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Hurrah's Nest
Play it again, schmuck.
Dear Word Detective: Could you tell me anything about the saying "this room looks like a hoorah's nest with the hoorah gone," or something like that? — Birdy.
You know what's scary? When someone asks you a question about a phrase, and you know that you've heard the phrase before, but you can't remember any of the details. So you do what any normal earthling would do and plug it into Google (motto: "We Have Replaced Your Brain. Why Fight It?"), and hit Search. And then the first result that pops up is a column you wrote about the phrase many years ago, followed by a bunch of people quoting what you wrote. I have the horrible feeling that if I were to look up "feeb" in the dictionary there'd be a picture of me.
The phrase you've encountered is "hurrah's nest," and it means something in a state of great disorder or raucous confusion, whether it's a bedroom in chaos or a crowd rioting in the street. "Hurrah's nest" first appeared in the US, in the early 19th century ("Everything was pitched about in grand confusion. There was a complete hurrah's nest," 1840). The question, of course, is what a "hurrah" might be, and why its nest is always such a mess.
The "hurrah" part of the phrase is, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the same "hurrah" we shout when our team wins, an exclamation of excitement, approval and joy at victory. (The form "hooray" is perhaps more common today, but it's the same word.) "Hurrah" can also be used as a noun to mean a great hubbub or fanfare, such as greets a rock star stepping on stage. It can also, however, mean a scene of great confusion or disorder.
"Hurrah" dates back to the late 17th century, and although most exclamations of joy, anger, pain and surprise (such as "Ouch!" or "Hey!") have no intrinsic meaning, "hurrah" may actually have a bit of semantic history to it. We know that "hurrah" is a modification of the exclamation "huzzah," itself about a century older. "Hurrah" was said to be a favored battle cry of soldiers in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), and "huzzah" was apparently popular among sailors of the period. Both of these words may have been strongly influenced by the Middle High German words "hurr" and "hurra," cries meaning "move forward" or "hurry," used by hunters pursuing game as well as by soldiers attacking the enemy. There is also some evidence that "huzzah" is related to the Scots word "heize," meaning "lift or hoist," and was originally used as an exhortation to sailors hoisting sails.
You'll notice the absence of anything in that history likely to build itself a nest, but there's a simple explanation for "hurrah's nest." Given the use of "hurrah" to mean "a state of complete confusion," it's a short but playful leap to imagine a "hurrah" as some sort of great, messy animal with terrible housekeeping skills. Thus the mess left behind by a loud and chaotic "hurrah" might be said to be a "hurrah's nest."
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Fiamma Nirenstein..
Gatestone Institute..
18 December '13..
The problem of the Jews today, the world over, is not anti-Semitism but a new branch of it: "Israelophobia." The most productive fight for world Jewry and its allies at the moment would be not against anti-Semitism, even though Israelophobia is a part of it, but against Israelopbia itself.
The observances that took place in Europe to commemorate Kristallnacht, which took place on November 9, 1938, were abundant: no Jew could be unhappy about the surrounding sympathy, the public proclamation of the need to remember, the absolute rejection of any anti-Semitism, and even more, the rejection of any genocidal fervor against the Jews. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of many resolute speakers, said that the Germans must show their "strength of character, and promise that anti-Semitism will not be tolerated in any form." It was a point of view echoed by all European leaders, and it was nice to hear.
Unfortunately, however, these words are only a cheap way to address the problem. They do not keep in check all the other promises -- those to destroy the Jewish world, starting with Israel. If the fight against anti-Semitism were actually to be fought from memory and history, many programs, such as Holocaust studies in schools, movies on TV, trips to Auschwitz, interfaith dialogue, and the historical shame of racial laws would have had a deeper resonance in the European soul.
Even Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Hosseini Khamenei, occasionally embraces some local Jew and explains that he has nothing against Jews. In the Islamic world the commitment to kill Jews has a special religious character, as can be seen from the Hamas Charter -- in which Jews are accused of having caused all wars, and promises are made to kill them all, one by one, down to the last Jew -- as well as other positions taken by Hamas's parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood. In other countries, such as Turkey, the discourse is different: the death sentence is first on Israel, and only secondarily on Jews. Either way, hatred of Israel, or Israelophobia, seems a fundamental element of Islamic ideology today, but does not stop just at that.
The term Israelophobia seems to stem from a prejudice and irrational hatred of Israel. The word was used for the first time, as far as I know, by Richard Prasquier, President of CRIF (the umbrella organization of the Jewish communities in France), and was presumably the obverse of "Islamophobia," a term used to define a huge cultural prejudice with a racist character towards the religion of the Prophet, while armies of human rights defenders stand guard against any element of discrimination against people of the Islamic faith.
"Israelophobia," on the other hand, is steeped in centuries of anti-Semitic stereotypes, but it has now taken on an intense life of its own, often rich in contemporary fabrications -- for example, that historically Jews have never lived in Jerusalem; that IDF soldiers harvest the organs of Palestinians; that the "wall of separation," built to keep out terrorists, is a form of apartheid -- and through these falsehoods gushes forth a hatred for Jews. Israelophobia is a block of hatred crystallized around a piece of land, around an idea. Anti-Zionism today, from Malmö to Qom, arises and multiplies entirely from prejudice against Israel: many of its most vicious critics have never even set foot in the state.
These attacks on Israel are all too often made up of devastating classical anti-Semitic projections, lies and distortions to delegitimize Israel -- the blood libel that Jews kill non-Jewish children to use their blood to bake matzah; bottomless greed; indifference, and savage cruelty toward anyone who is not Jewish. Even legitimate geopolitical decisions -- such as the right to self-defense, or not being expected to hold territory in perpetuity until such time as one's sworn enemies might perhaps decide not to threaten annihilation, with no cost for the delay; or ignoring other countries accused of "occupation," such as Turkey in Cyprus, Pakistan in Kashmir or China in Tibet, while singling out only Israel for opprobrium. These accusations are often translated not just into judgments against Israel, but then go viral against any Jew.
Such falsehoods have not only had some success; they have become mainstream. There is no protest against them from political parties, with few exceptions, or most cultural groups. Moreover, countering these lies or honoring historical truths count for nothing: facts just disappear. Thus, while political correctness does not allow for outright anti-Semitism -- all the TV presenters are ready to say a kind word to the Jews as a "different religion," and that they are appreciated as a "minority" -- anti-Israelism is not only on the rise; it is fashionable and snobbish. To say "that shitty little country," as the French ambassador to London, Daniel Bernard, did, is commonplace.
As Daniel Schwammenthal has written in the Wall Street Journal, before there was anti-Semitism without Jews; now there is anti-Semitism without anti-Semites. No one -- not even most of the Jewish leadership -- will publicly ascribe anti-Semitism to anyone except possibly the occasional neo-Nazi group. While vows are always made to fight anti-Semitism, its existence is not even admitted where it is found in its most frequent and obvious forms: among university and media "intellectuals;" in certain NGOs; in international institutions such as the United Nations and its offshoots; within the European Union; in "liberal" associations ostensibly promoting human rights -- and both as a way of life, as well as to reinforce identity, in the Islamic world. Recently, during a dinner with a high level diplomat, while discussing the increasing anti-Semitism in Europe, he responded with absolute amazement. "I have never met an anti-Semite in my life," he and his wife assured me; "I am sure that many of my closest friends would say the same thing: these episodes are sporadic, done by extremist groups, especially on the far right." That is not, however, the case.
No one, either on the left or right, believes Israelophobia to be a violation of human rights, or defends the Jewish people from this all-encompassing prejudice that covers the history and character of the Jewish people with lies. An attack on Israel is seen, rather, as a legitimate critique of a sovereign country; the revival of anti-Semitism (which is what it is) against the Jewish people is therefore considered not important.
European Jews, and even a large number of American Jews -- possibly hoping to avoid being the target of such a chill, and possibly hoping to join the bandwagon to fit in better with their non-Jewish neighbors -- have sidestepped a position of total support for Israel, and instead appear reticent and opportunistic. At a meeting with the Italian Foreign Minister shortly after Italy's unilateral recognition of Palestine at the UN, none of the representatives at the meeting of international Jewish leaders, apart from this author, dared to ask for an account of that event.
Any obvious lie can be told about Israel; it will always find a huge echo of consent. Reality and facts are always removed. In his latest book, The Devil That Never Dies: The Rise and Threat of Global Antisemitism, Daniel Goldhagen lists slanderous remarks that others have made about Israel, such as: Israel is a source of disorder for the neighboring countries; the cause of the dictatorships in the Middle East; the greatest threat to world peace; the Nazis of our time; it inspired the war against Iraq, it controls U.S. policy; it foments hatred toward the Americans and the West; it perpetrates genocide against the Palestinians; it wants to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque; it murders Palestinian children; it poisons wells and people, and so forth ...Israel's policy of sexual non-discrimination was called "pinkwashing," on the grounds that the attitude of respect toward gays, as opposed to the persecution of them in Muslim countries, is purely for propaganda purposes.
