text:
You're progressing through your residency/fellowship, right on track with your career path. But if you suffer an unexpected injury or sickness, the resulting financial hit could halt your trajectory and impact your progress for years to come. The period of recovery after a disabling event can take months or years, draining the income you and your family rely on to maintain your lifestyle and meet your financial obligations.
Disability Insurance is the simplest, most cost-effective way to help protect yourself with a reliable flow of income during a period of disability, so you can focus on your recovery instead of worrying about your financial resources.
OMA Disability Insurance keeps pace with your needs throughout your residency/fellowship. Should a disability occur, you can count on a plan with unique benefits and features:
Eligible applicants for OMA Disability Insurance must be under age 65, working on a full-time basis in Canada; actively practising medicine as a family medicine practitioner or a specialist; or employed in medical research, medicine and health sciences education or administration in connection with the profession of medicine, or undergoing a period of training as a resident, post-graduate student, medical fellow or medical student; or serving as a medical missionary; and be a member of the OMA or an Atlantic Medical Association/Society.
Expands the definition of Total Disability, so that you will be considered totally disabled and receive full benefits even if you return to work performing different duties and suffer no loss of income.
Once you complete residency, you can increase your coverage during the 31-day option period without medical evidence every year to age 55. Learn more
Keeps pace with inflation by allowing your monthly benefit to increase once you've been disabled for 12 consecutive months, in accordance with the Consumer Price Index, and subject to an annual maximum of 10%.
An additional monthly benefit will be paid into a locked-in, non-registered retirement fund while you're totally disabled after the 90-day Elimination Period. These retirement benefits are available when you reach age 65 or upon death.
Should you become totally disabled and remain so for 90 consecutive days, premiums may be waived for as long as you remain totally disabled.
When you complete residency, you may qualify for the Essentials offer, which allows you to increase your coverage even further – $7,000 for General Practicioners and $10,000 for Specialists or Emergency Room Physicians, with no medical evidence required.
Coverage is simple and the premiums are competitive. Rates depend on a variety of factors such as gender, age and smoking status2. To learn more including information on eligibility, renewability, limitations and exclusions, and to get a quote, simply contact OMA Insurance at firstname.lastname@example.com or 1.800.758.1641, or use the rate calculator.
If you applied for coverage as a student it will automatically grow with you into residency and practice. If applying for Disability Insurance for the first time as a resident, you must be medically underwritten.
OMA Insurance works to streamline the underwriting process as much as possible, reducing the complexity and time required to arrange coverage. Here are the steps required:
While the group plan described above has been specifically designed with physicians in mind, you may have circumstances that require an individual plan. Either way, your OMA Insurance advisor is here to help.
1 Maximum coverage combined from OMA Group DI Policy 2718, 59997 and 17849, excluding coverage provided under the PARO, PARNL and Maritime Resident Doctors plans.
2 While you are automatically enrolled into Step-Rates, you have the option to convert up to age 65 to Level Rate with no medical evidence. Step-Rates change according to your age band (under 35, 35-44, 45-54 and 55-69) at the time of your plan renewal, whereas Level premium rates have been designed to remain level over time as you age, and cannot be adjusted on an individual basis due to changes in your age or health. While we can't guarantee that rates will not be adjusted in the future, the OMA Disability Insurance Plan has a long history of stable rates. OMA Disability Insurance is renewable yearly and subject to applicable provincial taxes.
OMA Disability Insurance is underwritten by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, a member of the Sun Life group of companies.
This is intended for general guidance and is not a contract. If any discrepancies exist between this information and the issued policy or certificate, the latter shall prevail. The complete terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions governing the OMA Disability Insurance coverage can be found on your Certificate of Insurance and in the relevant group insurance policy 17849 and issued to the OMA by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada.
Monthly Disability benefit payments will begin subject to Sun Life's approval of satisfactory evidence of continuing disability.
Some conditions apply.


text:
Book Video Trailer: Fundamentally Different by David Friedman
Fundamentally Different
David Friedman
About Fundamentally Different
In Fundamentally Different, Friedman uses stories and examples from his 27 years of business leadership experience to make clear the connection between values and success in a way that's as enjoyable to read as it is insightful.
Is organizational culture just a New Age obsession that distracts us from the real work of business? What role do values play in organizational success? How can we create greater consistency between the values we say are important and the ones that actually show up in the routine behavior of our people? What's the most important common denominator found in all dysfunctional organizations, and how can we avoid it?
In his new book, Fundamentally Different, David Friedman provides the answers to these questions and more. You'll learn:
- The 8 keys steps the most successful companies use to institutionalize their values
- Why listening can actually have more impact than speaking
- What a "filter" is and how it affects everything we believe to be true
- The 5 components of good decisions
- The role of curiosity in increasing effectiveness
- Why "rebar" is the key to creating lasting change
With his compelling logic and easy-to-understand style, David shares the most important insights he learned during a 27-year business career in which he led one of the most unique and successful companies in his industry. Captured in his self-styled Fundamentals, this collection of wisdom is so simple, yet powerful, that you'll wonder why the principles he describes aren't more commonplace in every organization across America.
But David's Fundamentals aren't just about business. They're a guidebook for life. And like so many other people who've already embraced them, you'll no doubt find your life enriched by their practice.
About David Friedman
David Friedman, author of Fundamentally Different, is the former President of RSI, an award-winning employee benefits brokerage and consulting firm in the Philadelphia area. He is a frequent guest speaker and seminar leader on organizational culture, leadership and values. A graduate of the College of William & Mary with a degree in Philosophy, Friedman currently lives in Moorestown, NJ with his wife and 2 college-age children.
Website: http://fundamentally-different.com/
Blog: http://djfriedman.com/blog/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/DavidFriedman4
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FundamentallyDifferentBook

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Synagogue's views differ from its Rabbi's
The Board of Management of Southern Sydney Synagogue would like to clarify that the views allegedly expressed by Rabbi Yossi Feldman concerning the reporting of sexual offenders to the police, as reported in the Australian Jewish News (July 28 edition), do not reflect the views of the Board of the synagogue.
We note that Rabbis and Rabbinical organisations throughout Australia have made clear that sexual abuse is abhorrent. Furthermore the Board of Southern Sydney Synagogue unreservedly endorses the position recently articulated by the Organisation of Rabbis of Australia and its affiliates as to the positive obligation, according to both halachic and secular law, to report any such offences to the secular authorities.


text:
How Big Ag Taps Into Taxpayers' Pockets - Twice
Double Dippers: References
[1] U.S. Department of the Interior. 1990. Irrigation and Crop Subsidy Programs, Bureau of Reclamation. Office of Inspector General. September 1990. Report No. 90-106.
[2] Love, B. 2005. Bush says can end farm aid, EU less sure. Reuters. July 7, 2005.
[3] Environmental Working Group (EWG). 2004. California Water Subsidies. Large agribusiness operations — not small family farmers — are reaping a windfall from taxpayer-subsidized cheap water. Available at: https://www.ewg.org/research/california-water-subsidies/
[4] Environmental Working Group. 2005. Farm Subsidy Database — 2004 update. Forthcoming. Will be available at: https://www.ewg.org/farm/
[5] U.S. General Accounting Office. 1991. Reclamation Law Changes Needed Before Water Service Contracts Are Renewed. August 1991. GAO/RCED-91-175. Available at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gaoreports/index.html
[6] Democratic Staff Report — Committee on Natural Resources. 1994. Taking from the taxpayer: Public subsidies for natural resource development. August, 1994. Available at: http://www.nplnews.com/toolbox/fedreports/takingfromtaxpayer.htm
[7] Miller, G. 1987. Statement of Congressman George Miller. House Subcommittee on Water and Power Resources. Hearing on HR 1443. May 12, 1987.
[8] National Research Council (NRC). 1989. Irrigation-Induced Water Quality Problems. What can be learned from the San Joaquin Valley experience. Available at http://books.nap.edu/books/0309040361/html/index.html
[9] Myers, N. 1998. Lifting the veil on perverse subsidies. Nature 392: 327-328.
[10] Environmental Working Group (EWG). 2005. Virtual Flood. The federal government plans a big increase in taxpayer-subsidized water to California agribusinesses. WhereÕs the water coming from — and whereÕs it going? Available at: https://www.ewg.org/research/virtual-flood
[11] US Department of Agriculture (USDA). 1997. Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators, 1996-97. Agriculture Handbook No. 712 (AH712). Available at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/arei/Ah712/
[12] Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. 2002. CWA Section 303(d) List of Water Quality Limited Segment. Approved by USEPA July 2003. Available at: http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/tmdl/303d_lists.html
[13] HR 3635 (97th Congress). 1982. A bill to prohibit the use of water from certain Federal reclamation projects for the irrigation of surplus crops within ten years of the completion date of such projects.
[14] Bedell, B. 1986. Letter to House Representatives. September 15, 1986.
[15] HR 1443 (100th Congress). 1987. A bill to amend the Reclamation Projects Act of 1939 to require the Secretary of the Interior to charge full cost for water delivered from any reclamation or irrigation project for the production of any surplus crop of an agricultural commodity.
[16] HR 2386 (101st Congress) To amend the Agriculture Act of 1949 to establish eligibility requirements for agricultural commodity price support programs with respect to the delivery of irrigation water. Sponsor: Rep Gejdenson, Sam [CT-2] (introduced 5/17/1989)
[17] S 1032 (101st Congress) A bill to amend the Agricultural Act of 1949 to establish eligibility requirements for agricultural commodity price support programs with respect to the delivery of irrigation. Sponsor: Sen Heinz, John [PA] (introduced 5/17/1989)
[18] H.AMDT.512 (A009) (101st Congress). 1990. Amends: H.R.2567 Sponsor: Rep Gejdenson, Sam [CT-2]
[19] HR 721 (104th Congress) Public Resources Deficit Reduction Act of 1995.
[20] HR 1340 (105th Congress) Corporate Responsibility Act of 1997.
[21] HR 1470 (106th Congress) Corporate Responsibility Act of 1999.
[22] S 320 (106th Congress) Irrigation Subsidy Reduction Act of 1999.
[23] S 49 (108th Congress) Deficit Reduction Act of 2003
[24] U.S. General Accounting Office. 1992. Natural Resources Management Issues. GAO/OCG-93-17TR. Available at: http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/OCG-93-17TR
[25] U.S. General Accounting Office. 1993. Choosing Public Investment Programs. GAWAIMD-93-25. Available at: http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?AIMD-93-25
[26] U.S. General Accounting Office. 1994. Addressing the Deficit: Budgetary Implications of Selected GAO Work for Fiscal Year 1995. OCG-94-3. Available at: http://www.fas.org/man/gao/gao943.htm
[27] U.S. General Accounting Office. 1995. Addressing the Deficit: Budgetary Implications of Selected GAO Work for Fiscal Year 1996. GAO/OCG-95-2. Available at: http://www.fas.org/man/gao/gao952.htm
[28] U.S. General Accounting Office. 2000a. Effective Oversight and Budget Discipline Are Essential--Even in a Time of Surplus. Testimony before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. Senate. February 1, 2000. Available at: http://www.senate.gov/~budget/republican/ about/hearing2000/walker21.pdf
[29] U.S. General Accounting Office. 2000b. Opportunities to Address Risks, Reduce Costs, and Improve Performance. Testimony before the Committee on the Budget, House of Representatives. February 17, 2000. Available at: http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?T-AIMD-00-96
[30] U.S. General Accounting Office. 2003. Federal Budget — Opportunities for Oversight and Improved Use of Taxpayer Funds. July 2003. GAO-03-1029T.
[31] Congressional Budget Office. 2005. An Analysis of the PresidentÕs Budgetary Proposals for Fiscal Year 2006, March 2005.
GIS/Map References
California Spatial Information Library. 2002. California Water Districts. http://casil-mirror1.ceres.ca.gov/casil/usbr.gov/wat_dist/
The National Atlas of the United States of America. 2004. Map Layers Warehouse. http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html
Premier Data Services. 2004. PLSS Grid of California. http://www.permierdata.com/
State Water Resources Control Board. 2002. GIS Layers of the Central Valley 303(d) Water Quality Listed Segments. http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/tmdl/303d_lists2002.html


