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Community Law & Mediation (CLM), originally known as Coolock Community Law Centre, and then Northside Community Law Centre, was established in 1975 as the first, independent, community-based Law Centre in Ireland.
Community Law & Mediation works to empower individuals experiencing disadvantage by providing free legal, mediation and information services. At a national level, we seek to have a wider impact through our campaigns for law reform and by acting as a resource for other advocacy organisations.
We have a number of services including two Community Law Centres: CLM Northside based in Coolock, Dublin and CLM Limerick. We also provide a free mediation service, community education and two key resources: 'Casebase' a social welfare decision database and the Irish Community Development Law Journal.


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Confess: you don't remember what, exactly, the Simpson-Bowles "Fiscal Responsibility and Reform" Commission proposed. I didn't remember, either, but with many conservatives, including Steve Hayward, suggesting that the House pass Simpson-Bowles as its proposal to avert the fiscal cliff, I thought it would be good to refresh both my memory, and yours.
You can read the Commission's report here; it isn't particularly long. The Commission's proposals are good on taxes and discretionary spending, so let's start with those.
RECOMMENDATION 1.1: CAP DISCRETIONARY SPENDING THROUGH 2020. Hold spending in 2012 equal to or lower than spending in 2011, and return spending to pre-crisis 2008 levels in real terms in 2013. Limit future spending growth to half the projected inflation rate through 2020.
The Commission issued its report in December 2010, so two more fiscal years have gone by. Still, it wouldn't be hard to update the Commission's numbers to address next year's spending. This chart shows how substantially Simpson-Bowles would cut federal spending, compared to President Obama's budget or the CBO baseline. In the first four years it would fund more than $600 billion less spending than is requested in Obama's budget:
The Simpson-Bowles proposal includes multiple enforcement mechanisms:
RECOMMENDATION 1.3: ENFORCE CAPS THROUGH TWO MECHANISMS — POINT OF ORDER AND ABATEMENT. Require a separate non-amendable vote in House and 60- vote point of order in Senate to spend above the caps. If caps are exceeded, impose across-the-board abatement by the amount appropriations exceed the caps.
Among other proposed spending reductions, Simpson-Bowles includes elimination of all earmarks.
With respect to taxes, Simpson-Bowles is also good:
RECOMMENDATION 2.1: ENACT FUNDAMENTAL TAX REFORM BY 2012 TO LOWER RATES, REDUCE DEFICITS, AND SIMPLIFY THE CODE. Eliminate all income tax expenditures [deductions and other tax preferences], dedicate a portion of the additional revenue to deficit reduction, and use the remaining revenue to lower rates and add back necessary expenditures and credits.
A "zero plan" could reduce income tax rates to as low as 8%, 14%, and 23%. Even after adding back a number of larger tax expenditures, rates would still remain significantly lower than under current law.
The Commission presented a menu of options here. To the extent that some deductions (e.g., home mortgage interest) are preserved, marginal rates are somewhat higher, but still considerably lower than at present. The Commission also called for a significant reduction in the corporate income tax rate, along with rationalization of taxation of foreign income. This chart compares current rates (along with post-January 2013 rates, under current law) with rates that would be possible under various deduction scenarios:
The Simpson-Bowles plan would eliminate all corporate welfare. No more "green jobs" programs!
2.2.2 Eliminate all tax expenditures for businesses. Corporate tax reform should eliminate special subsidies for different industries. By eliminating business tax expenditures – currently more than 75 – the corporate tax rate can be significantly reduced while contributing to deficit reduction. A lower overall tax rate will improve American business competitiveness. Abolishing special subsidies will also create an even playing field for all businesses instead of artificially picking winners and losers.
That should warm every conservative's heart.
So if Simpson-Bowles is good on discretionary spending and taxes, what's not to like? The knock on the Commission's report was that, while it included proposals for Social Security reform, it did little about the biggest causes of the nation's long-term debt problem, Medicare and Medicaid. It assumed the continuation of Obamacare and only nibbled around the edges of the existing Medicare and Medicaid programs. This was the principal reason why Commission member Paul Ryan declined to support the group's final product, even though he applauded the effort and approved of many of the Commission's proposals:
The primary driver of our fiscal problems is government health care spending and the fundamental weakness in the Co-Chairs' proposal is its failure to structurally reform health care.
That was an appropriate criticism when the Simpson-Bowles Commission was operating in a vacuum. But we are now addressing a specific moment in time. Given the current alignment in Washington, it is obvious that any compromise that emerges in the coming weeks will not repeal Obamacare, and will not fundamentally reform Medicare and Medicaid. Those battles must be left to a future date. Given that reality, the chief objection to Simpson-Bowles is largely moot. What remains, the spending and tax guidelines, is good. So I would have no problem with the Republicans adopting Simpson-Bowles as their plan to get past the current fiscal crisis.
I have argued that there is a case to be made for higher, not lower, taxes, as long as those higher taxes are imposed on taxpayers generally, not just high income earners. Simpson-Bowles is flawed in that, like all marginal rate reductions of recent decades, its effect would be to make the income tax system even more progressive than it already is. We badly need to make more voters into taxpayers so that they have a concrete interest in restraining federal spending. That battle, too, is one that will be left for another day if Simpson-Bowles becomes the Republican plan.
So my conclusion is this: 1) Republicans' first choice should be to agree to a brief (say, 120 day) continuation of the status quo to permit budget legislation to work its way through Congress. The solution to our present fiscal crisis should be decided through the legally-mandated process of introducing budget bills in the House and Senate, debating amendments, taking votes, reconciling differences in a conference committee, and so on. Voters should be able to see in the light of day what each party, and each individual member of Congress, favors. Midnight back-room deals are no way to decide our children's financial future.
2) If we assume that John Boehner doesn't listen to me, Jeff Sessions and others, and instead continues negotiating behind closed doors, then Republicans should be willing to agree to a return to all Clinton-era individual income tax rates, as long as they can obtain very substantial spending cuts in return. If such a deal cannot be negotiated, no back-room agreement should be made.
3) Instead, the House should pass Simpson-Bowles. Note that the Simpson-Bowles report is not as specific as a budget plan would be, and leaves open a number of options at various points, especially with regard to taxes. Republicans should make certain that their legislation can accurately be characterized as an implementation of the Simpson-Bowles blueprint.
Enacting Simpson-Bowles in the House is, of course, a political move. But that doesn't mean it is bad policy. If the House's adoption of Simpson-Bowles doesn't lead to a compromise that is workable, then so be it: under existing law–which was, after all, adopted by the Democratic Senate and signed by President Obama–on January 1, tax rates (all of them, not just the top two tiers) will rise and federal spending will be cut. And the battle over the federal budget will continue.

