text:
When I saw the headline, I rolled my eyes. "The Case Against Having Kids." WHATEVER. Haven't we heard this all before? That children are overrated, that parents have superiority complexes, that motherhood is an epic social scam, that children are more environmentally destructive than SUVs and air travel and Crocs combined, that life is just that much more pleasant without the stench of diapers and the din of Barney in the background?
Like I said, I rolled my eyes. These are not new arguments. These are not particularly interesting arguments. Some people don't like the idea of having kids, so? They should just not have kids. I actually feel quite strongly that people who really, emphatically don't like children and/or who believe themselves incapable of caring for children should not have children. And those who do like children – or who believe that they would like their own children – and who believe themselves capable of caring for them, well, knock yourselves out. To each her own.
But some people, it seems, feel quite strongly that the case for childlessness – and by extension, the case against parenthood, which, for all intents and purposes, is actually a case against motherhood – needs to be asserted more emphatically. Why? Because according to some, parents – which is to say, mothers – get undeservedly good press. Such undeservedly good press that unassuming individuals might actually get conned into motherhood without fully understanding what they're getting themselves into. They might actually get tricked – by, say, seeing how good Kate Gosselin has it, or by noticing that Madonna became so much more likeable after becoming a mom – into thinking that this motherhood thing is the key to feminine fulfillment and social esteem. Because, you know, moms have it so awesome. Who wouldn't want a piece of that?
This is where I stop rolling my eyes.
Moms (and dads) do have it awesome, of course, but not in the way that the 'Children: Just Say No' people think. The awesome of parenthood, the reward of parenthood, is the intangible and immeasurable joy of the children themselves. It is not increased social esteem (more on that in a moment) or some abstract sense of accomplishment (other than that which is contained in the aforementioned intangible joy); it's the kids, dammit. The kids are awesome. Everything else is pretty much really f***ing hard. Maybe not for everybody, but for most of us, most of the time, parenthood is hard. Even when it's awesome, it's hard. Anything that involves cleaning up so much shit is hard. Anything that puts your heart so at risk is hard. Anybody who doesn't have at least an inkling of this going into it deserves the shock that they get.
But the 'Children: Do Not Want' advocates must know this, right? I mean, they don't want children, and they don't want children, presumably, because they've looked in the parenting shop window and decided that nothing inside warrants the prices charged. Or they just don't like children, full stop, in which case any discussion about the costs and benefits of parenthood is about as relevant to them as is a debate over cheeseburgers to a vegan. So why all the whinging about what good press parenthood – again, we should just resist playing coy and call it: motherhood – gets, and all the hard-selling on rejecting parenthood? Well, apparently, any positive attention paid to mothers, any social legitimation of motherhood, amounts to a delegitimation of the choice to not have children. Which is, apparently bad. Because this is a feminist issue, ladies: beware those who would praise motherhood, who would indoctrinate you into the cult of motherhood, for they would drag you back to the dark ages and shackle you to the hearth and force you to reproduce and bake bread until you die.
This, obviously, is where I call foul.
I call foul because a) motherhood is not, contrary to all appearances as represented on the covers of parenting magazines, revered in our society. It's not, full stop. And b) even if it were, such a thing would not be bad for women. Any women. Yes, even women who choose not to reproduce.
To the first point: say what you want about ideals of motherhood and reverence for motherhood in the abstract – doesn't everyone coo at pregnant women? don't we all squee at the sight of mothers doting upon children? isn't there a whole DAY for talking about how awesome mothers are? – that reverence, such as it is (and I would argue emphatically that it's not as uncritical as some make it out to be), does not translate into social practice. Sure, we nod approvingly at Angelina when we see her and her brood on the cover of a magazine, but when was the last time you saw anyone nod approvingly at a mother dragging a gaggle of children behind her in real life? Never, that's when. You try taking babies or small children on a airplane, on the bus, into a restaurant, to a shop, through a park (and let's not get started on nursing those children) – anywhere, basically, that isn't clearly marked CHILD LEASH-FREE ZONE – and see how many approving nods you get. ZERO, that's how many. Not that you'd notice any approving nods, anyway, what with being all distracted by the stink-eyes and the grumbling and all. Public mothering doesn't get a hell of a lot of social support, except from other parents. Most people would prefer that we keep our mothering private, just like they did in the good old days, when children were rarely seen and never heard and mothers kept quiet about nasty things like diapers and depression and Dora. (Is there an exception for representations of motherhood among celebrities? No. For every celebrity who gets what one critic calls the 'motherhood whitewash,' there are dozens of others who get their every maternal move scrutinized and deconstructed and held up as examples of their moral failing. Kate Gosselin, anyone?) Mothers, revered? Mothers, above critique? In what world does that occur? Because, seriously, I want to go to there.
To the second point: we would all – women especially – be much better off if the art and craft and science and discipline of motherhood were better respected. Motherhood is women's work. It's the ultimate women's work. Call me out for being a biological determinist, I don't care: motherhood, in its barest biological outlines, is the only work that women do that only women can do. Making babies, nursing babies: it's what we're built for. Many of us don't want to do what we're built for, and that's fine – but it doesn't change the fact that women are built to birth and nurture children. To be mothers. Of course there is much, much more to motherhood than birthin' babies – much that has little or nothing to do with pushing a miniature person through one's parts – and so it would, in some respects, be fairer to talk about parenthood and to remove any elements of gender determinism from the discussion. But the fact of the matter is that when we talk about parenthood, we're usually talking to or about mothers, and mothers – regardless of whether they birthed or adopted or foster – the people doing the work of motherhood – are usually women. So in disparaging motherhood you disparage women, full stop. And why disparage motherhood? Because it is so essentially feminine in so many respects? Is there something essentially problematic about anything essentially feminine (whatever that means)? Or is it just that nobody can help getting all Freudian and Leave It To Beaver and Carol Brady and apron strings and squick and – have I said this already? – Freudian when they think about motherhood?
There's no reason, no reason at all, for motherhood to be inextricably associated with 50's-style domestic servitude. There is nothing essentially retrograde or anti-feminist about motherhood. It's attitudes about motherhood that are retrograde and anti-feminist. And I have news for you: the most retrograde and antifeminist attitude about motherhood is the one that holds that there is something limiting and unimportant and retrograde and antifeminist about motherhood. Mothers (and fathers, although I'm not speaking for fathers here) do the most important public work that there is: they raise citizens. We don't always do it well, and we might argue about the choices that we make in carrying out this job, but it is nonetheless our job, as parents: to raise citizens, to nurture children into better-than-functioning human beings who will contribute to society. How on earth is that something that we should worry about over-respecting? In what universe should we be worrying about valuing that work too highly? Especially when the fact of the matter is that that work is, in our society, wholly under-respected and undervalued?
Excuse me while I catch my breath. Ranting tires me, after a full day of lashing children with my apron strings and reveling in my dizzying social status.
My friend Liz wrote, earlier this week, about feeling defensive about being a mom in a culture that so often turns up its nose at moms and the work of moms and – not incidentally – the discourse of moms. She said that being defensive about being a mom just makes her want to be a better representative of motherhood, that she wants all of us to be better representatives of motherhood. Which, yes. I wholeheartedly agree. But I also wish, wholeheartedly, that we didn't have to be so defensive, that we didn't have to say things like oh, I'm a mom, but! I'm also a writer! Who writes about being a mom, yes, but! Also other stuff! Important stuff! That may or may not have anything to do with being a mom, but still! Important! Important! That we didn't need to worry about whether we were representing ourselves well enough (when was the last time you heard doctors collectively wring their hands about whether they were making it clear enough to society that they were useful and important and deserving of respect?) That we didn't feel the need to constantly defend ourselves and justify our choices, to each other and to our communities and to the world at large.
Women have fought hard for the freedom to make their own choices. I chose to be a mother, and I'm happy with that choice. More than happy, actually: making the choice to have my children is hands down one of the very best things that I've done in my life. I'm proud of it. I'm deservedly proud of it. And I'm sick and tired of defending it.
I'm a mother, and I think that motherhood is awesome. I think that I am awesome, in all of my baby-slinging, preschooler-wrestling, breastfeeding-promoting, yoga-pant-wearing, diaper-bag-toting, bad-mothering, mommy-blog-spinning glory. Anyone who has a problem with that can suck it.


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My father's cousin: Sgt. Tommy Flynn, USMC, Vietnam.
Lived with villagers in the mountains CAP team, Papa Three, near Cam Lo just a few miles south of the DMZ, as described in A Voice of Hope.
My father:
Pfc. Joseph Flynn, 5th Eng. Btn., 5th Marine Division, USMC
Iwo Jima, Japanese Occupation
My grandfather:
Pfc. Harry Singley, 304th Eng., 72nd "Rainbow" Div., AEF
St. Mihel, Meuse-Argonne Offensive
"a little shrapnel in the leg, a whiff of gas"
My wife's great-great grandfather:
Pvt. John H. Hammontree, Co. H, 5th Tenn. Inf., US Vol., (3rd Bgd., 3rd Div., 23rd Army Corps, US Army of the Ohio)
Atlanta Campaign: Dalton, Rocky Faced Ridge, Resaca (bullet wound in left leg)
(Note: The photograph is actually of his cousin, Hiram. Nine or ten Hammontree cousins served in Company H, 5th Tennessee.)
Pvt. James Hammontree, Capt. Duncan's Co., Col. Bunch's Regt. (2nd Regt. East Tennessee Militia)
Battle of Horseshoe Bend (Gen. Andrew Jackson)
Creek (Red Stick) War, incl. in War of 1812
(Grandfather of previous)
Pvt. John Hammontree.
Capt. John Mountjoy's Co. of Foot, 10th Virginia, Continental Line.
Deceased. 24 Feb 1778 at Valley Forge.
Pvt. Harris[on] Hammontree.
Capt. Wm. Cunningham's Co. of Foot, 1st Virginia, Continental Line.
Reported sick at Valley Forge.
Killed by Indians on VA frontier, 25 Jul. 1781
(Great-uncles of previous)