text:
Our Mission
The mission of Skin Deep is a full service spa and salon dedicated to providing the highest caliber of services to its clients. Its interest is only excellence. Everyone at Skin Deep ceaselessly strives to be exceptional. Our clients are the emphasis of everything we are about, and we place our highest value on them. We are grateful for our clients; we realize they select us, we do not select them. We respect that responsibility. Being thus committed Skin Deep flourishes through its commitment and excellence by being one of the finest salons and spas.


text:
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has indicated that he wants Marcos Rojo to stay at Manchester United.
The Argentina international has made just 26 appearances for United since the 2017–18 campaign due to several injuries and was expected to be sold in the summer.
But the 29-year-old stayed at Old Trafford and has impressed Solskjaer with his attitude in training.
The United manager has also revealed that Rojo is a popular figure in the United dressing room and claims the defender is a 'top-quality footballer'.
'I thought he was excellent tonight. I think he's been excellent since we started pre-season,' Solskjaer said after United's 3-0 win over Partizan Belgrade in the Europa League on Thursday evening.
'He's played maybe more than he expected but that's why he's still here.
'He's a top-quality footballer.
'He's a winner, good mentality, he can pass, he can defend.
'It's now about keeping him fit and he's been fit now for a long, long time and you can see his qualities.'
Asked about the prospect of Rojo leaving in January, Solskjaer replied: 'You know he's got such a big heart and such a passion for football and he's a winner.
'To have him around when he's fit and in a good mood, good form, has been great for us.
'The boys love him, he spreads fear in training sometimes because he tackles properly.
'He's one of the ones who really, really cares about this game.
'I think he's taking his opportunities every time he's played.


text:
by Blake Merriam
Superheroes are well known for saving the world. But surely they must have personal lives as well? Someplace perhaps they can go see the latest blockbuster movie or relax with a cool Iced Caramel Macchiato after a hard days work? In Hero City, you build your town for your superhero residents so they can travel to different cities and save the world from the evil Techneto and his henchmen. The game has a catchy tutorial and while it may resemble other city sims a little too much for my liking, the superhero crime fighting mixed with city building could be a powerful combination.
When you first play Hero City, you must rescue your town by suppressing some fires that have broken out. Your guide is Rick Furious, leader of GUARD, who invites you to join his secret superhero organisation to fight the evil forces of Techneto. You then build your first cottage in town and are taken through other parts of the game. You gain experience from completing tasks such as constructing new buildings or upgrading current ones, sending your superheroes to other different parts of real world cities and fighting bad guys, finishing quests, etc. Gaining experience moves you up higher levels which unlocks different things to construct, such as better houses, factories, or markets. Houses provide a place for your superheroes to live, and some demand better accommodations than others. Factories produce products that can give your hero's a performance boost while fighting crime. Factories require atoms to produce products which you collect form fighting bad guys as well. Markets churn out coin which is needed to construct new buildings and city decorations.
The first superhero you will get is named Really Fast. Superheroes can be sent to different parts of real world cities such as Times Square and Harlem in New York City, or the Arc de Triumph and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In these major cities of the world they fight different villains. You can send one superhero to one part of a city or send a group to be a more effective fighting force. Victories here help your city grow, which helps your superhero group grow, which helps your city and so on. In the future, the game will allow you to have duels where your superheroes can fight other groups of superheroes. I'm really looking forward to this feature of the game coming out. Especially seeing some fighting action between superheroes. Right now when your superheroes go fight crime in a city you don't see any action, which is a let down. It's like watching a Marvel Comics movie and skipping all the cool fighting scenes with CGI special effects.
I couldn't help but notice the similarities between Hero City and CityVille. Yes,of course, they are both in the city building genre. But the relation between currency, experience points, energy and atoms is very much like the relation to cash, experience points, energy and goods in CityVille. Hero City also has "collections" which is very much like Cityville's "collections". This isn't a bad thing necessarily; these are proven mechanics that are fun and effective. And besides, the real meat of Hero City is in having your superheroes save the world from evil-doers and dueling other superheroes. All the same, I would like to see some more original spins on the mechanics of the game.
Hero City is made by South Korean developer Paprika Labs and is a good early attempt. I will definitely do a follow up review once they release their dueling features. Right now, there isn't enough to separate it from other city sims. But once more battle features are part of the game, Hero City could appeal very strongly to people who like both city building and fighting/mafia style social games.
Get more social game reviews @ Social Games Today


text:
Savannah business attorney Charles Bowen of The Bowen Law Group will be a featured panelist in the Second National Health Policy and Clinical Practice Conference. The conference will be held in Savannah from Thursday, March 31 to Saturday, April 2 at the Westin Savannah Harbor Golf & Spa Resort.
The overall purpose of the event, sponsored by the Multiple Chronic Conditions Resource Center, is to extend an opportunity to interdisciplinary health care professionals and the general public to review, identify and discuss pertinent changes that are impacting and influencing American health care as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
"The 2016 Health Policy and Clinical Practice conference will facilitate a discussion and better understanding on how health policy interfaces with clinical practice," said Bowen. "It will also be an opportunity for practitioners and the public to become better informed about massive health care changes being generated by the sixth year of the Affordable Care Act and that will transform the U.S. health care system."
The conference sponsor has additionally partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Health Research and Quality, to provide a FREE Train the Trainer Program on SHARED Decision Making at the conference. This will offer the opportunity for medical professionals across multiple disciplines to receive 8.5 continuing education contact hours by attending required sessions.
Early bird registration before Monday, February 1 is $289 for medical professionals and $195 for the general public. To register for this event, please visit MultipleChronicConditions.org.


