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Sep 16
NHIT Week: Raising Awareness to Improve Quality and Efficiency of Healthcare
For the ninth year, national health IT week is in full swing, from Sept. 15 – 19, 2014. Those in healthcare, policy makers and stakeholders have come together to "collaborative forum for public and private healthcare constituents to discuss the value of health information technology (IT) for the U.S. healthcare system."
HIMSS is again hosting a lineup of events and activities centered in the DC. According to the organization, the event is designed as health IT continues its advancement to "improve the quality of healthcare delivery, increase patient safety, decrease medical errors, and strengthen the interaction between patients and healthcare providers."
For those of us in health IT, NHIT Week is a forum, a conversation starter and an awareness builder that assembles healthcare constituents dedicated to working together to elevate the necessity of advancing health through the best use of information technology. As a brand awareness campaign, the effort is paying off and bringing about deeper conversations with health IT game changers, leaders and those who wish to learn more about the ramifications of the technology on the overall landscape.
That said, and because of the importance of the event, I asked a few folks for their reaction to NHIT Week. Their responses follow:
Arvind Subramanian, president and CEO, Wolters Kluwer Health, Clinical Solutions
Vision, innovation, hard work and perseverance are foundational to any significant change for the better. These are fundamental components of the health IT movement—an ever-evolving landscape that has experienced tremendous successes, along with its share of challenges.
National Health IT Week offers a platform for celebrating progress and expanding awareness of the tremendous potential of health IT to advance healthcare's broader goals of improved outcomes and lower costs. It's an opportunity for those deeply involved in the movement and those watching it unfold from a distance to come together and remember what forms the core of its agenda: improving the human experience and saving lives.
Here at Wolters Kluwer Health, we have the advantage of seeing the outcomes associated with advances in clinical content integration, clinical knowledge management and data analytics every day. Whether it's a highly effective response to a public health crisis or the ability to mitigate adverse outcomes through real-time patient surveillance, our clients are experiencing a transformation to more highly-effective care delivery.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Many United States Congressmen gave speeches in the House of Representatives on July 10, 1990 celebrating the 134th anniversary of scientist-inventor Nikola Tesla. Senator Levine from Michigan spoke in the US Senate on the same occasion.
The street sign "Nikola Tesla Corner" was recently placed on the corner of the 40th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. There is a large photo of Tesla in the Statue of Liberty Museum. The Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey has a daily science demonstration of the Tesla Coil creating a million volts of electricity before the spectators eyes. Many books were written about Tesla: Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John J. O'Neill and Margaret Cheney's book Tesla: Man out of Time (see reading list) has contributed significantly to his fame. A documentary film Nikola Tesla, The Genius Who Lit the World, produced by the Tesla Memorial Society and the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, The Secret of Nikola Tesla (Orson Welles), BBC Film Masters of the Ionosphere are other tributes to the great genius.
Young Nikola Tesla came to the United States in 1884 with an introduction letter from Charles Batchelor to Thomas Edison: "I know two great men," wrote Batchelor, "one is you and the other is this young man." Tesla spent the next 59 years of his productive life living in New York. Tesla set about improving Edison's line of dynamos while working in Edison's lab in New Jersey. It was here that his divergence of opinion with Edison over direct current versus alternating current began. This disagreement climaxed in the war of the currents as Edison fought a losing battle to protect his investment in direct current equipment and facilities.
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Tesla pointed out the inefficiency of Edison's direct current electrical powerhouses that have been build up and down the Atlantic seaboard. The secret, he felt, lay in the use of alternating current ,because to him all energies were cyclic. Why not build generators that would send electrical energy along distribution lines first one way, than another, in multiple waves using the polyphase principle?
Edison's lamps were weak and inefficient when supplied by direct current. This system had a severe disadvantage in that it could not be transported more than two miles due to its inability to step up to high voltage levels necessary for long distance transmission. Consequently, a direct current power station was required at two mile intervals.
Direct current flows continuously in one direction; alternating current changes direction 50 or 60 times per second and can be stepped up to vary high voltage levels, minimizing power loss across great distances. The future belongs to alternating current.
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Nikola Tesla developed polyphase alternating current system of generators, motors and transformers and held 40 basic U.S. patents on the system, which George Westinghouse bought, determined to supply America with the Tesla system. Edison did not want to lose his DC empire, and a bitter war ensued. This was the war of the currents between AC and DC. Tesla -Westinghouse ultimately emerged the victor because AC was a superior technology. It was a war won for the progress of both America and the world.
Tesla introduced his motors and electrical systems in a classic paper, "A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers" which he delivered before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1888. One of the most impressed was the industrialist and inventor George Westinghouse. One day he visited Tesla's laboratory and was amazed at what he saw. Tesla had constructed a model polyphase system consisting of an alternating current dynamo, step-up and step-down transformers and A.C. motor at the other end. The perfect partnership between Tesla and Westinghouse for the nationwide use of electricity in America had begun.
In February 1882, Tesla discovered the rotating magnetic field, a fundamental principle in physics and the basis of nearly all devices that use alternating current. Tesla brilliantly adapted the principle of rotating magnetic field for the construction of alternating current induction motor and the polyphase system for the generation, transmission, distribution and use of electrical power.
Tesla's A.C. induction motor is widely used throughout the world in industry and household appliances. It started the industrial revolution at the turn of the century. Electricity today is generated transmitted and converted to mechanical power by means of his inventions. Tesla's greatest achievement is his polyphase alternating current system, which is today lighting the entire globe.
Tesla astonished the world by demonstrating. the wonders of alternating current electricity at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Alternating current became standard power in the 20th Century. This accomplishment changed the world. He designed the first hydroelectric powerplant in Niagara Falls in 1895, which was the final victory of alternating current. The achievement was covered widely in the world press, and Tesla was praised as a hero world wide. King Nikola of Montenegro conferred upon him the Order of Danilo.
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Tesla was a pioneer in many fields. The Tesla coil, which he invented in 1891, is widely used today in radio and television sets and other electronic equipment. That year also marked the date of Tesla's United States citizenship. His alternating current induction motor is considered one of the ten greatest discoveries of all time. Among his discoveries are the fluorescent light , laser beam, wireless communications, wireless transmission of electrical energy, remote control, robotics, Tesla's turbines and vertical take off aircraft. Tesla is the father of the radio and the modern electrical transmissions systems. He registered over 700 patents worldwide. His vision included exploration of solar energy and the power of the sea. He foresaw interplanetary communications and satellites.
The Century Magazine published Tesla's principles of telegraphy without wires, popularizing scientific lectures given before Franklin Institute in February 1893.
The Electrical Review in 1896 published X-rays of a man, made by Tesla, with X-ray tubes of his own design. They appeared at the same time as when Roentgen announced his discovery of X-rays. Tesla never attempted to proclaim priority. Roentgen congratulated Tesla on his sophisticated X-ray pictures, and Tesla even wrote Roentgen's name on one of his films. He experimented with shadowgraphs similar to those that later were to be used by Wilhelm Rontgen when he discovered X-rays in 1895. Tesla's countless experiments included work on a carbon button lamp, on the power of electrical resonance, and on various types of lightning. Tesla invented the special vacuum tube which emitted light to be used in photography.
The breadth of his inventions is demonstrated by his patents for a bladeless steam turbine based on a spiral flow principle. Tesla also patented a pump design to operate at extremely high temperature.
Nikola Tesla patented the basic system of radio in 1896. His published schematic diagrams describing all the basic elements of the radio transmitter which was later used by Marconi.
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In 1896 Tesla constructed an instrument to receive radio waves. He experimented with this device and transmitted radio waves from his laboratory on South 5th Avenue. to the Gerlach Hotel at 27th Street in Manhattan. The device had a magnet which gave off intense magnetic fields up to 20,000 lines per centimeter. The radio device clearly establishes his piority in the discovery of radio.
The shipboard quench-spark transmitter produced by the Lowenstein Radio Company and licensed under Nikola Tesla Company patents, was installed on the U.S. Naval vessels prior to World War I.
In December 1901, Marconi established wireless communication between Britain and the United States earning him the Nobel prize in 1909. But much of Marconi's work was not original. In 1864, James Maxwell theorized electromagnetic waves. In 1887, Heinrich Hertz proved Maxwell's theories. Later, Sir Oliver Logde extended the Hertz prototype system. The Brandley coherer increased the distance messages could be transmitted. The coherer was perfected by Marconi.
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However, the heart of radio transmission is based upon four tuned circuits for transmitting and receiving. It is Tesla's original concept demonstrated in his famous lecture at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in 1893. The four circuits, used in two pairs, are still a fundamental part of all radio and television equipment.
The United States Supreme Court, in 1943 held Marconi's most important patent invalid, recognizing Tesla's more significant contribution as the inventor of radio technology.
Tesla built an experimental station in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1899, to experiment with high voltage, high frequency electricity and other phenomena.
When the Colorado Springs Tesla Coil magnifying transmitter was energized, it created sparks 30 feet long. From the outside antenna, these sparks could be seen from a distance of ten miles. From this laboratory, Tesla generated and sent out wireless waves which mediated energy, without wires for miles.
In Colorado Springs, where he stayed from May 1899 until 1900, Tesla made what he regarded as his most important discovery-- terrestrial stationary waves. By this discovery he proved that the Earth could be used as a conductor and would be as responsive as a tuning fork to electrical vibrations of a certain frequency. He also lighted 200 lamps without wires from a distance of 25 miles( 40 kilometers) and created man-made lightning. At one time he was certain he had received signals from another planet in his Colorado laboratory, a claim that was met with disbelief in some scientific journals.