subset: commoncrawl


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Zillow unveils real-time home values service
Online startup's tool will estimate worth of properties
The mystery is over.
After more than a year of keeping tight wraps on his heavily funded startup, former Expedia Chief Executive Rich Barton today will disclose how his 75-person company, Zillow.com, plans to transform the multibillion-dollar real estate business.
The idea: Place a real-time value on homes throughout the country.
"We think you shouldn't need a computer science degree or a real estate license to find out what a home is worth," said Barton, who hopes to do in real estate what he already accomplished in online travel.
With an assessment known as a Zestimate, Zillow.com takes into consideration historical property information, square footage, number of bedrooms, neighboring homes and other factors to determine estimated values of 42 million of the 85 million residences in the United States. It then overlays that information on aerial and satellite maps, so home shoppers from Miami to Seattle can get a better idea of the market value of homes in those cities.
Zillow.com's free service is not foolproof, and Barton admits that the home valuation tool is very much in the early stages of development. For example, Zestimates for homes in Washington, D.C., are not available because the nation's capital does not collect historical property transactions.
Large pockets of New York also are not served by Zillow, as is the case for most of Idaho.
Compiling the data -- most of which reside in paper form at county offices -- has been a monumental task, Barton said.
"The data is as good as we can get it, given the way we are collecting it and the amount we are sharing," he said. "We are going to put it out there because it is too much fun to hold back, but we know full well that we are not like Moses taking the tablets from the Lord and handing them down."
The national historical margin of error for the Zillow technology is 7.2 percent, though markets with higher-quality data such as Denver and San Francisco produce error rates in valuations below 5 percent. Those figures still may seem high for a transaction as large as a home purchase. After all, 5 percent of a $400,000 home is $20,000.
But Barton, whose company uses proprietary algorithms to come up with the home values, said getting within 5 percent of the value "is probably as good as anybody is going to get."
Real estate professionals disagree, saying that an experienced agent who knows a specific neighborhood can do a better job of assessing a home's value.
J. Lennox Scott, chairman and chief executive of John L. Scott Real Estate in Seattle, said agents can identify market nuances that a computer model will never find.
"It is not a click of a mouse by any means," said Scott, who was briefed on the Zillow technology earlier this week. "It takes a professional."
Even so, some who are familiar with Zillow said the company has done a good job of culling data from numerous sources and presenting them to home buyers and sellers in a compelling way.
In addition to using the home-valuation tool, home buyers and sellers can chart historical value changes of a home over the past year, five years or 10 years. That information can then be plotted against data on other homes in that ZIP code or city.
It is also offering a tool called My Zestimator, which uses data from Remodel magazine to allow home buyers and sellers to recalculate values in case of a major remodeling or landscaping project.
Longtime technology analyst Esther Dyson, an editor at CNET Networks, said Zillow's pattern-recognition technology "democratizes" the real estate industry by opening up information that is not usually accessible.
"What real estate agents always knew, now anybody can find out on Zillow," Dyson said. That could raise the hackles of consumer groups that may have privacy concerns about the use of the data, she said.
It also might not sit well with real estate professionals, many of whom justify their commissions by providing the types of services now offered through Zillow.
But Mike Rahmn, vice president of technology at Windermere Real Estate, who got an inside look Monday at the Zillow service, doesn't think it will harm his company's 8,000 real estate agents.
Some have speculated that services such as Zillow could bring so much power to the consumer that they will eventually diminish the role of agents, eventually cutting into their 6 percent commissions.
"Your commission is a function of the value perception," Rahmn said. "And if your value perception is that all you are is a gatekeeper to information, then we have a much bigger problem in real estate."
While Windermere doesn't list historical property information, Rahmn said, that's "a natural progression" for the company's Web site.
"It is interesting data, but it is expensive to collect," Rahmn said, adding that it can be obtained through brute effort. "If the consumer tells us that this is something they want in the context of their search, we will look at ways to go in that direction."
The Zillow concept is slightly different from online real estate services such as HomePages, Redfin and Trulia, which along with historical property information also list homes for sale. For now, Zillow does not show for-sale listings.
However, Barton said, that could be a logical advertising component to the service -- allowing real estate agents to list homes on the site for a fee. Banner advertisements and text-based advertising from Google also will be an important revenue generator.
Barton said the site will launch with about a dozen advertisers, though executives at John L. Scott and Windermere said they have not made a decision about participating. The Kelsey Group reports that online real estate advertising is expected to grow from a projected $294 million this year to $563 million by 2010.
In many ways, Zillow.com looks most like New York-based PropertyShark. The 10-person startup compiles detailed information on 20 million properties in 16 major markets, though it makes money through monthly subscriptions rather than advertising.
Still, the similarities between the two services was not lost on PropertyShark executives Matthew Haines and Ryan Slack, who issued a statement Tuesday saying that "computer-based automated valuations, such as those you will likely see at Zillow, are more likely to be wrong than right." It went on to say that Zillow is out to "disintermediate the broker and real estate salesperson."
Zillow spokeswoman Amy Bohutinsky said that statement is false and said the company wants to attract real estate professionals to advertise on the Web site and enable consumers to have a more informed conversation with agents.
The PropertyShark executives have reason to worry about Zillow, something they readily admitted Tuesday in an interview.
"When me met Rich (Barton), the first thing he said when he found out I was CEO of PropertyShark was, 'Oh, I love PropertyShark.' That was not the greatest thing to hear, said Slack, who preferred that he had not heard of the service.
Barton calls PropertyShark "innovative," but said Zillow is different because it filters and organizes information for consumers instead of using the "encyclopedia" approach of his competitor.
Haines said Zillow is kind of like Wal-Mart entering the territory of a small retailer.
"This is just a fact of life that Zillow has come to town and they are bigger than us, so we are going to find niches that we can serve better and we are going to try to offer higher quality, greater depth, fresher data and things like that," he said.
"If Zillow can get data within six weeks of a sale, we are going to send people straight to the county clerk and get it the day that the document is recorded."
The Zillow service also poses threats to Redfin, a tiny Seattle startup that incorporates maps, historical property data and other information.
Redfin Chief Executive Glenn Kelman said his company considered developing an online home-valuation tool, but it wasn't the highest priority. Instead, Redfin earlier this week unveiled a discount brokerage service that helps potential home buyers prepare an offer, negotiate terms and coordinate closing costs.
Kelman said that most in the industry don't view a home-valuation tool such as the one from Zillow as "an earth-shattering, game-changing approach to real estate."
"I don't want to discount it. It is a good angle. It is a good hook. And we would probably do it when we can," Kelman said. "It wasn't at the top of our list because people do want to just see the raw data."
The launch of Zillow.com ends months of speculation by journalists, bloggers, real estate professionals and others who wondered how Barton, who helped transform the online travel business while at Expedia, would attack real estate.
The publicity, along with the $32 million in venture capital financing, has elevated expectations. That's something Barton is aware of.
"The hype that has been built up ... has been driven off stuff that we have done in the past," said Barton. "Whatever happens short-term is short-term. The long-term opportunity is massive."


