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Dark Territory by DarkSilverflameWatch
©2011-2019 DarkSilverflame
A dark and cursed forest. What might lurk in its shadows?
Speedpainting. I for once tried to be all artsy
Intuos 4, PS CS5, ~20 min
Speedpainting. I for once tried to be all artsy
Intuos 4, PS CS5, ~20 min
Nice forest painting Just by looking at it I can feel its dark/cursed vibe Splendid!
ooh that's pretty.
I might lurk here.
I might lurk here.
Can I use this on my clan page for a opening picture/banner here's the link to my page to prove of the use;animal-jam-clans-1.wikia.com/w…
Very nice
That's wonderful
Both gloomy and awesome! I love how everything is so faintly colored due to the darkness of the forest. I think there may be some horrid beasts out there, hungry for anything they encounter. Wonderful job on this scary picture!
It looks so foggy and the edges on the trees are blurred, like the air is thick and damp.
It's all kind of hazy, almost like a dream..
Nice job on this
It's all kind of hazy, almost like a dream..
Nice job on this
So gloomy... O_O
Amazing artwork, I wanted to ask if I can use it as a profile background?
Its beautiful I kinda imagined slenderman living here
Can I use it in my art? I will give you credit, of course
May i use this for my journal entry as an example for a dark drawing??? Will give full credit
What do you use? What is in your art kit for this picture?
So nice!
wow its cool
Hi, may I use your art in to go with my music? I'll be uploading it to YouTube, and you can check it out here:
Don't worry, I'll mention you in the description, and praise you for your huge efforts to create this masterpiece ;D
Don't worry, I'll mention you in the description, and praise you for your huge efforts to create this masterpiece ;D
good mood
Looks like the suicide forest Aokigahara.
Awesome artwork! Really nice and dark, I love it I got a question though. I've noticed you don't give away your picture for other projects, but I want to know if that works for writing as well? Like, I use the picture for inspiration and write a short story based on it, using the title, but link to your picture and give credit to you for inspiration and title. For this is just asking for a short, creepy little story about those creatures in the trees.
I've done this with another artist once before, the story is in my gallery
I've done this with another artist once before, the story is in my gallery
Sure, as long as you don't repost the picture anywhere
Sweet Thanks, I won't post the picture directly, just make a link directing to it I'll let you know when it's done.
very good
Wow! It's just how Id imagine a dark and mysterious forest to look like.
This looks great! D
Hi there! Can this be used? Im not sure how this site works, some things I see can be downloaded and some are just to show other. Just curious here, because I would love to use this as the backdrop in one of my composites but wanted to ask you first. Its gorgeous by the way
Thanks, but I don't like to give my work away for derivative works
This describes me very well...
This dark territory reminds me of my home. Love the landscaping.
Very nice!
I could imagine a werewolf walking trough that forest very well.
I like the green light in the background because it gives the whole piece a nice eerie effect.
Uhm, by I don't actually want my work to be reused like that. This is not a stock image.
Its not a stock image, granted that. But it does help gain popularity. I gave credit where credit was due and im not gaining any money or anything from it. It could be something like a colab ^-^ If you want me to remove it I wil, but im just saying that its harmless, to you and me. And I have already gained a lot of likes ect from it too. But again, its your choice
Hey there!!! Mind if I use this in a wallpaper? Ill like it all back to you and set you as the dominant artist for the background
Pfft this my happy place...kind of...
Is it alright if I use this?
What might lurk in its shadows? As long as it has a face and doesn't wear a suit, I'll hopefully be OK...


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|Initial release
|January 30, 2007
|Operating system
|Microsoft Windows
|Backup software
|Proprietary commercial software
In computing,
WBAdmin is a command-line utility built into Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and Windows 10 operating systems. The command is used to perform backups and restores of operating systems, drive volumes, computer files, folders, and applications from a command-line interface.
WBAdmin is a disk-based backup system. It can create a "bare metal" backup used to restore the Windows operating system to similar OR dissimilar hardware. The Backup file(s) created are primarily in the form of Microsoft's "Virtual Hard Disk" (.VHD) files with some accompanying .xml configuration files. The backup .VHD file can be mounted in Windows Disk Manager to view content. However, the .VHD backup file is not a direct "disk clone".
The utility replaces the previous Microsoft Windows Backup command-line tool, NTBackup, which came built-into Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.[1] It is the command-line version of Backup and Restore.
WBAdmin also has a Graphical User Interface (GUI) option available to simplify creation of computer backup (and restore). Workstation editions such as Windows 7 use a backup wizard located in Control Panel. The server version is done through an (easily installed) Windows Feature using the Windows Management Console WBAdmin.MSC. The WBAdmin Management Console simplifies restoration, whether single file or multiple folders.
Using the command-line or Graphical User Interface,
WBAdmin creates a backup which can be quickly restored using just the Windows Media install DVD and the backup files located on a removable USB disk without the need to re-install from scratch.
WBAdmin uses a differencing engine to update the backup files. Once the original backup file is created Volume Shadow Copy Service updates changes, subsequent full backups take a matter of moments rather than many minutes taken to create the original backup file. Automatic backups can be scheduled on a regular basis using a wizard.
Two kinds of restore operations are supported:
- Bare metal restore: using the Windows Recovery Environment you can complete a full server restoration to either the same server or to a server with dissimilar hardware (known as Hardware Independent Restore – HIR)[2]
- Individual file and folder, and system state restore: files, folders, or the machine's system state can be restored from the command-line using
External links[edit]
|Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Guide to Windows Commands
- Guide to scheduling Complete PC Backup using WBAdmin
- NTBackup Restore utility for Windows Server 2008
- Backup Basics from Microsoft
- Microsoft's Windows Server Backup Guide
- WBAdmin commands list
- WBAdmin.info for general discussion and information to assist users with WBAdmin
- Microsoft Guide to Windows Vista Backup
- Microsoft Backup and Recovery overview
- How does Windows Server 2008 Backup work?

subset: commoncrawl


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Elizabeth Douglas Miller, a homemaker and volunteer, died of heart failure Sept. 18 at her daughter's Pompano Beach, Fla., home. She was 94 and lived in Pinehurst.
Born Elizabeth Townsend Douglas in Baltimore and raised on Cloverhill Road in Tuscany-Canterbury, she was a 1934 Roland Park Country School graduate.
She married J. Beverly Miller, a co-founder of the Graymar Co., a business machine firm on St. Paul Street in Charles Village.
Mrs. Miller lived for many years on Bellona Avenue, where she raised her five children. She was also a volunteer at the old Rosewood Hospital Center, the Cathedral School and the Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland.
Mrs. Miller...


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There are many people with great ideas about doing business online. They have realized that the Internet has become the largest and most profitable market and they want to monetize their ideas. However, many of these people are discouraged by the fact that they are not tech savvy and that they don't know how to design and create a website/online store. Truth be told, there are many places where you can find information about web design and start making experiments but this activity requires time and energy. Of course, this doesn't mean that you should give up just because you don't know any programming language or coding. There are eCommerce templates that can help you.
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- Finally, we would like to point out that using eCommerce website templates can actually save you some money. Using a programming language and coding, using the help of a professional web designer, paying for SSL certificate and hosting package, updating the elements of the website – these are just some of the things you have to think about when you are building a store on your own. With a pre-ready option like eCommerce templates, you can forget about all these things. The best part is that you can choose between completely free templates and premium templates. Even the ones that you have to buy are worth the investment because they will save you money in the long run.
Now that you know why you need an eCommerce template, it's time to choose one.