text:
City and Country 21/07/2011Posted by florencecapital in Uncategorized.
Tags: 1900-1920, Badia, Bargello, Careggi, Contadino, Duomo, Fiesole, Maiano, Medicean Chapel, San Domenico, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, Santo Spirito, Settignano, Torre del Leone, Versilia, Via Tornabuoni, Views of Florence
add a comment
c. 1905
One of the delights of the hills round Florence is their entire rusticity. The easy access from the city, the constant coming and going, the numerous foreign settlers, the eager seekers of villeggiature, have not destroyed the country life of these radiant rustic regions. For this reason it may be truly said that Florence has no suburbs. A few minutes in the tram and the traveller might be in the olive orchards of the Versilia, or taking agricultural notes from the simple courteous peasants in the heart of the fertile Casentino. The dwellers about Fiesole, at San Domenico, at Settignano, at Maiano, at Careggi, are so many country gentlemen, and are as busied about pressing oil, or making wine, or drying orris-root, as are the dwellers in the town about study, painting, banking, or the delightful Florentine pleasures of this world. These inhabitants of the alluring hills have a character so much their own, that I seem to recognise a country mouse in the Via Tornabuoni, though it has only taken him a few minutes to get there.
English settlers abound on the hills, another proof of what I have said, that the Englishman, rather than any other foreigner, has the keenest eye for the recondite beauties, and I will now add for the solid comforts, of Italy. Life up here is entirely charming: completely rustic, as I said, but wholly free from the bumpkin element. Our town-mouse friends are frequent visitors, keep our interest fresh and keen in the city's doings, and prevent us ever sinking into mere Boeotian country mice. It is the country, agricultural, horticultural, floricultural, but the country under ideal conditions.
One of its chief joys is the constant beauty of the outlook. Whether it be winter with the distant hills covered with snow, or summer with its green floor below and blue vault above, the scene is everlastingly beautiful. Then Florence is for ever under our eyes, the text of morning and evening meditations, daily increasing in beauty, as it seems, because of our daily increasing love and understanding of it. So great is its individuality, so far-reaching its part in universal history, so potent its possession of our better self, that we think of it as a system apart: there is that resplendent sun, Brunelleschi's cupola, with, for moon, the lesser cupola of the Medicean Chapel; there are those seven planets in the Florentine heaven, the Torre del Leone, the Campanile, the tower of the Bargello, the cupola of Santo Spirito, the spires of the Badia, of Santa Croce, of Santa Maria Novella, with constellations too many to enumerate; and there, over towards San Donnino, is the milky way of the winding Arno.
Every glance at the city recalls the noblest memories: the Gonfalonier! and great Princes who have governed the State, the holy Archbishops who have ruled the Church, the Saints who here chose the better part, the glories of the Franciscan, the greater glories of the Dominican, the civilising mission of the Benedictine Order, the builders, the painters, the sculptors, the poets, the scholars, the soldiers, the merchants memories of all are recalled by a glance at one or other of these constellations in the Florentine firmament. Truly our morning and evening meditations never lack for a subject, and are rich in food for the mind and fraught with good for the soul.
Brunelleschi's Early Years in Vasari 28/02/2011Posted by florencecapital in Uncategorized.
Tags: Cosimo de' Medici, Donatello, Filippo Brunelleschi, Giorgio Vasari, Goldsmiths, Masaccio, Or San Michele, Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Piazza degli Agli, Santa Croce
comments closed
There lived in Florence, as we are told, a man of good renown, very praiseworthy habits, and much activity in his affairs, whose name was Ser Brunellesco di Lippo Lapi, and whose grandfather, called Cambio, was a very learned person, the son of a physician famous in those times, and named Maestro Ventura Bacherini. Ser Brunellesco chose for his wife a young woman of excellent conduct, from the noble family of the Spini, with whom, as part payment of her dowry, he received a house, wherein he and his children dwelt to the day of their death. This house stands in a corner on the side opposite to San Michele Bertelli, after passing the Piazza degli Agli, and while Brunellesco there exercised his calling and lived happily with his wife, there was born to him in the year 1377 a son, to whom he gave the name of Filippo, after his own father, who was then dead. This birth he solemnized with all possible gladness.
As the infant advanced in childhood, his father taught him the first rudiments of learning with the utmost care, and herein Filippo displayed so much intelligence, and so clear an understanding, as to frequently cause surprise that he did not take pains to attain perfection in letters, but rather seemed to direct his thoughts to matters of more obvious utility, a circumstance which caused Ser Brunellesco, who wished his son to follow his own calling of a notary, or that of his great-great-grandfather very great displeasure.
Perceiving, nevertheless, that the mind of the boy was constantly intent on various ingenious questions of art and mechanics, he made him learn writing and arithmetic, and then placed him in the Guild of the Goldsmiths, that he might acquire the art of design from a friend of his. This was a great satisfaction to Filippo, who no long time after he had begun to study and practise in that art, understood the setting of precious stones much better than any old artist in the vocation. He also executed works in niello; among others, figures in silver, two prophets, namely, halflengths, which were placed over the altar of San Jacopo di Pistoia, and were considered very beautiful; these figures were made by Filippo, for the superintendents of the cathedral in that city. He also executed works in basso-rilievo, wherein he showed so complete a mastery of that art, as to make it manifest that his genius must quickly overstep the limits of the goldsmith's calling. Subsequently, having made acquaintance with several learned persons, he began to turn his attention to the computation of the divisions of time, the adjustment of weights, and the movement of wheels; he considered the method by which they might best be made to revolve, and how they might most effectually be set in motion, making several very good and beautiful watches with his own hand.
Not content with this, Filippo was seized with an earnest desire to attempt the art of sculpture, and this wish took effect in such sort that Donatollo, then a youth, being considered of great distinction and high promise therein, Filippo contracted a close intimacy with him; and each attracted by the talents of the other, they became so strongly attached that one seemed unable to live without the other. But Filippo, who was capable of attaining excellence in various departments, gave his attention to many professions, nor had any long time elapsed before he was considered by good judges to be an excellent architect. This he proved in various works which served for the decoration of houses, as, for example, for that of the house of Apollonio Lapi, his kinsman, at the corner of the Ciai, towards the Mercato Vecchio, where he laboured industriously all the time that the edifice was in course of erection; and he did the same thing at the tower and house of Petraia at Castello, outside of Florence. In the palace of the Signoria also, Filippo distributed and arranged all the rooms occupied for the affairs of their office by the officials of the Monte. He therein constructed the windows and doors after the manner of the ancients, a thing not then very frequently done, architecture being in a very rude state in Tuscany.
There was at that time a statue of Santa Maria Maddalena to be executed in linden-wood, for the monks of Santo Spirito in Florence, and which was to be placed in one of their chapels; Filippo therefore, who had executed various small works in sculpture, being desirous of proving that he could succeed in the greater also, undertook to execute this statue, which, being completed and fixed in its place, was considered exceedingly beautiful; but in the subsequent conflagration of the church in 1471 it was burnt, with many other remarkable things.
Filippo Brunelleschi gave considerable attention to the study of perspective, the rules of which were then very imperfectly understood, and often falsely interpreted; and in this he expended much time, until at length he discovered a perfectly correct method, that of taking the ground plan and sections by means of intersecting lines, a truly ingenious thing, and of great utility to the arts of design. In these inquiries Filippo found so much pleasure that he executed a drawing of the Piazza San Giovanni, wherein he portrayed all the compartments of the incrustation in black and white marble, the foreshortening being managed with singular felicity and grace. He represented the house of the Misericordia in like manner, with the shops of the wafermakers and the arch of the Pecori, giving the column of San Zanobi on the other side. This work having been highly commended by artists, and all who were capable of judging in matters of the kind, gave Filippo so much encouragement, that no long time elapsed before he commenced another, and made a view of the Palace, the Piazza, the Loggia de' Signori, with the roof of the Pisani, and all the buildings erected around that Square, works by which the attention of artists was so effectively aroused, that they afterwards devoted themselves to the study of perspective with great zeal.
To Masaccio in particular, who was his friend, Filippo taught this art, the painter being then very young; but that he did much credit to his teacher is sufficiently manifest from the edifices depicted in his works. Nor did he fail to instruct those who worked in tarsia, which is a sort of inlaid work, executed in woods of various colours; the efforts of these artists he stimulated so powerfully, that from this time a better method prevailed, and many useful improvements were made in that branch of art, wherein, both then and at a later period, various excellent works were produced, from which Florence derived both fame and profit during many years. Messer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli returning to Florence about this time, and being at supper with some of his friends in a garden, invited Filippo also; who, hearing them discourse of the mathematical sciences, formed an intimate acquaintance with the philosopher, from whom he acquired the knowledge of geometry; and although Filippo possessed no learning, he yet reasoned so well, by the aid of his practical experience, that he frequently astonished Toscanelli.
Thus labouring perpetually, Brunelleschi next turned his attention to the Scriptures, and never failed to be present at the disputations and preaching of learned men. From this practice he derived so much advantage, by help of his excellent memory, that the above-named Messer Paolo, alluding to him, was accustomed to say that, to hear Filippo in argument, one might fancy oneself listening to a second Paul. At the same time he gave earnest study to the works of Dante, with whose description of localities, and their respective distances, he made himself very familiar, and frequently availed himself of them in his conversations, when he would cite them by way of comparison. Nor, indeed, were his thoughts ever occupied otherwise than in the consideration of ingenious and difficult enquiries; but he could never find any one who gave him so much satisfaction as did Donato with whom he had often held confidential discourse; these two artists found perpetual pleasure in the society of each other, and frequently conferred together on the difficulties of their art.
Now it happened in those days that Donato had completed a crucifix in wood, which was placed in the Church of Santa Croce in Florence, beneath the story of the girl restored to life by St. Francis, a picture painted by Taddeo Gaddi, and he desired to have the opinion of Filippo respecting his work; but he repented of having asked it, since Filippo replied that he had placed a clown on the cross. And from this time there arose, as is related at length in the life of Donato, the saying of 'Take wood then, and make one thyself'. Thereupon Filippo who never suffered himself to be irritated by anything said to him, however well calculated to provoke him to anger, kept silence for several months, meanwhile preparing a crucifix, also in wood, and of similar size with that of Donato, but of such excellence, so well designed and so carefully executed, that when Donato, having been sent forward to his house by Filippo, who intended him a surprise, beheld the work (the undertaking of which by Filippo was entirely unknown to him) he was utterly confounded, and having in his hand an apron full of eggs, and other things on which his friend and himself were to dine together, he suffered the whole to fall to the ground, while he regarded the work before him, in the very extremity of amazement. The artistic and ingenious manner in which Filippo had disposed and united the legs, trunk, and arms of the figure was alike obvious and surprising to Donato, who not only confessed himself conquered but declared the work a miracle. This crucifix is now placed in the church of Santa Maria Novella, between the chapel of the Strozzi family and that of the Bardi da Vernio, and is still greatly praised by the judges of modern times.
The talents of these truly excellent masters being thereupon appreciated, they received a commission from the Guild of the Butchers, and that of the Joiners, to prepare the two figures, in marble, required for the niches appropriated to those guilds among the number surrounding Or San Michele. These figures, Filippo, being occupied by other affairs, suffered Donato to execute alone, which he did to great perfection. After these things and in the year 1401, it was determined, seeing that sculpture had reached so elevated a condition, to reconstruct the two doors of the church and baptistery of San Giovanni, a work which, from the death of Andrea Pisano to that time, there had been no masters capable of conducting. Wherefore, this intention being made known to those sculptors who were in Tuscany, they were sent for, their appointments were given to them, and the space of a year was allowed for the preparation of a story by each master. Among these artists Filippo and Donato were also invited, and each of them was required to prepare a story, in concurrence with Lorenzo Ghiberti Jacopo della Fonte, Simone da Colle, Francesco di Valdambrina, and Niccolo d'Arezzo.
All these stories being completed within the year, and placed together to be compared, were all found to be beautiful, but with certain differences. One was well designed, but imperfectly executed, as was that of Donato; another was admirably drawn, and carefully finished, but the composition of the story was not good, the gradual diminution of the figures being neglected, as in the case of Jacopo della Querela; a third artist had betrayed poverty of invention, and his figures were insignificant, which was the defect of Francesco di Valdambrina's specimen; but the worst of all were those of Niccolo d'Arezzo and Simone da Colle; while the best was that of Lorenzo di Cione Ghiberti, in whose work perfection of design, delicacy of execution, rich invention, knowledge of art, and well-finished figures, were all combined. Nor was the story of Filippo greatly inferior to that of Lorenzo: the subject was Abraham proceeding to sacrifice Isaac, and among the figures was that of a servant, who, whilst he is awaiting his master, with the ass feeding beside him, is drawing a thorn from his foot. This figure merits considerable praise. All these stories having been exhibited together, and Filippo and Donato not being satisfied with any, except that of Lorenzo, they judged him to be better adapted to execute the work than themselves or the masters who had produced the other stories. They consequently persuaded the syndics, by the good reasons which they assigned, to adjudge the work to Lorenzo, showing that the public and private benefit would be thus most effectually secured. Now this was, in truth, the sincere rectitude of friendship; it was talent without envy, and uprightness of judgment in a decision respecting themselves, by which these artists were more highly honoured than they could have been by conducting the work to the utmost summit of perfection. Happy spirits! who, while aiding each other, took pleasure in commending the labours of their competitors. How unhappy, on the contrary, are the artists of our day, labouring to injure each other, yet still unsatisfied, they burst with envy while seeking to wound others.
Filippo was requested by the superintendents to undertake the work, in concert with Lorenzo, but he would not consent to this, desiring rather to be the first in some other art, than merely an equal, and perhaps secondary, in that undertaking. Wherefore he gave the story in bronze, which he had prepared, to Cosimo de' Medici, who caused it at a subsequent period to be placed in the old sacristy of San Lorenzo, and at the back of the altar, where it still remains. That of Donato was given to the Guild of the Money-changers.
Il giro in Florence 15/01/2011Posted by florencecapital in Uncategorized.
Tags: 1880-1900, Accademia, Baptism, Baptistery, Botticelli, Duomo, Flea Markets, Fra Angelico, Giotto's Campanile, Girolamo Savonarola, Palatine, Pitti, Ponte di Lima, San Lorenzo, San Marco, Santa Croce, Uffizi, Views of Florence, Weddings
comments closed
c. 1880
We have spent two mornings in the Uffizi and Pitti galleries, one in each. The latter is now called the 'Palatine'. When I was here in 1870 admittance was free as air, whereas now, as in every museum or ancient building, a franc each is the fee. But these galleries are always crowded and, indeed, the sum is very small as compared with prices in America, and considering the richness of the collections. There are pictures in these galleries which I can shut my eyes and see, and which are a great joy to me. This time we have given more attention than ever before to Fra Angelico and Botticelli the latter on account of an article on his works in a late Harper. But your sisters have for some time been reading up for this week, which is, as the theatre people say, their 'benefit', and which they richly deserve. I do wish them to get the best of Italy so that in case of their removal to America they may have stored in their memories precious pictures in abundance of this land of art and beauty.
One morning was given to Santa Croce, the Westminster Abbey of Italy, and yesterday morning to San Marco, with the wonderful frescoes of Fra Angelico in the convent there, now a government museum, and the cell from which Savonarola went forth to die. It never seemed so real to me before. An hour was given also to the church of San Lorenzo, with its double-starred new sacristy and Medici chapel. Tomorrow we must go to the Academy of the Belle Arti. Of course, we have given due attention to the Duomo and Giotto's Tower and the Baptistery. The Duomo is now resplendent in its facade completed only last year. At the Baptistery we witnessed an infant sprinkling (what a contradiction in that place!), and at San Lorenzo witnessed a bridal procession issue as we entered. There was a wealth of lovely bouquets fastened to the doors of the carriages, but the bride seemed neither young nor beautiful. Two afternoons we have sauntered on Lung' Arno, looking at the pretty bric-a-brac in this capital of brica-bracdom, and one bright clear afternoon we rode in a carriage on the famous and beautiful ride over the hills of San Miniato, enjoying a lovely view of the city, river and encircling hills. This paper was made at Ponte di Lima, about three miles from Cutigliano, where also the government stamp paper is made.
Proem to Romola 07/12/2010Posted by florencecapital in Uncategorized.
Tags: 1860-1880, Florentine Walls, George Eliot, Poems, Renaissance, San Miniato, Santa Croce, Views of Florence
add a comment
'The greatest historical novel ever written'? Perhaps. But Romola (1863), a story of late fifteenth-century Florence, is usually relegated by critics to the 'B' list of Victorian novels – try buying this 'classic' in one of Florence's English bookshops… And though George Eliot (1819-1880) has kept her reputation as a major nineteenth-century author – a reputation that if anything has grown over time – Romola is unfairly hidden behind other works including Middlemarch, Silas Marner and even the (mediocre) Mill on the Floss. A particularly beautiful passage is the one quoted here, the opening 'proem' where George Eliot imagines a Renaissance Florentine being summoned back from the dead to stand at Piazzale Michelangelo – where we finished our last class – and made to look down over modern (i.e. nineteenth-century) Florence.
More than three centuries and a half ago, in the mid springtime of 1492, we are sure that the angel of the dawn, as he travelled with broad slow wing from the Levant to the Pillars of Hercules, and from the summit of the Caucasus across all the snowy Alpine ridges to the dark nakedness of the Western isles, saw nearly the same outline of firm land and unstable sea – saw the same great mountain shadows on the same valleys as he has seen today – saw olive mounts, and pine forests, and the broad plains green with young corn or rain-freshened grass – saw the domes and spires of cities rising by the river-sides or mingled with the sedge-like masts on the many-curved sea-coast, in the same spots where they rise today. And as the faint light of his course pierced into the dwellings of men, it fell, as now, on the rosy warmth of nestling children; on the haggard waking of sorrow and sickness; on the hasty uprising of the hard-handed labourer; and on the late sleep of the night-student, who had been questioning the stars or the sages or his own soul, for that hidden knowledge which would break through the barrier of man's brief life, and show its dark path, that seemed to bend no whither, to be an arc in an immeasurable circle of the lives of men have hardly changed; and those other streams, the life-currents that ebb and flow in human hearts, pulsate to the same great needs, the same great loves and terrors. As our thought follows close in the slow wake of the dawn, we are impressed with the broad sameness of the human lot, which never alters in the main headings of its history – hunger and labour, seed-time and harvest, love and death.
Even if, instead of following the dim daybreak, our imagination pauses on a certain historical spot and awaits the fuller morning, we may see a world-famous city, which has hardly changed its outline since the days of Columbus, seeming to stand as an almost unviolated symbol, amidst the flux of human things to remind us that we still resemble the men of the past more than we differ from them, as the great mechanical principles on which those domes and towers were raised must make a likeness in human building that will be broader and deeper than all possible change. And doubtless, if the spirit of a Florentine citizen, whose eyes were closed for the last time while Columbus was still waiting and arguing for the three poor vessels with which he was to set sail from the port of Palos, could return from the shades and pause where our thought is pausing, he would believe that there must still be fellowship and understanding for him among the inheritors of his birthplace.
Let us suppose that such a shade has been permitted to revisit the glimpses of the golden morning, and is standing once more on the famous hill of San Miniato, which overlooks Florence from the south. The Spirit is clothed in his habit as he lived: the folds of his well-lined black silk garment or lucco hang in grave unbroken lines from neck to ankle; his plain cloth cap, with its becchetto, or long hanging strip of drapery, to serve as a scarf in case of need, surmounts a penetrating face, not, perhaps, very handsome, but with a firm, well-cut mouth, kept distinctly human by a close-shaven lip and chin. It is a face charged with memories of a keen and various life passed below there on the banks of the gleaming river; and as he looks at the scene before him, the sense of familiarity is so much stronger than the perception of change, that he thinks it might be possible to descend once more amongst the streets, and take up that busy life where he left it. For it is not only the mountains and the westward-bending river that he recognizes; not only the dark sides of Mount Morello opposite to him, and the long valley of the Arno that seems to stretch its grey low-tufted luxuriance to the far-off ridges of Carrara; and the steep height of Fiesole, with its crown of monastic walls and cypresses; and all the green and grey slopes sprinkled with villas which he can name as he looks at them. He sees other familiar objects much closer to his daily walks. For though he misses the seventy or more towers that once surmounted the walls, and encircled the city as with a regal diadem, his eyes will not dwell on that blank; they are drawn irresistibly to the unique tower springing, like a tall flowerstem drawn towards the sun, from the square turreted centuries that have passed since he used to walk under it. The great dome, too, greatest in the world, which, in his early boyhood, had been only a daring thought in the mind of a small, quick-eyed man – there it raises its large curves still, eclipsing the hills. And the well-known bell-towers – Giotto's, with its distant hint of rich colour, and the graceful-spired Badia, and the rest – he looked at them all from the shoulder of his nurse.
'Surely,' he thinks, 'Florence can still ring her bells with the solemn hammer-sound that used to beat on the hearts of her citizens and strike out the fire there. And here, on the right, stands the long dark mass of Santa Croce, where we buried our famous dead, laying the laurel on their cold brows and fanning them with the breath of praise and of banners. But Santa Croce had no spire then:[1] we Florentines were too full of great building projects to carry them all out in stone and marble; we had our frescoes and our shrines to pay for, not to speak of rapacious condottieri, bribed royalty, and purchased territories, and our facades and spires must needs wait. But what architect can the Frati Minori have employed to build that spire for them? If it had been built in my day, Filippo Brunelleschi or Michelozzo would have devised something of another fashion than that – something worthy to crown the church of Arnolfo.'
At this the Spirit, with a sigh, lets his eyes travel on to the city walls, and now he dwells on the change there with wonder at these modem times. Why have five out of the eleven convenient gates been closed? And why, above all, should the towers have been levelled that were once a glory and defence? Is the world become so peaceful, then, and do Florentines dwell in such harmony, that there are no longer conspiracies to bring ambitious exiles home again with armed bands at their back? These are difficult questions: it is easier and pleasanter to recognize the old than to account for the new. And there flows Arno, with its bridges just where they used to be – the Ponte Vecchio, least like other bridges in the world, laden with the same quaint shops where our Spirit remembers lingering a little on his way perhaps to look at the progress of that great palace which Messer Luca Pitti had set a-building with huge stones got from the Hill of Bogoli close behind, or perhaps to transact a little business with the cloth-dressers in Oltrarno. The exorbitant line of the Pitti roof is hidden from San Miniato; but the yearning of the old Florentine is not to see Messer Luca's too ambitious palace which he built unto himself; it is to be down among those narrow streets and busy humming piazze where he inherited the eager life of his fathers. Is not the anxious voting with black and white beans still going on down there?[2] Who are the Priori in these months, eating soberly-regulated official dinners in the Palazzo Vecchio, with removes of tripe and boiled partridges, seasoned by practical jokes against the ill-fated butt among those potent signors? Are not the significant banners still hung from the windows – still distributed with decent pomp under Orcagna's Loggia every two months?
Life had its zest for the old Florentine when he, too, trod the marble steps and shared in those dignities. His politics had an area as wide as his trade, which stretched from Syria to Britain, but they had also the passionate intensity, and the detailed practical interest, which could belong only to a narrow scene of corporate action; only to the members of a community shut in close by the hills and by walls of six miles' circuit, where men knew each other as they passed in the street, set their eyes every day on the memorials of their commonwealth, and were conscious of having not simply the right to vote, but the chance of being voted for. He loved his honours and his gains, the business of his counting-house, of his guild, of the public council-chamber; he loved his enmities too, and fingered the white bean which was to keep a hated name out of the borsa with more complacency than if it had been a golden florin. He loved to strengthen his family by a good alliance, and went home with a triumphant light in his eyes after concluding a satisfactory marriage for his son or daughter under his favourite loggia in the evening cool; he loved his game at chess under that same loggia, and his biting jest, and even his coarse joke, as not beneath the dignity of a man eligible for the highest magistracy. He had gained an insight into all sorts of affairs at home and abroad: he had been of the 'Ten' who managed the war department, of the 'Eight'[3] who attended to home discipline, of the Priori or Signori who were the heads of the executive government; he had even risen to the supreme office of Gonfaloniere; he had made one in embassies to the Pope and to the Venetians; and he had been commissary to the hired army of the Republic, directing the inglorious bloodless battles in which no man died of brave breast wounds — virtuosi colpi – but only of casual falls and tramplings. And in this way he had learned to distrust men without bitterness; looking on life mainly as a game of skill, but not dead to traditions of heroism and clean-handed honour. For the human soul is hospitable, and will entertain conflicting sentiments and contradictory opinions with much impartiality. It was his pride, besides, that he was duly tinctured with the learning of his age, and judged not altogether with the vulgar, but in harmony with the ancients: he, too, in his prime, had been eager for the most correct manuscripts, and had paid many florins for antique vases and for disinterred busts of the ancient immortals – some, perhaps, truncis naribus, wanting as to the nose, but not the less authentic; and in his old age he had made haste to look at the first sheets of that fine Homer which was among the early glories of the Florentine press.[4] But he had not, for all that, neglected to hang up a waxen image or double of himself under the protection of the Madonna Annunziata, or to do penance for his sins in large gifts to the shrines of saints whose lives had not been modelled on the study of the classics; he had not even neglected making liberal bequests towards buildings for the Frati, against whom he had levelled many a jest.
For the Unseen Powers were mighty. Who knew – who was sure – that there was any name given to them behind which there was no angry force to be appeased, no intercessory pity to be won? Were not gems medicinal, though they only pressed the finger? Were not all things charged with occult virtues? Lucretius might be right – he was an ancient, and a great poet; Luigi Pulci, too, who was suspected of not believing anything from the roof upward (dal tetto in su), had very much the air of being right over the supper-table, when the wine and jests were circulating fast, though he was only a poet in the vulgar tongue.[5] There were even learned personages who maintained that Aristotle, wisest of men (unless, indeed, Plato were wiser?), was a thoroughly irreligious philosopher; and a liberal scholar must entertain all speculations. But the negatives might, after all, prove false; nay, seemed manifestly false; as the circling hour swept past him, and turned round with graver faces. For had not the world become Christian? Had he not been baptized in San Giovanni, where the dome is awful with the symbols of coming judgement, and where the altar bears a crucified image disturbing to perfect complacency in oneself and the world? Our resuscitated Spirit was not a pagan philosopher, nor a philosophizing pagan poet, but a man of the fifteenth century, inheriting its strange web of belief and unbelief; of Epicurean levity and fetichistic dread; of pedantic impossible ethics uttered by rote, and crude passions acted out with childish impulsiveness; of inclination towards a self-indulgent paganism, and inevitable subjection to that human conscience which, in the unrest of a new growth, was filling the air with strange prophecies and presentiments.
He had smiled perhaps and shaken his head dubiously, as he heard simple folk talk of a Pope Angelico,[6] who was to come by and by and bring in a new order of things, to purify the Church from simony,[7] and the lives of the clergy from scandal – a state of affairs too different from what existed under Innocent the Eighth for a shrewd merchant and politician to regard the prospect as worthy of entering into his calculations. But he felt the evils of the time, nevertheless; for he was a man of public spirit, and public spirit can never be wholly immoral, since its essence is care for a common good. That very Quaresima or Lent of 1492 in which he died, still in his erect old age, he had listened in San Lorenzo, not without a mixture of satisfaction, to the preaching of a Dominican Friar, named Girolamo Savonarola,[8] who denounced with a rare boldness the worldliness and vicious habits of the clergy, and insisted on the duty of Christian men not to live for their own ease when wrong was triumphing in high places, and not to spend their wealth in outward pomp even in the churches, when their fellow citizens were suffering from want and sickness. The frate carried his doctrine rather too far for elderly ears; yet it was a memorable thing to see a preacher move his audience to such a pitch that the women even took off their ornaments, and delivered them up to be sold for the benefit of the needy.
'He was a noteworthy man, that Prior of San Marco,' thinks our spirit; somewhat arrogant and extreme, perhaps, especially in his denunciations of speedy vengeance. Ah, Iddio non paga il Sabato [God does not pay on a Saturday] – the wages of men's sins often linger in their payment, and I myself saw much established wickedness of longstanding prosperity. But a Frate Predicatore who wanted to move the people – how could he be moderate? He might have been a little less defiant and curt, though, to Lorenzo de' Medici, whose family had been the very makers of San Marco: was that quarrel ever made up? And our Lorenzo himself, with the dim outward eyes and the subtle inward vision, did he get over that illness at Careggi? It was but a sad, uneasy-looking face that he would carry out of the world which had given him so much, and there were strong suspicions that his handsome son would play the part of Rehoboam.[9] How has it all turned out? Which party is likely to be banished and have its houses sacked just now? Is there any successor of the incomparable Lorenzo, to whom the great Turk is so gracious as to send over presents of rare animals, rare relics, rare manuscripts, or fugitive enemies, suited to the tastes of a Christian Magnifico who is at once lettered and devout – and also slightly vindictive? And what famous scholar is dictating the Latin letters of the Republic – what fiery philosopher is lecturing on Dante in the Duomo, and going home to write bitter invectives against the father and mother of the bad critic who may have found fault with his classical spelling? Are our wiser heads leaning towards alliance with the Pope and the Regno [Naples], or are they rather inclining their ears to the orators of France and of Milan?
'There is knowledge of these things to be had in the streets below, on the beloved marmi in front of the churches, and under the sheltering loggie, where surely our citizens have still their gossip and debates, their bitter and merry jests as of old. For are not the well-remembered buildings all there? The changes have not been so great in those uncounted years. I will go down and hear – I will tread the familiar pavement, and hear once again the speech of Florentines.'
Go not down, good Spirit! for the changes are great and the speech of the Florentines would sound as a riddle in your ears. Or, if you go, mingle with no politicians on the marmi, or elsewhere; ask no questions about trade in the Calimala;[10] confuse yourself with no inquiries into scholarship, official or monastic. Only look at the sunlight and shadows on the grand walls that were built solidly, and have endured in their grandeur;[11] look at the faces of the little children, making another sunlight amid the shadows of age; look, if you will, into the churches, and hear the same chants, see the same images as of old – the images of willing anguish for a great end, of beneficent love and ascending glory; see upturned living faces, and lips moving to the old prayers for help. These things have not changed. The sunlight and shadows bring their old beauty and waken the heart-strains at morning, noon, and eventide; the little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage between love and duty; and men still yearn for the reign of peace and righteousness – still own that life to be the highest which is a conscious voluntary sacrifice. For the Pope Angelico is not come yet.
[1] Santa Croce's tower was not built until 1842-44 and was despised by Renaissance snobs like Eliot: this then is a snide aside on a building that was only twenty years old when Romola was published.
[2] Voting in the inner councils of the Florentine Republic were often carried out with black and white beans that were placed in a bag and afterwards counted.
[3] The 'Ten' and the 'Eight' were councils of state made up that number of men.
[4] Edited in 1488 by the Greek exile Demetrius Chalcondylas.
[5] Lucretius is the Roman poet. Luigi Pulci (obit 1484) was a friend of Lorenzo the Magnificent and tutor to his children – his poetry was distinctly unorthodox. Note that a poem included by Luigi's elder brother Luca is included in part two of the course reader.
[6] Mythical Pope Angel who would come to restore order to the Church and the world.
[7] Simony is the crime of selling church offices.
[8] Major Florentine Renaissance figure, Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican preacher based at San Marco who attempted, with much success, to revolutionise Christian life in the city.
[9] Old Testament reference: bad ruler that followed wise Solomon.
[10] Even Homer nods: Eliot, for all her endless research for the novel, wrote 'Calimara' here.
[11] Tragically the city walls would be pulled down in the decade following the publication of Romola, one of several catastrophic urban planning decisions made in those years. George Eliot miscalculated then with her image of permanence!
Bowing before Ruskin at Santa Croce 04/12/2010Posted by florencecapital in Uncategorized.
Tags: 1900-1920, Culture Vultures, Ruskin, Santa Croce
add a comment
c. 1910
These remind those of us who read Ruskin of a certain passage in his Mornings in Florence, concerning one particular fourteenth-century tomb, greatly admired by him, appreciation of which he insists upon as being an infallible test of the intelligence and taste of the modern traveller. Stroll into Santa Croce some spring morning, and you may witness the not unusual spectacle of a group of Anglo-Saxon tourists gathered about the effigy of old Galileo Galilei, an ancestor of the famous astronomer, examining it with eager interest, and turning from time to time to the text-book in their hands. This is the passage they are studying: ''If you can see that the lines of that cap are both right and lovely, that the choice of the folds is exquisite in its ornamental relations of line, and that the softness and ease of them is complete, though only sketched with a few dark touches, then you can understand Giotto's drawings and Botticelli's, Donatello's carving and Luca's. But if you see nothing in this sculpture, you will see nothing in theirs, of theirs. Where they chose to imitate flesh, or silk, or to play any vulgar, modern trick with marble (and they often do) – whatever, in a word, is French, or American, or Cockney in their work, you can see, but what is Florentine and for ever great – unless you can see also the beauty of this old man in his citizen's cap – you will never see.' Poor tourists! What a rock to make shipwreck on! Little did the pious Galilei think, when he caused this stone to be carved for his father, that hordes of barbarians from those mysterious lands over the seas, of which, perchance, he had heard from some adventurous traveller, would come in later times to gaze at that sculptured effigy, with no murmured prayer for the repose of the soul of the learned doctor, but with the desperate intention of applying Ruskin's test to their own inexperienced souls, as a guide among the shoals and shallows of Florentine Art.


