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Last month, we discussed the tocotrienol form of vitamin E and cancer prevention with Dr. Barrie Tan. We talked about the differences between the tocotrienol and tocopherol forms of vitamin E and that tocotrienols have proven to contain some exceptional properties that are not shared by tocopherols. This month, we will examine additional specific roles of tocotrienol compared to the tocopherol forms of vitamin E with Dr. Barrie Tan, Ph.D. These roles include reducing heart disease risk and controlling inflammation, as well as supporting nerve health and protecting against radiation and bacteria.
Dr. Tan earned his doctorate in chemistry with an emphasis on biochemistry at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He later became a professor of chemistry and food science/nutrition at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His research expertise includes lipid-soluble materials such as carotenoids, tocotrienols/tocopherols, CoQ10, omega-3s and cholesterol. He was the first to introduce tocotrienol's benefits to the nutrition industry. He founded American River Nutrition Inc. in 1998 and developed the first-ever tocopherol-free tocotrienol product derived from annatto beans. Today, the focus of his research is on lipid-soluble nutrients that have an impact on chronic and degenerative conditions. Dr. Tan was elected to be the senior editor of a compilation with a broad focus on tocotrienols, Tocotrienols: Vitamin E Beyond Tocopherols (AOCS & CRC Press; Fall 2012), and was the organizer of the 2nd International Tocotrienol Symposium in conjunction with the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Oil Chemists' Society (Long Beach, CA).
Passwater: Originally, tocotrienols were discovered for their cholesterol-lowering properties in the early 1980s. Is there continued research effort in the area of cardiovascular diseases?
Tan: Research on tocotrienol's effect in cardiovascular diseases is still ongoing. The lowering of cholesterol and other blood fats by the potent delta- and gamma-tocotrienols was tested in cell lines, animals and clinical trials (30), where results varied significantly based on the study design. In cell lines, the mix of delta- and gamma-tocotrienol suppressed regulators of cholesterol homeostasis genes including HMG-CoA reductase (HMGR), the rate-controlling enzyme of the metabolic pathway that produces cholesterol, resulting in the reduction of cholesterol and triglycerides in mice by 28% and 19%, respectively. In an eight-week human clinical study, supplementation of the mixture lowered triglycerides by 28% without a change in cholesterol levels. The lack of cholesterol lowering in these study participants was most likely due to a high-fat diet during the holiday season. A clinical study is now underway at the University of California, Los Angeles (31) to clarify the effectiveness of tocopherol-free delta- and gamma-tocotrienol (50:50 ratio) on blood cholesterol and other heart disease-related lipids.
Passwater: In our last interview you mentioned that tocotrienols are approximately 50 times more potent as an antioxidant than tocopherols. Do you have any updates on tocotrienol's antioxidant properties?
Tan: The fact that tocotrienol is about 50 times more potent than tocopherol was an original finding of the antioxidant expert Lester Packer, Ph.D., of the University of California, Berkeley (32, 33). We compared tocotrienol's radical scavenging capacity in skin cells under UVA-/UVB-induced stress. A tocotrienol-only mixture and the tocotrienol–tocopherol mixture were 46 times and 10 times more potent than alpha-tocopherol, respectively.
Oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) is an assay developed by Boxin Ou, Ph.D., and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and was originally made famous for the measurement of water-soluble antioxidants, such as blueberry and pomegranate, and from here we derive the concept of nutrient-dense "superfruits." This assay has since been expanded to include lipid-soluble materials. In lipid ORAC studies, delta- and gamma-tocotrienols had the highest antioxidant value of all vitamin E isomers at 5.5 times and three times the potency of alpha-tocopherol, respectively. Interestingly, delta- and gamma-tocopherols were also strong antioxidants (34). In vitamin E mixtures containing both tocotrienols and tocopherols, a higher concentration of alpha-tocopherol was associated with lower antioxidant activity (35) (see Figure 5).
Passwater: What happened in Fukushima, Japan on March 11, 2011 was devastating, and is felt today even more than a year after. The consequences will linger for many years to come. Radiation protection is not a distant or novel idea, but indeed very current.
Tan: Quite contrary to being novel, it is indeed a very present and attendant situation in the United States. We have 104 nuclear reactors producing 20% of U.S. power, of which 31 reactors (30% of the total number) are aging like the one in Japan. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved all 63 applications for a 20-year extension from a normal 40-year life span, and thus "60 is the new 40" (36).
If you draw a line on the continental United States, 90% of all our plants are on the eastern half of the United States where most Americans live. Furthermore, some of the nuclear reactors are in earthquake-prone areas such as California and South Carolina (see Figure 6). Put squarely together, one-third of the U.S. population (105 million people) lives within 50 miles—the reach of a dirty bomb—of a nuclear reactor.
Passwater: Those are some startling numbers! I understand that advances in radiation countermeasures research are also attributed to tocotrienol's antioxidant properties, correct? Who is involved with this sort of research?
Tan: The U.S. government. In the past six years, the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute has performed extensive research on tocotrienol as a radiation countermeasure agent (37). Of the tocotrienol isomers, delta- and gamma-tocotrienol are among the most effective radioactive countermeasure agents (38, 39). Reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species are the primary sources of radiation-induced damage; tocotrienols—as potent antioxidants—are effective radioprotectors, supporting the hypothesis that "strong antioxidants make strong radioprotectors" (40).
However, the amelioration of radiation lethality—which is acute and severe—goes beyond tocotrienol's antioxidant properties. Radiation's first line of insult to the human body is bone marrow, which produces blood. Delta- and gamma-tocotrienol display an unambiguous stimulatory effect on hematopoietic (blood-forming) tissue (38, 41), with delta-tocotrienol performing equal to or better than gamma-tocotrienol, restoring the fresh blood supply damaged by radiation insults.
Following total body irradiation of mice, both delta- and gamma-tocotrienol regenerated blood-born cells by increasing the total white blood cell count; in addition, only delta-tocotrienol regenerated lymphocytes. Tocotrienols almost fully restored bone marrow cellularity to normal levels following radiation, while overall cellularity in untreated controls remained depleted (38, 41). In both cases, prophylactic treatment 24 hours pre-radiation was more effective than post-radiation treatment. These results suggest that tocotrienols, especially of the delta- and gamma-isoforms, could be used as powerful radioprotectors for first responders to nuclear fallout areas, radiation workers, and cancer radiotherapy patients.
Passwater: You mentioned earlier that a second edition of Tocotrienols: Vitamin E Beyond Tocopherols will be published this fall, with you as senior editor. What are some examples of the emerging tocotrienol research that will be discussed in this book?
Tan: Various research groups have published studies on tocotrienol's anti-inflammatory benefits. As discussed in the new book, tocotrienols were shown to decrease NF-kB, a family of proteins that regulate genes critical for inflammation and immunity, and also relevant in chronic inflammation, cancer and aging (42). More simply put, NF-kB is a "master switch" that controls inflammation. Tocotrienol as a potential anti-inflammatory agent was shown not only to affect NF-kB directly, but also its gene products that are involved in carcinogenesis. For example, tocotrienols suppressed COX-2 (a hallmark enzyme present during inflammation), overexpression of which has been associated with cancer, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. Tocotrienol's suppression of COX-2 did not affect the housekeeping COX-1 enzyme, therefore avoiding serious side effects such as GI and renal toxicities that often occur with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) in this type of application (20).
In general, tocotrienol targets multiple cell signaling pathways, including mono-targeted therapies that inhibit COX-2, and this has been comprehensively reviewed (43). Other research focuses on the effect of tocotrienols in reducing inflammation in experimental mice (44). Researchers demonstrated that alpha-, gamma- and delta-tocotrienols strongly inhibited the inflammatory response by looking at common factors associated with inflammation such as chymotrypsin, trypsin and tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a), with delta-tocotrienol being the most effective. Tocotrienols increase the immune system's ability to fight inflammation, and also enhance the body's ability to discard unneeded or damaged proteins by modulating large protein complexes called proteasomes. At the same time, tocotrienols induce a hormone and, in turn, produces an anti-inflammatory steroid to block inflammation.