Much work has also been done to deconstruct the birthright of the Jews in Israel, claiming that their relationship to the land is non-existent, distant or inconstant. Another notion with which Israelophobia is packed is "illegal," often referring to the occupation of territories, but also to the very existence of a country that was never accepted by its neighbors, since day one, when five Arab armies attacked it in the hope of stamping it out before it could even start.
Of all the Asian or African democracies, according to Goldhagen, Israel is the most solid and the oldest; and, as the 57th member nation of the UN -- before Spain, Italy, Germany --- not a moment has passed without its existence being threatened by the terrorism and the religious and tribal hatred of the Muslim world, accompanied often by Europe.
In defending itself, Israel has lost 30,000 men, proportionally equivalent to 1.18 million Americans. It has lost 4,000 people to terrorism, the equivalent of 157,000 Americans. When, after yet another defensive war, Israel ended up pushing back Jordan and capturing the West Bank, which Jordan had occupied, it immediately offered to return the land -- only to have the offer rejected by the Arab League in the form of the three "Nos" of Khartoum: "No peace, no recognition, no negotiation."
When Israel made peace with Egypt, it had no problem returning the Sinai Peninsula, down to the last inch of land. But the responsibility for the difficulties of maintaining the peace with Egypt is always attributed only to Israel, which has never said or done anything that even vaguely resembles the aggression of its neighbors. It is nevertheless accused of the worst possible crimes and moral abjection -- charges which countries such as South Africa, for example, endorse without even bothering to verify whether or not they are true, claiming Israel is a country where apartheid is practiced, and forbidding government ministers to travel there. It does not matter if its democratic institutions and human rights record receive the highest ratings from Freedom House. It is mystifying that the UN recently condemned Israel for abuses in the Golan Heights, when in fact Israel accepts wounded Syrians and treats them freely in hospitals, while their own leader, Bashar Assad, tears them to pieces.
The consequence of Israelophobia is, not surprisingly, that anti-Semitism linked to Israel is on the increase. According to a study by the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 63% of Poles and 48% of Germans think "Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians." Meanwhile, 41% of the British and 42% of the Hungarians think the same thing, as well as 38% of Italians. In the survey, 55% percent of Poles and 36% of Germans responded: "Considering Israel's policy, I can understand why people do not like Israel." Respondents in other countries studied agree with this at percentages that range from 30-40%. According to a survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), 48% of European Jews interviewed have heard or read the accusation that "Israelis behave towards the Palestinians as the Nazis did to the Jews." In Italy, as in Belgium and France, 60% percent reported the same.
The mainstream "narrative," as it Is now called, although false, claims there was a "historic Palestine," which the perfidious Jewish "settlers" occupied, and from which they expelled the suffering population; yet this "narrative" is the basis of the hatred that leads to the toxic myths of the apartheid wall, the demolition of houses (would London allow houses built in Hyde Park; or Paris in the Bois de Bologne, or Berlin in the Tiergarten?); the persecution of the Palestinians and their children beaten and killed; the Zionist jailer locking Gaza in a cage; and, conversely, the glorification of terrorists, the widespread justification of attacks and missiles rained on Israel; the corrupt use of European public funds; the rejection of the very existence of a state for the Jewish people despite the acceptance of several self-declared Islamic "Republics," such as Pakistan and Iran; and Israel as considered an archeological remnant of colonialism, imperialism and a reincarnation of all evil forces, especially Nazism.
Daniel Schwammenthal also mentions Jack Straw, the former British Foreign Secretary, who last month in the House of Commons, said that AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby in America, "has made its unlimited funds one of the greatest obstacles to peace between Israelis and Palestinians" -- again a false statement; but, says Schwammenthal, the notion that that a large group of Americans can support Israel must be, to Straw, so incredible that consequences at once impossible and disastrous are ascribed to it. What actually does seem incredible that people such as the Greek composer Michael Theodorakis or José Saramago, a Portuguese writer who compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians to the Nazis' treatment of Jews at Auschwitz, and so many other intellectuals and notables, would be fully recruited for the Israelophobic battle.
In other incredible events, when, in Germany, on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, Badische Zeitung published a cartoon by Horst Haitzinger in which a snail with the head of a dove goes to the peace talks with Iran, in a classic case of anti-Semitic slurs in which Jews are cast as poisoners, saboteurs and warmongers, Israel's Prime Minister,Binyamin Netanyahu is shown on the phone saying, "I need poison for doves and snails."
There seem three main reasons why Israelophobia exists:
*The worldwide spread of a Muslim presence never before seen, including its globalization on the Internet, its proliferation of anti-Israel propaganda, and its power in institutions.*The spread of the culture of "human rights," in which anyone who appears to be an underdog must be "good," and anyone who appears not to be an underdog or victim must therefore be "bad."*The current government of the United States of America.
The current U.S. Administration has sincerely promoted a positive relationship between America and Islam that, in addition to being politically questionable, makes room in the world for the most brutal anti-Semitism. The decline of American influence has left a vacuum that has been filled by all kinds of alternatives to democracy - ideological and otherwise, from the al-Nusra Front to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as to Russia, China and Afghanistan.
The current Administration probably did not foresee this disastrous side effect, but it seems clear is that in designing the policy that prohibited the use of the word "jihad" in official U.S. documents, no one stopped to think about how many times that term has been used to explain terrorism against, for example, Israel. That point apparently does not strike anyone there as relevant to the president's international policies. Hatred toward the Jewish state, even in its most extreme forms, was apparently not regarded as having any political significance, and therefore has not, in recent years, been subjected to any ideological or moral sanction.
As for the relationship with Iran, it is clear that President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are leading the world towards acceptance of a military nuclear program for a country that has repeatedly spoken out in public about genocidal intentions. The U.S. negotiators seem to have easily swallowed a deal that destroyed any leverage for future negotiations; that had every benefit for Iran and effectively no benefits for the West; that assisted Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons instead of stopping enrichment, in accordance with six UN resolutions; that contained no improvements in human rights for Iran's citizens; and did not address Iran's threats, illegal under the UN Charter, to obliterate a fellow member-state, Israel.
Continual threats against Israel have also been coming from the Sunni world. In Egypt, Mohamed Badie, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said, "We will continue to wave the flag of jihad against the Jews, our first and greatest enemies." Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi stated, "Allah has imposed upon the Jews a continuing punishment for their corruption. The last was led by Hitler. There is no dialogue with them other than the sword and the gun. We pray to Allah to kill every last one of them." New, is the complete lack of reaction to these positions.
Islamic cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, threatens Jews on his popular Al-Jazeera TV show. (Image source: memritv.org) |
No one in it has ever told the Palestinians that it is "not helpful" to repeat every day, especially during negotiations, that Israel is a murderous, racist, genocidal country -- a charge most recently leveled by Sa'eb Erekat, the head negotiator of the Palestinian delegation.
In a word, by seeming to give Islam a free hand in exchange for nothing in return, the current U.S. Administration has allowed the most severe hostile messages, both Israelophobic and otherwise, to spread without caution. Without America standing guard, all non-Muslim countries become fresh prey for their detractors.
On human rights, ironically, the organizations purportedly supporting them have spared no weapons in attacking Israel, one of the countries most conscientious about enforcing human rights despite the almost impossible conditions of a tiny country finding itself under military, economic or diplomatic attack -- often all three -- virtually every day since its birth. The assault from human rights groups cannot have resulted from observing facts. If pure facts were observed, Israel should be at, or near, the top of any list of nations that embody human rights. Anti-Western nations, however, which form majority at the United Nations, began associating Zionism with racism in 1975 -- probably meaning "Western imperialism." The claims were then advanced, and financed, by anti-Semitic NGOs, culminating in the UN's Durban Conferences. At that point, human rights became distorted into being used as a shield behind which to escalate attacks against Israel, as well as to protect UN "peacekeepers" in Africa from the "food for sex" scandal, where they sexually abused the children they were charged to protect.
The systemic disease with respect to "anti-imperialism" arose in the history of a political wing that, at a time when communism proved to be totalitarianism, chose not to complain about it, but to fight at its side against capitalism, imperialism, and whatever else then seemed an "injustice."
The Jews, however, with their history of suffering and death, no longer correspond to the image that they, more than any other comfortable white person in the West, are ammunition for the war against "bourgeois," or middle class, society. The Marxist economic view of class warfare can be seen as "win-lose" -- meaning, if I "win," it must have been by exploiting someone else, who "lost". The capitalist economic view, on the other hand, can be seen as that of "win-win": if you win, everyone wins: the rising tide lifts all boats with it. It is this capitalist view that has catapulted societies to undreamed-of success. From the Marxist model of winners versus losers, however -- which was popular in the early 20th century until it was proven catastrophic in nations such as Russia and Cuba, where the only winners turned out to be the few men in charge -- arose the use of the issue of human rights, often as a tactical and political weapon against anyone who even looked well-off -- especially against Israel, probably as the embodiment of a nation of mostly white people who, despite so many ongoing efforts to stamp them out, were not even slowed down.
