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[Note: To make the text as useful as possible to readers, the Golden Legend is
available at this site in multiple forms: very large files for each of the volumes, and by
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volumes or chapter length files.]
[Note: To make the text as useful as possible to readers, the Golden Legend is
available at this site in multiple forms: very large files for each of the volumes, and by
chapter. See the Golden Legend Main Page/Index for other
volumes or chapter length files.]
Here followeth the Life of S. Francis,
first beginner of the friars minor, and first of his name.
Francis was first named John, but after his name was changed and was called
Francis. The cause of changing of his name was manifold. First, for the reason of his
marvellous changing, for it is known that he received of God by miracle the French tongue,
and it is said in his legend that when he was replenished of the grace of God, and of the
ardour of the Holy Ghost he pronounced out burning words in French. Secondly, by the
reason to publish his office, whereof is said in his legend that, the divine providence
gave to him that name, because of his singular and inaccustomed name, the opinion of his
mystery might be known throughout all the world. Thirdly, by reason of his office in
effect, whereupon was given to understand that by him and by his sons he should make many
servants of the devil and bond to sin, free. Fourthly, by reason of great courage and
magnanimity of heart. For Frenchmen be said of fierceness, for in them is natural
fierceness and great courage of heart. Fifthly, by reason of virtuosity in speaking, for
his word carved away the vices like an axe. Sixthly, by reason that he chased away
commonly the devils. Seventhly, by reason of honesty in his conversation, and of
perfection of work. And it is said that some signs that were borne in Rome tofore the
consuls, which were in terror of the people and in worship, were called Franciscas.
Of S. Francis.
Francis, servant and friend of Almighty God, was born in the city of Assisi, and was
made a merchant unto the twenty-fifth year of his age, and wasted his time by living
vainly, whom our Lord corrected by the scourge of sickness, and suddenly changed him into
another man, so that he began to shine by the spirit of prophecy. For on a time he with
other men of Perugia was taken prisoner, and were put in a cruel prison, where all the
others wailed and sorrowed, and he only was glad and enjoyed. And when they had reproved
him thereof, he answered: Know ye, said he, that I am joyful, for I shall be worshipped as
a saint through all the world.
On a time he went to Rome because of devotion, and he took off all his clothes and clad
him with the clothes of a beggar, and sat among the poor men tofore the church of S.
Peter, and as one of them, begged and ate eagerly with them, and much oftener would have
done, but the shame of being known of people letted him. The old enemy the devil enforced
him to let him of his holy purpose, and showed to him a woman monstrous and horribly
disfigured, crookbacked and lame, which was in that city, and he said to him if he left
not that he had enterprised, he would make him semblable and like unto her. But he was
comforted of our Lord, which heard a voice saying to him: Francis, take these bitter
things for the sweet, and despise thyself if thou desire to know me.
On a time he met a leper whom naturally men abhor, but he remembered him of the word
that was said of God, and ran to him and kissed him, and anon the lazar vanished away,
wherefore he went to the habitation of the lazars and kissed devoutly their hands, and
gave to them money, and let them have no need of such as he might do.
On a time he entered into the church of S. Damian for to make his prayers, and the
image of Jesu Christ spake unto him and said: Francis, go and repair my house which is all
destroyed as thou seest. And from that hour the soul of him liquefied, and the passion of
Jesu Christ was marvellously infixed in his heart. And then he did great pain, and was
busy in repairing the church, and sold all that he had, and gave the money thereof to a
priest, and he durst not receive it for fear of his parents and kin. Then he, casting it
away tofore the priest as dust, setting not thereby, wherefore he was taken of his father
and bound, and he restored to him his money, and resigned also his clothes, and so naked
he fled to our Lord, and clad him with hair. And then the blessed Francis went unto a
simple man, whom he took instead of his father, and prayed him that like as
his father doubled on him his curses, that in contrary he should bless him. His own
brother germane seeing him in a winter time have on him but foul and few clothes, and that
he trembled for cold and was entending to his prayers, said to his fellow: Go to Francis
and say to him that he sell to thee a pennyworth of his sweat. And when he heard it he
answered with a glad cheer: I will sell it unto my Lord God. On a day he heard in the
church that which our Lord said to his disciples when he sent them to preach, and anon he
addressed him with all his might to do and keep all those things; he did off his hosen and
shoon from his feet and clad him with a foul coat, and took a cord for his girdle. He went
on a time in a snow by a wood, and was taken by thieves, and they demanded him what he
was, and he said that he was the messenger of God, and anon they took him and cast him in
the snow, saying to him: Lie there, thou villain messenger of God. Many noble and unnoble
clerks and laymen had despised the world and begun to follow him, and the holy father
enseigned and taught them the perfection of the gospel, which was for to be in poverty,
and that they should go by the way of simpleness. He wrote then a rule, after the gospel,
to himself and his brethren, had and to be had, which Pope Innocent confirmed. And from
then forthon he began to spread more ardently the seeds of the Word of God, and went about
cities and castles by a fervent and marvellous desire. There was a friar which seemed
outward of marvellous holiness, and kept silence so straitly that he would not be shriven
by words but by signs, and every man praised him as a saint. This holy man Francis came
thither and said: Leave ye brethren to praise him, for I shall not yet praise him lest it
be by feigntise of the devil, let him be warned to be shriven twice in the week by word
and speaking, and if he do it not, this is but temptation of the devil and fraudulous
deceit. And then the friars warned him so to do, and he put his finger to his mouth, and
shook his head, and showed that in no wise he would confess him. And anon after he
returned again to worldly life as a hound to his vomit, and went out of his order, and
finished his life in sinful acts and works.
On a time S. Francis was weary of going, and rode upon an ass, and his fellow, one
Leonard of Assisi, was also weary of going, and S. Francis began to think thus and to say
in himself: His kin and my kin were not like, and incontinent he alighted down, and said
to the friar: It appertaineth not to me to ride and thee to go afoot, for thou art more
noble than I am. And the friar was abashed, and kneeled down and required pardon.
On a time, as he passed by a place, a noble lady ran so hastily against him that she
might not speak for weariness, and he asked of her what she would. And she said: Pray for
me, father, for I may not perform the purpose of health which I have begun, for my
husband, which letteth me, doth to me many adversities in the service of God. And he said
to her: Go thy way, daughter, for thou shalt have anon comfort of him, and say to thine
husband, in God's name and mine, that now is the time of health, and hereafter shall be
time of equity and right. And when she had said so to her husband, the man was suddenly
changed and avowed to God continence and chastity.
On a time a poor labourer was almost lost in a wood for thirst. and this holy saint
impetred a fountain by his prayers. He said on a time to a friar, that was familiar with
him, this secret which was showed to him by the Holy Ghost. There is a servant of God
living in the world on this day, for whose sake, as long as he shall live, our Lord shall
suffer no famine among the people. But without doubt it is said that, when he was dead all
that condition was changed to the contrary, for after his blessed death he appeared to the
same friar and said to him: Lo! now is the famine come, which as long as I lived upon
earth, our Lord would not suffer to come.
On an Easter day the friars Greek that were in desert had laid their table more
curiously than in another time, and had made ready the glasses and set them on the board.
And when S. Francis saw that he anon withdrew him, and set on his head the hat of a poor
man which was there, and bare his staff in his hand, and went out and abode at the gate.
And when the friars ate at dinner, he cried at the door that they should give for the love
of God an alms to a poor sick man. Then the poor man was called in and entered and sat
down alone upon the earth, and set his dish in the dust, which when the friars saw they
were abashed and were sore aghast. And he said to them: I see the table arrayed and
adorned, and I know well that it is not for poor men that seek their meat from door to
He loved poverty in himself and in all others, so that he always called poverty his
lady, but when he saw one more poor than himself he had thereof envy, and doubted to be
overcome of him. On a day he saw a poor woman and he showed her to his fellow and said:
The poverty of this woman doth to us shame, and reproveth strongly our poverty, for, for
my riches I have chosen my lady poverty, and she shineth more in this woman than in me.
When on a time a poor man passed tofore him, and the holy man was moved with inward
compassion, his fellow said to him: Though this man be poor, peradventure there is not a
richer of his will in all the province. Then S. Francis said to him anon: Despoil thee of
thy coat and give it to the poor man, and knowledge thyself culpable and kneel down to his
feet, to whom anon he obeyed and did so.
On a time three women like of visage and all things, and of habit, entered and met him,
and saluted in this manner: Welcome my lady poverty, and anon they vanished away and were
no more seen.
On a time as he came to the city of Arezzo, and a mortal battle was moved in the city,
this holy man saw within the burgh, on the ground, the devils making joy and were glad.
Then he called his fellow named Silvester, and said to him: Go to the gate of the city and
command to these devils in God's name, that is Almighty, that they go out of the city.
Then he went hastily and cried strongly: All ye devils depart from hence in the name of
God and by the commandment of Francis our Father. And they went away, and then the
citizens anon became to accord.
The foresaid Sylvester when he was yet a secular priest saw in his sleep a golden cross
issue out of the mouth of S. Francis, of the which the over end touched heaven and the
arms of the cross stretched forth from that one to that other part of the world. Then this
priest had compunction and left the world, and followed perfectly this holy man Francis.
And on a time as this holy man was in prayer, the devil called him thrice by his own name,
and when the holy man had answered him, he said: None in this world is so great a sinner,
but if he convert him our Lord would pardon him, but who that slayeth himself by hard
penance shall never find mercy. And anon this holy man knew by the revelation the fallacy
and deceit of the fiend, how he would have withdrawn him for to do well. And when the
devil saw that he might not prevail against him, he tempted him by grievous temptation of
the flesh, and when this holy servant of God felt that, he despoiled him of his clothes
and beat himself right hard with a hard cord, saying: Thus, brother ass, it behoveth thee
to remain and to be beaten; and when the temptation departed not, he went out and plunged
himself in the snow all naked, and made seven great balls of snow and purposed to have
taken them into his body and said: This greatest is thy wife, and of these four, two be
thy daughters, and two thy sons, and the other twain, that one thy chamberer, and that
other thy varlet or yeoman; haste thee and clothe them, for they all die for cold, and if
thy business that thou hast about them grieve thee sore, then serve our Lord perfectly.
And anon the devil departed from them all confused, and S. Francis returned again into his
cell glorifying God.
And as he dwelled on a time with Leo the cardinal of S. Cross, in a night the devils
came to him and beat him right grievously. Then he called his fellow and said to him:
These be devils, jailers of our Lord, whom he sendeth to punish the excesses, but I can
remember me of none offences that I have done, but by the mercy of God I have washed them
away by satisfaction. But peradventure he hath sent me them because he will not suffer me
to fall, because I dwell in the courts of great lords, which thing peradventure
engendereth not good suspection to my right poor brethren, which suppose I abound in
delices. And early in the morning he arose and departed thence.
On a time, as he was in his prayers, he saw upon the covering of the house assemblies
and companies of devils which ran hither and thither with great noise, and he went out,