Passwater: Consumers are concerned about chronic inflammation, a condition that seems to increase with aging. This inflammation protection is very impressive. Moving forward, what are some other innovations in tocotrienol science?
Tan: Tocotrienols are currently under investigation for promoting bone mineralization (45) and skin health (46, 47) and increasing longevity (48), as well as counteracting gastric injury (49), metabolic syndrome and obesity (50). Let me choose the last to elaborate on.
Annatto delta-tocotrienol was tested in metabolic syndrome rats fed a high-carbohydrate, high-fat diet. After eight weeks of supplementation, total fat mass and abdominal circumference decreased, while abdominal adipose tissues were reduced, suggesting increased breakdown of lipids and fatty acids. Delta-tocotrienol improved glucose and insulin tolerance, normalized blood pressure and reduced ventricular stiffness. Histological examination showed reduced inflammation.
Passwater: What role, if any, does vitamin E tocotrienol have in nerve health?
Tan: Tocotrienols, and alpha-tocotrienol in particular, were shown to be effective in treating trauma-induced stroke in animals (51), and a clinical study to investigate this effect further is in the planning stages. Tocotrienols have also been shown to reduce the side effects of diabetic neuropathy (52), and were demonstrated to have a beneficial effect in nerve disorders of the autonomic or involuntary nervous system, in particular familial dysautonomia (FD) (53, 54). In this genetic disorder, children have dry eyes and suffer severe autonomic crises with excessively high blood pressure and heart rate, while enduring violent retching. Children with FD that receive tocotrienol supplementation experience decreased autonomic crisis, and the natural tears have been said to return to their eyes. Most recently, vitamin E deficiency has been implicated in cognitive impairment, where low plasma levels of both tocopherols and tocotrienols were associated with a very high incidence of mild cognitive impairment (92%) and Alzheimer's disease (94%) (55).
Passwater: Does tocotrienol have any anti-bacterial properties?
Tan: Not exactly, but we have shown that tocotrienols decrease chlamydial infections in vitro by up to 50% (56). We hypothesize that the mechanism at work here is not directly anti-bacterial, but involves cholesterol reduction. Chlamydia are obligate intracellular bacteria that require cholesterol for successful replication within host cells. We believe that the reduction of cholesterol by tocotrienols may prevent the bacteria from invading host cells, hence decreasing their chances for replication.
Other researchers have shown that tocotrienols potentiate the effectiveness of tetanus vaccines (57), and that tocotrienols may be good adjuvants for developing cancer vaccines (58). Tocotrienols were also shown to be immunosuppressive in murine lymphocytes (59), and improved age-related decline of T-cell function in mice (60).
Passwater: Alpha-tocopherol is the vitamin E isoform preferentially taken up by the human body and is most abundant in the blood. Are there any concerns for tocotrienol bioavailability?
Tan: As part of the vitamin E family, tocotrienols are fat-soluble, and are hence absorbed in a similar fashion as fats from food in the gut. It has been shown that tocotrienol is deposited in oil-rich organs. Therefore, enhancing tocotrienol in the blood may become uncertain in meaning, and should not be considered the "yardstick" of measurement. True bioavailability is in tissues, not the blood; the latter is a matter of study convenience.
Passwater: Are you saying that tocotrienol bioavailability is site-specific?
Tan: Yes. In cancer, tocotrienol is recruited and concentrated in the tumor where the cancer is (6, 25). Most compellingly, delta-tocotrienol is recruited directly to the tumor in pancreatic cancer patients (25, 26). In cardiovascular disease, tocotrienol is recruited to the arterial endothelium when atherosclerosis is present. A hallmark of atherogenesis is fatty streak formation in arteries, and begins with the adherence of circulating monocytes—a type of white blood cells—to the endothelium (termed "monocytic cell adherence"). Tocotrienols have been shown to reduce cellular adhesion molecule expression and monocytic cell adherence (61, 62). In particular, delta-tocotrienol showed the most profound inhibitory effect on monocytic cell adherence as compared to tocopherols and other tocotrienol isomers. Delta- and gamma-tocotrienol were 60 times and 30 times more potent than alpha-tocopherol, respectively (63). This phenomenon seems to occur because delta-tocotrienol inhibits the expression of a protein (VCAM-1) that normally causes white blood cells to adhere to the walls of arteries (63).
In effect, delta-tocotrienol dramatically reduces the "Velcro-effect" of circulating monocytes on the arterial wall, a process known to initiate plaque formation (64). The effects of tocotrienols on atheroma formation (i.e., the accumulation of immune cells differentiated to engulf debris, along with lipids, calcium and connective tissue) have been compared in vivo. Comparison studies on animals investigated the impact of tocotrienol supplementation vis-à-vis tocopherol or non-supplementation. Results to date indicate that animals on an atherogenic diet and given desmethyl tocotrienols—namely delta- and gamma-isomers—had 60% lower plasma cholesterol than the control group, and the size of atherosclerotic lesions was reduced 10-fold. Alpha-tocopherol, on the other hand, had no effect (65). This finding was further corroborated in a similar independent study, where desmethyl tocotrienols inhibited atherosclerotic lesions in hyperlipidemic mice. Atherosclerotic lesion size in mice supplemented with desmethyl tocotrienols was decreased by 42%, whereas with alpha-tocopherol, lesion size was only decreased by 11% (66). Methylated tocotrienols and tocopherols—namely alpha- and beta-isomers—do not have the cardiovascular benefits characteristic of desmethyl tocotrienols.
Passwater: Clearly, tocotrienols recruit to diseased tissues. How about specificity in normal tissue?
Tan: Recently, a clinical study showed that all tocotrienol isomers are actually bioavailable to human tissues (67). Tocotrienols deposited in adipose tissue and the heart, crossed the blood-brain barrier, metabolized in the liver, and were surprisingly low in the blood and skin. My interpretation of the study is that the composition of delta- and gamma-tocotrienol was 1:4—or 20% and 80%, respectively—in the supplement, while tissue distribution in the adipose, blood, skin and brain was reversed at 2:1 or 67% and 33%, respectively. There is strong support that tocotrienols are bioavailable to human tissues, and that delta-tocotrienol's bioavailability is superior.
Passwater: What are your thoughts on the use of nanoparticles and solubilizers to increase bioavailability?
Tan: Nanotechnology is an engineering field that utilizes super small nanometer particles to enhance functions. In our industry, the goal is to enhance bioavailability of food nutrients with this engineering. Pull back for a moment to appreciate this.
When you make scrambled eggs and pour out a glass of milk, your "beating" and the dairy factory's "homogenizing" produce microtechnology, making small micrometer particles with other self-emulsifying materials. Nanoparticles are about 100–1,000 times smaller than microparticles—or about 1,000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair—much like the all-natural LDL and HDL nanoparticles, except that these are made by our liver! LDL and HDL contain fats, cholesterol and nutrients that are ubiquitously delivered everywhere in our body. Synthetically engineered particles will go to places in the body where they have not been before. It is the flipside, the science of toxicity that is unknown and unaddressed.
Here is a concerned remark: "You have a synthetic version of a natural product . . . even though it is only particle size. How do you know where those particles accumulate and how they metabolize?" (68). Very recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued guidelines to food and cosmetic companies interested in these applications to provide extra safety studies for engineered nanoparticles (69).
There are also pre-solubilized forms of vitamin E out there, but they tend to be in large-size capsules and are difficult to swallow. They contain additives not found in the original plant extracts from where T3 is derived. Oftentimes, tocotrienol is added to a complementary platform with other nutritional ingredients, such as omega-3. Typically, a minimum of 500–1,000 mg of EPA and DHA are needed (70). A tocotrienol–omega-3 combination is wonderful for heart health and perfect for digestion with a meal, but may be too large if a pre-solubilized form of vitamin E is used. I encourage consumers to keep this real simple: take all lipid-soluble vitamins in soft gels (such as A, D, E and K unadulterated) but with a meal, preferably lunch or dinner. This allows the body to do its own solubilization and emulsification.
Passwater: Now to the big question and hot topic. Dr. Tan, you brought up an extremely important topic in our 2008 interview. It concerns the possible interference of alpha-tocopherol—the most commonly used form of vitamin E in dietary supplements— with other vitamin Es, including gamma-tocopherol which predominates in the American diet and the tocotrienols. Let's devote next month's column to this important question. WF
Dr. Richard Passwater is the author of more than 45 books and 500 articles on nutrition. Dr. Passwater has been WholeFoods Magazine's science editor and author of this column since 1984. More information is available on his Web site, www.drpasswater.com.
The complete references will follow the last part of this series.
Published in WholeFoods Magazine, August 2012