The 1960s ushered in "radical-chic" verbal aggression, still in use, whereby the world is suddenly filled with "fascists." Considered as such were Margaret Thatcher, George Bush, Silvio Berlusconi, and Ronald Reagan, followed by writers and singers -- simply because they were not communists. Thus Israel, a friend of America, but which allegedly caused suffering to the Palestinians (a poor Arab third-world Muslim population, that, although no one ever talks about it, is accustomed to fierce and authoritarian leadership toward its own people), became a "fascist," "imperialist" country: because it was not in the "correct" camp, that of the "people's democracies" -- all of them in fact dictatorships, then and now.
The lack of clear condemnation of European terrorism, rationalized in various ways -- for instance, as comrades who had made a few mistakes -- was accompanied by justifying international terrorism against Israel: from the attack at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, up to the glorification of the terrorists recently released by Israel, who received the red-carpet treatment from Mahmoud Abbas, and were rewarded by the Palestinian Authority with checks for $50,000 each, plus a monthly stipend. One of these recently released terrorists had killed a father who was driving with his little girl by his side; another had killed a survivor of the Holocaust with a pickax; and another attacked and dismembered a man who worked in Gaza in an office that provided aid to the Palestinians.
These events are a subsection of Israelophobia in a world that legislates to have a smoke-free environment, but not against child-marriages or honor killings or female circumcision, and that has never felt the need to deal with terrorism against Israel, or with the human rights to which the Israelis might be entitled.
A few months ago, Baroness Catherine Ashton fretted publicly about the state of a Palestinian prisoner who had chosen the path of a hunger strike, yet she took no position on the massacres in Syria, not even those of the Palestinians in the Yarmouk refugee camp, where many Palestinians were massacred by the Assad regime's air raids.
The Jews, meanwhile, know that by staying within the established boundary of "Never Again," they find sympathy, understanding, and protection. Israel, on the other hand, is terra incognita, where any criticism, it seems, is considered "legitimate."
But Israelophobia has nothing to do with legitimate criticism of the State of Israel: it is not based on any observation of reality. It is an obsession, the clearest expressions of which are the UN's "Zionism is Racism" resolution of 1975; the fury with which nine motions were recently passed against Israel at the UN General Assembly, which were commented on even by a translator accidentally speaking into an open microphone; and when the UN General Assembly pushed through a total of 23 similar resolutions, in all of which legitimate defense becomes the cruelty of a "racist" and murderous country.
There needs to be a strategy which considers the consequences of Israelophobia. It would encompass the history of Israel, its values, its actions, its right to defend itself -- and the verbal and physical abuse to which it is constantly subjected. It is also necessary to continue fighting anti-Semitism. Any other option will allow terrorism -- against both Jews and non-Jews -- to grow.
Link: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4100/israelophobia
Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.

subset: commoncrawl


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From France but I have lived overseas for 10 years. Back home at the moment. Got the hiking bug while living in New Zealand, then decided to hike the Te Araroa in 2014/15. I pretty much haven't stopped thruhiking since, trying to sqeeze one or two every year. A week after finnishing the TA, I started the Pilgrimage of the 88 temples in Shikoku (Japan),then over the years hiked the Bibbulmun Track (Western Australia), the Israel National Trail, the PCT, the Irish coast to coast, the GR 34 in Brittany (France), the GR 11 across the Spanish Pyrenees and the French Discovery trail (a route of my own). I also did a lot of "regular distance" hiking in France, New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, Lanzarote. Took a few hiking road trips in Japan, where I hitch from one trailhead to another over the country. That was a lot of fun.


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This is the tale that began in 2006 in my first year of beekeeping in Atlanta, GA. ...there's still so much to learn.
Welcome - Explore my Blog
I began this blog to chronicle my beekeeping experiences. I have read lots of beekeeping books, but nothing takes the place of either hands-on experience with an experienced beekeeper or good pictures of the process. I want people to have a clearer picture of what to expect in their beekeeping so I post pictures and write about my beekeeping saga here.Master Beekeeper Enjoy with me as I learn and grow as a beekeeper.
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Thursday, March 29, 2012
Swarm Capture or Swarm Catastrophe?
However, I'm going to the mountains for a couple of days and I didn't want to come back and find the trap all filled with comb and impossible to move. So tonight was the night to move them into a hive box.
For some reason I was so nervous and kept putting it off and putting it off until it was almost dark. Then I rationalized that after all, this would mean all the bees had come home.
I unscrewed the connecting four screws and found a very small swarm (a kitten - to those of you who know what I mean - not even a cat). They had begun building comb attached to the side of the swarm trap.
I spread a sheet under the nuc box I planned to put them in and shook. I hit the bottom of the flower pot onto the deck to loosen their hold on the pot walls and then dumped them into the nuc. A lot remained behind, attached to the comb.
I carefully removed the three pieces of comb and rubber banded them into a frame. Even if they don't reattach and use the comb, they can still reuse the wax. I put one frame in that was fully drawn and one that was half a frame of comb. The third had their three pre-made combs rubber banded in and the last two had starter strips.
When all was said and done, there were still a lot of bees in the comb end of the swarm trap. So I shook again but this time by accident slammed the edge of the flower pot into a pile of bees - probably killed the queen as I'm doing this in the dark. Who knows?
I brushed the little cluster you see on the side of the nuc onto a magazine and shook them onto the landing.
An hour after all of this, there are still many bees in the side turned flower pot.
Theory: I killed the queen.
Theory 2: It's a secondary swarm and the queen is a virgin and either hasn't mated or got eaten by a bird while off mating with drones so they don't have a reason to go into the hive
Theory 3: They recognized how totally klutzy I was in this process so why should they like a home I provided them?
Footnote: I moved the bees 1 1/2 hours ago. I just went out there with a flashlight and they've moved out of the flowerpot and into the hive. There are still about 20 bees hanging out but most went in which may mean there is a queen! And maybe I didn't kill her.
It's such a tiny swarm. I'm planning to leave the nuc on the top of a ladder directly under where the swarm trap was hanging until I get back and can put them somewhere permanent to live. I'll bungee cord it to the ladder so there's no chance of it falling off while I'm gone. Or maybe in the morning I'll move it to my backyard.
3 comments:
- Amy Laird5:12 PM
This sounds like quite the adventure. Being a Ga Bee keeper I was wondering if you knew where I could get a queen pretty quick. My hive seems to be queenless, and there is not brood for them to raise up a new queen. Not sure how this happened...but I think I need to get a queen in there quick and haven't found any place that has them right now.
ReplyDelete - Penny11:16 AM
Congratulations on your successful swarm trap! I tried setting up a box with comb and a pheromone lure last year and got nothing (and lost a nice swarm from one of my hives). Thanks for all the information on setting that up. Looks like it's worth the investment in those ridiculously expensive plant pots!


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We all know that Santa was born with the name Kris Kringle. But let's tell the story of how Kris Kringle is also referred as Santa Claus.
It was a blustery winter's day and a little baby was adopted by the Kringle family. On the baby crib was a name tag of Claus. No one knew what the name meant. One day while Kris Kringle was giving toys to the children, he was arrested by a mean old man named Burgermeister. Once Kris Kringle vowed that he will not pass toys out any longer, the Begermeister let him go. But Kris Kringle knew that he must change his name to avoid Burgermeister. So he took up the only other name he knew. Santa Claus.
And it stuck, Kris Kringle is now known as Santa Claus. This became quick news around the North Pole. It was on the nightly news and in the North Pole newspaper. Kris Kringle happily took on the name Santa Claus, and of course someone else had to change her name. Mrs. Kringle happily took on another name, she would now be known as Mrs. Claus.
Well the Claus family learned to love their new name. They had to change the sign on their front lawn to Santa Claus. Kris Kringle even went to city hall at the North Pole to add the name Santa Claus to his birth certificate.
Well Santa's mission in life is now clear. Santa has been carrying around this secret for years; Santa Claus was born with the ability to create joyful magic everywhere. Santa loved to help children, every time Santa would walk down the street and see a sad child, he would automatically stop and help that child, no matter what he was doing.
One day Santa had this grand idea, let's fly around the world and deliver toys to all the good boys and girls. Santa knew this was a monstrous task. So Santa gathered all of his close friends at his home. Santa also called all the managers from all the Toy factories at the North Pole. Santa described in detail to all his friends about how his magic works, Santa also described that he would travel around the world being pulled by eight reindeer. Santa also mentioned that he would like to do this every year on December 24th, so when the children wake up there will be toys under the Christmas tree.
All of his friends where elated, they all started to chant, Santa, Santa, Santa.
So it happened, On December 24th, Santa and 8 tiny reindeer took off from the North Pole with a sleigh full of toys.