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(Redirected from BITTER HERBS.)
V09p548001.jpg; Aramaic, V09p548002.jpg; hence the Greek Πάσχα).
The Biblical account connects the term with the root
The festival commemorates the deliverance of Israel's first-born from the judgment wrought on those of the Egyptians (Ex. xii. 12-13; comp. Ex. xiii. 2, 12 et seq.), and the wondrous liberation of the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage (Ex. xii. 14-17). As such, it is identical with the Maẓẓot (
The setting aside, slaughtering, and eating of the paschal lamb was introductory to the celebration of the festival. According to Ex. xii. this rite was instituted by Moses in Egypt, in anticipation of the judgment about to be visited on Pharaoh and his people. On the tenth of the month—ever thereafter to be the first month of the year—the Hebrews were to take a lamb for each household, "without blemish, a male of the first year," "from the sheep or from the goats." Kept until the fourteenth day, this lamb was killed "at eve" ("at the going down of the sun"; Deut. xvi. 6), the blood being sprinkled by means of a "bunch of hyssop" (Ex. xii. 22) on the two door-posts and on the lintels of the houses wherein the Hebrews assembled to eat the lamb during this night, denominated the
The details of this rite as observed in Egypt are summarized in "the ordinance of the Passover" (Ex. xii. 43 et seq.). No bone was to be broken; the meal was to be eaten in one house; no alien could participate; circumcision was a prerequisite in the case of servants bought for money and of the stranger desiring to participate (Ex. xii. 44-48). According to Num. ix. 6, Levitical purity was another prerequisite. To enable such as happened to be in an unclean state through contact with the dead, or were away from home at the appointed season, to "offer the oblation of
Glosses concerning the observance of Passover are not infrequent in the historical narratives. The keeping of the rite is first mentioned as having occurred at Sinai (Num. ix. 1 et seq.); under Joshua, at Gilgal (Josh. v. 10), another celebration of it is noticed. Hezekiah figures prominently in an account of the revival of the festival after a long period in which it was not observed (II Chron. xxx.). The reforms of Josiah brought about a new zeal in behalf of this institution, the Passover celebrated at his bidding in the eighteenth year of his reign being described as singular and memorable (II Kings xxiii. 21 et seq.). After the return from the Captivity (Ezra vi. 19 et seq.) another Passover observance is reported to have taken place in due conformity with the required laws of purity and in a most joyful spirit.
The sacrifices ordained for Passover are as follows: "an offering made by fire, a burnt offering; two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven he-lambs of the first year, without blemish, and their meal-offering, fine flour mingled with oil; . . . and one he-goat for a sin-offering, beside the burnt offering of the morning." These were to be offered daily for seven days (Num. xxviii. 16-25, Hebr.).
For reasons well known (see Calendar; Festivals; Holy Days) Passover was extended to eight days, including the 22d of Nisan, and the 23d of Nisan came to be regarded as a semiholy day, an "issur la-ḥag," according to the interpretation of Ps. cxviii. 27 (Suk. 45b; Rashi, ad loc.). The Biblical injunctions concerning the eating of leaven and the like (see
"Karet" was imposed for eating pure "ḥameẓ," but the eating of mixed "ḥameẓ" ("'erub ḥameẓ"), of which the Mishnah (Pes. iii. 1) gives instances (see "Yad," l.c. i. 6), entails flagellation, though this depended upon the quantity consumed and the proportion of the ḥameẓ (l.c.). The interdiction against eating or using ḥameẓ becomes operative at noon of the 14th of Nisan, but as a precaution the Rabbis set the limit an hour earlier (l.c. i. 9) and even advise refraining from eating leavened food after ten in the morning (l.c. i. 10).Removal of Leaven.
The proper removal of ḥameẓ ("bi'ur ḥameẓ") constitutes one of the chief concerns of rabbinical law and practise. Great care is enjoined in the inspection and cleaning of all possible nooks and corners, lest ḥameẓ be overlooked. The night preceding the 14th of Nisan was especially set apart for this inspection by candle-light or lamplight, not by moonlight, though it was not necessary to examine by candle-light places that were open to the sunlight. Study was suspended in favor of this duty of inspecting holes and corners. Minute regulations were devised for the inspection of holes midway between houses, but precautions were taken not to arouse suspicions of witchcraft in the minds of non-Jewish neighbors. Certain places, where the likelihood of finding ḥameẓ was infinitesimal, were exempt (see "Yad," l.c. ii.).
In practise this "bediḳat ḥameẓ" was effected as follows: As soon as night (on the 13th) had completely set in, the father of the household ("ba'al ha-bayit") lighted a plain wax taper, took a spoon and a brush, or three or four entire feathers, and, after having deposited a piece of bread in some noticeable place, as on a window-sill, to mark the beginning of the search, made the complete round of the house and gathered up all the leavened bread that was in it. Coming to the window-sill where the piece of bread was deposited, he carefully put it into the spoon, leaving no crums on the sill, and pronounced this benediction: "Blessed be Thou . . . who hast commanded us to remove the leaven." Then he added an Aramaic formula: "All leaven which perchance remains in my domain and which has escaped my observation shall be destroyed and be like unto the dust of the earth." Then the spoon and brush were tied into a bundle and suspended over the lamp in the room, or elsewhere, but so that mice could not get at it. Next morning, if the bundle was found untouched, it was not necessary to go through the same process; otherwise the inspection was repeated. The bundle and its contents were either sold or burned before six o'clock in the evening; only so much leaven was retained as would be needed up to ten in the morning (Shulḥan 'Aruk, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, 431; Pes. i.). This "investigation" was transferred to the eve of Sabbath when the 14th of Nisan coincided with the Sabbath.
Certain precautions were taken in the disposal by burning of the "terumah" (priestly portion). Neglect to inspect one's house at the proper time could be remedied by inspection later, even during the festival itself, or after its close, provided no benefit were derived from the ḥameẓ (for further details see "Yad," l.c. iii., iv.).
While regarding only five kinds of produce (two of wheat and three of barley) as ḥameẓ, rabbinical law is very careful to establish precautionary provisions lest the interdiction of ḥameẓ be violated, and with this in view culinary freedom is much restricted. Even the dishes and cooking-utensils are objects of special attention for this reason, and among the preparations made for the proper observance of the festival the "cleansing of the dishes" (= "hag'alat kelim") two or three days in advance is not the least important; a complete set of tableware and kitchen utensils is, as a rule, kept in readiness to take the place of those in use during the rest of the year.
The eating of maẓẓot is considered as a positive command for the first night of the festival ("Yad," l.c. vi. 1). A quantity equal to that of an olive is deemed sufficient to discharge this mandatory obligation. Intention ("kawwanah") is not essential; the fact that maẓẓah was eaten is sufficient. Still, certain limitations developed concerning the manner of preparing food containing maẓẓah when it was intended to be eaten in fulfilment of the obligation.Recital of the Haggadah.
The Rabbis also regarded it as a positive duty on the first night to relate the miracles incidental to Israel's deliverance from Egypt; hence the Haggadah and the Seder. Each Israelite was obliged to drink on this night four cups of wine ("arba'ah kosot"); red wine was excluded later owing to the Blood Accusation. While eating the maẓẓah and drinking the wine, the position of free men (i.e., reclining on the left side against cushions) was obligatory on all male participants ("hasibah"). The benedictions over the several cups were specified. "Ḥarosat" also was compulsory, "mi-dibre soferim," for this meal. Maimonides ("Yad," l.c. vii. 11) gives the recipe for its preparation; but the bitter herbs were not regarded as obligatory by themselves; they formed a part of the Passover meal. The practise of eating bitter herbs now, though the paschal lamb is no longer prepared, is characterized as an institution of the scribes. "Afiḳomen," usually a dessert of sweet ingredients, was excluded from this meal (Pes. x. 8), its place being taken by a piece of the maẓẓah, which, as such, is familiar in Jewish folk-lore and proverbs.
The Fast of the First-Born, in commemoration of the escape of the Hebrew first-born in Egypt, occurs on the 14th of Nisan. The chief of the house-hold may take the place of the minor son, or fastvoluntarily in case there be none in the family subject to the obligation.Paschal Lamb.
The Passover lamb was killed, in the time of the Second Temple, in the court where all other "ḳodashim" were slaughtered, in keeping with the Deuteronomic prescription, and it was incumbent upon every man and woman to fulfil this obligation. The time "between the two evenings" ("ben ha-'arbayim") was construed to mean "after noon and until nightfall," the killing of the lamb following immediately upon that of the "tamid," the burning of the incense, and the setting in order of the lamps, according to daily routine. The killing was done with great caution, to avoid contact with ḥameẓ. After the carcass had been properly prepared, and the blood properly disposed of, it was taken home by its owner and roasted and eaten at eventide. The owners of the lambs were divided into three sets ("kittot") of at least thirty each, and during the slaughtering never less than thirty could be present in the courtyard. When the first group had entered the courtyard the doors were closed, and while the Levites sang the "Hallel" the lambs were killed, the psalms being sung, if necessary, three times.The Ḥaburah.
In prescribed order the trumpets were blown, while the priests stood ready with gold and silver utensils to sprinkle the blood. The vessel was passed from one to the other that many might have a part in the meritorious act, until it reached the priest nearest the altar. The empty pan was returned. Then the carcasses were suspended on iron hooks along the walls and columns, or even on poles, shouldered between two men; the excrement was removed and the proper parts salted and incensed on the altar. The doors were then reopened, and, the first group departing, the second was admitted, and next the third, after which the court was cleansed. This order was observed even when the 14th fell on a Sabbath; but in that case the several groups would wait at certain stations in the Temple until the Sabbath was over before proceeding homeward. The lamb represented a "ḥaburah" (company); for single individuals it was not to be killed except in extraordinary cases. All members of the ḥaburah were to be in a state to eat at least "ke-zayit" (the equivalent of an olive). In the composition of the ḥaburah care was taken to avoid provoking levity; for instance, the sexes were kept apart. The members of the ḥaburah complied with the conditions, regarding purity, circumcision, etc., prescribed for partaking of the paschal lamb. Not only must the personal status of the owner be conformable to the law, but his ownership also must be beyond doubt; the lamb must be slaughtered on his account, and in accordance with the Biblical prescriptions and the Temple ordinances (see "Yad," Ḳorban Pesaḥ, iii. and iv.).Passover and Sabbath.
Precautions were taken against defilement by contact with the dead. For this purpose, before Passover, the graves were whited. In fact, the whole of the preceding month was devoted to setting things in order with a view to facilitating the coming of the pilgrims to Jerusalem and to deciding judicial questions (Yer. Sheḳ. iii.). The usual sacrifices and the additional offerings were performed during this holy day. As stated above, later rabbinical practise was based on the principle that the Passover suspended the Sabbath law. But this question has an important bearing on the problem of reconciling the data in the Synoptics with those in John, and both with rabbinical law, with reference to the day of Jesus' death. Chwolson ("Das Letzte Passamahl Christi und der Tag Seines Todes," p. 31, St. Petersburg, 1892) contends that in the time of Jesus this was not yet a universally recognized canon, and that this would account for the discrepancy due to Jesus' slaughter of the paschal lamb on the eve of the 13th of Nisan. Chwolson's theory has not been generally accepted. The Samaritans and the Karaites slaughter the Passover lamb not earlier than about one hour and a half before dark.
According to the Samaritans, the offering can take place only on Mount Gerizim (see Aaron ben Elijah, "Gan 'Eden," Eupatoria, 1866, s.v. "Inyan Pesaḥ"; Geiger, in "Z. D. M. G." xx. 532-545; Ibrahim ibn Jacob, "Das Festgesetz der Samaritaner," ed. Dr. Hanover, Berlin, 1904). The Samaritans consider the Feast of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as two distinct festivals. The Sabbath is not suspended by the Pesaḥ offering (ib. p. 24). The custom among the Karaites corresponds to that of the Samaritans (see Judah Hadassi, "Eshkol ha-Kofer," § 202). On the 15th of Nisan, which is the "ḥag ha-maẓẓot" ("ḥaj al-faṭir"), no manner of work is permitted by the Samaritans, even cooking being prohibited; in this they are stricter than the Karaites, who permit the preparation of food (Aaron ben Elijah, ib. s.v. "Inyan Ḥag ha-Maẓẓot"). Processions are arranged on Mount Gerizim on this holy day (Petermann, "Reisen im Orient," i. 287; see also "Jour. Bib. Lit.," 1903). The 'Omer day does not fall on the second day (16th of Nisan), but on the Sunday after the Sabbath in the festival week.
Comparison of the successive strata of the Pentateuchal laws bearing on the festival makes it plain that the institution, as developed, is really of a composite character. Two festivals, originally distinct, have become merged, their underlying ideas reappearing both in the legend associated with the holy day as its assumed historical setting and occasion, and in the ritual. The name
There is good ground for the theory of Dozy ("Die Israeliten zu Mekka," Leyden, 1869) that the rites of the Arabian haj recall those of this old Israelitish "ḥag," though the inference drawn from this resemblance, that the Meccan celebration had been imported from Israel by the tribe of Simeon, must be rejected. The lamb served, however, the purpose of propitiating the gods and securing the prosperity of the flock about to depart for the pasture. Wellhausen's surmise that the lamb was a firstling, though not borne out by the Biblical data, seems to throw light on the connection, apparently very primitive, between the festival and the escape of the first-born and their subsequent devotion to
Hence the ceremony came naturally to be associated with the intention of "saving," and then with the fact of having "spared," from which secondary meaning of the root
This pastoral Pesaḥ was originally distinct from the Maẓẓot festival, but it merged all the more readily with it because both occurred in the spring, about the time of the vernal equinox. The Maẓẓot feast is distinctly agricultural, the maẓẓot cakes being both the natural offering from the newly gathered barley to the gods that had allowed the crop to ripen, and then the staple food of the harvesters. Offering and food are nearly always identical in the concepts and practises of primitive races. The difficulty of finding an adequate historical explanation for the maẓẓot is apparent even in the account of Ex. xii., which would make them emblematic of the hurry of the deliverance from Egypt, though it was the supposition that the maẓẓot had been used at the Passover meal before the Exodus.
The agricultural character of the Passover (or Maẓẓot) festival is evidenced by the fact that it is one of the three pilgrim, or season, festivals. Of course, when the pastoral Pesaḥ and the agricultural Maẓẓot came to be merged can not be determined definitely, but one is safe in saying that it must have been shortly after the occupation of Palestine, the tradition about the Pesaḥ observed by Joshua at Gilgal (see
The relation of circumcision to Pesaḥ is explained when the original pastoral and propitiatory character of the latter is remembered. The pastoral clan would naturally exclude all that were not of the clan from the meal at which it trysted with its protecting god (that being the original significance of every solemn meal) and disarmed his jealousy. Circumcision itself was a rite of propitiation, like the lamb at Pesaḥ, possibly a substitute for human sacrifice. (See the legend of Cain and Abel for the bearing of the lamb, and that of Zipporah's sons for the bearing of circumcision, on human sacrifice.) A good case may be made out in favor of the theory that, for this reason, Pesaḥ was at one time the festival of the circumcision, all that had attained the proper age during the year being circumcised on one and the same day, namely, at Pesaḥ; the puzzling question why the lamb had to be set aside on the tenth finds in this its explanation. Three to four days were required to heal the wound of circumcision (see Josh. v. 8; Gen. xxxiv. 25), and the designation of maẓẓot as the "bread of affliction" (Deut. xvi. 3) may possibly carry some allusion to this custom.
The law of the second Pesaḥ (Num. ix. 6) reflects the unsettled relations which the pastoral Pesaḥ originally bore to the agricultural harvest festival, the two, apparently, not being at first simultaneous.
The legal as well as the historical sources agree in assigning to this Pesaḥ = Maẓẓot festival a Mosaic (or a very remote) origin. In the Book of the Covenant "Pesaḥ" does not occur, "Maẓẓot" being used as it is in Ex. xxxiv. (verse 18), where "Pesaḥ" is named only in verse 25. Both the J-E (Jahvist-Elohist) and the P (Priestly) narratives emphasize the historical prominence of the day. It is J-E that explains maẓẓot as due to the haste of the departure (Ex. xii. 34, 39), while P presupposes their use at the meal in Egypt (Ex. xii. 8, 15-20). The Deuteronomist (D) seems to follow J-E in calling maẓẓot "the bread of affliction." According to the Book of the Covenant (Ex. xxiii. 15, xxxiv. 20), Pesaḥ is one of the three pilgrim festivals. The sacrifices to be offered by the community are mentioned only in II (the Holiness code; Lev. xxiii. 8) and P (Num. xxviii. 19). D insists that the Pesaḥ must be slaughtered at the central sanctuary (Deut. xvi.). D (Deut. xvi. 8) and the Book of the Covenant (Ex. xiii. 6) mention only the seventh day of Maẓẓot as a holy day. H (Lev. xxiii. 7) and P (Ex. xii. 16; Num. xxviii. 18, 25) make the first and the seventh day holy days. Ezekiel's scheme (Ezek. xlv. 21 et seq.) provides sacrifices different from those prescribed in P.
- For the analysis of the Pentateuchal texts see Wellhausen, Die Composition des Hexateuchs:
- Kuenen, Einleitung;
- and the commentaries. Comp. F. C. Baur, in Theologische Zeitschrift, 1832;
- Ewald, in Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, iii. 424 et seq.;
- Vatke, Religion des Alten Testaments, pp. 492 et seq.;
- Lengerke, Kanaan, i. 381;
- Nowack, Archäologie, ii. 148 et seq.;
- Kurtz, Der Alttestamentliche Opferkultus, 1862;
- Wellhausen, Prolegomena, 1899;
- Riedel, in Stade's Zeitschrift, 1900;
- R. Schaefer, Das Mazzotfest, Güterslohe, 1900;
- S. A. Fries, Die Gesetzesschrift des Königs Josia, Leipsic, 1903.


