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What were your favorite books as a child/teen?
Posted 15 June 2003 - 03:59 AM
Posted 07 March 2007 - 04:19 PM
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Peter Rabbit
Nancy Drew mysteries
Where the Sidewalk Ends
The Giving Tree
The American Girl Doll collection
The Doll in the Garden (sparked my love for mysteries)
Flowers for Algernon (really touched my heart)
The Secret Garden
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Color Purple
To Kill a Mockingbird
Animal Farm (the second time I read it)
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Joyluck Club
Native Son
The Jungle (got better after the first hundred pages)
Huck Finn
Fahrenheit 451
Posted 07 March 2007 - 04:43 PM
Posted 20 March 2007 - 01:06 PM
Posted 20 March 2007 - 02:21 PM
The texts were miraculous to me -- and usually ended with a moral that actually made me think. The detailed, beautifully colored illustrations -- many of them based on works of art from the past -- were spectacular and still are. There were maps, simple footnotes, and lots of people in marvellous historical and traditional costumes, and images of castles, cities, landscapes, sailing ships, cathedrals, marketplaces. They brought history, glamour, romance, adventure and color to a late-40s-early-50s suburban childhood when tv was merely black and white,
Right now I have Tales Told in Holland in front of me, opened to a little children't poem "Klein Klein Kleutertje" with a charming full-page illustration taken from a painting by Peter de Hooch. I flip a few pages and come to the story of Frans Hals, with illustrations based on many of his works. Followed by a re-telling of the Dumas tale, The Black Tulip.
My favorite was and still is "The Lady of Stavoren" ("A Tale from the Province of Friesland"), in which too much pride and too much wasted money bring ruin to the burghers of a Dutch city; "Where once a haughy city stood, is now but a sleepy village ... But everyone remembers still the story of the proud Widow; and the sand bank, which spoined the harbor, is called to this very day, Vrouwenzand, or Lady's Sand." Decades later, I travelled there.
Nursery Friends from France was for younger readers, but included the music and French words to many nursery rhymes. If I need to be reminded of the lyrics to "I Would Tell You, Mother Dear," I can turn to page 85 and fine: "Ah! Vous dirai je, maman." The volume gives you beautiful children's visions of chateaux -- Watteauesque ladies and gentlemen, flanked by peasants in wooden shoes, dancing "sur le pont d'Avignon" -- Napoleonic soldiers -- a 15th century poem of Charles d'Orleans illustrated with lords and ladies taken from a tapestry that you might find hanging in the Hotel de Cluny-- young children paying a soldier game in "La tour, prends garde."
Inexpensive but stunning books like these were my real emotional introduction to history, Europe, foreign language, challenging literary themes, and the history of art. With them, my world expanded geometrically, and in directions I wanted to travel.
Perhaps video games do the same for children today.
Later they were joined by inexpensive editions of the Complete Works of authors like Dickens, Thackery, and Twain -- all of them, I believe, purchased as part of promotional deals sponsored by daily newspapers in New York City.
I also have to thank the Book of the Month Club. I learned an awful lot by picking up the monthly selections after my mother had finished reading them. Heinrich Harrer's 7 Years in Tibet comes to mind.
And don't forget the wonderful Classic Comics.
Posted 20 March 2007 - 08:19 PM
You do??? Awwww! I so vividly remember that shelf of green bindings gradually bleeding to dark blue. I'm a little jealous of you, but very jealous of my sister, who snatched up the set as soon as her pregnancy test read positive for what was to be the first baby of our family's next generation. That kid is about to turn 21, and if my sis hasn't handed the set (or what might remain of it) to our youngest nieces, I want it back! It was, after all, a gift to my parents' first-born -- ME!
I still have a several volumes from what was once a 12-or-more volume series of illustrated stories, poems, tales, etc. from around the world. (Meaning mostly Europe in those days.) Publisher was The Book House for Children, in Chicago.
Posted 20 March 2007 - 09:23 PM
Posted 21 March 2007 - 05:09 AM
I wonder how they were marketed. Somehow they don't have the loook of something picked up at a bookstore one at a time. did people subscribe to a series, receiving each new one as it was published?
Posted 21 March 2007 - 08:01 AM
I also have to thank the Book of the Month Club. I learned an awful lot by picking up the monthly selections after my mother had finished reading them. Heinrich Harrer's 7 Years in Tibet comes to mind.
Small world: Harrer's book (its French title was "Sept ans d'aventure au Tibet") was one of the favorite books of my dad when he was a child... :-)
Posted 21 March 2007 - 01:16 PM
The books I was most fond of (I've probably forgetten a few):
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
My Friend Flicka
Eight Cousins
The Bobbsey Twins
Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka
Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates
The Big Wave
Out of Darkness
Black Beauty
Pippi Longstocking
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
and later, in my teens:
Silas Marner
The Scarlet Letter
Franny and Zooey
Ethan Frome
Tender is the Night
the plays:
The Glass Menagerie
Our Town
but, above all,
The Great Gatsby
Posted 21 March 2007 - 05:32 PM
SImilar in its poetic appeal was Green Mansions, Rima swinging through the trees -- there must have been a plot of some kind, but all I remember is an eternal lyrical tireless ongoing sweeping rush, flying through the top of the Amazon jungle, better than Tarzan....
In a very different way, I loved Little Women. And I must say, if you haven't seen Katherin Hepburn play Jo March, you MUST. hepburn herself said someplace it ws the best hting she ever did, and, well ,she really WAS Jo.
ALso Little Men, Under the Lilacs.
Dr Doolittle was read to us by my 4th grade teacher, Miss Polly, along with the Wonder Books -- what an inspiring woman. SHe felt that all education begins in wonder, and I'm really lucky to have been exposed to her so young.
And I was addicted to Tom Swift, boy scientist. Science fiction was great - -loved Jules Verne -- but I really liked stuff that seemed to be more like real science, trying ot find things out. The biography of Marie Curie was really important to me, and I was REALLY taken by "Microbe Hunters," it was one of the great reading experiences of my life, people discovering hte deep truths of the invisibilia.
Posted 21 March 2007 - 07:47 PM
I also loved a book that I seemed to have checked out of my town library at least once a month; it was a series of short biographies of great Olympic athletes, like Paavo Nurmi, Jesse Owens, Jim Thorpe, and Babe Didrickson. (I think it started with the first modern Olympiad and stopped with the 1964 Olympics.) And I liked the Doctor Doolittle books, and a Grimm's Fairy Tale book. I used to scare myself silly reading "Cinderella" and the tale of the sisters cutting off a toe and a heel, and having the blood rising in the stockings be the giveaway.
Posted 29 March 2007 - 02:42 PM
The first book which made an impression (given to me age 4): "The Royal Book of Ballet", with illustrations by Tasha Tudor. As I posted elsewhere it was the ONLY explanation I ever saw (pictorally or otherwise) which made sense of Odile's appearance at that ball. And those really spooky pics of Giselle trying to stab herself with the sword and then a cadaverously ghostly wili made me more nervous at night.
Shortly therafter...The Secret Garden, and a large compendium of Hans Christian Andersen, Grimm, and yes those same collections of foreign tales with blue/green bindings.
From age 6+ it was mostly horse books:
Acquired or read all of Margaret Henry's in 2nd grade (Misty, Stormy etc. , though Black Gold was the one that made the most impression), and ALL of Walter Farley's two series (Black Stallion & Island Stallion) by 3rd grade. Also the Flicka books. I read it but was depressed by Steinbeck's "Red Pony". "The Chestry Oake" about Hungary pre-WWII, and a biography of the Lipizzans and the Polish Arabian Stud during WWII also made impressions.
3rd grade too was when I read those Nancy Drew books--but my favorite (and the only one I bought) was the case that had to do with ballet: The Clue in the Crumbling Wall.
4th grade, I acquired and read all the Dr.Doolittle books, and by age9 most of Jules Verne--still love "20,000 Leagues..." and that Disney film. (Anyone see that latest news item about the capture of a giant squid?)
Then at age 11, I read in one day (11hrs), "The Once & Future King" by T.H.White. (And ever since, it wasn't just ballet and horses anymore, it was world history, literature, art, and music from 1200 C.E. - now.) Soon after, I read Mary Stewart's series on the same subject and started collecting anything: fiction, nonfiction, medieval textbooks, chronicles that had to do with King Arthur; finally ending up writing a thesis in college on it as one part of my too many degrees.
Age 12-14 it was Anya Seton, GWTW, the Irving Stone historical novels, and James Michener (after seeing "Hawaii" age 8--mom thought it was a G-rated matinee, oh well.) I read Arthur C. Clarke's "2001" about same time to explain the movie more, and then many years later, the sequels.
The most recent fiction series to impress (in last 20years) were the two series (set 15th-16th century) by Dorothy Dunnett--the MOST researched, historically accurate author I've ever read--with literary allusions in 7 languages that required two 'companion reference encyclopedias' for each series, so we could all check the original sources and translations.
My book collection now (mostly all read by high school) runs the gamut from:
Astronomy & Physics (incl. quantum)texts, 'coffee-table' picture books, Ballet (Ballanchine's "Stories of ...", term manuals, ABT, dancer bio's--favorites: Baryshnikov at Work, Makarova, Fonteyn & Nureyev, Pavlova--and of course programs, NOT just Playbills, of all those other companies), Homer, Plato, Roman history, primary sources/facsimiles of medieval documents/chronicles, and secondary source medieval/rennaissance history and/or art books, Shakespeare & 16th c. playwrites (of course), a zillion classic English lit authors, all of Dumas Pere (love Reverte's Spanish historical novels now), poetry--mostly French, & English 16thc, Tolstoy's War & Peace, comparative religions, film scripts & tech manuals and anniversary publications of various PBS programs, architecture and/or interior design books (Arts & Craft, W.Morris, castles, small spaces/apartment storage!), my 'first editions' of all the books by/about T.E.Lawrence, and many many more...I've lost count. I have two rooms at my mother's and two rooms at home that are wall-to-wall books. AND almost monthly I have to fight to keep her from donating them to the local library/charity.
What a funny thread to find on a BT.
Posted 29 March 2007 - 03:04 PM
Wow! Another Dunnett junky. Those books were perfect for someone who grew up with kids' literature about, around, based on, and/or illustrative of European history. For me, the child was indeed the father of the man.
The most recent fiction series to impress (in last 20years) were the two series (set 15th-16th century) by Dorothy Dunnett--the MOST researched, historically accurate author I've ever read--with literary allusions in 7 languages that required two 'companion reference encyclopedias' for each series, so we could all check the original sources and translations.
I just spent a few weeks reading the Niccolo books for a third time. (I am not so fond of the earlier Lymond series). You're right about the amazing amount of accurate, even if arcane and esoteric, knowledge that Dunnet weaves into her work. There are all sorts of plot developments and mysterious characters for a week-long story ballet by John Cranko.
Posted 29 March 2007 - 05:40 PM
Age 12-14 it was Anya Seton, GWTW, the Irving Stone historical novels, and James Michener (after seeing "Hawaii" age 8--mom thought it was a G-rated matinee, oh well.) I read Arthur C. Clarke's "2001" about same time to explain the movie more, and then many years later, the sequels.
.......What a funny thread to find on a BT.
I cut my teeth on Seton, Stone, and Michener too, and studied 'Gone with the Wind' with an intensity usually ascribed to Talmudic scholars.
It is a funny thread, but some time ago BT began wandering afield in topics unrelated to ballet, and it's nice when the thread is as rewarding to read as this one has been.
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In Photoshop you can add
Dither to Gradients. I understand what dither is but when I apply dither to my gradient I can see no difference. What exactly does dither do?
In Photoshop you can add
Source: Wikipedia article on Dithering
Without dithering you would often see color banding in gradients and smooth color transitions. Color banding is where you can see the boundaries of color when you really shouldn't. A good example image is here. The image in the top right corner is heavily banded, just below it's been improved with dithering.
If you draw a very light gray -> white gradient in Photoshop with and without Dithering, you will likely see the difference. You may need to zoom in. But anyway, with the millions of colors we have on our displays these days, the difference Dithering makes is often imperceptible.