subset: commoncrawl


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PART 4 of 5
Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.
May 10, 2011
So, all things considered, a true reform from any of these sources—although sufficient—is extremely unlikely. Instead, any supposed "monetary and banking reform" coming from these sources will almost surely be aimed at erecting a new supra-national currency and central bank. "The financial community's" mouthpieces are already telling America precisely that.
Even assuming arguendo that the political problem of control of or influence over the General Government and the Federal Reserve System could be solved, intractable practical problems would remain—
• The plan for returning the Federal Reserve System to redemption of its notes in gold depends upon using the gold in the so-called "national gold stock" for the initial round of redemption That, however, leaves open the questions:
(ii) How much of that gold is encumbered in some way—by loans, leases, "currency swaps", or other like devices—so that it cannot be used for redemption? And,
(iii) If sufficient gold is or could be made available for redemption tomorrow, then why is the Secretary of the Treasury not even now fulfilling his statutory obligation, under 31 U.S.C. § 5119(a), to "redeem gold certificates owned by the Federal reserve banks at times and in amounts the Secretary decides are necessary to maintain the equal purchasing power of each kind of United States currency", at the statutory valuation of gold with relation to those gold certificates "of 42 and two-ninth dollars a fine troy ounce", set in 31 U.S.C. § 5117(b)? And,
(iv) Notwithstanding the limitations on executive action and judicial relief set out in 31 U.S.C. § 5118(b and c), will individuals be entitled to enforce their new claims to redemption of Federal Reserve Notes in actual gold, by obtaining from the courts judgements, mandatory injunctions, and other like orders that require the Federal Reserve Banks and the Treasury of the United States to pay out gold in exchange for those notes at some fixed rate? Or will the supposed "right" of redemption be (as it always has been) a toothless paper tiger?
Obviously, these questions must be completely and unequivocally answered before anyone can begin to plan intelligently for, or really even to advocate, a return to redemption of Federal Reserve Notes in gold—or before any holder of those notes takes seriously a reformed Federal Reserve System's assertion that he will enjoy a true right, in both law and fact, to redemption.
But will these questions be answered? For example, precisely how can the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System be compelled to disgorge the necessary information? What will it require to compel the Secretary of the Treasury to fulfill his present statutory obligations in the premises, let alone any new ones that may be required? And how can a premanent right of redemption be secured, unless it is somehow explicitly recognized and enforced as constitutional in nature?
• In any event, assuming arguendo that sufficient unencumbered gold exists in the "national gold stock" to start the process of redemption, and that the Secretary of the Treasury and other public officials can be compelled to fulfill their duties, the further question nonetheless remains: "At what rate of exchange should a Federal Reserve Note "dollar"-bill be redeemed with gold?"
Fortunately, 12 U.S.C. § 411 does not fix the rate of exchange at which Federal Reserve Notes "shall be redeemed in lawful money on demand on the Treasury Department * * * or at any Federal Reserve bank". And § 30 of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 licenses Congress to establish essentially any rate of exchange. Which is why the original repudiation of redemption of Federal Reserve Notes in gold domestically, and its modification internationally, in 1933 and 1934 was probably constitutional (to the extent the Federal Reserve Act itself is constitutional)—namely, because Congress had explicitly reserved in 1913 the right to make any changes it wanted in the Federal Reserve Act thereafter. So, when the rate of exchange was reduced from $20.67 per ounce to zero domestically, and from $20.67 per ounce to $35.00, and now to $42.22 per ounce as far as the Treasury's gold certificates are concerned, Congress was merely exercising a right it had retained from the very beginning.
Yet, even given that any rate of exchange is allowable, how would a particular, presumably economically correct, new rate of exchange once set be maintained?
In light of the serial illegalities and duplicities of the past that brought America to this sorry pass, what new "checks and balances" would be necessary and sufficient to convince a doubting nation and world that the same swindle would not be allowed to be perpetrated again? The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 required redemption of Federal Reserve Notes in gold, and set reserve requirements of 40% for Federal Reserve Notes in actual circulation and 35% for the deposits held in Federal Reserve regional banks—yet these limitations were set aside only twenty (20) years later following the banking collapse of 1932. Franklin D. Roosevelt then set an exchange rate of $35.00 per ounce of gold for Federal Reserve Notes—yet, in terms of actual payments, this rate become meaningless after August of 1971, only thirty-seven (37) years after Roosevelt had conjured up the $35.00 per ounce figure. And the Secretary of the Treasury is even now required by statute to maintain the equal purchasing power of all form of United States currency according to the benchmark of $42-2/9 per ounce of gold—yet no such equivalence in purchasing power exists between Federal Reserve Notes and gold. So, critics are entitled to ask—
Are effective economic "checks and balances" possible under present conditions? Assuming good faith and competence in the managers of the plan, can it be made to work at all, even to get back to the situation pre-1971, let alone pre-1933, given the present terrible burden of public and private debt throughout America, the gutting of this nation's real productive capacity, and her over-extension around the world in military imperialism and adventurism? Then, too,
Are effective political "checks and balances" possible under present conditions? What if the managers who happen to be chosen to oversee the Federal Reserve System and the Treasury in years to come prove incompetent or act in bad faith, or both? What if they simply continue to do the bidding of the racketeering enterprises and other criminal conspiracies that pass for "political parties" in Washington, D.C., and "financial institutions" in New York City?
The plan for returning the Federal Reserve System to redemption of its notes in gold does not in and of itself limit such rogue public officials, bankers, and financial plungers from manipulating currency and credit as the means to grab power and wealth, any more than did the old "gold standard" from 1913 to 1933 (or to 1971). And the precedents do not augur well. For nothing that has ever been done since 1913 with an eye towards controlling the Federal Reserve System in the interests of common Americans has ever worked, or perhaps was ever capable of working—or America would not find herself where she is today, being importuned to cede ever more and ever-more-abusive powers to the System's bosses, with no adequate provision for either reviewability or accountability.
Obviously, implementing a so-called "price rule" is not even a simplistic answer. Such was the basis of the original Federal Reserve Act—the "price rule" being $20.67 per ounce of gold—and everyone knows how well that worked.
Without an absolutely enforceable constitutional guarantee—and by that is meant a guarantee enforceable directly by the people themselves, because they either hold their gold in their own hands or themselves physically control the depositories in which their gold is secured—rogue public officials and their clients in the banking cartel and "the financial community" can be expected to ferret out one means or another to change to their special advantage the rate of redemption(as it was serially altered after 1933) or even to eliminate it entirely (as it was in 1933 domestically and 1971 internationally).
• Even if all of the foregoing problems could be solved, what would be the point?
The plan for returning the Federal Reserve System to redemption of its notes in gold would not provide a truly sound currency, any more than the original Federal Reserve System ever did. It would merely give America the currency of pre-1933, or (worse) post-1933 and pre-1971, both of which have been experimentally proven to be unsound.
• The plan for returning the Federal Reserve System to redemption of its notes in gold would perpetuate the fallacy of "redeemable currency"—namely, that the Federal Reserve Note is the "dollar", and some amount of gold is its "backing". But—
A "George Washington" Federal Reserve Note is not a "dollar". It is a mere promise to pay a "dollar", which has been utterly dishonored by both the banks and the Treasury since 1933 (as to gold domestically) and 1971 (as to gold internationally), even unto this very day.[17]
And sound, honest, and constitutional "Money" has NO "backing" consisting of or based on something else. It needs no "backing", because it has substance in and of itself. It is ACTUAL GOLD, not a mere promise to deliver gold. Sound, honest, and constitutional "Money" cannot be repudiated, because it does not need to and cannot be "redeemed". It is the ABSENCE of "redeemability"—the LACK OF NECESSITY OR DESIRABILITY for "redeemability"—that constitutes the essence and provides the strength of sound, honest, and constitutional "Money".
• As a further demerit, the plan for returning the Federal Reserve System to redemption of its notes in gold would retain the institutions, and attempt to validate the false ideas, that were the instrumental causes of all of America's problems. Under this plan, the merry-go-round of financial looting would not be permanently shut down, only temporarily slowed down—and not for a fundamental redesign, but only for repairs and repainting. Then it would be returned to operation under the same old management (at least in type), running in the same old direction, for the same old purposes. And inevitably with the same old results—because a merry-go-round cannot be straightened out.
• Most distressing to one's sense of justice, the plan for returning the Federal Reserve System to redemption of its notes in gold also would reward the very class of people who caused or allowed nearly a century of monetary and banking problems to beset this country. By bailing them out of the mess they have caused—without punishment, without even censure, but with protection and payoffs, present and future—it would perpetuate their system, their power, their wealth, their status, their prestige. It would maintain them in positions from which—if they operated in the future as they have in the past, as history and a knowledge of human nature premonish America that they would—they could despoil this country once again, just as they did with the original Federal Reserve System.
• The plan for returning the Federal Reserve System to redemption of its notes in gold would require not only perhaps more perspicacity than Americans probably could muster, but above all more patience. It would take a long time to implement. Therefore, it would demand the people's acceptance—really, the imposition—of political and economic discipline. Yet where would such patience and discipline be found, when this country is riven by contending factions for which après moi le déluge are the watchwords?
In particular, who would impose that discipline against all of the economically and politically powerful factions that want "funny money" and the Ponzi pyramids it facilitates? And how could such discipline be maintained, in the face of the monumental, arguably unpayable debt of the General Government? Would it not require the intervention of the Armed Forces—"government by junta" in the sorry style of Argentina and other Latin-American republics? One must presume so. For the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon are even now preparing, in anticipation of massive civil unrest when the monetary and banking systems finally melt down, to involve the Armed Forces in domestic peacekeeping.[18]
• As if all these shortcomings were not enough, the plan for returning the Federal Reserve System to redemption of its notes in gold would put all of this country's monetary eggs in one political-cum-economic basket. If the plan did not work, all would likely be lost. This would be equivalent to playing Russian roulette with a semi-automatic pistol.
In sum, the return-to-redemption plan is an act of self-deception, if not desperation, which does not take advantage even of hindsight. For it proposes to reverse American monetary history on the basis of the very principles and practices which that history has already proven to be unworkable.
[3] An alternative gold currency.
Which brings this survey to the third plan for monetary reform—the adoption on a State-by-State basis of a new, sound, honest, and constitutional alternative currency consisting of actual gold as an—and ultimately the only—currency officially recognized by the State.
In the plan I have proposed, and which has been submitted—albeit, so far, unsuccessfully—to several State legislatures:
• The State adopts as its alternative currency so-called "electronic gold currency".[19]
• Actual gold bullion is held for depositors in personal bailment accounts by an electronic gold currency provider (which could be a private organization or the State's own Treasury). So no "fractional reserves" are involved.
• Title to the gold on deposit can be transferred among depositors electronically or by more traditional means, such as checks.
• The process begins when the State collects some of her taxes in gold, and offers to pay her creditors with gold, on a first-come, first-served basis, from the gold tax fund.
• As more and more creditors request such payment, depleting the fund of gold secured by those taxes initially collected in gold, the State expands the taxes required to be paid in gold, until the State's finances are largely, if not completely, on the gold standard.
In the initial plan I drafted,
• Those who were required to deal with the State in electronic gold currency in order to pay taxes, and those who chose to be paid in gold by the States were the only parties, in addition to the State herself, who were required to maintain electronic-gold-currency accounts.
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• But, parties who were required to pay their taxes in gold were expected to find it useful to seek payment from their own debtors in gold, and the State's creditors who sought payment in gold were expected to offer to pay gold to their creditors, too, so that the use of gold would percolate through the private economy in gradual, but inexorable competition with Federal Reserve Notes. For part five click below.
Click here for part -----> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
See 31 U.S.C. § 5118(b and c).
See the present author's commentary on this issue, "Going
to the Roots of the Problem"
Of the type available
in the free market through, e.g.,