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subset: commoncrawl


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- Science
- Not Exactly Rocket Science
Tarantula climbs walls by spinning silk from its feet
There is an old joke that if Spider-Man has the powers of a spider, he really ought to be shooting webs from somewhere less salubrious than his hands. In the films and comic books, Peter Parker is empowered with the powers of a human-sized arachnid through a spider bite. He effortlessly scales walls and ceilings and shoots sticky webs from his wrists. Now, scientists have found a type of spider that does just that.
Like Spider-Man, most spiders can climb sheer surfaces and they do so with two techniques. The most obvious are small claws, called tarsi, that grip onto rough surfaces. Going down in scale, their feet also end in thousands of tiny hairs. These hairs make such close contacts with the microscopic troughs and crests of seemingly smooth surfaces that they stick using the same forces that hold individual molecules together.
But Stanislav Gorb and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute have found that one species of spider uses a third method, which exploits that most characteristic of spider traits – silk. All spider species spin silk from appropriately named organs on their rear ends called spinnerets. But uniquely to spiders, the Costa Rican zebra tarantula (Aphonopelma seemanni) from spins silk from its feet as well.
Gorb watched the tarantulas climbing up glass plates, and saw that they left behind silken footprints – dozens of fibres, just a thousandth of a millimetre wide. As the spider climbs, four of its legs leave the glass plate at any one time. As the legs land, they begin to slip but small nozzles secrete a viscous silken fluid that rapidly hardens and adheres to the surface. The silk acts as a tether, firmly holding the spider to the pane.
Spider silk is fantastically versatile and webs alone consist of several different types. As well as catching food, spiders use silk to create egg sacs, protect themselves and even travel by catching the wind. But this is the first time that silk has been documented as a rappelling aid and it throws up some questions about how it came to be used this way.
The tarantula group includes the largest of all spiders, some the size of a human hand. Gorb suggests that they may have evolved an extra source of traction to support their large bulk and prevent harmful falls. Alternatively, rather than being a new innovation, the zebra tarantula's silken footsteps might reflect how the first spiders spun silk, with the specialised spinnerets only evolving later.
Finding how many species spin silk from their feet and the genes that control this will give the scientists further insights into how this incredible ability evolved.
Reference: Gorb, S.N., Niederegger, S., Hayashi, C.Y., Summers, A.P., Vötsch, W., Walther, P. (2006). Biomaterials: Silk-like secretion from tarantula feet. Nature, 443(7110), 407-407. DOI:10.1038/443407a


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Valour and Vanity (Glamourist Histories #4) (Compact Disc)
Acclaimed fantasist Mary Robinette Kowal has enchanted many fans with her beloved novels featuring a Regency setting in which magic--known here as glamour--is real. In Valour and Vanity, master glamourists Jane and Vincent find themselves in the sort of a magical adventure that might result if Jane Austen wrote Ocean's Eleven.
After Melody's wedding, the Ellsworths and Vincents accompany the young couple on their tour of the continent. Jane and Vincent plan to separate from the party and travel to Murano to study with glassblowers there, but their ship is set upon by Barbary corsairs while en route. It is their good fortune that they are not enslaved, but they lose everything to the pirates and arrive in Murano destitute.
Jane and Vincent are helped by a kind local they meet en route, but Vincent is determined to become self-reliant and get their money back, and hatches a plan to do so. But when so many things are not what they seem, even the best laid plans conceal a few pitfalls. The ensuing adventure is a combination of the best parts of magical fantasy and heist novels, set against a glorious Regency backdrop.


