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Plantlife Website
First up was a meadow filled with Buttercups, Dandelions, Speedwells and lots of Cut-leaved Cranesbills.
Geranium dissectum
Various moths fluttered out of the grasses as we walked. I think this is a Burnet Companion, difficult for me to say only seeing the underside.
Hop Trefoil were abundant, looking like miniature hops. These have more than 20 flowers in the head with a rolled over reflective lower petal, helps tell them apart from the similar Lesser Trefoil which had fewer flowers and straight forward pea type flowers.
Trifolium campestre
We then entered Mill Hill woods and found this lovely White Bryony. It climbs over everything and has enormous leaves, but the flowers are quite intricate close up aren't they.
Bryonia dioica
There's usually some Man Orchids to be found here, but I missed them this time. I did find some lovely looking Columbines. These seem to be garden eascapes that have somehow seeded into these woods, but they look good all the same. There are several clumps of native forms around at well in the usual dark blue colouring. Natives also have strongly hooked spurs at the back of the flower which these didn't have.
Aquilegia vulgaris
Germander Speedwell have very bright blue flowers are are quite distinctive from the other Speedwells. They grow just about anywhere except deep shade when the Wood Speedwell takes over.
Veronica chamaedrys
We then left the wood and entered Brockles Field, recently acquired by the reserve, it is still transforming from arable grassland to meadow. I've only been coming here a few years and I've already noticed the variety of wildflowers improving each year.
Here's a bog standard Red Clover. I've included this to show even the mundane can be beautiful. What most people think is one flower is actually loads of flowers!
Trifolium pratense
I then came across my first Common Broomrape of the season. These are parasitical and this one was attached to Clover roots. They do a good job stopping certain plants taking over a meadow and are to be welcomed. Beginners can mistake these for orchids with the single flower spike, but they are completely unrelated.
There's other types as well such as Knapweed, Ivy, Bedstraw, Yarrow and Hawkweed Broomrapes, however, they are all rare or uncommon. Always look at the plants next to the flower spike it will help you identify the Broomrape. Just to confuse everyone, these may have yellow or white flowers as well!
Orobanche minor
From here we entered the famous Kitchen Field. This, without doubt, has the most rare arable weeds on the reserve and more! A credit to excellent farming management for wildflowers.
In the photo, Brockles Field is top left.
I had hoped to refind the rare Blue Pimpernel, but I couldn't find any, maybe I was too early in the season for them. However, the familiar and much commoner Scarlet Pimpernel was out in numbers.
Anagallis arvensis
This field is full of Cornsalad. There are a few species and it's rather difficult to tell apart until they are in seed. Each species has seed with different characteristics and you need an eye glass to see them to work out which species it is. No seeds here yet!
Valerianella species
The beautiful tiny Field Pansy was present in numbers as well. Perhaps one of the prettiest arable plants around?
Viola arvensis
By the path I noticed something not so common, a Field Pennycress, I'm sure you can work out how they got their common name!
I'm always baffled as to why they have such tiny flowers and such big seeds!
Thlaspi arvense
This photo shows two colour forms of Field Madder. It's usually green and I don't know why you sometimes see red leaved forms. I wonder if they turn red if the plant gets stressed from drought or disease? I really don't know but they look good in red!
Sherardia arvensis
At the Northern edge of Kitchen Field are the rarer plants like this Ground-pine. It really does look like a miniature Christmas tree! It's usually around 2-4" tall. As you can see it likes to grow on chalk, usually disturbed ground, here by the farm and in the wild by the scuffing of the ground by rabbits.
Here's a close up of the flowers, which seem disproportionately large compared to the plant. Imagine a full grown pine tree with a flower this big to scale! Wonderful little plants.
Ajuga chamaepitys
I then found several of these and couldn't work out what they were. They were mostly about 4" tall and the flowers weren't fully open. Eventually I found this one fully open and realised it was Venus's Looking Glass, a really lovely arable plant Oddly, I'd seen it once before on another part of the reserve but it was much bigger and bushier, I think because it was later in the year and on soil not chalk.
This photo shows the deciding identifying feature of this plant which is the elongated calyx below the petals.
Legousia hybrida
While looking at them I noticed an unusal flower I'd never seen before with a small white single tubular flower. I took some photos but couldn't identify it until I got home to look it up. Again, this was a very small plant, no taller than 6"
I was extremely pleased to have found a Corn Gromwell, a rare arable plant that only appeared at Ranscombe last year. On posting the photo on Twitter, Ranscombe told me they had found 6 so far, so I was quite lucky to find one in a large field, especially being so small.
Common Gromwell to which they are related is a massive plant by comparison (which are common at Ranscombe and elsewhere and about to flower).
Lithospermum arvense
Kitchen Field borders the ancient woodland of Cobham Woods. Within the shade of the ancient Beech trees are some gems like this White Helleborine, a wild orchid.
The flowers aren't yet open, but when they do they will open up only a bit showing a yellow blotch inside the creamy white petals. They are shade lovers so are hard to photograph in good light.
Cephalanthera damasonium
Nearby were one of my favourite orchids, the Fly Orchid. This is a particularly tall one. If you look to the right of it you will see the usual size of about 6-8". As May turns to June you should find some with multiple flowers, though quite often the lower ones die off before the top ones fully open.
I found one of the smaller Fly Orchids right next to some
Germander Speedwell, a nice colour combination of flowers.
Ophrys insectifera
The path then left the Kitchen Field and skirted the woodland edge. I found this Cuckoo Bee on a leaf which as the name suggests uses the nests of solitary bees for its own uses!
Nomada flava
ID by @Ranscombe_Farm
Along here were still some fine displays of Early Purple Orchids. Although common in some woods it can also be found on meadows, though it's often a lot smaller out in the open for some reason.
Orchis mascula
Some late Bluebells nearby gave me the perfect set up for a combination photo, superb!
I mentioned Wood Speedwell earlier and here it was found in good numbers. Much paler than Germander and with an all round hairy stem. Germander has one or two distinct lines of hairs up the stem.
Veronica montana
Another shade loving plant was this climbing plant, Black Bryony. Like its White Bryony namesake it's a climber with big leaves, but the two species are unrelated.
Tamus communis
We then left the wood and walked along a field edge. The field was full of bright yellow Rape flowers so I surprised myself by finding a wild Wintercress along the margins.
These have distinctive stem leaves different to all the other yellow crucifers.
Barbarea vulgaris
As we turned a corner to return to our starting point I noticed numerous Common Fumitories in the field edge. These are a common plant in fields but really quite difficult to identify as there are a few species that superficially all look the same. You need an eyeglass and a mm tape measure to see the sepals, lower petal length, flower length and so on.
Fumaria officinalis
We then found a line of several hundred Wild Radish plants that weren't here last year, so I wonder how they got there all of a sudden!
This is the usual white form with a hint of lilac
But we also found several in a lovely reverse colour form with lilac dominating the white. Stunning!
Raphanus raphanistrum
Phacelia also grew along here which is a crop relict. It has quite beautiful intricate flowers and can't be mistaken for anything else really.
Phacelia tanacetifolia
The final plant I photographed was the Common Poppy, always a delight to see. Later on in the Summer, some fields will glow red with thousands of them.
Ranscombe has many of the UK Poppy species so always check them to see if you have found one of the rarer ones. The most reliable way to tell them apart is from a seed head. There's usually a couple of spent flowers around where you can check without pulling off the petals!
Papaver rhoeas
So ended a wonderful morning at Ranscombe Farm, a wonderful place, with something new to see each time we visit. I hope to be back in a month or so.
Take care
Old Blogs pre 2015 at: barbus59.tumblr.com


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Girls Aloud - 'Something New' (Live Performance, Jingle Bell Ball 2012)
9 December 2012, 20:25
Cheryl, Nadine, Kimberley, Sarah and Nicola – also known as Girls Aloud - performed their latest single 'Something New' at Capital's Jingle Bell Ball 2012.
The single reached number two in the Vodafone Big Top 40 earlier this year.
2012 marks a decade of Girls Aloud, who were formed through the ITV show 'Pop Stars: The Rivals' in 2002.
The band also sang 'Something Kinda Ooooh', while band member Cheryl Cole also performed solo on day one of the Jingle Bell Ball.
You can see Girls Aloud perform 'Something New' below:

subset: commoncrawl


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Jazmin, 15, wished to receive a blessing from the Holy City.
Jazmin was so grateful to experience her wish with her family.
Jazmin enjoys some Italian pizza among family and friends.
Jazmin was able to visit many different places in Rome during her wish.
Jazmin said her experience cured her spiritually, even if it couldn't cure her physically.
My wish cured me spiritually and gave my family peace.
Faith has an important role in 15-year-old Jazmin's life.
Secure in her faith and in her decision, Jazmin took it one step further when she was contacted by Make-A-Wish Arizona.
Jazmin's wish in the news:
Phoenix cancer patient blessed by The Pope (12 News)
Jazmin receives blessing from The Pope (West Valley View)
Make-A-Wish Arizona sends Phoenix girl to Vatican City (AZFamily)
This story makes me feel
Rosie Kane
Jazmin... Your courage continues to amaze me. You are truly an inspiration to everyone. Keep smiling and be strong..
August 03, 2015 - 3:02 PM
Mike Tiers
I volunteered at MAW throughout the 1980s. Had the privilege of serving as President in 87/88. Have appreciated from a distance how the chapter has evolved. Love this story about Jazmin's visit with the Pope. It completely exemplifies what MAW has always been about and it demonstrates that the core values of the Foundation have never changed. Congratulations!! Mike Tiers
August 06, 2015 - 11:03 AM
Suzanne Schultz
God bless you Make A Wish!!! You do so much for so many sick and scared kids and their families. I will be forever grateful for what your organization did for my little boy, and you will be forever in my prayers as well as the sole beneficiary of any donations I am able to make.
September 27, 2015 - 11:35 AM
Click Here For Board Portal
Don't miss out! Get our monthly eWishletter:
Join for exclusive news, event updates and wish kid stories.