text:
This coming Thursday (May 14), the Church will commemorate the Ascension of Our Lord, the day when Jesus returned to His Father in heaven, marking the end of His bodily ministry on earth. In honor of this occasion, we offer below the first part of C. F. W. Walther's sermon on Ascension, as found in volume 1 of his Gospel Sermons.
The Ascension of Our Lord
Mark 16:14–20
O Jesus, how glorious is Your name in all the earth! For our redemption You not only descended into the lowest places of the earth but also ascended with divine majesty over the heaven of heavens. As You did not come into this world poor and miserable for Your sake, so You also did not leave it in glory and honor for Your sake; as You did not struggle for Yourself, so You were also not victorious for Yourself but for us whose sins You bore and whose righteousness You became.
That is why You still make known Your great deeds to men; that is why You have again today given us the great grace of being able to gather and hear of Your victory.
Gracious, universal, and glorious Savior, let not today's preaching of Your glory be in vain. Let every person know that he shares in Your being received into heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father.
O Lord Jesus, all of us are already victorious with You because You are our Head and the Lord of our salvation. Drive away our unbelief, which supposes that Your ascension does not concern us. Give us that faith, which says not only when You hung on the cross but also now that You sit on Your throne: You are mine! Hear us, King of heaven and King of sinners for Your own sake. Amen.
In the Ascended Christ, dear hearers!
We are gathered here before God to commemorate a great, precious, and glorious fact. Today we celebrate the coronation of our King of grace, Jesus Christ. I mean, the festival of His glorious ascension.
It would be reasonable that today everyone who knows that he is baptized into this great Lord and Savior should joyfully enter and leave the house of the Lord. Yes, it should be reasonable, because we find the believers of the Old Testament happily praising God when they merely foresaw this day in the spirit. David cries out, "Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! . . . God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne" (Psalm 47:1, 5–8). The author of Psalm 68 also rejoices and says, "The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary. You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there. Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah. Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death. . . . O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, Selah to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; . . . Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God" (68:17–20, 32–33a, 34–35c).
You see, thus believing Israel rejoiced when it thought of the future ascension of the Messiah. The Church of the Old Testament really believed that His ascension was something that did not concern only Christ but all redeemed, because it was the keystone, the brilliant crown, of the entire work of redemption.
And so it is. If we consider the ascension of Christ only as the happy conclusion of His being freed from all suffering, all disgrace, all imperfection, all persecution and, as it were, receiving the reward for His faithfulness unto death, we would consider it without its real profit. We must in faith gaze after the Ascended as our Redeemer. We must see ourselves triumphing in Him and make His whole work the foundation of a joyful faith. Then, and only then, do we enjoy the blessed fruit that it should bring us.
The text: Mark 16:14–20
The Gospel just read briefly relates the story of Christ from His resurrection until His entrance into glory. As the heart of all commissions that the Lord gave the apostles in this time, Mark mentions this, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:15–16). "Believe in Me" is the last testament of Christ, which at His departure He left behind for all men; He afterwards immediately confirmed and sealed it with His glorious ascension. Therefore, consider with me today:
The ascension of Christ is a sure foundation of our faith.
- It bases our faith on the perfect deliverance from all our enemies, and
- It bases our faith on the continual gracious presence of Christ with His congregation.
Through the fall of our first parents all men have come under the power of three great enemies: sin, the Law, and death. Men became subject to the authority of sin. The Law pronounced the sentence of damnation; death obtained the power to swallow them up. These three enemies are most closely united with one another. They bind men as with one chain. The apostle describes this in the words, "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law" (1 Corinthians 15:56). First sin makes death the king of terrors; the Law then gives sin the power to condemn us.
No human power was able to conquer these foes. Man had become their powerless, defenseless prisoner. If God had not taken pity on men, they would have been lost. However, the Son of God undertook the astonishing task of freeing them from their prison. And what did he do? He was made sin for us, submitted to the Law in our stead, and sprang into the jaws of death for us. He took the sins of the whole world upon Himself. He fulfilled the Law and thereby earned for us a perfect righteousness. He permitted death to swallow Him up and conquer Him through the power of His almighty life.
When Christ rose victoriously from the dead, the entire fallen world triumphed with Him, the sins of all men were erased, eternal righteousness won, hell destroyed, death disarmed, life and immortality brought to light, and deliverance by God the Father Himself sealed to all men in the most wonderful manner. All our enemies lay at the feet of Him who for us had entered the arena against them.
Only one thing remained if Christ should be our perfect Savior. After He had defeated all our enemies, He had to be installed as their absolute Lord. The scepter of omnipotence must be given Him; He must be crowned with heavenly glory; He must ascend the throne of divine majesty. The prophecy of the second psalm must be fulfilled, where the heavenly Father says, "As for Me, I have set My King on Zion, My holy hill. . . . Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel" (Psalm 2:6, 8–9).
And this took place through Christ's glorious ascension and His sitting at the right hand of the Father, which followed and was connected with it. Christ as victor then held not only a public triumphal procession through the gates of heaven, but He also became the absolute Lord over sin, the Law, death, the devil, and hell. For that reason He ascended in divine splendor from the very place where in bloody sweat He waged His severest conflict against these enemies, the Mount of Olives.
If we want to consider the ascension of Christ correctly, we must view Christ as the substitute and forerunner of the whole human race. David was a prototype when he killed the giant Goliath. As all Israel was delivered from the Philistines through the victory of David, so all sinners were made lords with Christ over sin, the Law, and death through His triumphant ascension. This is expressed in Psalm 68: "You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in Your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious" (v. 18). St. Paul states the very same thing in Ephesians 2: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (vv. 4–6). As we all are resurrected in Christ and justified by God in Him, so we have also already ascended with Christ into heaven and become lords over all our enemies in Him. And as certainly as sin can no longer harm Christ, no law condemn Him, no death rule over Him, so certainly are we also freed from their prison and translated into a heavenly life with Him, if only we believe it with our whole heart.
This shows us what a secure basis we have for a joyful faith in the ascension of Christ. If we do not want to believe that sin, the Law, and death lie at our feet, we must deny completely the ascension of Christ, deny that He, who ascended into heaven, is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Brother, our Head, our Lord—deny that His labors for us have such a wonderful result.
If our sins wish to worry us, we should not let them cause us to despair, but look in faith to the ascension of Christ and say: "Sin, you are conquered. You will not conquer me anew, but as my captive you should make me cling only the more firmly to my Savior. He is ascended into heaven and I with Him, because I lay hold of Him with the hand of faith and am baptized in His name."
If the Law wants to condemn us, we should ignore its sentence and say: "You are fulfilled; your demands are completely satisfied. God's Son subjected Himself for me; you have lost all your power to subjugate me, for there is nothing with which you can reproach me. Yes, He has ascended to the highest throne and is now your Lord. I do not receive my sentence from you but from Him, and it is grace, mercy, forgiveness!"
If death wants to frighten us, and hell open its jaws for us, we do not have to fear; through Christ's ascension they have now become empty phantoms. Confidently we can and should mock them and say, " 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' 'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' . . . But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:54–55, 57).
From Gospel Sermons, volume 1, pages 276–80 © 2013 Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved.
To order Gospel Sermons, volume 1, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit www.cph.org.
If you're interested in other Walther material, click here and subscribe to Walther's Works.