The old Waldorf Astoria was the residence of Nikola Tesla for many years. He lived there when he was at the height of financial and intellectual power. Tesla organized elaborate dinners, inviting famous people who later witnessed spectacular electrical experiments in his laboratory.
Financially supported by J. Pierpont Morgan, Tesla built the Wardenclyffe laboratory and its famous transmitting tower in Shoreham, Long Island between 1901 and 1905. This huge landmark was 187 feet high, capped by a 68-foot copper dome which housed the magnifying transmitter. It was planned to be the first broadcast system, transmitting both signals and power without wires to any point on the globe. The huge magnifying transmitter, discharging high frequency electricity, would turn the earth into a gigantic dynamo which would project its electricity in unlimited amounts anywhere in the world.
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Tesla's concept of wireless electricity was used to power ocean liners, destroy warships, run industry and transportation and send communications instantaneously all over the globe. To stimulate the public's imagination, Tesla suggested that this wireless power could even be used for interplanetary communication. If Tesla were confident to reach Mars, how much less difficult to reach Paris. Many newspapers and periodicals interviewed Tesla and described his new system for supplying wireless power to run all of the earth's industry.
Because of a dispute between Morgan and Tesla as to the final use of the tower. Morgan withdrew his funds. The financier's classic comment was, "If anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?"
The erected, but incomplete tower was demolished in 1917 for wartime security reasons. The site where the Wardenclyffe tower stood still exists with its 100 feet deep foundation still intact. Tesla's laboratory designed by Stanford White in 1901 is today still in good condition and is graced with a bicentennial plague.
Tesla lectured to the scientific community on his inventions in New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis and before scientific organizations in both England and France in 1892. Tesla's lectures and writings of the 1890s aroused wide admiration among contemporaries popularized his inventions and inspired untold numbers of younger men to enter the new field of radio and electrical science.
Nikola Tesla was one of the most celebrated personalities in the American press, in this century. According to Life Magazine's special issue of September, 1997, Tesla is among the 100 most famous people of the last 1,000 years. He is one of the great men who divert the stream of human history. Tesla's celebrity was in its height at the turn of the century. His discoveries, inventions and vision had widespread acceptance by the public, the scientific community and American press.Tesla's discoveries had extensive coverage in the scientific journals, the daily and weekly press as well as in the foremost literary and intellectual publications of the day. He was the Super Star.
Tesla wrote many autobiographical articles for the prominent journal Electrical Experimenter, collected in the book, My Inventions (see reading list english).Tesla was gifted with intense powers of visualization and exceptional memory from early youth on. He was able to fully construct, develop and perfect his inventions completely in his mind before committing them to paper.
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According to Hugo Gernsback, Tesla was possessed of a striking physical appearance over six feet tall with deep set eyes and a stately manner. His impressions of Tesla, were of a man endowed with remarkable physical and mental freshness, ready to surprise the world with more and more inventions as he grew older. A lifelong bachelor he led a somewhat isolated existence, devoting his full energies to science.
In 1894, he was given honorary doctoral degrees by Columbia and Yale University and the Elliot Cresson medal by the Franklin Institute. In 1934, the city of Philadelphia awarded him the John Scott medal for his polyphase power system. He was an honorary member of the National Electric Light Association and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. On one occasion, he turned down an invitation from Kaiser Wilhelm II to come to Germany to demonstrate his experiments and to receive a high decoration.
In 1915, a New York Times article announced that Tesla and Edison were to share the Nobel Prize for physics. Oddly, neither man received the prize, the reason being unclear. It was rumored that Tesla refused the prize because he would not share with Edison, and because Marconi had already received his.
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On his 75th birthday in 1931, the inventor appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. On this occasion, Tesla received congratulatory letters from more than 70 pioneers in science and engineering including Albert Einstein and Mark Twain. These letters were mounted and presented to Tesla in the form of a testimonial volume.
Tesla died on January 7th, 1943 in the Hotel New Yorker, where he had lived for the last ten years of his life. Room 3327 on the 33rd floor is the two-room suites he occupied.
A state funeral was held at St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York City. Telegrams of condolence were received from many notables, including the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Vice President Wallace. Over 2000 people attended, including several Nobel Laureates. He was cremated in Ardsley on the Hudson, New York. His ashes were interned in a golden sphere, Tesla's favorite shape, on permanent display at the Tesla Museum in Belgrade along with his death mask.
In his speech presenting Tesla with the Edison medal, Vice President Behrend of the Institute of Electrical Engineers eloquently expressed the following: "Were we to seize and eliminate from our industrial world the result of Mr. Tesla's work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would stop, our towns would be dark and our mills would be idle and dead. His name marks an epoch in the advance of electrical science." Mr. Behrend ended his speech with a paraphrase of Pope's lines on Newton: "Nature and nature's laws lay hid by night. God said 'Let Tesla be' and all was light."
Quoted with the kind permission of the Tesla Society of New York.
© Copyright 2001 by Dr. Ljubo Vujovic, General Secretary of the Tesla Society of New York.Thank you for your kind permission allowing me to quote material from your site.
More about Tesla's biography | The Genius who lit the world | Radio | Tesla coil | Tesla AC | Tesla's papers | Exploration of the Cosmos
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Country Club Dude Bangs Hos, Gay Guy Gay, Guy Who Stepped Out on Wife Stepped Out on Wife, American Idol Has a Couple Appealing Contestants
by Amelia G : March 31st, 2010
Everyone in Los Angeles has been getting sick. It is this horrible bug which seems to repeatedly seem to improve and then relapse and tends to turn into pneumonia. It is bad enough that the touring group for this season of American Idol was largely decided on the basis of who could sing best through a sore throat. It seems like almost everyone I know has had this thing. I am no exception and yesterday was my first full day back at work, after like a month. For a workaholic like myself, no matter how much I've automated large portions of my business, being too sick to work a full day is pretty much torture.
Today, I have been reviewing what has gone on in the world for the past month. Apparently, the news is all OMG DOG BITES MAN. The "news" that Ricky Martin says he is gay was so blockbuster that it took down his webservers. Unless I get to personally watch Ricky Martin fuck, I'm more interested in the fact that Livin' La Vida Loca and She Bangs are two of the best songs ever to shake an ass to.
I know I'm late to comment on the Tiger Woods absurdity and South Park has thoroughly and eloquently covered the topic with Sexual Healing, but seriously, that was news? News bulletin: Sometimes rich and powerful country club dudes marry the sorts of women who make good mothers and hostesses and still bang the occasional cocktail waitress or hooker or rebellious college student on the side. This has been the case like since the invention of rich and powerful dudes. The wife or queen or whatever would probably prefer not to have her face rubbed in it or be asked about it by reporters or have everyone know, but, if your partner is a wants-crazy-specific-sex-with-different-people-a-lot person, you just know.
Speaking of which, as a result of the Jesse James "news", my cell phone messages voicemail got full last week and my email, texts, and various SNS and chat applications all blew up with folks wanting to get photos of girls who banged Jesse James and quotes from me on the topic. It is true that I have a database of probably thousands of tattooed girls willing to get naked and some of them would undoubtedly sleep with a reality show star (like Jesse James) or a paid dude (like Jesse James) or a hot guy with nice tattoos (like Jesse James). I'd like to say that none of the inked up hotties I know would sleep with a married . . .
( Read more )


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If you are a .NET developer looking for an eCommerce platform you should consider nopCommerce. It is both a great extensible eCommerce platform and supports the latest versions of .NET
Scott Hunter, Director of Program Management for the .NET Platform at Microsoft (USA)
nopCommerce is a fantastic open-source, stable, and super extensible eCommerce platform based on cross-platform .NET Core! It's perfect for any size business.
Scott Hanselman, Principal Community Architect, Microsoft (USA)
Besides having a rich out-of-the-box functionality, the platform is also flexible in terms of additional customization and gives an opportunity to integrate with different corporate systems, which made it a perfect fit for us.
Boris Kulaev, Head of eCommerce Harman RUS CIS
With nopCommerce we are able to create the optimal eCommerce system according to our customer's needs. The modern and sophisticated backend of nopCommerce allows fast and simple configuration of the shop.
José Lopez, CEO of JMC Software AG (Switzerland)
We like nopCommerce because it's a platform with a very well-structured architecture that enables its modification greatly since it's open-source. nopCommerce can be easily adapted to cover the needs of every one of our customers.
Eduardo Adame, General Director of Tecnofin (Mexico)
As a platform, nopCommerce supports us very well because the architecture is very good. We needed a secure, Microsoft-compatible solution for a customer that was multi-store capable and nopCommerce fitted this description best.
Tobias Derucki, Managing Partner at Innovapps (Germany)
I would recommend nopCommerce because it has an easy-to-use interface and you don't have to be an IT-master to use it. You can be a marketing professional, create the content, manage the pricing and categories, and do it very easy.
Dana Koman, Marketing Manager of TACO Metals (USA)


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Welcome to Midnight Hot Rods
Midnight Hot Rods is a Hot Rod, Street Rod and Race Car builder operating out of Southeastern Wisconsin with 30 years of experience in the industry spanning all types of motorsports.