Santa Claus meets Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
Well long before I was born, Santa Claus use to mount large spot lights on Dancer and Prancer's head who were always the front reindeer. The spot lights were extremely heavy and uncomfortable for Dancer and Prancer.
Well I was born years ago on a cold winters evening. I remember taking my first steps in the barn. My Mom and Dad where there to root me on. They were so proud.
As I started growing up, I was about 4 years old I noticed my nose started very slowly lighting up red. I did not know what to do. So I started to wrap it with a black cloth. One evening we were playing outside and my cloth fell off my nose, all of a sudden my nose glowed bright red and lit up the sky. I was so embarrassed and I did not know what to do. The other reindeer laughed and called me names. So I did not play with the others for a long time.
We'll Santa Claus heard about the Little Reindeer with the bright red nose. So one day Santa Claus took a walk over to Rudolph's house to go cheer him up. When he met Rudolph for the 1st time, Santa Claus was amazed of how bright Rudolph's nose really was.
Santa Claus had an idea, and so he asked. Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight.
Needless to say I was overjoyed, I was going to lead the reindeer on Christmas eve. So I was hooked up that night and flew off with all the other reindeer. The other reindeer learned to love me and accepted me even that I was a little different. Especially Dancer and Prancer, they did not have to wear those large heavy Spot lights any longer.
Santa Claus visits Rudy the Post Master
Everyday Santa Claus drives his big red truck over to see Rudy the Postmaster. His red truck has the word Santa Claus written on the sides. Everyone always waves to Santa as he drives by. Somtimes Santa even takes a short trip to McDonalds Drive thru.
Santa Claus recieves thousands of letters each day. Rudy helps Santa Claus load 10 huge bags of mail everyday into his big red truck. Then everynight Santa Claus and Mrs Claus read all the letters from all the children around the world. This is Santa's favorite time of year. He loves to send emails to all the good boys and girls when he get's a chance.
Santa Claus visits North Pole Elementry
coming soon....
Santa Claus visits the Abominable Snowman
coming soon...
Santa Claus recieves a new Sleigh
coming soon...
Kris Kringle Merry Christmas, Kris Kringle (a.k.a Santa Claus)
copyright 2011 imaginary kidz
A Special note to Charities
We have a personalized naughty or nice page on our website located in Santa's House. We offer the promo code to all charitable organizations, hospitals, schools, churches, all our troops and their families or any group that does work with children.
Contact firstname.lastname@example.com if you need help with anything.
the promo code is claus
We also have a colorful page that explains the personalized naughty or nice message, send us an email and we will be happy to forward it to you.
Thank You, your friends at kriskringle.com


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Forest River RV Rockwood Ultra Lite 2606WS Travel Trailer For Sale
Forest River Rockwood Ultra Lite travel trailer 2606WS highlights:
- Rear Bath
- Theater Seating
- Booth Dinette
- 21' Power Awning
- Exterior Griddle
This trailer is the perfect couple's retreat with its private bedroom up front which includes a queen bed, a slide out wardrobe and a TV option. The spacious rear full bathroom provides a shower and linen storage, and a space savings sliding door. The cook will have full amenities with ample counter space, a walk-in pantry for food storage, and a three burner range to cook meals on. If the weather is nice outside, you can make dinner on the exterior griddle, and there is a 21' power awning with LED lights to relax under. Or you can stay inside to enjoy the fireplace and Smart TV! You will also appreciate the pass thru storage with a steel sliding tray to easily access gear!
Each Rockwood Ultra Lite travel trailer by Forest River includes superior construction with a high gloss front cap, laminated white fiberglass sidewalls, and tinted frameless windows for a sleek look. You will love how easy it will be to charge a few electronics with the 200W roof solar panel with an 1800W inverter, and the AIR 360+ omnidirectional antenna with WiFi prep will let you stay connected to the outside world as you camp. The torsion axle, Rubber-Ryde suspension will make towing smooth and hassle-free, along with the nitrogen filled, Goodyear Endurance tires and the tire pressure monitor system. Interior comforts include designer kitchen backsplash, solid wood cabinet doors with hidden hinges, and night roller shades to name a few. Choose a Rockwood Ultra Lite travel trailer today!
We have 1 2606WS availableView InventorySpecifications
Sleeps 3 Slides 2 Length 29 ft 9 in Ext Width 8 ft Ext Height 11 ft 2 in Hitch Weight 840 lbs Dry Weight 6641 lbs Cargo Capacity 1999 lbs Fresh Water Capacity 54 gals Grey Water Capacity 90 gals Black Water Capacity 45 gals Furnace BTU 35000 btu Available Beds Queen Refrigerator Type 12V Cooktop Burners 3 Number of Awnings 1 Water Heater Type Quick Recovery with Interior Gas/Electric Switches AC BTU 15000 btu TV Info LR Smart TV Awning Info 21' Power with Adjustable Rain Dump and LED Lighting Axle Count 2 Shower Type Standard Electrical Service 50 amp Similar Travel Trailer Floorplans
Travel Trailer
Stock #16908Nacogdoches, TXStock #16908Nacogdoches, TX
RV Station - Nacogdoches is not responsible for any misprints, typos, or errors found in our website pages. Any price listed excludes sales tax, registration tags, and delivery fees. Manufacturer pictures, specifications, and features may be used in place of actual units on our lot. Please contact us @936-221-5035 for availability as our inventory changes rapidly. All calculated payments are an estimate only and do not constitute a commitment that financing or a specific interest rate or term is available.
Manufacturer and/or stock photographs may be used and may not be representative of the particular unit being viewed. Where an image has a stock image indicator, please confirm specific unit details with your dealer representative.


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Customer reviews
It's not just the experts interested in water who are convinced by Mauanwai. Here are some of the everyday experiences of some proud Maunawai owners!
G.M. from Switzerland:
"The water really does taste loads better... it makes you want to drink more, which is really important to me, as I normally drink far too little. I will gladly retail your products."
R.G. from Stuttgart:
"I love drinking water from your Premium system many times a day. I don't have to cart sparkling water home any more, and hardly ever need to buy juice. The water reminds me of something. Every year I couldn't wait for my holiday in Oberwallis (Switzerland). I would arrive there absolutely parched, climb "my mountain" and drink wonderfully fresh water from the alpine trough. This "welcome drink" would reinvigorate my weary mind and body and I experience the same thing with your water. It gets into your system straight away and tastes fantastic, even though it's still rather than sparkling. I use it for cooking and even water my plants with it. Given that I've only had it for a week, I can't really talk about the long-term effects. But that doesn't really matter for now – something that tastes so refreshing must be good for you and keep you healthy. What more can we ask for?
The instruction manual is easy to understand, I had no problems putting it together, and cleaning it and changing filters is not a big job at all. Your service was excellent when I had a question and the price means that everyone can afford one.
The system looks good and is a decent size, it's environmentally friendly and doesn't take a lot of effort to install. I'd definitely recommend it!"
R. Michalke:
"I would never have thought it possible that our heavily chlorinated water could be turned into something "delicious".
It's not an exaggeration to say that after about three weeks of testing the system, the first thing we do in the morning and the last thing before we go to bed is to go to our very own "spring". In a nutshell: we love it, and we're normally very critical so that really does mean something.
People who come to visit enjoy drinking our home-made water just as much as we do... some of them have even filled bottles to take home.
I myself have never enjoyed drinking water so much, and have never drunk so much of it before. I can only agree with Mr Ss. Lanka's comment on the water's positive effect on the kidneys and urine.
And if I'm away for several days, I fill a few bottles to take with me...
This is the best innovation I've seen for a long time...
Thank you!"
Would you also like to share your Maunawai experiences? Just send us an email to firstname.lastname@example.com, with "My experience of Maunawai" in the subject!


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The status of each bill, resolution, proclamation, and memorial is updated when the offices of the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House publish the un-official daily journals and should not be deemed official. The official bill actions are located in the final journal, which are maintained by the offices of the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House. The daily journals are published at the end of each legislative day.
Individual Links:
H0152 | by STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE |
EMPLOYMENT SECURITY PROGRAM – Adds to existing law to establish procedures to verify the integrity of the employment security program. |
02/15 | Introduced, read first time, referred to JRA for Printing | ||
02/16 | Reported Printed and Referred to Commerce & Human Resources |


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While hitchhiking across Paraguay a few years ago, I met welcoming farmers who let me camp in their backyards. I eventually arrived in Ciudad del Este, known for its black markets and loose borders. Now the city and farmers I met are caught in the crossfire of the US military's "war on terror."
On May 26, 2005, the Paraguayan Senate allowed US troops to train their Paraguayan counterparts until December 2006, when the Paraguayan Senate can vote to extend the troops' stay. The United States had threatened to cut off millions in aid to the country if Paraguay did not grant the troops entry. In July 2005 hundreds of US soldiers arrived with planes, weapons and ammunition. Washington's funding for counterterrorism efforts in Paraguay soon doubled, and protests against the military presence hit the streets.