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- You forced the Mango updated on your Dell Venue Pro. (Here's a page with instructions if you haven't seen it yet: http://www.wpcentral.com/force-mango-update-early-through-zune-software)
- Someone sends you a text message with an image.
- When you click the "Get media content now" link, the message flickers but you don't see the image.
The "MMS Proxy" setting s was erased from your phone when you applied the software update.
- Dial the number ##634# to launch the diagnostics page.
- Go to "MMS Settings"
- After the Mango update, all of these fields were blank for me.
- Click the "Restore system defaults" button.
- You'll get a "Success, Setting is Done!" message.
- You'll see your carrier's values in the text boxes.
- Now go back to the messaging app and you should see the images when you click the "Get media content now" link.


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Deron Williams is moving to Brooklyn with the Nets, instead of back home to Dallas.
The All-Star point guard said on his Twitter page Tuesday night that he "made a very tough decision today" and posted a picture of the Nets' new team logo that accompanies their move from New Jersey to Brooklyn.
A person with knowledge of the decision said Williams told the team he was accepting their five-year contract worth $98 million. The person confirmed the agreement on condition of anonymity because contracts can't be signed until July 11.
Williams, the top free agent available, chose to stay with the Nets over signing with the Mavericks, who hoped they could convince him to come back to the area where he grew up.
It's a huge triumph for the Nets as they prepare to move into the new Barclays Center to start the 2012-13 season. They gave up an enormous package to get Williams in a surprising February 2011 trade, sending promising forward Derrick Favors, point guard Devin Harris, two first-round draft picks and cash to the Utah Jazz.
But it was worth it for the Nets, who needed a franchise ? player to build buzz for their move to New York.
Williams wanted to make a quick decision before he reports to training camp in Las Vegas with the U.S. Olympic squad Thursday. He met with both teams Monday, the day after free agency opened.
Williams' decision comes a day after the Nets agreed to a deal with Atlanta for All-Star guard Joe Johnson, and amid reports they are still hoping to make a deal with Orlando for Dwight Howard. Brooklyn also has a deal in place to re-sign versatile free agent forward Gerald Wallace.
Just two years after a 70-loss season, the Nets will have one of the NBA's best backcourts and are poised to make a quick move up the Eastern Conference standings.
Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks had spoken openly about their desire to bring Williams back to North Texas, where he starred at The Colony High School. Owner Mark Cuban's team never made much attempt to defend its 2011 NBA title, letting key players such as Tyson Chandler and J.J. Barea leave through free agency so the Mavs could save money for this summer's free agency.
But Dallas could only offer Williams a four-year deal worth about $75 million under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement.
Another development Tuesday could leave Dallas with even more questions about what to do next. ESPN.com reported that the Celtics were closing in on a three-year deal that pays $5 million per season to guard Jason Terry, a former Sixth Man of the Year who was key in helping the Mav?ericks win their first championship two seasons ago.
As for the Nets, they're retaining one of the league's top point guards. Williams averaged 21 points and 8.7 assists last season and had a 57-point game. He was ahead of his competitors when last season started after playing in Turkey during the lockout.
The Jazz decided to deal him at the 2011 deadline after a clash with former Utah coach Jerry Sloan, and without knowing if Williams would stay there long-term.
Williams didn't always seem to enjoy playing in New Jersey, with the Nets spending the last two seasons in a temporary home in Newark.


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The Stone 'Age'—a figment of the imagination?
Ever wonder where the term 'Stone Age' came from? It is everywhere—the supposed 'fact' that prehistoric humans used stone tools for over two million years before they learned how to find and use metal. Then they began using bronze, and iron only came later.
But the evidence from archaeology is not as clear–cut as you might think.
Christian Thompson, the man who invented the 'three–age' system—the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age—was actually a coin collector who was appointed the first head of the Danish National Museum, despite being largely untrained.
His job was to find a classification system that would bring some order to the jumbled human artifacts (tools, weapons, ornaments and so on) piled around the museum.
His successor at the museum, an archaeologist named J.J.A. Worsaae, went looking for evidence of this sequence at dig sites around Europe—beginning with an excavation of burial sites in Ireland, where he found lots of stone, brass and iron tools.
It is commonly claimed that Worsaae found these artefacts in the three layers proposed by his predecessor,1 but in fact, if you check his work, he actually said that you can establish nothing from the tools he dug up directly from the peat moss, because in such a peat bog, the iron, bronze and stone tools are all mixed together.
He also found tombs containing either bronze, stone or iron sets of tools. So why did he conclude that these burials occurred in the three–age sequence? Because the sites with stone implements contained actual bodies, whereas the sites with bronze had only ashes, indicating that the people practised cremation and thus were 'obviously' more advanced! Yet even this dubious argument is undermined by the fact that the people who had iron tools apparently went back to burying bodies.
Modern archaeologists now acknowledge that the Stone–Bronze–Iron Age system is not very helpful outside Europe.
One wonders if it is valid anywhere. It appears to be mostly just another instance of dogma about 'human progress' that has been imposed on the evidence.
While there has been a sequence to technological innovation, all the basics were well advanced long before Noah's Flood in the days of Tubal–cain, who 'forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron' (Genesis 4:22).
- Worsaae, J.J.A., The Primeval Antiquities of Denmark, transl. by W.J. Thoms, London, John Henry Parker, 1849. Return to text.
ROBERT NIEMAND is a pen–name used when an article is the product of multiple contributors/writers in such a way as to make it difficult to properly ascribe authorship. (Leaving it unauthored or 'anonymous' might erroneously imply an author's unwillingness to take responsibility for the contents). Return to top
Re-posted on homepage: 21 September 2016


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Flu Shot Specialist
Sunmed Health and Weight Management
Internists located in Visalia, CA
Getting a flu shot is the best way to protect yourself from catching the flu. Everyone six months and older should consider getting the vaccination. Dr. Gilbert Sunio and the health care providers at Sunmed Health and Weight Management in Visalia, California, offer the flu shot and can talk to you about the vaccine and how it may prevent you from catching the flu this season. To schedule your flu shot, call the office, or request an appointment online today.
Flu Shot Q & A
What is the flu shot?
The flu shot or flu vaccine is an injection that offers protection against three or four of the most common strains of influenza during the upcoming flu season.
Influenza is a family of highly contagious viruses that cause the flu, which is a disease that affects the respiratory system. Though flu symptoms range from mild to severe, in some cases, the infection may lead to respiratory failure or death.
The flu shot helps your body build-up antibodies against the virus. Though it may not prevent you from catching the flu virus and getting sick, your annual flu shot may lessen the severity of your symptoms and the duration of your infection.
Who needs the flu shot?
In general, everyone aged six months and older needs the flu shot. It's especially important for people at risk of developing serious health complications from an infection, including:
- Older adults
- Young children
- Pregnant women
- People with chronic health conditions (e.g., asthma, diabetes, cancer)
Though most people benefit from getting the flu shot, it may not be recommended if you have an egg allergy or had a bad reaction to a previous flu shot.
Your provider determines if you're not a good candidate for the flu shot and can talk to you about other ways you can protect yourself from getting sick.
When should I get the flu shot?
In the United States, flu season begins in October and typically lasts through March. It takes your body about two weeks to build up immunity against the flu. You should get your flu shot before the start of the flu season.
It's recommended that you get your flu shot before the end of October, so you get the most protection. However, you may still benefit from the vaccination even if you wait until February or later to get it.
Will the flu shot make me sick?
You may experience some side effects after getting the flu shot. In most cases, the side effects include pain, swelling, and warmth at the site of the injection.
However, some people may also experience headaches, muscle aches, or a mild fever after their injection. These symptoms indicate your body is building up the antibodies needed to help you fight off the influenza virus.
It's more important than ever that you take the necessary steps to protect yourself from getting the flu. Call Sunmed Health and Weight Management, or book your flu shot online today.