Whether you need a full restoration, custom paint and body, a new exhaust, or any custom fabrication work, Midnight Hot Rods can help make your dreams a reality!
Midnight Hot Rods was featured on Chevy Hardcore!
Contact us to find out what we can do for you!


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Truth In Recruiting
Truth in Recruiting is the foundational principle that directs the work of multiple Counter-recruitment groups inside the United States of America and territories. It has the essential mission to inform students, parents, and school teachers of the disparities that exist in the information that military recruiters are presenting to American Youth about military service in our schools. Since the implementation of a voluntary military force, the need to develop a vigorous campaign by the Department of Defense has led to aggressive recruitment quotas and encouraged unethical tactics of appeal to capture and encourage the interest of youth to join into the military forces. Recruiters have compromised the telling of the real facts of what it means to serve in the military services and appealing to parents with overstated educational and career benefits and to young people with the promise of travel and a "life adventure" that masks the real risks to their physical and mental health as they move forward into their lives.
Top military recruitment facts
1. Recruiters lie. According the New York Times, nearly one of five United States Army recruiters was under investigation in 2004 for offenses varying from "threats and coercion to false promises that applicants would not be sent to Iraq." One veteran recruiter told a reporter for the Albany Times Union, "I've been recruiting for years, and I don't know one recruiter who wasn't dishonest about it. I did it myself."
2. The military contract guarantees nothing. The Department of Defense's own enlistment/re-enlistment document states, "Laws and regulations that govern military personnel may change without notice to me. Such changes may affect my status, pay allowances, benefits and responsibilities as a member of the Armed Forces REGARDLESS of the provisions of this enlistment/re-enlistment document" (DD Form4/1, 1998, Sec.9.5b).
3. Advertised signing bonuses are bogus. Bonuses are often thought of as gifts, but they're not. They're like loans: If an enlistee leaves the military before his or her agreed term of service, he or she will be forced to repay the bonus. Besides, Army data shows that the top bonus of $20,000 was given to only 6 percent of the 47,7272 enlistees who signed up for active duty.
4. The military won't make you financially secure. Military members are no strangers to financial strain: 48 percent report having financial difficulty, approximately 33 percent of homeless men in the United States are veterans, and nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night.
5. Money for college ($71,424 in the bank?). If you expect the military to pay for college, better read the fine print. Among recruits who sign up for the Montgomery GI Bill, 65 percent receive no money for college, and only 15 percent ever receive a college degree. The maximum Montgomery GI Bill benefit is $37,224, and even this 37K is hard to get: To join, you must first put in a nonrefundable $1,200 deposit that has to be paid to the military during the first year of service. To receive the $37K, you must also be an active-duty member who has completed at least a three-year service agreement and is attending a four-year college full time. Benefits are significantly lower if you are going to school part-time or attending a two-year college. If you receive a less than honorable discharge (as one in four do), leave the military early (as one in three do), or later decide not to go to college, the military will keep your deposit and give you nothing. Note: The $71,424 advertised by the Army and $86,000 by the Navy includes benefits from the Amy or Navy College Fund, respectively. Fewer than 10 percent of all recruits earn money from the Army College Fund, which is specifically designed to lure recruits into hard-to-fill positions.
6. Job training. Vice President Dick Cheney once said, "The military is not a social welfare agency; it's not a jobs program." If you enlist, the military does not have to place you in your chosen career field or give you the specific training requested. Even if enlistees do receive training, it is often to develop skills that will not transfer to the civilian job market. (There aren't many jobs for M240 machine-gunners stateside.)
7. War, combat, and your contract. First off, if it's your first time enlisting, you're signing up for eight years. On top of that, the military can, without your consent, extend active-duty obligations during times of conflict, "national emergency," or when directed by the president. This means that even if an enlistee has two weeks left on his/ her contract (yes, even Guard/Reserve) or has already served in combat, she/he can still be sent to war. More than a dozen U.S. soldiers have challenged "stop-loss" measures like these in court so far, but people continue to be shipped off involuntarily. The military has called thousands up from Inactive Ready Reserve -- soldiers who have served, some for as long as a decade, and been discharged. The numbers: twice as many troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan per year as during the Vietnam War. One-third of the troops who have gone to Iraq have gone more than once. The highest rate of first- time deployments belongs to the Marine Corps Reserve: almost 90 percent have fought.
National & Regional Organizations working on Truth in Recruiting:
- American Friends Service Committee - Chicago Truth in Recruitment Program - Chicago, Illinois (archive)
- Citizens for Selective Service Education - Citizens for Truth-In-Recruiting - New York
- Community Alliance of Lane County (CALC) - Eugene, Oregon
- Global Exchange - Steven Funk - Truth-In-Recruiting (Archived) - San Francisco, California (archive)
- Houston Peace and Justice Center - Truth in Military Recruiting (archived) - Houston, Texas
- Progressive Action Alliance - Southeast Texas (archived)
- Quaker House - Fayetteville, North Carolina
- The Full Picture - Truth-In-Recruiting - San Francisco, California
- The Tulsa Peace Fellowship - Truth in Recruiting - Tulsa, Oklahoma
- The Resource Center for Nonviolence (RCNV)- Santa Cruz, California *
- Truth in Recruitment - Santa Barbara, California
- Veterans' Fellowship of Reconciliation - Truth-In-Recruiting Workshops - Nyack, New York
- Veterans for Peace - Southeast Alaska Truth in Recruiting - Juneau, Alaska
- Veterans for Peace New York - Truth in Recruiting - Saint Louis, Missouri
- Veterans for Peace - Truth in Recruiting - Seattle, Washington
- Truth in Recuiting | Iraq Veterans Against the War - Brooklyn, New York
- Washington Truth in Recruiting (WaTiR)- Bellevue, Washington
Revised 03/8/2020


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Thoughts on Don Quixote.
To be or not to be a Cervantino (a fan of Cervantes)
José A. Martínez Soler (New York Times Journeys)
(Oct. 17, 2018; 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Cruise Le Lyrial (Ponant). Atlantic Ocean.
Good afternoon.
As you know, some people have the Bible on their nightstand. I have Don Quixote on mine to be read, just a few pages, opening anywhere, before going to sleep. I follow that recommendation of William Faulkner. He used to do the same thing with his Don Quixote.
"Cervantes Don Quixote — I read it every year, as some do the Bible," said Faulkner.
- William Faulkner, Paris Reviewinterview with Jean Stein (1956).
Also Herman Melville read the Bible as much as Don Quixote.
Me too.
Why I do that?
This novel is a fiction that changed my comprehension of reality.
Don Quixote is one of the most translated books in the world (after the Bible) and is considered to be one of the most universal novels of history. I thought it was number 2, after the Bible, but Google said is number 3, after Pinocchio of course.
It starts like this:
"At a certain village of La Mancha, whose name I do not care to recall, there dwelt not so long ago an old-fashioned gentleman of the type who is never without a lance upon a rack, and old shield, a lean horse, and a racing greyhound".
Don´t panic!
I am not going to read the hold book. I will just talk a little about it.
I will talk about the polyandric or pluralistic reality of Cervantes, so rich in different perspectives, his ambiguity, his ironic, but loving approach, to the sane or insane mind of Don Quixote. No one can have all the truth. For Cervantes the truth is only an aspiration, an intention, not something that can be possessed. Cervantes doesn't give answers, but poses questions. Sometimes, he gives us several different answers to the same question. For him, life is an enigma. He has a very pluralistic vision of life.
As in a game of mirrors of Velazquez's famous Meninas masterpiece, Cervantes introduces us into the vertigo of Don Quixote, a genuine comic book for the Baroque readers or a tragedy for the Romantics. His parodies were tender, never cruel nor destructive. With his compassionate, pious and charitable irony, Cervantes distances himself from inquisitorial dogmatism and fanaticism of his day. He is an Erasmist with an anti-inquisitional Christianity.
Cervantes offers a profound knowledge of the human being.
A Pantheist like Spinoza, a pacifist like Erasmus, a humanist, a Baroque fan, and anti-Baroque fan, an orthodox, an anti-orthodox, a Christian, a converso or convert… He broke the medieval cosmos, separating the physical order from the spiritual. Don Quixote was written in 1606, a year that pivoted like a hinge between two centuries, between, two eras: The declining aristocracy and the emerging bourgeoisie with new values.
Cervantes describes with irony, yet without cruelty, the clash of this two worlds: that of the minority aristocracy that resisted dying, tied to its antiquity and divine rights, and the new mercantile bourgeoisie, linked to cities and progress, who were struggling to emerge with more modern thinking and feelings.
Man is the son of his Works (or his deeds), not of his lineage or inheritance. These are jarring revolutionary ideas in the 16th century.
Cervantes invented the modern novel. His characters enter and leave his novels…
He plays with appearances and reality. It combines fiction and reality so well… Don Quixote uses an archaic language for very modern and revolutionary ideas for his day, of freedom and equality. He talks of the aristocracy of the soul, the New People of Dante. True nobility belongs to the virtuous regardless of birth. These are astonishing ideas two centuries before the American and French revolutions.
Don Quixote's world is gun powder against the sword and the strength of a man´s arm, not squeezing a trigger. Two worlds. Archaic technology against new inventions. Today we are in a similar situation: 20th century industrial technology against 21st century robotization. Troops on the ground and air raids versus drones. Any coward can direct a drone, a modern Don Quixote would say.