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The 2006 "annual" caving club trip to West Virginia began on the evening of Friday, March 24th. ARound 6 pm, Alex (trip leader), Safia, Tucker, Zack, Ike, Jordan, and I (Liz) gathered in front of the student center and began shoving gear into Ike's tiny car and my slightly less tiny car. After about an hour, we were ready to hit the road, with Alex, Safia, and Tucker in my car, and Zack and Jordan in Ike's car. After cruising along at well above the speed limit for a short while, I got a phone call from Ike requesting that we stop at this great place for dinner which gives you a half-pickled pickle with your meal. So we stopped, grabbed some food to go, and started driving again. About a million hours later (approximately 6) we were still driving on 84 (I hate that road) and we ran out of good rock and roll to listen too. At this point it was about 2 am and Alex plugged his laptop into my stereo. At first, I think Alex's music is kind of cool, or at least interesting. But as the night wears on, I realize that the weird trance music is causing me to halucinate. Time to switch drivers.
I regain semi-consiousness and see huge looming windmills out the window or the car in the dark. They must be 100 meters tall. I pass out again. I wake up around 7 am and my car is sliding all over the road. I peer out the window and discover that West Virginia is covered in snow, and its still coming down hard. Behind us, Ike spins out and hits a guardrail. We take a break and stumble into a diner that looks like it was decorated by a 5 year-old girl and order breakfast. None of had really slept the previous night, and combined with the 8 hours of weird trance music, the diner feels like a dream. After breakfast, I vow to never let a Conneticut-bred yuppie drive my car in the snow again and hop behind the wheel. A few minutes later we are at Sharp's cave, the first stop on our trip.
After sleepily pulling on our caving gear and grabbing our sleeping bags, we start the trek through the snow to the cave. Our esteemed trip leader claims that everything wasn't covered in snow the last time he was here... the cave should be up here somewhere... We find the cave without too much trouble and slide down into the darkness. After sliding over rocks and hopping over 20 foot deep pits, we eventually start sliding down the slope which leads into Halloween Hall. Jordan drops her sleeping bag at the top of the slope and it tumbles down into oblivion (sort of), luckily it doesn't fall down any drops, and she recovers it. Soon, we are standing in a room bigger than anything I had ever seen before. It makes me never want to go caving in New England again. We all find comfortable spots on the mud flat and promptly pass out.
I wake up around 5 pm and realize two things. One, your sense of time completely dissapears when you are inside a cave. You can sleep all day in complete darkness. Two, sleeping naked, no matter how warm your sleeping bag is, is a terrible idea. I'm freezing. Everyong is up, except Ike, who looks like a giant mud-covered blue catepillar. He is so bundled up that you can't tell which end is up. Jordan and I kick him awake, and we eat a quick breakfast. Off to explore the cave!
We begin wandering through Halloween Hall, which as I mentioned, is HUGE. Alex sees a crack in the ground and decides that this is the way down to the lower level. He jumps down, and a few of us follow. We soon realize that this is not the way and drag ourselves out again, with much difficulty. Our first stop is the brain room, with a prize for the first one to find the brain, and certain death for anyone who steps on the brain (says Alex). We drag ourselves through a tight passage, which ends in a muddy puddle that we all inevitably splash into. Tucker and Safia find the brain, we all oogle at it, and then continue our exploration.
Next, we find a mud sculpture garden. There are many mud phalluses (how could there not be?) as well as some "sea monsters", trees, and boobies. Cavers are weird creatures. We slide down a mudslide and then begin treking accross a field of fallen boulders from above. After some side passage explorations, we decide to find sharps waterfall. We eventually find a hole in the floor which leads to the streambed below. We start walking through the leg-numbing water upstream until we find the waterfall. It looks vaugely like a miniature niagra falls. It has the same horseshoe shape, but with many terraces. Alex, Tucker, Safia, and I scale the wall of the cave to get out of the freezing water and climb around the waterfall. After a few minutes, those still standing in the river tell us to hurry up, and we trek back down the river. Alex informs us of another passage to the upper level, but we would have to belly-crawl upstream for a few hundred feet, and we all tell him to take a hike.
We exit the cave around 11 pm, tired, wet, and muddy. For those of us who had never been caving in West Virginia before, Sharp's cave had been an epic experience. We strip off our muddy clothes by the side of the road and shove them into garbage bags. This wouldn't be too bad, except there is a foot of snow and it is freezing out. Our muddy clothes get a little crunchy, and we all shiver until we can get in the car to blast the heat. Soon, we are on our way to Elk River Inn, where we settle into our farmhouse, huddle around the heater for awhile, ingest calories, and then pass out.
At the ungodly hour of 11 am, Alex starts pounding on my door telling Tucker and I to get our asses out of bed. We get up, realize we are sore everywhere, and then wander into the kitchen for breakfast. It appears that Ike and Alex were p early, and had gone to the grocery store. This is good, because caving makes you ravenous. A short while later, we grab our still muddy caving clothes and head out to My Cave, a short drive away. At the top of the mountain we were crossing, Alex tells me to put my car in neutral and we roll almost all the way to the cave. We are thwarted by the last little incline in the several mile road which my car refused to go over.
We all pull on our muddy clothes from the night before, and Alex runs off into the woods. We go to follow, but Jordan slips on the snowy bank and tears apart her hands. Luckily, we happen to have a great first-aid kit and cover her in bandages. Soon, despite the blood, we are on our way again. Alex informs us that the cave is on the side of the river we are on, and that it is somewhere in the general vicinity. After a bit, we split up to search, and after an hour we still haven't found it, and Alex is missing. A while later, he shows up and informs us that we will have to ford the river twice to get to the cave. We grudginly oblidge, and jump into the 33 degree water. Twice. And then we scramble up a steep (cliff-like) slippery, snow covered slope to the entrance of the cave.
We are all cold and tired, but we realize that the cave will be warmer than it is out here, so we jump into the cave and slide down a slope to the floor of a large room. Once again, the size of the cave is mind-blowing. I look at the map and realize that the room I am in is only the entrance hall, and it gets much larger from here. We climb over rocks and up muddly slopes, with "stairs" (deep footprints) kicked into the mud from previous cavers. The cave continues upwards, and narrows into a small passage which we must crawl through. Alex is at the front, and stops at the top of a steep muddy slope. I look at the map, which is labeled "Danger: Do not proceed down this slope. You WILL die."
Alex and I rig up our rope, and Safia and Tucker help everyone get on their rappelling gear. At the bottom of this slope, there is a 70 foot drop to the cave floor below. Alex goes first (to test the rigging), and I go last to ensure that no one suicide rigs their rack. It takes over an hour for everyone to go, and by the time I go I am shaking from sitting still in a cold cave for that long. I begin the descent on the muddy slope, which gets progressively steeper until the rope drops through a sharp V in the cliff face, at which point I drop down and begin rappelling over the air. At the bottom, there is a river and a waterfall, and everyone is eating lunch. Alex ties the rope bag to the bottom of the rope, and we pack up to begin our exploration. I mention briefly to Alex that the rope bag might get caught in the V in the rock when we try to pull the rope up later, but he says it will be fine.
We walk along the river for awhile, and climb across narrow ridges of mud with sharp drops on either side. At one point I have to drag myself along on my belly to keep from falling over the edge. We get so spread out that you can only see people's lights bobbing up an down in the distance and hear the rushing of water going by. Finally, Alex stops and we regroup. It appears that we have reached the end of the line. Ahead there is nothing but the rock wall of the cave. To our right, the river goes deeper underground, with only the prospect of belly crawling. To our left, there is a steep slope of mud that ascends roughly 200 feet. Alex says, ok, we're going up, and points to the left. We all turn and look up, but none of us can see the top.
