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Six Historic Americans
Thomas Jeffersonby John E. Remsburg
Had Jefferson's works been edited by some pious churchman who would have expunged or modified his radical sentiments; or had his works been suppressed after they were published, as some desired, the clergy might with less fear of exposure claim that their author was a Christian. But while his writings are accessible to the public, it adds nothing to their reputation for candor to make the claims respecting his belief which many of them do; for these writings clearly prove that he was not a Christian, but a Freethinker.
The "Memoirs, Correspondence and Miscellanies from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson," edited by Thomas Jefferson Randolph, a grandson of the distinguished statesman, was printed in four large volumes, and published in 1829. From these volumes, and other writings of Jefferson, I have culled some of the most radical thoughts to be found in the whole range of Infidel literature.
In a letter to his nephew and ward, Peter Carr, while at school, Jefferson offers the following advice, which though thoroughly sound, would be considered rather questionable advice for a Christian to give a schoolboy:
"Fix Reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason than of blindfolded fear. ... Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its consequences. If it end in a belief that there is no God, you will find incitements to virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exercise and in the love of others which it will procure for you" (Jefferson's Works, Vol. ii., p. 217).
The God of the Old Testament -- the God which Christians worship -- Jefferson pronounces "a being of terrific character -- cruel, vindictive, capricious, and unjust" (Works Vol. iv., p. 325).
In speaking of the Jewish priests, he denominates them "a bloodthirsty race, as cruel and remorseless as the being whom they represented as the family God of Abraham, of Isaac, and Jacob, and the local God of Israel" (Ibid.).
In a letter to John Adams, dated April 8, 1816, referring to the God of the Jews, be says:
"Their God would be deemed a very indifferent man with us" (Ibid., p. 373).
To his nephew he writes as follows regarding the Bible:
"Read the Bible as you would Livy or Tacitus. For example, in the book of Joshua we are told the sun stood still for several hours. Were we to read that fact in Livy or Tacitus we should class it with their showers of blood, speaking of their statues, beasts, etc. But it is said that the writer of that book was inspired. Examine, therefore, candidly, what evidence there is of his having been inspired. The pretension is entitled to your inquiry, because millions believe it. On the other hand, you are astronomer enough to know how contrary it is to the law of nature" (Works, Vol. ii., p. 217).
In this same letter, he thus refers to Jesus Christ:
"Keep in your eye the opposite pretensions: First, of those who say he was begotten by God, born of a virgin, suspended and reversed the laws of Nature at will, and ascended bodily into heaven; and second, of those who say he was a man of illegitimate birth, of a benevolent heart, enthusiastic mind, who set out without pretensions to divinity, ended in believing them, and was punished capitally for sedition by being gibbeted, according to the Roman law, which punished the first commission of that offence by whipping, and the second by exile or death in furea."
His own opinion respecting the above is expressed in a letter to John Adams, written a short time previous to his death:
"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter" (Works, Vol. iv, p. 365).
In the gospel history of Jesus, Jefferson discovers what he terms "a groundwork of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstitions, fanaticism, and fabrications" (Works, Vol. iv, p. 325).
He continues:
"If we could believe that he [Jesus] really countenanced the follies, the falsehoods, and the charlatanism which his biographers [Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,] father on him, and admit the misconstructions, interpolations, and theorizations of the fathers of the early, and the fanatics of the latter ages, the conclusion would be irresistible by every sound mind that he was an impostor" (Ibid..).
Jefferson, however, did not regard Jesus as an impostor. He says:
"Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others, again, of so much ignorance, of so much absurdity, so much untruth and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. I separate, therefore, the gold from the dross, restore to him the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some and the roguery of others of his disciples" (Ibid., 320).
Jefferson made a compilation of the more rational and humane teachings of Jesus, the "gold," as he termed it, which has since been published. Some superficial readers have supposed this to be an acknowledgment of Christ. Orthodox teachers, however, know. better and ignore the book.
For the man Jesus, Jefferson, like Rousseau, Paine, Ingersoll, and other Freethinkers, had nothing but admiration; for the Christ Jesus of theology, nothing but contempt.
In regard to Jesus believing himself inspired he interposes the plea of mild insanity. He says:
"This belief carried no more personal imputation than the belief of Socrates that he was under the care and admonition of a guardian demon. And how many of our wisest men still believe in the reality of these inspirations while perfectly sane on all other subjects" (Works, Vol. iv, p. 327).
Several of the preceding quotations are from a lengthy communication to William Short. In the same communication he characterizes the Four Evangelists as "groveling authors" with "feeble minds." To the early disciples of Jesus he pays the following compliment:
"Of this band of dupes and impostors, Paul was the great Corypheus, and first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus" (Ibid.).
The published writings of Jefferson, which, however, do not contain many of his most radical thoughts, would indicate that he regarded Jesus Christ as a historical character. In a contribution to Frazer's Magazine for March, 1865, Dr. Conway shows that he was sometimes disposed to entertain the mythical hypothesis. Mr. Conway says:
"Jefferson occupied his Sundays at Monticello in writing letters to Paine (they are unpublished, I believe, but I have seen them) in favor of the probabilities that Christ and his Twelve Apostles were only personifications of the sun and the twelve signs of the Zodiac."
This was the opinion held by Paine during the last years of his life.
For nearly sixteen hundred years the doctrine of the Trinity has been a leading tenet of the Christian faith. To doubt this dogma is the rankest heresy; for denying it thousands have lost their lives. In a letter to Col. Pickering, Jefferson speaks of "the incomprehensible jargon of the Trinitarian arithmetic, that three are one and one is three."
In a letter to James Smith, Jefferson says:
"The hocus-pocus phantasm of a God, like another Cerberus, with one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and thousands of martyrs" (Works, Vol. iv., p. 360).
Again, in the same communication, he says:
"The Athanasian paradox that one is three and three but one, is so incomprehensible to the human mind, that no candid man can say he has any idea of it, and how can he believe what presents no idea? He who thinks he does, only deceives himself He proves, also, that man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without a rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck."
Not at an insignificant minority, not at an unimportant and unpopular sect, but at nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand Christians -- at virtually the entire Christian church -- was the above scathing criticism hurled. Even more bitter is the following from a letter to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse:
"I should as soon undertake to bring the crazy skulls of Bedlam to sound understanding, as inculcate reason into that of an Athanasian" (Works, Vol. iv., p. 353).
In a letter to John Adams, written August 22, 1813, Jefferson says:
"It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticism that three are one and one is three, and yet, that the one is not three, and the three are not one.... But this constitutes the craft, the power, and profits of the priests. Sweep away their gossamer fabrics of fictitious religion, and they would catch no more flies" (Ibid, p. 205).
Writing to John Adams a year later -- July 5, 1814 -- he again refers to this subject:
"The Christian priesthood, finding the doctrines of Christ leveled to every understanding, and too plain to need explanation, saw in the mysticisms of Plato materials with which they might build up an artificial system, which might, from its indistinctness, admit everlasting controversy, give employment for their order and introduce it to profit, power and pre-eminence" (Ibid, p. 242).
Alluding to the eucharist, he styles the orthodox clergy "cannibal priests" (Ibid, p. 205).
Jefferson's hatred of Calvinism was intense. He never ceased to denounce the "blasphemous absurdity of the five points of Calvin." Three years before his death he writes John Adams:
"His [Calvin's] religion was demonism. If ever man worshiped a false God, he did. The being described in his five points is ... a demon of malignant spirit. It would be more pardonable to believe in no God at all, than to blaspheme him by the atrocious attributes of Calvin" (Works, Vol. iv., p. 363).
"It is hard to say observes Bancroft, "which surpassed the other in boiling hatred of Calvinism, Jefferson or John Adams."
To Dr. Cooper, November 2, 1822, Jefferson writes:
"I had no idea, however, that in Pennsylvania, the cradle of toleration and freedom of religion, it [fanaticism] could have arisen to the height you describe. This must be owing to the growth of Presbyterianism. The blasphemy of the five points of Calvin, and the impossibility of defending them, render their advocates impatient of reasoning, irritable, and prone to denunciation" (Works, Vol. iv, p. 358).
In the same letter, after mentioning the fact that in Virginia where he resides, the Christians being divided into different sects, including the Presbyterian, are more tolerant, he continues:
"It is not so in the districts where Presbyterianism prevails undividedly. Their ambition and tyranny would tolerate no rival if they had power. Systematical in grasping at an ascendancy over all other sects, they aim, like the Jesuits, at engrossing the education of the country, are hostile to every institution they do not direct, and jealous at seeing others begin to attend at all to that object."
In the following significant passage we have Jefferson's opinion of the Christian religion as a whole:
"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition [Christianity] one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies" (Letter to Dr. Woods).
Could a more emphatic declaration of disbelief in Christianity be framed than this?
In his "Notes on Virginia," the following caustic allusion to Christianity occurs:
"Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites."
In his letter to Dr. Cooper, prayer meetings and revivals receive this cruel thrust from his pen:
"In our Richmond there is much fanaticism, but chiefly among the women. They have their night meetings and praying parties, where, attended by their priests, and sometimes by a henpecked husband, they pour forth the effusions of their love to Jesus in terms as amatory and carnal as their modesty would permit to a merely earthly lover" (Works, Vol. iv., p. 358).
A short time before his death, Jefferson, in a letter to John Adams, after commending the morals of Jesus, wrote as follows concerning his philosophical belief:
"It is not to be understood that I am with him [Jesus] in all his doctrines. I am a Materialist."
In support of his Materialistic creed, he argues as follows:
"On the basis of sensation we may erect the fabric of all the certainties we can have or need. I can conceive thought to be an action of matter or magnetism of loadstone. When he who denies to the Creator the power of endowing matter with the mode of motion called thinking shall show how he could endow the sun with the mode of action called attraction, which reins the planets in their orbits, or how an absence of matter can have a will, and by that will put matter into motion, then the Materialist may be lawfully required to explain the process by which matter exercises the faculty of thinking. When once we quit the basis of sensation, all is in the wind. To talk of immaterial existences, is to talk of nothings. To say that the human soul, angels, God, are immaterial, is to say they are nothings, or that there is no God, no angels, no soul. I cannot reason otherwise. But I believe that I am supported in my creed of Materialism by the Lockes, the Tracys, and the Stewarts."
Noting the absence of the idea of immortality in the Bible and particularly in the books ascribed to Moses, he writes:
"Moses had either not believed in a future state of existence, or had not thought it essential to be explicitly taught to the people." (Works, Vol. iv., p. 326.)
Jefferson's wife preceded him to the grave by nearly forty-four years. If ever woman was adored by man this woman was adored by her husband. The blow stunned him; and for weeks he lay prostrated with grief. Referring to the sad event, Wm. O. Stoddard, the Presidential biographer, says:
"He was utterly absorbed in sorrow, and took no note of what was going on around him. His dream of life had been shattered, and it seemed as if life itself had lost its claim upon him, for no faith or hope of his reached onward and inward to any other." (Lives of the Presidents, Vol. ii, p. 270.)
In the following brave and truthful words we have Jefferson's estimate of priestcraft:
"In every country and in every age the priest has been hostile to liberty; he is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own."
Alluding to his beloved child, the University of Virginia, he writes:
"The serious enemies are the priests of the different religious sects to whose spells on the human mind its improvement is ominous" (Works, Vol. iv., p. 322).
"We have most unwisely committed to the hierophants of our particular superstition the direction of public opinion -- that lord of the universe. We have given them stated and privileged days to collect and catechise us, opportunities of delivering their oracles to the people in mass, and of molding their minds as wax in the hollow of their hands." (Ibid.).
His uncomplimentary allusions to the Christian clergy, to the Christian Sabbath, and to Christianity itself as "our particular superstition," are as unorthodox as anything to be found in Paine.
To John Adams he writes as following regarding disestablishment in New England:
"I join you, therefore, in sincere congratulations that this den of the priesthood is at length broken up, and that a Protestant Popedom is no longer to disgrace the American history and character." (Works, Vol. iv., p. 301).
Jefferson's hatred of priestcraft was life-long; for while the above was written but a few years prior to his death, the following from a letter to Mr. Whyte, was written nearly half a century before:
"If anybody thinks that kings, nobles and priests, are good conservators of the public happiness, send him here [Paris]. It is the best school in the universe to cure him of that folly. He will see here with his own eyes that these descriptions of men are an abandoned confederacy against the happiness of the mass of the people."
While he detested the entire clergy, regarding them as a worthless class, living like parasites upon the labors of others, his denunciation of the Presbyterian priesthood was particularly severe, as evinced by the following:
"The Presbyterian clergy are the loudest, the most intolerant of all sects; the most tyrannical and ambitious, ready at the word of the law-giver, if such a word could now be obtained, to put their torch to the pile, and to rekindle in this virgin hemisphere the flame in which their oracle, Calvin, consumed the poor Servetus, because he could not subscribe to the proposition of Calvin, that magistrates have a right to exterminate all heretics to the Calvinistic creed! They pant to re-establish by law that holy inquisition which they can now only infuse into public opinion" (Works, Vol. iv., p. 322).
He charges the early church in this country with uniform cruelty -- in Virginia as well as New England. Re says:
"If no capital execution [of Quakers) took place here it was not owing to the moderation of the church." (Notes on Virginia, p. 262.)
His noble fight against the church and in behalf of religious freedom for Virginia, in which he acknowledged the valiant support of Madison, entitles him to the everlasting gratitude of every lover of liberty. From his argument in favor of the disestablishment of religion, to be found in his "Notes on Virginia," (pp. 234-237,) the following extracts are taken:
"By our own act of Assembly of 1705, c. 30, if a person brought up in the Christian religion denies the being of God, or the Trinity, or asserts there are more gods than one, or denies the Christian religion to be true, or the Scriptures to be of divine authority, he is punishable on the first offense by incapacity to hold any office or employment, ecclesiastical, civil, or military; on the second, by disability to sue, to take any gift or legacy, to be guardian, executor, or administrator, and by three years' imprisonment without bail. A fathers right to the custody of his own children being founded in law on his right of guardianship, this being taken away, they may of course be severed from him, and put by the authority of the court, into more orthodox hands. This is a summary view of that religious slavery under which a people have been willing to remain, who have lavished their lives and fortunes for the establishment of civil freedom."
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. Constraint may make him worse by making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man."
"Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these free inquiry must be indulged; how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves? But every state, says an inquisitor, has established some religion. No two, say I, have established the same. Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments?"
"It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself."
There are still existing on the statute books of many states laws but little less intolerant than those which Jefferson and his friends removed from the statute books of Virginia. To those who Contend that these laws are not dangerous because no longer enforced, I commend these words of Jefferson:
"I doubt whether the people of this country would suffer an execution for heresy, or a three months' imprisonment for not comprehending the mysteries of the Trinity. But is the spirit of the people infallible -- a permanent reliance? Is it government? Is this the kind of protection we receive in return for the rights we give up? Besides, the spirit of the times may alter -- will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless. A single zealot may become persecutor, and better men become his victims." (Notes on Virginia, p. 269.)
Jefferson's Presidential administration was probably the most purely secular this country has ever had. During his eight years' incumbency of the office not a single religious proclamation was issued. Referring to his action in this matter, he says:
"I know it will give great offense to the clergy, but the advocate of religious freedom is to expect neither peace nor forgiveness from them."
In answer to a communication from the Rev. Mr. Miller relative to this subject, he writes as follows:
"I consider the Government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from meddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. But it is only proposed that I should recommend, not prescribe a day of fasting and praying. That is, I should indirectly assume to the United States an authority over religious exercises, which the Constitution has directly precluded them from. ... Every one must act according to the dictates of his own reason and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States, and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents."
A favorite claim with the church is that we are indebted to the Bible and Christianity for our moral and civil law, and especially that the teachings of the Bible and Christianity are a part of the common law. This claim is universally urged by Christians and generally conceded by jurists. In a letter to Major John Cartwright, Jefferson exposes the fraudulent character of the claim. Of such importance is the question, and so thorough is the refutation, that I give it entire:
"I was glad to find in your book a formal contradiction at length of the judiciary usurpation of legislative powers; for such the judges have usurped in their repeated decisions, that Christianity is a part of the common law. The proof of the contrary which you have adduced is incontrovertible; to wit, that the common law existed while the Anglo-Saxons were yet Pagans, at a time when they had never yet heard the name of Christ pronounced, or knew that such a character had ever existed. But it may amuse you to show when and by what means they stole the law in upon us. In a case of quare impedit in the Year Book 34 H. 6, folio 38, (anno 1458,) a question was made, how far the ecclesiastical law was to be respected in a common law court. And Prisot, Chief Justice, gives his opinion in these words: 'A tiel leis qu'ils de seint eglise ont en ancien scripture covient a nous a donner credence,' etc. See S.C. Fitzh. Abr. Qu. imp. 89. Bro.; Abr. Qu. imp. 12.
Finch, in his first book, c. 3 is the first afterwards who quotes this case, and mistakes it thus: 'To such laws of the church as have warrant in Holy Scripture our law giveth credence;' and cites Prisot, mistranslating 'ancien scripture' into 'Holy Scripture.' Whereas Prisot palpably says 'To such laws as those of holy church have in ancient writing it is proper for us to give credence;' to wit, to their ancient written laws. This was in 1613, a century and a half after the dictum of Prisot. Wingate, in 1658, erects this false translation into a maxim of common law, copying the words of Finch, but citing Prisot. Wing, Max. 3. And Sheppard, title 'Religion,' in 1675, copies the same mistranslation, quoting the Y.B. Finch and Wingate. Hale expresses it in these words: 'Christianity is parcel of the laws of England.' 1 Ventr. 293. 3 Keb. 607. But he quotes no authority. By these echoings and reechoings from one to another it had become so established in 1728 that, in case the King vs. Woolston, 2 Stra. 834, the court would not suffer it to be debated, whether to write against Christianity was punishable in the temporal courts at common law. Wood, therefore, 409, ventures still to vary the phrase, and say that all blasphemy and profaneness are offenses by the common law, and cites 2 Stra. Then Blackstone, in 1763, 4.59, repeats the words of Hale, that 'Christianity is part of laws of England,' citing Ventris and Strange. And finally, Lord Mansfield, with a little qualification in Evans's case, in 1767, says that 'the essential principles of revealed religion are part of the common law.' Thus engulfing Bible, Testament, and all, into the common law, without citing any authority. And thus we find this chain of authorities hanging link by link, one upon another, and all ultimately on one and the same book, and that a mistranslation of the words 'ancien scripture' used by Prisot.
Finch quotes Prisot; Wingate does the same. Sheppard quotes Prisot, Finch, and Wingate. Hale cites nobody. The court in Woolston's case cites Hale. Wood cites Woolston's case. Blackstone quotes Woolston's case and Hale. And Lord Mansfield, like Hale, ventures on his own authority. Here I might defy the best read lawyer to produce another scrip of authority for this judiciary forgery; and I might go on further to show how some of they Anglo-Saxon priests interpolated into the texts of Alfred's laws 20th, 21st, 22d, and 23d chapters of Exodus, and the 15th of the Acts of the Apostles, from the 23d to the 29th verse. But this would lead my pen and your patience too far. What a conspiracy this between church and state! Sing Tantarara, rogues all, rogues all!" (Works, Vol. iv., pp. 397, 398).
It is claimed by Christian apologists that the grossest intolerance prevailed in Pagan Rome, that Christians were punished for their opinions merely, that religious freedom was denied. The student of Roman history knows this to be untrue. Religious intolerance in the Roman Empire was virtually unknown. The so- called "Christian persecutions" are mostly Christian myths, and the Christian martyrs of the early church were mostly Christian criminals. To this Christian claim Jefferson pertinently replies:
"Had not the Roman Government permitted free enquiry Christianity could never have been introduced" (Notes on Virginia, p. 265).
The Fourth of July, 1826, was the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence. The people of Washington had decided to celebrate the memorable occasion in a fitting manner, and Mr. Weightman was deputed to invite the illustrious author of the Declaration to attend. On the 24th of June Jefferson wrote a letter declining, on account of his infirmities, to be present. In this letter a new Declaration of Independence is proclaimed. Bravely he writes:
"All eyes are opened or opening to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God."
Those were the last words Jefferson penned. Ten days later -- on the day that he had contributed so much to make immortal -- the Sage of Monticello breathed his last. On the same day, too, died John Adams. Politically at variance these men differed but little in theology. Writing to Jefferson on the 5th of May, 1817, Adams, giving expression to the matured conviction of eighty-two eventful years, declares.
"This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it."
To this radical declaration Jefferson replied:
"If by religion, we are to understand sectarian dogmas, in which no two of them agree, then your exclamation on that hypothesis is just, 'that this would be the best of worlds if there were no religion in it' " (Works, Vol. iv., p. 301).
Referring to another letter he received from Adams, he says:
"Its crowd of skepticism kept me from sleep" (Ibid, p. 331).
Writing to Adams in 1817, Jefferson says:
"The result of your fifty or sixty years of religious reading in the four words: 'Be just and good,' is that in which all our enquiries must end; as the riddles of all the priesthood end in four more: 'Ubi panis ibi Deus.' What all agree in is probably right; what no two agree in most probably wrong" (Ibid, p. 300).
These anti-Christian views of Jefferson were for the most part written after he had retired to private life; but that the public had always been apprised of his unbelief, there can be no doubt. When he ran for President, the more bigoted orthodox journals opposed his election upon these grounds. At his inauguration, some of these journals appeared in mourning, while flags were displayed at half-mast, in token of grief because an Infidel had been elevated to the Presidency. It is true that Washington and Adams, both disbelievers in Evangelical Christianity, had filled the office before him; but they were reticent in regard to the subject, openly expressing no opinions that would offend the church.
That Jefferson's Deistic opinions were well known before he retired from public life is shown by a letter which Paine wrote to Jefferson after his reelection. Paine says:
"When I was in Connecticut the summer before last, I fell in company with some Baptists among whom were three ministers. The conversation turned on the election for President, and one of them who appeared to be a leading man said, 'They cry out against Mr. Jefferson because they say he is a Deist. Well, a Deist may be a good man, and if he think it right, it is right to him. For my own part,' said he, 'I had rather vote for a Deist than for a blue-skin Presbyterian.'"
Jefferson's library contained the leading Freethought works of his day. They gave evidence of having been carefully studied and the marginal annotations from his pen showed that the most radical sentiments were endorsed by him.
He wrote letters to Volney, and placed the bust of Voltaire in his library. He manifested the strongest attachment for Paine, which continued till the latter's death. When Paine signified his intention of returning from France to America, Jefferson furnished a national ship to convey him home. After his return he became the honored guest of the President, both at Washington and Monticello.
Alluding to Paine's visit to Washington, the editor of the "Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris" Says that "Jefferson received him warmly, dined him at the White House, and could be seen walking arm in arm with him on the street any fine afternoon." This was eight years after Paine published his "Age of Reason," and when in the eyes of Christians he had become infamous.
President Jefferson continued to correspond with Paine on theological subjects up to Paine's last illness, which occurred about the time he retired from the Presidency.
To Paine and the great English Deist, Bolingbroke, Jefferson paid the following tribute:
"You ask my opinion of Lord Bolingbroke and Thomas Paine. They were alike in making bitter enemies of the priests and Pharisees of their day. Both were honest men; both advocates for human liberty" (Letter to Francis Eppes).
To the English heretic, Dr. Priestley, he extended the following welcome:
"It is with heartfelt satisfaction that in the first moments of my public action, I can hail you with welcome to our land, tender to you the homage of its respect and esteem, and cover you under the protection of those laws which were made for the good and the wise like you."
When Jefferson's works were first published, the New York Observer, then the leading Christian journal of this country, gave them the following notice:
"Mr. Jefferson, it is well known, was never suspected of being very friendly to orthodox religion, but these volumes prove not only that he was a disbeliever, but a scoffer of the very lowest class."
What is remarkable, the Observer has never claimed that Jefferson recanted; while it has claimed that Paine did. According to this authority Jefferson was more confirmed in his disbelief than Paine.
The clergy circulated a story to the effect that Jefferson admitted his indebtedness to the church by declaring that it was to a preacher, Dr. Small, of William and Mary College, that he owed the destinies of his life. Being in doubt as to whether the Dr. Small referred to was really a preacher or not, Mr. Wm. Edmonds, of Texas, in 1887, addressed a letter to Governor Fitzhugh Lee, of Virginia, on the subject. Gov. Lee instructed his private secretary, Mr. J.E. Waller, to send the following reply':
"The Governor directs me to say, in reply to your letter of inquiry of August 26th, that, from the beat information he can get, he is satisfied that Dr. Small was either an M.D., or scientist, which would entitle him to the degree of Doctor. Mr. Jefferson was a Freethinker and, as there is no record of Dr. Small ever having a church in Virginia, the natural conclusion is that this Dr. Small was of the same belief. John Randolph claims to have imbibed some of his skeptical ideas from a Dr. Small."
The Rev. Thornton Stringfellow, D.D., a prominent Christian divine of Jefferson's own state, in his "Scriptural View of Slavery," a work showing that the Bible sanctions slavery, says:
"My correspondent thinks with Mr. Jefferson, that Jehovah has no attributes that will harmonize with slavery; and that all men are born free and equal. Now, I say let him throw away his Bible as Mr. Jefferson did his and then they will be fit companions. But never disgrace the Bible by making Mr. Jefferson its expounder, nor Mr. Jefferson by deriving his sentiments from it. Mr. Jefferson did not bow to the authority of the Bible, and on this subject I do not bow to him."
John S.C. Abbot, the panegyrist of Napoleon Bonaparte, in his "Lives of the Presidents" (p. 142), referring to one of Jefferson's most distinguished efforts in behalf of religious liberty, says:
"He devoted much attention to the establishment of the University at Charlottesville. Having no religious faith which he was willing to avow, he was not willing that any religious faith whatever should be taught in the University as a part of its course of instruction. This establishment, in a Christian land, of an institution for the education of youth, where the relation existing between man and his Maker was entirely ignored, raised a general cry of disapproval throughout the whole country. It left a stigma upon the reputation of Mr. Jefferson, in the minds of Christian people, which can never be effaced."
The noted divine, Dr. Wilson, in his celebrated sermon on "The Religion of the Presidents," has this to say of Jefferson:
"Whatever difference of opinion there may have been as to his religious faith at the time [of his election to the Presidency], it is now rendered certain that he was a Deist. That fact after his 'Notes on Virginia' ought never to have been doubted by any reasonable man. That work itself contains sufficient evidence of the fact, and I believe the influence of his example and name has done more for the extension of Infidelity than that of any other man. Since his death, and the publication of Randolph, [Jefferson's Works,] there remains not the shadow of doubt of his Infidel principles. If any man thinks there is, let him look at the book itself. I do not recommend the purchase of it to any man, for it is one of the most wicked and dangerous books extant."
The Rev. Dr. D.J. Burrell, of New York, recently said:
"No man could be elected President of the United States to-day who is an avowed opponent of Christianity. Thomas Jefferson would not be an available candidate to-day for either party."
The "International Cyclopedia edited by Daniel Coit Gilman, LL. D., President of Johns Hopkins University, says:
"In religion it is probable that he [Jefferson] was not far from what was then known and execrated as a Freethinker."
The "New American Cyclopedia," in its edition of 1860, makes the following frank and truthful statement of Jefferson's belief:
"Discarding faith as unphilosophical, he became an Infidel."
This statement was offensive to some, and the edition of 1874 substituted the following which means the same thing:
"He carried the rule of subjecting everything to the test of abstract reason into matters of religion, venerating the moral character of Christ, but refusing belief in his divine mission."
Bancroft, referring to Jefferson, says:
"He was not only a hater of priestcraft and superstition and bigotry and intolerance, he was thought to be indifferent to religion" (History of United States, Vol. v., p. 323).
Benson J. Lossing, in his "Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of American Independence," sums up the religious and moral character of Jefferson in the following brief words:
"In religion he was a Freethinker; in morals pure and unspotted" (p. 183).
Morse, in his "Life of Jefferson," which forms a part of the "American Statesman" series, says:
"To my mind it is very clear that Jefferson never believed that Christ was other than a human moralist" (p. 341).
Tucker, in his biography of Jefferson, says:
"It is very certain that he did not believe at all in the divine origin of Christianity, and of course not in the inspiration of the Scriptures; even of the New Testament."
Theodore Dwight, in "The Character of Jefferson, (p. 364) given expression to the following sensible conclusion:
"It cannot be necessary to adopt any train of reasoning to show that a man who disbelieves the inspiration and divine authority of the Scriptures -- who not only denies the divinity of the Savior, but reduces him to the grade of an uneducated, ignorant and erring man -- who calls the God of Abraham (the Jehovah of the Bible), a cruel and remorseless being, cannot be a Christian."
In an article on Jefferson's religious belief, the Chicago Tribune says:
"A question has been raised as to Thomas Jefferson's religious views. There need be no question, for he has settled that himself. He was an Infidel, or, as he chose to term it, a Materialist. By his own account he was as heterodox as Col. Ingersoll, and in some respects even more so."
Surely, Christians, your cause must be growing desperate, when, to sustain it, you must needs claim for its support so bitter an enemy as Thomas Jefferson -- a man who affirmed that he was a Materialist; a man who recognized in your religion only "our particular superstition," a superstition without "one redeeming feature;" a man who divided the Christian world into two classes -- hypocrites and fools; a man who asserted that your Bible is a book abounding with "vulgar ignorance;" a man who termed your Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, a "hocus-pocus phantasm;" a man who denounced your God as "cruel, vindictive, and unjust;" a man who intimated that your Savior was "a man of illegitimate birth;" a man who declared his disciples, including your oracle, Paul, to be a "band of dupes and impostors," and who characterized your modern priesthood as "cannibal priests" and an "abandoned confederacy" against public happiness.