From the days of Homer to Cervantes, men fought battles as one warrior against another, body against body. Now, the portable harquebus (an early type of portable gun supported on a tripod or forked rest, with gun powder, was substituting the sword and lance. In Don Quixote there is a chapter titled "The Discourse of arms versus words," or what we would now call the sword versus the pen. With a firearm, a coward can kill a hero. Our hero, an Hidalgo, (which literally means a son of somebody, a noble man) proudly insists on carrying the ridiculous arms of his grandfather in a time that gunpowder was making inroads in battles. Gunpowder, certainly not for legendary knights of old, kills at a distance (something cowardly), not by the strength of a warrior's arm. It takes courage to kill an enemy face to face.
Was Don Quixote a new Christian convert, a "converso", a descendent from a Jewish family?
It will probably never be possible to prove that Cervantes was a cristiano nuevo, a new Christian, but the circumstantial evidence seems compelling. The Instruccion written by Fernán Díaz de Toledo in the mid-fifteenth century lists the Cervantes family as among the many noble clans in Spain that were of converso or converted origin.
- Michael McGaha, in «Is There a Hidden Jewish Meaning in Don Quixote?» in the Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America(2004), discussing evidence of Jewish ancestry and influences.
- Here we can see that Don Quixote's "blood purity" does not correspond to that of an old Christian, but to a new Christian, a descendent of converted The virtues of knights errant were inherited through caste, in an aristocratic cradle. They were heroes through lineage. An Hidaldo, thru the respect owed to his lineage (son of somebody), did not do manual labor, something only Jews and Moors did. Here we see certain profound roots of economic backwardness in Spain that would cripple Spain for centuries. The hidalgo despises the ideas of profit and savings. Far be it from him to actually earn a living!
His is the generosity of the lavish spender. He dedicates his time to leisure or war. What is the world coming to if knights errant (or gentlemen knights) have to earn a living!! Heaven forbid!
Don Quixote is a descendent of a Jewish convert, but his fictional last name comes from Arabic: Mancha or manggia, meaning dry highland plains. Manggia also means a place of refuge from flooding. In Cervantes' novel, there is a parody of pompous names:
Don Quixote, Dulcinea (Sweetie) with ridiculous surnames such as "De la Mancha" (of the pleins) for Quixote, Panza or "fat belly" for Sancho, and Toboso (an insignificant tiny rural settlement in the middle of nowhere in the high and dry, deserted, and endless central pleins of Spain.
(Even today, the only claim to fame of the small wheat-farming town of Toboso, is its mention in Cervantes' most famous novel. Its total population in 2016 was just under 2000 people, hardly a bustling tourist attraction.)
Duelos y quebrantos.
- As he wrote in the first page of his novel, his hero ,Don Quixote, on Saturdays would eat "duelos y quebrantos" (loosely translated as chunks of deep fried bacon, bread crumbs, and scrambled eggs, that produce "grievous stomach cramps).
Our hero would then suffer painful stomach cramps because his guilty conscience still reminded him he should not eat pork, especially on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath. Don Quixote is an hidalgo (hijodalgo, son of someone, a noble man), but… without pure Christian blood. As the Italian humanists call the Spaniards, Don Quixote was a "marrani", or "marrano" a suspicious Christian mixed with Jewish blood. (Marrano in Spanish means pig.)
But Cervantes put his last name, "de la Mancha" in Arabic: Manggia. Here we have again the three cultures in Don Quixote: Christian, Jewish and Moorish. My three halves…
The author presents us an invincible hero who helps the weak, widows, orphans, the crippled, a young maiden harassed by tyrants. His sword is unfailing, magical, against kings and emperors, giants, magicians, witches, demons, evil enchantments, any sort of trouble… His adventures against lions, mythical beasts, and flying horses all end happily.
Does Don Quixote really confuse prostitutes with ladies, princesses and maidens?
"Such high class maidens," flattered by his mistake, laugh at Don Quixote but, they are also grateful, and take care of him and spoil him."
"Never was there a gentleman/ So well served by ladies/ As Don Quixote/ When from his village in the plains he came:/ Maidens took care of him/ and princesses of Rocín (the name of his horse)."
Don Quixote identifies with the legendary knights of King Arthur who sit at the Round Table and announces:
"Never was there a gentleman/ so well served by ladies/ As was Lancelot/ When from Britain he came".
This Arthurian reference is a fake quote of Don Quixote's own invention and the comparison of himself, an aging knight, with antique weapons, and a barber's dish on his head as a helmet, to the legendary Lancelot is totally ridiculous if not pathetic. The readers of his day would be cracking up with laughter at this image.
Don Quixote in the Inn -which he imagines to be a castle- awaiting to be knighted
In the continual game of changing perspectives, the reader becomes complicit with the narrator. A good journalist uses diverse sources with different viewpoints to write his report or news story.
Another game. Cervantes attributed the fictitious manuscript of the novel that he supposedly "found" to a "morisco": Cide Hamette Berengeli (Berengena, eggplant in English, the favorite dish of Jews and Moors). Again, a hidden reference to his own origin of Jewish and/or Moorish converts.
"I want to live my life", said the first feminist.
One of the most startling chapters of Don Quixote -because of its almost contemporary modernity and moral strength- is the account of the loves and breakups of the shepherd girl Marcela, with the student Grisóstomo. Feminist ideas in 1606!
"To understand better is to love better."
Here Cervantes dares to jump way ahead of his time. Centuries ahead. Marcela screams from the top of a boulder:
-"I was born free!"
The shepherd girl continues shouting that she wants "to live my life!" and celebrates her individual freedom without thinking of the effect of her actions on others. WOW! A fictitious woman way, way, way ahead of her time! All accuse Marcela of Grisóstomo's suicide who kills himself because his love for her is unrequited. But Marcela feels no guilt in this 16th century feminist soap opera. Literature tends to be ahead of its time, but Cervantes jumps centuries ahead.
(Many American TV series -and some movies- with ample representation of minorities in important roles are also a step ahead of reality. They reflect new tendencies that are not yet happening on such a wide scale: Women as presidents or vice presidents of America, or heads of businesses, or ruthless CEO´s; African Americans and other minorities more widely represented as police chiefs, bosses, tycoons, doctors, lawyers than is actually the case. The TV series were ahead of the movies in including women and minorities in good roles. Case in point: women and minorities in the Hollywood movie industry have recently demanded more representation.)
Some even see feminist values of the 21st century. The daughter of a wealthy family refuses to marry the man of her social station who claims to love her. She prefers freedom to live, her own life as she pleases… and be a shepherd girl! Even today, many a wealthy or middle class family would disapprove of a daughter deciding to, say, quit college, dump her promising boyfriend, and going off to live on her own somewhere "to find herself." The family may be dismayed and threaten to cut off financial support, but the girl, of course, is free to choose her own life… Only since the latter part of the 20th century and most likely only in developed countries, women are still practically chattel in many parts of Third World countries.
And Don Quixote, naturally, defends Marcela. Wow again!
The world of Don Quixote has changed and our naive and ingenuous hidalgo throws himself against hypocrisy, lies, and cynicism, that is, aristocratic gallant Provençal love. He comes to the defense of women's rights, something surely ridiculous, if not scoff able, in his day. He gives birth to several myths and an international word: the hyper idealistic and well-meaning quixotic person who ignores common sense; or someone who goes on quixotic adventures… The word "Quixotic" is a word Cervantes contributed to many languages, including English.
¿Giants or windmills? The mill is a giant. The Crown's Treasurey, perhaps?
Always, the double meanings… Reality or fiction? The mill tax, a tax that the King´s mills levied for grinding grains, ruined many an hidalgo who cultivated wheat. The mill is a giant all right: the Crown´s Treasury. The IRS of the day. Different truths, different planes of reality. Very modern concepts for a 16th century author.
Cervantes doesn't tell us if the windmills are just windmills or giants. He says they are windmills for Sancho and giants for Don Quxote; an inn for Sancho and a castle for Don Quixote, and a poor and ugly peasant girl for Sancho and an aristocratic maiden for Don Quixote.
Now… Was Don Quixote attacking giants or windmills?
The gentleman knight's craziness or insanity -his ideas were clearly insane for his day- is contagious and is adopted by his squire Sancho Panza. First for greed and later for genuine affection and the joy of an adventure. Sancho becomes Quixote and Quixote becomes Sancho. They are like a coin: the heads or tails of humanity.
Don Quixote attacks an Army which wizards transform into flocks of docile sheep .
"Freedom, Sancho…"
This is one of my favorite sentences of Don Quixote:
"Freedom, Sancho, is one of the most treasured gifts that men were given from the heavens; with it, no treasures under the earth or sea can compare; for freedom, one should and must risk his life".
For Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset, Don Quixote is a novel of points of view, of perspective and oscillating reality. Cervantes is an Erasmus without religion. In his masterpiece, there is no religious influence as the morality of Cervantes is philosophical, natural, humane. Not based on religion.
Martin Luther, who thought the Spanish people were suspiciously not very Christian, once said, "I almost prefer to have a Turk as an enemy than Spaniards who don't believe in anything. They are "marranos" pseudo converts".
Today we would translate that as fake converts. That is how the "Dark Legend" against the Spanish empire of the Austrians began to take hold. Spaniards were not really considered true pure blooded Christians.
Cervantes was an avid reader..