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Originally Posted by ozsubasiWhere does that figure of 2-3% come from please? Is it just an opinion or can you link to the source of it?
I will provide you the source link also but don't want more infractions, thus telling only the name, I have read articles and participate in forums to get this figure. Alla re suggested the figure of 2-5 %. therefore, I put it here. I think, the information provided by the Google at top results is trust-able.
Well, it is like that:
I'm writing a hub about branding and just to mention all the technical terms associated with it once, it takes well over 30 instances of the use of the word 'brand'. In fact, I'm almost done and I'll be using the word about 100 times by the end of the hub, which will be about 900 words in length. Is this too much?


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I'm not sure if this is a paradox or a nonsense or neither of both. Anyway this is the "problem" if we can call it like that:
A: B is True
B: A is False
How can you solve it?
This does indeed belong to the Liar-paradox family. But I'd dissent from Henning Makholm's rather quick remark that "by far the most common resolution is to deny that [Liar statements] mean anything in the first place". I don't think this is in fact at all common these days either among logically minded philosophers or among philosophically minded logicians. For some of the options for responding to Liar paradoxes, see e.g. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liar-paradox/
Here's one reason why the "meaningless" strategy looks difficult to consistently pull off. Consider the statements
These are surely, by any normal standards, perfectly ordinary statements, which are perfectly meaningful in English. And in benign circumstances (Nixon's and Dean's statements are clear, unambiguous, etc.) are straightforwardly true or false. Yet they can give rise to paradox. What if, most unfortunately, Dean says fifty one things about Watergate, namely he says (1) plus twenty five plain truths plus twenty five plain falsehoods. Meanwhile (you can see where this is going!) Nixon also says fifty one things about Watergate, he says (2) plus twenty five plain truths and twenty five plain falsehoods. In these circumstances, we cannot give stable truth-values to either (1) or (2) -- think about it!
Trouble! And the trouble can't plausibly be resolved by saying that (1) and (2) are meaningless, ill-formed claims. We'd understand them perfectly well in the newspaper. It is precisely because they are meaningful that we see that -- in these very special circumstances -- we can't assign them stable truth-values. (And it seems unattractive to suggest we should deal with the "classic" Liar paradox by the "it's meaningless" gambit, while giving a different resolution for this kind of more "accidental" paradox.)
The Nixon/Dean example is, of course, Saul Kripke's. Kripke's own response is described in §3.2.1 of http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/self-reference/
It is not much different from the plain liar paradox:
There are various more or less contrived "philosophical" attempts to resolve it, but by far the most common resolution is to deny that the statement means anything in the first place; therefore it is also meaningless to ask for its truth value.
The formalist mathematical approach to the paradox is to note that a sentence that speaks directly and explicitly about its own truth value (or, as in your original example, a set of sentences that speak mutually about each other's truth value) cannot be formalized in the systems that are commonly used as foundations for mathematics.
I fact, it is a classical result (by Tarski) that it is not possible for a sentence in formal mathematics to express "A is true" (at the same metalevel) of any (symbolically given) sentence $A$.
(See also here for additional discussion about the unwillingness of mathematics to deal with such self-reference).
The fact that may be surprising at first is that natural-language methods for reasoning about truth values are just not consistent with the assumption that every sentence is either true or not true, but not both. For example, if we analyze the statement
we find that if it is true then, as it says, it is not true, and if it is not true then, because it says it is not true, it is in fact true. This is a genuine "semantic paradox": it shows that the usual way we would reason about truth values in English is problematic.
As Henning Makholm has explained, the way that we usually avoid this in mathematics is to use formal systems, rather than natural-language reasoning. These formal systems are more limited than natural languages in what they can express, but this limitation is sufficient to make them consistent.
There are two other paradoxes that are less well known but worth knowing:
It is also worth knowing that the use of the word "this" can be eliminated. For example,
This phrase does not directly refer to itself, but if you perform the construction that is described you will arrive at the sentence you started with. This general method was explored by Carnap and was used by Gödel to prove his incompleteness theorems.
There are several ways to "avoid" the paradoxes, but they all rely on somehow reducing the ability of a system to perform the paradoxical deductions that can be performed in usual natural-language reasoning. There are axiomatic theories of truth that keep classical logic but reduce the way the truth predicate ("X is true") can be used, and there are paraconsistent logics that, though they are classically inconsistent, prevent "local" inconsistencies from spreading elsewhere, by restricting the deduction rules that can be used. But there is no resolution of the paradoxes that maintains all the features of normal natural-language reasoning - this is why they are genuinely paradoxes.
As a programmer I would concluse this problem as following:
Let's try explaining it mathematically with solving A.
... but A cannot be FALSE and TRUE at the same time. I.e.
If A cannot be solved, then B should also be unsolvable. Let's check:
⇒ It's recursive. You have to go to the begin (1) again.
A refers to B, to its own referent. So A is referring to itself. This semantic paradox is also known as liar paradox.
A or B has to lie. Then the approach above is solvable. Or you have to spend the rest of your life searching for a mathematical solution. You won't find. ;-)
The combined statements do indeed form a paradox. To check that, note that if $A$ is true, then $A$ is false, and vice versa.
This kind of statements may look nonsense when you see first time. In mathematics these kind of situations occurs a lot of times. The famous Russell's Paradox contains this kind of argument and gets a paradox. Also the famous Cantor's Proof for showing there is no bijection from a set to its paradox runs along these lines.
As a programmer I would explain this as a recursion. When you talk in
That is why I would say that the sentences are passing the functionality but not making statements by themselves. Therefore, they can not be taken as separated statements.
P.S. Reminds me about the card where you write "Turn the card around!" on the both sides of a card and give it to someone naive.
Allow me to interpretate your "problem"...
It says that
Now, Of course,
By the above means we can restate the "problem" like this:
At this point, we could reduce
And then:
And that was a good experiment. Yet that only works if we are using only two truth values. Instead I want to solve this for any set of truth values that includes True and False. So let's get back to my original restatement:
And now, in the first expression we are going to replace
Ah, that's a recursive expression. It says that in order to know the truth value of
So, let's test possible truth values of
Clearly, it can't be solve with only True and False. So, I'll turn to Three-valued logic. Let's call the third logic value Unknown and it is defined as follows:
Yes, we are using Kleene's logic. Now if
So, in Kleene's logic the value of
Yet, actually what I have just demostrated is that the value of
Wait! the matter is not over. You'll see, I've expressed the problem using equivalence to avoid the matter that you are using expressions that talk about expressions. And there are other ways to resolve that...
A good way to solve this is by noting that any statement is automatically saying that itself is true. For example, if I say:
It is equivalent to say:
And there I have an expression that talks about expression. It is saying that the expression
By similar means we can also say:
And it should also be equivalent. Leading us to:
Of course, Z in its current form isn't good to work with. We need to get rid of the colon (":") which actually is just enunciating what is being said:
Now, we can replace
And finally replace what is being said:
Since we have seen that
And reduce it again:
We could, evidently reduce it down to
Thanks to that, we can restate your "problem" like this:
Should we replace in the first statement
Now, let's reduce it:
Hmm... reorder it for clarity...
Ah, we have
That False nullifies the conjunction. So...
And now we can replace it in
Well, False is False in deed. So:
That's idempotence right there, so we can reduce it:
Well... I don't know if B is True. Let's try possible values:
In that case, we don't have a paradox, just a fallacy.
Still even if
Wait again! At the first part we showed the value of A can't be False. Let's remember why...
If A were False that would mean that:
Is True, so:
Is also True, contradicting our initial assumptions. What does this mean?
This means that our mechanism to extend
At this point I could invoke the easy way out and say that A is Undefined, which just a way to say that asigning any value to it causes consistency problems (ie. It introduces contradictions).
But there is one more thing I want to do. Allow me to get back to this expression:
Now, What would happen to it if
Does it mean that
I'll leave you at that.
There is a Calculus of Self Reference (CSR) in which this "problem" could be validly stated; the CSR (which is an extension to the Calculus of Indications (COI)) is a system for dealing with expressions, or systems/sets of expressions in which there is self reference -- as there is with your problem.
The calculus defines three states:
where the autonomous state is equal to its own complement.
These three states/values can be used as a three-valued logic (the COI can be used for boolean), but the CSR goes more in-depth than that, defining how nesting is handled. The marked state acts not only as the "true" value but also as the complement operator! The autonomous state acts similarly, but points inwards to the self-referenced value. It's crazy stuff.
If you're interested I'd start with the COI, but be prepared for a head trip!
The system of equivalences
$$A \equiv B$$ $$B \equiv \neg A$$
does not have a solution, let alone a unique one, so we cannot use these conditions to implicitly define $A$ and $B$.
I've found most satisfactory (i.e. true) the interpretation that each sentence implicitly states that is true.
Meaningful interpretation presumes true premises. The statement A:A is false converts to 'A is true and A is false' rendering it meaningless. In that sentence we are not talking about anything that exists. We are talking about nothing.
Sadly this interpretation also invalidates many branches of mathematics and e.g. the classical Banach-Tarksi -paradox, which btw was rejected by the founders due to the same idea that mathematical truths should also corresponds to reality.