text: canada goose Here's What Happened When 8,000 Pairs Of Equally Qualified Whites And Minorities Went House Hunting Emily Badger, The Atlantic Cities Jun. 11, 2013, 5:04 PM Getty Images/Joe Raedle When the Department of Housing and Urban Development first began to systemically study housing discrimination in the United States in the 1970s, the most blatant forms of it were still common. Blacks were denied appointments to meet with real estate brokers or rental agencies to tour homes that had been publicly advertised. Or they were told those homes were no longer available, a lie that helped perpetuate the racial divides between whole neighborhoods. Today, illegal incidents like these rarely occur (although they have not disappeared entirely). Discrimination, though, persists in a much subtler form. Minorities in search of a home today typically get to meet the agent and see the property. But they're less likely than whites to then learn about the full range of housing options available to them – to be told "I have another two-bedroom you might like to see canada goose clearance ," or "let me show you one more house." "It's very subtle," says Margery Turner, a senior vice president with the Urban Institute. "It's pretty much impossible for the victim to detect that this is happening to him or her." We know, however, that this kind of discrimination takes place across the country based on the results of a sweeping new study released today by HUD and conducted by the Urban Institute. The research is the fourth in a series of HUD-sponsored studies of housing discrimination in America that have taken place roughly once a decade since 1977. In this latest study, 8,000 pairs of matched testers – one white, one minority, both equally qualified for the home in question – responded to ads for a variety of housing in 28 nationally representative metropolitan areas. Blacks in the market to own a home, for example, were then shown 17 percent fewer properties than whites. "Housing Discrimination Against Racial and Ethnic Minorities 2012 thomas-sz.com ," HUD and Urban Institute In effect, this practice still constrains housing opportunities available to minorities. "It still matters," Turner says. "It still really makes a difference. Not only is it fundamentally unfair that somebody doesn't find out about available housing because of the color of their skin, but it also really raises the cost of searching for housing for minorities, or it restricts their choices." This may mean that minorities don't find the most affordable housing or the housing located in neighborhoods with the best schools or parks or proximity to jobs. In this study, the race of the rental or real estate agent appeared to have no effect on the results. But minority testers whose race was more easily identifiable – by name, by voice over the phone, or in person – experienced more discrimination than minorities who were more likely to be mistaken as white. The findings raise a curious question about the property agents on the other side of all these transactions: Are they doing this intentionally? Is there some unconscious bias at work? "Paired testing is incredibly good at capturing whether discrimination occurs, when it occurs, and what forms it takes," Turner says. "But it doesn't answer the 'why' question. I don't know that there really is a reliable way to capture the answer to the 'why' question fully." There are, at least, a few hypotheses. Of course, conscious prejudice is one of them. Or agents may be assuming that minorities are less likely to be able to afford the home, or to be reliable tenants (in this experiment, however, paired testers were given identical financial profiles). Another theory suggests that whites – even if they're unconscious of it – may be less comfortable interacting with minorities and so may cut short such interactions. "Maybe they don't volunteer as much information," Turner says, "or they don't drive around to yet another house." The results of this study also likely underestimate the phenomenon. Testers in this experiment were all unambiguously well-qualified for the homes they sought (perhaps a one-bedroom for a single man, or a large home for someone posing as the head of a family of four). If some of this discrimination is rooted in stereotypes about the ability of Hispanics to pay their rent on time, or of blacks to be good tenants, discrimination might plausibly be even stronger for candidates who are marginally qualified for a home. These are some of the results among renters in the study: And potential home-owners: The good news in all of this, Turner says, is that the kind of "blatant, door-slamming" discrimination that was detected in the 1977 study has declined dramatically. But alongside that trend, we might expect to see a steady decline in these subtler forms of discrimination as well. And that hasn't really happened. "It seems to be kind of hanging on," Turner says. "It isn't dwindling away to nothing." Historically, the levels of residential segregation that solidified in the era of more overt discrimination have also remained strikingly high today: "Segregation is in many ways the legacy of past discrimination," Turner says. American communities are racially divided today for a variety of reasons: because of earlier red-lining by banks, because of the history of white flight to suburbia, because of mobility patterns that perpetuate segregation from one generation to the next. But the overt housing discrimination of the past played a significant role in influencing our cities as we see them today. It's harder to say what role this subtler kind of discrimination plays. It is clear, though, that if the victims of this practice don't even realize it's taking place, fair housing advocates and agencies must be that much more proactive in weeding it out. Click here to follow The Atlantic Cities.More From The Atlantic Cities:•Why Segregation Is Bad For Everyone•How Black Gentrifiers Have Affected The Perception Of Chicago's Changing Neighborhoods•The Next Big Infrastructure Crisis? Age-Proofing Our Streets Read the original article on The Atlantic Cities. Copyright 2018. Follow The Atlantic Cities on Twitter. SEE ALSO: America's Lost Youths Are Concentrated In These States canada goose parka


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[Orlando, March 23. Image via Getty.]
ORLAND, FL - MARCH 23: In this handout photo from Walt Disney World, actors dressed as princesses Belle (L), Cinderella and Snow White pose with '30 Rock' actress and executive producer Tina Fey and 'ER' actor John Stamos inside Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom on March 23 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by Kent Phillips/Walt Disney World Via Getty Images)


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A compilation of information about Solresol, the universal musical language
Usage of Solresol, including discussions in Solresol and translation projects.
Solresol Culture
Discussions regarding Solresol as a whole, including tutorials/guides, special events, and other resources.
Topics: 44
Solresol Projects
Projects using Solresol. Issues in translation may be discussed, but issues inherent to the language should be taken to one of the Linguistic Discussion forums.
Topics: 43
Discussions in Solresol
Solresol is strongly encouraged, but not required
Topics: 15


