text:
I'm starting this blog mainly because I'm having a hard time finding recipes for our Big Green Egg and mostly, because I love to cook. I all ready publish recipes every so often on my "professional" blog and I've twitter'd about what I'm cooking with request for recipes…it's about time I start to write about two things I enjoy: food and wine. And I'll be starting this just in...
Food and Drink
Recent Comments
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Work with Rhonda
Rhonda Porter helps people finance homes located in Washington State. If you would like to work with Rhonda, please contact her or apply online.
Recent Posts
Favorite Food and Wine Sites
- And Now for Something Completely Delicious
- Big, Bold, Beautiful Food
- Chow Hound
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- Dave's Big Green Egg Blog
- Desperate Gardener
- Easy Camping Recipes, Gourmet Outdoor Cooking – Dirty Gourmet
- Epicurious
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- skillet street food
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- The Pioneer Woman Cooks
The Fine Print
Rhonda Porter is employed at Mortgage Master Service Corporation NMLS ID #40445 and is an NMLS Licensed Mortgage Loan Originator MLO-121324. Learn more about your mortgage originator at www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org.


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Import, Export & Translation Tools
for PowerPoint
george! adds functionality to PowerPoint to drive
productivity and professionalism
As you are using george!
Most of the dialog boxes include built-in help
Simply click on the george! logo in the dialog box
For additional guidance please use these tutorials
How to Use
Learn how to use all of the the functions of george!
in these Tutorials
How to Access george!
- Open PowerPoint
Click the george! tab to bring up the ribbon
Note: If george! is installed but you do not see the george! tab in PowerPoint follow these Troubleshooting steps.
The following Tutorials teach you how to use each button
on the george! ribbon
Your george! software is designed to be customized.
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to set your global preferences for the Word documents george! will create, including:
- Setting your logo to appear on cover pages
- Adding your copyright information
- Including/excluding a Revision Date
- Including/excluding borders around imported slide images
- Setting a default folder to Save to
- Automatic "Check for Software Updates" on/off
The george! Stats function scans and provides counts of everything in your PowerPoint file.
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to scan a PowerPoint file on your screen to display:
- Number of slides
- Number of sections
- Number of slides that have
- Charts
- Comments
- Media
- Notes
- Picyures
- SmartArt
- Tables
- Text Frames
- Total words on slides
- Total words in notes
- Total words
george! will extract anything from an open PowerPoint file into a Word document.
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to control the file type and the PPI (Pixels per Inch) of extracted images
How to control what is extracted
How to extract:
- Slides
- Charts
- Comments
- Notes
- Pictures
- SmartArt
- Tables Text
- Video Posters
The george! Convert function allows you to extract formatted slide text and slide notes into Word to quickly and easily modify and/or translate the text; and then import the converted formatted text back into PowerPoint.
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to Extract formatted text from slides, and slides notes, into a Word document
How to Translate or convert the extracted formatted text in Word
- How to Import the modified formatted text back into a PowerPoint file
The george! Import Pics function imports multiple image files into your open PowerPoint file, and unlike PowerPoint, george! distributes your images across as many slides as required.
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to import multiple image files into an open PowerPoint file
How to control over the layout of the slides your imported images will be added to
- How to control the insertion type
How to insert as "Linked and Embedded" so that your images will update automatically when you make changes to the image file
Having linked images in a presentation file saves file size, but when you change the directory location of the images, or email the file to someone else, the links are broken and an "X" replaces the images in your slides.
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to quickly fix broken image links by correcting the linked folder path
How to quickly change the type of link on inserted images
The george! Save Pics function allows you to save embedded images as reusable image files.
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to save embedded pictures, charts, tables and SmartArt as reusable image files
How to control the saved image file format
- How to create picture files of the entire slides
Use the george! Generate Alt Text function to add or edit Alt Text in an open PowerPoint file, for screen readers and 508 compliance.
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to quickly find "non-text" embedded objects to view the alternate text titles and descriptions automatically generated by george!
How to quickly edit the Alt Text to improve it
The george! Add Markers function is a fast, visual method for adding a Table of Contents to a Word document created from your PowerPoint slides and notes.
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to add Level 1 and Level 2 TOC markers to the slides in an open PowerPoint file to mark the start of new topics and new sub-topics
Use these markers to generate a Table of Contents in your george! documents
- Use these markers to generate a Table of Contents in LeaderGuide Pro documents that are built by importing PowerPoint files marked by george!
The george! Erase All function
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to remove all TOC markers in the open PowerPoint file.
The george! Create function is what george! is all about. george! creates documents from your slides and notes for use as speaker notes and as handouts to support PowerPoint-driven presentations.
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to use Create to quickly and easily generate branded, formatted Word documents from your PowerPoint files
The george! Act'n DeAct function does just what the name suggests.
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to activate and deactivate your george! software
How to check your software version
- How to check for software updates
The george! Customizing Styles allows you to modify the Styles used in the Word documents george! creates from your PowerPoint files.
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to modify the Word paragraph styles in the george! Style Guide
HELP: v7.0
Click the george! Help button to link to
This tutorial guides you through:
- How to access the george! product support page on the Great Circle Learning web site
How to access all of the built in help that is included in the george! software

subset: commoncrawl


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Author: Blasius Kleiner
Editor's Note: There are couple of things that we wish to add about this exceptional book. i./ most notably, it was written in that far away 18th century and at a place where bulgarian ethnos didn't have traditional roots by any means. The cloister at Alvinz, Transylvania existed at a locality, where small Hutterite community had found a convenience dwelling from persecutions. Historically, bulgarians from the catholic town of Chiprovtzi sought refugee there, too. This man Blasius Kleiner was probably a descendent from them. Today the place of the monastery doesn't exist in modern Rumania; ii./ it is mentioned in the text, that the author used various sources for the book and primarily the most authoritative reference for that time - such as, "Ecclesiastical Annals" by famed Italian historian Cardinal Caesar Baronius. Another primary source from the early seventeenth century is from the Irishman Lucas Wadding (1588-1637) - particularly, a librarian in Rome and compiler of the Annales Minorum sive Ordinum A. S. Francisco Institutorum. The latter is less known, but equally pertinent work; iii./ the original manuscript was firstly mentioned by the Bulgarian Franciscan Eusebius Fermendzin, in his Acta Bulgariae ecclesiastica (Zagreb,1887). Lately, the book was partly translated by I. Duychev in the 1940s and fully translated / edited by Karol Telbizov in this present edition. The "History of Bulgaria" from B. Kleiner is part from the cultural repository of the bulgarian people.
"I felt as if I was about to enter a thick forest studded with thorns, when it occurred to me to present in brief a series of worthy acts of the Kingdom of Bulgaria. It was not only because the job seemed quite difficult, since the Kingdom of Bulgaria, which way back lived in prosperity, did not have its chronicler who would hand down to future generations the vicissitudes of the fate of the kingdom and of its people famous worldwide. It was also because foreign chroniclers, mostly Greek writers, who had often seen the power of Bulgarians, speak about them in only few words, and only occasionally."
This is the opening paragraph of a Bulgarian history book written by Franciscan monk Blasius Kleiner. It was written in Latin in 1761 in the Bulgarian Franciscan Monastery of Alvinz, Transylvania. Transylvania had a strong Bulgarian community consisting of refugees from Bulgaria, which at that time was under Ottoman rule. In the foreword to the book the monk admits that he felt almost like an adopted child of "this people worthy of great praise".
In 1977 the book was released in Bulgaria with a translation by Prof. Karol Telbizov. Its Bulgarian language title is History of Bulgaria by Blasius Kleiner compiled in 1761. It is the first part of a major work and reviews Bulgarian history till mid-15th c. The second part completed in 1764 highlights the development of Catholicism in the Bulgarian ethnic territory and the activities of the Order of Minorites founded by St. Francis of Assisi. The third part represents a chronicle of the Bulgarian Franciscan community from 1366 till 1775 when it was written.
Blasius Kleiner wrote his History of Bulgaria at a time when an economic and spiritual revival had already started in the Bulgarian lands dominated by the Ottoman Empire. The focus on the country's glorious past was a key vehicle behind the process of the National Revival. Kleiner's book was completed a year prior to the circulation of "Slav-Bulgarian History" by the Bulgarian monk Paissi of Hilendar: a patriotic essay, which played a major role in the awakening of the national self-conscience of Bulgarians.
Comparing the two books Prof. Ivan Duychev, editor of Kleiner's Bulgarian translation, noted that the two monks had used Annales Ecclesiastici or Ecclesiastical Annals by famed Italian historian Cardinal Caesar Baronius (1583-1607), which provided access to a wealth of historical facts. Prof. Duychev however noted that while Paissi of Hilendar had borrowed facts from Baronius to edit and remake them in line with the patriotic backbone of his work, Blasius Kleiner had worked impartially, lacking in the fire that sparkles throughout the Paissi history. Kleiner was more unbiased and objective in presenting the historical events from the Bulgarian past.
