text:
This article contains true events and events based on truth, and features a composite American Indian narrator of, and participant in, the 1830s Indian Removal or Trail of Tears. This style was chosen in order to best capture not only the deeds and words of both real characters and those based on the historical record, but the first-person experience, emotion, lessons, and even valor of the epic saga. We focus here on the Cherokee Trail of Tears. The more general Trail(s) of Tears lasted more than a decade, from approximately 1831-1842; involved all the "Five Civilized Tribes," including the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole, upwards of 75,000 souls; and cost the lives of thousands of those, mostly women, children, and the aged.
Indian removal occurred for the benefit of an expanding American nation and the supposed protection of the natives themselves, despite the successful transition by many of them to the Western cultural practices of the United States. The U.S. government determined that the Indians residing in southeastern states must move to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Amidst much debate, intra-tribal division, bitterness, and even wars with both themselves and the United States, the Five Civilized Tribes reluctantly signed treaties agreeing to abandon their ancient homelands and move westward. They received financial remuneration for their losses, travel, and future needs; free land at their destination; and the promise of perpetual ownership and sovereignty.
My name is not important, but the deeds I saw and the people who accomplished them are. From the time the whites settled in America in the early 1600s, the destiny of us American Indians was linked to theirs. We Cherokee and other tribes fought against them in the Yamasee War and the American Revolution. We fought with them against the British in the War of 1812. We traded with them, many of our women married their men, and we warily co-existed with them, we in our areas, they in theirs.
But by the early 1800s, so many of them and their black slaves came that they wanted all the land, at least all of it east of the Mississippi River. President Thomas Jefferson called us natives "equal in mind and body" to the white man, but said our environment had slowed our advancement as a people. He did not believe our differing cultures, histories, religions, practices, and races could co-exist. He feared that disease, war, and dissipation would annihilate us Indians. Already, many whites had snuck in illegally to sell liquor to our people, and that horrid practice alone nearly destroyed us. To "remove beyond the Mississippi" and the harmful influences of the whites to lands forever our own would be our happiest course, Jefferson said. Subsequent presidents expounded upon that plan, which by the 1830s included paying us millions of dollars in cash for our ancestral southeastern homeland — and those of the other great "Five Civilized Tribes," the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole — supplies, travel expenses, and perpetual annuities.
Several thousand of us Cherokee moved west to the Arkansas Territory from the 1790s to the 1820s, but the mass of our people and those of the other more "advanced" American tribes remained in the southeast. We did not want charity, though, and we set about learning, mastering, and living the white man's ways. This included his classical-Western educational system; social practices such as monogamous marriage, advanced medicine and health principles, reading and writing, and black slavery; political institutions and republican rule of law; agrarian and other free market business practices; and most of all his Christian religion.
We did not forget our heritage; we did not lose our pride in our people; and we recognized the shortcomings of the growing giant of European America. But we saw the benefits of those ways too, and many of us believed not that the white man himself created them, but that, sort of like Jefferson said, his civilization had been growing for a long time and God seemed to have used him to combine and improve the best ways of all the world's cultures, make them his own, and spread them. Some of my native brethren, yet darkened in mind and spirit and not knowing the one true God, would count me an infidel and traitor for believing such things.
Land and Gold
Even as Sequoyah created our own Cherokee alphabet, however, and we built great plantations from which we and our slaves pulled the bounty of the earth to help feed and supply America and other nations, and even as we sent our children to the best universities in the North and East and they married some of the most attractive and intelligent whites, more and more whites came to America from their own troubled lands in Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Italy, and elsewhere. It is true, many of them were hard workers trying to make a better life for themselves and their children than they could have had back in their old countries, and they built America, too. But always they needed more land, and in north Georgia where we lived, they wanted a lot more land — our land.
Hardly anyone remembers that some of those old states, including Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas, once stretched from the Atlantic to the Great River, the Mississippi. Then smaller states complained about the large states in Congress and it was decided to chop up those big states. So the Compact of 1802 carved Alabama and Mississippi out of Georgia. What is really forgotten is that the U.S. government assured whites in Georgia in that decades-old agreement that it would purchase the land of all the Cherokee and other Indians who lived in what remained of the state in order to move us west to Jefferson's "Indian Territory," as John C. Calhoun baptized it. No Cherokee ever agreed to that sorry deal.
In 1828, we wrote our own Cherokee Constitution — the other "civilized" tribes did too, except for the Seminoles — and created our own branches of government, laws, and political districts, based on how the American states and counties did. Then in 1829, folks discovered the gold that God or the devil had filled north Georgia with. People poured into our homeland like never before. And they set about pushing us out. It is probably no coincidence that the next year the U.S. Congress, pressured by President Andrew Jackson and the American public, passed the Indian Removal Act, ordering all natives to be moved west of the Mississippi.
Then in 1831, Georgia passed a law requiring that whites on our lands, specifically our Christian missionaries, swear an oath of loyalty to the state of Georgia, which Presbyterian ministers Samuel Worcester and Elizur Butler refused to do. A lot of folks of this "Christian nation" didn't like the way faithful men and women of God lived among us, served us, taught us, and defended our rights when politicians, soldiers, wealthy people, common folks, and especially that cursed Georgia Guard — created by the state legislature mainly to move us out of Georgia — wouldn't. We knew that the oath the ministers had to sign was meant to help break the treaty between us and the United States that allowed us to live undisturbed on our own land.
So the U.S. Army and the Georgia Guard shackled these godly men with horses' trace chains around their necks, and, as John Ridge described it, dragged them on their "bleeding feet through the rough and tangled forest, over brake and bush and bog and fen, at the point of a bayonet, and even in sickness," while their guards rode horseback. Then Georgia convicted those white pastors who helped us and sentenced them to four years of hard labor in prison.
Sam Worcester spent over a year in prison away from his family. During that time, his baby died and his wife nearly did. But that didn't stop him, even though I saw him and knew his heart was hurting. He kept helping us, still leading his mission's work from prison. He kept advising our fellow tribesman Elias Boudinot (more about him later) about editing the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, the first native publication in the world, and Elias kept helping him with his translations into our language of the New Testament, hymns, and other Christian literature. Morning and evening, he and Butler preached, loved, and helped the real criminals in their prison. The inmates flocked to them. After I visited him and he saw how upset I was, that I was ready to go back on the warpath against the whites like the old days, he wrote me a letter that included these words:
Let my name be sounded abroad as a weak, misguided enthusiast, yet a sincere lover of Jesus, anything consistent with sincere devotion to the cause of the Redeemer, rather than told with the highest commendation man can bestow, and yet withhold the reputation of being a servant of Christ. Yet after all, it is a light thing to be judged of man's judgment. We stand or fall at a higher tribunal.
Worcester also took Georgia to court over his right to minister to us on our own land. Worcester v. Georgia went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And you know what Chief Justice John Marshall wrote in his 1832 majority verdict? Bury your Georgia law, leave the missionaries alone, and let them do what they and the Cherokee want in their own country! Rev. Worcester, he was a hero to our people. And so was Justice Marshall. But Georgia kept Worcester and Butler in prison. And President Jackson said, "Justice Marshall has issued his verdict; now let him enforce it if he can." Or words to that effect. Guess "Old Hickory" forgot that day at Horseshoe Bend when Cherokees helped him beat the Redcoats and the Red Stick Creek in the battle that cleared Alabama for American settlement. Guess he forgot when he was down on the field with a wound and I saved his life. If I had known then what I do now, I would've killed him myself that day at the Horseshoe.
On top of all that, Georgia held a land lottery, with the full support of the Jackson administration, and gave away our land to settlers. One day a nice young pair of white newlyweds showed up at my house with an official property deed and seemed confused we were even there. Within a few days, my wife and I were staying at Sam Worcester's little place. Then another white family showed up and took that house, too. It wasn't long before thousands of us were camping out in the open fields and forests, surrounded by what possessions we could bring with us.
But I had been a Christian longer now than not, and I had learned that blessing often comes in the middle of hardship and injustice. Up till then, us Cherokee hadn't really favored Worcester or the other missionaries. When we saw what they did, what they suffered, and realized it was all for us — that they didn't have to do any of it — well, our mistrust just melted away. Ever after, we have been fertile ground for the Christian gospel, and a lot of our own have risen up as preachers, elders, deacons, missionaries, and faithful church folk, too. Following Christ likely saved our people from total destruction.
Tribal Division
I can see now it was only a matter of time till we had to leave our homeland. The American people pushed it, which led to many awful effects on our tribe. First, we were stirred up and plenty scared of what was going to happen. The Americans had beaten the British, who had the strongest army on Earth, twice, so we knew we didn't have a chance in a fight with them. More of our people commenced to drinking the liquor white men were selling to them, and that was beginning to cause crime among our people and to destroy many of us. And sad to say, these actions began turning members of our own tribes against one another like never before. Some of us said, "Let's fight the white man." Many said, "No, let's just ignore him and stay where we are." Others said, "Let's make a treaty with him so we can stay." Some began to say, "Perhaps we should consider going west, for the sake of our children and grandchildren."
I was so angry with that last group, I was ready to do to some of them what I felt like doing to Andy "By God" Jackson. Especially Buck Watie. I watched that boy grow up, and he was one of the finest, smartest, kindest men I ever knew. The first president of the Continental Congress was named Elias Boudinot, and he was so impressed with Buck that he sponsored him to attend the Cornwall Mission School in Massachusetts, a fine university. Buck became a leader there, like everywhere else he went, and he took Boudinot's name to honor him. He also won the hand of Harriet Gold, one of the most beautiful and pursued young women in New England, and from one of its most respected Puritan families. Winning her father's permission when nearly all Yankee society was a-roaring down on him for letting a "heathen" court his daughter was pretty impressive in itself.
When he came back to Cherokee country, the Cherokee Elias Boudinot and Sam Worcester started the Phoenix newspaper. Its columns alternated between English and Cherokee so all the people could read it. John Ross was our principal chief, and Elias was one of his most trusted advisors and friends. Boudinot, Ross, and Worcester used the Phoenix to help tighten our scattered people, promote a unified Cherokee nation, aid our success in white America, and spread Christianity among our people. Elias and Harriet, meanwhile, had six children. He also made a lot of folks angry, both white and Indian, when he began declaring very publicly the ills of alcohol for our people.
That anger was nothing, however, compared to what happened after President Jackson told Elias' esteemed uncle Major Ridge to his face we had to go West, and Elias began to say we should leave our country and move West like the white man said! Elias had always believed as strong as any Cherokee I ever knew that the ancient homeland was ours and that we should never leave. Many folks were angry with him and his cohorts: his little brother Stand Watie, Major Ridge, and Major's son John Ridge, who all advocated leaving. Talk began to spread about putting a permanent stop to the influence of Elias and the Ridges.
Chief Ross, on the other hand, spent most of his time up in Washington, D.C., appealing to congressmen, senators, and even presidents to honor Cherokee rights. As the pressure mounted on us to move, Ross stood like a granite boulder, refusing to be moved, refusing to be intimidated by America's mightiest leaders. We, the mass of the Cherokee, loved him for it.
Finally, being pressed from all sides, he agreed we would move if the U.S. Senate granted us $5 million, transportation, supplies, annuities, and sweeping lands in Kansas and the Indian Territories. Then when the senators gave in, Ross changed his mind — and we loved him more, because we could stay on our land!
But then Elias Boudinot, Stand Watie, the Ridges, and some others we called the Treaty Party double-crossed us as 1835 ended, signing the Treaty of New Echota and selling our land to the government without Chief Ross, or the majority of our tribe's support. The Treaty Party also agreed to go west. They did it even though they knew it meant the death penalty for them, according to tribal law, which Major Ridge helped write! What arrogant fools! Or at least I thought so at the time.
Death and Exile
Throughout 1836 and into 1837, whites robbed and beat Cherokees almost every day. Rich and poor alike were even murdered for money, land, or just pure hate. The Georgia Guard kicked the white Moravian missionaries out of their Spring Place Mission Station, where they had taught generations of Cherokee the schooling and religion of Jesus. Then the guards turned it into a saloon to sell the liquor that was already destroying so many natives and whites. Even John Ross barely escaped assassination.
Just before the Treaty Party left in 1837 to move to the new lands in the West, Elias' wife, Harriet, with her beautiful face and angelic manner, died. Something began to move in me after hearing Elias, left bereft with six children, weep, "It is beyond the power of language to express. When I think of my endeared companion — one who left her home and friends for me and suffered great loss for marrying an Indian, whose face I am never to see again in this world — it is more than human nature can bear." I guess the Good Book and preacher talk would call it the Holy Spirit, but I started for the first time to regret my feelings — my hatred — for Elias and his kith and kin.
