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On Friendship
On Friendship.
The Harvard Classics.
Paras. 3671
Well, then, my good friends, listen to some conversations about friendship which very frequently passed between Scipio and myself. I must begin by telling you, however, that he used to say that the most difficult thing in the world was for a friendship to remain unimpaired to the end of life. So many things might intervene: conflicting interests; differences of opinion in politics; frequent changes in character, owing sometimes to misfortunes, sometimes to advancing years. He used to illustrate these facts from the analogy of boyhood, since the warmest affections between boys are often laid aside with the boyish toga; and even if they did manage to keep them up to adolescence, they were sometimes broken by a rivalry in courtship, or for some other advantage to which their mutual claims were not compatible. Even if the friendship was prolonged beyond that time, yet it frequently received a rude shock should the two happen to be competitors for office. For while the most fatal blow to friendship in the majority of cases was the lust of gold, in the case of the best men it was a rivalry for office and reputation, by which it had often happened that the most violent enmity had arisen between the closest friends.
Again, wide breaches and, for the most part, justifiable ones were caused by an immoral request being made of friends, to pander to a mans unholy desires or to assist him in inflicting a wrong. A refusal, though perfectly right, is attacked by those to whom they refuse compliance as a violation of the laws of friendship. Now the people who have no scruples as to the requests they make to their friends, thereby allow that they are ready to have no scruples as to what they will do
their friends; and it is the recriminations of such people which commonly not only quench friendships, but give rise to lasting enmities. In fact, he used to say, these fatalities overhang friendship in such numbers that it requires not only wisdom but good luck also to escape them all.
11. With these premises, then, let us first, if you please, examine the questionhow far ought personal feeling to go in friendship? For instance: suppose Coriolanus to have had friends, ought they to have joined him in invading his country? Again, in the case of Vecellinus or Spurius Mælius, ought their friends to have assisted them in their attempt to establish a tyranny? Take two instances of either line of conduct. When Tiberius Gracchus attempted his revolutionary measures he was deserted, as we saw, by Quintus Tubero and the friends of his own standing. On the other hand, a friend of your own family, Scævola, Gaius Blossius of Cumæ, took a different course. I was acting as assessor to the consuls Lænas and Rupilius to try the conspirators, and Blossius pleaded for my pardon on the ground that his regard for Tiberius Gracchus had been so high that he looked upon his wishes as law. Even if he had wished you to set fire to the Capitol? said I. That is a thing, he replied, that he never would have wished. Ah, but if he had wished it? said I. I would have obeyed. The wickedness of such a speech needs no comment. And in point of fact he was as good and better than his word; for he did not wait for orders in the audacious proceedings of Tiberius Gracchus, but was the head and front of them, and was a leader rather than an abettor of his madness. The result of his infatuation was that he fled to Asia, terrified by the special commission appointed to try him, joined the enemies of his country, and paid a penalty to the republic as heavy as it was deserved. I conclude, then, that the plea of having acted in the interests of a friend is not a valid excuse for a wrong action. For, seeing that a belief in a mans virtue is the original cause of friendship, friendship can hardly remain if virtue be abandoned. But if we decide it to be right to grant our friends whatever they wish, and to ask them for whatever we wish, perfect wisdom must be assumed on both sides if no mischief is to happen. But we cannot assume this perfect wisdom; for we are speaking only of such friends as are ordinarily to be met with, whether we have actually seen them or have been told about themmen, that is to say, of everyday life. I must quote some examples of such persons, taking care to select such as approach nearest to our standard of wisdom. We read, for instance, that Papus Aemilius was a close friend of Gaius Luscinus. History tells us that they were twice consuls together, and colleagues in the censorship. Again, it is on record that Manius Curius and Tiberius Coruncanius were on the most intimate terms with them and with each other. Now, we cannot even suspect that any one of these men ever asked of his friend anything that militated against his honour or his oath or the interests of the republic. In the case of such men as these there is no point in saying that one of them would not have obtained such a request if he had made it; for they were men of the most scrupulous piety, and the making of such a request would involve a breach of religious obligation no less than the granting it. However, it is quite true that Gaius Carbo and Gaius Cato did follow Tiberius Gracchus; and though his brother Gaius Gracchus did not do so at the time, he is now the most eager of them all.
12. We may then lay down this rule of friendship
neither ask nor consent to do what is wrong.
For the plea for friendships sake is a discreditable one, and not to be admitted for a moment. This rule holds good for all wrong-doing, but more especially in such as involves disloyalty to the republic. For things have come to such a point with us, my dear Fannius and Scævola, that we are bound to look somewhat far ahead to what is likely to happen to the republic. The constitution, as known to our ancestors, has already swerved somewhat from the regular course and the lines marked out for it. Tiberius Gracchus made an attempt to obtain the power of a king, or, I might rather say, enjoyed that power for a few months. Had the Roman people ever heard or seen the like before? What the friends and connexions that followed him, even after his death, have succeeded in doing in the case of Publius Scipio I cannot describe without tears. As for Carbo, thanks to the punishment recently inflicted on Tiberius Gracchus, we have by hook or by crook managed to hold out against his attacks. But what to expect of the tribuneship of Gaius Gracchus I do not like to forecast. One thing leads to another; and once set going, the downward course proceeds with ever-increasing velocity. There is the case of the ballot: what a blow was inflicted first by the lex Gabinia, and two years afterwards by the lex Cassia! I seem already to see the people estranged from the Senate, and the most important affairs at the mercy of the multitude. For you may be sure that more people will learn how to set such things in motion than how to stop them. What is the point of these remarks? This: no one ever makes any attempt of this sort without friends to help him. We must therefore impress upon good men that, should they become inevitably involved in friendships with men of this kind, they ought not to consider themselves under any obligation to stand by friends who are disloyal to the republic. Bad men must have the fear of punishment before their eyes: a punishment not less severe for those who follow than for those who lead others to crime. Who was more famous and powerful in Greece than Themistocles? At the head of the army in the Persian war he had freed Greece; he owed his exile to personal envy: but he did not submit to the wrong done him by his ungrateful country as he ought to have done. He acted as Coriolanus had acted among us twenty years before. But no one was found to help them in their attacks upon their fatherland. Both of them accordingly committed suicide.
We conclude, then, not only that no such confederation of evilly disposed men must be allowed to shelter itself under the plea of friendship, but that, on the contrary, it must be visited with the severest punishment, lest the idea should prevail that fidelity to a friend justifies even making war upon ones country. And this is a case which I am inclined to think, considering how things are beginning to go, will sooner or later arise. And I care quite as much what the state of the constitution will be after my death as what it is now.
13. Let this, then, be laid down as the first law of friendship, that
we should ask from friends, and do for friends, only what is good.
But do not let us wait to be asked either: let there be ever an eager readiness, and an absence of hesitation. Let us have the courage to give advice with candour. In friendship, let the influence of friends who give good advice be paramount; and let this influence be used to enforce advice not only in plain-spoken terms, but sometimes, if the case demands it, with sharpness; and when so used, let it be obeyed.
I give you these rules because I believe that some wonderful opinions are entertained by certain persons who have, I am told, a reputation for wisdom in Greece. There is nothing in the world, by the way, beyond the reach of their sophistry. Well, some of them teach that we should avoid very close friendships, for fear that one man should have to endure the anxieties of several. Each man, say they, has enough and to spare on his own hands; it is too bad to be involved in the cares of other people. The wisest course is to hold the reins of friendship as loose as possible; you can then tighten or slacken them at your will. For the first condition of a happy life is freedom from care, which no ones mind can enjoy if it has to travail, so to speak, for others besides itself. Another sect, I am told, gives vent to opinions still less generous. I briefly touched on this subject just now. They affirm that friendships should be sought solely for the sake of the assistance they give, and not at all from motives of feeling and affection; and that therefore just in proportion as a mans power and means of support are lowest, he is most eager to gain friendships: thence it comes that weak women seek the support of friendship more than men, the poor more than the rich, the unfortunate rather than those esteemed prosperous. What noble philosophy! You might just as well take the sun out of the sky as friendship from life; for the immortal gods have given us nothing better or more delightful.
But let us examine the two doctrines. What is the value of this freedom from care? It is very tempting at first sight, but in practice it has in many cases to be put on one side. For there is no business and no course of action demanded from us by our honour which you can consistently decline, or lay aside when begun, from a mere wish to escape from anxiety. Nay, if we wish to avoid anxiety we must avoid virtue itself, which necessarily involves some anxious thoughts in showing its loathing and abhorrence for the qualities which are opposite to itselfas kindness for ill nature, self-control for licentiousness, courage for cowardice. Thus you may notice that it is the just who are most pained at injustice, the brave at cowardly actions, the temperate at depravity. It is then characteristic of a rightly ordered mind to be pleased at what is good and grieved at the reverse. Seeing then that the wise are not exempt from the heart-ache (which must be the case unless we suppose all human nature rooted out of their hearts), why should we banish friendship from our lives, for fear of being involved by it in some amount of distress? If you take away emotion, what difference remains I dont say between a man and a beast, but between a man and a stone or a log of wood, or anything else of that kind?
