text:
Find schools and get information on the program that's right for you.
Powered by Campus Explorer
The reader has just seen that, twenty-nine years after the death of
Charlemagne, that is, in 843, when, by the treaty of Verdun, the sons of
Louis the Debonnair had divided amongst them his dominions, the great
empire split up into three distinct and independent kingdoms—the
kingdoms of Italy, Germany, and France. The split did not stop there.
Forty-five years later, at the end of the ninth century, shortly after
the death of Charles the Fat, the last of the Carlovingians who appears
to have re-united for a while all the empire of Charlemagne, this empire
had begotten seven instead of three kingdoms, those of France, of
Navarre, of Provence or Cisjuran Burgundy, of Trans-juran Burgundy, or
Lorraine, of Allemannia, and of Italy. This is what had become of the
factitious and ephemeral unity of that Empire of the West which
Charlemagne had wished to put in the place of the Roman empire.
We will leave where they are the three distinct and independent kingdoms,
and turn our introspective gaze upon the kingdom of France. There we
recognize the same fact; there the same work of dismemberment is going
on. About the end of the ninth century there were already twenty-nine
provinces or fragments of provinces which had become petty states, the
former governors of which, under the names of dukes, counts, marquises,
and viscounts, were pretty nearly real sovereigns. Twenty-nine great
fiefs, which have played a special part in French history, date back to
this epoch.
These petty states were not all of equal importance or in possession of a
perfectly similar independence; there were certain ties uniting them to
other states, resulting in certain reciprocal obligations which became
the basis, or, one might say, the constitution of the feudal community;
but their prevailing feature was, nevertheless, isolation, personal
existence. They were really petty states begotten from the dismemberment
of a great territory; those local governments were formed at the expense
of a central power.
From the end of the ninth pass we to the end of the tenth century, to the
epoch when the Capetians take the place of the Carlovingians. Instead of
seven kingdoms to replace the empire of Charlemagne, there were then no
more than four. The kingdoms of Provence and Trans-juran Burgundy had
formed, by re-union, the kingdom of Arles. The kingdom of Lorraine was
no more than a duchy in dispute between Allemannia and France. The
Emperor Otho the Great had united the kingdom of Italy to the empire of.
Allemannia. Overtures had produced their effects amongst the great
states. But in the interior of the kingdom of France, dismemberment had
held on its course; and instead of the twenty-nine petty states or great
fiefs observable at the end of the ninth century, we find at the end of
the tenth, fifty-five actually established. (Vide Guizot's Histoire
de la Civilisation, t. ii., pp. 238-246.)
Now, how was this ever-increasing dismemberment accomplished? What
causes determined it, and little by little made it the substitute for the
unity of the empire? Two causes, perfectly natural and independent of
all human calculation, one moral and the other political. They were the
absence from the minds of men of any general and dominant idea; and the
reflux, in social relations and manners, of the individual liberties but
lately repressed or regulated by the strong hand of Charlemagne. In
times of formation or transition, states and governments conform to the
measure, one had almost said to the height, of the men of the period,
their ideas, their sentiments, and their personal force of character;
when ideas are few and narrow, when sentiments spread only over a
confined circle, when means of action and expansion are wanting to men,
communities become petty and local, just as the thoughts and existence of
their members are. Such was the state of things in the ninth and tenth
centuries; there was no general and fructifying idea, save the Christian
creed; no great intellectual vent; no great national feeling; no easy and
rapid means of communication; mind and life were both confined in a
narrow space, and encountered, at every step, stoppages and obstacles
well nigh insurmountable. At the same time, by the fall of the empires
of Rome and of Charlemagne, men regained possession of the rough and
ready individual liberties which were the essential characteristic of
Germanic manners: Franks, Visigoths, Burgundians, Saxons, Lombards, none
of these new peoples had lived as the Greeks and Romans had, under the
sway of an essentially political idea, the idea of city, state, and
fatherland: they were free men, and not citizens; comrades, not members
of one and the same public body. They gave up their vagabond life; they
settled upon a soil conquered by themselves and partitioned amongst
themselves; and there they lived each by himself, master of himself and
all that was his, family, servitors, husbandmen, and slaves: the
territorial domain became the fatherland, and the owner remained a free
man, a local and independent chieftain, at his own risk and peril. And
this, quite naturally, grew up feudal France, when the new comers,
settled in their new abodes, were no more swayed or hampered by the vain
attempt to re-establish the Roman empire.
The consequences of such a state of things and of such a disposition of
persons were rapidly developed. Territorial ownership became the
fundamental characteristic of and warranty for independence and social
importance. Local sovereignty, if not complete and absolute, at least
in respect of its principal rights, right of making war, right of
judicature, right of taxation, and right of regulating the police, became
one with the territorial ownership, which before long grew to be
hereditary, whether, under the title of alleu (allodium), it had been
originally perfectly independent and exempt from any feudal tie, or,
under the title of benefice, had arisen from grants of land made by the
chieftain to his followers, on condition of certain obligations. The
offices, that is, the divers functions, military or civil, conferred by
the king on his lieges, also ended by becoming hereditary. Having become
established in fact, this heirship in lands and local powers was soon
recognized by the law. A capitulary of Charles the Bald, promulgated in
877, contains the two following provisions:—
"If, after our death, any one of our lieges, moved by love for God and
our person, desire to renounce the world, and if he have a son or other
relative capable of serving the public weal, let him be free to transmit
to him his benefices and his honor, according to his pleasure."
"If a count of this kingdom happen to die, and his son be about our
person, we will that our son; together with those of our lieges who may
chance to be the nearest relatives of the deceased count, as well as with
the other officers of the said countship and the bishop of the diocese
wherein it is situated, shall provide for its administration until the
death of the heretofore count shall have been announced to us and we have
been enabled to confer on the son, present at our court, the honors
wherewith his father was invested."
Thus the king still retained the nominal right of conferring on the son
the offices or local functions of the father, but he recognized in the
son the right to obtain them. A host of documents testify that at this
epoch, when, on the death of a governor of a province, the king attempted
to give his countship to some one else than his descendants, not only did
personal interest resist, but such a measure was considered a violation
of right. Under the reign of Louis the Stutterer, son of Charles the
Bald, two of his lieges, Wilhelm and Engelschalk, held two countships on
the confines of Bavaria; and, at their death, their offices were given to
Count Arbo, to the prejudice of their sons. "The children and their
relatives," says the chronicler, "taking that as a gross injustice, said
that matters ought to go differently, and that they would die by the
sword or Arbo should give up the courtship of their family." Heirship in
territorial ownerships and their local rights, whatever may have
originally been their character; heirship in local offices or powers,
military or civil, primarily conferred by the king; and, by consequence,
hereditary union of territorial ownership and local government, under the
condition, a little confused and precarious, of subordinated relations
and duties between suzerain and vassal—such was, in law and in fact, the
feudal order of things. From the ninth to the tenth century it had
acquired full force.
This order of things being thus well defined, we find ourselves face to
face with an indisputable historic fact: no period, no system has ever,
in France, remained so odious to the public instincts. And this
antipathy is not peculiar to our age, nor merely the fruit of that great
revolution which not long since separated, as by a gulf, the French
present from its past. Go back to any portion of French history, and
stop where you will; and you will everywhere find the feudal system
considered, by the mass of the population, a foe to be fought and fought
down at any price. At all times, whoever dealt it a blow has been
popular in France.
The reasons for this fact are not all, or even the chief of them, to be
traced to the evils which, in France, the people had to endure under the
feudal system. It is not evil plight which is most detested and feared
by peoples; they have more than once borne, faced, and almost wooed it,
and there are woful epochs, the memory of which has remained dear. It is
in the political character of feudalism, in the nature and shape of its
power, that we find lurking that element of popular aversion which, in
France at least, it has never ceased to inspire.
It was a confederation of petty sovereigns, of petty despots, unequal
amongst themselves, and having, one towards another, certain duties and
rights, but invested in their own domains, over their personal and direct
subjects, with arbitrary and absolute power. That is the essential
element of the feudal system; therein it differs from every other
aristocracy, every other form of government.
There has been no scarcity in this world of aristocracies and despotisms.
There have been peoples arbitrarily governed, nay, absolutely possessed
by a single man, by a college of priests, by a body of patricians. But
none of these despotic governments was like the feudal system.
In the case where the sovereign power has been placed in the hands of a
single man, the condition of the people has been servile and woful. At
bottom the feudal system was somewhat better; and it will presently be
explained why. Meanwhile, it must be acknowledged that that condition
often appeared less burdensome, and obtained more easy acceptance than
the feudal system. It was because, under the great absolute monarchies,
men did, nevertheless, obtain some sort of equality and tranquillity. A
shameful equality and a fatal tranquillity, no doubt; but such as peoples
are sometimes contented with under the dominance of certain
circumstances, or in the last gasp of their existence. Liberty,
equality, and tranquillity were all alike wanting, from the tenth to the
thirteenth century, to the inhabitants of each lord's domains; their
sovereign was at their very doors, and none of them was hidden from him,
or beyond reach of his mighty arm. Of all tyrannies, the worst is that
which can thus keep account of its subjects, and which sees, from its
seat, the limits of its empire. The caprices of the human will then show
themselves in all their intolerable extravagance, and, moreover, with
irresistible promptness. It is then, too, that inequality of conditions
makes itself more rudely felt; riches, might, independence, every
advantage and every right present themselves every instant to the gaze of
misery, weakness, and servitude. The inhabitants of fiefs could not find
consolation in the bosom of tranquillity; incessantly mixed up in the
quarrels of their lord, a prey to his neighbors' devastations, they led a
life still more precarious and still more restless than that of the lords
themselves, and they had to put up at one and the same time with the
presence of war, privilege, and absolute power. Nor did the rule of
feudalism differ less from that of a college of priests or a senate of
patricians than from the despotism of an individual. In the two former
systems we have an aristocratic body governing the mass of the people; in
the feudal system we have an aristocracy resolved into individuals, each
of whom governs on his own private account a certain number of persons
dependent upon him alone. Be the aristocratic body a clergy, its power
has its root in creeds which are common to itself and its subjects. Now,
in every creed common to those who command and those who obey there is a
moral tie, an element of sympathetic equality, and on the part of those
who obey a tacit adhesion to the rule. Be it a senate of patricians that
reigns, it cannot govern so capriciously, so arbitrarily, as an
individual. There are differences and discussions in the very bosom of
the government; there may be, nay, there always are, formed factions,
parties which, in order to arrive at their own ends, strive to conciliate
the favor of the people, sometimes take in hand its interests, and,
however bad may be its condition, the people, by sharing in its masters'
rivalries, exercises some sort of influence over its own destiny.
Feudalism was not, properly speaking, an aristocratic government, a
senate of kings—to use the language used by Cineas to Pyrrhus; it was a