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Tuesday, 29 July 2014
July Giveaway + Sample Pack date
Oh yes, my friends, THREE Sample Packs to be won this month! I think I actually missed last month (or maybe the month before?) so I thought I'd better go big this time. There is one Sample Pack to giveaway here on the blog, one on Instagram and one winner will be chosen from my newsletter list. All you need to do to enter this one is leave a comment on this post, maybe tell me what your favourite colour is, one that I print or one that you'd like me to print. To enter the newsletter Sample Pack giveaway, just type your email address into my newsletter signup form over to the right there, hit 'Subscribe' and you're in! (If you've already signed up, you're already entered.) And for Instagram, head over to the giveaway post and tag a friend who you think might be interested. Easy peasy, three chances to win!
The giveaways are all open to anyone worldwide and include shipping, entries close midnight, July 31st, 2014 and winners will be randomly drawn on August 1st, 2014, Sample Packs may not be exactly as shown but will be a similar collection of colours/prints/basecloths.
And if you not the lucky winner (there can only be three after all...) you'll be happy to know that I'll have a new batch of Sample Packs in the shop on Friday, August 15th at 10am, AEST (Melbourne time). I should have the new Block Printing on Fabric Kits available then as well, just in time for my next Block Printing on Fabric workshop at the studio on August 16th - still about three places left in that one if you'd like to join us!
103 comments:
- Anonymous6:25 pm
My goodness, I love your fabrics! I am particularly fond of anything in aqua or teal. Kindest regards,ReplyDelete
Sue Caddie NZ
Thankyou for having this give away! I love the soft coffee or rich cream colours, but teal is nice too, but then so is grey... and blue.....all of them reallyReplyDelete
Beautifully photographed and very generous of you too Leslie. I like pretty much any colour except yellows/mustard.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous7:12 pm
Oh i so love all the colours and would love to win a sample pack. your work is wonderful.ReplyDelete
I think a little more pink would be great :)ReplyDelete
Hi Leslie, I'd so love to win some of your gorgeous fabrics... my fave colour is your teal. xReplyDelete
- Anonymous7:38 pm
Thank you for the giveaway Leslie. I would love any colour - your fabrics are divine. I currently have a couple of sample packs I purchased and love them so much that I just can't seem to make up my mind on how to use them.ReplyDelete
I am also a big fan of your teal. In fact I think you should TM it "Maze&Vale Teal" along the lines of "Tiffany Blue"!ReplyDelete
Thanks so much, Leslie, I'd love to win a sample pack of your fabulous fabrics. Heading over to IG now.ReplyDelete
Oh wow, what a treat it would be to win some of your gorgeous fabrics! My favourite colour at the moment is duck egg blue - I'm loving greens and blues in particular!ReplyDelete
I love all colours but I particularly like the reds and taupes that you do.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous8:04 pm
I love the red. And the nice yellow that I picked up at the show in Melbourne recently. And the black. (is there a trend happening here?).ReplyDelete
aqua/mint and mustard tones are my favorite, although really, I love them all!ReplyDelete
I love the yellows greens and greys. Actually I love them all. Do you do any pink? I think a dusty pink would be nice. :) Thanks for the chance .ReplyDelete
Thank you for the giveaway. I just discovered your work, it is really fantastic. I like all colours but particularly greens and blues... with these fantastic organic shapes.ReplyDelete
- Vanessa Lewis8:50 pm
I love everything of yours but my favourite is probably your white on natural linen designs. So beautiful!ReplyDelete
Thank you for the giveaway! I love your bold red, would love some equally bold navy blues.ReplyDelete
I can't pick a favorite color! I love them all and they all work together so well.ReplyDelete
I wasn't a fan of mustard until recently. Suddenly I can't stop noticing it everywhere I go. I am obsessed.ReplyDelete
Love the crisp white background of your prints - thanks for the opportunityReplyDelete
I love blue, and you use it beautifuly. Thank you, Leslie.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous9:56 pm
They are all so beautiful, especially the blue-gray.ReplyDelete
Feiring (with a dot) 23 (then the at) gmail (another dot) com
- Anonymous10:07 pm
Hello Leslie:) I love all colours but specially red. Thanks for inspirations.ReplyDelete
I love them all! Perfect + pretty!ReplyDelete
Particularly drawn to the mustardy yellow, awesome as a mixer. But all of your fabrics are special in every way. Thanks!ReplyDelete
I don't feel qualified to comment on your colors - I love all of the designs you print!ReplyDelete
I love all the colours but if I have to chose...maybe mustard, blue, greens, grey...hmm that's not one is it?!! :)ReplyDelete
I love red and gray! Thanks for the giveaway! Amy @ gasudimack(at)sbcglobal(dot)netReplyDelete
So excited that you have sample packs again in the shop! My favourite colour combination is that pretty pale blue and the beige.ReplyDelete
I'd love some more pink and aqua in your already wonderful prints! Thanks so much for the chance, xReplyDelete
Oh, the things I could create with your lovely prints!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous11:50 pm
Your fantastic colors are all great. I really love the simplicity of the design...so classy! Thanks for having the giveaway. Wish I could go to Australia!ReplyDelete
Love your fabrics and would love to share them in person with my Arizona friends. Your fabrics and finished quilts have become an inspiration for my own quilt designs. Thanks and continued success.ReplyDelete
My favorite color is just about any shade of blue. Thanks for the sweet giveaway :)ReplyDelete
I love the grey you print, as well as the white on linen that you show in the picture above, but I'm pretty partial to greens - like grassy greens - if you decided to add another color. Thank you for the giveaway - I love your stuff!ReplyDelete
I just found you and love your fabrics. The simplicity is what makes them wonderful. I would take any color. Thanks for a chance at your giveaway.ReplyDelete
I like all the fabrics, love the teal color. Thanks for such a lovely giveaway.ReplyDelete
I'm drawn to reds and teals so you already have some amazing prints to choose from!ReplyDelete
Favorite colors orange/yellow and purple. firstname.lastname@example.com
I love the feather pattern - I guess that's not a color, but my fondness for it is unending! Thanks for the giveaway.ReplyDelete
Just recently found you, and I have to admit I adore it all. So simple, yet detailed. Perfect red is gorgeous and throw in some aquas and teals and their couldn't be a better combo.ReplyDelete
Bought a sample back and already used peices for a pillow. Great work!ReplyDelete
Thanks for a great give away. Lots of inspiration. I really like the teal and the red.ReplyDelete
Your fabrics are the sweetest prints! I would love to win a sample pack! And order soe,!ReplyDelete
I would have to say my favorite color right now is Tiffany Blue!. I LOVE this fabric you have!ReplyDelete
wow, your fabrics are gorgeous! I don't think I can pick a favorite color, but I do love Peacock and Whisper.ReplyDelete
- Megan5:50 pm
As a current design student; all your designs are an amazing inspiration, love them all :)ReplyDelete
- Anonymous6:36 pm
I received my drop sheet painting in the mail today. It looks wonderful with the others. I look forward to the printing work shop in September. CarolineReplyDelete
I love the mustard colour but all are beautiful. Your work is an inspiration!ReplyDelete
soft greens and grey are lovely, although I am attracted to any muted tones. wish you were having workshops in adelaide!ReplyDelete
My most recent favorite color is on the melon side of red/orange. svonfumetti at yahoo dot comReplyDelete
OOH, this would make my life! I have to say that I swoon most when I see the right grey but a lovely teal or just-right mustard is also pretty amazing. I'm fickle!ReplyDelete
How can I say that I'm big into all shades of grey without it sounding like I'm reading dirty books? :DReplyDelete
- Anonymous8:23 am
leslie, i am loving seeing your new space. i love everything you do in your perfect pale muted neutrals, but especially love your dove grey and red. xoxoReplyDelete
I really love the mustard colour!ReplyDelete
Ooh how lovely, I just managed to get in on time. Love love love any of your yellows! :-)ReplyDelete
A new family member has just joined us and these fabrics would be perfect for the baby quilt I am imagining. So soft and petite for our new grandbaby. I've been waiting quite a while now for the sample packs to return--would love to win one!ReplyDelete
Too good to miss! I love anything you print on that yummy natural linen :)ReplyDelete
Did you tried the feathers in greens? They would be lovely with natural linen!ReplyDelete
Hi! My favourite colour is royal blue, a bit hard to find in fabrics, no idea why! What a great prize! Crossing my fingers! Best regards from Barcelona, Spain,ReplyDelete
I love everything! I'm especially fond of small patterns that surprise you by how simple yet elegant and unique they are :)ReplyDelete
mooransh @ gmail . com
I love all your prints, especially the ones on the linen- or hemp/cotton base. The contrast between the rougher fabric and the simple elegant prints are the main attraction for me. Maybe print some fishes? Very basic simple fishes? Or a print in a sage colour, a soft green greyish?ReplyDelete
Thank you for your giveaway!
Like your fabricks so much. I really enjoy the colour Black on cloth, as a base or ink; it sets off brights so beautifully.ReplyDelete
Thanks for the the giveaway!
jackiemangus -at- hotmail .dot. +com+
Blue is my favorite color. I always seem to gravitate towards it no matter how hard I try to be a bit different just once!ReplyDelete
My favorite color is aqua - like the little leaf print on the stack in the photo above'ReplyDelete
I really love your black on grey prints at the moment and would love to see the mushrooms and love hearts printed this way!ReplyDelete
Hi Leslie!!! you know, i think maybe the red followed very closely by the grey.ReplyDelete
I love these fabrics - especially the teal leaves. Adding some hand-printed fabrics to a quilt would make it such a treasure. I love all shades of green and purple. Thanks for the chance to win!ReplyDelete
Your new studio is just beautiful!! I love the blue/greens feathers and leaves. Very sweet!ReplyDelete
I love to hear your thoughts, thanks so much for taking the time to comment! If you have a question to ask, I will answer it here (and by email as well, if I can track down your email address). I would love to reply to every single comment but until Blogger makes it easier to reply by email, please know that I am so happy you stopped by : )


