text:
For Beginners
Author: Sally Clements
Book Synopsis:
Mechanic Melody Swan is looking for a man who can
share her hopes and dreams, but she swore she would never lose herself to passion.
When sexy Heath Starr agrees to temporarily sub in the Under the Hood garage
for his sister, Mel sees the perfect opportunity to enjoy being with a man
without becoming attached.
Heath came to Meadowsweet to photograph nature,
not find a hookup, especially since his last relationship ended in disaster. He
vowed he'd never break another woman's heart, and in turn, protect his own.
Still, when Mel offers to serve as his outdoor guide, he can't refuse.
Mel may say she's only looking for right now, but
her body is speaking a whole different language. And Heath's viewfinder is
drawn to her time and again. When the two find themselves isolated in a rustic
cabin, they could both break their promises if they aren't careful…
Goodreads Amazon Barnes & Noble Entangled
Author Bio:
Sally Clements
writes fun, sexy and real contemporary romance, partnering hot heroes with
heroines who know what they want, and go for it!
She is a full-time author, who lives in the Irish
countryside, and when she isn't writing can usually be found in traffic,
driving 'Mum's taxi'.
Always a voracious reader, she considers writing
for a living the perfect job—the only downside is saying goodbye to her
characters at book's end!
Love Boxed Set
Author: Rachel Harris, Ophelia London and Kelley Vitollo
Book Synopsis:
**For a limited time only!**
Three novels that
prove love can always be found right at home
There's nothing quite like the comfort and serenity of returning home
again, especially when combined with the sizzle and excitement of finding true
love. This limited-edition contemporary romance boxed set from Entangled's
Bliss line features three fun and flirty small-town stories sure to make you
laugh, sigh, and smile long after you've turned the last page.
Taste the Heat by Rachel
Harris: Colby Robicheaux knows her brother's best friend—delectable fire
captain Jason Landry—is off-limits, and anyway, she's only back home for a
short time. Jason's looking for someone to help him raise his preteen daughter,
not a fling, but Colby's all grown up and tempting as ever.
Playing at Love by Ophelia
London: When Tess Johansson's music program gets pitted against Jack Marshall's
football program in a battle for funding, she knows only one of them can win.
Jack might be the summer love she never forgot, but her job means everything to
her. Competing against the enemy was never quite this much fun.
Lucky Break by Kelley
Vitollo: Sydney Williams might have come home to her small town of Shamrock
Falls, but it'll take more than that to rekindle a broken friendship with her
childhood best friend, Kade Mitchell. When friendship turns to sparks turns to
more, will Kade be able to convince his best friend to gamble on forever?
Rachel Harris Bio:
Rachel Harris
writes humorous love stories about sassy girls-next-door and the hot guys that
make them swoon. Emotion, vibrant settings, and strong families are a staple in
each of her books...and kissing. Lots of kissing.
A Cajun cowgirl now living in Houston, she firmly believes life's
problems can be solved with a hot, sugar-coated beignet or a thick slice of
king cake, and that screaming at strangers for cheap, plastic beads is acceptable
behavior in certain situations. She homeschools her two beautiful girls and
watches way too much Food Network with her amazing husband.
An admitted Diet Mountain Dew addict, she gets through each day by
laughing at herself, hugging her kids, and losing herself in story. She writes
young adult, new adult, and adult romances, and LOVES talking with readers!
Ophelia London
Ophelia London
was born and raised among the redwood trees in beautiful northern California.
Once she was fully educated, she decided to settle in Florida, but her car
broke down in Texas and she's lived in Dallas ever since. A cupcake and
treadmill aficionado (obviously those things are connected), she spends her
time watching art-house movies and impossibly trashy TV, while living
vicariously through the characters in the books she writes. Ophelia is the
author of ABBY ROAD; the Perfect Kisses series including: PLAYING AT LOVE,
SPEAKING OF LOVE, and FALLING FOR HER SOLDIER, and the new adult DEFINITELY,
Kelley Vitollo Bio:
Kelley has been writing for as long as
she can remember. She won her first writing contest in third grade for an essay
she wrote on, "Tomorrow's Leaders on the Move". Like dreams sometimes do, they
fell to the background for a while. She married her best friend, worked full
time, and started her family. In 2004 Kelley, her husband and their new baby
girl made a move from Oregon to Southern California and that's when everything
changed. As a stay-at-home mom for the first time, her passion for writing
flared to life again.
Things haven't been the same since.
With two incredible daughters, an awesome
husband and her days spent writing what she loves, Kelley considers herself the
luckiest girl in the world. She still resides in sunny Southern California,
where she loves spending time with her family and sneaking away to the
bookstore with her laptop.
Giveaway Info:
$25 Amazon gift card and a
custom made Swarovski Crystal necklace made with emerald crystal beads (to
match Mel's eyes) incorporating a sterling silver wrench charm from Sally
a Rafflecopter giveaway


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Parkway Heathrow Email
Rendered visualisation of the finished e-mail in Outlook client
Image Credit: ©2024 Eddie Green
Hand coded email prepared for web browser and Outlook mail client
Email as shown in Microsoft Outlook
Custom coded HTML email for a marketing campaign sent via Microsoft Outlook
ACO Stationery
Branding design applied to stationery items including letterhead and business card
Rebranding for a charity, including a new logo, style guide, stationery items including document templates, a new website with redesigned content and user forum, and marketing materials.
The MendelMax 3 3D printer
The cable chain on the left side of the printer showing its connection to the X axis
The cable chains are an integral part of the printer but not supplied with the kit. Makers Tool Works are vague about the parts required, so I've re-supplied the components clearly marked so you can build the assembly more easily
Crimestoppers Email
Graphic-rich HTML email with hyperlinks
Preparation of design for cross-platform email campaign, including click-throughs to client's website
Datatool Remote Key Fob Repair
Closeup of completed keyfob with damaged key loop removed and new one added
If you have a Datatool alarm for your car or motorcycle, the chances are that you've broken one of these. Here's a way to repair the fob that is an improvement on the original.
Lime Tree School Signage
Entrance gate sign at completion of works
External main signage for Lime Tree School in Surbiton, London. Work included site survey and recommending fixing solutions, supply of hardware and graphics, and their installation on site.
Wall mural at completion of works
A project to create and install signage at a new primary school in the Royal Borough of Kingston, London. Main elements of the project were external signs, internal wall graphics, internal signs and external wall mural.
Prego branding
Logo designs and colour schemes, forming part of the branding guidelines
Branding was created with two variants of logo to anticipate all possible uses, and guidelines prepared. This was applied to site designs and a range of printed and manufactured products shown here.
Prego - Cannon Street Store
Render showing counter and feature wall
The first of the shops to open, the Cannon Street store was designed in detail using 3D renders of all areas of the store both to make design decisions and to provide guidance to shopfitters.
Reebok Pump Window Display
Window display at Covent Garden branch
I designed and assembled the electronic components and light rings for this impressive window display, installed in three branches of Reebok Fitness in London.
The custom filament guide tube bracket
Makers Tool Works provides some basic parts to attach the filament tube to the frame, but on the left hand side it interferes with the cable chain. This more elegant solution is provided for both sides of the machine
Helping Hands
Closeup of the end of one of the flexible hands with clamp attached
I do quite a lot of tinkering with electronics and computers and never have enough hands. This is my solution for gripping and positioning items. Made from laser cut acrylic and milling machine cooling pipes. Contact me for plan drawings if you want to make your own!
HPE Office Templates
Powerpoint presentation for Health Protection England
A series of customised Microsoft Office templates created for HIV Protection England
Internal door signs and fire notices
Internal door and fire signs for Lime Tree School in Surbiton, London. Signs were laser cut on stainless effect material and fixed on doors and fire equipment throughout the building.
Bailout Backup
A screenshot of the home page as seen in a desktop browser
Development of a website along with branding for a software company. Incorporating the latest generation content management sysyem (CMS). All graphics were created in-house in addition to copywriting for the entire site.
Best Digital Branding
Collection of stationery items
Branding for a newly established digital printing company, including logo, stationery and website
Best Digital
Screenshot of the home page, featuring the colourful theme reflecting the organisation's ability to print large and vibrant graphics
Part of the project involving complete branding of the company to reflect their ablility to print at large scale for major brands. The completed site included an in-house content management system. Most images were supplied by me and shot on location. I was also responsible for most of the copywriting.
Lost Voice Whiteboard
Speech bubble shape, laser cut in acrylic, with lanyard, drywipe pen and erasing cloth
A personal project for one of my friends who was not able to speak for a while, this speech bubble shape was designed to be easily gripped and moved in the hand in order to write and erase notes. Manufactured from 5mm white acrylic, laser cut.
Round Pedestal Manufacture
CAD image showing
Design for round exhibition pedestal carcasses from MDF. The work involved producing working drawings and nesting parts for CNC cutting.