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SANTA CLARA, Calif. – During a vast majority of the San Jose Earthquakes' preseason, forward Alan Gordon was stuck working out on his own, rehabilitating after undergoing foot surgery for a second straight year. In those sessions, Gordon stoked his competitive fire by thinking about the payoff all that work might generate once he got back on the pitch.
It didn't take long for those dreams to crystallize into sweet reality. Barely 22 minutes after coming on as a substitute against Toluca on Tuesday night, Gordon headed home a critical tying goal in the 95th minute, giving the Quakes a 1-1 tie and a lifeline in their CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal tie.
"After surgeries in the offseason, which I've been doing quite a bit lately, this is my focus," Gordon told MLSsoccer.com. "When I'm in there working hard by myself, those are the moments that I am envisioning – coming in and helping the team."
It was another bit of last-second heroics from Gordon, one made all the more impressive by the fact that he played just 19 minutes out of the Quakes' seven preseason matches as he came back from a neuroma procedure to remove an aching nerve in his foot.
"He likes it that way," San Jose goalkeeper Jon Busch told reporters. "Alan's a smart veteran. He takes his time in preseason so he's fresh. No surprise at all."
Gordon didn't completely disagree with that assessment, telling reporters in the mixed zone: "I've been here long enough to figure out that preseason goals don't count for anything. I joke with the guys that I'm in the Preseason Hall of Fame, but it never got me any goals in the regular season. So I switched it up."
Coach Mark Watson said Monday he thought Gordon could give him 20 to 25 minutes, and brought him on in a make-or-break gamble that saw Jason Hernandez pulled and San Jose going with just three men in the back.
"Alan's the type of guy that can join the game at any moment and have an impact," Watson said in his postgame press conference. "And he did it again tonight."
Gordon came in a half-dozen minutes after Raúl Nava put Toluca in front against the run of play with a marvelous full volley strike from the edge of San Jose's 18-yard box, a perfectly placed, dipping shot that left Busch no chance.
"That guy scored a top-notch goal," Gordon said. "It was a dagger, really, after a performance like that. That's how soccer goes, sometimes. To be able to battle back and show ourselves that we still have that ... is really good for our confidence moving forward."
- Get the latest Earthquakes news at SJEarthquakes.com
Gordon's header from Shea Salinas' free kick wide on the right wing took one bounce before spinning away from diving Toluca goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera, ricocheting off the far post and landing in the back of the net.
The 6-foot-3 Gordon swept in on the play without any real impediment from a defender, which was a bit of a novelty. The result was equally as novel: Gordon's first career goal in CONCACAF play.
"You don't really usually get runs like that in the MLS," Gordon said. "You're really getting grabbed and pulled. I was a little surprised to be untouched. It was great. It's a new feeling."
A new feeling that led to the same old kind of late-game celebrations.
"We're always gonna have that," Gordon said. "It's in our DNA to come back and get results."


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Producer DarkChild Confirms Janet Jackson Has Officially Left Her Label WIth Island Def Jam!
Rap-Up reports "In his first Darkchild video blog for Rap-Up.com, super producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins exclusively reveals that Janet Jackson has cut ties with the Island Def Jam Music Group"
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- Letter from Phillips & Gardner of Charleston [South Carolina] to Mess. Gardner & Dean, merchants in Newport, Rhode Island, regarding the sale of cargo from the Sloop Louisa, followed by itemized receipt for the "sales of Sixty Seven African Negroes." Includes names of purchasers Jas. [James] B. Phillips, Patrick Cassin, Alex [?] S. Rowe, Isaac Wellborn, Mathew [Matthew] Clarke, Robert Quash, D. Bradley, Pagan & O'Neale, Wainock, Jhl. [?] Meriam, R. Carter, and Wm. [William] Dabney.
- Account record of Gardner and Dean, "in acct with Phillips & Gardner," in Charleston [South Carolina], listing expenses and profits associated with the selling of slaves from February, 1806, through March, 1806. Includes names of purchasers, D. Vaughn, John Gardner, Littlefield, J. Brinley, J & Dean, B. J. & Cooke, and J. [John] Marsh.
- Invoice for a trunk of merchandise shipped from Newport [Rhode Island] by Samuel C. Taggart for Gardner & Dean on the Brig Friendship. Includes instruction to sell the goods on the coast of Africa and use those funds to purchase "negroes" for sale in Charleston [South Carolina]. Dated March 12th, no year given.


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"Now I lie in bed and think of her,
Sometimes I even weep.
Then I dream of her, behind the wall of sleep.â€
-The Smithereens
I have a dear friend who has kept me alive for over fifteen years.
My friend is called a CPAP machine.
I have a condition called sleep apnea.
A doctor once told me that any man with a size seventeen collar or higher probably has sleep apnea or ought to be tested for it. I don't know what the criteria are for women, but anyone who gets up frequently at night likely has a sleep disorder.
I went through about a decade where I obviously had sleep apnea and it was not diagnosed.
I had a terrible time falling asleep and an even worse time staying asleep. I am a late night reader and it was common to find me asleep in the living room with a book sitting on my chest.
I am lucky I am not a late night smoker. I would have burned the house down.
I became a late night eater and a caffeine fiend. I would snack all day and drink massive amounts of soft drinks to stay awake during the day.
I got heavier and heavier. Since obesity is a major contributor to sleep apnea, my rapid weight gain made matters worse.
I didn't know this. I had never heard of sleep apnea and didn't know its symptoms. Like most who have sleep apnea, I had no idea that I had problems breathing at night.
I just knew I wasn't sleeping well.
Finally a doctor I knew on a casual basis (I was helping him implement an employee benefit plan) mentioned that I might want to get tested.
I was lucky to find the right medical team. My (former) wife was a close friend of Kathryn Hansen, who is Kentucky's guru of gurus on the concept of sleep wellness. Kathryn arranged for me to be seen by Dr. B.T. Westerfield.
An overnight sleep study showed that I had sleep apnea and I had it bad. The technician wound up waking me during part of the test as she thought I had stopped breathing.
I suspect that if I had not had that sleep study, I would have stopped breathing on a permanent basis long before now.
Dr. Westerfield sent me home with a CPAP machine that looked and sounded like a mid-size vacuum cleaner.
Every night since then, I've put a mask on my face. The mask has tubing attached to the CPAP machine. The machine blows air through my nose all night.
The result is that I sleep soundly. I don't wake up feeling like I just came off a three day drinking binge. I don't have to drink a case of Diet Coke every day to stay awake. I rarely get up in the evening and stopped wandering around the house like Kane on Kung Fu.
The actual machine has improved dramatically. The one I own now is quiet and is about the size of a small loaf of bread. It's been all around the United States with me.
I'm glad they improved the CPAP noise factor. There were trade-offs for my sleeping partner. The machine was large and made a lot of racket. On the other hand, I stopped snoring and was a much happier person.
I was also a much healthier person.
Sleep apnea can kill you quickly, but normally kills you slowly. It contributes to heart disease, high blood pressure and gave rocket fuel to my obesity. I stopped gaining weight as soon as I started the treatments.
Not sleeping well made my life miserable. I felt horrible, especially in the mornings, and lived in a constant state of irritation.
I felt happier the day I got the machine.
The people who make CPAP's ought to put me on the payroll. I constantly push people to get sleep. I can diagnose sleep apnea from a mile away and tell my story to anyone who asks.
For whatever reason, you don't hear a lot about sleep apnea. People don't know they have it and many that do don't treat it properly. They don't like to fool with the CPAP machine or suspect it might disturb their sleep partner.
There is a concept that will disturb your sleeping partner even more: death.
You are far more likely to live a happier and healthier life if you are treating your sleep apnea.
My CPAP is my companion and friend. Each night as I drift behind the wall of sleep.
Don McNay, who lives in Richmond, Ky., is an award-winning financial columnist for Huffington Post Contributor. You can learn more about him at www.donmcnay.com.