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Adam Lambert says he feels a little remorse for calling out a female fan who chose to engage in a cell phone conversation while he was on stage performing recently.
"I feel bad," Adam told Access Hollywood on Thursday. "I didn't mean to make her feel bad."
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, the incident happened while Adam was performing "Whataya Want From Me" for iheartradio in New York City.
"I was trying to record an acoustic song. We were recording the concert and it was very quiet and intimate and she was in the third row, quite loud on her cell phone," Adam recounted on Thursday. "I just told her to please get off of it because I [couldn't] concentrate."
The crowd supported Adam's move, cheering the singer on, and it appears the cell phone caller did too.
"I think ultimately she called into the radio station and said she was fine with it," he said. "I made sure afterwards to kind of blow her a kiss and like, make amends.
"I didn't want to really embarrass her," Adam continued. "For that moment she needed to be a little embarrassed and she needed to learn that lesson and I'm glad."
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: From 'Wicked' To 'Idol': Hot Shots Of Adam Lambert
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MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: Adam Lambert - American Idol - LGBT - Reality TV - TV

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The list of fixes is:
- Fix a bug that prevented any volatile subkeys from appearing when using the subkeys() function.
- Add a check for None when using lsadump (reported by Paul Bobby, thanks!)
- Add appropriate license statements at the top of each file (thanks AAron!). For the record, the license is the GNU General Public License (GPL).
One final note: I have seen some crashes when people attempt to use the hash extraction code, but pass the wrong address for the hive in memory. I'd like to fix this, but I don't yet have a good way of checking to make sure that a given hive is the SYSTEM or SAM or SECURITY hive. I'll try to find something that works, though, and release it with the next update.


