information
The Company may disclose personal information, including in the following circumstances to:
- a person who in the reasonable judgement of The Company is seeking the information as an agent;
- a company or individual retained by The Company to perform functions on its behalf, such as research or data processing;
- a company or individual retained by an individual, who represents that it expressly is entitled to receive such individual's personal information, or in the reasonable opinion of The Company implicitly is entitled to receive such individual's personal information;
- a company or individual retained by The Company for the evaluation, development, enhancement, marketing or provision of any of The Company' products or services;
- an agent utilized by The Company to evaluate the customer's creditworthiness or to collect the customer's account; a credit reporting agency;
- a public authority or agent of a public authority, if in the reasonable judgement of The Company, it appears that there is imminent danger to life or property which could be avoided or minimized by disclosure of the information;
- a third party or parties, where the customer consents to such disclosure or disclosure is required by law;
- a financial institution on a confidential basis and solely in connection with the assignment of its right to receive payment, the provision of security or other financing arrangements; and
- professional advisors, consultants, investigators and adjudicators in defending and prosecuting legal claims.
The Company may disclose personal information to affiliates and business partners in order to permit them to send you occasional information about their products and services in accordance with your consent. In addition to the above, personal information may be disclosed to our affiliates (including outside of Canada) for internal audit, management, billing, administrative and other general business purposes.
Service Providers.
The Company may transfer personal information to outside agents or service providers (including affiliates of The Company acting in this capacity) that perform services on our behalf, for example data processing services such as mailing, call centre, billing, marketing, information technology or data hosting or similar services, or otherwise to collect, use, disclose, store or process personal information on our behalf for the purposes and uses described in this Privacy Statement. Some of these service providers or affiliates may be located outside of Canada, , and your personal information may be collected, used, disclosed, stored and processed in jurisdictions outside of Canada for the purposes and uses described in this Privacy Statement. Reasonable contractual or other measures we may take to protect your personal information while processed or handled by these service providers are subject to legal requirements in Canada and other foreign countries applicable to our affiliates, agents and service providers. For example, we may be required to disclose personal information due to lawful requirements to disclose personal information to government authorities in those countries.
Business Transactions.
Personal information may be used by The Company and disclosed to parties connected with the proposed or actual financing, securitization, insuring, sale, assignment or other disposal of all or part of The Company or our business or assets, for the purposes of evaluating and/or performing the proposed transaction. These purposes may include, as examples:
- permitting those parties to determine whether to proceed or continue with the transaction
- fulfilling reporting, inspection or audit requirements or obligations to those parties. Assignees or successors of The Company or our business or assets may use and disclose your personal information for similar purposes and uses as those described in this Privacy Statement.
Legal, Regulatory, etc.
The Company may disclose your personal information as necessary to meet legal, regulatory, industry self-regulatory, insurance, audit, and security requirements, and as otherwise with your consent or as permitted or required by law (including as required by applicable Canadian and foreign laws applicable to The Company or our agents and service providers, and including lawful requirements to disclose personal information to government authorities in those countries).
05. Our Website/The Internet
Active Information Collection: The Company's web site actively collects information from its visitors both by asking you specific questions and by permitting you to communicate directly with us via e-mail and/or feedback forms. Some of the information that you submit on the Web site may be personal information. Collection, use and disclosure of information actively collected from you have been described. Passive Information Collection: As you navigate through The Company's web site, certain anonymous information can be passively collected (that is, gathered without you actively providing the information) using various technologies, such as cookies, Internet tags or web beacons, and navigational data collection (log files, server logs, clickstream). Your Internet browser automatically transmits to the Web site some of this anonymous information, such as the URL of the Web site you just came from, the Internet Protocol (IP) address, time of visit, date of visit, the pages visited within the site, and the browser version your computer is currently using.
The Company's web site may also collect anonymous information from your computer through cookies and Internet tags or web beacons. You may set your browser to notify you when a cookie is sent or to refuse cookies altogether, but certain features of the Web site might not work without cookies. The Company web site may use and combine such passively collected anonymous information to provide better service to site visitors, customize the site based on your preferences, compile and analyze statistics and trends, and otherwise administer and improve the site for your use. Such passively collected anonymous information is not combined with personal information collected elsewhere on the web site, unless you have consented to have your personal information collected in conjunction with this passive information.
Use of Cookies
Set out below are the types of cookies currently used on our website, effective May 23, 2018. The Company reserves the right to amend cookies used in conjunction with its website and you are encouraged to review this Privacy Statement frequently for periodic updates describing from time to time any changes to cookies used.
ARRAffinity (Microsoft) – A cookie used by the Microsoft Azure platform (the underlying platform used to build the website) to help with legacy application compatibility. This cookie does not store any personal information and is an application technique that helps to ensure the stability of the website.
_ga, _gat_gtag_UA, _gid (Google) – Google Analytics is a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. ("Google") that helps us measure how users interact with our web content. The information about use of the website generated by the cookie (including your IP address), is transmitted to a Google server in the USA and saved there. Google will use this information in order to provide an analysis of all visitors' use of the website and to help us compile reports on various relevant measures and activities (for example, conversion analysis, referral analysis and evaluation of search/ pay-per-click activities). We will not upload any data that allows Google to personally identify an individual, such as names, email addresses, or any similar data. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google; however, we may connect the data we provide to, or receive from, Google with other data we have about you. BY ALLOWING THE USE OF COOKIES YOU ARE DEEMED TO CONSENT TO THIS CONNECTION. Google has advised us it is compliant with GDPR requirements.cookieAgreed (Maple Leaf) – This cookie is set on our website once the user has agreed to the notification that is displayed when the website is visited. The notification will display until the user clicks the "I Agree" call to action button at which time a cookie will be set in order to prevent this notification from appearing again. No personal information is stored with the setting of this cookie and this cookie can be reset by accessing and clearing the browser cookie preferences.
06. Your Consent
Consent to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information may be given in various ways. Consent can be express (for example, orally, electronically or on a form you may sign describing the intended uses and disclosures of personal information) or implied (for example, when you provide personal information necessary for a service you have requested or the purpose is obvious). You may be asked to provide your specific consent in some special and specific circumstances where notice has been provided to you about our intentions with respect to your personal information and you have not withdrawn your consent for an identified purpose, such as by using an opt out option provided, if any. Consent may be given by your authorized representative (such as a legal guardian or a person having a power of attorney). Generally, by providing us with personal information, you are deemed to consent to our collection, use and disclosure of such personal information for the purposes and uses identified or described in this Privacy Statement, if applicable, or otherwise at the time of collection. For residents of the EU, subject to the GDPR, consent will be express if personal information is collected for purposes and uses other than as set out in this Privacy Statement.You may withdraw your consent to our collection, use and disclosure of personal information at any time, subject to contractual and legal restrictions and reasonable notice. Note that if you withdraw your consent to certain uses of your personal information, we may no longer be able to provide certain of our products or services. Note also that where we have provided or are providing products or services to you, your consent will be valid for so long as necessary to fulfil the purposes and uses described in this Privacy Statement or otherwise at the time of collection, and you may not be permitted to withdraw consent to certain necessary uses and disclosures (for example, but not limited to, maintaining reasonable business and transaction records, disclosures to Canadian and foreign government entities as required to comply with laws, and reporting on credit information after credit has been granted, if applicable). The Company collects, uses and discloses your personal information with your consent, except as permitted or required by law. Accordingly, notwithstanding the foregoing we may be required or permitted under statute or regulation to collect, use or disclose personal information without your consent, for example to comply with a court order, to comply with local or federal regulations or a legally permitted inquiry by a government agency, or to collect a debt owed to us.Unsubscribing (Opting-out) of Email CampaignsIf you have consented to receive promotional materials from The Company we may periodically use your email address to send you information related to The Company products and services. If you would like to stop receiving promotional materials from The Company or the affiliated brands you can opt-out of emailing lists by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of a promotional email.
About Teenagers and Children
Children under the age of 13: Generally, we do not intend to collect personal information from individuals under the age of 13 without parental consent. We may, from time to time, offer a contest where the child under the age of 13 can enter in which case the personal information is used for purposes of administering the contest and determine a winner. If a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, without parental consent we ask that a parent or guardian of the child contact us to request that this personal information be deleted from our records. We will use reasonable efforts to delete the child's personal information from our existing files. We encourage parents to talk to their children about their use of the Internet and the personal information they disclose to Web sites or otherwise. We will use reasonable efforts to delete all contact and other personal information obtained from a teenager if a parent or guardian notifies us that they wish to withdraw consent for the collection of a teenager's personal information.
07. Security
We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information using physical, electronic or procedural security measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the personal information in our custody or control, which may include safeguards to protect against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. Authorized employees, agents and mandataries of The Company who require access to your personal information in order to fulfil their job requirements will have access to your personal information.
08. Access, Correction and Contacting Us
The Company may establish and maintain a file of your personal information for the purposes and uses described above, which will be accessible at P.O. Box 61016, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3M 3X8. If you wish to request access or correction of your personal information in our custody or control, you may write to the above address, attention Consumer Affairs. Your right to access or correct your personal information is subject to applicable legal restrictions. We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections. If you wish to make inquiries or complaints or have other concerns about our personal information practices click here to email, or telephone us at 1-800-268-3708.
09. Links to Other Web Sites
This web site may contain links or references to web sites to which this Privacy Statement does not apply. The Company is not responsible for the data collection and use practices of companies or organizations to which this web site may provide links.
10. Privacy Statement Changes
This Privacy Statement may be revised from time to time. If we intend to use or disclose Personal Information for purposes and uses materially different than those described in this statement, we will make reasonable efforts to notify affected individuals, if necessary, including by revising this Privacy Statement. If you are concerned about how your personal information is used, you should contact us as described above or checking at our website periodically at www.mapleleaf.com to obtain a current copy of this statement. We urge you to request and review this Privacy Statement frequently to obtain the current version. Your continued provision of Personal Information or use of our services following any changes to this Privacy Statement constitutes your acceptance of any such changes. This privacy statement is effective as of May 23, 2018.


