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Difference between revisions of "Laser Cutter - Bumblebee"
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There are two of these. This one is named Bumblebee. It is identical to [[Laser Engraver - Wolverine|Wolverine]], except that whereas Bumblebee is yellow and black, Wolverine is yellow and very dark navy blue.
There are two of these. This one is named Bumblebee. It is identical to [[Laser Engraver - Wolverine|Wolverine]], except that whereas Bumblebee is yellow and black, Wolverine is yellow and very dark navy blue.
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| Instructions =
| Instructions =
You will need access to vector graphics software to design your parts. LaserCut is good for putting finished art into the laser, but barely adequate for designing art.
You will need access to vector graphics software to design your parts. LaserCut is good for putting finished art into the laser, but barely adequate for designing art.
Revision as of 17:50, 13 December 2012
There are two of these. They have 3"x4" beds and 150 watt tubes. This one is named Bumblebee. It is identical to Wolverine, except that whereas Bumblebee is yellow and black, Wolverine is yellow and very dark navy blue.
|Laser Cutter - Bumblebee
|Group-owned, purchased with funds collected from far and wide.
|Make Model
|Jinan G. Weike / WKLaser LC1280
|Part Number
|Date Acquired
|Storage Location
|West wall, you can't miss it.
|Authorization Required
|Other References
|http://boxmaker.rahulbotics.com/ makes wonderful box patterns that you can put into the laser cutter.
Operation of the laser cutter must be done under the supervision of one of the trained operators.
i3Detroit asks that users donate $10 per hour that the beam is active. This is to replace consumables, especially the expensive bulb. There is a wooden donation box.
Do not cut or etch any plastics or other materials that contain chlorine or vinyl. A trace amount of chlorine, such as found in the glue in thin plywood or the resin of medium density fiberboard, is acceptable. Particle board has too much glue. You are responsible to know whether there is chlorine in your material before you try to cut it.
If you cut plexiglass, please be sure that it is acrylic and not polycarbonate. Look along the cut edge of the material, from the side. Polycarbonate is dark on this area; acrylic is light. Polycarbonate is one of the most dangerous materials you could try to laser. It instantly starts producing yellow, acrid, toxic fumes which will corrode your lungs, and the mechanisms and lens of the laser. When the lens clouds up with these fumes, it may reflect the laser back into the machine, which may melt the head and set the machine on fire. You may not be able to reach the fire extinguisher due to what is in your lungs. Both these outcomes will upset the community.
Materials List
- Cut or etch: Acrylic, Delrin, Leather, Matte Board Chip Board (AKA architect modeling board), Melamine, Model Foam, Rubber, Wood (natural or veneer)
- Etches but does not successfully cut: Glass, Coated Metals, Painted Metals, Ceramic, Tile, Marble
- Cuts but does not take etching very well: Cloth, Paper, Mylar
- Banned: Human flesh (yes, this has come up), Polycarbonate (Lexan etc.), PVC, Particle Board, any plastic if you don't know for sure it is Delrin or Acrylic
Get material that will fit on the bed of the laser cutter, which is 3"x4": 4 feet wide from left to right, and 3 feet long from the front to the back. Your piece must be able to fit on the bed itself, because the bed will lower to put the surface of your material in focus. However, in case anyone needs to know the whole interior of the bay for some reason: there is 51 inches of clearance between the two rails the gantry runs on (the same width as the machine's bay door). 51 inches is also the measurement from the front lip to the back wall of the machine, but the door itself takes up 3/4 of an inch of that.
You will need access to vector graphics software to design your parts. LaserCut is good for putting finished art into the laser, but barely adequate for designing art.
Materials which can be cut, can normally be cut up to about 3/16 of an inch. Some materials can be cut thicker with multiple passes. The thickest cut so far was of 1" thick acrylic. However, that required that it be cut from the opposite side, while flipped over and perfectly registered.
When cutting parts on the laser, you will use the software to set the cutting speed and power. If we have cut the material you are using before, you can refer to the power and speed recommendations in this list. Otherwise - experiment! Bring some scrap material to do test cuts on until you find a cut you are satisfied with. After that, record your power and speed settings in the list:
Power and Speed Settings
None yet
In general:
- Lower speeds allow for lower cutting power, which saves life on the laser tube.
- Lower speeds cut a wider "kerf" (thickness of cut) through the material.
- At higher speeds the cut is faster but requires higher power, which uses up the laser tube faster.
- High power on wood and paper may cause some discoloration near the cuts (browning color from burned material).
Time-of-cut checklist:
- Place material (square to edge of honeycomb).
- Cover inactive honeycomb area except an "intake" in front of the material. This directs smoke away from the gantry. <- This was easier with AB's Laser Cutter because it pulled air downward, but Bumblebee does not.
- Turn on main switch. This should bring up the chiller and air-assist pump.
- Gently pinch rubber hose from laser to chiller, to trigger chiller alarm, verifying that it's awake.
- Turn keyswitch to on, and wait for boot and home to complete.
- With the D-pad, jog head over to start of cut.
- Press "Z" to enter the mode to raise or lower the bed. Press "Datum" to auto-focus. Press "Z" again to exit Z mode.
- Wave hand under head and verify that air-assist is blowing. (Compressor is a separate machine and must be plugged in.)
- Download design from LaserCut software.
- Keep one hand over emergency-stop while using the "Test" button to check boundaries.
- Turn on the exhaust fan.
- Lift the fire extinguisher and set it back down. This verifies that your muscle-memory knows where it is.
- Press "Start".
- DO NOT WALK AWAY. See http://www.thinkhaus.org/2011/04/03/lazzoring-is-serious-business/ for why.
Maintenance Info
Does this thing need its oil changed every 30 cycles? People need to know!
A list of commonly asked questions
- New cylinders to hold different lenses,
- ...to make it easy and safe to change them without smudging or damage. Sector67 has indicated they may make some of these. (The existing cylinder has too narrow an opening for the lens that gives a long focal length. Its beam is so wide that it hits the lip and heats up the cylinder.)
- Payment-measuring timer.
- One way to do this would be to measure current to the machine and time how long it runs at laser-firing power. It would be good to put a button on the timer that would re-set it to zero.
- Payment box.
- Greg Smith made it.
- Laptop desk.
- Standing desk built by Dustin White & Ted Hansen.
- Aperture in the chassis, through which to thread the blue USB cable with a grommet.
- Instead, we discovered an exit under the machine and threaded it through that. Matt Arnold used sugru on the side of the standing desk for a place to attach the end of the cable when unused.