He makes fun of the erudite, but he is one of them
Critics say works by Cervantes are a parody within a parody, with a style that professor Raimundo Lida calls "mercurial," and playful, as nothing is standstill. The author ridicules false erudition, pseudo-science, and useless wisdom. He even mocks himself.
This is the Cervantine prism. When some topic arrives at the prism, it breaks up into different colors. The creator of Don Quixote, and –why not?- of his secondary character Sancho, also break down the different truths and reality planes into myriad possibilities or options.
The narrator of Don Quixote writes "He filled his head with fantasy of all that he read in books."
And "Due to so little sleep and so much reading, his brain dried up and he lost his sanity." We could say that the books of knightly adventures were the video games of his day. Don Quixote was addicted to them.
The book burning of the priest and the scholar
But, Cervantes leaves us his message against the practice of the Inquisition and the Index of banned books.Cervantes pays attention to the popularity of burning books in Spain… and always found some page that might be saved….
"There is no book so bad," said the scholar, "that nothing good may be found in it." (Chapter 3. Book II).
Franco in Spain, Pinochet in Chile, Hitler in Germany… they all burn books
Heinrich Heine, the German romantic poet, said: Don Quixote "is the saddest book that ever existed." I do not agree. It makes me laugh and laugh in every chapter. Maybe I am not so romantic as Heine.
But I do agree with the German poet when he said:
«Where books are burned, people burn"
(I learned this sentence while visiting the Museum of the Holocaust in Washington)
I know who I am
Cervantes lost the use of his arm in the Battle of Lepanto against the Turks of the Ottoman Empire in 1571. Covered with wounds, extremely unfortunate, and poor, he wanted to go to America but no one would let him.
His masterpiece has no bitterness nor resentment. Totally the opposite: Cervantes triumphs over his wounds. Cervantes believes in love, his guiding star is his love for Dulcinea, a love of life and a love of fellow human beings.
There is only love when a human being recognizes another human as such. True humanity only exists when no one is an object. Cervantes puts himself in the place of others. His work exudes empathy for others.
His method is compassionate irony, a double perspective of reality. There is neither derision, cruel satire but great piety of the human being.
My father's cane and his favorite book
(Allow me here to show off my wood sculpture of Cervantes carved out of America cedar. The vanity of an amateur artist has no limits! )
My father was a Don Quixote. An idealist, a believer in fairness, a dreamer, a little crazy, a risk taker… and, yes, crazy for freedom.
My mother was Sancho Panza. Realistic, with her feet on the ground, distrustful, fearful a diligent saver, prudent, a lover of security, safety and order. That is how I saw them as a teenager when I was living in our Andalusian house in Almería.
When they retired I visited them very often with my wife and children. The picture that I saw was totally different. My aging mother became more and more like Don Quixote and, over the years, while my father became more like Sancho Panza.
This is why, for me, The History of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha as it was written by Miguel de Cervantes, a contemporary of William Shakespeare, is a study of the very nature of humanity.
The Don Quixote of my father was published in 1862. Two wonderful volumes that weigh many pounds. When I was a teenager, I read it in bed and my legs would fall asleep… and not just my legs. My father had ripped out all the beautiful prints in copper and exchanged them for bags of wheat to be able to eat during the immediate post Spanish civil war era 1939-1950s. He always told me that Don Quixote would never forgive him. Sancho Panza, on the other hand, would have applauded the exchange. "Primum vivere…" ("First one must live…")
With the Spanish language of the 16th century, it is a difficult book for young people to understand. In reality, I began to understand and enjoy it when I was almost 30 years old.
The novel is a monument to realism, full of fantasy and credibility, but provocative and entertaining.
Cervantes said he wrote it to entertain and amuse its readers. He wrote: "I gave a pastime to the melancholy and sulky spirit." At the same time he ridiculed the books about knights errant, and the theatrical romantic comedy plays in vogue of his day, that is to say, against Lope de Vega whose widespread success he greatly envied.
Cervantes wrote against the medieval divinity-centered cosmos, against the decadent scholastic world, and in favor of separation of the physical and the spiritual. This would be a difficult adjustment to new times. He was accused of being anti-patriotic.
True nobility? That of a virtuous person, whatever be his origin or lineage. These are shocking but dazzling revolutionary ideas for his day.
Tutéame Sancho.
Literally, "Sancho, you can use the familiar "you" with me."
"Sancho, call me by my first name."
A more modern and better translation would be: "Sancho, you can talk to me as an equal."
In other words, Master and Servant become BBF (Best Friends Forever).
Dialogue is the basis of the novel. The entire book is a permanent conversation between two worlds (reality and fantasy, saneness and insanity, servant and master.) Giner de los Rios, the founder of de Institución Libre de Enseñanza (The liberal institute of education), who helped to bring about the Republic to Spain, describes Cervantes' novel as "The saintly sacrament of conversation." Cervantes invents Sancho Panza to construct his novel on dialogue, not monologue.
The "I" needs a "you." His dialogue is a cross of perspectives.
The craziness of the gentleman Quixote becomes contagious and affects his usually down-to-earth squire, Sancho. The promises of being granted an ínsula or small city entice Sancho. And we also see the gradual affection that Sancho gains for his master, a certain nuanced bond of fraternity between the two. Although Sancho, the faithful servant, is unmannered, outspoken, and misuses language, the relationship between Gentleman and Squire are egalitarian, just as love is egalitarian within a couple in love. There is a dignity between Master and Servant. Sancho learns and imitates, because he has faith in his master. They become inseparable, essential to each other to death. They are two joined souls who give-and-take and evolve reciprocally. When the servant becomes governor, he becomes the protagonist. Sancho Panza is no longer the shadow of Don Quixote but his complement. They grow and fuse into each other. They become the heads or tails of the human soul: the practical down-to-earth realist, and the idealist dreamer. So it was with my parents: they each became each other as they aged together.
Some Cervantes scholars want to see the social elevation of Sancho as a preview of the emancipation of the working classes or of the then unheard-of democratic values of "Don Quixote" that were to come in later centuries (liberty, equality, fraternity).
The advice that Don Quixote gives Sancho Panza to govern his (imaginary) insula is a manual for good government. Very contemporary.
"Sancho, we have come up against the Church".
In 400.000 words, Don Quixote never enters a Church nor goes near an altar nor a confessional. There is no mention of sinners nor repentance, words that were omnipresent in authors of the times
But, he respects the priest who burns his books because this priest admitted that he enjoyed reading them even though it was sinful.
Cervantes probably believed in the idea of God as that word appears 531 times in his novel. Cervantes believed in God… but in which God? And, above all, in what way?
Don Quixote is motivated by his eagerness to undo grievances and offenses, by his need to fix his world, help the weak, his love for Dulcinea… but God or faith is never the engine driving this knight errant.
Was Cervantes an Erasmist? Could Erasmus's "Praise of Folly" have inspired the author of "Don Quixote?" Erasmus of Roterdam, who defined the humanist movement in Northern Europe, and who is considered to be the greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance in the 15th century, was criticized and persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants alike.
Cervantes glorifies and celebrates the use of the Spanish vernacular language, unlike the Church which propagated and insisted on the use of Latin. The Inquisition, decades earlier, had gone as far as jailing some translators such as Friar Luis de Leon, the intellectual maestro or mentor of Cervantes, also a son of converts, for bringing his translations of the Bible from Hebrew to vernacular Spanish. It was considered dangerous to make the Bible available to read in spoken Spanish instead of Latin.
In other words, the Catholic Church could not allow the people to have the most dangerous weapon of all: the written word in a language people spoke.
Thirty years before, the Council of Trent had condemned books about the adventures of knights errant as "lascivious and obscene." They were accused of propagating the miracles of the devil's magic and not the miracles of Christ and the saints.
The Church condemned the magic spells of wizards. Don Quixote sees wizards and their magic enchantments everywhere: they convert giants into windmills, or enemies into leather wine bags that spurt blood when stabbed; armies into flocks of sheep… all to deprive our hero of his great deeds and victories.
The balms of Fierabrás, is a magic balm that can cure everything. Any magic is heresy to the Church. Cervantes makes fun of magic, and of heresy. The Inquisition can't "catch" him on this because he also makes fun of magic. He knows how to conceal criticism with humor. He writes as if he were free at the height of imperial Catholicism that persecuted any dissidence. Cervantes began writing his song of freedom that is the novel Don Quixote while in jail. Sometimes, when Don Quixote makes ridiculous penitence at the Montesinos Cave, it seems to be a precursor of surrealism. The Church persecuted courtly love, and worldly love of people or nature.
The Church defended "Christian honesty" against the knightly morality of pagan origin. ("Love is only for God"), and declared war against the worldliness of the day. "Sancho, we have reached a dead end: the Church." (literally: "We have run up against the Church, Sancho"). Cervantes mocks the sanctimoniousness and hypocrisy of the pious.
The protagonist Don Quixote, celebrates "the purpose for which we were born: to be a knight errant." Yet he recurs to the canon priest to give another malicious turn of the screw. The priest confesses: "If I don't read them (books about the adventures of knights) critically, I run the dangerous risk of being amused (or having fun)".
The Catholic Church had condemned laughter because Jesus never laughed. For the saintly founding fathers: "Laughter precedes fornication."
I have the impression that Cervantes is a constrained comedian, who plays with the reader, with both indecision and pleasure. He mixes the historical with the legendary, the sublime with the ridiculous. He seems to be telling us not to trust even him.
