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Dear Lifehacker,
I want to participate in the Occupy Wall Street movement but I've heard that some people are losing their jobs. I know I have the right to freedom of speech, but is there anything I should do to ensure my job is safe if I decide to take part?
Preoccupied Prospective Protester
Dear PPP,
This is a complicated situation, but the first thing you should know is that so long as you don't say anything damaging about your company or their partners, they really have no grounds to fire you. As you noted, you have the right to protest and freedom of speech. It's unlikely that your company would consider firing you for exercising those rights, whether they hide behind another reason or not, but there are certainly precautions you can take and good ways to handle the situation should things go sour.
Note: This post is not suggesting your first amendment rights entitle you to leave your job to protest. It is simply about expressing your views—whatever they are—on your own time and preparing for or dealing with any possible hardships at the office. While this post was written because of issues arising from the Occupy Wall Street movement, the advice is applicable to any protest or or political issue that matters to you.
Before the Protest
Consult the Employee Handbook
I spoke with Ed Godin, Chief People Officer at Brightcove, to get a better picture of how companies tend to handle these sorts of situations and how employees can approach them responsibly. He suggested that the first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with company policies. While digging through the employee handbook may not be the most exciting read, you can always ask your human resources (HR) department to point you to the relevant parts. Your goal is to know how your company handles employee speech that could be considered negative so you're aware of how they may respond should something you say or do during the protest wind up on television or the internet.
Speak to Someone You Trust at Work
Whether it's someone in your HR department, your supervisor/manager, or anyone else with power at the company that you trust, Ed suggests speaking with them about your intent. Sometimes an employee handbook won't be as specific as you want, so make sure to find out the following:
Does your company have any point of view on how you conduct yourself outside of the office?
Would the company ever fire someone for exercising freedom of speech?
How does the company suggest you behave in this situation?
The key here is not to let the company dictate your behavior but to put the onus on them rather than you. If they advise you and you follow that advice, it puts you in a much safer situation. Your company will have a lot of trouble firing your or even reprimanding you if you simply followed their rules. All of this said, be sure to be clear on this one point: your participation is your right and asking you to withdraw is not an option.
In most cases this will be a short conversation. You're choosing to be responsible and honest, and most companies will appreciate that even if they do not share your political views. Some organizations may even appreciate the dialogue because it gives them the opportunity to set a precedent for handling these types of situations. Either way, you'll likely be told there's very little you have to worry about.
After the Protest
In the event things go sour despite your responsible efforts, or you've already protested and found yourself in a sticky situation, there are a couple of things you can do. First, be completely honest and transparent. If you're in trouble, whether you deserve to be or not, lying will not help you. Second, apologize for putting the company in a bad or awkward position but assert your right to your freedom of speech. If you simply shared your viewpoint (without publicly damaging the company) you haven't done anything wrong. Looking on the bright side, you've now started a dialogue at the company about how your rights are handled. While inspiring disciplinary action may not be the ideal method for doing so, the important thing is that you now have an opportunity to help the company grow and create better policy around these issues.
While many companies will show a healthy amount of understanding and your participation in most protests will not be an issue, there are certain organizations that tend to use a more black and white viewpoint. In the event your freedom of speech is considered a problem, be kind but ask them why. Dig into the issue with your company and find out why they are so vehemently opposed to what you did and/or said. Perhaps the most important advice Ed provided was that there is no situation that cannot be resolved, but only situations where the participants aren't willing to resolve it. You can't control the behavior of your employer, but by having an open dialogue about the problem and attempting to rectify the situation you can inspire the willingness to work towards a solution. If worst comes to worst and you do end up losing your job, at least you'll be able to leave knowing that you tried your best and did the right thing.
Title photo by Lev Radin (Shutterstock). Additional images by Edinburgh City of Print and David Shankbone.
A very special thanks go out to Ed Godin for his indispensable help with this post.
You can follow Adam Dachis, the author of this post, on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook. Twitter's the best way to contact him, too.