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Internet & Private Line
We are connected using redundant 1Gbps fiber connections that utilize BGP routing to ensure you get the fastest most reliable connection possible. Our connection partners provide peering with all major networks and provide our clients with a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
Located in the world-class facilities of Innovation Place technology park, our secured Canadian Data Centers are temperature controlled and monitored using an electronic sensing system.
Technology Providers
Our state-of-the-art equipment is protected using APC UPS systems which are connected to emergency backup generators that can provide an endless supply of emergency power.
Network Access
We are connected using redundant 1Gbps fiber connections that have peering with all major providers. Our network is protected using multiple layers of security.


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Sheet Metal
Our custom sheet metal shop provides an array of service for the area. Fabricating custom copper roof accents, custom copper box gutters, stainless steel chimney caps and ductwork, just to name a few. We even offer some welding services when you need help just keeping things together. Our sheet metal workers are experienced in MIG, TIG, & Stick welding. Whether it's copper dormers or welding your cooler door we've got you covered.


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[ Post by Paul Galjan ]
When I started here at EMC, I was pleased to see that most of us would use actual host data (perfmon) to perform size out our storage. We have a variety of cool tools that will analyze perfmon output and help visualize trends, size out replication bandwidth required and a whole lot more.
But performance data gives you only half of what you need in order to size storage. You need the capacity of the disks in order to do a complete sizing. This resulted in a fair number of conversations that went like this:
Sales Rep: So I can go ahead and quote 16 146G 15k disks, right?
You only need to have that conversation about three dozen times before you realize that something must be done.
So I wrote a tool called perfcollect. It runs on Windows 2003 and later, tested on x86, x64, and even ia64. Once I started writing it, I figured out that I could solve a lot more problems than I actually set out to solve.
First, I decided not to limit the counter to just storage. The tool collects a wide variety of counters related to CPU, memory and even the application context. It will collect up to 350 counters, based on the XML profiles from the very cool PAL tool. The counters include all sorts of stuff relevant to Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint, AD, Hyper-V and more.
Second, it collects configuration information that is available only by doing WMI queries on the server, but is nonetheless still relevant to performance troubleshooting.
Operation of the tool is very simple. You download the tool from my own blog site, and run it as administrator on your server (it automatically escalates privileges if you're running it on 2008, Vista, or 7). Select the duration of the collection, the sample frequency, hit enter and let it go. Come back and look in c:\perflogs\EMC, and you'll see a directory tree of text files and csv's.
Here's the progress of what perfcollect actually does:
- Detects the version of Windows running. If it's running 2000 or earlier, it exits
- Presents the UI portion, where you select the duration and frequency of samples
- Detects all available counters on the system
- Builds a list of relevant "interesting" counters based on what is available
- Builds a list of services running on the machine
- Gets boot options of the machine
- Builds a list of applications installed on the machine
- Builds a list of disks on the system and their capacity information – outputs in CSV and human-friendly text formats
- Dumps event logs of error and above to CSV
- Builds a list of disks on the system and their offsets
- Gets network configuration information
- Enumerates hardware on the system – processors and types, disks, SCSI and iSCSI adapters, tape drives, and media changers
- Executes "systeminfo"
- Executes "driverquery"
- Consolidates information relevant to PAL (Number of processors, boot options, system type, and memory)
- Starts the perfmon collection – output in CSV format.
The whole process usually takes less than a minute – excluding the time it takes to actually sample the data, of course.
Once you're done, the perfmon CSVs are ready for use with any tool you use to manipulate and visualize perfmon data; PAL, perfmon itself, excel, etc. If you're worried about the size, I've never seen an uncompressed perfmon file generated by perfcollect of over 40MB.
The tool "belongs" to EMC (in that I used EMC's money to feed my family while I was developing it, and I tested it in EMC's incredible labs). But it's free of charge to use, and the output is yours. If you use it to collect data just to get a baseline of your servers' performance, or troubleshoot a problem, we're cool with that.
The software is licensed "as-is." The contributors give no express warranties, guarantees or conditions. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws which this license cannot change. To the extent permitted under your local laws, the contributors exclude the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.
The Microsoft Corporation tools are packaged herein through permission granted by Microsoft Corporation through the premier contract with EMC. Grep, gawk, and printf are distributed unmodified under the GNU General Public License.
Notice of Copyright
This program is the confidential unpublished intellectual property of EMC Corporation. It includes without limitation exclusive copyright and trade secret rights of EMC throughout the world.


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She was so little, only in first grade. The question caught me off guard.
"My friend Michelle has two moms and she says that's cause her mom is a lesbian. What's a lesbian, mommy?"
(Think fast, mommy.)
Well, I said, you know how in this house we have a mommy and a daddy and you and your brother and sister? Uh-huh, she says. Well, I say, there are all kinds of families. A lot of families are just like us with a mommy and a daddy but some have two daddies or two mommies instead. When there are two mommies or two women living together they are called lesbians.
Ohhhh she says, shrugging her little shoulders, and skips away to watch cartoons.
I thought I handled that pretty well. That is, until her teacher called a few weeks later to tell me that my daughter was spreading the word at school that the school librarian (who was a single mother living with her widowed mother) was a lesbian. Oh, the drama that ensued!
Clearly, my two mommy two daddy explanation needed a bit of first grade suitable elaboration and clarification. But how to explain to her why everything went so horribly wrong? Why all the adults at school were so upset? She was confused.
What could I say when confronted with her bewildered upturned face? Children, in their innocence, use labels simply to keep everything straight in this content rich world. Judgment and prejudice are learned later from all the adults in their lives. I had to proceed carefully.
I don't remember how I explained everything to her but I do remember her reaction. She thought it was pretty stupid for everyone to be so upset over something so simple. And then she skipped away to watch cartoons.
I must have done okay.
Connected stories:


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The climb/conventional toggle seems to be ignored when machining ON an open vector (direction is honoured when left or right of an open vector and also works ON a closed vector).
I want to use a V-bit to chamfer the edges of features. I have created an offset path for the V-bit and cut ON it. This works fine other than the direction. If I use Allowance offset to move the point of the V-bit off the edge of the project then Vcarve uses the diameter of the V-bit to generate the path rather than just offsetting the point by the requested amount.
The only way that appears to work is to use Node Edit to reverse the direction of the vector. Is there an easier way?


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Hakushu Distillery Tour(Paid, 1,000yen)
In the beginning we introduce the craftsmen's dedication to producing a variety of distinctive whiskies at Hakushu Distillery, then later you can taste the component whiskies (not for sale) that makes up Hakushu Single Malt Whisky. This tour truly allows you to fully enjoy the whisky.
Everyday except over the New Year's holiday and during distillery shutdowns (some of which are not scheduled in advance). [Tour length approximately 80 minutes.]