text:
The Federalist Society to Host Missouri Capitol Forum Featuring Gov. Greitens
/EINPresswire.com/ -- JEFFERSON CITY, MO--(Marketwired - January 20, 2017) - The Missouri Chapters of The Federalist Society are pleased to announce they will be hosting the inaugural Missouri Capitol Forum at 8:30 a.m., Monday, January 23, at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri. The event will feature opening remarks by newly elected Governor Eric Greitens, a presentation from Wisconsin Club for Growth's Eric O'Keefe, and a panel discussion introduced by Attorney General Josh Hawley, which features a distinguished group of lawyers from throughout the state.
"We are excited and privileged to have the Governor as our guest at our first statewide Federalist Society event," said Eddie Greim, who serves as Chair of the Kansas City Chapter. "We also look forward to being joined by Attorney General Hawley, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, Treasurer Eric Schmitt, and multiple other elected officials, as well as a group of presenters who are at the forefront of many of the legal issues Missouri will face in the coming years."
The Missouri Capitol Forum is complimentary for attendees. The event agenda includes:
- 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. - Continental breakfast and registration in the Capitol Rotunda
- 9:30 a.m. - Opening remarks by Governor Greitens
- 10:00 a.m. - Eric O'Keefe discusses "speech police" in Wisconsin
- 10:30 a.m. - Tort reform discussion panel with an introduction from Attorney General Josh Hawley (CLE Credit)
Panelists: Mark Behrens (Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.); Rep. Kevin Corlew (Missouri House of Reps.); Molly Jones (Assistant General Counsel, Monsanto); and Michael Williams (plaintiffs' attorney and MATA board member).
- Noon - Lunch in the Capitol Rotunda
- 1:30 p.m. - Missouri Supreme Court Judge Zel Fischer will give tours of the Supreme Court
About the Federalist Society
Founded in 1982, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is a non-partisan organization of 35,000 conservative and libertarian lawyers, law students, scholars, and other individuals, who are interested in the condition of the current legal order. We believe that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be.
The Lawyers Division has active chapters in sixty cities, including Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Kansas City, St. Louis, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Denver, Atlanta, Houston, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Indianapolis. Activities include the annual National Lawyers Convention, a Speakers Bureau for organizing lectures and debates, and 15 Practice Groups.
Eddie Greim