We start attacking the slope, making it up only a few feet before sliding back down. Some of us try using rocks to dig into the mud, but at no avail. It would have been easier with ice axes. However, after a bit I got the hang of it and raced up to the top. It was steep and slippery, but I made it, and at the top I found a large screw which looked like it was meant to be put in the mud to rig a line to assist with climbing. After a few minutes, Alex joined me at the top. Much later, Tucker appeared, with Safia close behind. Safia crawled over to Alex and proclaimed his certain death for forcing us to climb the slope. Eventually, everyone made it up, some with the help of webbing, Alex pointed out some cave life, and then we continued on.
At the top of a shorter, and less hellish muddy slope, there was a room with some stalactites, and another "do not proceed, you will die" cliff. This one was not marked on the map, but it was cliff-like enough for us to not attempt it. Perhaps next time we shall bring a rope. Onward!
After paritally sliding down the long hellish muddy slope, and a lot more walking, we ended up in a room with a river running below. The other two exits to the cave were accessed from this room, but we were not yet done exploring. We climbed up some crazy slopes, crawled around boulders, and shimmied up into holes in the wall. Eventually we all ended up in a room with a hole in the floor which looked down onto the room we had just been in. On the other side of the room, There was a really neat dry riverbed which snaked its way through the rock. We followed it and discovered that it looked down onto the hellish muddy slope. This was my favorite part of the cave because of the way the water had carved out the rock. Once back in the upper room, we began searching for the way we had come up. It was a maze, but after half an hour or so, we found the way down. Once back in the big room, we decided that it was time to head out.
Alex pointed the way along the river, and soon we were belly crawling through frigid water. After a few hundred feet, Alex determined that this wasn't the way, and we all turned around. We decided to wait in the big room while Alex and Ike explored another fork in the passage. While they were gone, I noticed a reflective rectangle about a square inch up on the rock wall. I investigated and found a small passage which it appeared that many cavers had been through. When Alex and Ike got back, we decided to try that passage, and it led to the exit! (It turns out that the way Alex was going would eventually lead to an exit, but not for a VERY long time.) We crawled out and trekked back to the car in the dark.
Back at the car, it was determined that Alex and I would go get the rope which we had left in the cave. We ford the river twice more, and drug our tired bodies up to the cave, while everyone else went home to warm up (grrr). We find the rope, and begin to pull it up. Suddenly, it gets very hard and Alex and I pulling toether can't even get it up the slope. The rope bag was stuck in the V in the cliff face. Cursing our stupidity in hanging the rope bag from the end of the rope, I rappell down to free the rope bag and then ascend up carrying it. We finally leave the cave exhausted, ford the river twice more, then head home. When we get there, everyone else had made dinner for us. (yay!)
This morning, we had to drive through Virginia, and then back into West Virginia to get to the cave. After missing the access road several times, we finally managed to find what appeared to be the right trial to the cave. After a bit of walking, Alex pointed up a steep mountain and said, its up there. We all slowly began climbing, except for Jordan who ran up the whole thing, past the cave, andto the top. When she returned, we prepared to enter Site's Cave.
Alex rigged the rope to a nearby tree, and we all put on vertical gear for the ~200ft. rappell. I was the last on in, and as I descended into the pitch black, I saw the last sliver of daylight slip away. The walls of the entrance shaft had been carved away by water and looked like waterfalls themselves. When I got to the bottom, I found myself in a room with more formations than I had seen in any of the previous caves. Everyone was waiting, and after removing my vertical gear, we were on our way.
First, we went left, through some well traveled passageways past many formations, mostly stalctites and stalagmites. As we entered a tight 45 degree angle horizontal sqeeze, I began to notice the bats. This cave had more bats than any of the previous ones. In fact, there were thousands and thousands of them. In all of the other caves we had only seen one or two near each other every once in awhile. Eventually, we found that this direction was a dead end, and we turned around.
We returned to the entrance camber and this time went left. The path was well traveled for awhile, but then became steep and slippery. At this point there were stagmites as tall as me and almost as big around. We were about to turn back, but then I decided to slide down one last hole, and found that the path continued into a large room. Everyone followed, and soon there was enough headlamps in the room that we noticed the flowstone. One entire wall was all flowstone to the point that it looked like a waterfall cascading over the rocks in white, orange, and yellow.
We ventured to the edge of the room, and then Safia and I got distracted and decided to try going down. We followed slid down tunnels through progressively muddier passages until we ended in a tiny room with a pool of muddy water at the bottom. We decided we should turn around, only to realize that the way up was much harder than the way down. The mudslides down were to slippery to get good footing, and we ended up shoving each other up many of the sections. Finally, we reached the top, with thick mud suctioned to most of our bodies. The extra mud added about 50 pounds to the weight of our clothes.
We exited the waterfall chamber and proceeded back to the entrance. We started putting on ascending gear for the way up, hoping that it would be as epic as the way down. Unfourtunatly, noone figured out how to reverse gravity while we were caving, so we had to haul our tired sore bodies up the 200 feet of rop ourselves. The first person up got to see the approaching daylight as they ascended. But 2 hours later, by the time I went up, I could only see a faint patch of stars. I have never felt better coming out of a cave than I did that night. There is something about being 200 feet underground and knowing that your only escape is a thin rope that makes the night air that much sweeter.
We returned to the car and settled in for a long drive back to the condo. When we arrived, we ate some food, and I hit up the hot tub for the first time. Everyone looked like zombies sitting around the hot tub, and with my stiff muscles, I sure did feel like one. After a few minutes, coupled with a Mike's lemonade, the hot tub turned my body to gel.
When we were packing up to leave in the morning, we noticed that among the seven of us, we had failed to finish 3 six-packs on a 4-day trip. We kicked ourselves for being bad college students, and then continued sweeping piles of dried mud out the door. Finally, the place was clean and we headed off to Tubb's cave.
We arrived at the 'parking lot' for the cave, which was really just a bend in the road where it was wide enough to park on the side at around 11 am. We put all our gear on and started walking up the road. On the way up we ran into some road workers who pointed to a small (me-sized) hole in the side of the road and asked us if it was a cave. Alex confirmed that it was indeed, and that the name of the cave was 'roadside pit.' He told them not to go poking around down there because there was a 70 foot drop. We continued on and eventually dove into the forrest. We climbed over a riverbed that was full of moss covered rocks, and then over a fence. Then Alex said, ok, we are looking for a big sinkhole. the cave is at the bottom.
We split off and started looking. After awhile, Alex yelled that he had found it and we headed over. None of us had realized until then that the sinkhole was over 200 feet deep. We slid down the muddy slope to the bottom and then entered a large cave, which was essentially just one big room. The condensation on the ceiling made it twinkle like it was covered in glitter. To the right, the river ran into the wall, and a few of us twisted down the small passage until we determined it didn't go far. To the left was a small passage which led around to a smaller room that was full of flowstone. In the center there was a waterfall from the ceiling which had left splashed deposits all over the rocks below. Around the edges of the cave, there were large patches of sandy mud next to the river, like beaches.
We explored the cave until we had determined that we had seen everything, and then decided to call it a day. We headed out and treked back to the cars, where we prepared for the long journey home. After a few hours of driving, we spotted the looming windfarm in the distance. I got a phone call from Ike requesting that we stop so he could check out the huge mills. We pulled over, jumped the 'no trespassing' fence, and proceeded to run over to the huge windmills and hug them. Well, at least the hippies among us did... Then we continued driving. Forever. At some point I noticed that all the signs on the side of the road are doing the matrix bendy thing where they bend in towards the car. I switched off with Alex and passed out until we reached MIT at 4 am.
The next week, we had a gear return night, where we thanked Alex for leading the trip, and to express our gratitude for all the wonderful torment he dragged us through, we tied him up and hung him from the ceiling. We all had a great trip, and at least some of us are looking forward to next year.
End extensive trip report.