On another instance, Prof. Duychev has drawn attention to the way the Franciscan monk presents pages from Bulgaria's history. For Kleiner the Bulgarians were a nation that had originated in the Scythian lands to the north of the Black Sea, whose name had come from the name of the glorious River Volga. When writing about Khan Telerig (768-777), the monk accentuated Bulgaria's victory in the sphere of diplomacy - something more infrequent than victories in the battlefields. He provided a balanced assessment of Khan Krum (802-814), despite Krum's open hostility to Christians. The Catholic monk wrote with tolerance and understanding about Prince Boris I who had introduced Christianity to Bulgaria following a dual diplomatic exchange with both the Orthodox and the Roman-Catholic churches. According to Kleiner medieval Bulgaria collapsed and was seized by the Ottoman Turks because the Bulgarians had conceded to be lead by the Greeks and had broken away from the genuine Mother Church, so in the end were punished to fall under Turkish Yoke.
According Prof. Ivan Duychev some of Kleiner's views about events and personalities from the Bulgarian past reflected his negative stance to the Orthodox Church. Nevertheless, his book based on numerous sources, is the most detailed and scientifically viable study of the Bulgarian history written during the five centuries of Ottoman rule. The fact that the book had been written in Latin, hampered its earlier circulation in Bulgaria, but has not hurt its role and importance.
Picture 1: Photograph of Alvinz Monastery located at the area of Vintul de Jos, 50 miles away from the town of Sibiu.
(i). The photograph below was taken by Prof. I. Duychev in the 1940s, while being on a private trip in North-Western Rumania. The Alvinz Monastery was uninhabited at that time and almost in ruins, ditto.
Copyright © 2007 by the author.


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Our classrooms are adequately equipped with necessary facilities such as ceiling fans, megaphone system, noise repellent walls etc. This we believe will make learning the thing of fun.
Research has shown that studying with necessary facilities boost the rate of understanding, that is why in CAS we provide internet-enabled computers per student which to boost your learning.
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According to information provided in a letter by BMW of North America to the NHTSA on October 24, 2013, "a calibration threshold within the throttle valve control software has been determined to be overly sensitive. As a result, under certain operating conditions, an implausible signal may be registered within the engine control unit. If this happens, the engine control unit may initiate a 'fail safe mode,' (which limits engine speed to 2000 rpm). In rare cases, the engine could stall, increasing the risk of a crash."
Complaints of engine stalling began in August 2011 in Europe but after inspection a "root cause for stalling of the customer's motorcycle could not be identified." Additional incidents in Europe and the U.S. led BMW to update the engine control unit throttle valve software in March 2012 "to reduce the possibility 'fail safe mode' occurrences." More complaints of engine stalling and 'fail safe mode' occurrences led BMW engineers to investigate the issue further and machines examined between February and October 2013 confirmed that "the overly sensitive software calibration threshold was likely the root cause for engine stalling."
BMW will notify owners of affected models and update the throttle control software for free. Owners may contact BMW customer relations at 1-800-525-7417 or email BMW at email@example.com.
Additional information can also be obtained by calling the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 or by going to www.safecar.gov. The NHTSA campaign ID number is 13V526000.


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Updated 2/3/2018 for new process and layout
Adding a custom token using MyEtherWallet
Now that you have a wallet and know how to check the balance using MyEtherWallet, you can try adding a custom Ethereum token! To be clear, we will be adding a token someone has already created on the Ethereum blockchain, not creating a brand new token.
Head on over to MyEtherWallet and go to the 'View Wallet Info' section. Unlock your wallet and then follow the steps below. If you are unsure about this process, refer back to the 'Checking your Ethereum Wallet Balance' post!
Adding a Custom Token
1. Click the "Show All Tokens" button first
2. Scroll through the list of tokens to try and find the symbol you are looking for and click the "Click to Load" button. If you do not see your token in the list, move on to the next step. In this example I chose the "AST" token. Notice the balance now displays for this token (bottom screenshot). I do not hold this in my wallet so I expected the 0.
3. Click the "Add Custom Token" button
4. You should be prompted to enter 3 pieces of information: Token Contract Address, Token Symbol, and Decimals
5. For this example, I am using a token that was mistakenly created a while back since it won't be a default in MyEtherWallet. The token information should be provided by the company that issued the token. The details for this example are below in case you want to follow along! Note that if you try to add a Token that MyEtherWallet already has you will see a pop-up that says "This token is already added as a default token. Try clicking the "Load Tokens" button to see it. :)"
> Token Contract Address: 0x65B9D9B96bccE0b89d807413E4703D2C7451593a
> Token Symbol: TKNC (this can actually be almost anything you want!)
> Decimals: 8
6. After entering the above information, click 'Save'! Your custom token should appear with a 'minus' beside it as shown below.
That's it for adding a custom token. Also note that the token should now appear in the drop-down list for sending as well.
This is an extremely easy and quick process. The hardest part is probably finding the information needed to add the Token, but most companies will make it available on their website or a social media channel. Time to go start collecting! If you are looking for a good exchange to get more tokens at, check out my Binance review and KuCoin review!
Check out this post for adding custom tokens to MetaMask.
58 Comments
- ChromeDome on March 8, 2018 at 4:30 pm
Hi Chris,
Firstly thank you for taking the time to answer all these questions. A huge service to the crypto community.
I'm trying to transfer ADA & XMR from Binance to MEW but keeping getting the error message 'withdraw address error'.
MEW seems to support both these token since they are on the list of tokens but I have see messages on Reddit saying that ADA isnt on the ether blockchain. could this be the problem? If so then why is it listed in MEW?
- Roberto on January 24, 2018 at 10:26 am
Ciao Chris ho dei problemi con MEW ….spero che tu possa aiutarmi :
1) il mio IDH è nella lista con il suo saldo….lo carico….nella finestra piccola alla sx mi compare sotto alla voce ETH … digito IDH
ma non mi cambia la posizione con eth (rimane sempre sotto) e quindi non so se in quel momento invio ETH o IDH….come posso fare ?
2) quando c'è una ICO e mi chiede l'indirizzo ERC20 posso dare quello della mia ledger nano s o devo dare solo quello di MEW ?? E se ho dato quello di MEW per portare in futuro il token sulla nano s devo trasferirlo all'indirizzo della Ledger ?
Scusami ancora per il disturbo e spero che tu possa risolvere i miei problemi. Grazie.
- Name *Roberto on January 25, 2018 at 10:46 am
Hi Chris … (MEW) are on the " ETH and Token " page …. the IDH icon is loaded in the drop-down window under the ETH text, but typing it does not include IDH tokens but ETH ones ….. in fact going forward with the transaction I see it on the confirmation screen. I'm worried because I can not solve the problem in any way. Do you have any idea ? If I have not been clear I can also send you a picture … hello
- Sergej on January 23, 2018 at 8:04 pm
Hi everybody! A short question: one of these days I am going to buy some tokens at Binance and after that I would like to transfer them to MyEtherWallet; the crypto I am planning to buy is in the list of tokens in MEW, but I don't see the address! In order to send the token from Binance to MEW I would need to know the token's address, right? Thanks in advance for your help.
- Sri on January 17, 2018 at 8:27 pm
Hi Chris,
From Binance I withdraw Tron and send it to ethereum address by mistake. Any idea how to retrieve it back ethereum to tron or to binance. I can see token holder address contract address and token balance in etherscan.io but dont know how to retrive from there.
Please advise.
- Luqman on January 9, 2018 at 11:16 pm
Hello, and happy new year. I need a bit of help, and I know this is not the thread for this, but your help would be greatly appreciated.
I'm trying to send my UTrust tokens (UTK) from MyEtherWallet to my wallet at Kucoin exchange, and I've followed the steps provided on MEW site, but right at the end, I get an error saying "Insufficient Funds. The account you tried to send transaction from does not have enough funds. Required 144380000000000 and you got: 0."
What am I doing incorrectly?
- Yusif on December 31, 2017 at 3:52 am
Hi Cris,
Can you please tell me what program I can use to open the Keystore File. Either on windows or IOS apple.
Thank you.
- AMIT TYAGI on December 29, 2017 at 4:33 pm
Hi Chris,
I have to receive a few CLOUT tokens from my friend who got it in ICO. Can I receive them in myetherwallet on the basic ether address? Will they show up automatically in my wallet or I need to add it manually? I am sorry, its a repeat question but I want to be sure as I am new to crypto.
- Martin on December 27, 2017 at 11:19 pm
Is it true, that I only have one public address to receive different coins? I want to withdraw DENT coins from an exchange and I cant find the address on MEW. I suppose I take the one that I use for ETH as well?
- CHRIS WEISS on December 20, 2017 at 5:41 pm
- Анна on December 16, 2017 at 8:22 am
Здравствуйте! У меня в кошельке myetherwallet есть токен BMT, на балансе я его вижу, хочу отправить весь доступный баланс на биржу HitBtc, но транзакция не проходит, сообщение – Insufficient funds, пробовала поменять лимит газа на 400000, не проходит, подскажите, пожалуйста, в чем причина
- Joey on December 14, 2017 at 6:41 am
Hey Chris. Is it ok to send over my ethereum wallet which has PPT tokens associated with it (via a smart contract) before I have added that custom token, or do I first have to add the custom token before I send over the Ethereum wallet? Or does it not matter? If I send over the wallet first will my tokens show up when I add the custom PPT token? Thank you for providing great value through your articles….Much appreciated
- prashant on December 9, 2017 at 6:49 pm
i want to add custom tokens like ADA, NXT, DCT token to myetherwallet please guide me
i dont have details to add them on ERC20
prashant trivedi
- Marius on December 4, 2017 at 3:23 pm
Hello. I have TRX (tron) tokens to Binance and i want to transfer this tokens from Binance to myetherwallet. How i do that step by step? Thank you.