Neither should we give any weight to the doctrine that virtue is something rigid and unyielding as iron. In point of fact it is in regard to friendship, as in so many other things, so supple and sensitive that it expands, so to speak, at a friends good fortune, contracts at his misfortunes. We conclude then that mental pain which we must often encounter on a friends account is not of sufficient consequence to banish friendship from our life, any more than it is true that the cardinal virtues are to be dispensed with because they involve certain anxieties and distresses.
14. Let me repeat then, the clear indication of virtue, to which a mind of like character is naturally attracted, is the beginning of friendship. When that is the case the rise of affection is a necessity. For what can be more irrational than to take delight in many objects incapable of response, such as office, fame, splendid buildings, and personal decoration, and yet to take little or none in a sentient being endowed with virtue, which has the faculty of loving or, if I may use the expression, loving back? For nothing is really more delightful than a return of affection, and the mutual interchange of kind feeling and good offices. And if we add, as we may fairly do, that nothing so powerfully attracts and draws one thing to itself as likeness does to friendship, it will at once be admitted to be true that the good love the good and attach them to themselves as though they were united by blood and nature. For nothing can be more eager, or rather greedy, for what is like itself than nature. So, my dear Fannius and Scævola, we may look upon this as an established fact, that between good men there is, as it were of necessity, a kindly feeling, which is the source of friendship ordained by nature. But this same kindliness affects the many also. For that is no unsympathetic or selfish or exclusive virtue, which protects even whole nations and consults their best interests. And that certainly it would not have done had it disdained all affection for the common herd.
Again, the believers in the interest theory appear to me to destroy the most attractive link in the chain of friendship. For it is not so much what one gets by a friend that gives one pleasure, as the warmth of his feeling; and we only care for a friends service if it has been prompted by affection. And so far from its being true that lack of means is a motive for seeking friendship, it is usually those who, being most richly endowed with wealth and means, and above all with virtue (which, after all, is a mans best support), are least in need of another, that are most open-handed and beneficent. Indeed I am inclined to think that friends ought at times to be in want of something. For instance, what scope would my affections have had if Scipio had never wanted my advice or co-operation at home or abroad? It is not friendship, then, that follows material advantage, but material advantage friendship.
15. We must not therefore listen to these superfine gentlemen when they talk of friendship, which they know neither in theory nor in practice. For who, in heavens name, would choose a life of the greatest wealth and abundance on condition of neither loving or being be loved by any creature? That is the sort of life tyrants endure. They, of course, can count on no fidelity, no affection, no security for the good will of any one. For them all is suspicion and anxiety; for them their is no possibility of friendship. Who can love one whom he fears, or by whom he knows that he is feared? Yet such men have a show of friendship offered them, but it is only a fair-weather show. If it ever happen that they fall, as it generally does, they will at once understand how friendless they are. So they say Tarquin observed in his exile that he never knew which of his friends were real and which sham, until he had ceased to be able to repay either. Though what surprises me is that a man of his proud and overbearing character should have a friend at all. And as it was his character that prevented his having genuine friends, so it often happens in the case of men of unusually great meanstheir very wealth forbids faithful friendships. For not only is Fortune blind herself; but she generally makes those blind also who enjoy her favours. They are carried, so to speak, beyond themselves with self-conceit and self-will; nor can anything be more perfectly intolerable than a successful fool. You may often see it. Men who before had pleasant manners enough undergo a complete change on attaining power of office. They despise their old friends: devote themselves to new.
Now, can anything be more foolish than that men who have all the opportunities which prosperity, wealth, and great means can bestow, should secure all else which money can buyhorses, servants, splendid upholstering, and costly platebut do not secure friends, who are, if I may use the expression, the most valuable and beautiful furniture of life? And yet, when they acquire the former, they know not who will enjoy them, nor for whom they may be taking all this trouble; for they will one and all eventually belong to the strongest: while each man has a stable and inalienable ownership in his friendships. And even if those possessions, which are, in a manner, the gifts of fortune, do prove permanent, life can never be anything but joyless which is without the consolations and companionship of friends.
16. To turn to another branch of our subject: We must now endeavour to ascertain what limits are to be observed in friendshipwhat is the boundary-line, so to speak, beyond which our affection is not to go. On this point I notice three opinions, with none of which I agree. One is
that we should love our friend just as much as we love ourselves, and no more;
that our affection to friends, should exactly correspond and equal theirs to us;
a third,
that a man should be valued at exactly the same rate as he values himself.
To not one of these opinions do I assent. The first, which holds that our regard for ourselves is to be the measure of our regard for our friend, is not true; for how many things there are which we would never have done for our own sakes, but do for the sake of a friend! We submit to make requests from unworthy people, to descend even to supplication; to be sharper in invective, more violent in attack. Such actions are not creditable in our own interests, but highly so in those of our friends. There are many advantages too which men of upright character voluntarily forgo, or of which they are content to be deprived, that their friends may enjoy them rather than themselves.
The second doctrine is that which limits friendship to an exact equality in mutual good offices and good feelings. But such a view reduces friendship to a question of figures in a spirit far too narrow and illiberal, as though the object were to have an exact balance in a debtor and creditor account. True friendship appears to me to be something richer and more generous than that comes to; and not to be so narrowly on its guard against giving more than it receives. In such a matter we must not be always afraid of something being wasted or running over in our measure, or of more than is justly due being devoted to our friendship.
But the last limit proposed is the worst, namely, that a friends estimate of himself is to be the measure of our estimate of him. It often happens that a man has too humble an idea of himself, or takes too despairing a view of his chance of bettering his fortune. In such a case a friend ought not to take the view of him which he takes of himself. Rather he should do all he can to raise his drooping spirits, and lead him to more cheerful hopes and thoughts.
We must then find some other limit. But I must first mention the sentiment which used to call forth Scipios severest criticism. He often said that no one ever gave utterance to anything more diametrically opposed to the spirit of friendship than the author of the dictum, You should love your friend with the consciousness that you may one day hate him. He could not be induced to believe that it was rightfully attributed to Bias, who was counted as one of the Seven Sages. It was the sentiment of some person with sinister motives or selfish ambition, or who regarded everything as it affected his own supremacy. How can a man be friends with another, if he thinks it possible that he may be his enemy? Why, it will follow that he must wish and desire his friend to commit as many mistakes as possible, that he may have all the more handles against him; and, conversely, that he must be annoyed, irritated, and jealous at the right actions or good fortune of his friends. This maxim, then, let it be whose it will, is the utter destruction of friendship. The true rule is to take such care in the selection of our friends as never to enter upon a friendship with a man whom we could under any circumstances come to hate. And even if we are unlucky in our choice, we must put up with itaccording to Scipioin preference to making calculations as to a future breach.
17. The real limit to be observed in friendship is this: the characters of two friends must be stainless. There must be complete harmony of interests, purpose, and aims, without exception. Then if the case arises of a friends wish (not strictly right in itself) calling for support in a matter involving his life or reputation, we must make some concession from the straight pathon condition, that is to say, that extreme disgrace is not the consequence. Something must be conceded to friendship. And yet we must not be entirely careless of our reputation, nor regard the good opinion of our fellow-citizens as a weapon which we can afford to despise in conducting the business of our life, however lowering it may be to tout for it by flattery and smooth words. We must by no means abjure virtue, which secures us affection.
But to return again to Scipio, the sole author of the discourse on friendship: He used to complain that there was nothing on which men bestowed so little pains: that every one could tell exactly how many goats or sheep he had, but not how many friends; and while they took pains in procuring the former, they were utterly careless in selecting friends, and possessed no particular marks, so to speak, or tokens by which they might judge of their suitability for friendship. Now the qualities we ought to look out for in making our selection are firmness, stability, constancy. There is a plentiful lack of men so endowed, and it is difficult to form a judgment without testing. Now this testing can only be made during the actual existence of the friendship; for friendship so often precedes the formation of a judgment, and makes a previous test impossible. If we are prudent then, we shall rein in our impulse to affection as we do chariot horses. We make a preliminary trial of horses. So we should of friendship; and should test our friends characters by a kind of tentative friendship. It may often happen that the untrustworthiness of certain men is completely displayed in a small money matter; others who are proof against a small sum are detected if it be large. But even if some are found who think it mean to prefer money to friendship, where shall we look for those who put friendship before office, civil or military promotions, and political power, and who, when the choice lies between these things on the one side and the claims of friendship on the other, do not give a strong preference to the former? It is not in human nature to be indifferent to political power; and if the price men have to pay for it is the sacrifice of friendship, they think their treason will be thrown into the shade by the magnitude of the reward. This is why true friendship is very difficult to find among those who engage in politics and the contest for office. Where can you find the man to prefer his friends advancement to his own? And to say nothing of that, think how grievous and almost intolerable it is to most men to share political disaster. You will scarcely find any one who can bring himself to do that. And though what Ennius says is quite true,the hour of need shews the friend indeed,yet it is in these two ways that most people betray their untrustworthiness and inconstancy, by looking down on friends when they are themselves prosperous, or deserting them in their distress. A man, then, who has shewn a firm, unshaken, and unvarying friendship in both these contingencies we must reckon as one of a class the rarest in the world, and all but superhuman.