Some activists, military analysts and politicians in the region believe the operations could be part of a plan to overthrow the left-leaning government of Evo Morales in neighboring Bolivia and take control of the area's vast gas and water reserves. Human rights reports from Paraguay suggest the US military presence is, at the very least, heightening tensions in the country.
Soy and Landless Farmers
Paraguay is the fourth-largest producer of soy in the world. As this industry has expanded, an estimated 90,000 poor families have been forced off their land. Campesinos have organized protests, road blockades and land occupations against displacement and have faced subsequent repression from military and paramilitary forces. According to Grupo de Reflexion Rural (GRR), an Argentina-based organization that documents violence against farmers, on June 24, 2005, in Tekojoja, Paraguay, hired policemen and soy producers kicked 270 people off their land, burned down fifty-four homes, arrested 130 people and killed two.
The most recent case of this violence is the death of Serapio Villasboa Cabrera, a member of the Paraguayan Campesino Movement, whose body was found full of knife wounds May 8. Cabrera was the brother of Petrona Villasboa, who was spearheading an investigation into the death of her son, who died from exposure to toxic chemicals used by transgenic soy producers. According to Servicio, Paz y Justicia (Serpaj), an international human rights group that has a chapter in Paraguay, one method used to force farmers off their land is to spray toxic pesticides around communities until sickness forces residents to leave.
GRR said Cabrera was killed by paramilitaries connected to large landowners and soy producers, who are expanding their holdings. The paramilitaries pursue farm leaders who are organizing against the occupation of their land. Investigations by Serpaj demonstrate that the worst cases of repression against farmers have taken place in areas with the highest concentration of US troops. Serpaj reported that in the department of San Pedro, where five US military exercises took place, there have been eighteen farmer deaths from repression, in an area with many farmer organizations. In the department of Concepción there have been eleven deaths and three US military exercises. Near the Triple Border, where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet, there were twelve deaths and three exercises.
"The US military is advising the Paraguayan police and military about how to deal with these farmer groups…. They are teaching theory as well as technical skills to Paraguayan police and military. These new forms of combat have been used internally," Orlando Castillo of Serpaj told me over the phone. "The US troops talk with the farmers and get to know their leaders and which groups, organizations, are working there, then establish the plans and actions to control the farmer movement and advise the Paraguayan military and police on how to proceed…. The numbers from our study show what this US presence is doing. US troops form part of a security plan to repress the social movement in Paraguay. A lot of repression has happened in the name of security and against 'terrorism.' "
Tomas Palau, a Paraguayan sociologist at BASE-IS, a Paraguayan social research institute, and the editor of a recent book on the militarization of Latin America, said, "The US conducts training and classes for the Paraguayan troops. These classes are led by North Americans, who answer to Southern Command, the branch of the US military for South America."
Like Castillo, Palau said there is an association between the US military presence and the increased violence against campesinos. "They are teaching counterinsurgency classes, preparing the Paraguayan troops to fight internal enemies," he told me. He said it's common knowledge that the US troops and the Paraguayan troops are conducting operations together. "All the Paraguayan press is talking about this."
The US Embassy in Asunción rejects all claims that the US military is linked to the increased repression against campesino and protest groups, either through exercises or instruction. In an e-mail response to the charges, Bruce Kleiner of the Embassy's Office of Public Affairs writes that "the U.S. military is not monitoring protest groups in Paraguay" and that "the U.S. military personnel and Paraguayan armed forces have trained together during medical readiness training exercises (MEDRETEs) to provide humanitarian service to some of Paraguay's most disadvantaged citizens." However, the deputy speaker of the Paraguayan parliament, Alejandro Velazquez Ugarte, said that of the thirteen exercises going on in the country, only two are of a civilian nature.
According to BASE-IS, Paraguayan officials have recently used the threat of terrorism to justify their aggression against campesino leaders. One group, the Campesino Organization of the North, has been accused of receiving instructions from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), that country's largest leftist guerrilla movement. The FARC has also been accused of colluding in the kidnapping and murder of the daughter of former Paraguayan President Raúl Cubas Grau last year. A June 23 report from the Chinese news service Xinhua said that Colombia's defense minister, Camilo Ospina, spoke with Paraguay's attorney general, Ruben Candia, about the presence of the FARC in Paraguay. Ospina said the FARC was consulting organized crime groups and "giving criminals advice on explosives" in Paraguay.
Regarding the FARC connection in Paraguay, Paul Wolf, an international attorney in Washington who has studied the group closely and written about it, said, "Since the Colombian government hasn't shown any evidence or given any names, this can't be considered as anything but war propaganda." Linking Paraguayan campesino groups to the FARC is nothing new, particularly since the death of Cubas's daughter. However, in an interview with the Paraguayan newspaper La Nación, the bishop of Concepción, Zacarias Ortiz Rolon, said, "As far as the official interest in making believe that there is a guerrilla group and that it is fed by the Colombian FARC, that seems a bit suspicious to me."
The Association of Farmers of Alto Paraná (ASAGRAPA), a campesino group near the Triple Border, reported that a local politician offered one of the organization's leaders a sum of money equivalent to a monthly salary, in return for which the ASAGRAPA member was told to announce that other leaders in the organization were building a terrorist group and receiving training from the FARC. BASE-IS reports suggest that this type of bribery and disinformation is part of an effort to guarantee the "national security of the US" and "justify, continue and expand the North American military presence."
"All of these activities coincide with the presence of the US troops," Palau explained about the violence against farmers. "The CIA and FBI are also working here. It's likely they are generating these plans for fabricating lies about guerrilla and terrorist activities. They need to find terrorists to use as an excuse for militarization." Last October the Cuban media outlet Prensa Latina reported that FBI director Robert Mueller arrived in Paraguay to "check on preparations for the installation of a permanent FBI office in Asunción…to cooperate with security organizations to fight international crime, drug traffic and kidnapping."
Journalist Hugo Olázar of the Argentine paper Clarín reported last September that US troops were operating from an air base in Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay. He visited the base last year and said it had an air-traffic control tower, a military encampment and was capable of handling large aircraft. Though the United States denies it is operating at the base, it used the same rhetoric when first discussing its actions in Manta, Ecuador, which is currently home to an $80 million US military base. The base there was first described in 1999 as an archaic "dirt strip" used only for weather monitoring. Days later, the Pentagon said it would be utilized for security-related missions.
Other indications that the US military might be settling into Paraguay come from the right-wing Paraguayan government. Current President Nicanor Duarte Frutos is a member of the Colorado party, which has ruled the country for more than fifty years. It was this party that established the thirty-five-year dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner. Soon after his election in 2003, Duarte became the first Paraguayan president to be received at the White House. Last August Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld flew to Paraguay. Shortly afterward, Dick Cheney met with Paraguay's vice president.
Last year, Argentine Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel commented on the situation in Paraguay, "Once the United States arrives, it takes it a long time to leave. And that really frightens me."
Counterfeit Rolling Papers and Viagra
Washington has justified its military presence in Paraguay by stating that the Triple Border area at Ciudad del Este is a base for Islamist terrorist funding. In a June 3, 2006, Associated Press report, Western intelligence officials, speaking anonymously, claimed that if Iran is cornered by the United States, it could direct the international network of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah to assist in terrorist attacks. The Justice Department has indicted nineteen people this year for sending the profits from the sale of counterfeit rolling papers and Viagra to Hezbollah. "Extensive operations have been uncovered in South America," the AP article states, "where Hezbollah is well connected to the drug trade, particularly in the region where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet."
Other claims about terrorist networks said to be operating in the Triple Border region include a poster of Iguaçu Falls, a tourist destination near Ciudad del Este, discovered by US troops on the wall of an Al Qaeda operative's home in Kabul, Afghanistan, shortly after 9/11. Aside from this, however, the US Southern Command and the State Department report that no "credible information" exists confirming that "Islamic terrorist cells are planning attacks in Latin America."
Luiz Moniz Bandeira, who holds a chair in history at the University of Brasília and writes about US-Brazilian relations, was quoted in the Washington Times as saying, "I wouldn't dismiss the hypothesis that US agents plant stories in the media about Arab terrorists in the Triple Frontier to provoke terrorism and justify their military presence."
Throughout the cold war, the US government used the threat of communism as an excuse for its military adventures in Latin America. Now, as leaders such as Bolivia's Evo Morales and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez move further outside the sphere of Washington's interests, the United States is using another "ism" as an alibi for its military presence. As Greg Grandin pointed out in his article "The Wide War," first posted on TomDispatch.com, the Pentagon now has more resources and money directed to Latin America than the Departments of State, Agriculture, Commerce and Treasury combined. Before 9/11 the annual US military aid to the region was around $400 million. It's now nearly $1 billion. Much of this goes to training troops.