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Layoffs, food stamps, hurricane - this is not what Jennifer Stalley had planned for 2020.
JENNIFER STALLEY: I'll be fine. It's fine. Everything's fine. And then, it's - nothing's fine (laughter).
CORNISH: Stalley lives in southern Alabama. She works as a waiter at a restaurant in Gulf Shores right on the beach. Well, she used to work there anyway.
STALLEY: I usually would make anywhere between, oh, like $500 and $800 or $900 a week.
CORNISH: It was enough to cover her expenses - rent, food, not just for her, but also for her two kids, a 15-year-old daughter and her 2-year-old son. It was tight, but it worked. Then came COVID. Stalley became one of the more than 11 million American women who lost their jobs in the start of this pandemic. Her restaurant reopened for a bit until Hurricane Sally shut it down in September. Now she's back to looking for work, work in a service industry that is still devastated. Affordable childcare is hard to come by, and the stalemate in Washington means there's no guarantee any extra stimulus is coming her way. Jennifer Stalley is stuck.
STALLEY: I really hate asking for help. But I don't have any food, and I don't have any pull-ups for him, and I don't - I just don't have anything. And one of my managers from work went to Piggly Wiggly and got me groceries. And I ran around after the hurricane came through and picked up MREs and I'm going to hoard them for the next time I might not have money. So I've gotten help, but I've had to really - I've had to beg for help. And it sucks.
CORNISH: Consider this - more women than men lost their jobs in this pandemic-era economy, millions more. What if the recovery ends up unequal, too?
CORNISH: It's been six months now since the unemployment rate peaked back in April, and people are starting to get back to work. Some jobs are coming back. Valerie Wilson is an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. And she's starting to see some trends.
VALERIE WILSON: As we have continued on, it has become clearer and clearer that the recovery from this recession will not be nearly as uniform.
CORNISH: In the federal jobs report for September, there was one stat that caught Wilson's eye - the number of people who left the labor force.
WILSON: So the way that we measure unemployment in this country, the unemployment rate only considers people who report that they have actively searched for a job in the last four weeks.
CORNISH: In September, the number of people who dropped out was huge, more than a million Americans. And even more shocking, 80% were women. Wilson points to a lot of different factors that are working against women, especially women of color. Women are overrepresented in jobs that have been hit hardest by COVID - servers, housekeepers, retail workers, that kind of thing. And like she says, child care has gotten harder. A lot of schools and child care centers are still closed. So many women, Wilson says, are faced with a set of choices that are all bad.
WILSON: Do you go to work and expose yourself to the virus but, you know, continue to bring in income? Do you not go to work, you know, have more protection from the virus, but not have the income? For women in particular who are single heads of households with minor children in school, they're having to make choices about child care at the same time that they're having to make decisions concerning the economic security of their households as well as the health of their households.
CORNISH: There was another striking part about that huge number of women who left the workforce last month. Of the 865,000, more than 300,000 of them were Latina.
WILSON: Latina women were less likely to be employed in occupations that they could do remotely. So, whereas white women may have been more likely to retain employment because they had jobs that they could do from home, Latina women were employed in jobs that they were not able to do remotely. So when those industries were hit by COVID-19 the shutdowns, they completely lost those jobs, as opposed to being able to just continue working but doing so from home.
CORNISH: That's Valerie Wilson of the Economic Policy Institute.
NPR's Brianna Scott spent this week speaking to Latina women around the country, asking about how they're making it work or not.
BRIANNA SCOTT, BYLINE: It definitely wasn't a choice for Celeste Selwyn (ph) to step away from work earlier this year. Selwyn's 51. She lives in Santa Rosa, Calif. She's worked as a social worker for eight years, working with kids and young adults. At the start of the pandemic, Selwyn tried to keep working full-time with all 85 of her usual clients. But her son's school closed, and she had to take over watching him and teaching him. She's a single mother. Her son is 12 years old, and he has autism. So he needs a lot of extra help.
CELESTE SELWYN: He was having severe behaviors, like leaving the house. He was flooding the bathroom, broke the sink. It's not that he means to do it.
SCOTT: Selwyn's son needs constant supervision and help with things like going to the bathroom. And normally, he'd be in school all day getting help with speech therapy and reading and keeping himself calm. But for Selwyn, having to do all of that alone was overwhelming.
SELWYN: It was really hard and I was really at my breaking point in March where I didn't think that I could continue going on trying to care for him and having, like, all these emails and phone calls from work. I couldn't even shower.
SCOTT: So she tried working part-time for a while. But without the medical benefits that come with working full-time hours, Selwyn would have had to pay a couple hundred bucks for her son's medication every month. So she went back to working full-time in July. She packs it all into her mornings now when her son is at his calmest, instead of later in the day.
SELWYN: As long as my child doesn't go hungry and my bills are paid, that we keep the lights on - I mean, it's a struggle (laughter). But you know, as women of color, we make things work.
SCOTT: The other primary factor in why so many Latinas have lost their jobs or dropped out of the labor force is what's called occupational segregation - in other words, how Latinas are overrepresented in industries like restaurant service, hotels and housekeeping. By April, 72% of domestic workers reported they were out of work, according to a study done by the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Many of them are still without a steady job, like Rosana Araujo. She's 52 years old and originally from Uruguay. She came to the U.S. about 20 years ago illegally, and now she lives in Miami, where she cleans houses and warehouses.
ROSANA ARAUJO: (Speaking Spanish).
SCOTT: She says at the beginning of the pandemic, she lost most of her cleaning jobs. Now, when she can find work, she says she can bring in about $1,500 a month. But her rent is a $1,000. So she's left with just a few hundred bucks a month for everything else. When she's not able to find work, she's had to get help from her 19-year-old son or from a charity fund.
ARAUJO: (Speaking Spanish).
SCOTT: She says she's worried about catching COVID because she's had pneumonia before, and the cleaning products she uses sometimes make it harder for her to breathe. It's a bind. Her job might get her sick, but she doesn't have health care, so she'd need that income from work to pay for any medical bills. She's scared, but she says you just have to keep going.
ARAUJO: (Speaking Spanish).
SCOTT: Araujo says that when immigrants face a pandemic, those without documents suffer the most, especially the domestic workers. While other women could be helped by a second round of stimulus checks, Araujo isn't eligible to receive one. For now, she says, she's just trying to work as much as she can and save money and prepare like she would for a hurricane.
CORNISH: NPR's Brianna Scott.
Victoria DeFrancesco Soto hears stories like all of these, and she worries big time. She's a public policy expert at the University of Texas. And she tells me that without any help or change, the hardships facing women like the three we've heard about may not stop with having to go part-time.
VICTORIA DEFRANCESCO SOTO: We're probably also going to see a lot of women, you know, spiraling down, and - it pains me to say this - you know, having to move in with relatives. Probably this is going to be a cause of potential homelessness among women. So I think that if we don't see something happen in terms of a real solution, we're going to see real pain and suffering.
CORNISH: In your view, what's needed to right this ship? I mean, is it about another stimulus package?
SOTO: A stimulus package is important, but we're talking about structural change here. The United States, comparatively speaking - it's really embarrassing what our child care system looks like. We have this patchwork system where, you know, you have Head Start, which is amazing. But Head Start only serves about 7% to 13% of those families who need it. We have the, you know, the tax credits that help higher-income families, but that only covers about a quarter of the child care costs. So we need to reimagine what a child care system in an industrialized nation like the United States looks like. Most other of our peer countries have universal pre-K 4, universal pre-K 3, a lot more supports in terms of child care. We need to step it up.
CORNISH: What might the lasting impact be, especially on those communities that were hit the hardest - right? - had the largest numbers of job loss?
SOTO: Right. So if we don't see structural change, not just sending out a check, a check is good to tide one over, but more meaningful structural change, we're going to see the inequalities that we are presencing right now only widen, and at the same time, set women further back. We have seen women slowly but surely make gains in terms of closing the pay gap. It's still a yawning divide, but we are closing it as we're increasing our education, as we are, you know, getting more into the STEM fields, but without the structural supports of child care and also targeted female workforce training.
Because the other piece of this is that we know that women are overrepresented in the jobs that are low-wage, low-skill, that are the most easily automated. So if we're not retooling our women and getting our young girls in school ready to engage in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, women are in danger of falling behind rather than making strides forward.
CORNISH: Victoria DeFrancesco Soto of the University of Texas. And we'll hear more about how the pandemic-driven recession is affecting women from NPR's Business Desk in the coming weeks.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

subset: commoncrawl


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Worlds Collide (Land Of Stories #6)
by Chris Colfer
The epic conclusion to Chris Colfer's #1 New York Times bestselling series The Land of Stories!
In the highly anticipated conclusion to the Land of Stories series, Conner and Alex must brave the impossible. All of the Land of Stories fairy tale characters--heroes and villains--are no longer confined within their world!
With mayhem brewing in the Big Apple, Conner and Alex will have to win their biggest battle yet. Can the twins restore order between the human and fairy tale world?
Breathtaking action mixed with laugh out loud moments and lots of heart will make this a gripping conclusion for many fans!


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Rated PG
Metacritic: 54
Cast: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Jon Daly, Kathryn Hahn
The manager of the negative assets sector of Life magazine, Walter Mitty, has been working for sixteen years for the magazine and has a tedious life, not going anywhere but from his home to his job and vice-versa. He is an escapist, daydreaming into a world of fantasy many times a day. Walter has a crush on the recently hired Cheryl Melhoff but he is too shy to invite her on a date and he is trying to contact her via online dating. The magazine is preparing to release its last printed edition and the loathsome manager of transition Ted Hendricks is preparing an inevitable downsizing over the next few days. Walter has been the liaison between the magazine and the mysterious independent photographer Sean O'Connell who has sent to him a package of negatives and a wallet as a gift for his work. Sean also suggests to the senior management the use of negative 25 for the cover of the last edition. However, Walter cannot find the negative that is missing. Walter has no means to contact Sean and finds a clue that he might be in Greenland. He decides to travel to Greenland to track Sean down in the beginning of an unbelievable adventure.