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Managing Preexisting Illnesses During Pregnancy
In This Article:
High blood pressure, thyroid problems, and bowel disease
High blood pressure
If you have high blood pressure that requires medication, check with your doctor that the medication you are on is safe to use during pregnancy. It's important to continue your medication so that your blood pressure is controlled, because high blood pressure can be dangerous both for you and your baby. Your doctor will frequently check your blood pressure, and will test your urine to check for the presence of protein, because high blood pressure and protein in the urine are symptoms of the condition preeclampsia. Your doctor may also recommend additional scans to check that your baby is growing well.
Thyroid problems
If you have an underactive thyroid gland for which you are taking thyroxine, you'll need to have a blood test to ensure that your thyroid is functioning well and that you're taking the correct dose, since sometimes the thyroxine requirement increases in pregnancy. It's important that you are not lacking in thyroxine, because this may affect the baby. If you are being treated for an overactive thyroid gland, check with your doctor that you're taking a thyroid medication that is safe in pregnancy. Your thyroid function will be monitored to check that your medication doesn't need to change.
Bowel diseaseWomen with inflammatory bowel conditions, such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, usually find that their condition improves during pregnancy, although you may relapse after the baby is born. Although it's unusual for bowel conditions to cause major problems during pregnancy, it is important to check that you are not anemic, which can be a side effect of some bowel conditions, and your doctor may recommend extra scans to check that the baby is growing well.
excerpted from:
Excerpted from Pregnancy Day by Day.
Copyright © 2008 Dorling Kindersley Limited.
Buy this book now!


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Please Wait
The most recent Early Childhood Research Quarterly (ECRQ) Special Issue, Volume 35 (2016), reports on International research utilizing the Early Development Instrument (EDI) as a measure of early child development. The Australian version of the Early Development Instrument is used to collect data for the AEDC and many of the articles in this publication use Australian data.
These papers are available here till July 2016 for free.


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Sun Safety for Children
In This Article:
Tales from the Safety Zone
The strong sun in Australia has caused such an alarming rate of skin cancer that the country mounted a national health campaign urging citizens to take steps to avoid sunburn. Its slogan is "Slip, Slop, Slap"—slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat. You might want to teach this funny little slogan to your kids.
Once your baby is past the 6-month mark, you can start using sunscreen. You'll want a broad-spectrum, waterproof lotion with an SPF of at least 15. If your child is fair-skinned or has freckles, an SPF of 30 is better because it offers more (although not twice as much) protection. Broad-spectrum means the sunscreen works on ultraviolet A (UV-A) and ultraviolet B (UV-B) rays. The shorter UV-B rays are what cause sunburn on the skin's surface. UV-A rays penetrate to deeper skin layers, causing skin to age. Both types contribute to skin cancer.
You don't need to buy a special "for kids" brand unless your child is sensitive to regular brands and needs a hypoallergenic formula.
It's best to apply sunscreen a half-hour before your children go outside, so it has time to be absorbed. Make sure it covers all exposed areas, including hands, feet, and the tops of the ears. Be careful around the eyes, avoiding the eyelids. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that, if your baby rubs sunscreen in her eyes, you wipe the hands and eyes with a damp cloth. If the sunscreen burns her eyes, the AAP suggests switching to a sunblock with titanium dioxide or zinc oxide.
Safety Savvy
Kids don't universally enjoy interrupting play to have sunscreen slathered on. If yours resist, you might try the kid-friendly lotions that come out of the bottle in bright colors that disappear once they are rubbed in. Some have kid-pleasing scents and animal-shaped bottles. You also can buy lotions that combine sunscreen and bug repellent to save time with a squirmy child.
Don't worry if your baby sticks her hand in her mouth after you've rubbed in the sunscreen. It won't hurt her, but, as with any over-the-counter medication, you should keep the bottle out of the reach of young children.
The biggest mistake people make with sunscreen is not using enough. It should be reapplied every two hours. Don't wait until your little one starts to look red, because sunburn may not appear until hours after the fact. If your child has been swimming, dry her off and then reapply the lotion. Put a roomy T-shirt or cover-up on her when she's not in the water. Kids who burn easily should wear a shirt even in the water.
Make sure other people who care for your child, such as baby-sitters or grandparents, also know the importance of sun protection. Keep them adequately supplied with sunscreen to put on your child.
Soothing a Sunburn
If a baby under age 1 gets a sunburn, you should call your pediatrician immediately because this can be an emergency. For a child older than age 1, call the pediatrician if there is blistering, pain, or fever.
Remedies for kids with sunburns include soaking in cool water and drinking lots of liquids to replace lost fluids. Don't use medicated lotions on your baby unless your doctor okays it. Older children can be treated with hydrocortisone cream and children's pain reliever. Don't let your child go out in the sun again until the burn has healed.
More on: Childhood Safety
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Child Safety © 2000 by Miriam Bacher Settle, Ph.D., and Susan Crites Price. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
To order this book visit Amazon's web site or call 1-800-253-6476.


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Women's Moving Comfort Urban X-Over Bra
The sports bra experts have done it again with the Moving Comfort Urban X-Over Bra. This stylish, yet functional, bra features a city-slicker look that can be worn on its own or underneath your exercise top of choice for plenty of support.
Made to keep everything in place while you focus on breaking a sweat, this sports bra from Moving Comfort has adjustable cross-back straps for plenty of comfort and a little extra lift. The all-over mesh material has splice inserts for pops of color and interest, while the seam-free molded cups help to keep chafing at bay. The adjustable, soft padded back enclosure ensures this bra has a perfect fit, so you can focus on your workout.