and signed him with the sign of the cross, and said: I say to you in the name of Almighty
God that ye devils do to my body all that is suffered to you to do, and I shall suffer it
patiently. For I have no greater enemy than my body, and ye shall avenge me of mine
adversary, whiles ye take on it vengeance by my life. Then they vanished away all
There was a friar which was fellow of S. Francis was on a time ravished, and saw in
spirit the glorious place in heaven, wherein he saw, among other seats, a right noble
seat, shining of more noble glory than all the others. And as he marvelled for whom this
noble seat was kept, he heard that it was said that this seat belonged sometime to one of
the princes that fell, and is now made ready to the meek and humble Francis.
And when S. Francis issued from his prayers, that friar demanded him: Father, what
weenest thou of thyself? And he said: I ween that I am greatest of all sinners. And anon
the spirit came into the heart of the friar and said: Behold what was the vision that thou
sawest, for humility shall lift up the most meek man unto the seat lost by pride.
This holy man S. Francis saw in a vision above him, Seraphin crucified, the which
emprinted in him the signs of his crucifying, that him seemed that he was crucified, and
that in his hands, his feet, and in his side, him seemed were the sign of the wounds of
the crucifying, but he did hide these tokens as much as he might, that no man should see
them. And yet nevertheless some saw them in his life, and at his death they were seen of
many, and were showed by many miracles that those signs were true. Of which miracles twain
shall suffice for to be set here. There was a man named Rogier, and was in Apulia tofore
the image of S. Francis, and began to think and say: May this be true that this man was so
ennobled by such miracle, or was this an illusion or an invention dissimuled of his
brethren the friars? And as he thought this, he heard suddenly a sound like as a quarel
had been shot out of an arbalaste or a crossbow, and he felt him grievously hurt in his
left hand, but there appeared no hurt in his glove, and then he took off his glove, and
saw in the palm of his hand a wound as it had been of an arrow, out of which wound there
issued so great pain of ache and burning, that almost he died for sorrow and pain. And
then he repented him, and said that he believed right verily the signs and tokens of S.
Francis; and when he had prayed by two days S. Francis by his holy signs and stigmata, he
was anon delivered of his pain and made all whole.
In the realm of Castile there was a man devout to S. Francis which went on a time to
compline to the church of S. Francis. And men lay in await for to slay him, and instead of
another man he was taken by error and ignorance, and was wounded and left as half dead;
and after, the cruel murderer stuck his sword in his throat, and left it therein, and
might not draw it out, but went his way. And then men cried and ran hither and thither,
and the man was bewailed like as he had been dead. And when they rang to matins at
midnight at the church of the friars, the wife of the man began to cry: Arise up, sire,
and go to matins, for the bell calleth thee. And anon he lifted up his hand to show that
some man should take away the sword from his throat, and anon in the sight of them all the
sword sprang out afar as it had been thrown of a strong champion, and anon the man arose
perfectly whole, and said that S. Francis came to him and joined his stigmatas to my
wounds, and anointed them with the sweetness of his signs and sewed them together
marvellously by his touching. And when he would have gone, I showed him that he should
take away the sword for else I should not con speak, and anon he took it out, and threw it
away far from him, and healed me with touching my throat with his signs.
The two clerks, great luminaries of the world, that is to say S. Dominic and S.
Francis, were in the city of Rome tofore the Lord Hostience, which afterward was pope of
Rome. And this bishop said to them: Wherefore make ye not of your friars bishops and
prelates, which should prevail more by teaching and example giving? And there
was long contention between them who should first answer, and humility overcame Francis
that he would not speak tofore that other, and then S. Dominic humbly obeyed and said:
Sire, our brethren be lifted up in good degree if they know it, and I shall never suffer
to my power that ever they shall hope to have any higher dignity. After that answered S.
Francis: Sire, my brethren be called minors, because they would not be made greater. And
the blessed S. Francis full of right great simplicity admonished and warned all creatures
to love their creator. He preached to birds and was heard of them, they suffered him to
touch them, and without licence they would not return ne flee from him. And on a time when
he preached, the swallows chittered and sang, and anon by his commandment they were still.
There was also, on a time, a bird on a fig-tree beside his cell which sang oft full
sweetly. And S. Francis put forth his hand and called that bird, and anon the bird obeyed
and came upon his hand. And he said to her, Sing my sister and praise thy Lord, and then
anon she sang, and departed not till she had licence.
He spared to touch lights, lamps, and candles, because he would not defile them with
his hands. He went honourably upon the stones for the worship of him that was called
Stone. He gathered the small worms out of the way because they should not be trodden with
the feet of them that passed by. He commanded in winter to give honey unto bees, that they
should not perish for hunger. He called all beasts his brethren. He was replenished of
marvellous joy for the love of his Creator. He beheld the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and summoned them to the love of their Maker. He defended for to make him a great crown,
saying: I will that my simple brethren have part in my head.
There was a secular man which saw S. Francis, the servant of God, preaching at S.
Severin's, and saw by revelation of God, that S. Francis was stretched on a cross made of
two clear swords, of which that one came from his head to his feet, and that other
stretched from that one hand to that other, so that he never had seen such a demonstrance.
Then he was moved in his heart, and entered into the order, and finished goodly his life.
On a time, as S. Francis was sick on his eyes for continual weeping, his brethren said
to him that he should refrain him from weeping, and he answered: The visitation of the
light perdurable is not to be put away for the light that we have here with the flies. And
when his brethren constrained him to take a medicine for his eyes, and the surgeon held a
burning iron in his hand, the blessed Francis said: My brother fire, be thou to me in this
hour debonair and curable: I pray to our Lord that made thee, that thou attemper my heat.
And then he made the sign of the cross against the fire, and the fiery iron was put in his
tender flesh from his ear unto his eyelids, and he felt no pain.
He was strongly sick in the desert of S. Urban, and when he felt that nature failed in
him he asked for to drink wine, and there was none. And they brought to him water, and he
blessed it and made the sign of the cross thereon, and it was converted and turned into
right good wine. And the holy man gat of our Lord that which the poverty of the desert
might not get. And as soon as he had tasted it, he became strong and was all whole.
He had liefer hear blame of himself than praising, and for because that the people
praised in him anything of merit of holiness, he commanded to some brother to say to him
in his ear some villainy in blaming him and defouling. And when such a brother, so
constrained against his will, called him villain merchant, and unprofitable fool, then was
he glad and blessed him, and said: God bless thee, for thou sayest right very true words,
and this thing appertaineth to me for to hear.
And this holy S. Francis would never be more master ne governor, but he would be more
subject, ne so willingly command as obey. And therefore he left for to be general, and
demanded to be under the warden, to whose will he always submitted himself in all things.
He promised always obedience to the friar with whom he went, and kept it.
When a friar had done something against the rule of obedience, and had sign of penance,
yet this holy S. Francis, for to fear others, commanded to cast the hood of him into the
fire, and when it had been a while in the fire, he commanded to take it out and give it
again to the friar, and the hood , was taken out of the fire without hurt.
He went on a time by the morass of Venice and found there a great multitude of birds
singing and he said to his fellows: Our sisters, these birds, give laud to their Maker,
let us go in the middle of them, and sing we our hours canonical to our Lord. And they
entered in among them and they moved not, but because they might not hear each other for
the chittering and noise of birds he said: My sister birds, cease your songs till we have
yielded unto our Lord due praisings. And then they held them still, and when they had
finished their lauds, he gave to them licence to sing again, and anon they reprised their
song after their custom.
He was on a time harboured with a knight, and S. Francis said to him: Brother, fair
host, agree to that I shall say to thee, confess thy sins, for thou shalt soon eat in
another place. And anon he granted that to him, and ordained for his meiny, and took
penance of health. And also soon as they went to the table the host died suddenly.
On a time he found a great multitude of birds, and then he said to them: My brethren,
ye ought strongly to praise and give laud to your Maker which hath clad you with feathers
and hath given to you pens for to fly and hath granted you the purity of the air and
governed you without charge or business. And the birds turned their beaks or bills to him
and spread their wings, and stretched their necks and addressed their heads and beheld him
intently. And he passed forth by the middle of them so nigh that he touched them with his
coat, and none of them arose out from his place till he gave to them leave that they flew
On a time when he preached at the castle Almarye, and he might not be heard for the
swallows which made their nests, to whom he said: My sister swallows, it is time that I
speak, for ye have said enough, be ye now still till the word of God be accomplished. And
they obeyed and were still anon.
And as this holy man S. Francis passed through Apulia, he found in his way a purse full
of money, and when his fellow saw it, they would have taken it for to have given it to the
poor people, but he would not suffer him in no manner, and said to him: Son, it
appertaineth not to thee to take the goods of others. And when his fellow hasted to take
it S. Francis prayed a little, and after, commanded him to take the purse, which then
found therein a great adder, instead of money. And when the friar saw that he began to
doubt, but he would obey and took the purse in his hands, and there sprang out anon a
serpent venomous. And then S. Francis said to him: Money is none other thing to the
servant of God but the devil, which is a serpent venomous.
There was a friar grievously tempted, and he began to think that if he had anything
written with the hand of their father S. Francis, that that temptation should be chased
away anon, but he durst in no wise discover this thing. On a time S. Francis called him
and said: Son, bring to me parchment and ink, for I will write something praising to God.
And when he had written he said: Take this charter and keep it unto the day of thy death
diligently, and anon all his temptation went away. And the same friar, when S. Francis lay
sick, began to think: Our Father approacheth the death, and if I might have, after his
death, his coat I should be greatly comforted. And after this the saint called him and
said: I give to thee this my coat; if thou have thereto, after my death, plain right. He
was lodged on a time in Alexandria, in Lombardy, with an honest man, which demanded him,
if for the observance of the gospel he should eat of all that which was set tofore him,
and he consented to the devotion of the host; and then the host did do make ready a capon
of seven years old, and as they ate there came an untrue man which demanded alms for the
love of God, and anon when this blessed man heard that blessed name, he sent to him a
member of the capon, and the cursed man kept it. And on the morn when the holy man
preached, he showed that piece of the capon, and said, Lo! see here what flesh this friar
eateth whom ye honour as a saint, for he gave it to me yester even, but this piece of the
capon was seen of all the people as it were fish, and that man was blamed of all the
people, and said that he was mad, and when he understood it, he was ashamed and demanded
pardon; and when this man came again to his good thought, the flesh returned again to his
own kind and form.
On a time as he sat at the table, and collation was made of the poverty of the Blessed
Virgin our Lady, anon S. Francis arose and began to weep and sob sorrowfully, so that his
visage was all wet of tears, and began to eat the remnant of his bread upon the ground. He
would also that right great reverence should be done to the hands of priests, to whom was