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Department of Defense News Release
2014 June 22
The Missile Defense Agency, U.S. Air Force 30th Space Wing, the Joint Functional Component Command, Integrated Missile Defense, U.S. Northern Command and the U.S. Navy completed an integrated exercise of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the nation's Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). During the test today, a long-range ground-based interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, intercepted an intermediate-range ballistic missile target launched from the U.S. Army's Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
The test, designated Flight Test Ground-Based Interceptor-06b (FTG-06b), will provide the data necessary to assess the performance of numerous BMDS elements for homeland defense.
Navy Vice Adm. James D. Syring, Missile Defense Agency director, said, "I am very proud of the government and industry team conducting the test today. Their professionalism and dedication made this test a success."
He added, "This is a very important step in our continuing efforts to improve and increase the reliability of our homeland ballistic missile defense system. We'll continue efforts to ensure our deployed Ground-based Interceptors and our overall homeland defensive architecture continue to provide the warfighter an effective and dependable system to defend the country."
For this exercise, a threat-representative, intermediate-range ballistic missile target was launched from the Reagan Test Site. The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Hopper (DDG 70), with its Aegis Weapon System, detected and tracked the target using its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar, which provided data to the GMD fire control system via the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communication (C2BMC) system. The Sea-Based X-Band radar also tracked the target, and relayed information to the GMD fire control system to assist in the target engagement and collect test data.
About six minutes after target launch, the Ground-Based Interceptor was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base. A three-stage booster rocket system propelled the interceptor's Capability Enhancement II EKV into the target missile's projected trajectory in space. The kill vehicle maneuvered to the target, performed discrimination, and intercepted the threat warhead with "hit to kill" technology, using only the force of the direct collision between the interceptor and the target to destroy the target warhead. This was the first intercept using the second- generation Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle.
An operational crew of U.S. Army soldiers from the 100th Missile Defense Brigade, located at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, remotely launched the interceptor.
Initial indications are that all components performed as designed. Program officials will spend the next several months conducting an extensive assessment and evaluation of system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.
The test was the 65th successful hit-to-kill intercept of 81 attempts since 2001 for the Ballistic Missile Defense System. The GMD element of the system has completed four intercepts using the operationally configured interceptor since 2006. Operational Ground-Based Interceptors are currently deployed at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, protecting the nation, our friends, and allies against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack.
Additional information about all elements of the Ballistic Missile Defense System can be found at www.mda.mil.
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Copyright © 2014, Brian Webb. All rights reserved.


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A few weeks ago, I reviewed Patric Chocolate from the Show-Me state of Missouri. I lived briefly in Missouri and it's a fine place full of fine people. Especially considering the horrible flooding they are enduring along the Mississippi, we wish them well. However, I don't generally think of the Show-Me state as a culinary mecca, so I was pleased and surprised to find that there is a second artisinal chocolate maker in the state. (And if there are any more of you, please let me know!)
Askinosie Chocolate is based in Springfield, Missouri (Doh!). Before even tasting the chocolate, my interest was peaked by founder Shawn Askinosie's story. A successful criminal defense lawyer, Askinosie gave up his profession to pursue the making of fine chocolate with an eye toward economic justice and environmentalism.
As a public interest lawyer, I know some criminal defense lawyers, and let me tell you, they do God's work. They defend people who society has cast aside and often prejudged and they often risk the wrath of the public (Askinosie tells of countless death threats). But they are the ones who keep government power in check and tirelessly fight to make our justice system work the way it is supposed to. That being said, it is grueling, tiring work and you can't blame someone for thinking they might rather make chocolate.
Askinosie didn't abandon his ethical commitments when he left the practice of law. Instead, he formed a company that was committed to economic and environmental justice. Askinosie pays higher than Fair Trade Market price for their cacao beans and the farmers who grow their beans receive 10% of net profits, a practice that is quite extraordinary. In addition, he has implemented countless environmentally conscious policies regarding everything from recycling to reducing carbon emissions. People like Askinosie give me hope that global capitalism and economic justice are not mutually exclusive.
On top of all that, Askinosie is extremely open about the production process. For instance, he breaks down the cacao percentage to solids and butter, revealing how much of the cacao count is actually chocolate liquor (what we think of as chocolate), which quite rare. In fact, I can't think of another chocolate maker who openly provides the same breakdown. Secondly, you can actually enter a lot number and see the chronology of any given chocolate bar. Maybe more information then most people want, but impressive nonetheless.
But what about the chocolate? After all, this do-gooderism means little unless the chocolate tastes good.
All Askinosie's chocolates are single origin. They contain only cacao, cocoa butter and sugar. I tried two that they were kind enough to send me.
San Jose Del Tambo, Ecuador, 70% (including 2% cocoa butter), $7.50 for a 3 oz. bar.
The hallmark of the Askinosie bars I tried was subtlety. The bars have an understated flavor, less bold than many other chocolates, but no less flavorful.
The San Jose del Tambo is characterized by this subtlety. It has good chocolate flavor, including some fruit tastes (plums, raisins) and a creamy texture. The only flaw I found in it was a slightly bitter finish. Overall, this was a very pleasant bar.
Soconusco, Mexico, Nibble Bar, 75% with cocoa nibs, $8.00 for a 3 oz bar.
Askinosie is particularly proud of his chocolate from the obscure Soconusco region of southern Mexico, near the Guatemalan border. According to Askinosie, they are the first producers in over 100 years to offer chocolate from this region to consumers outside of Mexico.
The Soconusco bar I tried was a nib-covered bar (nibs being the tasty, crunchy crushed hulls of the cacao bean). The bar has a great crunch, with nibs covering the entire bottom of the bar. The flavor was understated, less rich and a bit dull. I think the nibs really make this bar as I was less impressed with the chocolate, which also had a somewhat gritty texture that you can get in high cacao bars.
I liked Askinosie, although I felt it was a bit less refined than neighboring Patric. Still, I appreciate their commitment to quality and ethical production and with a bit of development and experience, I have no doubt that they will continue to improve their very good chocolate. Askinosie chocolates can be purchased on their website.
It's heartening for me to see artisan chocolate being made in Missouri, of all places. The food revolution has truly arrived and, with dedicated producers like Patric and Askinosie, will continue to thrive.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Show Me the Chocolate Part 2 - Askinosie Chocolate
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Check out another new featurette above for Avengers 2 in a cross promotion with Dr. Pepper.
"The Avengers: Age Of Ultron" hits May 1, 2015 directed by Joss Whedon starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver, Paul Bettany as Vision, with James Spader as Ultron.
When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth's Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to The Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure.
The Avengers 2 Trailer:


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Savage Soul Sisters
Yellow & Black Ghana Bracelet Diamond Ball
Region: Boston, United States of America
Be Conscious: Artisanal Craft, Female Founded
Estimated Delivery: 2-4 weeks. Made to order.
Shop now. Pay as you like.
Smooth Shopping With Klarna
Michelle Powers launched Savage Soul Sisters with the mission to create one-of-a-kind, bold pieces of jewelry. Inspired by the season's palette and influenced by the beauty of the ocean, Michelle creates unique pieces using precious stones, diamonds, and metals sourced from all over the world. Michelle's ambition is to create timeless jewellery with a mixture of pure lines and colourful stones designed to lift the soul.