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TruncatedDataError is raised when IO#readbytes fails to read enough data.
The read portion of an IO#readbytes attempt.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Thailand – Night Is The New Day
Thick smog (created mostly by the burning off of rice fields) and extreme heat made the shooting conditions in Thailand a bit tough. Luckily the streets come alive when the sun goes down with people shopping, eating, travelling and in the case of Khao San Road drinking "very strong cocktail". The cities and towns were also lit up and decorated in preparation for Songkran – the Thai New Year / Water Festival.
Going Freelance
An interview with Lisa Cross
Lisa Cross is a commercial photographer who has been working professionally for over 5 years. She is on the Trampoline committee, an initiative that supports emerging photographers culminating in the annual Projections screening. Lisa has recently made the decision to go freelance. In this interview, I ask Lisa what is involved in working as a commercial photographer in the advertising industry, what has lead to her decision to go it alone, and what lies ahead.
Erietta Sapounakis (ES): How would you describe yourself as a photographer?
Lisa Cross (LC): I'm a commercial photographer in the advertising industry. I specialise in food and still life. I'm studio based; I like the level of control and technical side involved in studio photography.
ES: Can you tell me a little bit about where you work now?
For the last few years I've been doing catalogue work for a photography company, shooting products and food in a lifestyle setting almost 5 days a week. That's been a big learning curve, shooting so much and working to such tight schedules.
Recently, I've also done still life work for Ella Bache, some shoots for pharmaceutical products, Viagra and another large drug name I can't pronounce. That was fun, conceptual still life stuff.
ES: Conceptual Viagra, that sounds worrying.
LC: Yeah (laughs). Also one of my biggest jobs that you'll see everywhere was the Oporto menu. I shot everything you see on the from the menu boards to the billboards.
ES: Why did you make the decision to go freelance?
LC: I got a little stuck in the churn and burn cycle. It was great experience but I feel like I've done my time and am ready to move to bigger and better jobs where I have a bit more control of the creativity and the time and budget allows everyone involved to produce better work.
ES: What are some of the other reasons for going freelance?
LC: I wanted to move away from the 9-5 type work, which is not very common in my industry. It's a lifestyle change as well. I'll have the time to push my career in certain directions and push for those higher end jobs and I'll have time to be a bit more creative as well as build a better presence in the industry.
ES: How do you build a presence in the industry?
LC: It's about getting your name and work out there. Competitions are a great one, as well as holding your own exhibitions. I really think that getting your personal work out there is a great tool for commercial photographers because everyone's always interested in your creativity as well. Its one of the first things people ask me when I tell them that I am a photographer: "so what do you really like to shoot?" There are also a few good directory / community style websites for the creative industry that you can put your portfolio on such as the ACMP, the Loop and Australian INfront. And as usual, face to face networking at industry events and meeting with potential clients is a must.
ES: What is the career trajectory of a photographer?
LC: Most photographers start out as assistants and that's how you gain knowledge of how the industry works. I studied photography for three years but once I got into the industry it was completely different. I learnt the general principles and technical skills of commercial photography at university, then I learnt much more on the job. It's different for everyone … Most people that I know gradually get into shooting and finding their own clients while working as an assistant. I was very lucky that I had a job where I was employed as a full time assistant but encouraged to produce a portfolio in order to gain shooting jobs. There was an overlap for me. Eventually it got to a point where I couldn't be seen as an assistant and a photographer, so I became a full time photographer in the same studio where I was an assistant. There are a few studios around that employ photographers, but the majority of photographers go from assisting to a photographer and basically get their own clients or are represented by an agency.
ES: So going freelance is an inevitable path for photographers?
LC: Yes, the majority of photographers have their own business.
ES: What did you learn on the job that your university course didn't prepare you for?
LC: Just how the industry works. It's an interesting industry and pretty tough as well. There are a lot of relationships you have to build. You have to learn who the clients are, how you treat them, who everyone is in an advertising agency, who you are dealing with, how you should be dealing with them, the hierarchy. Each advertising agency is different there will be creative directors, art directors, art buyers, account service etc as well as the clients. You've got to know who you are dealing with. That's something you learn through assisting … you have to look after those people. And you learn from the photographer about the ethics and politics of the whole situation.
ES: Now you have made the decision to go freelance, what practical things have you done to set yourself up as a business?
LC: I've got an ABN. I've built my own website. I bought myself a laptop and set up an office at home. Mostly I've been thinking a lot. I've been writing business plans which has helped me figure out why I'm doing it, how I will do it and where I want to be … to plan how its going to work rather than just jump into it head first and hope for the best.
ES: Was writing a business plan something that was recommended to you to do?
LC: I studied a bit of business in school. I think it's a good way to assess and keep track of what you are doing, your success and direction.
My business revolves around getting photographic work but there are a lot of things behind the scenes I need to do to make that happen. My main priority at the moment is revamping my portfolio. I will be sitting down and nutting out some really good concepts for images that are targeted towards getting the work that I want to do. Also the marketing, thinking about developing my own identity away from the studio, business cards, invoice design, using social media, etc
ES: You have been working for a studio for a few years now, how will you get work as a freelancer?
LC: I will be getting my advertising work in conjunction with the studio. They have 2 business development managers and their job is to bring the work in. They take our folios to advertising agencies and build relationships with the right people in different agencies, a process that I will also be involved in. The studio also has other resources such as production, retouching, studios & equipment, which means I can fulfill any brief.
ES: So you do the shoot, they act as agents for you getting the shoot and they also get the work in post-production?
LC: They provide the whole service, which is an awesome resource to have as a freelance photographer.
I need to be very involved in the process of gaining new work by building relationships with the right people in the right agencies. I also have to be aware of anything I can do to bring that job in and make sure my folio is of a high standard.
ES: Is it best to have a speciality as a photographer or a breadth in capabilities?
LC: I think different photographers view it in different ways. Personally I think its best to specialise in a few areas. I feel most comfortable in the studio and I enjoy shooting food and still life. I have shot over the whole range of areas in the past and I feel this is where my strengths are. I think it also helps people who want to commission photographers. If you are more specialised in the work you do, it makes their search easier.
ES: What sort of projects do you want to do?
LC: With my commercial work I'm pushing towards the higher end advertising market. I am also looking forward to putting some ideas for personal projects into action.
ES: Thanks for you time Lisa. Good luck.
LC: Thank you
View Lisa's work at www.lisa-cross.com
Erietta Sapounakis is a user experience designer and blogger with photography envy. She writes mostly about designing for the web at www.eriontheinterweb.com.


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I cut the recipe in 1/2 since I was making 2 12" pies.
From the dough formulation, I see that your ADY was only 0.175% of the weight of the flour. I would increase that to something between 0.25-0.375% ADY. The salt is also on the low side, as pcampbell noted, but if your crust tasted salty enough for your tastebuds, I wouldnt change it. A more typical value of salt for the NY style is 1.5-1.75%. So, I think the biggest issue is the dough thickness. If you can give me some guidance as to what kind of crust thickness you are after, I may be able to help you change the formulation, including any other changes you may want to make to the formulation itself. Peter
Actually, you weren't too far off with your pizzas. An amount of dough than can be used to make a 16" pizza will make two roughly 12" pizzas. It's something a bit shy of 12". addicted's recipe should make four such pizzas. Halving it would make two such pizzas.BTW, I think your pizzas look fine. I think a bit thicker crust and a bit more yeast should help.


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Is Jones Group a Good Value Pick?
NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- One of the most exciting parts of value investing -- to me anyway -- is the hunt for "reclamation projects," companies that have seen better days and are struggling to right the ship.
Often, the markets have little patience for these names and punishes them severely for a long time.
One of the risks that value investors take in these cases is that they are buying the dreaded "value trap": It looks like value and smells like value, but there's actually little or no life left.
If you don't dig deep enough, you can easily convince yourself that a name is too cheap to pass up. Three years later, nothing has changed, and the stock still appears to be cheap, but has gone nowhere. Or worse yet, it has gotten "cheaper," as the price has continued to drop.
Jones Group (JNY) , (known as Jones Apparel when I owned it in the past) has been a rags-to-riches-to-rags story over the years.
The company is in a tough industry. It designs and markets women's clothing, shoes and accessories, in both the retail and wholesale sides of the business. The past four years have been difficult at best.
Following losses in 2008 and 2009, the company returned to profitability in 2010, but margins have declined to the point that if you looked at the bottom line without knowing any better, you might think you were viewing the financials of a grocery store chain. Net margins that were in the 6% to 8% range in the mid 2000s are now in the 1%-plus range.
Higher-end apparel and shoes is not a great place to be in difficult economic times, and the lower-margin products the company had been moving toward did little to help turn the company around.
Now Jones is again focusing some efforts on the higher end, having acquired interests in several brands over the past few years, such as Stuart Weitzman in 2010. In 2011, the company acquired Kurt Geiger , a European shoe retailer, for $352 million. Jones is not giving up on core brands such as Jones New York and Nine West , and is in the process of "revitalizing" them.
Retail, at least on the domestic side, has not been a good business for the company. This past quarter that segment represented less than 17% of total domestic revenue but lost $15.5 million on $140 million of revenue. So far this year, Jones has closed 85 retail locations and plans to close another 15 by year-end. This is a positive step.
The good news for Jones was that this past quarter, the company crushed the consensus earnings estimate. It earned 57 cents a share, well ahead of the 32-cent estimate.


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A round-up of other Footprint and sustainability news from across the globe, plus a few blog posts you might have missed.
New Africa, Asia regional reports » Global Footprint Network data supported two regional Footprint reports that WWF published with multilateral development finance institutions. "The Africa Ecological Footprint Report: Green Infrastructure for Africa's Ecological Security,"
published with African Development Bank (AfDB), reports a decline of nearly 40 percent in Africa's biodiversity over the last four decades. The benchmark study, covered by the French newspaper Le Monde, Voice of America and other media, also offers recommendations on implementing the green economy concept through improved infrastructure investments (see our special brief for highlights of the WWF-AfDB report and Africa's trends). "Ecological Footprint and Investment in Natural Capital in Asia," produced by WWF and the Asian Development Bank, reports that available natural resources in the Asia-Pacific region are dwindling and focuses on ways of preserving key large-scale regional ecosystems.


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alice, martin, james, helen, danny, nana, me
discussion of what is needed to improve the TK website.
suggestion to create a page of graphics, logos etc so that artists who may be making their own fliers can access them. Also, learn how to add new content.
discussion of how best to feature information about current, future and past exhibitions. Instead of having a "current exhibition" page and a "future exhibition" page which will rewquire constant updating, we should do a text list of the exhibitions on for the next few months, like we already have, and then archive it when each list gets too old. We could also make functionality which will highlight the current exhibition. people should be able to work out the dates for themselves and this requires less updating. in addition to this, maintain an online gallery of images and investigate the possibility of having the text entries about the exhibitions link to the relevant images form the archive.
Also we need to get on top of documenting the exhibitions as they come and go to keep the archive updated.
we have info for most upcoming exhibitions- i am to contact potlatch to find out more.
Some progress on the email scenario- no doubt the conversation wiull continue, martin is on the case and for now we have a temporary, but not ideal solution.
i am also to update the gallery blurb for the booklet to avoid the ambiguity fo "free from commission" will do that in a few mins.
danny proposes to have an art gathering on sundays to meet and collaberate- sounds lie a good plan to all. making mugs mentioned. Publicise?
Discussion of holding a party for freshers- better to hold it seperate in the hall at a time when it can be planned, rather than invite the freshers to the cardboard cathedral closing because that may well end in tears or damaged cardboard.