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Over 120 Customer Support solutions evaluated. SelectHub's analyst ratings are combined with user ratings to create requirements checklists and solution ratings. This allows for highly accurate needs analysis and recommendations matching your needs. See assistance details in this report. Want help with your shortlist? Connect with SelectHub to expedite your software search with free recommendations and cost comparisons based on detailed evaluations and reviews from buyers and users. Request Free! |


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Creation is an inspiring endeavor. This is especially true when one creates objects of a size that only a few people can. Cathedrals or skyscrapers, bridges or aqueducts, highways or dams are not only fascinating due to their size but also because they greatly affect the lives of all people in their proximity – for decades or even centuries. Construction…this is a true creation.
The growing demands for a "better" built environment – even if the meaning of "better" is hard to define in this context – requires increasing levels of diverse knowledge. As time progresses, it is getting harder to live up to the ever growing expectations: trains begin to compete with the speed of airplanes, buildings may be expected to produce rather than consume energy, and in the not-so-distant future we will build in outer space, most likely with advanced robotics.
Mirosław Skibniewski Chair of the International Advisory Board |
Miklós Hajdu Chair of the International Organizing Committee |
Levente Mályusz Chair of the Local Organizing Committee |


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Buying a new home can be an exciting time. It can also be frustrating and exhausting. To help prepare you for home hunting success, here are five important things to know about the market before you schedule your first viewing, or visit your first open house.
1) Buyers market or seller's market? And what's the difference?
Most markets are governed by the law of supply and demand–the housing market is no exception. When demand (buyers shopping for homes) is high and supply (homes for sale) is low, prices go up. On the flip side, when demand is low and supply is high, prices go down. As home inventories rise, so does the competition amongst sellers, which drives prices down.
In a buyer's market, sellers have more flexibility with the selling price, which is good news for buyers. In a seller's market, there aren't enough homes available to support the high demand. Homes sell fast, and often at premium prices.
Like any other market, the real estate market is cyclical. Periods of depreciation are then followed by periods of appreciation, and around and around the market goes. If you study the market, you can learn how to predict trends, and time the purchase of your new home accordingly.
2) Analyze local pricing trends
Start by doing some initial online searches in the communities you'd like to live in to see what homes are selling for in these areas and what they've been selling for overtime. Then, check neighboring towns and compare where the prices might be accelerating or depreciating faster than the other. In areas where you see higher average home prices, this is also where you'll find the most demand. As you get familiar with local pricing trends, you'll be able to quickly spot good prices, and overpriced homes based on the home features, location, and amenities.
3)Research up-and-coming areas
Broaden your market research and look to neighboring towns. A key indicator of a soon-to-be hot town is the development of new infrastructure. New businesses, shopping centers, roads, and schools are all positive signs that an area is getting ready to grow. Being an early buyer in an up-and-coming market might turn into significant appreciation down the road.
4) Review School Rankings
Schools in each state are ranked by how well kids perform on math and English tests. Even if children aren't in your future, this could be very important to a future buyer with school-aged kids in a few years if you decide to sell your home. Compare the school scores for neighboring towns as well, and even the rankings for several schools within a district. Searching for a home just a few streets over could put your home in a more desirable school.
5) Explore neighborhood demographics
Take a close look at the homes you're considering in each market and determine the percentage of renters and owners. If you're thinking about a home in an area where people are mainly renting, it can only take a few bad renters or property owners to set the neighborhood off on a downturn. What's the average age of the people in the areas you're exploring? If a town is full of young singles, or college students, will this also be a good place to raise children? Or, if you have young children, are there other children in the neighborhood?
Purchasing a home will likely be the biggest financial decision of your life. For a homebuyer, understanding the market will help you find the perfect property for you. If you need any assistance guiding you through the process, get in touch!


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Mindset Wealth
Since 1980, Bill Faloon and The Life Extension Foundation have uncovered pioneering approaches for preventing and treating the diseases of aging.
These avant-garde advances were meticulously chronicled in Life Extension's publications many years before conventional doctors recognized them.
In order to enlighten supporters to these life-saving therapies, Bill Faloon compiled a 1500-page medical reference book titled Disease Prevention and Treatment that is now in its 5th printed edition.
To educate the public about Life Extension's innovative medical protocols, Bill Faloon has been featured in hundreds of media appearances including The Phil Donahue Show, The Joan Rivers Show, Tony Brown's Journal, ABC News Day One, and Newsweek magazine.
A review of what Bill Faloon and The Life Extension Foundation has accomplished over the past 37 years reveals just how badly conventional medicine lags behind lifesaving scientific advances. Bill Faloon has author authored books exposing the atrocities committed against the American publish by FDA bureaucrats, including Pharmocracy, which reveals how corrupt deals and misguided medical regulations are bankrupting America and what can be done to resolve it. Back in 1980, few scientists believed that anything could be done to prevent the degenerative effects inflicted by aging. To counter this misconception, William Faloon pointed to then-current scientific studies showing that it was possible to prevent some age-related diseases and to slow the aging process itself, at least in animals. He argued that if enough funds were committed to research, therapies to retard human aging could be developed that would result in the greatest revolution in medical history. Being controversial carries a heavy price. The federal government raided his facilities twice, initiated an 11-year criminal investigation, and threw him and Saul Kent in jail in 1991. When the FDA conducted its first armed raid in 1987, the Life Extension Foundation had only 4,000 members. Thanks to publicity generated by the FDA's actions, this number grew to 25,000 members by the time his criminal indictments were dismissed in 1995. LEF now has over 300,000 supporters to who its mails its monthly Life Extension Magazine to.
Support for the nonprofit Life Extension Foundation is at an all-time high because people are becoming aware that recommendations published by Life Extension in the early 1980s are now scientifically validated and many even accepted by the medical establishment.