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Just to let you know that I a medical professional who has an interest in many things outside of medicine. I have, at various times in my life, been an avid sportsman, a wildlife and bird artist, an honorary National Parks officer, a gun dog trainer and field trial judge, a falconer, a keen fly fisherman and a university lecturer. I also write short stories and have published three small, illustrated books of poetry with more on the way.
I have been taking photographs for most of my life.
Another sample news story
This is a second story to show the multiple page section
An example news story
This is an example news story


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Archive for May 2010
Secular Right is back (sort of)
Comments off · Posted by David Hume in Administration
Hope you're having a good holiday weekend. I decided to reinstall WP because we've had several hacks compromise the system over the past few years, and I am beyond stop-gap solutions with the previous install. So I deleted it and installed a new copy of WP. I've tried to invest more time in security this time around in the beginning, but nothing's perfect, so we'll see.
Obviously I'm going to tweak this set up in the near future. Additionally due to a oversight of mine we don't have the images for the earlier blog, though I did get all posts and comments. I likely have images on a back up on another computer, but I'm travelling now so that is not accessible. Also, I retrieved all users but they don't have any privileges, so you may have to re-register (excepting front-page contributors, who I manually upgraded).
Missing the Hymn
9 Comments · Posted by Bradlaugh in culture
An unbeliever can enjoy a good hymn as much as the next man, as many have testified. (G.B. Shaw, D.H. Lawrence, Kingsley Amis, and E.O Wilson come to mind. Not sure about Bert Russell; but the religious side of his family were some minimalist nonconformist sect IIRC, and so probably disapproved of hymns anyway.)
This week is Fleet Week in New York City. I attended a Fleet Week function on Wednesday, watched the ships sailing up the Hudson, and hobnobbed with some naval and USMC personnel — most enjoyable and instructive.
At no point, however, did I get to hear the Navy Hymn, which is in my personal Top Five. I cannot let this stand.
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Thou shalt not blaspheme democracy
5 Comments · Posted by David Hume in politics
The Big Money has a story about Pakistan blocking Facebook because of the "Everyone Draw Muhammed Day!" page. My issue? The title, This Week in Despotism, Google Edition. Pakistan isn't a despotism, it has a semi-functioning democracy, and, from what I gather the move was broadly popular in Pakistani society (though no doubt those praising the blockage in public are trying to figure out ways in private to evade the ban). I guess the idea of an illiberal democracy just isn't going to gain much traction in the modern marketplace of ideas….
The Rise of Israel's Ultra-Orthodox
18 Comments · Posted by Andrew Stuttaford in politics
There was an interesting piece in Saturday's Financial Times on how the rise in Israel's Ultra-Orthodox population is a source of increasing tension within the country. Here's a key extract
Once a tiny minority, the community today accounts for at least 8 per cent of the Israeli adult population. It is forecast to double every 16 years. In Jerusalem more than half the Jewish children attending primary school hail from ultra-orthodox families. A survey by Israel's Taub Centre for Social Policy Studies highlighted the economic consequences: almost two-thirds of ultra-orthodox men do not work, meaning that a rapidly increasing share of the population depends on state welfare. Many ultra-orthodox schools refuse to teach the core curriculum, so thousands of pupils grow up with only a rudimentary knowledge of maths and none of other sciences, foreign languages or non-religious history.
"The great majority of ultra-orthodox men are not able to work in most vocations in the modern world. They are very much dependent on government support – and that has aggravated a lot of people," says Menachem Friedman, a professor at Bar Ilan -university. The ultra-orthodox are coming to be seen as a heavy burden. Calls for reform of their schools are growing, as are demands to draft yeshiva students into the army. Ron Huldai, the mayor of Tel Aviv, declared earlier this month that the state must act against "insulated and ignorant sectors which are increasing at a frightening speed and are jeopardising our political and financial strength". According to Mr Ilan, the tensions will increase. The next Israeli election, he argues, "will be fought on the subject of religion and the state".
Food for thought, as, I suspect, is the question of what the increase in the numbers of the Ultra-Orthodox could ultimately mean for the perception of Israel in the West. Yes, there are some evangelical Americans whose enthusiasm for Israel is fueled by their own odd and rather unseemly anticipation of the End Times, but, for the most part, Israel derives its support from the fact that it is seen as a 'secular' pro-Western democracy in a part of the world not generally known for such phenomena. For that reputation to be eroded by a growing fundamentalist minority could be very damaging indeed.
Spreading The Word
2 Comments · Posted by Andrew Stuttaford in politics
Via the London Times, an instructive tale from Uganda:
When he arrived at Kampala's Hotel Triangle for a three-day conference, the Rev Kapya Kaoma knew that he would not like what he heard.
The clue was in the event's title — "Exposing the truth behind homosexuality and the homosexual agenda" — and in the line-up of guest speakers arranged by Stephen Langa, head of the Ugandan-based Family Life Network (FLN), and an outspoken advocate for the criminalisation of homosexuality in Uganda.
Given top billing at the event hosted by the FLN was Scott Lively, president of Abiding Truth Ministries, an American conservative Christian group from California, and a Holocaust revisionist whose controversial book The Pink Swastika names homosexuals as "the true inventors of Nazism and the guiding force behind many Nazi atrocities."
Weeks after the Kampala conference in March last year — which followed a meeting between the speakers and members of the Ugandan Parliament — a clause appeared in the country's draft Anti-Homosexuality Bill recommending life imprisonment for certain homosexual "crimes" or, for "serial offenders", the death sentence.
Life Goes On
2 Comments · Posted by Andrew Stuttaford in science
Craig Venter and Hamilton Smith, the two American biologists who unravelled the first DNA sequence of a living organism (a bacterium) in 1995, have made a bacterium that has an artificial genome—creating a living creature with no ancestor… Pedants may quibble that only the DNA of the new beast was actually manufactured in a laboratory; the researchers had to use the shell of an existing bug to get that DNA to do its stuff. Nevertheless, a Rubicon has been crossed. It is now possible to conceive of a world in which new bacteria (and eventually, new animals and plants) are designed on a computer and then grown to order.
The usual suspects will doubtless grumble, but, writing in the Guardian, a slightly over-enthusiastic Ken Macleod gets in his response first:
It's a tremendous achievement of human ingenuity and skill. And there's something wonderfully confirmatory of mechanistic materialism in the building of a genome from chemically synthesised molecules, that genome running a cell, and that cell replicating to a point where no trace of the original cell's cytoplasm is left in its descendants. This lays to rest, with a satisfying finality, the ghost of vitalism – the spooky, whiffy doctrine that there is some essence of life not captured by "reductionist" biochemistry.
He notes that we can expect the "usual TV studio parade of clergy" giving their opinions. Well, why not? Macleod's "why them?" is a cheap shot, but he redeems himself by adding:
More significant than the clerics are their secular successors, the ethicists – paid to worry so we don't have to. They're already on the case.
"Ethicists" are a modern curse, typified best by that waste of taxpayer dollars, the "President's Council on Bioethics" set up by George W. Bush, and its successor, Obama's "Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues." Needless to say, the busybody-in-chief has asked the commission to investigate the "implications" of Venter and Smith's work:
I ask that the Commission complete its study within six months and provide me with a report with its findings, as well as any recommendations and suggestions for future study that the Commission deems appropriate. Given the importance of this issue, I request that the Commission consult with a range of constituencies, including scientific and medical communities, faith communities, and business and nonprofit organizations.
It is vital that we as a society consider, in a thoughtful manner, the significance ofthis kind of scientific development. With the Commission's collective expertise in the areas of science, policy, and ethical and religious values, I am confident that it will carry out this responsibility with the care and attention it deserves.
Oh, good grief.
The Dalai Lama, Marxist?
7 Comments · Posted by Andrew Stuttaford in politics
NEW YORK (AFP)— Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said Thursday that he is a Marxist, yet credits capitalism for bringing new freedoms to the communist country that exiled him — China. "Still I am a Marxist," the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader said in New York, where he arrived with an entourage of robed monks and a heavy security detail to give a series of paid public lectures.Marxism has "moral ethics, whereas capitalism is only how to make profits," the Dalai Lama, 74, said.
Are There Enough Jews on the Supreme Court?
41 Comments · Posted by Bradlaugh in law, politics
There has been some muted comment about the religious composition of the U.S. Supreme Court after a Kagan approval: 6 Catholics, 3 Jews.
Is this enough Jews, though? Let's crunch numbers.
First permit me to switch from religion to self-identifying ethnicity, which is closer to how this stuff actually works. Less than two percent of non-Hispanic white Americans are religious Jews, but around five percent have Jewish ancestry and consider themselves to some degree Jewish. Let me just take, as round numbers, 220 million non-Hispanic white Americans, ten million of them self-identifying (to some degree) Jewish. You can of course rework the following with different numbers if you like.
There are nine seats on the U.S. Supreme Court. By general agreement (it seems to me) there is one quota-seat for an African American, one for a Hispanic. That leaves seven seats available for non-Hispanic white justices. How many of those seven would we expect to go to Jewish nominees?
Leaving aside the obvious temptation to carry out a 5,000-word analysis on that word "expect," let's drastically simplify: let's pick 'em by IQ. Supposing non-Hispanic white Gentiles to have mean IQ 100 and Jews mean IQ 112 (the figure usually cited, though again you can re-crunch with a different number if you like), with standard deviation 15 in both cases, here's what I get for various cutoff minimum IQs:
|Min IQ
You get three Jewish seats round about cutoff IQ 153, which is pretty darn smart — only 43,000 non-Hispanic white Gentile Americans are that smart. At cutoff 165 you'd expect four Jewish seats; at around 178 you'd expect five.
That's all highly abstract, of course. It assumes up front that anyone actually wants justices as smart as possible, when what presidents usually want is justices that (a) are on their side, lib-con-wise, and (b) are sufficiently bland & unimaginative never to have said or written anything that will raise an eyebrow from the drones on the confirmation committee.
It also assumes that a 180-IQ nominee would be better at judging cases than a 140-IQ-er. That's not obvious to me. I favor the "sweet spot" notion of IQ, where cognitive ability+sense/wisdom max out around 125-135, the sense/wisdom component then dropping off steeply in higher IQ numbers. If that's right, we may have one Jewish justice too many!
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Mumbo Jumbo Medicine, Taxpayer-Paid
3 Comments · Posted by Andrew Stuttaford in Science & Faith
Hundreds of members of the BMA [The British equivalent of the AMA] have passed a motion denouncing the use of [homeopathy], saying taxpayers should not foot the bill for remedies with no scientific basis to support them. The BMA has previously expressed scepticism about homoeopathy, arguing that the rationing body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence should examine the evidence base and make a definitive ruling about the use of the remedies in the NHS.
Now, the annual conference of junior doctors has gone further, with a vote overwhelmingly supporting a blanket ban, and an end to all placements for trainee doctors which teach them homeopathic principles. Dr Tom Dolphin, deputy chairman of the BMA's junior doctors committee in England told the conference: "Homeopathy is witchcraft. It is a disgrace that nestling between the National Hospital for Neurology and Great Ormond Street [in London] there is a National Hospital for Homeopathy which is paid for by the NHS".
The alternative medicine, devised in the 18th century by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann, is based on a theory that substances which cause symptoms in a healthy person can, when vastly diluted, cure the same problems in a sick person. Proponents say the resulting remedy retains a "memory" of the original ingredient – a concept dismissed by scientists. [The] [l]atest figures show 54,000 patients are treated each year at four NHS homeopathic hospitals in London, Glasgow, Bristol and Liverpool, at an estimated cost of £4 million.
The junior doctors are, of course, correct.
Of course, there's absolutely no danger that anyone would ever consider making the taxpayer shell out for mumbo jumbo medicine over here. None at all.
November 03, 2009|Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger
WASHINGTON — Backed by some of the most powerful members of the Senate, a little-noticed provision in the healthcare overhaul bill would require insurers to consider covering Christian Science prayer treatments as medical expenses.
The provision was inserted by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) with the support of Democratic Sens. John F. Kerry and the late Edward M. Kennedy, both of Massachusetts, home to the headquarters of the Church of Christ, Scientist.
Atheists are "vincibly ignorant"
39 Comments · Posted by David Hume in culture, Science & Faith
Joe Carter at First Things, The Vincible Ignorance of Atheism:
Even as a fervent believer I can acknowledge that skepticism and atheism can be inspired by the reasons Hart lists. But I fail to understand how that makes them noble, precious, or necessary traditions. Indeed, I wish Christians would recognize just the opposite: We have to abandon the politically correct notion that atheism is intellectually respectable.
Historically speaking, this concession to the greatest lie in the universe is a rather recent development. While there have always been people who deny the existence of a deity, it has not been a prominent view among intellectuals, much less a serious alternative to Christian theism. What previous cultures instinctively understood, and that we in turn have forgotten, is that atheism is a form of (self-imposed) intellectual dysfunction, a lack of epistemic virtue, or—to borrow a term from my Catholic friends—a case of vincible ignorance.
Let me do a substitution on the part I have emphasized: While there have always been people who deny the existence of Allah, it has not been a prominent view among intellectuals, much less a serious alternative to Muslim theism. For much of the history of the West there were strong social sanctions against public expressions of atheism. And quite often the sanctions were not simply matters of ostracism, they were of capital consequence. The last person executed in the British Isles for atheism suffered such a punishment around ~1700 (see How the Scots Invented the Modern World). There were almost certainly many atheists at the commanding heights of intellect in the pre-modern era in the West, but they would certainly not be open about their views lest they suffer extreme punishment. Additionally, in an era where written works were copied in religious institutions the likelihood of atheistic arguments being transcribed seem rather low (there were already pre-Christian works, such as those of Lucretius, which were useful as examples to refute). A window into the atheists at the heights of intellect who we know nothing of may be someone such as Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne, who flourished in a time of transition between the old and new regime in regards to freedom of conscience. He was a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, but his clerical career was a matter of self-interest, not genuine belief. His materialism and atheism was so well known that the king of France vetoed his advancement within the Church because he believed that de Brienne's lack of belief in Christianity rendered his aspirations to becoming a prince of the Church unseemly.
But we don't have just the West as an example. In both India and China many intellectuals have long been skeptical of theism. Granted, this does not mean that the majority of intellectuals were atheists, but the atheist position has not been without defenders. The Confucian sage Xun Zi was arguably a materialist, whose defense of the propriety of religious ritual was purely instrumental. Even those Chinese scholars who were more open to supernaturalism than Xun Zi often found Christian theism to be beneath their consideration, reflecting a more primitive mindset.


text: Is Your Sleep Pattern Disrupted? Why Your Body Loves Sleep Sleep is the time when the body is able to repair and heal itself. The body does it cleaning at night. The mind and emotions also become balanced through sleep. The perfect night's' sleep begins long before you get into bed. Setting Up Your Daily Sleep Routine Avoid caffeine, chocolate, alcohol, sugar, and fruits, flour and starches after 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the afternoon. Eat dinner before 7:00 p.m., so it has time to … [Read more...]