collection of individual despotisms, exercised by isolated aristocrats,
each of whom, being sovereign in his own domains, had to give no account
to another, and asked nobody's opinion about his conduct towards his
Is it astonishing that such a system incurred, on the part of the
peoples, more hatred than even those which had reduced them to a more
monotonous and more lasting servitude? There was despotism, just as in
pure monarchies, and there was privilege, just as in the very closest
aristocracies. And both obtruded themselves in the most offensive, and,
so to speak, crude form. Despotism was not tapered off by means of the
distant and elevation of a throne; and privilege did not veil itself
behind the majesty of a large body. Both were the appurtenances of an
individual ever present and ever alone, ever at his subjects' doors, and
never called upon, in dealing with their lot, to gather his peers around
And now we will leave the subjects in the case of feudalism, and consider
the masters, the owners of fiefs, and their relations one with another.
We here behold quite a different spectacle; we see liberties, rights, and
guarantees, which not only give protection and honor to those who enjoy
them, but of which the tendency and effect are to open to the subject
population an outlet towards a better future.
It could not, in fact, be otherwise: for, on the one hand, feudal society
was not wanting in dignity and glory; and, on the other, the feudal
system did not, as the theocracy of Egypt or the despotism of Asia did,
condemn its subjects irretrievably to slavery. It oppressed them; but
they ended by having the power as well as the will to go free.
It is the fault of pure monarchy to set up power so high, and encompass
it with such splendor, that the possessor's head is turned, and that
those who are beneath it dare scarcely look upon it. The sovereign
thinks himself a god; and the people fall down and worship him. But it
was not so in society under owners of fiefs: the grandeur was neither
dazzling nor unapproachable; it was but a short step from vassal to
suzerain; they lived familiarly one with another, without any possibility
that superiority should think itself illimitable, or subordination think
itself servile. Thence came that extension of the domestic circle, that
ennoblement of personal service, from which sprang one of the most
generous sentiments of the middle ages, fealty, which reconciled the
dignity of the man with the devotion of the vassal.
Further, it was not from a numerous aristocratic senate, but from
himself, and almost from himself alone, that every possessor of fiefs
derived his strength and his lustre. Isolated as he was in his domains,
it was for him to maintain himself therein, to extend them, to keep his
subjects submissive and his vassals faithful, and to correct those who
were wanting in obedience to him, or who ignored their duties as members
of the feudal hierarchy. It was, as it were, a people consisting of
scattered citizens, of whom each, ever armed, accompanied by his
following or intrenched in his castle, kept watch himself over his own
safety and his own rights, relying far more on his own courage and his
own renown than on the protection of the public authorities. Such a
condition bears less resemblance to an organized and settled society than
to a constant prospect of peril and war; but the energy and the dignity
of the individual were kept up in it, and a more extended and better
regulated society might issue therefrom.
And it did issue. This society of the future was not slow to sprout and
grow in the midst of that feudal system so turbulent, so oppressive, so
detested. For five centuries, from the invasion of the barbarians to the
fall of the Carlovingians, France presents the appearance of being
stationary in the middle of chaos. Over this long, dark space of
anarchy, feudalism is slowly taking shape, at the expense, at one time,
of liberty, at another, of order; not as a real rectification of the
social condition, but as the only order of things which could possibly
acquire fixity, as, in fact, a sort of unpleasant but necessary
alternative. No sooner is the feudal system in force, than, with its
victory scarcely secured, it is attacked in the lower grades by the mass
of the people attempting to regain certain liberties, ownerships, and
rights, and in the highest by royalty laboring to recover its public
character, to become once more the head of a nation. It is no longer the
case of free men in a vague and dubious position, unsuccessfully
defending, against the nomination of the chieftains whose lands they
inhabit, the wreck of their independence, whether Gallic, or Roman, or
barbaric; it is the case of burgesses, agriculturists, and serfs, who
know well what their grievances and who their oppressors are, and who are
working to get free. It is no longer the case of a king doubtful about
his title and the nature of his power, at one time a chieftain of
warriors, at another the anointed of the Most High; here a mayor of the
palace of some sluggard barbarian, there the heir of the emperors of
Rome; a sovereign tossing about confusedly amidst followers or servitors
eager at one time to invade his authority, at another to render
themselves completely isolated: it is the case of one of the premier
feudal lords exerting himself to become the master of all, to change his
suzerainty into sovereignty. Thus, in spite of the servitude into which
the people had sunk at the end of the tenth century, from this moment the
enfranchisement of the people makes way. In spite of the weakness, or
rather nullity, of the regal power at the same epoch, from this moment
the regal power begins to gain ground. That monarchical system which the
genius of Charlemagne could not found, kings far inferior to Charlemagne
will little by little make triumphant. Those liberties and those
guarantees which the German warriors were incapable of transmitting to a
well-regulated society, the commonalty will regain one after another.
Nothing but feudalism could have sprung from the womb of barbarism; but
scarcely is feudalism established when we see monarchy and liberty
nascent and growing in its womb.
From the end of the ninth to the end of the tenth century, two families
were, in French history, the representatives and instruments of the two
systems thus confronted and conflicting at that epoch, the imperial which
was falling, and the feudal which was rising. After the death of
Charlemagne, his descendants, to the number of ten, from Louis the
Debonnair to Louis the Sluggard, strove obstinately, but in vain, to
maintain the unity of the empire and the unity of the central power. In
four generations, on the other hand, the descendants of Robert the Strong
climbed to the head of feudal France. The former, though German in race,
were imbued with the maxims, the traditions, and the pretensions of that
Roman world which had been for a while resuscitated by their glorious
ancestor; and they claimed it as their heritage. The latter preserved,
at their settlement upon Gallo-Roman territory, Germanic sentiments,
manners, and instincts, and were occupied only with the idea of getting
more and more settled, and greater and greater in the new society which
was little by little being formed upon the soil won by the barbarians,
their forefathers. Louis the Ultra-marine and Lothaire were not, we may
suppose, less personally brave than Robert the Strong and his son Eudes;
but when the Northmen put the Frankish dominions in peril, it was not to
the descendants of Charlemagne, not to the emperor Charles the Fat, but
to the local and feudal chieftain, to Eudes, count of Paris, that the
population turned for salvation: and Eudes it was who saved them.
In this painful parturition of French monarchy, one fact deserves to be
remarked, and that is, the lasting respect attached, in the minds of the
people, to the name and the reminiscences of the Carlovingian rule,
notwithstanding its decay. It was not alone the lustre of that name, and
of the memory of Charlemagne which inspired and prolonged this respect; a
certain instinctive feeling about the worth of hereditary monarchy, as an
element of stability and order, already existed amongst the populations,
and glimpses thereof were visible amongst the rivals of the royal family
in the hour of its dissolution. It had been consecrated by religion; the
title of anointed of the Most High was united, in its case, to that of
lawful heir. Why did Hugh the Great, duke of France, in spite of
favorable opportunities and very palpable temptations, abstain
perseveringly from taking the crown, and leave it tottering upon the
heads of Louis the Ultramarine and Lothaire? Why did his son, Hugh Capet
himself, wait, for his election as king, until Louis the Sluggard was
dead, and the Carlovingian line had only a collateral and discredited
representative? In these hesitations and lingerings of the great feudal
chieftains, there is a forecast of the authority already vested in the
principle of hereditary monarchy, at the very moment when it was about to
be violated, and of the great part which would be played by that
principle in the history of France.
At last the day of decision arrived for Hugh Capet. There is nothing to
show that he had conspired to hasten it, but he had foreseen the
probability of it, and, if he had done nothing to pave the way for it, he
had held himself, so far as he was concerned, in readiness for it.
During a trip which he made to Rome in 981, he had entered into kindly
personal relations with the Emperor Otho II., king of Germany, the most
important of France's neighbors, and the most disposed to meddle in her
affairs. In France, Hugh Capet had formed a close friendship with
Adalberon, archbishop of Rheims, the most notable and most able of the
French prelates. The event showed the value of such a friend. On the
21st of May, 987, King Louis V. died without issue; and, after his
obsequies, the grandees of the kingdom met together at Senlis. We will
here borrow the text of a contemporary witness, Richer, the only one of
the chroniclers of that age who deserves the name of historian, whether
for the authenticity of his testimony or the extent and clearness of his
narrative. "The bishop," he says, "took his place, together with the
duke, in the midst of the assembly, and said to them, 'I come and sit
down amongst you to treat of the affairs of the state. Far from me be
any design of saying anything but what has for aim the advantage of the
common weal. As I do not see here all the princes whose wisdom and
energy might be useful in the government of the kingdom, it seems to me
that the choice of a king should be put off for some time, in order that,
at a period fixed upon, all may be able to meet in assembly, and that
every opinion, having been discussed and set forth in the face of day,
may thus produce its full effect. May it please you, then, all of ye who
are here assembled to deliberate, to bind yourselves in conjunction with
me by oath to this illustrious duke, and to promise between his hands not
to engage yourselves in any way in the election of a Head, and not to do
anything to this end until we be re-assembled here to deliberate upon
that choice.' This opinion was well received and approved of by all:
oath was taken between the hands of the duke, and the time was fixed at
which the meeting should assemble again."
Before the day fixed for re-assembling, the last of the descendants of
Charlemagne, Charles, duke of Lower Lorraine, brother of the late King
Lothaire, and paternal uncle of the late King Louis, "went to Rheims in
quest of the archbishop, and thus spake to him about his rights to the
throne: 'All the world knoweth, venerable father, that, by hereditary
right, I ought to succeed my brother and my nephew. I am wanting in
nought that should be required, before all, from those who ought to
reign, to wit, birth and the courage to dare. Wherefore am I thrust out
from the territory which all the world knows to have been possessed by my
ancestors? To whom could I better address myself than to you, when all
the supports of my race have disappeared? To whom, bereft as I am of
honorable protection, should I have recourse but to you? By whom, if not
by you, should I be restored to the honors of my fathers? Please God
things turn out favorably for me and for my fortunes! Rejected, what,
can become of me save to be exhibited as a spectacle to all who look on
me? Suffer yourself to be moved by some feeling of humanity: be
compassionate towards a man who has been tried by so many reverses!'"
Such language was more calculated to inspire contempt than compassion.
"The metropolitan, firm in his resolution, gave for answer these few
words: 'Thou hast ever been associated with the perjured, the
sacrilegious, and the wicked of every sort, and now thou art still
unwilling to separate from them: how canst thou, in company with such
men, and by means of such men, seek to attain to the sovereign power?'
And when Charles replied that he must not abandon his friends, but rather
gain over others, the bishop said to himself, 'Now that he possesses no
position of dignity, he hath allied himself with the wicked, whose
companionship he will not, in any way, give up: what misfortune would it
be for the good if he were elected to the throne!' To Charles, however,
he made answer that he would do nought without the consent of the
princes; and so left him."
At the time fixed, probably the 29th or 30th of June, 987, the grandees
of Frankish Gaul who had bound themselves by oath re-assembled at Senlis.
Hugh Capet was present with his brother Henry of Burgundy, and his
brother-in-law Richard the Fearless, duke of Normandy. The majority of