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2 syllables
- grado, kadow, prado, rado
3 syllables
- abbado, aguado, alzado, amado, bravado, casado, collado, corrado, cruzado, delgado, dorado, furtado, granado, guardado, hurtado, jurado, lagnado, lucado, machado, mercado, mikado, morado, morgado, pitblado, preciado, rosado, salgado, tirado, tostado, varnado, varnadoe, vornado, yokado
4 syllables
- albarado, alvarado, avocado, baldonado, colorado, coronado, cuadrado, desperado, eldorado, maldonado, peinado, regalado, sepulvado, silverado, toronado
6 syllables
- incommunicado
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text:
do a job on (someone or something)(redirected from do a job on me)
do a job on (someone or something)
1. To have a harmful impact on someone or something. Considering her pessimism toward marriage, her last break-up must have really done a job on her. Ugh, your puppy did a job on my new shoes—they're completely chewed up!
2. Of a domesticated animal (typically a pet), to defecate on something. My cat used to always use her litter box, but she regularly does a job on the floor, unfortunately.
3. To severely rebuke someone. Man, the boss really did a job on me for messing up that client's account.
4. To physically assault someone. The mafia leader sent a couple of goons to do a job on the witness so that she wouldn't testify in court.
do a job on someone or something
1. Euph. to defecate on someone or something. (Note the variation in the second example.) The puppy did a job on the living-room carpet. It's supposed to do its job on the newspapers in the basement.
2. Sl. to damage someone or something; to mess up someone or something. The robbers really did a job on the bank guard. They beat him when they robbed the bank. The puppy did a job on my shoes. They are all chewed to pieces.
do a job on
Also, do a number on. Damage, harm, as in The cat really did a job on the upholstery, or The teacher did a number on the class with that assignment. This slangy idiom uses job (or number) in the sense of "something negative."
do a job on someonemainly AMERICAN, INFORMAL
If one person does a job on another, the first person badly hurts or harms the second or defeats them completely. Look at your face! They sure did a job on you! Yankees pitchers did a job on Boston's two most valuable players.
do a job on someonedo something which harms or defeats an opponent. informal
do a job on someoneverb
do a job on someone/something
1. tv. to ruin someone or something; to give someone or something a thorough working over. The cops did a job on Rocko, but he still wouldn't talk.
2. Go to do a number on someone.
do a job on
1. To damage, harm, or worsen: The stylist did a real job on my hair.
2. To defecate on.


text:
Another 2 bodies found in Mexico oil company blast
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's state-owned oil company says it has found two more bodies amid the rubble of a headquarters building damaged by a still-unexplained blast. The find raises the death toll of Thursday's explosion to 35 people.
Petroleos Mexicanos operations director Carlos Murrieta had said that rescue crews were looking in the rubble for several more people reported missing, and believed their bodies were in the building's most damaged part.
The bodies of two of the four more people reported missing by their relatives were recovered Sunday.
Officials still have not given any cause for the explosion, though they have said they suspect it was an accident. The blast also injured 121 people.
Rescuers had initially concluded their search Friday but resumed operations when they suspected more bodies were in the rubble.