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National Research Council: Data-Based Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs
Approximately every 10 years, the National Research Council (NRC), part of the National Academies, conducts an assessment of research-doctorate programs in the United States. The purpose of the assessment is to "help universities improve the quality of [doctoral] programs through benchmarking; provide potential students and the public with accessible, readily available information on doctoral programs nationwide; and enhance the nation's overall research capacity."1
The last NRC assessment was conducted in 1993 and released in 1995. The resulting rankings were based on peer assessment of faculty quality. The current assessment, conducted in 2006/7 and released on Sept. 28, 2010, is significantly more data-driven than the previous study. Institutions, doctoral programs, faculty, and students completed separate questionnaires that solicited various data elements (e.g. time-to-degree, student financial support) not included in the previous assessment.
More than 5,000 programs in 62 fields at 212 institutions participated in the assessment. Thirty-nine U.Va. doctoral programs participated in the assessment. More than 800 U.Va. faculty received questionnaires with 88 percent responding. In addition, more than 300 U.Va. doctoral students received questionnaires with 73 percent responding.
The University believes the NRC assessment is important in that it will provide a significant amount of publicly-available information about U.Va. graduate programs and those across the United States.
U.Va. Results & Report Materials (updated 9/28/10)
To best understand the complexities of the NRC assessment, it is recommended that users read the report summary (the first bullet) prior to reviewing programmatic results:
- Summary: A Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States (2010)
- Methodology Report: A Revised Guide to the Methodology of the Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States (2010)
- Report: A Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States (2010)
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Results for U.Va. Programs
- Results for all institutions/programs (external link)
Helpful Links
- National Research Council (NRC) Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs
- Participating U.Va. Programs
- Methodology
- Sample Rating Calculation
- "The NRC Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs" by Charlotte Kuh (CGS Communicator, June 2010) -- begins on page 3
- "A Data-Based Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs" Presentation by Charlotte Kuh at the 2010 CGS New Deans Institute & Summer Workshop (July 2010)
1. See http://www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/index.html.
2. Ostriker, J.P. & Kuh, C.V. (2003). Assessing research-doctorate programs: A methodology study. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, p. 3.


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Churchill and Stalin made 'merry' until early hours
Wartime talks between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin were proving awkward until a drinking session lasting until 3am, newly released files show.
In a Foreign Office account of the 1942 Moscow visit, an official recalls finding the men enjoying "food of all kinds... and innumerable bottles".
The mood was "merry as a marriage-bell" although Churchill was "complaining of a slight headache" by 1am.
The letter adds: "The two great men really made contact and got on terms."
Sir Alexander Cadogan, who was permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, writes: "Conditions have been established in which messages exchanged between the two will mean twice as much, or more, than they did before."
The first meeting with Stalin on the trip "delighted" the British prime minister, before a second meeting at which the Russian leader presented a matter "as sticky and unhelpful as could be".
Sir Alexander writes: "Exactly the same technique as last December when, at first meeting, all was honey and at the second everything went wrong.
"A very odd technique, and I don't see the point of it."
He continues: "This threw rather a cloud on the party, which was not dispelled by the banquet the following night. Nothing can be imagined more awful than a Kremlin banquet, though it has to be endured.
"Unfortunately, Winston didn't suffer it gladly."
The breakthrough between the leaders came the following evening at further talks with Stalin, alone, that had been requested by Churchill, who is described as "determined to fire his last bolt".
After the meeting began at 7pm, it was 1am when Sir Alexander was "summoned to come at once to Stalin's rooms at the Kremlin".
He writes: "There I found Winston and Stalin, and Molotov who had joined them, sitting with a heavily laden board between them: food of all kinds crowned by a sucking (sic) pig, and innumerable bottles.
"What Stalin made me drink seemed pretty savage: Winston, who by that time was complaining of a slight headache, seemed wisely to be confining himself to a comparatively innocuous effervescent Caucasian red wine."
Stalin's hospitality was renowned for involving large quantities of alcohol and he preferred negotiating with heavy drinkers. Vyacheslav Molotov was Russian foreign minister.
The letter suggests: "Certainly Winston was impressed, and I think that feeling was reciprocated.
"It's very difficult to get on terms through interpreters, but, e.g., on one occasion Stalin replied to a statement of Winston's 'I don't agree with that, but I like the spirit of it'."
And it adds: "We broke up soon after 3, giving me just time to get back to the hotel, pack, and leave for the aerodrome at 4.15."
The letter is among almost 600 UK government files, mostly-intelligence related and dating from World War II and the early years of the Cold War, just released by the National Archives.


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Groovy, Baby!
Jeff at Side Salad has posted pictures of a recent Austin Powers-themed party. When I first saw the pictures, my age sneaked up on me as it took me a moment to realize that the women were in "costume." Hell, I thought they looked great!
I recall feeling somewhat the same way when I saw the movie Austin Powers. I thought most of the characters in the movie looked … well … normal. That's not all that surprising for one who actually once owned clothes that looked like some of the stuff in the movie. I remember having a pair of gray and pink vertical striped, bell-bottom jeans that I proudly wore and considered myself to be the cat's ass.
The band I was playing with back then wore various loud, multi-colored, patterned polyester shirts with bell-bottom slacks held up by wide belts with big buckles. Footwear consisted of leather boots with zippers on the sides. In addition, it was obligatory that hair covered one's ears.
Truth is, we were the cat's ass back then, even though now we might think we looked more like horse's asses.
I sure wish I could have attended Jeff's shindig. It looks like it was… well … groovy.
I would have fit right in, Baby.


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I'm an Apple shareholder, so from a personal finance point of view, I don't hate the idea that famous activist investor Carl Icahn has taken a small stake in the company and started making demands.
As a market observer and fan of Apple's products, however, I'm annoyed that Apple CEO Tim Cook is wasting his time talking to Icahn.
A month or so ago, in case you missed it, Icahn announced in a Tweet that he had bought a bunch of Apple stock and had just talked to Tim Cook on the phone. Icahn's private conversation with Tim Cook had gone well, Icahn said, and Icahn said he planned to talk to Tim Cook again soon.
And now CNBC is reporting that Icahn and Cook are going to hang out together in New York next week.
Now, again, as an Apple shareholder, I'm not going to object too loudly to the fact that Icahn seems to be able to jawbone Apple's stock higher whenever he wants.
But I have two issues with this...
First, in case anyone out there has ever been tempted to believe that the stock trading game is "a level playing field," this new relationship between Icahn and Cook should be a cold bucket of water in the face. You and I cannot buy Apple stock and then call Apple and demand to talk to Tim Cook. We also can't buy the stock knowing that we will likely be able to put ourselves firmly in the black merely by tweeting that we have bought the stock and saying that we have just had an encouraging private conversation with the company's CEO.
This incident should make crystal clear, in other words, that Carl Icahn and other big investors have a very significant "edge" over the rest of us. And in case we get tempted to play the trading game, we should remember who the suckers at the table are (Us).
The second issue I have with the Cook-Icahn bromance is the reminder that Apple CEO Tim Cook is wasting his time having private conversations with investors.
I realize that this is standard practice for public-company CEOs these days, but I wish it weren't.
Companies like Apple already share an extraordinary amount of information with their investors. (Glance through even one quarterly filing and listen to one quarterly conference call and you'll be astounded at how much information you get.) They also publish press releases, announce products, and employ vast investor and media relations departments to spend gobs of time holding the hands of investors and reporters. CEOs and senior managers like Tim Cook also speak relatively frequently in public. So investors who don't feel like they're getting enough information from the conference calls, press releases, product announcements, investor relations folks, and SEC filings can try to pick up some nuggets from from those public utterances.
Meanwhile, companies like Apple also have hundreds of major shareholders.
Carl Icahn owns a billion dollars worth of Apple stock?
So what. That's chump change.
Dozens of Apple shareholders own more than a billion dollars of Apple stock. State Street owns $15 billion, for example. So does Fidelity. BlackRock owns $11 billion. Northern Trust, Bank of New York, Susquehanna, J.P. Morgan, Invesco, and T. Rowe Price each own $5-$6 billion. And so on.
If Tim Cook is going to race to the phone when Carl Icahn calls, and meet him in New York, is Tim Cook also going to make time to talk to each of these other much-more-significant investors, too?
Then there's the disclosure issue.
Even if Tim Cook is extremely careful not to say anything in his private conversations with Icahn, et al, that he and Apple haven't said in public, there's always the "body language" thing. As any junior Wall Street analyst quickly learns, the way a CEO says something is often as (or more) informative than what the CEO actually says. And if this body language communicates anything helpful, well, then, that's information that other investors would probably like to have.
And then there's the time commitment.
As the CEO of one of the world's biggest companies, Tim Cook has a lot that he could spend his time on.
Personally, as a small Apple shareholder and customer, I would rather have Tim Cook spend his time working on Apple's products and management team than wasting his time having private conversations with bigger Apple shareholders. I'd rather have him pressing Jony Ive to design a bigger iPhone, for example. I'd rather have him out trying to recruit a great leader for Apple's retail stores. I'd rather have him negotiating with China Mobile to try to cut a deal to have China Mobile sell the iPhone. I'd rather have him doing just about anything other than having private conversations with investors--especially conversations that I'm not privvy to.
If Tim Cook wants to get suggestions from Apple investors, that's different, and that's fine. But if Tim Cook wants to get investor suggestions, I'd rather he just say that and then provide an email address to which all investors can send them.
But won't big investors like Carl Icahn be furious about being snubbed by Tim Cook?
Don't these big investors have a right to have private conversations with Tim Cook?
If Tim Cook refuses to waste his time talking to these investors, won't they, gulp, threaten to sell their stock?
Yes, investors like Carl Icahn might be mad if Tim Cook refuses to talk to them. But so what. Let them be mad. These investors don't have a right to talk privately with the CEO of one of the world's biggest companies, especially when they own only one quarter of one percent of the company's stock. If these investors threaten to sell their stock because the CEO won't talk to them, then let them sell their stock. Carl Icahn didn't own Apple stock a few months ago, and he probably won't own it a few months from now. Apple doesn't need to keep Carl Icahn happy. And having Apple's CEO take the time to have private conversations with Carl Icahn is not just unfair all other Apple shareholders. It's also a colossal waste of time.
If securities regulators are actually serious about trying to create a "level playing field," one of the things they should do is eliminate private meetings and conversations between senior managers and investors altogether. Without having the ability to have these meetings, or know what information is communicated in them, non-huge investors are at a major disadvantage. But the "private meetings with management" culture is now so entrenched that it will probably never be eliminated. The more practical step is for investors to understand that all the talk about a "level playing field" is ridiculous.
But whether or not these meetings and conversations are kosher, there is still the question of whether they are a good use of a CEO's time.
I would argue that they aren't.
Investors and stocks are going to do what they are going to do, regardless of whether a CEO spends time kissing up to investors. And if a company puts up good numbers, the stock will take care of itself.
As a smaller shareholder, I would far rather have the CEO of Apple spend time working on the company's products than having private conversations with bigger shareholders.
So I wish Tim Cook would spend his precious time on Monday doing something other than meeting with Carl Icahn.
Disclosure: I own Apple stock.