the direct vassals of the crown were also there—Foulques Nerra (the
Black), count of Anjou; Eudes, count of Blois, Chartres, and Tours;
Bouchard, count of Vent-Mine and Corbeil; Gautier, count of Vexin; and
Hugh, count of Maine. Few counts came from beyond the Loire; and some of
the lords in the North, amongst others Arnulf II., count of Flanders, and
the lords of Vermandois were likewise missing. "When those present were
in regular assembly, Archbishop Adalheron, with the assent of Duke Hugh,
thus spake unto them: 'Louis, of blessed memory, having been taken from
us without leaving issue, it hath become necessary to engage seriously in
seeking who may take his place upon the throne, to the end that the
common weal remain not in peril, neglected and without a head. That is
why on the last occasion we deemed it useful to put off this matter, in
order that each of ye might come hither and submit to the assembly the
opinion with which God should have inspired him, and that from all those
sentiments might be drawn what is the general will. Here be we
assembled: let us, then, be guided by our wisdom and our good faith to
act in such sort that hatred stifle not reason, and affection distort not
truth. We be not ignorant that Charles hath his partisans, who maintain
that he ought to come to the throne transmitted to him by his relatives.
But if we examine this question, the throne is not acquired by hereditary
right, and we be bound to place at the head of the kingdom none but him
who not only hath the distinction of corporeal nobility, but hath also
honor to recommend him and magnanimity to rest upon. We read in the
annals that to emperors of illustrious race, whom their own laches caused
to fall from power, succeeded others, at one time similar, at another
different; but what dignity could we confer on Charles, who hath not
honor for his guide, who is enfeebled by lethargy, and who, finally, hath
lost head so far that he hath no shame in serving a foreign king, and in
misuniting himself to a woman taken from the rank of the knights his
vassals? How could the puissant duke brook that a woman issuing from a
family of his vassals should become queen, and have dominion over him?
How could he walk behind her whose equals and even superiors bend the
knee before him and place their hands beneath his feet? Examine
carefully into the matter, and consider that Charles hath been rejected
more through his own fault than that of others. Decide ye rather for the
good than the ill of the common weal. If ye wish it ill, make Charles
sovereign; if ye hold to its prosperity, crown Hugh, the illustrious
duke. Let attachment to Charles seduce nobody, and let hatred towards
the duke distract nobody, from the common interest. . . . Give us
then, for our head, the duke, who has deeds, nobility, and troops to
recommend him; the duke, in whom ye will find a defender not only of
the common weal, but also of your private interests. Thanks to his
benevolence, ye will have in him a father. Who hath had recourse to him
and hath not found protection? Who, that hath been torn from the care of
home, hath not been restored thereto by him?'
"This opinion having been proclaimed and well received, Duke Hugh was
unanimously raised to the throne, crowned on the 1st of July by the
metropolitan and the other bishops, and recognized as king by the Gauls,
the Britons, the Normans, the Aquitanians, the Goths, the Spaniards, and
the Gascons. Surrounded by the grandees of the kingdom, he passed
decrees and promulgated laws according to royal custom, regulating
successfully and disposing of all matters. That he might deserve so
much good fortune, and under the inspiration of so many prosperous
circumstances, he gave himself up to deep piety. Wishing to have a
certainty of leaving, after his death, an heir to the throne, he
conferred with his grandees, and after holding council with them he first
sent a deputation to the metropolitan of Rheims, who was then at Orleans,
and subsequently went himself to see him touching the association of his
son Robert with himself upon the throne. The archbishop having told him
that two kings could not be, regularly, created in one and the same year,
he immediately showed a letter sent by Borel, duke of inner Spain,
proving that that duke requested help against the barbarians. . . .
The metropolitan, seeing advantage was likely to result, ultimately
yielded to the king's reasons; and when the grandees were assembled, at
the festival of our Lord's nativity, to celebrate the coronation, Hugh
assumed the purple, and he crowned solemnly, in the basilica of Sainte-
Croix, his son Robert, amidst the acclamations of the French."
Thus was founded the dynasty of the Capetians, under the double influence
of German manners and feudal connections. Amongst the ancient Germans
royal heirship was generally confined to one and the same family; but
election was often joined with heirship, and had more than once thrust
the latter aside. Hugh Capet was head of the family which was the most
illustrious in his time and closest to the throne, on which the personal
merits of Counts Eudes and Robert had already twice seated it. He was
also one of the greatest chieftains of feudal society, duke of the
country which was already called France, and count of Paris—of that city
which Clovis, after his victories, had chosen as the centre of his
dominions. In view of the Roman rather than Germanic pretensions of the
Carlovingian heirs and of their admitted decay, the rise of Hugh Capet
was the natural consequence of the principal facts as well as of the
manners of the period, and the crowning manifestation of the new social
condition in France, that is, feudalism. Accordingly the event reached
completion and confirmation without any great obstacle. The
Carlovingian, Charles of Lorraine, vainly attempted to assert his rights;
but after some gleams of success, he died in 992, and his descendants
fell, if not into obscurity, at least into political insignificance. In
vain, again, did certain feudal lords, especially in Southern France,
refuse for some time their adhesion to Hugh Capet. One of them,
Adalbert, count of Perigord, has remained almost famous for having made
to Hugh Capet's question, "Who made thee count?" the proud answer, "Who
made thee king?" The pride, however, of Count Adalbert had more bark
than bite. Hugh possessed that intelligent and patient moderation,
which, when a position is once acquired, is the best pledge of
continuance. Several facts indicate that he did not underestimate the
worth and range of his title of king. At the same time that by getting
his son Robert crowned with him he secured for his line the next
succession, he also performed several acts which went beyond the limits
of his feudal domains, and proclaimed to all the kingdom the presence of
the king. But those acts were temperate and wise; and they paved the way
for the future without anticipating it. Hugh Capet confined himself
carefully to the sphere of his recognized rights as well as of his
effective strength, and his government remained faithful to the character
of the revolution which had raised him to the throne, at the same time
that it gave warning of the future progress of royalty independently of
and over the head of feudalism. When he died, on the 24th of October,
996, the crown, which he hesitated, they say, to wear on his own head,
passed without obstacle to his son Robert, and the course which was to be
followed for eight centuries, under the government of his descendants, by
civilization in France, began to develop itself.
It has already been pointed out, in the case of Adalberon, archbishop of
Rheims, what part was taken by the clergy in this second change of
dynasty; but the part played by it was so important and novel that we
must make a somewhat more detailed acquaintance with the real character
of it and the principal actor in it. When, in 751, Pepin the Short
became king in the place of the last Merovingian, it was, as we have
seen, Pope Zachary who decided that "it was better to give the title of
king to him who really exercised the sovereign power than to him who bore
only its name." Three years later, in 754, it was Pope Stephen II. who
came over to France to anoint King Pepin, and, forty-six years
afterwards, in 800, it was Pope Leo III. who proclaimed Charlemagne
emperor of the West. From the Papacy, then, on the accession of the
Carlovingians, came the principal decisions and steps. The reciprocal
services rendered one to the other by the two powers, and still more,
perhaps, the similarity of their maxims as to the unity of the empire,
established between the Papacy and the Carlovingians strong ties of
gratitude and policy; and, accordingly, when the Carlovingian dynasty was
in danger, the court of Rome was grieved and troubled; it was hard for
her to see the fall of a dynasty for which she had done so much and which
had done so much for her. Far, then, from aiding the accession of the
new dynasty, she showed herself favorable to the old, and tried to save
it without herself becoming too deeply compromised. Such was, from 985
to 996, the attitude of Pope John XVI., at the crisis which placed Hugh
Capet upon the throne. In spite of this policy on the part of the
Papacy, the French Church took the initiative in the event, and supported
the new king; the Archbishop of Rheims affirmed the right of the people
to accomplish a change of dynasty, and anointed Hugh Capet and his son
Robert. The accession of the Capetians was a work independent of all
foreign influence, and strictly national, in Church as well as in State.
The authority of Adalberon was of great weight in the matter. As
archbishop he was full of zeal, and at the same time of wisdom in
ecclesiastical administration. Engaging in politics, he showed boldness
in attempting a great change in the state, and ability in carrying it out
without precipitation as well as without hesitation. He had for his
secretary and teacher a simple priest of Auvergne, who exercised over
this enterprise an influence more continuous and still more effectual
than that of his archbishop. Gerbert, born at Aurillac, and brought up
in the monastery of St. Geraud, had, when he was summoned to the
directorate of the school of Rheims, already made a trip to Spain,
visited Rome, and won the esteem of Pope John XIII. and of the Emperor
Otho II., and had thus had a close view of the great personages and great
questions, ecclesiastical and secular, of his time. On his establishment
at Rheims, he pursued a double course with a double end: he was fond of
study, science, and the investigation of truth, but he had also a taste
for the sphere of politics and of the world; he excelled in the art of
instructing, but also in the art of pleasing; and the address of the
courtier was in him united with the learning of the doctor. His was a
mind lofty, broad, searching, prolific, open to conviction, and yet
inclined to give way, either from calculation or attraction, to contrary
ideas, but certain to recur, under favorable circumstances, to its
original purpose. There was in him almost as much changeableness as zeal
for the cause he embraced. He espoused and energetically supported the
elevation of a new dynasty and the independence of the Roman Church. He
was very active in the cause of Hugh Capet; but he was more than once on
the point of going over to King Lothaire or to the pretender Charles of
Lorraine. He was in his time, even more resolutely than Bossuet in the
seventeenth century, the defender and practiser of what have since been
called the liberties of the Gallican Church, and in 992 he became, on
this ground, Archbishop of Rheims; but, after having been interdicted, in
995, by Pope John XVI., from the exercise of his episcopal functions in
France, he obtained, in 998, from Pope Gregory V., the archbishopric of
Ravenna in Italy, and the favor of Otho III. was not unconnected, in
999, with his elevation to the Holy See, which he occupied for four
years, with the title of Sylvester II., whilst putting in practice, but
with moderation and dignity, maxims very different from those which he
had supported, fifteen years before, as a French bishop. He became, at
this later period of his life, so much the more estranged from France in
that he was embroiled with Hugh Capet's son and successor, King Robert,
whose quondam preceptor he had been and of whose marriage with Queen
Bertha, widow of Eudes, count of Blois, he had honestly disapproved.
In 995, just when he had been interdicted by Pope John X VI. from his
functions as Archbishop of Rheims, Gerbert wrote to the abbot and
brethren of the monastery of St. Geraud, where he had been brought up,
"And now farewell to your holy community; farewell to those whom I knew
in old times, or who were connected with me by blood, if there still
survive any whose names, if not their features, have remained upon my
memory. Not that I have forgotten them through pride; but I am broken
down, and—if it must be said—changed by the ferocity of barbarians;
what I learned in my boyhood I forgot in my youth; what I desired in my
youth, I despised in my old age. Such are the fruits thou hast borne for
me, O pleasure! Such are the joys afforded by the honors of the world!
Believe my experience of it: the higher the great are outwardly raised by
glory, the more cruel is their inward anguish!"
Length of life brings, in the soul of the ambitious, days of hearty
undeception; but it does not discourage them from their course of
ambition. Gerbert was, amongst the ambitious, at the same time one of
the most exalted in point of intellect and one of the most persistent as
well as restless in attachment to the affairs of the world.


