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MLTN - Multi-layer Transport Networks
The structure of fixed telecommunication networks currently undergoes significant changes. More and more applications/services (e-mail, video, fixed and mobile phone telephony,...) are realised using a logical IP/MPLS routing layer on top of a physical optical transport layer. Network operators have to design their networks in an efficient way such as to satisfy customers' demands with high quality at reasonable cost.
The design of a two-layer network consists of planning a topology for both layers, dimensioning hardware (e.g., routers and cross-connects) and link capacities, and routing communication demands. Also survivability constraints have to be respected in the planning process in order to account for cable cuts or equipment failures. Due to the lack of better planning methods, the two layers have usually been planned one after the other in the past, although there are strong interdepencies between them. The existing mathematical models for an integrated planning of both layers are very hard to solve to optimality using conventional solution approaches. In a first phase (at the time with Siemens), this project aimed at enhancing existing models and algorithms by multi-layer aspects in order to reduce computation times. This goal was achieved by using advanced model reduction techniques and by adapting established cutting planes known from single-layer network planning to the multi-layer context. In a second phase (now with Nokia Siemens Networks), the goal was to extend the solution methods to large-scale two-layer networks with 50-70 nodes and survivability constraints. For such large planning instances, it is out of question to just apply a black-box mixed-integer programming solver because of the huge linear programs and the enormous computation times. We have developed problem-specific enhancements to a branch-and-cut-and-price approach to compute feasible network configurations with a quality guarantee.
Algorithms for two-layer network design
A well-established approach to solve network design problems is the use of a branch-and-cut algorithm. This generic approach for solving mixed-integer programs can be enhanced by problem-specific plugins, like cutting planes making use of the network structure, or primal heuristics which compute feasible solutions based on information known from the specific planning problem. During the last 15 years, several cutting planes have been developed for single-layer network design. Within this project, various types of cutting planes have been adapted to the multi-layer context. Using these extensions and advanced model reduction techniques, we could reduce computation times on practical network planning instances with 15-20 nodes from one day to a few hours (see Koster et al, 2008). The developed algorithms are now in use at Nokia Siemens Networks.
Large networks with a survivable routing, however, are still extremely hard to solve. Single node or link failures at the physical layer lead to multiple failures at the logical layer, and the size of the resulting mixed-integer programming formulations make it impossible to use a black-box MIP solver. In a second phase, we have thus developed a variety of problem-specific enhancements to a branch-and-cut algorithm that exploit the underlying network structure. These enhancements combine known results from linear and integer programming and from single-layer network design which have been adapted to multi-layer networks in this project. For example, we have extended the cutting planes mentioned above in a way such that they take the inter-layer survivability constraints into account. Column generation allows us to apply linear and integer programming techniques even to large networks with 50 or more nodes. Primal solutions are computed by heuristics which solve a restriction of the original problem as a sub-MIP within the branch-and-cut tree.
As a result, we can compute feasible network configurations even for large two-layer networks with 50-70 nodes and survivability constraints, and we can compute useful lower bounds on the optimal network cost to assess the quality of these solutions. This was not possible at the beginning of this project. Nevertheless, solving such huge problems is still hard. To reduce the computation times, more knowledge of the underlying polyhedral structure is required, and special combinatorial multi-layer algorithms for important subproblems are needed. These issues are further investigated in the project B3: Integrated Planning of Multi-layer Networks.
- A.M.C.A. Koster, S. Orlowski, C. Raack, G. Baier, T. Engel. Single-layer Cuts for Multi-layer Network Design Problems. In: Telecommunications Modeling, Policy and Technology, B. Golden and S. Raghavan and E. Wasil (Eds.), pp. 1–24, Springer, College Park, MD, U.S.A., 2008. Selected proceedings 9th INFORMS Telecommunications Conference.


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Manuel Veth –
The World Cup is finally here, and by now you have likely done plenty of previewing. The internet is full to bursting with guides about the best matches, the odds-on favorites, the likely group winners, and so on. So instead of giving one more primer for the matches, we are all about to watch, we are doing something a little bit different in this piece and looking instead at 10 of the most intriguing players at this summer's tournament. It's not an exhaustive list, and it's not presented in any particular order, but you'd be hard-pressed to find players who will be more interesting than these in the coming months.
1. Mohamed Salah – Egypt
Mohamed Salah has become arguably the biggest name of all heading into this World Cup. The Egyptian striker had a major coming out party for Liverpool this past season, propelling the English side all the way to the Champions League final – where he was injured by Sergio Ramos. It's sounding like Salah will be back to play for most or all of the group stage, and all eyes will be on him as the world looks to assess his health and whether he can push Egypt through a beatable Group A.
2. Gabriel Jesus – Brazil
Neymar gets most of the headlines for Brazil, and rightfully so. But 21-year-old forward Gabriel Jesus is a good pick as the breakout player of the 2018 World Cup. Last November, Dani Alves called Gabriel Jesus Brazil's new Ronaldo. We'll see if he can live up to that lofty comparison.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo – Portugal
He may be starting to move past his prime ever-so-slightly, but Cristiano Ronaldo remains one of the deadliest scorers in football. He just won yet another Champions League with Real Madrid, and last time we saw his Portugal team in a major international competition they shocked us all by winning Euro 2016. Perhaps more than any other player in the field, Ronaldo can carry his team by himself, and that makes him electric to watch.
4. Lionel Messi – Argentina
The consensus best player alive, and possibly of all time, Messi has a lot of pressure in this tournament. Argentina during his time has made a habit of getting far, but not far enough in major competitions, and some say Messi can never be considered the best footballer ever unless he hoists the World Cup trophy – and this may be his last run. Maybe Messi himself summed up his challenge best, as quoted in an overview of the matches to come: "You have to show up in the World Cup." For him, it's that simple.
5. Luka Modrić – Croatia
Modric is always a very fun player to watch. In fact at this point he might be the most effective midfielder in the world. He's also in the midst of something of an unpleasant controversy however. Basically, Modric's failure to effectively testify against an official on trial for corrupt actions in Croatian football has seen him fall out of favor with his own fans.
6. Timo Werner – Germany
Just 22-years-old, Timo Werner appears poised to become the next great German striker to explode on the world stage. The German team still has some veterans, many of whom were involved in the 2014 World Cup win, so it's not as if it has to be the Timo Werner show for this team to be successful. But don't be too surprised if we go into this tournament talking about Germany as a team and come out of it obsessing over Werner.
7. David de Gea – Spain
Goalkeepers always plan an important role in the Cup, and there are almost always one or two who show up in huge moments throughout the tournament. That, plus the fact that David de Gea is among the best keepers in the world, makes him one of the most intriguing players at the World Cup.
8. Harry Kane – England
Harry Kane has been such a key fixture in the Premier League for a few seasons now, and it's easy to forget he's still just 24 years old. He'll be playing in his first World Cup, and he'll be expected to lead what may well be the most frustrated national team in the world. Kane has an opportunity to start writing a new chapter of English football, and he actually has a lot of young, talented teammates who could help him do it.
9. N'Golo Kante – France
France seems to be driving everybody crazy. It's an incredibly skilled team with all the potential in the world, which has some listing the French as favourites. However, it's also an inexperienced team that hasn't had a chance to come together, with some tricky roster decisions and tactical calls to make. It's easy to see this team making a deep run or disappointing early. But whatever happens, N'Golo Kante should be the player who makes it so.
10. Gylfi Sigurdsson – Iceland
Not as high profile as the other nine players listed here, Gylfi Sigurdsson is the most talented member of the Icelandic team, and that makes him an automatic fan favourite. If you read, watch, or listen to World Cup previews these days you're all but certain to come across suggestions that Iceland has become the darling of the Cup – the lovable underdog that everyone is rooting for. It's getting hard to resist, and rooting for Iceland will mean getting a good, long look at Sigurdsson.
Manuel Veth is the owner and Editor in Chief of the Futbolgrad Network. He also works as a freelance journalist and among others works for the Bundesliga and Pro Soccer USA. He holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in History from King's College London, and his thesis is titled: "Selling the People's Game: Football's transition from Communism to Capitalism in the Soviet Union and its Successor States," which is available HERE. Originally from Munich, Manuel has lived in Amsterdam, Kyiv, Moscow, Tbilisi, London, and currently is located in Victoria BC, Canada. Follow Manuel on Twitter @ManuelVeth.

subset: commoncrawl


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Check out the cool cross-game content offered as part of "Games for the Holidays."
By the way, have you seen this week's episode of 'The SENTUAMESSAGE Show?" They talk about A World of Keflings. It's currently up on the Xbox Dashboard. Go check it out!
Also, we're going to have a virtual launch party for A World of Keflings in the evening of Tuesday Dec. 21. More details to come! Check back on the blog for more info soon.


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Firm Profile
Zobella & Co. (A.Q Ancheta & Partners) is a recognized pioneer and leader in Intellectual Property Rights protection in the Philippines.
Zobella has a total knowledge pool of thirty individuals, comprising of trademark and patent attorneys, corporate and litigation lawyers, a chemical engineer, consultant engineers, several professionals and experienced paralegals. Among these individuals are the former Chief Hearing Officer and the Chief of the Trademark Examining Division of the Intellectual Property Office. In addition, Zobella has part-time consultants to work on special projects.
Zobella, and its chairman, Alonzo Q. Ancheta, is a member of relevant international organizations such as the Asian Patent Attorneys' Association (APAA), the International Trademark Association (INTA), Licensing Executives Society International (LES), ASEAN Intellectual Property Association, ASEAN Law Association, LAWASIA and Inter-Pacific Bar Association.