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(Pocket-lint) - If the compact E-600 Four Thirds system digital SLR from Olympus has crept in under your radar, that's because it's basically an E-620 "lite", on sale exclusively through the Currys electronics group in the UK, and also on general release across North America.
Like its E-series siblings the E-600 is an attempt to deliver DSLR quality and handling without the physical bulk usually associated with such a device; that said the E-600 doesn't come anywhere close to being a pocket model. This still looks, feels and handles like a traditional DSLR in most respects with a myriad of small if well-labelled and laid out buttons.
The build quality is impressive however, putting plastic-y competitors from Canon, Nikon, Sony et al in this price bracket to shame. Our only gripe is that we could have done with a slightly larger, rounder grip than the one provided - obvious corner cutting to reduce bulk, as are its sprinkling of smaller than average back plate buttons.
In terms of whether you should buy this as a cheaper alternative to Olympus' own E-620, the obvious initial question regards which of its sibling's features are missing from this new pared-down version. And are any serious omissions?
For the photographer trading up from their very first DSLR this camera is aimed at we'd argue not. While it's a shame that the E-600 does away with three of the E-620's heavily promoted Art Filters - Grainy Film, Pale and Light Colour and Light tone all get the boot - the more visually arresting three in Pop Art, Pinhole, and Soft Focus are kept. Absent too are the E-620's multiple exposure and multi aspect ratio shooting options, such as the ability to shoot in 16:9 ratio as well as 4:3. Though nice to have, arguably none of the above is going to be seriously missed by anyone who hasn't already had direct experience.
While it looks a dead ringer for the E-620 from the outside, so it continues on the inside. Present and correct are the same 12.3 million effective pixels maximum resolution from a 13.1MP Live Mos sensor as found within the E-620, RAW and JPEG capture, optical viewfinder offering 95% field of view, 2.7-inch, 230k dot resolution "free angle" monitor with Live View that can be flipped out from the body and rotated to achieve a great variety of compositional angles than the traditional fixed screen.
We also get the E-620's lightning fast 7-point twin AF system, three-mode in-body anti shake courtesy of a sensor shift mechanism, plus protection for the E-600's Live Mos chip when swapping lenses courtesy of the magnificent sounding Supersonic Wave Filter system. In terms of image stabilisation/anti shake we get the three options of stabiliser on, active when panning horizontally, or active when panning vertically.
For those looking to forego use of the E-600's built-in pop-up flash (with additional vacant hotshoe), ISO 100-3200 light sensitivity is offered, with the ability for users to fine tune their options further courtesy of 15 selectable incremental steps between the lowest and highest ISO options.
In terms of performance we were sent the camera not with the 14-42mm zoom included in the current Currys body and lens bundle, providing an equivalent 28-84mm in 35mm terms, but the marginally broader 14-54mm 1:2.8-3.5 II, equivalent to 28-108mm, which retails for around £350 when bought on its own.
With a thumb flick of the on/off switch encircling the obvious shooting mode button on the E-600's top plate, in approximately a second and a half you're ready to begin shooting, the rear LCD providing an at-a-glance overview of currently selected shooting settings and the AF lightning fast in determining a target.
Shooting options can be scrolled or tabbed through using the arrow key pad at the E-600's rear, or the "grown up" command/control wheel top right of the top plate. Whilst the visibility provided by the optical viewfinder is perfectly adequate, a press of the dedicated monitor icon button on the E-600's back plate activates Live View to the sound of the camera's mirror mechanism flipping out of the way and the tilting LCD, which can be rotated through 270 degrees, immediately comes into its own.
While use of the LCD as an electronic viewfinder obviously eats up battery power in the long run, Olympus claims battery life is good for a respectable 500 shots if using optical viewfinder rather than LCD as a compositional tool. Across a fortnight we found ourselves recharging the E-600's lithium ion cell once.
Running the circumference of the DSLR's shooting mode dial are 11 options, including full auto and the regular quartet of program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual modes. Indicating the E-600 is a different beast to all the standard APS-C sized sensor clones, Art Filters get a dedicated setting shared with regular scene modes. There are further pre-optimised settings for shooting portraits, landscapes, close ups, sports/action and night scenes as we'd expect.
- Samsung Galaxy Note 20, What3Words CEO, and Withings Sleep Analyzer reviewed - Pocket-lint podcast ep. 65
As with all of the E-series models incorporating Art Filters, these perform most effectively on the E-600 when used sparingly. It's worth also mentioning that using them does elongate writing times, as the effects are applied to the image immediately after it has been captured, the camera freezing and a progress bar appearing on screen as the magic is taking place.
Photographs are written to either Compact Flash or xD-Picture Cards, slots provided for both with the ability to transfer files between them if so desired. Including an SD /SDHC option rather than xD might have made more long-term sense if Olympus didn't have a vested development interest in the unloved xD format.
So, are said images any good? With our 14-54mm test zoom bolted onto the front of the E-600 the answer is an emphatic yes. Photographs display impressive edge-to-edge sharpness and even exposure for the most part. The three effects filters are fun with us using the pinhole option the most in practice, crisp wintry days delivering the desired moody results.
Perhaps inevitably pixel fringing is evident when examining straight edges such as the outline of a building or even the branches of trees when set against a bright sky, but it's hidden much better than we'd normally expect at this price and only truly visible when greatly magnifying detail.
At the time of writing Curry's online store was offering the E-600 and lens at a knock-down price of just £399, a saving of £150 on the full £549 recommended cost. If the offer still holds by the time you read this, you're basically getting a mid range model at an entry-level price: a great deal.
That's important, because with hybrid cameras in the Olympus E-P1 and E-P2 "Pen" utilising the even smaller Micro Four Thirds format, currently being pushed as the next evolutionary stage of the original Four Thirds, there's a danger that Olympus' more traditional looking models such as the E-600 and its ilk may be overshadowed by their sexier, shinier and even smaller cousins.
That said, at present the E-600 is a robustly constructed, responsive and reliable performer that won't disgrace any enthusiast or beginner photographer's camera bag. Indeed it will give its recipient's photography a very welcome boost with the minimum of fuss and the gentlest of learning curves.


text:
Phipps & Bird is a manufacturing company based in Richmond, Virginia since 1925. The privately-owned small business produces equipment for diverse markets:
Phipps & Bird products are distributed world-wide through a long-established network of dealers and distributors; Private Label products are manufactured for regional distributors nationwide; and Contract Manufacturing is performed for large and small companies alike, across the USA. Additional company background can be viewed by clicking on the Company & Employees/History tab.
Call Toll-Free (800) 955-7621 in Virginia (804) 254-2737
Fax - (804) 254-2955
Email - firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
IBM C2040-414 Exam
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text:
For the record, "X Factor" host Steve Jones is not one to kill and tell.
At least that's one thing talk show host Piers Morgan learned about the Welsh former model before he stormed off the set of his CNN show "Piers Morgan Tonight." Apparently, Jones was less than willing to discuss his alleged playboy status and his rumored attachments to the likes of "Heroes" star Hayden Panettiere, "Baywatch" bombshell Pamela Anderson, and "X-Men" star Halle Berry.
When pressed for juicy details, Jones walked out. Later, he took to Twitter to defend his actions.
U.S. & World
"For the record I'm not ashamed to admit I stormed off @piersmorgan tonight," wrote Jones. "His line of questing was highly offensive. You judge #thisfriday."
Morgan, however, tweeted an entirely different version of events. When asked by a fan who Steve Jones was, Morgan wrote: "No idea...Had him thrown off my set yesterday for lewd conduct."
So did Jones bail or was he tossed? Looks like we'll have to wait and see.


text:
This comprehensive dictionary of Brazilian Portuguese is updated with neologisms and technical terms common in Computer Science, Economics, Marketing, Communication, Science and Technology. It displays hyphenation of the headwords, parts of speech, etymology, synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions and slang forms, morphological and syntactical information etc.
Michaelis English-Portuguese-English
Human Voice - Portuguese


text:
Cameron's Swanna is the fifth Pokémon on Cameron's team. He used it first in the battle against Ash during the Vertress Conference.
Swanna was the fourth Pokémon Cameron used in his full battle against Ash. He send it out against Pikachu, as he planned to attack from up above. Cameron ordered Swanna to attack with multiple Pluck attacks, which Pikachu evaded everytime. He then ordered a Wing Attack which hit Pikachu and then followed up with a Bubblebeam, which Pikachu dodged. Swanna then went in for another Wing Attack, but Pikachu jumped and hit Swanna with a powerful Electro Ball attack, knocking Swanna out of the match.
Moves Known
|Cameron's Secret Weapon!
|Wing Attack
|Cameron's Secret Weapon!
|Bubble Beam
|Cameron's Secret Weapon!
|+ indicates this Pokémon used this move recently.*
- indicates this Pokémon normally can't use this move.
|Cameron's Pokémon
On hand