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‐ The headline above an Associated Press story on the 2012 election read, "Obama's team banks on his 'regular guy' appeal." We're not in the habit of giving advice to the Obama campaign, but: Maybe bank on something else?
‐ An enduring problem for liberal presidents is that the people they govern just cannot seem to rise to the chief executive's high standards of idealism and self-sacrifice. The canonical expression of liberal presidential disappointment in us, the citizenry, was Jimmy Carter's 1979 "malaise" speech: "Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption," etc. Now we are hearing similar complaints from Barack Obama. Back in September, he told an interviewer that we have "gotten a little soft." Then here he was the other day at a fundraiser in San Francisco saying that "we have lost our ambition, our imagination, and our willingness to do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge." Well, Mr. President, our willingness to do those things sprang from the desire to improve our lives and those of our fellow citizens through honest individual enterprise — the motive force for all our nation's progress. Since that desire is presumably a human universal, we should ask what is currently stifling it. The answers are not hard to find: excessive regulation, taxation, and litigation. Is there any prospect of this triple burden's being lightened? Not under Barack Obama's administration.
‐ Combine our Puritans Gone Wild sensibility — both salacious and censorious — with our endless news cycle, and a presidential candidate accused of sexual offenses is like a house snatched up by a tornado. Herman Cain is now in the funnel. Politico started it with vague charges that one, then two, and eventually three unnamed women had been harassed by Cain while he was president of the National Restaurant Association. Two of them received payouts from the association, of the kind that corporations award both to hush up embarrassing truths and to cut short frivolous litigation. Then Sharon Bialek, accompanied by shock-lawyer Gloria Allred, came forward to accuse Cain directly. Then one of the anonymous accusers was identified as Karen Kraushaar, now a Treasury Department spokesman. Cain, in his latest major comment before press time, declared, "I have never acted inappropriately with anyone — period!" If any of these accusations proves to be true, Cain is done: Bill Clinton rode out his tornados, but the country, and especially the GOP, would not stand for a repeat. If they peter out, Cain still stands as an amateur in the big leagues: Politico had alerted him to its story days in advance, yet his early responses were slow and bumbling (at one point, he accused the Perry campaign of planting the stories, without evidence). The sex storm artificially prolongs Cain's prominence in the polls by winning him conservative sympathy, and by distracting from less sensational signs of political unreadiness.
‐ Rick Perry gave a speech in Manchester, N.H., to Cornerstone Action, a conservative group. He chucked the stiff demeanor that has served him so ill in candidate debates; plugged his tax plan, saying that even Timothy Geithner could fill out the forms; and got a standing ovation. But selected clips of the loosier-goosier moments (keyword: maple syrup) went viral, and liberals piled on: Comic Jon Stewart and non-comic Rachel Maddow suggested he was drunk. This is unfair: You could edit Abraham Lincoln to make him sound like Hee Haw. But Perry is in a near–death spiral, where all the previous stumbles of a rocky rollout create the expectation of new ones. Herman Cain's boomlet arguably helps him, giving him time to regroup while the spotlight falls elsewhere.
‐ Gov. Mitt Romney came out for entitlement reform in a speech. Federal Medicaid funding should be divvied up among the states and its growth capped, he said. Social Security benefits should grow more moderately than planned. Medicare beneficiaries should be able to take their share of the program's funds to purchase the insurance policy of their choice — including the choice of the traditional Medicare program. On all of these points there is now a consensus among Republicans: The party will not be divided going into the election, which once looked possible. Governor Romney was wise, in his speech, to explain that the alternative to the politically dangerous steps he advocated was not doing nothing, but rather President Obama's preferred option of higher taxes and rationing. Republicans will of course have to respond to the inevitable distortions of their agenda, and remember always to connect it to its goals: an affordable retirement system, a stronger economy, and better health care.
#page#‐ The "supercommittee" charged with finding $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over ten years has arrived at a familiar impasse on taxes. Most Republicans say they will not countenance any net tax increase, while most Democrats refuse to entertain restraints on entitlement spending without one. The essential choice before the supercommittee, as before anyone concerned about the country's long-term fiscal health, is how much to tax the middle class and how much to spend on entitlements for it. Raising middle-class taxes in order to afford more middle-class benefits would be a mistake: If we want people to have more resources in retirement, let them keep the additional money themselves. The only sensible argument for a tax increase is political: It may be the price needed to secure real entitlement reform, and if so may be one worth paying. But why should Republicans commit in public to tax increases, as a few of them favor, in return for no public concessions on the other side, which is what they are getting? The stakes in this negotiation are high, since the law that established the supercommittee imposes automatic cuts to the defense budget if it fails. If it does, Republicans will simply have to continue to fight for entitlement reforms and a strong defense. They can succeed on the supercommittee only if it is clear that failure is an option.
‐ Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) blasted President Obama's "politics of division" in a speech at the Heritage Foundation. Ryan proceeded through a series of contrasts between Obama's approach and that of Republicans: spending restraint vs. tax increases, the goal of upward mobility vs. an obsession with inequality, free markets vs. an alliance of "bureaucrats and connected crony capitalists"; American success vs. European decline. These contrasts are too schematic: Liberals have criticized Ryan for implying that the U.S. has more economic mobility than Europe, when the best evidence suggests the reverse is now true. Some of Europe's economic policies compare well with ours, such as its low taxes on corporations. But Ryan is quite correct to insist that we not view economic policy through the distorting lens of economic egalitarianism. We suspect that Americans care more about mobility, and it is heartening to see a political leader give voice to that sound instinct.
‐ The median wage — the paycheck taken home by the worker in the middle of the income distribution — has fallen to the same level as in 1999. What looks like stagnation is actually worse, since a higher proportion of the population was employed back then. At least taxes are lower now. The recession and anemic recovery explain the recent wage trends. But wage growth was not robust even before the crisis hit. Rising health-insurance premiums ate up a larger and larger share of workers' compensation before they ever saw it. Without a more competitive and transparent system of financing health care, we will keep running in place even when the economy revives.
‐ According to the Census Bureau, the proportion of men ages 25 to 34 who are living with their parents rose from 14 percent to 19 percent between 2005 and 2011; for women, it merely ticked up from 8 percent to 10 percent. The largest causes of the trend seem to be the economic downturn and its disproportionate impact on young men. While one might suspect this stems from a deeper and continuing infantilization of modern American men, the number was lower in 2005 than it was in 1995. Given all the other phenomena these numbers are tied to — the continuing economic malaise, the questionable job market for low-skilled men even when the economy is doing well, the dearth of men whom today's women find marriageable, etc. — we can only hope these men find jobs and secure their independence.
‐ Pres. Barack Obama, kicking off the vote-buying season, announced a plan under which college-loan repayment schedules will be reduced for some borrowers. Under current law, borrowers can apply under the Income-Based Repayment program to have their loan payments capped at 15 percent of their income and any remaining debt forgiven after 25 years of payments. Under Obama's plan, those numbers will change to 10 percent and 20 years, respectively. (The change had been scheduled to take place in 2014, but President Obama decided to fast-track it.) This is a nod to Occupy Wall Street, the collection of petulant middle-class permanent adolescents camped out in Zuccotti Park in New York City and elsewhere, whose top complaint appears to be college-loan debt. The government should get out of the college-loan business: Its loan guarantees and interest-rate shenanigans simply shunt streams of cash into the higher-education market, encouraging ever-higher tuition rates. A college education is extraordinarily valuable to some people, and less so to a great many others. In neither case should the government subsidize it.
#page#‐ Nothing succeeds like failure. That was made clear by the latest news about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, where ten top executives will share $12.8 million in bonuses for persuading Americans to modify mortgages on homes facing foreclosure. Never mind that the federal programs involved — HAMP (the Home Affordable Modification Program) and its benighted offspring, HARP (the Home Affordable Refinance Program) — succeeded in modifying only a handful of mortgages, and those often for people who could not afford them. Never mind also that Fannie and Freddie, which of course got us into this mess to start with, have just asked for another $6 billion to tide them over until their next request for funds. The question is why undead Fannie and Freddie are allowed to continue staggering on, wreaking destruction and wasting money at every step. It's time to dispatch them with a stake through the heart before they do even more damage.
‐ Once there were the Wise Men — rich WASPs who moved seamlessly between Wall Street and Washington (usually the State Department), building America's mid-century empire even as they tended their portfolios. Now we have the Wild Men — same career paths, different results. Their epitome is Jon Corzine. The former Goldman Sachs CEO won a Senate seat in New Jersey in 2000, and the governorship in 2005. He spent a combined $100 million in the two races. But the Garden State, under his stewardship, was an even bigger spender. In 2009, New Jerseyans replaced him with Chris Christie. Corzine went back to the private sector as CEO of MF Global, a multinational bond dealer. He snapped up Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese debt, betting that the Eurocrats would not let these countries fail. But as the market in bad euro-debt softened, MF Global went bankrupt. About the only base Corzine hasn't slid into, spikes flying, is higher education. Are there any Ivy League schools with billion-dollar endowments he might manage?
‐ Michelle Obama was firing up the crowd at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Jacksonville, Fla.: "Let's not forget what it meant when my husband appointed those two brilliant Supreme Court justices, and for the first time in history our daughters and our sons watched three women take their seats on our nation's highest court." She continued, "But more importantly, let us never forget the impact their decisions will have on our lives for decades to come — on our privacy and our security, on whether we can speak freely or worship openly, and, yes, love whomever we choose. That is what's at stake here." Love whomever we choose. Do Republicans plan to ban love? Is Mrs. O. making an allusion to same-sex marriage? Doesn't her husband oppose it, currently? Speak freely. Isn't it Obama-supporting liberals who impose speech codes on campus? Worship openly. Is it conservatives who have driven religion out of the public square? Etc. The first lady's speeches aren't any more closely reasoned than her husband's.
‐ Are teachers overpaid? Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute and Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation have a new paper arguing that they are. Conservatives have long pointed to widening wage gaps between similarly situated public- and private-sector workers as evidence that powerful public unions have hijacked the labor market. Liberals have responded that, when one takes into account the average public-sector worker's greater education and experience, they are actually underpaid relative to the private sector. But what if all that education isn't worth that much? Biggs and Richwine marshal data showing that education majors enter university with below-average SAT, GRE, and IQ scores, but receive above-average GPAs, and go on to make more money than other students with similar cognitive abilities. In any generalization there are, of course, many exceptions. But if this is the rule, it is consequential. Arguing that teachers are overpaid because they are relatively dumb is not the easiest sell in a culture that values educators. But acknowledging it, and fixing it, are critical for a culture that values education.
#page#Percentage Play
The top 1 percent is a funny thing. If you got rid of all the 1 percenters tomorrow, a new top 1 percent would take its place. There will always be a top 1 percent. This dynamic is more ironclad than the aphorisms about getting rid of drug dealers, kudzu, or cockroaches. They used to sing "There'll Always Be an England"; well, that's mere wishful thinking compared with the mathematical imperative permanently requiring a top 1 percent.
That's why the sloganeering about the top 1 percent is simultaneously brilliant and daft. It dehumanizes the villains of the tale by turning them into a permanent mathematical abstraction. No reform will ever go far enough because there, on the horizon, like a moon you can sail toward for all eternity without ever getting any closer to, will remain the 1 percent looking down on the lumpen-ninety-niners with cold disdain. In this sense the "top 1 percent" is a more Marxist formulation than anything found in Marx. Karl talked about the inexorable laws of historical progress and the ironclad rules of Hegelian determinism. But he at least conceived of a day when the dog would catch the car. The 1 percenters are such a complete abstraction that they will remain for all eternity like the unreachable final drawing in one of those Escher paintings of an Escher painting of an Escher painting.
Hence also the stupidity of it all. For while there will always be a top 1 percent, the people occupying that category come and go with remarkable frequency. The permanence resides entirely in the abstraction, not in the reality.
According to IRS data, from 1992 to 2008, 73 percent of the 400 richest taxpayers were in that category for only a single year and only one-tenth of 1 percent of them were in the group for the entire 17-year run. Meanwhile, roughly 80 percent of American millionaires are the first generation in their families to be rich.
Mario Tama/Getty
In other words, the top 1 percent is a mathematical palace that many people visit, but where few reside for long. The same largely holds true for the way stations of economic progress. Four-fifths of 40-year-old Americans do better than their parents did when they were 40. It's also worth noting that the material stuff — electronics, food, cars, etc. — of today's poor is fundamentally superior to the stuff poor people had in earlier generations. A twentysomething with a car, an iPhone, and a modestly equipped apartment is, in significant respects, richer than the richest 1 percent from a century ago, whether he feels that way or not. And many poor Americans are richer than rich people in other countries.
Now, to point this out doesn't mean everything is fine. The fact that the grading of such things is subjective and relative doesn't justify complacency. If you are born poor in this country, it is still too hard to make yourself un-poor. Scott Winship, who wrote about economic mobility in the last issue of NR, explains that "picking the right parents" remains the best way to ensure relative economic success in life.
But that is not an indictment of America; it is an indictment of bad parents. If you changed the habits of the heart at the bottom of the economic ladder, those at the bottom would have a much easier time climbing out of it. And that's why reducing these things to quintiles and percentages is so evil. Fueled by envy, the self-described 99 percenters exonerate themselves of all responsibility for their woes and place the blame on abstractions, as if being in the top 1 percent were not an admirable accomplishment but the unfair happenstance of a wholly random lottery.
#page#‐ Under current law, online retailers can be coerced into collecting and remitting sales taxes only in those jurisdictions in which they have a physical presence. A bill sponsored by Republican senators Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee would change that, forcing firms such as Amazon and eBay to calculate taxes and keep records for the 8,000 or so sales-tax jurisdictions in the United States, offering sales-tax simplification in exchange. A similar bill was proposed by Democratic senator Dick Durbin of Illinois earlier in the year, and a separate effort is afoot to have the so-called supercommittee institute new Internet-tax measures as part of its deficit-reduction plan. A series of exemptions and the vagaries of law have given online retailers an advantage in certain situations, and there is no good way to resolve that. Imposing a heavy new tax-compliance burden on these firms unquestionably will obstruct their businesses. If we wish our economy to prosper, it makes little sense to force vital and innovative new enterprises to adopt business practices that would have been familiar to Richard Sears and Alvah C. Roebuck. The free and dynamic Internet economy should be the model for reforming unproductive and outdated arrangements with roots in distant history — not the other way around. If online commerce is to be taxed at all, it should be taxed at the business-unit level — meaning that if the product ships from Topeka, Topeka gets the sales tax — and there only. This would keep compliance burdens low and promote tax competition, a beneficial thing.
‐ How socialists love dams! No propaganda magazine out of the USSR failed to include a picture of some mighty dam; and the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtse River is Chinese Communism's proudest engineering achievement. Nothing says "heroic materialism" like a dam. No surprise, therefore, to see Rachel Maddow on MSNBC standing in front of the Hoover Dam telling viewers: "You can't be the guy who builds this. You can't be the town that builds this. You can't even be the state that builds this. You have to be the country that builds something like this." So the Hoover Dam was built by government employees? No: It was built by a consortium of six private companies. It was financed by government money, though, wasn't it? Only if you think there truly is such a thing as government money: The dam was financed by taxes drawn from the economy. The federal government supervised the project, at least, didn't it? It did — and the consortium had to fight all the way against pettifogging regulations and efforts by Interior Secretary Harold Ickes to have the workforce unionized. The Hoover Dam was finished early and under budget, by American business.
‐ Sunlight may not be an efficient form of energy, but it continues to be the best disinfectant, as the $535 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan to now-defunct solar-energy company Solyndra reminds us. Uncovered documents have already shown that senior White House officials tried to influence the loan-approval process in favor of Solyndra, whose chief investor happened to be a prolific Democratic fundraiser. The Obama administration is now refusing to comply with a House-issued subpoena to turn over additional documents relating to the loan. Reasonable people can debate the question of executive privilege, but the debacle has certainly shone a bright and unflattering light on a president who pledged to make transparency the "hallmark" of his administration and hold himself "to a new standard of openness."