Prego - Chancery Lane Store
Exterior branding render
Prepared to accompany negotiations for the lease, visuals included proposals for layout and feasibility study for this very small shop front with additional seating facilities at the back.
Millharbour Branding
Collection of printed Items
I've been working with Millharbour Print since 1997 and progressed their original design with three re-brandings. This is the latest one.
Pod at completion of works
Vinyl wrap to a 'pod' inside Lime Tree School in Surbiton, London. Work included providing 3D visualisations of artwork, and managing the production and installation of printed panels
The custom heated bed wire cable guide in position inside the printer base
The cables connecting the heated bed to the controller run loose underneath the printer and can become snagged in the frame. This solution provides a channel to secure these cables to the existing support structure of the machine
RBS Mannheim Exhibition Stand - Racing Circuit
Final 3D render of model design - Overview
3D visuals and manufacturing drawings for exhibition stands produced for Royal Bank of Scotland in two successive years.
The finished printer unit with all custom parts added
The MendelMax 3 is the latest generation mid-volume 3D printer supplied in kit form. Read my review and progress during customisation, including the 3D files required to print some of my custom parts
A hand painted wall mural for Lime Tree School in Surbiton, London. This involved creating a stencil of the design which was traced on the wall, before being hand painted in specially formulated exterior paint by artist Begoña Toledo
Prego packaging
Assorted cups
This large project is for a newly created chain of sandwich shops. The design work for Prego included the concept and name, corporate identity, packaging design and interior and exterior design for three premises.
Prego required a selection of packaging. Working closely with the manufacturers, I created finished artwork and visuals for each product.
Sarah Lucas Furniture
Exhibition of furniture collection at Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery Gmbh
I was asked to create CAD/CAM files for this interesting project, a joint venture between the artist Sarah Lucas and London Art Workshop. Work was completed using AutoCAD and Rhino with final parts nested for production on flat sheets.
Bovis Construction Staff Canteen
Back wall showing feature graphics and colour scheme
Preparation of a visual design for a catering facility in one of Bovis Construction's London offices. Provided 3D visuals to accompany proposals and graphics files for production.
David Waller
Screenshot of the David Waller website home page
The website for David Waller was a small project to help a local artist. At the time it was built it was one of the first to use CSS styles and custom fonts to control the look and feel of the site.
The lower multi-colour LED panel, removed to show detail, is attached with magnets to the front baseplate
The MendelMax 3 is supplied with some pretty LED indicator lights fitted to the top crossbar and in the printer base. The lower enclosure I've designed includes a printed diffuser and is attached using 8x3mm magnets
Go Skiwear
Screenshot of the masthead and home page hero panel, showing the branding, and the overall look and feel created for the brand
This project used an open-source e-commerce site from nopCommerce. Work included the design of branding for the company, and subsequently the installation and configuration of essential settings, and the development of the CSS templates through which the look and feel of the site was applied.
Serendipity Studios Website
Touch enabled and device independent website for smartphones, tablets and desktops
Touch enabled and device independent website for smartphones, tablets and desktops, with work including branding, design and preparation of copy and photography. See Serendipity Studio website for live demo.
Prego - Cicilian Avenue Store
Exterior render showing branding
Situated in the heart of the West End of London, this site has specific design restrictions, and visuals were created to show proposals to the premises managing agents.
SIS Claims
Acrylic nameplate at company offices
Design of branding for new business start-up, including stationery items and brochure website at www.sis-claims.com
Mark Marchant
Screenshot of the home page showing branding design and the overall theme of the site
A small project for a local trader, this site uses the Foundation responsive framework for perfect display on desktop and modile devices. The project included concepts for the branding and look and feel of the site, copywriting and image selection.
The right side of the printer showing the attachment points for the smart controller and LED work lamp
An alternative to the smart controller supplied by Makers Tool Works is one supplied by Geeetech and is very modestly priced. This enclosure is designed specifically for that board, together with an elegant and unobtrusive method of attaching it to the machine.
Purcell Radio
Screenshot of the home page of the Purcell Radio website showing the sliding hero control with responsive layout
Taking an established brand, this website was developed using a responsive framework and a SQL server back-end serving editable and static content.
Utopian Dreams Branding
New business card design
New logo for an on-line adult entertainment retailer
Zoe Buckingham Website
Design of new site and branding as proposed
Proposed re-design of copywriter's website
The filament spool holder with retaining nut partially screwed in
Makers Tool Works supplies a long bolt in their kit to hang spools of filament. Does the job, but here is a better solution. Requires M8 threaded rods and 22mm skateboard bearings.
Strategic Insurance Solutions
Screenshot of the home page showing branding design and the look and feel of the site
Part of a branding exercise for a startup business, including this responsive website, branding and premises signage.
Filament tube guides fitted to the existing extruder assemblies
An area overlooked by Makers Tool works, these simple plug-in holders secure the filament guide at the extruder end
The upper multi-colour LED panel with diffuser
The MendelMax 3 is supplied with some pretty LED indicator lights fitted to the top crossbar and in the printer base. The upper enclosure I've designed includes a printed diffuser and is designed to attach using the pre-cut holes in the crossbar
ACO Website
Part of an over all re-branding excercise for the ACO, the website is fully responsive and features a custom designed content management system. A mailing system has also been created to manage subscriptions and automate sending news and page updates to users on demand.
Fundraising Tree
Development of this company's site including concepts, branding, copywriting, illustration and photography. The site includes a custom made store capable of handling complex customisation of products and categories, and a comprehensive ordering order management system.
Stock Exchange Benevolent Fund
The home page with masthead branding and theme, reflecting the shape of trading desks on the floor of the stock exchange up to the early '90's
This project set out to modernise the online identity of this long established charity, and encompassed web, traditional print and email communications. The look and feel of the site is intended to reflect the history of the organisation and, at the same time, their welcoming and supportive role in society.
Editing pages and administering the site is disabled because you are not using two-factor authentication to secure your account. This is required for all users with privileged access.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Bayes's theorem
Our editors will review what you've submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
- Mathematics LibreTexts - Bayes' Theorem
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Bayes' Theorem
- University of Washington - Bayes' Theorem
- University of Illinois - Data Science Discovery - Bayes' Theorem
- LOUIS Pressbooks - Finite Mathematics - Conditional Probability and Bayes Theory
- Purdue University Northwest - Bayes's Theorem
- Corporate Finance Institiute - Bayes' Theorem
- Related Topics:
- probability theory
- rationality
- conditional probability
Bayes's theorem, in probability theory, a means for revising predictions in light of relevant evidence, also known as conditional probability or inverse probability. The theorem was discovered among the papers of the English Presbyterian minister and mathematician Thomas Bayes and published posthumously in 1763. Related to the theorem is Bayesian inference, or Bayesianism, based on the assignment of some a priori distribution of a parameter under investigation. In 1854 the English logician George Boole criticized the subjective character of such assignments, and Bayesianism declined in favour of "confidence intervals" and "hypothesis tests"—now basic research methods.
If, at a particular stage in an inquiry, a scientist assigns a probability distribution to the hypothesis H, Pr(H)—call this the prior probability of H—and assigns probabilities to the evidential reports E conditionally on the truth of H, PrH(E), and conditionally on the falsehood of H, Pr−H(E), Bayes's theorem gives a value for the probability of the hypothesis H conditionally on the evidence E by the formula PrE(H) = Pr(H)PrH(E)/[Pr(H)PrH(E) + Pr(−H)Pr−H(E)].
As a simple application of Bayes's theorem, consider the results of a screening test for infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; see AIDS). Suppose an intravenous drug user undergoes testing where experience has indicated a 25 percent chance that the person has HIV; thus, the prior probability Pr(H) is 0.25, where H is the hypothesis that the person has HIV. A quick test for HIV can be conducted, but it is not infallible: almost all individuals who have been infected long enough to produce an immune system response can be detected, but very recent infections may go undetected. In addition, "false positive" test results (that is, false indications of infection) occur in 0.4 percent of people who are not infected; therefore, the probability Pr−H(E) is 0.004, where E is a positive result on the test. In this case, a positive test result does not prove that the person is infected. Nevertheless, infection seems more likely for those who test positive, and Bayes's theorem provides a formula for evaluating the probability.
(Read Steven Pinker's Britannica entry on rationality.)
Suppose that there are 10,000 intravenous drug users in the population, all of whom are tested for HIV and of which 2,500, or 10,000 multiplied by the prior probability of 0.25, are infected with HIV. If the probability of receiving a positive test result when one actually has HIV, PrH(E), is 0.95, then 2,375 of the 2,500 people infected with HIV, or 0.95 times 2,500, will receive a positive test result. The other 5 percent are known as "false negatives." Since the probability of receiving a positive test result when one is not infected, Pr−H(E), is 0.004, of the remaining 7,500 people who are not infected, 30 people, or 7,500 times 0.004, will test positive ("false positives"). Putting this into Bayes's theorem, the probability that a person testing positive is actually infected, PrE(H), is PrE(H) = (0.25 × 0.95)/[(0.25 × 0.95) + (0.75 × 0.004)] = 0.988.