text:
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Tom Izzo wasn't trying to be funny. He was simply expressing frustration after Traevon Jackson's pull-up jumper from about 10 feet with 2.1 seconds left lifted Wisconsin past No. 9 Michigan State, 60-58 on Sunday. It was some of the 18 other baskets the Badgers hit that got to the coach of the short-handed Spartans. "Some guys in there that couldn't guard this table," Izzo said before someone listening to his postgame press conference chuckled. "That's not funny; that's the truth. I'd probably laugh too if I were you," he said. Playing in his second game, and first start, back from a foot injury, Adreian Payne finished with a game-high 24 points and hit a 3 with 10 seconds left that tied the game at 58. As has often happened during the junior's career, Jackson ended up with the ball in his hands late for a defining shot. Izzo knew it might be coming, so he put his best defender, Gary Harris, on Jackson. Still no luck and the shot went through. A desperation 3 by Michigan State from midcourt banged off the rim as time expired, and the Wisconsin faithful erupted with applause. The victory snapped a three-game losing skid at home. "Just (because) they lost a couple of home games - and that's un-American in the Cheesehead State - don't kid yourself. They're a very good team," Izzo said. The Badgers (19-5, 6-5 Big Ten) committed 14 turnovers, six more than their NCAA-leading 8.3 per game, but gutted out a win over Michigan State (20-4, 9-2). Nigel Hayes led Wisconsin with 14 points, while Sam Dekker added 11. Wisconsin shot 45 percent for the game (19 of 42), a threshold that means things are going wrong for the defensive Spartans. They've allowed opponents to shoot at least 44 percent in each of their four losses. Travis Trice added 13 points for Michigan State, though Big Ten-leading scorer Gary Harris was held to six points on 3-of-20 shooting after being shadowed most of the afternoon by defensive specialist Josh Gasser. And yet Michigan State still had a chance late, even with guard Keith Appling sitting out a second straight game with a wrist injury. "I've got a feeling that Appling's out for a couple weeks. I have no idea. I can't answer the same questions, and I don't blame you for asking," Izzo said. "There's no break. There's no stress fracture. He can't even pass the ball; he can't move his hand." Harris' long bucket with about 23 seconds left - one of his few bright spots on the afternoon - got the Spartans within three. Wisconsin had a chance to turn it into a two-possession game, but Ben Brust missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Michigan State secured the rebound and called timeout. Izzo drew up a play that ended up with Payne holding the ball. He had burned Wisconsin much of the night on the inside. This time Payne hit from the outside and the Badgers faithful thought they were witnessing another late collapse at home. The loss to Ohio State more than a week ago ended up about the same way. But Jackson, who has struggled much of the last month during Wisconsin's stretch of losing five of six, came up big. He finished with seven points and tied a career high with eight assists, but had five turnovers. "That's sort of what they expected out of me is just to finish the game," Jackson said. "The pull-up was there, and I was blessed to be able to make it go in." Wisconsin led by double-digits at one point in the second half. Things got shaky late. After two empty Wisconsin possessions, the Spartans raced down in transition and Trice hit a 3 from the wing to get within 55-52 with 1:43 left. They just couldn't break through in the end. A five-game winning streak over Wisconsin came to an end. Gasser finished with 11 points and six rebounds for the Badgers. His straightaway 3 with 6:33 left gave the Badgers a huge lift and a six-point lead that was slowly chipped away by the Spartans. But Gasser gave his team an ever bigger lift with his defense on the crafty Harris. "Josh worked as hard as he normally works, and he got some help from teammates also," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "Josh did a great job of positioning, and chasing."
Jackson lifts Badgers over No. 9 Spartans 60-58
- By GENARO C. ARMAS, AP Sports Writer
- Updated
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text:
We're now entering the second week of the non-violent protestors from "Occupy Wall Street" taking over the Financial District.
The basic premise of the demonstrations seems to be a protest against the banks and the government. We're still not sure what their exact message is or if they even have a solution to the problem.
Over the weekend, things got ugly with more than 80 protestors arrested and a group of women protestors shrieking after being maced in the face by police.
We decided to take a stroll through their encampment at Zuccotti Park this weekend and here's some things we noticed:
- Poor hygiene: While wandering through the camp site, I asked several people how long they've been there and if they've taken a shower. Some people said they would go to friends' apartments to clean up. However a bunch of the protestors confessed to me that they have not showered since the start of the movement. In my opinion, the smell is extremely pungent. And the camp site is littered with trash, cardboard and garbage bags piled up.
- Nudity: At least two women had their naked breasts exposed. Apparently, it is legal. (I asked a police officer nearby.) But there's no question it's inconsiderate. The site is surrounded by popular tourist destinations in the Financial District and there are tons of families with young children that frequent those locations.
- Drugs: Another thing that caught me by surprise was the use of marijuana. I walked right by a protestor smoking weed in broad daylight. The police must have been just 20 feet away too. If you're at a protest site surrounded by hundreds of police officers and trying to get out your important message out, then it's probably not the best idea to light one up!


text:
Holland Eredivisie Free betting prediction 28.08.2016
Tip: 1 (Den Hag) Odds: 2.10 RESULT : 1:1 www.flashscore.com
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Swim advisories reissued for some Kentucky waterways
State water quality and public health officials are urging swimmers to continue to use healthy swimming behaviors that will help prevent waterborne illness.
"This information is provided to our citizens to help them make the best public health decisions about how and where they swim," said Clark Dorman, manager of the Water Quality Branch in the Kentucky Division of Water (DOW). DOW works with the Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPG) to issue Kentucky's swimming advisories.
Kathy Fowler, acting director of DPH's Division of Public Health Protection and Safety, said safe swimming habits also are needed in public pools.
"Thousands of Kentuckians visit our public pools throughout the season, and there are some simple recommendations to follow to help ensure the water will remain clean and our citizens healthy," Fowler said.
- Do not swallow pool water or get pool water in your mouth.
- Shower before swimming and have your children shower.
- Wash your hands after using the toilet or changing diapers.
- Take children on bathroom breaks or change diapers often.
- Change children's diapers in a bathroom, not at poolside.
- Do not swim when you have diarrhea.
Waterborne illnesses can be caused by microorganisms such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, E. coli and Shigella, which may be spread by accidentally swallowing water
contaminated with fecal matter. Chlorine kills bacteria, but disinfection takes
Swimmers should also heed swimming advisories issued to protect the public from contaminants in some areas of Kentucky waterways. The Division of Water and the Division of Public Health Protection and Safety agree that advisories issued last summer will remain in effect due to high levels of fecal coliform bacteria.
People should avoid swimming and other recreational contact with waters in the areas specified below, where bacteria that occurs in human and animal waste indicates the presence of untreated or inadequately treated sewage. They should also avoid these activities in areas where livestock have access to water bodies.
Upper Cumberland River
- The Cumberland River from Fourmile Bridge (Highway 2014) to Pineville at the Highway 66 Bridge and from Wallins Creek Bridge (Highway 219) to Harlan
- Martins Fork from Harlan to the Cawood Water Plant
- All of Catron Creek, all of Clover Fork and all of Straight Creek
- Poor Fork from Harlan to Looney Creek
- Looney Creek from the mouth to Lynch Water Plant Bridge
Illegal straight pipe discharges, failing septic systems and bypasses from sewage collection systems contribute to water quality problems in these areas.
Kentucky River
- North Fork of the Kentucky River upstream of Chavies
Water quality has continued to improve and is approaching an acceptable level for swimming in some stretches of the river.
Licking River
- Banklick Creek to its confluence with the Ohio River
This swimming advisory includes all of Banklick Creek and Three Mile Creek. High fecal coliform pollution in this area is caused by combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows.
Residential and agricultural areas
The agencies also recommend against swimming or other full-body contact with surface waters immediately following heavy rain, especially in dense residential, urban and livestock production areas. This recommendation is due to the relationship between flooding and an increased potential for exposure to pollution from urban nonpoint source pollution, bypasses from sewage collection systems, combined sewer overflows and pollution from livestock waste.
New advisories will be issued if there are indications that any portions of the streams listed can be removed or any non-listed streams need to be added. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services and local health department environmental health staff ensure all new septic system installations are installed properly, reducing bacterial pollution from these possible sources. Division of Water staff and wastewater plant operators monitor wastewater treatment plant compliance and ensure sewer overflows are minimized. Both agencies routinely address straight pipe issues and are gradually reducing the number of these discharges across the state.
For additional information about the safety of Kentucky's rivers and streams for swimming, contact John Brumley at 502-564-3410 or firstname.lastname@example.com. For current information about harmful algal blooms and recreational advisories in Kentucky waterways, visit the USACE Louisville District website at http://www.lrl.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/WaterInformation/HABs.aspx.