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An Evening of Art featuring the works of Johnny Otto, Annie Preece & Yuri Sountsov at The Ashley Paige Hollywood Gallery
Swimsuit Designer Ashley Paige, whose clients include today's hottest celebrities, such as Amy Adams, Carmen Electra, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Alba, Fergie, Gwen Stefani, Britney Spears, Natalie Portman, Kate Hudson and countless others, hosted an exclusive Art Show which exhibited the works of Filmmaker/Abstract Artist Johnny Otto, Graffiti Writer/Muralist Annie Preece, and Russian Photographer Yuri Sountsov. The event took place in Ashley Paige's Hollywood Gallery on Sunset Blvd.
The opening night gala on Wednesday, April 17th, 2013 attracted an intimate and eclectic crowd from the world of art, fashion, film, music and TV. Among those in attendance was actress Tara Reid, writer and celebrity photojournalist Clinton H. Wallace, musician Stephen Bradley from pop band 'No Doubt' and filmmaker/artist Christy Oldham.
Johnny Otto's abstract art work has been compared to Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Willem de Kooning and Picasso. "My father introduced me to the art world at a young age where I came in contact with the works of Picasso", Otto said during the exhibit. Otto is also a filmmaker whose company is called Ottophobia Productions. Find Johnny on Facebook: facebook.com/JohnnyOtto
Yuri Sountsov, a Russian born photographer who now lives in a small town in Oklahoma with his photographer wife Mila, showcased his photos which consisted of his life in pictures in Russia with his family and then young 7 year old son Alek Sountson, who is now an entrepreneur/photographer and founder of Potriotic, a new apparel line that Ashley Paige is creative director of. Find Yuri on Facebook: facebook.com/yuri.sountsov
Annie Preece, a former heroinaddict who only a few years ago was near death on the streets of Los Angeles, has garnished tremendous publicity lately after her 2010 appearance on the TLC reality show 'Addicted'. A now clean and sober graffiti writer/artist, she displayed a few of her acrylic canvases to a receptive celebrity filled room. When asked about her creative style, Preece shyly said "I mostly paint from images that are in my head". Follow Annie on twitter at @foureyedannie.
Ashley Paige Gallery / At the age of 18, Ashley left the coast of Florida ona Greyhound bus with three hundred dollars, three suitcases, and the dream of building a career in fashion. Once in LA she put herself through college designing a small collection of bikinis & selling them to friends and students, building her first die-hard fans and launching her revolutionary line of hand made knit bikinis. Within her first year of business, she landed eight covers including the highly coveted Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.
Four years later Ashley made a name for herself as the maven of swimwear and her designs were in high demand amongHollywood's A-list celebrities. Her styles have graced the pages of numerous magazines as well as countless television appearances including Extra, ET, the style network, MTV, VH1, and Bravo. This small town girl hit the big screen in "Peace, Love & Bikinis", a documentary about the grueling behind-the-scenes world of fashion design, which won "best documentary" at the New York Film Festival. For more info on Ashley Paige, go to www.ashleypaige.com
Published on Apr 26, 2013


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Beauty Blog
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Sophisticated, stylish designed nails that are easily applied and removed. These pre-glued nails can be worn up to 5 days, comes in customisable length and is perfectly safe for natural nails.
Each set comes with:
Nails Shape: Short Squoval
For longer longevity of nails, avoid contact with water for 3 hours after application.
6 Easy Steps to Applying the Perfect Nail Trim-Clean-Choose-Place-Press-Buff
Step 1
Trim and file nails.
Step 2
Clean nails with alcohol prep pad that comes with the nails.
Step 3
Choose the nail that provides the perfect fit for you.
Step 4
Place the nail at the base of the cuticle.
Step 5
Press down firmly – left and right, up and down.
Step 6
Buff the nails down to the desired shape and size.
Removing nails in 3 easy steps
Soak the nails in soapy water for 2 minutes till the nails turn soft.
Push off softened nails using manicure stick. Apply acetone to remove any stubborn nail residue.
Wash hands and apply cuticle oil over nails and cuticles (optional) after nail removal.


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I tried to burn the disc and put in there a game that i want to play, but I'm just getting a message "this disc could not be played"
I followed all the instructions in the tutorial witch is very old by the way and there is obviously missing information in it.
I have read the README.PS2 file from the last releace (1.1.1)
"If you are starting ScummVM from CD/DVD then it will look for ScummVM.ini on the first MC and then on CD itself. In any other case it will look for a ScummVM.ini on the media folder from where you started SCUMMVM.ELF."
I don't have such a file for the PS2 port and there is no information how to produce one or from where to take it.
I looked on the other ports of the emulator and found out that the ini file contains the information about the chosen options of the game and also it's directory.
Is that the reason why i can not run the emulator properly?
In any way I have read other posts complaining about the same problem and in the most of the cases they don't get any help.
Is there someone who actually succeeded in writing a working version of the emulator?
Scumm VM on PS2 doesn't work
Subforum for discussion and help with ScummVM's PlayStation 2 port
Moderator: ScummVM Team
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Blue Jays - 200 000 030 - 5 8 3 Red Sox - 021 001 000 - 4 6 3Daniel Bard imploded yet again, as the Blue Jays rallied in the eighth inning. Bard walked the first two batters (on only nine pitches), then committed a throwing error on a bunt to load the bases with no outs. From there, it was fairly easy for the Jays to score, with pitcher-turned-outfielder Adam Loewen's two-run single being the big blow.
Bard - considered the "closer-in-waiting" with Jonathan Papelbon headed into free agency this winter - blew his fifth save of the year, and was charged with his eighth loss. In his last three appearances - 2.1 innings (17 batters!) - he has allowed four hits, five walks, and nine runs. Over his career, Bard has 5 saves and 15 blown saves.
Boston did not have any baserunners in the last three innings.
Lackey (5.1-7-2-1-4, 115) stumbled early, but held on, stranding runners on base in every inning, as the Sox came back. Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis singled to start the second. Ryan Lavarnway reached on the first of two errors by third baseman Brett Lawrie, scoring FY. After a strikeout and a wild pitch, Jason Varitek's ground out brought in the second run. In the third, Jacoby Ellsbury tripled and scored on Marco Scutaro's sac fly. Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo dong (#26) in the sixth.
The Mariners beat the Yankees 2-1 in 12 innings and the Orioles beat the Rays 6-2.
Rickey Romero / John Lackey
Afternoon baseball!
Ellsbury, CFAlso: Josh Beckett has been named as Friday's starter.
Scutaro, SS
Gonzalez, 1B
Pedroia, 2B
Youkilis, 3B
Lavarnway, DH
Crawford, LF
Varitek, C
McDonald, RF
Game thread. ... Rays/Orioles at 7 PM and Yankees/Mariners at 10 PM.