18. Now what is the quality to look out for as a warrant for the stability and permanence of friendship? It is loyalty. Nothing that lacks this can be stable. We should also in making our selection look out for simplicity, a social disposition, and a sympathetic nature, moved by what moves us. These all contribute to maintain loyalty. You can never trust a character which is intricate and tortuous. Nor, indeed, is it possible for one to be trustworthy and firm who is unsympathetic by nature and unmoved by what affects ourselves. We may add, that he must neither take pleasure in bringing accusations against us himself, nor believe them when they are brought. All these contribute to form that constancy which I have been endeavouring to describe. And the result is, what I started by saying, that friendship is only possible between good men.
Now there are two characteristic features in his treatment of his friends that a good (which may be regarded as equivalent to a wise) man will always display. First, he will be entirely without any make-believe or pretence of feeling; for the open display even of dislike is more becoming to an ingenuous character than a studied concealment of sentiment. Secondly, he will not only reject all accusations brought against his friend by another, but we will not be suspicious himself either, nor be always thinking that his friend has acted improperly. Besides this, there should be a certain pleasantness in word and manner which adds no little flavour to friendship. A gloomy temper and unvarying gravity may be very impressive; but friendship should be a little less unbending, more indulgent and gracious, and more inclined to all kinds of good-fellowship and good nature.
19. But here arises a question of some little difficulty. Are there any occasions on which, assuming their worthiness, we should prefer new to old friends, just as we prefer young to aged horses? The answer admits of no doubt whatever. For there should be no satiety in friendship, as there is in other things. The older the sweeter, as in wines that keep well. And the proverb is a true one, You must eat many a peck of salt with a man to be thorough friends with him. Novelty, indeed, has its advantage, which we must not despise. There is always hope of fruit, as there is in healthy blades of corn. But age too must have its proper position; and, in fact, the influence of time and habit is very great. To recur to the illustration of the horse which I have just now used: Every one likes ceteris paribus to use the horse to which he has been accustomed, rather than one that is untried and new. And it is not only in the case of a living thing that this rule holds good, but in inanimate things also; for we like places where we have lived the longest, even though they are mountainous and covered with forest. But here is another golden rule in friendship:
put yourself on a level with your friend.
For it often happens that there are certain superiorities, as for example Scipios in what I may call our set. Now he never assumed any airs of superiority over Philus, or Rupilius, or Mummius, or over friends of a lower rank still. For instance, he always shewed a deference to his brother Quintus Maximus because he was his senior, who, though a man no doubt of eminent character, was by no means his equal. He used also to wish that all his friends should be the better for his support. This is an example we should all follow. If any of us have any advantage in personal character, intellect, or fortune, we should be ready to make our friends sharers and partners in it with ourselves. For instance, if their parents are in humble circumstances, if their relations are powerful neither in intellect nor means, we should supply their deficiencies and promote their rank and dignity. You know the legends of children brought up as servants in ignorance of their parentage and family. When they are recognised and discovered to be the sons of gods or kings, they still retain their affection for the shepherds whom they have for many years looked upon as their parents. Much more ought this to be so in the case of real and undoubted parents. For the advantages of genius and virtue, and in short of every kind of superiority, are never realised to their fullest extent until they are bestowed upon our nearest and dearest.
20. But the converse must also be observed. For in friendship and relationship, just as those who possess any superiority must put themselves on an equal footing with those who are less fortunate, so these latter must not be annoyed at being surpassed in genius, fortune, or rank. But most people of that sort are for ever either grumbling at something, or harping on their claims; and especially if they consider that they have services of their own to allege involving zeal and friendship and some trouble to themselves. People who are always bringing up their services are a nuisance. The recipient ought to remember them; the performer should never mention them. In the case of friends, then, as the superior are bound to descend, so are they bound in a certain sense to raise those below them. For there are people who make their friendship disagreeable by imagining themselves undervalued. This generally happens only to those who think that they deserve to be so; and they ought to be shewn by deeds as well as by words the groundlessness of their opinion. Now the measure of your benefits should be in the first place your own power to bestow, and in the second place the capacity to bear them on the part of him on whom you are bestowing affection and help. For, however great your personal prestige may be, you cannot raise all your friends to the highest offices of the State. For instance, Scipio was able to make Publius Rupilius consul, but not his brother Lucius. But granting that you can give any one anything you choose, you must have a care that it does not prove to be beyond his powers.
As a general rule, we must wait to make up our mind about friendships till mens characters and years have arrived at their full strength and development. People must not, for instance, regard as fast friends all whom in their youthful enthusiasm for hunting or football they liked for having the same tastes. By that rule, if it were a mere question of time, no one would have such claims on our affections as nurses and slave-tutors. Not that they are to be neglected, but they stand on a different ground. It is only these mature friendships that can be permanent. For difference of character leads to difference of aims, and the result of such diversity is to estrange friends. The sole reason, for instance, which prevents good men from making friends with bad, or bad with good, is that the divergence of their characters and aims is the greatest possible.
Another good rule in friendship is this: do not let an excessive affection hinder the highest interests of your friends. This very often happens. I will go again to the region of fable for an instance. Neoptolemus could never have taken Troy if he had been willing to listen to Lycomedes, who had brought him up, and with many tears tried to prevent his going there. Again, it often happens that important business makes it necessary to part from friends: the man who tries to baulk it, because he thinks that he cannot endure the separation, is of a weak and effeminate nature, and on that very account makes but a poor friend. There are, of course, limits to what you ought to expect from a friend and to what you should allow him to demand of you. And these you must take into calculation in every case.
21. Again, there is such a disaster, so to speak, as having to break off friendship. And sometimes it is one we cannot avoid. For at this point the stream of our discourse is leaving the intimacies of the wise and touching on the friendship of ordinary people. It will happen at times that an outbreak of vicious conduct affects either a mans friends themselves or strangers, yet the discredit falls on the friends. In such cases friendships should be allowed to die out gradually by an intermission of intercourse. They should, as I have been told that Cato used to say, rather be unstitched than torn in twain; unless, indeed, the injurious conduct be of so violent and outrageous a nature as to make an instance breach and separation the only possible course consistent with honour and rectitude. Again, if a change in character and aim takes place, as often happens, or if party politics produces an alienation of feeling (I am now speaking, as I said a short time ago, of ordinary friendships, not of those of the wise), we shall have to be on our guard against appearing to embark upon active enmity while we only mean to resign a friendship. For there can be nothing more discreditable than to be at open war with a man with whom you have been intimate. Scipio, as you are aware, had abandoned his friendship for Quintus Pompeius on my account; and again, from differences of opinion in politics, he became estranged from my colleague Metellus. In both cases he acted with dignity and moderation, shewing that he was offended indeed, but without rancour.
Our first object, then, should be to prevent a breach; our second, to secure that, if it does occur, our friendship should seem to have died a natural rather than a violent death. Next, we should take care that friendship is not converted into active hostility, from which flow personal quarrels, abusive language, and angry recriminations. These last, however, provided that they do not pass all reasonable limits of forbearance, we ought to put up with, and, in compliment to an old friendship, allow the party that inflicts the injury, not the one that submits to it, to be in the wrong. Generally speaking, there is but one way of securing and providing oneself against faults and inconveniences of this sortnot to be too hasty in bestowing our affection, and not to bestow it at all on unworthy objects.
Now, by worthy of friendship I mean those who have in themselves the qualities which attract affection. This sort of man is rare; and indeed all excellent things
rare; and nothing in the world is so hard to find as a thing entirely and completely perfect of its kind. But most people not only recognise nothing as good in our life unless it is profitable, but look upon friends as so much stock, caring most for those by whom they hope to make most profit. Accordingly they never possess that most beautiful and most spontaneous friendship which must be sought solely for itself without any ulterior object. They fail also to learn from their own feelings the nature and the strength of friendship. For every one loves himself, not for any reward which such love may bring, but because he is dear to himself independently of anything else. But unless this feeling is transferred to another, what a real friend is will never be revealed; for he is, as it were, a second self. But if we find these two instincts shewing themselves in animals,whether of the air or the sea or the land, whether wild or tame,first, a love of self, which in fact is born in everything that lives alike; and, secondly, an eagerness to find and attach themselves to other creatures of their own kind; and if this natural action is accompanied by desire and by something resembling human love, how much more must this be the case in man by the law of his nature? For man not only loves himself, but seeks another whose spirit he may so blend with his own as almost to make one being of two.