Making wild allegations about Paraguayan farmers being terrorists is one way to justify the increased spending and military presence in the region. "The US government is lying about the terrorist funding in the Triple Border, just like they did about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," said an exasperated Castillo of Serpaj. Indeed, the street markets I walked through in Ciudad del Este, and the farmers I met along the way, seemed to pose as much of a threat to US security as a pirated Tom Petty CD or a bottle of counterfeit whiskey.
This article was first printed in The Nation: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060717/dangl
Benjamin Dangl is the editor of Upside Down World, an online magazine uncovering activism and politics in
Email ben(at)upsidedownworld.org
Photo from ABC Color


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Your down payment plays an important role when you're buying a home. A down payment is a percentage of your home's purchase price that you pay upfront when you close your home loan. Lenders often look at the down payment amount as your investment in the home. Not only will it affect how much you'll need to borrow but it can also influence:
- Whether your lender will require you to pay for private mortgage insurance (PMI). Typically, you'll need PMI if you put down less than 20% of the home's purchase price.
- Your interest rate. Because your down payment represents your investment in the home, your lender will often offer you a lower rate if you can make a higher down payment.
So how much of a down payment will you need to make? That depends on the purchase price of your home and your loan program. Different loan programs require different percentages, usually ranging from 5% to 20%.
Loan-to-value ratio
The amount of your down payment helps give your lender the loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of the property. LTV is one of the main factors – along with debt-to-income-ratio and credit score – that a lender considers when deciding whether or not to extend you credit.
Your loan-to-value ratio indicates how much you will owe on the home after your down payment, and is expressed as a percentage that shows the ratio between your home's unpaid principal and its appraised value. The higher your down payment, the lower your loan amount will be and the lower your loan-to-value ratio will be. Here's the formula:
Loan amount ÷ appraisal value or purchase price (whichever is less) = loan-to-value (LTV)
For example:
- The home you want to buy has an appraised value of $205,000, but $200,000 is the purchase price
- The bank will base the loan amount on the $200,000 figure, because it's the lower of the 2
- You have $40,000 for a down payment, so you need a $160,000 loan to meet the $200,000 purchase price
- Your loan-to-value equation would look like this: $160,000 ÷ $200,000 = .80
- You multiply .80 by 100% and that gives you an LTV of 80%
Private mortgage insurance (PMI)
If your down payment is lower than 20%, your loan-to-value ratio for conventional financing will be higher than 80%. In that case, your lender may require you to pay private mortgage insurance, because they're lending you more money to purchase the home and increasing their potential risk of loss if the loan should go into default. Keep in mind that private mortgage insurance will increase your monthly payments.
When you consider how much to put down on your home, think about your lender's requirements and what a higher or a lower down payment will mean for you. Is it worth it to you to pay private mortgage insurance each month in order to receive the other benefits of homeownership? Or would it make more sense for you to save for a larger down payment and avoid PMI, even if that means waiting longer to buy a home? Knowing the financial impact of each choice can help you make your decision with confidence.
If you're having trouble saving for a down payment, you should know that certain lenders participate in programs that could enable you to qualify for down payment assistance. Ask your lender whether you might qualify for one of these programs.
Ready to prequalify or apply? Get started


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Contrary to Harold Camping's prediction, the world didn't end today. That, of course, didn't stop the media from covering this alleged story ad nauseam, nor did it stop the internet from spreading it like a particularly virulent disease (to be fair, a good percentage of the net-chatter was mockery, but we often mock that which we fear). We're all, it seems, obsessed with Doomsday. Just turn on your TV and watch Nostradamus predict the end of the world on the History Channel while the Weather Channel does its best to terrify us by predicting disasters that "could happen tomorrow."
The news broadcasts—from NBC to CNN, NPR to Fox—are all about throwing mountains of coal into our collective furnace of fear. Disaster looms around every corner, from the recalled headache pills in our medicine chests to the terrorists swarming our shores to annihilate us. Some of these fears are rooted in reality, of course, but our mass media loves to put it all under a magnifying glass till these events are hideously distorted: the better to scare you into raising their ratings. Abandon hope, all ye who watch this channel.
Our pop culture has become fear culture: the action movie blockbuster has, more and more, become a gruesome parade of endless wreckage and loss of life, often on a global, if not a galactic, scale. End of the world scenarios play out with such regularity in films and video games and, yes, comic books (my hands are far from clean: I've destroyed my share of universes over the years) and it's no wonder that, when some operatic preacher begins predicting that we're all going down in a ball of fire (well, some of us: the lucky few will be lifted up to Heaven by a God who apparently enjoys playing favorites), everyone stops and takes notice.
But what if Camping was right? What if the world did end today and some of us just didn't notice? (A moment while you scratch your head and wonder if my last brain cells have parachuted out on a suicide mission.)
I've written before about the idea—explored, in differing fashions, by both mystics and scientists—that the universe is just dreamstuff: an infinite ocean of primal energy that's only given form by our perceptions. In other words, it's all an illusion, tailored to, created by, the individual consciousness: every one projecting our dream-universes into the Void. From my perspective, I'm manifesting the entire Creation, including you; from your perspective, you're manifesting it all, including me. (Which means, essentially, that right now you're reading your own words, not mine.) And with each choice we make, each mental step we take, each thought we send vibrating out into that ocean of energy, we birth new universes, an infinite stream of shimmering bubbles blown through the wand of our minds. (Of course, in the end, it's all God dreaming through us and as us, but that's another essay for another time.)
So imagine Camping and his followers, all profoundly invested in this idea of Judgment Day and the Rapture, focusing their collective will and imagination (just like our old friend Green Lantern) on that ocean of energy and manifesting it. Today, this very morning, they all found themselves raised up by the hand of God, soaring off into the Heaven they've always longed for. Because that's the dream they chose to manifest.
For those of us who didn't buy into this dream, well—we're still here, and we've dreamed up a Harold Camping who's a failed prophet. (I don't think this invalidates the faith of Camping and his followers—but it is further proof that God is far bigger than any one belief system.) But where do we go from here? Perhaps Camping has done us a valuable service. Perhaps this mass focus on the End Times is a reminder for all of us to step back and ask a fundamental question: What kind of world are we dreaming into being? A world of suffering, where war never ends, where famine and disease and natural disasters dog us till it all really does "happen tomorrow"? Or will we dream something better: a world, a time, when peace and abundance, cooperation and compassion, flower across the planet?
The Golden Age, it's been called.
Yes, doomsday scenarios have been around for as long as the human race has existed—they echo through all religions and spiritual paths—but they're usually connected to paradise scenarios: humanity reborn, either on Earth or in Heaven, into a new and glorious order. From suffering comes redemption, from the ashes the Phoenix rises. My problem is I've never had much faith in a God whose method of redeeming us is through annihilating us. Why destroy the planet just to raise it up again? Why inflict all that suffering?
Back in the mid-eighties I wrote a Doctor Strange graphic novel—co-plotted and illustrated by my old friend Dan Green—called Into Shamballa that explored that question. In it, Doctor Strange is ordered, by a group of spiritual sages called the Lords of Shamballa, to weave a spell that will obliterate three-fourths of mankind and usher in a new Golden Age. "A cataclysm beyond imagining," they tell Strange, "will leave the world a ravaged wasteland, burying the Old Humanity and birthing the New." Doc is resistant but, at first, simply assumes that these Cosmic Sages know more than he does; so he travels the globe assembling the multi-part spell. In the end, though, he can't do it; he refuses to do it—until he has an inner realization (prompted, he believes, by the inner voice of his guru, the Ancient One) that transforms his perspective completely. The spell is completed and, to the astonishment of the Shamballese Lords, the world remains intact. No Apocalypse, just another morning on Planet Earth. "I saw," Strange tells the bewildered Lords, "that your ultimate cataclysm will take place, not without...but within. The purge you foretold will occur in every heart. The fires you foresaw will burn in every soul. The Golden Age you predicted will come to each man in his own time."
An interpretation that made far more sense to me. But something still didn't sit right: Why, I eventually came to wonder, is this inner purge even necessary? Why does every soul have to burn in fire, even if it's only an internal one? I saw how attached I'd been to the old model, the old belief that we've got to pay the price if we want to get the glory; but the universe (via the inner voice my own master, Meher Baba, who, strangely, was known as the Ancient One long before Dr. Strange creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko coined the name) finally dragged me, kicking and screaming, toward a more positive view; a perspective that said we can unfold through joy as easily as we can grow through suffering. More easily. (I don't claim to have mastered this path—not by a long shot—but just walking it has been transformative.)