given power to sacre the blessed sacrament of our Lord. And then he said oft: If it happed
me to meet any saint coming from heaven, and also a poor priest, I would first go kiss the
priest's hands, and would say to the saint: Holy saint, abide a while, for the hands of
this priest have handled the son of life, and hath performed a thing above humanity. He
was ennobled in his life by many miracles, for the bread that was brought to him to bless
gave health to many sick men. He converted the water into wine, of which a sick man anon
tasted and received anon health, and also did many other miracles. And when his last days
approached, and he was grieved by long infirmity; then he made himself to be laid upon the
bare ground, and did do call all the friars that were there, and when they were all
present he blessed them. And like as our Lord fed his disciples at supper on
Shere-thursday, he gave to each of them a morsel of bread, and warned them, as he was wont
to do, to give laud to their Maker. And the very death which is to all men horrible and
hateful, he admonished them to praise it, and also he warned and admonished death to come
to him, and said: Death, my sister, welcome be thou; and when he came at the last hour, he
slept in our Lord. Of whom a friar saw the soul in the manner of a star, like to the moon
in quantity, and to the sun in clearness.
There was a friar named Augustin, which was minister and servant in the labour of the
earth, and as he was in his last end, and had lost his speech, he escried suddenly and
said: Abide me, father, abide, I shall go with thee. Then the friars demanded him what he
said, and he said: See ye not our father Francis that goeth unto heaven, and anon he slept
in peace, and followed his holy father. A lady which had been devout to the blessed
Francis died, and the clerks and priests were at the bier for to sing the exequies of her.
She arose up suddenly off the bier, and called one of the priests that were there and
said: Father, I would confess me; I was dead, and should have been put in a cruel prison,
because I had not shriven me of a sin that I shall say, but S. Francis prayed for me, that
this confessed and showed I shall have forgiveness, and anon as I shall have said and
confessed it to thee I shall rest in peace tofore you all. And then she was confessed and
assoiled, and rested anon in our Lord.
The friars of Viterbo would have borrowed a cart of a man, and he answered in despite:
I had liefer see two of you flayed with S. Francis than I should lend you my cart, but he
came again to himself and reproved himself, and repented him of the blame that he had
said, and doubted the ire of God. And anon his son was sick and died, and when he saw his
son dead he slept on the earth weeping, and called S. Francis and said: I am he that
sinned, thou shouldest have beaten me, give again to me, holy saint, praying devoutly to
thee, whom thou hast taken away from me, blaming thee and blaspheming wickedly. And anon
his son revived and said: When I was dead S. Francis led me by a long way and dark, and at
the last he brought me unto a right fair green, and after said to me: Return to thy
father, I will no longer hold thee. There was a poor man which owed unto a certain rich
man a quantity of money, and prayed him, for the love of S. Francis, he would prolong the
term of payment. To whom he answered proudly: I shall set thee in such a place that
neither Francis ne none other shall help thee. And anon he took and bound him, and set him
in a dark prison, and anon after, S. Francis came thither and brake up the prison, and
loosed his bonds and brought the man all safely to his own house. There was a knight which
detracted the works and miracles of S. Francis, and on a time as he played at the dice, he
being all enraged, and full of woodness and cruelness, said to them that stood by him: lf
S. Francis be a saint, let come eighteen on the dice, and anon came in three dice in each
of them six, and so it appeared nine times, at every time three sixes at each cast, and
then he adjousting woodness to woodness, he said: If it be true that Francis be a saint,
let a sword rive me through my body this day, and if he be no saint, that it escape
safely. And when the playing at dice was ended, because he had made that prayer in sin, he
said injury to his nephew, and he took his sword and stack it through his belly and slew
him anon.
There was a man that had lost his thigh that he could not move it, and cried to S.
Francis thus, saying: Help me, S. Francis, remember thee of the devotion and of the
service that I have done to thee, for I carried thee upon mine ass, and kissed thy feet,
and thy hands, and now I die for pain of this right hard torment. Then the holy man
appeared to him with a little staff that he held, which had the sign of Thau, and touched
therewith the place of his pain, and the postume brake, and he received anon full health,
but the sign of Thau abode alway in the same place. With that sign S. Francis was wont
always to sign his letters.
There was a maid which dwelled in the mountains of Apulia in a castle, and her father
and mother ne had but only this daughter, and she died, and her mother was much devout
toward S. Francis, but then she was full of heaviness, and S. Francis appeared to her and
said: Weep no more, for the light of thy lantern is quenched, and it appertaineth not that
I yield her again to thee by thy prayer. But yet the mother had affiance and trust in the
saint, and would not suffer to bear away the body, but in calling S. Francis, she took her
daughter that was dead and raised her up alive and whole. There was a little child in Rome
fallen out of a window to the ground and died forthwith, and they called to S. Francis for
help, and he was anon restored to life. In the city of Suessa, it happed that a house fell
and slew a child, and when they had put the corpse in a chest for to bury, the mother
called on S. Francis with all her devotion, and about midnight the child coughed and arose
all whole, and began to praise God.
Friar James of Reaten had passed a flood in a vessel with other friars which were set
aland, and he hasted so sore after to go out because he was last, and the ship recoiled
backward into the water, so that he fell down into the deepest of the flood, and then all
the friars prayed S. Francis for him, and he himself, as he might, with like devotion,
called the holy saint unto his aid and help, in his heart, and that same friar began to go
in the bottom of the water, as dry as he had gone on the earth, and caught the boat, which
was drowned, and brought it to the bank, and came up without wetting of his clothes that
he ware, ne never drop of water touched his coat ne wet nothing on him. Then let us
devoutly pray this holy father, S. Francis, to be our succour and aid in our adversities
and perils, and help, that by his merits we may after this short life come into
everlasting life in heaven. Amen.
The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints. Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine,
Archbishop of Genoa, 1275. First Edition Published 1470. Englished by William
Caxton, First Edition 1483, Edited by F.S. Ellis, Temple Classics, 1900 (Reprinted 1922,
This chapter is from: Volume 5:
Scanned by Robert Blackmon. [email protected].
The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints. Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine,
Archbishop of Genoa, 1275. First Edition Published 1470. Englished by William
Caxton, First Edition 1483, Edited by F.S. Ellis, Temple Classics, 1900 (Reprinted 1922,
This chapter is from: Volume 5:
Scanned by Robert Blackmon. [email protected].
This text is part of the Internet
Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and
copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright.
Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational
purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No
permission is granted for commercial use.
© Paul Halsall, September 2000
[email protected]
This text is part of the Internet
Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and
copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright.
Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational
purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No
permission is granted for commercial use.
© Paul Halsall, September 2000
[email protected]
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text:
The Science Behind Gratitude (and How It Can Change Your Life)
The benefits of practicing gratitude are nearly endless. People who regularly practice gratitude by taking time to notice and reflect upon the things they're thankful for experience more positive emotions, feel more alive, sleep better, express more compassion and kindness, and even have stronger immune systems. And gratitude doesn't need to be reserved only for momentous occasions: Sure, you might express gratitude after receiving a promotion at work, but you can also be thankful for something as simple as a delicious piece of pie. Research by UC Davis psychologist Robert Emmons, author of Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, shows that simply keeping a gratitude journal—regularly writing brief reflections on moments for which we're thankful—can significantly increase well-being and life satisfaction.
You'd think that just one of these findings is compelling enough to motivate an ingrate into action. But if you're anything like me, this motivation lasts about three days until writing in my gratitude journal every evening loses out to watching stand-up comics on Netflix.
Here are a few keys I've discovered—and research supports—that help not only to start a gratitude practice, but to maintain it for the long haul
Freshen Up Your Thanks
The best way to reap the benefits of gratitude is to notice new things you're grateful for every day. Gratitude journaling works because it slowly changes the way we perceive situations by adjusting what we focus on. While you might always be thankful for your great family, just writing "I'm grateful for my family" week after week doesn't keep your brain on alert for fresh grateful moments. Get specific by writing "Today my husband gave me a shoulder rub when he knew I was really stressed" or "My sister invited me over for dinner so I didn't have to cook after a long day." And be sure to stretch yourself beyond the great stuff right in front of you. Opening your eyes to more of the world around you can deeply enhance your gratitude practice. Make a game out of noticing new things each day.
Get Real About Your Gratitude Practice
Being excited about the benefits of gratitude can be a great thing because it gives us the kick we need to start making changes. But if our excitement about sleeping better because of our newfound gratitude keeps us from anticipating how tired we'll be tomorrow night when we attempt to journal, we're likely to fumble and lose momentum. When we want to achieve a goal, using the technique of mental contrasting—being optimistic about the benefits of a new habit while also being realistic about how difficult building the habit may be – leads us to exert more effort. Recognize and plan for the obstacles that may get in the way. For instance, if you tend to be exhausted at night, accept that it might not be the best time to focus for a few extra minutes and schedule your gratitude in the morning instead.
Make Thankfulness Fun By Mixing It Up
University of Rochester partners in crime Edward Deci and Richard Ryan study intrinsic motivation, which is the deep desire from within to persist on a task. One of the biggest determinants is autonomy, the ability to do things the way we want. So don't limit yourself—if journaling is feeling stale, try out new and creative ways to track your grateful moments. (Happify offers an endless variety of gratitude activities to choose from.) My fiancée Michaela decided to create a gratitude jar this year. Any time she experiences a poignant moment of gratitude, she writes it on a piece of paper and puts it in a jar. On New Year's Eve, she'll empty the jar and review everything she wrote. When a good thing happens, she now exclaims, "That's one for the gratitude jar!" It immediately makes the moment more meaningful and keeps us on the lookout for more.
Be Social About Your Gratitude Practice
Our relationships with others are the greatest determinant of our happiness. So it makes sense to think of other people as we build our gratitude. Robert Emmons suggests that focusing our gratitude on people for whom we're thankful rather than circumstances or material items will enhance the benefits we experience. And while you're at it, why not include others directly into your expression of gratitude? One Happify activity involves writing a gratitude letter to someone who had an impact on you whom you've never properly thanked. You could also share the day's grateful moments around the dinner table. The conversations that follow may give you even more reasons to give thanks.
Incorporating gratitude into your life is easy—and fun—with Happify's activities and games: Sign up today!
Derrick Carpenter, MAPP, coaches individuals on living engaged and inspired lives, runs experiential corporate leadership programs, and trains US Army personnel on resilience. He's researched what makes people great in psychology labs at Harvard, Yale, and UPenn, where he received his Master of Applied Positive Psychology.