Applications of Bayes's theorem used to be limited mostly to such straightforward problems, even though the original version was more complex. There are two key difficulties in extending these sorts of calculations, however. First, the starting probabilities are rarely so easily quantified. They are often highly subjective. To return to the HIV screening described above, a patient might appear to be an intravenous drug user but might be unwilling to admit it. Subjective judgment would then enter into the probability that the person indeed fell into this high-risk category. Hence, the initial probability of HIV infection would in turn depend on subjective judgment. Second, the evidence is not often so simple as a positive or negative test result. If the evidence takes the form of a numerical score, then the sum used in the denominator of the above calculation will have to be replaced by an integral. More complex evidence can easily lead to multiple integrals that, until recently, could not be readily evaluated.
Nevertheless, advanced computing power, along with improved integration algorithms, has overcome most calculation obstacles. In addition, theoreticians have developed rules for delineating starting probabilities that correspond roughly to the beliefs of a "sensible person" with no background knowledge. These can often be used to reduce undesirable subjectivity. These advances have led to a recent surge of applications of Bayes's theorem, more than two centuries since it was first put forth. It is now applied to such diverse areas as the productivity assessment for a fish population and the study of racial discrimination.


text:
Jewish Intelligence
Editor's note: This was originally posted on August 19, 2007 on my website, before TOO was established. I re-post it here to encourage comments and because it remains relevant given continuing interest in Jewish IQ—e.g., Richard Lynn's The Chosen People: A Study of Jewish Intelligence and Achievement (Whitefish, MT: Washington Summit Publishers, 2011). Lynn finds that the average IQ for Ashkenazi Jews is 110, for Sephardic Jews 98-99, Oriental Jews 91, and Falasha Jews (a largely African group genetically) < 70. Lynn's book will be reviewed by F. Roger Devlin in the Summer issue of The Occidental Quarterly (see also "Are Jews Smarter"). The focus on IQ in this article does not imply that ethnic networking is unimportant, for example, in admission to elite universities. Thus taking Richard Lynn's estimates of Ashkenazi Jewish IQ and correcting for the greater numbers of European Whites in America, the ratio of non-Jewish Whites to Jews should be around 7 to 1 (IQ >130) or 4.5 to 1 (IQ > 145). Instead, the ratio of non-Jewish Whites to Jews is around 1 to 1 or less. There is also presumptive ethnic networking at work in particular niches, such as Hollywood and other forms of media where Jews are represented far beyond anything predicted by IQ (see, e.g., Edmund Connelly's work and this recent blog on Jewish networking in literature and art). As noted often in TOO, the problem is not that Jews are an elite. The problem is that they have a long track record as a hostile elite —hostile to the people and the culture of the West.
Jewish intelligence has become a hot topic following the publication of a paper by Greg Cochran and Henry Harpending in The Journal of Biological Science. Charles Murray weighed in with an article in Commentary ("Jewish Genius", April, 2007). Murray's theory is quite a bit like the one I published in my 1994 book, A People That Shall Dwell Alone (Ch. 7). I discussed eugenic events such as the Babylonian exile in which the elite Israelites were relocated to Babylon and refused to intermarry with those left behind when they returned (as graphically recounted in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah). I also described a great deal of discrimination against the illiterate in the ancient world, with the effect that such people were excluded from the Jewish community. Marriage to such a person was especially abhorrent. And I recounted the history of Jewish education and Jewish idealization of the scholar, including especially the practice of wealthy Jews marrying their daughters to scholars and providing them with business opportunities. Because wealth was correlated with reproductive success in traditional societies, this had the effect of eugenic selection for intelligence. All of these practices originated in the ancient world and are well attested among both Ashkenazi and Sephardic populations in later centuries.
The argument of Cochran and Harpending depends on Ashkenazi uniqueness. Their major contribution is to elaborate evidence that Ashkenazi intelligence is linked to mutations associated with brain metabolism and to certain Jewish genetic diseases (e.g., Tay-Sachs disease). I certainly do not want to deny that there is some unique genetic basis for Ashkenazi IQ. Indeed, I described the evidence available as of 1994 on Ashkenazi CNS mutations linked to brain metabolism in A People That Shall Dwell Alone (Ch.2):
Eldridge (1970; see also Eldridge & Koerber 1977) suggests that a gene causing primary torsion dystonia, which occurs at high levels among Ashkenazi Jews, may have a heterozygote advantage because of beneficial effects on intelligence. Further supporting the importance of selective processes, eight of the 11 genetic diseases found predominantly among Ashkenazi Jews involve the central nervous system, and three are closely related in their biochemical effects (see Goodman 1979, 463). [Further,] Motulsky (1977a) suggests that the higher incidence of myopia in Ashkenazi Jewish populations could be the result of selection for higher verbal intelligence. Myopia and intelligence have been linked in other populations, and Jews tend to have higher intelligence and higher rates of myopia.
Eldridge, R. (1970). The torsion dystonias: Literature review and genetic and clinical studies. Neurology 20:1–78.
Eldridge, & T. Koerber (1979). Torsion dystonia: Autosomal recessive form. In Genetic Diseases among Ashkenazi Jews, ed. R. M. Goodman & A. G. Motulsky. New York: Raven Press.
Motulsky, A. G. (1979a). Possible selective effects of urbanization on Ashkenazi Jews. In Genetic Diseases Among Ashkenazi Jews, ed. R. M. Goodman & A. G. Motulsky. New York: Raven Press.
Cochran and Harpending base their argument of Ashkenazi uniqueness on their belief that Jews did not have a reputation of being smart in the ancient world. However, if you look at Jewish religious writings, such as the Mishnah (2nd century AD) and the Talmuds (4th and 6th century), their elites were at a very high level. And it should be remembered that until the Enlightenment, the vast majority of Jewish scholarship was directed within the Jewish community, rather than at science or philosophy. As a result, Jewish intelligence may not have been apparent to non-Jews. In the ancient world, Jewish education was the norm and the system where scholars benefited from advantageous marriages was already in place. And in any case, the historical record supports the idea that Jews were quite successful economically in the ancient world. There is a great deal of evidence that Jews sought urban occupations requiring education in the ancient world and for major reforms in which Jewish communities stressed education, as well as discriminated strongly against the unlettered (PTSDA, Ch. 7, see also here and here). After the failed rebellions against the Romans during the 1st and 2nd century, Jews achieved a very prominent economic position in the Roman Empire and dominated some industries, so the familiar pattern of Jews as an elite group was well underway at that time. Consider, for example, the following passage from Separation and Its Discontents:
Bachrach (1985) suggested that the Jews were so wealthy, powerful, and aggressive that until around the middle of the 5th century the government viewed a strong anti-Jewish policy as not politically viable, even though it was continually being pressured in this direction by the Church. The rather limited anti-Jewish actions of the government during the 150 years following the Edict of Toleration of 313 are interpreted "as attempts to protect Christians from a vigorous, powerful, and often aggressive Jewish gens" (Bachrach 1985, 408). The Jews themselves were perceived by the emperors, the government, and the Church fathers as "an aggressive, well-organized, wealthy, and powerful minority" (p. 408). Particularly revealing are the suggestion that the solvency of the municipalities depended on Jews paying their taxes and the fear that offending the Jews could set off widespread and costly revolts, such as the one led by Patricius in 351.
Bachrach, B. S. (1985). The Jewish community in the Later Roman Empire as seen in the Codex Theodosianus. In "To See Ourselves as Others See Us": Christians, Jews, "Others" in Late Antiquity, ed. J. Neusner & E. S. Frerichs. Chico, CA: Scholars Press.
In short, Jews in the ancient world had all of the characteristics associated with later Ashkenazi populations: Economic preeminence, an occupational profile emphasizing business, finance, trading, and manufacturing, high levels of education, and a scholarly elite producing complex, religious writing. Scholarship was an excellent means to achieve upward mobility and presumably greater than average reproductive success.