text:
Obama Administration Wants to Make Domestic Surveillance Power Grab
The White House wants to add just four words to the law that empowers the government to collect information on you w/o a warrant. But it would represent a huge expansion of the what the government could (legally) collect on you.
The administration wants to add just four words — "electronic communication transactional records" — to a list of items that the law says the FBI may demand without a judge's approval. Government lawyers say this category of information includes the addresses to which an Internet user sends e-mail; the times and dates e-mail was sent and received; and possibly a user's browser history. It does not include, the lawyers hasten to point out, the "content" of e-mail or other Internet communication.But what officials portray as a technical clarification designed to remedy a legal ambiguity strikes industry lawyers and privacy advocates as an expansion of the power the government wields through so-called national security letters. These missives, which can be issued by an FBI field office on its own authority, require the recipient to provide the requested information and to keep the request secret. They are the mechanism the government would use to obtain the electronic records.
Make no mistake. This is one of the most important pieces of civil liberties news in a long time. The Obama Administration is asking Congress to sanction the collection of internet records without a warrant–the kind of shit they used to do without a warrant, until people expressed their opposition.
But then Democrats took over and now they want legal sanction and now–Voila, a request that presumably provides cover.
Go read this article. I'll have more to say about it, but for the moment, Julian Sanchez makes sense.