Later, some people would say the Treaty Party's journey west was easy, since it didn't feature all the horrors the rest of us faced later. But I remember how broken all their hearts were to leave. "It is mournful to see how reluctantly these people go away," I heard one of the missionaries say to Elias and Stand. "Even the stoutest hearts are melting into tears when they turn their faces toward the setting sun." Then he put his hand on Elias' shoulder and added, "I am afraid this land will be dewed with a nation's tears — if not with its blood. You can see that Major Ridge is in a declining state because of it. Do you think he will even reach Arkansas?"
Then I grew angry again with those brothers. "What is a man who will forsake his country in time of adversity?" I said to their face, "And what of the white man's mammon — as the Bible you preach calls it, Elias — that you took? Such a man is no more than a traitor and should be shunned as such!"
Stand bristled with anger, but Elias shook his head at him, then looked me in the eye. "I have not even the 'mammon' to purchase a shack in Indian Territory for the six children my wife bore me in nine years before the seventh killed her in childbirth," he said, his voice quiet but forged with iron. "But our chief demands ever-more-millions of dollars from the United States for our marble quarries, gold mines, and timber forests, which we don't even use, while vice and immorality ravage our people."
"Meanwhile," he continued, his eyes narrowing, "what about the spread of intemperance and the misery it has already caused, the bloody tragedies it regularly spawns, the frequent convictions and executions for murders, the tears and groans of the widows and fatherless, rendered homeless, naked and hungry, by this vile curse of our race? What more evidence do we need to prove our rapid descent to a general immorality and debasement than the slow but sure insinuation of the lower vices into our female population? Oh! It is heart-rending to think of these things — which few of our leaders do. My friend, can you deny any of it?"
I could not.
Then he shook his head as if to throw off a spell. "Old friend," he said to me with emotion, gripping me with a bear hug. As he walked away, he turned back. "Do you not wonder how many more would be leaving now if our chief were to quit promising them he will keep our country for us and instead lead in the crafting of a treaty that was inevitable unless he wanted to be swept en masse from our land by the bayonet and left with nothing?"
As he and his quiet little brother walked along the bank to their boat, I began to wonder if I had been very wrong about them.
Kidnapped and Imprisoned
After the Treaty Party folks and some others left, about 2,000 souls in all, we hunkered down in our country, finding what places we could to live. We were plenty scared, and the threats, bullying, beatings, and murders of our people continued. But Chief Ross was in Washington, and he kept promising us if we just held on and had faith, we would keep our homeland. Then in early 1838, General Winfield Scott arrived with several thousand federal troops. Folks said he was a gentlemanly fellow, but that he was there to make us leave. So when those soldiers began showing up armed wherever we were, our people, with many tears, began to depart. It was orderly, though, and most of the soldiers were kind and even helpful. Then the big news came that the chief was about to arrange a two-year extension in our country, during which time he was sure to work out a deal for us to stay permanently! So we rejoiced, quit packing, and stayed.
It was the most disastrous action we could have taken. Early one morning those thousands of bluecoats spread across our land like a vast pestilence. They stalked every cabin tucked away in a cove or aside a remote mountain stream, every house still occupied by Cherokee, bursting through doors with rifles loaded and bayonets fixed. They were not warning, they were kidnapping every native they found and marching us with blows and oaths along a trail that led we knew not where.
They seized men as we worked in the fields or walked along the road. They snatched our women away from their wheels and our children from their play. Many of the latter wailed as the soldiers made no attempt to keep them with their mothers if they were not nearby.
They beat us as we walked and cursed at us if we asked questions, their sweat and spittle spraying us. "Are any of these men Christians?" I wondered as they shoved and raged at my dear old wife and knocked me down twice, first with a pistol, then with a rifle butt that broke my nose. I'll never forget looking back from the ridge near our encampment and seeing our shelter and belongings ablaze with fire, set by the rabble descending on the very heels of the soldiers. They loaded our few valuables onto wagons already piled high with the possessions of Cherokee. Others of these outlaws left with what few cattle and stock we and others still had.
They took us to enormous stockades built for us out in the open, which were growing very cold as November arrived. We had only the clothes on our backs when captured, and the prison camps offered no barrier to the biting elements other than their perimeter walls and our own bodies. We huddled together as best we could day and night for a week, then another. That is probably one reason disease took such a toll. By the time they herded us away for the one-thousand-mile journey to Indian Territory, dozens of people had already died just in our stockade.
Trail of Tears
Soldiers had told us we would ride boats to our new country and receive additional clothing and regular warm meals. Some of those boys in blue were good boys and really believed what they said, but it wasn't true. There weren't enough boats, so most of us went by foot. A few had horses and wagons of their own or had received U.S. Army wagons. Most of the boat people wound up afoot anyhow when the boats sank or the draught got too shallow in the rivers and streams. Three hundred Creek drowned when one of their boats exploded on the Mississippi River.
We Cherokee came to call our journey "The Place Where We Cried." I've never talked of it before, and I only do so now because it has occurred to me during the winter of my life that what happened to us was terrible enough, nothing like it should ever happen again in America.
As we walked, we saw settlers digging up Cherokee graves and ransacking their valuables, even off the corpses. A 12-hour-long sleet storm slashed us before we had walked 20 miles. I forgot to mention we were tending our little granddaughter Leotie when the troops came. Her father, our son-in-law, was away on desperate council business, and her mother was busy with her other five young children. We were helping with Leotie partly because she was ill and her mother had not the strength to take care of her and all the others. Leotie means "wild flower" in our language, and even at just one year old, we could see she had a wild and free spirit and eyes that shone like onyx when she flashed them at her old grandpa, which she often did. So my wife and I took turns carrying little sick Leotie across Tennessee and into Kentucky.
Much of the food was so rancid — we heard later that was because of crooked government suppliers — my wife and I decided we should eat as little of it as possible, even if it increased our chances of starvation. As the days passed and the weather grew worse in December and January, many of the people dropped in the road and died. Much of the water was polluted, both in the streams and what the government gave us. Cholera, measles, dysentery, tuberculosis, and other diseases we didn't have names for swept through the tribe.
It seemed as though every time I thought I could go no further, Sunday would come. That was the day my distant cousin and the leader of our traveling contingent, Cherokee Chief and Baptist Pastor Jesse Bushyhead, conducted a church service, wherever we were. Other Cherokee pastors, from different denominations, did the same with the other groups. But I never met anyone who knew the Bible like Jesse. And he knew it not only in our language, he had translated whole sections of it from the white man's tongue into Cherokee himself! No wonder this man later served as chief justice of our national tribal court.
When we got to the Mississippi River in southern Illinois, it was frozen solid. One of the government commissioners told us it might be the hardest winter of the century. We had to wait in the bitter cold for the river to thaw enough to cross it by ferry. During the wait, white toughs murdered several Cherokee. By the time the ice broke, nearly a thousand of us were backed up, waiting to cross. Lots of whites were, too. And the ferry owner wouldn't take any of us till every last white had crossed. So we waited another week. In more than 80 winters, I hadn't been so cold as I was that month.
I can only imagine how cold our little Leotie was. The morning we finally got to leave is when her brave little spirit, which had fought freezing wind, rain, snow, sleet, disease, and awful food and water for weeks, had been freed by our blessed Lord to return to Him, and she was no longer shivering and whimpering in our arms. So we stopped in that stranger-land and consigned her to the cold hard ground with a simple Christian burial as the snowflakes covered us over. Then we continued on across the river with the multitude.
Grief wrung my heart. One of the soldiers we got to know back at the stockade — he was a tough fellow — wept like a child when he saw Leotie was gone. But other than a sigh, I heard not a sound from my wife even as she trudged through that freezing wilderness. That is why anyone who knows our clan knows she is the granite foundation on which we are built. And that is why with her I can never be moved, even by ten thousand times ten thousand.
"We Keep Marchin'"
It stayed cold the whole time we walked through Missouri. Somewhere we came upon a Catholic Priest who had set up a way station by the side of the road. He gave water, food, and blankets to our women and children till they were all gone. There was something deep about this "Black Robe." Old Lone Raven, the oldest and wisest man in our village, spoke with him, which I had never seen him do with a white-eyes.
"Long time we travel on way to new land," Lone Raven said. "People feel bad when they leave Old Nation. Womens cry and make sad wails. Children cry and many men cry, and all look sad like when friends die, but they say nothing and just put heads down and keep on go towards West. Many days pass and people die very much."
Old Lone Raven did not tell the Black Robe his mother had cried out on the trail three weeks before, spoke no more, then was buried as he and the rest of us moved on. Or that a week ago, his two sisters, two sons, and one daughter all died, on five consecutive days.
"Looks like maybe we all be dead before we get to new Indian country," he told me, "but we keep marchin' on." Even as he spoke and we kept on, our ears filled again with the moans and sobs from wagons that carried a few of the children, the old folks, the sick, and the dying. Lone Raven bowed his head, shook it a bit, and said softly, "People sometimes say I look like I never smile, never laugh."
Then he did something I shall never forget. He looked up toward the sky and began to sing "Amazing Grace" in our tongue, like Sam Worcester had translated it for us. Within a few seconds, the song spread through the people nearby and back down the trail, mile after mile, the voices of our great, exhausted, but unbroken host lifting it to God. That was the first time I thought to myself that with our strength as a people, and Christ as our Savior, we might just survive and maybe even make something great in our new country. My wife had grown weaker in recent days, and she couldn't sing very loud, but what she had she gave to God, and I reckon her voice resounded through the heavenly courts louder than legions of them cherubim and angels the Scriptures speak of. I'd be glad to see them soon.
Pastor Jesse told us Chief Ross's sweet wife, Quatie, died on their boat trip into Little Rock, so we prayed for our leader. Then we hit a cypress swamp that there was no way around. That cold, filthy water come up to my 60-year-old wife's waist. It had sharp stumps and jagged outcroppings you couldn't see under the water, and they hit and cut and gashed us as we went. That swamp stretched on for 30 straight miles. Took us three full days to get through it.
I carried my wife on my back the last few miles. I didn't know which of us was gonna die first, but I reckoned if I had anything to do with it, it wouldn't be her. I don't even remember when we got out of that swamp, but I'll never forget the night after we did — it was the only time she cried on the whole trail. She told me that she had just about decided Jesus couldn't be real, nor the Bible either, after all the sorrow she had seen the past months and years, but when she saw what I did to get her through that swamp she finally knew for sure what Jesus looked like and what kind of heart he had, and she was never going to doubt Him again.
I didn't either, though I lost a leg to infection after we got out of that swamp. If that's all it took for my wife to truly believe, it was a small price, plus it got us a wagon ride the rest of the way to Tahlequah, site of our new tribal capital. It was a week into March 1839, and you could feel the first glimmers of spring awakening in our beautiful new country, which no one described better than John Ridge, whom I didn't hate anymore:
It is the finest region I ever beheld in any part of the United States. The streams of all sizes, from the rivers to the brooks, run swiftly over clean stones and pebbles, and water is clear as crystal, in which excellent fish abound. The soil ranges from the best prairie lands to the best bottom lands, in vast tracts. Never did I see a better location for settlements with better springs. God has thrown His favors here with a broad cast.
Indian Territory
I would like to say all went well from that point, but so much hatred resided in the hearts of our people, new trouble was certain. Disputes abounded over tribal authority between various factions, including the majority Ross Party, the old settlers who had lived in Arkansas and Indian Territory for years and fought off the fierce Osage, and the Treaty Party. I will forever regret that members of the Ross Party murdered Elias and the Ridges for selling our land. They intended the same for Stand, but he caught wind of it and escaped on Sam Worcester's horse. We suffered a tragic sort of Cherokee civil war for the next seven years. Stand, a shy but rugged man, rode a trail of vengeance and killed at least one Ross Party leader in a face-to-face gunfight.
Finally in 1846, he and Chief Ross made amends, and that is when something close to a "Golden Age" descended on our people — till the white man's war with himself ensnared us in 1861. Meanwhile, though, we built ourselves a new life and began to raise up a great new territory from a virgin land. Cherokee sons and daughters helped lead it. We remembered those who had walked the earth with us, and we labored to build a better country for those who walked after.
John J. Dwyer is author of The War Between the States: America's Uncivil War and the upcoming The Oklahomans: The Story of Oklahoma and Its People. He teaches history and ethics at Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma City.
This article is an example of the exclusive content that's only available by subscribing to our print magazine. Twice a month get in-depth features covering the political gamut: education, candidate profiles, immigration, healthcare, foreign policy, guns, etc. Digital as well as print options are available!
Graphic at top: Robert Lindneux's The Trail of Tears, courtesy of Woolaroc Museum, Bartlesville, Oklahoma