22. But most people unreasonably, not to speak of modesty, want such a friend as they are unable to be themselves, and expect from their friends what they do not themselves give. The fair course is first to be good yourself, and then to look out for another of like character. It is between such that the stability in friendship of which we have been talking can be secured; when, that is to say, men who are united by affection learn, first of all, to rule those passions which enslave others, and in the next place to take delight in fair and equitable conduct, to bear each others burdens, never to ask each other for anything inconsistent with virtue and rectitude, and not only to serve and love but also to respect each other. I say respect; for if respect is gone, friendship has lost its brightest jewel. And this shews the mistake of those who imagine that friendship gives a privilege to licentiousness and sin. Nature has given us friendship as the handmaid of virtue, not as a partner in guilt: to the end that virtue, being powerless when isolated to reach the highest objects, might succeed in doing so in union and partnership with another. Those who enjoy in the present, or have enjoyed in the past, or are destined to enjoy in the future such a partnership as this, must be considered to have secured the most excellent and auspicious combination for reaching natures highest good. This is the partnership, I say, which combines moral rectitude, fame, peace of mind, serenity: all that men think desirable because with them life is happy, but without them cannot be so. This being our best and highest object, we must, if we desire to attain it, devote ourselves to virtue; for without virtue we can obtain neither friendship nor anything else desirable. In fact, if virtue be neglected, those who imagine themselves to possess friends will find out their error as soon as some grave disaster forces them to make trial of them. Wherefore, I must again and again repeat, you must satisfy your judgment before engaging your affections: not love first and judge afterwards. We suffer from carelessness in many of our undertakings: in none more than in selecting and cultivating our friends. We put the cart before the horse, and shut the stable door when the steed is stolen, in defiance of the old proverb. For, having mutually involved ourselves in a long-standing intimacy or by actual obligations, all on a sudden some cause of offence arises and we break off our friendships in full career.
23. It is this that makes such carelessness in a matter of supreme importance all the more worthy of blame. I say supreme importance, because friendship is the one thing about the utility of which everybody with one accord is agreed. That is not the case in regard even to virtue itself; for many people speak slightingly of virtue as though it were mere puffing and self-glorification. Nor is it the case with riches. Many look down on riches, being content with a little and taking pleasure in poor fare and dress. And as to the political offices for which some have a burning desirehow many entertain such a contempt for them as to think nothing in the world more empty and trivia!
And so on with the rest; things desirable in the eyes of some are regarded by very many as worthless. But of friendship all think alike to a man, whether those who have devoted themselves to politics, or those who delight in science and philosophy, or those who follow a private way of life and care for nothing by their own business, or those lastly who have given themselves body and soul to sensualitythey all think, I say, that without friendship life is no life, if they want some part of it, at any rate, to be noble. For friendship, in one way or another, penetrates into the lives of us all, and suffers no career to be entirely free from its influence. Though a man be of so churlish and unsociable a nature as to loathe and shun the company of mankind, as we are told was the case with a certain Timon at Athens, yet even he cannot refrain from seeking some one in whose hearing he may disgorge the venom of his bitter temper. We should see this most clearly, if it were possible that some god should carry us away from these haunts of men, and place us somewhere in perfect solitude, and then should supply us in abundance with everything necessary to our nature, and yet take from us entirely the opportunity of looking upon a human being. Who could steel himself to endure such a life? Who would not lose in his loneliness the zest for all pleasures? And indeed this is the point of the observation of, I think, Archytas of Tarentum. I have it third hand; men who were my seniors told me that their seniors had told them. It was this: If a man could ascend to heaven and get a clear view of the natural order of the universe, and the beauty of the heavenly bodies, that wonderful spectacle would give him small pleasure, though nothing could be conceived more delightful if he had but had some one to whom to tell what he had seen. So true it is that Nature abhors isolation, and ever leans upon something as a stay and support; and this is found in its most pleasing form in our closest friend.
24. But though Nature also declares by so many indications what her wish and object and desire is, we yet in a manner turn a deaf ear and will not hear her warnings. The intercourse between friends is varied and complex, and it must often happen that causes of suspicion and offence arise, which a wise man will sometimes avoid, at other times remove, at others treat with indulgence. The one possible cause of offense that must be faced is when the interests of your friend and your own sincerity are at stake. For instance, it often happens that friends need remonstrance and even reproof. When these are administered in a kindly spirit they ought to be taken in good part. But somehow or other there is truth in what my friend Terence says in his
Compliance gets us friends, plain speaking hate.
Plain speaking is a cause of trouble, if the result of it is resentment, which is poison of friendship; but compliance is really the cause of much more trouble, because by indulging his faults it lets a friend plunge into headlong ruin. But the man who is most to blame is he who resents plain speaking and allows flattery to egg him on to his ruin. On this point, then, from first to last there is need of deliberation and care. If we remonstrate, it should be without bitterness; if we reprove, there should be no word of insult. In the matter of compliance (for I am glad to adopt Terences word), though there should be every courtesy, yet that base kind which assists a man in vice should be far from us, for it is unworthy of a free-born man, to say nothing of a friend. It is one thing to live with a tyrant, another with a friend. But if a mans ears are so closed to plain speaking that he cannot bear to hear the truth from a friend, we may give him up in despair. This remark of Catos, as so many of his did, shews great acuteness: There are people who owe more to bitter enemies than to apparently pleasant friends: the former often speak the truth, the latter never. Besides, it is a strange paradox that the recipients of advice should feel no annoyance where they ought to feel it, and yet feel so much where they ought not. They are not at all vexed at having committed a fault, but very angry at being reproved for it. On the contrary, they ought to be grieved at the crime and glad of the correction.
25. Well, then, if it is true that to give and receive advicethe former with freedom and yet without bitterness, the latter with patience and without irritationis peculiarly appropriate to genuine friendship, it is no less true that there can be nothing more utterly subversive of friendship than flattery, adulation, and base compliance. I use as many terms as possible to brand this vice of light-minded, untrustworthy men, whose sole object in speaking is to please without any regard to truth. In everything false pretence is bad, for it suspends and vitiates our power of discerning the truth. But to nothing is it so hostile as to friendship; for it destroys that frankness without which friendship is an empty name. For the essence of friendship being that two minds become as one, how can that ever take place if the mind of each of the separate parties to it is not single and uniform, but variable, changeable, and complex? Can anything be so pliable, so wavering, as the mind of a man whose attitude depends not only on anothers feeling and wish, but on his very looks and nods?
If one says No, I answer No; if Yes, I answer Yes.
In fine, Ive laid this task upon myself,
To echo all thats said
to quote my old friend Terence again. But he puts these words into the mouth of a Gnatho. To admit such a man into ones intimacy at all is a sign of folly. But there are many people like Gnatho, and it is when they are superior either in position or fortune or reputation that their flatteries become mischievous, the weight of their position making up for the lightness of their character. But if we only take reasonable care, it is as easy to separate and distinguish a genuine from a specious friend as anything else that is coloured and artificial from what is sincere and genuine. A public assembly, though composed of men of the smallest possible culture, nevertheless will see clearly the difference between a mere demagogue (that is, a flatterer and untrustworthy citizen) and a man of principle, standing, and solidity. It was by this kind of flattering language that Gaius Papirius the other day endeavoured to tickle the ears of the assembled people, when proposing his law to make the tribunes re-eligible. I spoke against it. But I will leave the personal question. I prefer speaking of Scipio. Good heavens! how impressive his speech was, what a majesty there was in it! You would have pronounced him, without hesitation, to be no mere henchman of the Roman people, but their leader. However, you were there, and moreover have the speech in your hands. The result was that a law meant to please the people was by the peoples votes rejected. Once more to refer to myself, you remember how apparently popular was the law proposed by Gaius Licinius Crassus about the election to the College of Priests in the consulship of Quintus Maximus, Scipios brother, and Lucius Mancinus. For the power of filling up their own vacancies on the part of the colleges was by this proposal to be transferred to the people. It was this man, by the way, who began to practice of turning towards the forum when addressing the people. In spite of this, however, upon my speaking on the conservative side, religion gained an easy victory over his plausible speech. This took place in my prætorship, five years before I was elected consul, which shows that the cause was successfully maintained more by the merits of the case than by the prestige of the highest office.
26. Now, if on a stage, such as a public assembly essentially is, where there is the amplest room for fiction and half-truths, truth nevertheless prevails if it be but fairly laid open and brought into the light of day, what ought to happen in the case of friendship, which rests entirely on truthfulness? Friendship, in which, unless you both see and shew an open breast, to use a common expression, you can neither trust nor be certain of anythingno, not even of mutual affection, since you cannot be sure of its sincerity. However, this flattery, injurious as it is, can hurt no one but the man who takes it in and likes it. And it follows that the man to open his ears widest to flatterers is he who first flatters himself and is fondest of himself. I grant you that Virtue naturally loves herself; for she knows herself and perceives how worthy of love she is. But I am not now speaking of absolute virtue, but of the belief men have that they possess virtue. The fact is that fewer people are endowed with virtue than wish to be thought to be so. It is such people that take delight in flattery. When they are addressed in language expressly adapted to flatter their vanity, they look upon such empty persiflage as a testimony to the truth of their own praises. It is not then properly friendship at all when the one will not listen to the truth, and the other is prepared to lie. Nor would the servility of parasites in comedy have seemed humorous to us had there been no such things as braggart captains. Is Thais really much obliged to me? It would have been quite enough to answer Much, but he must needs say Immensely. Your servile flatterer always exaggerates what his victim wishes to be put strongly. Wherefore, though it is with those who catch at and invite it that this flattering falsehood is especially powerful, yet men even of solider and steadier character must be warned to be on the watch against being taken in by cunningly disguised flattery. An open flatterer any one can detect, unless he is an absolute fool: the covert insinuation of the cunning and the sly is what we have to be studiously on our guard against. His detection is not by any means the easiest thing in the world, for he often covers his servility under the guise of contradiction, and flatters by pretending to dispute, and then at last giving in and allowing himself to be beaten, that the person hoodwinked may think himself to have been the clearer-sighted. Now what can be more degrading than to be thus hoodwinked? You must be on your guard against this happening to you, like the man in the
How have I been befooled! no drivelling dotards
On any stage were eer so played upon.