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Skip to comments.Obama considering John Kerry for job of defense secretary
Posted on 11/12/2012 4:53:41 PM PST by maggief
President Obama is considering asking Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) to serve as his next defense secretary, part of an extensive rearrangement of his national security team that will include a permanent replacement for former CIA director David H. Petraeus.
Although Kerry is thought to covet the job of secretary of state, senior administration officials familiar with transition planning said that nomination will almost certainly go to Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
John O. Brennan, Obamas chief counterterrorism adviser, is a leading contender for the CIA job if he wants it, officials said. If Brennan goes ahead with his plan to leave government, Michael J. Morell, the agencys acting director, is the prohibitive favorite to take over permanently. Officials cautioned that the White House discussions are still in the early phases and that no decisions have been made.
Petraeuss resignation last week after revelations of an extramarital affair have complicated what was already an intricate puzzle to reassemble the administrations national security and diplomatic pieces for Obamas second term.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
He went to Vietnam, you know.
Now....tell me this is a sick joke.....even if it isn't.
It just keeps getting better.
Paging Swiftboat Veterans.
he'll be having flashbacks
Perfect. Just perfect.
Sure, put the Crap Weasel in charge. Why not?
Somebody please walk me through this thing about Hillary leaving SOSUS. I assume that she's planning a run at POTUS 2016, so if she leaves SOSUS then what does she do for the next four years? I would think it would behoove her and the Rats who plan to run her for POTUS to round out her resume to include something more Commander in Chief-ish, like, say, Secretary of Defense or maybe Head of CIA. They can't just let her skills for sublime evil languish for four years, can they? What's the plan with her?
Heavy load to bear.
Good grief!
National Security? What's that?
As if the CiC isn't enough of an insult to those who serve.
Please tell me this is satire.
oh thats great ...appoint the biggest fail.
Praying it doesn't happen for our military's sake.
Lurch will become Dork II and his boss Dork I.
Flashbacks of what? A whorehouse in Saigon?........
What? Are Neville Chamberlain and Barney Fife unavailable?
A 4 year listening tour is much safer politically for HRC. She has the fawning media to keep her relevant and to remind us how hard she works.
Put the 20th cnetury Benedict Arnold into the State Departement.
What could go wrong?
Now THAT is an encouraging piece of news. But unlike the current SOS, Jean-Francois is conversant in French, and has had combat experience, evidenced by the Purple Heart and his repertoire of war stories.
The world shall surely respect him, no? He has been honing his negotiation skills, for these many years, does that count for nothing?
There is not enough duct tape to keep heads from exploding around the world.
Never happen. Kerry is not black. Van Jones will be coming back.
Please tell me this is satire..its satire right...right?
But hey why not..I hear Charles Manson isn't available for the job so why not Kerry..and you can have Rosanne Barr for Energy Secretary
We need to whittle down the Democrats and it is possible to do that. Obama has a lot of payoffs to make.
I foresee problems with re-enlistments.
We've still got lots of international commitments.
A draft soon? I know the brass don't want that, but ...
Somebody get Kerry a map of So. Vietnam and Cambodia so that he doesn't get lost again there this coming Christmas.
While you are at it, get him a "brain". Try "Brains R Us" and if they are out, go the the Young Frankenstein graveyard and get one from A.B. Normal.
The coward..who saved his crew...HA!
What a joke this is becoming...
We're one step closer to having the "yellow heart" medal become a reality.
I'm half tempted to send kerry a metal detector so he can go search the south lawn of the White House for the "medals" he tossed over the fence.
Years ago I gave up hate, it is wasted energy but by god I'm having a hard time keeping it as anger and not letting it turn.
So, we'll allow someone who has a place of honor in Ho Chi Minh museum since they considered John Kerry a hero in their victory over the United States.
It looks like Scott Brown may be returning to the senate. MA requires special elections to replace senators.
They'll relive old times:
Nothing I could say can top that.
Of interest if you love your country.
Anyone wanting on or off this ping list, please advise.
Today marks 2843 days since 01/30/2005 when John Kerry promised, on national TV, to sign form SF-180 and release his military records.
Well, we have a president who hates the United States so it's not surprising that we'd have someone who hates the military as Secretary of Defense.
Great guy for the job—any time you need someone to frag a sack of rice..
The guy with fake purple hearts !?
The guy who knew get 3 and it`s home free so i`ll blow rice up my ass and get a scratch on my arm !?
Obama/Soetoro gets his revenge and rubs it in your face
"I have a plan"
How horrific!
Dear Lord, Please bring ___________ to a place of confession, repentance and a lasting Salvation Relationship with you, by your Spirit in the Blood of Jesus.
Lord, *IF* IN YOUR OMNISCIENT FORE-KNOWING WISDOM, you KNOW _______ will never repent or come to a saving knowledge of Christ, THEN, Please, Lord, IN YOUR WISDOM AND ACCORDING TO YOUR PRIORITIES AND WILL, cause ___________s poison and destructiveness to be neutralized in whatever way would most benefit your Kingdom.
If at all in your Will, at least, please remove them from all power and position that could be used to harm your Church and other innocents. In Jesus Name, Amen
Would that not be poetic justice. Kerry Secretary of Defense when they re-introduce the draft...
There is only one thing to say: FUBO!
Great screen name. Battle of Hastings, where we learned Harold had a real eye for arrows. :)
Wonder how many catch it.
She has punched her 'Foreign Affairs' ticket, now she distances herself from the Obadisaster as much as possible in order to retain any credibility she can for the run in '16.
Either that or she and the bent one have stashed enough of our money to get out while the getting is good.
Jonathan Pollard will be pardoned and then nominated as new CIA Director.
It's too bad Jack Kevorkian's dead. He would have made a hell of a Surgeon General now.
This is great. A traitor to the USA is being considered for defense secretary. What the hell is going on here?......oh, yeah,.....HELL.
Never mind....
Then Brown wins his seat back in a special election.
Defense Secretary for whom?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


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Feminine 80's styled haircut with close cropped sides
Another look from the 1980's is this hairstyle as seen on this young woman. The hair is pulled back at the sides by the ears. The rest of her hair is taken and spiked up high on top.The haircut for this look is short.This hair colouring is blonde.
Barbara Hair: Barbara Wuillot Photographer: Marius Baragan


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Your Cat, Your Life
The Scoop
Cat News, Politics
Meow-Out-Loud Humor
Cat Chic
Gear and Glam
Cat Breeds
Foods & Treats
Health & Care
Behavior & Training
Cat of the Day
Other pets in your family: Captain Hook (1994-2007) | Chester (1990-2007) | Bali Hai | Gyro RIP 9/9/2012 | LadyBug (Rest in Peace) | Mr. Bojangles | Maizey May | Diva
Copyright © I-5 Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.
Visit Dogster


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Pump up the volume with metallic accents.
Burst of Light
The Cosmo chandelier ($2,195) by Jayson Home is made of steel and finished in antique brass. (800-472-1885, jaysonhome.com)
Fit to Sit
The Ad-Hoc armchair ($7,420), designed by Jean-Marie Massaud and available at VIU Home, is hand-painted in 24-karat gold. (800-790-5310, viuhome.com)
Tile Style
Ann Sacks' Lucian Metallics tiles ($22.95 per square foot) come in an array of hues. Ann Sacks, Miami (305-572-1212, annsacks.com)
Golden Girl
This Kim Seybert set includes round capiz placemats ($272 set of four) and coral fan placemats ($724 set of four). Pioneer Linens, West Palm Beach (561-655-8553, pioneerlinens.com)
Drum Circle
The Baker Furniture radiant drum table ($1,250) comes in gold and silver. Fran Murphy Interiors Inc., North Palm Beach (561-626-6200, franmurphyint.com)
Wall to Wall
Cover your walls in gold with Ferm Living's Monroe wallpaper ($126.50 per roll), manufactured using traditional printing methods. (415-318-6412, fermlivingshop.com)
Copper Call
This copper shade floor lamp ($615) from Tom Dixon is also available in bronze or as a pendant. ABC Carpet and Home, Delray Beach (561-279-7777, abchome.com)
Screen Capture
Separate spaces with style with this vintage brass room screen ($6,150) by Arteriors Home. Alan J. Alan Inc., West Palm Beach (561-833-6503)


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Use the tools below to refine your search by only displaying reviews with a certain number of star ratings or to only show reviews from a certain time period. Eg click on '1 star' to just display the reviews we have which received a 1 star rating click or 'Within the last month' to display just reviews posted over the last month.
As rated by our community of reviewers
" WHat a great product " Read More
Written by Oumou
" The EZE charge Emergency mobile phone charger is good value for mon... " Read More
" Great backup charger with a nice solar option " Read More
Written by KR72
" Impressive for the size " Read More
" Best and fast charging " Read More
Written by johncappelletti


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Justin Bieber has been found guilty of assault and careless driving in his native Ontario, but thanks to a plea deal has gotten off virtually scot-free. He and Selena Gomez were riding an ATV last August and their joy-ride ended in a physical altercation with a photographer. Bieber crashed the four-wheeler into the minivan of a paparazzo and then things got heated between the two. Bieber was charged with simple assault, careless driving and dangerous driving, and during a court appearance on Thursday he admitted his guilt in exchange for lesser charges. The court dropped the charge, and fined him $750.
Kensington Palace has announced a much more official piece of news regarding Princess Charlotte. The daughter of Duchess Kate Middleton and Prince William wil be christened in a private ceremony next month. The ceremony will be conducted by Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury. It will be held at St. Mary Magdalene Church at the Queen's Sandringham Estate. Charlotte was born on May 2 in London. She is the couple's second child and is fourth in line to the throne. There's already a rumor that Charlotte won't be the last royal baby given to the world from William and Kate.
It was announced back in April that Lifetime would be producing The Unauthorized Full House Story, giving fans a never before seen glimpse of what went on behind-the-scenes of the show. Full House had already been in the news because of the upcoming Netflix reboot of the program called Fuller House. Now, it's looking like some of the original cast members are none too pleased with Lifetime. The network released a statement on the film, saying, "The film centers on the rise of the cast of one of America's most beloved family sitcoms and the pressures they faced in balancing their television personas with their real lives."