- chuck on December 1, 2017 at 12:53 am
Good info. Thank you. I have gotten this far several times using MEW and Trezor. I can add and then see my new token on the side bar, but when I look in my wallet the new token and balance is not there. So I start over – add new token, see the balance on sidebar, then – what? How do I see it in My Trezor?
Thank You, Chuck
- Neil F on November 26, 2017 at 2:18 am
I have a cold storage wallet (MEW on a live ubuntu usb stick). I want to add some tokens to the wallet – does the above process work for a wallet that is not internet connected? Since I copied MEW to the wallet before the tokens were mine, I don't understand how it could 'know' the tokens are mine even if I give it the details available from etherscan.io… Can you please clarify?
- Pure Core Cleanse And Max Trim Fx on November 24, 2017 at 6:44 pm
I consider something genuinely special in this web site.
- Peter on November 20, 2017 at 5:34 am
Thank you for this clear information.
I have recently bought some tokens using Fiat Money and when the sale ends in a few days time, the company issuing will buy the ETH to complete the purchase om my behalf.
At this stage they have requested a Public Address to send the Tokens to and I am assuming I can send
a new downloaded address from my Trezor linked MEW to facilitate this.
Is this the correct address to use please.
If so is that public address designed to receive both ETH or Tokens initially or do I need to create
a different address purely for the receipt of Tokens.
Please advise.
- Jan Zac on November 20, 2017 at 1:32 am
Hello ,
I saw your tweets and thought I will check your website to find more information.
I'm also interested in this topic and have recently started my journey as young entrepreneur.
Maybe you can adivise me.
I'm looking for the ways on how to promote my website. Was thinking about starting using analytics. Do you recommend it?
Can you recommend something what works best for you?
I also want to improve SEO of my website. Maybe you can have a look at my website and give me an advice what I should change: http://janzac.com/
I have subscribed to your newsletter. 🙂
Hope to hear to you soon.
Jan Zac
- Jan Zac on November 19, 2017 at 4:21 pm
Hello ,
I saw your tweets and thought I will check your website to find more information.
I'm also interested in this topic and have recently started my journey as young entrepreneur.
Maybe you can adivise me.
I'm looking for the ways on how to promote my website. Was thinking about starting using anaytics. Do you recommend it?
Can you recommend something what works best for you?
I also want to improve SEO of my website. Maybe you can have a look at my website and give me an advice what I should change: http://janzac.com/
I have subscribed to your newsletter. 🙂
Hope to hear to you soon.
Jan Zac
- discover on November 18, 2017 at 5:01 pm
I'm gone to cоnvey my littlе brother, thаt he should also go to
see this weblog on regular basis to get ᥙpdated from latest reports.
- Luca Spinelli on November 17, 2017 at 10:57 am
Este e o que e un contido de valor. 🙂
- KJ on July 4, 2017 at 3:14 pm
Every time I open my wallet I have to add the same custom token in order to see my balance. Is there a way to Save the info so the token stays visible all of the time?
- iCloudSec – How to Add CLOUD Token to MyEtherWallet - […] Add Custom Token To MyEtherWallet […]


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To all of you who are familiar with Pinterest, I have finally jumped on the wagon. I don't know why it took me so long to sign up, I think it's a genetic inbuilt. Part of my unwillingness to complicate my life with too much techy stuff. It did took me long enough to join Facebook!
I'm still pretty much a newbie, but I reckon on many more hours sitting cross-legged in front of the computer with this new 'interest'. Pray for my social life.
You can find me here!
{ Replies to previous post }
jacqueline I did had a very nice weekend, thank you very much! And now another one is coming! If you have the chance, you should try Mill Houses! Spectacular view and sunset! And the staff are really helpful and friendly!
Sarah We went during the off-peak season, so it's like a different island compared to the party-crazy one in Summer. I would love to go back there again! Probably not in the Summer, but maybe around this time of the year!


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|Op voorraad
|3-5 werkdagen
Currently one of the most iconic sunglass models in the world, riginally designed for U.S. aviators. Dean sunglasses are a timeless model that combines great aviator styling with exceptional quality, performance and comfort.
With a classic gold frame, you can see the world through a variety of lens colors including gold mirror, bleuish black.


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Short DescriptionSituated on the outskirts of Shaftesbury in it?s own grounds, the hotel is a Georgian ex-monastery.AccommodationThirty three en suite bedrooms with remote colour televisions, dataports, tea and coffee facilities and hairdryers. Superior rooms have additional facilities including mini bar and trouser press.Food and DrinkThe award winning Byzant Restaurant offers a variety of English and Continental cuisine whilst the Country bar serves snacks and light meals along with a selection of beers, wines, fine brandies and soft drinks.Local AttractionsShaftesbury?s famous Gold HillStourhead House and GardensWilton House and GardensLongleatYeovilton Fleet Air Arm MuseumStonehenge and AveburyKingston LaceySouth Dorset Heritage CoastMonkey World Award Winning Restaurant Indoor Heated Pool Ample Free Parking Parking for 100+ cars Conference FacilitiesWIFI is avaliable in the hotel at the charges of: �2.00 for 30 minutes, �3.00 for 1 hour, �5.00 for 4 hours (can be used over 2 days), �12.00 for 24 hours (can be used over 5 days)
From: £105.00
Average customer rating: out of 6
Read customer reviews (opens new window)
Get Directions on Google maps
View on:
Google maps (area overview)
Get an Ordnance Survey map covering the Shaftesbury area.
Heritage Rated from 1- 5 (low-exceptional) on historic interest
Shaftesbury Travel and Heritage Information
Gold Hill Museum - 0.6 miles (Museum)
Shaftesbury, St Peter's Church - 0.6 miles (Historic Church)
Shaftesbury Abbey Museum and Garden - 0.6 miles (Abbey)
Old Wardour Castle - 4.8 miles (Castle)
East Knoyle, St Mary's Church - 5 miles (Historic Church)
Larmer Tree Gardens - 5.7 miles (Garden)
Fiddleford Manor - 7.1 miles (Historic Building)
Mere, St Michael's Church - 7.1 miles (Historic Church)
Berwick St Leonard Church - 7.3 miles (Historic Church)
Chettle House - 7.5 miles (Historic House)
Other Nearby Accommodation
+ Heritage Rating + ?
We've 'tagged' this accommodation to help you find related historic attractions and learn more about major time periods mentioned in the description.


text:
Perspective in Watercolor Landscapes, Carmelo Schifano
Palos Park | Website
This event occurred in the past.
Map | Find Parking
Learn to apply simple principles of perspective used for centuries to
create pleasing compositions. Whether a beginner or advanced student
you'll find these principles helpful and easy to grasp. Discover how to
make a definite impact
on your creative illusion of depth. Students should bring their own
landscape photo resources and painting supplies. The instructor will
have two sample paintings to go by if anyone chooses to do so. You will
be adventurous at this workshop and work on ½ sheets,
so please have at least two ½ sheets of either 140 or 300 lb. Arches
paper and proper mounting board for both sheets.


text:
Vernon Downs Casino & Hotel
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Vernon Downs Casino & Hotel is a horse track in Vernon, New York that features harness racing and is open Sun-Wed 9am-2am, Thu-Sat 9am-3am. The horse track racino's 34,500 square foot gaming space features 767 gaming machines. The property has six restaurants, one bar and a hotel with 175 rooms.
4229 Stuhlman Road
Vernon Downs Casino & Hotel Tweets (Powered By Twitter)
Vernon, New York 13476-4516
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Vernon Downs to open 64th season of live harness racing
1 May 2017
Following a meeting with legislative officials in Albany, Chairman of American Racing and Entertainment Jeff Gural has announced he will open the 2017 racing season on 5 May.
Tioga Downs announces official opening date
1 December 2016
After three years spent in pursuit of a gaming license, Tioga Downs will open the new casino on 2 December at 3 p.m.
Vernon Downs CEO makes statement regarding Lago Casino project
20 November 2015
The statement comes just after a minority owner of Vernon Downs made a statement to the media earlier this week backing Lago.
More Vernon Downs Casino & Hotel News »
Website - www.vernondowns.comGaming Machines - 767 total
General Information - (315) 829-2201
Toll Free Hotel Reservations - (877) 777-8559
General Information - (315) 829-2201
Toll Free Hotel Reservations - (877) 777-8559
- Video Lottery Terminals, 767 machines
- Race Book
- Champion's - Buffet
- Gold Cup Buffet - Buffet
- Lucky's - Restaurant
- Miracle Mile Room - Restaurant
- Ring Eyed Pete's - Bar
- Trackside Deli - Deli - American
- Triple 777 Cafe - Restaurant serves Breakfast and Dinner
Entrance Fee ($2.00 Thursday, free Friday and Saturday), Free Parking, Other (Video Lottery Terminals (VLT) - Coming Summer 2003), Post Times (1:10pm Thursdays, Memorial Day, and Labor Day; 7:35pm Fridays and Saturdays)Track Information
- Racing Type: Harness
- Standing Start Positions: 10
- Stretch Width: 100 feet
- Length of Home Stretch: 900 feet
- Running Direction: Counterclockwise
- Speed Rating: 1:58
- Seat Cost: General Admission: $2.00 - Free Sunday
- Clubhouse Seating Cost: $2.00 - Free Sunday
- Clubhouse Seating Capacity: 1500
- Grandstand Seating Capacity: 3500
- Miracle Isle Gaming Resort (Hotel located next to casino or on same property)
Contains 55 King Suites and 120 Suites.