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Show All Answers
If your trash was not collected, contact City Link at 311 or 336-727-8000. A missed collection will be reported to a route supervisor for investigation whenever trash was inadvertently missed by our trucks. The issue will be investigated within 48 hours.
Please visit the Duke Energy website or call Duke Energy at 800-769-3766. Duke Energy will be dispatched to repair the street light within 3 to 5 days.
The City of Winston-Salem offers bulky item pickup once a year from March through August. Information is located in the Sanitation Department section. Residents can also dispose of items at the Hanes Mill Road landfill. City residents are entitled to two free trips with a landfill permit. If the item is gently used, consider donating to a charitable organization.
January 1 through October 31, brush collection usually takes between 7 to 10 working days. November 1 through January 1, small branches, sticks, and shrubbery clippings placed in yard carts with a valid collection sticker will be collected weekly on your regular yard cart collection day. During leaf season, collection takes between 3 and 4 weeks. Collection is limited because the leaf collectors are also the brush collectors. No excess brush loads will be collected during leaf season.
Residents may call City Link at 311 or 336-727-8000. Water bills can also be paid online using our Water / Stormwater Bill Pay website.
The holiday schedule is posted on the Sanitation Department page. The alternate schedules will also be posted on WSTV 13, the Winston-Salem Journal, and local news stations prior to the holiday. Residents may also contact City Link at 311 or 336-727-8000.
For birth or death certificates, contact:Forsyth County Register of Deeds201 N Chestnut Street2nd FloorWinston-Salem, NC 27101
Phone: 336-703-2700
To report code violations, contact City Link at 311 or 336-727-8000 with the address. A request for a code enforcement inspection will be generated.
To request trash or recycling carts, contact City Link at 311 or 336-727-8000. The first trash cart is free; an annual fee of $40 will be billed to the address for a second cart. The trash cart can be delivered at no charge or can be picked up. Each household may have up to two 18-gallon recycling bins. A recycle guide may be accessed on the Recycle Today website or by request.
Residents may call the recycling customer service hotline at 336-723-2784 for additional information.
To report a malfunctioning traffic signal, contact City Link at 311 or 336-727-8000. The City's Department of Transportation traffic signal technicians will be dispatched to repair the traffic signal.

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2 reviews for Blessed To Be Called Grandma Mimi Nana Gigi Flower Shirt
- Rated 5 out of 5
Alina Wi –
This is my second order with streetshirts, the print quality is very good and designs appear almost exact to your original on-screen art (only a slight difference in brightness, but this is to be expected) always happy with the t-shirt quality too, and will certainly be ordering more in the future. Keep up the great work guys!
- Rated 5 out of 5
Teresa Snedeke –
good product superfast delivery and sweets and voucehers! Ill be back again soon! thank you highly recommend


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Brooklyn, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Joe Johnson scored 21 points and led a torrid shooting display from the perimeter for the Brooklyn Nets, who continued their strong second half of the season with a 103-94 triumph over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Brooklyn went a scorching 15-of-26 from 3-point range in its fourth straight win, with Johnson making 5-of-7 attempts from beyond the arc and Marcus Thornton going 4-of-5 in a 20-point effort off the bench.
Deron Williams tallied 16 points, seven assists and four steals in a game the Nets led wire-to-wire and were ahead by as many as 30 points at one stage.
Playing without leading rebounder Zach Randolph due to illness, the Grizzlies got a mere 24 points out of their starting unit. Jon Leuer paced Memphis with 19 points, while Marc Gasol had 18 along with seven rebounds.
Brooklyn's offense was clicking right from the start, with Paul Pierce sinking a pair of threes and Johnson hitting one during a 21-2 game-opening run that the Grizzlies never recovered from. Memphis helped put itself in the big early hole as well, turning the ball over five times while missing 9-of-10 field goal tries over the course of the sequence.
The Grizzlies were able to close the gap later in the half by virtue of a 14-0 tear that cut the deficit to 30-26 early in the second quarter. Memphis was still down by four when Thornton accounted for all of Brooklyn's points during an 8-2 swing that put the Nets up 45-35 with under 4 1/2 minutes to go before the break.
Brooklyn took a 54-44 advantage into intermission, then put the game away with a dominant third quarter in which Johnson dropped in 11 points and the Nets shot 60 percent from the floor.
Johnson and Thornton each buried treys during a 12-2 flurry to start the session, with Thornton's triple staking Brooklyn to a 66-46 lead. An 11-3 surge later on sent the Nets ahead by a commanding 81-53 margin with 3:54 left in the frame, and it was a 30-point spread before Tony Allen's long-range bucket brought Memphis within 87-60 entering the fourth quarter.
With the Nets resting most of their regulars, the Grizzlies outscored Brooklyn 34-16 in the final period to make the outcome more respectable. Leuer and James Johnson led the way with 12 points each during the quarter.
Game Notes
Jason Collins, signed to a second 10-day contract by the Nets prior to the game, saw 17 minutes of playing time but did not record a point ... Brooklyn center Kevin Garnett missed a third straight game due to back spasms ... Johnson, who sat out the Grizzlies' win at Washington on Monday with a sprained ankle, finished with 12 points in 14 minutes ... The teams combined for 42 turnovers, with each giving the ball away 21 times ... Grizzlies guard Nick Calathes was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month on Wednesday. He averaged 10.7 points, 4.6 assists and 3.6 rebounds in February.


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Nehemiah 1
The Message
1 1-2 The memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah.
It was the month of Kislev in the twentieth year. At the time I was in the palace complex at Susa. Hanani, one of my brothers, had just arrived from Judah with some fellow Jews. I asked them about the conditions among the Jews there who had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem.
3 They told me, "The exile survivors who are left there in the province are in bad shape. Conditions are appalling. The wall of Jerusalem is still rubble; the city gates are still cinders."
4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God-of-Heaven.
5-6 I said, "God, God-of-Heaven, the great and awesome God, loyal to his covenant and faithful to those who love him and obey his commands: Look at me, listen to me. Pay attention to this prayer of your servant that I'm praying day and night in intercession for your servants, the People of Israel, confessing the sins of the People of Israel. And I'm including myself, I and my ancestors, among those who have sinned against you.
7-9 "We've treated you like dirt: We haven't done what you told us, haven't followed your commands, and haven't respected the decisions you gave to Moses your servant. All the same, remember the warning you posted to your servant Moses: 'If you betray me, I'll scatter you to the four winds, but if you come back to me and do what I tell you, I'll gather up all these scattered peoples from wherever they ended up and put them back in the place I chose to mark with my Name.'
10-11 "Well, there they are—your servants, your people whom you so powerfully and impressively redeemed. O Master, listen to me, listen to your servant's prayer—and yes, to all your servants who delight in honoring you—and make me successful today so that I get what I want from the king."
I was cupbearer to the king.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson


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Blakeley Bluffs Future Park Reserve
A future park reserve is planned in southwest Scott County along the Minnesota River bluffs. Known as Blakeley Bluffs, this future park is envisioned as a unique and extensive natural resource and recreational asset, characterized by large areas of continuous forest, stunning viewsheds with western sunsets, dramatic topographic changes, and high quality habitats of note on a regional scale.
Cedar Lake Farm
Located on the south shore of Cedar Lake near New Prague, Cedar Lake Farm Regional Park is a picturesque site for walking, picnicking, swimming, and shore fishing.
Cleary Lake
Located near Prior Lake, Cleary Lake Regional Park is one of the most popular year-round recreation spots in the south metro. With amenities including a golf course, campground, picnic area, cross-country ski trails, swimming beach and more, this beautiful park has something for everyone.
Doyle-Kennefick Future Regional Park
A future regional park is planned in rural Scott County between St. Catherine and Lennon Lakes. The planned Doyle-Kennefick Regional Park has a mix of high quality native forests and wetlands, regionally significant wildlife habitat, beautiful scenery and outstanding opportunities for outdoor recreation.
Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve
Located near Savage, the peaceful wilderness at Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve in northeast Scott County features glacial ridges, hilly terrain and an extensive, lush forest. This is one of the most challenging cross-country ski areas in the Twin Cities and a favorite spot for mountain bikers.
Spring Lake Regional Park
Spring Lake Regional Park is 373 acres in size with shoreline along both Spring Lake and Prior Lake. The park contains a diversity of natural habitats from lakeshore to Maple-Basswood forests. There is a small creek that winds through the park's diverse wetland complex that includes open water wetlands, cattail marshes, and a tamarack swamp.