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Hi Bellas,
I'm back with another video! So this was supposed to be a tutorial, but silly me forgot to hit the record button, lol. I got my friend Melissa to be my model. I did a really fun look using some new products from OCC and Yaby. Instead of the tutorial we went ahead and chatted about makeup! Hope you enjoy!
Click here for more!
Check out the video!
The final look!
Here's What I Used:
Yaby Liquid Foundations - Peach Cream to correct undereye concealers. For Foundation: Pecan, Buff,
and Honey
Embroyolisse Hydramat Emulsion Primer
MAC Fun & Games Beauty Powder Blush
OCC Loose Powder in Oberon as cheek highlight
Steelo eyeshadow base in light
OCC loose colors in Nori, Wasabi, and Oberon
MAC Evening Aura e/s
MAC Plumage e/s
MAC Blacktrack Fluidline and Feline Eye Kohl
Ardell #101 Demis
OCC Lip Tar in Hoochie
MAC Magenta Lip Pencil
FTC Disclosure: Many of the products used were received as gifts at IMATS. I was not paid to make this video.
Atlanta Makeup Artist
Monday, July 26, 2010
Playing with Makeup - OCC and Yaby
Posted by MakeupByRenRen at 10:28 AM
Labels: bright lips, greens
6 comments:
- Shades Professional Makeup said...
Great color combination on your friend and I also bought some OCC lip tars including Hoochie but I am just a HOT mess with lip color so I always do neutrals. I will attempt the colors I bought, even just as a swatch blog....
- July 25, 2010 at 5:24 PM
- CallMeKayla said...
I love her eye makeup! The lips are a bit too bright for my personal taste, but I think it looks great, good job!
- July 25, 2010 at 5:41 PM
- Princess Feef said...
love the colors
u did great job on her =)
- July 26, 2010 at 1:14 AM
- Bombchell said...
wow!! love the colors
- July 26, 2010 at 12:51 PM
- Jackee said...
Lovin the eyes....very pretty! I will have to try it out!
- July 26, 2010 at 1:05 PM
- Niks La Mode. said...
new follower here LOVEEEEEEE! I am an aspiring makeup artist and find ur disposable blog verrrrrrry helpful!
- July 27, 2010 at 5:57 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Skip to comments.Cancel the Marathon
Posted on 11/02/2012 5:38:37 AM PDT by jimbo123
In an act of sheer idiocy, Mayor Michael Bloomberg decided that the New York City Marathon should still be held. His decision comes despite the fact that the city is still struggling to recover from Superstomr Sandy. Were talking about a city where children are dumpster diving for food, yet the Mayor thinks an event where out of town runners trot through storm damaged boroughs while being handed free energy bars and water is a good idea?
The marathon will kick off in Staten Island where bodies are still being pulled from the rubble. The marathon is still a go, despite the fact that Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro is pleading for help from the Red Cross and other volunteer organizations. Where are the volunteers? Well, they are descending on New York City for a race that has been described in ordinary times as a grueling feat of logistics. Its an event that requires dozens of medical volunteers to tend to runners and hundreds of police to close roads and direct traffic.
Arent medical volunteers and police the exact people we want focused on the victims of Sandy?
How can this sporting event possibly be the right thing for the people of New York?
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
"How can this sporting event possibly be the right thing for the people of New York?"
Its not. Why should they change their ways now. When have they EVER done anything that was truly for the people of New York?
The band continues to play after the Titanic has struck the iceberg and has begun to list....
Gotta keep up the morale, doncha see.
Nanny Bloomberg can't....YET, ...he has to scam world travelers out of millions first, .It must be cancelled, but not just yet...sometime later today
I have visions of the real people of Manhattan blocking the run. Is it Sunday? By Sunday those people will be very angry.
Doesn't the marathon require police security? Don't the police already have enough on their plate in the aftermath of the hurricane?
If children are dumpster diving for food is it because their idiot parents are passed out on the floor on drugs?
This is making the mayor look really bad. I like that.
But on the other hand canceling the marathon would mean millions of dollars in canceled hotel rooms, taxi rides, people buying steaks and wine and cocktails ( and tips for wait staff and bartenders and cabbies), theater tickets, horse rides in Central Park, etc.
The people working in these businesses depend on this money coming in for their lives.
Just because some are suffering doesn't mean others should not be allowed to not suffer.
It starts Sunday at 10 or 11 AM. Having done it once, it requires massive logistics as normally it gets about 40K participants. Big deal for the whole city, with that many visitors, for hotels, restaurants, even shows. The runners come from around the world. It should be cancelled.
Maybe they should strap backpacks on all the runners and fill them with Romney's canned goods.
They could either toss them out to cheering residents, or use the cans as self-defense weapons against rioting ghettoRATs.
Just what they need right now: an additional 40,000 people coming into the city who will require food, shelter, water, police protection, possible medical assistance, etc. How the hell can Bloomberg possibly think this is a good idea?
I think New Yorkers know what to do.
IMPEACH BLOOMBERG!!! DERELICTION OF DUTY!! People are STARVING and FREEZING.
how can that happen without electricity
The Mayor needs to be impeached.
Why not ask the marathon entrants to run around and help people? Use their energy in a positive and productive way. Give medals to those who perform the most charitable acts or something.
Comments in the NY Times article indicate many will not participate. As one writer says, "Who wants to run past a crowd of people booing and spitting on you?"
Apparently resources have been diverted from victims to the marathon!!
Cannot be done, no electric power, no work for even those folks.
Yeah, bring us jugs of gas.
This will not end well, things are getting ugly around NY - gas stations are now rationing gasoline - 3 or 5 gallons per person and the lines are 4 to 5 hours long, I passed a couple on the way to work this morning that were over 2 miles long.
Maybe the marathon participants will run to affected neighborhoods with free blankets, food supplies and flashlights? Problem solved, no?
A lot of the marathon runners are liberal-greenie- vegetarian-climate-change types who think large sodas will eventually kill you - in other words the kind of people that Bloomberg likes to fill the city and associate with. These people have more status and are more important to please than the needs of the ordinary NYers without electricity (my daughter being one of those without electricity).
I can understand the "keep your chin up" attitude. The British continued to go to theater during the bombing of London, but it doesn't look like a good use of assets in this case.
For all their talk, didn't Bette Midler and a bunch of other celebrytards have a big Halloween shindig close by while everyone else was dealing with the disaster?
Heaven forbid they take all that swanky food to people who were ill-prepared for Sandy! They are nothing more than a bunch of Slacktavists....and just like their empty-suit president and bloody Bloomberg, the world revolves only around them!.
Perhaps the people of Staten Island should ask the Soda Pop Nazi just one important question before he starts his stupid marathon, man.
If you put tradition on hold for every "bad" event that happens, you end up with a bunch of hand wringers wanting to stop everything for events that over time diminish in significance so every little advocacy group can have its point made.
Sac up people, it's GD New York, New Yorkers, and the damn New York Marathon. Even though they vote 'Rat, or gutless Republican, more often than not, running it continues to facilitate the percieved pluck and mettle of OUR New Yorkers, a sprawling mass of noisy boisterous people we love to bitch about but are always thankful to have with us on our map...
20 years from now, do you want to hear about the "Storm that cancelled the Marathon" or "A little wind and rain wasn't going to stop us from running it"?
I'd like to see YOU in a disaster situation just so I could have a good laugh and call you an idiot.
ahh the good ol' Carter days.
Soon it'll be odd/even plate numbers on alternate days who can get gas.
Mike Bloomberg is an evil man. The list of participants and finishers in this fiasco should serve as a blacklist for all decent people. Don't talk to them, don't hire them, boycott their businesses, etc.
Sponsors should be threatened with boycotts if the race goes on
Tata Consultancy
The New York Times (already boycotted of course)
United Airlines
Midtown and upper Manhattan has electricity. Parts of lower Manhattan will have power Saturday night.
Yup, any day now.
People are already waiting 4 or 5 hours for 3 to 5 gallons of gasoline.
Listen here 1 raindrop. I am a parent and I would never allow my kids to dumpster dive. If there was any dumpster diving necessary it would be me doing it for them. What is your problem?
Why is the government putting on a athletic entertainment event, anyway?
If it's a private event held with permission, and it doesn't prevent recovery efforts, then let the private organizer decide.
You do not know what exactly is happening and to automatically label the parents as drug addicts is wrong.
How do you know the parents are drug addicts?
The children may be dumpster diving because maybe their parents are alongside of them, maybe the parents are on line waiting for gas, maybe the parents went searching for water, maybe the parents are disabled, maybe it's easier to get children into a dumpster than an adult.
If you've ever lived on a farm, you'd know that when a disaster happens, EVERYONE goes to work children and adults.
Reports stating that children are dumpster diving may open someone's heart (bloomberg) to maybe get someone with power off their butt and do something.
Anyway, those dumpster diving children are working for their food while yours would be waiting for it to be handed to them.
I challenge you to prove this is not just some appeal to emotionalism. I have worked with children and the ones who have to eat out of the garbage are the ones whose parents are neglectful. Besides I have been through hell and back and I live a sacrificial life devoted to my children. So take your emotionalism out the back door and calm down.
Big whoop, on a farm everybody works, but you don't ask your kids to do things you wouldn't do, and dumpster diving is one of them.
You are obviously overwrought and I have nothing further to say to you.
(liberal) Insanity, thy name is Michael Bloomberg
Forgive me, I wasn't aware I was conversing with a saint.
Just another Catholic.
It's a good idea for 2 reasons:
1 - a sense of normalcy is good for people in bad times, a reason to celebrate helps the brain
2 - It'll put NYC on TV for 3 hours and recovery donations will flow in like crazy
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


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Maggie Bromund and Josh Frantz announce their engagement.
The bride-to-be is the daughter of Leonard and Kristina Bromund of Alpena. The future groom is the son of Rob Frantz, Debora Wigle and Michael Wigle.
Maggie graduated from Central Michigan University in 2011 with a Doctoral Degree in Physical Therapy. She is employed at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital as an outpatient adult and pediatric physical therapist. Josh completed the welding certificate program from Alpena Community College in 2009. He is employed by Black River Builders as an ironworker and crane operator.
The couple's wedding will be held at the Alpena Sportsman's Club in September 2013.