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A Month of Giving Thanks is a month-long challenge. Every day from November 1st to November 30th I will be sharing the love and being thankful by spotlighting some bloggers and books that I've been thankful for this year. Please note that there is no way that I will be… Read more »
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Dissonance by Erica O'Rourke | #COYER Book Review
My Initial Reaction… Well I just got stranded on a major cliff But it was worth it! I loved the characters in Dissonance, the world building was great and I didn't see most the twists coming – but looking back I really should have, which makes Dissonance even more excellent!… Read more »
Teaser Tuesdays | Dissonance Teaser
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Share links to your post in the comments below – or, if you don't have a blog, share your teaser in the comments. Just do the following: 1. Grab your current read. 2…. Read more »


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The Pillar 3 disclosure of Finotec Trading UK Limited ("the Firm") is set out below as required by the FCA's "Prudential Sourcebook for Banks, Building Societies and Investment Firms" (BIPRU) specifically BIPRU 11.3.3 R (for ICAAP) and BIPRU 11.5.18 R (for remuneration). This follows the introduction of the Capital Requirements Directive ("CRD") which represents the European Union's application of the Basel Capital Accord. The regulatory aim of the disclosures is to improve transparency and thereby to protect consumers.
This document serves to meet the Pillar 3 disclosures required by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Prudential Sourcebook for Banks, Building Societies and Investment Firms ("BIPRU") specifically BIPRU 11.3.1R and BIPRU 11.3.3R. These rules implement in the United Kingdom the Capital Adequacy Directive ("CAD") and Capital Resources Regulation (CRR), which represents the European Union's application of the Basel Capital Accord. The regulatory aim of the disclosures is to improve market discipline. These requirements have three pillars:
- Pillar 1 deals with minimum capital requirements that must be held;
- Pillar 2 deals with the Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process ("ICAAP") undertaken by a firm and the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process through which the firm and regulator satisfy themselves on the adequacy of capital held by the firm in relation to the risks it faces,and;
- Pillar 3 deals with public disclosure of risk management policies, capital resources and capital requirements.
- This document has been prepared for the sole purpose of disclosing how FTUK has documented compliance with certain capital requirements and managed risk and for no other purpose. It is based on historical information.
- This document only concerns FTUK ("the Firm").
- The information contained herein has been subject to internal review by the Firm's Board of Directors, but has not been audited by the Firm's external auditors. It does not constitute any form of financial statement and must not be relied upon in making any judgment on FTUK.
- This disclosure will be updated annually after the audit of the year-end statutory accounts and financial statements, unless there is a material change to the business strategy or scale of operations.
- This disclosure will be published on our public website.
The Firm is incorporated in the UK and is authorised and regulated by the FCA as an Investment Firm. The Firm's activities give it the BIPRU categorization of a "limited license" and a "BIPRU €125K" firm.
The Firm regards information as material in disclosures if its omission or misstatement could change or influence the assessment or decision of a user relying on that information for the purpose of making economic decisions. If the Firm deems a certain disclosure to be immaterial, it may be omitted from this statement.
The Firm is mindful of the FCA's comments regarding confidentiality and of the comment that both qualitative and quantitative data must be disclosed.
As such, the Firm's policy is to disclose that information required under the FCA Rules but to treat further information as proprietary if sharing that information with the public would undermine its competitive position. Proprietary information may include information on products or systems which, if shared with competitors, would render the Firm's investments therein less valuable. Further, the Firm will regard information as confidential if there are obligations to customers or other counterparty relationships binding the Firm to confidentiality. In the event that any such information is omitted, we shall disclose such and explain the grounds why it has not been disclosed.
The Firm is a limited license scope firm primarily undertaking brokerage services. It acts as agent on behalf of clients and on a matched principal basis.
Our general risk management objective is to create and use adequate systems and controls to mitigate risk and monitor the operation of the business and its environment to ensure that sufficient capital to cover all relevant risk is held at all times. The Board of Directors is the Governing Body of the Firm and has management and oversight responsibility. It meets semi-annually and is composed of:
- Chief Executive Officer and Director – D Essemini
- Chief Financial Officer and Director – S Mansoor
- Chief Operations Officer and Director – S Vladamirsky
*as at date of publishing
The Board decides the Firm's risk appetite and ensures that the Firm has implemented an effective, ongoing process to identify risks, to measure potential impact and to ensure that those risks are actively managed.
The Firm has a conservative attitude to risk and accepts certain risks inherent to the business model.
- These risks are mitigated and managed through tried and tested systems and controls.
- The Firm has identified material risks and has undertaken scenario analysis and stress tests on these risks as detailed in the ICAAP.
- Overall, there is a low level of risk and to ensure tight controls, the Board meets regularly to review and manage its risk levels as set out in the firms ICAAP.
FTUK submits reports for accounting and prudential purposes to the FCA on an unconsolidated basis. BIPRU 11.5.3 R - DISCLOSURE ON CAPITAL RESOURCES
The Regulatory capital requirement has been calculated as £168,000, comprising of approx. £92,000 of Pillar I and £77,000 of Pillar II.
|Finotec Trading UK Limited Capital Requirement - 2016
|Risk Type
|Pillar I
|Pillar II
|Credit Risk
|Market Risk
|Operation Risk
|Business Risk
|Liquidity Risk
|Regulatory Risk
|Minimum Capital
|Stress Scenario
|Fixed Overhead Exposure
|Total Capital Requirement
|Finotec Trading UK Limited Capital Requirement - 2016
|ICAAP Requirement
|Total Capital Held
BIPRU 3 - DISCLOSURE ON STANDARDISED CREDIT RISKFor its Pillar 1 regulatory capital calculation of Credit Risk, under the credit risk capital component the Firm has adopted the Standardised approach (BIPRU 3.4) and the Simplified method of calculating risk weights (BIPRU 3.5).
BIPRU 4 - DISCLOSURE ON INTERNAL RATINGS BASED APPROACH The Firm does not adopt the Internal Ratings Based approach and therefore this is not applicable. BIPRU 7 – DISCLOSURE ON MARKET RISK The Firm's market risk exposure was £0.00 as at 31st December 2015.
DISCLOSURE ON OVERALL PILLAR 2 RULE The Firm has adopted the "Structured" approach to the calculation of its ICAAP Capital Resources Requirement as outlined in the Committee of European Banking Supervisors Paper, 25 January 2006.
The ICAAP is reviewed by the Board of the Firm annually, or when a material change to the business occurs.
BIPRU 11.5.7 R - DISCLOSURE ON COUNTERPARTY CREDIT RISK Risk exists that clients' positions are closed at a rate which may equate to a negative positon thus require the firm to chase the client for the shortfall. Clients are now given the same NOP Margin method we receive from our PB. Furthermore, the Firm's new Back off system executes a live comparison of Client Margin against PB Margin.
BIPRU 11.5.8 R - DISCLOSURE ON CREDIT RISK AND DILUTION RISK The Firm is primarily exposed to Credit Risk from the risk of non-collection of fees and the exposure to banks where cash assets held is deposited.
The Firm holds all cash with an A rated UK bank.
BIPRU 11.5.9 R - DISCLOSURE ON VALUE ADJUSTMENTS AND PROVISIONS This disclosure is not required as the Firm does not make Value Adjustments and Provisions for Impaired Exposures that need to be disclosed under BIPRU 11.5.8 R (9). BIPRU 11.5.10 R - DISCLOSURE ON CALCULATING RISK WEIGHTED EXPOSURE – STANDARDISED APPROACH This disclosure is not required because the Firm has not adopted the standardised approach. Instead the Firm uses the simplified method of calculating risk weights. BIPRU 11.5.11 R - DISCLOSURE ON CALCULATING RISK WEIGHTED EXPOSURE – IRB APPROACH This disclosure is not required because the Firm has not adopted the Internal Rating Based approach.
BIPRU 11.5.12 R - DISCLOSURE ON MARKET RISK The Firm has negligible exposure to settlement and price volatility. These risks are managed by having robust internal controls to limit our exposure. Other potential exposures are non-trading book exposures to foreign currency assets or liabilities held on our balance sheet.
BIPRU 11.5.13 R - DISCLOSURE ON USE OF THE VaR MODEL This disclosure is not required because the Firm does not use a VaR model for the calculation of the Market Risk Capital Requirement. BIPRU 11.5.14 R - DISCLOSURE ON OPERATIONAL RISK The Firm's Pillar 1 Capital Resources Requirement is equal to the higher of: €125,000;orCredit Risk Capital plus Market Risk Capital;orFixed Overhead Requirement. Our Fixed Overhead Requirement is disclosed as a proxy for the Pillar 1 Operational Risk Capital calculation, which is currently calculated at £92,000.
BIPRU 11.5.15 R - DISCLOSURE ON NON-TRADING BOOK EXPOSURES IN EQUITIES This disclosure is not required because the Firm does not have non-trading book exposure to Equities and Bonds BIPRU 11.5.16R - DISCLOSURE ON EXPOSURES TO INTEREST RATE RISK IN THE NON-TRADING BOOK Although the Firm holds substantial cash balances on its balance sheet, there is no significant exposure to interest rate fluctuations. BIPRU 11.5.17 R - DISCLOSURE ON SECURITISATION This disclosure is not required because the Firm does not securitise its assets. BIPRU 11.5.18 R - DISCLOSURE ON REMUNERATION Under the FCA's Remuneration Code guidance, Finotec Trading UK Limited is a Tier 4 Company, which allows it to display many of the technical requirements of the Code and proportionately apply the Code's rules and principles in establishing its Remuneration Policy.