These traits also characterized the Sephardim. I agree with Murray on the Sephardim because of the complete dominance of Spain by the New Christians (economic, political, and intellectual) after the "conversions" of the early 15th century. This group remained influential in Amsterdam and elsewhere, but they gradually lost their grip in Spain because of the Inquisition. They became separated from the wider Jewish community—mainly the lower classes of Jewish society—after the expulsion of 1492. This was a dysgenic event for that group, and their descendants do not seem especially accomplished. This is a passage from Ch. 7 of A People that Shall Dwell Alone:
Jews who continued to practice Judaism in Spain during the 15th century and were subsequently expelled in 1492 were less educated and less economically successful than their Converso brethren who remained to endure the wrath of the Inquisition. In this case, the less wealthy Jews certainly suffered fewer casualties and eventually were able to emigrate to North Africa or the Levant. Eventually, the Levantine Sephardim underwent a distinct atrophy of their culture…, while the descendants of the Conversos continued their highly elite and exclusivist profile on the international economic scene. When these Levantine Sephardim immigrated to the United States in the 20th century, they exhibited much higher rates of illiteracy, alcoholism, prostitution, and wife abandonment than did the Ashkenazim (Sachar 1992, 338). While the Ashkenazim were quickly upwardly mobile in American society, the Sephardim achieved only "a modest economic foothold" and were more likely to engage in lower-status occupations (Sachar 1992, 340).
My view is that the Jewish population of Spain had all the characteristics of Ashkenazi populations, including the emphasis on Jewish scholarship and favorable marriages for scholars. The Conversos were at least as accomplished as Ashkenazi groups and dominated Spain at least until the Inquisition and even for quite a while thereafter. The section on the ups and downs of Jews in the Muslim world is here.
The argument emphasizes the pattern of lower Sephardic IQ than for Ashkenazi populations within Israel. Nevertheless, it also notes that in general Jewish populations had higher intelligence and achievement in Arab societies when they were politically allowed to prosper. Perhaps the accomplishments of the Levantine Sephardim during some periods were facilitated because of the low average IQ of the peoples they lived among. In other words, they were highly capable compared to the native populations. [For example, Lynn and Vanhanen estimate the IQ of Arab-dominated societies as averaging around 86-87. ]. There seems to be good evidence that the decline of the Levantine Sephardim was due at least partly to anti-Jewish actions.
Anthropologist Peter Frost has proposed a variation on the theme of Cochran and Harpending. Frost emphasizes the shift to early marriage, especially by "semi-rural artisans who produced on contract for urban merchants and who could ably exploit these larger, more elastic markets. . . . Their workforce was their household. In more successful households, the workers would marry earlier and have as many children as possible. In less successful ones, they would postpone marriage, or never marry."
This theory also demands Ashkenazi uniqueness, which is at least questionable given the above. The cottage industry niche was a fairly short-lived phenomenon, so a more formal argument would have to be made involving the power of selection among Jewish artisan families and between Jews and non-Jews. Frost's proposal reminds us that the stereotype of Jews as financiers, money lenders, merchants, and traders can be overdone. Indeed, the general pattern was for Jews to be involved in vertically integrated business and trading arrangements. For example, in Poland by the end of the 18th century, Jews dominated almost all areas of trading, manufacturing, and estate managing, and they had become dominant among the artisans as well (A People That Shall Dwell Alone, Ch. 5; Zionism and the Internal Dynamics of Judaism). The Jewish economic niche began with trading, estate managing, and money lending, but eventually they dominated virtually the entire economy except agricultural labor as the Jewish population increased.
Given this pattern, it seems gratuitous to attribute causality to one part of this pattern, especially when artisanry was the last economic niche to become dominated by Jews. Indeed, the Jewish involvement with artisanry seems to have been a consequence of their already dominating other areas; artisanry was the last remaining niche above agricultural labor to be dominated by Jews. For Frost's model to work, he must assume that the IQ of the Jewish population prior to their involvement in artisanry was at the population average. But the progenitors of Jewish artisans in Eastern Europe were Jewish traders, money lenders, and estate managers—hardly low-IQ professions. Overall, the Jewish occupational profile in Eastern Europe is familiar in other times and places, including the ancient world and Spain prior to the Inquisition, so it's difficult to see how this fits as an argument for Ashkenazi uniqueness.
It should also be noted that Jewish fertility was very high not simply because they were involved in artisanry, but also for religious reasons: the rise of the Hasidic movement. Poor Jewish families continued to have high fertility even when the result was poverty (see Zionism and the Internal Dynamics of Judaism). My argument is that eventually Jews overshot their economic niche entirely. This had huge consequences for the modern world not only because it figured prominently in the pressures resulting in anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe throughout the 19th and into the 20th century, but also because the main Jewish responses to their misery in Eastern Europe were Zionism and political radicalism—two very potent forces indeed.


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text:
This summery salad from chef Ori Menashe will become your go-to this season. It's sweet and savory, tart, crisp and creamy, rich and refreshing, all in perfect balance.
Preparation: 30 Minutes Total Time: 1 Hour 45 Minutes Yield: Serves 4
How to Make It
Place the pepper rings in a small heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, boil the vinegar and salt, stirring, until the salt dissolves; pour over the pepper rings. Let stand at room temperature for 90 minutes. Drain.
In a small bowl, combine the vinegar and shallot and let stand for 30 minutes. Slowly whisk in both oils until incorporated. Season with salt and pepper.
In a food processor, puree 1 ball of burrata until smooth and spreadable. Spread the burrata puree in shallow bowls. In a medium bowl, toss the mint, pea tendrils, purslane and pickled pepper rings with the dressing. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Mound the salad in the bowls. Tear the remaining burrata into small pieces and arrange in the salads along with the peach wedges.


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We understand the needs of our investors. If you are considering the sale of an investment property, or the direction of your extended portfolio, we can assist you with your selling decision.
Our situations are constantly evolving as our lifestyle changes. Here are a number of reasons why our investors sell their investments:
Selling an investment property is a little different to selling your own home, primarily because you have a tenant in place at the property. Apart from the marketing and presentation of the property, here are a few tips to help you understand how the sale process works with an occupied investment property.


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This chapter describes two program generators: ocamllex, that produces a lexical analyzer from a set of regular expressions with associated semantic actions, and ocamlyacc, that produces a parser from a grammar with associated semantic actions.
These program generators are very close to the well-known lex and yacc commands that can be found in most C programming environments. This chapter assumes a working knowledge of lex and yacc: while it describes the input syntax for ocamllex and ocamlyacc and the main differences with lex and yacc, it does not explain the basics of writing a lexer or parser description in lex and yacc. Readers unfamiliar with lex and yacc are referred to "Compilers: principles, techniques, and tools" by Aho, Lam, Sethi and Ullman (Pearson, 2006), or "Lex & Yacc", by Levine, Mason and Brown (O'Reilly, 1992).
The ocamllex command produces a lexical analyzer from a set of regular expressions with attached semantic actions, in the style of lex. Assuming the input file is lexer.mll, executing
ocamllex lexer.mll
produces OCaml code for a lexical analyzer in file lexer.ml. This file defines one lexing function per entry point in the lexer definition. These functions have the same names as the entry points. Lexing functions take as argument a lexer buffer, and return the semantic attribute of the corresponding entry point.
Lexer buffers are an abstract data type implemented in the standard library module Lexing. The functions Lexing.from_channel, Lexing.from_string and Lexing.from_function create lexer buffers that read from an input channel, a character string, or any reading function, respectively. (See the description of module Lexing in chapter 28.)
When used in conjunction with a parser generated by ocamlyacc, the semantic actions compute a value belonging to the type token defined by the generated parsing module. (See the description of ocamlyacc below.)
The following command-line options are recognized by ocamllex.
The format of lexer definitions is as follows:
{ header } let ident = regexp … [refill { refill-handler }] rule entrypoint [arg1… argn] = parse regexp { action } | … | regexp { action } and entrypoint [arg1… argn] = parse … and … { trailer }
Comments are delimited by (* and *), as in OCaml. The parse keyword, can be replaced by the shortest keyword, with the semantic consequences explained below.
Refill handlers are a recent (optional) feature introduced in 4.02, documented below in subsection 17.2.7.
The header and trailer sections are arbitrary OCaml text enclosed in curly braces. Either or both can be omitted. If present, the header text is copied as is at the beginning of the output file and the trailer text at the end. Typically, the header section contains the open directives required by the actions, and possibly some auxiliary functions used in the actions.
Between the header and the entry points, one can give names to frequently-occurring regular expressions. This is written let ident = regexp. In regular expressions that follow this declaration, the identifier ident can be used as shorthand for regexp.
The names of the entry points must be valid identifiers for OCaml values (starting with a lowercase letter). Similarly, the arguments arg1… argn must be valid identifiers for OCaml. Each entry point becomes an OCaml function that takes n+1 arguments, the extra implicit last argument being of type Lexing.lexbuf. Characters are read from the Lexing.lexbuf argument and matched against the regular expressions provided in the rule, until a prefix of the input matches one of the rule. The corresponding action is then evaluated and returned as the result of the function.
If several regular expressions match a prefix of the input, the "longest match" rule applies: the regular expression that matches the longest prefix of the input is selected. In case of tie, the regular expression that occurs earlier in the rule is selected.