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June 26, 2002
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"Legendary, stoner, jam band"? I wanted to direct my comments toward the actual author, but…
Andy's was my favorite
This is great and exciting news! Really looking forward to yet another fine film festival…
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Succulent sugar snap pea side dish recipe from Sara's Secrets.
A side dish of haricots verts with rosemary gives any meal a special touch.
Load up some spuds and throw them in the microwave for a hearty side dish.
Giada's Caponata fuses Italian and Greek flavors in a delicious side dish.
At Sandy Valley Ranch, G learns the art of making real cowboy baked beans.
Alton's mashed potatoes are great alone or with any number of add-ins.
Join Michael Chiarello as cooks up a classic Sicilian vegetable dish.
Tyler and Giada battle over everyone's favorite side dish: mashed potatoes.
Tyler makes mashed potatoes with a hint of parsnips to add extra flavor.
Sour cream, cheese and herbs give Alex's white mushrooms the right 'stuff.'
Get Cooking Channel on your TV.


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Alumni Surveys
The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment administers alumni surveys to:
- Assess student learning
- Find out more about alumni employment and advanced education
- Gauge the level of alumni satisfaction with their Evergreen experience
- Gather suggestions for improvements to the college
Evergreen One-Year Alumni Survey
Conducted one year after graduation and administered every other year
See also:
Evergreen Three-Year Alumni Survey
Conducted three years post-graduation and administered every four years
Long-Term Alumni Surveys
Conducted five or more years after graduation and administered once per accreditation cycle (every seven to ten years)
See also:
- Alumni Survey trend data (PDF)
Gateways for Incarcerated Youth Academic Program Alumni Survey
During its first 13 years, the Gateways for Incarcerated Youth academic program enrolled over 540 incarcerated and non-incarcerated Evergreen students for college credit. An alumni survey was conducted in early 2011 to assess outcomes of program participants. Results are available for review as a final report (Gateways for Incarcerated Youth Alumni Survey 2011 (PDF)) and as a PowerPoint presentation that was used in a dialogue with key program stakeholders at Evergreen (Gateways Alumni Survey: Stakeholder Presentation May 2011 (PDF)).


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This course focuses on the application of Crash Modification Factors to select countermeasures. The course covers the project development cycle (starting from network screening and site selection for safety review), diagnostics of safety concerns, cost-benefit
evaluation, and countermeasure selection.
This course combines a web-conference and a self-paced lesson that aids in application to your current projects. You will need access to both a telephone and internet connection to participate in the live web sessions.


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Leon Breaks World Record in Men's Discus at the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials – Track & Field
Leon dominated the competition in the men's F52 discus with a new world record throw of 22.04m (previous 19.52m).
"I knew that it was better than my throws before it, but it was weird because I didn't try to throw that far," said Leon. "I had fouled on the earlier throw, so I was concentrating more on technique to ensure I got a flag posted. I let it go and it felt really easy and smooth, and that was the world record mark. I have to thank the Lakeshore Foundation for helping to make this possible. Without the resources they have given me, coupled with my hard work and training, there's no way this would have been possible."
Leon currently lives and trains at the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Ala., an Olympic and Paralympic Training Site.
For more information or to arrange for an athlete interview, please contact Beth Bourgeois, U.S. Paralympics at (719)866-2039 or email@example.com.


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Hidden Hollywood Tour: The Inside Scoop on Tinseltown
* Additional fees apply. No coupon or promo codes necessary to enjoy the displayed discount price.
The last date listed for Hidden Hollywood Tour was Saturday October 3, 2015 / 9:00am.
Venue Details
Reviews & Ratings
Featured review from Ginie M
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Summer was a wealth of information. She made the tour very interesting, and since there were only 6 people on the tour, we didn't have to strain to hear her comments. The garden was wonderful. We had a great time.
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Interesting tour. Much more walking than anticipated. That part should have been first thing before the sun/heat made us uncomfortable.
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We have lived in Los Angeles for many years and learned so many new things from our tour guide Summer D. Summer made everyone feel welcome and everyone had a great time.
She showed us the places where Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant and Montgomery...continued
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i'd do it again
One 6-oz. gourmet coffee drink is included in the ticket price. Additional food, drinks, tips and gratuities for you guide are not included.
Please bring a refillable bottle for water and remember to keep hydrated, especially during hot days. A reusable bag is also recommended to carry any purchases and reduce plastic bag waste.
Tour length is 2.5 to 3 hours. The distance covered is about 1.5 miles, including some uphill, so wear comfortable walking shoes.
Comfortable clothing, sunscreen, hat and sunglasses are recommended (especially for warmer months) and layers may be necessary as mornings can be cool from October through June.
The tour ends on Hollywood Boulevard, at the corner of Orange Drive.


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Versions available for this page: CUBRID 8.3.0 | CUBRID 8.3.1 | CUBRID 8.4.0 | CUBRID 8.4.1 | CUBRID 8.4.3 | CUBRID 9.0.0 |
This chapter describes methods (software routines) that extend or customize the features of the CUBRID database system.
The methods are written in C and called by the CALL or EVALUATE statement. A method program is loaded and linked with the application currently running by the dynamic loader when the method is called. The return value created as a result of the method execution is passed to the caller.
This chapter describes the following topics:


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Heart Print Slim Silk Scarf
€125.00 €125.00
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Use the Size Guide to choose the best fit for your measurements.
In this window, you can find out the shipping and returns options for the selected item or contact Customer Service for further assistance
- A slim heart print scarf made from lustrous silk. Wear gently draped across the shoulder line, tied into an off-centre bow or even wrapped around a bag handle or as a belt.
- 90 x 6cm/35.4 x 2.4in
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Marvin Winans Denies Baby Dedication to Single Mom?
Single mom: Son born out of wedlock snubbed by Winans' church
Charity Grace lives on the east side of the city with her 2-year-old son, Joshua. The two recently started to attend Perfecting Church under the leadership of Pastor Marvin Winans.On Sunday, a special blessing is planned at the church on East Nevada Street. They are having a dedication service for children two years old and under. Grace was looking forward to having her only child receive this blessing.
"I want to instill values and morals in my son based upon the word of God," said Grace.She called the church on Tuesday to make arrangements. "I told them I was not married and that's where everything just broke loose."Grace says she spoke with a woman who told her Pastor Winans' policy is that he is not to bless children of unwed mothers in front of his congregation.
"I've never felt so degraded and disrespected in my life," said Grace.Rev. W.J. Rideout III of All God's People Church speaks out about injustice outside the church and all over the world. So, we asked if he thought this was an injustice inside the church.
"Every pastor has set up the pattern of his church, the way he feels or deems fit. But as it relates to the scripture, I feel like it's wrong," said Rideout. "I feel like we're judging, but we're not judging with righteous judgement."
We asked to speak with Pastor Winans about the allegations. He declined an interview.
"What they could do for me is let my son get dedicated, during a week day with one of the elders of my choice," said Grace.
"I'm not speaking against the pastor, but sometimes we make poor decisions," said Rideout.
"I absolutely would not set foot back in the church right now because I feel like they look down upon me and my kind, meaning single moms and unwed mothers. The church should be the last place you should go to be judged and denied," said Grace.


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Snow Removal & Winter Accessories
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Tips to a Great Looking Lawn In Spring Time
Many people do not realize that the appearance of their garden in springtime will depend on how they take care of it during the cold season. Some of the ways you can take care of your lawn or garden before and after it starts snowing include:
- Remove dead leaves, logs, twigs, rocks, or any other sort of debris from your garden
- Fertilize your garden before it reaches its semi-dormant state in the winter. October is usually one of the best times to do it
- Use ice and snow-melts to encourage melting and to discourage snow-mold as snow-mold can kill grass
Shop Sam's Club today for all your snow removal needs and prepare yourself for winter, for less.


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Straight Black Hair in Exaggerated Pouf and Full Fringe
This is an incredible look as this woman's hair is long and has been styled up into a high updo hairstyle. Thick and full of volume, the hair is taken off the shoulders to be built up high on top and towards the back. The fringe comes down to eye level and is thick right across the forehead.The hair has been cut long.This woman's hair colour is a dark black.
Steven Carey at Team Afro Hair: Renda Attie at Steven Carey, Mayfair London Make-up: Keith Way Clothes stylist: Bernard Connolly Photographer: Stellanour Electrical products: FHI Heat without Steven Carey credit.