Decision making Process for Remuneration Policy
During 2015 the Company's Remuneration Policy was determined and administered by the Board.
Risk management is fundamentally important to the Company in its provision of order execution services. The Company has designed and implemented its Remuneration Policy to underwrite and promote effective risk management, consistent with the nature of its business.
The Company's Remuneration Policy takes full account of the Company's strategic objectives and the long term interests of shareholders and other stakeholders. Its objective is to recognise and reward good and excellent performance of employees that helps drive the sustainable growth of the Company and to preserve shareholder value by ensuring the successful retention of employees.
For the year ended 31 December 2015, the Directors reviewed the performance of other employees and based on that review determined the overall level of remuneration for each employee and the split between fixed (base salary) and variable (bonus) remuneration.
Code Staff Criteria
The following groups of employees have been identified as meeting the FCA's criteria for Code Staff:
- Any employee holding a significant influence function
- Other senior managers who have an input into the decision making process of the Company
- Any employee receiving total remuneration which takes them into same remuneration bracket as senior management.
The Link between Pay and Performance for Code Staff
Code staff remuneration is made up of fixed (basic salary) and variable (bonus) elements. Variable remuneration is directly linked to the overall performance of the Company and is designed to link reward with the long term growth and success of the Company.
Aggregate Quantitative Information on Remuneration for Code Staff
For the year ending 31 December 2015, there were 3 Code Staff (as defined above). All were senior managers holding a significant influence function. Aggregate remuneration expenditure in respect of Code Staff was £45,000.00
Remuneration expenditure was divided between fixed and variable remuneration as follows:
- Fixed remuneration: £58,000.00
- Variable remuneration: £0.00
- Number of beneficiaries: 3
Fixed remuneration consists of basic salaries only while variable remuneration consists of bonus payments.


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Art Gallery Membership
For more than a decade the Mattie Kelly Arts Center Galleries have provided Northwest Florida with entertaining, stimulating, and challenging art exhibitions from around the world. Our galleries are committed to bringing in more nationally and internationally known artists and expanding programs, all while remaining free and open to the public.
You are invited to participate in our membership program to support the continued growth of the gallery at Northwest Florida State College. Join today on our secure website, by clicking Give Now, and show your support of the Mattie Kelly Arts Center Galleries - a hidden gem and Northwest Florida treasure!
Membership Benefits
Member - $25
- Postcard invitation to exhibitions
- Members-only Preview prior to Opening
- Member discounts on gallery-sponsored events or fee programs
- Named as a Member on Roll of Honor
Family - $50
- All the benefits of an individual Member for the entire household
Patron - $100
- All the benefits of an individual Member
- Invitation to Patrons' Reception
- Named as a Patron on the Roll of Honor
Donor - $500
- All Patron benefits
- Named as Donor on Roll of Honor
- Two free tickets to select NWF production or NFSO concert
Exhibition Sponsor - $1,000
- All Donor benefits
- Named as an Exhibition sponsor on Roll of Honor, as well as in press, handouts, and advertisement for a single show
Season Benefactor - $5,000
- All Exhibition Sponsor benefits
- Named as a Benefactor on Roll of Honor, as well as in press, handouts, and advertisement throughout exhibition season
- One free facility rental for an event held at the McIlroy or Holzhauer Galleries (restrictions apply)


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A vast carpet of starsPosted: 10/01/2014 Filed under: Bible, Identity, life, Religion, Seminary, theology, Writing | Tags: christianity, life, magi, sermon, spirituality, star of bethlehem, stars, three wise men 2 Comments
A sermon preached at First Congregational Church of Minnesota, UCC
January 5, 2014
When I began my first year at seminary, it was as a religiously wounded young person who had been spiritually mistreated throughout my youth and young adulthood, in the same way that I imagine many of us in this congregation have been. When I was in high school, my personal salvation had been linked to all kinds of things: I must not drink, I must not be pro-choice, I must not have sex before marriage (in fact I really should not even kiss before marriage), and God forbid that I might come out as queer. During my sophomore year, one of my teachers told the only Jewish student in school, in front of 30 other students, that she would go to Hell if she did not "accept Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior." To this day, I shake to remember the abuse of power and the anti-semitism inherent to my teacher's action.
To be clear: there were many things that were perfectly nice about my high school experience, and I also remember parts of those years as more nuanced than the broad strokes with which I'm painting now. But what I felt, I know to be true. And I felt confused and hurt by many of the teachings endorsed by those in leadership at my school. And, despite my misgivings, the psychological, social, and spiritual consequences of challenging these teachings proved to be too stressful for my teenaged self. I feared the wrath of God. So I believed what I needed to believe; I said what I needed to say, and I hoped it would be enough to help me escape the fiery confines of Hell – which, others assured me, was a very real place.
By the time I arrived at seminary, I had done enough processing to know that none of these things would condemn me to an eternity in Hell – I even knew that there were reasonable Christians who doubted Hell's existence altogether! Nevertheless, on my first day at seminary, I told people that I was "culturally Lutheran" – but I couldn't quite bring myself to carry the identity of "Christian". Unable to make sense of how to rectify the pain of my adolescence, I had six months earlier left Christianity behind in frustration and anger, telling myself I was only going to seminary as an academic pursuit.
And yet, by the end of the semester, although I could not yet identify it, and wouldn't for years to come – and although I could not interpret it, and although I did not know from whence it came, still I knew that a star called to me from out of the deep. And I felt deeply compelled to follow it.
We humans have long been taken with the night sky, searching for answers in the patterns of the stars' passing, or traversing the oceans with the north star as our faithful guide. We read our horoscopes (albeit with varying degrees of seriousness), predicated by the locations of the constellations at a given moment in time. We tell futuristic stories with characters who are pioneers on space's next frontier, and we catapult our astronauts and galactic machinery to places like Mars, and the Moon.
The stars hold so much mystery for us, and yet we are surrounded by them. We are hemmed in, crowded, enfolded by all the questions and ideas and possibilities the universe has to offer.
Perhaps for this reason it is something of a shame that our story of the wise men and the star has lost some of its original context. Christian tradition determined long after the time of Matthew that there were three wise men, and that in fact they were kings, named Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. Lovely though the story may be, the Magi were not kings but royal priests thought to come from Persia, in the East, and they were often advisors to kings and leaders. They were dream-interpreters, sages, teachers, and yes – they were followers of the stars.
Richard Horsley, author of The Liberation of Christmas, claims that the Magi were figures of religio-political importance in the ancient middle east, known for their wisdom, but also for their political role in affirming or denying divine support for a king. The Christmas story we tell – of the Magi's recognition of the infant King of the Jews in the time of Herod – is at once a political story of rejecting the onerous and oppressive rule of Rome, AND it is a profoundly religious story of reading the symbolism in the night sky and following the star to Bethlehem.
Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong adds his voice to the mix on the topic of the magi. Like Horsley, he says rather than focusing on whether the story of the star and the magi are historically or literally true, as readers of the text we ought to seek rather the truths inherent to the story. In doing so, Spong points to the use of the Jewish literary tradition known as midrash, which expounds upon Biblical stories, often filling in gaps in the storyline, and bringing new meanings to familiar ideas and motifs.
For example, the author of Matthew may have been using midrash when constructing the story of the Magi and the star. By inserting the Magi into the story – these mysterious teachers from a faraway nation – Matthew made new today's prophetic text, Isaiah 60, which prophesies all nations being drawn to the light of God. Similarly, Matthew gave reference to texts like Numbers 22, which tells the story of a seer from the East who sees the star of David at its rising. The recasting of these familiar stories within a new context was never intended to be understood as literally true. Instead, it was a literary tool, employed to convey a meaning about the world as it should be: a world free of oppression, a world in which love abounds, a world in which an equal number of stars carpets all of our skies.
Knowing what we do about the Magi, I like to think of them not as followers of just one star, but as perpetual star-chasers. What dreams, and whose dreams, had these Magi divined before discovering this infant, Jesus? What mysteries unfolded in their minds as they gazed up into the star-studded sky? And as they departed along their way, what new star guided their path?
The gleaming star of Bethlehem represents so much more than a pretty story. Depending on how the story is told, if we are lucky, the star can be the voice of God, calling us to the place where human life encounters the Divine;
Or, depending on how the story is told, the Star may also be portrayed as the single beacon of truth leading all of humanity to one and only path to salvation.
That might not sound so bad, unless you overlay it with memories like I have from high school, or other experiences you might have had in your life. For those of us who identify as inclusive or progressive Christians, we often struggle with the knowledge that some parts of our tradition intentionally, even hatefully, exclude others. We struggle with the categories of "saved" and "unsaved" – perhaps we might even wonder where we would fall on the spectrum. Certainly I am Christian. But do I "accept Jesus Christ into my heart as my personal Lord and Savior?"
The question reads more as a cultural signifier than a confession of faith.
And so we are presented with more questions: What does it mean to be Christian today? Who is it that we say we are, and how should we communicate that identity to others? What role does the title "Christian" assign to us – in what ways does it restrict us, and in what ways does it release us to be who it is that we say we are?