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Aaron Tippin's concert was short and sweet but the crowd was thoroughly entertained by the country western singer as the final piece of activities for Corn Days Saturday, Oct. 12.
Tippin arrived earlier in the day on Saturday and ventured to the Webb Hay House to hold a meet and greet with veterans. He took the stage following the opening act by Brasher Bogue just after 8:30 p.m.
Tippin has hit the top 10 with many songs over the past two decades. He is best known for hits such as "There Ain't Nothin' Wrong with the Radio" and "You've Got to Stand for Something." The Tennessee resident completed his set with two of his most famous tunes "Kiss This" and "Where the Stars and Stripes and Eagle Fly."
Following his performance at Corn Days, Tippin is off to Japan where he will perform two concerts in Kumamoto before returning to the states in November to continue his tour on U.S. soil.
Location, ST | website.com


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Is it possible (and how) to use a computer headset (or speakers+mic) as a hands-free device for my mobile? I bought a bluetooth-dongle but I couldn't get it to work yet. I think I already set this up on an older version of Ubuntu on my laptop.
I'm using Ubuntu 10.10, the phone is an android 2.2 (but I think this doesn't matter) and the bluetooth device is a Integrated System Solution Corp. Bluetooth Device (according to lsusb).
EDIT: I found a project that seams to do just what I want: http://nohands.sourceforge.net. I tried to install it on my laptop but it didn't work. I'll try it again on my computer at home and post a description as soon as it works (or any of you guys could post a solution if you're faster;)
Edit2: I was able to connect my phone, but somehow the audio doesn't work. I think the program has troubles with pulseaudio, as the soundtest fails. Any ideas?
Edit3: I'm still trying to get this to work. I might buy another bluetooth dongle. ATM I'm able to dial numbers in hfconsole - that's all. Somehow I'm shure there is a way to get this to work!


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Experience is why attention to detail, coupled with the highest level of craftsmanship and daily communication sets Top Quality Cabinets above others. For more information on how we can improve your Sattler home, give our cabinet experts a call. We aim for minimal reveals between doors and drawer faces as we aim to feature the true beauty of the Sattler cabinet which is the doors and drawer faces. We offer vanities,bathroom cabinets, bathroom vanity, bath vanities, bath vanity, bath cabinets, and bathroom cabinets.
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TEMPLE (January 22, 2013)--The 2013 Temple Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet is scheduled for Friday.
The banquet will honor all volunteers past and present as well as present board members.
The Jean Garner Red Carpet Ambassador of the Year, Small Business of the Year and Community Impact awards will be presented.
A cash-bar social kicks things off at 6 p.m. Dinner will follow at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $35 and can be purchased by calling the chamber at (254) 773-2105.
The banquet will be held at the Frank W. Mayborn Civic and Convention Center on N. 3rd Street.


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In one of the answers to this question, it is stated that wiring one of the coils on a bipolar stepper backwards can cause the motor to step improperly, or not at all. I've salvaged several steppers from discarded electronics (printers, scanners, typewriters), and I'm curious, is there a better method than trial and error for determining the proper polarity of the coils?
If I reverse both coils, does the motor simply run in reverse?


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Event Information
CFI's bi-weekly planning meeting is open to all members. The mission of the Center for Inquiry is to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, humanist, and atheist values.
Ellen Lundgren, President - email@example.com
This event also occurred on 2/7/2012, 2/21/2012, 2/28/2012, 3/13/2012, 3/27/2012, 4/10/2012 and 4/24/2012