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'Tis the Month of No Mercy.
And so it is time to tackle the subject of…
*crash of thunder*
1. As Ineluctable As The Tides
If you're a writer, a writer who writes, a writer who puts her work out there, you're going to face rejection. It's like saying, "Eventually you're going to have to fistfight a bear," except here it's not one bear but a countless parade of bears, from Kodiaks to Koalas, all ready to go toe-to-toe with you. Rejection, like shit, happens. Rejection, like shit, washes off. Get used to it.
2. Penmonkey Darwinism In Action
Rejection has value. It teaches us when our work or our skillset is not good enough and must be made better. This is a powerful revelation, like the burning UFO wheel seen by the prophet Ezekiel, or like the McRib sandwich shaped like the Virgin Mary seen by the prophet Steve Jenkins. Rejection refines us. Those who fall prey to its enervating soul-sucking tentacles are doomed. Those who persist past it are survivors. Best ask yourself the question: what kind of writer are you? The kind who survives? Or the kind who gets asphyxiated by the tentacles of woe?
3. This, Then, Is The Value Of The Gatekeeper
Hate the autocracy of the kept gates all you like, but the forge of rejection purifies us (provided it doesn't burn us down to a fluffy pile of cinder). The writer learns so much from rejection about himself, his work, the market, the business. Even authors who choose to self-publish should, from time to time, submit themselves to the scraping talons and biting beaks of the raptors of rejection. Writers who have never experienced rejection are no different than children who get awards for everything they do: they have already found themselves tap-dancing at the top of the "I'm-So-Special" mountain, never having to climb through snow and karate chop leopards to get there.
4. It Always Stings
Rejection always stings. It stings me, you, everybody. Nobody likes to be rejected. A writer who likes being rejected is a writer who is secretly a robot and must be smelted down into slag before he tries to kill us all because he hates our meat. Pain is instructive. And it's not permanent. Not if you don't let it be. Some writers savor misery like a hard candy endlessly sucked in the pocket of one's cheek, but fuck that.
5. Five Stages Of Grief
Rejection leads to a swiftly-experienced version of the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. It's key to get to that last step as quickly as you can reckon. I actually have two additional steps in my personal process: "liquor" and "ice cream." Your mileage may vary.
6. It's Never Personal
It's not about you. It's about the work. I mean, unless it is about you. I guess it could be personal. If you send a story off to an editor, and you once shat in that editor's fishtank, well. That might be personal.
7. Decipher The Code, Translate The "No"
Different rejections say different things. Not every "no" is equal. Hell, they can't be — if I get 200 no's and one yes, then that single yes invalidates all the no's. One rejection might say there's something wrong with the story. Another with the writing. A third likes the story, hates its role (or lack of role) in the market. A fourth rejection is upset at you — something about blah blah blah, bowel movements and fish-tanks.
8. The Truth Hides In The Pattern
Stare at a Cosby sweater long enough and it's like a Magic Eye painting. Eventually you'll start to see dolphins and Jell-O pudding cups and the secret Gnostic gospels of Doctor Huxtable. What were we talking about again? Right. Rejections. One rejection is not as meaningful as a basket of them. All the rejections around a single project become meaningful — a picture emerges. You can start decoding commonalities, sussing out the reasons for being rejected.
9. Some Rejections Are Worthless As A Short-Sleeved Straitjacket
Not every rejection — or every person wielding the big red "NUH-UH" stamp — is a quality one. Form rejections won't teach you anything other than the fact that the editor didn't have time. Rejections that never come — a "no" by proxy — are even less valuable. Sometimes you'll receive a rejection that just doesn't add up, leaving you scratching your pink parts in slack-jawed bewilderment. Recognize that some — not all, not even most, but some — rejections are as fruitful as a shoebox full of dead mice.
10. Beware Snark, Reject Cruelty
Every once in a while you'll get a mean rejection. I don't mean a rejection that takes you to task — that's what rejections should do. I mean a rejection that is destructive over constructive. That insults aggressively (or passive-aggressively). Maybe the editor was having a bad day. Or maybe the editor's just a sack of dicks. Rare, but it happens. When it does: ignore and discard. You're expected to be professional. So are they.
11. Cherish Opportunistic Rejections
Cherish them the way you would a child, or a lost love, or the misery of an enemy as you slowly feed him into a growling wood chipper. By "opportunistic rejection" I mean, a rejection that aims to help you, not just reject you. A handwritten rejection, for instance, one that features an honest critique of your work, is fucking gold. Equally awesome are rejections that help you understand the good things about your story and, further, offer opportunity for future submission. Best of all are rejections that encourage you to resubmit — not other stories, but that story. My first short story on submission got one of those. I played ball. Resubmitted. Was published. Got paid. Freeze-frame high-five.
12. Like It Or Not, It's Largely Subjective
Storytelling isn't math. And neither is literary criticism. Any rejection is going to be largely subjective: it's opinion. Doesn't mean it's bad or wrong or has no value, but it helps to know going in that you're dealing with a subset of opinions — informed opinions, most likely, but opinions just the same. Some rejections are objective, based on harder criteria. What I mean is…
13. Sometimes, It's Totally Your Fault, Dummy
Objective rejections will take you to task for two primary things: one, you didn't follow the submission guidelines. (Can I just say: always follow the goddamn submission guidelines? Even if the submission guidelines are like, "Each corner of the manuscript must be dabbed with the urine of an incontinent civet cat and the writer must write his name backwards for the magic to take hold," you do that shit because you're not a pretty pretty unicorn, you're a horse like the rest of us, goddamnit.) Or two, your technical writing ability is for shit, at least in that story. If you can't put a period on the right place or learn the difference between "lose" and "loose," then you're going to earn that objective rejection.
14. "It's Just Not For Me"
You can read that kind of rejection one of two ways: one, your story was good, but just not for that market/editor/moon phase; two, the editor is uncomfortable with truth or doesn't want to offend anybody and so is gently limping away from saying anything even remotely offensive or controversial.
15. "I Can't Sell This"
This is a variant version of the above — but it speaks specifically to market. It doesn't mean your book or story or article is bad, and hell, it may even be brilliant. That's not the worst place to be, by the way.
16. Know The Signal To Self-Publish
Rejection as a whole is not a great reason to run out and self-publish. I mean, think about it: "Everyone else hates it, so why not punish readers with it? To the Resentmentmobile!" But — but! — sometimes, the overall pattern of rejection does indicate value in self-publishing. Getting a lot of those "it's good, but I can't do anything with it" rejections tells you that the risk-averse industry isn't willing to, duh, take a risk. So, you can absorb the risk and self-publish. (Or you can continue to hope that good rejections will lead to an eventual patient acceptance — that's what I did with Blackbirds.)
17. The Power In "Just Not Good Enough"
It's sad at first. You wrench handfuls of hair from your head. You punch mirrors. You soak your pillow through with the tears of rage and regret. But then comes the realization: this story just isn't up to snuff. It's a powerful and freeing moment — freeing because, making a story better is entirely within your power. You can't change market forces. But you can change the quality of your work. So do that.
18. Criticism Is A Conversation, But Rejection Is Not
Do not respond to an editor or agent and try to "re-convince them" to buy your work. At best it's fruitless, at worst it's completely deluded. The desperation wafts off you like dog's breath. The door is closed, for better or worse, for right or wrong. Trying to kick it down does nobody any favors. Oh! And it's unprofessional.
19. Just To Clarify: Don't Be A Raging Dickheaded Moon-Unit
Further, don't go writing said editor or agent with the desire to rant and rave at them. OMG YOU DONT GET MY BRILIANCE letters will out you as a crazy-headed Martian and will earn you mockery and scorn. Your best recourse to any rejection is to write a politely worded "thank you," and then move on with your life. Put down the megaphone. Put on some pants. Squeegee the froth from your computer monitor.
20. The Common Bonds Of Weepy Wordmonkeys
Every writer, from the tippity-top of the industry to its sludge-slick nadir, has experienced rejection. Every book, movie, or story you love? It's been rejected. Probably not once. But dozens, maybe even hundreds of times. It's part of the writer's career tapestry, part of our blood and genetic memory. Rejection is part of who we are as creative beings. Might as well commiserate.
21. Bumper Sticker: "Real Writers Get Rejected"
I'll just leave that there for you to discuss amongst yourselves.
22. Put Your Rejections On Display
Build a wall. A shrine. A goddamn memorial display of all your rejections. Writers need to gain emotional power over their rejections. By embracing them and putting them up for all to see, you claim that power. Show it to others. Laugh at it. Find ways to surpass it. Stephen King reportedly collected all of his on a nail. I might stuff mine in a giant wicker man. When I die, I will be burned alive inside the rejectionist's pyre.
23. Harden The Fuck Up, Care Bear
Any creative person has to be a little bit hard of heart — how can you not be? You can't go sobbing into a potted plant every time you get a bad review. Just because someone told you "no, I can't rep this, can't publish this" doesn't mean it's time to head to the bell tower with a .300 Weatherby and start taking out anybody carrying a book or a fucking Barnes & Noble rewards card. Rejections toughen you up. Step to it. Suck it up. Lean into the punch. We all get knocked down. This is your chance to get back up again with your rolled-up manuscript in your hand and start swinging like a ninja.
24. Once Again, Time To Poll Your Intestinal Flora
The writer's gut is his best friend — over time, the chorus of colonic bacteria that secretly control us begin to work in concert and soon start to get a grasp of what the best course of action is. As the parliament of micro-organisms attunes to your way of doing things and the world's response, you start to get a clearer picture of how to handle individual rejections and how to move forward. I don't know that every writer should trust his or her gut from the outset, but over time, you'll have to. It'll be that polling of your gutty-works that tells you how to judge individual rejections or rejections as a whole: it'll tell you if it's time to put the story in a dark hole, time to improve it, time to be patient and keep submitting or time to find a better and more independent path to publication.
25. Rejections Are Proof You've Been To Thunderdome
Fighters know one another because they look a certain way: busted-ass knuckles, a crooked nose, a scar on the lip, the suspicious gaps where teeth once grew. These are the signs of being a crazy motherfucking bad-ass. You see a guy whose body is a network of scars you don't think, "Hey, he sure gets beat-up a lot," you think, "Holy fucksnacks, that guy looks like he got thrown into a dumpster full of broken glass and he came out meaner than ever." That's how you need to see rejection. You need to see rejection as bad-ass Viking Warrior battle scars, as a roadmap of pain that makes you stronger, faster, smarter, and stranger. A writer without rejections under his belt is the same as a farmer with soft hands; you shake that dude's hand and you know, he's not a worker, not a fighter, and wouldn't know the value of his efforts if they came up and stuck a Garden Weasel up his ass. Rejections are proof of your efforts. Be proud to have 'em.
* * *
Want another booze-soaked, profanity-laden shotgun blast of dubious writing advice?
Try: CONFESSIONS OF A FREELANCE PENMONKEY
$4.99 at Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), B&N, PDF
Or its sequel: REVENGE OF THE PENMONKEY
$2.99 at Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), B&N, PDF
And: 250 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT WRITING
$0.99 at Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), B&N, PDF
Or the newest: 500 WAYS TO BE A BETTER WRITER
$2.99 at Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), B&N, PDF