The answers to these questions are as varied as the stars in the sky. Each one can lead us to a infinite number of places, to magnetic black holes and cream milky ways and gleaming northern lights. One could get lost amidst the deep.
And yet, here we sit, all together, on this very frigid January morning. The temperature today will not make it above zero, and school is cancelled statewide tomorrow because it's so cold. Our church has no parking lot, and exposed skin can get frostbite in less than ten minutes in these temperatures – and still – here we are, gathered together today.
But why?
What star compelled you here this morning?
Was it the star of hope, that small but steady flare that rises early in the twilight, climbs high into the atmosphere, and does not fade 'til dawn?
Or was it the star of grief? That star which originates in a big bang!, streaking hot across the sky, pummeling downward with breakneck speed until it settles – but never coming fully to rest?
Was it the constellation of community, which weaves its graceful dance across the night, twinkling like a cluster of festive flames across the universe?
Or was it the star of wonder, peering out from the darkest depth of the most velvet black, the light of it having traversed millions of miles and eons of years to find its way, right here, right now, to shine down on just
For our lives our rife and ripe with a vast carpet of stars. They are beyond us and behind us and within us and between us, each one glinting a clandestine whisper of love.
Like the Magi of the East, the stars we chase are multiple. There is not only one star in the Universe, waiting ominously to be discovered. No, there are infinite quantities of constellations, each with its own meaning as they splash their way through the night.
The stars lead us to each other. They lead us to the Sacred. The stars lead us home.
Why I'm queer, tooPosted: 10/08/2011 Filed under: Religion, Seminary, theology | Tags: ally, homophobia, queer, queer theology, religion, theology, trans 6 Comments
Because I am in a male-female relationship, you're probably wondering what's going on with the title of this post. Possibly even Shannon, my friend who called me to this synchroblog on queer theology, might being wondering where I'm going with this. I'll get there: just hang around, k?
Back to Shannon, aka the Anarchist Reverend. In response to the frustration he's been feeling about having the same tired conversations on queerness with Christians,
I am calling for a synchroblog on Wednesday August 10, 2011. On that day I want people to blog about what queer theology means to them. I want you to share your story of how reading the Bible queerly has changed your life. I want you to talk about how your sexuality or your gender identity has brought you deeper into relationship with God. If you're straight and interested in solidarity I want you to share how being in relationship with queer people has deepened your faith and spiritual practice. [Emphasis mine.]
In my typical "better late than never" fashion, I'm hopping on the bandwagon just slightly late, writing this post ON rather than BEFORE August 10, but hopefully within enough time to still be on time. So with no further delay, I give you my thoughts on queer theology, on being bodily and gendered people, and maybe even throwing God into that whole mess.
In seminary, I related more to queer theology than any other. Growing up in a Lutheran church that ignored sexuality more than anything else, and then attending an evangelical high school which treated sexuality as best only when it was heteronormative and non-existant pre-marriage, by the time I arrived in college I was thoroughly confused. Hook, line, and sinker, I believed I would go to hell if I had sex before I was married. Forget caring for the least of these, following Jesus was about purity, and purity was about (the lack of) sex.
In college I had the sense to realize that didn't make a whole lot of sense, but I didn't have access to many (really, any) resources that helped me to reconstruct what a faithful sexuality might look like. Enter Seminary. And into my life traipsed all kinds of amazing, amazingly queer theologians who didn't apologize for being gay; who exegeted the Bible in interesting, innovative, and honest ways; who helped me to understand that my sexuality as a source of strength, beauty, and love.
It may sound strange to some, but I was able to accept myself as a sexual (and therefore whole) person only because I found solidarity in the struggle represented in the writings of queer theologians.
God is not only gender-neutral; God is amply and ambiguously gendered. It is still in vogue for liberal congregations to remove any gendered reference to God in their liturgies and litanies. This is all well and good, and it is true that God is neither male nor female. What is MORE interesting to me, MORE liberating, are all the multiplicities of ways that God is portrayed in the bible as being masculine, feminine, or quixotically neutered.
In seminary my concentration was in the exegesis (interpretation) of biblical texts, and so I want to share with you the many-gendered ways in which theologians uncovered God behaving in the bible.
God is portrayed in that protective, fatherly, strong-shouldered fortress mentality in which his masculinity seems inevitable. God is a bulwark. We all need a little more bulwark in our lives, and we will all at one point or another be called to be a bulwark to a neighbor in need. God is also a wise woman in proverbs, portrayed as instrumental in creating the world at the beginning of time, and nurturing her children into health and well-being. God is our mother as well as our father.
And God is also neuter. One of my favorite stories in the bible is the Annunciation story. You know the text–in the Gospel of Luke, the angel Gabriel visits Mary and tells her how the Holy Spirit will overshadow and impregnate her. You can't tell in English, but interestingly enough, the pronoun for Holy Spirit in Koine (biblical) Greek is neuter. Meaning, not only is God impregnating Mary with Jesus, but God does it completely devoid of God's masculine identity. That Jesus is the result of a queer pairing certainly opened me up to the opportunities and joys we might all experience if only we embraced whatever queer plans God has for us and for the world.
My queer friends taught me how to be an ally by not being one. I'm going to go ahead and wait while you click through that link and listen to Shannon explain why the term "ally" is simply not that helpful. (While you're at it, check out his list of resources for allies, too.)
The number one thing I have learned from queer theologians and from my queer friends is that while we're not all the same, we're not all that different, either. My experience of sex, sexuality, privilege, etc., is of course different from Shannon's, Kim's, Lissa's, Erik's, Justin's, Abby's, Jane's, Maggie's, or any host of "straight" people's experiences. But my sense of the erotic, as defined by Audre Lorde, is wildly, radically similar to theirs: in the awe-some discomfort of entwining one's soul with another's; in the banality of long-term relationships; in the power of love to pull each of us outside of our selves and to work for justice.
We are all quite different from one another, and that is how we are the same. No one's sexuality is the same as anyone else's. We're all queer. And because of our shared queerness (one might say "our shared humanity"), we will work for justice together.
I know that this is not necessarily a statement that will be all-around well-received, and I'm okay with that. Labels and names are good and useful, and I understand their function and even their necessity. I will listen and understand your reasons for using them (or not), and then I will employ them happily and with gusto. But when it comes down to it, I will work for justice because you and I? We're different, and thus we are the same.
and the cat came backPosted: 30/04/2010 Filed under: life, Seminary | Tags: knitting, lu, minister, ordination Leave a comment
B took this picture of lu over the weekend, and of course i couldn't resist posting it. she just looks too mischievous to pass this one up!
And lately, she has been one mischievous cat. She's also been spending a lot of time under our bed, snuggled up to yet another one of my unfinished knitting projects. Inside that bag is a half-knit yellow cardigan. Maybe someday I'll finish and tell you guys ALL about it! But first, of course, because of my last post, I have to master worms and hydroponic gardens.
Also, another announcement (buried in the middle of a CAT post so that maybe no one will notice?): I've decided to (try to) get ordained. It's going to be a long (YEARS-long) process that I will document here, which is going to be uncomfortable because I will actually have to start talking about stuff I "believe in" instead stuff that I don't. Which is obviously difficult because I don't really know what I "believe in", first and foremost because I think "believing in" something is a post-enlightenment concept that we don't conscienticize or evaluate for ourselves.
And now I'm going to stop writing before I lather myself into a hole of self-pity and theological consternation at 11:45 on a worknight. plenty of time for that over the next few years, my friends. PLENTY OF TIME.
But, I just thought I'd say it: BEHOLD. you are reading a future minister's words. take stock and grains of salt as needed.
what's a little vigil gonna do?Posted: 20/02/2010 Filed under: life, Seminary | Tags: exhaustion, GAMC, life, politics, vigil 1 Comment
welp. i'm still tired/emotionally drained from this whole learning-to-be-a-grown-up thing. (i don't know exactly what i mean by that… perhaps something along the lines of rolling with the punches?)
i've been thinking a lot this week about the whole action vs. language thing that first i, then morgan and leslie, and finally atom weighed in upon. all three have really interesting, thoughtful, heartfelt responses to things that i've been haphazardly (exhaustedly) throwing up on my blog because of my whole blog-every-day-in-february thing. it's funny: when i imagined myself blogging, prior to starting this blog, i don't think i expected to receive the kind of support and pushback that i would get from my friends who follow along with me here. if i blow off steam in a way that's less-than-mature, self-mocking, or illogical… y'all are calling me on it. i really appreciate that generous support that also challenges me to be more than who i feel like being at some particular moment.
i do think words–in the form of a vigil or not–contribute an action that is valuable and necessary, especially in a democracy. and, i'm proud of the words that i wrote, and that the group spoke them in our vigil. our voice overcame the buzz of the crowd and echoed up into the rotunda of the capitol building, as minnesota veterans, legislators, citizens, and advocates filed past us. yes, we were preaching to the choir, as leslie pointed out, but more than that: we were making a public, faith-centric statement about the value of human life and the government's responsibility to protect human dignity when no one else will. THIS IS what i went to seminary for: to speak justice to improper power, to name indignity, and to challenge the world and people (and myself!) to live more responsibly, more respectfully of one another. i feel lucky to do this in the state where i grew up, and to do it on a local level, where change feels more concrete, and problems are on a smaller, more seemingly-manageable scale.
did the vigil help? cynicism about one's ability to make change is rampant among those who fail to act in our massive democracy. my experience of going to d.c. to protest the probability of an iraq war in 2003 illustrated what i thought i learned: that the people's voices are often ignored; that those in power will do what they want either way. but morgan pointed out that making our voices heard, or engaging in debate, does not always have the end goal of changing the other's mind. registering one's position is important. the u.s. may have invaded iraq regardless, but history will not forget that our population was divided on whether or not it was a good idea.
did the vigil help? was one person changed walking away from that experience? actually, i can answer that question: YES. i was changed. i found that having the courage to speak words of faith and of vision in the capitol rotunda changed the way i see myself as a citizen and as a person of faith. speaking out loud, in a small community of like-minded people, amidst a larger community amongst and around us, recommitted me to doing this work that i might now be claiming as my vocation. who knows, maybe someday soon i will actually gear up the courage to call it a CALL. (that's very god-y language, there, folks. let's get comfortable with the uncomfortable. oy.)
did the vigil help? was anyone BESIDES me moved by it, forward, in a direction that upholds the dignity of all people? god. how can i answer that question? what i can say is that it was part of a larger movement, and was a piece of a whole, in that one-body-many-parts kind of way. any one piece of a movement, apart from the others, might not amount to much. but put together? that can amount to real change.
so what contribution does a vigil have to real, meaningful social change? i'm thankful for my friend abby, with whom i spoke about this today over tea. when i told her what that crazy mean person emailed me about the civil war, slavery and "little vigils", abby laughed, looked at me and said, "What! Has that person never heard of the Civil Rights Movement?!"