For even on the stage we have no grosser representation of folly than that of short-sighted and credulous old men. But somehow or other I have strayed away from the friendship of the perfect, that is, of the wise (meaning, of course, such wisdom as human nature is capable of), to the subject of vulgar, unsubstantial friendships. Let us then return to our original theme, and at length bring that, too, to a conclusion.
27. Well, then, Fannius and Mucius, I repeat what I said before. It is virtue, virtue, which both creates and preserves friendship. On it depends harmony of interest, permanence, fidelity. When Virtue has reared her head and shewn the light of her countenance, and seen and recognised the same light in another, she gravitates towards it, and in her turn welcomes that which the other has to shew; and from it springs up a flame which you may call love or friendship as you please. Both words are from the same root in Latin; and love is just the cleaving to him whom you love without the prompting of need or any view to advantagethough this latter blossoms spontaneously on friendship, little as you may have looked for it. It is with such warmth of feeling that I cherished Lucius Paulus, Marcus Cato, Gaius Gallus, Publius Nasica, Tiberius Gracchus, my dear Scipios father-in-law. It shines with even greater warmth when men are of the same age, as in the case of Scipio and Lucius Furius, Publius Rupilius, Spurius Mummius, and myself.
En revanche,
in my old age I find comfort in the affection of young men, as in the case of yourselves and Quintus Tubero: nay more, I delight in the intimacy of such a very young man as Publius Rutilius and Aulus Verginius. And since the law of our nature and of our life is that a new generation is for ever springing up, the most desirable thing is that along with your contemporaries, with whom you started in the race, you may also reach what is to us the goal. But in view of the instability and perishableness of mortal things, we should be continually on the look-out for some to love and by whom to be loved; for if we lose affection and kindliness from our life, we lose all that gives it charm. For me, indeed, though torn away by a sudden stroke, Scipio still lives and ever will live. For it was the virtue of the man that I loved, and that has not suffered death. And it is not my eyes only, because I had all my life a personal experience of it, that never lose sight of it: it will shine to posterity also with undimmed glory. No one will ever cherish a nobler ambition or a loftier hope without thinking his memory and his image the best to put before his eyes. I declare that of all the blessings which either fortune or nature has bestowed upon me I know none to compare with Scipios friendship. In it I found sympathy in public, counsel in private business; in it too a means of spending my leisure with unalloyed delight. Never, to the best of my knowledge, did I offend him even in the most trivial point; never did I hear a word from him I could have wished unsaid. We had one house, one table, one style of living; and not only were we together on foreign service, but in our tours also and country sojourns. Why speak of our eagerness to be ever gaining some knowledge, to be ever learning something, on which we spent all our leisure hours far from the gaze of the world? If the recollection and memory of these things had perished with the man, I could not possibly have endured the regret for one so closely united with me in life and affection. But these things have not perished; they are rather fed and strengthened by reflexion and memory. Even supposing me to have been entirely bereft of them, still my time of life of itself brings me no small consolation: for I cannot have much longer now to bear this regret; and everything that is brief ought to be endurable, however severe.
This is all I had to say on friendship. One piece of advice on parting. Make up your minds to this: Virtue (without which friendship is impossible) is first; but next to it, and to it alone, the greatest of all things is Friendship.
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Former Pop Music Star Aaron Carter Files for Bankruptcy Help December 12, 2013 By John Clark **ShareLinksNews** Former child star Aaron Carter is filing for personal bankruptcy to unload more than $2 million in consumer debt, according to a report this week from CNN. Sources say moRead more
California Desert Resort Town Mulls Potential Bankruptcy Filing December 2, 2013 By John Clark **ShareLinksNews** A desert resort town in California is reportedly mulling a bankruptcy filing, but it is still considering other options to rescue its sinking finances, according to a recent report froRead more
Advantage Rent A Car to File for Bankruptcy Amid Lagging Revenues November 7, 2013 By: John Clark **ShareLinksNews** Advantage Rent A Car, which has been subject to a complex series of corporate transactions in recent years, is planning to file for bankruptcy help, according to a report this week fromRead more
Arkansas Vegetable Canning Company Files for Bankruptcy Protection November 4, 2013 By John Clark **ShareLinksNews**   Allens Inc., a major canning operation based in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week in an effort to restructure its debt, according to a reRead more
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subset: commoncrawl


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You had your fun in college. Now it's time to stop drinking crappy beers. Pour yourself a good micro brew from Vermont or Colorado and take a few lessons here. If you're 25 or older and drink any of the following beers, you're simply stuck in the past. You're one of those hangers-on. All your friends are talking behind your back and speculating about when you'll get a job and get on with your life. Some are even placing bets. It may also help if you stop crashing on the couch of the fraternity house and get a real apartment, you deadbeat.
Milwaukee's Best. Milwaukee has produced some nice things, such as the Violent Femmes, but don't give this sinister little city too much credit. The devil moved into town in 1849 to entice the nation with the most abominable beer imaginable-Old Milwaukee. Some experts contend that this horrible brew was even warned about in the Bible. If you enjoy gagging and even puking before the point of being drunk, this just may be your beer.
Keystone Light. Rejected Coors. Do you need to know any more about this god-awful drink? Coors Light, in its superior condition, is watered-down piss water. When something goes wrong with the flavor or color, the company bottles it as Keystone Light. The only thing worse than this Colorado beer is that some states sell a special version that contains no more than 3.2% alcohol.
Budweiser. This beer was cool in your college days. After 25 years old, however, don't drink it. Everyone seems to pretend that it's a good beer, at least when they're too loaded to know otherwise. It does get you wasted, after all. If you're going to drink Budweiser after your prime years, take a trip to Canada to do it. Canadians get a whole different version that is right up there with the finest microbrews.
Busch. Busch is about as wack as the president it was named after. OK, so the beer was not actually named after a president. In fact, it came many decades before the oil guys hijacked America. Who knows what it was named after, and who cares? One thing that is certain about Busch is that this beer is just horrible, more so than any president.
Schlitz. Holy Schlitz, this beer is bad! Who cares that it's a high-proof malt liquor? It produces so much foam that you'll hardly be able to drink much of it anyway. You may drink this beer with impunity if you're either a Texan, a teenager or a punk rocker. Otherwise, grow up and drink something of higher stature. Schlitz is just wrong.


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Andrea Pirlo has dismissed the 'friendly' tag being given to Italy's match with Brazil on Thursday.
The two international giants face off in Geneva in Switzerland and the Juventus midfield icon believes the Azzurri will give their all against the World Cup 2014 hosts.
"We want to wear this jersey in the best way possible," the midfielder told reporters on Monday.
"And it is always a pleasure to take part in games like this one coming up," continued the former Milan man.
"There are no such things as friendly matches in football, especially when Italy are involved and especially when the opponents are Brazil."
Torino winger Alessio Cerci has been given his first international call-up by head coach Cesare Prandelli, and he has revealed his joy at the honour of being picked and hopes he can show the talent that has been bubbling under the surface for Italy.
"It seems almost impossible to be picked, but I am very happy, and I am enjoying the moment," he said.
"I've always had the label of being 'promising' but then for various reasons I have not exploded. I have not shown my true value.
"At this time I found a really important as Torino have allowed me to be here and I am looking to the future."
Meanwhile Gianluigi Buffon has accepted that the Azzurri have been lacking in recent clashes with the South American side and believes the friendly will be a tough examination of the Euro 2012 finalists' progress.
"We have played against Brazil a few times in recent years and, on those occasions, we have fared badly," the veteran goalkeeper explained.
"It is an important test for us because in the end it will give meaningful answers for those that will be part of our future selections and hold our beliefs."
Reports from numerous sources including Repubblica are indicating that Giorgio Chiellini will miss the Selecao clash due to an ankle issue, but will be assessed over the next 48 hours.


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Acer Predator packs powerful specs, lacks skull cleaning capability
Will eat the competition?
Acer wants to take a big bite out of the gaming PC business with its new system, Predator, part of its Aspire line.
Actually, it looks like something out of a sci-fi movie too. But the spec's right down to Earth, with a choice of Intel Core 2 Extreme and Core 2 Quad processors, Nvidia's nForce 780i chipset, up to 8GB of 1066MHz DDR 2 memory and three Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX graphics cards in Tri-SLI mode.
Acer's Predator: Alienware beware?
Had enough of gaming? Then Acer said it'll offer the beast with an optional TV tuner card. And the machine's twin optical drive bays can be kitted out with a Blu-ray Disc player too.