subset: commoncrawl


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Make Great Products with Autodesk Digital Prototyping.
Autodesk® Digital Prototyping is an innovative way for you to explore your ideas before they're even built. It's a way for team members to work together across disciplines. And it's a way for individuals and companies of all sizes to get great products to market faster than ever before. From concept through design, manufacturing, marketing, and beyond, Autodesk Digital Prototyping streamlines the product development process from start to finish.
An Autodesk Digital Prototyping approach can help you:
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• Be more competitive in a complex global environment
Contact us today and let us show you how Autodesk's Digital Prototyping solutions are supported in all Autodesk manufacturing software right from the start, with open standards, scalable deployment, and cost-effective purchasing options.


text:
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - A Florida grand jury has indicted a man on a first-degree murder charge in the death of a teenager following an argument over loud music coming from the teen's car.
The Florida Times-Union reports officials in the state attorney's office said Thursday they won't be seeking the death penalty against 46-year-old Michael David Dunn. He was initially charged with second-degree murder.
Dunn is accused of the Nov. 23 shooting death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis.
Officials say Dunn parked next to the vehicle where Davis was sitting with three other teens. Dunn complained about the loud music and they stared arguing. Dunn told police he thought he saw a gun and fired eight or nine shots into the vehicle.
Grand jurors also added three counts of attempted murder.


text:
{outfit} Christmas Tree Hunting
Jeans: Rag & Bone (Shopbop), Sweater: Dad's, Socks: American Eagle, Boots: däv giveaway win , Sunglasses: Michael Kors (TJ Maxx) $20
And here are some photos of the farm.
I always love your yearly photos of picking out your Christmas tree -- and I love the chunky sweater/skinny pants look.
Courtney ~ http://sartorialsidelines.com
There's nothing like a big, chunky, cozy sweater in the wintertime and I'm loving yours! That farm looks like so much fun and I can't wait to see the tree you picked out once it's decorated. I need to find one in the city somehow this weekend! :)
so nice photos!
Angela Donava
looks like it was the perfect day for a tree hunt! (much better than being freezing in the snow. those are the years when the first tree you see happens to be perfect)ReplyDelete
I love oversized jumpers. Yours (your dad's!) looks so warm and cosy. Can't wait to get our tree now! :)ReplyDelete
How fun! I've been sick so our apartment isn't decorated yet and I'm reminded of it each day seeing our christmas tree in it's box in the corner. Ahh!ReplyDelete
You blog is great dear!
I really like it, keep it up :)
You already got your tree?! Oh man, I feel so behind.ReplyDelete
loveeee the sweater!
xoxo stylelista
What a perfect day to go tree shopping in a perfect tree shopping outfit. I really should stop by that farm...it's pretty close and looks like they have such great stuff besides trees!ReplyDelete
oh my gosh that tree shop is way too cute! i love this time of year :)
xo SideSmile,
SideSmile Style
You look so cozy!
You know I may be in love with youReplyDelete
Boy that is a cozy sweater. This is one of my favorite things to do during Christmas. Isn't the smell of pine wonderfully delightful?
Girlie Blog Seattle | Cheap Makeup Reviews
That big cozy sweater is perfect for Christmas tree shopping!
Love that sweater megan! we always do a fake christmas tree :( i bet christmas tree shopping is so fun!!ReplyDelete
Great photos! I'd never heard of scented pinecones before x SushiReplyDelete