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#BridesmaidDuties: Beyond The Hashtag
More than just a fancy Instagram hashtag to go with a fancy picture.
Your ride or die chic, or someone as random as your colleague's supplier of a special natural hair leave-in conditioner mix has just asked that you grace her wedding with your presence by being on her bridal train. In other words, you have been carefully and painstakingly selected from a number of other ladies to be a bridesmaid.
Either you accept the offer because you've been longing for the opportunity to make your bridesmaid debut, or because you felt boxed in a corner and couldn't bring yourself to blurt out anything but a positive reply, or maybe you just belong to the category of people who have a phobia for the word "no", you've officially been saddled with the #bridesmaidduty.
Of course, being asked and accepting to be a bridesmaid comes with its perceived perks – the gorgeous dress, hair styling and make-up done by industry professionals, automatic free pass to the lavish bridal shower and the spotlight which tends to jack up your chances of being spotted by a man candy.
However, beyond sitting pretty, getting glammed up and being paired with a groomsman who could happen to be a handsome hunk, there's a reason the word bridesmaid features both bride and maid.
A bridesmaid is known to attend to the bride on the day of a wedding ceremony. However, it is important to note that the word is not in anyway synonymous with cheap labour, neither does it describe a group of ladies who are allowed to be bossed around by a bride-zilla.
What exactly do they do?
The pretty dresses, professionally done make-up, hotel bills, flight ticket (in cases of a destination wedding) and even the bouquets don't come free, they also do not come cheap.
As a bridesmaid, you are expected to spend towards the success of the bride's wedding. In some cases, the brides are kind enough to foot some of the bills. However, the bulk of the expenses still falls on you.
Given the recent trend observed in Nigerian weddings, it is safe to say that except you're willing to dole out wads of Naira without batting an eyelid, you should politely decline the offer when asked to be a bridesmaid. Your friend's (or acquaintance) wedding should not cause too much dent in your pocket.
Bridal shower
Yay! Some fun, right? Well, at the risk of sounding like a grinch, I feel the need to clarify that the bridal shower is more than just you attending, adhering to a strict themed dress code, taking loads of pictures for the "gram" with the perfect backdrop and props, and satisfying your taste buds with yummy desserts and mouthwatering dishes.
Some serious behind-the-scene activities goes into putting up the perfect bridal shower, and unless the service of a planner will be enlisted, it is the job of the bridesmaids (with the maid of honour spearheading the team) to plan the bridal shower. You will be required to chip in ideas, make suggestions, contribute financially, run some errands and also, try as much as possible not to spill the beans to the bride-to-be, as bridal showers are designed to be a pleasant surprise.
Emotional and Moral support
A bridesmaid often works in the company of other ladies (with different personalities and breaking point) and most importantly, the bride. Due to anxiety and tension, it is not out of place for brides to freak out and vent. Calming and putting her at ease should rank higher on your priority ladder, way above your need to grumble about how you consider yourself a better and more perfect fit for the position of the maid of honour because you've known her the longest.
There is not a more perfect time to maintain a cool and calm demeanour than when reporting for your bridesmaid duties. It is never the time to complain about how unflattering the dress looks or whine about how the shoe is a waste of your hard earned money as you don't see yourself ever wearing it again, or turn up your nose at every point where there's a need for financial contribution. You don't want to come off as the unnecessarily stand-offish and hard to put up with kind of bridesmaid.
Your role, basically, is to serve as the bride's support system, shielding her from every form of negative vibes that may arise as the wedding ceremony approaches and on the actual day of the wedding.
Trust me, your emotional strength will be tested.
Bridesmaids duties also include and are not limited to assisting the bride in getting into her dress, holding up the bride's dress, maintaining order and a good composure, getting in line for the bridal bouquet toss (except you're married), checking up on the bride's needs (remember, there's a thin line that separates genuine care from irritatingly doting), attending to guests, mingling and socializing.
More than the perks, the real sense of fulfilment comes from knowing that you were able to serve as more than just another bridal accessory.
Write up: Je'ajoplan Event
Photo Credit; Instagram
klala photography, Digital suite, Giwa Akeem photography, Lypix photography0


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Many cases of erectile dysfunction can be treated. It's still a good idea to see your doctor if you're really concerned about ED With that said, this article will discuss a few things you can do to treat ED.
Walk a few miles per day because walking is a great form of exercise.
It will help you unwind and lose a little bit of weight. You should walk every single day, whether it's outside or on the treadmill.
There are herbal supplements you can take that can help you treat ED.
Just make sure the one you choose is reputable and has good reviews. You don't want to spend money on supplements that don't work.
Try to do things to relax because stress is one of the leading reasons men have erectile dysfunction.
Do things such as take baths, read a book, take up a hobby that will put your mind at ease or exercise a few days per week.
huge load formula ultimate edition
As time goes on, you will feel better and you should be able to get erections with ease.
Erectile dysfunction doesn't mean it's the end of the world. It just means you have to take things into your own hands.
Give the advice in this article a try and you may improve your condition.


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6 April 2015
Another Birthday card..
8 comments:
- Shona Hamill said...
This is gorgeous the paper works so well with the coloured topper. Shona xx
- 6 April 2015 at 09:29
- Lin said...
She is too cute, marching in with her birthday cake, Christine! Thanks for celebrating our birthday with us at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge!
- 6 April 2015 at 20:12
- Amy Ottmers said...
Too cute, love that image!!! Thank you for joining us at Aud Sentiments, good luck!!! Amy DT
- 6 April 2015 at 21:02
- Nancy said...
Look at that adorable girl taking such big steps! Great card...love the lace too! Thanks for taking the time to join us over at STB, please come back again soon!
- 7 April 2015 at 02:13
- As.I.Do.Rodos. said...
Fabulous card Thank you for joining us at Aud Sentiments challenge good luck Ginny ♥
- 7 April 2015 at 10:28
- crafty-stamper said...
Beautiful card and love the LOTV image and great B.paper-Thank you for joining us at Open-Minded Crafting Fun
Carol DT x
- 8 April 2015 at 22:10
- Kathy S said...
Yummy, yummy - doesn't this look good! Love the sweet image and the paper that goes with it so well. Thanks so much for sharing this sweet treat with us at Open-Minded Crafting "Food Related" challenge this week. Good luck on your entry. Hope you'll join us next week too!
- 9 April 2015 at 01:23
- Kim Rippere said...
Great layering and textures. Thanks for entering Open-Minded Crafting Challenges.
Open-Minded Crafting
{Craftisan Studios}
{Design Team Showcase}
- 16 April 2015 at 04:47


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Daiichi's unique StandOut hook is a specialist dropshot hook that allows very natural presentations of soft plastic lures. Once tied on to your line, the hook will stand out at 90 degrees with the point facing upward, the optimum position for setting the hook when a fish takes. These hooks are ideal if you want to incorporate wire into your drop shot rig. Black Nickel finish, 10pcs per pack.
Size: 4
Length (measured from eye to bend): 17mm
Width of gape: 9mm
Price: £1.99 per pack (10pcs)


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Cell Phone Pictures Helpful Tool in Police Investigations
Yakima Police say they hope more people realize they can use their cell phones to put criminals behind bars. Capt. Rod Light says it was a cell phone picture that helped them arrest a 34-year-old man last week in connection with the death of 70-year-old David Childs. Light says the cell phone picture was "vital to our investigation" Police are not identifying the person who took the picture that showed the suspect standing over Childs who was on the ground in a downtown parking lot last month. Light says with everyone carrying phones with cameras these days he is hoping more people realize they have the power to help the police department solve crimes.