text:
Efficacité du joueur
Des statistiques détaillées sur les cartes
Les prévisions des analystes CSGO-FORECAST
Россия, Новокузнецк
Россия, Санкт-Петербург
Agg experienced skimovie epsilon . Epsilon team is younger than the agg team , and the skill they utopium them. skim . I don't like the game agg against a team ence and with 2;0 I hope they discussed their mistakes and prepared a good game against epsilon
rate of 10% of the inventory ( from past games agg)
Россия, Ростов
I would not advise to anyone - to pour on the Poles , they now have a real recession, though the players and good , but the game in recent years indicate not very good . Epsilon is also a powerful Swedish team , which shows a very volatile game . Of the last 5 games won only 2 , that is bad . But we are playing against teams of a higher level than the AGG. In general, then I am inclined to Epsilon victory as a chance to win a little higher. Even more pleasing factor .

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Currency Exchange (FX)
One of the most important actions that a buyer / seller has to undertake is to use a specialist currency broker, rather than a bank when sending money to or from France. Foremost Currency have been the dedicated and preferred brokers for Allez-Français clients for over 10 years now, and we have known Robin & Adam on a personal level for around 15 years. They secure preferential rates for our clients, and we can testify that they get the money to the right place at the right time. (Not all companies or banks manage that we can assure you). We see Foremost Currency as an integral business partner, and we share a common goal, to provide our clients with excellent levels of service.


text:
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
From screenshots it looks similar to Ogame but why is there a montly fee?
Astro Empires works the same way as Ogame and other browser MMOs, you can play for free but there are optional paid upgrades which gives you extra features. In Ogame you can purchase "dark matter" which in return you can use for different premium services ingame, while in Astro Empires you can upgrade your account for a monthly fee, which gives you extra features.
More about Astro Empires' upgraded accounts: http://wiki.astroempires.com/index.php/Upgrade
More about Ogame's dark matter: http://ogame.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Matter
yea if you want to be good you got to pay for upgrades. I played over 2 years now in all that time we had one free promo code for a free month upgrade from when they did the Q-CON thing. Overall lately the game isnt so much fun anymore. They added a bunch of new mods in the forum and they banned us if we coulnt spell stuff right. They always made fun of me cuz i was misspellin stuff and junk. So what it is is there is a bunch of adults play the game for alot of years and they treat us younger people or ppl who are rpging like fairyland creatures like trash alot. And if we object they ban us off the forums or they give you a yellow brick and if you get 3 yellow bricks your gone forever or next to forever. Thats what happened to me i got banned this fall until next May cause they came up with a new unannounced way to do the scouting with all these colored dots instead of letting us use our space boats system by system and then when they rolled it out they didn't explain it well and all the people who had hiddent their fleets for months in abandoned star systems they all lost them because all the hidden fleets were suddenly vivisible and you could see them by just glancing at the galaxy so you could look at a whole galaxy in 30 minutes instead of 6 hours. So anyway lots and lots of people lost their fleets because they rolled out the new scouting system during the week and most people play on the weekends so by the time people logged back in their fleets were gone. In my best server where i palyed a year and a half and had 16 planets (9 is the max u can have if ur a free player) anyway in my gamma server all the legends have been quitting becdause they were all getting banned off teh game forum for making jokes and stuff and hardly anyone posts in our gamma server anymore cuz the second you post they lock the thread. Anywya when they changed the scouting system to the heads up display of colored dotts they just did it one day, no warning and then everyone lost all their fleets and then the same month they changed their forum dispaly and the contrast was horrible and i got bad eyes so i complained i couldnt read the forum i couldnt tell the difference between the green and the yellow dots on the scouting display cause some days i have color blindness caus eof my bad eye condidtion. So when i logged in to read the forum that day and couldnt even see the forum caust they messed up the forum display contrasts that was the week they were playing all these games on the game portal for free upgrades, so while everyone was losing all there fleets took them a couuple of years to make, the game admins messed the forum up, and then were making jokes about and wanted us to guess their age for a free upgrade, so i lost my temper and called either wizard (the game designer) or xaman (the guy who runs the game forum and game) idiots. So they suspned me off the forum.
Upgrades are optional. In AE playing for free means your construction gets gimped and you lose scanners. There then comes only two things you can pay for with your credits : Fleet and research. You can play free and compete but you should try to already have the construction you will do already done when the upgrade expires.
I found also playing free forces you to learn how to be efficient in your building choices. Like you do NOT collect a rainbow turret collection. I'm thinking of making a free player guide that acknowledges the limits of free, but how to maximize what you have .
A free player with 9 or 10 bases (because he succeeded at 10 in 7) will just not have the capacities of a player with 17 bases, but within the limits, it can still be a fairly good account that he may choose to upgrade later.