How did I not think of that?
Let the institutions fallPosted: 09/02/2010 Filed under: Bible, Identity, Seminary | Tags: beliefs, ethics, the church, theology, young people 8 Comments
It took me three years to complete my Master's degree in Divinity. Of those three years in seminary, I attended a Sunday morning church service perhaps five times. It wasn't a lack of interest, and I certainly wasn't trying to abandon organized religion. Despite a commitment to my faith community at seminary, and a deep regard for faith-based justice work, something was lacking to compel me to attend a local community church every week.
Today, I usually grumble to myself while getting up on Sunday mornings for church. The community is great, and I adore the ministers. But at the risk of sounding wholly un-pious, I sometimes skip the service for no other reason than that I'd like to sip my coffee in peace, listen to Speaking of Faith on NPR, and do a crossword puzzle.
In "the Church" (that is, the often mainstream and Protestant church) these days, there seems to be a lot of panic around the topic of young people: Where are they? How can we get them to come here? Why aren't they interested in Sunday morning worship? Don't they care about faith; values; community?
I certainly consider myself as a person who cares about community, faith, ethics, social justice, and even The Church. But sometimes—and I say this as someone with a degree specializing in parish ministry—the Sunday morning worship experience seems too creedal, too suffocating; trying to claim me too much as its own. In the midst of the grand pillars, the soft candlelight, the hymnody, my ancestral tradition, the question remains: what if I want to change my mind?
Rather than courting me as one more young-person's-body in the pews on Sunday morning (as the Church sometimes does), I'd like to be appreciated as an individual whose identity sometimes transgresses traditional religious boundaries. I'm Christian, but I'm definitely not all that concerned with other people's spiritual salvation. And although I belong to a congregation, my faith life doesn't abide in a church alone.
One of the most spiritual experiences I had in seminary was outside the seminary walls, on the floor of a yoga studio in New York City. It was in savasana, after a particularly compelling practice, that I realized my seminary education was changing my religious life in an entirely irreversible way. Never again would I approach the Bible with the same sense of awe, assuming that hidden beneath the Hebrew and Greek was a Truth yet to be revealed. The Church became the church. The Bible became the bible. God even took on god's own flaws – overtly masculine, strangely hierarchical, at times wrathful. As I, a Christian seminarian, opened my heart to a Buddhist practice, I found a space to mourn and accept the changes in my faith.
Instead of believing in something explicit, I now just have faith that there is something to believe in. My faith is that Good exists, and that good is what I call God. It is not that I am not reflective, or that I don't care, or that I am not committed to what I believe. It is that there are very few religious institutions that are flexible enough to allow me to be constantly changing my own definitions of belief, ethics, social justice, and truth.
It is my experience that many fellow young people I meet also have conflicting feelings about the creedal necessities of religion. Despite caring deeply about theological concepts and ideas, it is sometimes asking too much to identify too closely with hard and fast beliefs. In a world of crossing boundaries, flexible identities, and intermingling concepts, mainstream Protestant churches have unfortunately become institutional fundamentalists. Too afraid to lose their own identities, they have begun to claw and grasp at the last hope for tomorrow: young bodies in the pews. Too busy gnashing their teeth at the absence of young people in their midst, they are not listening to our voices as we say we're here. We care. We matter.
Change the infrastructure. Give us a voice. Let the institutions fall.
my virgin mary: birthing compassion, eschewing 'virginity'Posted: 13/12/2009 Filed under: Bible, Feminist, Seminary | Tags: christianity, christmas, erotic, love, nativity, sexuality, theology, Virgin Mary, virginity 3 Comments
It is the classic story. We all know and love the well-worn features of the beautiful Christmas narrative: the angels, the shepherds, the journey to Bethlehem, the star shining brightly, and the miraculous event of the virgin birth. Transcending all else, this is a paradox of child birthing child, of holy producing holy. It boggles our minds. What can we do but walk away perplexed—much as Mary herself was?
When I was about 13 years old – Mary's age, at the birth of Jesus – my pastor preached on this text. If I were to be honest with myself, it was probably one of the first times I felt that nebulous "Call", a moment in which a person feels inspired to serve outside herself, perhaps in honor of something bigger than herself, something divine.
Pastor Judith spoke of Mary's youth, and she talked about what an incredible feat it was for a girl so young to be 'chosen by God' to perform this amazing task of bearing and birthing God's own child. I remember feeling empowered. I also was only 13, but if God chose Mary to do something that important, surely I could be capable of something wonderful, too.
Some time later, in college, I studied abroad in Quito, Ecuador. Nestled in the armpit of a smoking volcano, Quito is a city of nearly 2 million people. In the center of the city is a surprising hill, jutting up as quickly as it falls, on the top of which stands a statue of – who else? – the Virgin Mary. In this version, Mary is a winged goddess, standing on a serpent and reaching up toward the heavens. From anywhere in Quito, even from miles away, you can see her looking down over the valley. It's hard to tell whether the Virgin or the volcano casts a greater shadow over the city.
I asked my new Ecuadorian friends what they felt growing up under that Virgin Mother. Despite their devotion, these young women admitted the difficulty posed by using her as a role model. How, they asked, is a human woman to be expected to both remain a 'virgin,' and yet also become a mother? What is the value in placing such societal importance on virginity? And why, when she herself is so powerful, does the figure of the Virgin Mary stand as the ultimate model of female submissiveness?
These are questions crucial to the way we understand the Christmas story. Have you ever stopped to wonder why it was necessary for Mary to be a virgin? Would it have been any different if God had caused the pregnancy of an already-married woman? To answer that, the reader must begin by understanding that the author of Luke was not writing in a vacuum. His words and thoughts, like ours, were influenced by the culture in which he wrote. And during his day, there were no DNA tests.
It may seem a strange point to make. But in a world in which there was no way to prove paternity, the virginity of a woman was everything: it assured new husbands that the child his wife just birthed was actually his own! This is why in the gospel of Matthew, we see Joseph struggling over whether or not to wed Mary after she becomes pregnant: Matthew is showing us that Joseph knows the child is not his. So Mary's virginity in Luke is present as an agent to assure us that Jesus is God's child.
The Gospel of Luke was also written for gentiles. Within the Roman Empire, virgin goddesses like the Greek hunter Artemis, or the Egyptian mother Isis, dominated the civic/religious scene, and this Christian movement was fashioned and defined by its new converts. So temples previously dedicated to Artemis were transferred to Mary. The feasts and festivals in honor of Isis, which celebrated all the fertility and promise that virginity symbolized, instead came to honor the Virgin Mary.
The tradition of Mary's virginity when it first emerged thus meant something very different than what it means for many today: instead of an avoidance of sexuality, it rejoiced in the possibility of the new life that would emerge from her body. If anything, virginity in the ancient world was a promise of what was to come, not a preservation of purity, of things as they once were.
The Annunciation text describes how Mary became pregnant by God. At that time, it sounded to the gentile listeners a lot like Greco-Roman myths in which Zeus or Apollo descended to earth to mate with a beautiful mortal woman. Even in Genesis, we find a story in which divine beings—the nephilim—came down to impregnate human women. The idea of a god sleeping with a woman was not a new concept in the ancient world, and so this Annunciation was not nearly so sterile a story as we consider it today.
In fact, the Annunciation tells of a very charged encounter between Mary and the Holy Spirit. As the angel detailed, Mary was to be overshadowed (Gk: episkiazo) by God's presence, an experience which ancient authorities such as Philo tell us was a union of a human's soul with the divine, struck through with sexual connotations. Some ancient Egyptian texts even go so far as to speak of the seminal emission of the shadow of a divinity, so powerful that it could engender a woman's pregnancy.
Have we really been missing, over the past 2,000 years, such blatant allusions to eroticism in the supposedly PG Christmas story?
What is fascinating to me about reading the text in this way is that it allows us to approach it in a way that contemporary American life rarely does: through the fusion of the spiritual with the sexual. So many representations of sexuality today only allow us to see it with our bodies: gyrations, appendages, flesh, and nothing more. Similarly, so many representations of spirituality today only allow us to experience it completely devoid of our bodies: emotions, logic, heart, and with restrictions on how we may use our bodies, and in what ways. Must the two be so separate?