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First Commentary by Adam-Troy Castro
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009). Directed by Niels Arden Oplev. Screenplay by Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg, from the novel by Stieg Larsson. Starring Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Sven Bertil Taube, Peter Andersson. 152 minutes. ***
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011). Directed by David Fincher. Screenplay by Steven Zaillian, from the novel by Stieg Larsson. Starring Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Robin Wright, Steven Berkoff, Yorick van Wageningen. 158 minutes. ** 1/2.
Spoiler warnings should go without saying by now, given that this blog earns its bones by contrasting plot minutiae of multiple movies based on the same source material. But a word to the wise is particularly apt here. These films are procedural mysteries, hinging on buried secrets, horrible revelations, unexpected reversals and horrific crimes against women. If you haven't read the best-seller by author Stieg Larsson…if you haven't seen either movie adaptation, but plan to indulge in the future and do not wish exposure to surprises, then this current sentence is the place to stop. So stop. Do not come after us with wrath in mind, especially not if you're an unstable girl with a vengeful streak and a tattoo needle. Be apprised that it's more or less impossible to compose intelligent commentary about the first installment of this particular franchise without delving, at least briefly, into the sequels, which are also set up here. We won't be discussing those in nearly the same level of detail, but, again, if you haven't indulged and wish a radio blackout, you won't find it on this blog. If you prefer another topic, either go elsewhere or check out this handy-dandy index of all the other fun stuff we've talked about in our first year. We promise, we won't be upset.
Clear on that?
So here's where we stand. Both these movies are based on a worldwide publishing phenomenon, a trilogy of Swedish novels centered on the tangled backstory of one Lisbeth Salander, a troubled girl whose past includes abuse, wrongful imprisonment, cover-ups at the highest levels of government, rape by authority figures, and her own barely repressed rage. She is a dangerous, asocial genius, suspicious but not incapable of friendship or loyalty. She is almost impossible to fully know but possesses such a knack for inspiring reckless loyalty in those who care about her that, by installment #3, the conspiracy of friends intent on saving her from a government intent on destroying her oddly seems to outnumber the number of people actively involved in that conspiracy. She is a brilliant computer hacker, a talented thief, and a tough fighter, in addition to being a mathematical prodigy and the secretive user of a totally photographic memory. She is physically petite, aggressively sexual, a chain-smoker, and defiantly off-putting. Some people, like critic Roger Ebert, have ventured that she might have Asperger's Syndrome, but that's not a diagnosis we concur with; she may be anti-social, but she's too good at reading people for that to be a sensible label for her. Let's just say that she has good reason to distrust people and to keep the number in her inner circle to an absolute minimum.
All three novels also feature one Mikael Blomkvist, a left-wing journalist recently convicted of libel. Blomkvist, a clear stand-in for author Stieg Larsson. Larsson was also a crusading journalist, well-known in Sweden for his exposes of white supremacist groups, and the recipient of one of life's great terrible breaks when he wrote these novels and died in his early forties before any of them were published, thus doomed to never sit on a airplane, anywhere, and see that one person in four was reading one. He incorporated many elements of his own personality, at least as he saw it, into Blomkvist, which may be one reason why even readers who adore Lisbeth find his character too much to take, in that he's always juggling several women simultaneously and here breaks through the reserve of a hot, moody chick half his age while also maintaining an active, long-standing affair with another woman whose husband honestly doesn't mind.
(Characters who exist as authorial self-flattery are not exactly unknown in fiction – the writer M. Night Shyamalan played in Lady In The Water was easy to peg as his own — but it took Star Trek fandom to label them properly; they're Mary Sues. Mary Sue is the young ensign identical to the author who shows up on the Enterprise bridge, is instantly beloved by all the featured players, has affairs with a number of them and is soon acclaimed as an invaluable member of the crew. Mary Sues are wish-fulfillment, to an often embarrassing degree. They can be uncomfortably self-revelatory when they appear in fan-fiction and downright appalling when they appear in professional prose. Blomkvist can be as hard to take as any, and it needs to be said that Larsson seems to have written all three books believing that he was the star attraction, not quite realizing the degree to which Lisbeth should have been; she spends much of Book Three confined to a hospital while Blomkvist and company race about trying to clear her of murder charges. If there's anything that the scenarists of both the 2009 and 2011 films seemed to have realized right off is that the obsessive recounting of all the women the man gets to fuck – who include even Harriet Vanger, the girl whose supposed murder and subsequent discovery in hiding are the basis of Dragon Tattoo — really did need to be brought within bearable dimensions or we'll hate him.)
In any event, the best of the three novels is the one that only hints at Salander's full backstory and involves her and Blomkvist in a more-or-less self-contained adventure. (Books 2 and 3, and the swedish films based on same, are really one long, convoluted narrative.) Salander and Blomkvist travel different paths that don't converge until they meet for the first time at the halfway point.
The recently-disgraced Blomkvist accepts a job offer from retired elderly industrialist Henrik Vanger, to investigate the forty-year-old disappearance and apparent murder of one of the only members of his nasty extended family that he doesn't despise with cause: niece Harriet,who vanished without a trace during a family gathering. (The rest of the family, with only a few exceptions, is a nasty collection of ex-Nazis, drunks, crazy people, and assorted cads; any of them could have taken Harriet just out of spite.)
As Blomkvist gradually puts together clues establishing a connection between Harriet's disappearance and a heretofore-unsuspected series of serial killings going back decades, Salander finds herself contending with a nasty new legal guardian, Nils Bjurman, who sees in the legally-but-far-from-actually incompetent Salander a girl he can blackmail for sexual favors. He even rapes her, which turns out to be a colossally bad move on his part; she not only captures the crime on video, thus providing herself with blackmail material of her very own, but chains him up, sexually violates him, and marks him forever with a chest tattoo declaring him a sadistic pig and a rapist.
Blomkvist and Salander meet, team up, and go after the serial killer together.
It turns out to be Henrik's nephew and Harriet's brother, Martin, picking up a vile trade he learned from his father; Harriet, it turns out, is still alive, having fled the madness and abuse of her family.
That's the basic outline, but the novel is so complex, with so many twisted relationships and so much backstory – not to mention a couple of choice sexual affairs for Blomkvist before Salander decides she wants to make recreational use of him – that the respective screenplay writers had free choice of what plot elements to keep, and what plot elements to discard. (Strictly speaking, the newer of the two films is clearly less a remake of the first, than another approach to the source material.) It is instructive, therefore to note the choices they made and which ones worked better.
One note: the Swedish films were actually edited-down versions of a television miniseries, unseen by us. It is therefore inevitable that the streamlining decisions we reference with regard to the 2009 film, exceed whatever decisions were made for the somewhat more inclusive TV version. Fine. We are only talking, here, about the 2009 theatrical release. And on, at long last, we go.
The Casting And The Dramatization of the Central Relationship
Both films feature quality performances in their galaxy of supporting roles, and it would of course be very possible to fill an article longer than even this one with extensive comparisons on a case-by-case basis; we note that the Swedish Film's rapist Nils Bjurman is a colder and more frightening figure, while the American film's is a more imposing one in comparison with its petite Salander; we give the edge to 2009's Sven-Bertil Taube over 2011's Christopher Plummer in the key role of Henrik Vanger, that rarest of all mystery characters, the likeable and sincere wealthy industrialist who is not implicated in any crimes. (For a more typical specimen of his breed, see John Huston as Noah Cross in Chinatown.) Plummer is excellent in his role, but Taube is given somewhat better stuff to do, and is in particular more heartbreaking in the scene where he is reunited with his long-missing niece.
The casting of the leads is significantly more critical and makes more of a difference.
As Mikael Blomkvist, 2009's Michael Nyquist and 2011's Daniel Craig seem equivalent at first glance; they even look a little alike, though Nyquist looks a little lumpier, more of an ordinary man thrust into an extraordinary situation, than Craig does. Craig comes with the baggage of multiple action heroes, including James Bond, a past and future incarnation that makes him seem a little more indestructible than Blomkvist should probably be (even if Craig's Bond was, like Blomkvist, capable of being driven to despairing tears when death seemed imminent. The first film's de-emphasis of Blomkvist as prolific cocksman-around-town also goes well with Nyquist's less-than-Bondian appearance, and the character's sincere astonishment when Salander leaps into bed with him. Craig can't be entirely faulted for this, as actors always bring the baggage left over from their past roles, but it's still there. In the remake, I particularly miss one scene of many from 2009 that establish his human limitations: i.e., when he hesitates at the wheel of their rental car, confessing to Salander that he hasn't driven since his divorce. That's the act of a limited man in danger of being over his head. There's nothing in the 2011 film to keep you from assuming that Blomkvist couldn't engage in Bondian car chases if he wanted to.
As Lisbeth Salander, 2009's Noomi Rapace and 2011's Rooney Mara play the same notes, but with completely different instruments that achieve much different effects. Rapace has a lean, angular face, which emphasized all of Salander's savagery; she's downright fearsome, especially in the scenes where she takes her revenge on Bjurman and hops on her bike to go after the serial-killing Martin. (There is no doubt, in the earlier film, that when she pursues Martin he is in big fucking trouble, and it feels damned good.) By contrast, Rooney Mara has a much softer, baby-faced appearance; she looks smaller, and more vulnerable, more like a person who has made herself what she is as protective coloration, than one who just became that creature naturally after her life's many traumas. This is nowhere more visible than in the scenes from both movies where Salander is resentfully dragged into her employer's conference room to answer the client's questions about Mikael Blomkvist; Rapace's Salander is bored, resentful, contemptuous of the need to go through these formalities, and perfectly willing to be rude about it. She makes eye contact, angry eye contact. During the same meeting, saying the same thing, Mara's Salander is withdrawn, sullen, hiding her features under a hoodie. These are two different attitudes, two different damaged psychologies. Mara's performance is a good one, but I give the edge to the original film. Salander shouldn't be shy. She should be downright feral.
Further screenwriting decisions change the dynamic of the two scenes where Salander and Blomkvist make love for the first time. In 2009, Salander surprises Blomkvist by hopping into bed with him, then by leaving for her own bed without any genuine intimacy as soon as the sex is over. (When I saw the film for the first time, a perceptive fellow theatergoer exclaimed, "Man, now he knows what it's like to be used!") We should note that this all takes place immediately after Blomkvist has unintentionally alienated her by noticing her photographic memory, and tried to let her know afterward that he admired it. The sex she initiates is not just an expression of her growing attraction to a man whose decency she has come to recognize, but is also a defiant declaration: You want to get close to me? This is how close you get – and no farther; it means nothing. A thread is introduced: Blomkvist's attempt to know, really know, this angrily unknowable woman.
By contrast, in 2011, there are no such mixed signals. There is no immediately prior scene where Salander has reason to be mad at him, no moment where he's been conciliatory. Salander just initiates sex with Blomkvist because it's about the point in the story where that would normally happen. But it really comes out of nowhere, and doesn't feel like it really goes anywhere until the coda. Again, the advantage here belongs to the 2009 film – where it really would have made sense to include the coda, where Salander happens upon Blomkvist strolling with another lover and storms away, feeling betrayed.
Oddly, the 2009 film, which needed it to set up the sequels where she is so furious at him that she refuses to talk to him even in conditions of dire personal need, omits the coda that establishes the reason for her resentment. The 2011 film, where the same moment feels forced, does not.
It's not quite a wash. The relationship in the 2009 film feels like a dramatic arc. The same relationship in the 2011 film does not.
Other Contrasting Storytelling Decisions
In the novel and the 2011 film, it is not Salander who breaks the missing Harriet's biblical code. It is Blomkvist's daughter, who comes by for a visit and sees Harriet's notations for what they are. The original movie omits Blomkvist's daughter entirely and presents the cracking of that code as more evidence of Salander's scary competence. I like the splendid irrelevance of such a key clue being broken by a background character who otherwise doesn't have much to do with anything, but I also admire the storytelling economy of attributing the same epiphany to Salander. In the end, the moment seems to work a smidgen better in the 2009 version.
In both films, Salander loses her trusted laptop to a violent incident in the subway. In 2009, she has a nasty and violent encounter with a bunch of drunks; in 2011, she races up an escalator to retrieve her snatched bag a mugger, then slides down the bannister to get away from him. The 2011 scene is a nice bit of physical business. It is not nearly as upsetting as the 2009 scene, which makes it a lesser scene.
The 2009 version relegates Salander's relationship with her beloved previous legal guardian – who, by suffering a stroke, delivers her into the brutal hands of Bjurman — to a mere line of dialogue, which burdens the sequels with the need to introduce him later. The 2011 version has three scenes with him, which serve the intended sequels but slow down this installment considerably.
The novel and the 2009 version both give another reason for Henrik Vanger to hire Blomkvist: he actually met the missing Harriet, when he was a young child and she was his babysitter. At least one major clue turns out to be his misunderstanding of his fragmentary memory from that time. I believe it a neat touch. The 2011 version omits this angle entirely, possibly because the makers thought it a bit much. It's a wash, I think.
The 2009 version omits the Vanger Corporation's offer to become partners in Blomkvist's magazine, Millennium. The 2011 version emphasizes it. It's an important plot point in the novels, but the 2011 movie is just complicated by it. It needed to go.
The 2009 film is better than the 2011 film in establishing just how Blomkvist pieces together sequential photos of Harriet watching a parade, to establish from her reactions that something across the street frightened her. It is also better at establishing how the two investigators establish the pattern of serial killings from past decades.
The novel establishes that, once she and Blomkvist find Harriet Vanger, Salander has nothing but contempt for the woman who spent decades in hiding rather than expose her brother as a rapist and serial killer. This happens to be a very legitimate moral point, one that Salander – who burned the primary abuser in her life – could hardly avoid feeling. (Blomkvist's subsequent affair with Harriet in this novel and the immediate sequel – of course he has sex with Harriet – is yet another reason for Salander's anger over the next two books.) The 2009 version omits Salander's moral outrage entirely. The 2011 version has her angrily mutter something about Harriet Fucking Vanger but fails to establish just why she's angry at the lady: a bizarre exercise in alluding to a point but not actually making it.
Both films are faced with the necessity to dramatize the story's anti-climax, where after the scary encounter with serial killer Martin Blomkvist must a) discover the missing Harriet still alive, b) engineer a tearful reunion with Uncle Henrik, c) be handed the evidence against the Wennerstrom Corporation. In the 2009 film, he must also report to serve his prison sentence. In the novel, this prison sentence takes place in the middle of the action; in the 2009 movie, after Blomkvist and Salander solve the Harriet Vanger mystery. The 2011 version omits it entirely.
(It's not bad in a novel to have a character go away for a prison term in the middle of the action; it can be taken care of in a couple of pages, and establish the passage of time. In the 2009 movie, it helps get Blomkvist out of the way while Salander makes heroic efforts of research on his behalf. (And it adds to the effectiveness original film's far more elegant compression of the backstory, far superior to the 2011 version's insistence on showing us every step in Salander's process.)
The 2009 movie quite rightly paces everything after the encounter with Martin as a final act, but one that flows, inevitably, to the conclusion; the 2011 film gives us way too much and is so narratively lumpy it feels like the series of climaxes that had audiences revolting at the end of The Return Of The King. It honestly does not work. Only six minutes longer, it feels almost forty minutes longer than that. On the other hand – since in both the novel and the 2009 film Blomkvist flies off to Australia where he locates Harriet Vanger in hiding – it makes precious little sense in the 2009 film to have the prison sentence delayed until after Blomkvist makes this trip; at least, not if you think the Swedish authorities would have something to say about a convicted felon jetting off to the other side of the world before he serves even one day of his sentence. Wouldn't they prohibit him from traveling internationally until after he served his time?
The 2011 film is oddly discordant in the scenes where Salander, she of the photographic memory, makes a map documenting the movements of the serial killer. She uses thumbnails of the victims, taped to the map. She is the only one using this map, as she does this research. Why does she need it? After all, it has long been established that her memory is infallible. Is it because she knows that there's an audience out there that requires the reminder?
Finally, both films take it upon themselves to tell us a major part of Lisbeth Salander's backstory – her torching of her abusive father – that was not revealed until book 2, The Girl Who Played With Fire. The 2009 version presents us with a fragmentary flashback, hinting at deeper secrets; it is a powerful moment. The 2011 version? She casually reveals the secret in answer to a direct question, while in bed with Blomkvist. It's almost a joke.
Does the 2011 version do anything substantially better than the 2009 version? Well, it benefits from having a director with a more marked touch with visuals. Certainly, the scenes set in winter feel colder, in terms of both temperature and emotional isolation, than anything from the 2009 film. It's more adroitly edited. But if you want the version that, to this viewer's mind, boils a long and lumpy novel into an effective, streamlined cinematic thriller…it's the 2009 film.
And now, the wife enters, angrily gripping a tattoo needle…
Second Commentary by Judi B. Castro
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009). Directed by Niels Arden Oplev. Screenplay by Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg, from the novel by Stieg Larsson. Starring Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Sven Bertil Taube, Peter Andersson. 152 minutes. **1/2
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011). Directed by David Fincher. Screenplay by Steven Zaillian, from the novel by Stieg Larsson. Starring Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Robin Wright, Steven Berkoff, Yorick van Wageningen. 158 minutes. ** 1/2.
Over the years, I have listened to many people warble on about how great this movie was, and how I just had to see it. Or, how incredible this or that book was and since I read books, I just had to read it. Well, I resisted all the Da Vinci nonsense, but succumbed to my curiosity in respect to the topic under discussion here. Why!?!?
I'll actually begin with the book. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an international bestseller and now I know the key to a mystery best selling novel. Write a so-so mystery , not too tough for the average fella and then drop dead(or get killed). The so called mystery with all the red herrings is just too easy for words. I had it tied up before Salander makes it to the Vanger enclave. I continued to plod on for fear that the writer may have a true surprise waiting, but alas, disappointed again!
As for either film, I prefer the 2009 original for its fealty to the book, but the bits left out still really diminish the characters. The 2011 version seems to dote on the plot bits and diminish the characters. Neither is satisfying as a visual meal, but either is preferable to an Adam Sandler comedy film fest.
Let's try to remember, Blomkvist is a horndog , Salander is a psychotic genius and Vanger is a manipulative old man. These are the meat from which these sandwiches were made, but somehow they are all served stale and cold.