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24" Swivel Cushioned Scroll Metal Barstool
Elegant yet practical, this barstool is the perfect accent for your kitchen counter top. Sturdy, brushed-metal construction and powdered coated frame make for an extremely durable seat for years to come. This beautiful, metal scroll backed barstool is the perfect seating option for any bar or island eating area.
- Box dimensions: 37.01"L x 19.69"W x 6.69"H
- Comfortable brown faux leather seat
- Sturdy construction
- Metal footrest for optimum leg comfort
- Assembly required
- True color: Brown
- 21.25"L x 40"H x 18"W
- Product weight: 23.5 lbs.
- Model number: LA-06-0156-24
Return Policy
If you wish to return your online order, please visit your order history to start the return process. If you have any issues, contact our Customer Care Support Center at 1-866-BIG-LOTS (244-5687) for assistance with making your return. Please be prepared to provide your order number and email address, or your rewards number, so that we may better assist you.
For return terms, see our full Returns Policy.
For return terms, see our full Returns Policy.
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1) Maybe there are official rules about drawing that are very clear in Korea and I'm just not aware of them.
2) This doesn't come up very often. Games that get into the territory where things become extremely tedious and draw rules might be necessary are rare. Professional games that are actually ruled as drawn, though there have been a couple, are even rarer.
It just seems like a fundamental flaw with the game, if only a small one, and since this game is so good otherwise I wish someone would fix it. To explain the flaw, sometimes a game reaches what is effectively a stalemate. This is when it is literally impossible for either player to eliminate the other's last building. When this happens, or comes close to happening, I certainly get very excited because it is such a strange occurrence in StarCraft, and I'm sure lots of other people get excited too. But after 10 minutes or so of the game stretching on with absolutely nothing happening, it becomes a problem, not just for the spectators, but even for the players themselves. Sometimes the game is technically winnable, but just very difficult for both players to make progress without taking a disproportionate risk. Other times both players may feel confident that they can still win, but are overindulgent in taking their time towards activating their plan.
Some of you may be aware that this is something that comes up much more frequently in the game of chess. In chess, there is a long, time-honoured tradition of long boring games that go nowhere, and they have a number of very clear and simple rules to help players, and tournament organizers navigate those waters. In chess the conditions for a draw are simple:
1) If one player offers a draw, at any time during the game, and the other player accepts.
2) If it is logically impossible for either player to win, because they lack the necessary in-game resources to meet the win conditions. In the context of chess, the necessary resources for winning are very well understood by chess theorists, so this rule is completely explicit and can be applied by simple reference to a manual, if necessary.
3) If at any point in time, play has continued for a certain period of time without certain official markers of definite progress being met. In the case of chess, a game is ruled a draw after 50 moves have gone by without either player moving a pawn, or capturing a piece. This helps tremendously with ruling over the gray area where the game simply becomes very boring, while still technically being winnable, without the rules needing to be arbitrary in order to deal with it.
My suggestion is that StarCraft should implement a slightly modified version of at least some of these rules, so that when this does happen, it isn't as confusing or lame or torturous to everybody involved. It is also just as important, in my opinion, if for no reason other than a matter of principle, that the process by which a game is ruled a draw is completely non-arbitrary. The whims of sports referees are often defended by fans for their ability to inject a "human" element into the ruling of the game. This results in games like soccer having a very different time-honoured tradition, namely riots. In my opinion it is better that things are as objective as possible, which usually means being explicitly set in stone as much as possible.
So here's my rough idea. Suggestions and refinements to this idea, as well as a wholesale rejection of all of my stated premises, are welcome. A game of StarCraft should be automatically ruled a draw:
1) If both players have buildings which are inaccessible to each other's standing army, and no possible access to resources which would allow them to make an army capable of destroying each others' buildings.
2) [edited] If at any time during the game, 3 minutes go by without either player producing or damaging any unit or building, a draw will result, assuming that both players have either the capability to win, or the capability to defend themselves. If only one player can win, and the other can neither win nor defend himself, then the player who can win will be awarded the win automatically.


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The prizes for the August 2016 raffle!
The lucky winner this time may take their choice of one of these creatures: A colorshift baby kirin, a test painted unicorn colt ( the first one I painted) , a blue morpho mini keeper with added color shift blue /red paint, and a buckskin appaloosa baby unicorn that was left over from a previous natural grab bag batch.
If you to enter for a chance to win one of these, and you haven't won a previous Windstone monthly raffle, email me you forum name ( if you aren't yet a forum member, com'on in! registration is in the upper right hand corner) real name and address with the words "August 2016 raffle" in the subject line.
Dead line for entering is the last day of the month, 6:30 PST. Winner will be announced sometime after that!
Remember to put the words " August 2016 raffle" in the subject line or you may not get entered!
My email is Reptangle (at) gmail (dot ) com


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Teacher Helps Develop Budding Mozarts in Young Composers Challenge
In towns across the U.S., there are young people pursuing dreams to become composers for symphony orchestras, says Music Production Course Director and Department Chair Keith Lay. He is a judge and one of the founders of the National Young Composer's Challenge (NYCC), a yearly competition to find the best and brightest young composers in the country.
"The orchestra is alive and well in the minds of our young, creative musicians, and the NYCC is the nation's most successful organization that supports it," says Lay, an award-winning musician and composer in his own right.
The Young Composers Challenge is open to musicians, ages 13 to 18. For the competition, youth are challenged to write a composition, either for a small ensemble or an entire orchestra. Six winners are chosen – three from the ensemble category, who each receive $500, and three from the orchestral category, who each receive $1,000. The winners also receive a professional recording of their composition performed by a symphony orchestra. For the past few years, the NYCC has received between 75 to 100 submissions from around the country, says Lay.
Lay recently returned from San Francisco, where the organization held its annual Composium on Oct. 6.
"That's where the winners come in from all around the country to hear their works performed by a symphony orchestra," says Lay. This year, the participating orchestra was the Marin Symphony Orchestra, based in San Rafael, California.
In addition to the competition, the organization runs a yearly workshop, during which Lay and other composers and musicians train the youth participants in principles of composition, orchestration, musical notation, scoring software, and MIDI technology.
2 thoughts on "Teacher Helps Develop Budding Mozarts in Young Composers Challenge"
Great story Keith, regarding our young musicians! Thank you, Christine, for such a great story.
Thanks, Kenneth!
Comments are closed.


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As more people have begun to realize the benefits of eating fresh and organic food, as well as the associated disadvantages of processed food, homemade food has become a popular trend with diners. Bread, being the most-consumed food, worldwide, has gained a lot of attention in recent years.
Some experts have claimed that store-bought varieties contain a lot of unsafe additives and processed ingredients, however. Hence, homemade bread has become increasingly common. This trend, in turn, has resulted in an increasing popularity of the bread maker. This is an all-in-one machine that kneads, mixes, and bakes bread, without requiring too much effort or attendance.
What this means for you the consumer is no more long and grueling processes of mixing, combining, and kneading ingredients! We all know that kneading requires a lot of work. Bread makers can save you time and energy in creating your favorite baked goods. All you have to do is add and combine the ingredients, set the settings that you want, and your bread is ready to go.
There's less mess and certainly less physical effort, on your part. If you are a busy person, who likes to make your own homemade bread, a bread maker can save your day. You do not even necessarily need to be a busy person to have one of these devices in your home. If you just want to save yourself a little time, and free up your day to do more important things, you certainly might as well get one.
Hamilton Beach has already made a name in small household appliances, from slow cookers to coffee makers. However, just like any other item we as consumers purchase, there will always be pros and cons. This review will address both the advantages and disadvantages of the Hamilton Beach HomeBaker 29882 bread maker.
For this review, price, features, ease of operation, performance, maintenance, durability, and versatility will all be considered. Please be reminded that this review is only intended as a guide. Still, every purchase relies on individual preferences.
Hamilton Beach HomeBaker 29882 Bread Maker Features
The Hamilton Beach HomeBaker 29882 bread maker presents several features.
- Item weight: 12.6 pounds
- Dimensions: 16.38 x 12.38 x 12.75 in
- The option to control the specific nutritional content of your bread
- Features 12 cycles or settings: basic bread, French bread, gluten-free bread, quick bread, sweet, 1.5 pound express, 2 pound express, cake, dough, whole grain, jam, and bake.
- Light, medium, and dark crust settings are available
- 13-hour delay timer which allows you to add ingredients, and begin baking later
- Gives you the option to change the loaf size to 1.5 pounds or 2 pounds
- Instruction manual and recipes (basic bread, French bread, gluten-free bread, quick bread, sweet, 1.5 and 2 pound express, cake, dough, whole grain, and jam) are included
- Aside from bread, it can make pizza dough, cakes, jam, flatbreads, and croissants
- Features a removable non-stick bread pan
- Has an audible reminder when fruits and nuts are ready to be added
- Has a cool-touch body
- Has a non-slip feet
- Has an extra kneading paddle
- Features five-minute back-up power, in case of power interruption
- Features a large viewing window
- Affordable
- Has several features making it versatile for your taste and diet preferences
- Easy to use, as the operation of the machine is straightforward. Simply add ingredients, choose the settings, then start.
- Has a removable non-stick pan, making cleaning up and maintenance easier
- Removing bread from the pan is easy, owing to its non-stick finish
- Lightweight
- Features a gluten-free setting
- Has a delay timer that lets you bake bread, at a later stage. This can be used, when you want to add ingredients at night, and bake through into the morning.
- Features an additional kneading paddle, which you can use for a replacement, or when the other paddle is in the dishwasher
- Good for newcomers to the art of bread baking
- Construction is not very durable. Some components, such as the paddle, could become loose after several uses
- Makes a vertical loaf, instead of the traditional horizontal loaf
- No safety reminder for the user to remove the kneading paddle before baking
The Hamilton Beach HomeBaker 29882 bread maker is a good, high-quality budget option. It is on the lower end of the pricing scale. There may be more expensive bread makers on the market, but this device still makes good quality loaves at just a portion of the cost. It is a versatile bread maker, featuring several options, and can be used, as well, for making pizza dough, jams, and cakes. Its operation is straightforward and foolproof.
If you are a beginner to baking, this can be an easy option for you to enjoy fresh, homemade bread. You can experiment with different types of bread recipes, without doing all the hard work of kneading and mixing ingredients. However, its built with much in the way of durability. This is the downside of buying items at affordable prices.
Every purchase has its own disadvantages, but, overall, the Hamilton Beach HomeBaker 29882 bread maker can be still considered of good value, for its price. For this review, this device is certainly recommended, for those who are looking for budget-friendly bread makers. For holidays, this is a great gift option, as well.