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Mark Kaufman, who lives and runs his own successful roofing company in North Port, never said anything. Never gave his son, well into adulthood and living in Indianapolis, a hard time about pursuing a music career that seemed to have stalled with low-paying local bar and sandwich shop gigs.
Mark remained proud that Josh had stayed at home with his three kids during the day so his wife could finish her college courses to become a registered nurse. Mark respected his son for working as a tutor in the evening preparing high school students for the SATs.
But, as a father and grandfather, he worried about his son struggling financially. It concerned Dad that maybe his son, recognized as a gifted vocalist at age 4, might never be able to realize his dream of being a singer and songwriter. As a musician himself, Mark knew firsthand how difficult it is to turn a passion shared by many into a profession enjoyed by a few.
"It's not the standard way to go about things, getting your start in your late 30s," Josh Kaufman says. "But it feels like it makes sense. I'm more ready. It does make a difference. I've had more experience so I'm in a position to keep things in perspective; and through it all I've had the support of my family."
Sarasota native Josh Kaufman became a national celebrity last month when he won NBC's singing competition show "The Voice." The 38-year-old's long and unlikely rise to stardom can easily be used as a lesson in perseverance. File it under an inspiring story of a father's unwavering support, too.
"He's super excited," Josh says about his dad. "He's been excited through the whole process."
Shortly after winning "The Voice," in front of more than 10 million TV viewers, Josh was joined on the confetti-covered stage by his entire family: Ava, age 2; Charlie, age 4; Sophie, age 6; wife, Jennifer; and his parents. Recalling the moment, Dad gets choked up.
"I was holding his little one, Ava – I'm tearing up here, it's been very emotional – she was acting up a little bit, so I was holding her and couldn't clap and I just put my arm in the air and said, 'Thank you, God,'" Mark says, during a separate interview.
Ava was more amazed by all the confetti.
The victory secured Josh a recording contract with Universal Music Group, a $100,000 cash prize and a Kia car. The next day, he sang on the NBC program "Today" and then "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," which meant performing with seminal hip-hop act The Roots. Josh sang the Pharrell Williams smash "Happy."
"It was amazing to sing with them," Josh says. "The whole situation, being there with Jimmy Fallon, it was surreal. I had just won the night before and had flown all night."
During the flight from Los Angeles to New York, Josh tried to make sense of what had just transpired. Three weeks later, he still sounds in awe of his own good fortune. Still sounds like he's floating in a state of disbelief.
"People asked if I expected to win and I absolutely didn't," Josh says. "It was so much of a surprise, so emotional that it happened all at once, I was trying to let it all register and at the same time, after all that coming to an end, I was just exhausted."
Josh adds with a chuckle, "Luckily, I did get a couple hours of sleep on the airplane."
The "Voice" win also means co-headlining this summer's nationwide concert tour of the same name, which kicks off this week with three shows in Texas. It comes to Tampa's Straz Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday. The tour takes a rare break between the shows in Houston and Tampa.
"I think our days off we actually have off," Josh says in reference to the numerous publicity obligations required of him. "I have to look at the itinerary and see how it all works but I'm hoping to get to spend some time with my family down there in Florida."
Mark Kaufman and Beth Gilbert were married and living off Bee Ridge Road when she gave birth to Josh at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. By about age 4, Josh's parents divorced. Mom moved to Lake Wales to attend college and Mark relocated to South Sarasota County. Josh spent weekends with his dad, including Sundays at the First Church of God South Venice, which Mark continues to attend. The Protestant congregation would be the first in the area to witness Josh sing in public.
"My dad played guitar and I would sing and I thought it was so cool," Josh recalls of a particular performance at age 8.
Mark also took his son on various outdoor adventures around South County. He fondly recalls finding flat shells to skip with his son in the waters off North Jetty Beach Park.
"My favorite thing I remember doing as a kid when visiting my dad was a lot of fishing in the canals around Englewood and probably the ponds in North Port," Josh says. "I always liked to go to my dad's. He would also take me to the jetties. I always remember throwing rocks into the water and seeing how far we could get them. I would ask my dad to pick up the big ones and throw them. That was great."
When he was around 10, Josh's dad remarried. Doris and Mark Kaufman have been together for the past 28 years. Also an employee at Mark Kaufman Roofing, she recalls spending time with Josh at Dallas White Park in North Port.
"There's a playground there with the monkey bars and everything," she says. "Josh recently brought his own family back to the park. It was a lot of fun."
While in high school, Josh moved with his mother to Virginia and made a couple appearances on "Star Search" at age 16. Josh's performances on the long-running show hosted by Ed McMahon aired in 1993. (Yes, there's footage on YouTube, see below.)
On the show, Josh thanks his mom "for all she has done to help." He then adds, "Even when she put me up on the piano when I was 4 years old to sing in church." Two decades later, Josh recalls "beating the first two people and then losing to the third."
"Obviously, 'Star Search' was the biggest thing going on at that point but it's hard to compare with 'The Voice,'" Josh says. "What they are able to do now production-wise on each episode and with social media, everything blows up so much more. Everything is bigger than back then."
Josh moved to Indianapolis for college in the mid-1990s and has remained there. His band New Etiquette had a residency at a small bar and Josh would play solo performances at Potbelly Sandwich Shop, a restaurant chain in the Midwest. A father of three, Josh was ready to quit music before attending the St. Louis auditions for "The Voice" last year.
Josh was shocked after all four of the show's celebrity judges – Usher, Adam Levine, Shakira and Blake Shelton – turned their chairs around and pleaded for the Sarasota native to be on their team. Josh selected Levine before Usher "stole" him away.
"Throughout the show, even though I was on Usher's team, I would talk to Adam, and he was really congratulatory after I won," Josh says. "He found me and said, 'I'm really proud of you.'"
Of course, pop star Levine, lead singer of the band Maroon 5, isn't the only person proud of Josh.
"I have three boys, two from my second marriage and Josh is my only blood son. The other two have always been doing so well financially and he always struggled," Dad says. "He was hanging on to the music, making 75 dollars a night. He tried to quit singing a couple times but he just couldn't get away from it. I always worried about him as far as that goes in his life but I never said anything."
Mark gets choked up again and then lets out a soft laugh.
"Now, he might outdo all of us," Dad says. "It's like Cinderella. He was mopping floors one day and a few days later he was in the palace."
'The Voice' tour
With Josh Kaufman, Tessanne Chin, Jake Worthington, Christina Grimmie, Jacquie Lee, Will Champlin, Dia Frampton, Jake Barker and Kristen Merlin.
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 25; Straz Center for the Performing Arts; 1010 N Macinnes Place, Tampa; $42-$76; 800-955-1045; strazcenter.org.