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Are there really less pesticide residues on organic crops? The answer might not be as simple as you think.
A few weeks ago it was announced that for the first time in the history of USDA-Organic, there will be mandatory pesticide residue testing starting in 2013. This was always a theoretical possibility, but a government audit of certifiers showed that it essentially never happened.
Now it will, at least to some extent (something like 5% of operations).
I wrote to the contact person at USDA to ask this question:
"will this new testing program look for any residues of the pesticides that are allowed on organic crop and thus applied frequently?"
Why Ask This Question?
Most consumers believe (erroneously) that organic crops are not sprayed with any pesticides at all. That is not true, and the criterion for what can be sprayed on organic has nothing to do with relative risk - it is simply based on whether the pesticide is deemed "natural."
Knowing what is actually sprayed on organic crops, I was particularly interested in the copper-based fungicides because they are rather toxic by modern standards, and about Bt, protein insecticides because it would be helpful to calm people freaked out about Bt-biotech crops to be able to compare the exposure to this ultra-safe material when they probably consume farm more that is sprayed on crops vs when it is expressed by the crop.
Unfortunately, I learned that this new testing program is only there to encourage compliance with the organic rules, not to document anything about relative residue levels. There will be no testing for organically approved pesticides. In fact there won't be any public data-base generated and the sampling will be at the discretion of certifiers - not random.
This leaves us with the same situation we have had for a long time. Organic advocates and marketers make regular claims about the advantage of organic with regard to pesticide residues, and yet there is no actual data to support that claim - at least not for the US.
But Didn't That Stanford Study Compare Residues?
Remember the recent "Stanford Meta-Study" comparing organic and conventional that stirred so much controversy? They found lots of studies about nutrient content, but in their extensive search of the scientific literature they were only able to find 9 studies that compared pesticide residues in organic and conventional.
Only one of those was even from the US and it was from the mid 1990s. It was based on a testing program at USDA called the PDP (Pesticide Detection Program). While that group does an excellent job of monitoring pesticide residues on conventional crops, it has never looked for the pesticides most likely to be found as residues on organic - things like copper salts.
So even that one study that the Stanford group cited for the US was not a meaningful piece of data for residue comparison. So much for the scientific literature as a source on this question.
Why Doesn't the PDP Test For Copper, Bt, Biologicals Etc?
I contacted the USDA scientists who run the PDP to ask why they don't test for things like Copper fungicides, Bts or other biologicals. The answer was quite practical. They use something called multi-residues methods (MRMs) with which it is possible to simultaneously test for 2-300 different synthetic pesticides in a single analysis run. However, because of solubility issues and detection technology differences, many organic-approved pesticides cannot be extracted or measured by the same protocol.
To do the testing for these individual categories of pesticides would be far too expensive for the budget of that agency. The random sampling method of PDP is also not well suited to getting enough organic samples for comparison.
Can We Compare Residues? No.
So, here is where we stand on the question of pesticide residues on food. The conventional supply is rigorously tested for the main products they intentionally apply as well as for any off-label or environmentally persistent products left over from the bad old days. We get a data set every year which essentially says that there isn't anything to keep consumers from confidently buying that food.
The organic food supply is going to be tested to some degree for the first time, but we won't see any real summary of that data nor will we be able to compare it to conventional. We also know that there won't be any data generated about the pesticide residues most likely to be present on organic.
Do We Know Anything About Pesticide Residues On Organic Crops?
There was a relatively small, but high quality pilot study conducted by the USDA as background for their new testing regime. The authors were careful to point out the multiple reasons that their data is not really comparable to PDP (limited number of crops, smaller sample size not collected in the same fashion, fewer chemical tests conducted...). What they did find was that there were definitely some synthetic pesticide residues detected on organic crops - mostly consistent with spray drift, accidental contact in packing houses, persistent environmental pollutants....
The levels they found were not problematic from a safety point of view, but that is just as true for the PDP testing of conventional crops. This pilot program was like the PDP in that it used MRMs and so it didn't test for the majority of organic pesticides.
So, bottom line, we still have no real data about the most likely pesticide residues that occur on organic crops and we are unlikely to get any.
What Would Happen If We Could Get Information About Organic Residue Status?
If organic were subjected to the same level of random and comprehensive testing that is used for conventional, and if all its pesticides were included, it would almost certainly come out "dirty" by the absurd and irresponsible methodology employed by the Environmental Working Group to create its annual "dirty dozen list". They just count detections without regard to the nature of the chemical in question or its concentration or its EPA tolerance.
If there ever were a comparable pesticide residue database for organic it would force a far more scientific discussion of which residues matter and which do not. My guess is that both conventional and organic would come out as just fine for consumers to eat, but the "organic advantage" would disappear when both types of food had to be compared using scientifically sound assessments.
Bottom line. Just eat your fruits and vegetables and whole grains.... enjoy them!
You are welcome to comment here, and/or to write me at firstname.lastname@example.com
Organic produce image from Pculter's Photostream


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Exceptional all-day comfort for dry eyes
CooperVision® Proclear® 1 day contact lenses make end-of-day discomfort a thing of the past. That's because we designed these daily disposable lenses to offer your patients exceptional levels of both overall comfort and comfort at the end of the day. The aspheric optical design in Proclear 1 day contact lenses correct lens and theoretical corneal aberrations for crisp, clear vision. Proclear 1 day lenses also maintain oxygen flow to help keep the patient's eyes clear and white. And they stay 96% hydrated throughout the day, even after 12 hours of wear.
Patented PC Technology™ makes it work
CooperVision's exclusive PC Technology creates a unique lens material in which the phosphorylcholine (PC) molecules attract and bind water to the surface, creating a shield that keeps the lenses clean and functioning properly. The PC molecules also help the lenses remain hydrated, which in turn, help them feel moist and comfortable all day long.


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Moray Draft Local Plan
A new Local Fire and Rescue Plan has been drafted for the Moray area. This has been prepared following a review of our performance over the past three years.
To inform the review we asked local people and partners how well they thought we were doing and what else they thought the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service could do to improve community outcomes. We also carried out a thorough assessment of our operational and other available local data to identify risks and the priorities we still need to focus on. You may read the outcome of our findings in the Review Report attached at the bottom of this page.
The review has shaped the content of this Local Fire and Rescue Plan for Moray. To make sure we have got it right, we now wish to seek your views. Please click on the link below to complete the short survey.
- All Audiences
- All Interests


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Inspired by the Corningware dishes in Grandma's kitchen cupboards, the round Liberte Pots and Saucers achieve the "succulent in a teacup aesthetic" but takes that to next level by making it purposeful and adding the all-important drainage hole and saucer.
Each design exudes sweetness without giving you a toothache, it's the perfect balance of classic beauty and adorable. We've had a lot of fun playing with patterns and picking the perfect colour for the lip of the saucer. With a colour range of Blues, Greens, Red and Yellow you can pick the perfect colour for your plant baby. As a set of planters there are infinite cool colour combos to choose and create a trio of planters unique to you. Make your plant feel extra special and dress them up in their Liberte finest!
Product Details
- Material: Porcelain
- Dimensions: 4.25" diameter and 4" tall
- Finish: Fully Glazed
- Cleaning: warm soapy water
- Indoor pot and saucer
- Detachable saucer and 1/2" drainage hole
- 4" houseplant size, also available in a Starter Plant 3" size
- Adorable, fun, unique geometric prints and patterns
- Sit lovely in a window sill, home office, excellent gift idea
- Pairs well with a mini Parlour Palm, Sunset Velvet Oxalis, mini orchids