Zobella is recognized by various publications as one of the leading law firms in the Philippines for intellectual property, citing its clients' satisfaction with Zobella's consistent quality in trademark and patent registration and prosecution.
Zobella (A.Q. Ancheta & Partners), a spin-off from its associated firm Quasha, Ancheta, Peña and Nolasco, has gradually and steadily grown outside its Intellectual Property expertise into a boutique full service law firm providing quick and accurate advice and assistance to its diverse range of clients.


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Business Archives
It's best to think about Beginning an Arcade Business for public leisure when you take pleasure in entertaining and amusing individuals! The proliferation and growing complexity of the legal guidelines governing business have pressured rising specialization in corporate law. It's not remarkable for sure sorts of corporate transactions to require a group of 5 to 10 attorneys because of sprawling regulation. Business law spans common corporate legislation, employment and labor legislation, health-care legislation, securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions, tax regulation, worker profit plans, food and drug regulation, mental property law on copyrights, patents, trademarks, telecommunications legislation, and financing.
Types of Businesses – Owning your own business is a major a part of having nice economic success in a capitalistic society. There are various kinds of businesses to choose from so one of many first selections you may make is the kind of business to open. There are a number of choices to explore for the construction of your business. This article provides you with the definition of three of the preferred business sorts. All these businesses are: (1) Sole Proprietorship, (2) Company, and (3) Restricted Legal responsibility Company.
Authorities helps small businesses by letting us do our jobs and getting out of the way in which by unleashing the American spirit. Your incentives have created huge demand in the labor market. So, therefore, as a way to retain and hire new employees, our hourly workers have seen an approximate wage improve of about 20 p.c in the short time interval. Individuals are incomes extra, and due to this fact, this provides them confidence to exit and spend more. A win-win for everyone.
Companies provided by the following associates of SunTrust Banks, Inc.: Banking services and products are supplied by SunTrust Financial institution, Member FDIC. Trust and funding administration providers are supplied by SunTrust Bank, SunTrust Delaware Belief Firm and SunTrust Banks Belief Company (Cayman) Limited. Securities, brokerage accounts and insurance coverage (including annuities) are provided by SunTrust Investment Providers, Inc., a SEC registered dealer-dealer, member FINRA, SIPC, and a licensed insurance agency. Investment advisory providers are provided by SunTrust Advisory Companies, Inc., a SEC registered adviser. GFO Advisory Providers, LLC is a SEC registered investment adviser that gives funding advisory providers to a group of personal investment funds and other non-funding advisory companies to affiliates. Mortgage services are offered by SunTrust Mortgage, Inc.
And I wish to thanks for preventing for the American worker. As a result of behind all these businesses, they're actually going to be the first ones to inform you the American worker — the American employee has been forgotten for far too long. The those that put in eight, 10, 12 hours a day — 6, 7 hours a day, 6 or 7 days every week — there's dignity. Work is not just about cash; it's concerning the dignity that comes with work. And they've been beat up and ignored for a lot too lengthy. Whether it is taxes, whether it's jobs despatched to different nations, this tax reform is about them.


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If you are looking for a timeless classic statement piece that you hope to introduce to your dining-room, then take a bow, because we have a classic dining table chair, specifically for you. This one is upholstered with fine slate grey soft tufted fabric, while supported by wenge finesse Sheesham wood legs. Buy this dining table online to experience sheer genius.
1. These sophisticated chairs add the perfect touch to any room.They're a great gift at a price that can't be missed.
2. No assembly required.
3. Indoor use only.
4. Dimensions can vary +/- 5 to 10 cms as the products are handmade.
5. Product color might slightly vary due to photographic lighting sources or your monitor settings.
|SKU Code:
|Net Weight (kgs) :
|Primary Room :
|Dining Area
|Finish / Colour :
|Slate Grey Upholstered with Wenge finish
|Upholstry material :
|Premium Fabric
|Upholstry fill :
|High density Sleepwell and PU foam
|Style :
|Base Material :
|Sheesham Wood
|Size (L x W x H) :
|Refer Image
|Seller :
1. If a spill occurs, clean the fabric immediately. Random cleaning can leave impressions. Use gentle circular strokes.
2. Blot with a clean, white cloth.
3. Do a 'patch test' over a hidden area before using the care product.
4. Do not use detergents or harsh chemicals to clean your upholstery.
5. Keep upholstered furniture out of direct sunlight.
6. Avoid exposing the furniture to excessive heat or direct sunlight as this can cause cracking of the wood and deterioration of the color.
7. Using placemats, hot pads and coasters under the plates, serving dishes and beverages respectively can prevent stains and other damages.
8. The Ink from newspapers and magazines tends to bleed onto the fabric and cause stains.
9. Avoid overspray of household chemicals near upholstered furniture.
The wood used in the furniture is perfectly seasoned for moisture content and has been treated well against any borers and pests.
2. We do not offer refunds for order cancellations.
3. We work with the ethics of high quality that ensure that the product is up to our standards when you receive the product. In case, you receive a damaged product(manufacturing defect), it is kindly requested to bring it to our notice via phone or email within 24 hrs. of receiving the product. Our team will revert within 1-2 working days after assessing the damage and with a solution. We shall not be liable for any trasnsit damage post the stipulated time. We ensure to take necessary corrective measure to solve the problem.
4. Product should be packed properly by the customer for return pickup.


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April 1, 2020: Autoduel Tales Now In Print And PDF!
We've released a collection of the Car Wars fiction of Autoduel Quarterly in both print and PDF, making it easier to read all of the Car Wars short stories that were published in the official magazine that was first released back in the eighties. This 270-page book includes 30 stories and can be yours today!
Order Autoduel Tales in print from Amazon.com today!
Find the Autoduel Tales PDF at Warehouse 23.
-- Phil Reed
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I hope you find great value in these Quotes about Acceptable from my large collection of inspirational quotes and motivational sayings.
Often, we get stuck on a question
for which we can't find an acceptable answer.
That is a good time to consider asking a different question.
Every question is based on some assumptions -
usually invisible assumptions that we don't see, unless we go looking.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Related topics: Wisdom Life Human-Nature Psychology Questions Assumption Thinking Mind
Stress is nothing more than a
socially acceptable form of mental illness.
- Richard Carlson
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
- Reinhold Niebuhr (Serenity Prayer)
Be curious; be adventurous; live life full-out.
Accept the challenge, and reach for the brass ring.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Please sign-up for my Free Inspirational Daily Email on the form below.
We must let go of the life we have planned,
so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.
- Joseph Campbell
This is my wish for you:
Comfort on difficult days,
Smiles when sadness intrudes,
Rainbows to follow the clouds,
Laughter to kiss your lips,
Sunsets to warm your heart,
Hugs when spirits sag,
Beauty for your eyes to see,
Friendships to brighten your being,
Faith so that you can believe,
Confidence for when you doubt,
Courage to know yourself,
Patience to accept the truth,
Love to complete your life.
- Anonymous
Play to win, but be a good loser.
Have a plan for your life,
but accept whatever comes your way
with grace and gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I Receive ALL of Life with Thanksgiving -
I have gratitude for EVERYTHING
that has ever occurred to bring me to this moment.
I give thanks for the joys and the sufferings,
the moments of peace and the flashes of anger,
the compassion and the indifference,
the roar of my courage and the cold sweat of my fear.
I accept gratefully the entirety of my past and my present life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
People should think things out fresh
and not just accept conventional terms
and the conventional way of doing things.
- R. Buckminster Fuller
When you do your best
you learn to accept yourself
- don Miguel Ruiz
You have to know how to accept rejection, and reject acceptance.
- Ray Bradbury
Do your best, and always accept life as it comes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Once we accept our limits, we can go beyond them.
- Albert Einstein
You have to accept whatever comes
and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage
and with the best that you have to give.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
Fill your heart with the creative power
to accept the past,
decorate the present
and transform the future.
- Osho
Accept everything about yourself - I mean everything.
You are you and that is the beginning and the end -
no apologies, no regrets.
- Henry Kissinger
The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi
You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes.
- Maimonides
For a happy marriage,
love and accept your spouse just the way they are.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Anyone who proposes to do good
must not expect people to roll stones out of his way,
but must accept his lot calmly,
even if they roll a few stones upon it.
- Albert Schweitzer
We must accept finite disappointment,
but never lose infinite hope.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Improve what you can
and accept all the rest of life
just as it comes.
Know that fear is your worst enemy -
perhaps your only enemy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Accept Circumstances - Choose Responses.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Thinkers do not accept the inevitable;
they turn their efforts toward changing it.
- Paramahansa Yogananda
One must know not just how to accept a gift,
but with what grace to share it.
- Maya Angelou
We cannot change anything until we accept it.
Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.
- Carl Jung
We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant.
You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard
or just think it's going to get on by itself.
You've got to keep watering it.
You've got to really look after it and nurture it.
- John Lennon
When I find that I can't accept what is happening,
I turn my attention to accepting my non-acceptance.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
However carefully we plan our future,
we are always climbing the steps to nowhere.
While it is important to our happiness
that we have an intent for our lives,
it is equally crucial to accept in advance
that we truly have no idea how our lives will turn out -
and that is good.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I gratefully accept the light and pay it forward.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Don't choose. Accept life as it is in its totality.