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Thursday, 04 August 2011 07:32 AM EDT
Shoppers won't shop. Companies won't hire. The government won't spend on economic stimulus — it's cutting instead. And the Federal Reserve is reluctant to do anything more.
Without much to invigorate growth, the economy may be in danger of slipping into a stupor like the one Japan has failed to shake off for more than a decade. And Wall Street is spooked.
The Dow Jones industrial average Wednesday barely broke an eight-day losing streak, finishing up about 30 points. A nine-day losing streak would have been the Dow's first since February 1978.
Even with the gain, the Dow has fallen 828 points, or 6.5 percent, over the past nine trading days. Investors didn't even pause to celebrate the resolution over the weekend of a dangerous debt standoff in Washington.
Stunned by news last week that the economy barely grew in the first half of 2011, economists are lowering their forecasts for the full year and recalculating the odds that the economy will slide back into recession.
Kurt Karl, chief U.S. economist at Swiss Re, has cut his 2011 forecast for growth this year to 1.8 percent from 2.6 percent. And he has bumped up the likelihood of another recession to 20 percent from 15 percent.
"The last week has made it much more likely that corporate profit estimates will be revised lower," said Nick Kalivas, a vice president of financial research at MF Global.
The stocks that have fallen the furthest have been those of companies that fare best in economic expansions. Industrial companies like Caterpillar and Boeing, energy companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron, and retailers like Amazon and Coach have all fallen by more than the broader stock market.
Investors have pushed government bond yields to their lowest level of the year. The 10-year Treasury note now yields 2.6 percent. Bond yields typically fall when the economy is weak because nervous investors view bonds as a safe place to park their money, and there's less chance that inflation will erode their value.
The economy started sputtering early in the year. Economists at first thought the slowdown would be temporary, the result of a short-term rise in gasoline prices and an earthquake in Japan that disrupted shipments of auto parts and electronics.
But the weakness persisted. And it worsened as a political fight over debt and deficits raised the risk that the U.S. government would not be able to pay all its bills.
"It now seems fairly clear that those shocks have done a lot more damage than we expected," says Leo Abruzzese, global forecasting director for the Economist Intelligence Unit. "They seem to have had a devastating effect on confidence."
After the government reported that the economy grew at an annual pace of 0.4 percent in the first quarter and 1.3 percent in the second, Abruzzese is cutting his estimate for 2011 growth from 2.4 percent to less than 2 percent.
It's hard to see anything lifting growth to the 2.5 percent needed to keep unemployment from rising, let alone the 5 percent needed to bring the rate down significantly from June's 9.2 percent.
"Sales are what keeps the market moving higher, and there's not much demand when there's only 0.4 percent growth," said Andrew Goldberg, U.S. market strategist at JP Morgan Funds.
When the economy grows less than 2 percent over a 12-month period, it risks slipping into recession, says Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities. Over the most recent such period, the economy grew just 1.6 percent.
Few economists are predicting another recession, despite a series of weak economic reports. Gasoline prices have come down from their high of almost $4 a gallon in May. And Japanese factories are starting to crank up again after the March earthquake.
At the heart of the economy's problems are the debts that consumers built up during the early and mid-2000s. Many borrowed against the equity in their homes, convinced that house prices would rise forever.
When housing prices collapsed, people were left owing more than their homes were worth. Others charged up their credit cards. Now it's payback time, and Americans are spending less or spending cautiously as they slash their debts.
Companies are reluctant to hire until they're convinced enough customers are ready to buy their products or services. Corporate profits are booming, though, because companies laid off millions of workers, learned to operate more efficiently with smaller staffs and expanded in growing markets overseas.
"If companies were inclined to hire, they could," Abruzzese says.
So companies are waiting for consumers to spend, and consumers are waiting for companies to hire them or offer generous pay raises and job security. It's a tough cycle to break.
In the past, the government has helped by spending on infrastructure projects or jobs programs. This time, it's cutting at all levels. In the second quarter, government cutbacks reduced economic growth by 0.2 percentage points.
More cuts are coming. The deal to raise the debt limit calls for $917 billion in federal spending cuts. Those won't do much immediate damage to the economy because they mostly kick in after 2013, but a special congressional committee is supposed to find at least another $1.2 trillion in savings over the next decade, and no one knows where the ax will fall.
"You're not sure if there are going to be huge spending cuts or tax increases. Or are they just going to wrangle?" Swiss Re economist Karl says. "If you're a supplier to any part of the government, you certainly are not rushing to hire people or buy equipment. There's definitely a damper on growth."
To some economists, the United States is starting to look eerily like Japan. The Japanese economy fell into a recession in the early '90s. It has never fully returned to health, largely because of policy mistakes. The government raised taxes after declaring victory over the downturn prematurely. And U.S. economists, including current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, criticized the Japanese central bank, the Bank of Japan, for being too passive to turn the economy around.
The Fed has kept short-term interest rates near zero since December 2008 to stimulate the economy. But at the end of June, it ended a $600 billion program to buy government bonds and keep long-term rates — the ones that determine the rates people pay on cars and houses — low.
It was the second round of what economists call quantitative easing, or QE2 for short. But the Fed has no plans for a third, fearing it would lead to higher inflation.
Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University economist, says that in this economy, QE3 — and, if necessary, QE4 and beyond — is the only hope.
"Yes, we are starting to look like Japan," he says. "But it is not too late."
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Vittorio Gallo, director of the Center for Neuroscience Research at Children's National Health System, and other researchers have found a "potentially novel therapeutic target" to reduce the rate of deterioration and to promote growth of brain cells damaged by multiple sclerosis (MS). Current therapies can be effective in patients with relapsing MS, but have little impact in promoting tissue growth.
The brain produces new cells to repair the damage from MS years after symptoms appear. However, in most cases the cells are unable to complete the repair, as unknown factors limit this process. In MS patients, brain inflammation in random patches, or lesions, leads to destruction of myelin, the fatty covering that insulates nerve cell fibers called axons in the brain, and aids in transmission of signals to other neurons.
In yesterday's publication of Neuron, Gallo, who also is a professor of pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), reported identifying a small protein that can be targeted to promote repair of damaged tissue, with therapeutic potential. The molecule, Endothelin-1 (ET-1), is shown to inhibit repair of myelin. Myelin damage is a hallmark characteristic of MS. The study demonstrates that blocking ET-1 pharmacologically or using a genetic approach could promote myelin repair.
Repair of damaged MS plaques is carried out by endogenous oliogdendrocytle progenitor cells (OPCs) in a process called remyelination. Current MS therapy can be effective in patients with relapsing and remitting MS, but "have little impact in promoting remyelination in tissue," Gallo said. Several studies have shown that OPCs fail to differentiate in chronic MS lesions.
Targeting ET-1 is a process that involves identifying signals in cells that could promote lesion repair. "We demonstrate that ET-1 drastically reduces the rate of remyelination," Gallo said. As such, ET-1 is "potentially a therapeutic target to promote lesion repair in deymyelinated tissue." It could play a "crucial role in preventing normal myelination in MS and in other demyelinating diseases," Gallo said.
Timothy Hammond, Ph.D. candidate at SMHS, and Ana Gadea, both at the Center for Neuroscience Research at Children's National Health System, contributed to this research.
Date: February 6, 2014
Filed Under: Drug Discovery


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CALL US (681) 235-3124 105 Liberty Square, Hurricane, WV 25526
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Martinsville Speedway
This aerial panorama of the Martinsville Speedway was taken by James Blakeway during a scheduled NASCAR Nextel Cup race. Located on 250 acres in southern Virginia, Martinsville Speedway is long on tradition, although it's the shortest track in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Circuit at just over one-half mile. Robert "Red" Bryon won the first race at Martinsville in 1947. He also won the first race held at Martinsville of NASCAR's "Strictly Stock" division in 1949, which is now the NASCAR Nextel Cup Circuit. The track remained a dirt track until 1955 and its layout produces some of the wildest racing on tour with its 12-degree turns and 800-foot flat straights.
Orders over $100 receive FREE Shipping !


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We recently wrote about OneRiot's foray into the advertising world, RiotWise, which places content in an emphasized position in their realtime feed. Because people are becoming more and more interested in realtime search and getting access to information that is going on right now, OneRiot believes in the strong potential of serving relevant ads beside results. Today, the realtime search engine is launching RiotWise Trending Ads, a stream of ads that correspond to trending topics as they emerge across the social web.
RiotWise will match trending topics with display ads that are highly relevant to the same topics within an application such as a Twitter client or iPhone app. OneRiot says the "realtime relevance" results in a higher click through rate on the ads. The system is enabled by OneRiot's realtime search technology and PulseRank relevancy algorithm.
OneRiot says the Trending Ads offering is a perfect fit for monetizing social web applications such as Twitter apps, IM clients and iPhone apps. The third-party Twitter client option makes particular sense considering how many of these clients incorporate trending topics as a feature within their apps. OneRiot will share advertiser revenue with the application developer. OneRiot has already signed up an IM application developer, Digsby, to feature Trending ads on its application.
RiotWise Trending Ads are available via OneRiot's API, as well as a new Mobile Ad Unit. OneRiot syndicates its search results and realtime advertising across a partner network of over 90 applications, websites and search engines that are utilizing the OneRiot Realtime Search API, including Yahoo and Microsoft.
We're bullish on RiotWise's ad platform in general and this new offering seems like a compelling product as well. Trending Ads could be a useful way for third-party Twitter and other realtime apps to advertise contextually relevant and dynamic content. As long as OneRiot produces quality advertising content, the new ad format may work.


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I wish I was smarter
I got so lost on the shore
I wish I was taller
Things really matter to me
But I put my face in tomorrow
I believe we're not alone
I believe in Beatles
I believe my little soul has grown
And I'm still so afraid
Yes, I'm still so afraid
Yea, I'm still so afraid on my own
On my own
What made my life so wonderful?
What made me feel so bad?
I used to wake up the ocean
I used to walk on clouds
If I put faith in medication
If I can smile a crooked smile
If I can talk on television
If I can walk an empty mile
Then I won't feel afraid
No, I won't feel afraid
I won't be Be afraid


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CEU-SJC finishes fall semester in flurry of activities
CEU-San Juan Campus students, instructors, and staff members are closing out fall semester with a flurry of activities.
Students are finishing the semester with finals, class projects, and, for some, certification in trucking and heavy equipment training.
Faculty members are grading papers and finalizing spring semester classes and projects before the Christmas break.
Students from the human physiology class put their final projects on display December 2 at the Health Science Library Building for faculty, staff, and community members to view.
Displays focused on human physiology topics that included diabetes, red blood cell production, and a host of related subjects.
CEU-SJC instructor Carla Endres lauded the students for their "hard work and commitment."
Fifteen students from the trucking and heavy equipment program were honored during an informal "graduation" ceremony.
Some graduates have completed course work and hands-on training for certification in heavy equipment operation. Others earned their commercial driver's license, and some received both their CDL and heavy equipment certification.
Instructor Justin Bergeman said the class is the largest ever and the interest in spring semester classes looks equally promising.
Bergeman says that some of the graduates have already landed jobs.
- Log in to post comments


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iPhones and iPads Poised to Win Key Pentagon Security Nod Next Week
The devices also earned a long sought-after governmentwide encryption certification last week.
Apple, within days, is set to finish clearing two safety hurdles that had kept the iPhone and iPad out of fingers' way in the Defense Department and some civilian agencies.
The Pentagon is expected to approve a Defensewide guide on Tuesday for the secure use of iPhone 4s, iPad2, iPad Mini, and later devices based on the company's iOS operating system. And, already, on Friday, the National Institute of Standards and Technology announced the iPhone and iPad have earned a long sought-after governmentwide encryption certification.
A spokeswoman for the Defense Information Systems Agency, which evaluates military mobile security guidelines, told Nextgov that according to Mark Orndorff, DISA's chief information assurance executive and program executive officer for mission assurance and NetOps, "The decision is now internal to DISA for approval, and is expected to take place in the next week."
The Defense Department will require that iOS devices first synch with a "mobile device management" system that centrally configures controls before troops can use the handhelds for work. Currently, many of Apple's gadgets are undergoing trial runs throughout the military.
A DISA working group that vets the so-called Security Technical Implementation Guides, or STIGs, for technology hooked up to Defense networks meets the second Tuesday of every month and is anticipated to give iOS the nod on May 14.
"When the STIG is approved, the next step before users can connect iOS devices on DoD networks is establishing the mobile device management system, which is anticipated for award in early summer," said the DISA spokeswoman, Alana Casanova.
Last week, Defense sanctioned the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, as well as Samsung's Android Knox, for use on military networks. The security approvals do not mean products have been ordered, contrary to some media reports, Pentagon officials said.
The military is in the midst of shifting Defensewide communications to mobile devices with various brand names and operating systems, including BlackBerry's handhelds.
The Canadian company has dominated the federal cellphone market for years, largely because BlackBerrys can be remotely programmed and locked down. But agencies now want to accommodate employees, particularly younger employees, accustomed to the productivity and flexibility of their personal consumer devices.
Defense officials in March said they expect to manage about 100,000 mobile devices of multiple makes and models by February 2014. Right now, military personnel are using or testing 600,000 commercial devices, including 470,000 BlackBerrys; 41,000 iOS electronics; and 8,700 Google Android systems.
Governmentwide, iOS 6.0 devices now meet NIST's Federal Information Processing Standard, or FIPS 140-2, for basic security, including data encryption and message authentication.
All federal departments are required to use FIPS accredited technology for encrypting sensitive data. But some agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are able to use Apple mobile devices by installing software that layers on the mandatory protections.
(Image via Flickr user smemon)