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Downton Abbey — What Are Americans Really Watching?
R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
January 23, 2015
Americans by the millions are still tuning in to watch Downton Abbey — now in its fifth season — eager to enjoy the continuation of the saga of the Earl and Countess of Grantham and their household. According to press reports, 10.1 million Americans watched the first episode, apparently quite ready to be transported by drama into another place and time. This season, one looming issue is the arrival of a socialist government in London.
But, do Americans have any idea what they are really watching?
The millions of Americans who are now devoted Downton fans are drawn, no doubt, to the story and all of its twists and turns. They are captivated by the historical drama and the grandeur of Highclere, the real-life estate of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon and the setting for Downton Abbey. They are intrigued by the hierarchies of the noble house and its inhabitants, with the nobility upstairs and the servants downstairs. They are amazed by the lavishness of the estate, the period dress, and the class structure of the society. They enjoy the quality of the acting and the quaintness of the habits portrayed. They must appreciate the attention to historical detail, right down to the soaps used and the dishes served. Many are likely to be unrepentant Anglophiles ( I include myself amongst them) who enjoy the look into the history and drama of our English cousins.
The stories, captivatingly written by Julian Fellowes (also rightly known as Baron Fellowes of West Stafford), are quite enough to hold the attention of a vast American audience. Critics rightly suggest that some viewers watch for the storylines, and others, rather less interested in the soap opera character that also marks the series, watch for an escape into history. Whatever the reason, they keep watching.
And yet, most viewers are likely unaware of what they are actually seeing. They are not merely watching an historical drama, they are witnessing the passing of a world. And that larger story, inadequately portrayed within Downton Abbey, is a story that should not be missed. That story is part of our own story as well. It is the story of the modern age arriving with revolutionary force, and with effects that continue to shape our own world.
Downton Abbey is set in the early decades of the twentieth century. Though by season four King George V is on the throne, the era is still classically Edwardian. And the era associated with King Edward VII is the era of the great turn in British society. The early decades of the twentieth century witnessed a great transformation in England and within the British Empire. The stable hierarchies of Downton Abbey grew increasingly unstable. Britain, which had been overwhelmingly a rural nation until the last decade of the nineteenth century, became increasingly urban. A transformation in morals changed the very character of the nation, and underlying it all was a great surge of secularization that set the stage for the emergence of the radically secular nation that Britain has become.
Viewers should note the almost complete absence of Christianity from the storyline. The village vicar is an occasional presence, and church ceremonies have briefly been portrayed. But Christianity as a belief system and a living faith is absent—as is the institutional presence of the Church of England.
Political life is also largely absent, addressed mainly as it directly affects the Crawleys and their estate. This amounts to a second great omission. The epoch in which Downton Abbey is set was a time of tremendous political strife and upheaval in Britain. The Earl of Grantham would likely have been quite distressed by the rise of the Liberal Party's David Lloyd George as Prime Minister. The right of women to vote was a recent development, and the political waters were roiled by high unemployment and a faltering British economy. The signs of the Empire's disappearance were there for all to see, even if most among the elites did their best to deny the evidence. The great landed estates were draining their lordly title holders of precious capital, and the economic arrangements that allowed the nobility to live off of their estates would never return. That is why so many English lords looked for rich American women to marry. Some of these developments are addressed in the series, but not with the depth of concern that shook the British noble houses into crisis.
A great moral revolution was also in full sway. Birth control was increasingly available and openly discussed. In 1930, the Church of England would become the first major Christian church to endorse the use of contraceptives. Sexual morality was changing with a lessening of sanctions on premarital sex and adultery. Calls for liberalized divorce laws became more frequent. Many argued that the working class should have the same access to sexual liberty that the nobility seemed to allow themselves.
And yet, the secularization of the society was underneath it all. Christie Davies, author of The Strange Death of Moral Britain, gets right to the point: "Behind the strange death of moral Britain lies the strange death of Christian Britain. Even in 1900 the leaders of Christian Britain feared that such a decline might take place."
Historians and theologians debate just how Christian the Britain of Queen Victoria really was, but the fact is that within the Church of England liberal theology was very much in control, with the Broad Church party setting the course. The literature of the late Victorian age and the age of Edward reveals ample evidence of what the poet Matthew Arnold would express in "Dover Beach." In Arnold's memorable words:
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore;
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
As historian Jose Harris of the University of Oxford explains, "A more common response, however, was not outright loss of faith but dilution, adjustment, or diversification of religious belief into something that was often much more nuanced and nebulous than had been common in the early Victorian age." He also described the age as one marked by "the increasing vagueness and indeterminacy of religious belief."
Rates of churchgoing fell—and they would fall further in decades ahead. The unspeakable tragedy of World War I seemed to add impetus to the loss of faith and theological certainties. A great spiritual void appeared in Britain long before the signs of such secularization would appear on American shores. But we can now see that the early decades of the twentieth century, including the so-called "locust years" in Britain between the two world wars, were a crucial turning time within that society. Those years set the trajectory that produced the Britain of today.
There are countless lessons for American Christians to observe as we watch Downton Abbey. But we ought not to miss the larger story of which tales like Downton are only a part. The world that was passing away was not only a world of footmen, but also of faith. Britain would never be the same again, and that loss of faith and certitude would eventually become a tide that would sweep across every aspect of British culture.
Of course, Downton Abbey did not stay in Britain, and that is true of the larger story as well. That larger story records a great shift in worldview, not merely a social transformation. The consequences of that larger story far exceed the story of a great English house and its inhabitants. In that sense, Downton Abbey is a parable of sorts—a parable that can teach us a great deal.
This is an updated version of an essay first posted on Friday, January 10, 2014.
I am always glad to hear from readers. Write me at email@example.com. Follow regular updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/albertmohler.
Christie Davies, The Strange Death of Moral Britain (London: Transaction Publishers, 2004), p. xxiii.
Jose Harris, Private Lives, Public Spirit: Britain 1870-1914, The Penguin Social History of Britain (London: Penguin Books, 1993), pp. 171, 175.
R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
I am always glad to hear from readers. Write me using the contact form. Follow regular updates on Twitter at @albertmohler.
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Despite its reputation as the epicenter of the 1990s loft universe, the South of Market neighborhood offers an impressive variety of living options – with more to come. Construction is brisk at the neighborhood's western and northern edges, adding a slew of impressive high-rise buildings to what so far has been a low- and mid-rise neighborhood, but that doesn't mean SoMa's fate is to be overrun by towers like neighboring Yerba Buena. Living in SoMa can mean almost anything.
Back in its post-earthquake "South of the Slot" days, SoMa was defined by low-cost, simple housing like SROs and multi-unit Edwardian buildings, along with commercial structures — warehouses and small factories. The neighborhood was this way for decades, until long-delayed redevelopment began in the 1980s. With it came the familiar SoMa condo and loft buildings, entry-level alternatives that in spirit paid homage to the neighborhood's democratic past. These one- and two-bedroom units remain a viable option for new homebuyers, though they now fetch anywhere from $550,000 to $1 million on the open market.
A "SoMa loft" can mean a number of things. Some are converted original warehouses; others were built in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Some have an open living area and an upstairs sleeping loft, less than 1,000 total square feet of space and one bathroom; others can have as much as 5,000 square feet of interior space (like the converted warehouse at 721 Tehama Street, which sold in late February for $3.1 million), multiple bedrooms, three or more living levels, parking, outdoor space… "loft" has a flexible definition.
Likewise can SoMa's condos – added to the neighborhood during the 1990s and 2000s – be many things. Some are spartan; others are luxurious. Some share space on major streets with warehouses, lofts and factories; others nestle into SoMa's quiet side streets. Some were designed by noted local architects like Stanley Saitowitz. Most have one, two or three bedrooms but some are studios.
SoMa's latest building spree will change the neighborhood, if only because the new buildings are so different than those already extant. As usual, SoMa continues to push the boundaries of San Francisco housing – if there's a new trend, you can bet it's happening in SoMa.
Interested in micro-apartments? Builder Patrick Kennedy is at the forefront of the sub-400 square-foot apartment trend. He chose SoMa for two projects, 23 295 square-foot studios at 38 Harriet Street and 1321 Mission, which when complete will offer 120 (out of 160 total) micro-units. 80 of these small living spaces and all of 38 Harriet (not originally planned but how it turned out) will be set aside for student housing.
What if your tastes tend more toward luxury high-rise leasing? For you, the "new" SoMa offers a number of under-construction options, most clustered along the reborn Mid-Market area. This deep roster includes the rebuilt Trinity Plaza complex (when completed, approximately 1,900 living units in four towers), NEMA (700 apartments at 1401 Market), 1400 Mission, which offers 190 below-market-rate units and 1415 Mission (121 studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments and street-level retail).
These monster complexes are the highest-profile projects presently under construction in SoMa but they are not the neighborhood's only new developments. Ava (55 Ninth Street) and Mosso (900 Folsom) are two other splashy new neighborhood arrivals. Nor are they its first luxury high-rises. That title was claimed by the SOMA Grand in 2008.
All of this activity makes it clear that SoMa has left its "skid row" persona far in the rearview. It's still a place where entry-level buyers and renters can find options, either with existing or new (all of the new developments include BMR units; two of them, 1400 Mission and the Rene Casenave Apartments, at 530 Folsom, are 100 percent BMR or supportive) housing, but its latest wave of construction makes very clear that SoMa is poised to join neighboring Yerba Buena as a preferred address for San Francisco movers and shakers as well.
Source : Parascopesf.com