The Quixote is not only the first modern novel ever written. A book full of life, of love. Cervantes proposes equality against caste, peace against war, and love against hate. Very modern concepts for the 16th century.
In Don Quixote we have said, there is no mention of original sin, no figure representing evil, nor any repentant sinners. There are no perverse beings only changing ones. And they are not just of a one sided identity. The bandit Roque is cruel yet compassionate. Don Quixote is a novel of all things impossible.
Cervantes is respectful with all other religions, something extremely rare back then. He speaks of Moriscos with genuine respect. As I said, he attributes the fictitious manuscript of Don Quixote to a Morisco. He writes of the Hebrew culture, with constant references to the Old Testament. Sancho cites a verse from Exodus.
Here are some of Don Quixote's more respectful quotes:
"Tell me, señor: Is this lady a Christian or a Moor?"
Her companion answers:
"Moor is the dress and inside the body; but her soul is greatly Christian, because she has the greatest desire to be so."
Moor on the outside but Christian on the inside. Or it could be the complete reverse, depending on the time and place. Al taqiyya: an Arabic word that Muslims had for the art of disguising their true beliefs in Christian lands. They dress like Christians on the street, but like Muslims inside their homes. In other words, go with the flow but keep your beliefs to yourself.
Dulcinea of Toboso, a poor peasant girl converted into a beautiful aristocratic maiden
Great Spanish poets and writers consider Don Quixote's letter to his beloved Dulcinea "one of the greatest love letters of Spanish literature." Cervante's Quixote flees society … and descends into madness.
Courtly love: Don Quixote sees himself as Lancelot
As with the windmills of Sancho and the giants of Don Quixote, Dulcinea is a poor and ugly peasant girl for Sancho but a beautiful high class Lady for Don Quixote. All is the work of magic charms and enchantments.
Don Quixote has an explanation for his madness: Magicians and wizards transform the beautiful and elegant Dulcinea into an ugly laborer dressed in rags.
The saddest book or the most comic book
There are as many interpretations of The Quixote as readers. For romantics it may be "one of the saddest novels ever." But the novel also gives us clues to a pre-rationalism or an era of illustration that was not to begin until the 18th century. There are many Cervantes experts who still are deciphering Cervantes´s messages, the many mysteries that he cleverly disguised but could not write with clarity for fear of the Inquisition, always attentive to the dangers of any dissidence.
After the success of Don Quixote, a competitor of Cervantes who wrote under the pseudonym Avellaneda published a false version of Don Quixote. Experts believe it could be the work of an envious Lope de Vega, a famous theater author, who was, in turn, envied by Cervantes for his success. The second book of Don Quixote written by Cervantes criticizes the Avellaneda work. Again, reality enters into the novel and fiction goes in and out of reality. A game of mirrors, a Cervantine prism..
The life of Cervantes.
The book Don Quixote is certainly not the saddest book in the world, but its author had a truly sad life crowned by fame in his old age though not by wealth.
His life is reflected in his work. He was a marine soldier in the Battle of Lepanto against the Turks which took place in 1571, where the Spanish Empire, in league with the Venetian Republic, defeated a fleet of the Ottoman Empires in the Gulf of Patras in the Ionian Sea.
In the Battle of Lepanto against the Ottoman Empires he was wounded in his arm severely enough to make it useless. Then he was captured by Berber pirates and was a prisoner for several years in Algeria until a ransom was paid and he was liberated. He knew several languages but never found a good job and his patrons were not generous with him.
In Italy he was at the service of Cardinal Condote to whom he dedicated "La Galatea," his first novel. It has just come to light through the Cardinal's correspondence that this Prince of the Catholic Church had 500 women –married, single, and nuns- in love with him.
Cervantes also went to jail in Seville for his alleged creative accounting as a tax collector of wheat farmers. Some researchers attribute his imprisonment to the Church for trying to collect taxes from the Church's wheat harvests.
He lived surrounded by 4 women: his wife, his daughter, and two sisters to whom he was very close. His unusual comprehension of feminine issues is probably due to this.
A prisoner in Algeria and prisoner in Seville… It is not surprising that Cervantes exalts freedom in his novel which he began writing in jail in Seville. Remember: "Freedom," he writes, "is one of the most treasured gifts that the heavens have given to mankind."
Covered with wounds, extremely unfortunate, and poor, he wanted to go to America but no one would let him. His masterpiece has no bitterness nor resentment. Totally the opposite: Cervantes triumphs over his wounds. Cervantes believes in love, a love of life and an love of fellow human beings. Cervantes puts himself in the place of others. His work exudes empathy for others.
His method is compassionate irony, a double perspective of reality. There is neither derision nor cruel satire but great piety for the human being.
Don Quixote's epitaph:
"Though he lived like a madman,
At least he died like a wise man."
This is my homage to prof. R. Lida and prof. J. Marichal who made me a "cervantino" forever. Credit where credit is due.
Before I finish, let me give the merit of most of my comments about Don Quixote to my dear professor Raimundo Lida, the greatest maestro and wisest Argentinean that I ever met. I took his yearly course of Don Quixote 40 years ago at Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow. And to my dear professor Juan Marichal, for his course "Humanities 55" on Spanish Literature at Harvard. They opened my eyes. Credit where credit is due.
A founding work of modern Western Literature
Don Quixote (Vol. 1 in 1605 and Vol. 2 in 1615) has been the inspiration for many authors. Hundreds of adaptations in drama, novels, music, opera, cinema, paintings, illustrations, sculptures, etc.
Cervantes has inspired a Shakespeare's lost play (Cardenio, 1613), Henry Purcell, Tennessee Williams, Gustave Flaubert, Unamuno, Franz Kafka, Chesterton, Graham Green, Paul Auster, Salman Rushdie, Mendelson, Richard Strauss, Manuel de Falla, Doré, Picasso, Dalí, Alexander Dumas, Mark Twain, Arthur Schopenhauer, Benjamin Franklin, Picasso, Dalí, etc. Some critics have said:
"All fiction is a variation on the theme of Don Quixote."
Among all these authors I would like to end this talk with the writing of great Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Dostoyevsky said about Don Quixote:
"In all the world there is not a work of fiction more profound and deep as this. Up to now it represents the most supreme and maximum expression of human thought, the most bitter irony that a man can formulate…
"…A presentation of Quixote in the final judgement would serve to absolve all of Humanity. "
Cervantes said: "Each man is the son of himself, of his works". This is a great affirmation of freedom.
To be or not to be a Cervantino (a fan of Cervantes)
Why not?
Thank you very much.


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Facebook fined 1.2 million euros by Spanish data watchdog
Facebook has been fined 1.2 million euros ($1.4 million) for allegedly collecting personal information from users in Spain that could then be used for advertising, the national data protection watchdog said on Monday.
The fine stemmed from an investigation into the social network company conducted alongside similar probes in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, the AEPD authority said.
The 1.2 million euro fine is a fraction of Facebook's quarterly revenue of about $8 billion and stock market capitalization of around $435 billion.
AEPD said it found three cases in which Facebook had collected details such as the gender, religious beliefs, personal tastes and browsing history of its millions of Spanish users without informing them how such information would be used.
Facebook did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
According to the AEPD, the tech giant did not sufficiently inform users about how it would use data collected on third-party websites, and did not obtain consent to use it.
"Facebook's privacy policy contains generic and unclear terms," the authority said in a statement.
"The social network uses specifically protected data for advertising, among other purposes, without obtaining users' express consent as data protection law demands, a serious infringement."
Using cookies, Facebook also collects data from people who do not have an account on the social network but navigate other pages containing a "like" button, AEPD said.
Facebook users' activity can also be tracked on third-party sites, and the information collected added to what is already associated with a Facebook account, AEPD said.
It said it also found evidence the network kept information for more than 17 months after users closed their accounts.(Reuters)


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Five Myths About the Cloud – Debunked!
avatarcsstg2023-01-07T07:29:14+00:00It's human nature to be wary of something new, something different – something that seems too good to be true. Especially when it comes to your precious business dollars. After all, that business is your baby and you wouldn't throw that baby on any old bandwagon.
The cloud is only a fad, right? Not even close. Cloud services are here to stay and are constantly evolving. Cloud computing – in the 10 short years since its inception – has gone from a clever idea and morphed into a business-critical core technology. A Forbes study launched at the end of 2017 projected that cloud computing would be a $162 billion industry by 2020. And at its current compound annual growth rate of 19%, Forbes is right on the money. They also reported that 74% of IT CFOs attribute most of their most measurable growth impact to cloud services.
So what is the cloud exactly? At its intrinsic level, the cloud is a collection of computers, servers, and databases that are connected together in a way that users can lease access to share their combined power. Cloud computing is scalable so that buyers can choose to increase or decrease the amount of computing power they need. It's a set of very complex infrastructure technologies that keeps your data safe and secure.
Of course, not everyone buys into something just because the rest of the crowd has. The cloud and its services still has some mystery surrounding it. We're going to put to bed some of those myths and show you how to get the most out of moving to the cloud, angst-free.
Myth #1: Data isn't secure in the cloud.
The Truth: The cloud's security architecture is multi-layered, and there are multiple safeguards against cyber attacks. Deterrent and preventative controls harden your network against threats and require strong end user authentication. Detective controls ensure that the system is monitored 24/7/365 and respond appropriately if a threat is suspected. Corrective controls manage the damage should a data breach occur. All of these things work in unison to protect your sensitive information and intellectual property, especially where federal compliance regulations are an issue.