- Osho
I accept everything that ever has been,
with no regrets, no resentments, and no call for vengeance.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Trust yourself. Only you can live your life.
Only you can taste your victories.
Only you can suffer the sting of your defeats.
Make your own choices, and accept your own consequences -
for better or worse.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
You can't move so fast that you try to change
the mores faster than people can accept it.
That doesn't mean you do nothing,
but it means that you do the things that
need to be done according to priority.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
God gives some more than others
because some accept more than others.
- Ernest Holmes
If we fail to plan, we merely bob helplessly -
like a cork on the sea of life.
If we resist whatever life delivers to us,
we create untold misery for ourselves.
If we act with vision and commitment,
and then accept whatever Spirit provides,
we live a life of purpose and joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Simply see that you are at the center of the universe,
and accept all things and beings
as parts of your infinite body.
When you perceive that an act done to another
is done to yourself,
you have understood the great truth.
- Lao Tzu
It's a funny thing about life;
if you refuse to accept anything but the best,
you very often get it.
- W. Somerset Maugham
Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being
to those who are on the road with you,
and accept as something precious
what comes back to you from them.
- Albert Schweitzer
I become happy when I choose to accept and love all of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
We cannot change anything until we accept it.
- Carl Jung
I accept that no one else has ever been to blame
for either my joy or my suffering.
The entire cause of all my joys and all my sufferings
is my own emotional response to the events of my life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I do my best and accept life as it comes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I accept gratefully the entirety of my past and my present life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Patience is a form of wisdom.
It demonstrates that we understand and accept
the fact that sometimes things must unfold in their own time.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
If you refuse to accept anything but the best,
you very often get it.
- Somerset Maugham
The only way to store information is by agreement.
The belief system is like a Book of Law that rules our mind.
Our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive.
Humans punish themselves endlessly
for not being what they believe they should be.
We have the need to be accepted and to be loved by others,
but we cannot accept and love ourselves.
- don Miguel Ruiz
And you would accept the seasons of your heart
just as you have always accepted
that seasons pass over your fields
and you would watch with serenity
through the winters of your grief.
- Khalil Gibran
I want to share with you the three rules
that I have in order to accept an apprentice.
Rule Number 1: Don't believe me.
I don't want you to believe me
but I want you to listen and make choices - your choices.
If what I say, doesn't work for you, leave it.
But if it works for you and that's what you want, then make it yours.
Rule Number 2: Don't believe yourself.
Why? Because most of your belief system is a lie - it's not true.
And by believing yourself, you create all the limitations
that don't allow you to be what you really are.
Don't believe yourself. Listen to what you say,
listen to what you think, listen to what you believe.
And when you listen, open your ears, open your mind,
open your intelligence and make choices.
Rule 3 is, don't believe anybody else.
Don't believe them at all.
Open your ears and your mind; listen and make choices.
- don Miguel Ruiz
The River of Life has no meaning, no good, no bad,
no better, no worse, no love, no hate, no fear, no anger, no joy.
The River of Life has no judgment, no expectation.
The River of Life just IS. There is nothing to do.
There is nothing to say.
There is nothing to think.
There is nothing to feel.
The River just flows. The River is the source of all nourishment -
the source of all obstacles.
The River is the source of all life - the source of all death.
The River is the source of all joy - and the source of all sorrow.
Yet the River has no joy - and the River has no sorrow.
The River is just the River.
One can flow harmoniously with the River -
or one can struggle fearfully against the River -
and the River just flows.
One can accept the River - or one can deny the River -
and the River just flows.
One can worship the River of Life - or one can curse the River of Life -
and the River just flows. There is nothing to do - and the River flows.
There is nothing to say - and the River flows.
There is nothing to think - and the River flows.
There is nothing to feel - and the River flows.
The River flows - and all else is our drama.
The River flows - and all else is our invention.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I have gratitude for EVERYTHING that has ever occurred
to bring me to this moment.
I accept that no one else is ever to blame
for either my joy or my suffering.
The entire cause of all my joys and all my sufferings
is my own emotional response to the events of my life,
and I am committed to consistently distinguishing
between my feelings about events
and the physical occurrences of those events.
I declare that everyone who has ever played
any role in any of the events of my life
is entirely without fault.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Credulity - willingness to accept
unsupported statements without demanding proof -
is the greatest ally of the dictator and the demagogue.
- Arthur C. Clarke
On this day, as on every day,
we Receive ALL of Life with Thanksgiving.
We have gratitude for EVERYTHING
that has ever occurred to bring us to this moment.
We give thanks for the joys and the sufferings,
the moments of peace and the flashes of anger,
the compassion and the indifference,
the roar of our courage
and the cold sweat of our fear.
We accept gratefully the entirety
of our past and our present life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Living Into the Great Paradox,
I strive toward my vision,
while accepting gratefully whatever life serves up.
I work to bring about my vision of the future,
which is based on my value system of what is right,
just, noble, compassionate, generous, humane, peaceful, and loving.
Simultaneously, I accept that my vision
is based on only my opinions and prejudices,
and I honor all points of view and value systems,
no matter how different from my own.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
It is not our place to know the mind of God.
Spirit knows what is best in the long run -
best for each of us individually,
and best for humanity as a whole.
This is often very difficult to accept
when we see war and disease in the world
and experience physical and emotional suffering
in ourselves, our family, and our friends.
I consider this belief in God's infinite power
and ultimate wisdom to be the true test of faith.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Today is the bridge between the past,
regarding which we unconditionally accept that
everything has occurred according to God's plan,
and a future where we place our unconditional trust
in God's omnipotence and His benevolent design for our lives.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I Forgive Myself and All Others with Compassion -
I forgive everyone, especially myself,
for all actions and all inactions throughout my entire life.
I accept that no one else has ever been to blame
for either my joy or my suffering.
The entire cause of all my joys and all my sufferings
is my own emotional response to the events of my life,
and I am committed to consistently distinguishing
between my feelings about events
and the physical occurrence of those events.
I declare that everyone who has ever played any role
in any of the events of my life is entirely without fault.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
The reason I talk to myself is because
I'm the only one whose answers I accept.
- George Carlin
If in the least particular, one could
derange the order of nature,
who would accept the gift of life?
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
It may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil,
but one must never label a necessary evil as good.
- Margaret Mead
When you put on a uniform,
there are certain inhibitions that you accept.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Great relationships begin with two people who are each
self confident and who come to each other with the openness
to see and accept the other as a unique and wonderful person.
If there is true love and an alignment of fundamental values,
choose to join your life with your new partner
and vow never to criticize their nature -
the essence that makes them uniquely themselves.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound
to the starless midnight of racism and war
that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood
can never become a reality...
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love
will have the final word.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Let us not seek the Republican answer
or the Democratic answer,
but the right answer.
Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past.
Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.
- John F. Kennedy
He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it
as he who helps to perpetrate it.
He who accepts evil without protesting against it
is really cooperating with it.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
A friend is someone who understands my past,
believes in my future,
and accepts me just the way I am.
- Anonymous
Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts.
- Edward R. Murrow
I submit that an individual who breaks the law
that conscience tells him is unjust
and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail
to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice,
is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
One who breaks an unjust law
that conscience tells him is unjust,
and who willingly accepts
the penalty of imprisonment
in order to arouse the conscience
of the community over its injustice,
is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
An individual who breaks a law that
conscience tells him is unjust,
and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment
in order to arouse the conscience
of the community over its injustice,
is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Katinka Lampe: Let's Change History
September 5 – October 18, 2018
Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 5 from 7-9 pm
"Identity is a construction…if you erase history, you deprive yourself of the possibility to exercise some influence on the future." Herman Pleij
Inspired by the diversity in her hometown of Rotterdam, Dutch painter Katinka Lampe explores questions of identity and origin in this new series of portraits. Rendered as a series of layered colors, Lampe's paintings take on questions of appropriation, shared history and lived experience, while staying true to her ethereal style of portraiture. After considering the writings of academic Herman Pleij, Lampe became interested in how shared history is decisive in the creation of identity. Lush in tonality, Lampe's paintings evoke the luminous quality of her 17th century Dutch predecessors, albeit with thoroughly modern subject matter. Her figures are set against stark backgrounds of color, which Lampe paints before rendering the portrait itself. In works like "6080175" and "5065185" her models seem to emerge from pigment, a reflection of the weight such things carry in the history of the world.
While history is one part of Lampe's consideration, the struggle of youth is just as important to the work. Her subjects are all young adults, just beginning to explore larger questions of identity within themselves. They range from Lampe's niece and daughter, to actresses and models of varying racial backgrounds. There is a great deal of tenderness in her renditions of each figure, and by extension each story. It is important to the artist that the models maintain their anonymity. Rather than portraying their own unique personalities, through the artist's gaze they adapt a role used as a catalyst for viewers to reflect on their own lived experience and stories. Through this the artist aims to create what she calls, "reflective images". Says Lampe of the series, "my models play their roles to reflect their own lived experience…My goal is to make connections. I want to question, unsettle, move, and comfort."