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Flags to be half-staff
August 10, 2005
Staff and wire reports
SANTA FE — Gov. Bill Richardson today issued an executive order directing that flags in New Mexico be flown at half-staff to honor U.S. Army Pfc. Damian Garza.
Garza was killed Aug. 4 when his vehicle crashed into a river near Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
"Our heartfelt sorrow and gratitude go out to Damian Garza's family at this difficult time," Richardson said. "We will always remember the sacrifice he made on behalf of his country."
Garza, who has relatives in Clovis and Portales, moved from Portales to Odessa, Texas, after eighth grade. Garza enlisted in the Army in April 2004, one day after he graduated from Zion Christian School in Odessa. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment based at Fort Benning, Ga., and was serving a second tour of duty in Afghanistan.
One other Ranger, Pvt. John Henderson Jr., 21, of Columbus, Ga., died in the incident. Two other Rangers escaped from the vehicle and are in good condition. An investigation is under way, officials said.
He was posthumously awarded the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal.
Flags should be flown at half-staff through Thursday in honor of Garza.


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Product Details
Our designers gave the classic sweatpant a fun update by cutting it with a straighter leg and a slightly wider hem, then adding a slightly faded sailboat graphic. It features a generous drawstring (it extends three inches past the buttonhole on each side), and our improved, slightly tapered elastic waist ensures an extra-secure fit—no sliding! The final touch—a patch pocket—cements its cool factor. (He can expect "Where'd you get those?" questions on the playground.)
Size & Fit Details