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BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF is an ETFs – Exchange Traded Funds investment product that is benchmarked against ETF and sits inside the (ETF) Global Equities - Large Cap Strategy Index. Think of a benchmark as a standard where investment performance can be measured. Typically, market indices like the ASX200 and market-segment stock indexes are used for this purpose. The BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF has Assets Under Management of $ 389.66M with a management fee of 0.45%, a performance fee of 0 and a buy/sell spread fee of 0.17%.
The recent investment performance of the investment product shows that the BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF has returned 1.74% in the last month. The previous three years have returned 11.31% annualised and 14.07% each year since inception, which is when the BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF first started.
There are many ways that the risk of an investment product can be measured, and each measurement provides a different insight into the risk present. They can be used on their own or together to perform a risk assessment before investing, but when comparing investments, it is common to compare like for like risk measurements to determine which investment holds the most risk. Since BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF first started, the Sharpe ratio is 0.31 with an annualised volatility of 14.07%. The maximum drawdown of the investment product in the last 12 months is -3.93% and -27.31% since inception. The maximum drawdown is defined as the high-to-low decline of an investment during a particular time period.
Relative performance is what an asset achieves over a period of time compared to similar investments or its peers. Relative return is a measure of the asset's performance compared to the return to the other investment. The BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF has a 12-month excess return when compared to the (ETF) Global Equities - Large Cap Strategy Index of -5.38% and -5.06% since inception.
Alpha is an investing term used to measure an investment's outperformance relative to a market benchmark or peer investment. Alpha describes the excess return generated when compared to peer investment. BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF has produced Alpha over the (ETF) Global Equities - Large Cap Strategy Index of -0.05% in the last 12 months and -0.29% since inception.
For a full list of investment products in the (ETF) Global Equities - Large Cap Strategy Index category, you can click here for the Peer Investment Report.
BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF has a correlation coefficient of 0.84 and a beta of 0.66 when compared to the (ETF) Global Equities - Large Cap Strategy Index. Correlation measures how similarly two investments move in relation to one another. This establishes a 'correlation coefficient', which has a value between -1.0 and +1.0. A 100% correlation between two investments means that the correlation coefficient is +1. Beta in investments measures how much the price moves relative to the broader market over a period of time. If the investment moves more than the broader market, it has a beta above 1.0. If it moves less than the broader market, then the beta is less than 1.0. Investments with a high beta tend to carry more risk but have the potential to deliver higher returns.
For a full quantitative report on BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF and its peer investments, you can click here for the Peer Investment Report.
For a full quantitative report on BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF compared to the ETF, you can click here.
To sort and compare the BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF financial metrics, please refer to the table above.
This investment product is in the process of being independently verified by SMSF Mate. Once we have verified the investment product, you will be able to find more information here.
If you or your self managed super fund would like to invest in the BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF please contact BetaShares Capital Ltd Level 12, 50 Margaret Street Sydney NSW 2000, Australia via phone 61-2-9290-6888 or via email .
If you would like to get in contact with the BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF manager, please call 61-2-9290-6888.
SMSF Mate does not receive commissions or kickbacks from the BetaShares FTSE 100 ETF. All data and commentary for this fund is provided free of charge for our readers general information.


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Book reviews: Drama, romance and adventure for spring nights
The Street Orphans by Mary Wood
Blackpool-based author Mary Wood has a long association with Lancashire and she takes to the remote Bowland hills for a new saga brimming with the gritty realism that has become a hallmark of her much-loved books.
Wood worked in the probation service in both Lancaster and Blackpool and her hard-hitting and emotional historical novels reflect her own experiences with people from all walks of life.
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Hide AdThe thirteenth child of fifteen born to a middle-class mother and an East End barrow boy father, Wood's childhood of 'love and poverty' gave her a natural empathy with the less fortunate and a lifelong fascination with social history. Now a great-grandmother, Wood's exciting tales of romance, hardship and adventure have won her an ever-growing army of devoted readers and admirers.
The Street Orphans brims with all those ingredients we have come to expect from this warm and wise author as we follow a crippled orphan girl on a gruelling journey through death, despair and destitution after the death of her father.
Born with a club foot in a remote village near Slaidburn in Lancashire's Bowland hills, Ruth Dovecote is feared and ridiculed by her superstitious neighbours who see her affliction as a sign of witchcraft and 'evil powers.'
When her father is killed in an accident and her family evicted from their tied cottage within hours of his death, Ruth, her mother and four siblings hope to leave behind their old life and start afresh by finding work in Blackburn's flourishing cotton mills.
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Hide AdBut tragedy strikes on the road as they make the long trek to Blackburn on foot, setting in motion a chain of events that will unravel the lives of Ruth's family.
Their fate now lies in the hands of the Lord Frederick Rollinson, the Earl of Harrogate, and his betrothed, Katrina Arkwright, daughter of a wealthy self-made man. Even more worrying is the scheming Marcia, Katrina's cruel and jealous sister who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.
Meanwhile, Ruth is harbouring an impossible dream. From the moment she meets Frederick, there seems to be a spark between them and she hopes that he will save her from the terrible fate that awaits those accused of witchcraft.
Her dream is that one day her destiny and the Earl's will be entwined but Frederick, Katrina and Ruth face a pivotal moment in their lives… one that will not only affect them, but generations to come.
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Hide AdWood excels at storytelling and this haunting, hard-hitting tale is full of heartbreak, rich period detail, emotional intensity and the harsh realities of life at all levels of society in the mid-19th century.
Written with insight, warmth and compassion, The Orphan Girls is gripping from first to last page…
(Pan, paperback, £6.99)
Wartime at Woolworths by Elaine Everest
The Woolworths girls are back in town… and there can only be trouble ahead!
It's hard to believe that Wartime at Woolworths is only the third book in Elaine Everest's wonderfully nostalgic wartime Woolies series which has brought new life and love for the famous stores which once graced almost every high street in the country.
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Hide AdThis 'family' of devoted and dedicated store staff have become like friends to an army of readers who have taken the hard-working women – and their trials and triumphs – to their hearts since The Woolworth Girls hit the shelves two years ago.
Set once again in Everest's home town of Erith in Kent, where she briefly worked as a Woolworths girl herself, this new chapter in the lives of the charismatic friends and their Woolworths boss Betty Billington sees the group facing their biggest challenges yet.
It's 1943 and fun-loving, elegant Maisie Carlisle is devoted to her baby daughter Ruby and her work at Woolworths. But her happy life with her husband David, who is an RAF officer, and their baby makes her think longingly of her mum and dad in the East End of London from who she is now estranged.
But with the war now into its fourth year, the capital suffering massive casualties in the blitz and her husband not keen on her venturing into a danger zone, what will she find when she sets about searching for them and will she be safe?
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Hide AdMeanwhile, Sarah Gilbert and her husband Alan, an RAF pilot, are blissfully happy and longing for a sibling for their daughter Georgina. Sarah is making plans to try to save money so that when the war is over, they can rent their own home instead of living with family. But dark days lie ahead…
Freda Smith is heading home to Birmingham in search of her mother, back to the unhappy life she fled because of her bully-boy stepfather and far away from the safety of Woolworths and her new friends.
As Woolworths boss Betty Billington struggles to keep her staff afloat, their kindly guardian angel Ruby tries to look out for everyone, and with families separated by the perils and uncertainty of war, will the good friends be able to keep on pulling together?
Everest works her storytelling magic in this new chapter of wartime Woolies in Kent, and when the irrepressible Woolworths girls get together, you know that there can only be romance, drama, tears and laughter in 'store'!
(Pan, paperback, £6.99)
The Empire Girls by Sue Wilsher
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Hide AdEssex 'girl' Sue Wilsher's new novel set in the streets around Tilbury Docks in 1952 could not be more timely as the plight of the Windrush immigrants from the Caribbean makes headlines across the country.
In her author's note, Wilsher reveals that her new novel, The Empire Girls, which tells the heartbreaking story of a young unmarried mother, grew from her research into local history and life in Britain generally in the Fifties.
The emotion packed into the pages of this gritty and compelling portrait of the moral codes which dominated society, the stigma of illegitimacy, and the exclusion faced by immigrants from the West Indies, reflects Wilsher's desire to go some way to addressing the injustices.
Teenager Doris was born in the front bedroom of the Empire pub near Tilbury Docks and grew up emptying ashtrays before school. The pub is the haunt of the dockers and run by Vi, Doris's tough, watchful, unforgiving mother.
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Hide AdAnd when Doris becomes pregnant and gives birth on her bedroom floor, she is kicked out of the house and forced to fend for herself. Desperate to look after her baby daughter Laura, born with a club foot and unsuitable for adoption, Doris finds refuge in Southend, hoping for a better life and willing to take any job going.
When she finds herself cast out again, Doris has nowhere to go but home, back to Tilbury, but she is now welcome there and once again has to look for shelter and work.
Homeless and as a single mother, life is tough for Doris and it becomes even harder when she becomes friendly with her neighbour Claude. He is one of the newly-arrived Windrush immigrants and she is determined to help him find a new life in Britain. Now Doris must decide where her heart lies…
This is the second Essex-set saga from Wilsher. It's a page-turning, well-researched and revealing story filled with heartache and drama as two very different women battle with the hardships and prejudices of life in the Fifties.
Unexpected friendships, love, resilience and hope all play a part as Wilsher delivers another gripping slice of life in the mid-20th century.
(Sphere, paperback, £7.99)