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Your doctor may encourage labor induction if he thinks your health or your baby's health is at risk.
If your baby is too large or in distress, your doctor may use this method to help aid her delivery.
If you are having an especially difficult time pushing your baby out, your doctor may suggest these assistive procedures.
Some women don't want any medical intervention during birth. Is natural childbirth for you?
© 2000-2016 Sandbox Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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What should Americans look for in the next pope?
I admire the courage and humility Pope Benedict shows in stepping down. But looking forward, like any good American, I want to know: how will this change affect us? I took a run at that question for the Guardian, and you can read my answer on their Comment Is Free site today. Short version:
The American church desperately needs some confirmation that the hierarchy "gets it": no more blaming the media for being out to get the church; no more suggesting that the abuse was a matter of too many gay men in the seminaries; no more promoting and protecting compromised leaders. A new pope could stand for accountability.He could remove those hierarchs most implicated in the sex abuse scandal. And he could develop new criteria for bishops, calling for men whose gifts and inclinations are more pastoral than political. The kind of bishops needed in the 21st-century church, especially in the rapidly changing church in America, will be dedicated to repairing divisions, not deepening them.
Read the whole thing here. What are you hoping for?
About the Author
Mollie Wilson O'Reilly is an editor at large and columnist at Commonweal.
63 comments
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Mollie, this is a strong piece. I agree with the need to shore up the credibility of the church's pastors. I would add to your prescription that the church needs to be credible for a reason, and that reason is to proclaim the Gospel. The church needs to present an alternative and compelling vision of what it means to be human, over against the exhausted and futile notions that prevail in the larger, ever-more-secular culture. For better or worse, that does require the church engage on divisive social issues. But I believe we agree that the church should pursue models for that engagement that are likely to be more attractive and persuasive to people who don't live in the "church bubble".
Yes, I'd go with a strong connection to reality. Faith has nothing to fear from reason and evidence, even if it does sometimes butt up against belief. That's just a challenge, not a threat. Reason and evidence are the way humans discover things about God's creation. The Church cant evangelize the modern world unless it absorbs the lessons it has to offer; it cant lead in a world its not willing to understand.
Jeanne Follman,As someone who has read "Fides et Ratio" multiple times, I concur with you that "Faith has nothing to fear from reason and evidence..." The question is who is it that refuses to look at the evidence -- the world or the Church? If the prevailing culture doesn't accept what science affirms about human life (that life begins at conception) how can it have ears to hear what the Church proclaims? If the Zeitgeist refuses to recognize the unique biological complimentarily of the male and female persons, why would it listen to the Church's position on this matter?
Jim,Those issues are divisive because of the way the Church has responded to them. Look at the difference in the way people view the Church on divorce and same-sex marriage. The Church's position on divorce is less popular than its position on same-sex marriage, but no one cares about it because the Church isn't campaigning to force everyone to live by its standards.
This WSJ editorial on 'what the next pope needs to do' has some curious synergies with what Mollie wrote. Somewhat surprising to me.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732488050457829792313964576...
My dream Pope would do a Warren Buffett and give 90% of the Vatican's assets to the poor. This symbolic gesture would so inspire everyone else in the world, that we would all sell off all of our possessions and give to the poor and have our treasure in Heaven like Jesus says.
Maybe Pope Benedict will do this himself in the next two weeks.
Mollie --Fine comment. Thanks.
I am hoping for a Pope who will take the name John XXIV.
What to look for in the new pope? It is clear to everyone even non-Catholics, I think, that a pope needs be a holy man. Than goes without saying. it is always true. But in these particular times a pope especially needs 1) transparency, 2) accountability, 3) enough courage to look at unpleasant and/or threatening facts as they really are, including facts elating to morals, and 4) openness to new ideas in order to accomplish 1, 2, and 3. But a pope needs help with this. He needs an effective Curia. The present Curia, with its secretiveness, and lack of accountability and openness to what is new, has been at the crux of the problems of the two last popes. The new pope has to have the creativity to invent a new one, which undoubtedly requires the sacking of at least some of the people of the old one. Finally, he and his Curia have to listen to the lower clergy and the laity. Without doing that he cannot lead the Church.
"My dream Pope would do a Warren Buffett and give 90% of the Vaticans assets to the poor."Which shows Irene that the popes usually have little to do with Jesus and are into power and glory. The pope you wish for would be an instant martyr.
It is clearly to the shame of John Paul II and Benedict XVI that bishops who courageously confronted an unproductive Curia and insisted on renewal became a group who did not let the Spirit lead them but reverted to the Council of Trent. The Council did bring some confusion but did bring enormous good. The last two monarchical popes restored order and lost much of the Spirit.
An article at La Stampa today points out that within a matter of a few months the heads of most of the major Christian churches will have been replaced, including the leaders at Rome, Canterbury, Antioch, Cairo, and Damascus. Even the patriarch of the Russian orthodox has not been office many years.The article points out that three of the replacements are quite young, and Bartholomew of Constantinople, though he has been in office a while, is a young man.I ask, is the good Lord trying to tell us something? Coincidences do happen, but so many coincidences all at once is really against the odds. Maybe He thinks it's time for the young to bring their insights to bear. Some, though not all, of the new men are very young for their positions. If young outlooks is what is required now, how will this affect those who hate change? And yough doe usually imply change.Wondr hat Nate Silver would say about all this :-)http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/world-news/detail/articolo/benedett...
Good, strong teeth. Well-shaped hooves. Pasterns not too big. A deep chest and a heavily-muscled croup.
I am hoping the next pope will be a lot like me.The Vatican treasures are priceless. They belong to the world. The best thing to do is to leave them in the hands of the Vatican. Does anybody really want to see the Piet auctioned off? It is impossible even to put a price on it. Where else would it go? Does anyone want to privatize the Vatican Library?
In the late 1990s I attended an annual seminar On St. Augustine's writings at Villanova University. One of the regular attendees used to rave about Ratzinger and say, with great conviction and apparent authority, that Ratzinger would be the next pope. We all laughed. Too bad he didn't attend the seminars in the mid 2000's. We would have owed him an apology.I am reading on some American-Catholic blogs a push for Cardinal Burke and I am getting scared.
Since the job itself is an impossible one for any human to fulfill, I would like to see a Pope willing to restructure it, and the rest of the holy governance mess, so the Church has at least a chance of running itself effectively (spiritual leadership aside).Today the Church is governed as a monarchy. The Pope exercises supreme legislative, executive, and judicial power. There are no built-in checks and balances. There is nothing equivalent to a legislature. If the Pope wants to change the Code of Canon Law, he does so without the advice or consent of the bishops. There is also nothing comparable to a separate judiciary; the Pope is considered the supreme ecclesiastical judge, with judicial power exercised by the executive branchs various congregations and tribunals. Such a setup is a recipe for disaster, and thats what weve gotten. Autocracy and dysfunction go hand in hand.The essential problem is that autocracy cannot coexist with representation, checks and balances, accountability, transparency, and modern standards of justice. For example, even today, after 20 years, after all those broken lives, and three billion dollars (and counting), the diocesan sexual abuse review boards (according to the Dallas Charter) still have no control over the records and reports they see and cannot enforce their recommendations. They can only advise. In this and in all other matters, the bishop has first and final say. The situation is inherently irreparable and needs to be recognized as such. You cant add transparency and accountability, etc. to an autocracy. Its structurally impossible. We either tolerate existing governance structures and eat their consequences or reconstitute them from top to bottom.
"The Vatican treasures are priceless. They belong to the world. The best thing to do is to leave them in the hands of the Vatican. Does anybody really want to see the Piet auctioned off? It is impossible even to put a price on it. Where else would it go? Does anyone want to privatize the Vatican Library?"Well, they could sell these things to other museums. And most of us have not actually seen the Pieta, just pictures of it; we'll still have the pictures. And if selling off these "priceless' treasures could save the lives of some people, or even one person, I would say it's worth it.But ultimately, I think our religious leaders should just follow whatever the Gospels say to do with the treasures of this world.
NCR today has a fine piece by a priest, Fr. Daly, that is quite good.
I heartily second John Hayes' idea: a pope who would choose the name of John XXIV.
I agree with David Nickol. The artistic treasures in the Vatican are not for this generation to auction away. They were created by past generations for passing on to future generations. The Vatican are merely the stewards. I don't see how transferring stewardship from the Vatican to the Italian government (or even, God forbid, to private hands, where they might get hidden away and become inaccessible) would help the poor. If the Italian government has money to pay for those treasures, they could instead use that money directly to help the poor.The local government in Paris has recently sold a lot of its historical buildings to private investors, using the proceeds to balance its budget. Part of that budget are the social services. So it's kind of a similar reasoning: get rid of historical assets to help today's poor. How is that a good idea? It's short-sighted and, dare I say, ruinous. In addition there are now a number of historical sites that can no longer be visited because they now belong to private owners. Tour guides show us pictures and comment: "This is the ballroom of what used to be Duke x's private hotel. It was open to the public until ten years ago, but no longer, because now it belongs to the sheik of y." Why are today's elected officials allowed to dilapidate in a few years what had been built over generations? Greece has a humanitarian crisis. They could sell off their antique marble statues, preserved for 2000 years, to help feed this year's poor. Does anyone really think that that would be a good idea?But I am ranting.
Does anyone really think that that would be a good idea?Yes, Claire, I do.
Please do not overlook Dominic Preziosi's thread before this one on Angelo Scola on marriage. Scola is apparently a leading contender for election.What a mess: "The cardinals logic, in fact, seems to be that feminism is responsible for homosexuality, because the more women act like men, the more men are likely to want to have sex with other men."As I wrote, how do you deal with that level of ignorance at that level of the hierarchy? Preziosi has done a great service presenting Luke Timothy Johnson's review of Scola's book on marriage. Read and weep, if not despair.
I think all Americans should get down on their knees and implore the Holy Spirit to NOT allow the election of ANY U.S. Cardinal to the office of pope.Check out the list of those under 80: http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/bus8.htmlWith a couple of possible exceptions (DiNardo & O'Malley) can anyone actually think that the rest of them would be of the QUALITY necessary to deal with the mess in which this church finds itself in these days and this age?
But Irene, having a statue going from one pair of hands to another doesn't actually create food. Why should they have to give up some of their national treasures in order for other people to give them food? That does not make sense to me."You want food? Sell me your ancestral land first, and then I'll give you food." I see it as exploitation of the poor by the rich.
Today the Washington Post had an article entitled American Catholicism is at Crossroads by Marc Fisher. I was startled by a comment by Elizabeth Scalia, one of the people interviewed. The world has gone superficial and promiscuous and morally avaricious, and the church is standing against that .I do not intend to present my thoughts on that opinion, since I do not think it would be appropriate on this blog, although I am appalled by the choice of language and the approach expressed.So, in response to the question about I am hoping for in the next pope. I am hoping for a pope who does not reflect such sentiments about the world. I think it would be a disaster.
I could support the election of anyone who would seriously preach -- and enforce -- the notion of subsidiarity, starting at the level of the Roman curia. A good start would be to dissolve the curia and reorganize accordingly.
Helen: she is a Scalia. You expected better, maybe?
Carolyn ==I totally agree. What I had read earlier about Scola was impressive, but his anti-feminism is unbelievable. It is so outlandish that it would be funny if it weren't so out of touch with reality. I'll bet it is the rare man in the Vatican who has ever known a woman well besides his mother, grandmother and sisters. How many have had female friends outside of their families? And yet they get together and tell each other what marriage is. Hmph.
"out of touch with reality." And we circle back to a core problem, the parroting of papal utterance as though it, and only it, reflected reality. Like the USCCB letter on marriage a few years ago - over 100 footnotes, all referencing papal documents. Electing a new pope will not solve that problem. It might change the direction of the wind the bishops will test with their fingers in the air, but the problem will remain. Hence the need for the reform of the nature of the job itself, and it's power.
Helen,I am hoping for a Church that is not superficial, not promiscuous and not "morally avaricious." (not sure what that last is, but sounds bad and I don't want any of the things I can think of for it's meaning) So maybe that is what we do need, a Church that will stand against that. The current version has not been doing too well on those fronts, so an example of repentance from our leaders for our failures would be a great start.Lord, send us a pastor who will lead us into the depths of our selves to find you. Confront our superficiality and promiscuity by fostering a greater respect for you without grasping at what falls from your table. Feed us so that we may feed others who ache from the incessant shallowness they find in life. Help us all to know you in our own depths, and in each other's.
Ann,I am grateful Commonweal has a prominent link to the book review itself at its home page for special coverage of Benedict's resignation http://commonwealmagazine.org/resignation-benedict-xvi The book was published in 2006, and is not even a 35-year old effort from Scola's youth that embarrasses him now.Spread the word about "The Nuptial Mystery" before Scola possibly gets elected. Though the electors themselves might not see anything wrong. http://commonwealmagazine.org/body-beautiful-0
It is becoming more apparent as time goes on that the bench strength of those eligible for the papacy is so filled with me of a rarified background and experience that one needs to despair of the possibility of a new pope who is pastoral rather than bureaucratic and legalistic.I foresee an ever-increasing bleed of people from this church, particularly if the new pope is of the JPII and B16 mold .... and how could he be otherwise?
That s/b "men" and not "me" of rarified ...I know that I am rarified .....
How about the new Filipino Cardinal? Tagle he seems kind of holy and concerned about a lot of the right things. Is he too young?
Jim McCrea:She is not related to the Supreme Court Justice, even by marriage. Scalia is her husband's surname. (Google Search)
Helen: Then she should know better!
Does the article's author call for a disengagement from the "Culture War" against human trafficking, international belligerence, injustice? What is derided is the author's personal choice.Contrary to the article, the Church is not against homosexuality. Can one be against the fact another is born blind? Nearly one Billion years of evolution has resulted in male and female with bodies and minds paired for a logical reason. Unless it is a choice, homosexuality is the disunion of the bodys evolutionary intent and the mind. One should love anyone born with an error in genetic code, because this applies to all. But, society playing lets pretend is a lie even if done out of sympathy.I certainly did not follow the Church on much while in college and that certainly applies to birth control. That said, watching Europe generationally wither away it is hard not to see some wisdom in the Churchs position.May the next Pope follow reason and science on these issues as did Pope Benedict XVI.
I believe Cardinal Tagle is only in his 50s -- younger than John Paul II at his election.
How about Cardinal Rai? He's Maronite. We would go to Rome and hear the Mass in Aramaic. Wouldn't that be fun? Maronite priests are allowed to marry: I wonder if he's married. There would be lots of photo ops for the papal couple.
A Pope Joan II would be a rather pleasant change, don't you think?Cardinal Rai wouldn't be a bishop if he is married. Tainting ordination can go only so far, you know!
collegiality and decentralization
I've sworn off combox comments but David Nickol's quip at 3:29 hits the nail on the head: "I am hoping the next pope will be a lot like me."Ain't it the truth? Have we finally stumbled on an observation we can all agree on?
I would be sorry to see great artistic and historical treasures pass into private hands and become inaccessible, although very few people can afford to travel to see them, wherever they are.But accumulation of vast wealth in the Church does raise important questions. I remember forty or so years ago when the exterior of St. Patrick's Cathedral had a hundred years of grime sandblasted away at a cost of $3 million. The building looked great, but some people wondered what other great things could have been done with that money. Some even wondered if Christians really need cathedrals, with or without grime. I believe St. Paul spoke to the Athenians about that.Great wealth and aristocratic-monarchical governance go together in the Church. There may be a sort of civil service, though not necessarily a meritocracy, for advancement in the Church today, but for centuries the highest offices tended to be reserved for younger sons of noble families, who were accustomed to have the best of everything. Their successors still dress in silks and satins, lace and brocade. They drink from jewel-encrusted golden cups, the likes of which I doubt ever touched Christ's lips. And they live in palaces. No wonder they do not think it necessary to listen to their subjectsexcuse metheir sheep.Church history is certainly not without counterexamples: the poor, quirky, kindly fathers of the desert; that Italian guy who thought a brown robe tied with a length of rope was enough to cover him; Dorothy Day and the people she loved to be with; and of course the Son of Man, who had no place to lay his head.I know that the modern world runs on money, and without it many good works are never attempted. And I'm not asking bishops to live under bridges. I just hope that the Church will meditate once more on the meaning of povertynot destitution, just less vain displayand ask what the words "if thou would be perfect" say to us today.
Karl S,If homosexuality has survived a billion years of evolution, and gay men and women are still among us, peace be with you.
Irene,I agree with you - sell the Vatican treasures and give the money to the poor. The art work can go to other museums where everyone can still see it. Some people have the idea that all the art at the Vatican museums is Christian - it's not, it;s Greek, Egyptian, Etruscan, Asian, etc., as well as Christian - and there's no reason I can imagine that a church needs to run a for-profit museum. My perfect pope would make a lot of changes - he'd make the position of pope time-limited (maybe 9 years like the head of the Episcopal Church), he'd allowed married men and women to be priests, would allow for some form of democracy within the church, would declare an end to the war on LGBT people, would ok divorce/remarriage and contraception, and would spend more time helping others instead of trying to manage them.
I would like a Pope (and a Church) that is more willing to say "We don't really know, but we think these are the key things to consider" rather than "Stay away until you can follow these rules."
Reading David Nickols Im hoping the next pope will be more like me, one recalls the final line of A Hymn to Him in My Fair Lady: "Why cant a [pope] be like me?" (apologies to Lerner and Loewe)
My perfect pope would declare freedom of speech for all and enshrine it in canon law. The CDF would be limited to going after those who do things that are judged to merit condemnation; those who only say things but who do not act would be left in peace. Catholics would be encouraged to express ideas freely, good and bad ideas alike. Dialogue would thrive. Divisions would be exposed and explored, but through love and prayer, by the Holy Spirit they would be healed. Through creative discussions, Catholics would think of new ways to be in the modern world. The entire Catholic church would be like one big Commonweal. The pope would listen. He would learn from the church. His rare decisions would be informed by the counsel of many holy men and women. There would be no fear, only joy. Christ would visibly be with us and people would flock to join.
We certainly must give credit to Joseph Ratzinger for finally overcoming Cardinal Soldana, Maciels patron and beneficiary, and censuring Maciel. Jason Perry , in his NY Times oped, says that as a final act he should remove Soldano as dean of the Cardinals. Gary Wills chimes in with an op-ed in the same newspaper saying that he has little hope in the next pope since he thinks he only has the authority and that is the fundamental error. "A gift for eternal truths is as dangerous as the gift of Midass touch. The pope cannot undo the eternal truths he has proclaimed." Precisely why infallibility is a farce. So the new pope should ratify the commission of Paul VI and acknowledge the good of contraception. If nothing else to quiet the American bishops.
I would like to see a pope who recognizes that the next pope should be elected by a more representative group than the non-elected electors making up only 0.000005% of the faithful.
The Church is not about the Pope but about facilitating or mediating or actualizing a relationship with Jesus Christ.I would hope the new Pope would embrace simplicity and focus on the sacraments and the Bible. Following that emphasis, he should separate sacrament of holy orders from administrative offices.He could institute some important symbolic moves such as appointing women to key roles of leadership within the Curia. Curial functions are not necessarily connected to the episcopacy. We need the voices and thought of women in these roles.I do not think he has to be a world class scholar but he does need to be able to listen to the many voices of talented lay and religious theologians and scientists in the Church. He needs to have the gift of wisdom and clarity of vision and more importantly the will to carry these out.In some ways, I admire Pope Benedict XVI and respect what he did and his writings and book on Jesus of Nazareth. He was not, however, a strong leader. I don't know that democratic structures are the solution. Even in our democracy the strong and powerful STILL access the levers of power and I see little evidence that democracy has had the effect of enabling poor and marginalized to have access to those levers. The fact that this situation exists, as well as the shameful condition of homelessness, unemployment and poverty is something that we, as lay Catholics, are responsible for. Let's clean up the mess in the "secular" world and leave the internal Church mess to the leadership. Granted they have been doing a poor job....but so have we.
Quot homines, tot pontifices
How about this: instead of having a designated household preacher and always hearing from the same guy, the new pope would hear from a different preacher every day. There are enough visiting priests and deacons that it would be possible to never repeat. After a while, he would start to get an idea of the mind of the Church. He would experience unity in diversity.
Claire --You are asking for structural change. I mean you're asking to put counter-ideas systematically into the minds of the members of the old boys club. But the rules of the old boys club do NOT permit the articulation of different opinions because different opinions lead to confusion! Confusion is to be avoided at all costs!! The Holy Spirit told us to avoid confusion. Didn't He/She/Whatever?
" the Church is not against homosexuality. Can one be against the fact another is born blind?"Nice piece of hate speech, in denial of the fact that homosexuality is a mode of seeing, just as hetero- or bis-sexuality is. Pity the poor blind who cannot grasp this." homosexuality is the disunion of the bodys evolutionary intent and the mind" -- "an error in genetic code," -- is this some sort of Jackson Pollack exercise with pseudoscientific jargon? -- listening with the third ear is sounds as if you are expressing a strange degree of body-mind dissociation -- "I certainly did not follow the Church on much while in college and that certainly applies to birth control. That said, watching Europe generationally wither away it is hard not to see some wisdom in the Churchs position." Yes, the last resort of the humanae vitae gang: "let's outbreed the pesky immigrants."
Greg Burke, the Vatican Communication Director says that he "assumes" that Benedict's title after Februry 28 will be "Bishop of Rome Emeritus" and not "Pope Emeritus"http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/pope-set-to-move-to-mona... had expected it would be just "Cardinal Ratzinger"
Ross Douthat's brief for a young and energetic pontiff, and some striking thoughts on the spirituality of a pope in decline. "When I am weak, it is then I am strong."http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/the-pope-abdicates/
Over at Rorarte Caeli, they have worked out that only 12 of he 117 cardinals entitled to vote have ever celebrated an Extraordinary Form Mass since the Ordinary Form Mass was introduced forty years ago. Philippe Cardinal BarbarinRaymond Cardinal BurkeCarlo Cardinal CaffarraAntonio Cardinal Caizares LloveraVelasio Cardinal De PaolisJohn Cardinal Tong HonJuan Cardinal Sandoval iguezGeorge Cardinal PellAlbert Malcolm Cardinal RanjithJean-Pierre Cardinal RicardFranc Cardinal RodAndr Cardinal Vingt-Troishttp://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-next-pope-and-latin-mass.ht... causes some uneasiness for traditionalists.One commenter suggested that the conclave should elect Bishop Fellay.
The Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi,may be right in thinking that there may follow a flood of other resignations. When the man at the top leaves, the move is likely to reverberate through the whole of a bureaucratic structure like the Curia. A little fresh air would be welcome.
"The Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi,may be right in thinking that there may follow a flood of other resignations"That suggests (or, at least, suggests that Fr. Lombardi wishes) that the next pope will not be a caretaker, and continuity will not the watchword. We'll see what happens.