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Published in the Portland Phoenix
US Senator Olympia Snowe has maneuvered herself into a position where she is the only hope Democrats have of getting a "bipartisan" agreement on healthcare reform. But it's really less that she's being bipartisan than that her bloody-minded Republican colleagues have left her as the last remnant of a system in which the two parties disagreed but found middle ground on which to govern together.
As we have told you before, Snowe is seen as politically crucial to President Barack Obama's efforts to fix our nation's broken healthcare system, but has stuck fast to her idea of compromise — in which a public-option plan would only be available if competition did not improve some yet-to-be-specified amount over some yet-to-be-specified period of time after a bill was passed (see "Snowe Misses the Point of Healthcare Reform," by Jeff Inglis, July 10).
Of course, with Snowe's major campaign donors coming from the insurance and medical sectors, it's unclear what specifics would be suitable to her. (And it's worth noting that many of the hardcore public-option Dems are heavily indebted to labor unions.)
Snowe was able to reshape the financial bailout and economic-stimulus package because the Republicans refused to be bipartisan. She is again a party of one on healthcare reform, less by her own doing than because she has been abandoned — not only by the rightmost ideologues in her party but even by fellow "moderate" Republican Senator Susan Collins. Long a fence-sitter, Collins took to CNN Sunday to tell State of the Union viewers that she opposes a public option, even if it were delayed and watered down along the lines of Snowe's proposal.
Now Snowe herself has gone even farther, outright asking Obama to drop the public option, saying on CBS's Face the Nation Sunday that there is "no way" a plan with a public option can pass Congress. And she may be right about the vagaries and perversities of how Congress works. But with that declaration, she made clear that while the Democrats retreated on the public option in hopes of getting a bipartisan agreement, they are likely now to end up with neither.
But in the wake of recent polls showing strong public support for a public option, and even one showing that nearly three-quarters of doctors favor a public option or just outright single-payer healthcare, Democrats are starting to climb back, with many saying it's important to have a public option in some form, specifically because of the need to provide competition to health-insurance companies.
It remains to be seen if Snowe will support a bill with a public-option trigger like the one she originally proposed, or if she will instead stick with her new request that any sort of public option should be "off the table." It also remains to be seen whether anyone else joins what we might as well start calling the Snowepublican Party.


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'Tron' made real and a medical breakthrough - 3D thrills this week
3D gets its time in the sun
What a week for 3D.
Dita Von Teese slinked into the world's first 3D printed dress, one form fitted to burlesque dancer's curves and sure to be the envy of many a little black frock, and now we've learned that the tri-dimensional printing process came through in a big way for a man in medical need.
According to News.com.au, a U.S. patient had 75 percent of his skull replaced with a custom-made 3D printed implant. A 3D scan of the unnamed man's head was taken to form a plastic prosthetic fit for his features, while Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), the company behind the implant, sought regulatory approval.
After getting the green light, a printed bone implant was inserted into the man's skull earlier this week. The replacement includes etched surface details to encourage cell and bone growth, News noted.
OPM said that following U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval granted on Feb. 18, it can now provide 3D printouts to replace bone damaged by disease or trauma. It estimates that about 500 U.S. citizens could make use of the tech each month.
Let's get digitized
3D printing is squaring up to be a 21st solution to many a problem, but what about the (computer) age-old issue of putting real-world objects into the digital realm?
MakerBot thinks it's got an answer, one it wants to get to consumers by year's end.
During his keynote today at South By Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas, MakerBot founder Bre Pettis announced the company's Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner, still in prototype form but an intriguing entrant into the 3D ecosystem nonetheless.
The Digitizer uses a pair of lasers to scan small 3D objects - Pettis used a gnome - and then will input them into a computer.
"If you've seen Tron, this is kind of like what happens when Flynn gets digitized into the game grid, and then it makes a 3D model," Pettis, as reported by the VentureBeat, said. "Then you can make as many copies as you need."
When used in tandem with MakerBot's Replicator 3D printers, it becomes the "washer-dryer combo of 3D printing."
While the idea isn't new, the Digitizer aims to make the process, typically reserved for complex computer-aided design, easy and accessible for everyone.
Orders should be ready this fall, though how much you'll have to cough up is still unknown. Digitzer dreamers can sign up to receive news on the product and find out when its available through the MakerBot website.
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By Matt Bolton
By Craig Hale


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The end-of-year holidays revolve around the spirit of giving, and many parents are shaking up what it means to "give" to their kids.
Earlier this year, actress Mila Kunis echoed many parents' sentiments about holiday gift-giving. In October, she clarified her comment that she was adopting a new Christmas tradition that involved "no presents for the kids" from her and her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher. During an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Kunis explained that she's not "anti-gifts" but that she wants to scale back when it comes to showering her kids with presents.
"They get so many wonderful gifts from my family and my husband's family so he and I give her literally one present," she said.
We asked the HuffPost Parents community to share their similar holiday traditions ― ones that don't involve piles of toys for the kiddos. Some prefer to invoke the phrase "quality over quantity," others choose to gift experiences rather than toys, and many moms and dads decide to show their kids what it means to give instead of offering presents to them.
Here are 19 holiday traditions that focus on more than giving kids tons of toys:
"We are getting away from toys and a ridiculous amount of presents for useful things and experiences. This year, my 10-year-old daughter asked if we could redecorate her bedroom, so that will be her big gift." ― Jamie Braithwaite
"I always make my kids pick out a few toys each that we then donate to less fortunate children (not to the Red Cross or Salvation Army, but locally), even though we aren't that fortunate ourselves. I guess it is cliche, but I'm hoping to instill a desire to give and sacrifice potential presents to give to others." ― Kyle Taylor
"This is how we do presents: Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read and then Santa's gift (something special)."
"Instead of stocking stuffers, Santa brings us tickets to see a play or a musical so that we can plan on going together and enjoying the theater as a family." ― Jessica Hoho
"Instead of gifts for the grown-ups, we each bring grooming items for the homeless and less fortunate (razors, shaving cream, feminine products, lotion, shampoo, baby diapers and wipes). The children get one present each. Christmas feels so much better since we started this." ― Lynnda Armstrong Owens
"This is how we do presents: Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read and then Santa's gift (something special)." ― Christine Simpson
"We do three gifts under the tree: something to wear, something to read and something they asked for. Then we do an experience. This year it's a trip to Myrtle Beach for the first time. One is getting tickets to dinner theater, and one is getting tickets to the aquarium so we'll be making memories." ― Covey Denton
"My dad passed away in 2008, and my mom wanted to do something different for Christmas that year. So my husband, two sons and I took Mom to Florida over Christmas (we're in Indiana). We did a few presents and stockings there, but focused on having fun and making memories. My mom climbed a lighthouse to see the view with her grandsons! Kept that up for three more years until she passed. We still go. Last couple of years we added a visit to Universal Studios over New Year's as their big present." ― Susan Burleigh
"Every year a different adult family member chooses a charity and in lieu of gifts, we donate money to that well-researched charity. It brings a sense of awareness outside of ourselves and fosters a spirit of gratitude and generosity. My kids and niece and nephew start participating at 10 years old, but they still receive gifts." ― Julie Lampert Franks
"Make cookies, drink hot cocoa, wear matching PJs, pop popcorn and watch a movie on Christmas Eve. Then plan a summer vacation as a big 'Santa' gift." ― Kaitlyn Kambestad
"Twenty-five days of Christmas books ― every morning in December, my kids open up a different Christmas book that we read together. It's our version of an Advent calendar, and I enjoy it as much as the kids." ― Eileen Conlon Blanco
"We have adopted a quality over quantity rule. It's better to have something nice, valuable, sentimental ... than lots of little things that you'll forget about in a week. So we do two to three really thoughtful and nicer gifts. The girls love it, and I think it makes Christmas more magical when it's important. Plus it's even better when the gift you give relates to an inside joke you have been babying along all year!" ― Brianna Freeburn
"We do give and receive presents, but we open a couple on Christmas Day plus a stocking, and the rest get opened on the other 11 days of Christmas. We had a rule growing up that you couldn't open another present until you had appreciated the one you already have. I'm keen to make sure I continue this rule with my children; too many Christmases are all about a commercially driven mountain of presents being ripped open and discarded. We still always place a walnut and a satsuma [a citrus fruit] in the stockings, too, and it's still one of my favorite presents!" ― Alice George
"Every morning in December my kids open up a different Christmas book that we read together. It's our version of an Advent calendar, and I enjoy it as much as the kids."
"We try to do presents that are all experiences and spending time together. We do get a few extra presents that my son wants. We give books about what experiences we are doing. We always give as a present one ornament for our tree, which my son will get when he goes off and has his own. We always pick a charity in giving back and donate to them. We make cinnamon rolls, which my son loves. They are a treat during the holidays." ― Kathy Fulham
"I'm from northeast Philly and every year around Christmas we go into town and get our meat for Christmas dinner at the Reading Terminal Market. We then visit the light shows in town. We also cut our tree down three weeks before Christmas. The place we go to has a store, train sets, Santa, a big fire pit and hot chocolate. It's so much fun. Glad I started these traditions so my kids can carry them on!" ― Jennifer Vaughn
"Mom gets her books, Dad makes her something (out of wood) and Santa gets her one gift." ― Kimberly Ballinger
"Christmas light tour of the city!" ― Corin Ramos
"We are doing a family vacation this year." ― Mandee Kanikula
"We started the tradition of giving our son experiences/adventures instead of toys. Last year, we gave him a Christmas-themed picnic on a lake with his little friends. He's now a picnic enthusiast! This year, we may give him a year pass to a local children's museum as a gift that keeps on giving." ― Ivette Palomera
"We always 'adopted' a family in need. We would buy presents, clothes, food, hygiene items ... and deliver them anonymously. We also would bake/make meals and take them to police stations/children's hospitals for those that had to work the holiday. My favorite Christmas memories are all doing things like this!" ― Mackenzie Schmid
These submissions have been edited and condensed for clarity.