text: Author leveraged compelling approach to this historical fiction by leveraging a deep understanding of history from medieval times to contemporary periods. The use of multiple plot lines through a web of mysticism generates a fantastic read. I can see this becoming a series of books, and/or films. My teenagers believe it should be made into a game. Read all 700+ pages in less than a week, difficult to put down. Hope Quentin Grady continues to write and expands upon this book for the benefit of his followers.


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We can notify you when this product is back in stock by sending you an email.
What email should we reach you at?
Dad's Fix It Shop is open for business. This Dad's Shop Vintage Metal Sign let's the family know that Dad is always there to fix any problem for his special family. Durable and colorful, this Dads Fix It Shop steel sign has a vintage graphic, has a long lasting finish, is approximately 8 in. x 14 in. and is drilled and riveted for easy hanging. This quality sign for Dad is finished with a vintaging process done by hand to give this sign an aged look and feel. Proudly hand made in the USA, is about 1lb and is made of heavy 24-gauge American steel. Therefore, this is NOT a tin sign. ON CLEARANCE - 1 left A Man Cave Gifts Exclusive!
PROCESSING/SHIPPING: Approximately 1-2 business days for processing and 2-4 business days for shipping. NEED IMMEDIATELY? See IN A RUSH? See Holiday and Father's Day Shipping Schedule in May, June, November & December.
* Please note that this product is purchased from and shipped by our company, Man Cave Gifts (mancavegifts.com), not from another company that we refer you to via our Referral Network.


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Family of Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh (December 22, 1666 in Patna, Bihar, India - October 7, 1708) was the tenth and last of the Ten human form Gurus of Sikhism. He became Guru on November 11, 1675 at the age of nine, following in the footsteps of his father Guru Teg Bahadur. Before Guru Ji left his body, he nominated Sri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS) as the next perpetual Guru of the Sikhs. Guru Gobind Singh moulded the Sikh religion into its present form that we see today with the formation of the Khalsa in 1699 and completed the final layout of the perpetual Sikh Guru, the Guru Granth Sahib which some will say was his greatest act.
The tenth Guru was the only son of the father, ninth Sikh master, Guru Teg Bahadur and mother Mata Gujri. The grandparents of the tenth Guru were, the sixth Sikh Guru Guru Hargobind and Mata Nanaki.
Guru Gobind Singh and Mata Jito/Sundri had four sons who were: Sahibzada Ajit Singh, Sahibzada Jujhar Singh, Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Sahibzada Fateh Singh
See also
- Guru Gobind Singh
- Mata Jito
- Guru Tegh Bahadur
- Mata Gujri
- Guru Hargobind
- Mata Nanaki
- Sahibzada Ajit Singh
- Sahibzada Jujhar Singh
- Sahibzada Zorawar Singh
- Sahibzada Fateh Singh


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Is Gossip Girl jumping the shark? A teacher-student romance and an "Eyes Wide Shut" storyline in one episode?! These kids aren't even in college, let alone the big bad world of finance and they're already embroiled in scandals. Here are Blindie's over-the-top ten moments moments of Gossip Girl's "Carnal Knowledge" episode:
- Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) gets detention! We should've known this episode was gonna be a shocker when the Queen Bee actually gets punished. Well, at least she made Dorota (Zuzanna Szadkowski) do all the work.
- Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) wakes up in a hotel room with a strange tattoo on his arm, and flashbacks of a night of debauchery reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's last film "Eyes Wide Shut." All obvious questions aside, but does Chuck even go to school anymore?
- Does anyone else think the english teacher Rachel Carr (Laura Breckenridge) looks like Shannon Doherty (from the original 90210 years)?
- That awesome dialogue that keeps us coming back for more: "Is a scandal still a scandal if you can't text about it?" Hazel (Dreama Walker) complains when their cell phones are confiscated at school; "Talk about the filthy rich," Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr) says when she sees Chuck in his apres-party unkemptness; "I can't believe we're here on a Saturday evening, that's a lot of cancelled retstaurant reservations," Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford) laments when she has to attend an emergency parent meeting at the school.
- We love when Blair compared Dan and Ms. Carr to that infamous teacher who had an affair with her student, Mary Kay Letourneau!
- Blair's plan to take down the english teacher backfires and she faces expulsion for spreading a rumor about Dan Humphrey getting it on with Ms. Carr.
- Rumor starts to become truth when Dan meets with the english teacher at a dimly lit cafe. Really? Who does that? Like they couldn't talk at school?
- We love how Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) is quick to sell Dan up the river as soon as she sees him barely touching Ms. Carr for like a split second. Blair snaps a photo on her cell phone and uses it to bail Blair out of her lies so she won't have to go to Oberlin!
- Chuck goes on a wild goose chase for the mysterious masked woman who pleasured him the previous night and finds out his father was involved in a secret gentleman's club. We're not sure where this is going but since the woman has already turned up missing it's definitely gonna be scandalous and shocking and age-inappropriate!
- Dan and Serena are splitsville again! And Dan's already jumped into bed with the english teacher, or should we say the english teacher has already jumped his bones. Too bad the dean of Constance Billard was about to call and offer Ms. Carr her job back!
Read More


text: Welcome to the forums, Burmecian Rat. I feel it is my responsibility to inform you that you are looking to invest in a terrible game. I won't try to talk you out of it, but I just wouldn't sleep good knowing I didn't at least STRONGLY warn you against buying it.


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We Are Not Teaching Smart Money
I enjoy giving my great friend and partner, John Hardy, grief by saying he's a "monkey with a machine gun" when he gets new technology. His new iphone is much more artillery than his skill level. Words like "Safari" or "Apps" are beyond his current capabilities. Unfortunately, the Millenials (young adults 18-29) are those same monkeys when it comes to being equipped to handle their money and their finances. I think we can all agree that money and investing has become more complex over the last 30 years. After enduring financial catastrophes of the savings and loan collapse in 1987, the tech bubble's implosion of 2000, 9/11 and Great Recession of 2008, there is no doubt the landscape is not even or particularly pretty any more. The days of buying blue chip stocks and CD's and holding them to retirement have long since passed us by. At a time when more financial acuity than ever is needed, our successor generation is less prepared than ever.
Ask Millennials to program a Mac computer, iphone or Xbox and within minutes the job is completed quickly and confidently. Ask them the meaning of compounding interest or dollar cost averaging…deer in the headlights. Unfortunately with the financial world becoming more complex, financial literacy is decreasing. A survey by Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy conducted a series of tests of high school seniors on 18-29 year olds from 1997 to 2008. In 1997, the average score on the 31-question exam was an abysmal 57.3%. In 2008, the same test had average scores of 48.3%.
Schools are not helping either. Less than one-half of states in this country require high school students to take an economics class and just 13 require a personal finance class. Given the complexities and life- long need of financial knowledge, what's more important….a year of Spanish where the only retention is "que hora es" or "como se llama usted" or how to balance a checkbook, the dangers of credit card debt, and the basics of investing. Further studies by the Council for Economic Education showed the 13 states with these types of classes had students entering young adulthood saving money and paying off credit card debt monthly.
Additional surveys show that parents not teachers have the most impact on financial literacy. However, many parents either don't have the tools themselves or are overwhelmed with just the difficulties of battling today's children's issues that include social media, technology, drugs, and alcohol. We parents also have wrongly become ingrained that 'we must provide everything for our children' thus not letting them have skin in the game. Most children I know, including my own, obtain educations, computers, clothes, cars paying little or nothing for the privileges. They graduate from college without ever having to save or budget for items nor do they know how to prioritize.
The long term consequences are that Millennials have more debt than any other generation for their ages (average of $45,000) while unemployment for their ages is extraordinarily high at 12.4%. Without the skills to get out of debt or the skills to have a household budget, the problem spirals. Having too much debt can preclude them from certain jobs and wreck credit early in their careers.
Since our future will one day be in their hands, the trend needs to change. Parents and grandparents need to start teaching 12 year olds about checking accounts, credit cards, savings accounts, and basic investments. In turn, they can teach you how to Facebook, Tweet, and instant message on your iphone! Here is a link to 5 books for young adults that hopefully can be a start for all of us to teach financial literacy: http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/starting/archive/2007/st0906.htm. Let's get them educated. I don't like the thought of people who can't balance a checkbook running our country. Wait a minute…I just described our current Congress!
Source for statistics: "Millennials struggle with financial literacy" by Hadley Malcolm, USA Today. 4/25/2012