text:
Cloud Immigrants, 3D Telepresence and Immersive Reality Chart New Era for Education and Health, Says Pew Report on Gigabit Apps
WASHINGTON, October 16, 2014 – Three-dimensional holograms, immersive virtual reality environments, instant face-to-face meetings that match physical meetings and inch closer to a real-life virtual hug. These are among the technologies made available by Gigabit Networks, according to "Killer Apps in the Gigabit Age," a report released last week by the Pew Research Center's Internet Project. "What is striking about the answers in the report is that technologists are way ahead of current reality," said Lee Rainie, the Director of the Internet Project, in an interview. The report surveyed more than 1,400 experts from academia, tech firms and the industry about their thoughts on the report's two titular topics: apps and connectivity in 2025. [more...] Keep Reading

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Reviewed by Timmy K. (age 7)
My favorite part was when I got to see his brain because it was gross. Sponge Bob is my favorite character because he always does funny things. I like the pictures of Sponge Bob after his costume is off.
YOu should read this book because it's really funny and it will make you laugh when Sponge Bob scares everyone.


text:
Jessica Sanchez Proves Herself With 'Fallin" + 'Try a Little Tenderness' on 'American Idol'
"Jessica doesn't deserve to be in the bottom three if she sang 'Yankee Doodle Dandee," mentor Jimmy Iovine said of Jessica Sanchez on 'American Idol' tonight. Sanchez was nearly booted from the competition last week — she got a second chance after she was saved by the judges — but she made a triumphant comeback with covers of Alicia Keys' 'Fallin" and Otis Redding's 'Try a Little Tenderness.'
We were floored when she was supposed to be sent packing, however, Sanchez proved herself more than worthy of becoming the next 'American Idol' tonight, blowing us away yet again with her performances. First up was her cover of Alicia Keys' Grammy-winning song 'Fallin',' and Sanchez delivered a confident and mind-blowing rendition of the song that would've made Keys herself proud. Randy Jackson summed it up, saying, "Your talent is so otherworldly on this show. I don't even know that you know how great you really are and how great you can be."
For her second round of solos, Sanchez took on the Otis Redding soul classic 'Try a Little Tenderness.' The 16-year-old looked and sounded well beyond her years. She absolutely nailed the raspy hook as she growled, "You've got to / Hold her / Squeeze her / Never leave her / Now get to her / Got got got to try a little tenderness," with passion, soul and a little bit of anger. Can someone remind us again why she was almost kicked off last week? This girl is unbelievable!
Steven Tyler had his jaw practically dropping over Sanchez's performance, praising her and saying, "I like that you're stepping out… It's about stepping out and winning these people's hearts." Jennifer Lopez added, "I think with this performance we got a little out of your alter ego Bebe Chez," and Randy Jackson continued, "Where you should grow now is really connecting with the emotion of the lyrics. You can sing like nobody's business, but it's about growing now with just that emotion."
Did you connect more with Jessica Sanchez this time around? Leave us a comment below and let us know what you thought of her Alicia Keys and Otis Redding covers on 'American Idol' tonight.


text:
Winter Coats & Jackets - 2019 Deals
Product Compare
Product Compare
Product Compare
Learn More About Winter Coats & Jackets - 2019 Deals
Stay Warm with Winter Coats & Vests for the Whole Family
Bundle up in style with winter coats, jackets and vests from DICK'S Sporting Goods. Shop the latest trends from top brands, including The North Face®, Columbia®, Carhartt® and Burton®.
Prepare for whatever Mother Nature has in store with the latest cold-weather technologies and technical fabrics. You'll be ready for what lies ahead with a full collection of burly down coats, innovative three-in-one system jackets, lightweight fleece vests—and just about everything in between.
From zippered cargo pockets and cozy fleece liners to thermo-reflective fabrics and waterproof materials, you're sure to find the jacket or vest that matches your journey. Choose from a variety of colors, styles and silhouettes for men and women.
Shopping for the kids? Check out boys' winter jackets and girls' jackets from DICK'S Sporting Goods.
Expert Advice
How to Find the Right Winter Jacket or Vest
Looking for the right jacket this winter? Use these guidelines to find the outerwear that's right for you:
- Layers: If you need a little extra versatility, try a three-in-one system jacket. This style can be customized based on the varying weather of the day. Or try layering a lightweight fleece jacket beneath a soft shell jacket.
- Water Resistant vs. Waterproof: Water-resistant styles have some permeability. This outerwear is breathable and comfortable for a variety of activities. Waterproof styles, however, completely block water penetration for superior protection, though they often limit breathability. Some materials are actually designed to repel moisture on contact.
- Lining: Inner liners promote comfort and warmth when you need it most. Look for fleece, microfleece or soft brushed fabric—particularly if you'll be spending long hours outdoors.
- Cold-Weather Training: Working out in the cold? Try a vest or running jacket. These options allow for increased mobility.
- Temperature: For extreme conditions, choose an insulated jacket. Jackets typically come with temperature designations or guidelines. The level of warmth provided is designated by the jacket's "fill rating." The higher the fill rating, the more warmth the jacket will provide.
- Natural vs. Synthetic Insulation: Though natural down insulation has a superior warmth-to-weight ratio, synthetic insulation is much more water resistant.
Make sure you're covered from head to toe all season long with the complete collection of winter hats and winter boots from DICK'S Sporting Goods.


text:
Sale Date Ended
Sale Date Ended
Page Views : 321
Exclusive Advanced Excel Workshop in Chennai
Be an Microsoft® Excel® Pro in Just 2 days
Our Advanced Excel courses will arm you with the knowledge of how to use Excel more effectively and efficiently and ultimately help you make smarter decisions. Boosts your productivity, simplify data management and streamline everyday tasks using the latest version of this powerful software.
Spend Two days with top-notch Microsoft Certified Trainer in sharpening your Excel skills at an upcoming workshop in your area!!!
Who should Attend??
People working in following Areas can be beneficial through our training program Managers, MIS , Finance, HR, Sales, Admin, IT Employees, & Management Graduates. And also Aspirants who want Training to earn MOS Certification examination
|December Batch
|Training Dates
|13th & 14th December 2014
|Hotel Quality INN Sabari T.Nagar
Training Fees: Rs.5000/Head [Inclusive Lunch & Refreshment for Both days
Methodology: Complete Practice based training with 30+ Practice Files
Take Away's:
Excel eManual, ExcelProdigy's Practice Kit, Certificate, & Extensive Knowledge @ Excel
Trainer Profile:
Mr. Mohamed Yousuf, 10+ Years of Experience in MS Excel Corporate Training. Realtime Experience in creating Excel Based Templates for various IT Companies. He is a well known Microsoft Certified Trainer and preferred by various corporate companies for his extensive knowledge in MS Excel & MS Office Training Programs.