text:
If you've had your gallbladder removed, as I have, the deetox protocol may be even more important. Modifications would not be just for the deetox plan, but as an overall health modification in general. It is highly recommended to take bovine bile salts, also known as ox bile, after having the gall bladder removed. Here's why:
Bile is manufactured from cholesterol in your liver and then stored in your gall bladder until it's needed. As your body senses that you've eaten and there is some fat to be digested, the gall bladder squirts out some bile into the digestive tract. The bile acts as a detergent that breaks down fats and makes them easier to digest.
Without a gallbladder, there is nowhere for the bile to be stored, so a continuous trickle of bile goes from your liver into your digestive tract regardless of the presence or absence of fat. The failure to match bile output to fat presence jeopardizes one's ability to properly digest fat, which is why so many people without a gall bladder have this difficulty. This problem can eventually lead to deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A,D,E, and K) and essential fatty acids (omega-3's and omega-6's), poor cholesterol metabolism, and the absorption of improperly digested fat globules.
Ox bile is just what it implies—it's bile from an ox. It is very similar to our own bile. It contains the digestive enzymes you need to break down dietary fat. In addition, it includes other substances that help emulsify the fat into small, easily-absorbed micro-droplets. Without this emulsification, the fat from your food may glob together in big blobs and be difficult to process.
For this reason, I do recommend Cholacol by Standard Process or an equivalent product called Ox Bile by Nutricology for those who have had their gall bladder removed. While the idea of bovine bile salts may make you leery, the products recommended are of very high purity and the companies are both dedicated to providing whole food high quality supplements. Ox bile has been used for many years as a food supplement.
Unfortunately there is no vegetarian alternative to bile salts. Bile is a substance that is made in the livers of all mammals, and cholesterol is a key component of bile. As you know, there are no plant sources of cholesterol, it is only found in animals. Many people who have had their gall bladders removed have seen great improvement in their digestion of fats when they take bovine bile salts. My recommendation is that you should not be leery and give the Cholacol a try. I think you will find it works wonders.
Chlorella and Spirulina are both fresh water algae. They do not grow in sea water, nor do they necessarily come from Japan. The Amazing Grass company is a family run farm in the middle of Kansas. They grow all of their greens (barley grass, wheat grass, alfalfa grass, etc.) on their farm. Their website states: "We source our chlorella and spirulina from China. They are grown on Hainan Island in the South Sea off the mainland of China. The city of Sanya on Hainan Island was rated 2nd in the entire world for air quality by the World Environmental Organization. It is grown in extremely pure fresh water. It is tested locally and also in the US by a 3rd party. It is certified organic and tested for heavy metals, BMAA bacteria, algal toxins, banned pesticides and melamine. It is also fair trade certified."
The concern about radiation contamination is valid, and therefore we should all be careful about the source of our fish. Vital Choice is a seafood company that I trust, and the only one that I know of that has actual test results posted on their website. You can read what they say about Fukushima concerns on their website at http://www.vitalchoice.com/shop/pc/articlesView.asp?id=2083
Another company, called Wiley's Finest posted this article on their website http://blog.wileysfinest.com/why-alaskan-fish-oil-is-safe-and-not-contaminated-by-radiation/
Both articles should explain why the Alaskan salmon and salmon oil supplements are safe.
It is possible to get omega-3's from plant sources. Since fish get their omega-3's from algae, that would be the best source. You can purchase algae EPA and DHA supplements if you want a plant source. These are typically sourced from laboratory-grown algae, therefore there is no risk of environmental contaminants. Here is one product that I would recommend: http://www.drfuhrman.com/shop/pdf_product_factsheets/DrFuhrmans_DHA_EPA_Purity.pdf
I think you mean Redwood Hill Farm goat yogurt, and yes it is OK. Their website has an FAQ page that states this: Our goat milk products are not certified organic since we are unable to obtain organic feed for the goats 100% of the time. We are working on this and hope to become certified organic in the future. Our creamery is certified organic and we use all organic practices at the farm – no pesticides, herbicides, or insecticides. We believe in a natural approach to farming and our dairy goats are very healthy. We do not routinely use medications or antibiotics but if used to save an animal's life, we test the milk before using to ensure the antibiotic residues never enter the human food chain. We do not use or believe in using growth hormones.
It is also perfectly OK to leave out the yogurt during the deetox. Just make sure to take a probiotic supplement.
Unless you are a person who MUST stay away from gluten for reasons of intolerance or celiac, then it is not necessary to use gluten-free oat bran during the deetox. The deetox only requires staying away from gluten-containing grains such as wheat, spelt, kamut, farro, barley and rye. Oats do not contain the same type of gluten that these others do, so therefore, unless the possibility of wheat contamination on the oats is a health concern due to celiac disease, then regular oat bran is fine.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find oat bran that is both organic and gluten-free. I typically just go with a regular oat bran.
Nuts are much easier to digest when they've been soaked. And yes, all raw nuts should be soaked and then dried prior to consuming them. I wrote an article about this with a soaking guide chart. Different nuts require different soak times. http://www.processedfreeamerica.org/resources/health-news/785-soaking-nuts-for-good-health
Image URL
Supported videos include:
Easily create a Forum Website with Website Toolbox.