However, if lexer rules are introduced with the shortest keyword in place of the parse keyword, then the "shortest match" rule applies: the shortest prefix of the input is selected. In case of tie, the regular expression that occurs earlier in the rule is still selected. This feature is not intended for use in ordinary lexical analyzers, it may facilitate the use of ocamllex as a simple text processing tool.
The regular expressions are in the style of lex, with a more OCaml-like syntax.
Concerning the precedences of operators, # has the highest precedence, followed by *, + and ?, then concatenation, then | (alternation), then as.
The actions are arbitrary OCaml expressions. They are evaluated in a context where the identifiers defined by using the as construct are bound to subparts of the matched string. Additionally, lexbuf is bound to the current lexer buffer. Some typical uses for lexbuf, in conjunction with the operations on lexer buffers provided by the Lexing standard library module, are listed below.
The as construct is similar to "groups" as provided by numerous regular expression packages. The type of these variables can be string, char, string option or char option.
We first consider the case of linear patterns, that is the case when all as bound variables are distinct. In regexp as ident, the type of ident normally is string (or string option) except when regexp is a character constant, an underscore, a string constant of length one, a character set specification, or an alternation of those. Then, the type of ident is char (or char option). Option types are introduced when overall rule matching does not imply matching of the bound sub-pattern. This is in particular the case of ( regexp as ident ) ? and of regexp1 | ( regexp2 as ident ).
There is no linearity restriction over as bound variables. When a variable is bound more than once, the previous rules are to be extended as follows:
For instance, in ('a' as x) | ( 'a' (_ as x) ) the variable x is of type char, whereas in ("ab" as x) | ( 'a' (_ as x) ? ) the variable x is of type string option.
In some cases, a successful match may not yield a unique set of bindings.
For instance the matching of aba
by the regular expression
(('a'|"ab") as x) (("ba"|'a') as y) may result in binding
to "ab"
and y
to "a"
, or
to "a"
and y
to "ba"
The automata produced ocamllex on such ambiguous regular
expressions will select one of the possible resulting sets of
The selected set of bindings is purposely left unspecified.
By default, when ocamllex reaches the end of its lexing buffer, it will silently call the refill_buff function of lexbuf structure and continue lexing. It is sometimes useful to be able to take control of refilling action; typically, if you use a library for asynchronous computation, you may want to wrap the refilling action in a delaying function to avoid blocking synchronous operations.
Since OCaml 4.02, it is possible to specify a refill-handler, a function that will be called when refill happens. It is passed the continuation of the lexing, on which it has total control. The OCaml expression used as refill action should have a type that is an instance of
(Lexing.lexbuf -> 'a) -> Lexing.lexbuf -> 'a
where the first argument is the continuation which captures the processing ocamllex would usually perform (refilling the buffer, then calling the lexing function again), and the result type that instantiates ['a] should unify with the result type of all lexing rules.
As an example, consider the following lexer that is parametrized over an arbitrary monad:
{ type token = EOL | INT of int | PLUS module Make (M : sig type 'a t val return: 'a -> 'a t val bind: 'a t -> ('a -> 'b t) -> 'b t val fail : string -> 'a t (* Set up lexbuf *) val on_refill : Lexing.lexbuf -> unit t end) = struct let refill_handler k lexbuf = M.bind (M.on_refill lexbuf) (fun () -> k lexbuf) } refill {refill_handler} rule token = parse | [' ' '\t'] { token lexbuf } | '\n' { M.return EOL } | ['0'-'9']+ as i { M.return (INT (int_of_string i)) } | '+' { M.return PLUS } | _ { M.fail "unexpected character" } { end }
All identifiers starting with __ocaml_lex are reserved for use by ocamllex; do not use any such identifier in your programs.
The ocamlyacc command produces a parser from a context-free grammar specification with attached semantic actions, in the style of yacc. Assuming the input file is grammar.mly, executing
ocamlyacc options grammar.mly
produces OCaml code for a parser in the file grammar.ml, and its interface in file grammar.mli.
The generated module defines one parsing function per entry point in the grammar. These functions have the same names as the entry points. Parsing functions take as arguments a lexical analyzer (a function from lexer buffers to tokens) and a lexer buffer, and return the semantic attribute of the corresponding entry point. Lexical analyzer functions are usually generated from a lexer specification by the ocamllex program. Lexer buffers are an abstract data type implemented in the standard library module Lexing. Tokens are values from the concrete type token, defined in the interface file grammar.mli produced by ocamlyacc.
Grammar definitions have the following format:
%{ header %} declarations %% rules %% trailer
Comments are delimited by (*
and *)
, as in OCaml.
Additionally, comments can be delimited by /*
and */
as in C, in the "declarations" and "rules" sections. C-style
comments do not nest, but OCaml-style comments do.
The header and the trailer sections are OCaml code that is copied as is into file grammar.ml. Both sections are optional. The header goes at the beginning of the output file; it usually contains open directives and auxiliary functions required by the semantic actions of the rules. The trailer goes at the end of the output file.
Declarations are given one per line. They all start with a %
directives (e.g. open Modname
) were given in the
header section. That's because the header is copied only to the .ml
output file, but not to the .mli output file, while the typexpr part
of a %token
declaration is copied to both.%type
directive below.-s
option is in effect). The typexpr part is an arbitrary OCaml
type expression, except that all type constructor names must be
fully qualified, as explained above for %token.Associate precedences and associativities to the given symbols. All
symbols on the same line are given the same precedence. They have
higher precedence than symbols declared before in a %left
or %nonassoc
line. They have lower precedence
than symbols declared after in a %left
, %right
line. The symbols are declared to associate to the
left (%left
), to the right (%right
), or to be
non-associative (%nonassoc
). The symbols are usually tokens.
They can also be dummy nonterminals, for use with the %prec
directive inside the rules.
The precedence declarations are used in the following way to resolve reduce/reduce and shift/reduce conflicts:
The syntax for rules is as usual:
nonterminal : symbol … symbol { semantic-action } | … | symbol … symbol { semantic-action } ;
Rules can also contain the %prec
symbol directive in the
right-hand side part, to override the default precedence and
associativity of the rule with the precedence and associativity of the
given symbol.
Semantic actions are arbitrary OCaml expressions, that
are evaluated to produce the semantic attribute attached to
the defined nonterminal. The semantic actions can access the
semantic attributes of the symbols in the right-hand side of
the rule with the $
notation: $1
is the attribute for the
first (leftmost) symbol, $2
is the attribute for the second
symbol, etc.
The rules may contain the special symbol error to indicate resynchronization points, as in yacc.
Actions occurring in the middle of rules are not supported.
Nonterminal symbols are like regular OCaml symbols, except that they cannot end with ' (single quote).
Error recovery is supported as follows: when the parser reaches an error state (no grammar rules can apply), it calls a function named parse_error with the string "syntax error" as argument. The default parse_error function does nothing and returns, thus initiating error recovery (see below). The user can define a customized parse_error function in the header section of the grammar file.
The parser also enters error recovery mode if one of the grammar actions raises the Parsing.Parse_error exception.
In error recovery mode, the parser discards states from the stack until it reaches a place where the error token can be shifted. It then discards tokens from the input until it finds three successive tokens that can be accepted, and starts processing with the first of these. If no state can be uncovered where the error token can be shifted, then the parser aborts by raising the Parsing.Parse_error exception.
Refer to documentation on yacc for more details and guidance in how to use error recovery.
The ocamlyacc command recognizes the following options:
At run-time, the ocamlyacc-generated parser can be debugged by setting the p option in the OCAMLRUNPARAM environment variable (see section 15.2). This causes the pushdown automaton executing the parser to print a trace of its action (tokens shifted, rules reduced, etc). The trace mentions rule numbers and state numbers that can be interpreted by looking at the file grammar.output generated by ocamlyacc -v.