text:
Cotton Scores 15 Points To Lead Balanced Attack
PHILADELPHIA – Yale went to what it does best to earn an important Ivy League victory at Penn on Friday. The Bulldogs grabbed 21 offensive rebounds, turned them into 19 second-chance points and earned a hard-fought 68-59 win over the Quakers before 2,810 at the Palestra.
Yale leads the Ivy League in offensive rebounds, averaging 13.0 per game.
"That's who we are," said James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's Basketball. "We were tenacious and that made all the difference."
One sequence in particular in the second half demonstrated that determination. The Bulldogs missed three short shots in traffic in the lane but got the ball back each time. Justin Sears corralled the last one and was fouled, which drew a big reaction from an excited Yale bench.
Yale (8-14, 2-3 Ivy) shot just 33.9 percent from the field in the game, so the performance on the offensive glass was much-needed.
"We aren't a great perimeter shooting team, so if you can't make a shot, you better be able to get offensive rebounds," Jones said. "We have to battle on the glass to be successful."
Armani Cotton scored 15 points to lead four players in double figures. Matt Townsend added 12 points and Javier Duren and Sears scored 11 each.
Five of Sears' seven rebounds came on the offensive end. Duren added eight rebounds and Cotton had six.
The score was tied at 44 midway through the second half, but Yale scored the next 10 points.
Penn, though, immediately answered with a 9-0 run, capped by Tony Hicks three-pointer that made it 54-53 with 3:58 left.
Townsend scored the Bulldogs' next four points, but Penn was still within two when Austin Morgan hit the biggest shot of the game, a three-pointer from the wing that made it 62-57 with 1:09 left. He had missed his first nine shots of the game.
Morgan, who entered the night eighth in the nation in foul shooting, was 4-of-4 in the final 38 seconds to seal the victory. He made all six of his attempts in the game and now has made 24 straight dating back to the Florida game on Jan. 6.
"Austin is one of the best foul shooters in the country," Jones said. "I expect him to make every one."
Although Morgan finished with just nine points, his presence was still a big factor.
"Teams focus a lot on Austin, so that makes it easier for the rest of us," said Sears, who is second in the Ivy League with 67 offensive rebounds. "Tonight Matt Townsend really stepped up. Armani stepped up. We have a deep bench. This was a big win for us."
Henry Brooks led Penn with 12 points. Miles Cartwright was held to six points, nearly eight below his average.
"We tried to get a hand in his face and make sure all his shots were tough," Jones said. "He is a very good player."
Yale's largest lead of the first half was five, while Penn had a six-point advantage with a little over a minute to play and led 32-29 at the intermission.
It was the Bulldogs' first victory in the historic Palestra since 2009.
NOTES: The Bulldogs finished with a 45-34 overall rebounding edge in the game… Yale was 24-of-31 from the free throw line … The Quakers were just 5-of-17 from three-point range. Sears was back in the lineup after missing both games last weekend with an ankle injury... Yale is back in action at Princeton on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Bulldogs will be looking to sweep the Penn-Princeton road trip for the first time since the1986-87 season.
Report filed by Tim Bennett, Yale Sports Publicity


text:
Skype is the most famous and most used VOIP product on the earth you can use this application for free some of the services are paid but are very executive class and deserve to pay money before using them. The term VOIP refers to 'Voice Over IP' Skype is a VOIP which allows its users to Send & Receive Text Messages without any charges, you can make video calls from your device to your relatives living in United Kingdom from United States for free.
You can share your screens by using Skype and can share files by the unique technology used in Skype which is known as 'Peer2Peer' this is popular because of its working the quality of your call depends on the bandwidth of your internet & processing capacity of your Device. Download Skype for LG GX F310L from this page, the process of installing Skype on your device ''LG GX F310L" is quite easy you can use simple steps written below to download and install Skype on your device. You will discover complete details about using the Skype application on your LG GX F310L with tricks that will get to the heights of sky to feel the expertise with which you will operate Skype on LG GX F310L.
Introducing Skype for Android for mobile platforms to make cheap calls to all networks, now add some uniqueness to your lifestyle with Skype for LG GX F310L and enjoy making connections with your friends via Skype for free Skype to Skype communication.
Skype is available of all of the devices in the world which includes TVs, Mobile, Laptops, PCs in addition to this Skype also offers cheap international calls that's why Skype holds the 1/3rd share of the international calls. The paid services includes the conference calls with huge number of persons and video conference calls beside this calls to mobiles and landlines numbers is also a feature which is offered in Skype and this is the quite cheap source for international calling via Skype to landline or Skype to mobile number. Below is the guide which will educate you regarding LG GX F310L and after that you can easily install Skype application on your device.
|For 12+
|Supporting O/S
|Android 2.2 or Up
|File Size
|Depends on Device
|Multiple Laungage
Link your device with internet and open the website given here to download Skype application on your console, make sure that you are on the right page for downloading the application as Skype offers different versions for different types of devices after that click on downloading the software. Then install this VOIP Application on your device after this you will need to register yourself with Skype this will be done in one Min process which requires your Email ID and a 'Skype User Name' then add any Profile Picture to your account and update your status now all is done.
Helps you to share location, photos, messages on your Mobile.
Send Video Messages to your friends by your mobile with Skype Qik.
Makes you to connect with over two Million WiFi hotspots worldwide.
Before making a call you need to add some contacts to make a call so the second step includes the importing of your contacts to Skype from other platforms which may include Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo or any other services, if you don't want to use this option you can use Skype's own service of finding people on the platform of Skype. The search bar for finding contacts can be found on the application, you will have to use this the contact name should be exact, if you find any contact that you want to add in your contacts press the option for adding, Skype will send a request to the next person if he accepts your request then it will be added in to your contacts. Now you can make calls and send IMs (Internet Messages) to these contacts which are added in your contact list.
Skype comes with quite simple & easy to use interface that's why it is the most used product in VOIP applications one more reasons for this is the features which are offered in Skype and are not available in any other software. Simple interface of Skype includes some classic designs and more Intuitive operational buttons for calling and sending messages. Easy to navigate and easy to find contact list for sending IMs and video calls to your friends, in short completely intuitive design is very helpful in making Skype an easy to use tool for making calls and messages Over IP.
The performance and working quality of Skype is very best due to the peer to peer technology. If you have a good internet connection and a better PC then the video/voice calls can be easily conducted with. The quality of call to a specific contact can be seen through the call quality button, text chat will be affected when your internet connection is very very slow, while voice and video calls will be interpreted with small up/down in internet speed. However the quality of call also depends on the other side internet connection, if that internet is slow call quality will get low


text:
State investigates four area O'Reilly Auto Parts stores for discrimination
by Jack Mayne
O'Reilly Auto Parts – which runs four auto parts stores in South King County – is being investigated by the Washington State Attorney General's Office to determine if the company is refusing to provide healthcare benefits to same-sex spouses of Washington state employees that it provides for opposite-sex spouses.
The attorney general on Monday (March 17) filed a petition in King County Superior Court to enforce an investigative demand.
After receiving a consumer complaint, the Attorney General's Office is investigating O'Reilly, which it says refuses to produce any documents related to its alleged decision not to provide these benefits.
The South King County stores are at:
- 21105 International Blvd., SeaTac
- 15500 First Ave. South, Burien
- 9627 17th Ave. South, White Center
- 11610 Des Moines Memorial Drive in Boulevard Park
O'Reilly, based in Springfield, Mo., operates a chain of retail auto parts stores across the country with approximately 147 stores and 2,194 employees in Washington state.
"In Washington, you cannot deny healthcare benefits based on sexual orientation. Under Washington law, if a business provides benefits to opposite-sex spouses, it must provide them to same-sex spouses," said Atty. Gen. Bob Ferguson.
He said the Consumer Protection Division initiated an investigation after an O'Reilly's employee in the state complained that the company told her it would not provide healthcare benefits to the employee's same-sex spouse.
The investigation seeks to determine whether O'Reilly violated the Washington State Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive business practices.
O'Reilly was given ample time to respond to a request for information, "but the company has made it clear it has no intention of fully complying with this request," Ferguson said.
After all requested information is received, the Attorney General will review the material and consider next steps, including the possibility of filing a lawsuit.
Sexual orientation discrimination is unlawful in Washington. In addition to other protections, the Consumer Protection Act broadly prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in trade or commerce, including acts that would discriminate against consumers in a commercial setting.
In 2012, the Legislature approved Senate Bill 6239, legalizing same-sex marriage. Opponents garnered enough signatures to refer the measure to voters. Voters approved Referendum 74 by nearly 54 percent at the November election — making Washington one of the first three states to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have legalized same-sex marriage.


text:
Military, Products, Training
By By Andrew Drwiega | December 5, 2013
Send Feedback
Rockwell Collins will continue to supply its image generators for Boeing's Apache Longbow Crew Trainers (LCT) through the provision of its EP-8000.
LeAnn Ridgeway, vice president and general manager of Simulation & Training Solutions for Rockwell Collins, said: "We're now into the fourth generation of image generator upgrades in our Boeing Apache relationship dating back to 1997."
According to Ridgeway, the attack helicopter synthetic environment is one of the hardest to address in flight simulation due to the need to correlate the sensor and weapons systems into the high-fidelity LCT.
Key features of the EP-8000 include: the claimed largest texture memory for 'sub-meter, out of the window and sensor imagery over large areas; high fidelity sensor simulation addressing infrared (IR), night vision goggle (NVG), EO and LLTV requirements; attention to long-range, narrow-field-of-view sensor viewports with variable range focus; and pixel fill rates which support high-res projectors with greater than 10 million pixels.
Related: Avionics News


text:
Skip to main content
Hull New Theatre
Hull City Hall
Toggle navigation
Show promoters
What's on
Venue hire
Your visit
Get involved
Book Tickets
What's on
Error message
An illegal choice has been detected. Please contact the site administrator.
Oops, Sorry.
We do not have any events to show you from the options you have chosen. Try selecting a different month or be more general in your filtering. You can navigate through months or days with the left and right arrows above. You can reset to the current month
by selecting here.
You can see all the results for the year
by selecting here.


text:
Flickr Faves on Fridays: Artful Arrangement
Posted by
Becky |
View all posts by Becky
2 Comments »
Ah, arranging artwork. It can be so confounding. It certainly helps to look at inspirational images like this one from Flickr member Plastolux. Love the black wall, love that blonde bureau on a stand, love the images, love the way they are arranged. This is from Plastolux's former house – be sure to follow the new house adventure on the Plastolux blog!