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Food & Drink
Would you pay to cut in line for the toilets on a flight?
By Daisy Carrington, for CNN • Updated 26th March 2014
We live in an
era of airline fees
. Where once ticket prices included checked baggage, inflight meals and seat selection, increasingly, those items are add-ons geared towards generating extra income for carriers.
According to a recent survey by
, there are actually some luxuries passengers are willing to shell out for -- they're just not always in line with what airlines actually charge.
"Overall, fees are here to stay, and as we continue to see a debundling of fares, passengers will increasingly be asked to pay for various services that previously they didn't," says Warren Chang, vice president and general manager of Fly.com.
"There's an overall perception that consumers feel they're being nickel and dimed, and it's important for airlines to express what value they are presenting."
Give passengers what they want
According to Fly.com's survey, the most widespread fees are also some of the least popular.
While U.S. airlines collected $2.5 billion from checked baggage fees between January and September 2013, 89% of respondent said it's important for them to be able to check their bag for free.
Also, with the exception of Hawaiian Airlines, all U.S. carriers now charge for in-flight meals on domestic flights, even though nearly half of those surveyed classified free food as an important perk.
If airlines dropped these fees, they could recoup in other areas. Fly.com also found that 20% of respondents would pay for a first class meal in coach class, a service that few carriers offer.
"In my view, that's something that would be a real win-win for the airlines. It doesn't devalue first class, as people aren't just paying for the meal, but for the exclusivity, for more space, for better service and amenities. First-class meals would enhance the flying experience in coach without detracting from the experience in first," he adds.
Put it in the bin
Cramped storage space is not only a headache for passengers, it's poses a financial loss for carriers as well.
While customers malaise through the aisles, holding up boarding in an attempt to fit their carry-ons on the plane, airlines are losing money (slow boarding costs them approximately $10 million yearly). Increasingly, airlines have started
charging for carry-on luggage
, a fee that is, understandably, not popular with passengers.
Frequent flyers have another solution in mind. Rather than pay to bring luggage on-board, they'd rather spend extra for roomier overhead bins. Of those surveyed, 42% said this is a service they would happily splurge on.
"No airline allows you to buy designated overhead bin space, but based on our findings, it's definitely something they should consider," says Chang.
Tired of being stung by overweight baggage fees? CNN Business Traveller's Richard Quest shows one inventive solution.
CNN's Richard Quest attempts the daunting task of landing at Atlanta International Airport in a flight simulator.
Business Traveller explores Virgin Galactic's plans for space travel and astronaut Buzz Aldrin shares his hopes for the future.
Why wi-fi?
While airlines are
investing heavily
in upgrading their systems to offer passengers wi-fi, many of those surveyed expressed it's not really a feature that matters to them. Only 30% said they would pay extra for wi-fi, a number that surprised Chang.
"With large populations having their own smart phones, I would have thought they'd want to bring their own entertainment systems on board, but that wasn't something our survey found," he says.
A little extra for comfort
As plane seats
continue to shrink
, it's probably no surprise that most fliers are willing to pay for a little extra room.
Nearly 90% of passengers said they wanted more comfortable seats, and 45% said they'd pay for extra legroom. A good chunk were willing to go even further; 34% of travelers would pay to prevent the seat in front of them from reclining and 26% would pay to have an empty middle seat next to them.
Some of the perks respondents wanted would be a challenge for airlines to implement: 13% of those polled said they'd pay to have control of their armrests, 4% said they'd shell out for the right to control the window shade, and 4% said they'd pay to be first in line for the restrooms.
Read: Airlines auction off business class seats
Read: Making the most of your frequent flier program
Read: American Airlines ends bereavement fares
A year of the world's
Best Beaches
There's a perfect beach for every week of the year. Join us on a 12-month journey to see them all
Go to the best beaches


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Netflix is a big user of Amazon's cloud infrastructure services—such a big user, in fact, that it has built multiple software programs that make Amazon resources more reliable. Recently, Netflix described its "Chaos Monkey," which randomly takes Amazon virtual machines offline to help engineers identify network weaknesses. Netflix released its Chaos Monkey as open source, and this week did the same with another project, known as Eureka.
Released on GitHub and described in the Netflix Tech Blog yesterday, Eureka fills a gap in Amazon Web Services by providing load balancing and failover for middle-tier servers, Netflix explained.
"In AWS cloud, because of its inherent nature, servers come and go," Netflix's Karthikeyan Ranganathan wrote. "Unlike the traditional load balancers which work with servers with well known IP addresses and host names, in AWS load balancing requires much more sophistication in registering and de-registering servers with the load balancer on the fly. Since AWS does not yet provide a middle tier load balancer, Eureka fills a big gap in that area."
Amazon offers its own Elastic Load Balancer, but this is for services exposed to end-user Web traffic, as opposed to mid-tier services intended to be private. Netflix thinks Eureka will be useful for Amazon customers who have services they don't want exposed to traffic from the outside world.
Eureka is a REST-based service with a Java client. Besides mid-tier load balancing, Netflix uses Eureka with its Cassandra database (for taking instances offline for maintenance) and with its Memcached-based services. Netflix isn't done releasing open source software. The company said to stay tuned for Eureka integration with Asgard, a Netflix tool for managing cloud deployments, and for "more sophisticated Netflix mid-tier load balancing solutions."


text:
Besides having posted three very pretty boys in the post below (let's all take a moment to swoon, shall we?), today I'd like to
rant discuss what I think of as "The Rushed Conclusion", or more informally, "What the hell? Twenty hours of build-up for ten minutes of Happily Ever After? The Asymmetry!"
I think it's safe to blog that I am a really big anti-fan of things being too neat. This applies to stories as well. I want things to feel complete, sure, but is perfection the only kind of completion to chase after? I cry foul. If everything ends up with every little loose end tucked safely back into the rope, how has anything really changed or grown from the beginning of the story to the end?
Lately my beef with this sort of thing has been grilled by the Korean dramas I am still, yes, addicted to (moving on, now). Each one has been between 16 to 25 hour-long episodes, during which there's a pretty good pace and the story arc is well developed . . . until one gets to the last episode or two, wherein they often try too hard to make everything seem impossible to overcome or survive the Bad Situation in the current drama, and then, at the last possible scene everything works out so that everyone gets exactly what they want. This usually takes five to ten minutes.
Ever read a book like that? Where, yes, all the questions are answered and all the problems solved, but it's like on the second half of the last page? And how annoying is that? Even though everything ends up resolved, it doesn't feel like it, and you come away having this weird kind of niggling in the back of your mind that you've forgotten something, even though you haven't. It IS annoying.
So, my advice, as a consumer of stories, is this: Don't just worry about tying up loose bits at the end. That won't cut it with most of us. You've got to make us work for it.
*A version The Eagles didn't release, as opposed to Pretty Maids All in a Row, which is my favorite Eagles tune.
Pretty Maids Tied in a Bow*
Besides having posted three very pretty boys in the post below (let's all take a moment to swoon, shall we?), today I'd like to
If my keyboard was equipped to post this in the Korean alphabet, I'd do it.
So, yes, it's after midnight, and I have a glaring headache and a stubborn streak about going to bed any time soon. Might as well blog, yes?
Lately, I've fallen victim to my MISH! and her diabolical plan to never see me finish editing a novel because her latest move involved something called Kdramas. For the uninitiated, these are quirky/fairly innocent nighttime soap operas from Korea. With subtitles. And boy howdy are they addictive. The teenager in me fangasms like mad about them. My husband may have lost all respect for me, because yeah, okay, there is definitely a common thread of hokiness in all of them, even the vigilante revenge one, but COME ON. He knows my biggest time-sucking weakness (and he's strangely encouraging about it ???), and I present the following into evidence.
|Kim Hyun Joong, possibly the prettiest male smiler ever.
|Lee Min Ho, who has unfairly long legs.
|And finally, the ridiculously beautiful Jang Geun Suk
Apparently, Korea is churning out some seriously pretty Pretty Boys, AKA that aforementioned weakness of mine. In my defense, though, while I might have begun watching because of the scenery, I kept watching because I became more and more interested in the cultural differences. For instance, I've begun learning Hangul, the Korean alphabet, and wonder if I might some day learn to speak Korean. It's so lyrical. So far, the lessons are going well, even if I'm a little apprehensive about getting into the grammar, because I have English grammar so very deeply ingrained in my knowledge banks. Still, it's been kind of fun! I love language, and I like studying things independently, so . . .
I also determined to mutually get healthier and my sexy back, so I've been working out between 30 minutes and an hour every day, mostly weight and resistance training, but as much as I hate running/cardio, I've even worked in some of that every day. You would not believe how pumped you can get just playing Star Wars Kinect Galaxy Dance off. Guys, I have actual biceps at this point! They're still small, but they're there! Husband and I have a weekend away coming up, and I plan to turn some heads for all the right reasons.