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American Humor Writing
American Humor Writing
Throughout the nineteenth century, the pages of American periodicals brimmed with humorous sketches and tall tales describing life—especially frontier or country life—in the young nation. Innumerable authors, many writing under pseudonyms, contributed to this phenomenon, the most successful frequently collecting their pieces in books and becoming national celebrities. Literary critics, however, have paid only scant attention to this part of American literary history, often relegating all but the best known and most sophisticated of the works to obscurity. In the 1930s, a few critics—particularly Constance Rourke and Walter Blair—began to argue for the importance of the lowbrow humor. Since then, the genre has received considerably more serious attention from scholars.
Almost unanimously, critics have claimed humor writing as vital to the developing nation's sense of cultural identity. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in all spheres of intellectual life, colonial and post-revolutionary American writers encountered the charge—coming largely from London—that nothing "original" existed in American culture. According to this perspective, everything American philosophers, poets, and novelists produced must be second-rate imitations of European culture, since the writers were all trained in the European tradition. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, England had dominated the production of wit—a specific branch of humor—in the English language, due largely to essayists such as Sir Richard Steele and Joseph Addison, who published two satirical periodicals, The Tatler (1709-1711) and the Spectator (1711-1712). In the nineteenth century, however, England's monopoly faded, giving way to the Americans who, by-and-large, abandoned the sophistication of British wit in favor of regionalism. Consequently, scholars of American literature have argued that humor writing, with its focus on the wholly American phenomena of "Yankee" New England, the "backwoods," and the Western frontier, may have been the embryo of a truly original national literature.
Critics generally attribute the first humor writing of the century to Washington Irving, who published History of New York . . . by Diedrich Knickerbocker and The Sketch Book in 1809 and 1820, respectively. Both books present their readers with exaggerated portraits of individuals bred in the immigrant mix of the colonial Northeast, and the later volume became an essential part of American folk culture as it includes "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle." The men and women who came after Irving filled newspapers and journals with their tales and sketches, introducing readers to the "Down-Easter" (or "Yankee"), the frontiersman, and other uniquely American characters. Humor writing became one of the most popular genres of the century, turning many of its creators into national celebrities and its stock characters into heroes. Consequently, even as American readers laughed at the foibles of Sut Lovingood, from George Washington Harris's Sut Lovingood's Yarns (1867), or the Widow Bedott, from Frances Whicher's Widow Bedott Papers (1852), they also developed a sense of pride over the beginnings of American literature. The epitome of this trajectory was Samuel Clemens—or Mark Twain—who published the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1884.
While early critics of the genre, such as Rourke and Blair, praised the humorists for initiating this revolution in American literature, more recent critics have begun to question just how progressive much of the writing was. James Justus, for example, has argued that Southern humor belittled poor farmers and back-woodsmen for the benefit, usually, of an upper-class audience. Such debates focus particularly on the period before the Civil War, when political and economic disagreements drove the Southern states to define themselves apart from the Union in general. As the democratic politics ushered in by Andrew Jackson in the 1830s pushed for a less stratified class system, many of the Southern writers used their pens to resist. As the critical debates demonstrate, however, the conflict was more complicated than that: while Southern writers sought to preserve their culture against the apparently levelling energies of the national capítol, the movement towards secession also produced a rebellious mindset that celebrated the common man. As the Civil War and then reconstruction wrought havoc in the latter half of the century, the process only intensified.
Much critical discussion also notes that humor writing had to define itself in relation to the nineteenth-century sentimental novel, which dominated the popular book market in both England and America. Since sentimental fiction was equated with feminine virtues and opposed to base humor, humorists often presented themselves as an antidote to too much sentiment. Although female novelists produced a good deal of this fare, other female writers, many recently unearthed by feminist scholars, made it their work to satirize sentimental stereotypes of feminine virtue. Ultimately, the feminist discussion about female character in the nineteenth century pinpoints a central discussion among scholars about the era: while critics have traditionally memorialized the nineteenth century as ruled by sentiment and modesty, the study of humor writing and its tremendous popularity contributes to an understanding of the age's true complexity.
Representative Works
Joseph G. Baldwin
Flush Times in Alabama and Mississippi 1853
Charles Farrar Browne
Artemus Ward; His Book 1862
Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain)
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches 1867
The Innocents Abroad 1869
The Gilded Age (with Charles Dudley Warner) 1874
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1884
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court 1889
David Crockett
A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett 1834
George Washington Harris
Sut Lovingood's Yarns 1867
Bret Harte
The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Sketches 1870
Marietta Holley
My Opinions and Betsey Bobbet's 1873
Johnson James Hooper
Some Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs 1845
Washington Irving
History of New York . . . by Diedrich Knick erbocker 1809
The Sketch Book 1820
Melville D. Landon (Eli Perkins)
Eli Perkins at Large. His Sayins and Doings 1875
Henry Clay Lewis (Madison Tensas)
Odd Leaves from the Life of a Louisiana Swamp Doctor 1846
David Ross Locke
The Struggles (Social, Financial and Political) of Petroleum Vesuvius Nasby 1872
Augustus Baldwin Longstreet
Georgia Scenes 1835
Edgar W. Nye (Bill Nye)
Baled Hay 1884
Sara Willis Parton (Fanny Fern)
Fern Leaves from Fanny's Portfolio 1853
George W. Peck
Peck's Bad Boy and His Pa
William Trotter Porter (editor)
The Big Bear of Arkansas and Other Sketches 1845
John S. Robb
Streaks from Squatter Life 1846
B. P. Shillabar
Life and Sayins of Mrs. Partington 1854
Charles Henry Smith
Bill Arp, So-Called 1866
Seba Smith
The Life and Writings of Major Jack Downing 1833
William Tappan Thompson
Major Jones's Courtship 1843
Frances M. Whicher (also spelled Whitcher)
Widow Bedott Papers 1852
The London and Westminster Review
SOURCE: "Yankeeana: Slick, Crockett, Downing, Etc.," in The London and Westminster Review, Vol. XXXII, No. 1, December, 1838, pp. 136-45.
[In the following excerpt from a review of several volumes of American humor writing, a commentator from The London and Westminster Review makes the claim that the United States has begun to create a literature of its own.]
These books show that American literature has ceased to be exclusively imitative. A few writers have appeared in the United States, who, instead of being European and English in their styles of thought and diction, are American—who, therefore, produce original sounds instead of far-off echoes,—fresh and vigorous pictures instead of comparatively idealess copies. A portion of American literature has become national and original, and, naturally enough, this portion of it is that which in all countries is always most national and original—because made more than any other by the collective mind of the nation—the humorous.
We have many things to say on national humour, very few of which we can say on the present occasion. But two or three words we must pass on the heresies which abound in the present state of critical opinion on the subject of national humour: we say critical, and not public, opinion, for, thank God, the former has very little to do with the latter.
"Lord Byron,"—says William Hazlitt, in a very agreeable and suggestive volume of Sketches and Essays, now first collected by his son,—"was in the habit of railing at the spirit of our good old comedy, and of abusing Shakspeare's Clowns and Fools, which, he said, the refinement of the French and Italian stage would not endure, and which only our grossness and puerile taste could tolerate. In this I agree with him; and it is pat to my purpose. I flatter myself that we are almost the only people who understand and relish nonsense." This is the excuse for the humour of Shakspeare, his rich and genuine English humour!
In Lord Byron the taste which the above opinion expresses is easily accounted for; it was the consequences of his having early formed himself according to the Pope and Gifford school, which was the dominant one among the Cambridge students of his time. Scottish highland scenery, and European travel, aided by the influences of the revival of a more vigorous and natural taste in the public, made his poems much better than the taste of the narrow school to which he belonged could ever have made them; but above the dicta of this school his critical judgment never rose. We thought the matter more inexplicable as regards William Hazlitt, a man superior to Byron in force and acuteness of understanding—until we found the following declaration of his views:—"In fact, I am very much of the opinion of that old Scotch gentleman who owned that 'he preferred the dullest book he had ever read to the most brilliant conversation it had ever been his lot to hear.'" A man to whom the study of books was so much and the study of men so little as this, could not possibly understand the humour of Shakspeare's Clowns and Fools, or national humour of any sort. The characters of a Trinculo, a Bardolph, a Quickly, or a Silence, are matters beyond him. That man was never born whose genuine talk, let it be as dull as it may, and whose character, if studied aright, is not pregnant with thoughts, deep and immortal thoughts, enough to fill many books. A man is a volume stored all over with thoughts and meanings, as deep and great as God. A book, even when it contains the "life's blood of an immortal spirit," still is not an immortal spirit, nor a God-created form. Wofully fast will be his growth in ignorance who prefers reading books to reading men. But the time-honoured critical journals have critics—
"The earth hath bubbles as the waters hath"—
and William Hazlitt, with his eloquent vehemence, was one of the best of them.
The public have of late, by the appreciation of the genuine English humour of Mr Dickens, shown that the days when the refinement which revises Shakespeare and ascribes the toleration of his humour to grossness and puerility of taste, or a relish for nonsense, have long gone by. The next good sign is the appreciation of the humour of the Americans, in all its peculiar and unmitigated nationality. Humour is national when it is impregnated with the convictions, customs, and associations of a nation. What these, in the case of America, are, we thus indicated in a former number:—"The Americans are a democratic people; a people without poor; without rich; with a 'far-west' behind them; so situated as to be in no danger of aggression from without; sprung mostly from the Puritans; speaking the language of a foreign country; with no established church; with no endowments for the support of a learned class; with boundless facilities for 'raising themselves in the world;' and where a large family is a fortune. They are Englishmen who are all well off; who never were conquered; who never had feudalism on their soil; and who, instead of having the manners of society determined by a Royal court in all essentials imitative to the present hour of that of Louis the Fourteenth of France, had them formed, more or less, by the stern influences of Puritanism."
National American humour must be all this transformed into shapes which produce laughter. The humour of a people is their institutions, laws, customs, manners, habits, characters, convictions,—their scenery, whether of the sea, the city, or the hills,—expressed in the language of the ludicrous, uttering themselves in the tones of genuine and heartfelt mirth. Democracy and the 'far-west' made Colonel Crockett: he is a product of forests, freedom, universal suffrage, and bear-hunts. The Puritans and the American revolution, joined to the influence of the soil and the social manners of the time, have all contributed to the production of the character of Sam Slick. The institutions and scenery, the convictions and the habits of a people, become enwrought into their thoughts, and of course their merry as well as their serious thoughts. In America, at present, accidents of steamboats are extremely common, and have therefore a place in the mind of every American. Hence we are told that, when asked whether he was seriously injured by the explosion of the boiler of the St Leonard steamer, Major N. replied that he was so used to be blown-up by his wife that a mere steamer had no effect upon him. In another instance laughter is produced out of the very cataracts which form so noble a feature in American scenery. The Captain of a Kentucky steam-boat praises his vessel thus:—"She trots off like a horse—all boiler—full pressure—its hard work to hold her in at the wharfs and landings. I could run her up a cataract. She draws eight inches of water—goes at three knots a minute—and jumps all the snags and sand-banks." The Falls of Niagara themselves become redolent with humour.
Sam Patch was a great diver, and the last dive he took was off the Falls of Niagara, and he was never heard of agin till t'other day, when Captain Enoch Wentworth, of the Susy Ann whaler, saw him in the South Sea. 'Why,' says Captain Enoch to him—'why, Sam,' says he, 'how on airth did you get here, I thought you was drowned at the Canadian lines.'—'Why,' says Sam, 'I didn't get on earth here at all, but I came slap through it. In that are Niagara dive I went so everlasting deep, I thought it was just as short to come up t'other side, so out I came on these parts. If I don't take the shine off the sea-serpent, when I get back to Boston, then my name's not Sam Patch.'
The curiosity of the public regarding the peculiar nature of American humour seems to have been very easily satisfied with the application of the all-sufficing word exaggeration. We have, in a former number, sufficiently disposed of exaggeration, as an explanation of the ludicrous. Extravagance is a characteristic of American humour, though very far from being a peculiarity of it; and, when a New York paper, speaking of hot weather, says:—"We must go somewhere—we are dissolving daily—so are our neighbours.—It was rumoured yesterday that three large ridges of fat, found on the side-walk in Wall street, were caused by Thad. Phelps, Harry Ward, and Tom Van Pine, passing that way a short time before":—the humour does not consist in the exaggeration that the heat is actually dissolving people daily—a common-place at which no one would laugh—but in the representation of these respectable citizens as producing ridges of fat. It is humour, and not wit, on account of the infusion of character and locality into it. The man who put his umbrella into bed and himself stood up in the corner, and the man who was so tall that he required to go up a ladder to shave himself, with all their brethren, are not humorous and ludicrous because their peculiarities are exaggerated, but because the umbrella and the man change places, and because a man by reason of his tallness is supposed too short to reach himself.
The cause of laughter is the ascription to objects of qualities or the representations of objects or persons with qualities the opposite of their own:—Humour is this ascription or representation when impregnated with character, whether individual or national. . . .
Walter Blair
SOURCE: "The Popularity of Nineteenth-Century American Humorists," in Essays on American Humor: Blair Through the Ages, edited by Hamlin Hill, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1993, pp. 25-39.
[Blair is recognized as a prominent literary critic and has been identified by Hamlin Hill as "the foremost critic and analyst" of American humor writing. In this excerpt, which originally appeared in the May, 1931, issue of American Literature, Blair provides a comprehensive view of the genre as well as the argument that humor writing advanced the development of American literature.]
Just how popular were the writers of American humor in the years of the last century during which they were most active (c. 1830-c. 1896)? The question seems worth considering for at least three reasons. An answer will reveal just how true is the impression, fostered by hostile critics of the period, that the great reading public existed on a diet of nothing much except the sugary fare offered by ladies' books and popular romances. Further, an answer will, perhaps, help one understand why Innocents Abroad [1869] found thirty-one thousand buyers within six months of its appearance and thus launched Mark Twain's remarkable career. And finally, if—as historians have recently held—American humorists were important as predecessors of the realists, data on this subject of popularity will indicate to some extent how these heralds managed to make themselves heard. For these reasons, I have attempted to discover and record some of the facts which show how the nineteenth-century literary comedians recruited an audience.
Several factors, apparently, were important in giving American humor the prominence which it achieved. An early and lasting stimulus to a wide interest in native comic creations, it is probable, was the stage presentation by many actors of humorous American characters. When The Contrast was performed in 1787, the stage Yankee, Jonathan, stumbled into the theater for the first time, spouting slang, parading his rustic foibles. The play was a pronounced success, and as a natural result of its popularity, dozens of other dramas portraying similarly vulgar characters followed. Not only the Yankee but also other figures important in the new humor of America were portrayed. Ralph Stackpole, frontiersman in Nick of the Woods, was a successful stage figure. Davy Crockett, comedian of the canebrakes, Colonel Nimrod Wildfire, and other frontiersmen pleased audiences in New York and the provinces. Minstrel troupes offered boisterous blackface jokers who used typical American humor, including some of the jests of Artemus Ward. One play, Eli among the Cowboys, pictured Eli Perkins captured by plainsmen during a lecture tour in Wyoming. At least two newspaper paragraphers, J. Amroy Knox and Charles H. Hoyt, became playwrights whose dramas were successful. Thus, throughout the period, humor of the salty native type found its way to the stage.
Actors made reputations as portrayers of Yankees or kindred types. Ludlow, dressed in the picturesque costume of a Western boatman, roared out the words of "The Hunters of Kentucky" while rough audiences in showhouses along the Ohio and Mississippi applauded with "a prolonged whoop, or howl. . . ." J. H. Hackett was Nimrod Wildfire, Jonathan Ploughboy, and Solon Shingle. Yankee Hill won fame in England as well as America by portraying Yankee types. Joseph Jefferson was applauded as he played the role of Asa Trenchard. Chanfrau triumphed as Mose, the tough fireboy, and John T. Raymond as Mark Twain's Colonel Mulberry Sellers in The Gilded Age [1874]. Some actors, in addition to playing character parts, offered monologues—Dr. W. Valentine, Sol Smith, Sol Smith Russell, and Yankee Hill. These monologues, composed by the actors or perhaps in some cases by humorists, augmented the flood of humorous books, in which monologues were often an important feature. And when J. H. Hackett went to the New York Leader as a journalist, writing lines similar to those which he spoke on the stage, he gave printed humor an impetus his stage career had made possible.
Thus to the theater audiences of the period the new humor became familiar. An even vaster audience, the group interested in politics, found much material in native comic writings to interest it. As Joel Chandler Harris said [in The World's Wit and Humor]:
First and last, humor has played a very large part in our political campaigns; in fact, it may be said that it has played almost as large a part as principle—which is the name that politicians gave to their theories. It is a fact that . . . the happy allusion, the humorous anecdote . . . will change the whole prospects of a political struggle.
A large part of the humor between 1830 and the end of the century dealt with political themes. Major Jack Downing, from the start of his literary career, and the imitators of Jack Downing as well, constantly commented shrewdly upon political struggles. Davy Crockett, with whom Downing carried on some correspondence, was apparently exploited as a political figure; and his writings were necessarily tied up with current contests. The story of Simon Suggs was written in the guise of a campaign biography, and Major Jones's Travels and Bagby's Letters of Mozis Addums contain political comments. W. P. Trent notes [in the November 1901 issue of Century] the preoccupation of humorists with politics:
Lowell being put to one side, there are at least five political humorists of importance belonging to the eventful years 1830-70 . . . Seba Smith, Charles Augustus Davis (1795-1867), Robert Henry Newell (1836-1901), the "Orpheus C. Kerr" whose letters gave Lincoln needed relaxation . . ., Charles Henry Smith ("Bill Arp," born in 1826), and David R. Locke [Petroleum V. Nasby]. To these one is almost tempted to add Richard Grant White, whose New Gospel of Peace . . . [was] a clever and very popular parody of the style of the historical books of the Old Testament.
To the list also may be added Artemus Ward, whose political writings were, if not numerous, telling.
During the years when several of these political humorists were active, one of America's outstanding political figures did much to focus attention on contemporary humorous works. Lincoln, as Professor Pattee [A History of American Literature Since 1870] has pointed out, "stood in the limelight of the Presidency, transacting the nation's business with anecdotes from the frontier circuits, meeting hostile critics with shrewd border philosophy, and reading aloud with unction, while battles were raging or election returns were in doubt, from 'Artemus Ward,' or 'Petroleum Vesuvius Nasby,' or The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi—favorites of his because they too were genuine, excerpts not from books but from life itself."
Furthermore, there were few important comic journals which did not battle valiantly in the field of politics. The pages of John Donkey (1848), Vanity Fair (1859-63), Puck (1877-1907), and Judge (1888-) were full of political cartoons and satires. Newspaper comic men constantly carried on political conflicts in the period after the war as before the war: David Ross Locke, George W. Peck, Marcus M. "Brick" Pomeroy of the LaCrosse Democrat, James M. Bailey, Robert J. Burdette, and Eli Perkins. It was not a mere accident that one of the most vicious fictional attacks upon industrial control in politics was made by a humorist, Mark Twain, in The Gilded Age. The tradition of the use of political material for humorous purposes was extended through the whole period down to the jestings of Mr. Dooley and Will Rogers about statesmen and demagogues. The nation always has been interested in frank and amusing comments upon political events.
The newspapers were active in carrying this humorous material into every part of...
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The Old Southwest
Clement Eaton
SOURCE: "The Southern Yeoman: The Humorists' View and the Reality," in The Mind of the Old South, revised edition, Louisiana State University Press, 1967, pp. 130-51.
[In this excerpt, Eaton examines the historical accuracy of antebellum humor writing, maintaining that, despite occasional distortions of truth, the works are valuable and generally accurate historical documents.]
In studying the writings of the Southern humorists of the antebellum period the social historian has a different purpose from that of the folklorist, the student of American literature, or the investigator of the Southern vernacular. He is interested in the...
(The entire section is 27604 words.)
Broader Impacts
Clarence Gohdes
SOURCE: "Humor," in American Literature in Nineteenth-Century England, Columbia University Press, 1944, pp. 71-98.
[In the following excerpt, Gohdes documents the zeal with which British readers consumed American humor writing and speculates on the source of that popularity.]
So impressive is the avidity with which the English consumed the products of transatlantic wits and drolls during the period immediately following the Civil War that the historian who attempts even such a superficial survey as the present one may well be asked to assign causes for the phenomenon.
Of course no explanations of quirks in...
(The entire section is 2618 words.)
Women Humorists
The New York Times Book Review
SOURCE: "Women Among Humorists," in The New York Times Book Review, January 20, 1900, p. 40.
[In the following excerpt, the anonymous writer offers an account of a conversation at a literary gathering where one male guest argued that women may be "bright conversationalists" or have "sporadic flashes of fun" but lack a genuine sense of humor.]
At a recent gathering of what Mark Twain would call "literary persons," of both sexes, one of the men present made the sweeping assertion that most, if not all, women were entirely devoid of a sense of humor.
"I consider that an unjust assertion," remarked a...
(The entire section is 11202 words.)
Further Reading
Blair, Walter, ed. Native American Humor (1800-1900). New York: American Book Company, 1937, 573 p.
Anthologizes major short pieces from the nineteenth century and provides an informative introduction and bibliography.
Blair, Walter and Raven I. McDavid, Jr., eds. The Mirth of a Nation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983, 302 p.
Like Native American Humor, anthologizes nineteenth-century American humor writing, but specifically seeks to salvage dialect humor from literary oblivion.
Cohen, Hennig and William B. Dillingham, eds. Introduction...
(The entire section is 566 words.)