text:
Turning away from Shia in Iran''A Tsunami of Atheism''
"Baztab" ("Echo") is the most widely read and quoted news portal in Iran. It has increased I prominence as a result of the presidential electoral campaign which is now under way, but it also benefits from the fact that it enjoys the protection of Mohsen Rezai, who is campaigning to become Mahmud Ahmadinejad's successor as president.
Rezai, who's a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, doesn't have much hope in the election, but he's thrown his hat in the ring nevertheless, as he has done in the past. His "Baztab" portal provides an echo, as its name implies, of almost all the topics which are relevant to the current campaign.
The site reports surprisingly openly and critically on many of the problems which face Iranians in their daily life. It crosses red lines and breaks taboos: recently it even looked at "Atheism in the Islamic Republic".
The article said that atheism, superstition and adherence to sects were breaking like a tsunami over Iranian youth. "Baztab" argued that this "shameful phenomenon" was due to the abuse of religion by the government.
The short article seemed like a mixture of analysis, editorial and warning – but more important than the article were the many commentaries in which readers described their experience of the daily abuse of religion. Some of the readers suggest their explanations for the fact that young people are turning from religion; some have even admitted that they don't believe in God.
Empty mosques
Elements in the Iranian opposition find this "phenomenon", which "Baztab" describes as "shameful", easy to explain. And the debate reveals a notable discrepancy between Iran and other Muslim countries. In the Arab world, Islam is becoming more important, both privately and politically, but in Iran, the people are leaving the mosques in droves.
Many people are on a spiritual search for meaning which may take them to Christianity, the Muslim order of Dervishes, or new age sects. In any case, the security services have a existential and complicated fight on their hands as they try to deal with followers of any confession which calls into question the theoretical basis of the Islamic Republic.
According to that theoretical basis, on the one hand religious minorities have to be tolerated, while at the same time anything which is religiously "offensive" has to be fought back firmly, since it's not just a matter of religious conviction, but a threat to national security. And every time some foreign organisation or government protests against the persecution of religious minorities in Iran, Mohammed-Javad Larijani, the chairman of the Iranian Human Rights Commission, repeats, "Nobody is persecuted in Iran because of his beliefs."
New age sects popular
But the claim is heard more frequently these days, following the arrest of eleven housewives in Shahrud in north-eastern Iran for their membership of the Interuniversal Mysticism sect.
The women held a weekly six-hour learning session which their teacher, a lawyer from Isfahan, who travelled 700 kilometres just to attend. The Fars news agency reported on 20th December 2012 that they were involved not only with "obscure mysticism", but also with a damaging psychotherapy, the so-called "meta-therapy".
For some, Interuniversal Mysticism is an attempt to become one with the world and to find one's inner peace. For the religious and moral guardians of the state it's a false mysticism, a subversive and dangerous tendency which manipulates the young and undermines Islam.
The sect offers a mixture of a search for meaning and a system of psychotherapy. As well as offering an explanation of the world, it also offers a therapeutic method called "Faradarmani" or "meta-therapy".
The sect began to grow five years ago among students and the urban middle-class, but quickly began to spread throughout the country, as the cases from Shahrud show. Its members believe that the world has consciousness and radiates energy. According to the sect's founder, Mohammed Ali Taheri, who has been sentenced to seven years in prison and 70 lashes, the task of the faithful is to turn aside the negative energy in the world.
The sect's members focus on the unity of being, as do Rumi and other great masters of Iranian mysticism: everything is just a form of God's presence. When the sect started up, it received the support of the authorities, since it referred back to Islam and Iran's traditional mysticism.
Believers were able to publish books about their faith; seminars were held at universities. The sect's teachings were publicised abroad, in Armenia, Turkey or South Korea. Taheri travelled abroad and boasted of his two foreign honorary doctorates. Even state television praised his commitment.
But since Ahmadinejad was voted back into power three and a half years ago, the focus has been on the "wide-ranging struggle" against "any form of false mysticism", which is being led by the highest level of the country's political and religious authorities. The Seminary for the Purification of the Faith at the theological university of Homs puts the number of people in the Interuniversal Mysticism sect at around 300,000.
On the websites which are leading the fight against the sect, that figure is said to be too low. The sect is no longer just a harmless mystical circle but a dangerous movement, almost a small mass movement, which calls the principles of the Islamic Republic into question.
No more pussy-footing
The official campaign against "false mysticism" was started more than two years ago personally by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. He spent a week in the holy city of Ghom in October 2010, where he met with a number of Grand Ayatollahs.
On the last day of his visit, he gave a keynote address to theology students in which he said, "The prevalence of licentiousness, the propagation of false mysticism, and the so-called house churches are attempts undertaken by the Zionists and other enemies to fight against Islam."
As soon as he left the city, which is seen as the main centre of Shiite scholarship, one Ayatollah after another issued a fatwa against "false mysticism", declaring that the propagation of its teachings meant apostasy and sacrilege.
In spite of repression, the numbers who seek their salvation in sects or other religious minorities continues to grow. The number of New Christians who organise themselves in underground churches is believed to have increased significantly in recent years. According to the website of the evangelical organisation "Open Doors", the number of Christians in Iran has risen from 300,000 to 460,000.
There's no evidence for the figures, but the trend towards faiths other than Islam is unmistakable. The well-known Iranian theologian and philosopher Mohsen Kadivar believes that the version of Islam propagated by the state has caused most Iranians to move away from their religion. But the search for a spiritual path never ends, and Kadivar says that this leads people to try to find their salvation in Christianity, Buddhism or one of the sects instead.
Ali Sadrzadeh
© Qantara.de 2013
Translated from the German by Michael Lawton
Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de
Comments for this article: ''A Tsunami of Atheism''
Matter of time before Iran regains its pre Islamic Hindu - Zorastrian glory.shilpi 08.04.2014 | 04:37 Uhr
tsunami of atheismAnonymous13.08.2014 | 21:52 Uhr
The decline of our people can be traced back to the fall of the Sasanian Empire and the Arab introduction of Islam. This backward religion has prevented our people from entering the modern age and made life for most Iranians incompatible with the modern age. If Iranians were smart, they would abandon Islam completely and reject any Arab influence on our culture. The sooner, the better.Sohrob Tahmasebi05.02.2015 | 01:59 Uhr
We should not believe in gods and goddesses for the same reason we do not believe in trolls, santa, sprites, goblins, dragons or Thor. And that reason should be obvious to anyone over the age of 10.
We need education, proper education, bot bronze age primitive suppressions written by people who knew less about science, bacteria or space, than our elementary school children today.Mohammad-Javad...03.03.2015 | 18:26 Uhr
The Iranian regimes insistence on the "zionist this and zionist that" for all problems is so chronic these days. Maybe Muslims should learn to enjoin this epithet in every calamity situation.Masud15.07.2015 | 08:23 Uhr
It took me a while to realize the virus of Islam which has been the biggest demise of iran and persians but I have yet to meet a single muslim Persian. I mean every single Persian I have met in my circle of friends and relatives, in US or australia or EU is avid athiest. The ones in iran, less religious and in cognito though the Newley arrived persians are mostly unvelievers and highly educated. Since I was born and raised in Iran, my guess is my friends and relatives there perhaps will think like me if they ever had access to my freedom.Sb06.10.2015 | 18:02 Uhr
Im a 19 years old girl in iran i turned into atheism yet because it makes sense . All religiouns are big lies... after all , Islam and arabic culture is the worlds most violent and anti human culture ever.... just look at ISIS ... this is real islam... i touched it... i felt it... i used to be muslim because of my birthplace... but now , I found my own way !!! Thanks to some aware Iranians who have woken me up ...million thanks to Iranian atheists commitee ❤Bahar01.07.2016 | 00:32 Uhr
Same as in Turkey ,young generation is choosing atheism ,deism despite governments wish of creating a pious youth .
I stand with Iranian youngsters , no one should be forced by state to believe in any religion for political reasons. Religion should be personal choice.


text:
After four years of planning and three years of hype, we've finally driven a production Chevrolet Volt plug-in "hybrid." We expected some character from the most obsessively engineered vehicle in GM's history. We didn't expect so many personalities at once.
Full disclosure: General Motors wanted us to drive the Volt so badly they flew me to Detroit, parked me in a surprisingly nice hotel in Rochester and let me drive Volts around for a couple of days. GM even showed off where in the cavernous Detroit-Hamtramck plant it once built the Cadillac Allante. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures of that.
"Sorry About The Defroster"
GM's first request before handing over the Volt was to drive it as slowly as possible — in the name of a contest among the roughly 200 journalists testing Volts to see how far they could travel on battery power alone. The winner gets a Volt to use for a month. I couldn't turn down a challenge, even if I have no place — to put a Volt or its charger (For the record, if we win, we'll give the one month Volt loan to some lucky — or unlucky, depending on what you think of it — Jalopnik reader).
Luckily I had the assistance of Larry Laws, the GM engineer charged with accounting for every watt of energy used in the Volt's battery system; in other words, its chief joule-r. He also holds the GM record for all-electric travel on a single charge with 60 miles. At one point, as we slowly paraded through the suburbs, he'd realized he'd accidentally switched on the defroster for a few minutes. "That might cost you a mile," he said.
The Volt begins and ends in its 16-kwh battery pack. It's the single-most expensive component, the toughest engineering challenge and will ultimately decide whether the Volt succeeds or fails. And with a million miles of testing, GM has obsessed over those batteries like William Shatner in his toupee closet.
The pack only uses 60% of its charge; the rest goes toward keeping the battery alive for at least eight years. The pack also has its own liquid heating/cooling system, unlike the Nissan Leaf — which uses 90% of its battery charge and relies on air to cool its pack. Congratulations, early adopters; you're the test subjects in a global engineering showdown.
In an hour and a half, I covered 47.4 miles, managed to keep 8 miles in reserve and felt like a gluteal haberdasher much of the way to the rush-hour commuters. That was good enough to win among my group and place second overall: the overall leader is currently wanted in a number of Oakland County jurisdictions on public nuisance charges. Most scored in the mid-40s; we found it would take focused effort to get below 30 miles all electric.
The Rosetta Stone For Geek
During our drive, a guy in a Ram pickup motioned for Laws to roll down his window. "Hey, I heard this thing does't run on electricity?"
Laws politely corrected him, grimacing a little. "OK, that's what I thought," the man said, smiling. "Just tellin' ya what I heard on the news." Got to love second-hand Jalopnik readers.
The dustup over GM's revelation that the Volt isn't quite as exclusively electric as it had originally claimed had many people at GM upset. But it's a useful reminder of why the Volt exists at all.
I was there back in 2007 when GM rolled the Volt on stage at the Detroit Auto Show, promising a new kind of vehicle that sported not just a 40-mile all-electric range, but up to 640 miles of total range with fuel economy on the gas engine alone nearing 50 mpg. And despite its environmental benefits, the Volt didn't get nearly $1 billion to be built simply because of them, especially with a corporate champion who once compared man-made global warming to feces-packed earthenware.
From its inception in Bob Lutz's mind as the "iCar," the Volt's main mission was to revive GM's reputation for technical prowess, while putting those smug bastards from across the Pacific with their dinky hybrids in their place. Lutz contended the Prius lost money on engineering accounting, but was cheap marketing at twice the price.
There's no need to rehash the details of the revelation GM made that the Volt occasionally will use its gas-powered engine to drive the wheels on occasion, at speeds as low as 30 mph. The problem wasn't the details, but the way GM handled them. It had told the car's tech enthusiasts that electricity would be the only force driving the wheels, emphasizing the difference between the Volt and all other hybrids, especially the Prius. When it was made clear that wasn't the case, that the system has a mode (only at certain speeds and with certain levels of battery charge) similar to a Prius, GM's communications team blustered on, half-blaming the enthusiasts for caring about details so much.
Instead of letting the elegance of GM's engineering solutions help the Volt polish GM's reputation among a group of tech-savvy fans, GM showed it didn't know quite how to speak geek. Andrew Farah, the Volt's chief engineer, had lost his voice by the time I posed the question. The Volt, he said "has many personalities."
Diva-Free Driving
Behind the wheel, the Volt works for a good first impression like an intern with law school debt.
Press the lit blue start button, and dual screens in the instrument panel and dash launch with little graphic fillips. The touch-sensitive control panel pays homage to early iPods, and the silent start emphasizes the Volt's electric nature.
The best part of driving the Volt comes from snapping the torque hamsters onto their wheels at full charge for a maglev-like rush of 273 lb-ft. The overall system gins 149 hp for 3,700 pounds of car, capable of a zero to 60 mph time in a shade under 9 seconds. Its not speedy, but respectable among family sedans, and far better than a Nissan Leaf or Toyota Prius.
To accomodate 435 pounds of lithium-ion batteries, GM engineers had to rework much of the Chevy Cruze-based body and suspension. The basics remain geared to the comfortable, with McPhersons up front and torsion bar rear, but have been tuned for the extra weight of the battery. The battery mass lowers the center of gravity two inches, and befitting a vehicle so closely linked to Bob Lutz, the Volt can hustle when needed.
The Volt has three drive modes: Normal, Sport and Mountain. Sport squeezes the torque from the tube just a touch faster. Mountain changes the power output to reserve enough for climbing tall passes at highway speeds, something any Volt driver east of the Mississippi need not worry about.
On top of those three modes, GM throws a curve in its shifter. The Volt's drive selector has a "L" located below "D" that suggests an old-fashioned low gear. What it actually does is kick up the aggression of the regenerative braking system; combined with Sport mode may be the best way to make the most of driving the car.
It's only after some time in the Volt that the newness wears down a little and practical questions arise. At first, the haptic dash requires a glance away from the road for many functions. The dashboard's busy graphics and animations suggest the designers could soon be the target of a blog post from Ray LaHood.
And once the battery discharges and the 84-hp engine kicks in, the car's electronics start making decisions that won't seem logical to unsuspecting drivers. The engine's initial switch-on is seamless, but to maintain efficiency its revs frequently don't match vehicle speed or driver input. Punching it on the freeway at 55 mph reveals the drawback of the "optimizer" that controls all Volt driving functions: a dumb old car would just dump gas into the engine's maw immediately, but the Volt takes a couple of seconds to decide how to best gather extra energy and feed the engine with a dropper. It gets the job done, eventually.
Mileage? In several dozen miles of fairly aggressive driving, I was getting roughly 33 mpg in engine-only mode. That generally comports with what GM expects; the original 50 mpg target came from a three-cylinder engine in the concept. (Outlandish numbers likely include electric-only driving, figures the Volt's systems frequently mingle in reporting).
The $41,000 sticker before incentives for a semi-luxury compact car knocks several buyers out; the lack of places to charge also knocks millions more households out of consideration. It also may take a few years to see whether gas and battery prices conspire enough to make the Volt more financially appealing. Still, GM will have no trouble selling 10,000 Volts next year in North America, and even the 60,000 vehicle target for 2012 (including Amperas for Europe) seems reachable.
Miser, savior, geekbait — it's a lot of different personalities to hang on a single vehicle.
But the one persona GM should crow about, if it'd only stop eating so much crow first, is this: The Volt is the most advanced electric vehicle/hybrid in the world.