text:
Reality Check: Saved by His Grace, But Still Flawed
By Manuela Domingos
I read an article recently that perfectly described Christianity.
This article outlined how as people, we are so quick to point fingers and judge new believers. We expect God to snap his fingers, and immediately release us from the flawed, sinful nature of our past and turn us into the cookie cut perfect version of ourselves.
As much as we'd like to believe that this is true, it's not.
Accepting to be molded by Christ and welcoming Him into our lives simply means that we're going to go through change. Jesus didn't actively chose to only surround Himself around people that were perfect. He ate with prostitutes, tax collectors, and other sinners. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
This rings very familiar and true to modern day. "Why are you cussing so much if you're supposed to be a Christian?" "Gasp, you drink? But you're a Christian!" "I think as a Christian, you're supposed to cover up and not show your body off like that." We have this expectation of others to be perfect. Often times, we have this expectation of ourselves.
But if we understand the reality of what it means to accept Christ into our lives, we begin to understand his Grace.
Romans 9:15-16 states, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then, it does not depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."
I think this scripture reminds me of how blessed I am to be loved by Him. That regardless of where I am right now in life, I can thank Him for his Grace and the works He has done in my life. I can recognize, that because He is selfless, pure, kind, and loving, He loves me unconditionally.
Because of that unconditional love, I am going to be saved although flawed.
The beauty of a relationship with Christ is recognizing the wonderful Grace that He instills and what it means for me as a Christian.
I have so much to work on. It's going to be a long, strenuous journey.
But I trust that this is only teaching me to become a part of something great. Something bigger, although it may be completely hidden and unseen right now.
One day, through faith, I am going to look back and recognize how far I've come and the wonderful miracle that is my life. Through it all, I'm going to thank Him for loving me regardless.
I may be flawed, but I'm saved by His grace.


text:
Central Excise sleuths raided the firms of yoga guru Ramdev and claimed to have detected evasion of excise duty of over Rs 20 crore.
The Excise officials raided the firms of Ramdev in Uttarakhand yesterday and found that they were not paying excise duty on a number of cosmetic products being manufactured by them, Deputy Commissioner (Central Excise) R P Singh said today.
Though the total liability of the firms in this regard is still being ascertained, it must run into over Rs 20-22 crore, he said.
It was found that the firms were allegedly not paying excise duty on a number of products like soaps, handwash and facewash for quite some time.
The department is preparing to send a notice to Pantajali Yogpeeth in this connection, he said.


text:
Panda Dub project was born in 2007, in Lyon. Panda's style is a perfect blend of ethnic samples, edgy and powerfull electro tunes, and heavy rythm.
Panda Dub built his reputation on the web, with the release of Born 2 Dub in 2007 and Bamboo Roots in 2009 . In 2009 and 2010, he worked with Original Dub Gathering, a net label, to release the maxi single Subcontraire and the succefull EP Black Bamboo, downloaded more than 20 000 times after its release. In 2011, Panda Dub self-produced Antilogy, his only CD version's EP. After the apparition on many compilations, especially for ODGProd and Paproota net-labels, the Panda pursued with the release of Psychotic Symphony in January 2013.
After two years of touring across the world and six months of creation, Panda Dub returns in April 2015 with his new album «The Lost Ship» always available in free download on ODGProd.com.
BOOKING | Matt +33 (0)6 08 67 39 80 email@example.com


text:
QUESTION: Which of the following Austrian immigrants never directed a film in the English language?
A). Erich von Stroheim
B). Michael Haneke
C). Alexander Kolowrat
D). Billy Wilder
Immigrants make up the United States. Without the act of immigration, the population of this great nation would include quite a lot of squirrels and perhaps not much else. George Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's lineages trace to England. Barack Obama's father was from Kenya, and Donald Trump's grandfather was German born, and changed his name from Drumpf! In the movie business, immigration is much more common than even politics, and today's blog is going to honor a great Austrian-American film director. Jonas Sternberg was born in 1894 in Vienna, to a Jewish soldier. Looking for work, Jonah's dad moved to the United States, and brought the rest of the family. It didn't go so well, though, so they moved back to Vienna. Then back again to the United States. As a boy, Jonah dropped out of high school to work with his dad at a lace warehouse, before moving into a menial job at a film studio repairing movie prints. The studio was the World Film Company of Fort Lee, New Jersey (loyal blog readers might remember that name from Friday's tale of Evelyn Brent).
Truly starting at the bottom in movies, the young Sternberg added a 'von' to his name, implying nobility status and changed his first name to Josef. He worked his way up at the studio with the help of interested mentors. He made his directorial debut in 1925 with a film called The Salvation Hunters (amazingly, the film still exists!). Within a few years, he had made some tremendously popular films, including 1927's Underworld and the next year's The Last Command, but it wasn't long before the jobs slowed down. So he went to Germany and directed the up-and-coming Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel, which would prove highly influential the world over. Sternberg and Dietrich worked together on six films. He made her a star, and he continued making movies into the 1950's, with varying success. By the end of the '50's, he could no longer get funding and he took a job teaching film at UCLA, where his classes impacted young musicians Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek, who accredited Sternberg with heavily influencing the music of their band The Doors. He died in 1969 at the age of 75.
ANSWER: C). Alexander Kolowrat


text:
VANCOUVER - British Columbia birds outfitted with tiny backpacks have shown researchers that birds of a feather do not always flock together.
Forty birds from two distinct groups of Swainson's thrushes — one in Pacific Spirit Park in Vancouver and another near the Interior city of Kamloops — were fitted with penny-sized geolocators.
The state-of-the-art technology recorded light intensity data just about every day for a year, as the olive-green birds migrated as far south as South America over the winter and returned to British Columbia for the summer of 2011.
That information allowed the researchers to determine where the birds went and where they stopped along the way, confirming what has long been suspected.
"These two groups are taking very different routes," said Kira Delmore, a zoology PhD student at the University of British Columbia and lead author of the paper published this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B.
The two groups took different routes to different wintering grounds: the Vancouver birds down the coast to Mexico and Central America, and the Kamloops birds across the Rocky Mountains and down the central United States to South America.
The backpacks weighed just one gram, compared to the birds' 30 grams, and they didn't disrupt their flight. Return rates of the 40 birds in the study were the same as past years, she said.
As they fit each bird individually in June 2010, Delmore and her colleagues learned that a bird in the hand ... is a hard thing to accomplish.
"It can be quite a trial," she said. "To fit the backpacks to the birds, we make what they call a leg loop backpack harness, so it just loops around their legs and sits on their backs."
Previous research suggests the migration routes are genetically determined, and the results gathered in June 2011 raise the possibility that migratory behaviour plays a role in the process by which one species becomes two.
"Given that migratory behaviour is under genetic influence in many species of birds, these results raise the question of what hybrids between these two subspecies would do," Darren Irwin, associate professor of Zoology at UBC and co-author of the paper, said in a statement.
"One possibility is that hybrids would take an intermediate route, leading to more difficulties during migration. If so, the migratory differences might be preventing the two forms from blending into one."
Although songbirds travel solo at night, in each distinct group the birds stopped at the same sites along the way.
"All of the individuals from each one of our populations are actually stopping at the same sites, on migration. For example, all of the birds from Kamloops stopped in Alabama before crossing the Gulf of Mexico," Delmore said.
That information will help with conservation.
"We know that habitat availability is going down and now we know where the birds really need to stop and where they really need to spend time on migration, so we can focus our conservation efforts on those areas."
Also on HuffPost


text:
Morgan McKinley
Under the proposed changes to IR35 due in April 2020, the responsibility of determination will move to the end hirer or client and the liability for deducting and paying the tax will rest with the fee payer.
After a slow start to 2019, hiring of compliance professionals has since improved. Medium to smaller sized institutions have been responsible for this boost in recruitment.
View our infographic outlining a few simple and effective ways an organisation can try to instil a level of positivity in their corporate culture.
What is corporate culture, who does it well and why is it important? What steps can organisations take if they want to positively influence the culture in their workplace?
Nowadays, the workforce consists of individuals from different generations, backgrounds and personalities. With such a variety of people all wanting different things from their employer, organisations have to offer increasingly alternative benefits to stand out from competitors.
Tom Hardin spent much of his career as a hedge fund analyst focusing on global equities in the technology sector. He became one of the most prolific informants in securities fraud history, credited with helping build criminal cases in "Operation Perfect Hedge", a Wall Street house cleaning campaign.
Following on from episode one of our two part sit down series with Tom Hardin, also known as Tipper X, we will be covering how he got caught and the role of compliance now as to what it was then.
Professionals have had to adapt to tough market conditions and in some instances have reduced their rates in order to secure Compliance jobs.
The New York Times called him "The secret witness at the center of the biggest insider trading case in a generation." I recently sat down with Tom Hardin, also known as Tipper X, to discuss his background and how he got to where he is today.