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I know a lot of people who claim to be Christian but practice Yoga. I always thought (and Wikipedia seems to back me up on this) that Yoga was about meditation in Hinduism or Buddhism.
Is practicing Yoga a sin since you're actually following another religion? Or is it possible to practice Yoga in a Christian manner? Also, if you are able to practice Yoga in a Christian manner, is there a conflict with that and the problem with the weaker brother?
Specifically, I'm seeking a mainstream Protestant viewpoint on this. I suspect that they will all be the same, but if they differ, let me know so that I can refine the scope.


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home | metro silicon valley index | features | silicon valley | feature story
The Island of Recalled Toys
By Paul Wagner
This is a brief, partial list of some of the most-recognized brands of toys recently found tainted with lead. It does not list all recalled or lead-tainted toys, and is meant only to serve as an introduction to the scope of lead-related recalls. Please see federal Centers for Disease Control and Consumer Product Safety Commission websites–listed at the end of the main article–for more complete listings of recalled toys and other children's' items.
Brief Glance, Recalls By Brand
Aqua Dots by Spin Master 4.2 million recalled; beads, made to fuse to create 3-D shapes when sprayed with water, contain chemical which converts to date-rape-type drug in the body; induces dizziness; cases of coma following ingestion. Do not purchase; if purchased, remove from child immediately.
Baby Einstein Color Blocks 35,000 recalled on Oct, 4, 2007; lead in surface paint.
Barbie Accessory Toys 675,000 recalled on Sept. 5, 2007; lead in surface paint.
'Big Red' Wagons 7,200 recalled on Nov. 7, 2007; lead in paint on wooden surfaces and handles.
Cub Scouts Totem Badges 1.6 million recalled on Oct. 9, 2007; lead on surface paints.
Curious George Plush Dolls by Marvel 175,000 recalled on Nov. 8, 2007; lead in face and hat paints.
Disney Deluxe Winnie-the-Pooh 23-Piece Play Sets 49,000 recalled Oct. 11, 2007; lead in surface paints.
Dollar General–distributed Children's Sunglasses 51,000 recalled on Nov. 8, 2007; lead in yellow surface paint.
Dollar General–distributed Super Wheels, Super Racers pull-release car toys 380,000 recalled on Nov. 7, 2007; lead in surface paint.
Dora the Explorer toys 967,000 recalled on Aug. 2, 2007; possible excessive lead in surface paint.
Duck Family Collectible Wind-Up Toy 3,500 recalled on Nov. 7, 2007; lead in surface paint.
Jeff Gordon Mini Helmet 2,500 recalled Oct. 11, 2007; lead in surface paints.
Kidnastics Balance Beams 2,400 recalled on Oct. 11, 2007; lead in surface paints.
Pirates of the Caribbean Medallion Squeeze Lights 79,000 recalled on Oct. 4, 2007; lead in surface paint on leather strap.
'Robot 2000' Collectible Tin Robot 2,600 recalled on Nov. 7, 2007; lead in surface paints.
Sesame Street toys 967,000 recalled on Aug. 2, 2007 (same recall as Dora the Explorer, above); lead in surface paints.
SpongeBob SquarePants Address Books and Journals 250,000 recalled on Aug. 22, 2007; lead in paint on spiral bindings.
Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys 1.7 million recalled on June 13 and Sept. 26, 2007; lead in surface paints.
Winnie-the-Pooh Spinning Top 69,600 recalled on Aug. 22 and Nov. 7, 2007; lead in surface paint on tops' handles.
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Brief Summary, Other Recalls
Branded and Generic Children's Garden Tools Kits Nearly 500,000 kits and individual items (rakes, shovels) recalled; lead in paint on surfaces.
Generic Children's Jewelry Sets Nearly 200 million metallic jewelry items, including rings, necklaces, key chains, charm bracelets, spinning pendants, earrings and even religious ornaments (fish symbols), marketed primarily to young girls, recalled; lead in metal products and clasps.
Children's Ornately Painted Battle Toys Nearly 2 million generic and minor-brand "Elite," "Ultimate" and "Invincible" type small metal battle toys and sets recalled; lead in both paint and products themselves.
Send a letter to the editor about this story.