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6 Powerful Ways To Help Seniors Avoid Isolation
October 2, 2017
6 Powerful Ways To Help Seniors Avoid Isolation
It's an unfortunate reality that many seniors find themselves terribly isolated. After a spouse passes away or a debilitating illness hits, it's common for a senior to be cut off from both friends and family for extended periods of time. Obviously, this isn't intentional on anyone's part – it's simply a disheartening reality.
Isolation is not limited to just a few seniors – it's a significant, widespread problem. As Sarah Stevenson writes:
According to the U.S. Census Bureau 11 million, or 28% of people aged 65 and older, lived alone at the time of the census.
As people get older, their likelihood of living alone only increases. Additionally, more and more older adults do not have children, reports the AARP, and that means fewer family members to provide company and care as those adults become seniors.
Additionally, living in isolation cause serious problems for older adults:
- Increased risk of death
- Mental and physical health problems
- Possibility of elder abuse
- Long term illness
- Depression
- High blood pressure
- Unhealthy behaviors
- And more
It's a problem that can't be ignored, but it also presents some significant challenges. If you're caring for an older adult, how you ensure they receive regular connection with other people? How can they live alone without constantly feeling alone?
Here are 6 simple ways to help older adults feel connected.
Arrange Transportation To and From Social Activities
Perhaps the biggest challenge for many seniors is transportation. As they get older, their eyesight often dims and their reflexes slow. They may voluntarily choose to stop driving or be forced to. And while this may make the roads safer for others, it causes them to keenly feel how alone they are and prevents them from being with friends.
One of the most effective ways you can help the older adult in your life is by making transportation available to them. This can be done in a number of simple ways:
- If you live near them, offer to regularly drive them to and from different social functions.
- Create a network of friends who are willing to occasionally drive them to events. Schedule this transportation to ensure it happens on a regular basis.
- Help them learn the ins and outs of public transportation.
- Find out if community or senior centers offer support services.
Lisa Esposito writes:
If you're concerned that a neighbor – or distant family member – is at risk for isolation, contacting the town's senior center is a good starting point. Many senior centers have social workers to put it all together by determining people's needs and plugging into the right resources. States offer a variety of services for seniors. "In Massachusetts, we have aging service access points," [geriatric worker Carrie] Johnson says. Following an assessment, people are connected to Meals on Wheels, homemaker services (which vary by state but may encompass chores like cleaning, laundry and maintenance), grocery-shopping and other programs. They might need personal care assistants to help with bathing. All these providers add to a person's support system, Johnson says, "both social and kind of eyes on the ground."
Given that transportation is one of, if not the biggest challenge, meeting this need alone can go a long way toward solving the isolation issue.
Encourage Attendance At Places Of Worship
While this one will only apply to older adults who are religious, it's certainly a healthy practice. Given the weekly rhythms of most places of worship, they offer a constant, positive place to find social interaction.
Additionally, many attendees of these places are more than willing to help transport seniors to and from their functions. They see it as a way of caring for those in their midst.
Finally, some churches will have ministries specifically geared toward older adults, including transportation to functions, visits from members, and more. You can help the senior in your life avoid isolation by connecting them to a church, mosque, synagogue, or other place of worship where they're comfortable.
Encourage Ownership
One of the great challenges of growing older is that you aren't caring for others as much. When you were younger, you took care of kids or a spouse or house or employees, but as you get older those things tend to fade. The only person depending on you is you.
This can cause older adults to feel unimportant, not needed or wanted, and purposeless. They no longer have anyone depending on them, which can cause them to feel apathetic.
One simple way to help seniors avoid isolation and give them a sense of being needed is to give them a pet. The pet provides companionship and is dependent on the owner for feeding, hygiene, and exercise.
Aging Care notes:
Psychologist Penny B. Donnenfeld, who brings her golden retriever mix Sandee to her New York City office, has even witnessed animals' ability to rev up elder owners' memories. "I've seen those with memory loss interact and access memories from long ago," she says. "Having a pet helps the senior focus on something other than physical problems and negative preoccupations about loss or aging."
Additionally, having a pet can create new social connections. It's not uncommon for one dog owner to stop and talk to another dog owner, which can sometimes lead to friendship.
By giving an older adult a pet, you can give them have a fresh sense of being needed, which can infuse life and energy back into them.
Help Them Volunteer
One wonderful way to connect isolated seniors with people is to ask them for help. Volunteering allows them to meaningfully contribute to the lives of others, which can give them a renewed sense of purpose and worth.
The volunteering doesn't need to be complex. Depending on the health of the person, some options include:
- Local schools
- The local library
- The humane society
- The local hospital
- Religious places of worship
- The Girl Scouts/Boy Scouts
If they have a particular skillset, such as accounting or counseling, connect them those who need help in these areas.
There are hundreds of needs that aren't being met, and older adults can easily fill those gaps.
Encourage Their Health
Fewer things create more isolation than poor health. When an older adult has an ongoing health problem, they're much less likely to maintain social contact, often because of discomfort. Additionally, hearing and vision loss can make it challenging and even embarrassing for them to interact with others, causing them to stay away.
One simple way to combat this is to encourage their health in as many ways as possible. Regularly check in on them, asking them how they feel and then paying close attention to any symptoms you notice. Ensure they have a way to get to doctor's appointments and help them get hearing and vision tests.
If they need adaptive technology, such as a walker, hearing aid, or wheelchair, do everything in your power to provide this for them.
Encouraging exercise can also give them enormous benefits. Allison Miller notes:
Research shows multiple benefits of increased physical activity for older adults. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine followed older adults' physical activity longitudinally over 18 years (Stessman, Hammerman-Rozenberg, Cohen, Ein-Mor, & Jacobs, 2009).
The research showed that older adults who exercise not only have an increased life span but also experienced a decrease in falls, fractures, and joint and musculoskeletal pain –
(Stessman et al., 2009). In addition, research shows that balance training decreases fall occurrences (Sherrington et al., 2008). Stessman et al.'s (2009) research also demonstrated that as little as 4 hours per week is as effective as more intensive and time-consuming exercise.
By nurturing their health, you can prevent loneliness.
Stay In Touch With Neighbors
Neighbors can be a helpful safety net for seniors. They can keep an eye out for any unexpected problems, check in on the person, and even help with simple household chores. Additionally, the neighbors can help get the senior involved in the community, which can be especially helpful if you live some distance away.
Connecting the senior with the those around them can put extra eyes on them in case something goes wrong.
Getting older can be difficult, especially if you're alone. Loneliness and isolation can create health problems, a sense of purposelessness, depression, and a host of other issues. It's something to be taken seriously. And sometimes a little shopping may be therapeutic. Check out our big list for senior citizen discounts at numerous venues.
Thankfully, there are actions that can be taken to ensure the seniors in your life don't experience those things. These actions don't need to be complicated or labor intensive. They simply require some thought and intention.
Betty Friedan said, "Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength."
We wholeheartedly agree.
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Hem – Half Acre – Analysis of a perfect thing
I often suffer from a common malady amongst composers, the illusion that complexity can make a weak idea stronger. Or perhaps make up for a deficiency in structure. Maybe it stems from the thinking that if you impress someone's ear with something complex, they will be so wowed by your sophistication that they'll figure that the music MUST be good. If they don't like the music, surely that's THEIR deficiency.
From now on, whenever I start to feel like I'm adding crunchy harmonies or complex rhythms to dress up a goat (not that there's anything wrong with goats… or dressing them), I'm going to take a few minutes to listen to Hem's magnificently sparse masterpiece, Half Acre. It is, I dare say, a perfect thing.
Here. Listen.
Is that NOT perfect? (If you don't think so, you can feel just free to skip to some other blog.)
So… what's going on here? I took some time to identify the key elements that make up this piece, focusing on the core of the song, the melodic and harmonic gestures that make this piece work.
The piece is quite sparse and made of of a few static elements. First there's an ostinato figure on a distant piano that continues for the entirety of the song (taking a couple of beats of rest at a few cadential breaths).
Pretty clear C tonality, major or minor is unclear.
Then the harmonic backbone comes in underneath the ostinato:
Expansive open fifths with a fast, fast, slow harmonic rhythm, landing squarely on a C tonality in the second half of each measure, clearly C major with the A and E naturals. There's no attempt at any sort of voice leading, just sound, sound, sound.
At the same time, a mandolin comes in with an easy, lilting line in a pentatonic C, avoiding F and B. (I'd argue that this isn't really a core structural element but it does add to the character of the piece):
[audio:https://musicvstheater.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Intro.mp3|titles=Intro]And finally the real melody begins with the utterly gorgeous voice of Sally Ellyson.
[audio:https://musicvstheater.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/A-Section.mp3|titles=A Section]It's sparse and gorgeous, wringing expression from a reach to the sixth scale degree (A to G) and then a fall from either the major third or the blues third (E to C or Eb to C). Note the change in harmony and harmonic rhythm in the last two measures. The pace of the harmonic changes is slowed by half and we hear the seventh scale degree for the first time, a flatted seventh in the backbone, the characteristic modal sound of much folk music. These two measures are both a cadential pause and a foreshadowing of musical material to come.
At this point the stage is set for what I think is the real magic of the piece, the transition into the B section, the material that takes this from a pretty little song to something unspeakably beautiful. It starts with a restatement of the A section, same ostinato same harmonic backbone, but when it gets to those last two measures, where before we took a cadential pause, the melody breaks out into new heights:
[audio:https://musicvstheater.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/B-Section.mp3|titles=B Section]Gah! It gets me every frickin time. It's magic! What makes this work? There's the big seventh leap to a whole other register of her voice (stunning in any register), and this is the first time the melody has that flatted seventh (Bb) which was only teased at in the initial statement of the A section. But for me, the thing that really makes a difference is the slowing down of that harmonic rhythm. The open fifths in the bass are held for every two beats now as opposed to changing each beat, which makes the whole thing open up and feel vast and expansive.
Some melodic details worth pointing out, the G in 'every' in the first measure is the first real accented dissonance in the entire piece and it feels like so much heartache, landing right on beat three, emphasizing the slowed down chord changes. The B section consists of the same two measure melody repeated three times. And on that third time there's a variation, a reach up to the appoggiatura D on 'night', which is the climax of this section (and the song). Then there's another cadential breath, which parallels the last two measures of the initial A statement.
It's worth noting that melodically, everything in this song moves by either leap or by whole step. The only time we see half steps at all is the slide from the bluesy Eb to D on the way to C and that's more of a gesture than a melodic idea. In the melody, there are NO leading tones and NO ascending half steps. Nowhere. Not once. There is, however, one pseudo leading tone harmonically, the A in the bass that finishes each two bar phrase and leads into the Bb that starts each phrase that keeps the motion going throughout the section.
That's the core of the song. There are certainly many other observations that could be made about the orchestration of the piece, the Es in the cello that sail through every other measure of the B section (1:10), the magical addition of the celeste with the piano playing the fifths an octave higher during the final verse (2:17), the beautiful descending piano scale that brings us into the final B section(2:46). But these are more production/arrangement decisions and not so much compositional ideas. The guts of this piece are a pure exercise in restraint, proportion, and making the right moments count. Certainly something worth considering when trying to write music that people respond to.