Storage should be no problem: the Predator has four 3.5in drive slots, that can be configured in a variety of RAID hot-swappable set-ups.
Flip-up front panel
The entire front panel swings up to reveal said drive bays and the machine's front-facing multi-format memory card reader, 3.5mm audio sockets, and quartet of USB 2.0 ports. There are four more USB ports round the back, along with a six-pin Firewire connector, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, six more audio jacks and a button that allows you to zap the Bios settings should the system's overclocking utility push the processor too far.
Speaking of audio, the Predator incorporates 7.1-channel HD audio with EAX 4.0 support. Want EAX 5.0? Add the optional Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi card.
The whole shebang's driven by a 1kW power supply and prevented from melting by a liquid cooling system, Acer said.
What it didn't reveal was how much this metal monster will cost, or precisely when it'll go on sale.


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marrsx4 necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 210 diseños de 34 diseñadores freelance.
Strategic Pricing Center Inc.
Strategic Pricing Center Inc. shows entrepreneurs how to get paid what they're worth.
Here is the philosophy: The race to the bottom in pricing is bad for everyone. It costs the middle class jobs and it reduces the quality of products and services. Strategic Pricing Center Inc shows entrepreneur's and businesses how to stop competing on price so they can get paid what they are really worth.
The name reflects the idea that pricing is at the center of all the other business efforts and therefore it must be approached strategically.
Entrepreneurs who would like to have higher prices so they can have higher profits. They produce high quality offerings but their lack of system combined with the attitudes of themselves, their current clients and their peers hold them back from managing their prices more effectively.
I don't want to impede your creativity but my thought is that the design needs to convey money, prestige and strength. I would prefer to avoid designs that are set on backgrounds although having an element set on a background is okay.
I need files compatible with Adobe CS2 for Windows. I also need one file to be a vector.
Also, I try to give a lot of feedback. I will try to let you know what I do and don't like. If you have not heard from me and you're still in the contest it is because I haven't thought of anything helpful to say yet.
I'm not a big fan of using the star ratings, especially if I haven't given you any feedback. I don't like the star ratings because I find designers with designs that have a lot of potential drop out without giving their design time to develop fully. So please bear with me if I don't star your design. Again, I'll try to give you helpful comments.
Please feel free to ask questions.
Good luck!
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Quirky health and fitness news from around the globe
Those poor Teletubbies. First Tinky Winky's masculinity is called into question (and really, who wouldn't love his trés chic handbag?), and now the colorful foursome have to deal with obesity issues.
That's right, the Teletubbies are chubby, and some critics are arguing they encourage childhood obesity. At a nutrition conference in Australia, a speaker stated that the Teletubbies are "helping to entrench poor messages that being fat and jolly are attributes to aspire to."
The Teletubbies aren't taking this name-calling lying down. They're getting even with a children's fitness video no less. The "Teletubbies Go!" will teach youngsters such basic movement skills as stretching, jumping, marching, standing on one leg and more.
Treadmills have gone to the birds, it seems. In Bangkok, a Thai farmer/cock-fighting trainer has invented a specially designed rooster treadmill in order to prepare the fowls for the ring.
"Roosters that have been trained on the treadmills are fully fit," Thaweechai Thongruay told Reuters. "When they get in the ring, their legs are strong and they never stop the footwork."
Old-style cock-fighting training consisted of racing roosters against one another in the open air. With his new invention, however, Thongruay initially runs the birds on the treadmills five to 10 minutes a day, then gradually increases to 30 minutes. Each machine is 15 inches wide, 25 inches long and 35 inches high, and features a small motor that can run the belt at varying speeds.


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How can you persuade your company's executives to invest time and money in the project?
You have to make a strong business case, and explain how it will improve business.
CEO Mark Ragan and head of Ragan Consulting Jim Ylisela explain—with examples—how to do so.
This is the second in a seven-part series on the topic.
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Of the Office for Civil Rights
Fiscal Year 2006
A. Complaint Resolutions
In FY 2006, OCR received 670 complaints that contained allegations related to discrimination on the basis of sex. Over half of these complaints, 338, involved elementary and secondary schools, and 250 alleged violations at postsecondary institutions. OCR received 144 complaints alleging discrimination in athletic programs and activities on the basis of sex.
Sexual Harassment
In FY 2006, OCR received 95 complaints that included allegations of sexual harassment. The following are examples of resolutions OCR obtained that address this issue.
- A complaint alleged a school district failed to respond appropriately to information that a student had been sexually harassed. In the course of OCR's investigation, the district acknowledged that its response was inadequate and agreed to take corrective action. OCR also found that the district did not have policies and procedures for addressing other forms of discrimination on the basis of sex other than sexual harassment. The district agreed to draft and publish grievance procedures in accordance with the requirements of Title IX, as well as to provide all students, parents and employees with a written notice regarding the availability of its grievance procedures.
- A complaint alleged a school district failed to respond to allegations of sexual harassment in a prompt and appropriate manner when one of the district's employees, a custodian, engaged in sexual activity with a secondary special education student during the school day. OCR determined the district's response to the harassment failed to remedy the effects of the harassment on the student. As a result of OCR's findings, the district agreed to offer and pay for counseling for the student and provide additional Title IX training for school staff.
Resolved Through Early Complaint Resolution (ECR)
- A complaint, filed by the parent of a female junior high school student, alleged a school district failed to take effective corrective action when a male student sexually harassed the complainant's daughter on a school bus. The complaint also alleged the school district subjected the female student to different treatment by disciplining her more severely than the male student following the incident. OCR facilitated an agreement between the parent and the district that was mutually acceptable to both parties. The district agreed, among other things, to apply its sexual harassment policy and procedures to address the actions of the male student and to take disciplinary action against him as necessary and appropriate under the policy. The suspension received by the female student was expunged from her record. In addition, the district, which enrolls more than 3,000 students, agreed to train staff on its sexual harassment policies and procedures and review its student discipline procedures.
In FY 2006, OCR received 144 complaints alleging discrimination in athletic programs and activities on the basis of sex. Of these, 16 were filed against post-secondary institutions, and 127 involved elementary and secondary schools. Additionally, 17 of the 144 athletics complaints concerned the issue of accommodating interest and ability, one of which was filed against a postsecondary institution.
- A complaint alleged a school district did not provide female students with equal athletic opportunities in accordance with Title IX. Specifically, the complaint alleged that females at a junior high school had only one softball team while boys had two baseball teams and that females at the high school level had only two basketball teams while boys had three basketball teams. The complaint also alleged disparities regarding equipment and supplies, practice and competitive facilities, scheduling of games, assignment and compensation of coaches, and publicity. OCR's investigation confirmed the district did not effectively accommodate the interests and abilities of members of both sexes on sports teams or provide equivalent benefits or opportunities. The district voluntarily entered into a resolution agreement with OCR in which it agreed, among other things, to offer additional interscholastic sports teams for female students; provide equipment and supplies equally among girls' and boys' athletic teams; and provide improved facilities for the softball team. OCR's agreement in this complaint affected over 2,747 students.
- A complaint alleged that a school district discriminated against female students on the basis of sex by failing to effectively accommodate the athletic interests and abilities of students. After an investigation, OCR accepted a settlement agreement in which the district agreed to assess the athletic interests of its students and, if necessary, to develop a plan for effectively accommodating the interests and abilities of its students. OCR confirmed, through its monitoring activities, that the district's actions pursuant to the OCR settlement agreement increased the number of interscholastic athletic participation opportunities available to girls by nearly 14 percent. Consistent with OCR policy to seek remedies that do not involve the cutting or reduction of teams in order to demonstrate compliance with Title IX, the district's actions did not include elimination of opportunities for boys.
- A complaint alleged that a district failed to provide female softball athletes at one of its high schools with equal athletic opportunities in the provision of locker rooms, and practice and competitive facilities. Based on OCR's findings, the district agreed to provide equal athletic opportunities by making improvements at the high school's softball field, including relocating one of its varsity softball fields to a more suitable location and installing bleachers, sideline fencing, fenced dugouts, player's benches, outfield fencing, foul poles, a field irrigation system, a scoreboard and a regraded infield at the new site. The resolution affected over 40 girls at the high school who participated in interscholastic softball competition.


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Newly cleared Gen. Allen remains candidate to lead NATO
By DAVID S. CLOUD | Tribune Washington Bureau | Published: January 24, 2013
WASHINGTON - The White House will go ahead with nominating Marine Gen. John Allen to be top U.S. commander in Europe, following an investigation by the Pentagon inspector general that found his emails with a Florida woman were not improper.
White House spokesman Jay Carney called Wednesday for the Senate to approve Allen's nomination "in a timely manner" now that the investigation is complete. Allen is currently top commander in Afghanistan.
Allen's nomination to take over as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, the top officer at NATO, has been in limbo since Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered the inquiry last November into Allen's emails with Jill Kelley, a socialite in Tampa, Fla.
The Pentagon announced Tuesday that the inspector general had exonerated Allen. The White House must formally resubmit the nomination before the Senate can hold a confirmation hearing, U.S. officials said.