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Seeking greater visibility for its Book Search engine, Google is making it easier for retailers, libraries and publishers to provide that service's capabilities on their own Web sites.
Via free code snippets and APIs (application programming interfaces), Google is allowing Web sites to display Book Search previews, most of which will allow potential buyers to browse up to 20 percent of a book's contents, Google announced on Monday.
Some retailers are already taking advantage of the program, including Books-A-Million, Blackwell Bookshop in the U.K., A1Books in India, Libreria Norma in Colombia, Van Stockum in the Netherlands and Livraria Cultura in Brazil.
Others planning to incorporate the Book Search functionality include Borders, Buy.com and Powell's Books. Several libraries, publishers and social book sites are also on board. Although aimed primarily at libraries, book retailers and publishers, the tools will be available to anyone who publishes a Web site.
Google has been scanning millions of books and making their contents available for searching through contractual agreements with publishers. It is these books that will provide most of the previews appearing on third-party sites.
Google also does wholesale scanning of some big library collections, including books that are in-copyright and in the public domain. Some of those in the public domain will also appear in the external site previews.
It's not surprising to see Google stay away from surfacing results obtained by scanning in-copyright books from library collections, since the practice has landed Google in court for alleged copyright infringement. When scanning library books, Google doesn't always seek the approval of copyright owners.
"What you'll see in the [Book Search] preview function are primarily books that are under contract with publishers because that's the nature of this program," said Tom Turvey, director of Google Book Search partnerships, in an interview.
Amazon.com isn't participating because the Book Search program provides functionality that Amazon.com already offers via its own Search Inside This Book capability, Turvey said.
"It's the retailers that don't want to invest millions of dollars to scan and host the books and so on that are the primary beneficiaries, as well as publishers," he said.
Amazon.com didn't immediately reply to a request for comment, but it's a safe bet that it's not happy with Google's move, which will allow Amazon.com competitors to rival its inside-the-book search.
Google is providing the Book Search tools and functionality free, and isn't generating any money from book sales commissions nor advertising, Turvey said. The main benefits for Google are broader exposure of Book Search and a strengthening of its book publisher partnerships, he said.
For book lovers, the benefit is having access at non-Google sites to the Book Search functionality, including being able to browse some of the book and search inside it.
Google provided more limited Book Search functionality via a previous API, but the new one offers external Web sites more and richer functionality and is simpler to implement, according to Turvey.
"Formerly we had publishers that put the [Book Search] preview on their site on a one-off basis. This goes back 12 to 18 months. Now, since we've automated the whole preview process with the APIs, that creates a real industrial strength vehicle," Turvey said. "We can add features and functionalities to the API and it can affect everyone simultaneously."
One feature in Book Search that won't carry over to external sites is the list of suggested retail sites where a particular title can be bought. The last thing a retailer wants to do is provide links to competing stores, he noted.


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Story highlights
UNC chancellor acknowledges "failure in academic oversight"
Concession comes after CNN highlighted ongoing problems with student-athlete literacy
UNC is now investigating research from whistle-blower
The University of North Carolina failed some of its students "for years" by allowing them to take classes that did not match its own academic standards, Chancellor Carol Folt has admitted.
The concession – the strongest since UNC-Chapel Hill was caught up in a fake-class scandal two years ago – comes just weeks after a CNN investigation found continuing problems at UNC and other public universities where some student-athletes could read only at an elementary school level.
Two years ago, it was exposed that UNC students, many of them athletes, were given grades for classes they did not attend and for which they did nothing beyond turning in a single paper. One professor has been indicted on fraud charges for being paid for a class he didn't teach.
The university has always maintained it was an isolated case, but Folt is now acknowledging a broader problem.
"We also accept the fact that there was a failure in academic oversight for years that permitted this to continue," Folt told UNC trustees last week.
"This, too, was wrong. And it has undermined our integrity and our reputation."
CNN analysis: Some college athletes play like adults, read like 5th-graders
CNN has asked UNC Chapel Hill for the number of students who were specially admitted because they did not meet the usual academic standards and who majored in or took the classes now acknowledged as fake.
CNN investigated the issue of poor academics among student football and basketball players after a researcher at UNC revealed that some could not read well enough to follow news coverage about themselves or even read the word "Wisconsin."
The researcher, Mary Willingham, said student-athletes were among those who took the fake classes, though she said the classes were just a symptom of the problem of enrolling athletes in the money-making sports of football and basketball who could not succeed academically by themselves.
While questioning Willingham's credibility and CNN's reporting, UNC has launched its own investigation into the claims that too many of its student-athletes read poorly.
And the university's executive vice chancellor and provost, James Dean, told Bloomberg Businessweek that he had commissioned an internal study into African and African-American studies at the university. That's where the fake classes originated.
UNC spokeswoman Karen Moon said Tuesday that as part of the study, Dean is "interested in better understanding the formation of the department as part of our ongoing efforts to assess the overall academic environment at the University."
UNC had previously done an internal investigation, and told CNN last fall that it implemented changes based on what its internal report found. Some 120 changes were made and UNC told CNN they felt that was sufficient to ensure it knew what happened and to make sure it would not happen again.
Dean told Bloomberg Businessweek, whose parent company's chairman is a UNC trustee, that he would investigate whether student-athletes were "clustering" in departments or classes that were supposed to have easy grades and to see whether there were any other forces or personalities behind the scandal.
UNC told CNN last year it has a program that alerts it if too many athletes are enrolled in a single class, but it's not yet clear whether this is different.
Neither Dean nor Folt were in their positions when the fake classes were run. The NCAA, which oversees college sport, did investigate, but found none of its rules were broken.
The NCAA told CNN on Monday it won't comment on whether the university will take a second look.