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If you're a musician looking to break into the big leagues, now's your chance. The Smashing Pumpkins — a/k/a BILLY CORGAN — are holding open auditions for a new bassist and keyboardist. "We were lucky enough to find drummer Mike Byrne through an open-audition process," said Corgan in a press release, "so why not open the doors again to anyone who might be interested for the bass or keyboard position. As you can see from our past and present, age, race, or a person's background is not an issue." Funny, then, that the next paragraph asks for applicants to give their age, detail their musical background, and supply a photo.
Keyboardists will be asked to play in the style of RICK WAKEMAN, and that bodes ill for the future of the Pumpkins — but at this point, doesn't everything? The cruel truth of the matter is that any musician with the professional chops to be hired by Billy Corgan probably has much better things to do than hang out with Billy Corgan.
Meanwhile, nerd-metal superstars DRAGONFORCE are holding open auditions for a new singer, having recently parted ways with their old one, citing "differences in musical opinion." I'm on the singer's side — anyone who has musical differences with Dragonforce is definitely on the right track.
Footage of JOHN LENNON showed up in a Citroën commercial in the UK recently, prompting outrage from the dwindling segment of society that finds it objectionable to use dead guys to sell stuff. Since Lennon's estate is so rigorously and personally maintained, we all know who to blame, and I have a terrible fear that this misstep might tarnish YOKO ONO's sterling reputation as a good influence on John Lennon's affairs.
SEAN LENNON was quick to defend his mother, claiming that her licensing of John's image wasn't about the money but rather a way to keep Lennon in the public eye. Said Sean on his Twitter: "Look, [the] TV ad was not for money. It's just hard to find new ways to keep dad in the new world." One might argue that dad is pretty well engrained in the new world without anyone's putting him in car commercials, but Sean's tweet disputes that notion: "You wouldn't believe how many teenagers ask me who the Beatles were."
Me, I would believe very few. But if we're to take his statement for truth, we can infer either that teenagers waltz up to him unprompted and go, "Who were the Beatles?", or that he's been provoking the question by bragging to teenagers that his dad was in the Beatles. Decide for yourself which is more likely.
It's totally fine that they removed the Best Song performances from the OSCARS, since the baffling interpretive hip-hop pop-and-lock routine was way cooler anyway. I mean, what better way to honor the poignant Hurt Locker score than to bring out a dude who looks like MC Serch from 3rd Bass and have him do the robot while a bunch of dancers pretend to get blown up by his body rocking? Genius.
The ongoing reports that MILEY CYRUS will team up with BRET MICHAELS have been testing the upward limits of my eyebrows already, but what manner of perversity compelled billboard.com to run the headline "Bret Michaels Gets Busy with Miley Cyrus"?
Rapper J-KWON, best and only known for his 2004 hit "Tipsy," was declared missing in February by his record label, Gracie Productions, after being out of contact for more than a month. Turns out he was alive and well — just laying low and enjoying some privacy. I'm glad he's not dead, but you know the folks at Gracie are in big trouble if they're going, "Where's J-Kwon? Has anyone heard from J-Kwon!?"
DAVID THORPE |dthorpe[a]phx.com
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Furniture Lay-A-Way
We are proud to offer our customers online Furniture Lay-A-Way to make it easy for you to buy the furniture that you want by paying for them through manageable installment payments. The program allows you to break down your order's purchase price over a number of payments that you set. Use our Lay-A-Way to plan and budget for all of your home furnishing purchases!
All you have to do to sign up is create a FREE account by clicking HERE and you are ready to go! When you shop in our Online Showroom, you can then make use of the Lay-A-Way button that you will see next to every product!
Frequently Asked Questions
How many payments can I set-up for my Lay-A-Way?
You can set up as few as 2 payments or as many as 12. Unfortunately, your Lay-A-Way period cannot be extended beyond 12 months.
How much are each of my payments?
Your payment amount will vary depending on the price of your product and the number of payments you wish to make.
How do I make my payments?
There are a few easy steps: (1) Click HERE to log in to your account and then click on "Lay-A-Ways". You will see the products that you have placed on layaway; (2) Click "Make Lay-A-Way Payment" next to the product that you wish to make a payment on; and (3) Enter your billing information and click "Confirm".
Will payments be made automatically?
No. Your payments must be made manually through the method described above. We will send email reminders periodically.
Can I change the amount or number of my payments?
No. Your number of payments and amount of each payment are fixed at the time the product is placed on Lay-A-Way. However, you may make payments as frequently as you want.
Do I have to put any money down for Lay-A-Way?
Yes. When you place a product on Lay-A-Way, you will be prompted to make your first payment. The Lay-A-Way will not be saved without the first payment.
Are shipping charges and sales tax included in my payments?
Sales tax, if applicable, and shipping fees are included in your payments.
What happens when I complete my payments?
You will be taken to our shopping cart where you will enter your billing and shipping information. Then you will receive an order confirmation email and your product will be shipped.
Can I find out how much shipping will cost?
When you add products to Lay-A-Way, you will be required to enter your city, state, and zip code to calculate your shipping cost.
Which products can I choose for Lay-A-Way?
All of the products in our Online Showroom are currently available for Lay-A-Way without exception.
Does my product need to be in-stock to be placed on Lay-A-Way?
You may place a currently out-of-stock item on Lay-A-Way. While we do our best to remove products discontinued by our manufacturers from our Online Showroom, we cannot guarantee that an out-of-stock item will come back into stock.
What if my product is out-of-stock when I complete my payments?
You may wait for your product to come back into stock. We will notify you if we receive word that your product has been discontinued. If you do not wish to wait for the product, you may cancel your Lay-A-Way and apply the funds added to your Lay-A-Way purchase towards another product in our Online Showroom. Cancellations due to a product being out-of-stock are not subject to the cancellation fee. However, refunds will be issued as store credit to be applied towards another purchase.
Can I change the product I have on Lay-A-Way?
You may cancel your current Lay-A-Way purchase and create a new layaway purchase. The funds applied to your canceled Lay-A-Way purchase may be applied to your new Lay-A-Way purchase, less the cancellation fee of 25%of the full retail value of the product at the time that the product was placed on Lay-A-Way. Contact us for more details.
Can I cancel my order on Lay-A-Way?
Canceled layaway orders are subject to a cancellation fee of 25% of the full retail value of the product at the time that the product was placed on Lay-A-Way. Any remaining funds added towards your purchase will be available to you as store credit to be applied towards another purchase.


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Using Moodle book
Using Moodle - Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course Management System by Jason Cole and Helen Foster is published by O'Reilly as part of the Community Press series.
The first edition of the book, written by Jason Cole and released in July 2005, is based on Moodle 1.4. The second edition, released in November 2007, has been updated to cover all the features in Moodle 1.8, such as the new roles and permissions system, blogs, messaging and the database module.
Thanks to members of the worldwide Moodle user community for their discussion and documentation contributions, many of which have been included in the book.
Book download
The second edition of Using Moodle is freely available online to enjoy, share and modify under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 License.
- Using Moodle zipped PDF download (4.3MB)
- Using Moodle online Flash version via Issuu.com
About Community Press
The O'Reilly Community Press spurs the development of interesting technologies by making online documentation available in print. Key players in technical communities create and edit the content of O'Reilly Community Press titles and O'Reilly manufactures and distributes the books. Each book reflects the knowledge and voice of the community that has created it.


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This transmission will fit the following Models:
02-06 Nissan Altima 2.5
Note:Pictures are sample
This item (JDM 02-06 Nissan Altima 2.5 Automatic Transmission QR25DE) is a High Quality Low Mileage Used
Transmission that was directly imported from Japan (JDM).
This transmission has approximately 40,000 to 60,000 miles.
This transmission has 90 days warranty with unlimited miles.
Please make sure to talk with your mechanic or research on your car before purchasing
this item. We are not responsible if you buy the wrong item or the item doesn't fit
your car.


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Bill and Marla decided that the only way to pull off a Sunday afternoon quickie with their 10-year-old son in the apartment was to send him out on the balcony and order him to report on all the neighborhood activities.
The boy began his commentary as his parents put their plan into operation.
"There's a car being towed from the parking lot," he said.
"An ambulance just drove by."
A few moments passed.
"Looks like the Andersons have company," he called out.
"Matt`s riding a new bike and the Coopers are having s*x."
Mom and dad shot up in bed.
"How do you know that?" the startled father asked.
"Their kid is standing out on the balcony too," his son replied.


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8-in-1 USB-C Hub with HDMI/Ethernet/Card Reader/Power Delivery
- Product Status (Revision A1): Live
- x3 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports, x1 with Quick Charge (BC 1.2)
- x1 HDMI, supports up to 4K resolutions
- x1 USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) port with data sync & power delivery up to 100W
- Dual-Slot SD/microSD/SDHC/SDXC Card Reader
- x1 RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet port
- Aluminium alloy design, plug & play, Mac/Windows/Linux compatible
- 2-Year D-Link Warranty
Where to buy
Add a second screen at up to 4K resolutions
Connect a second display to the 4K HDMI port for video up to 4K resolution with no lag
SuperSpeed USB 3.0
Transfer data at 5 Gbps. Ideal for transferring from USB drives, phones, tablets, cameras, and other peripherals.
Plug and Play
Add more available ports simply by plugging the hub into a USB-C port. No additional software required.
Thunderbolt 3
Use the Thunderbolt 3 port to transfer data, deliver power, or extend your display in seconds.
Power Delivery
Deliver up to 100W of power through the hub to your laptop by connecting your USB-C charger to the USB-C port.
Dual-Slot SD Card Reader
Instantly connect SD/microSD/SDHC/SDXC cards to the hub and make fast data transfers of photos and videos.
Quick Charge
Charge your USB devices faster using the latest in USB 3.0 technology.
Strong housing
Compact, lightweight design in space grey, with aluminium alloy housing.
Use one port. Connect to everything.
Instantly add a second display, a dual-slot SD and microSD card reader, a Gigabit Ethernet port, three USB 3.0 ports with one that can Quick Charge, and a USB-C port to your laptop simply by plugging the hub into any USB-C port.
Instantly add a second display, a dual-slot SD and microSD card reader, a Gigabit Ethernet port, three USB 3.0 ports with one that can Quick Charge, and a USB-C port to your laptop simply by plugging the hub into any USB-C port.
Plug into a reliable docking station. Unplug for instant remote working.
Enjoy a premium docking station experience simply by plugging the hub into a single USB-C port on your computer. You can directly access a private LAN network with Gigabit Ethernet speeds, extend your monitor to a second screen, transfer files from SD cards and USB 3.0 devices, and charge your laptop, all at the same time. Need to work remotely? Simply unplug the hub's single cable and you're ready to go with your laptop.
Ready to transfer your close-ups.
Reliably bulk transfer any files from your SD or microSD card to your computer using the hub's built-in dual-slot SD/microSD card reader. Perfect for quickly downloading camera photos and video footage to a phone, tablet, or computer without using any of your camera's battery power.
Extend your screen to a vivid 4K monitor.
Plug into the hub's HDMI port to instantly mirror or extend your display to a second monitor with vibrant 4K resolution. And full backwards compatibility means you can connect to a 720p or 1080p monitor.
Send power through the hub.
With the Power Delivery feature, you can charge your laptop at the same time as connecting to your USB peripheral devices. Simply connect your USB-C charger to the hub's USB-C port to provide power through the hub and to your laptop.
We're here to help.
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Related Products
Number of USB ports
3 ports |
Type of ports
Gigabit Ethernet HDMI microSD SD card reader USB 3.0 USB-C USB-C with Power Delivery |
USB-C with Power Delivery
Up to 100W |
Type of device
USB hub |


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Susan Youngquist
- 35+ Years in Engineering, Validation, R&D, Project Management, and Manufacturing in the Personal Care & Dietary Supplement Industries
- Hands-on experience in Cleaning, Process, Equipment, and Facility Validation
- BSE - Chemical Engineering University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Susan Youngquist
Technical Consultant and Validation Manager, Personal Care, NA
Susan is an expert in CIP and COP processes, site assessments, GMP insights, cleaning validation, and CIP process optimization. As a Global Technical consultant, Susan is experienced in cleaning validation program development and management for the Personal Care, Dietary Supplement, and Cannabis industries.
Susan has extensive experience (35 yrs) in Manufacturing, Project Management, Research & Development, and Engineering in the Consumer Products Industry. This experience equips Susan to effectively understand customer's cleaning concerns and apply Ecolab technologies and chemistry to maximize value for the customer. Identifying the solution is only part of the journey in regulated industries, as change control and validation are often barriers to customers' continuous improvement implementation.
Susan leverages her knowledge of the regulatory requirements for cleaning validation and guides customers through the change process to expedite the cleaning validation, and ultimately value realization.