Ten or so years ago I read a book by Gregg Braden, The Isaiah Effect, that explored a similar idea. What if, Braden wrote—and I'm totally paraphrasing here (and, I hope, not distorting his point)—the ancient prophecies weren't talking about a sequence of events (destruction, then rebirth; End of Days, then New Beginning)? What if they were talking about a choice? An opportunity to step over Harold Camping's Apocalypse and walk straight through the gates of the Golden Age? Braden talked about the power of our collective consciousness to initiate global transformation—a valid and valuable goal—but I think it goes even further than that. If this world is literally a dream (and I believe, to the core of my being that it is), then isn't it up to each of us to become lucid dreamers and choose the most beautiful dream we can? To manifest the Golden Age—not in some distant future, not in some faraway Heaven, but here and now?
In concert with God (in whatever form you see Him, Her or It), we make a choice, every hour, every minute, every instant, about which cosmos we want to dream into being. And each choice spins out a chain of events, a new world, a virgin universe.
Which means that today actually is Judgment Day.
So what's it going to be: the Apocalypse or the Golden Age? Heaven-on-Earth or endless Hell? Which newscast are you going to anchor, what story are you going to tell, what movie are you going to direct? Judgement Day is in your hands. You can take everything I've written literally or metaphorically, but, either way, it's up to you to make your choice, create your cosmos, dream your dream. I'll go off and dream mine and, with a little luck and grace, perhaps our dreams will intertwine and manifest an even larger dream, a greater dream than we can individually imagine. As Into Shamballa's narrator observed at the end of Doctor Strange's adventure: "Remember: the Golden Age is now. Remember: We are all, each and every one of us, the Lords of Shamballa."
©copyright 2012 J.M. DeMatteis


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The Mass Effect Series is based on players taking control of Commander Shepard, and, like most RPGs, the player is given choices and customization options.
In Mass Effect (the first game), players get to pick the commander's first name, gender, pre-service history (Spacer, Colonist, Earthborn), and psych profile (Ruthless, Sole Survivor, War Hero).
Clearly, Shepard can be many things, but I'm wondering what the canonical Shepard is. For instance, we know that in the Canon of Mass Effect 2, if you don't import a save file, the Council was not saved.
Does Commander Shepard likewise have a "Canonical" origin, or are these two options always under direct control of the player - i.e., without a default?


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(Click on picture above to enlarge.)
The Landmarks Preservation Commission had a busy day yesterday, drawing large crowds on two matters where community sentiment is clear.
Rudin/St. Vincent's in the Morning
In the morning the Commission moved uptown to the Lang Student Center at the New School to consider the Rudin/St. Vincent's real estate development proposals. This bigger venue filled up so the attending public's groans and sighs resonated loudly. The public reacted with disappointment to each of six commissioners' votes to allow the destruction of the landmarked O'Toole building in order to subsidize St. Vincent's Hospital. There was firmly supportive public applause for each of the four commissioners who voted against O'Toole's destruction. There is much more to say about this, which we will post later.
Hearing on Proposed Prospect Heights Historic District
In the afternoon the Commission took testimony about the proposed Prospect Heights Historic District. The crowd was large. It was universally in favor of the district's creation, unless you want to take into account a woman who did not know that this wasn't the forum to ask about the location of a fire hydrant, or a district creation supporter who wondered if there could be some sort of exemption at street level for Flatbush storefronts.
The Atlantic Yards megadevelopment abutting the proposed district was mentioned countless times. It was cited repeatedly as the threat which makes creation of a historic district so important. People such as Atlantic Yards opponent City Council Member Tish James were careful to refer to the "proposed" Atlantic Yards. She lingered on the word "proposed" in a deliciously savoring way.
Marty Markowitz, he of the boundless enthusiasm (and questionable "charities"), gave tribute to the threat and negativity of Atlantic Yards in a roundabout way when his boundless enthusiasm overflowed into praise for Prospect Heights as a neighborhood full of "activists."
Noticing New York Not Within the Framework of Simply Giving Thanks
We provided our own Noticing New York testimony. We were one of the few who, when we testified, did not feel that we had to speak within the framework of simply being thankful for what was offered. The district is being created by the hard work and pleading of community representatives. Noticing New York is independent and has not directly taken part in those negotiations.
As we have written about before, the Landmarks Preservation Commission is very responsible for the cataclysmic trajectory of Atlantic Yards through its avoidance of action with respect to historic buildings like the Ward Bakery Building. Whatever some might want to pretend, we do not believe that Atlantic Yards should be treated as political past tense. The Atlantic Yards project is neither dead nor alive, and it is insufficiently apologized for by the Bloomberg administration. The project cannot survive without the continued complicity of the administration and all sorts of necessary public approvals still hang in the balance. We believe that the administration and those working with it need to be constantly reminded of the political price they pay for Atlantic Yards until the project is formally, once and for all, dead.
It is no secret that the Prospect Heights district is a case of "historic district creation by guilt." (We'll be coy, so we won't suggest that this a description of the process that is floating freely among Landmarks staff.) Creation of a historic district by guilt is not adequate compensation to the community.
In our testimony, Noticing New York referred to how the editorial page of the New York Times recently called for this commission to have the political will needed not to be outflanked by developers. We told the Commissioners about how we had added our own our own thoughts to those of the Times with our Noticing New York article which we attached and supplied as part of our written testimony. (See: Sunday, October 19, 2008, Building the Right Landmarks Case; Wrong Building)
LPC Chairman Tierney's Defense of the LPC
LPC Chairman Tierney responded to the Times' editorial with a letter to the editor published by the Times on October 25, 2008. Tierney took issue with the Times assertion that the Commission was missing in action:
Far from "missing," the record shows that during the Bloomberg years the Landmarks Preservation Commission has experienced its most productive period in recent history. In fiscal year 2007 alone, 1,158 buildings were designated — more than in any other single year since 1990.The "Holes" in Chairman Tierney's Argument
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This unparalleled activity has been made possible through close collaboration with the public and the preservation community.
The number of buildings the LPC has designated is not the point. When it comes to being "outflanked by developers," it is not what the Commission does, but what the Commission doesn't do; not what the Commission protects, but what the Commission, serving the Mayor's willingness to accommodate fellow billionaire real estate developers, does not protect. In our article, we were (we think correctly) more flattering to the Commission activities that the Times: "the Commission is highly capable and does do its job excellently when permitted by the Mayor." Still, since the Commission is so capable it is all the more frustrating when it refrains from being so. Protection is not protection if it is Swiss cheese especially to those who would abuse their power. Protection which is a bulwark only when threat is not present is not protection. Clearly, if the Commission had worked in "close collaboration with the public and the preservation community" as Chairman Tierney described above, the Ward Bakery Building would have been saved for adaptive reuse.
No doubt the Greenwich Village Historic District community, which is now threatened by the Rudin/St. Vincent's real estate development, feels the same way.
Proposed Prospect Heights Historic District: The Hole in the Whole of What LPC Offers
This is why Noticing New York, while very much favoring the creation of a Prospect Heights historic district, felt that it was just as important, or more so, to point out the hole in the historic district that is being offered. Extracted from our testimony set forth at greater length at the end of this post:
The importance of allowing our precious historic Brooklyn to weave together is the reason why the hole in the proposed historic district is so disconcerting. It will separate historic Prospect Heights from historic Fort Greene. We know that the odd shape of the proposed Historic District is disingenuously intended to accommodate the similarly unjustifiably odd shape for the proposed no-bid Atlantic Yards project. The Boymelgreen wrench shape of the Atlantic Yards project is notoriously odd, shaped exclusively for the purpose of generating windfall eminent domain and upzoning profit for Forest City Ratner. Looking at these two jigsaw pieces it is easy to put the puzzle together.
Weaving together Brownstone Neighborhoods
In our testimony we were conscious that while the way in which our historic neighborhoods weave together is extremely important, this might be considered tangential to historic preservation concerns. Thankfully, the presentation of LPC's own presenter also focused on the way that these neighborhoods had historically developed, each weaving into the other.
(The pictures, adjacent and in our Noticing New York testimony, below show a Disney-fied recreation of New York-style buildings that can be seen in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. These projects are quite commendable and flattering to New York, but not as valuable as what we have here in historic Brooklyn.)
Ward Bakery Building: Hundredth Anniversary Testimony
Patti Hagan also testified about the loss of the Ward Bakery Building, noting that she had passed by the site of demolition. She spoke of the irony that the building's 100th anniversary should coincide with Forest City Ratner's destruction of it.
Atlantic Yards Report Coverage
As usual, Atlantic Yards Report also provides its unusually good coverage of the hearing: Wednesday, October 29, 2008, At LPC hearing on Prospect Heights Historic District, mention of the Ward Bakery and AY briefly unsettles the mood.
Noticing New York's Full Testimony
Here is our full Noticing New York testimony.
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October 28, 2008
Hon. Robert Tierney
Chair, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
One Centre Street, 9th floor
New York, NY 10007
e-mail: email@example.com
fax: 212/669-7960 or 669-7955
Re: Proposed Prospect Heights Historic District, Brooklyn
Dear Chair Tierney:
This comment is being offered in the name of Noticing New York, an independent entity dedicated to the proposition that developing New York and appreciating New York go hand in hand and I speak as an attorney and urban planner experienced in real estate and government.