text:
Tomorrow is International Coastal Cleanup Day. Volunteers in all of California's counties will be out tomorrow morning removing litter from waterways and beaches. Data from the clean up day is used to create a litter characterization study. Cigarettes, polystyrene and plastic bags are consistently among the top items cleaned up.
Find a Volunteer Opportunity Near You
Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi will be joined by environmentalists tomorrow morning for a press conference in Santa Monica to discuss policy solutions to the ongoing problem of marine litter.
CAW and Marine Debris:


text:
Warning: This post contains way to many exclamation points and capital letters. Its the only way I can show you guys HOW EXCITED I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am OVERJOYED to announce that Lindsey and Brandon are Expecting!!!!!!She is going to be a MOM and I'm going to be an AUNT!!!!!!
(Also Brandon is going to be a dad! Let's not forget about him! He played a big role in the whole thing! Ha ha!!)
So a little back story for everyone that I want to remember in years to come. The other day I was on Facebook and saw where Lindsey's friend Crystal had wrote on Lindsey's wall. She wrote "Can't wait until Christmas! ;)"
Ok, when you just read that did you notice the winky smiley face? Probably not but I did! I immediately called Lindsey like 5 times and texted her another 5. She wasn't responding to me and I was getting more excited by the minute. Why you may ask? Why would I get so worked up over a winky smiley face?? Well Crystal is pregnant and somehow I just KNEW that Lindsey was to and that is why Crystal wrote that. I just KNEW that she knew Lindsey was pregnant and Lindsey was waiting until Christmas to tell us.
When Lindsey wouldn't answer I immediately called Whitney and told her what I read and what I thought. She said..."Calm down Tiffany I think you are reading way to much into this winky smiley." I thought maybe you are right but who writes they are ready for Christmas on someones facebook wall for no reason and uses a WINKY SMILEY!!!! Not a regular one a WINKY SMILEY!!! Lindsey beeped in while I was talking to Whitney so I asked her if she was pregnant. She INSISTED that she wasn't and that she had no idea what Crystal meant by it and that actually she hadn't even noticed the winky smiley.
Well, fast forward to Christmas Eve. We were all there and Whitney and I go on to tell the story about the winky smiley and how I got so worked up over nothing. (that was Whitney's words, not mine. It wasn't nothing, it was a WINKY SMILEY!!) anyway, anyone who knows us knows how animated we are so we go on and on telling the story and everyone is talking about how dumb I am for reading so much into the stupid WINKY SMILEY.
Well fast forward to Christmas day. We are all at moms eating breakfast and Lindsey and her whole family came over to see us. Well Lindsey walked over to Nana and all of a sudden I hear Nana squeal and in 2 seconds flat I was over there. Guess What............(I know you already know but humor me...)
Lindsey is PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She has known since THANKSGIVING and has kept it a secret! Her friend Crystal did know because she saw Lindsey at the doctor. She wanted to wait and tell her parents Christmas morning and then told all of us.
Lindsey, I am SO SO SO SO SO SO EXCITED for you guys!!!!! You are going to be a wonderful mother!!! I also promise to be a WONDERFUL AUNT!!!!!!!!
I think I'm getting on Ryan's nerves it's all me and Ryleigh talk about anymore! We can't wait to keep it. I also can't wait until we find out what it is. She already has names picked out which I LOVE but I didn't ask her if I can share them so I'll wait on that! I'm also planning her a gender reveal party for when she finds out what it is. I can't wait!
CONGRATULATIONS Lindsey and Brandon!!! We couldn't possibly be happier for you!! (As you can tell from all the capital letter and my use of exclamation points!!!!!!)


text:
Veggies Collar
Mama always said, eat your veggies :) - this super cute and tiny veggie necklace is the perfect cheeky piece for all the plant lovers, the plant based eaters and the veg lovers out there.
Necklace measures 15'' in length, the pendant is 1" across and cast in brass with a beautiful 14k gold plating. All chain and finding are made of 14k gold fill.


text:
Mon-Fri 11AM – 2AM
Sat 3PM-2AM
52 Belden Place
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 906-9048
About Them
Whether looking to have a quick lunch, conduct a business meeting, host a banquet or go on a first date – Toy Soldier's blend of California & comfort cuisine is sure to deliver. They offer a casual & lively atmosphere sprawled across their main dining room, full bar, romantic upstairs lounge & outdoor dining area.
They're serving up fun, military-inspired specialty cocktails and a wine program emphasizing Northern California. All libations have a focus on small producers and growers – their regional rotations will explore all the best California has to offer.


text:
South Carolina AFL-CIO Leader Bashes Nikki Haley Pinata
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) -- A video has surfaced showing Donna Dewitt, the outgoing president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, bashing a piñata of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley's face while Dewitt and her colleagues were at a retreat in Columbia, S.C. Saturday afternoon.
"Well I will say, she looks like a tough old girl here," Dewitt says as she gears up to swing at the piñata.
She repeatedly hits the piñata, which bears the phrase "Unions are not needed, wanted or welcome in South Carolina" below Haley's face. In her State of the State address this year, Haley said, "We'll make the unions understand full well that they are not needed, not wanted and not welcome in the state of South Carolina." Dewitt whacks the piñata down and continues to wail away at it once it's fallen. Onlookers cheer her on, urging her to continue hitting the piñata.
"Give her another whack. Whack her again," a woman screams.
"Hit her again," another man says.
Dewitt told ABC News she has no regrets about the incident and said there was "no ill intent" in what she was doing. Dewitt said her colleagues brought the piñata and were using it as a "memoir" of Haley's words and actions towards unions in her time as governor.
"They made it and I would have played the game with them no matter it would have been pin the tail on the donkey with Nikki Haley's face on it. I still would have played," Dewitt told ABC News over the phone. "There was no ill intent....I'm not mad or angry."
"We've been the brunt of her comments now for two years and that's what the whole thing was. She's been whacking at us over the last two years," Dewitt, who has been president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO for the past 16 years and will retire at the end of June, continued. "Anyone that knows me knows there was no ill intent at all. Our folks don't go to speeches with guns and things like that. We have very loving people in our unions who will take up money for people or a vet. We just heard these comments by the governor for over the two years. They were using a memoir of the last two years I've lived under her leadership."
"Kids use piñatas all the time," she added.
Nikki Haley even reacted to the video, tweeting the link and this message: "Wow. I wonder if the unions think this kind of thing will make people take them seriously. Check this out."
"There is no place for that in civil public discourse, and that video no more represents the people of South Carolina than union bosses represent our workers," Rob Godfrey, spokesman for Haley, said in an email.
Rick Wiley, political director for the RNC, reacted to the video by tweeting back to Haley as he called the group "a pathetic bunch."
Alison Omens, director of media outreach at AFL-CIO, emailed this comment on Dewitt's actions: "By now many of you have seen the video of the outgoing president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO. While it was meant as fun, there is absolutely no place for that kind of joke in a conversation that is extremely serious about how to rebuild our middle class and our country. There's plenty to talk about in Gov. Haley's awful record. We do not believe that's an appropriate joke -- working people deserve a better conversation."
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio


text:
"Easy Virtue," Stephan Elliott's carbonated screen adaptation of an early Noël Coward play, is so intent on sustaining a facade of fizzy effervescence that it incorporates bouncy period-style versions of songs by Coward and Cole Porter as a peppy running soundtrack. One character, John Whittaker (Ben Barnes), a dewy English upper-class twit who brings his glamorous, somewhat older new American wife, Larita (Jessica Biel), home to meet his poisonous family, is so enamored of the songs that snippets of the lyrics seep into his dialogue.
It may be a cute device that works for a while, but Mr. Elliott, who wrote the screenplay with Sheridan Jobbins, overuses it in a movie whose breathless, hyperkinetic style harks back to his 1994 comedy, "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." (Since then Mr. Elliott has directed only two features, "Welcome to Woop Woop" and "Eye of the Beholder.")
This movie's insistent jazz-age lilt is ultimately at odds with a play written in 1924 that attacks the hypocrisy, smugness and benighted values of the English landed gentry between the wars. The screenplay includes scattered Coward bons mots, but the witticisms don't come as thick or as fast as in his later plays.
"Easy Virtue" follows the travails of Larita, a brash, beautiful, widowed race-car driver from Detroit whom John meets in Monaco and impulsively marries. John's mother, Veronica (Kristin Scott Thomas), is predisposed to loathe her new daughter-in-law. And from the moment Larita steps out of John's BMW roadster onto the Whittaker estate, she campaigns for Larita's undoing.
In its cold-eyed assessment of the English aristocracy "Easy Virtue" has none of the lurking Anglophilia found in Merchant-Ivory movies. The interior of the castle on the family's 400-acre estate is shabby and filled with lumpy furniture that is as ugly as it is uncomfortable looking. Except for a Thanksgiving dinner that Veronica arranges, the food is unappetizing.Continue reading the main story
Ms. Scott Thomas, deglamorized to play Veronica, is an embittered, snobbish dragon lady who derides Larita as a "floozy." Larita's allergy to pollen — she sneezes when given a tour of the castle's attached greenhouse — symbolizes the unbreachable divide between the two women. Her gift of a Cubist painting turns out to be exactly the wrong present.
Veronica's husband, Jim (Colin Firth), disheveled and unshaven, spends his days tinkering in his automotive workshop. In the film's most poignant moment he recalls the slaughter of all the men under his command during World War I. After the war this self-described member of "the romantic lost generation" drifted around France carousing and having affairs.
John, the family's golden boy, may be charming, but once in the shadow of his possessive mother, his independence and resolve dissipate rapidly. His two dreary sisters, Hilda (Kimberley Nixon) and Marion (Katherine Parkinson), both under Veronica's thumb, become allies in her campaign to destroy his marriage. The little melodramas that erupt in the Whittaker household loom large. There is an accident involving the family's Chihuahua for which Larita takes the blame; a local revue in which one daughter, at Larita's supposed behest, scandalizes the family by dancing a can can without her scanties; a fox hunt in which the ever-spirited Larita, who abhors hunting as a blood sport, rides a motorcycle instead of a horse.
As scandalous secrets are uncovered about Larita's first marriage to a much older man who died of cancer, her callow young husband, with whom she has a spicy sex life, begins to withdraw. The movie uses ingenious visual symbols — curved oval mirrors and stuffed animal heads — to suggest the Whittakers' warped Victorian values and the deadness of a culture Larita finds unendurable. You wouldn't want to spend an afternoon with the dull, doughy-looking local gentry who attend the Whittakers' parties.
If Coward, later in his career, became an eloquent defender of all things English, "Easy Virtue" suggests that the ardent patriotism that took hold in the '30s and '40s had yet to assert itself. The free-spirited Larita — and by implication, America itself — represents the brave new future; the Whittakers and all they stand for might as well be extinct.
"Easy Virtue" is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has sexual situations.
Opens on Friday in Manhattan.
Directed by Stephan Elliott; written by Mr. Elliott and Sheridan Jobbins, based on the play by Noël Coward; director of photography, Martin Kenzie; edited by Sue Blainey; music by Marius de Vries; production designer, John Beard; produced by Barnaby Thompson, Joe Abrams and James D. Stern; released by Sony Pictures Classics. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes.
WITH: Jessica Biel (Larita), Colin Firth (Mr. Whittaker), Kristin Scott Thomas (Mrs. Whittaker), Ben Barnes (John), Kris Marshall (Furber), Kimberley Nixon (Hilda), Katherine Parkinson (Marion), Pip Torrens (Lord Hurst), Christian Brassington (Philip) and Charlotte Riley (Sarah).Continue reading the main story