‐ Not content merely to stand and marvel at the scale of its $8 billion budget shortfall, the state of California has devised a plan to spend yet more. The objet d'affection? A high-speed-rail line between San Diego and Sacramento. The project's purpose is ill-defined, and its projected cost equal to an entire year's state budget, but that does not seem to have discouraged its advocates, even as the price tag has risen from the $43 billion figure when it was approved by referendum to a potential $98.5 billion, according to the latest estimate of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, and the "high speed" part has been called into question. It appears that the fastest thing about the proposition is the way it has been dashed through: "It's being rushed through without proper research and without vetting it to the public," Assemblyman David Valadao (R.) said. That blur in the distance? Fiscal responsibility in the Golden State.
#page#‐ On November 8, Ohioans voted to repeal Senate Bill 5, a 302-page law of collective-bargaining reforms that Gov. John Kasich and the state legislature approved in March. Unlike in Wisconsin, where similar reforms have survived several assassination attempts by the Left, in Ohio, public-employee unions won the election by defining the issue: Senate Bill 5 was an overreach by newly elected Republicans flush with power. Despite the GOP's protestations, the argument stuck: Voters soured on the law even though majorities of them favored certain aspects of it, such as the requirement that public employees pay at least 10 percent of their wages toward their guaranteed pensions. It didn't help that the unions outspent their rivals by almost three to one, but Republicans could have done better: They could have passed these reforms in several smaller (and more politically palatable) pieces of legislation that would have been easier to defend. Chastened by defeat, they seem prepared to do just that. We say, Give it another go.
‐ After the Department of Justice threatened a civil-rights lawsuit, Ohio's Cuyahoga County agreed to print bilingual ballots — and so voters on November 8 saw three proposed statewide laws displayed in both English and Spanish, side by side. Beneath the English versions, the ballot asked, "Shall the law [or amendment] be approved?" To record their choice, however, voters had to look below the Spanish-language question, "¿Debérá aprobarse la enmienda?" and mark ovals labeled "Yes/Sí" and "No/No." The odd design, observed the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "causes confusion." Even more confusing is why the federal government would force foreign-language ballots on anyone: Most immigrants who naturalize have to demonstrate competency in English. Cuyahoga County is an especially strange target because less than 5 percent of its population is Hispanic, according to the 2010 Census. Its recent election now becomes the latest perversion of the Voting Rights Act, which has been confounding our language, Babel-like, for more than a generation.
‐ The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, which receives at least $60 million annually from the federal government, informed nurses in its same-day-surgery unit that beginning in October they would be required to assist in performing abortions. Nurses who objected were threatened with termination, and twelve of them have filed a suit against UMDNJ for violating state and federal laws that explicitly prohibit such coercion in publicly funded institutions. A federal court has issued a temporary restraining order against the hospital until a hearing scheduled for November 18. UMDNJ has a long history of lawlessness: It was the subject of a federal criminal investigation several years ago for massive Medicaid and Medicare fraud and the awarding of no-bid contracts to the politically connected. "This place is a public embarrassment," said U.S. attorney Chris Christie at the time. It is still that.
‐ Two employees of Kermit Gosnell's Philadelphia abortion mill — where babies were routinely delivered alive and then stabbed with scissors, where Gosnell instructed his employees where to sever a baby's spinal cord to "ensure fetal demise" (his expression), and where the infant bodies were disposed of in shoeboxes and spring-water bottles, sometimes after having their limbs cut off for Gosnell's gruesome collection of specimens — have pled guilty to third-degree murder in connection with eight deaths at the clinic. But only those eight.
‐ On Halloween, according to the U.N., the world's population hit an estimated 7 billion. All the predictable hand-wringing ensued from all the predictable quarters, though by this point the anguished response has a ritualistic quality, since it was the fourth time the odometer has turned over since Paul Ehrlich's hysterical 1968 bestseller The Population Bomb ignited a wave of neo-Malthusianism. Malthus's and Ehrlich's argument was simple: Fixed amount of arable land, ever-increasing population, result starvation. Yet while the world's capacity to feed people may not be infinite, there is no reason to believe that 6 or 7 or 10 billion is anywhere near the limit. It is now clear that science can expand agricultural production greatly; that starvation is almost always the result of bad government, not finite resources; and that prosperity and modernity, especially the education of women, will lead to a natural decrease in birth rates. So we greet Baby 7B by saying the more the merrier, and hoping his or her generation will realize that the best fix for the purported ills of overpopulation is not planned economies, forced wealth transfers, or draconian limits on family size, but technology, democracy, and free markets.
#page#‐ Those who know about Israel's intentions toward the Iranian nuclear weapon aren't talking, and those who are talking don't know. Which is why Israeli president Shimon Peres has upset the applecart by telling the world that an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities is likely. Or again, with more nuance or possibly more linguistic clumsiness, he said, "The possibility of a military attack against Iran is now closer to being applied than the application of a diplomatic option." On behalf of David Ben-Gurion's government half a century ago, Peres was procuring arms and is widely thought to have pushed for Israel to have a nuclear program. Now in his late eighties, he has long since become the national peacenik. Can it be coincidence that Israel has been practicing long-range air strikes and holding large-scale civil-defense exercises simulating the response to all kinds of missile attacks? The International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog, also happens to be publishing an unprecedented warning that Iran has reached the final stages before fitting nuclear warheads onto missiles. In the circumstances, Peres might have been put up to propagating misinformation, disinformation, or a bluff or double bluff, or maybe he was just testing whether Washington could campaign seriously for international sanctions. One way or another, the strategy of defense against Iran by keeping heads deep under the sand appears to be coming to an end.
‐ Earlier this fall, the Palestinian Authority made a bid to become a full member of the United Nations, despite not having achieved statehood through a peace agreement with Israel. The bid failed. But the PA has now been successful at becoming a full member of a U.N. body, UNESCO. More than a hundred nations voted in favor of the Palestinians' admission. The United States immediately cut off funding to UNESCO, as a 1990s law requires: U.N. bodies that admit the Palestinians as a full member, despite no legitimate statehood, shall not benefit from American largesse. So, UNESCO has just lost 22 percent of its funding. The 107 nations that voted for the Palestinians' admission probably thought they were doing them a favor. To encourage Palestinians in the belief that they can get what they want without making peace with Israel does no one any favors.
‐ Cuba is embarked on a very modest program of market-oriented reforms: Cubans will be allowed to set up independent businesses, to buy and sell automobiles, and to buy and sell real estate — all within very narrowly limited confines. Amusingly, co-dictator Raúl Castro explained his newly liberal attitude thus: "The state has no business getting involved in a matter between two individuals." Well, well. There is now a fairly well-defined arc to socialists' reform projects worldwide: The more robust the socialism, the quicker the country's impoverishment; once the impoverishment has reached a certain sufficiently desperate stage, reforms begin — at first by turning a blind eye to black markets, and then by instituting official reforms in key areas. And then — nothing, usually. China, Cuba, even North Korea have seen various degrees of liberalization, but none of them has emerged, or shows any sign of emerging, as a decent and democratic society. Even the Russians, for whom the West had high hopes during the age of glasnost, are slipping back into authoritarianism. So Cubans will be allowed to buy houses — on the Castros' terms, with the Castros' permission, unless the Castros change their minds. Any new openness is to be welcomed, but there is more to life than the housing market.
‐ It used to be an iron rule of immigration, applied in all nations, that rights of settlement were conditional on the immigrant's not being a charge on the public fisc. That rule is long gone in Europe and the Anglosphere. All advanced Western nations are plagued by foreigners who freeload on the welfare systems that citizens have built up over decades. Now, however, Switzerland seems to be moving back toward the older, wiser dispensation. In the more conservative Swiss cantons at least, information sharing has been established between social services and immigration authorities, so that welfare-dependent immigrants can be identified. The Zurich-based newspaper Tages Anzeiger reported on the case of a Turkish woman who moved to Switzerland in 2006 to marry a Turk already resident. The man was abusive, so the woman left him following the birth of their daughter in 2010. Thereafter mother and child lived solely on welfare benefits. After the divorce came through, immigration authorities in Zurich deported them. The old rule was a sound one; we hope this is the beginning of its revival.
#page#‐ The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo celebrated an Islamist political victory in Tunisia by naming the Prophet Mohammed editor-in-chief and depicting him in cartoons. For these jokes its Paris office was firebombed. "We won't let it get to us," said editor Stéphane Charbonnier. It got to Bruce Crumley, Time's Paris bureau chief, who wrote a scathing account of the attacked. "Idiotic," "divisive," "destructive," "stupid," "outrageous," "unacceptable," "condemnable" — that's the language Crumley unloaded on Charlie Hebdo. Crumley found the magazine's "claims . . . of exercising free speech" "unconvincing," since "in Western nations . . . that right no longer needs to be proved." Doesn't it? Theo van Gogh, Dutch filmmaker, was murdered, and Kurt Westergaard, Danish cartoonist, suffered a home invasion, all for treating Islam harshly or even lightly. Didn't Crumley notice? The case for free speech, alas, seems to need proving to some of its primary beneficiaries.
‐ The German artist Martin Kippenberger died in 1997, but his works still generate controversy. In 2008, an Italian museum defied Pope Benedict by refusing to remove Kippenberger's sculpture Feet First from an exhibition. Feet First shows a green frog nailed to a wooden cross. Now Herr Kippenberger's work is in the news again. A different sculpture, titled When It Starts Dripping From the Ceiling, is currently on display at a gallery in Dortmund, Germany. This piece, valued at $1.1 million, is a tower of wooden slats with a plastic bowl at the bottom. The bowl is deliberately discolored to make some kind of "statement" (don't ask us). One of the gallery's cleaning staff, however, took the discoloration at non-ironic face value and scrubbed it clean. "It is now impossible to return [the sculpture] to its original state," lamented a gallery spokesman. Really? How difficult is it to stain a bowl? And if they hadn't told us about the incident, would anyone have known?
‐ The acronym STEM has been showing up a lot in newspaper reporting about education. STEM stands for "science, technology, engineering, and math." These are obviously fields in which a modern nation needs plenty of expertise. Does the U.S. have enough? The administration does not think so: President Obama has called on colleges to graduate 10,000 more engineers a year and 100,000 new teachers with STEM majors. So how's that going? Not well, reports the New York Times. Forty percent of students planning engineering and science majors either switch to other subjects or drop out altogether. Principal reasons: STEM subjects are difficult and unglamorous, and lead to only mediocre wages. The last of those reasons follows from the temptation, which is irresistible to U.S. firms and unrestrained by any government action, to preferentially employ cheap foreign STEM graduates over Americans. The second follows from the last, and from our culture's fascination with finance, law, and entertainment. The first is adamant.
‐ In 1979, William Niskanen was working for Ford — which was then on Washington's doorstep, hat in hand, begging for protection from the Japanese menace, in the form of quotas on imported Japanese cars. Niskanen argued to Ford's executives that all of the political favoritism in the world would not save the company, which was making subpar cars with terrible fuel economy. Niskanen was fired for his advice, even though Ford ultimately took it. (A prophet is not without honor, except in his own boardroom.) Ford survived, and so did Niskanen, who went on to have a brilliant career offering similarly good advice to American business and political leaders, spending 23 years as chairman of the Cato Institute. Educated at Harvard and the University of Chicago, a veteran of the Reagan administrations in Sacramento and Washington, Niskanen was principled rather than partisan, intellectually honest, curious, and famed for his gracious manner. As an academic, he was an important proponent of public-choice economics; as a leader, he helped make Cato the invaluable institution it is today. Dead at 78. R.I.P.
#page#THE CULTURE
Violent Occupation
That was quick. After scarcely two months, the Occupy Wall Street movement, which began as an urban, idealistic Woodstock, has entered its Altamont phase. The left-wing tent cities, scattered across the country, have become magnets for bums and criminals and centers of dirt and disease. The mother camp, at Zuccotti Park in downtown New York, has set up an 18-person "safety tent" to accommodate women terrorized by groping, predatory males. A female Occupier in Vancouver died of a drug overdose; Occupy Portland announced an outbreak of head and body lice. Washington, D.C., Occupiers protesting an Americans for Prosperity conference shoved a 78-year-old woman down cement stairs, sending her to the emergency room with bruises. The worst came in Oakland, where cops accidently fractured the skull of a protester who was an Iraq War vet with a tear-gas canister; a week later Occupiers rampaged through the city streets, and successfully shut down the nation's fifth largest port.
The Occupy movement brings together three distinct but converging groups of people. Self-styled anarchists (actually left-wing revolutionaries) are more common in Europe than here, though they did stage a riot at a 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. Given the chance, they will push Occupy demonstrations directly to the confrontation stage. Most of the warm bodies are young people, from college age and up. In 2008, many of them were thrilled by Barack Obama; three years later, hope has changed. They have reason to feel hopeless: A healthy economy provides opportunity, but a stretch of 9 percent unemployment means spending your extended adolescence in your parents' basement. Rather than readjust their priorities or understand why recessions linger, they rail at the nature of things.
Alongside the violent and the unhappy are the organizers: the remnants of ACORN; labor unions looking for a left-wing Tea Party; and enabling local politicians, eager to strike poses. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is an egregious example of the last: The archetypal Wall Street tycoon, anxious to cast himself as a rights crusader as his third term ends, encouraged Occupy Wall Street in its early days, though he has begun to change his tune.
The movement could end in ugly confrontations or the adjournment provide by winter. But it will leave an aftertaste. Those who were not molested may look back to their days in tents as Arcadias of idealism and solidarity. Aging baby boomers cheer on Occupy from the sidelines, remembering the Sixties; Occupiers will do the same, world without end. In the shorter run, the aftereffects could be acute. Play-acting communal organizing has given thousands of people a taste of parallel institutions; if the recession dips twice and hard, and if Obama loses a painfully close race, Occupy veterans may try again, with revolutionary zeal.
#page#THE WORLD ECONOMY
Greece on Fire
A Greek default appears to be imminent, and a change of government is under way. Prime Minister George Papandreou promised and then canceled a national referendum on conditions to be imposed on Greece by the European Union in return for another bailout. When it became clear that his government would not survive the turmoil, he entered into negotiations with the opposition to select the premier of a new national-unity government, the purpose of which is to ensure the continued flow of bailout payments. As of this writing, the favored candidate was former European Central Bank executive Lucas Papademos.
So the Greek people are not to be allowed a vote on their own national economic policies. That is the European Union in miniature: economically incoherent and politically incompatible with democracy and national sovereignty. This incompatibility has come to a head now over fiscal questions, but it might have come to a head as easily over questions of national defense or immigration — questions in which the interests of a France or a Finland are very different from those of a Bulgaria or a Cyprus, but which in any case will be decided in accord with no country's national interest but in accord with the interests of the bureaucratic elite in Brussels.
There is very little reason for Greece, Spain, and Portugal to share a single monetary policy with Germany and France — their public finances, labor conditions, balance of trade, and other economic fundamentals are radically different, and cannot be brought into harmony without something approaching a soft dictatorship. The business cycles of the members of the European Union are not coordinated, and neither are their economic interests. Less competitive nations such as Greece suffer particularly from sharing a currency with highly productive nations such as Germany, because it takes away the option of using currency depreciation to make one's exports more attractive on world markets. Germany, a strong exporter, has benefited from this arrangement. There is some wisdom in human traditions, and it turns out that the Germans and the Greeks have separate countries for a reason — one of them being that they are separate peoples.
But Greece needs the money. Unhappily, the Europeans aren't much in funds these days, which has them appealing to China for assistance in their bailout scheme. Which is to say, not only would the deal make Athens entirely subordinate to Brussels, it would make Athens entirely subordinate to a Brussels that is partly subordinate to Beijing.
The best and least likely outcome of this mess would be to have the economically stable northern-European countries break away to form their own union. The second-best and more likely outcome is for Greece to leave the eurozone, voluntarily or involuntarily. Either scenario would probably entail a default and would bring about massive economic disruption, and not just for the Europeans. But the alternative is a prolonged, slow-motion crisis and the entrenching of the one-size-fits-all, central-planning approach from Brussels that is a very large part of the present problem and no part of its solution.