Katinka Lampe is an artist based out of The Netherlands. She received her degree from the Academy of Art and Design in Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. Her work has been widely exhibited internationally in a variety of galleries, museums, and prominent art fairs such as Museum Van Loon, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Gorcums Museum, Gorinchem, the Netherlands, and Untitlled Art Fair, Miami Beach. Her work is included in the collections of Museum 21C, United States; Museum Arnhem, Arnhem; ASR Collections, Utrecht; ING Collection, Amsterdam; APMA, AmorePacific Museum of Art Seoul, Korea; Salon Dahlmann, Berlin; Museum van Loon, Amsterdam; C.N.A.P Centre National des Arts Plastique, Paris; Museum More, Gorssel; Schunck*, Heerlen; De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam; Art Curial, Paris; Frisseras Museum Athens, Greece; Menzis Artcollection, Wageningen; AEGON Art collection, The Hague; Achmea Art collection, Leiden; APG Pensioenfonds, Amsterdam; AKZO Art Foundation, Amsterdam; De Heus, Barneveld; Van Dam, Wassenaar; Bouwfonds, Hoevelaken; Hugo Carla Brown Collection, The Hague; Sanders, Aerdenhout; Princen, Rotterdam; and Heden, The Hague. Lampe's work has been featured in numerous publications including ArtTravel Magazine, ELLE Décor, and Public Art Magazine, among others.
For further inquiries regarding this exhibition, please email email@example.com or call 646.247.1657.


text:
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text:
A Mother-Daughter Makeover Story
Our Redo YOU! '09 Contest winners are a busy family of four whose transformation may inspire you and your family to make healthy changes in 2009.
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
Our Redo YOU! '09 Contest winners are a busy family of four whose transformation may inspire you and your family to make healthy changes in 2009.
Meet the Olivera family-mother Susie, father Jorge, and daughters Kendall, 15, and Jordan, 9. This Phoenix-based family has made a name for themselves in the world of dog shows. In fact, they boast more national "best in show" awards than any other family in the business. But the grueling life of dog handlers was starting to take a toll on the family's health and nutrition.
Recently, Susie realized her daughters were gaining weight and developing a skewed perception of food and body image. Having secretly battled an eating disorder all of her life, Susie became frightened that her daughters would share the same fate. On top of that, Kendall was diagnosed with ADHD. Susie wanted to find a more natural solution to conventional prescription medication.
For most of my life, food controlled me," says Susie, who used to wake up every day feeling hungover from the previous day's binge. "I'd promise myself that today I wouldn't devour junk foods, but the food always won in the end. I would often drive quickly to get my secret fix and eat it in the car alone." The compulsion was overwhelming and shameful for Susie, who would have occasional breaks in the bingeing cycle, only to do crazy starvation schemes. "I lost weight very rapidly following a 500-calorie-per-day diet that involved injections of a fertility drug, but I also started losing handfuls of hair." Susie knew the diet was ridiculous, but she felt desperate.
When Susie came across Kat James's The Truth About Beauty at an airport, she could immediately tell the diet it described wasn't a self-destructive one. "My one fear was that I would not lose weight fast enough," she says. Susie dabbled with the nutritional plan outlined in James's book, but never fully committed to the program for one reason or another. When she learned about James's retreat near Asheville, N.C., however, she decided to attend with her two daughters and really commit to a new lifestyle.
Raising Healthy Girls
Last year, Susie noticed that her daughters had become junk food junkies and their health had started to suffer. According to Susie, their diets were about 90 percent carbohydrates. Kendall always had a weight problem. Up until a year ago, Jordan could eat anything without gaining weight. "I have been careful not to focus on the girls' weight, but their binges and sugar crashes were looking too much like the pattern that enslaved me for most of my life," says Susie.
When Kendall was put on Adderall for ADHD, Susie felt a sense of urgency to do something more about the family's health. What was missing was the opportunity, she says. But then a terrible fall forced Susie to take time out. During her recovery, Susie realized she could use her time off work to attend James's program with her daughters. "I wanted them to hear James's story, which began when she was a young girl. I also wanted to change my daughters' notion that health foods only taste like cardboard."
The Makeover Begins
One of the first things Susie wanted to do was get her girls off sodas. "When James made a delicious sugar-free root beer using natural ingredients, such as stevia, Jordan took a taste and exclaimed, 'I can do this!' I thought to myself, 'so can I, ' " Susie says.
Kendall-who was always ravenous, particularly on the Adderall, craved bread and chips at first, until James came to the rescue with homemade cheese crackers and breads made from coconut flour. "By the time the ice cream, volcano cake, candied nuts, and much more (all surprisingly sugar free) had been served, the girls were sold," says Susie, who was pleased that her daughters were able to help make many of the dishes. Susie, Kendall, and Jordan were introduced not just to more healthful foods, but also to nontoxic personal care products. "Our room at James's retreat was stocked with pure olive oil soap by Kiss My Face, shave and sun products by Aubrey Organics, shampoos by Giovanni-which I fell in love with and still use today-Redmond clay and seaweed bath powders, and essential oil-based toothpaste by Young Living Essential Oils, to name a few," says Susie.
By about day three of the program, both Susie and Jordan reported no cravings for sweets or unhealthful carbs. "Most of us were no longer having the afternoon energy slumps. Many people attending the program expected to gain weight because there was so much food. But all of us were excited that our clothes felt looser by the end of the retreat," says Susie.
Making Changes at Home
After another week back home, Jordan and Susie's cravings were still completely gone. "My weight was melting off," says Susie, who lost about 10 pounds in two weeks. Susie also noticed that Jordan was eating much less food, or "little-girl-size plates," as she calls it.
Susie immediately purchased the nutritional supplements that she had learned about at the retreat, including omega-3 fish oils, blood sugar-control nutrients, an antianxiety formula, and a neurotransmitter support product. New oils, organic spices, nut flours, and other staples completed the Olivera's kitchen transformation.
Susie admits that the initial expense was substantial. But after she and Jordan started eating less and cooking more, she knew that the investment was more than worth it. "What thrilled me most was that Kendall stopped eating junk food altogether," says Susie.
Today, Susie has continued to adjust her and her daughters' supplement regimen. She's continually learning more about natural products through James's follow-up teleseminars and from a naturopath. Recently, Susie's naturopath put her on a low dose of natural thyroid replacement, as well as progesterone cream for hormonal balance.
Saving Their Skin
"I have always struggled with acne, even at age 42," says Susie, who thought acne control came down to oil control. Daily applications of drying treatments left her skin more wrinkled. After only a few days on James's program, Susie could actually see her skin tone improve and facial swelling lessen. Even more amazing, she has not had a breakout since. "I've tried tetracycline, Accutane, microdermabrasion, and so on, but nothing has helped my skin more than changing my food," she says.
Susie now cleans her skin with nonfoaming products. One of her favorites is Cleanse & Balance Organic Cleansing Milk from Sunshine Botanicals. "I also love Make Up Fluid foundation from Lavera and MyChelle Dermaceuticals Lip Plumping Treatment, which worked as well as more expensive synthetic brands," says Susie.
Kendall also reported a huge improvement in her skin. She used to come home from school with pimples that surfaced during the day and say, "Yuck, that was showing on my face all day?" Today, these breakouts are mostly a thing of the past.
Calming ADHD Naturally
Susie believes that Kendall didn't stray from the plan, even at school. But inexplicably, Kendall's cravings remained. Because Kat had mentioned that it is unusual for cravings to remain once you eliminate things that spike blood sugar and are eating lots of good fat, fiber, and nutrients, Susie felt Kendall's continued cravings might be related to Adderall.
Susie decided to ask their doctor for support in weaning Kendall off the medication. Susie had heard that getting off Adderall would be rough, and that Kendall might even gain weight. Nevertheless, Kendall began decreasing dosages during the following school holiday with success. She is now off of Adderall, and her moods and behavior are gradually improving. [Editor's note: weaning off Adderall can be very difficult and shouldn't be attempted without medical supervision.] Susie says that Kendall sometimes feels "scattered." But that is unfortunately part of a necessary withdrawal process that Susie believes would likely have been much worse-or impossible-had she tried to wean off of the drug years from now. Kendall has also lost five pounds and a lot of inflammation, and her hair also seems to have stopped thinning. "I am convinced that Kendall being able to wean off Adderall relatively smoothly could never have happened without the complete elimination of sugar and starch, and the dramatic increase in nourishing fats (literally brain food) and nutrients," says Susie, who recently reported that Kendall now has consistent energy and is no longer hyperactive.
"The other day Kendall was changing out of a pair of jeans she'd put on for school," says Susie. "When I asked why she was changing them, she said they were way too big!"
No More Junk Food for Jordan
Jordan is no longer a slave to sugar highs and lows. She makes her own "tapioca pudding" from James's recipe with Salba. Additionally, she has lost almost 15 pounds.
Susie's Success
Susie is also a big winner in the weight-loss arena. She has lost 20 pounds, and says she wakes up early and refreshed, free of the ball-and-chain, hungover feeling. "The biochemical change James talks about when you get off sugar and start getting enough good fat is profound, and has happened fully in each of us," says Susie. "It is very calming and energizing at the same time. When there's no more need for portion control or willpower, it is no longer a 'diet'-you are no longer white-knuckling it." As a bonus, Susie says that her skin is the best it's been in her adult life, and that the areas on her scalp with thinning hair she'd had prior to the program (as a result of starvation diets) have all but disappeared. She is also finding relief from lifelong anxiety with the help of nutritional supplements, including L-theanine.