text:
Carlos Ruiz, the Philadelphia Union's prized free-agent pickup muffed a free kick last night, right in front of the Sons of Ben fan club seating area. Then, it bounced back out to Ruiz's left foot about 25 yards from goal. And then, a young franchise got an early "Goal of the Year" nominee.
Ruiz admitted after the game that he "didn't plan it that way" and "it just kind of developed."
You don't say, Carlos.
Union Players Hail Ruiz Strike as Goal of the Year [MLS Soccer]
Here's Video Of Carlos Ruiz's Magnificent Game-Winning Goal For The Union Last Night [Metro]
Philadelphia Union vs Chicago Fire 2-1 SUPER GOAL Carlos Ruiz [YouTube]


text:
Red has always had a reputation for being raunchy. But why is it that men seem to be more attracted to women wearing red than any other color?
It's been know for a while that men definitely do rate women wearing red as more attractive—that's been proven in the past. In fact, it doesn't matter what the outfit is, either; a red t-shirt boosts sex appeal in the same as a slinky dress does.
What's been missing, though, is why that's the case. A study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, however, has gotten to the bottom of it: men perceive women wearing red as being more interested in sex.
To work that out, a team of researchers based at the University of Rochester showed men a photo of a single woman, which was doctored to look, in different cases, like she was wearing either a red or white T-shirt. The participants were then asked to gauge, on a scale of 1 to 9, if she was "interested in sex."
The result? Women wearing red were graded, on average, 1.5 points higher. The researchers suggest that men may be evolutionarily conditioned to associate the color with fertility. That's not entirely surprising—I'm sure you can think of times associating a rosy red glow with sexual success—but it's interesting to learn that it's at the root of male attraction.
On a less frivolous note, it's worth pointing out that red could be somewhat of a double-edged sword for the ladies: while it can attract admirers, it can also bring with it unwelcome attention. [Journal of Experimental Social Psychology via Science via Wired; Image: DeSaint Lights]


text:
From Australia to Brazil: sun worshippers beware
Skin cancer incidence is increasing worldwide as fair-skinned populations seek the sun without realizing the risks. Sarah Cumberland and Claudia Jurberg report on how Australia and Brazil are tackling this health issue.
For the past 10 years on one single day in November, more than 1500 physicians have taken to the streets and beaches of Brazil in the fight against skin cancer. The annual National Campaign to Prevent Skin Cancer mobilizes Brazilians to attend one of thousands of mobile clinics set up in tents at beaches and town squares in hundreds of cities nationwide for a skin check and to learn more about how to prevent skin cancer.
Organized by the Sociedade Brasileira de Dermatologia (Brazilian Dermatological Society), the campaign attracted more than 40 000 people in 2008, an increase of 40% on 2007. According to a survey carried out on the day, 8 November 2008, more than 27 000 (62.3%) people who were examined said that they had come because of the media campaign. "The media played an essential role," says Dr Selma Schuartz Cernéa, campaign coordinator. News stories that stressed the importance of regular skin examinations were run in national radio, television, print media and the Internet.
Ten per cent of people who attended were diagnosed with some type of skin cancer. Of the cases identified on the campaign day in 2008, more than 3000 were basal cell carcinomas (non-melanomas) and 354 were malignant melanomas, the most deadly type of skin cancer. Unfortunately, the majority of people who attended the national day (65.4%) confessed to exposure to the sun without protection, says Cernéa. Brazil's tropical climate and thousands of kilometres of beaches have contributed to building a nation of sun-worshippers with European descendants making up about 50% of the population. Tanning is particularly a problem for teenagers who are less likely to use sunscreen or other protective measures but whose habits today will have an impact on skin cancer incidence in later years. A study published in the American journal Photochemistry and Photobiology in 2005 revealed that 90% of high-school students surveyed in Porto Alegre, Brazil, were aware of the dangers of sun exposure and skin cancer, but thought that tanning improved their appearance so considered it was worth the risk. Less than 50% of them reported using sunscreen in summer and less than 3% used it in winter.
According to the Instituto Nacional do Câncer (National Cancer Institute), skin cancer continues to be the most common type of cancer for both men and women in Brazil. According to data from the Ministry of Health, more than 7000 Brazilians had treatment or surgery for skin cancer within the public system in 2008. This number has more than doubled in 10 years, from 3000 in 1998, while the population increased only by about one fifth from 161 million to 190 million.
Dermatologic surgeon Dr Joaquim Mesquita Filho believes that the incidence of melanoma in Brazil is underestimated because it does not require compulsory notification. In his private clinic in Rio de Janeiro, Mesquita Filho saw 11 cases of melanoma between January and May of 2009 but was not required to notify the health data system about any of them.
Marceli Oliveira Santos, a statistician from the Division of Information at the National Cancer Institute, said cancer incidence data are only an estimate because Brazil does not record these data for the entire population. "The National Cancer Institute only receives records from 28 locations, mainly in the capital. Of these, only 17 have produced data for at least two years."
"Worldwide, skin cancer is on the rise because it is still viewed by many people as a fairly benign condition, almost as an inconvenience," says Dr Hayes Gladstone, director of dermatologic surgery at Stanford University, United States of America. "And many national cancer societies, including the American Cancer Society, have chosen to focus their efforts and limited resources on cancers which have an across-the-board higher mortality rate such as breast and colon cancers."
Increased leisure time in places with high ultraviolet radiation, growth in the sunbed industry and the role of fashion have all contributed to increasing skin cancer rates, according to Craig Sinclair, director of the Cancer Prevention Centre at the Cancer Council Victoria, Australia.
"Skin cancer education needs to be comprehensive at all ages, using all media including the Internet and mobile phones to distribute a message that shows the harsh realities of skin cancer," says Gladstone. "Countries such as [those in] Scandinavia, Germany and the United States [of America] need to better educate their populations, not only on daily sun protection, but when they go on holiday." He suggested, for example, that alongside hotel recommendations and other travel information, Internet travel web sites could remind travellers to use sunscreen and to stay out of the midday sun.
Gladstone says the best campaigns are in Australia, the country with the world's highest incidence of melanoma. Public education for skin cancer prevention began there in the state of Victoria in the 1980s with community service announcements on television featuring an animated character Sid the Seagull promoting the message "Slip on a shirt! Slop on some sunscreen! and Slap on a hat!" Since then, a national programme called SunSmart has delivered public education messages and advocated for environmental and policy change in schools, workplaces and local government.
A survey in April 2008 showed that the Australian government's national television campaign changed teenage attitudes and behaviour, including reducing their preference for a suntan and increasing their use of hats and sunscreen, according to Suzanne Dobbinson, from the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer at the Cancer Council Victoria. "Sustained mass media campaigns have had a significant effect on reducing sunburn and improving sun protection behaviours [in Australia]," says Sinclair. "There is also good evidence that sun protection campaigns have reduced the incidence of melanoma in younger age groups."
Professor Michael G Kimlin, director of the AusSun Research Lab, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, attributes the success of the campaigns to strong government and community support. "The Australian public has a very good understanding of the risk factors associated with skin cancer. Skin cancer rates have fallen in Australia due to our well-planned and executed public health messaging. However, some indicators are suggesting that there may be a rise among certain younger ages, so it is time for new strategies." Advertising in Australia is currently using "scare tactics", such as showing surgery to remove a melanoma on a 22-year-old woman's back, and a newspaper ad showing a dead man with moles in the pattern of a gun on his chest, inviting readers to join the dots to get the message, "Not getting your moles checked could be suicide."
In Brazil, people are becoming more aware of the importance of having their moles checked. Dermatologist Dr Bianca Costa Soares credits the annual campaign with an increase in the number of people coming to the AC Camargo Hospital in the State of São Paulo for skin checks.
"The number of melanoma diagnoses has increased in the hospital," she says. "The death rate is falling because we are able to make the diagnosis so early. People are now more concerned about looking for signs on their body. This is an important contribution in reducing melanoma mortality," she says.
The Brazilian experience shows that the national campaign allied with the media is an essential tool in the fight against skin cancer. "The work that has been done by the Brazilian Dermatology Society has contributed to greater awareness on the risk factors and the importance of prevention," says Costa Soares.
[The penultimate paragraph of the previous published version of this story has been deleted.]


text:
Joseph Warren
- BS Chemical Engineering 1959
Mr. Joseph M. Warren joined the 3M Corporation as a Produced Development Engineer in the reflective products division after earning a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering in 1959. Mr. Warren worked on such products as reflective highway signs, industrial bar code systems, reinforced plastics, and vibrations dampers used in industrial products and in building construction. He was promoted to general manager, of the adhesives, coatings, and sealers division in 1981 and to divisions vice president in 1983. He began his international career as Senior Managing Director of 3M Italy in 1984 and was promoted in 1989 to Vice President Europe with offices in St. Paul, Minnesota and Brussels, Belgium. IN 1991 he was appointed group Vice President – Imaging Systems with worldwide responsibility for medical imaging systems, photographic systems, printing and publishing systems hardware and electronic services, and the electronic imaging center.
In 1995, Mr. Warren retired from 3M Corporation after 36 years of service. Mr. Warren is a board member of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and a member and past President of the White Bear Lake Lions Club. He is a trustee of the Michigan Tech Fund and a member of the Presidents club and National Advisory committee. Mr. Warren was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering from Michigan Tech in 1990 and during his tenure in Italy with 3M received honor from Pope John Paul II for the contributions 3M made in restoring important Italian cultural works.
From 1995 Induction to the Department of Chemical Engineering Academy