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Military drone mistaken for UFO on D.C.'s Capital Beltway
Some folks in the Washington, D.C., area are buzzing about what they thought was a UFO atop a flatbed truck on the Capitol Beltway.
Turns out the disc-shaped object was just a run-of-the-mill military drone.
MyFoxDC reports that what drivers saw—and some photographed—around 11 p.m. Wednesday on Interstate 270, and then later on Interstate 495, was an X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System being transported from Edwards Air Force Base in California to the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland for testing.
Related video: Recent crash raises questions about drone safety.
During its travels through the D.C. area, local station WTOP reported a flurry of activity on Twitter about the strange-looking object.
This not the first time a drone was mistaken for something alien. Last year, a drone being transported by flatbed to Pax River for practicing aircraft carrier takeoffs and landings was also mistaken for a UFO, the Daily Caller reported.


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Jump to navigation Jump to search
The wiki is being retired!
Documentation is now handled by the same processes we use for code: Add something to the Documentation/ directory in the coreboot repo, and it will be rendered to https://doc.coreboot.org/. Contributions welcome!
|This work is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or any later version. This work is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
Lxbios is a utility for reading/writing LinuxBIOS parameters and displaying information from the LinuxBIOS table in CMOS.
The program works only on x86-based Linux systems that use LinuxBIOS.
It can be downloaded from http://www.llnl.gov/linux/lxbios/lxbios.html.
Using lxbios
Running lxbios on a system running LinuxBIOS would yield a result like this:
# ./lxbios -a boot_option = Fallback last_boot = Fallback ECC_memory = Disable baud_rate = 115200 hw_scrubber = Enable interleave_chip_selects = Enable max_mem_clock = 100Mhz dual_core = Enable power_on_after_fail = Enable debug_level = Spew boot_first = HDD boot_second = Network boot_third = Floppy boot_index = 0xe boot_countdown = 0xfa slow_cpu = off nmi = Enable iommu = Enable lxbios: Can not read LinuxBIOS parameter user_data because layout info specifies CMOS area that is too wide.
Things to know
- LinuxBIOS will ignore the CMOS table if the checksum is incorrect, and will fallback to its hardcoded defaults.
- LinuxBIOS does not initialize the CMOS LinuxBIOS table to default values. In other words, until you set values with the lxbios tool, your CMOS table will have an incorrect checksum, and will simply be ignored.
- Not all of the fields that lxbios can set are used by LinuxBIOS on every mainboard.
- Some of the fields are used by payloads - for instance all the fields that start with 'boot_' in the list above. FILO does not use those fields currently, but Etherboot does (someone confirm this please!).


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There are lots of various forms of gambling from betting at the horse races or for your favourite activities clubs or seeking your opportunity at a casino game. And with today's era of the pc you can gamble on line at any of many online sporting or casino websites. Therefore how does on line gaming compare to standard gambling.
For starters, on line gaming can be done in the ease of your own house providing you've some type of computer with an active net connection and utilization of a credit or debit card. And therefore there is little if any vacation involved. Old-fashioned gaming needs travel to the gambling site UFABET. And several people have enjoyed a gambling opportunity at Las Vegas or Atlantic City or perhaps at their local casino or competition track.
Subsequently, you've to participate up with the gaming website you are interested meaning filling out a questionnaire and is generally free. You do not have to become listed on or complete any of your details with traditional gambling.
Thirdly, you can concentrate totally on your on line sport since there are number noisy persons, no cigarette smoke and number drunken persons which could upset you. You've the peace and quiet of your own house in the event that you desire. However with standard gambling you're around like oriented persons doing the same thing and that creates atmosphere. It's a chance to escape and socialise with friends and have a satisfying outing.
Moreover, as each online internet site is competing against one another then they offer bonuses in order to attract people to join their website. And the bonuses may be big with regards to the amount of cash you bid eg large amounts of income or free vacation somewhere.
Do you obtain bonuses at traditional gambling places? No
Fifthly, with on line gambling websites, you are perhaps not obliged to tip employees. In real casinos as an example, you is going to be obliged to idea waiters, sellers and different personnel for a better service. This nevertheless could vary between various countries.
Sixthly, the web casino gaming knowledge can even exceed the physical casino knowledge as they've really strict rules and regulations.
Finally, on online gambling websites your money is secure in the account you place up as they've high security. This really is provided that you took your personal protection precautions with antispyware and antivirus security installed on your desktop and that you have joined a licensed and controlled online gaming website. With old-fashioned gaming you might work the danger of your hard earned money being taken, so you should just look following your money carefully.


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This week on Mandolin Mondays we have 10 string mandolin player Tom Wright with us, carving up a fun medley of "Big Yellow Taxi" and "La Bamba" on his Thomas Buchanan mandolin.
Tom grew up in Washington, D.C. listening to classical music and studying violin. The creative explosion of the sixties caught his ear and he learned guitar and the songs of the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Frank Zappa, and
All the way from the Scottish Highlands, Dagger Gordon joins us this week on Mandolin Mondays to play a lovely tune on his powerful 10 string Sobell mandolin.
From the town of Invergordon, about an hour north of Loch Ness, Dagger Gordon is perhaps the main torchbearer for traditional Scottish music on our instrument. He is not only a perceptive and rooted player, but he is also a great mandolin educator. Dagger is the author