text:
The first of a pair of legal challenges to the state of Florida's legislature "modernized" unemployment compensation process has been deemed a violation of federal civil rights and anti-discrimination laws.
An investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor's Civil Rights Center after the Miami Workers Center filed a complaint found that a requirement implemented in 2011 that unemployed workers file online only did not provide adequate access to the benefits to which those workers were entitled.
We are not surprised.
- The process pushed by Gov. Rick Scott eliminated filings by phone - the method previously used by 40 percent of all filers - as well as filing by mail.
- It implemented a 45-question on-line "skills assessment" requirement, although the state had been advised against its implementation.
- On-line access for both filing and the "skills assessment" was limited, creating "severe obstacles for thousands of Florida job seekers," with those without computer access, limited English language abilities or disabilities most affected.
- The state's telephone assistance system was found to be "ineffective and deficient," according to a release from the National Employment Law Project and Florida Legal Services, the agencies that filed the still-pending second complaint.
"Hours of operation were too limited; calls were dropped; outgoing messages were recorded in English only; inaccurate information was provided about accommodations and exemptions; and there were undue delays if callers needed an interpreter. The findings also noted an overall inability to reach a live attendant. Thus, a 'broken' phone system coupled with no meaningful alternative to the online processes left many unemployed Floridians effectively shut out from much-needed unemployment insurance," the release states.
The number of unemployed workers collecting under the new system fell to an estimated 15 percent - the lowest in the nation - with rejected claims topping 70 percent as the new process got under way.
It's a shameful litany of findings.
What is all the more troublesome is that these obstacles were put in place while state employment was at record highs. Simply stated, the state found fit to continue to extract high rates from employers (they went up again in 2012 despite the state-intended "efficiencies") even as it made it darn near impossible for many who had earned unemployment benefits to navigate the system and so collect.
Now Florida faces the possibility of losing federal funding if efforts to reach "voluntary compliance" with federal mandates did not happen by June 4, 60 days from the U.S. Dept. of Labor's Civil Right Center's Initial Determination.
Let us be clear here.
As we stated last May when the second complaint was filed, count us among the businesses that believe reform was needed. Count us among the businesses that believe former standards sometimes rewarded terminated workers who committed serious violations of reasonable company policies.
But count us out when the pendulum swings so far as to block qualified workers from collecting benefits funded by the taxes that we, as a business, are required to pay.
Compliance should not be an issue here. We urge our local delegation to make sure this happens if the 60-day deadline for the written, voluntary "conciliatory agreement" was missed.
- Eagle editorial


text:
Celebrity Baby Updates
Celebrities Due in September 2017
With cooler temps just around the corner, it's time for leaves changing colors, pumpkin spice, and the arrival of the fall celebrity babies. See who is due in September.» Read more
Celebrities Due in August 2017
It's a quiet little summer for celebrity babies, but not for one celebrity couple. Summer is the perfect time to introduce a new baby to the world. See which celebrity family is due in August» Read more
Celebrities Due in July 2017
Summer is heating up. It's time for the next batch of celebrity babies. See which celebs are due this month.» Read more
Celebrities Due in April 2017
By JustMommies staff
Spring is finally here. It's time for warm weather and some new celebrity baby arrivals. See if your favorite celebrity is on the list. Ciara and Russell Wilson Ciara and Seattle Seahawk Russell Wilson are expecting their first child together. The singer announced her pregnancy in October on Instagram,» Read more
Celebrities Due in March 2017
By JustMommies staff
Spring will arrive this month, as will the newest celebrity arrivals. See which of your favorite celebs are due in March. Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater American Horror Story star Lily Rabe and her boyfriend Hamish Linklater are expecting their first baby, according to People. The couple announced the» Read more
Celebrities Due in January 2017
By JustMommies staff
New year, new resolutions, and new celebrity babies. See which celebrities are due in January. Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley Former Grey's Anatomy actress Katherine Heigl is expecting her third child, a boy, with husband Josh Kelley, according to People. While the couple has two children already,» Read more
Celebrities Due in December 2016
By JustMommies staff
The snow is finally falling just in time for the December celebrity babies to arrive. See which celebs are on the list this month. Dylan Dreyer and Brian Fichera Today Show meteorologist Dylan Dreyer and her husband Brian Fichera are expecting their first baby this month. Dreyer announced the news in» Read more
Celebrities Due in November 2016
By JustMommies staff
November is a big month – elections, Thanksgiving day feasts, fall leaves – and celebrity babies. See which celebrities are due this month. Kevin and Danielle Jonas The oldest Jonas Brother, Kevin Jonas, and his wife Danielle are expecting their second child this month, a girl. The couple announced» Read more
Celebrities Due in September 2016
By JustMommies staff
September, the start of the school year, and new beginnings for celebrity moms and dads. A couple of popular celebs are having babies this month. See who's on the list. Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine and his wife Victoria Secret model Behati Prinsloo are expecting their» Read more
Celebrities Due in August 2016
By JustMommies staff
There's a little extra sunshine this time of year. These celebrities are expecting some extra sunshine to arrive in their lives this month as well. Check out the list of celebrities due in August 2016. Eric Christian & Sarah Wright Olsen NCIS: Los Angeles star Eric Christian Olsen and his wife actress» Read more


text:
The best part about searching online for anything is that you often end up with many options to choose from. The same goes for car insurance as well. Of course this gives rise to the problem of choosing what is best for you and finding out how you can maximize value. You should keep yourself informed and scrutinize interesting offers carefully. Remember that while an insurance rate may be low it may not necessarily be the best deal available. There are such things as hidden costs – extra costs hidden in the fine print. You can only find the best deal for yourself by completely understanding the terms and conditions of the policy you are taking. For example you should check out how much it will cost you if you do have an accident. If you have a car that will cost a lot to repair then you might not want to go in for a policy that has a collision damage waiver.
The internet gives you the ability to compare different products and services. Compare the different rates being offered to you. Find out what the highest deductibles you can afford are. See which of the lower rates means lower costs for you in real terms. Check out the companies that offer you more discounts. Also find out what discounts you are qualified to receive. You will have to provide the same details everywhere in able to do this. All quotes are given to you on the basis of an online form that you need to fill out. Fill in the form with the same details for all the different companies you take quotes from. Make sure that all the details are correct. The rates that will be quoted will depend on this data that you give the companies.
Getting cheap car insurance involves looking at deductibles. Take a good look at your finances and your record as a driver. How likely are you to get into an accident? How much of the burden can you bear yourself? These are the two most important questions you must ask yourself when it comes to deciding how much you can afford when it comes to deductibles. You could just save between 30 and 50% of the insurance premium by increasing it from $250 to $1000. Basically it means you will have to pay more when an accident happens, if it does. So make sure you can handle it.
Don't forget discounts. You may be eligible for a variety of discounts. Some of the more common car insurance discounts are:
o A discount for having a blemish-free driving record.
o One for driving fewer miles than the average number.
o Fitting an anti-theft device as well as safety features like airbags and anti-lock brakes entitles you to lower rates.
o Discounts for having been in driver education programs.
Find out how you can maximize the amount of discount you can get by contacting the insurance companies. Make sure you do all that is necessary. Take advice on cheap car insurance from professional agents, if you need to.


text:
Listen to Andy talk about collecting fossils in his back garden.More about Andy Currant
A school-trip to the Museum, a family holiday camping in the countryside or a desire to draw and observe animals. For many of our scientists, their interest in natural history was first ignited at an early age. From digging for fossils in gardens to collecting butterflies on the way to Sunday school, each have their own personal memories of what first engaged them in scientific study.
None could have imagined that these were simply the first steps to a future career at the Natural History Museum. Listen to them recall their fascination with the natural world and how it came to shape their education and careers.
Listen to Andy talk about collecting fossils in his back garden.
Hear how Angela's passion for nature occupied her childhood.
Hear how Brian and his brother used to collect rocks on camping holidays in Pembrokeshire.
Listen to Chris talk about his childhood interest in natural and ancient history.
Listen to Clare describe the exotic animals she saw during her childhood in Burma.
Hear how Dick became interested in natural history.
Listen to Dick share his childhood experiences of the Museum.
Hear how John used to collect butterflies after Sunday school.
Hear Judith explain why she wanted to be a life scientist.
Hear Miranda's memories of the awe-inspiring Waterhouse building.
Listen to Neil remember his visits to the Museum.
Listen to Ollie recall the sights and smells of a childhood visit to the Museum.
Discover the gruesome reason why Patrick decided against studying medicine.
Hear Patrick's memories of visiting the Museum.
Listen as Richard explains his interest in collecting specimens.
Hear how fishing trips sparked Richard's interest in natual history.
Hear about Richard's childhood collections of insects and reptiles.
Listen to Richard describe his first school trip to the Museum.
Hear how Richard learnt about animal anatomy.
Hear how Robert fostered his early interest in ornithology.
Find out about the event that inspired Sara to become a scientist.


text:
The Reims oak 4 ft 6" double slat headboard is an ideal match to the wide variety of pieces available from this range, it is manufactured by TCH furniture and made from solid oak.
Lacquer - Clear varnish that seals the colour, has a grainy appearance and feel.
Oiled - Plain wood that needs to be re-oiled to protect the wood, smooth finish.
Available in a choice of colours.
We offer free UK delivery on all products costing £500 or more. On products costing less than £500 a small delivery charge applies which will be shown in the checkout. For full details on our delivery policies click here
Payment Options
Here at The Place for Homes we offer several finance options in order to spread the cost, simply select the Close Brothers Retail Finance option at checkout and you can apply on line. For more information click here
Returns Policy
If you're not totally satisfied with your purchase from The Place for Homes we do offer a returns policy, for full details on this please click here
Staingard Protection
We are able to offer Staingard Protection on all of our sofas and armchairs that we sell at The Place for Homes, for further details please click here


text:
Alers Named to First Team
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Five Yale men's soccer players earned All-Ivy honors, including sophomore defender Nick Alers, who was named to the first team. Forward Charlie Paris and goalkeeper Bobby Thalman were second team selections, while midfielder Max McKiernan and forward Peter Jacobson earned honorable mention recognition.
Alers started 16 games and was the anchor of a Yale defense that yielded only 16 goals and posted four shutouts. His top performance may have come against Dartmouth when he held Ivy League Player of the Year Lucky Mkosana scoreless, limiting him to only two shots, in the Bulldogs' 2-0 victory. Alers is the first Yale player to earn first team recognition since Alex Munns and James Stewart in 2006.
Paris, a senior, enjoyed a breakout season for the Bulldogs. After appearing in only six games in his first three years, he played in all 17 this fall, including making 12 starts, and tied for second on the team with three goals. Two of his tallies were game-winners, including in overtime at Penn.
Thalman, a junior, led the Ivy League with 92 saves and an .852 save percentage and was third with a 0.92 goals against average. His top performance came against Harvard when he made eight saves in a 1-0 victory, which earned him Ivy League Player of the Week recognition.
McKiernan, a sophomore, was one of only four players to start all 17 games. His one goal was the game-winner against Central Connecticut.
Jacobson led the Bulldogs with seven goals and 15 points. He had a pair of two-goal games – against Rhode Island and Princeton in the season finale.
Yale finished the season with an 8-7-2 overall record and a 4-3 Ivy mark. The Bulldogs won five more games overall than a year ago and three more Ivy games.
Report filed by Tim Bennett, Yale Sports Publicity