Maj. Dave Nevers, a spokesman for Allen, said in a statement that Allen was pleased that the inspector general found "the allegations against him were unsubstantiated" and that he did not violate "requirements of exemplary conduct or the prohibition against conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman."
Allen, who is married, has denied having an inappropriate relationship with Kelley, who is also married. She was known for inviting senior officers assigned to U.S. Central Command, which has its headquarters in Tampa, to lavish parties and for sending them frequent emails.
The FBI uncovered emails between Allen and Kelley after they began investigating her claim that she had received harassing emails that ultimately were traced to Paula Broadwell, who was writing a biography of Gen. David Petraeus.
Petraeus resigned as CIA director in November after admitting he had a sexual affair with Broadwell. The FBI forwarded the Allen-Kelley emails to the Pentagon, and several officials said at the time that some of the messages were flirtatious and "potentially inappropriate."
At Kelley's urging, Allen and Petraeus sent letters on their official stationary to a judge in Washington, D.C., who was overseeing a child custody case involving Kelley's sister. According to emails later released by city authorities in Tampa, Allen sought Kelley's help last year after U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan burned Korans and a controversial radio host in Tampa vowed to "deep-fat fry" a Koran on his show.
Allen is due to leave as top U.S. commander in Afghanistan next month. If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace Adm. James Stavridis as the top U.S. commander in Europe.


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Long ago when the Funcube was launched, it was announced that the dashboard software was Opensource software. Indeed the FAQ in the guidance notes for V1.6 state:
Is this software "open-source"?
Yes. It is released under a creative commons share alike non-commercial licence, please see:
The source code will be available shortly on github..watch this space!
However, despite several enquiries (eg viewtopic.php?t=133 ) and promising responses to my knowledge this software has still not found its way onto Github unlike the data warehouse code.
Please could someone arrange for this to happen.
Kind regards,
James Savage


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Poet John Fairfax dead at 78
Poetry is everywhere. Folks are debating Elizabeth Alexander's unauguration poem. The TS Elliot Prize was packed to the rafters. Sadly, the poetry ranks also lost one its number today – British poet John Fairfax has died at 78. The Guardian carries the story. John Fairfax, who co-founded the creative writing community Arvon, is remembered for […]Read more


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I am seriously stuck. I'm supposed to write a program that counts by 3's using a for loop with the increment clause either being 1 = i + 3 or i + = 3. So far this is what i have, but it's not even close to working. While it does not tell me that I have errors until the execution, once it runs i get a runtime error and must abort the program. Am I over thinking this? And how do you get the table (\t) function to work with the column headings and contents? This is so confusing! I've reread my book Deitel's C How to Program and looked up as much as I can on the web to find out more information on how to use it, but the book is vague with no examples, and the explanations that I found on the internet were very convoluted .
#include "stdio.h" void main() { int i; for(i = i + 3; i < 18; i++) { if (i % 3 == 0) printf("\t 'A'","%d", &i); if (i % 3 != 0) continue; printf("\n"); } for(i = i + 3; i < 20; i++) { if (i % 3 == 0) printf("\t 'A+2", "%d", i); if (i % 3 != 0) continue; printf("\n"); } }
it should print out a table that looks like this :


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Meggan Harper necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 263 diseños de 36 diseñadores freelance.
Meggan Harper Photography
I am Meggan Harper, and I photograph babies and children. I love what I do with all my heart. I think all children are beautiful and I like to capture that in my imagery. If I had to describe my art in a few words, they would be: pure, honest & clean. I strive for expressions that are unforced and unscripted. My style is classic with a touch of whimsy. I am trained in the art of photography, but also bring my own flair to what I do.
This contest will lead to more because once I have the logo done, I need brochures and marketing pieces.
My target audience is moms
I love scrolly, whimsical fonts for my name, and then a clasic font for photograohy OR vice versa. Around that, I am visualizing some sort of scrolly pattern, reminiscent of wrought iron or even LACE, but NOT overdone and heavy.I like it to be symmetrical. Something curvy/wavy/curly with a unique shape. I still want it clean, light and simple though. The packaging of my products is black, with a foil stamping that has my name (CLASSIC), but for flair, I wrap complimentary items in zebra tissue paper (WHIMSY), and then red ribbon around all of it. No color: black and white only please. You may want to look at my photography to check out my current logo (which is in an OVER-USED font) and also my photos so that you may get a better idea of what I do. I am open to changing my packaging as well---nothing is set in stone.....Feel free to come up with something completely different than what I described based on my photos.Who knows.... I may end up LOVING it! The biggest issue is that I want my logo to be consistent with my images. So please look at my photos before submitting a logo so that you have a complete understanding.
I want this logo to represent: BEAUTY, ELEGANCE & CLASS
Be creative. Be inspired!! :-)
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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IGN: We know what you're thinking: seems like a pretty sensationalistic headline, right? After all, Infinity Ward has always stayed several steps ahead of stablemate Treyarch when it comes to creating Call of Duty games that both play better, and sell better. So how are things going to change?
yes it is a very sensationalist title, ign's gone down the shitter and back
Call of duty will always be Call of duty doesn't matter if you change the developers. Only thing that makes this special I guess is zombies and thats it. Thats the only reason I hear a lot of people gonna purchase this game is because of zombies.
I haven't heard anything about zombies, but the game does looks sweet, no doubt.
and ill still be buying this game..because i still like having fun when playing video games
but that's just me


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Hospital Safety Superstars
Luis Alvarez/Getty Images
En español l AARP The Magazine has teamed up with The Leapfrog Group, which rates hospitals on safety and resource use, to showcase what some of the most innovative hospitals are doing to prevent errors. For example, the safest hospitals in America use surgical checklists, have fully integrated electronic medical records, and place a premium on transparency.
Subscribe to the AARP Health Newsletter
While the hospitals listed in the tool below are safety superstars, others have received an "A" Hospital Safety Score from Leapfrog. To find the "A" hospitals near you, use the tool below and log on to hospitalsafetyscore.org.
To learn more about how to protect yourself on your next trip to the hospital, check out AARP The Magazine's "Lessons From America's Safest Hospitals" and explore our interactive patient room of the future.
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Home > News & Events > Wayland Press Release Archives > 2007 News Releases > September 2007 > Student to lead service initiative to create water purification device
Student to lead service initiative to create water purification device
PLAINVIEW – Somewhere between testing materials and time trials in the science lab, Luke Loetscher had an epiphany.
A senior biology major at Wayland Baptist University, Loetscher said he's long known he was called to missions work and wanted to use his scientific skills in that work. Now, in the midst of his honors research project, Loetscher is seeing the big picture of what God has planned for him.
"I didn't know at first why I was supposed to come here, but this is just a glimpse of why," said Loetscher, a native of Cheyenne, Wyo. "I hope we'll be able to do great things using this technology."
To that end, Loetscher is planning an informational meeting in the Moody Science Building, Room 110, on Sept. 21 at 1:30 p.m. to discuss an initiative to produce and distribute water purification devices for countries in which impure water is a major issue.
The research project started as a class assignment working with other students on developing the best method for purifying water using titanium dioxide. Luke specifically has been working on a photocatalytic system – one that uses light as the catalyst for the purification reaction.
His models so far have ranged from a small reactor placed inside a water bottle that uses an LED (light-emitting diode) to a larger model in which water is run over a flat surface coated with titanium dioxide. Loetscher's plan, however, is to develop a portable version that could be easily transported and shipped to areas of need.
To get to that point, he said, more research is ahead in order to determine the best conduits to use to get the maximum reaction for the minimum time and cost involved. Other factors are how easily reproduced the purifiers can be in the areas of need, which Loetscher said will primarily be undeveloped or underdeveloped countries.
"We still have a lot more to do, to make better reactors and find out what they will work best on," Loetscher said. "We also need to check for any byproducts that might occur in the degradation process."
The meeting is primarily to recruit helpers for the research project and the other parts of the effort that will follow once a suitable model is found. Loetscher said besides scientifically minded people who will work with the research and development end of the project, he also needs to recruit economists, marketing experts, missionaries, sociologists and linguists who will all play into the implementation stages of the project.
"We need a lot of people to do this, and that's a great picture of the body of Christians," Loetscher said. "We all have a role to play in serving God."
In his work to this point, Loetscher has already enlisted help from fellow students, including some from the other side of the Moody Science Building. Jerod Clopton, a May 2007 graduate who is now working on a graduate degree in mathematics at Texas Tech, was a key player.
"When Luke approached me to help use my math skills to do some modeling for this real-world problem, I was excited," Clopton said. "I modeled the behavior of the light within the tubes he had created, which will allow them to optimize the LED tubes and make them more efficient."
One of Loetscher's models used a cartridge inside a water bottle that filtered the water through the tube, which was imbedded with LEDs to create a speedy reaction with the titanium dioxide.
The social research is another crucial aspect to the project, Luke said. The group will need to identify the location and people groups with the most significant water needs, establish contacts there to determine cultural needs and identify the nature of those needs as well, then develop technical solutions that are appropriate for the people group. That's where sociologists and missionaries from those regions will come in handy.