text:
Why You Should Eat Goitrogenic Foods
Goitrogens are compounds that can cause an enlargement of the thyroid gland, called a "goiter". Many drugs have a goitrogenic effect in the body, such as lithium and phenylbutazone. Goitrogenic drugs are notorious for interfering with iodine metabolism (the thyroid needs iodine to produce thyroid hormones). When there is an insufficient amount of iodine to make these hormones, our pituitary gland in the brain will signal the thyroid to grow in order to make more thyroid hormone, and this results in a goiter!
That was in relation to drugs. Foods on the other hand are not "goitrogenic". Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, kale, spinach, cabbage and cauliflower are often deemed as goitrogenic foods and many people are told not to eat them because of this, however this is an incorrect term as these do not interfere with the thyroid function of a healthy individual, even when consumed daily & in their raw form!
Avoiding these foods as a form of prevention for thyroid deficiency is not the right choice to make, nutritionally speaking!
What causes a problem for certain individual, is not linked to the food itself, as foods are all digested differently by everyone. We all have a highly individualized digestive tract and our own unique sensitivities, there is not one "right" way of eating for everyone.
If you have an under active thyroid you may be sensitive to the goitrogenic compound in foods, but you should not avoid these nutrient dense foods all together. An iodine deficiency in the thyroid is caused by the lack of iodine-containing foods, not because of "goitrogenic" food consumption. It is recommended that you lightly steam the following foods before consumption to eliminate goitrogenic compounds all together if you do have a hypothyroidism, however lightly steaming does not mean avoiding!:
Bok choy
Brussels Sprouts
Canola (avoid)
Chinese cabbage
Collard greens
Mustard Greens
Soy (avoid)
Tofu (avoid)
If you didn't already think that list was long enough, the following foods can also have a mild amounts of so-called "goitrogens":
Sweet potatoes
Pine nuts
Avoiding all these "goitrogenic" foods would be absolutely absurd! This list is longer than most would think, it goes beyond avoiding spinach, kale and broccoli!
When it comes to thyroid health
Other nutrients like tyrosine and selenium play an important role in thyroid health. Selenium is a trace mineral required for certain actions in the thyroid gland, with an insignificant amount of selenium in the diet this deficiency can play a role in thyroid problems. Our soil in Ontario is deficient in Selenium and this does play a huge part in thyroid health. Foods that are rich in selenium, that you should include daily for preventative purposes are:
Organic Grass Fed Beef
Mung Beans
Pinto Beans
Shiitake Mushrooms
Sesame Seeds
Sunflower Seeds
Brazil Nuts
Raw Cacao
Chia Seeds
Crimini Mushrooms
Organic Chicken
Flax Seeds
What's the real deal here
This all may be conflicting information, since many people have been told by practitioners that there is such a thing as goitrogenic foods and that they should be avoided. Those with hypothyroidism are likely told to avoid all these foods listed, which can be a big mistake since these foods contain way too many beneficial nutrients for to be eliminated from the diet.
Cruciferous vegetables have powerful protective advances against many cancers like breast, prostate, colon, bladder and lung. If you have a healthy thyroid you do not need to avoid these foods as prevention, if you do have hypothyroidism, still consume these foods because you will still benefit them, instead you should lightly steam them in order to eliminate the goitrogenic compounds.
In order to support a healthy thyroid consume a diet with a variety of selenium containing foods and also include seaweeds like kelp which are a natural source of iodine! Plus be sure to read my new post on Thyroid Health


text:
Do you know that some sunscreens can prevent sunburn, reduce your risk of getting skin cancer, and help prevent early signs of skin aging? This infographic tells you how to choose a sunscreen that does all three.
Download this infographic
How you apply your sunscreen also affects how well it protects you. You can find out how to get the most protection from your sunscreen by watching the Academy's video "How to apply sunscreen".


text:
Question: Do I have to pay Zakat on my car and home?
Answer: You do not have to pay Zakat on any personal effects you own. By personal, I mean anything used primarily by yourself and your family for your general welfare and quality of life.
If you own a car or home for investment and/or resale then you pay 2.5% on the market price after having possessed it for one year. If you own a car or home and lease it to others, then you pay 2.5% on the revenue earned not the asset'study market price.
And Allah knows best.
Don't see what you're looking for here? Try our Zakat page for more information.


text:
At Zamfund, the main focus is to give young women an opportunity to succeed through top-level education, as efficiently as possible. There is no red tape. There are no bureaucrats. We have wonderful and dedicated volunteers on the ground in Zambia, a great school to work with, and eager pupils and families ready to succeed. It's our job to provide the money they need to be successful.
The Proof in the Pencil
The fastest way to improve society as a whole is to educate women. It is the main strategy that many popular campaigns for economic development and human rights such as Girl Rising and the 10x10 campaign because it should be. Educating women works. The United Nations Development Index recently concluded that the status of women is the best predictor of economic and national development. Educating women improves their earning potential, reduces their chances of teen pregnancy, lowers the rate of mortality, and the likelihood she will contract HIV/AIDS. Educating women increases their political, economic, and social freedom.Educated woman, on average, have healthier families and their children are far more likely to finish school. Educating women improves the health of entire communities. A study funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found:
"...for every extra year of education women had, the death rate for children under 5 dropped by almost 10 percent. They estimated that 4.2 million fewer children died in 2009 than in 1970 because women of child-bearing age in developing countries were more educated. In 1970, women in developing countries ages 18 to 44 had attended about two years of school. In 2009, it was about seven years." (Source: NYTimes)
The greatest barrier to women finishing school in Zambia is money. Not only does a secondary education cost money, but many families cannot afford to send their daughters to school because their daughters provide income for the family. This barrier is common in the developing world. The World Bank found that young women in Pakistan attend school more often and do better academically if a stipend helps to cover costs of transportation and books. Taking it a step further, a program in Mexico called "Oportunidades" found that by providing the pupil's family with money, the pupil had a much greater chance of finishing school. This is why Zamfund incentivizes education by providing sponsored students' families with a monthly IGA. A little bit goes a long way, as all of our pupils are currently succeeding in school and have the full support of their families. We have adopted this model to ensure that our students finish school. By removing barriers, we ensure our sponsored students' success. When you donate to Zamfund, your money will go directly to a motivated student who has proven herself academically and who been hand-picked by her teachers. Your money goes directly to a student that has earned the opportunity to succeed but needs your help.
How we are different from other sponsor-a-child programs?
Existing sponsorship programs typically do not require their students to meet significant academic or personal standards. Most sponsorship programs only major admission criterion is the financial status of the applicant. Though allowing previously helpless individuals to attend school is well intentioned, it is, unfortunately, too often inefficient and ineffective. The main problem with a non-exclusive program with minimal expectations and standards is that many students simply do not stay in the program. A high drop-out rate has a number of causes. Some reasons for program dropout are outside the control of program management, such as family strife and poverty, pregnancy, disease, relocation, religious or cultural beliefs, and others. However, the major problem is that the sponsored students do not possess the personal and academic characteristics necessary for finishing their education. With a more rigorous admission process and better oversight, feedback, and monitoring of the sponsored student, we believe that retention rates will increase. And more importantly, talented, driven, and qualified students will be receiving and finishing the secondary education they deserve.
Ask any NGO director who oversees a sponsorship program and they will tell you that dropout is their primary problem. Retention rates remain remarkably low in many sponsorship programs, with some as low as 30%. A 30% success rate is not an acceptable measurement of success for any program, but more importantly it is unfair to the many students who would have dropped out. Many programs also suffer from lack of oversight, for as the number of sponsored children increase more individuals begin to slip through the cracks. In our program, sponsored students are closely monitored at their school, by the Happy Africa Foundation, and by the Nakatindi Committee. For example, absences and tardiness are recorded by the headmaster at St. Mary's School and immediately reported to Zamfund and the Happy Africa Foundation if there is no justifiable explanation by the student. If the number of absences and tardy days is deemed inappropriate, the Board reserves the right to suspend or cancel sponsorship. The sponsorship program is restricted to girls in hopes of working to reduce the inequality of women in education and society and because it provides the best opportunity for development and social progress. Education is often not an option for many women because of financial incapacitation, and many aspiring young women are locked out of promising futures simply because they cannot afford the price of a quality secondary school education. Our Foundation feels this is unacceptable, and aims to reduce gender inequality in education and invest in the future of promising young women through smart sponsorship.