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Welcome to Islam
Accept Islam for your salvation
Live according to Islam for your spiritual progress
What Some Awliya And Saleheen Say
It is best to begin by quoting what some of the awliya (saints) and the saleheen (pious) say about Ihya' 'Ulum al-Deen (The Revival of the Religious Sciences) by Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali, Naf'anAllahu bih (450-505 A.H/1058-1111 C.E). To quote al-Habib 'AbdAllah bin 'Alawi bin Hasan al-'Attas Naf'anAllahu bih in his book The Way of Bani 'Alawi, (p. 17), translated by Dr. Mostafa al-Badawi.
"""Our master 'Abdallah bin 'Alawi al-Haddad has said:
"Al-Ghazali is a graceful favour bestowed by Allah upon this nation (ummah). He has investigated the sciences and weaved them. No 'alim can have his rank".
And: "The books of al-Ghazali quench thirst for they are a cure of the heart's sicknesses".
And: "To love al-Ghazali is an incomparable gift, and you will see this in akhira. Only the believer whose heart is enlightened and who deals justly with his self loves the books of al-Ghazali, he has guided us with his books and the barakat of his secrets.
And: "Never have the people of truth agreed about the perfection of anyone as they have about that of Imam al-Ghazali. A traveller's journey is not complete until he has read the books of al-Ghazali, for they help him in his journey and protect him from the evil of his self".
And: "The one who engages in reading the Ihya' is gaining firmly established knowledge, for the reading of it may suffice as a teacher and a shaykh. Nothing is more beneficial to the people of this time than to read the Ihya', for it is life and happiness in akhira".
And: "The Ihya' is a miracle""".
Another important reference is the sharh (appreciative explanation) of the Ihya' titled Ta'reef i'l Ihya' bi Fadhaail i'l Ihya' (Introducing "The Revival" with the Grace of "The Revival") by al-Habib 'AbdulQadir bin Shaykh Abubakr bin Shaykh 'Abdallah al-'Aydaroos, Naf'anAllahu bihim. (This is given as an annex to the Ihya' in Arabic) He narrates that according to his forefather, Shaykh ul-Akbar 'Abdallah al-'Aydaroos (passed away 865 A.H/1461 C.E), the Ihya' is a sharh (explanation) of the Holy Qur'an Kareem and the blessed Hadith Shareef, and the reading of it brings you maghfira (forgiveness of Allah Ta'ala). May Allah Ta'ala give us this maghfira, Aameen Yaa Rabbal 'Aalameen.
According to Shaykh 'Abdallah al-'Aydaroos, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala Himself is pleased with the Ihya'! He calls it the bahral muhit (the encircling ocean) and a'jubatuz-zamaan (the marvel of the times). He advises that if anyone acts on it, he will get the love of Allah Sub'hanahu wa Ta'ala, the love of Rasulullah Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam, the love of the angels, the love of all the Prophets 'alayhimussalam; and the love of the awliyaAllah (friends of Allah), Naf'anAllahu bihim.
Indeed Shaykh 'Abdallah al-'Aydaroos and his son, the equally illustrious Shaykh Abubakr al-'Aydaroos Naf'anAllahu bih (passed away 914 A.H/1508 C.E) popularised the books of Imam al-Ghazali so much that several editions of the Ihya' were produced in their time. Dars (lessons) used to be given from the Ihya' and in the time of Shaykh Abubakr al-'Aydaroos, the reading of the Ihya' from the first page to the last, all the more than 1800 pages of it, was completed 25 times. Allahu Akbar! This tradition continues to this day among the 'ulama, Al-Hamdu Lillah!
In his sharh (explanation), al-Habib 'AbdulQadir al-'Aydaroos Naf'anAllahu bih gives a neat little summary about the contents of the Ihya'. According to him,
- the first volume on 'Ibaadaat (worship) is about Huququllah (rights of Allah),
- the second volume on 'Aadaat (the proprieties of daily life) is about huquq u'l 'ibaad (the rights of Allah's servants on you),
- the third volume on Muhlikaat (the ways to perdition) is about tazkiyat u'l qalb min sifat i'l madhmumah (purification of the heart of condemnable qualities), while
- the fourth volume on Munjiyaat (the ways to salvation) is about tahliyatul qalb min sifaat i'l mahmudah (the embellishment of the heart with praiseworthy qualities).
He also quotes the views of many other mashaayikh (spiritual masters) about the Ihya'. Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Kaazruni said, for example, that if all the books were to perish, the Ihya' would be sufficient to replace them all.
Shaykh 'Ali bin Abubakr bin Shaykh 'AbdulRahman al-Saqqaf said that if a non-believer opened the Ihya', he would become a Muslim because it is a hidden secret and a magnet for the heart.
Al-Faqih ul 'Allamah Isma'il bin Muhammad al-Hadhramy calls Imam al-Ghazali "Sayyidul Musannifeen" (the leader of all the authors).
Imam Abu'l Hasan al-Shadhili once saw Rasulullah Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam in a dream pointing to Imam al-Ghazali and asking Sayyidina Musa 'Alayhissalam and Sayyidina 'Isa 'Alayhissalam whether they had seen such a hibr (most knowledgeable scholar) in their ummah (community). They responded "No".
Another great work on the Ihya' is by Shaykh Hafiz al-Iraqi (725-806 A.H), a Hafiz of Hadith Shareef who knew more than 300,000 ahaadith by heart. His book is titled Takhreej Maa Fi'l Ihya' Minal Akhbaar (Identification of the Hadith in "The Revival") In it he identifies the verses of the Qur'an Kareem referenced in the Ihya' as well as the sources of Hadith Shareef. He identifies the Hadith Shareef in three categories:
- those that are in the Sahihayn of Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim;
- those that are in the rest of the Sihah Sitta (the six authentic books of hadith), that is, in the Jami' of Tirmidhi, Sunan of Abu Dawud, Sunan of An-Nasaai, and Sunan of Ibn Majah; and
- those that are in the rest of hadith compilations, such as the al-Muwatta (The Well-Trodden Path) of Imam Malik, Shu'ab al-Iman (Branch of the Faith) and Dalaail un Nubuwwah (Proofs of Prophethood) of Imam al-Bayhaqi, and the Musnad collections of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Al-Daylami, al-Bazzar, and Abu Ya'la, among others.
This monumental piece of scholarship forms the footnotes to the Ihya' in the original Arabic, such is the stature of the Ihya'!
According to Shaykh Hafiz al-Iraqi,
- the first volume of the Ihya' on 'Ibaadaat (worship) is a must for those dedicated to aakhirah (the afterlife),
- the second volume on 'Aadaat (the proprieties of daily life) is a must for those who want to live according to the religion of Islam,
- the third volume on Muhlikaat (the ways to perdition) is a must for those who want to achieve tazkiyatun nafs (purification of the ego/self), and tat'hirul qalb (purification of the heart) while
- the fourth volume on Munjiyaat (the ways to salvation) is a must for those who want to be among the muqarrabeen (those drawn near to Allah) and siddiqeen (the sincerely truthful).
According to him, the Ihya' is medicine for the heart, medicine for the soul and a means to achieve everlasting bliss in paradise.
In the Muqaddimah (Introduction) to the Ihya' in Arabic, Vol.I, we learn that according to Imam Muhammad bin Yahya, Imam al-Ghazali is the second Imam Shafi'i, Naf'anAllahu bihim.
Imam Abu'l 'Abbas al-Mursi said that Imam al-Ghazali achieved the status of Siddiqiyyah 'uzma (the greatest station among the siddiqeen, the truthful). We learn of this in the "Introduction" to the Gujarati translation of Minhajjul 'Aabideen (The Path of the Worshippers), another of Imam al-Ghazali's books, translated by Janab Shabbir 'Ali Patel Razvi.
According to al-Habib 'Abdallah al-'Attas in The Way of Bani 'Alawi, the Ihya' is totally concerned about the realisation of 'ubudiyyah (worship of Allah Sub'hanahu wa Ta'ala). He quotes Shaykh 'Abdallah bin Ahmad Baa-Sudan Naf'anAllahu bih from his kitab Al-Futuhaat al-'Arshiyyah (The Openings of the Divine Throne): "Swim in the sea of the Ihya' and you shall be counted among the living".
Among other mashaayikh who have written on Imam al-Ghazali are:
- Imam Hafiz ibn 'Asakir
- Imam Abu'l Faraj ibn al-Jawzi
- Shaykh 'Afifuddin 'Abdallah bin As'ad al-Yafi'i al-Yamani
- Imam Taj al-Deen al-Subki
- Al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Murtada al-Husaini al-Zabidi
My master, the majestic Shaykh al-Habib Ahmad Mash-hur bin Taha al-Haddad Naf'anAllahu bih mentions the Ihya' among "Valuable Books - Milestones For Seekers" in his Miftahul Jannah (The Key To Paradise, p.99).
Sayyidunal Imam 'AbdAllah bin 'Alawi al-Haddad Naf'anAllahu bih (henceforth referred to as al-Habib Mawlana al-Haddad) explains in Ad-Da'wat u't Taammah (The All-Out Call) that the 'ulama are agreed that Imam al-Ghazali was the mujaddid (renewer) of the fifth century. He calls him Hujjat ul Islam (The Proof of Islam) as do one and all.
Naf'anAllahu bihim, may Allah Sub'hanahu wa Ta'ala make us benefit from them all, Aameen Yaa Rabbal 'Aalameen.
Hasbunallahu wa ni'mal Wakeel
Allah is Sufficient for us and (He is) the most excellent Trustee (3:173)