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We've partnered with PlaySight to bring our customers the best and most reliable live streaming and video-on-demand experience. Every game at BLD is live streamed and recorded. Live streaming is perfect for those not able to be at the ballpark for every game, while video on demand is ideal for reliving your favorite highlights from each game. It's also a great player development tool, providing players and coaches with the opportunity to review footage and make game-to-game adjustments and improve skills.
Las Vegas
and League City


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2 SAMUEL 6:1-5, 12b-19
David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.2 David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. 3 They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart 4 with the ark of God; and Ahio went in front of the ark. 5 David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.
So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing; 13 and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. 14 David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.
16 As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.
17 They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord. 18 When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, 19 and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes.
In his excitement David danced before the Ark of the Covenant "with all his might," the text tells us. We are reminded of what Jesus said in response to the question about which commandment is the greatest of all (Mark 12:28). He replied that the greatest commandment is "to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all you strength." There is no place for complacency in the religious life, where the full investment of one's energy, attention, and devotion is the key that unlocks the door to life's deepest meaning. In the words of the nineteenth-century philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach: "Only was is an object of passion, really is."
Such energetic demonstrations as David's frequently invite the suspicion and disdain of what another nineteenth-century thinker called religion's "cultured despisers." They are the ones who, like David's wife Michal, look with distaste upon the ecstasies of the spirit. Worship in their opinion is all about propriety, decorum, and structured liturgies. To dance is to be too much in the body, too wild and out of control. Surely God cannot be honored by such displays! But in fact, God is honored and blessed by acts of worship that engage the distinct yet interrelated dimensions of our total being. When the body is essentially uninvolved, our experience of God becomes disembodied and artificially sanitized. God is glorified in creation, and in our full praise as creatures.