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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Shih Tzu is a whirl of fur on a course studded with obstacles, flying through tunnels, leaping over bars, scrambling up bridges and zigzagging through poles as its owner tears alongside, calling out commands and flashing hand signals. At the finish line, there are hugs, treats and lots of slobber.
Linda Harper of San Diego and her Shih Tzu named Fame spend every weekend on the road competing in agility races, the fastest growing dog sport in the United States that is most popular with older pet owners. Harper, 67, says the whirlwind contests help her and her dogs stay young and fit.
Harper has eight minutes to memorize the 18 to 20 obstacles before the clock starts ticking. That's far longer than Fame gets to scramble through it — the standard time for a dog to finish a course is 50 seconds.
This isn't a walk in the park — it's a heart-pounding, high-flying sprint. Owners must guide their dogs through the obstacles in a particular order, and do it as quick as they can. There are penalties if a dog walks on top of a tunnel, enters the wrong end first or knocks down a bar.
Veterinarians say the exercise and camaraderie are beneficial for dogs, and the more popular the sport, the safer the equipment. The newest gear is lightweight, breaks away if a dog hits it and has no sharp corners. And pooches are never asked to jump higher than their legs will allow.
"Any dog that enjoys exercise and working with their owner can excel. If the dog seems to enjoy the sport and the owner is having fun, it is a good thing," said Dr. Bonnie Beaver, a professor at Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine and executive director of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists.
When handlers describe the joys of agility, they talk about the euphoria of a perfect run, being in sync with their dogs, making friends at competitions and getting to travel.
Gayle Lape, 71, of Catonsville, Maryland, called competing with her Pembroke corgis, Phoenix and Ruddy, "a passion, an obsession." She says she's "so happy I am still able to do this. I am enjoying the ride and the run."
As Lape and her dogs have aged, they have changed the way they work. She sometimes teaches her dogs to ignore her while she takes shortcuts.
The American Kennel Club surveyed competitors last year, and 50 percent said they were over 51 years old. Of those, about 20 percent said they were over 60. To attract young people to the sport, entry fees are sometimes waived for handlers under 18.
The club is the largest of nine U.S. groups sponsoring agility trials. Purina Pro Plan's Incredible Dog Challenge televises many of events and helps introduce newcomers to the sport.
The number of agility participants has grown every year since it was adopted by the American Kennel Club in 1994, and it's up 48 percent in the last five years, said Carrie DeYoung, the club's director of agility. To a lesser extent, there has been growth in other dog sports, too, including dock diving, where dogs jump for height or distance into water; Frisbee, both distance and freestyle catching; and herding.
Lape and Harper enjoy winning but say their dogs only care about pleasing them.
"It is very unlikely that they (dogs) care about winning," said Beaver, the veterinarian. "Owners may think they are working harder in competition, but it is actually the owner who is working harder and the dog is responding to the owner's cues."


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The field was filled with food, the moon full, and the Flatbread Society grains and Bakehouse had already reached INTO THE GROUND AND UP TO THE SKY. Despite our efforts to ward off any feathered creatures with Human Scarecrows, the grain field became home to hundreds of seed eating friends. On this day where the moon rose as a full circle in the sky, we selected small handfuls of seeds from this year's harvest to be threshed and packaged for both our Seed Journey and Bakehouse storage.
A procession of seeds walked from Losæter to the waterfront where RS-10 Christiania accepted them as cargo for their year-long journey to Istanbul. An armada of floating vessels surrounded our mothership in a celebration of her departure on September 17. The captains and sailing crew greeted visitors under the mesmerizing voice of Johanna Zwaig. Tall seamen tales helped imagine the journey ahead.
Simultaneously the Bakehouse was open for a sneak preview and people enjoyed flatbread by resident baker Emmanuel Rang, while meditating on messages sent through smoke signals under a full moon.
A fermentation workshop focused on veggies harvested from Losæter to be taken on Seed Journey was led by Bård Watn, while others learned more about the design and form of the Bakehouse itself.
Threshing, Selecting, Parading Seeds to Sail
Smoke Signals and Hand Over
Ferments on the Way
Who is Colin Archer?
Potluck with friends, Flatbread and Music


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iPhone14 Pro Max White Carbon
This skin sticker is for iPhone14 Pro Max. Two types of skin stickers are included, one with the back and side separated and the other with the sides connected. Magsafe" can be used with the skin stickers attached. The shape of the skin seals and attached parts may differ between the product image and the actual product. Please check the skin sticker shape image in advance.
After your order is completed, delivery will take approximately 1-3 days to Japan and 3-12 days to the rest of the world. Please check our shipping policy for details.
Yes, wraplus ships products worldwide. Please see our Shipping Policy for more details.
Yes, we accept returns for any reason as long as the item is in unused condition. You may return any item for any reason as long as it is in unused condition. Please see our Refund Policy for details.
Easy to apply. For more informationHERE
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
- Press the space key then arrow keys to make a selection.