text:
About the Author: Aaron Snipe is among a group of Foreign Service Officers studying Arabic in preparation for their next assignments.
The State Department's Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is where American diplomats come to learn the tools of their trade. A wide range of courses prepare Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) to engage the media, speak, read, and write in numerous languages, and to draft efficiently and think critically about political, economic, and human rights issues. Yet, in all the courses taught at FSI, there is a common thread: cultural competence. This critical component of diplomatic engagement is best gained when FSOs can communicate in the language of the host country. Currently FSI hosts over 1,000 students studying more than 70 languages. From Azeri to Vietnamese – and every language in between – FSI is preparing diplomats to engage foreign audiences to explain America's policies as well as our values.
It's a unique environment to study language. Each day, before 7:00 a.m., you can find students sitting in the FSI cafeteria with coffee in hand pouring over flash cards in Spanish, conjugating verbs in Farsi, practicing introductions in Czech, and explaining trade agreements in Chinese. Before I began studying language at FSI, I often found it strange when my colleagues would roam the halls between breaks, talking to themselves. That is, until a teacher stopped me in the hall one day recently to ask me (in Arabic), "Who are you talking to?""Atakalem ma nafsi." (Talking to myself), I told her.
The Arabic Language Department at FSI is busy churning out students to staff our embassies across the Middle East and is always finding new and innovative ways to teach. Recently, I was able to attend a one-week, Arabic-language immersion course for advanced students. Accompanied by two professors, six students, who are headed to various countries in the Middle East, piled into a van to make the long drive from Washington, D.C., to Dearborn, Michigan, where the largest population of Arabic-speaking Americans and Legal Permanent Residents live in the United States. The trip was a fantastic (and very cost effective) opportunity to utilize a great American resource in our own backyard: an Arab-American community eager to assist U.S. diplomats in preparing to better understand the language, cultures, religions of the Middle East.
The group visited an evening Bible study session at a church, attended afternoon prayers at two local mosques, met with university students, and even worked behind the counter of one of Dearborn's finest Middle Eastern bakeries. In all of our interactions, the group found proud Americans of Arab decent eager to speak with us about our upcoming diplomatic assignments. "You are great representatives for America to work in the Middle East," one parishioner from a Chaledean Church in Dearborn told the group. "You know the language, and even more than that, you understand the culture. This serves America well," he noted. Among the many meetings with civic, religious, and law enforcement leaders, the group also attended a celebration of Lebanese Independence Day sponsored by the Lebanese Consulate General of Detroit.
While all of my colleagues (author excluded) did a tremendous job of speaking Arabic, non-stop, for the entire week, one of my Foreign Service colleagues distinguished herself as a truly outstanding linguist. Headed out on her first overseas assignment next year, Samantha took the trip's coveted "Linguist of the Immersion" award by handling the most difficult of all tasks: driving over 1,000 miles to and from Michigan, all the while taking her queues from our vehicle's GPS system . . . in Arabic. Not one wrong turn, not one missed exit; there and back again . . . quite an accomplishment, Sam.
Read more entries by Aaron Snipe.
Joe in Tennessee writes:
While I understand the direction of this, somehow there seems to be a 'loss' of understanding of the U.S. citizen in general to me:
What happened to being an American who speaks English? OR new resident of the U.S. learning English?
What is the push for us to learn a langue other than our own to reside in the United States of America? This is just one reason for Americans being upset now: Loss of National Identity from Religious beliefs to taboos now accepted and forced onto the general public by a minority under the pretense of Law, to our spoken tongue.
Want to speak Arabic, move to the Middle East. How far and away are you all from the General Public, don't you hear them? The General Public seems alienated by the Government now...and this is only one example of the difference of veiws between those who represent the U.S. and those who are supposed to be represented: Think I'm wrong? This is a major part of the insecurities Americans face now: Loss of Idenity created by the People, not the Government.
DipNote Blogger Aaron Snipe writes:
@ Joe in Tennessee,
Thanks for your comment. All of the folks I wrote about do speak English. They were kind enough to turn the English off for a bit to help a group of U.S. diplomats -- who work abroad and need Arabic as an essential tool to implement U.S. foreign policy -- become better linguists when we are serving our country. There is great value in training our State Department and military officers to communicate in foreign languages while serving abroad. I can tell you as someone who has served in Iraq, the State Department is right on the money to encourage its diplomats to learn Arabic (and the many other languages spoken around the world). Doing so doesn't take anything away from America, it only strengthens our ability to engage and confront the many challenges we face together.
Best regards,
Badjie in Mauritania writes:
I am a Gambian Diplomat at the Embassy of the Gambia in Nouakchott who is interested in write ups from FSI to develop myself career wise.