The all-time favorite: a desk calculator. This program reads arithmetic expressions on standard input, one per line, and prints their values. Here is the grammar definition:
/* File parser.mly */ %token <int> INT %token PLUS MINUS TIMES DIV %token LPAREN RPAREN %token EOL %left PLUS MINUS /* lowest precedence */ %left TIMES DIV /* medium precedence */ %nonassoc UMINUS /* highest precedence */ %start main /* the entry point */ %type <int> main %% main: expr EOL { $1 } ; expr: INT { $1 } | LPAREN expr RPAREN { $2 } | expr PLUS expr { $1 + $3 } | expr MINUS expr { $1 - $3 } | expr TIMES expr { $1 * $3 } | expr DIV expr { $1 / $3 } | MINUS expr %prec UMINUS { - $2 } ;
Here is the definition for the corresponding lexer:
(* File lexer.mll *) { open Parser (* The type token is defined in parser.mli *) exception Eof } rule token = parse [' ' '\t'] { token lexbuf } (* skip blanks *) | ['\n' ] { EOL } | ['0'-'9']+ as lxm { INT(int_of_string lxm) } | '+' { PLUS } | '-' { MINUS } | '*' { TIMES } | '/' { DIV } | '(' { LPAREN } | ')' { RPAREN } | eof { raise Eof }
Here is the main program, that combines the parser with the lexer:
(* File calc.ml *) let _ = try let lexbuf = Lexing.from_channel stdin in while true do let result = Parser.main Lexer.token lexbuf in print_int result; print_newline(); flush stdout done with Lexer.Eof -> exit 0
To compile everything, execute:
ocamllex lexer.mll # generates lexer.ml ocamlyacc parser.mly # generates parser.ml and parser.mli ocamlc -c parser.mli ocamlc -c lexer.ml ocamlc -c parser.ml ocamlc -c calc.ml ocamlc -o calc lexer.cmo parser.cmo calc.cmo
The deterministic automata generated by ocamllex are limited to at most 32767 transitions. The message above indicates that your lexer definition is too complex and overflows this limit. This is commonly caused by lexer definitions that have separate rules for each of the alphabetic keywords of the language, as in the following example.
rule token = parse "keyword1" { KWD1 } | "keyword2" { KWD2 } | ... | "keyword100" { KWD100 } | ['A'-'Z' 'a'-'z'] ['A'-'Z' 'a'-'z' '0'-'9' '_'] * as id { IDENT id}
To keep the generated automata small, rewrite those definitions with only one general "identifier" rule, followed by a hashtable lookup to separate keywords from identifiers:
{ let keyword_table = Hashtbl.create 53 let _ = List.iter (fun (kwd, tok) -> Hashtbl.add keyword_table kwd tok) [ "keyword1", KWD1; "keyword2", KWD2; ... "keyword100", KWD100 ] } rule token = parse ['A'-'Z' 'a'-'z'] ['A'-'Z' 'a'-'z' '0'-'9' '_'] * as id { try Hashtbl.find keyword_table id with Not_found -> IDENT id }
Parsers generated by ocamlyacc are not thread-safe. Those parsers rely on an internal work state which is shared by all ocamlyacc generated parsers. The menhir parser generator is a better option if you want thread-safe parsers.


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With the following pages, I like to get you familiar with the theme "Corset" under general aspects as well as under some special points of view, presenting corset-variations with different styles and proposals of fashionable variations and combinations to meet your wishes and expectations of your personal outfit.
Definitively the corset lost its shadowy existence in the world of fetish and returned on the catwalks of modern fashion worldwide. Fashion oriented women wear corsets today as they wore it in the past, but today as well as lingerie or as an accessory on top of their outer gown.
Fashionweek Zagreb
NuNu-Comp with corsets from The-ardent-collection
Similar to the Pret-a-porter shows of fashion-stars like Gaultier, Dolce & Gabana or Vivienne Westwood , the top-designer of the world-wide Haute-Couture Fashion presents increasingly also modern corsetry as indispensable part of formal gowns and as fashionable accessory to every ball-robe.
It seems, the corset got nowadays again, as it had been in the past, nearly indispensable in the modern world of the femininity. In addition, if it is obviously invisible, the corset is secretly active. The created silhouette reveals and accentuates all attributes of modern femininity as bust, waist, and hip. With each fashion-session and each catwalk-presentation of new design-ideas, corsets are indispensable basic body-shapers and silhouette supporters.
read more ...
Following this general guideline, you can see at following pages multiple sketches and photos of fashionable up-to-date corsets. Additionally you can see also historically inspired corsets of the Rococo and Victorian period as well as tightlacing corsets, designed and manufactured to your individual measurements. The last one can be of the type "Long-S-Line-Corset or Ice-Cone-Corset or a variation of this "Long-Line-Style", made according to your personal wishes and needs.
My design- and manufacturing-program contains all the needs and wants for admirer of Victorian wasp-waist-corsets, en vogue in the 19th century. Additionally I have the capability to create corsets with the exotic touch of erotic a la Moulin-Rouge or to fulfil dedicated individual expectations for your wedding dress or your bridesmaid-gowns.
Victorian corset
Why should we take pattern from historical Corset-design to corsets of now-a-days?
This question seems to be surely quite prohibited for up-today designers and for customers too. Nevertheless, it is also evident that just details of historical corset-styles are able to fulfill different objectives for modern corsets.
Additional to an improved wearing-comfort and waist-reduction at the same time, historical corsets offer a pronounced optical fascination in so far, that they differ remarkable from 'modern corsets' and demonstrate with their seemingly "Old-Fashion-Design" an unexpected certain pretension of 'Exclusivity'. This surprising claim can be demonstrated for instance with the well known 'Straightfront-S-Line-Corset' as well as with the 'S-Curve-Corset'. They are designed mostly as extra long corsets, covering parts of the derriere and create an unusual straight upright posture.
Also stays are getting more and more in the focus of female connoisseurs outside the scene of precise correct historically dressed corset-wearer (i.e. Rococo-Reenactors). The background might be that this fashion-style can be an excellent decision for wedding- or bridal-corsets, if adequate fabrics are selected. With a well-done adaptation to the general wedding-outfit, the (nearly) historical corset differs remarkable positive from other, often seen narrow or tight bodies of wedding gowns.
Read more: Adaptations of Historical Design Elements for up-to date Corset-Fashion
(Manufactured to standard-sizes with individual adaptation)
Nowadays a large number of manufacturers are offering corsets made to your individual measurements. But mostly their products are not in every case really designed and made to the customers' individual measurements.
Very often, their offers are based on adapted 'Ready-made-to-measure' products, using standardized measurements with some considerations to the individual needs, i.e. length, underbust-width, waist-width, length and the ordered fashion-style. In this way, a corset appears as made to the customer's individual measurements, but in reality, it is a individualized standard product only. The customers individual silhouette and posture is out of focus.
In difference to the above described product, an individual bespoken taylored product integrates to the indispensible basic measurements, as waist size, hip-size, under-bust-width or length, additionally a lot of other measures including individual peculiarities like actual and expected posture, sensitive pressure-points, position of the lower rip-cage and individual wishes for trimming and details of decoration.
Corsets, designed for tightlacing, are subject of additional specific design- and manufacturing-details, because the body, which has to be formed by the corset and the forming corset, both have a high grade of mutual relationship to each other. Only an optimum on harmonizing conditions and excellent design will create the expected particular, pleasant, and continuous corseting results.
Moreover, all experiences I collected in the past, made me aware, that they have a significant influence to the wearing-comfort of those corset-models, which fulfil decorative purposes additionally. Additionally to the necessary conditions, physically of the wearer and technically of the corset, there should be two immaterial items to realize unusual corseting and extreme forming of body and waist:
Perseverance and time.
Opposite to conventional Overbust-Corsets corsets with cups (that means: with integrated bra) offer some clear advantages
Thus an integrated Bra offers the advantage, that a large bossom experiences the necessary support, while in case of a small bossom a 'Push-up'-effect can be made possible. Moreover a complete bust-simulation is also realizable.
Hidden interests - Crossdressing, TV and Transgender
Sometimes men also like the feeling of beeing enclosed. Sometimes with, sometimes without urge for female body shape. The appeal of this issue results in the demonstration of a reinforced self-conciousness, but sometimes also to give feminine attributes to the masculine body.
Bodice or Rokoko-Corset (balleine)
The Bodice, also known as rococo-corset is a halfbust-corset. It usually formes the upper body rather than the waist and has its impact on the female chest. It raises the decollete but keeps it flat at the same time.
Victorian halfbust-corset 'Heather'
The shown Halfbust-corset is a replica of a survived original corset, which was designed and manufactured around 1890. As usual in the 1890's, the original corset had been designed for whalebone stiffeners. Whalebone stiffeners are nowadays not any more available, so they were replaced by metal-rods and implemented into the replica accordingly.
Die Darstellung zeigt das Halbbrust-Korsett 'Crystal' im Viktorianischen Stil, welches im Schnitt und der Stangenführung einer Originalvorlage nachempfunden wurde.
Abweichend vom Original ist in dem dargestellten Korsett zur Ehöhung des Tragekomforts eine Unterplanchette eingearbeitet.
Victorian Corset at 1890 'Jasmin' (Corset-Replika)
The picture at the right shows a replica of a corset originated in the late 80th of the 19. century. The top-layer of this corset was made originally with fabric of black silken satin and the inner layer of light-weight cotton-gabardine.
The corset-model 'Jasmin' is a precise Remake in cut- and line-shape, down to the details.
Silk, brocade, satin, leather and vinyl.
All corsets shown on these pages are available with the usual materials as silk, brocade, satin and leather or vinyl. These materials are used specifically for the decorative layer, while the inner-layer of the corsets is made from heavy twill to support the body forming strength. If desired, an additional inner silken lining is possible also.


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Manual therapy, also known as manipulative therapy, is a physical treatment primarily used by chiropractors to treat musculoskeletal pain and debility.