Myth #2: The cloud is just a passing trend.
The Truth: According to research and analyst juggernaut Forrester, over 50% of enterprises across every industry worldwide will be using a public cloud platform by the end of 2018. Cloud computing's impact is global, and has permeated companies of all sizes across all industries and geographies.
Myth #3: Migrating to the cloud is expensive.
The Truth: Given the breakneck speed of cloud growth and accessibility, it's become easier, faster and less expensive for software developers to roll out applications in the cloud as compared to traditional onsite platform development. That cost savings gets passed on to users. You don't have to buy hardware until you need it, and you don't have to plan for peak usage, since most traditional servers are only used at 15% of their capacity.
Myth #4: We don't need the cloud. Our servers and network are just fine.
The Truth: Until you outgrow them, and then they become legacy hardware. If you want to future-proof your business and ensure any kind of longevity in this economy, then you need to take advantage of cloud computing. The cloud gives you a flexible computing environment that greatly ramps up your productivity, streamlines efficiency and promotes real-time collaboration no matter where your staff is.
Myth #5: Migration takes too long – we can't afford the downtime.
The Truth: To get the most out of your cloud services, you need to partner up with a managed IT services provider (MSP). With an MSP there is very little to no downtime for data migration. Not sure which cloud computing services are right for your company's needs? An MSP team of experts will evaluate your servers and network and consult with you to come up with the perfect plan for cloud migration minus the worry. Seamless implementation without the hassle.
That's where we come in. Give us a call and we'll help you take that leap into the future. Come join us in the cloud – life is better is up here.


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Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA)
What Is Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis?
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a group of disorders that cause arthritis (stiff, swollen, painful joints) in children. Some types are also called juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA).
Depending on the type of JIA, a child may also have problems with the eyes, skin, heart, lungs, and intestines (bowels).
Treatments can help with symptoms so children with JIA can live a full and active life. The symptoms can go away for a time (called remission). In some kids, the condition goes away permanently.
What Are the Types of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis?
The types of JIA and their symptoms are:
Systemic JIA
Children with systemic JIA have arthritis in 1 or more joints. They also have a fever and rash that come and go. They may have swollen and problems with the heart, lungs, and blood.
Polyarticular JIA
A child with polyarticular JIA has arthritis in 5 or more joints in the first 6 months of disease. They also might have inflammation inside the eye (called uveitis) and other problems.
Oligoarticular JIA
Children with oligoarticular JIA have arthritis in fewer than 5 joints in the first 6 months of the disease. In some children, more joints become affected after that. They may also have .
Enthesitis-Related JIA
Children with enthesitis-related JIA have enthesitis (inflammation where tendons and ligaments connect to bone) and arthritis. They may also have uveitis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Psoriatic JIA
Psoriatic JIA affects children who also have psoriasis (a skin disorder where thick, red plaques grow on the skin) or a close relative with psoriasis. They may also have uveitis, swelling of fingers and toes, and changes in their nails.
Undifferentiated JIA
Undifferentiated JIA is when someone's symptoms don't fit into any of the above types or fall into more than one of those types.
What Causes Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis?
JIA is an autoimmune disease. This means that the body's immune system, which normally attacks germs, mistakenly attacks the joints. This causes inflammation (swelling and irritation) in the joints and other problems.
Doctors don't know exactly why kids and teens get JIA. "Idiopathic" means "from an unknown cause." It can run in families but often does not. It's likely due to a combination of:
- genetic (inherited) causes
- the way the immune system responds to infection and illness
- a trigger such as an infection
How Is Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Diagnosed?
To diagnose the different types of JIA, doctors:
- ask about symptoms
- do an exam
- ask whether other family members have had similar problems
- do X-rays or other imaging studies to look inside the joints
- order blood tests to check for:
- anemia or other blood problems
- inflammation in the body
- markers for some types of arthritis or autoimmune illnesses
Sometimes, an orthopedic surgeon (bone doctor) takes samples of joint fluid or synovium (the lining of the joints). The sample is sent to the lab for testing.
How Is Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Treated?
Systemic JIA is treated by a care team that includes:
- a rheumatologist (for problems with joints and connective tissue)
- a primary care doctor (such as a pediatrician or family medicine doctor)
- a physical therapist
Kids with uveitis also get care from an ophthalmologist (eye doctor). Treatment goals are to ease pain and inflammation, improve strength and flexibility, and prevent joint damage. Treatment usually includes medicines to ease inflammation and physical therapy.
Sometimes surgery is needed for damaged joints.
How Can Parents Help?
JIA is a lifelong disease, but treatments can help ease pain, keep kids active, and prevent long-term joint damage. To help your child:
- Make sure your child takes all medicines exactly as directed.
- Work with your child's physical therapist to develop a regular exercise program. This will help keep your child's muscles strong and flexible.
- Learn about JIA with your child. Your care team is a great resource. You can also find information and support online at:


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Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the Separatists, also known as the "Saints", fleeing from religious persecution by King James of Great Britain. They traveled aboard the Mayflower in 1620 along with adventurers, tradesmen, and servants, most of whom were referred to as "Strangers".
The Mayflower Compact was signed aboard ship on November 11, 1620 by most adult men (but not by most crew and adult male servants). The Pilgrims used the Julian Calendar, also known as Old Style dates, which, at that time, was ten days behind the Gregorian Calendar. Signing the covenant were 41 of the ship's 101 passengers, while the Mayflower was anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor within the hook at the northern tip of Cape Cod.
Mayflower Landing 1620 |
The Mayflower was the ship that in 1620 transported 102 English Pilgrims, including a core group of Separatists, to New England. Their story is one of travail and survival in a harsh New World environment.
The movement which led to the formation of the Pilgrim Church began in the Manor House at Scrooby, about 1605-6, under the ministrations of Richard Clyfton and John Robinson, and in the winter of 1607-8 an unsuccessful attempt was made by the members to reach Holland from Boston, in Lincolnshire. During the spring of 1608, they succeeded in making their escape and reached Amsterdam in safety. Among the names of those mentioned as being associated with William Bradford at this time or soon after were Elder William Brewster, William White, Isaac Allerton, Samuel Fuller, John Carver, Miles Standish, Stephen Tracy and a few others. Davis in his "Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth " says: "It is fair to presume that the Pilgrim community in Leyden was made up of members representing all the different classes of English life, outside of the circles of noble families, bound together by a common religious faith regardless of those differences in education and culture and social standing, which were insignificant indeed in comparison with their real bond of union. It was doubtless this disregard of social distinctions, forced on them by the necessities of their situation, which planted in their hearts that democratic seed, which at a later day germinated and grew in the soil of New England. It was the life of labor, too, led by them in Holland, which hardened their hands for the duties and hardships of a life in the wilderness, and which developed in their natures those capacities for practical, economical and thrifty work, without which their attempt at colonization would have been a failure."
Departure For America.
By the 11th of June everything was in readiness. Those of the Leyden company who were going to New England had sold their estates, putting their money into the common stock; the agents of the company in England had hired the Speedwell of sixty tons, and sent her to Delfthaven, to convey the colonists to Southampton, and the Mayflower of one hundred and eighty tons, had been engaged to meet them at that place, and join her consort for the voyage. "On the 31st of July" says Bradford "they left the goodly and pleasant citie which had been their resting place near 12 years; but they knew they were pilgrims and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heaven, their dearest countrie and quieted their spirits."
On or about the first of August 1620, they set sail in the Speedwell from Delfthaven, and on the 15th both the Mayflower and Speed well, with one hundred and twenty passengers on board some of whom were for the first time joining the company; sailed from Southampton. On the 23rd they put into Dartmouth, with the Speedwell leaking, and on the 31st sailed again. Further disaster to the Speedwell obliged a return to Plymouth, where the Speedwell was abandoned, and eighteen passengers, including Robert Cushman, gave up the voyage. On the 16th of September, a final departure from Plymouth took place and on the 21st of November, after a passage of sixty-six days, the Mayflower dropped anchor in Cape Cod harbor. "Like the down of the thistle they were wafted across the sea, and the seed they bore of popular government and religious freedom was planted on these western shores."
Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall, 1882 at Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA |
On the eleventh day of December (old style), the exploring party of Pilgrims who had left their ship, the Mayflower, in Cape Cod harbor, landed at Plymouth where they found "a place (as they supposed) fitt for the situation; at least it was ye best they could find and and ye season and their presente necessities made them glad to accept of it. So they returned to their shippe again with this news to ye rest of their people, which did much comforte their harts."
On the 26th of December the Mayflower dropped her anchor in the harbor of Plymouth.
Landing Of The Pilgrims.
When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth they were not only outside of the limits of their patent, on a territory of a company from which they had received no grant, but they had settled themselves where the natives of the soil might dispute their right of occupation. They exercised tact, wisdom and good judgment in their dealings with the natives and thus secured their friendship. "By the gift from Massasoit," says Davis, "the Pilgrims, without charter from the King, or patent from the Northern Virginia Company, obtained a foothold and possession, which under a charter or patent alone would have been usurpation and robbery." A patent, however, was necessary to establish their rightful claim, and the Mayflower carried the news to England of the place of their landing, as well as an application to the Northern Virginia Company, for a suitable grant. After the Pilgrims sailed from England, the Northern or Plymouth Company secured a new charter from the King, dated the 5th of November 1620.