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Today I came across a link to a neat little script for SQL 2005 / 2008 to help derive the head blocker in a blocking chain. That script can be found here. I was looking at the script and thought it looked pretty cool and also wondered why it might look a little familiar. Not too big of a concern since many admin type scripts can look familiar.
Then I noticed that the title contained the words Activity Monitor. I wondered to myself, was this taken from activity monitor? So, I decided to play with Profiler for a bit to see if I could generate the same query. The process really isn't too difficult. Here is what I did.
- Open Activity Monitor. Simple enough to do. Right click the instance (in SSMS) you wish to monitor, select Activity Monitor from the context menu.
- Open Profiler. Again from within SSMS, click the tools menu and then select SQL Server Profiler.
- Start a New trace. When starting the trace ensure that you are connecting to the same instance as you started Activity Monitor. Select the TSQL-Replay template (other tsql will probably work, this is the one that I used). Goto the events selection tab and click on the Column Filters button. Select "LoginName" and then expand "Like" on the right hand side. In the new text box, type the login you are using to authenticate to the SQL Instance in question (domain\user or SQLLogin).
- Click run and browse through the results for a bit. It shouldn't take too long for that query to pop up.
- Once you find the query, make sure you stop the trace.


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Alex ZUBRYN
- Born
- 1965 Melbourne, Victoria
- Nationality
- Australian
From our team here at NGV, we're sending our best wishes to our community during this challenging time.
Following the latest public health directions from the Victorian Government, the NGV is temporarily closed to the public.
We encourage you to visit our website and follow our social media for updates.
We are grateful for the loyalty and understanding of the NGV community and hope to welcome you back soon.


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Vidal Sassoon has always been a cut above the average hairstylist-to-the-stars.
The iconic stylist, now the subject of the intriguing documentary "Vidal Sassoon: The Movie," has long been a trailblazer in the world of chic tresses: his Beverly Hills salon helped put Rodeo Drive on the glam map, and as a TV pitchman for his own pioneering product line he practically invented the now-common trend of Hollywood-insider-as-a-celebrity-unto-themselves.
Always an engaging storyteller, Sassoon shared his earliest brushes with Hollywood and his own fame with PopcornBiz, beginning by allowing director Roman Polanksi borrow his London salon to shoot a scene for his film "Repulsion" in 1965.
U.S. & World
"Roman was filming Catherine Deneuve on our balcony and he said, 'I'll only be here two days.' He stayed six," remembered Sassoon. "He was responsible for bringing me over [to Hollywood] to do Mia Farrow's hair for 'Rosemary's Baby'. She was a client anyway in London."
The resultant haircut – conducted on a soundstage before a small army of journalists – became an overnight fashion sensation. "We cut it very, very short," says Sassoon. "It's the only way that we could do it because it was short, and it had gotten so much coverage – she was Mrs. Frank Sinatra at the time. Middle America had never seen me and never heard of me – why would they? – and suddenly I was all over the television box. We were known on the fringes, the fashion world and what have you – but that went over on television, magazines, newspapers, all over Middle America and certainly I was known [afterwards]."
"I owed Mia a lot," he explains. "She was a very special client and a humanitarian – big style – with the way that she was. As we sat down to cut her hair in front of all these photographers and writers she said 'What are you doing here photographing a haircut while the indigenous Americans are starving?' She kept on for about five minutes of pure politics. Then Roman said 'Mia – change the subject.' So she got in to the hair and from then on we had a great time. "
The only minus may have been the fallout from Sinatra himself, who was none too happy with his bride's boyish style (the couple ultimately split over further differences about "Rosemary's Baby").
"Well, I wasn't too mad about his, actually," sniffs Sassoon.
"Doing things like that created a situation where you became known in Middle America which was important, especially when you were selling products and wanting to, yes, be known, of course," admits Sassoon. "Let's face it: when you put that much hard work and that much energy and thought and gut into a situation…yeah, you want to be known."


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Being an electrician is not an easy profession. You need to have all the protection that you can get as it can save your life. In fact, the government of the United States and different organizations such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration are working hand in hand to provide safe working places for individuals working as electricians. Wearing the right clothes is important in this field as loose garments can get you entwined in moving machines. As an electrician, you should always wear a hard hat, safety led shoes, ear plugs and goggles. You must remove all unnecessary accessories such as rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces because gold and silver can conduct electricity.
The sole of your led shoes must be made of materials that are oil and grease resistant. As a safety precaution, electricians often wear rubber boots when going to wet locations. Short hair is much preferred in this job. However, if you have long hair then you can tie it up and make sure that you do not stand near enough any type of rotating machine. Always remember to remove the electrical power when you inspect or repair any equipment. Make sure to lock out and tag out the equipment because this can be harmful to you and to the people around you. These terms are very common for electricians. To review what these things mean: installing a lock is as good as disabling the power and to tag out is to put a danger tag on the source of electrical power. Putting a danger tag is also implying that the machine will not work until the tag is removed. You can see that the tag contains information like the employee's name and craft.
The hazards that come with this profession require you to have the proper training and education. The program usually lasts for 4 to 5 years. The job of an electrician includes installing, connecting and monitoring electrical systems. They work for several industries such as technology, communications, health, climate and security. They also operate and maintain electric plant and machines for different companies. As an electrician, you can also work in construction sites or with the maintenance team. You have to install electric systems into houses, buildings and factories. While working with the maintenance team, you have to find ways on how you can improve the efficiency of the plant. Monitoring and repairing equipment is also a part of your job.
You will be given the tools that you need to work with machines and equipment. Some of the tools are screwdrivers, pliers, knives, drills, saws and conduit benders. And remember to always outfit yourself in the proper electrician uniform as a precaution from any mishaps. Some states in the US will require you to have a certificate and a license. But the process of licensing differs from state to state. Usually, you will be asked to work for about 40 hours a week. And sometimes, you would have to work on weekends and at night. Your shifts will vary depending on your area and work place. For example, electricians who work for factories are usually given three different shifts.[products_slider title="? SALE ENDS TODAY? " per_page="" category="en" orderby="sales"]