A New Lifestyle
Susie and her daughters stay connected to James's program through online teleseminars, where they exchange school lunch ideas. Recipes from James's program, such as Portobello Mushroom Pizzas, Thai Chicken Stir-fry, Turkey Fennel Sauce over Shirataki Noodles, and Chiles Rellenos are favorites in the Olivera household. The girls also love to make their own recipe of chocolate cups at home. They melt xylitol-sweetened chocolate, mix in nuts, pour into mini muffin cups, and refrigerate until set.Having healthful food on hand for travel has been a big part of the Olivera's success. The refrigerator in their show truck is stocked with Greek yogurt, nuts, goat cheese, nut butters, grainless crackers (such as Lydia's Organics), hemp and Salba seeds, lettuce and other salad ingredients, hard-boiled eggs, roasted pumpkin seeds, organic deli meats, and sugar-free baked goodies.
"My husband is the one who really notices the differences in me and the girls when he sees us," says Susie."He is very happy about the changes in the girls' health and behavior. When he saw me only a few weeks after Kat's program, he said, 'Wife, you're looking good!' I know he is even happier that I feel good."
Advice for Parents Everywhere
When asked if she could communicate one thing to parents everywhere, Susie replies:"If you have the chance to free yourself and your kids of food and sugar addiction, your lives will be forever radically changed for the better." She believes it is the best gift she could have ever given her daughters. "The principles James taught me have spared my children and me-and maybe even my future grandchildren," says Susie.Editor's note: A full description of Kat James's eating plan, including recipes, specific product suggestions, and daily meal plans, can be found in her book, The Truth About Beauty.Natural Mood and Brain BoostersKat James recommended the following supplements for Kendall. Most of the following nutrients can help teens and adults alike.
Natural Mood and Brain Boosters
Kat James recommended the following supplements for Kendall. Most of the following nutrients can help teens and adults alike.
- L-Theanine: a calming amino acid
- Multivitamin/mineral: for
well-rounded nourishment
- Probiotics: to improve
digestion and bloating
- Fish oil, especially DHA:
a proven mood stabilizer
- N-acetyl-cysteine: for liver
support in the aftermath of
prescription drug use
- Phase 2: to reduce blood sugar
spikes, in case weaning off
Adderall increases appetite
- 5-HTP: to raise serotonin
levels naturally
Editor's note: Two specific products that have helped Kendall are New Chapter Neurozyme w/Gotu Kola, which is an advanced brain-supportive complex, and LevelRight, from NuNaturals, which has helped support blood sugar balance.


text:
I went to my baby's website
I surfed right onto that place
I typed 'Hey babe, I love you so'
But she slammed it in my face
She gave me an
Error 404
Error 404
You know you're
Heading for the door
When you get that
Error 404
I said, "Hey Babe, Don't lock me out,
Don't take your love to town.
My wifi's pretty patchy
And my bandwidth's runnin' down.
I got me an
Error 404
Error 404
You know your
Credit's on the floor
When you get that
Error 404
So if you take your gal for granted
And cause her lots of pain
And think that her good lovin'
Is your exclusive domain.
Take my advice for nothin'
Don't stay offline too long
Go click on her quite often
And build your links real strong
Lest you get an
Error 404
Error 404
There ain't no love
In her online store
When you're left with an
Error 404
HANS (by John Armstrong)
This is a short story by my son John, which I like very much.
The morning's black coffee had lifted the sleepy haze from her vision just in time to greet the first of her students as they trickled into the classroom. Each little boy in turn bid farewell to his parent/guardian, removed his winter coat and took his assigned seat around one of the four rectangular tables.
They knew her as Ms. Bellamy, and nothing more. Their teacher, who was quick with a warm smile and a glistening gold-star sticker, but who could also become quite frustrated if they did not score highly on their spelling tests. Ms. Bellamy, the sole academic influence currently present in their young lives. Her word was fact and law in their pint-sized society. She was forced to relent from time to time that maybe she had developed just a little bit of a god complex during her time as a primary school educator. But she also reasoned that anyone who could exert so much influence over a group of minds would inevitably begin to feel just a tad omnipotent. It was only natural.
Each and every one of her twenty-two students was seated by the time the morning bell chimed electronically over the intercom. The usual buzz of excited chatter filled the room. It seemed the students had not grown to loath Monday morning just yet. Ms. Bellamy cleared her throat once, then twice, in an attempt to gain the attention of the class. The volume of the discussion fell to a bare minimum, and she began to speak.
"Good morning class!" she announced with a false brightness in her tone. She still felt much too groggy.
"Good morning Ms. Bellamy!" the twenty-two boys replied in unison. So much energy and enthusiasm, she thought to herself. Just wait 'til you're my age, kiddies.
And so began the Monday morning routine. First came news. Each boy had to tell the class about something that they may have seen or heard or done over the weekend. Usually this involved entertaining the wild fantasies that their young minds offered up. As a teacher, she was simply not allowed to question a student's tall tales. Maddeningly, she had no other option but to play along and 'encourage their imaginations'. Bullshit. All this did, in Ms. Bellamy's experience, was reinforce the idea that lying about one's accomplishments would garner respect in the real world. Whoever tells the tallest tale wins. So students would give detailed reports on how they had found a king's ransom at the bottom of their garden, or how they had taken on 20 highly disciplined ninja assassins at once and lived to tell the tale. Usually this lie-to-win attitude would be grown out of in time, but a handful of students inevitably carried the symptoms for years and years to come. Ms. Bellamy was powerless to stop it.
That's why, when timid little James started telling the class excitedly about his amazing new friend Hans, she simply nodded along.
"…and we've already been on loads of adventures together!" James was saying, the words flowing excitedly out of his mouth, along with a great deal of saliva. "We climbed the big tree in the park and met the monkeys that live in it and we went to the swimming pool and fought a giant squid and there were pirates and ninjas and cyborgs and and and…" he trailed off, evidently exhausting his supply of imaginary scenarios. He took a few shallow breaths, and inhaled a blast from his inhaler.
"Well, that sounds like a super fun weekend!" Ms. Bellamy beamed falsely. "Tell me, did you bring Hans to school with you today?" Her superiors demanded that she engage with the children's fantasies from time to time. Encourage them to explore the tremendous depths of their youth-enriched imaginations. More bullshit. But while she may have been the overlord of her own little classroom, the board of education had her on a firm leash.
"Yes teacher. Hans doesn't like to be left alone, and Mummy and Daddy don't like him very much, so he followed me to school. This is Hans." James said in his small, breathless voice, before holding up his left hand for the entire class to see. His fingers seemed to be forming the shape of a crude mouth, his thumb forming the lower jaw and his four fingers forming the upper, as if he were trying to make a shadow puppet. On closer inspection, Ms Bellamy could see that he had glued a googly-eye, the sort that might be used for arts and crafts, onto the outsides of his first and last knuckle. It was a strange and crude design, giving the impression of a frog made of fingers or a fleshy bird, but it served its purpose. The entire class said hello to Hans without being prompted. She hadn't anticipated that. She had also not anticipated that Hans would reply.
"Greetings, friends." Hans said, in a much deeper voice than she thought James should be able to produce. His tone had more in common with a child kidnapper than an imaginary friend. James opened and closed his tiny fingers in an exaggerated imitation of speech. He must have been practising his ventriloquism, Ms Bellamy mused to herself. Though she was almost sure she could see the corner of James' mouth move along with Hans'. "I'm truly honoured to be welcomed with such open arms into your charming little classroom. Thank you all."
She was slightly taken aback by this. Hans spoke with a humble yet refined tone and a sophisticated use of language that was completely different from James' wheezing squeaks and monosyllabic vocabulary. It was almost eerie to think that such a young boy could adopt such a drastically different persona so easily.
"Don't mention it, Hans," she said, giving a token smile. "We're happy to have you. Aren't we class?" The entire room shouted their approval.
Sentences followed news. The children were only just gaining a foothold when it came to mastering the written word, so their task was to copy out a prewritten sentence several times, first by tracing the outlines of each letter, and then freehand. A mind-numbingly simple task for anyone over the age of seven. But for these boys, it was like pencil gymnastics, and very few could properly stick the landing. James had requested two worksheets; one for himself and one for Hans. She had hoped that he would have abandoned this little game after news had finished, and that it was just another primitive attempt at one-upmanship aimed at his fellow classmates. But this began to seem less and less likely to be the case. His commitment to the fantasy was commendable.
Ms. Bellamy hovered over the class as they worked, perched high atop the pedestal of her adult shoulders. She inspected each student's work briefly, saying "Good…good…good…" as she went. This mantra of vague approval caught in her throat when she scanned the work of James. Or rather, James and Hans. Normally, he would not have been considered a particularly skilled calligrapher. But his level of skill now seemed altogether different. He held a pencil in each hand, working on two identical worksheets at once. His right hand was its familiar, sloppy self, taking an age to negotiate the intricacies of the letter K. His 'Hans' hand, on the other hand, was speeding along the dotted lines like a pro. Hans appeared to be holding the chubby, child friendly pencil in his mouth, as a dog would a bone. This unusual grip did not seem to slow his progress.
Without warning, James' right hand dropped its pencil and rose into the air. At least Ms. Bellamy was a righteous god. She always answered her disciples when they beckoned. "Teacher, how do you make a K?" James asked, obviously frustrated with his lack of success in constructing the letter. Though he was now gazing up at her expectantly, Hans kept writing. She bent down, meaning to demonstrate how the letter was formed, feeling like an angel descending from on high to deliver mana, but still quite perplexed by the left hand. She knew for a fact that James was not ambidextrous.