text:
Sunday sees the season finale of True Blood and the return of the Venture Bros. There's a new Mad Magazine cartoon show. Sexy spy show Nikita launches, and Cloverfield and Jumper have their network TV premieres. Your televisual future awaits!
Today sees the series premiere of a new show, Mad, which is based on the magazine of the same name. That's on Cartoon Network at 8:30 PM. According to the press release:
Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and using the iconic MAD magazine, published by DC Comics, as inspiration, MAD is an animated sketch-comedy series utilizing a chaotic mix of animation styles and twisted humor to pull back the curtain and expose the truth behind movies, TV shows, games, pop culture and, of course, curtains! Classic MAD magazine characters and features such as Alfred E. Neuman and Spy vs. Spy pop up, and no subject matter or individual will be safe from MAD's barrage of parodies and sketches. In the end, viewers won't get even, they'll just get MAD! Sam Register (Teen Titans, Ben 10, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) is the executive producer. Kevin Shinick (Robot Chicken) and Mark Marek (KaBlam! The Andy Milonakis Show) are the producers.
Also on Cartoon Network, at 8:15 PM, another new show called Regular Show, about a giant bluejay and a hyperactive racoon hanging out together.
Cartoon Network also has a new Scooby Doo: Mystery Inc. at 7 PM, Johnny Test at 7:30, Adventure Time at 8 PM, and Total Drama World Tour at 9 PM.
Also, NickToons has a new episode of Dragon Ball Z Kai, the show which features revised versions of classic Dragon Ball episodes, at 5 PM, and this is the first new episode after a month or so off. Here's the synopsis, according to Wikipedia:
Krillin and Gohan discover that although the Namekian Dragon Balls can grant three wishes, they can resurrect only one person per wish, unlike the Earth's Dragon Balls. After consulting with their dead friends via King Kai's telepathic abilities, they use the first wish to revive Piccolo, which also brings Kami and the Earth's Dragon Balls back. They then use the second wish to teleport Piccolo to Namek so he can assist them. Vegeta eventually awakens and learns he's been duped, but before he can use the final wish to become immortal, the Grand Elder passes away and the Namekian Dragon Balls become useless. Just as Vegeta thinks his luck couldn't get any worse, Frieza finally arrives, and is not happy at all that his own plans for immortality have been thwarted.
Health has Mystery Diagnosis at 10 PM, about "The Toddler Who Stopped Walking."
Spike is showing the original Star Wars trilogy (well, the revamped versions) all day during the day. And Comedy Central is showing body-switching "comedy" The Hot Chick at 1 PM. Syfy has the original Predator at 3:30 PM, and the Cartoon Network is showing Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed at 5 PM. And then The Craft is on Oxygen at midnight.
There's a new Warehouse 13 on Syfy at 9 PM, called "Where And When." And it looks like our heroes are getting zapped back to 1961!
It's also the season finale of ABC's Nightline Prime Special: Secrets Of Your Mind — Why We Do What We Do, at 10 PM.
Also, there's a new Unnatural History on the Cartoon Network at 8 PM.
There's also a new It's Effin Science on G4 at 9 PM, in which the team launches a refrigerator and builds the world's fastest shopping cart.
Then at 10 PM, there's a new post-apocalyptic reality-show outing, with The Colony on Discovery. It's called "The Tick," which I'm guessing isn't a tribute to Ben Edlund's amazing superhero comic and cartoon.
And at 10:30 PM, IFC has yet another outing of The IT Crowd!
The all-time cheeseball classic Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is on FX at noon, and Stargate is on G4 at the same time.
Then at 8 PM, Cloverfield is having its network TV premiere on FX. Relive the excitement and suspense of Rob's going-away party, but make sure you pack some Dramamine this time.
And Jaws: The Revenge is on PLEX at 10:20 PM. And then Final Destionation 2 is on USA at 2 AM.
Science has a new episodes of Sci-Fi Science: Physics Of The Impossible at 10:00 PM once again, called "Deep Impact."
That's followed at 10 by Chasing Mummies on History, called "Cursed."
There's also the summer season finale of Psych on USA at 10 PM. "Shawn and Gus find themselves in the midst of a Bourne Identity-like hunt and chase after a U.S Government Spy seeks their help in clearing her name for a crime she supposedly didn't commit."
Curse Of The Fly is on FMC at 9:30 AM. And then Sky High is on Disney at 2 PM. Cloverfield is on FX again at 5 PM.
And then FX has the network television premiere of Jumper at 8 PM. Relive all of the awesome space-warping effects — and more importantly, Samuel L. Jackson's bleach-blond hair!
Jeepers Creepers is on MTV at 1 AM. And the animated movie Hellboy: Blood And Iron is on PLEX at 4 AM.
It's the second season premiere of The Vampire Diaries on The CW. We took advantage of the first season coming out on DVD to watch a whole bunch of episodes lately, and we'll probably do a review of the DVDs in a few days... but suffice to say that this show is very much a silly, guilty pleasure, oozing with ridiculous melodrama and vampiric goofiness. And now that it's one of the CW's biggest hits, expect it to crank up the ridiculousness to 11 for its second year out. This is the official synopsis:
Returning for its second season, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES is the story of two vampire brothers obsessed with the same beautiful girl, and battling to control the fate of an entire town. During season one, Stefan and Damon Salvatore returned to their hometown of Mystic Falls, Virginia, for very different reasons - Stefan was determined to get to know Elena Gilbert, who bears a striking resemblance to Katherine Pierce, the beautiful but ruthless vampire the brothers knew and loved in 1864, while Damon was intent on releasing Katherine from the tomb where he believed she was trapped by a witch's spell all those years ago. At the end of season one, Elena's uncle set a plan in motion that brought the Founder's Day celebration to an end amid chaos, destruction and death, and saw the return of the vengeful Katherine Pierce. Next season, the appearance of the villainous Katherine in Mystic Falls throws a wrench into the love triangle between Stefan, Elena and Damon, and the other residents of Mystic Falls must choose sides as they fall victim to a new breed of danger. New and unexpected friendships will be forged, allies will become enemies, and hearts will be broken. Stefan and Damon will be forced to face a villain more evil and diabolical than they ever believed possible. And they'll take their shirts off. Frequently.
Then at 9 PM, the CW has the series premiere of Nikita, a new spy show loosely based on the Luc Besson movie. Basically, Maggie Q goes around killing people in a bikini. We saw the pilot at San Diego Comic Con, and were a little disappointed that there weren't more far-out gadgets or weird science ideas in this show, but it is splashy and stylish fun, so we're hoping it eventually gets more "spy-fi"-ish.
Then at 10 PM, Syfy has the first episode of a new series called Beast Legends. And the episode title is "Kraken."
The six-part series journeys around the world using scientific data to reconstruct what mythological monsters, from Krakens and Griffins to Fire Dragons, would have been like - if they had ever existed. In each of the hour-long episodes, Beast Legends uncovers historical and eyewitness accounts by zeroing in on archaeological and other physical evidence to assemble the most accurate picture possible of these monsters, from where they might have lived to how they would have behaved. The show then uses the information to create incredibly realistic CG animations of the creatures.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever is on Nicktoons at 1 PM. And Jumper is once again on FX at 6 PM. And then (sigh) Evan Almighty is on E! at 9 PM and 12:30 AM, and Men In Black is on TNT at 10 PM. And Eight-Legged Freaks is on TBS at 3 AM, and so is Android Apocalypse on Syfy. TCM is showing Curse Of The Cat People at 3 AM, followed by The Body Snatcher.
It's the summer season finale of Eureka, on Syfy at 9 PM. In "I'll Be Seeing You":
After the bridge device disappears, Carter, Jo, Fargo and Allison find themselves in a déjà vu situation as their investigation puts Trevor Grant right at the top of the suspect list. The proverbial noose around his neck only tightens when they discover evidence that connects him to Beverly Barlowe, and her motive will put at risk everything they have struggled to achieve.
Here's a sneak peek:
And to get ready for this event, Syfy is showing a Eureka marathon all day.
And then there's a new Haven on Syfy at 10 PM.
Also, at 7 PM, National Geographic has the season finale of National Geographic Amazing!, including a segment on flesh-eating beetles.
The original Planet Of The Apes is on AMC at 9:30 AM. The Absent-Minded Professor is on Hallmark at 3 PM. And PLEX has Forever Young with Mel Gibson at 5:15 PM. Spider-Man 3 is on FX at 8 PM. Also at 8 PM: Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, on TNT. The Terminator is on AMC at midnight.
Being Human is back on BBC America at 9 PM! It's episode seven of the second season, in which Mitchell and Daisy try to get to the bottom of the explosion.
Syfy is showing an assortment of monster and adventure films all day long. Back To The Future Part II is on A&E at 2:30 PM. Spider-Man 3 is on FX again at 3 PM. Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers is on TNT at 8 PM, and at the same time AMC is showing Wild Wild West and Cartoon Network is showing Shark Tale. And at 9 PM, Syfy has a first-run movie called Mandrake. Aeon Flux is on TNT at 3:30 AM.
It's the season finale of True Blood, and with uncharacteristic understatement, it's called "Evil Is Going On." Here's what it's about:
Sookie gives careful consideration to a life without vampires of any kind. While secretly planning a perfect payback for Russell, Eric deals with his feelings of right and wrong. Tommy's latest overstepping boundaries leaves Sam in a rage. A new vocation is in store for Jason after he warns Crystal's family about a potential drug raid. Jesus has something more to offer than just an interpersonal relationship when Lafayette comes to him for help. Hoyt ignores his mother and entertains plans for a future with Jessica.
With True Blood going away, how are you ever going to survive? Does it help that the Venture Bros. are coming back? Tonight's episode is called "The Diving Bell Vs. The Butter-glider," and Jackson Publick says the second half of the season is even better than the first half was.
There's also a new episode of The Gates on ABC at 10 PM, called "Surfacing":
A grim secret has been buried and forgotten in the sodden banks of the river . . . or has she? Nick's past once again comes back to haunt him, and this time the demons are more real than he could fathom. Claire fears her own family is in jeopardy when Emily's Aunt Nancy shows up with a social worker in tow, asking pointed questions about life in the Radcliffe home. Dana realizes that a lovesick brother is a miserable person to live with, and endeavors to reunite Charlie and Andie. But the teen romance is put on hold when someone — or something — plots to torment the Monohan family.
There's also a special on BBC America at 6 PM, called Britain's Biggest Beasts:
Big mammals like moose, wolves and bears once roamed and hunted in the Scottish Highlands but now that deer and sheep have decimated the landscape for over the past 200 years, one man has a vision to restore the Scottish Highlands back to its natural state by building Britain's first wilderness game reserve. Paul Lister, owner the 25,000-acre Alladale estate in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, believes the introduction of these big predators is the natural way to restore the landscape and since buying the property has achieved a great deal by planting 80,000 new trees. But Paul knows the next stage is to introduce herbivores and Caledonian pine trees. Once the Highland has started to heal itself, other Scottish wildlife such as capercaillie (grouse), red squirrel, and osprey will be brought back. But the biggest challenge is getting the local farmers and other estate owners on his side. They have to be convinced that wolves and bears can once again roam the highlands without endangering their livelihoods.
Syfy is showing a slate of horror-ish movies all day long. The Avengers (the one with Uma Thurman) is on PLEX at 6:20 AM. Also on PLEX: Superhero movie Blankman, at 11:05 AM. The first two Back To The Future films are on A&E, starting at 11 AM. And the Lord Of The Rings trilogy is on TNT, starting at 12:30 PM. X-Men: The Last Stand is on FX at 4 PM, followed by Cloverfield and Jumper. Aliens is on G4 at 4 PM, followed by RoboCop. Star Trek: Generations is on BBC America at 5 PM.