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From Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki
Hi! My name is Janine Weston. I am wife to a software engineer, self-employed as a professional photographer, and mother to three wonderful children (ages 7, 5, and 3). I currently reside in Fremont, California, with my family, Labrador Retriever, Rosie, and Jack Russell Terrier puppy, Sam. My hobbies include photography, web-design, art, power walking & hiking, volunteering at the library, yoga, dogs, reading, and cooking. I have my bachelor's degree in Liberal Studies and an Elementary Education Credential from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Currently, I am a student at San Jose State University in California, completing the ePortfolio for my MLIS. Cheers!


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Contact Information: Contact: Jill Farrell 202-646-5188
Judicial Watch Asks Court to Declare Hillary Clinton Constitutionally Ineligible to Serve as Secretary of State
Files New Motion in Lawsuit on Behalf of State Department Foreign Service Officer
| Source: Judicial Watch
WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - July 8, 2009) - Judicial Watch, the public interest group
that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today
that on July 2 it filed a motion with a special panel of three federal
judges in the District of Columbia asking the court to declare Hillary
Clinton ineligible to serve as Secretary of State. The Judicial Watch
lawsuit, filed on behalf of a U.S. Foreign Service Officer and State
Department employee David C. Rodearmel, maintains that the "emoluments
clause" of the U.S. Constitution prohibits Mrs. Clinton from serving as
Secretary of State until January 2013, and that Mr. Rodearmel cannot be
forced to serve under the former U.S. Senator, as it would violate the oath
he took as a Foreign Service Officer in 1991 to "support and defend" and
"bear true faith and allegiance" to the Constitution of the United States
(Rodearmel v. Clinton, et al., (D. District of Columbia)).
Government lawyers had previously filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Judicial Watch filed an opposition to the motion to dismiss, as well as a
"cross motion for summary judgment."
According to Article I, Section 6 of the U.S. Constitution: "No Senator or
Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be
appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States,
which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been
encreased during such time." The text of the provision is an absolute
prohibition and does not allow for any exceptions. However, as noted in
the motion, "the 'compensation and other emoluments' of the office of the
U.S. Secretary of State increased during Mrs. Clinton's tenure in the U.S.
Senate, including as many as three times during the second, six-year term
to which she was elected."
Congress attempted to circumvent this constitutional provision by "rolling
back" compensation for the position of Secretary of State to the level in
effect on January 1, 2007, when Mrs. Clinton's second term in the Senate
began. The motion maintains: "This [fix] does not and cannot change the
historical fact that the 'compensation and other emoluments' of the office
of the U.S. Secretary of State increased during Mrs. Clinton's tenure in
the U.S. Senate." Judicial Watch also notes that throughout the nation's
history, "the Ineligibility Clause was readily understood and applied
consistent with its plain language." Only relatively recently have
government officials attempted to get around this constitutional provision
through legislative quick fixes.
"Congress must not be allowed to do an end run around the U.S.
Constitution," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Hillary Clinton
is ineligible to serve as Secretary of State until 2013. The Constitution
is crystal clear on this point. We hope the court puts a stop to this
naked attempt to circumvent the Constitution in the name of political
To view Judicial Watch's court filing, please visit www.judicialwatch.org.


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Roiling in the Deep
It's World Oceans Day and here are 10 things scientists know about what's happening under the sea that they didn't a year ago
You may soon, if you haven't already, be making your first visit to the beach since last summer. A lot has happened out in the ocean since then, although most of us probably haven't been paying much attention. Truth is, the sea doesn't get a whole lot of press, unless a tsunami or shark attack happens.
But, like I said, a lot of unusual things are going on in the ocean these days. Scientists have been doing some innovative research to a get handle on where all this is headed, but they are truly in uncharted waters. As marine biologist Callum Roberts wrote in Newsweek, "With an ever-accelerating tide of human impact, the oceans have changed more in the last 30 years than in all of human history before. In most places, the seas have lost upwards of 75 percent of their megafauna—large animals such as whales, dolphins, sharks, rays, and turtles—as fishing and hunting spread in waves across the face of the planet."
Since today is World Oceans Day, here's a rundown of 10 things we now know about the sea that we didn't a year ago.
1. The oceans are getting more acidic every day. In fact, according to researchers at Columbia University, acidification is occurring at a rate faster than any time in the last 300 million years, a period that includes four mass extinctions. As the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, oceans absorb it, and it turns into a carbon acid. And that is putting sea creatures at risk, particularly coral, oysters and salmon.
2. The "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" is even greater. The latest on that massive swirl of plastic particles in the North Pacific? It's way bigger than scientists thought. They've known that it's roughly the size of Texas. But in a new study researchers collected samples from the below the surface, in some cases 100 feet down, and they've concluded that the size of the mass may have been underestimated by 2.5 to 27 times. Another study found that small insects known as sea skaters have taken to laying their eggs on the plastic and that that could end up harming crabs that feed on them.
3. Coming soon: Deep sea mining. Advances in robotics, computer mapping and underwater drilling are stirring up interest in mining metals and minerals under the ocean floor. For mining companies, the prospect of finding rich veins of high-quality copper is particularly enticing. Also, later this month three Chinese scientists in a submersible will dive into the Marianas Trench, the deepest place on Earth–which is seen as a prelude to gearing up an underwater mining industry.
4. The Arctic meltdown could make harsh winters more likely. Yes, it's counter-intuitive, but yet another study, this one by researchers at Cornell, reinforces the theory that warmer water in the Arctic sets off a climatic chain reaction that can result in brutal winters, like last year in Europe, or relentless snowfalls, like those that buried America's East Coast in February, 2010.
5. Sea life needs to swim farther to survive climate change. After analyzing 50 years of global temperature changes, scientists at the University of Queensland concluded that both the velocity of climate change and the shift in seasonal temperatures will be higher at sea than on land at certain latitudes. And that means that if sea creatures can't adapt to the rising temperatures, they may have to migrate hundreds of miles if they hope to survive.
6. Looks like tough times ahead for leatherback turtles. They've been around for more than 100 million years but some scientists believe leatherback turtles, the largest sea turtles in the world, may not make it through the rest of this century. They're already threatened by the warmer and drier climate that accompanies El Nino cycles in their nesting grounds in Costa Rica, and scientists are predicting a climate that's 5 degrees warmer and 25 percent drier on the country's Pacific coast in coming decades.
7. And not such a happy future for the Great Barrier Reef, either. Industrial development in Australia is a growing threat to the Great Barrier Reef, so much so that it may be designated a world heritage site "in danger" later this year. Australia is experiencing an investment boom from Asia, with over $400 billion worth of projects on the horizon, including coal and natural gas plants and development of new ports.
8. Fukushima radiation is showing up in tuna caught off the California coast. A new study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that bluefin tuna caught off America's West Coast are carrying radiation from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima badly damaged in a tsunami last year. Fortunately, the radiation is not at levels that would be harmful to humans.
9. Melting of ice sheets caused an ancient global flood. Analysis of coral reefs near Tahiti has linked the collapse of massive ice sheets more than 14,000 years ago to a global flood when sea levels around the world rose an average of 46 feet, at a rate 10 times more quickly than they are now. Scientists hope to create a computer model of the mega-flood, which will help them make better predictions of coastal flooding from our modern-day meltdown.
10. And yet, some creatures still find a way to survive. Scientists have known for awhile that microbes have survived for millions of years in the mud of the ocean bottom. But they couldn't figure out how they stayed alive. Now they know. After probing sediment at the bottom of the Pacific with oxygen sensors, researchers from Denmark found the bacteria are consuming oxygen at extremely slow rates, and that what they're consuming is organic matter that's been trapped with them since dinosaurs walked the Earth. Yes, they've been chowing on the same meal for millions of years.
Video bonus: It's hard to find a better ambassador for the sea than Sylvia Earle, who's been exploring the deep for more than 40 years. Here's her TED talk from a few years ago, but it's more relevant than ever. And as a Bonus Bonus, here's a video slideshow of some of the stranger creatures you'll ever see, all living under the sea.