On closer inspection, she could see that Hans had abandoned the exercise. Instead, he was etching the words "I am Hans," onto the sheet of paper over and over with such ferocity that it seemed he was surely inscribing it into the table too. "I am Hans I am Hans I am Hans…" Ms Bellamy looked on in shock. He was filling up every minuscule white space on the worksheet with those three words. Then, just as it seemed that he would run out of space, the pencil broke. Not the graphite tip of it. No, the entire pencil simply snapped in two. Hans let it drop from his mouth with a deep, pleased chuckle, as if he had just been told an amusing anecdote.
"Teacher…" another small voice came from across the room. She was forced to put her disbelief on hold for the time being. Little Darren had just been sick.
Lessons continued as normal, but she made sure to keep an eye on Hans. She decided that she would send a note home with James as the end of the day, requesting to speak with his mother tomorrow morning. This game was going on for far too long. Hans had overstayed his welcome in her domain.
Lunchtime arrived, and each boy produced his sandwiches, no doubt lovingly prepared by his respective parent/guardian. Ms Bellamy had another coffee, blacker than pitch, and continued to observe Hans and James from behind her desk. Both of them had separate packed lunches. What sane, functioning person would possibly make ham sandwiches for both their little boy and their little boy's left hand? Hans ripped his sandwich viciously into chunks, having no hands of his own to hold it with and no throat to swallow it with. The pupils in his googly-eyes bounced around maniacally. James nibbled at his sandwich and chatted with Hans, who replied between savage bites. It seemed another student had taken notice of this peculiar sight.
"Why does Hans have to eat?" little Conor, one of the brighter members of the class, asked James.
Hans decided to answer. "Why, the same reason that you must eat, friend," he said in his unsettlingly refined tone. As he said this, bits of his sandwich fell from his jaws.
"But…Hans isn't really real. He isn't a person. He's just your hand. So he doesn't need to eat," Conor replied, taking a smug swig from his carton of apple juice.
Ten points for observation, Ms Bellamy thought, as she leaned forward at her desk expectantly. Maybe this would put James' imaginary friend to rest. Maybe there was no need for her to intervene on the matter. After all, any attempt at one-upmanship is ultimately one-upped by another party. It was only natural. Or so she thought.
"How dare you?!" Hans exploded, his voice suddenly filling the room, his finger-jaws moving even more exaggeratedly. "You would dare question my existence? The sheer insolence of it!"
The other twenty students turned to watch, leaving their half-eaten lunches alone. "Hans is real!" James screeched, evidently also enraged. "He's my friend and he's real!"
"No he isn't." Conor protested stoically. "You just stuck eyes on your hand and pretended it could talk. You just made him up." To punctuate this statement of defiance, he stuck out his tongue and blew a modest raspberry.
"Have you not eyes?! Can you not see that I am as real and human as anyone else in this room?" Hans bellowed. Even James was beginning to look frightened. There was no sign of his mouth moving at this point either. It seemed it was all Hans now. "I am more human than you could ever hope to be. Allow me to demonstrate."
Suddenly, James stood, knocking over his tiny chair. "What are you doing, Hans?" James asked, his mousy voice trembling. Hans shot out like a serpent towards Conor. The left hand found his neck and clutched it tightly. Hans was like a wolf, trying to rip the throat out of its prey with its fearsome jaws. He lifted Conor out of his chair with unnatural strength, and held him aloft.
Tears were trickling down James' cheeks, but it seemed he was powerless to resist. "Please Hans…stop…" he sobbed. The class looked on in muted horror, entranced. Conor was struggling and retching and choking, but the grip held. If Hans had been an imaginary friend once, he was neither of those things now.
Though his mouth was wrapped around the little boy's neck, Han's voice was still clearly audible, chanting rhythmically, becoming thunder. "I am Hans! I am human! I am Hans! I am human! I AM HANS! I AM HUMAN!"
Up until now, Ms Bellamy was paralysed with shock and fear. A demon had encroached on her heavenly domain. She could hardly process what was happening. Hans was no fantasy. He was terrifyingly real. No note home could fix this. She sprang up out of her swivel chair and moved around her desk. She ran across the room towards the two boys and the force that possessed one and was murdering the other.
She acted on instinct, abandoning all of her training as a teacher, the regulations of the board of education and her morals. She did what had to be done. She struck James. Hard, with the flat of the palm of her right hand, across his helpless, weeping face. Hans released Conor, letting him drop. Both boys fell to the floor. Hans released one final roar, and was silent.
* * *
Ms. Bellamy was soon released from her duties. While her offence was not made public, it was made clear to her that she would never teach again. It seemed that each and every one of her twenty two pupils had forgotten just how wonderful a teacher she was, and instead focused on her one slip, her one wrong move. The wrong move that had saved a boy's life.
It seemed they had also forgotten Hans. Not even Conor or James made a mention of the hand-shaped evil. So each and every one of her former disciples testified against her. Twenty-two witnesses are a difficult thing to overcome. And though she was labelled a monster, she never forgot what she had seen. She never dismissed what could have happened, had she not acted. Those six words still haunted her dreams. Words born from an imagined being, desperate to be something more.
"I am Hans. I am human."
Posted by Ken Armstrong at 11:18:00 7 comments:
He's Eating the Baby…
"Your life is 'The Truman Show'. There are actors out there preparing scenes to play out in front of you, I'm sure of it."
This is what my friend said after I recounted something that happened to me this week.
Maybe he's right. See what you think.
I was going back to work after being up at the house for a sandwich and to see how some urgent repairs were coming along. I parked my car where I always park it, grabbed my bag, and locked the car up. As I was locking, I noticed what was happening a few cars further on. There was a small cohort of people gathered around a car, peering in. They looked like a young husband and wife and a Grandma and that's what they turned out to be.
The husband was poised at one of the rear passenger door windows and the fact that he was wielding an unwound coat-hanger immediately told me (and probably tells you too) what he was doing. I pride myself on being quite good at getting locked car doors open with a coat hanger, I've done it several times in my life, so I walked down to see if I could offer any assistance.
The husband had indeed locked his keys in the car, they were dangling there in plain sight in the ignition but that wasn't the most notable thing about the set up. There were some other things in there, as well as those dangling keys.
There were two children locked in the car too.
In the front passenger seat, there perched a boy, no more than a toddler, and in the back seat, strapped into her chair, a little person who I guessed was his baby sister.
"Can I help?" I asked.
The husband seemed glad to give up the coat-hanger immediately, "I reckon you might do better than me." I reckoned so too because his hands were quite large. I took up the challenge.
But before I got stuck in with the clothes hanger in earnest, I thought there was one other fairly obvious solution to explore. Could the toddler be persuaded to come over to the driver's seat, pull the ignition key and push the central locking button to open the door? Well, no, as it happens, he couldn't. He was far too happy in his own seat and no amount of cajoling from me could get him to move.
As I started working the clothes hanger, I noted that my cajoling seemed to have had a curious side effect on the four people peering into the car with me. Yes, four, a sister of somebody had emerged from the adjoining front door of the little terraced house where they all clearly resided. This side effect was strange. An air of jollity and general hilarity had descended on everybody, including the two kids inside the car. There was laughter and teasing and a general atmosphere of bonhomie about the affair. The only person not feeling this seemed to be me.
You know how to open a rear passenger door with a coat hanger, yes? The general idea is that you can sometimes push down the window a little to open a crack at the top and then you poke the untwisted steel hanger in the crack and you try to get the end loop over the opening lever inside the door. If you manage it, you give the wire a good tug and the door pops open. It can be done. It's tricky though.
"Ohhh, you nearly had it then." The husband provided encouragement from the window on the other side of the car as the children giggled and smiled out at me. I tried again.
Then my phone rang. It was the repair man back at my house. I needed to take it. I asked the husband to take over with the coat hanger for a minute and stepped up the road a few paces to take the call.
I can't have been more than a minute into the conversation when all hell broke loose back at the car. Suddenly there was no more laughing or giggling. Suddenly, everybody was shouting, wailing and, yes screaming. I hung up and ran back. What was it? What had happened?
It didn't take long to see. The toddler in the front had evidently become bored and had unclipped himself and toddled into the back seat with his little sister. He had then taken her fingers in his mouth and started chewing on them, perhaps as a teething aid. The little sister was singularly not amused by this and had started roaring like the proverbial buck ass.
Perhaps the laughter and jollity of a few moments ago had been a precursor to genuine hysteria for that was now what had broken out outside of the car. The three woman folk, all two generations of them, seemed to go from 'okay' to 'completely not okay' in the space of a split second. They were shouting and screaming at the top of their voices.
"He's eating the baby."
"He'll bite her fingers off."
The Granny was winning the hysteria sweepstakes by running around screaming (and, sorry about this, but she was), "the child is dead, the child is dead."
The Poor Husband was utterly bewildered. The relative calm and patience required to pull off the coat hanger trick was now only the dimmest memory. It was hard to know what to do.
The women knew though. All three of them knew at once.
"Break the window."
"Break the window."
("He's eating the child.")
"Break the window."
Can I just say, from where I was standing, the child was fine. Yes, the toddler was chewing/gumming her fingers and, yes, the child was screaming blue murder as a result but the level of agitation among the adults did not seem warranted to me, someone who is no stranger to agitation. I felt I should explain that to allow myself to smile at what happened next.
The husband ran into the open door of the adjoining house and there were sounds of drawers being torn out in the search to find something to break the window with. All the while the hysterical cacophony continued and I was powerless to intervene.
Then, after a strange moment's silence that seemed to come from nowhere, in a moment worthy of the 'Gourmet Night' episode of Fawlty Towers, the poor Husband re-emerged, blinking, into the daylight, with a plastic soup ladle in his fist. He then proceeded to batter the side window of the car, completely ineffectually, with the plastic ladle.