text:
Almost two years ago I posted a criticism of a footnote in the NET Bible, specifically on Exod 21:6. I pointed out that the papers cited in the footnote did not at all support the conclusions that the footnote claimed they did. In fact, both papers explicitly rejected the conclusion that the footnote attributes to them. I emailed various people and commented on the NET forum, but the footnote has not been changed at all. I haven't really looked at the NET Bible since then (except to check the above footnote), but someone recently referenced a note to Prov 8:22 from the NET Bible that struck me as equally problematic. I read through the articles they cited, and I see the exact same problem here. The footnote attributes its conclusions to articles that don't even begin to support them. Additionally, those conclusions are simply false. The footnote deals with the meaning of the Hebrew word קנה, on which I presented at SBL last year. This is the entirety of the note:
There are two roots קָנָה (qanah) in Hebrew, one meaning "to possess," and the other meaning "to create." The earlier English versions did not know of the second root, but suspected in certain places that a meaning like that was necessary (e.g., Gen 4:1; 14:19; Deut 32:6). Ugaritic confirmed that it was indeed another root. The older versions have the translation "possess" because otherwise it sounds like God lacked wisdom and therefore created it at the beginning. They wanted to avoid saying that wisdom was not eternal. Arius liked the idea of Christ as the wisdom of God and so chose the translation "create." Athanasius translated it, "constituted me as the head of creation." The verb occurs twelve times in Proverbs with the meaning of "to acquire"; but the Greek and the Syriac versions have the meaning "create." Although the idea is that wisdom existed before creation, the parallel ideas in these verses ("appointed," "given birth") argue for the translation of "create" or "establish" (R. N. Whybray, "Proverbs 8:22-31 and Its Supposed Prototypes," VT 15 [1965]: 504-14; and W. A. Irwin, "Where Will Wisdom Be Found?" JBL 80 [1961]: 133-42).
First, there are not two Hebrew roots קנה meaning separately "to possess" and "to create." There is one root meaning "to possess" and in procreative contexts, "to beget." Neither article cited supports the notion of two roots, and the second actually points out that an earlier author contemplated the possibility but dismissed it because there was no evidence. I know of no lexicon that indicates two roots for this verb. HALOT doesn't do it. BDB doesn't do it. TDOT doesn't do it. I don't think Clines does it. Gesenius doesn't do it. Halayqa's Comparative Lexicon of Ugaritic and Canaanite doesn't do it. Nor does Ugaritic confirm that it is another root. Ugaritic actually confirms the opposite, that there is simply a procreative nuance to the verb. The Del Olmo Lete and Sanmartín Ugaritic dictionary lists three senses for the single root qny:
1) "to acquire"; 2) "to create, forge"; 3) "to procreate"
Some authors reject the sense of "create," including Irwin, whom the footnote cites as supporting the translation "create" or "establish." Irwin, like Bruce Vawter in later decades, appears to find the premortal Christ in Proverbs' Wisdom and so insists the being was begotten but also always existed. This goes back to a note in Gesenius' lexicon, which points to a "Sermon on the Divine Sonship of the Messiah" for an argument against the idea of "create" for the root (in reality, it goes back to the early christological debates). This is linked with the modern fundamentalist obfuscation found in the footnote above, namely that "possess" avoids the problem of insisting God did not have wisdom forever. The real concern is whether or not Christ was created, and the footnote tries to skirt the problem by insisting that "wisdom existed before creation," as if existing before the creation of the heavens and earth means "uncreated." The possibility that something was created before the creation of the heavens and the earth is tacitly rejected here. (If one asks why there are depths before the creation of the heavens and the earth, though, the answer will always be that God created it beforehand.)
Finally, Whybray's article has nothing to do with the meaning of the word קנה, and instead simply argues that other texts from the ancient Near East do not provide a source for the poetics of Proverbs 8.
Again, it appears the author of the NET's footnote did not read the articles cited and most likely derived its conclusions from very superficial research or from conventional wisdom about the meaning of the word.


text:
This is like cheesecake that has been frozen, then melted a bit. The fruity swirl adds just the perfect burst. It is made from organic fresh goat cheese, but it still has cow dairy as well.
* This flavor is made with limited availability or seasonal ingredients, please provide alternate flavors to these (and all) flavors when ordering online.


text:
Food & Drink
Airport cuisine at the touch of a screen
By Chris Welch, CNN • Updated 21st December 2012
Food delivered to your gate at the touch of a screen? It sounds too good to be true, but it's happening at a handful or airports.
About 7,000 Apple iPads are being installed at La Guardia Airport in New York, Toronto Pearson International in Ontario and Minneapolis-St. Paul International in the Twin Cities in a collaboration between airport food and beverage provider OTG Management and Delta Air Lines.
In the Delta terminal at Minneapolis-St. Paul, iPads at seats in the gate areas will give airline customers up-to-the-minute flight updates, as well as free access to the Internet. Plus, fliers waiting for their flights can order food from a selection of new restaurants in the terminal and have it delivered to the gate.
"If I'm going to spend $10 on a beer, I'd rather do it on an iPad," said Michael Card, who was traveling recently through Minneapolis-St. Paul, "because it's more fun, more exciting."
OTG Management has eliminated most of the chain restaurants and fast food options at the Minnesota airport
in favor of restaurants with menus designed by chefs from the Twin Cities area. The same local concept is being applied at LaGuardia and Pearson airports.
"The goal behind this was to make travel better for travelers," OTG spokesman Sean Aziz said. "You have to get to the airport earlier now with new (security) measures, so why not be able to get to your gate, have a fresh meal, a great glass of wine, the convenience of an iPad, charging your devices? It was really just to make the little things better."
When the project is completed late next year, Minneapolis-St. Paul airport's Terminal G will play host to 12 unique restaurants. Each will also have an iPad at every seat.
IPads in the restaurants will offer color photos of each dish and will -- at least for the ordering aspect of your meal -- replace the need for a server. Hosts still play a role, OTG says, and servers will still see that you're taken carry of after they bring out your cooked order.
OTG Chief Technology Officer Albert Lee had his own hesitations about installing the iPads.
"There was a lot of fear that this would somehow reduce the customer service experience," Lee said, "but I think people appreciated the ability to order and feel in control of their environment. And I think they enjoyed having access to the internet."
Traveler Kurtis Zameck was waiting recently for his flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul and used the iPad to place an order.
"The first time I saw it, it was a little odd," Zameck said. "But I think after you use it once or twice, it's pretty user-friendly."
And he didn't find that the service aspect of the experience suffered.
Many travelers seemed pleased with the changes. Some said they liked the ability to check stocks or to stay up to speed on their flight departure, and parents said it was nice because pre-loaded games like tic-tac-toe and checkers gave their kids something to do.
But not everyone shared those sentiments. One man who was hurrying to finish his food and catch his flight called it "impersonal."
"I prefer the personal touch. I like dealing with people, but the service was good," he added.
Another passenger said the system was a little confusing at first.
"The first time I ordered a drink, it was a gin and tonic, and I didn't see the tonic, so I (accidentally) ordered a double gin. I had to actually go back to the bartender to get them to put tonic water in it. ... But once you get used to it, I think it's fine."
While OTG's iPads replace the need for servers to take the initial order back to the kitchen, Lee insists that it isn't eliminating restaurant jobs. They say they're merely "changing how we deal with service."
"Instead of waiters coming to take your order and going back and entering things (in the computer) ... we now have servers more geared toward our concierge experience."
And what about the security of the devices? Lee says the custom Web browser has been designed so that any personal data entered -- whether it be login info for Facebook or your online bank account -- is completely wiped clean with every press of the home button.
"We've designed this to take into account that you're still inside an airport," Lee said. "We want you to feel comfortable. We want you to, in a lot of ways, forget that you're inside an airport. But you still have to board a flight, so we'll remind you about your flight."
You can check out the changes now at Minneapolis-St. Paul and LaGuardia. Pearson's iPads will debut in early 2013.
A year of the world's
Best Beaches
There's a perfect beach for every week of the year. Join us on a 12-month journey to see them all
Go to the best beaches
Food & Drink
Go to top of page
© 2019 Cable News Network.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
About us
Work for us
License Footage
CNN Newsource