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How To Accept Rejection As An Intern
As interns, our biggest fear is making a mistake and being rejected by our supervisors.
We put so much of our time and effort into a piece of work that we think is the greatest thing created by mankind just to see it crumble right in front of our eyes.
Our first instinct is to curl up into a ball and cry until we have no more tears left in our system, but that doesn't have to be the case.
See, I believe the biggest thing that teachers don't stress enough in school is that you are going to screw up and that it is okay to screw up.
We are new borns coming into the work field, so making mistakes is something you can't control.
Think about it this way, the people who employ you have at some point made mistakes as well.
The difference is that they were willing to do something about it, so they could get to where they are now, and so should you.
This leads me to my story.
Currently I am in week two of my six-week placement, and I have to say it has been nothing short of spectacular.
I am doing so much that I did not think I would be able to do when I first entered my program and I have learned so much while doing it.
Like any student who is coming into the workforce for the first time, I was scared and honestly did not think I would even make it past the first week or so, but I am still here and willing to learn.
Now I will admit that I have made mistakes, and I know I will make more, but I haven't backed down or taken a step back because of them.
Instead, I took it as a learning tool and figured out how I can do better not just for myself, but also for Riaz and his company.
I am fortunate enough to work with someone like Riaz, because he is very understanding and is willing to work with me to ensure that I am reaching my full potential and this really helps ease a little bit of the pressure.
I believe as an intern, making mistakes is one of the best learning tools because we aren't perfect.
We don't know everything. Making mistakes helps you realize that and it gives you an opportunity to learn, so the next time, you won't make the same mistake.


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Pot roast isn't really a specific recipe or cut of meat, it's more of a method: Take a big cut of tough beef, sear it if you can prior, then cover and slow cook it with aromatics and liquid (stock, broth, wine, or water) until meltingly tender.
But I will say for BEST RESULTS, for that nice melting-pull-apart goodness, go with a thick cut CHUCK (Shoulder) roast.
I always prep and load crock pot night before, just take out of fridge as you get ready for work and let sit on counter before you begin cooking process so that you're not at risk of 'cracking' your ceramic insert.
- Pot Roast Traditional LOW & SLOW (HERE)
- 'All In One' Pot Roast and Veggies (HERE)
- Grandma's 'Secret Ingredient' Pot Roast (HERE)
- 3 Packet Recipe Pot Roast (HERE)
- BBQ Beef-Pot Roast (HERE)
- Asian Pot Roast with Flavor BAM! (HERE)


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Holes: 18
Par: 71
Length: 6,226 yards (5,693m)
Architect: Eddie Lappin
Founded in 1989, Peterculter Golf Club is situated on the banks of the River Dee in some of the most beautiful scenery in Aberdeenshire.
The 18-hole course is spread over several terraces and follows the natural contours of the river bank offering a fair test to all golfers. Challenging par 4s test skills to the full, while the par 3s and 5s provide particular interest – the latter tantalisingly reachable in two with a good drive. The greens are meticulously kept and well-guarded.
Players can't fail to be inspired during their round by the panoramic views of the Dee valley with the imposing Grampian Mountains in the distance. With careful management Peterculter has matured into a course which is a joy to play.