The first civil act of the Pilgrims after their arrival in Cape Cod Harbor, was to draw up a compact or " combination," as it is called by Bradford, which was signed by the male members of the company, and became the foundation on which the structure of our government has been built. Under date of Nov. 21st, Mourt's Relation states that
"this day, before we came to harbour, observing some not well affected to unity and concord, but gave some appearances of faction, it was thought good there should be an association and agreement, that we should combine together in one body, and to submit to such government and governor as we should, by common consent, agree to make and choose, and set our hands to this that follows, word for word."
On the 11th day of November, 1620 (old style), there was drawn on the lid of a chest on board of the Mayflower, at Cape-Cod, and signed by forty-one of the principal men of the first band of Pilgrims, a platform of government known as the Compact, and which gave to these people the claim of being the first " Signers" of this important instrument. The following is the full text of the Compact:
Agreement Between the Settlers at New Plymouth 1620
Mayflower Compact Manuscript from the State Library of Massachusetts |
IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience.
IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.
Mr. John Carver,
Mr. William Bradford,
Mr Edward Winslow,
Mr. William Brewster.
Isaac Allerton,
Myles Standish,
John Alden,
John Turner,
Francis Eaton,
James Chilton,
John Craxton,
John Billington,
Joses Fletcher,
John Goodman,
Mr. Samuel Fuller,
Mr. Christopher Martin,
Mr. William Mullins,
Mr. William White,
Mr. Richard Warren,
John Howland,
Mr. Steven Hopkins,
Digery Priest,
Thomas Williams,
Gilbert Winslow,
Edmund Margesson,
Peter Brown,
Richard Britteridge
George Soule,
Edward Tilly,
John Tilly,
Francis Cooke,
Thomas Rogers,
Thomas Tinker,
John Ridgdale
Edward Fuller,
Richard Clark,
Richard Gardiner,
Mr. John Allerton,
Thomas English,
Edward Doten,
Edward Liester.
On the same day John Carver was confirmed in the office of Governor. He had already been chosen Governor on board the Mayflower, and his confirmation was doubtless a mere form rendered necessary by the adoption of a constitution of government under which his official duties were to be performed. "In the cabin of the Mayflower, then" says Davis, " not only was the foundation stone of republican institutions on this continent laid, but the first New England town-meeting was held and the first elective officers chosen by the will of a majority." On the 27th of February the first recorded meeting on land was held in the common house " for appointing military orders," and Miles Standish was chosen captain.
727-771-1776 | Exhibit Inquiries
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Dr. Naomi and Stanley Yavneh Klos, Principals
By: Stanley Yavneh Klos
Edited By: Naomi Yavneh Klos, Ph.D.
Capitals of the United States and Colonies of America
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New York City
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Washington DC
November 17,1800 to Present
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Middle and High School Curriculum Supplement
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Students and Teachers of US History this is a video of Stanley and Christopher Klos presenting America's Four United Republics Curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. The December 2015 video was an impromptu capture by a member of the audience of Penn students, professors and guests that numbered about 200. - Click Here for more information
U.S. Dollar Presidential Coin Mr. Klos vs Secretary Paulson - Click Here |


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Award Nominations Now Open for XPLOR19
Recognitions to include Application, Technology, as well as Lifetime Achievement Awards
Lutz, FL — December 6, 2018: Xplor International today issued their annual call for nominations to be presented at their 2019 Annual Conference, XPLOR19, April 23-25 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The deadline for nominations is January 22, 2019. For more information on the annual Xplor awards, or to nominate a company or individual, please visit http://www.cvent.com/d/jbqcvk.
Tweet this: @Xplor_Int Issues Annual Call for #Award Nominations. Nominate a deserving individual or company in one of 4 categories to be awarded at #XPLOR19 in Las Vegas, April 23-25 http://bit.ly/2zKvaUC
Application of the Year Award
The Application of the Year Award is presented to an individual, a company or an organization to recognize outstanding achievement in the imaginative application of current technology and/or unique implementation of existing document and communication systems. This award is open to members and non-members.
Technology of the Year Award
The Technology of the Year Award honors an individual, company or organization that has conceived and developed an original concept leading to a significant advancement in the industry. This can be a new program, product or technology that notably enhances the capabilities of document and communication systems. This award is open to members and non-members.
The Brian Platte Lifetime Achievement Award
Established in 2007, this award is given to an individual whose efforts and contributions have significantly changed the course and development of the digital document and customer communications industry. This award is open to members and non-members.
Xplorer of the Year
For over 20 years, Xplor International has honored an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the association. The Xplorer of the Year honors significant service to the association, dedication to the Xplor mission, and notable achievement promoting the interest of the electronic document systems industry. Only current members of Xplor International, who are not on the Association Board of Directors, are eligible.
If you have any questions on the award nominations, please contact Xplor Headquarters at +1-813-949-6171 or via email at firstname.lastname@example.com. For more information in regards to XPLOR19, please visit www.xplor.org/XPLOR19. Vendors interested in being a sponsor or exhibitor can contact Xplor HQ, at +1-813-949-6170 or via email at firstname.lastname@example.com.
About Xplor International
Xplor International is a not-for-profit association that provides thought leadership to the customer communications industry. As a community Xplor provides advocacy, education, training, mentoring and networking opportunities.
Our members are decision makers and recommenders who are involved in the conception, design, implementation production and delivery of multi-channel client, member and customer communications.
Xplor's mission is to enhance organizational success and advance the careers of our members by providing research, publications, industry certification, professional development, web-based events, and conference programming. Xplor International has its worldwide headquarters in Lutz, Florida, with affiliated offices around the world. Further information is available at www.xplor.org.
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It's tapped: Germany's Oktoberfest opens after 2-year hiatus
MUNICH (AP) — The beer is flowing at Munich's world-famous Oktoberfest for the first time since 2019.
With three knocks of a hammer and the traditional cry of "O'zapft is" — "It's tapped" — Mayor Dieter Reiter inserted the tap in the first keg at noon on Saturday, officially opening the festivities after a two-year break forced by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Oktoberfest has typically drawn about 6 million visitors every year to packed festival grounds in Bavaria's capital, The event did not take place in 2020 and 2021 as authorities grappled with the unpredictable development of COVID-19 infections and restrictions.
Those worries were put aside this year. The city announced in late April that Oktoberfest would go ahead, and Reiter said Saturday that "it was a good decision."
"I'm glad that we can finally celebrate together," Bavarian governor Markus Soeder said at the opening ceremony. "There are many who say, 'Can we, can we not? Is it appropriate now?' I just want to say one thing: We have two or three difficult years behind us, no one knows exactly what this winter will be like, and we need joie de vivre and strength."
Three hours before Reiter tapped the first keg, revelers rushed to secure seats in the huge beer tents as the gates to the festival opened.
They will need significantly deeper pockets than at the last Oktoberfest, with brewers and visitors facing pressure from inflation.
A 1-liter (2-pint) mug of beer costs between 12.60 and 13.80 euros (dollars) this year, which is an increase of about 15% compared with 2019, according to the festival's official homepage.
This year's Oktoberfest, the 187th edition of the event, runs through Oct. 3.
Soeder told the daily Muenchner Merkur newspaper in comments published earlier Saturday that the number of coronavirus infections would probably rise following the Oktoberfest but "at the same time, thankfully, we aren't measuring an undue strain on hospitals anywhere."
"That speaks for us being in new phase of corona," he said, adding that authorities would try to protect vulnerable people but not prevent celebrations.


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Michael Bierut on the concept of bershon,
Michael Bierut on the concept of bershon, defined by Sarah Brown thusly:
The spirit of bershon is pretty much how you feel when you're 13 and your parents make you wear a Christmas sweatshirt and then pose for a family picture, and you could not possibly summon one more ounce of disgust, but you're also way too cool to really even DEAL with it, so you just make this face like you smelled something bad and sort of roll your eyes and seethe in a put-out manner. Kelly Taylor from Beverly Hills, 90210 is the patron saint of bershon, as her face, like most other teenagers', was permanently frozen in this expression.
Bierut notes that Jennifer Grey's performance in Ferris Bueller embodies the spirit of bershon, but Molly Ringwald does bershon pretty well in Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club.


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Acapulco Panels by GreenSmart Dekor- Set of 4
Size Guide:
Each Pack Contains FOUR - 19.68 inch x 19.68 inch Panels
GreenSmart Dekor artificial Acapulco panels provide a realistic look and feel without all work of live plants. The lifelike leaves create a natural and calming environment. Perfect for building a living wall, hedge, privacy fence, disguising unsightly areas or as a backdrop for special events such as weddings. The panels can be used indoors or outdoors. Artificial foliage panels work in a modular system and are easy to install and can be configured in multiple ways.
- UV protection
- One pack includes Four 19.68" x 19.68" panels (coverers 10.76 square feet)
- Cuts down on noise pollution
- Maintenance free
- Weather resistant
- Drought resistant
- Unattractive to deer, rabbits, or other outdoor pests
- Suitable for both residential and commercial applications
Plant Variety: Acapulco
Faux Floral Material: PE
Protective Qualities: Weather-resistant
Care and Cleaning: Clean with water when in outdoor / dust for indoors
Dimensions: 1.500 inches H x 20.000 inches W x 20.000 inches D
Battery: no battery used:
Assembly Details: assembly required
Home Accessory Placement: Wall
Origin: Imported