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How Taxes Impact Your Retirement-Income Strategy
Retirees face several unique challenges when managing their income, particularly when it comes to taxes. From understanding how taxes relate to Social Security and Medicare to determining when to tap taxable and tax-advantaged accounts, individuals must juggle a complicated mix of factors.
Social Security and Medicare
People are sometimes surprised to learn that a portion of Social Security income becomes federally taxable when combined income exceeds $25,000 for single taxpayers and $32,000 for married couples filing jointly. The taxable portion is up to 85% of benefits, depending on income and filing status.1
In addition, the amount retirees pay in Medicare premiums each year is based on the modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) from two years earlier. In other words, the cost retirees pay for Medicare in 2023 is based on the MAGI reported on their 2021 returns.
Taxable, Tax-Deferred, or Tax-Free?
Maintaining a mix of taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free accounts offers flexibility in managing income each year. However, determining when and how to tap each type of account and asset can be tricky. Consider the following points:
Taxable accounts. Income from most dividends and fixed-income investments and gains from the sale of securities held 12 months or less are generally taxed at federal rates as high as 37%. By contrast, qualified dividends and gains from the sale of securities held longer than 12 months are generally taxed at lower capital gains rates, which max out at 20%.
Tax-deferred accounts. Distributions from traditional IRAs, traditional work-sponsored plans, and annuities are also generally subject to federal income tax. On the other hand, company stock held in a qualified work-sponsored plan is typically treated differently. Provided certain rules are followed, a portion of the stock's value is generally taxed at the capital gains rate, no matter when it's sold; however, if the stock is rolled into a traditional IRA, it loses this special tax treatment.2
Tax-free accounts. Qualified distributions from Roth accounts and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are tax-free and therefore will not affect Social Security taxability and Medicare premiums. Moreover, some types of fixed-income investments offer tax-free income at the federal and/or state levels. 3
The Impact of RMDs
One income-management strategy retirees often follow is to tap taxable accounts in the earlier years of retirement in order to allow the other accounts to continue benefiting from tax-deferred growth. However, traditional IRAs and workplace plans cannot grow indefinitely. Account holders must begin taking minimum distributions after they reach age 73 (for those who reach age 72 after December 31, 2022). Depending on an account's total value, an RMD could bump an individual or couple into a higher tax bracket. (RMDs are not required from Roth IRAs and, beginning in 2024, work-based plan Roth accounts during the primary account holder's lifetime.)
Don't Forget State Taxes
State taxes are also a factor. Currently, seven states impose no income taxes, while New Hampshire taxes dividend and interest income and Washington taxes the capital gains of high earners. Twelve states tax at least a portion of a retiree's Social Security benefits.
Eye on Washington
Finally, both current and future retirees will want to monitor congressional actions over the next few years. That's because today's historically low marginal tax rates are scheduled to revert to higher levels in 2026, unless legislation is enacted (see table).
Help Is Available
Putting together a retirement-income strategy that strives to manage taxes is a complex task indeed. Investors may want to seek the help of a qualified tax or financial professional before making any final decisions.4
Tax Rates Scheduled to Rise
Unless legislation is enacted, federal marginal income tax rates are scheduled to rise in 2026.


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Whether you are a body builder, powerlifter, Olympic lifter, or recreational athlete, you'll probably get a kick out of seeing just how much you can lift (or in some cases, it's your job). While some weight lifters try to hit a new 1 repetition maximum (1RM) on the main lift every single workout, this is usually not a good idea. The potential for injury and over training increases with every max effort lift you attempt. Instead, a better philosophy is to ramp up to testing your 1RM using several 3-4 week micro-cycles. However, that is a discussion for another day.
Today I want to address the 1RM test itself, or more accurately the max effort test. If you are not in a competition at that exact moment, there is really no need to attempt a true 1RM. As long as you have a stable frame of reference for your max effort attempt, you will be able to quantify your progress. I would like to suggest using 2RM for your max effort attempt. The reasons for this are several – safety, psychological, CNS activation, and time under tension.
Strength coach Christian Thibaudeau explained it best throughout a series of 6 tweets titled "2RM better than 1RM for max effort."
2RM better than 1RM for max effort
In case you are not subscribed to Christian's Twitter feed or Facebook page, allow me to re-print his thoughts below:
- REASON 1: puts you in a better mindset for success; implies that you will succeed on the first rep
- REASON 2: safer as you can always stop after the first rep if you don't feel the second
- REASON 3: more practice with near-maximal weights, better development of strength-skill and CNS
- REASON 4: MUCH less negative impact on CNS (measured by HVT monitor) with a 2RM vs. a 1RM.
- REASON 5: have a much lesser psychological strain than 1RM and don't require being in the zone as much
- REASON 6: more fatigue (stimulation) imposed on the recruited FT fibers = more growth stimulation


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It's great having friends who are into the same hobby, isn't it? Especially when they're awesome at it. I'm lucky enough to have an awesome critique group, the IndyScribes, and I'm delighted to get to be part of IndyScribe Stephanie Cain's cover reveal party for her newest novel, The Weather War!
The Weather War
Stephanie A. Cain
Publication date: September 19th 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Princess Azmei died for her country three years ago–or so everyone but a trusted few believed. Having survived assassination attempts, the desert, dragons, and a treacherous plot designed to destroy her entire family, Azmei has finally managed to save her kingdom.
Now she has to save the world.
Azmei travels to Amethir, whose prince she promised three years ago to marry. With her is Hawk, the man who loves her, and Yar, the Voice of Dragons. They carry a terrifying message for the king of Amethir: the gods are waking and the world is about to shake.
Prince Vistaren of Amethir has also received a frightening warning, this one from a powerful stormwitch–weather magic is failing. Patterns of storms are beginning to build outside their prescribed season. While the Stormwitch Academy officially denies any problems, there are hints of trouble yet to come.
Azmei and Vistaren know they must act. But the king refuses to listen to them and the land is beginning to tear itself apart. Facing pirate attacks, seadragon swarms, and a strange woman who uses magic in a way no stormwitch should, Vistaren and Azmei know they must find a way to set things right.
But what price is too high to save the world?
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo
Author Bio:
Stephanie A. Cain grew up in Indiana, where much of her urban fantasy is set, but unfortunately has been unable to visit Amethir or Tamnen, where her epic fantasy novels are set.
She graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Creative Writing, with a Medieval Studies minor. She has two-thirds of a Master of Library Science, but ran out of money and enthusiasm for grad school at about the same time. Despite this, her years of work in libraries were not wasted–besides having a lot of librarian friends (everyone should have at least one) she also spent a great deal of time hanging out in the stacks at 398.2, which gave rise to many of her urban fantasy stories.
She currently works at the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum, where she spends her time doing historical research, giving tours of a Victorian man-cave, and serving as a one-woman IT department.
Stephanie's favorite authors are J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Elizabeth Moon, Tamora Pierce, Garth Nix, and Robin McKinley.
A proud crazy cat lady, Stephanie is happily owned by Eowyn, Strider, and Eustace Clarence Scrubb. In her free time, she enjoys hiking (except for the spiders), bird-watching, visiting wineries, and collecting anything with owls on it. She likes to unwind by playing World of Warcraft and Skyrim. She enjoys organizing things, is overly fond of notebooks, and visits office supply stores for fun. She owns way more movie scores and fountain pens than she can actually afford.
Peggy here again. I love Stephanie's work and can definitely recommend this if you're interested in magic, strong characters, and a vividly imagined fantasy world. Preorder it now!


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My Items
Out of Stock
An infrared transmitter is simply a Light Emitting Diode which generates IR light (invisible IR light)--light with a wavelength of between 1 mm and 750 nanometers, and some associated circuitry. In an infrared remote control, for example, pushing a button sends an electric signal to the LED, which converts the signal into a beam of infrared light. The receiving device detects the light with a photo diode and converts it to an electrical signal which, via an integrated circuit, controls its actions.Infrared transmitters are widely used as a means of wireless communication by remote controls for televisions and other electronic devices. Police, firefighters and ambulance drivers, for example, carry a special IR transmitter that they can use to change traffic lights from red to green within two seconds, as they approach an intersection.The main limitation of IR technology is that it requires line-of-sight between the transmitter and receiver. It cannot be used around corners or between rooms with intervening walls or ceilings.This IR Transmitter Module is designed for IR communication when paired with IR receiver module.


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ClipartKey is expected to be one of the best keys to open the door to free clip art resources. All clip art images are free and unlimited to download. In addition, we use AI technology to maximize the user's access to the most accurate clip art images. With a simple search, you can efficiently find the clip art you need.