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June, 20th, 2018
Dear Friends,
I would like to take the time to thank you for your support over our many years of business. Every year presents different challenges along the way. This year is not different still running short-handed takes a toll on us. The markets have been a roller-coaster. Recently with copper hitting a high that we had not see since the end of last December. Only to give it all back by threatening to hit the market's low point. We have to bring up the current problems of tariffs and possible trade wars not helping out matters. With all these current factors involved, we have decided to suspend operations from June 20th thru July 24th. Everyone's health is excellent, and no other current matters had led to this decision. We need some time away to relax and recharge the batteries. We hope you will support our decision and return to regular business operations Tuesday, July 24th at 8 am.
Thank You
President, Granite State Salvage Co.
Small Batch Salvage™
For those of you wondering what is small batch salvage? The story goes along this way. For well over 50 years GSSCO has been in the recycling industry. If you haven't heard of us you might have purchased our metals through someone else. Like others in this business our founding father Frank Jr. sorted and graded metals using the means of a shear, torch, grinder, acids and knowledge. He would bid on lots of metals upgrade the and sell them. Time has passed and technology has changed. We still hand sort our materials, then prepare them ( by torch or plasm cutter) with stricter standards and a wider range of products.
We now use the process of a Niton X-ray gun, which enables us to give you what you pay for not an inferior grade. Finally, we use our knowledge as a second generation recycler and over 25 years of experience to deliver a superior quality of recycled materials. Like our founding father over 50 years ago, somethings never change and neither does our focus on quality. Even though this requires more time we feel you can't jeopardize quality for quantity.
What we can do for you is give you quality products that meets the strictest standers or the most leant
We cannot guarantee trailer loads of scrap per month which is what sets us apart from others. What we can do for you is give you quality products that meets the strictest standers or the most leant. So whether you're looking for boxed, baled or barreled materials try small batch salvage you won't be disappointed.
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IRG is dedicated to helping you become your best self.
IRG Physical & Hand Therapy is the Northwest's premier physical and hand therapy group. We have locations throughout the Puget Sound, so you'll never have to travel far to receive exceptional service.
We're dedicated to providing superior physical and hand therapy for your entire family. At IRG, we attract and retain the best physical and hand therapists who work hard to:
- Provide compassionate, individualized care
- Create a friendly and positive environment
- Use the latest techniques and technology to create exceptional results
- Strive for complete customer satisfaction
Community Involvement
We understand the importance of supporting our community.
At IRG, we're dedicated to providing services that improve patient awareness and enrich our surrounding communities. We actively support community events and organizations throughout the year, including team sports, fitness clubs, schools, and non-profit organizations. We endeavor to make a positive difference where we live, work and play.
Meet our Leaders.
History of IRG
In the mid 1990s, the physical therapy climate was saturated with large corporations and managed care organizations.
Opening a private practice at the time was almost unheard of. Despite the challenges, Shannon O'Kelley was convinced that the combination of high-quality patient care and conveniently located clinics would offer patients an amazing alternative. After several years in a partnership overseeing another group of PT clinics, Shannon met with a PPS colleague and founded Integrated Rehabilitation Group (IRG) on a napkin over gin and tonics.
Success didn't come easy at first – but with an unwavering commitment to high quality patient care, convenient hours and locations, and contagious, upbeat, positive energy – word started to spread.
As IRG continued to expand and thrive, so did the need for a centralized administration team, including billing, human resources, marketing, and operations. This solid infrastructure attracted LLC partners and encouraged continued growth as opportunities arose for new locations.
As of 2018, IRG is comprised of 31 clinic locations and 400 employees. We provide a multitude of service offerings that put us at the forefront of outpatient rehabilitation in the Pacific Northwest.


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Offers and Competitions
Offers, Competitions, Quizzes and Discounts In the lead-up to our first shows in the UK, we will be running a number of short terms offers, and competitions. All of them will be on a first come first served basis so if you see something you like act fast to snap it...read more
The Embroidery Girl: Cast and crew Spotlight: Zhang Yashu.
Artist Spotlights starting with The Embroidery Girls Principal dancer: Zhang Yashu Over the coming month, We will be featuring artists spotlights of the Principal artists and creatives responsible for the creation and delivery of the Embroidery Girl. Our first...read more
Embroidery Girl Writer Produces performance design for Beijing 8 Minutes Presentation at Winter Olympics closing ceremony
The Writer of the embroidery girl working in conjunction with legendary film director Zhang Yimao produced the fantastically well received 8-minute feature for the closing ceremony of the Pyongyang winter Olympics. I mean who doesn't love...read more
Chinese New Year Explained: A Fortnight of festival fun
Chinese New Year in a Nutshell Hmmm that would probably work better if it said dumpling… oh well 😉 Chinese New Year Explained The Chinese New Year begins on the 23rd day of the 12th month of the Chinese lunar calendar. Chinese New Year which is...read more
Jiangsu Wuxi Song and Dance Troupe to Perform at the Winter Olympics
Embroidery Girl Writer and Dancers on the way to perform at the Closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in South Korea Zhang Yimao & Some of our team taking part in the Closing Ceremony. There were certainly some spectacular components to the Opening ceremony of...read more
The Embroidery Girl: The Face of the Chinese New Year
The Embroidery Girls Principal dancer: Zhang Yashu is The face of the Chinese New year on Chinese TV The Principal female dancer for the Embroidery girl, the beautiful and intriguing Zhang Yashu is the current face of the Jiangsu TV version of the radio times in...read more
Happy Chinese New Year: The UK Welcomes in the Year of the DOG
The dogs arrived to chase out the rooster. The embroidery Girl team would like to wish happy New Year to all our UK friends 🙂 So another year dawns the Rooster is done and we are happy to welcome the 2018 year of the dog. We will be posting about Chinese New Year and...read more
THE EMBROIDERY GIRL IS COMING TO THE UK: Final roster of UK dates Announced
Final dates are in for the UK leg of the European tour. The amazing Embroidery Girl cast and crew will be visiting six venues around the UK. So don't miss out (Click to book): Tue 27th March, Cambridge Corn Exchange Thu 29th March, Guildford G-Live Fri 30th March ...read more


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LOS ANGELES — A California woman is suing a popular Internet dating site, saying she was sexually assaulted by a man she met on Match.com.
Attorney Mark L. Webb says he filed the Los Angeles Superior Court civil lawsuit on Wednesday on behalf of an entertainment executive identified only as Jane Doe.
The suit demands that Match.com screen its members for sexual predators. Webb says he's asking for a temporary injunction barring the site from signing up more members until his client's demands are met.
Webb says the woman met the alleged assailant last year at the Urth Cafe in West Hollywood. After a second date, the attorney says the man followed her home and attacked her.
A telephone message left Thursday for Match.com's IAC corporate owner in New York wasn't immediately returned.


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Vance�s store opens new grill; Optical shop changes name, logo
Vance Davis has been farming in Sandy Bottom since he was about 6 years old.
Now 75, he decided to open a convenience store in 1999 on the family property.
�When I got ready to quit farming,� Davis said, �I just needed to help my standard of living.�
But Davis didn�t quit farming. In fact, his wife, Kinston native Phyllis Casey Davis, brings him lunch out at the farm when he won�t stop his work to come home to eat.
Vance�s Convenience Mart, a short distance from Jacksons Crossroads, had been leased out since 2006 until this year, Davis� son Van Davis said.
Davis recently remodeled the store and re-opened it Aug. 2.
Selling commodities and gas, the market now offers customers a sparkling new grill, which opened Oct. 14.
Some of their offerings include hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, pizza, nachos, chili cheese fries and breakfast items.
�He�s hoping to get some chicken and barbecue in the future,� Van said about his father.
Kenneth Register, one of three employees, has been managing the store for about six years.
�(The store carries) a little bit of everything,� Register said as he was preparing food for a customer.
Vance�s has food, snacks, games, toys, cigarettes and beer, among other things.
It also has Blue Bunny hand-dipped ice-cream, Register said.
�We�re looking forward to it growing very soon,� Van Davis said.
Vance�s Convenience Mart, 3601 N.C. 55 W., is open from 6 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For information, call 252-208-1158.
A local vision center has changed its name to Precision Eye Care.
Located inside the Walmart store, the center�s sign will continue to say Walmart Vision Center, but will be branded inside the optical shop with the new name.
The name was chosen to reflect the accuracy and quality of care of the ophthalmology and optometry practice.
Along with the new name, the business has changed its logo to unite the brand in the three locations in Kinston, Greenville and the main ophthalmology office in Washington.
�This is a great opportunity to unify all of our branches,� said owner Dr. Jitendra Swarup, �and let Eastern North Carolina know that world-class eye care is close to home.�
Swarup is one of the nation�s leading cataract surgeons, having performed more than 30,000 cataract surgeries. He is one of the forerunners in the use of LenSx laser cataract removal.
While previous cataract surgeries required the use of a scalpel to cut the eye by hand, LenSx uses a finely tuned laser to make precise incisions and break up the entire cataract so it can be easily removed; this may lead to faster recovery times and improved clarity.
Along with LenSx laser cataract removal, Precision Eye Care specializes in the areas of advanced technology lens replacement and LASIK laser vision correction.
The business also offers comprehensive treatment of all eye diseases and conditions, as well as complete optometry services for routine eye exams for patients of all ages.
Swarup provides surgeries at area hospitals.
The regular activities of the business will continue as they were under the new name.
The Kinston location provides a full state-of-the-art optical shop.
Precision Eye Care, 4101 W. Vernon Ave., is open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and 9 a.m.-noon the last Saturday of each month. For information, call 252-208-0510 during office hours or the Washington office at 252-946-2171.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.
Do you have a new retail business or one that�s undergone a significant change? The Free Press would like to hear about it. Contact Margaret Fisher at 252-559-1082 or email@example.com.