Because I did not see the kids as being in danger, I couldn't help but see this as a lovely moment but I also knew the pantomime had to end soon or else something really bad could happen. So I ran, back to my car, threw open my boot and found my tyre iron. If the window needed breaking, and it seemed clear now that it did, I felt it was time to get on with it.
But as I arrived back at the car, tyre iron in hand. The husband had just managed to break the window with a rock from the ground. Before I could say a word, the children were swept wailing from the car, the entire cohort were rushed into the little house, and the front door was unceremoniously crashed shut in my face.
It was over. It was time to go back to work.
You can see why my friend might think that Shakespeare's sentiment 'all the world's a stage' seems to apply a bit more to me that it does to others.
What the hey?
At least it's never dull.
Posted by Ken Armstrong at 11:52:00 6 comments:
My Two Metre Rod and Me
In my lifetime, I have measured a lot of stuff. It's a key part of what I do. Mostly, it's buildings but I've measured some other things too. I'm quite a good measurer of things even if I do say so myself.
But one of my most-favoured tools has fallen by the wayside such that I don't even have one anymore. The two metre folding rod. That's one there in the picture. These days it's all retractable steel tapes and such but, no matter how impressively large your steel tape measure might be, it will never command the mystique and awe which the two metre rod could inspire, when used by a pro.
I don't need to describe it, do it? The picture tells the story. It's a rod, two metres long (really, Ken?) and it folds over onto itself in smaller manageable sections. The great advantage of the two metre rod was that it could maintain a measure of rigidity, even when fully extended and only held at one end. Your average steel tape will tend to buckle if extended beyond 1.5 metres.
So why don't I still have one, if they're that bloody brilliant? The truth is, I don't know. My last one broke, I guess, many years ago, and I never got another one.
Gosh but it was a thing of beauty, back in the day. When you came in and started to unfold your two metre rod, people know they were in the presence of someone with a bit of skill and know how. There was a sort of 'Bruce Lee Nunchucks' action to the unleashing of the two metre rod upon a space to be measured. One twirled and angled and extended the thing in a manner slightly reminiscent of Darth Maul and his two sided light sabre in that first-and fourth Star Wars movie.
You know what the effect was most akin to? Remember in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', when the bad guy came into the Himalayan Pub and he took out the nasty looking thing made up of rods and chains and then he manipulated it into nothing more threatening than a coat hanger? Yes, it's a bit like that. The clients, seeing this folded behemoth revealed and slowly unleashed, may have felt apprehension and even fear at what may have been about to unfold (pun intended). Then, when they saw that the awesome tool was used only for good, they would relax into a state of quite respectful admiration.
You just don't get that with a tape.
There was a downside, though, as there so often is. In unskilled awkward hands, the two metre rod could be a weapon of some destruction. Eyes could be poked, fingers could be trapped and (herein lies the tale) fixtures and furnishings could be placed in grave risk.
So, yes, once, quite early in my measuring career, I was taken to an extremely up-market antiques shop in the Bond Street environs of London Town. The mission was to survey the internal spaces of the shop with a view to planning some renovation works. My boss, who accompanied me, was not above a bit of surveying himself, when the need arose, but this particular client was nervous and needy and required constant attention from the 'main man' while the measuring works progressed.
So it was that I found myself in a room all by myself, tasked with recording the dimensions of the space. I had done many such rooms in the past but this one was different, unique even, in that it was literally filled to the brim with highly valuable antiques. There were paintings and couches and chairs and vases and plates and God knows what else and every little thing reeked to the high heavens of opulence and high-value.
I was a good little measurer, even way back then. But I was also known to be a bit clumsy. Being in this room, by myself, was by no means an ideal situation and I knew it.
Still, the job had to be done and so, while Peter engaged the proprietor in Bond Street Environs-Style banter out in the front of the shop, I set to my task.
Allow me one more movie analogy. Remember the film 'Entrapment' with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones. Remember how Catherine was improving her cat-burglar skills by angling and contorting herself… ... ... (sorry, 'tuned out there for a moment) to avoid the security laser beams. Well that was me in the little antiques room. I was Catherine Zeta Jones.
And I did it.
I did it.
Nothing smashed, nothing broken, nothing got even slightly scratched. I emerged from the room with the measurements captured on my pad and my two metre rod, still extended, propped manfully over my shoulder.
"All done?"
"All done."
My boss leaned in and brushed the end of the rod, quite discreetly. "Let's go then."
We took our leave. In the car, on the way back to base, my boss presented my with a small slip of cardboard with a string attached to it.
"Keep that as a memento of your visit," he said, "I pulled it off the end of your rod."
It was a price tag.
It read '£53,000.00'
This story is true.
Posted by Ken Armstrong at 12:16:00 3 comments:
I got a little bit of encouragement with my writing stuff a few days ago. I'll tell you about it in a week or two. It'll be good fun, I think.
This got me thinking about encouragement and what it means to me. The temptation to generalise is huge. It would be very easy to start going on about how, "we all need this" and "we all want that," but I don't really know what we all want or need, do I? I only know about me.
I need it though, I know that. A little encouragement from time to time, I need it.
Or perhaps not. Perhaps that's incorrect. Perhaps I don't 'need' it, per se, it just helps me.
I think that might be a key difference between me, the eejit who continues to write despite everything, and those who finally throw their arms up and stop. I think someone like me, who keeps grinding away at it, is like a camel or a cactus. Except, instead of water, we store up tiny droplets of encouragement in our humps and in our prickles. We can travel a long way on very very little.
That's good, I suppose but, still, even the camel or the cactus will stumble or wither eventually, if the drought is long enough or the distance between oases too great.
So, yeah, I got this little droplet of encouragement out of the blue and now I'm all buzzy and rejuvenated again. I can write, I really can write, and people sometimes like what I do. I will grab my board and surf this wave as far as I can. Who knows? I might even make it to the shore this time.
It's a shame that the encouragement effect diminishes over time, for me at least. I got some encouragement earlier in the year when my short play did well in the Claremorris fringe. I surfed that pretty well. But it got used up, like petrol in a car, until I was chugging on empty again, pig-headedly refusing to quit.
One thing to learn from this is to give encouragement where you can. It is a lifeblood, a drop of liquid that can make your brown cactus flower or your camel make it over the next dune. Give encouragement.
But here's the rub. We, the people who benefit from your encouragement, are connoisseurs of the stuff. We can smell a bad glass of it a mile off. Gratuitous encouragement, self-endearing encouragement, encouragement which seeks reciprocation, pity-encouragement. These things, however well meant, are simply poisonous to us. They are a hemlock which can land us in our beds for weeks, battered and unable to function.
Encouragement is a bit like love. You can't make either up, however much you would like to. You can't just pull it out of thin air. The moments when it can be given are quite rare and momentary. Again, like the surf waves, you have to catch those moments and use them.
That's it. Use your encouragement when you get it, keep plodding on when you don't, and don't ever give it if you haven't got it to give.
Live long and prosper.
Posted by Ken Armstrong at 11:54:00 10 comments:
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Help keep One Green Planet free and independent! Together we can ensure our platform remains a hub for empowering ideas committed to fighting for a sustainable, healthy, and compassionate world. Please support us in keeping our mission strong.
When it comes to noodles, we here at One Green Planet are not discriminatory: we love them all. From deep bowls of Japanese ramen to dishes piled high with Italian spaghetti, we want to try every pasta the world and its varied regions have to offer. However, we also want to do it without offending everyone eating dinner with us.
Noodle etiquette varies from region to region, and a standard awareness of cultural norms (and taboos) will help ensure that you pay the proper respect to the food you've been invited to eat. So if you've ever found yourself wondering whether you should you twirl, bite, or cut your noodles (or just give up entirely and order a slice of vegan pizza instead), don't worry — we have you covered.
1. China
If you find yourself dining in China, the golden rule is to leave the culinary pageantry behind and get straight to fueling. That means that it's customary to pick up your noodles with your chopsticks, but you should skip the elaborate twirling if you want to blend in.
Now: to slurp or not to slurp? In China, you can absolutely go ahead and slurp your noodles, but beware of cutting them. On special occasions, like the Chinese New Year, or a birthday, for example, long noodles symbolize longevity in China — just check out the name for these Yi Mein: Chinese Long Life Noodles, pictured above — and cutting them is therefore ominous.
For more Chinese noodle recipes, check out these Dim Sum Soy Sauce Chow Mein Noodles and this recipe for You Po Mian: 10-Minute Chinese Hot Oil Noodles.
2. Italy
If you want to eat pasta like a true, modern Italian, then ditch your spoon and learn to master your fork — it's really the only utensil you'll need. Unlike in China, Italians encourage the art of the fork twirl to gather up your pasta into a little nest, but do not, under any circumstances, use your knife to cut your pasta. In Italy, such an act is considered a culinary sin. You might be given the stink-eye. You've been warned.
If you're eating a pasta dish with ample sauce, like in this recipe for Pasta With White Wine Tomato Sauce, pictured above, don't fret — you can eat the extra sauce with a spoon, or sop it up with a piece of bread. Just try to use your fork for the actual pasta. Learn to twirl with authority, and all the good bits in the sauce should get wrapped up into your food nest.
For more Italian pasta dishes, check out this recipe for Pasta Puttanesca and this one for Pasta With Bolognese Sauce.