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The prevalence of obesity in children is increasing. Is this biasing the growth charts that physicians use to assess normal growth? In other words are children that would have been in the 50th percentile before the rise in childhood obesity now in a lower percentile?
You can read more about growth charts here. Here's a quotation about their creation:
In addition to the breast feeding requirements, there was a straight cutoff for abnormally large children in relation to height:
They did a pretty thorough job of making sure that those growth charts have a great deal of scientific backing to them, inasmuch as these charts define 'normal' and 'healthy' for the world's children.
AFAIK, those charts are based on really old data, and I haven't heard about the data tables being updated. So, short answer is: not yet.
If anything, it makes kids of today show higher on the charts than they would be if a new sample was run for the charts today.
The greater concern, and one that I have heard some parents say loudly and proudly, is that their kids are in the 99th percentile. By comparing the size of their child now to children of approximately 10 years ago, in some cases they are much larger, due to obesity. However, when you look at them in comparison to other children they don't appear to be much larger. One personal observation: Our kids are at about the 75th percentile and they look very skinny by comparison to their peers. However we know them to be healthy/active children. You should also be more concerned with how their height relates to their weight. If they are in the 25th percentile of height...and 99th percentile of weight, it is likely they are heading for a serious problem (barring any extenuating circumstances, like growth issues).
One of the purposes of the WHO Growth chart is to set a standard percentile ranking to identify the actual weight whether the child is considered obese and or underweight. The figures are already set as a standard. For you to be able to get the percentile ranking of the child, it is best a baby use a baby weight percentile calculator, so you would know the rank of the child based on WHO standards. The obese children are already classified based on their weight. The number of obese children is not a dependent variable in the percentile ranking.