Consider the sensation of reading a moving piece of prose, solving an elegant mathematical formula, hearing a piece music that transports you elsewhere. Is it really so different from the sensation of a good run, the warmth of sun upon skin, or the pleasure of clasping lover to breast? Listen to these words: wholeness, reverence, relationship, meaning, safety, transcendence, trust. Do they describe spirituality to you, or sexuality? Must they represent only one at a time?
So when I read Luke's Annunciation text, I think he is playing with the boundaries between spirit and body, allowing the two to puddle together and intermingle. His logic might have been: if Mary encountered God and became pregnant, surely it was a spiritual experience, and also, inevitably, a sexual one.
This, then, is no story of a chaste and quiet virgin, the one whom we have always been told Mary must be.
Instead, this is a story of a brave young woman whose passionate, erotic encounter with God began a movement so powerful that it changed the world.
Rather than representing timidity and submission, Mary encourages us to step boldly into new possibilities, to live into our full selves, and to give birth to love and compassion wherever we go.
The world still thinks of Mary as perpetually a virgin, although the gospels themselves tell us Jesus had brothers and sisters. It still considers her asexual, as if this text were not imbued with eroticism and sensuality. And we make Mary's role in the Christmas story about her virginity without even considering the text, or its implications for women and men in our world.
But the Christmas story is not and should not be about virginity. It is about that spiritual and bodily act of giving birth to the promise of life, and of love, for everyone.
in the fear of death, speaking only to lifePosted: 02/11/2009 Filed under: Identity, Seminary | Tags: all saints day, candles, death, halloween Leave a comment
there is something i love about the agreeable contrast and irresistible affinity between all hallow's eve and all saint's day.
halloween recognizes the fear, dread, the grotesque nature of horror and of death. kate moos, on the speaking of faith blog, speaks about the deliciousness of getting to 'become a monster' for only one night a year, and i think she's right: there is certainly something in how humanity repeatedly seeks to wallow in the depths of death for (at least) one night a year. on hallow's eve, we make light of it. halloween has become a day of raunch, of candy-guzzling, cheap thrills, and funny costumes. but it is also something richer, more nauseatingly terrifying: a staring into the cold heart of death that is essential to human experience. in the end, though, the night ends, and we are greeted with… candy, sensation, laughter. reminders of our very alive lives.
i love michael jackson's thriller video. it encapsulates what halloween was to me as a kid: very eighties of course, lots of rotting skin, but playful, ending with a laugh. it tempts us into fear more than once, but never quite to seriousness — because who can really be that afraid of dancing zombies? michael had it under control.
then we come to the next day, far less grotesque but perhaps more graceful, and certainly more frightening: all saint's day.
this time, the chill of a cold october night has given way to the penetrating absence of those lost to death.
this time, we encounter death not as fantasy, but in how it has touched our lives. the rotting flesh is not upon the faces of zombies, but instead is in our minds, in the reality of what we knows happens to bodies when their souls depart.
we light candles not to be spooky or funny or to light up the night with an orange playful glow. now we light them to remember, whispering names too often unspoken. alice. leo. george. lindsay. we think of the day we know will come when our loved ones will die. or, when we die.
both candles serve purposes. we need to mock and intimidate death as much as we fear it, else we are overcome with terror. and yet, and yet. and yet we remember, bringing to life again that which was lost, speaking into being the memory of days passed, serving the purpose of loving each other in life, despite the inevitability of death.


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30th St.: The saga of an RTA B-list item
The Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) board, consisting of elected officials from governments in El Paso County, is expected to finalize this month the project list for a 10-year extension of the RTA's 1 percent sales tax that will go before voters in November.
For Colorado Springs, reaching this milestone was the work of staff engineers, starting months ago to identify citywide transportation needs and to work up a list that would give the city its dollars-worth of needed projects commensurate with having roughly 70 percent of the county's population.
Meetings of elected officials to date have mostly focused on such political issues as ballot wording, the relationship between A- and B-list projects and how dollars are shared, not on the intricacies of the projects themselves, which appear on the project list with short, one-line descriptions.
One of these projects, the scope of which is mainly on the Westside, is a B-list item with the following description: "30th Street Corridor Improvements - $8.25 million."
Closer scrutiny reveals that the project's key purpose is to add bike lanes along 30th between Fontanero Street and Centennial Boulevard. This would be achieved in large part by widening the street to create paved shoulders (much of this where 30th passes the Garden of the Gods). Other work - including utility upgrades, intersection improvements and possible landslide mitgation - would add to the cost, but chiefly would be needed as a result of making roadway space for bike lanes.
A similar project about three years ago was priced at just over $3 million (details later in story). Asked about the cost difference between then and now, City Transportation Manager Kathleen Krager replied in an e-mail July 18:
"The 30th Street Corridor Project is conceptual in nature and is envisioned to add paved shoulders that could be used for bike lanes, intersection improvements where needed, slope stabilization where needed and drainage/utility improvements. This project does not assume widening of 30th St to 4 lanes. The cost estimate is rough because of the unknowns, but we tried to keep it conservative just in case. If we do not need all $8.25 million it will go back to the pool of PPRTA projects. This is a B list project which would not happen until the A list is complete, and may not be selected out of the B list projects to be completed. If selected, this project will include a public process to determine neighborhood issues and desires."
When the Westside Pioneer asked for specifics on the slope, utility and intersection issues mentioned by Krager, Kristin Bennett of the City Engineering office responded that "sections along 30th Street are active landslide areas, including the sections where the concrete barriers were installed about 14 years ago (to prevent slope failures, especially during wet weather). Former engineering staff (both now retired) developed some initial concept plans to address these issues but more detailed design and implementation never got off the ground because of a lack of funding. Staff also did identify some challenging utility issues (i.e., utilities to work around and/or relocate if roadway improvements ever proceeded)… As for the in-tersections, operations are currently considered acceptable although staff has identified some possible improvements that could enhance operations, especially given the geometrics of some of the intersections, as well as safety and speed management on 30th Street."
Bennett also noted that "cost escalation factors" pushed up the project's potential expense. "Projects on the B list would have more cost escalation because they would be late in the 10-year program if a PPRTA extension is approved and the B list was able to be reached," she wrote.
How many bicyclists use this road segment on a regular basis has not been announced by the city - if they've been counted at all - but comments at meetings over the years have anecdotally left the impression that several dozen commuter cyclists may use that route on a regular basis.
Paralleling 30th Street for most of the distance is the city-maintained Foothills Trail. However, according to Tim Roberts of City Engineering, many cyclists disdain the trail because it's less direct and they have to slow down for hikers. Another trail negative for cyclists is that it is not paved the entire distance (the portion in front of Rock Ledge Ranch is dirt in conjunction with the ranch's historic plan, Bennett explained).
Making 30th Street bicycle-friendly has long been a priority for the cycling community, as well as for Engineering staff. In 2008, there was a process through the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments (PPACG) that envisioned a $566,000 cost (most of it to be covered by a $471,000 federal grant). The idea was to put in paved shoulders "to accommodate bicycle traffic on this important north-south corridor" between Fontanero and Mesa Road, a PPACG staff write-up stated. The document added that the shoulders "will also improve pedestrian safety" and provide space for "disabled vehicles."
In January 2009, the city developed a list of projects that might be funded from the federal "stimulus" package. One of these was 30th from Fontanero to Centennial. The price tag suggested then was just over $3 million.
Puzzled by this apparent increase in cost scale - considering that Fontanero to Mesa (previously priced at $566,000) is about half the distance of Fontanero to Centennial, the Westside Pioneer asked Bennett for an explanation. She wrote back that improvements in the area from Mesa to Garden of the Gods Road especially would have "more complexity."
Asked to elaborate, she said in an e-mail Jan. 20, 2009, that "30th Street is just a long, curvy road with substantial amounts of existing guardrail that would be reset, a lot of linear feet of sub-base in the shoulder area to be properly compacted, and a comparable amount of asphalt to be laid, etc." Also contributing to the higher costs at that time would be the need for "Davis-Bacon (prevailing) wage rates, which is a requirement of federally funded projects and typically higher. The budget also assumes that we would not be able to couple the work with any other project… to realize some savings."
Another mention of a proposed 30th Street project appeared in the PPACG's 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan of January 2011. It listed the project name as "30th St. Bicycle Lanes" with the following description: "construct paved shoulders and install signage and markings to provide continuous on-street bicycling on 30th Street from Fontanero to Garden of the Gods Road." The estimated cost then was $1.59 million.
An interim effort to help cyclists on 30th occurred in spring 2011, when City Engineering planned to stamp sharrow markings on both sides of the the road from Colorado Avenue to Centennial Boulevard. The idea was backed by the city's Bikeway Advisory Committee. A Westside Pioneer article April 28, 2011, reported that the committee believed that 30th "meets the sharrow criteria by being a key north-south bicycle commuter route with a speed limit under 35 mph and no room for a traditional bike lane." Sharrows are intended to remind motorists that cyclists have as much right to traffic lanes as they do. However, when the mayor's office questioned the lack of a neighborhood process regarding sharrows on Westside roads (Colorado Avenue up to 30th Street had also been planned), Engineering set aside the 30th Street stamping and has not brought it back since.
Westside Pioneer article