3. Thailand
When it comes to slurping in Thailand, you're best off adhering to the old adage: everything in moderation. Yes, you can slurp. No, you can't do it too loudly without offending someone. Yes, you can take your noodles and eat them on-the-go (many Thai noodle dishes are actually considered street food, after all — just check out this recipe for Street Pad Thai!) but know that when it comes to noodle soups, use the two-hand method: use a porcelain/ceramic spoon in your right hand and a fork in your left. Don't bother with chopsticks in Thailand unless you're eating a standalone noodle dish served in a bowl.
For the nut and gluten-free eaters out there, this recipe for Nut-Free Thai Noodles is the Thai noodle dish for you! These 15-Minute Hot and Sour Thai Noodles are also quick and immensely satisfying.
4. America
Our abridged version of Emily Post's etiquette policy post is to venture that as long as you're not just shoving your noodles noisily into your mouth with reckless, saucy abandon, you're probably eating pasta just fine.
Eat this Ultra-Cheesy Mac and Cheese with a spoon, a fork, or even a spork, if you dare; same goes for this Mushroom Stroganoff.
5. Japan
Japan is the loud-eater's paradise. If you enjoy your food and want to show it by slurping, your appreciative inclinations will be well-received in Japan. Seriously. Slurp your ramen (we suggest this recipe for Creamy Soy Milk Ramen, pictured above). Loudly, and if you can, try to drain out the very last drops of liquid from the bowl if you're eating a soupy noodle dish. Use chopsticks. Enjoy.
For Japanese noodle recipes, try out this one for Zaru Soba: Japanese Cold Buckwheat Noodles, or this one for Japanese Pan Noodles With Healthier Homemade Teriyaki Sauce.
If you're interested in more delicious noodle dishes, make sure to check out 15 Vegan Noodle Recipes That Will Give You Life.
Are you as obsessed with noodles as we are? Get out The Ultimate Guide to Vegan Noodles! for all some awesome articles about noodles! We also highly recommend downloading our Food Monster App, which is available for both Android and iPhone, and can also be found on Instagram and Facebook. The app has more than 8,000 plant-based, allergy-friendly recipes, and subscribers gain access to ten new recipes per day. Check it out!
Lead image source: Yi Mein: Chinese Long Life Noodles


text: On Monday the United Nations will host Climate Summit 2014: Catalyzing Action. Tomorrow to kick off a week of climate events, The People's Climate March will take place in Manhattan. Organizers hope to draw 100,000 marchers to participate in "the largest climate march in history." Those of us who can't join the march in Manhattan have work to do in our own communities. Tomorrow, many churches will continue their celebration of the Season of Creation with an emphasis on "The Wilderness." Let our celebrations contribute to the "Catalyzing Action!" Disruption – a film by Kelly Nyks and Jared P. Scott is a documentary that outlines the dangers of failing to act.


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4108 Dekle AveNorth Port, FL 34286 View Map $249,900 Schedule a Tour
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About 4108 Dekle Ave, FL 34286 - MLS T3487426
In Sarasota county, this property is located at 4108 Dekle Ave in the Port Charlotte Sub 10 community of North Port, with a current listing price of $249,900. This 1603 square foot house for sale has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths.
For more information about 4108 Dekle Ave, see more details below as entered by the listing brokerage, including property taxes, year built, assigned schools, type of construction, exterior and interior features, locations, views, and any community amenities in Port Charlotte Sub 10 .
Call Corcoran Dwellings to find your North Port area dream home today! Our local agents are experts in the North Port real estate market and are committed to providing outstanding service. To tour MLS T3487426 today, connect with an agent at (844) 212-5834.
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The data relating to real estate displayed on this website comes in part from the Internet Data Exchange (IDX) Program of My Florida Regional MLS DBA Stellar MLS. All listing information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be independently verified through personal inspection by appropriate professionals. Listings displayed on this website may be subject to prior sale or removal from sale; availability of any listing should always be independently verified. Listing information is provided for consumers' personal, non-commercial use, solely to identify potential properties for potential purchase; all other use is strictly prohibited and may violate relevant federal and state law. Stellar MLS data last updated at December 8, 2023 9:15 PM EST.


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Properly timed exercise aids memory
Science News reports in Properly timed exercise aids memory that:
If you want to lock new information into your brain, try working up a sweat four hours after first encountering it.
... Compared with both the couch potatoes and the immediate exercisers, the people who worked out four hours after their learning session better remembered the objects' locations two days later.
WIND: there is a lot science has yet to learn about mind/body interactions.
See also:
- Science News: Healthiest weight just might be 'overweight'
- Dropping Body Fat After Fall/Winter Gains: Success!
- Upending daily rhythm triggers fat cell growth
- Are Grains the Culprit in Health and Weight? Is 'Wheat Belly' a Crackpot Diet? (UPDATED through 29 April)
- Typical American Diet Can Damage Immune System
- Science News: "A good diet for you may be bad for me"
- Science News: "Upending daily rhythm triggers fat cell growth"
- Keeping the Pounds Off + Fat Loss, Muscle Mass, Bone Density, Training, BMI, DEXA
- Dropping Body Fat After Fall/Winter Gains
- Sleep Affects Many Aspects of Physiology
- Blood exerts a powerful influence on the brain
- Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Can Cause Peripheral Neuropathy, Ruptured Tendons, Cardiovascular Disease (and Flagyl/Metronidazole)
- Coffee: New Research Shows Huge Promise for Health Benefits for Liver, Diabetes
- Damage Your Gut Biome with Artificial Sweeteners? (make yourself more prone to diabetes)
- Fresh Food is Best: Additives to Keep Food Fresh May Disrupt the Gut Biome
- Anti-Oxidants Might be Counterproductive for Athletes
- BMI (Body Mass Index): Junk Science


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Wrongful Death at Sea – Maritime Wrongful Death Attorneys
Virginia is a "Top 10" maritime state, with our maritime industry contributing over $4 billion to the economy every year. Despite safety regulations and standards, maritime work is some of the most dangerous around, responsible for thousands of catastrophic injuries and deaths each year. Harbor workers, longshoreman, deckhands, oil rig workers, fishermen, and boat operators put their lives on the line every day, and sometimes fatal accidents happen.
Experienced Maritime Wrongful Death Lawyer
Finding out that your loved one has died in a maritime accident is traumatic enough, and while no amount of money can bring them back, you deserve to know your rights and seek appropriate reparations under the law.
At Rutter Mills, we support families in this difficult situation, ensuring they receive the maritime death benefits they deserve. Selecting the right wrongful death attorney with experience in this complex area of law is critical to the success of your claim. Protect your interests by speaking to a maritime wrongful death attorney who can determine the true value of your case and fight to maximize your total recovery.
Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA)
Maritime wrongful death claims are different from your average lawsuit involving a wrongful death. Similar to state and federal laws on wrongful death, the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) has parameters on the types of damages families are able to obtain. In order to pursue compensation under DOSHA,
- The death had to be attributed to either negligence or the vessel's unseaworthiness and
- The vessel must have been at least three nautical miles offshore at the time of the fatal incident
The Death on the High Seas Act provides recovery for the financial contributions that a decedent would have made to their spouse and dependents had they survived the accident. This includes reparations for:
- Funeral costs
- Lost income and future earnings: the survivors of the decedent are entitled the projected earnings until retirement in addition to Social Security benefits for a normal lifespan
- Loss of benefits: If the decedent had health or medical insurance, family members are entitled to the cash value of those benefits
- Loss of support: This may include coverage for a child's continuing education
- Loss of household services: Compensation for the routine household chores that the decedent would have performed. Tasks like housework, home repairs, and general maintenance that will now have to be contracted out
The Jones Act
Our wrongful death lawyers leave no stone unturned when it comes to bringing justice to your case. Recovery may also be sought under the Jones Act, which applies to negligence on the part of an employer, the vessel's owner, the ship captain, or the crew. Unlike DOHSA, the Jones Act affords both wrongful death and survival benefits, which may include:
- Pre-death pain and suffering – Monitary value of the decedent's pain and suffering are recoverable under the survival provisions
- Pre-death medical costs – Expenses paid towards the decedent's hospital or medical costs
- Loss of past and future income
In order to secure compensation under DOHSA or the Jones Act, your offshore wrongful death attorney must establish that negligence or wrongdoing occurred, or that the vessel was unseaworthy.
Wrongful Death at Sea Attorney Virginia Residents Trust
At Rutter Mills, we offer compassionate legal representation for families who have lost a loved one in a maritime accident. After an untimely death, you need advocacy of the highest caliber. Get honest information about your rights by calling Rutter Mills for a free initial consultation.
Our dedicated maritime law attorneys proudly serve the Hampton Roads region, including Virginia Beach, Newport News, Chesapeake, and Portsmouth.
In addition to the Death on the High Seas Act and the Jones Act, we are familiar with the various paths of legal recovery for maritime fatalities and will help you determine the best strategy for securing proper monetary damages.
Put your trust in our Norfolk-based legal team. Rutter Mills knows the law and has successfully resolved maritime accident cases that resulted in wrongful death.
When you've been injured, you've got a lot at stake - but so does the insurance company. Walking into the court room with a serious lawyer makes all the difference. Watch our video to learn more about Rutter Mills. Your lawyer matters.
"Nothing makes you feel more vulnerable than being hurt or ill. And nobody likes to ask for help. But when you need it most, we're at our best. We give our clients the confidence and support they need to know they'll be taken care of – that they'll get the best outcome possible, even in the face of a very bad situation."
– Brother Rutter