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Chief justice break-in a 'turning point' in our democracy
A constitutional advocacy group says the brazen robbery could be evidence of repression by the state.
FILE PICTURE: Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA
The burglary at the offices of Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, in which thieves made off with 15 computers containing sensitive information on Constitutional Court judges and officials, is a brazen assault on the independence of the country's judiciary and a move meant to intimidate and sow fear among the judges.
The Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution (Casac) said the incident was indicative of a repressive state in which the rule of law was deliberately trampled upon.
Mogoeng's spokesperson, Nathi Mncube, said the theft of the computers constituted a major setback for the administration of justice. The computers were located in an office used by the human resources and facilities units.
Upon hearing the news, Mogoeng said the break-in must be viewed in a very serious light and urged the police to do everything in their power to ensure that the culprits were brought to book.
Following the incident in the early hours of Saturday morning, the SA Police Service hastily set up a task team to deal with the matter. Additional security was also assigned to judges.
Acting police national commissioner Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane announced that a multidisciplinary team led by Gauteng deputy provincial commissioner of crime detection, Major-General Mary Motsepe, had been appointed to speedily probe the processing of the crime scene.
"The South African Police Service deems the break-in at the offices of the chief justice as an attack on the judicial system and views this in a serious light," Phahlane said.
Casac executive secretary Lawson Naidoo described the burglary as "deeply disturbing".
"This incident may mark a crucial turning point in our constitutional democracy. It is a potential Watergate moment, in which the independence of the judiciary is brazenly challenged," he said.
Naidoo said the fact that the burglary took place after the government lost several cases in courts last week "inevitably raises suspicions about political motives for the burglary".
He cited the government's notice of intent to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, which was declared invalid. Another was the North Gauteng High Court's invalidation of the appointment of Hawks' head Berning Ntlemeza, while the Constitutional Court delivered a scathing attack on South African Social Security Agency and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini over the grants debacle.
Naidoo said the incident could not simply be treated as another routine crime.
"It has the hallmarks of being a carefully orchestrated operation that is usually associated with a repressive state, in which the rule of law is deliberately trampled upon," he said.
He said the timing of the incident was intended to intimidate and sow fear among judges. Casac called for thorough and speedy investigation that was free from political interference.
The Right2Know Campaign spokesperson, Dale McKinley, said the timing of the burglary was highly suspect after the grants judgment and the ruling on Ntlemeza.
"We should be worried indeed; serious questions ought to be raised," McKinley said.
He said it was common practice for the country's intelligence community to get involved in the political battles of the ruling party, often targeting certain people in the process.
The State Security Agency also reacted to insinuations about its involvement in the break-in.
"The attack on the office of the head of judiciary should be a concern to all. As indicated already by government, law enforcement agencies are working on the matter to ensure the security of our democratic institutions."
In a separate incident, police are investigating a robbery at the home of a South Gauteng High Court judge at the weekend. Police gave no further details.
– firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Steve Buscemi was the focus of this episode of Who Do You Think You Are? This was another episode that focused mainly on a single ancestor. I noticed no complaints again like Kim Cattrall's episode. I did notice, after someone mentioned, that Vanessa Williams no longer appeared in the opening credits.
From the Country of Brooklyn
I loved Steve's story about having his bicycle stolen, "while I was riding it".
During his drive to visit his family, we learned that Steve didn't know anything about his maternal grandmother's family as Amanda, his grandmother, had taken her own life when his mother was three. His parents, John and Dorothy, and brother Michael were waiting for his arrival. He learned Amanda's parents were Charles and Jane Van Dine, looked at some pictures, and learned that Jane Van Dine, his great-grandmother, died in 1928. That seemed like a good place to start, and that's exactly where the episode went.
Real Versions of the Records
At the NYC Municipal Archives, Steve met genealogist Joseph Shumway, who had Jane's death certificate. It was especially interesting to me to see the original record book like that, as I am constantly looking up those same records on microfilm. But do ordinary people ever see that or would the archivist just make copies? Steve read the information quite out of order how it's presented on the certificate: cause of death; usual residence, which happened to be the same as a restaurant he frequented; her parents' names, Ralph Montgomery and Julia Vanderhof, both born in the US. He also noted that she was 48 but only in New York for 32 years, and born in the US. I really like when the celebrities pay attention to the details like that.
Going to Ancestry, they searched for a census record to find Jane with her parents. Only one search result was consulted, which matched "the age range", for 1880, showing her born in Delaware and living in New Jersey at 11 years old as a servant. Steve was confused by that listing, as was I, but for different reasons. They had no evidence that this was the correct Jane Montgomery. Not knowing where she was born, besides the US, and only having her death certificate could not possibly lead to that 1880 census listing. Her death certificate said she was 48 in 1928, which meant she was born about 1880. How could she be 11 unless they already had some other documentation showing that her death certificate was wrong? Joseph specifically stated that they wanted to find her with her parents, but they didn't seem to look for it. If Jane was 11, she should have been in the 1870 census with her parents. But if she was born 1880, she clearly wouldn't be.
Her parents were not found in the 1880 census in Camden or surrounding areas. What about the rest of the US? If they were so poor that they had to send their 11 year old daughter to work, who's to say they didn't move farther away to stay with other relatives or somewhere with a lower cost of living?
Bad Advice
Joseph next suggested searching through Ancestry member trees to find someone else researching the family. Why would they do such a thing? Obviously, we know they did this ahead of time and found something, but I would not recommend that as a research step to anyone. When looking for other living cousins it might be a good idea, but those trees are filled with errors, the errors are duplicated by others, and there are likely a large number of abandoned trees. I can only hope that someone watching the show who doesn't know better doesn't follow this advice for doing research. I would suggest searching other people's family trees only as a last resort when you can't find anything else.
They found a match that had only Ralph's estimated birth year and location, 1834 in Milton, Pennsylvania. The rest of the people in the tree had almost no details. The "Living Descendent", Joseph suggested, was probably who created the family tree. Was there only one living person listed in the tree? This could have been a collateral line to someone else's family. It didn't seem to me to have enough information to be entered by a descendent.
Steve sent a message to the user asking more about Jane and if s/he knew anything about the lives of her parents, Ralph and Julia.
Researching Out of Order
Apparently with no other ideas, Steve was sent to the State Archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to look for more about Ralph, beginning with his birth. Again, they've strayed from the research path. In genealogy, the rule is always start with what you know and work your way back. Why would they not look for Ralph in the 1870 census, or the 1900, and try to find his death rather than his birth? All they had to go on about his birth at this point was apparently that Ancestry member tree which was desperately lacking details about the family.
Archivist Aaron McWilliams told Steve that there was a fire in Milton so many records were lost. Steve searched the tax records while Aaron "checked" the federal censuses. This gave Steve the opportunity to flip through the books himself. This season, the celebrities seem more involved in the search process than the previous one. Whether they were really more interested than the first batch or the format of the show was altered to allow them to "do the work themselves", I can't know, but I like to see them actually looking for records.
Steve found Ralph listed as a dentist, but after skipping backwards so much, there was again no way to verify if he'd even found the correct person.
"I don't think that I would have ever imagined that I had a dentist in my family." I liked Steve's humor in this episode.
"I am a Dentist. I have a talent for causing things pain!"
The narrator explained the practice of dentistry at the time, emphasizing the use of anesthesia and the problems with it, and the need for dentists to build trust in the community, almost like they were saying that Ralph did not have the trust, or had killed someone through misuse of the anesthetic. I was half expecting them to find information about some such event, but nothing ever came of it. Why so morbid a description of his occupation?
Aaron "found" the 1860 US federal census for "R. B. Montgomery", listed as a grocer, only a few years after the tax records that Steve had found. Aaron also pointed out the other individuals listed in his household were "mostly likely his wife and then the children". A smattering of good advice in the episode: best to not assume, especially with no other evidence yet found.
Steve questioned the names, not recognizing Ralph's supposed wife's name of Margaret. Again, this only showed that they had skipped information and were looking at records with no indication that they'd even gotten the right person. "He seems to have had another family before the family he had with Julia." Thank you Steve. Ignoring the fact that they are already assuming that they've got the correct Ralph Montgomery, it's good that they are stating that these are likely and they seem to be, as opposed to making them facts that haven't been proven.
Steve questioned what happened to the first family, knowing that they are not the family that showed up later. Where exactly did they show up later? On Jane's death certificate was the only place we'd seen the names of Ralph and Julia, right? Did they skip over a lot of other research that they showed Steve and not us? Probably.
Aaron suggested going through more local records, including court records and newspapers.
Right about this time, a tweet appeared in my stream about "The History of Anesthesia". It seemed appropriate.
Another Day, More Records to Randomly Search
Back at the State Archive on another day, Aaron suggested that Steve search the newspaper in 1860 while he looked through court records.
Steve, in a voiceover, said that if he didn't find something in 1860, he would work his way back. Finally, some research that might go in the correct direction in time. Steve was shown looking at the paper on microfilm, skipping quickly past many pages. What was he skipping past? How did he know not to look at every page? You never know what kind of an article might mention a person. He must have been told to watch for a certain type of article, which he eventually found, a short bit that started with "Supposed Suicide" in November. They didn't really make him search the entire year of 1860, did they?
Out by the river of that supposed suicide, Steve read the contents of the article for the viewers. Aaron showed up (at a river in winter?) with some court records of a grand inquest where Ralph, with another man, apparently beat a man in 1857. A second document showed that in 1859, the prosecutor dropped the charges of assault and battery.
Where did he go in 1861?
Discussing the events, Aaron mentioned that Ralph disappeared from the tax records in 1861. Again, more records that we weren't told about previously. Also, what could have possibly happened in 1861 that he would leave town? Gosh, that's a tough one.
I don't know why Aaron had such great suggestions before (to check newspapers and court records) but didn't think about checking army records from the Civil War. That wasn't mentioned until the voiceover, quickly followed by Steve searching Ancestry again. And voila, there he was in the army.
"He didn't just up and leave town, he joined the Civil War. This is pretty amazing." I'm glad it all made sense to Steve because I was still wondering how they knew that they were even searching the correct family.
And Suddenly to Fredericksburg, Virginia
Looking for more information, Steve met with historian Andy Waskie to learn more about Ralph's time in the army. Andy showed Steve a few muster rolls, one at a time, explaining they had to be filled out every two months for pay. The second one showed that Ralph had deserted. The next muster roll showed that he returned after two months.
Why did Steve go to Virginia? Was there something on the Ancestry search? I didn't see anything. Again, more research in the background that wasn't shown in the episode, but not even a voiceover explaining that research revealed his regiment was stationed in Virginia?
Between Andy and the narrator, we learned about the battle, also learning that Ralph deserted for a second time, with a record shown that was dated 1864. What they didn't mention was his rank on that document read Private but the Ancestry record showed he was a Corporal.
So much Ancestry in such a short time
Back to the computer again, Steve searched the special 1890 census for veterans which showed Margaret as a widow. The details stated that she did not know what happened to Ralph and presumed he was dead.
Because Jane showed up in Camden, Steve went back there to find out more about Ralph's second family after the war. Before the commercial, Steve read from the death certificate, "cause of death", then got cut off. Were they trying to imply something?
Skipping Ahead
Historian Paul Schopp met Steve in Old Camden Cemetery, handing over an envelope. Inside, Steve opened it to reveal the death certificate for Ralph, listed as a dentist again, died at age 44 i n1878, showing his birth place, and the cause of death as tuberculosis, which Paul explained was an occupational hazard for a dentist.
They skipped from the Civil War to his death, but in between, didn't he have another wife and several children? "With Ralph gone…", Steve wanted to find more about that second marriage and family. Interesting that when seeing his death certificate and standing in the cemetery, Steve suddenly felt like Ralph was finally dead and wanted to move on.
Back to Brooklyn
Driving back to Brooklyn, in a voiceover, Steve said that he received a message from the person who posted the family tree on Ancestry. The narrator said he was going to meet "a relative he never knew he had". We all have those. What are the chances that someone who isn't a genealogist knows their third cousins?
Carol Olive was waiting for him in the restaurant mentioned at the beginning of the episode. This was the first time that meeting someone in a restaurant made perfect sense, and I do believe it's the first one we've seen this season. Jane and her great-grandfather Ralph were children of Ralph B.
Carol had Julia's marriage certificate from after Ralph died. She also had the 1892 New York census, showing the family in Brooklyn, Julia with five children, but with Jane listed as Jennie.
This episode seemed put together in a very haphazard way. When doing research, we don't always find records in an order that would make logical sense for a TV show. For instance, all of the Ancestry searches probably would have been discovered at the same time. They were obviously trying to present the information in a logical order, but it did not work. There was too much skipping around in the order the "research" was presented and in the records that were shown. I know they have more documentation than what is mentioned in the episode, but the documents they did share didn't make any sense and contradicted each other. There was no evidence that they were even researching all the same family.
They never mentioned anything about the fact that Ralph's first wife assumed he had died but then he got married again and thus was apparently a bigamist. He also had two sons named Ralph, one with each wife. I can only wonder if they did any more research on that first family or even on the other kids from the second marriage. How many other cousins does Steve have that he didn't know about?
Steve said, "We have to learn from the past so that we can make the future better." They like getting sound bites like this from the celebrities. Can they take this one to heart and do better with future episodes?
As much as this was a compelling story to watch, and even with all my complaints and excessive "quotes", I still enjoy watching even the worst episodes of WDYTYA. But in this one, there was too much missing for the evidence to be believed by someone who pays enough attention. Next time, maybe instead of taking a lot of randomly acquired information and trying to present it logically, they should be more true to the actual research and reveal the family history in random order.
This article continues the Nitpicker's Series, Season 2.