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Summer Hours: Mon~Thurs 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM Fri 8:00 AM to 5:00
Sat 10:00 AM to 4:00 & Closed on Sundays Concrete makes wonderful Gifts!!
We have many new items for 2017!!
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From I-90 @ Sullivan Exit in Spokane Valley...
Go North on Sullivan, over the freeway and river. Before you get to Trent Rd. turn Right onto"B Street" (the main entrance to Ind. Park), the stoplight just past McDonalds. Go thru 3 intersections then turn Right onto"4th Street"" (@ Building 4) We are the 2nd building (#12) on the right side.
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We are proud of our well known reputation for the highest quality and the lowest prices with as much personal customer service as possible.
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Contact Us: 509-922-6111 3808 N. Sullivan Rd. Building #12


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Pizza lovers in Austin likely remember 40 North, the former South First Street pizza trailer that landed on my list of the best pizza in Austin in 2015. Chef Clint Elmore, who trained studied in Naples and worked at Paulie Gee�s in Brooklyn before moving to Austin, said at the time of the trailer�s closure that he hoped to eventually be serving his pies from a brick-and-mortar restaurant and that time has arrived.
Elmore is moving his focus from Neapolitan pies to New York City-style pizzas at PS 35 in Round Rock, which opens Tuesday at 1500 N. I-35 in Round Rock. The restaurant will be operated by SMGB Hospitality Co., the group behind the successful East Austin casual Chinese restaurant Old Thousand. The name is a hybrid of the public school naming conventions of NYC (PS) and the location of I-35.
The menu will include some pizza stylings familiar to 40 North customers, �like the Hot Honey, with pepperoni, Italian sausage, ricotta, parmesan and Mike�s Hot Honey. In addition to pizzas, the restaurant will serve thin-crust pizza, hot and cold sandwiches on fresh baked bread, a selection of pasta dishes, salads, soft-serve ice cream, craft beer, and cocktails. The family-friendly restaurant will feature classic video games and an outdoor pavilion for live music,yard games, dining and drinking.
PS 35 is initially open only for dinner, from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 5 to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
From the archives (2015): The best pizza in Austin


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I think that elf is throwing out hints that I should get on with finishing my wall hanging. It was almost finished last year and I ran out of time. Somehow, I haven't worked on it since!
Now for some reason when I photograph vertically, it still wants to place it horizontally! So, you need to look at this one with your head on an angle!
I am linking up to:
DL Art - Elf Antics 2nd annual linky party
Saturday, 13 December 2014
What is Elfred up to now?
Labels: elf
2 comments:
Elfred is a cutie! Are his hints going to be heeded? Doesn't look like you have much left to do - it's gorgeous!ReplyDelete
Beautiful Wall hanging - Elfred is adorable.ReplyDelete
This is so cute I just love all the colors you used.
Thank you for joining ELF Antics 2nd Annual Linky Party
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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With an estimated 6,000 refugees living in a camp in Calais, a Lichfield plumber has now made two trips across the Channel to help those fleeing conflict in Syria and will make a third. Reporter Fern Gibson spoke to Dave Simcox about his experiences in the refugee camp…
The crisis in Calais
In November 2015 Dave arrived in France where he would spend five days helping out in camp and staying at a local hostel.
He said: "You cannot be prepared for an experience like that in the jungle camp, it's on the side of wasteland and is not fit for human habitation.
"It's a vision of hell."
The camp was only ever supposed to be temporary, but with more and more refugees coming over the border it has become a more permanent site.
"The residents have tried to normalise it and there are shops and restaurants in the camp," Dave said. "There is a real lack of sanitation in camp though. There are cold water taps but only two, which is inadequate and there are portaloos, but too few and they are not clean enough.
"In camp they need things like large marquees that the refugees can gather in when they first arrive, adequate sanitation and a laundrette, as most of the residents only have one or two pairs of clothes."
Refugees are continuing to arrive in Calais and are erecting more and more makeshift homes.
Dave added: "The biggest problem is the lack of official recognition from the government and even charities. Because it's an illegal camp, no one wants to get involved."
A helping hand in camp
As winter approaches accommodation is the priority of many charities who are working in the camp. Many refugees live in tents which are not suitable for the cold harsh weather conditions.
Dave said: "Flat pack shelters are being built, but with winter fast approaching not enough are being put up quickly enough.
"I spent a lot of my time building shelters in the warehouse and repaired a window in the medical centre because it had been broken into."
There are many charities which support and organise volunteers like Dave who are wanting to help refugees by matching their skills to some of the many tasks.
"Lots of people just turn up and it doesn't really help," Dave said. "Clothes don't get sorted and distributed which results in clothes being piled up, trodden on and covered in dirt.
"After my first visit I knew I had to go back."
Returning to the refugees
Dave knew he wanted to do more for the refugees in Calais and after sharing his experience with his partner Ceri, she agreed to accompany him on his second visit to the camp.
"The second time it was easier for me personally as I was there with my partner," he said. "I didn't have to cope with separation and it's hard to explain the situation without seeing it, but now she understands first-hand what it is like. We supported each other."
Dave raised money for materials to take with him for his first trip, but the second visit saw a fundraising charity gig allow him to buy warm clothes from charity shops and sleeping bags for the refugees in preparation for the cold weather.
"The situation remains grim but there are some positive changes," he explained. "The French Government have insisted that something is done in terms of improvement and the site is being cleared and levelled and services put in.
"There are shipping containers being brought in to make dwellings and I've heard that the first of those has now arrived on site.
"Charities are continuing to do what they can and there are improvements in camp, but in terms of the long term future, there is no overall plan."
Destination Britain
Dave said that most of the refugees in the camp want to get across the Channel to Britain.
"The French are generally known for being less kind to refugees based on the basis of the number of application rejections they make," he added. "The camp residents believe in this myth that Britain is welcoming and that we all live together happily.
"This means that there is a continuous stream of people that are trying to get into lorries and onto trains often leading to death by accidents."
Two days before Dave arrived in the camp a Sudanese man was killed on a main road in France by a lorry.
"His name was Joseph," Dave said. "The driver didn't stop at the scene and there was no further investigation.
"On the Saturday there was a march which was peaceful. Camp residents carried plaques saying 'We are not animals' and volunteers joined in too."
Feeding the forgotten
On his first visit to the camp, Dave met Sofinee, a woman who runs a kitchen on site.
"She's amazing," he said. "She hands out over 1,000 meals a day so that people with nothing can at least get a hot meal. She cooks 6kg of rice each day in a pot and has a team of camp residents and volunteers who help her out.
"She has been there almost constantly since September and works seven days a week."
The kitchen was built by bridge2, a Guernsey-based charity.
"I was asked by the founder if I could build an extension because they were running out of space," Dave said. "I have already built the four walls and on my third visit I will be building the roof as I didn't get time on my last trip.
"I am also going to make a compound as there are three or four caravans, one of which Sofinee and her husband live in, and the others are used for camp residents that have been hospitalised.
"One has leukaemia and needs frequent blood transfusions and somewhere to rest-up."
Dave's wife Ceri spent the first few days of the trip working in the warehouse sorting through the clothes and putting them in sizes and matching shoes into pairs.
For the remainder of the trip the trained nurse spent most of her time working in the medical centre.
"I went down one evening to see her and you feel really guilty having to close the medical facilities when there are still people waiting and you're going to go back to the hostel and have a warm shower," Dave said.
"But then you have to think that you are not any use to anyone if you are burnt out and I have seen many volunteers work to the state of collapse."
No end in sight
Dave has decided that he will be devoting more of his time and efforts to the cause in 2016, including the creation of a basic website to exchange information with other volunteers.
"This will obviously involve more visits but I would also like to do something in terms of organisation," he said. "The website would include a useful list of all the people involved, whether it's related to food, building, distributing, the kitchen, medical or psychological support.
"So often I see Facebook groups saying that they want to get involved but don't know what to do and who can help.
"Obviously there are people that can help but there is a wealth of confusing information and these pages need updating regularly as the situation is changing daily."
More details on Dave's trips to Calais can be seen on his blog.


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Home > Gifts by Recipient > Gifts for Women
Measurements in Cm: 50 x 70Features: A fun illustrated 100% cotton tea towel.
(Details shown apply to the default selection)
Well Behaved Children Welcome Here Tea towel
A modern designed tea towel finished in contrasting greens with the fun wording
Well Behaved Children Welcome Here The Rest Will Be Made Into Pies!
A fun token gift idea for birthdays or Christmas.
100% cotton
All orders placed by noon are dispatched the same day and are delivered by our trusted partners Royal Mail, Yodel and Interlink Express. At the checkout you will be given a delivery price and delivery options for your order as per below:
Free Delivery for orders over £40 (applicable to UK mainland only) Orders within the UK - £2.95 (1-3 working days depending on location) Next Working Day Delivery - £6.95 ( Order by Noon previous working day, price depends on location )
We want you to be truly happy with your purchase from Gifts From Handpicked. If you're not simply return the product to us following our returns procedure, it's that simple!
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Gifts From HandpickedUnit 5, Hereward Business Centre296 Newark RoadNorth HykehamLincolnLN6 8JX


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