Though the road ahead will be long and arduous for Loetscher and those who come aboard with him, he is certain the cause is vital enough to press forward.
"According to the World Health Organization, 1.1 billion people in the world lack access to an improved water source, including 55 percent of rural Africa," Loetscher said. "Another 1.8 million die from diarrheal diseases, and most are children under five. More than 88 percent of this disease is attributed to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene."
Loetscher said after spending the summer of 2006 on mission work in the Philippines, he realized the vast resources of the United States – including technology and knowledge – could make a real impact on those regions. But the legwork behind that is vital. Knowing who needs what, where they are, what resources they currently have and how economically feasible the products will be are all key to the success of the initiative. Loetscher's enthusiasm is already keeping the fire fueled.
"It excites me to think that this project we started as a student research project could be something we could send out to help other people," he said.
The Friday meeting is open to the public, especially to those who would like to be involved with the purification initiative. For more information, contact Dr. Joel Boyd, associate professor of chemistry at Wayland and the supervising faculty member, at (806) 291-1125 email@example.com. Loetscher can also be reached through Boyd or by email email@example.com.


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A YOUNG woman who was raped by a taxi driver in the back of his car has spoken of her terrifying ordeal.
The 18-year-old victim and a male friend had been picked up illegally by Hadi Mohammed after enjoying a night out in Hull city centre.
The driver insisted on dropping her friend off in Bransholme before driving to her home in west Hull.
But on the way Mohammed – a bodybuilder in his spare time – pulled over, climbed into the back and carried out the horrifying attack.
After seeing Mohammed jailed for eight years following a trial at Bradford Crown Court, the woman revealed she believes he has attacked other victims and urged them to come forward.
"When he attacked me he was so confident, I don't think I'm the first passenger he has done this to," said the victim, who cannot be identified.
"I think there are other women out there who are victims and I would urge them to come forward. It has really helped me with the healing process."
Mohammed had collected her and her friend in Lowgate, near North Churchside, after a night at Rumours bar.
They were waiting for another private hire vehicle they had booked when Mohammed, of Scott Street, west Hull, pulled up in his VW Passat and told them to get in. Private hire taxi drivers are only allowed to pick up pre-booked fares.
His victim said she wanted her ordeal to act as a warning to other women.
"I want other women and young girls to be aware of the dangers of getting into cabs so they never have to go through what I did," she said.
"There are young girls out there who will just get into any taxi or car but it's just not safe.
"I don't want to label all drivers as being bad but women just need to be a lot more careful.
"The drivers should not be picking up passengers who haven't booked and they shouldn't get in the cars. It just is not safe.
"There needs to be tougher penalties for drivers who don't stick to the rules to make it safer for passengers.
"Since this happened I cannot get taxis alone, I don't feel safe.
"I always make sure I'm with my friends. I only use cab firms I know.
"I just want other women to make sure they learn from this and don't get into cabs alone."
Mohammed, who had worked for taxi firm 60-60-60 since August last year, used a condom during the attack.
He threw it out of the car window and police were able to trace it to him using DNA evidence.
Mohammed, an Iraqi Kurd who came to Hull in 2000, was caught because his DNA had been placed on the police national database following previous convictions for driving without a licence in the city.
Detective Constable Neil Kitching, who led the investigation, said: "He orchestrated it to get her on her own.
"He was in a position of trust as a taxi driver and he abused that trust. It was a calculated attack.
"He is a sexual predator and I believe he has used his position as a taxi driver and his position of trust to prey on this young woman when she was in a vulnerable and intoxicated state.
"It is worrying that, as a taxi driver, he has had access to lots of intoxicated people and he has acted in this way.
"He has made an opportunity for himself by getting rid of her male companion so she was alone in the car with him."
The girl, who bravely gave evidence against Mohammed to secure his conviction, added: "I'm over the moon with the sentence.
"It has been the worst experience of my life but the police have supported me all the way through it and I'm so glad I came to court and gave evidence.
Shabir Hussain, manager at 60-60-60 taxis, said: "This is a very unfortunate incident.
"No driver can work for us without a CRB check by the police. We took all necessary precautions that you can take before employing someone.
"I'm glad he's been jailed. He deserves everything he gets and that's all I can say."
Via Nationalist Media Network


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Well, I'm currently working on a website.
The website will act as, what I call "..a fun and educational robotics information collective...".
I hope to upload the website "beta" by Friday, then discuss with my dad about purchasing a domain name and hosting by Saturday, then hopefully by 5 January, it will be a dot-com.
Oh yeah, school continues on the 5th of January too. Can't wait to get back to school. I'll be in first year, second semester. My polytechnic school year starts in July. Weird huh...
I will write more stuff in my diary soon.


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NORTHPORT | The Kentuck Art Center's unwanted bats can squeeze in through a half-inch opening. They'll be flying out on their own, through specially designed tubes, because the federally protected species cannot be euthanized.
NORTHPORT | The Kentuck Art Center's unwanted bats can squeeze in through a half-inch opening. They'll be flying out on their own, through specially designed tubes, because the federally protected species cannot be euthanized.
Full-grown, little brown myotis bats have a wing span of about 6 to 7 inches, and weigh only a few ounces. Huddled with wings tucked in, they appear roughly 1.5 to 2 inches long, said Adam Owens, production manager with Bama Exterminating, which has been checking out the issue at the Art Center, 503 Main Ave., in downtown Northport.
"They're so small, you could have one hanging over you, and you might not realize it," he said. "It'd look like a smudge on the ceiling."
Some excluding devices, which are basically tubes that allow bats to fly out but not back in, have been set up. But the real work begins Monday, when pest-control experts will start removing the ceiling, cleaning guano and related parasites, such as fleas, lice and bat bugs.
"Bat bugs are very close kin to bedbugs," Owens said. "The only difference is they have a little longer hair; you can really only see it under a microscope."
Protected by federal and state regulations, the bats cannot be euthanized or even "harassed" to leave, although some may be removed by hand. Most of the bats will, it's hoped, fly out through the excluders.
"Because bats are poor fliers — they land with their rear feet; their hands are on their wings — on these tubes they land with their rear feet and can't get back in," he said.
Work must begin soon, before breeding season starts. If it was �determined the bats had already begun breeding, the young would have to be left until they are full grown, probably by August or September. So far, they have not seen any females who appear to have been breast-feeding.
"If there are juvenile, hairless bats still relying on mother for food, you don't want to exclude mom," Owens said. "You don't want to kill the young, but you also don't want the young dying inside the building. The parasites would leave their bodies and go looking for other food sources, which can be the people in the building."
Chief worries with a bat infestation come from airborne fungal spores released when the guano is disturbed. Potential human infections include histoplasmosis, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Henipavirus and possibly Ebola.
"Histoplasmosis is something, once people contract it, they're stuck with it for life. It can cause a lot of respiratory problems," Owens said. "Though bats don't attack like everyone worries so much, there is still a chance of being bit, and contracting rabies."
When pest-control gets down to it upstairs, the workers will be wearing full-face respirators, "which is not always fun in the heat," he said.
The board still needs to meet to sign contracts, said Shweta Gamble, executive director of Kentuck. On Monday, she and others plan to go to the Northport City Council's work session to seek financial assistance.
Previous bat-removal jobs have ranged anywhere from $500 to more than $30,000, Owens said. Last year a project in the old Greene County Courthouse, removing 15,000 bats and 2,500 pounds of guano, cost $22,000.
"It's not going to be cheap, but we don't have a full estimate yet," Gamble said.
Northport Mayor Bobby Herndon stopped by to urge Kentuck staff to make a case for financial help before the City Council.
"What I recommended was that they come to the work session Monday night, come in with some facts and figures," he said. "Kentuck is a vital part of our community, and I know they are on a very tight budget, and it's a nonprofit organization.
"I'd like to see the city contribute some to the cleanup and restoration."
Meanwhile, staff and volunteers are moving gift shop items and office furniture and equipment to the adjacent Georgine Clarke Building, where they plan to operate business as usual, as much as possible. Saturday's Kentuck for Kids event, to be held in the courtyard, is still on for noon-�3 p.m, and the April 4 Art Night is also happening.
Kentuck studio artist Lorrie Lane, who's been helping in the move, has some experience with the problem. Bats infested her small studio and gallery space, downtown by the Northport post office, back in 2007.
"I kept seeing all these droppings, and I was looking for mice," she said. "Then one day in July there were bats flying around inside the gallery."
She contacted an animal-�control company, which told her they couldn't be removed until breeding season ended.
"I said, 'Forget the lease; I'm gone,' " she said, laughing. That move took her, ironically, to Kentuck, although her current space is not among those affected.
Many species of bat are protected because they're beneficial animals, as huge consumers of mosquitoes. The state statute on non-game species regulation, which covers dozens of fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals, reads in part: "It shall be unlawful to take, capture, kill, or attempt to take, capture or kill; possess, sell, trade for anything of monetary value, or offer to sell or trade for anything of monetary value, the following non-game wildlife species (or any parts or reproductive products of such species) without a scientific collection permit or written permit from the Commissioner, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which shall specifically state what the permittee may do with regard to said species."