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This is Nandoor from Hungary who is the proud owner of a sparkly new Nikon D90 Camera and lens!
Congratulations on your prize Nadoor, and thank you to Nikon!
There were 23 other prize winning photographers too who received prizes from Photocreator and Moo. You can view prize winning photographs here.
Don't forget, you can follow the 4amproject on twitter!


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Please enter a maximum of 5 recipients. Use ; to separate more than one email address.
| Thinnes, Billy, Hydrocarbon Processing Staff, Houston, TX
[mergers and acquisitions]
[shale gas]
Energy price fluctuations present both near-term challenges
and interesting opportunities for the oil and gas mergers and
acquisitions (M&A) market. As Deloitte Consulting points
out in a recently released report, current depressed North
American natural gas prices (prices far below the market rates
in other continents) will likely continue to attract both
domestic and international supermajors that have money to spend
on natural gas assets at low prices. Deloitte believes the
long-term outlook for US natural gas holds promise, as gas
gradually gains domestic market share, and as prospects for LNG
exports from the US improve.
The consulting company sees buying interest and E&P
activity in liquids-rich shale plays continuing, as well as
midstream consolidation and infrastructure investment, as that
segment restructures and invests to serve the rapidly changing
North American energy landscape. According to Deloitte, a
resurgent North American energy market and the investment needs
that accompany that resurgence should set the stage for
sustained M&A activity over the longer term.
Only nine refining and marketing (R&M)
deals took place during the first half of 2012, compared to 12
transactions in the first half of 2011 and 13 during the second
half of 2011 (Fig. 1). However, the total value of transactions
picked up during this years first half to $10.6 billion,
up 36%, when compared to $7.8 billion in the first half of
2011, and several orders of magnitude larger than the $2.6
billion during the second half of 2011.
FIG. 1. Refining and marketing
M&A deals
by value and count.
We actually saw a good increase in deal value year
over year in this segment, said Roger Ihne, a principal
at Deloitte Consulting. This was primarily driven by two
large deals that took place outside the US: one in Asia and one
in Europe.
One refinery acquisition during this
period was notable not for its size but for the industry
affiliation of the buyer. A major international airline
announced in the second quarter of 2012 that it would buy a
Trainer, Pennsylvania, refinery for $180 million. The
company intends to upgrade the refinerys capabilities so that
it can produce a much higher proportion of jet fuel, giving the
airline a source of fuel in a region of the US that has very
little jet fuel production, as well as exchanges to allow jet
fuel to be supplied throughout other geographic areas.
This is certainly a unique situation that has everyone
intrigued both within and outside the industry, said Mr.
Ownership within the R&M segment of the energy industry
has been transformed over the past decade as large integrated
companies have high-graded their portfolios,
selling or spinning off their downstream assets to focus on
higher-performing upstream operations. Now, over two-thirds of
US R&M operations are in the hands of independent rather
than integrated companies. Many of these independent operators
have benefited over the past two years from rising profits in
the US due to advantage-priced crude supplies from Canada and
the developing tight oil plays in America, but long-term
prospects are more uncertain.
Gasoline demand in the US is down 5% compared to last
year, said Mr. Ihne. Long-term demand for refined
products in the US is still uncertain due to stricter corporate
average fuel economy and renewable fuel standards, as well as
future competition from natural gas-based transportation
However, reduced domestic consumption of gasoline and
distillate fuels has largely been offset by exports of refined
products from US Gulf Coast refiners to Mexico, South America
and Northern Europe. Fig. 2 provides an overview
of the net exports of US petroleum products from January 2010
to May 2012.
FIG. 2. Net exports of
US petroleum products.
The cloudy regulatory and competitive landscape creates an
uncertain environment for many of the newly
independent players in this segment.
Refiners now have varying degrees of balance sheet
strength, said Trevear Thomas, another Deloitte
Consulting analyst. The question is whether that is
sustainable long-term, or whether that situation will lead to
A crucial issue for refiners located along the Gulf Coast is
whether the Keystone pipeline project will be allowed to move
forward. Many of the refineries in this region are designed to
process heavy, high-sulfur crude oil.
Refining assets in the Gulf are some
of the most sophisticated in the world, said Mr. Ihne.
They can process heavy crude from Canada and the new
tight oil supplied from various US plays, but unless refiners
gain access to that oil, we will have assets in the US that
have a comparative economic advantage to the rest of the
worldbut, nonetheless will have to rely on higher cost
imported crude from elsewhere.
All comments are subject to editorial review.
All fields are compulsory.
Sign-up for the Free Daily HP Enewsletter!
A searchable database of project activity in the global hydrocarbon processing industry
Engineers and designers are highly skilled individuals. Forcing them to enter design changes using tables, forms and spreadsheets is unproductive and uneconomical, and it increases the likelihood of human error—this is the way that most instrumentation software systems currently work. For too long, software vendors have denied engineers and designers the simple practicality of a graphical visual engineering interface with "drag and drop" capability and inbuilt intelligence, ensuring changes are automatically replicated into all the associated data and databases.
Is 2016 the peak for US gasoline demand?
Too soon to tell
July 2016


text:
Hoping someone can help with this.
Clicking on a category either returns a "not found" error, or opens a random post in the category.
Verified that the issue is independent of a plugin or theme. Have also messed with .htaccess to no avail. Only works if I use the default permalink structure, which I do not want.
See these links to see the problem firsthand:


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WHEELING - Ohio County Schools officials believe their Pre-K program serves as a model program within West Virginia and helps students establish the foundation they need for a lifetime of education, according to Ohio County Student Services Director MaryLu Hutchins.
Hutchins said the program has been so successful over the years that it has expanded to 16 classrooms since its inception in 2002 and the program currently serves nearly 300 students and their families.
Ohio County Schools' Pre-K program has been consistently ranked in the top five programs nationally, according to the nonpartisan National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, according to Hutchins.
Article Photos
PRESCHOOLS?provide the building blocks for a solid educational foundation, providing students a head start to their learning carers.
" Ohio County Schools Pre-K classrooms are designed to provide our children with rich, memorable, interactive, hands-on learning experiences on a daily basis. ... Our young children experience learning in a risk-free environment that encourages exploration vital to nurturing spirit and inspiring children to reach for individual dreams based on personalized interests in learning," said Hutchins.
Hutchins said Ohio County Schools Universal Pre-K program also plays a pivotal role in leading its youngest learners through developmentally appropriate life-long educational practices as student dreams are inspired and achieved. She said the program is available to eligible 3- and 4 year-old students and is designed to meet individual social, cognitive, linguistic, emotional, cultural and physical needs.
Hutchins said Ohio County Schools, with its collaborative staff of highly-qualified teachers and assistants, is effective in its delivery of the state-approved Creative Curriculum.
Ohio County Schools also offers supplemental services including speech, language and occupational and physical therapy to eligible students.
Hutchins said the combination of instructive services meets the educational needs of each child served and cultivates personalized learning experiences for each student.
She added Ohio County Schools is committed to providing families with an opportunity for a free, quality universal Pre-K program that will exceed the needs of the children.


text:
I need to measure RSSI between two peers of nodes in same network. If I have these two information:
- SSID for their network.
- IP for the target node to get the RSSI regarding it.
So I found this command:
iwspy but it seems that not found in the kernel and I see this link
that talk about:
We removed iwspy support a very long time ago because it is useless, but forgot to stop claiming to support it. Apparently, nobody cares, but remove it nonetheless.