How Does Manual Therapy Work?
This form of physical therapy takes a hands-on approach rather than using devices or machines. When a chiropractor uses their hands during manual therapy, they apply pressure on the muscle tissue and maneuver the joints in an effort to reduce pain associated with muscle tension, muscle spasm and joint dysfunction.
How Does Manual Therapy Help?
When a person has insufficient movement and range of motion in their joints, it can lead to pain, discomfort and an interruption in function, movement and posture.
By implementing manual therapy, the following can occur:
- An increase in range of motion
- A decrease or elimination of soft tissue inflammation
- Pain regulation
- Relaxation
- Healing, stability and/or extension of contractile and non-contractile tissue
- Ease in movement and restoration of function
Types of Manual Therapy Movement
There are many manual therapy techniques, and, as a group, they aim to relax tense muscles and ease restricted joints. Overall, however, these procedures exercise three main types of movement:
- Manipulation. Sheer, rotational or agitated force that is rapid and results in an audible popping sound caused by the sudden breakdown of gas bubbles that develop during joint cavitation
- Massage. Recurring stripping, kneading or rubbing of the soft tissues for the purpose of redistributing fluid, relaxing muscles, increasing circulation, easing muscle tension, breaking up scar tissue and reducing pain
- Mobilization. Stretching the soft tissues in a slower, more regulated process in order to improve flexibility
Mobilization and manipulation are often talked about together. They use calculated movements of various speeds (slow to fast), force (moderate to strong) and distances to pull, rotate or thrust joints and bones into position to help release stiff tissues around the joint, minimize joint pain, reestablish alignment and assist with flexibility.
Types of Manual Therapy Techniques
Prior to executing manual therapy, the chiropractor will typically do an assessment of the nerve and blood supply in the treatment area, as well as look at the bone and muscles themselves. This helps him or her determine whether this physical therapy is appropriate for the patient's needs. Contingent on the assessment, the chiropractor may perform one or more of the following manual therapy techniques:
- Soft tissue mobilization. Breaks up hard or rubbery muscle tissue (e.g., scar tissue), circulates tissue fluids, restores normal texture to tissue, reduces pain and lessens muscle tension through rhythmic stretching and deep pressure
- Strain and counter-strain. Focuses on fixing irregular neuromuscular reflexes that trigger structural and postural problems. Here, the chiropractor first determines where the patient's tender points are. The patient is then asked at what point the soreness diminishes. The patient is next held in position (at a point where they are comfortable) for up to two minutes. During this time, the muscle is stretched mildly and then slowly taken out of this position, which lets the body reset its muscles to a natural level of tension so that healing can occur.
- Joint mobilization. Loosens the constrained joint and boosts range of motion by delivering slow speed and amped up distance of movement.
- Muscle energy technique. Designed to activate restricted joints and lengthen shortened muscles by using voluntary contractions of the patient's muscles against a defined counter force implemented by the chiropractor, who helps by taking the muscle to a specific position and placing it in a precise direction
- High velocity, low amplitude thrusting. Restores the sliding motion of joints and allows them to open and close efficiently. This more aggressive technique involves taking a joint to, but not beyond, its restrictive barrier
Please contact your chiropractor with any questions.


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In honor of the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's passing on July 18, 1817, the Historic Costume & Textiles Collection installed three dresses in the Thompson Library Special Collections area. Jane Austen lived from 1775 to 1817, a period marked by significant developments in politics, manufacturing and society as a whole. There was a growing interest in ancient Greek culture and ideals of democracy as opposed to monarchy due to the discovery of Herculaneum and Pompeii in the mid-18th century. This, along with the American and French Revolutions, inspired a change in fashion that reflected these new democratic ideals. Women's dresses transitioned from the stiff artificial silhouettes popular in the French court of Louis XVI, to the light columnar silhouettes of the early 18th century. This style of gown has come to be known as the Empire silhouette, in reference to the French empire and Josephine Bonaparte who popularized this new style. Women's gowns were primarily made of white cotton or small floral printed cottons. It was believed that the Ancient Greeks wore only white as the statues that had been discovered were white. The statues were white, of course, due to being bleached by the sun over time, but fashion is frequently inspired by idealism rather than realism so the trend for light-colored gowns continued.
Films of Jane Austen's novels are often the entry point by which people encounter this period of fashion. Interestingly, most film adaptations dress the actors in fashions indicative of the various novel's dates of publication rather than when the novels were originally written. For example, Pride & Prejudice was published in 1813 but Jane originally began work on the novel in 1796. Additionally, a close analysis of Pride & Prejudice reveals that the events of the novel were more than likely written to have taken place between 1793 and 1795. The 1790's were a unique period of transition in fashion and it is much easier for a costume designer to create costumes that reflect the latter half of Jane Austen's life. In fact, the Empire style of gown is now so intrinsically linked with Jane Austen's characters in the public's mind that it is almost impossible to separate the two. Three dresses dating from the time of Jane Austen's life are on display in the Thompson Library and have been paired with first editions of her novels. Jane died on July 18, 1817 and this year marks the 200th anniversary of her passing. This exhibit invites viewers to celebrate one of Britain's most popular authors whose novels continue to find a fresh set of devotees with each new generation.
"To be in company, nicely dressed herself and seeing others nicely dressed, to sit and smile and look pretty, and say nothing, was enough for the happiness of the present hour."
~Emma, 1816
This silk day dress is made from a heavier, stiffer silk that was more common in women's fashion during the 18th century, but still reflects the new columnar silhouette that had become popular in the late 1790's. While cotton had become more popular for daywear during this period, wealthier women would still have day dresses made in silk. The character of Emma is one of Jane Austen's only protagonists that does not have to worry about money. Emma is the only child of a wealthy father and fails to understand, at several points throughout the novel, that financial limitations greatly influence the decisions of those around her.
Austen herself could be described as a member of the "pseudo-gentry". This class of Georgian society was made up of individuals and families that did not own land but were still gentility "of a sort." Jane's father, George Austen, made £1,000 per year at the height of his prosperity, but with a family of eight children this was not a large sum. £500 annually was about the limit at which a family could aspire to gentility. This is the exact sum that the Dashwood women would be forced to live on in Sense and Sensibility. Jane Austen, along with her mother and sister, would find herself in a similar situation after the death of her father in 1805. These three women had to subsist on slightly less than £500. The women were not firmly settled into a permanent location until 1809 when they moved to Chawton House in Hampshire. It was here that Jane was able to settle into a regular routine and devote more time to writing. Between 1811 and her death in 1817, Jane would compose Emma and Persuasion, as well as publish Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma.
"It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire; how little it is biased by the texture of their muslin, and how unsusceptible of peculiar tenderness towards the spotted, the sprigged, the mull, or the jackonet. Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone. No man will admire her the more, no woman will like her the better for it. Neatness and fashion are enough for the former, and a something of shabbiness or impropriety will be most endearing to the latter."
~Northanger Abbey, 1818
Fashion styles changed rather drastically at the end of the 18th century. The highly artificial and opulent dress of the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette transitioned to that of the Greek-inspired silhouette featured in the day dress displayed here. Unlike its predecessors, this new style of dress falls straight and flat to the floor in front, with fullness being concentrated at the center back. Day dresses were commonly made of very fine cotton muslin. While a simple, plain white was popular, floral patterned or "sprigged" muslins were equally popular. The proliferation of cotton gowns was owed in part to the success of the British East India Company which exported large amounts of cotton to British textile manufacturers.
Jane Austen, having been born in 1775, came of age when this revolution in fashion was taking place. While, she does not go into great detail when describing the clothes of her characters, her humor and wit is often on display when fashion becomes a topic of conversation. One such example is featured here. The above quotation is an aside from Jane when describing Catherine Morland's anxiety as she tries to decide which gown to wear to a ball later in the evening. Northanger Abbey was itself a satire of the Gothic novel and so it should come as no surprise that various aspects of society are satirized within its pages.
"Now I must look at you, Fanny," said Edmund, with the kind smile of an affectionate brother, "and tell you how I like you; and as well as I can judge by this light, you look very nicely indeed. What have you got on?"
"The new dress that my uncle was so good as to give me on my cousin's marriage. I hope it is not too fine; but I thought I ought to wear it as soon as I could, and that I might not have such another opportunity all the winter. I hope you do not think me too fine." [Fanny]
"A woman can never be too fine while she is all in white. No, I see no finery about you; nothing but what is perfectly proper. Your gown seems very pretty. I like these glossy spots. Has not Miss Crawford a gown something the same?" [Edmund]
~Mansfield Park, 1814
Evening gowns such as this would be quite like the one that was worn by Fanny Price to formal dinners or balls in Mansfield Park. For the greater part of Jane Austen's life, evening dresses were the same tubular silhouette as dresses meant for more informal daywear, the difference being they were made of silk and could have more elaborate trimmings. Neither day nor evening dresses had trains, apart from court gowns, from about 1808 onward. This dress has design elements that put it closer to 1820 than 1810 such as its use of a band at the waist. The decoration in its short puffed sleeves mimic slashing, a design element common in garments from the Medieval period. This movement towards medieval revival would expand and continue as fashions begin to change once again in the beginning of the 1820s.