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Generally speaking, I think we would say that moral behavior consists of choosing to do right in one's actions. However, there are a number of instances in which we tend to think of ourselves as behaving virtuously despite not having actually undertaken any action. These are means by which we tell ourselves that we have demonstrated we are "good people" without the burden of actually doing good things.
There are several different ways we do this which I'd like to address under the description of "proxy morality", by which I mean instances in which someone assigns virtue to himself through no more action than identifying himself with some good which is performed by someone else. The first of these, one which I think people of all ideological persuasions fall into at times, is that of taking sides in history.
It is by now an old saw that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and I think there is a good deal of truth in this. Further, it can be of some moral benefit for us to look to history for people and actions to admire. The moment in which we find ourselves suddenly faced with some difficult moral decision is typically not the moment at which are most un-biased or deliberative, and so having clear examples to follow, if they are well chosen, can be a significant benefit.
However, all too often, we assign too much virtue to being "on the right side" of a historical event. Sometimes this happens very shortly after an event. In post-war France, it was often observed that if everyone who claimed to have been part of the resistance had actually been so, the occupation would not have lasted a month. Similarly, I recall reading a civil rights writer observe, "Every [African American] says he would have been a freedom rider. Most people just stayed home. Everyone says he would have marched with Martin Luther King, but people just used the water fountain they were told and watched it on TV."
The fact of the matter is, identifying the right side of history is easy -- indeed so easy that it's easier if one doesn't actually know much about history. So easy that there is virtually no moral action involved.
To be sure, choosing the wrong side of history can be a significant moral wrong. To support the Nazis or support slavery or support Stalin in this day and age shows a deeply twisted moral sense. But to oppose these three is so easy, and so obvious, from this point in history, that there is little to no virtue involved.
To congratulate oneself for admiring the right side of history is to assign oneself virtue one has not earned. Indeed, it is often more a sign of pride than of virtue. Without question, we should admire those in history who acted virtuously, but we should not consider ourselves to have performed any great virtue by doing so. Nor should we be quick to consider ourselves the superiors of those "ordinary people" in history who failed to rise to the standards of our heroes. We look at their actions with all of the clarity of distance, and none of the danger of immediacy.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Proxy Morality: Taking Sides in History
Labels: history, morality, proxy morality
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George and I attended a friend's annual Lundi Gras party at Commander's Palace this afternoon, where we donned gold paper crowns, listened to Dixieland jazz, and dined on turtle soup and bread pudding soufflé. It was decadent and joyous, and the famous restaurant echoed with song and laughter. But unknown to anyone around me, I was thinking of neither Carnival nor Super Bowl revelry, but rather of a party far more important in my world: a birthday party.
Mignon McClanahan Wolfe, my mom, was born seventy years ago today. She grew up in New Orleans, lived in Sumter, South Carolina, Dover, Delaware, the Orient and Europe, moved to the beaches of north Florida's gulf coast for twenty-five years, followed another dream to Highlands, North Carolina, and returned finally, in 2003, to a jewel box Acadian house in Abita Springs, Louisiana.
Her parents named her 'Felix' because they wanted a boy, and the day she turned eighteen (and received a draft notice) she changed it to 'Mignon.' "I'm named after a French actress," she used to say.
She was a Chemistry major at LSU when her pony tail flipped over her head onto her bunsen burner and caught her hair on fire. And she gained fame as the first student ever to use the lab shower, when her experiment exploded, disintegrating her clothes before her classmates and burning the skin under her watch nearly down to the bone (prompting her switch to the 'safe' major of Fine Arts, despite the fact that she had never picked up a paint brush).
She was the kind of person who named her clothes 'The Mermaid Outfit,' 'The Marilyn Dress,' or the 'Renaissance Blouse.' Her tooled leather belts said "Mignon" amidst roses and bluebonnets; her jazz class leotards were turquoise and purple with matching frilly skirts; and she prided herself on the way her 'heart-shaped behind' looked in her Gloria Vanderbilt jeans. She wore flowers in her hair, bows on her sandals, and rhinestones on her fingernails. I wanted to be exactly like her.
She was single from the time I was six years old, and her dating life was a regular part of the drama around our house. There was Captain Napp the pilot (oh how I wanted her to marry him!), Russ the psychiatrist, Tom who owned a magnificent sailboat, Bob the Lt. Colonel, Mike who drove the monster truck (and carried a step stool in the back just for her), Pete the brown-noser (always trying to win over me and my sister with gifts of prom dresses and such), and I guess that's a long enough list, lest I tarnish her reputation. (pictured, Key to My Heart by Mignon Wolfe)
She listened to Don Williams, Charlie Rich, and Donna Summer as she brushed her long hair, and once dressed, she sat at the piano, playing as she awaited her date:
Starry Starry Night
Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.*
Once I reached dating age, we'd meet afterwards for late night horror movies in her bedroom, sharing the details of our dates on commercials during The Fly (as we squirmed in chorus, "Help me, Help me…."), Night of the Living Dead, or The Raven. We laughed ourselves silly despite the plotlines, as she reminisced about the rather repulsive (but beloved) Morgus the Magnificent, while convinced that our current hostess Elvira would pop out of her low-cut black gown at any moment.
She wanted to be tall and thin, but instead she was five feet, four inches and struggled with her weight all of her life. Rarely was she as disappointed in me as when I slouched. At five feet, ten inches in the tenth grade, I fought with my mother about what I saw as an awkward, freakish height. Yet somehow she convinced me to parade around our house in her heels, with a book and glass balanced atop my head.
She was immensely clever and generous in all things. She couldn't type or sew, but somehow she managed to pluck out my school papers on a typewriter from a board over her bathroom sink (lest the typing wake me and my sister if she sat all night at the dining room table), and my Girl Scout patches magically appeared on my sash within a day after I earned them.
When I called her crying from school one day because a wounded bird lay beneath a bush at my bus stop, she canceled appointments and left work to race home. I found the bird later that day nestled in a towel in the corner of her bathtub, where it remained for several weeks until it felt well enough to fly out our window.
And when she went into the hospital with pain in her hip, she took me aside before her x-ray and told me that if she didn't make it, I should find Chesley Adler (whom she knew from Chesley's father's jewelry store, where my mother worked) and tell her that her jewelry designs are beautiful and that my mother believes in her talent and potential.
….and so I did.
(pictured, Spring Bouquet an oil painting by Mignon Wolfe, followed by George Rodrigue's tribute to her, Mignon's Flowers, a mixed media and silkscreen based on her painting)
Here's the confusing thing: if I couldn't even share this invisible birthday girl with our table of party-goers today, then why share with you? I guess because I owe it to her. And because I should have written about her when she could read it. And because I'm vain (I mean, who do I think I am, Rick Bragg?). And because the therapy and psychics and meditation just made me hope for closure. And because I should have taken her to Ireland and Egypt. And because I thought it was all routine, and because I didn't question the doctors. And because I mocked her belief in fairies and angels and UFO's. And because I rolled my eyes behind her back over something stupid that last week. And because as my sweet sister managed to choke out and yet state succinctly on the day of our mother's funeral:
"You know, Wendy, Mom was really neat."
And because you too are invisible, and there's a chance that some of you, maybe all of you, who read this in a room as quiet as the one in which I write now (blissfully filled with only the soft sound of my husband, now the same age as my mother when she…, breathing in and out as he sleeps beside me), knows exactly how I feel.**
"But I could have told you Vincent
This world was never meant for one as
Beautiful as you."*
In 2010, the year that dreams come true, my dream is the impossible one. And yet…
There is a painting I found among my mother's things that I'd never seen before. It's only two hands, painted in blue. It hangs in my closet, and sometimes I place my hands on hers and I think she's there.
Happy Birthday, Mom. God I miss you.
** "What's the matter with you? I mean, you think you're the only one to ever shed a tear" (Loretta speaking to Ronnie, Moonstruck, 1987)
*Lyrics from the song Vincent, by Don McLean
For related posts see "West Jeff: Passing the Hours" from Gambit's Blog of New Orleans and "Looking Back" from Musings


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Inspired by Is a moral society more open to the gospel than an immoral one?
There have been many debates going around regarding what constitutes moral or immoral actions; moral or immoral society; etc. This set of questions is in regards to society and how morality can be measured.
First and foremost, is it possible for a society to be moral or immoral?
If so, what does morality mean in regards to a society? Meaning, what's the difference between a moral society and an immoral one?
As a Christian, I tend to define morality based on the Bible. Can this same gauge be used for societies? How can I apply this metric to societies that are undeniably non-Christian?
Ultimately: What does morality mean in the context of a society?


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I can't see a single bubble.
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Friday, June 4
Friday Dose of Cute: Double Identity Crisis
7 comments:
That is adorable! :) I've loved looking through your blog. I'm another person whose life revolves around food! You've sure got some cute critters living on your farm.ReplyDelete
Hah! cute. :)ReplyDelete
LOVE your daily dose of cute offerings! Your cat's nickname reminded me that on an island where we once lived, our 22-lb cat Charlie's nickname was also 3T - but it stood for Terribly Tubby Tabby!!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous6/05/2010 6:13 PM
Aww, so cute! Not as cute as Dan, but still very cute. Dan is my fav :D.ReplyDelete
strange to see grey in Lucky Buddy Bear's muzzle - he seems so timeless - the everpresent ever vigilant nanny of lambs. I don't blame him - some of our summer storms are scary enough to need someone else nearby to give comfort (and treats) to the worthy caninesReplyDelete
So adorable! You have a knack for capturing moments in photos. Thanks for the day-brightener!ReplyDelete
So cute ... I never have my camera with me when my Purr Gang is being cute. You must have yours on your hip at all times ...ReplyDelete
December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.
Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.
Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!
Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.
I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.
I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!