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Could InContro be a candidate for my new favourite restaurant in Perth?
This beautiful South Perth restaurant offers not only superb food, but uninterrupted sublime city views across the Swan River. The views are hard to beat.
The setting has an air of sophistication, the waiters are well versed, some donning French accents, and the napery, glassware and cutlery are what one would expect in a fine dining restaurants. It's all lovely.
It not just about the views though is it? It's about the food. InContro, which means "meeting" in Italian, offers first class Mediterranean style cuisine. You can dine on the 'piccolo' menu – much like tasting plates or Italian tapas, the regular menu, or mix it up like we did and choose from both.
As one comes to expect when dining at a fantastic restaurant in Perth, it ain't cheap. No sir. But for a special occasion, it is seriously worth splashing out for a food experience at InContro.
Our family was celebrating a special occasion, Zorba's mother's 70th birthday. She is as fit as a fiddle and enjoys nothing more than sharing a meal with her family. Dining with us was Zorba's sister Marnie and her triplet boys, Leo, John and Matthew, who are seven years old. There is never any hesitation taking the boys out for dinner with us because they are nearly always well behaved in restaurants and thanks to their Greek and Italian heritage, they love food and eat everything!
As most seven year olds are starving by 5pm, you can imagine how famished the boys were at 6.30pm. We ordered a couple of fresh pizzas for them straight away. It was enjoyed by Masters Seven with gusto!
Entree was a selection from the piccolo menu; zucchini flowers stuffed with salmon mousse, Rottnest scallops and king fish carpaccio. It was presented beautifully on a tiered tray. I could not fault anything, simply beautifully cooked, delicious flavours, and the perfect way to start dinner. The zucchini flowers were my favourite – crispy on the outside, smooth mousse on the inside. YUM! I could have eaten a whole plate of those!
How good do these dishes look?! Are you hungry yet?
For main course, we decided to choose our own. I couldn't go past the Turkish Sticky Black Angus Short Rib ($45). Marnie had Linley Valley Pork Belly Vanilla Pear Pomegranate ($36), Zorba and Katie both had Duck Confit Cauliflower Puree Quince Salad ($38).
My beef rib was nothing short of sensational. Slightly sweet, oh-so sticky, rich with smoky undertones, and the meat was so tender, sliding away from the bone with just the gentlest nudge from my fork. I have never had a beef rib as good as this one – and that's a big call. Whilst expensive, it was a decent sized serve which is just as well or I would not have shared any of it! The boys all agreed that it was the dish of the night.
Marnie loved her pork and really enjoyed the pomegranate salad. Katie and Zorba seemed to thoroughly enjoy their mains as well. To accompanying mains, we had Albany asparagus and shaved fennel pear with candied walnut salad.
Finalmente! Dessert time. The seven year old nephews were chomping at the bit waiting for dessert, especially once they heard that fairy floss was a feature.
We all had the Eaton Mess with Fairy Floss and ordered some desserts from the piccolo menu to share. A two-course dessert – now that's my style of eating!
The wine list was fairly extensive, but on the high end of pricey. We shared a bottle of bubbles, a prosecco, to start ($70) and then went for one of the cheapest shiraz blends on the menu on advice from the waitress. I love my red wine but didn't want to spend upwards of $90 for a decent drop. The waitress' recommendation was perfect. The 2010 Sons of Eden shiraz blend ($65) was a beautiful smooth easy drinking red.
The only other time I have been to InContro was for a friend's wedding late last year. For a function, it was the best food I've ever had. I was excited to finally be going back there again. And it didn't disappoint.
It would be hard to imagine anyone being disappointed dining at InContro. It is first class in every sense and really worth splashing out for for a special occasion. Impressive and highly recommended.
79 South Perth Esplanade, South Perth WA 6151
Tel. 08 9474 5566
Open Lunch and Dinner, Tuesday to Saturday


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Refine your choices
Select a design, then select the device that you would like to style.
Received my "skin" last night. Took literally 2 minutes to apply to my ACER netbook. It is a perfect fit, looks terrific and exactly what I wanted. Could not be happier with it. I am certain it will prevent scratches, etc....plus it might even impress all the middle schoolers with whom I work every day!! Thanks for the product....and I highly recommend it. John Chick Valdosta, GeorgiaJohn Chick, United States


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A timing error in the last second of the bout led to a 20-minute delay and a controversial decision in the women's individual épée semifinal today between South Korean Shin A Lam and German Britta Heidemann, one that has the Korean refusing to leave the piste.
With one second remaining in the match, Heidemann needed to score a touch on Shin to win the match. (Shin would have advanced if they finished the round tied.) The clock then got stuck, allowing Heidemann several extra seconds to score, which she did. Officials then congregated for a long time discussing their options before finally awarding the win (and a chance at the gold medal) to the German.
Shin, in tears, sat down on the piste and has yet to leave. The arena announcer explained to the audience that if she were to leave, it would mean she accepted the decision; since the Korean team is filing an appeal. Even more bizarrely, fencing rules require the Korean team to pay a cash deposit in order to secure an appeal. (Yahoo!'s Maggie Hendricks informs me this is the case in every Olympic sport.)
You can tune into the craziness here.
Update (3:03 p.m.): Officials have removed Shin from the piste and she is leaving the arena as it appears the appeal has been denied.
Update 2 (3:37 p.m.): Forced to compete for bronze immediately after losing the appeal, Shin fell to China's Sun 15-11 and will be deprived a medal.
For a handy master schedule of every Olympic event, click here.


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Over the last couple of weeks I've done a variety of fun things. I've got patches for the remaining Acid3 layout bugs (excluding CSS @font-face, which isn't really a layout issue). There were only actually four layout bugs affecting the rendering of Acid3. One was to support text-shadow, which landed a while ago (I'll post Michael Ventnor's guest blog about that soon). Another one was to allow floats that aren't at the start of a line to be placed on that line instead of always pushed to the next line; I took this one on a few weeks ago because I thought it would be scary, but it turned out to be easy now thanks to the big changes David Baron made in 1.9, so the fix for that landed a couple of weeks ago.
Another Acid3 bug is that absolutely positioned elements with no positioned ancestor element should be positioned relative to the initial containing block, but in Gecko 1.9 they're positioned relative to the padding edge of the root element. I have a nice fix for this that also enables positioning of the root element. It hasn't landed yet, parts still need review.
The last Acid3 layout bug is that Gecko 1.9 follows the CSS2 restrictions on generated content (::before/::after), which were lifted in CSS2.1. In particular we don't allow generated content to be positioned. We also don't allow it to be floated, or be any 'display' type except block or inline, or overflow:auto, or use columns, etc. So I have a patch that reworks generated content to support all of those things by treating it much more like normal content. It actually simplifies the code overall IMHO. This still needs review before it can land.
I've started cutting up my SVG-CSS-integration branch and submitting pieces for review. One part that's in the process of landing is infrastructure for tracking which element is associated with a given ID. This is important in SVG; if, say, an SVG <use> element references URI "#foo", it will need to be updated every time the canonical "element with ID 'foo'" changes, and currently we fail to do that. For example, that would happen if an element with id='foo' is inserted into the document before the element that is currently the canonical 'foo' element, or if the element with id='foo' gets its ID changed to 'bar', or if the element with id='foo' is removed from the document, or if an element earlier in the document gets its 'id' set to 'foo', etc. This isn't actually that hard, since to make getElementById fast we already have a table that maps IDs to elements, so we just need to extend that so if an entry for a given ID changes, we notify observers associated with that ID. However, when I implemented this I discovered that we actually have three implementations of getElementById! One is in nsHTMLDocument (used for HTML/XHTML documents), and is reasonably clean and does what you expect. One is in nsXMLDocument, and is completely stupid and uses no hashtable at all. The other is in nsXULDocument, and is rather insane. It uses its own very ugly hashtable-ish structure and stores not only elements by 'id', but also elements by 'ref'. So in preliminary patches, which I actually landed today, I hoist the good implementation of getElementById from nsHTMLDocument to nsDocument and get rid of the dumb one in nsXMLDocument. I also force nsXULDocument to use the shared table for elements indexed by 'id', and give it a separate table of elements indexed by 'ref' so that getElementById can continue to do its crazy thing for XUL documents. Maybe one day we can get rid of that. Anyway, at least things are getting better.
In the last couple of days I decided to implement white-space:pre-line since it's one of the last bits of CSS 2.1 we don't implement and it's easy to do on top of the improved text subsystem we have in 1.9. The patch for that is up for review too.
I'd quite like to implement text-overflow, but it turns out to be complicated to spec --- there's a reason why it's not in the CSS3 Text draft :-). There are several incompatibilities in the way browsers have implemented it today; for example, only IE7 makes an attempt to handle bidi in a reasonable way. There are several other issues that need to be tested and resolved. The bug contains gory details.