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After achieving a Number One earlier this year with "Even If It Breaks Your Heart," the Eli Young Band is back on the charts with another single from their 2011 album Life At Best.
"Say Goodnight" is "one of the more ballad-ish songs on the record," the Eli Young Band's Mike Eli told CBS Local during a recent interview.
"We've released three singles from the record, and they're all totally different," echoes band member Jon Jones. "We've always tried to make records that have a cohesive sound to them, but you know you're listening to different songs."
Their first from Life At Best was "Crazy Girl," which won Song of the Year at the ACM Awards this year. Next up was "Even If It Breaks Your Heart," which in a previous interview the band described as a "selfish tune" that told their story about being a band for 12 years and "playing every show we could."
With "Say Goodnight," though, they've gone the route of a straight-up love song. It was written by John Paul White of the Civil Wars.
"We're songwriters and we love to write songs," says Mike, "but a great song is a great song. We heard one of [White's] versions that he had recorded and just loved it."
It's "kind of a sappy love song," says Jon — the type of song that is "tough for the four of us to sit down and write." So, he says, "to hear it done really well compelled us to give it a shot. It was a different kind of song for us that we had never really attempted before."
So after 12 years together, the bandmembers don't look in each others' eyes and think 'sappy love song'?
"More like 'slappy love songs,'" says Mike.
"Say Goodnight" and Life At Best are available at iTunes and other retailers.
– Kurt Wolff, CBS Local


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Frill seeker | Trending
That most beautiful and frivolous of details, the ruffle has made a big comeback, embellishing an array of wardrobe and decor essentials.
Amethyst shirred sundress, $269. A gorgeous print, with colours that give a hint of the season ahead. Bonus points if you can you spot the horses. spell.co
Symphony round cushion, $59.95. A wonderfully luxe cushion to add to your collection. legendlinen.com
White frill tie front dress, $79.95. If all that frilly gorgeousness is almost too much to handle, opt for a neutral colour palette. tkmaxx.com.au
Sonja skirt, $219. Ruffles and tassels might sound like too much in theory, but worn with a basic top during the summer months, it can look perfect for the season. ceciliecopenhagen-au.com
IRO Instant top, $649. There's so much going on here, in this instance keep the bottom half simple. orderofstyle.com
Daisy silver shag cushion by Langdon, $140. Gathering fabric in a decorative fashion can result in all sorts of finishes. thestore.com.au
KMS Curl Up Bounce Back Spray $31.95. If everything else is looking fashionably ruffled, why not treat your hair to the same look? Available at Chemist Warehouse.
Leopard scrunchie, $9.95. By their very nature scrunchies are exceptionally ruffled, so it makes sense that they've made a comeback simultaneously. And in animal print to boot. sportsgirl.com.au
Poppy bathers set, $69. While ruffles on kids bathers never really went out of style, now they're featuring on adult swimwear too. infamousswim.com
Jellycat Dancing Darcey Ballerina Elephant, $29.95. Even soft plush soft toys are embracing the trend. yellowoctopus.com.au
Printed ruffle sleeve blouse, $119.95. Sleeves are the ideal place to wear a ruffle if you don't want to draw attention to your mid-section. sussan.com.au
Ellamay platform slide, $179.95. Even shoes are getting in on the act, these ones featuring a leather upper and lining. dianaferrari.com.au
Gia ruffle playsuit, $499. The pièce de résistance for if you simply can't have too many ruffles. thurley.com.au


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This is a new one to me, but maybe others are familar with it.
The lavender farm is near Malton and has a working 7.25inch railway. The railway is a tourist attraction but is also used to bring the harvested lavender in from the fields in scenes reminiscent of the Sand Hutton. Currently a diesel hydraulic is the motive power but a steam loco is under construction.
In short bags of prototype modelling potential .
Check out the web site http://www.woldswaylavender.co.uk/


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Intention & Handmade Products
The secret behind a successful handmade jewelry or crafts item, artwork, or design, is a well-perfected intention, and a great amount of curiosity and love. This, I believe, is the reason why some of my work gets sold, and some items stay unsold no matter how I lower the price or re-package the product.
Intention, I believe, is the secret ingredient behind everything in life. Intention, not the one we convince our selves we have, but the actual innermost motivation that makes us nice to people, sociable, active, or none, is what really matters.
I have had around two years to witness and measure the influence of intention on marketing my handmade products and designs.
I will tell you one thing that is a solid truth, discovered during endless hours spent at craft-shows: People buy the items I most love. The products that I made as "replicas" – of pieces I first made with love, curiosity, a sense of adventure, and an open-mind – barely made it into a customer's handbag!
All my "firsts" got sold, while many unloved replicas, are still stuck with me here in a box, a drawer or a craft-show display unit.
In the middle of noticing how intention affected the way people and customers were attracted to my products, I started realizing all my favorite pieces are getting sold, and I am getting stuck with the "replicas," the soulless ones, the pieces I made while I was imitating the "mother" piece, the first-born baby, the handmade item I made with great love, and care.
Those first pieces were full of soul because I was shaping them for the very first time, entering the realm of "creativity," and taking great care in choosing the beads, the colours, the form.
The replicas, however, are pieces that I made with no sense of adventure, with a little bit of boredom looming over my head, an obvious lack of enthusiasm, and most importantly, were made in a factory-like mode!
What did I do when I realized my favorite pieces are almost gone? I started hiding them; grounding them and not taking them to the first day of the craft show I was participating in. My sales would suffer… so next day I bring some of my favorite pieces and mix them up with other pieces, and lo and behold, they get sold almost instantly!
There is a particular ring I loved so much, but I didn't think it suited the market I was selling it to. Guess what? It's gone, although it's quite eclectic, and the people over here love a uniform, mainstream kind of style. But it got sold, and people started asking for similar eclectic rings; people who didn't look like they would ever sport a ring that looked absolutely out-of-the norm. And I sold in huge numbers, because each ring was made with a great sense of curiosity, each one was an experiment on its own, no replicas, no boredom, but a heightened sense of curiosity, with a big pinch of love. I have sold all the "good" rings. Each one of them.
Did you know that "factories," especially those producing accessories and apparel, mobilized machinery for only certain parts of the process, while the rest of the work gets done by people? Which means it's partly handmade, yet, these products do not carry the glory and the vibe of a handmade item made by an individual, creating his/her products in a factory-less setting.
This means, every-time I entered a factory-like mode, the items I made by hand, did lose part of their soul. They were never attractive to buyers, although, they looked exactly the same as the "mother" item I made, and which got instantly sold.
An Alternative Marketing Approach: Sincerity sells!
Intention, is this covert motive that we hide behind our words, artwork, lifestyle, and even the way we dress. Even when we are vocal about what we think, or want other people to believe, is our intention, still this doesn't mean that our innermost is necessarily on the same page. An example: A man who acts humble, only his intention is not the true nature of humility, but to impress people and attract flattery.
Another example: An artist who paints with the intention of scoring fame, while using his/her God-given talent for this mere purpose, and not for the higher purpose of actually journeying through the endless realms of art and self-discovery… for art that does not involve self-discovery, and a real search for answers, and a mechanism of change, is probably a form of artistic hypocrisy.
I have fallen into the traps of false intention so many a-times. And have grown to actually hate the very product of my hand that I created with a false intention.
This, people, feel
Customers' eyes immediately wander towards the "good" items, the loved items… while no matter how hard I try to sell them a truly gorgeous earring, they will not buy the one I'm holding, they will buy the "original" piece or design I created first.
The most important and challenging lesson that I learned ever since I started my crafting journey is how to "perfect" my intention, before actually perfecting the handmade item I was working on.
I started asking myself questions like:
"Why am I working on this?"
"Am I waiting for applause from an audience, or am I working on this out of pure love?"
"Am I motivated? Do I feel like doing this, or am I just 'finishing' work like a factory?"
I realized, over the course of time, that handmade work, a painting or a design, are "deeds." There are "good" deeds, and there are "bad" deeds.
Good deeds come from a place of love.
Bad deeds come from a place polluted with insincerity. When I switch to a factory mode and create pieces just to "finish" the work, I am being insincere. Whereas when I am putting all my attention, enthusiasm, and commitment into my work, I am positively being sincere.
And sincerity sells, exactly because we didn't have the intention of selling when we made the ring, the painting, the design, or the article.
When we don't have the intention to impress, to sell, to convince, and concentrate only on the process of creativity, we bring to life a product that stands out, attracts, and can sometimes become legendary.
I have seen many artists who worked so hard at getting famous, wearing certain clothes to accentuate the fact they were artists, wrapping themselves in suffering to deserve the title, artist, yet they never make it past the limited circle of like-minded artists and sufferers. Why? It's insincerity.
On the other hand, you see artists who become eternal legends. Why? They were busy making art, they had no time cultivating fame. And for that very reason, their work became immortalized.
To work within sincerity, every day, on every item, one needs to cultivate an inner observer that knows when things are getting spoiled by other intentions and thoughts.
I pray that I would reach a level of sincerity in every item I create, and that my deeds, whether as handmade products, paintings or designs, will be "good" deeds, fueled with love, sincerity and commitment.


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Add a touch of sophistication to an afternoon tea occasion with friends with the striking Oriental-inspired Cuckoo Collection. Beautifully vivid birds and gorgeous Chinese flowers taken from historical Wedgwood pattern archives are highlighted with 24 carat gold gilding and hand decorated in exceptional quality. This range features dainty teacups and saucers with exquisite teapots, impressive cake stands and pastry-perfect dessert plates for a look of elegance. Create an inspired display of colour with your very own tea set just perfect for your table-top and simply add your favourite infusions, or give as an indulgent gift.
Introduced: 2010 | Material: Bone China | Banding: Gold | Microwave Safe: No | Dishwasher Safe: Yes (See our Care Guide)
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