text:
Seventeen years ago Fagassau Nickel's husband, Sanele, was murdered over a mobile phone and she was left to raise their five young children alone, but she has forgiven his killers.
A witness has come forward with new information about the May 15, 1999, killing prompting police to reopen their investigation in the hope it will finally bring the family closure.
The day of the murder is still fresh in Mrs Nickel's mind.
She and her husband were awoken by a car alarm outside their Taloma Avenue, home in Lurnea just before 6am.
Outside Mr Nickel discovered his car window smashed and his Nokia 5110 mobile phone stolen and while he went to approach two men nearby, Mrs Nickel went back inside to retrieve her jacket.
Moments later she emerged to find her husband clutching his stomach, screaming for help.
The 35-year-old was rushed to hospital but died in emergency surgery.
"In my heart I forgive them for what they have done because my husband is not coming back," Mrs Nickel told reporters on Friday.
"I just want to face them and tell them what they did to my husband and I just want to (have them face) ... life in prison to pay (for) what they did."
Mrs Nickel was forced to work two jobs to raise her children - Maria, Kirri, Joe and twins Mark and Matthew.
Maria, the eldest, was just 12 in 1999 and blamed her father's killers for robbing her of her childhood.
Mark was four and said they robbed him of "everything".
"This is my dad. I always wanted a father figure in my life. I've never had one. For them to take it away like that it's not really fair," he said.
As well as new information from a witness who has "recently" come forward, police are also retesting DNA evidence, including blood samples, taken from the scene almost two decades ago.
Detective Inspector Dean Johnstone wouldn't comment on what new evidence there was, or who had provided it, but said it bolstered their investigation and led to the reopening of the cold case.
He urged two men, pictured in images drawn up by police from descriptions given by Mrs Nickel at the time, to come forward and explain why they were in the area that morning.
"There are two people walking around carrying a very sinister secret - come forward, this family deserves answers. Clearly it's still very upsetting to the family 17 years later," Det Insp Johnstone told reporters.
"Our DNA database has increased dramatically over the last 17 years so if these people have committed an offence and had their DNA taken in the last 17 years we will find them."
One of the men has been described as a 25-year-old caucasian and the other of Indian appearance.


text:
Spam – Workshop / Call for Participation
SPAM is an annual festival born with the aim for growing a renewed design culture. This event wants to focus on the problems and contents that steer the urban, social and economic transformations of the great contemporary metropolis, with a specific focus on Rome.
On the occasion of the first Settimana del Progetto di Architettura nel Mondo, SPAM is seeking 60 participants from any part of the world to join a workshop on the themes of the urban regeneration which will take place in Rome, at the Casa dell'Architettura from 10th to 18th October 2019 , a new annual fall Architecture festival held in Rome.
The workshop will be divided into three Labs, each of them directed by a major international artist. Manuel Aires Mateus, Orazio Carpenzano and Gianluca Peluffo will be the three architects in charge for the Labs.
To identify and exchange good practices and inspiring examples on the urban regeneration about areas choosen in the center of Rome together with Rome 1 district (primo Municipio)
7 days of meetings, work and field visits to relevant project sites. Participants will have free
access to the whole program of SPAM 2019.
The participation fees are as follows:
• Students: € 120
• Architects and professionals from other disciplines: € 160
A certificate of attendance will be released to the participants;
Professional and/or academic credits will be assigned (20 professional credits, 4 academic credits).
Applicants must be attending a degree course in architecture or equivalent organization or an academic institute whose work is related to architecture and/or urban commons.
The organization can be based anywhere. Foreign applicants are welcome.
Applicants should have significant experience. We recommend students from fourth year onwards, PhD students, and/or young professionals. Groups will be formed by people from mixed discipline experiences. Architecture, landscape, city planning, sociology, art, are preferred.
To apply, please submit the following required documents by 17.00 PM Monday 16th, September 2019 to the following address: [email protected]
2. Relevant works (publications, projects, etc.) max 5mb
3. Your expectations and the expertise you can contribute to the mission (max 1.500 characters).
- When
- 10 October to 18 October 2019
- Where
Casa dell'architettura
Piaza Manfredo Fanti 47
00185 Rome, Italy
- Organizer
- Spam 01
- Link
- spamroma.com
Under the Radar
Francis Kéré on Serving His Community
1 day ago
Chybik + Kristof's Lahofer Winery
2 days ago
Construction of Calatrava Church Resumes
3 days ago
Hollywood Hills Home
4 days ago


text:
Full text loading...
View Affiliations Hide Affiliations
- The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
- Source: The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Volume 44, Issue 6, 1 Jun 1991, p. 604 - 608
Infection of Anopheles darlingi Fed on Patients with Plasmodium Falciparum before and after Treatment with Quinine or Quinine Plus Tetracycline
Anopheles darlingi fed on eight falciparum malaria patients with gametocytes before and after treatment with quinine sulfate or quinine sulfate plus tetracycline became infected. Quinine and quinine plus tetracycline had no apparent sporontocidal or gametocytocidal effect on late stage immature and mature gametocytes. Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes are persistent and infected mosquitoes for up to 21 days after patients were treated with quinine plus tetracycline. Sporogonic development was similar for groups of mosquitoes fed before and after patients were treated with these schizontocides. The percentages of infected mosquitoes that developed salivary gland infections were also similar for groups of mosquitoes fed before and after treatment. Twenty-four hours after treatment with 45 mg of primaquine phosphate, falciparum malaria patients were not infective to An. darlingi.


text:
Free health insurance advice available to all serving, retired and reserve members of HM Forces and their families.
Here at Forces Health we offer free and friendly insurance advice to members of HM Forces and their families.
- We specialise in helping Military and MoD personnel to get the best private healthcare at favourable rates.
- We deal with all the major providers including: Bupa, AXA PPP, Aviva, Vitality Health and many more.
- We offer a FREE, friendly, whole of market service, which means that we can look at all providers and find the most suitable product offering for you and your needs.
- We're regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
- Our dedicated HM Forces office provides practical healthcare for MoD civil servants and members of HM Forces at discounted rates.
Call us on
0800 652 2018
Call one of our dedicated team to find out more or to simply arrange cover.REQUEST A QUOTE
Bupa health insurance is provided by Bupa Insurance Limited. Registered in England and Wales No. 3956433. Bupa Insurance Limited is authorized by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Arranged and administered by Bupa Insurance Services Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales No. 3829851. Registered office: 1 Angel Court, London EC2R 7HJ.


text:
The whole purpose of skills management is to put people to work in a way that is best for the organisation and best for the individual. Deployment is also the single most important factor in a professional's development. Care in selecting the right project for the person unlocks a huge development potential.
Project and operational risk is reduced by assigning the right skilled people, based on their actual capability, not just their technical knowledge. Getting this right can lead to much more effective use of resources, appropriate development, and potentially reduced expenditure on contractors.
In addition to allocating resources in traditional formal organisation structures, the inherent flexibility in SFIA supports other methods of operation. This includes organisational models built around competency centres or pools of resources that are allocated to temporary endeavours, agile project teams, or even individual tasks.
Ensuring that externally sourced capability – whether contractors or service providers – is deployed to appropriate tasks, is essential to ensure the desired outcome, and value for money.


text: FashionAFRICANA is one of the leading African-inspired Fashion and Art events in Pittsburgh. Established in 2001, FashionAFRICANA celebrates the beauty and diversity of the African Diaspora through Design, Dance, Music and curated exhibitions. Utilizing Africa's diverse cultural heritage, the show reflects the vitality of the creative human spirit and has showcased the diverse talents of fashion designers and artists from all over the world including Africa, Europe and the United States. The intent of FashionAFRICANA is to share the breadth and richness of African textures, ethos and history through the language of fashion.


text:
The 10 Worst Music Games of All Time
God gave rock 'n' roll to you. Also, video games (or maybe the credit for that goes to Atari founder Nolan Bushnell and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto). The union of video games and music is a sacred bond that has since spawned the rhythm game genre, one of the most successful gaming and entertainment categories of all time. But like any marriage, the long and fruitful relationship that music and video games have enjoyed together has been anything but...read more