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David Vandenbrink seems like a healthy 21-year-old, bright and articulate young man. There is little to suggest that while in his mother's womb, he suffered permanent brain damage. His condition, fetal alcohol syndrome (F.A.S.), went undiagnosed for the first 18 years of his life, causing confusion, anger, and pain for both David and his non-Indigenous adoptive family. Fetal alcohol syndrome is a term used to describe a set of symptoms seen in some children born to women who drank alcohol during pregnancy. The damage can be subtle or severe, resulting in a wide range of symptoms in the areas of slowed growth, disfigurement, and damage to the brain. Associated behavioural problems include impulsiveness, poor judgment, and an inability to grasp the consequences of actions. This personal story, using video footage shot by David himself, along with the experiences of members of his family, is a hard look into the serious consequences of a little-known, but widespread, health problem.
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Brief history of Alliance
The Alliance Historical Society collects the history of the city of Alliance and maintains an archive of historical photographs and documents at Rodman Public Library. The Society operates an Alliance History Mini Museum on the property of the Mabel Hartzell Historical Home at 840 N. Park Avenue.
Early History
Thousands of years ago, it is believed that the area of Alliance was occupied by the Hopewell Native Americans. The Hopewells were mound builders and relied on agriculture as a means of survival.
Hopewell mounds have been discovered along the banks of the Mahoning River, and the disappearance of the Hopewell from the area is a disputed issue.
The Naming of Alliance
Born from the merging of three tiny communities, the city of Alliance was incorporated in 1889. In 1827, Williams Teeters founded the area's first community, Williamsport. The former area of Williamsport was north of the Mahoning River and now comprises the northern tip of Alliance.
Eleven years later, Mathias Hester founded the second community, Freedom, in the area which is now the central section of Alliance. Freedom was bounded to the north by Vine Street, to the east by Walnut Avenue, to the south by Wayne Street, and to the West by Union Avenue.
In 1850, Liberty, the third community was founded between Mechanic Avenue and Front Street, along with what is now East Main Street. The community of Liberty developed around the two railroads, Cleveland & Wellsville and Ohio & Pennsylvania, which arrived in 1850 and 1851, respectively.
In 1854, Williamsport, Liberty and Freedom merged to form the village of Alliance. The name Alliance was first introduced by Gen. J. S. Robinson in 1850. Robinson referred to the intersection of the Cleveland & Wellsville and Ohio & Pennsylvania railroads as Alliance.
In 1889, Alliance was incorporated as a city. Two years later, Mount Union Village, which was founded in 1824, was annexed to Alliance.
A Long History
Many famous people have passed through Alliance over the years, including Abraham Lincoln, who visited just before his inauguration. In 1867, Civil War generals Grant, Sherman and Sheridan stopped at the Sourbeck Dining Hall at the Union Depot Station.
President-to-be William McKinley made his first political speech at Henry Martin's wagon stop in Mount Union during his campaign for prosecuting attorney. James A. Garfield, the 20th president, frequently spoke at the old College Hall in Mount Union.
The oldest building in Alliance is the Rockhill Home, built in 1817. It is located north of Wayne Avenue and west of North Lincoln Avenue.
The Haines Home, at the corner of Market and Haines, was an integral part of the Underground Railroad. (Editor's note: Information was taken from "The Alliance Story," by Robert Dowling, "The Stark County Story," by Edward Thorton Heald, and the "Alliance Centennial Souvenir Book: Program of Events, Aug. 27 to Sept. 2, 1950.")
Carnation City
How the scarlet carnation became Ohio's state flower is rooted in Alliance.
In 1886, local green thumb and politician Dr. Levi Lamborn propagated the flower from French seedlings, calling it "Lamborn Red."
Opposing William McKinley for the 18th Congressional District a year later, Lamborn presented the future president with a Lamborn Red boutonniere before each debate. As McKinley's political star rose, he spoke of the scarlet carnation as a good-luck charm. When he became president, he began wearing one at all times and presenting flowers from a bouquet on his desk to guests.
On Sept. 14, 1901, moments after removing the flower from his lapel and giving it to young admirer at the Buffalo Exposition, McKinley was killed by an assassin's bullet.
Following years of lobbying by Lamborn, the Ohio General Assembly passed a joint resolution naming the scarlet carnation the state flower on Feb. 3, 1904. On April 8, 1959, the Ohio Legislature recognized Alliance as the Carnation City."
More information on Alliance's history is available from Alliance Historical Society's website at www.alliancehistory.org and AllianceMemory.org


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We are pleased to announce the release of phpBB 3.1.0-RC6, the "Ascraeus is rising" release. This is the sixth release candidate version of the upcoming phpBB 3.1.0 feature release.
In order to ensure that the final release is of the highest possible quality, we are asking for your assistance with putting the release candidate through its paces and reporting any encountered bugs. If you find a problem or have a suggestion, please file an issue ticket in our bug tracker.
Please review the Beta1 announcement for an overview of new features in phpBB Ascraeus 3.1 and instructions on updating.
Release highlights can be found in the wiki.
For a complete list of changes with attributed ticket numbers, please consult our comprehensive changelog.
If you find any security issues, please report them to the security tracker.
The downloads are available on the Area51 downloads page.
If you cannot find the package you desire, please see our release archive.
Please note that phpBB 3.1 has some requirements that differ from phpBB 3.0:
- PHP version 5.3.3 or greater is required
- PHP's json extension is required
- For PostgreSQL users, only versions 8.3 and above are supported
- Firebird is not supported anymore


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Everybody knows the best method of dealing with dangerous asteroids—it's called Bruce Willis. But what if said asteroid wasn't on a collision course with us and we wanted to study, rather than explode, it? A team of Chinese researchers may have the solution.
A team from Tsinghua University in Beijing, led by Hexi Baoyin, wants to capture a passing Near Earth Object in a shallow orbit around the planet where it can be studied—and mined—for a couple of years before it escapes Earth's gravity well. To actually catch the NEO, the team posits that slightly nudging it's trajectory would be enough to move it into orbit.
The idea for this scheme originated from observations of Jupiter, which has previously been seen capturing smaller bodies for years at a time, though they too eventually escape the gas giant's gravitational clutches and are flung back into space.
The most likely candidate for nudging is 10-meter 2008EA9. It will pass by Earth in 2049 and could theoretically be pulled into orbit by reducing its speed by a mere 410m/s.
And hey, 10-meter wide asteroids (at least the stony variety) tend to break up in the atmosphere. Tend to. [Technology Review via Popular Science - CSM]
You can keep up with Andrew Tarantola, the author of this post, on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.


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This Friday fans of the science fiction TV series The Expanse get their wish: a fourth season and new studio commitment that may yield even more seasons. Dropped by the Syfy channel more than a year ago, Amazon Studios is breathing new life into the series, taking over right where the third season left off (check out a preview for the new season below). Based on the James S.A. Corey series of novels (eight with a ninth in the works), the show has earned a fan following much like that of the Battlestar Galactica reboot, in part because of its similar dark and gritty look at the future of Earth. And as a bonus, unlike most TV series, The Expanse now has its own behind-the-scenes book digging into the production, full of concept artwork, ship and costume designs, and all the future tech that goes into a visual effects-filled show.
The Art and Making of The Expanse was created by Titan Books editor Andy Jones and Alcon Publishing's Jeff Conner. It doesn't skimp on the photographs, giving fans both a treasure trove of screen images while also showing how those final shots came to be. It recounts how the series made its way from video game to roleplay game to novels before getting picked up for TV. Showrunner Naren Shankar and producers Mark Fergus, Daniel Abraham, and Ty Franck tell the whole story with contributions from actors Steven Strait, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham, Cas Anvar, Thomas Jane, and Sadavir Errinwright, production designer Seth Reed, costume designer Joanne Hansen, construction coordinator Robert Valeriote, senior VFX supervisor Bob Munroe, and concept artist Tim Warnock.
Readers will see all the key sets, spacesuits and other costumes, props, designs, ships, ship signage, and more from the first three seasons with a look at the fourth season's concept art. Look for layouts on each main character, the major ships and space stations, and a lot more.
Here is a preview of season four of The Expanse, with new cast members Burn Gorman (Torchwood, Forever, The Man in the High Castle), Lyndie Greenwood (Sleepy Hollow, Nikita), Jess Salgueiro (Orphan Black, The Strain), Michael Benyaer (Deadpool, Magnum PI), Chai Valladares (Star Trek Discovery, The Boys), and Kris Holden-Reid (Vikings, Lost Girl), and a new cyborg or two:
Look for The Expanse to return with ten new episodes this Friday the 13th, only on Amazon Prime.
Order The Art and Making of The Expanse now here at Amazon.
C.J. Bunce


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TV News: Vote For Totally 4 Teens To Become A New Adult Swim Show (A /Film Fave!)
Almost a year ago, we pined over the freakishly original, disorienting and bizarre trailer for Totally 4 Teens, a proposed series for [adult swim] that appropriated the zany format of a vintage Nickelodeon kid's show and then aspired to melt viewers' faces off. You may remember that we recently interviewed the show's creator and frizzy-haired host, Derrick Beckles, about his psychedelic workout tape and a music video he directed starring fresh-faced pal and fan Michael Cera.
Well since that time, the last we heard about Totally 4 Teens was that [adult swim] didn't know what to do with it, and that other cable networks were interested. We love [adult swim] and practically inject Tim and Eric and Superjail into our morning cereal, but the idea that we would never see T4T (not to mention Neil Hamburger's filthy ode to Family Feud) on the infamous programming block put pollen in our manly eyes. I mean, other visionairies behind T4T include a guy who produced The Daily Show and the weirdo who is the voice of Towelie on South Park and created Wonder Showzen.
But wait. There is hope yet. We can all vote for Totally 4 Teens—today and today only—to become a reality on the regular. Better still, the show has flirted with putting two members of the /Film staff on the program if it wins the entire contest! (If it wins today, it goes on to the quarter-finals and so forth, just like in sports.) You can go to the official voting site, where you can watch the full pilot episode, and place your vote! Check out the full trailer and a clip after the jump...


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We are a socially responsible business that uses fashion to create meaningful opportunities across the globe.
Founded in 2010, Noonday designs and sells an exclusive collection of jewelry and accessories made by artisans around the world. Our innovative business model invites women to become Ambassadors who sell Noonday products online and at Trunk Shows across the United States. Together nearly 1,000 Ambassadors are creating a growing marketplace for artisan businesses. We develop these artisan businesses through fair trade, empowering them to grow sustainably, create dignified jobs and impact their communities. Through partnership with 30 artisan businesses in 13 countries, we create economic opportunity for more than 2,000 artisans.
Interested in a career with Noonday? We are a rapidly growing company and are looking for people to help us change the world from our Austin, TX Home Office. We share a passion for creating opportunity across the globe and strive to foster a positive and collaborative culture. If you are willing to roll up your sleeves – and you love a good arm party – we want to hear from you.