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Monday, May 30, 2011
More Yuushien
here are photos from the second half of my walk around Yuushien, the graden located on daikon Island. It has a large karesansui, the dry garden mostly associated with Zen
Most commonly the rocks are seen as islands and the raked sand as water.
There are a few buddhist statues scattered about the garden, and coins left in their hands as offerings....
There are also several small waterfalls though its necessary to take side paths to see them.
The best views, perhaps, are in the restaurants and tea rooms where the windows provide the frame to see the garden as paintings.
As well as the peonies, Yuushien is also famous for growing ginseng, a plant notoriously difficult to grow. The gift shops are stocked with ginseng products.
daikon island,
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Maidens planting rice
Here are some more photos of the Tauebayashi festival down in Kawahira last weekend.
Someone asked if in the olden days the saotome, planting maidens, used to be virgins, and I have been unable to find out for sure. I suspect it may have been the case sometimes, but rice-planting rituals varied so much from region to region that it was probably not a universal thing.
Was talking with a friend recently who had just finished planting his rice and he said that according to his father during the Taisho period (1920's) it was the women who planted the rice. The men did the preparation of the paddies. Since the war the rice planting has become mechanized and the men do it mostly, though I often see old ladies out in the paddies afterwards planting on the corners where the machines can get to.
I believe in premodern Japan the whole family would have been involved in the planting.
When I first came to Japan I was told several times that all the old women I saw who walked bent over at 90 degrees were that way because of a lifetime working in the paddies. Like many things I was told it turns out to be a myth. There are millions of old women bent over who have never been in a rice paddy in their lives. It is caused by calcium deficiency. Prewar japanese diet was very poor. High mortality and low longevity were the norm until the postwar period.
Anyway, the matsuri was enjoyable again this year, though I missed the young kids playing the music.
The men, of course, have things to do..... lots of supervising and encouraging the women :)
Friday, May 27, 2011
Tenjin Inter Media Station
The Inter Media Station building in Tenjin, Fukuoka, is not much to look at from the outside.
But inside is another matter!!!!!
Basically its another shopping and entertainment complex.
I am not much of a shopper myself, in fact I loathe shopping. I would rather have sharp sticks poked in my eyes. But in Japan, perhaps more than most places, shopping and consumption are elevated to levels I would equate to religious.
Which is why these kind of places seem to be Cathedrals of Consumption.
The receptionists/information counter girls were something else too. With fake fur stoles and fake flowers in their hair are they the miko of a new religion?
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Vacation 2011 Day1: Sumiyoshi Shrine
The last part of my first day of vacation I was in Hakata and I visited the Sumiyoshi Shrine there.
The head Sumiyoshi Shrine is in Osaka, but the one in Hakata is believed to be the original one.
The main kami are Sokotsutsuo-no-kami, Nakatsutsuo-no-kami and Uwatsutsuo-no-kami, which are kami connected with navigation and safe travel by sea. the mythical "Empress" Jingu is also now enshrined here as the myths say she received oracles from the Sumiyoshi Kami before her mythical "conquest" of Korea.
I recently read that the 3 kami were originally aspects of the undersea Dragon King, a kami long associated with distant lands.
Travellers and emissaries going from Yamato to Korea and China would first stop at the Sumiyoshi Taisha in Naniwa (Osaka) and then visit other Sumiyoshi Shrines along the Inland Sea until finally leaving from Hakata.
Its a nice oasis of green in an otherwise built-up area and has some fine Zuijin and komainu.
There is a secondary shrine to Amaterasu in the grounds, and an Ebisu shrine in front.
As a major shrine it is able to employ Miko.
Behind the main hall are 2 Inari shrines.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
This is the draincover for Chikumi, one of many small fishing villages scattered along the north coast of the Shimane Peninsular north of Matsue.
Its actually a very beautiful coastline and not much visited. There are no pachinko parlors, fast food joints, and I didnt see any convenience stores, just fishing villages and a few farms in the mountains.
Earlier I posted about a walk I did last year along the coast. That walk started where this walk ended.
You are never far from the signs of fishing......
Monday, May 23, 2011
Rice Planting Matsuri
Its that time of the year again. In my neighborhood the month of May is spent planting rice. My neighbors dont go on vacation for Golden Week, the time off from their regular job is spent preparing the paddies and planting.
Down in Kawahira half a paddy remains unplanted......
Its waiting for the arrival of the procession from the local community center. Its Tauebayashi time again.
The maidens line up along the paddy and wait.....
While the farmer and his oxen do a ceremonial circuit of the paddy.
Then the drummers and singers begin to perform the rice planting song.
A man and a woman place a bottle of Sake at a sacred sprig in the center of the paddy, plant a few rice seedlings around it and ask the kami of the rice paddy to watch.....
rice planting,
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Yuushien is a Japanese garden in the middle of Daikon Island in the Nakaumi between shimane and Tottori.
This is where we went to see the peonies in bloom recently.
While the peonies were certainly the stars of the garden in May, there were other flowers in bloom too including wisteria.
Its a circuit walking garden with a few side paths to explore.
There are different flowers in bloom at different times of the year and for the fall foliage the garden is illuminated and open late.
There are buses to Daikon Island from Matsue and Sakaimoinato.
The garden is open from 8:30 to 17:30. 7 days a week and entrance is 600 yen
Friday, May 20, 2011
A walk from Muraki to Higashi Aohara
After the ceremonies at Taikodani Inari I decided to take advantage of the warm, dry weather and go for a walk along the backroads in the mountains north of Tsuwano.
I started out in Muraki, a small settlement west of Tsuwano and headed north along route 17. My first surprise was a new tunnel. According to the map I was supposed to snake up and over the mountain, but this new tunnel punched straight through saving me at least a kilometer and some climbing.
On the other side the road dropped down into a valley and then climbed slowly north. As usual I was on the lookout for shrines, and as usual some of them marked on the map didnt exist, and some shrines existed that were not marked on the map. According to the map this little grove of trees contained a shrine, but as the only way to it was through a farm I decided to pass.
The road passed through small settlements with names like Yamashita (under the mountain) and Nakagawa (middle river), common names that existed all over Japan and also became common family names when commoners were allowed to have names in the Meiji period.
It was a pleasant enough walk, very little traffic, and the sound of farm machinery at work. I kept my eyes open for a drink vending machine as it was warming up and I was starting to get thirsty.
There were not a lot of shrines, and most were common old Hachiman shrines with no distinguishing features. As always there were many roadside altars with fresh flowers.
There were also many abandoned farms. Apparently 1 in 8 houses in Japan are empty.
The road reached a pass and went through a small tunnel and then a new 2 lane road descended rapidly. The old road weaved its way along the bottom of the valley and looked more interesting, but I had gone about 10k without finding a vending machine so I was in a hurry.
Another few K and I took a smaller road off to the right, Route 170, that went down the mountain to Route 9, the Takatsu River, and the train line that would take me home. In about 4k there were only 2 small farms. A very pleasant road that I was unable to enjoy as my thirst was becoming too much. I was sustained only by the thought that once I reached the small train station at Higashiaohara, actually halt would be a more accurate description, there would be a vending machine. But no!!!!!.... so i begged some water from an old man working in his garden. He took me back behind his house and ran the water for a few minutes till it became cold, and it was delicious.... fresh, mountain water!!!!
It had taken me about four and half hours to walk 18 kilometers, a crazy pace fueled by my need to reach a vending machine. I only visited 4 shrines.
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