text:
Let's face it, feet have it rough! Not only do they have to carry the load of our entire body weight around, but they're constantly in danger of becoming too sweaty, too stressed, or too squished in their shoes! At McDowell Orthopedics & Podiatry Group, we see all sorts of skin conditions that affect the feet as well. Sorry feet, you've got even more to worry about!
Be on Guard Against Blisters– these fluid-filled bubbles form to protect skin against friction, but despite their good intentions, blisters can cause pain and difficulty wearing shoes. Protect the bubble from bursting by covering it with a bandage. Make sure the top layer remains intact to keep infection out.
Prevention tip: Always wear socks with your shoes, make sure your shoes fit correctly, and change sweaty socks often!
Be Wary of Warts – caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV), warts are thick layers of dead skin that build up and can be painful if they form on the bottom of your foot! These growths are contagious and will spread, too.
Prevention tip: Keep feet clean and wear shower shoes in public places.
Be Careful to Stay Clear of Corns – Signified by thick, hardened layers of skin, corns form in places like the tops and tip of toes in response to friction and pressure. They are typically hard in the middle and surrounded by inflamed skin that can be painful.
Prevention tip: Use padding as a layer of protection between your skin and shoe, always wear socks, and make sure your shoes fit!
Of course, these are just a few of the skin conditions that affect the feet – that's why you've got to stay on your toes (so to speak) and be proactive to keep feet healthy and problem-free!
For more tips, answers to your questions, or to make an appointment to keep your feet happy, give our Carmichael, CA office at (916) 961-3434.
We'll help you with blisters, corns, and warts, oh my, plus, a whole lot more!


text:
The Kalahari Desert and The Makgadikgadi Pan
11th June 2020 - 16 days
11th June 2020
Support Vehicles: 1
Group Size: 6
Age: 6+
16 days
Price: POA
Off Road
Deep in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve a small group sit under a Camelthorn Acacia around a fire at one of the campsites, Deception 6. Earlier in the day, only a couple of kilometres from where we are sat we had followed the spoor of a big male Lion who was walking slowly in the direction of our camp. There was an air of excited anticipation, albeit tinged with a fear of the powerful symbol of Africa. As the milky Way filled the sky we heard him roar, quite close so as the camps here do not have fences we turned in for the night serenaded by his roar that got every closer, until he settled down some yards from our camp


text:
At times, an employee may need time away from their job for medical reasons or because of pressing family needs. Through FMLA, an employee may be granted up to 12 weeks of unpaid medical and family leave.
The Chancery
222 South Third Street
Belleville, IL 62220
Director of Human Resources
Mrs. Tina Kohrmann
(618) 722-5005
Fax: (618) 722-5020
Human Resources Administrative Assistant
Sheila Daniels
(618) 722-5006


text:
"Trash2Trash" Entices People to Clean Up New York City By Trashing Their Least Favorite Celebrity.
TRASH2TRASH is a fun and integrative way to motivate New Yorkers to reduce litter and clean up our streets.
By picking your most hated celebrity, the incentive is to trash your vote rather than trashing our streets. Each day we research online the most hated celebrities in America, and place their face on specially designed trash cans around the city. Not only did New Yorkers engaged with our initiative, they loved the idea so much they would pick up litter off the ground just to trash their vote. With photos, reactions shared on social media and visits from 35 different countries on the project's website the results of TRASH2TRASH were evidently a success.
Voting Results:
("NOWTHIS" Facebook Live Interview)


text:
class Insecta
Limata karooensis Oldroyd, 1954.
Initial species uploading to the site: Peter Khramov.
Note: you should have a Insecta.pro account to upload new topics and comments. Please, create an account or log in to add comments
* Our website is multilingual. Some comments have been translated from other languages.
There are no photos of this species on the website yet. You can offer your photo by logging into your account
Limata bedfordi Oldroyd, 1954
Limata capensis Wiedemann, 1821
Limata facialis Oldroyd, 1954
Limata kuhnelti Usher, 1967
Limata laevifrons Loew, 1858
Limata miranda Usher, 1968
Limata parafacialis Oldroyd, 1957
Limata seyrigi Seguy, 1955
Limata tenuicornis Macquart, 1838


text:
in N
The 'way' group
These nouns are used to indicate that you are talking about one aspect of something, or to indicate what that aspect is.
in a sense in a way in some/many respects in some/many ways in this respect in terms of ...
But in many respects the outlook is increasingly promising.
I don't think we will see a huge difference in terms of sales.
In a way I felt sorry for him.


text:
There were 2 big events going on last weekend. The SoCal Nevada District Elite Track Championships, and th Collegiate National Track Championships.
Matt Donovan scored another championship jersey. You might remember he got himself a masters championship in the match sprints in August. Now he can add an Elite state championship jersey to that collection, as he ( along with his 2 teammates) won the team sprint competition. They beat some really high quality teams to do it, so that make the victory that much sweeter.
I coach 2 of the riders that went to collegiate track nationals. Julia and Kelcie both set PRs in the 500m and 2000m time trials, while Kelcie also set a PR in the 200m. Julia not only set personal records, but won bronze medals in both the 200m and the 2K. The highlight of the weekend was when Julia and Kelcie won the team sprint with their teammate Anna Lang, so they all get to go home with a national champ jersey.
So the tally for the weekend is:
1 elite state championship
5 personal records
2 Bronze medals at a national event
2 National Championship jerseys
A Great Photo of Matt During a Sprint:


text:
Pamela + Steve + Max + Gus + Lucy at Lake Harriet
These guys are just the best of the best and I'm lucky enough to run around with them once or twice a year to create some photos that prove it. I think from now on I'm going to make it a goal to incorporate the game "Pass The Retriever" into my photo shoots. ;)