text:
To the editor:
I feel the need to respond to all the letters and the publicity concerning the rape case that has captured the local headlines.
I thought that in America, one was innocent until proven guilty. These boys, who have no previous record, who are excellent students and outstanding athletes, have already been convicted by the media and the public.
We have not yet received any actual facts or real evidence.
The names of these boys have been publicized - even though they are juveniles. They are already stigmatized by these charges, which will stick with them no matter the outcome of the trial.
Hopefully, the facts will be exposed - and if they are actually found innocent, maybe everyone who had already convicted them will feel a little guilt.
But one must remember how many innocent people have spent decades in American jails for crimes they did not commit. One hopes that the publicity this case has received will not go against them.
Fiona Henson


text:
I figured at least a few of you would be as interested in this as I am, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite parts of the book with you. First, though, I want to show you the beautiful powder jar Boyfriend's mom gave me (Thank you, Glenda!). Based on the categorizations in the book, I think this is considered a "Dancing Girl" - the other option that looked similar was the "Southern Belle," but the Southern Belles seem to all be holding bouquets of flowers, and mine is not.
After much debate, I decided to use this powder jar - I keep finding myself wanting to refer to it as "her" - for my Guerlain Meteorites finishing powder in the shade Teint Rose. I think the feeling of luxury evoked by the delicate violet scent and colors of these little powder balls honors the elegant nature of the Dancing Girl, and they make a wonderful tinkling sound against the frosted glass when I swirl my powder brush around in them.
I also want to share with you some of my favorite pieces from the book - I scanned about twenty of its pages. I have not watermarked these pictures since, of course, these images do not belong to me. On that note, I first want to credit the book these images are from, Bedroom & Bathroom Glassware of the Depression Years by Margaret & Kenn Whitmyer:
Now, let's begin with the ones similar to my Dancing Girl, called human figurals. These are Colonial Lady figurines. I love how the jade-colored one has its original lavender dusting powder still inside it!
This is "Babs II," which I love for its cobalt color:
Here we have the "Dolly Sisters," two kneeling nude women supporting the powder container on their backs.
Elephants are a common theme in the animal figurals:
But there are other animals too. These are a "Woodsy" owl, a trio of Scottish terriers - isn't the cobalt beautiful? - and the crystal "Mama Quack," which always makes me smile!
How about a blue sedan, or maybe a sailboat?
Now let's take a look at some beautiful vanity boxes:
I love everything in this picture! The cranberry and gold theme in particular, I find very elegant.
Here are a couple of singular vanity boxes I adore.
And now for some vanity sets:
These are the most beautiful perfume bottles I've ever seen, both delicately handpainted:
And finally, several perfume lamps that simply took my breath away. See them in daylight, and then illuminated in darkness:
I hope you have enjoyed looking at some of the highlights from this book as much as I have. As we've all heard, "they really don't make things the way they used to" - it was such a treat for me to experience some of these truly special vanity pieces, and I know I will cherish my Dancing Girl powder jar for a very long time. I hope I can see more of Glenda's collection soon!


text:
Jimenez has fun on a tough day at Muirfield
Not a subscriber? You can purchase a single-day subscription for only $0.75 to read this and access all of our content and our E-Edition. CLICK HERE purchase a single day subscription.
Become an electronic subscriber to the Republican-American for only $8 a month. CLICK HERE.


text:
I can't find any recent numbers on HTML usage, but this site has some figures from 2 years ago.
Here's a small-scale poll of web developers (figures will be skewed since it's from a development site) from 2008 as well.
But it's probably best to just choose your HTML version or doctype by looking at browser support. On new projects, you should just use the latest version of HTML/XHTML that is well-supported across all browsers.
Possible answer, I will only select my answer as the correct one if up voted 3 times:
Also, found these of interest too:
Javascript Libraries
client-side programming


text:
Hello to everyone here. Since I was kindly asked to introduce myself a few notes here. First of all: Glad to see that there are many friendly users here Edit Signature however does not seem to work. I was unable to use any kind of BB-code to set an url for my sinature, perhaps this one realy is to tricky for me
Last edited by shabbir; 12Sep2008 at 18:17.. Reason: Confine links to signatures only.


text:
6 Douchebag Luxury Goods Originally Invented to Help People
If, like most of us, you find yourself secretly hating rich people now and then, it's probably because of the stupid and frivolous shit they buy. Even if you're not a Marxist, you can't help but think of the starving children of the world when you see some douchebag professional athlete sitting on his yacht, his trophy wife on the phone scheduling yet another cosmetic surgery. A whole segment of our economy is dedicated to making ridiculous shit for these shallow douchebags.
But a whole lot of lives have been saved by that ridiculous shit. For instance ...
#6. Jacuzzi: Hot Tub Healing Machine
Nothing says "class" like having a Jacuzzi hot tub at your disposal. It's the luxury of choice for orange New Jersey hood rats, young black rappers and wrinkly old white guys alike, as well as any other differently colored people who enjoy relaxing romps in bubbly hot water. Hot tubs are so universally associated with sex and decadence that we imagine the inventor as some kind of pimp granddaddy.
Who looks like this.
Its Noble Origin
Hot tub inventor Candido Jacuzzi, far from being a decadent playboy, was actually a dedicated father who invented the Jacuzzi to treat his son's debilitating pain.
The seven Jacuzzi brothers immigrated from Italy at the beginning of the 20th century and made their livings manufacturing pumps for airplanes and agriculture. Unfortunately, Candido Jacuzzi's son Kenneth was only 15 months old when he was stricken with rheumatoid arthritis. Jacuzzi took his son to doctors, who could offer no more hope than occasional hydrotherapy treatments at the hospital. The sight of his son suffering caused Jacuzzi to break down into depression and feel powerless against the disease.Oh wait, no. Jacuzzi didn't boo-hoo into his mustachio -- he fixed that shit.
To the Jacuzzi Cave!
Using their knowledge of pump-making, Jacuzzi and his brothers set about designing a hydrotherapy device for home use. In 1948, they came out with the J300 portable pump, which could turn any bathtub into a healing spa. Kenneth Jacuzzi could get hospital-quality hydrotherapy at home, thanks to the work of his pops.
The device originally was sold as a therapeutic device to drugstores, but then the company found more sales in home luxury. The company improved the design into the modern Jacuzzi all-in-one hot tubs throughout the 1960s and into 1970s, single-handedly creating the decadent culture of hot tub stripper parties.
Is it too late to award Candido Jacuzzi a Nobel Prize?
#5. Botox: Originally for Wonky Eyes
Botox has been a wonder drug for shallow people who fear they may actually be mortal and thus age like a human (or worse, emote like one). The wrinkle-reducing and face-deadening substance is made from botulinum toxin, one of the deadliest neurotoxins in the world. It is the cause of bacteria-borne botulism outbreaks, which can paralyze or kill victims. During World War II, the U.S. military even considered having Chinese prostitutes slip botulism-filled capsules into the food of high-ranking Japanese officials. That's how deadly the stuff is.
So what gave people the idea of injecting a neurotoxin into their faces? Did some mad plastic surgeon start injecting random shallow people with anything he could find?
"The needle sings to me."
Its Noble Origin
Botulism found its way into cosmetic surgery thanks to an ophthalmologist who was trying to cure crossed eyes and muscle spasms. In the 1960s, Dr. Alan B. Scott discovered that botulism Type A relaxed hyperactive muscles and could correct strabismus, or crossed eyes, in monkeys.
Finally a reason to use this picture!
In 1978, he got FDA approval to test the procedure on human subjects and found that the modified botulism cured spasms of the eye, face, neck and vocal cords. And by "cured spasms," we're not just talking about getting rid of nervous twitches. Thanks to Botox, there were people who could see for the first time in years and others who could speak only when the drug relaxed their vocal cords and necks. Sufferers of everything from cerebral palsy to Parkinson's disease got relief from Botox, to the point where a drought of the drug in 1986 debilitated thousands of patients.
It wasn't until 1992 that a study confirmed what many doctors had already observed -- that botulism Type A improved the appearance of frown lines. Which probably explained why cross-eyed people had turned those frowns upside down over the previous few years.
#4. Yachts Are the Lone Rangers of Sailing Vehicles
Nothing says "good weekend" like taking a trip out to the Hamptons, meeting your old Ivy League chums at the yacht club and taking a spin around in the old S.S. WASP. The only thing bluer than the clear skies and still waters is the blood of the average yachtsman.
"We have literally never seen a black person."
Yachts are such a symbol of wealth and privilege that Yachting magazine warned its subscribers about the risk of pirates targeting private yachts off the Somali coast. The targeting of yachts is a sad reversal of history, as there was a time when the yachts used to chase the pirates.
Its Noble Origin
Yachts were actually invented by Dutch traders who needed small, fast-moving ships to intercept attacking pirates. These small vessels could quickly maneuver around the larger ones and allow crews to take on pirates and fortify trading ships. They called the boats "jachts," from the German word "to hunt." Their purpose was simple: Go in, kick ass, kill pirates.
They were the Bat-boats of the sea.
They became a symbol of luxury only when King Charles II, returning to England from exile, was presented a yacht by the city of Amsterdam. Charles took a liking to the boat, and soon his little brother, the future King James, got one too. Like most rich people, the first thing they did was race boats, with Charles winning the first race. The popularity of the boat cost the yachts their badass image, making them a mark of effeminate wealth and luxury.
It's hard to intimidate pirates when your boat is associated with high heels and killer legs.


text: This is my third tutorial for the day and I'm quite proud! ^_^ Up next, I'll teach you how to draw a pair of ice skates. It's in the middle of summer, but I know that I'm not the only one that goes to hang out at he skating rink when it's hot. I've been ice skating for a while now, and I absolutely love it; figure skating is one of my favorite sports. This tutorial is for all you people out there who love ice skating as much as I do...and more! Let's begin the tutorial- I hope you enjoy it!