There is a well known axiom about real estate that "they are not making it anymore." This isn't true. We are making more real estate these days. In fact, it is easy to make a lot more of the tall stacks of apartments that allow for anonymous and nondescript high-rise living. What we are not building anymore are neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Fort Greene and historic Prospect Heights.
If you are wealthy you can afford to pay top dollar to live in Brooklyn Heights, where property values have been rising phenomenally. But you can have a very similar urban experience much more affordably in diverse, historic Prospect Heights.
I am, perhaps, inaccurate. We are building places like Park Slope and Prospect Heights. I refer you to projects of "New York-style brownstones" being built in Alexandria, Virginia and Potomac, Maryland by Builder/Developer EAY (see attachment). Looking at this New York recreation you know that others, elsewhere, are valuing what we have in Brooklyn, New York.
But building a new Disney-fied version of what we have does not truly build more of what we value. It doesn't have the true history, and it doesn't organically weave together the way that the brownstone neighborhoods of Brooklyn do.
The importance of allowing our precious historic Brooklyn to weave together is the reason why the hole in the proposed historic district is so disconcerting. It will separate historic Prospect Heights from historic Fort Greene. We know that the odd shape of the proposed Historic District is disingenuously intended to accommodate the similarly unjustifiably odd shape for the proposed no-bid Atlantic Yards project. The Boymelgreen wrench shape of the Atlantic Yards project is notoriously odd, shaped exclusively for the purpose of generating windfall eminent domain and upzoning profit for Forest City Ratner. Looking at these two jigsaw pieces it is easy to put the puzzle together.
We ask you to proclaim this commission's independence from the Mayor. Say no to corrupt no-bid projects and save the historic part of Brooklyn that should be allowed to weave naturally together in a healthy urban fabric.
The editorial page of the New York Times recently called for this commission to have the political will needed not to be outflanked by developers. We added our own thoughts to those of the Times with our article, attached hereto, calling for your greater independence to pursue this same goal.
Michael D. D. White


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There is no endeavor more futile than debating barbecue. The folks at Beachwood BBQ know this as well as anyone. Recognizing how touchy the subject is, they preface their website with this prologue: "BBQ, the great divider, the true American cuisine, differing from region to region, appreciated by millions, is the gateway to endless dialogues about technique, authenticity and even meaning."
With that out of the way, the pit masters continue by spouting their own barbecue ethos anyway, complete with a discussion on pink smoke rings and an argument against sauce. You want sauce? Use the bottles supplied tableside. Ranging from the sweet to the spicy to the mustard-and-vinegar-based, Beachwood seems to say, "We've taken them this far; from here on out, do what you want."
I'm a finger-lickin', saucy-rib kind of guy, so I slathered on a good amount from the bottle labeled sweet. But the bones, so liberally covered with spice rub they looked like the furry side of a Velcro strip, could have stood on their own. The meat wasn't fall-off-the-bone tender—by design. Texture, Beachwood argues, counts for something, too. It has a point, and the hour-long wait times are proof it's well-taken.
On one Saturday night, I saw people jumping for joy when their name was called. This 'cue joint—with a bar you can barely squeeze through and a dining room that isn't much bigger—takes no reservations. About the only kind of advance planning you can make is to check out the live feed of a webcam pointed at a blackboard with an ever-revolving list of craft beers on tap. It's called the "HopCam."
While in wait-list purgatory, I suggest taking a stroll around the block or to the Seal Beach pier. Cherish your mobility while you have it because after your meal, you'll barely be able to waddle. Beachwood's food is not for the faint-hearted nor the lily-livered. It's big, it's bold, and it's buttery.
A heavy cast-iron skillet of the baked macaroni lands with a thud, bubbling over with a sputtering Gruyère sauce, an excess of smoky bacon and a heap of crispy, toasty bread crumbs. You'll have to remind yourself it's just an appetizer.
Also contributing to your waning hunger are the tempura-light, deep-fried pickle chips; they are far too easy to gobble.
Be thankful the deviled eggs come only five to an order. If you get only one appetizer, let it be this. Think about it: When was the last time you saw deviled eggs outside a potluck?
My advice for the fried-green tomatoes? Instead of the appetizer, opt for it as a salad, with cubes of smoked mozzarella and a zippy Tabasco vinaigrette. You need the extra greenery and roughage to offset the richness to follow. Beachwood's barbecue plates are purposely portioned to leave you pounding the table for mercy.
Dense cornbread is obligatory, but knowing the magnitude of their protein-laden meals, you'd be smart to break off the wedges in measured amounts. Oh, and plates come with your choice of two sides, all of them made with no regard to your diet.
The creamed spinach is almost white—so thick and rich, it's spackle. The thinly sliced carrots leave a yellow puddle of butter on the plate. By comparison, the sweet-potato fries are practically a health food, each stick crunchy and greaseless. They compete against the straw-thin smoked asparagus for the attention of your greedy fingers.
On a shortlist of game meats, the wild-boar meatloaf cuts with a fork and eats like a skinless bratwurst buried under a blueberry-flecked white gravy as thick as a truck stop's.
I had a not-quite-fatal attraction to the Brunswick stew, a shredded-meat mélange of rabbit and chicken cooked with lima beans and corn niblets. The two proteins commingle so seamlessly you can't tell the poultry from the Thumper. Yes, it's rustic all right. Perhaps too rustic. My bowl contained errant bits of bone fragments I had to spit out. But this dish, above all others, is the kind of meal a hunter would boil in a campfire pot and eat with drop biscuits, a type of savory scone.
If I were hungrier, I would've ordered the venison chili to consume side-by-side with the stew so that Bambi could be reunited with his best bud, at least in my belly.
Instead, I asked for the shrimp and grits, the bowl that finally bested me. I still have half of it in my fridge. I haven't decided whether to give up on it after not being able to make a dent after two days. This is a dish of unreasonable quantity, rich with cheese, bacon, piquant bits of preserved lemon, reedy shards of fried leeks and shrimp folded into the grits' starchy whiteness like skiers waiting to be rescued from an avalanche.
I think I'm going to need more beer. Hmm, let's see what's on the HopCam.
Beachwood BBQ, 131 1/2 Main St., Seal Beach, (562) 493-4500; www.beachwoodbbq.com. Open Tues.-Sun., 11:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Appetizers, $4-$12; entrées, $8-$23. Beer and wine.
This review appeared in print as "That's Your 'Cue: From ribs and game to grits and mac and cheese, Beachwood BBQ offers all the right stuff for stuffing yourself."
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias "elmomonster" on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.


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There's no doubt that your current customers are a huge asset. After all, they're the reason you're in business! However, they may be able to help you even more than you realize. In order to keep your current customers happy and attract new ones, your business could benefit from an important and often overlooked marketing tactic—customer surveys. It's as simple as asking a few questions and truly listening to what your current customer base has to say! Read on to learn how you can easily implement customer surveys to build success for your business.
Understand Your Audience
You could send a survey to all current customers grouped together. This would help you establish an initial understanding of who is out there. You could include questions about how often they buy from you, what motivates them to buy from you, what they hope to see from your business and other questions to establish a base understanding.
However, if your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology is already intuitive, you should be able to segment your audience into groups based on buying habits, recency of purchase and other factors. For example, you may want to send a different survey to your top customers versus somebody who only made their first purchase last week. Segment the messaging for the surveys in any way you can based on what makes sense and what information your CRM system provides.
Choose Impactful Questions
"How would you rate your purchase on a scale of 1 to 5" is an example of a question you could ask, but it doesn't tell you much if it's your only question. Leave space for your audience to elaborate. Ask specific questions that you think could help inform future purchases. For example, impactful questions could include:
- "What made you choose us over other competitors?"
- "What would stand in the way of you making another purchase with our business?"
- "What could we do differently to improve your interactions with us?"
It's important to ask the basics, but you'll get meaningful data when you ask impactful questions.
Develop a Cadence
Determine how often your company would like to send surveys and at what points in the buying process. For example, you may decide that you'd like to send a survey within a week of a customer's first purchase and then again in six months if they have not purchased again. This will vary from business to business depending on how often customers typically make a purchase because some products or services will be purchased again more quickly than others. Evaluate the information you have and choose a cadence to send surveys that makes the most sense for you and your business.
Follow Up On Feedback
The most important part of sending surveys to your current customers is to actually follow up on the feedback. Thank your customers for taking the survey. Make improvements to show that you've listened to what they had to say. Provide updates that show you're making progress toward making improvements. Remember that transparency is key to earning trust!
Your current customers hold the information you need to succeed in the future. Don't forget to ask them what they're thinking! Ask the right people the right questions, make sure you're asking questions that will inform how you proceed in the future, and most of all—thank your customers for their time and feedback. Without them, you wouldn't be where you are today!