Jane Austen chose to publish her novels anonymously. The author for each book published during her lifetime was simply noted as "A Lady." It would not be until the posthumous joint publication of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion as a four volume set, that the true identity of this "Lady" would be revealed. Northanger Abbey was actually the first manuscript that Austen sold to a publisher. She sold it under the original title, Susan, to London bookseller, Crosby & Co., for £10. Unfortunately, they decided against publishing. Henry Austen, Jane's brother, bought the manuscript back from the publisher in 1816. Jane revised it, renaming it Catherine, with the intention of publication but passed away in 1817. Henry Austen renamed it Northanger Abbey and arranged for its publication, along with Persuasion, and penned an introduction which publicly identified Jane Austen as the author of this and previous works for the first time. A first edition of this four volume set is displayed here alongside a first edition of Mansfield Park, published May 1814, and Emma, published December 1815. While Austen's books went out of print for a short period of time after her death they have rarely been unavailable since.


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EA Sports UFC Bruce Lee Video One-Inch Punches You in the Eyes
Have you ever wondered why there are so many Chuck Norris jokes, but no Bruce Lee jokes? It's because Bruce Lee is no joke.
A new trailer for EA Sports UFC surfaced this week, spotlighting the game's celebrity special guest fighter, Bruce Lee. Much of the video features classic footage of the martial arts legend in action, as well as current UFC star John "Bones" Jones talking about how Lee influenced him, but we also get our first look at The Dragon's in-game counterpart in action.
Widely considered the father of mixed martial arts, Bruce Lee is a perfect fit for EA's UFC title. His unparalleled hand speed is showcased in the video, as well as his powerful kicks. It seems a bit strange to see Lee, usually viewed as a master striker, using ground techniques, but in a UFC fight he'd almost certainly need to do more than stand and strike. Besides, it's Bruce Lee; even if they gave him a Hadouken, I'd think, "Yeah, he could probably do that."
Pre-ordering the game will grant players instant access to the Dragon when the game launches on June 17. We're excited about his inclusion in the game, and hope it leads to more legendary fighters in DLC packs or future iterations. While Bruce Lee vs. Renan Barão will be a blast to play, imagine pitting Bruce Lee against Chuck Norris, Frank Dux or Ip Man. Hell, throw Steven Seagal, Jackie Chan and Jean Claude Van Damme in there. The more the merrier.


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MWA Cancer T-Shirt
Regular price $31.00• 100% ring-spun cotton
• Sport Grey is 90% ring-spun cotton, 10% polyester
• Dark Heather is 65% polyester, 35% cotton
• 4.5 oz/yd² (153 g/m²)
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Width (East Asia) (inches) | 18 ½ | 19 ¾ | 20 ⅞ | 22 | 23 ¼ |
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Druids love trees and often visit trees and woods to meditate there, hold ceremonies, or simply commune with Nature. Most Druids support tree-planting and reforestation programmes and the Order runs a Sacred Grove Planting project to help members and the public create woodland sanctuaries. The Order also supports three tree-planting charities: Trees for Life, Tree Aid, and The Woodland Trust.
Trees and the word 'Druid'
Some modern scholars agree with the classical Roman and Greek authors that the most likely derivation for 'Druid' is from the word for oak, combined with the Indo-European root wid – to know, giving their translation of the word Druid as 'One with knowledge of the oak' or 'Wise person of the oak'. Those who possessed knowledge of the oak possessed knowledge of all the trees. The Druid was one with 'knowledge of the trees' and was a 'Forest Sage'. Other scholars suggest that Druid is derived from the pre-Indo-European root deru – which means firm, solid, strong or steadfast, combined with the root weid – which means to see, creating a term that could translate as 'Strong Seer'. To get a sense of how it might feel to be a Druid, try saying this: "I am strong – a steadfast seer, a knower of magic and enchantment. I am a sage of the forest. I know the secrets of the oak and the wildwood." Say it several times over, with as little inhibition and as much conviction as you can muster. It's important to say it out loud, because the voice has magical properties. If the exercise works for you, you will have experienced something of what it means to be a Druid – a man or a woman who even today can feel the pulse of life in the earth beneath them and the trees around them.
Today, those who study as Ovates within Druidry learn to work with the powers of Nature – they learn the Ogham and come to know the trees as living Beings with their own medicines and gifts. They work with the sacred animals of tradition, and with different methods of divination, and many begin a study of herbalism or other methods of healing, and in particular they learn how to encourage the flow of Nwyfre through the body. Nwyfre is the Druid term for Life-force, known as Chi' or Prana in the East.
Ogham – the Tree Alphabet of the Druids
Druids today use a particular method for communicating and remembering their wealth of tree-knowledge. This is known as the Ogham (which means 'language' and is pronounced o'um, or och'um). It consists of twenty-five simple strokes centred on or branching off a central line. It is similar in purpose, but separate in origin from the Nordic runes. The Ogham characters were inscribed on stones and probably on staves of wood.
Its origins are lost in the mists of time, and most of the existing inscriptions have only been dated to the fifth and sixth centuries, but whether originally Celtic or pre-Celtic, we may sense that it carries with it some of the very earliest of Druid wisdom. Amongst our sources of information about its use, we have from Ireland the twelfth century Book of Leinster, the fourteenth century Book of Ballymote, and O'Flaherty's Ogygia (published in 1793). And from Scotland, transcribed from the oral tradition in the seventeenth century, we have The Scholar's Primer. But it was the poet Robert Graves who, following in his grandfather's footsteps as an Ogham expert, brought this arcane system into public awareness once again, with his publication of The White Goddess in 1948.
An example of Tree Lore: Beith - The Birch Tree
The Bardic school or grade is symbolised by the Birch Tree. It is the first tree in the Ogham Cipher, and as such represents the number one. This is fitting, for it is the birch that we plant first on virgin land if we want to create a wood or forest. It is known, for this reason, as the Pioneer Tree, and it can be seen also as the tree which helps birth the forest. So it is a tree of birth – an appropriate tree to symbolise the first level of Druid working, when we are born into this new way of seeing and knowing.
The Ogham can also be used for divination, and when we draw the card, or throw the disc or stave of the birch, we know that this signifies new beginnings for us, and -depending on its relative position in the spread – we know that we must either pioneer a new endeavour or that something is being born in our lives. Often, before we can give birth to the new, we need to cleanse ourselves of the old. Again, the birch tree is an appropriate symbol for this process of purification in preparation for new beginnings. In Scandinavia, switches of birch are used on the body to stimulate the process of purification in the sauna, and can be used in Druid sweathouse rituals too. In Britain the birch rod was used rather more ferociously to purify the criminal of their misdeeds, and earlier still in an attempt to expel evil spirits from 'lunatics'. In some areas, it was customary to drive out the spirits of the old year with birch switches, and throughout Europe birch twigs were used for 'beating the bounds'.
So to prepare for the new, we must free ourselves of the debris of the old, and birch can help us do this, and can point the way forward, for when we are lost in the forest, the shining whiteness of the birch trunk leads us onward – it offers guidance and orientation in the darkness of our journey. The very word 'birch' derives from a root meaning 'bright' or 'shining' in nearly all languages with Indo-European origins.
Robert Graves allocates this tree to a month stretching from December 24th to January 20th, using a calendar of thirteen months, since both Caesar and Pliny reported that the Druids divided their year into lunar months. He chooses as the first month that which follows the Winter Solstice – when the year is reborn, and the days begin to lengthen.
As with much of this work, one finds that other traditions hold many things in common. The shaman of the Siberian Gold Eskimos climbs a birch tree at the high point of an initiation ceremony, circling its trunk nine times. The Buryat and the Central Asian Altai shamans carve nine notches in the trunk of a young birch – representing the steps they must take to ascend to heaven. The birch shares with the Ash the distinction of being used as a representative of the Cosmic World-Tree – the Axis Mundi. This tree links the Underworld with Middle Earth and Heaven Above. The shaman climbing the Birch uses it as a sky-ladder to symbolise his ability to visit other worlds.
In Britain the Birch was often used for may-poles – our version of the Axis Mundi around which we turn and turn. And at the same season it was the twigs of birch that were used for kindling the Beltane fire. Birch was also used to make babies' cradles, for if birch could drive evil from the old year, and from lunatics and criminals, it could ward off ill for the newborn too. And since birch is the tree of birthing the new, what other wood is more fitting for the newly born?
Adapted from Druid Mysteries by Philip Carr-Gomm.