text:
The WebXR Device API is the next iteration of WebVR, and the API that we intend to release in stable browsers at some point and support going forward. It's still a work in progress, but the first (mostly) working implementation is now available in Chrome Canary for Android and Windows behind a flag, and so it's the perfect time for motivated developers to start playing with the API and giving the Immersive Web Community Group feedback!
Exploring the Immersive Web
Monday, February 12, 2018
Early access to the WebXR Device API in Chrome Canary
Hey, are you a web developer that wants to play with bleeding-edge browser VR APIs and influence their development? If so read on!
Posted by Brandon Jones at 5:16 PM
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
New experimental WebVR builds for Android
It's an exciting time for WebVR on mobile right now! Today the Chrome team announced that WebVR is available as an Origin Trial in the Chrome 56 Beta for Android. Oculus has also recently launched their Carmel browser preview, and Samsung is continuing to improve their implementation. On the desktop side Mozilla is continuing to make great progress, and the spec is making huge strides as all of the interested parties (like Microsoft, whose input has been invaluable!) identify the rough points and flesh out the edge cases. The future of VR on the web looks bright!
And because we're so excited about that future, a few of us on the Chrome VR team wanted to give developers a peek at what's coming for WebVR performance beyond the Chrome 56 release. Browser release schedules being what they are we weren't able to get all of the optimizations for WebVR into Chrome 56 that we wanted and still hit the release date. We've already got some exciting proof-of-concepts for significant performance enhancements that we intend to make part of future builds though! So in the tradition of the experimental desktop builds that have bootstrapped the WebVR desktop development community we're making an experimental Android Chromium build available today on https://webvr.info/get-chrome (Look for ChromePublic-webvr-native-WIP-201*****.apk)
This build carries with it all the caveats of the previous experimental Chrome builds for Android. It's not intended for normal browsing, it's definitely a bit unstable, it doesn't have various patent-encumbered media decoders baked in, and it comes with exactly zero support. What it DOES have is our latest and greatest rendering pipeline research that we've found to yield pretty impressive performance wins.
I should take a moment and call out my colleague on the Chrome VR team Klaus Weidner for his excellent work in this area. I may have the public reputation for being the WebVR guy, but Klaus is responsible for a great deal of the WebVR rendering optimization on Android. He gave a great lightning talk about the work he's being doing at the W3C VR workshop this October, which you should check out if you're interested in that kind of thing!
There's some known issues outlined in the Release Notes you should know about, the primary one being that this is currently only for Daydream Ready devices (though a Daydream View is not required.) But if you're a WebVR developer with the right hardware take a peek and give us some feedback!
[EDIT: I also wanted to clarify the Origin Trial thing, since it appears to be a point of confusion. Origin Trials are for sites that want to make a feature available to all of their visitors by default. It's intended for use on pages like the ones linked below that are public facing and don't want to make users flip obscure flags to see the VR content.
If you're just doing development or testing of WebVR pages, though, you do NOT need an Origin Trial token! You can access the exact same features by turning on the "WebVR" and "Gamepad Extensions" flags in about:flags. (The Origin Trial covers both features).]
[EDIT: I also wanted to clarify the Origin Trial thing, since it appears to be a point of confusion. Origin Trials are for sites that want to make a feature available to all of their visitors by default. It's intended for use on pages like the ones linked below that are public facing and don't want to make users flip obscure flags to see the VR content.
If you're just doing development or testing of WebVR pages, though, you do NOT need an Origin Trial token! You can access the exact same features by turning on the "WebVR" and "Gamepad Extensions" flags in about:flags. (The Origin Trial covers both features).]
A couple of pages I recommend trying out with the new build
- https://webvr.info/samples (of course)
- https://www.clicktorelease.com/code/cruciform/vr/
- https://threejs.org/examples/?q=webvr
- https://media.tojicode.com/q3bsp/ (If you've got the stomach for it the touchpad on the Daydream controller will let you run around the level w/ click to jump!)
Happy WebVR-ing!
Posted by Brandon Jones at 11:23 PM
Friday, September 9, 2016
Update on WebVR spec, Chrome, and HTTPS
(This post was originally sent to the public-webvr mailing list, which you should totally follow if you're interested in the latest and greatest WebVR news!)
Hello WebVR community!
The Chrome team has been a little quiet on the WebVR front recently, and I apologize for that and thank you for your patience. We've been heads down and working hard to deliver the best experience we can for developers as soon as we can. Several things have happened recently that will affect what we're delivering and how. As such, we wanted to give developers an update.
Posted by Brandon Jones at 11:29 AM
Friday, April 8, 2016
Oculus Rift and HTC Vive review
By virtue of the WebVR work I've been doing I've been lucky enough to have a fair amount of access to VR hardware, and at this point feel like I've got a pretty good handle on where each of the newly released devices stand in relation to one another. Since it seems to be a popular topic lately I figured I'd give a brief overview of my thoughts on the Vive and Rift.
Posted by Brandon Jones at 5:45 PM
Monday, February 29, 2016
Moving towards WebVR 1.0
Consumer VR is at our doorsteps, and it's sparking the imagination of developers and content creators everywhere. As such it's no surprise that interest in WebVR is booming. Publications like the LA Times have used WebVR to explore the landscape of Mars, and a doctor was able to save the life of a little girl by taking advantage of Sketchfab's VR features. The creativity and the passion of the WebVR community has been incredible!
Those of us who have been defining and implementing the API feel a responsibility to make sure that it keeps pace with the current state of VR hardware and software. That's not always easy with the breakneck speed with which the field has been evolving, and as we look at the API as it exists today there's some significant disconnects from the realities of modern VR.
A quick refresher about how we arrived at the point that we're at now: When WebVR was first conceived by Vlad Vukicevic (April 2014) Oculus had just barely announced the DK2 and the only VR headset most people could get was the DK1. The Vive, 6DoF controllers, Hololens, and GearVR were still behind closed doors at this point. Cardboard had only just been announced when we first started making builds available. The APIs used to interact with the hardware that was available looked very different than it does today. That's why in my initial blog post about the API I said "Keep in mind that these interfaces absolutely, without question, WILL change".
We're taking that sentiment to heart, and in the interest of keeping WebVR relevant and (hopefully) a bit more future proof we're proposing some major, backwards-compatibility-breaking changes. You can see the new proposed spec here, but I wanted to cover some of the changes in a bit more detail and go into the rational behind them.
Posted by Brandon Jones at 9:44 AM
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Bringing VR to Chrome
[Update: WebVR has evolved quite a bit since this post! Read about the latest changes.]
WebVR-enabled Nightly Chromium Builds
Go here for builds
Chromium WebVR experimental branch
Demos (Should work with Chrome and Firefox's WebVR implementation)
Quake 3 level renderer (Source) - Click the "VR" button in the lower right
WebVR test page (Source) - Simple test apps
Related Links
blink-dev "Intent to Implement WebVR" thread
Vladimir Vukićević blog post about Mozilla's WebVR implementation
web-vr-discuss mailing list - If you have feedback about WebVR in general, this is the place for it
Chrome WebVR bug tracker - If you have issues with Chrome's WebVR implementation, log them here.
The Good StuffLet's get all the links out of the way upfront, because that's what you're really here for, right?
WebVR-enabled Nightly Chromium Builds
Go here for builds
Chromium WebVR experimental branch
Demos (Should work with Chrome and Firefox's WebVR implementation)
Quake 3 level renderer (Source) - Click the "VR" button in the lower right
WebVR test page (Source) - Simple test apps
Related Links
blink-dev "Intent to Implement WebVR" thread
Vladimir Vukićević blog post about Mozilla's WebVR implementation
web-vr-discuss mailing list - If you have feedback about WebVR in general, this is the place for it
Chrome WebVR bug tracker - If you have issues with Chrome's WebVR implementation, log them here.
WebVR: What it is and what it isn't.To start out, I'm going to highly recommend that you go read Vlad's blog post about Mozilla's WebVR plans first. Chrome's current implementation is very close to Firefox's, so it doesn't make sense to re-state what's already been written. (I'll discuss the differences in implementations in a moment.)
Posted by Brandon Jones at 1:37 PM
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Crowdsourcing Unreal Tournament
I spent an awful lot of time from my middle school years forward learning everything I could about the mechanics of making video games. The goal being, of course, to make my own. And not some silly small asteroids game or anything like that. No! I wanted to build Shooters and Platformers and RPGs. The epic kind! With lots of story and cut scenes and hours of gameplay in massive open worlds! (Ah, the joys of blissfully and unknowingly throwing oneself at impossible tasks.)
As you might imagine, I failed spectacularly at this effort. Luckily for me I never quite viewed it as a failure. It was just a matter of not yet knowing enough about subject X or software Y or technique Z. So my quixotic quest actually propelled me to learn a tremendous amount about programming and graphics development and all manner of related subjects, a fact which I am enormously grateful for today as it has directly led to my current employment. And even today I still have a tendency to chase after projects that are too big for me to reasonably handle in the free time I have available. But that's okay, because this is one of those cases where shooting for the moon really can land you among the stars, and it gives me a wonderful excuse to try all manner of fun, crazy things that would never come up in the course of my day-to-day job but still prove useful anyway.
Given this background, I couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit sad that Epic didn't announce their latest engine pricing or their new crowdsourced path for the next Unreal Tournament about 15 years earlier. Teenage me would have been all over that! I spent a decent amount of time hacking with the Quake 3 SDK and other similar code bases, mostly in an effort to learn more about how they worked and how "real" programmers did things. The idea that I could have access to the full source of a modern game engine for a few dollars a month would have been a dream come true! And beyond that, the fact that I could have not only watched but participated in, from day 1, the development of a AAA game would have probably killed me with giddiness. That was exactly what I wished I could have back in the day: A perfect little portal through which I could view the professionals at work creating something real, large, and "cool". I think I would have poured many weeks of my life into following the project and trying to contribute in any way I possible. (I shudder to think of 15 year-old me's code actually ending up anywhere public though. I was better than a lot of people gave me credit for at that point but I wasn't nearly as good as I thought I was.)
Posted by Brandon Jones at 4:29 PM
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text:
Electrical losses are an inevitable consequence of transferring electricity across the distribution network and they have a significant financial and environmental impact on consumers. For example they contribute to approximately 1.5 per cent of Great Britain's greenhouse gas emissions.
To encourage distribution network areas to manage an efficient level of losses on their network, Ofgem introduced a losses incentive mechanism as part of our electricity distribution price control.
Owing to volatility with data used to measure losses, for the current price control we have replaced the losses incentive mechanism with a reporting requirement. For the next price control (from 2015) we are introducing a losses reduction mechanism consisting of four components: licence obligation, loss reduction expenditure in the business plans, annual reporting and discretionary reward.


text:
Kerrie M. Weinzapfel
My role is to manage the business side of the law firm. My responsibilities include oversight of all business office functions including accounting, human resources, marketing and information technology. I have almost 20 years of experience in managing professional services firms. I have been involved in developing and implementing firm budgets, policies and procedures, recruiting attorneys and support staff, developing and administering employee benefit plans, and creating professional development programs that expand our skill sets, so we can serve our clients well and in the most professional and efficient manner.
Prior to my career in legal administration, I spent 12 years as a practicing CPA and in management with a regional CPA firm.
I earned my bachelor's degree in Business from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. I continue to be involved with Kelley and enjoy serving as a career mentor to future Kelley grads.
Profesional Associations
Member - American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Member - Indiana CPA Society
Member - Society of Human Resource Managers
Member - Association of Legal Administrators
Member - Indiana Association of Legal Administrators
Member - Past President -ANEW (A Network of Evansville Women)
Service to the Community
Member - Junior League of Evansville
Past President - Reitz Memorial High School PTO
Past President - Big Brothers/Big Sisters


text:
"How can someone who has
a) lost a job while CEOs plundered
b) found himself with no health insurance and ended up paying through the nose for private or "risk pool" insurance
c) living on a fixed income with high cost of whatever
d) been forced to work 2 or 3 part-time jobs with no benefits thanks to
the corporate trend of eliminating full-time jobs.
e) some combination of the above
possibly vote for Bush?"
We asked a variant of the question during the last election: "How can someone whose life has been decimated by Republican policy even consider voting for McCain?"
Now I think I know the answer, and it isn't pretty.
During the year or so leading up to the election, I was a passionate constant consumer of political writing. I paid attention and spent countless hours informing myself.
But ever since the inauguration my consumption of such media has dropped by about 75%.
At first I thought I had political burnout or a simply too much on my plate, but now I'm investigating an unflattering possibility:
Could I be a blind follower, too?
I have little interest in following issues these days. I no longer read Huffington Post, Daily Kos, or Wonkette three times a day. I no longer watch CNN during my time in the kitchen. I no longer read the newspaper regularly.
I am, under this hypothesis, exactly like the individuals on the right I used to castigate.
So I want to ask for your help.
Will you let me know, in the comments if you (as a conservative) are now consuming more political media or if you (as a liberal) are consuming less?
Please throw your virtual two cents' worth into the fray.