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Colorations week has officially wrapped up, and I'm so happy so many people visited and checked everything out! There were ~37 transmogs featured throughout the week and at one point we had so many visitors it set off my phone! (That was weird. Nice, but weird!)
If you missed any of the transmogs and want to catch up, the full collection is here, and of course all the transmogs are posted on each of the proper pages in the Wardrobe as well.
I'm going to work on featuring more leather, mail, and plate transmogs until it's all balanced out a little bit more with the current and overwhelming amount of cloth transmogs I have. That said, I do have a couple requests in the queue that are cloth, and I'm sure I'll still make them, so cloth won't be totally neglected!
As always, feedback on outfits is wonderful and fully appreciated!


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Reason in Religion
Charles Carroll Everett
Berry Street lecture, 1897
read before the Ministerial Conference
Boston, Massachusetts
Suppose a child to have this problem set before him: Given fifty dollars to be divided among five men, how many dollars would each man receive? This problem, however simple it may seem to us, we can imagine to be a little formidable to the child. It sets down its figures, adding ciphers to represent cents, and proceeds by long division. It reaches the result that each man will receive a hundred dollars. Now, whether it discovers the cause of its mistake, that it omitted to mark off the ciphers which stood for cents, or whether it does not, it might possibly be bright enough to see that the answer could not be right. This might be seen to be unreasonable. The child's reason might decide that the result of its reasoning was a mistake.
It is related of General Grant that, during a battle in the Wilderness, it was reported to him that one of the wings of his army was routed. He thought a moment and said, "I do not believe it," and went on with his whittling. The report was too unreasonable to be true.
In the course of the history of Christianity the Christian world in general has been made to believe many strange doctrines. One doctrine, for instance, that has been received by many with Joy, and has driven others insane, is that God elected from eternity some to everlasting joy and some to everlasting and unmitigated torment. Other doctrines, less terrible but otherwise more or less akin to this, were bound up with it. These doctrines had been reached by reasoning that seemed faultless. The authority of the Bible had been supported by miracles which were testified to by witnesses whose knowledge and honesty could not be doubted. The Bible seemed evidently to teach these doctrines; consequently they must be believed. While many accepted the results some were found to dispute them. These persons had little in the way of an argument to offer. They could not disprove the argument from miracle. They had no satisfactory exegesis which they could oppose to that which was current. Whatever later science has done in this direction was not at their command. Some simply denied the truth of these doctrines; others forced the Bible to say something that was different. But whether the one course or the other was taken, the doctrines were rejected because they were unreasonable. Men urged the unreasonableness of the result against the truth of the reasoning by which this result had been reached.
Experiences such as I have referred to are not wholly unfamiliar to any. We consider all the arguments that lead to a certain conclusion, and we may perhaps be able to detect no flaw in them; but we reject the conclusion, in spite of the apparent truth and validity of the premises, because it seems to us too unreasonable to be accepted.
We recognize thus two uses of the word "reason." On the one side it may refer to the reasoning by which certain results are reached. When a man is asked what is his reason for believing this or that, he will probably give the arguments by which the belief is supported. On the other hand, we use the term "reason" with reference to what appears to us reasonable or unreasonable. Thus it appears that reason in the one sense may be opposed to reason in the other. Of course, there are minor antagonisms between different utterances of the same form of reason. In the case of reasoning, arguments may be urged against arguments. Thus, also, things may have different aspects; and what looks reasonable from one point of view may look unreasonable from another. At present, however, I wish to notice merely this fundamental opposition that may exist between the reason which affirms that a certain view is true or false because it is reasonable or unreasonable, and the reason which supports or denies a certain affirmation on the strength of reasoning. Although, as I have said, the term reason covers both these methods of procedure, still it may be convenient, though not perfectly accurate, to speak of the reason as over against reasoning.
We thus see that it is an interesting and somewhat important inquiry which seeks to fix the nature of this reason that undertakes, independently of all argument, and, it may be, against all evidence, to determine what we shall and what we shall not believe.
Let us look at the cases which I have just brought together in a haphazard way, using what chanced to occur to me. Take the first and the simplest of all, the child with its sum. On what ground did it pronounce the result of its ciphering too unreasonable to be true? Perhaps we might differ a little in our account of this. Some might say that it was simply the result of experience, that the child had seen that the part was never greater than the whole. Some, perhaps, would say that it was the result of an insight such as needs the confirmation of no experience, that from the very nature of things, from the very nature of the whole and the part, as seen in the very mention of them, the part could not be greater than the whole. Neither explanation would assume that the child consciously enunciated this somewhat formidable proposition; but the idea would be that the child simply recognized in a concrete instance that which the formula expresses in an abstract and universal manner. In the incident from General Grant's life there need be no difference of interpretation. From Grant's knowledge of men, and of the special men who formed and commanded his army, from his knowledge of the strength and position of his army and those of the enemy, he knew that the story of a routed wing could not be true. In this case the unreasonableness was based upon a bit of rapid and condensed reasoning, which itself was based upon knowledge and experience.
When we come to the position that affirmed the unreasonableness of certain doctrines of the church we have a case differing from the two just named. Here we have no place for experience or for arguments based upon definite knowledge of facts. Men have had no direct experience of divine beings upon which they could base any reasoning in regard to their habitual ways. Indeed, the actual experience of life might very well be appealed to in defense of some of these doctrines. In life itself do we not see persons who seem to have been appointed to joy and others who seem to have been appointed to sorrow; some who are born to ignorance and misery, and we might almost say, to sin, and some who seem to have been born to ease, to delight, and we might almost say, to virtue? Something like this was the line of argument adopted by Bishop Butler in his famous "Analogy." Yet in face of all these facts, and of this lack of experience of other facts which might be opposed to them, the reason dared to deny the doctrines which the known facts might seem to support. It denied that there is any God; or it affirmed that, if there were a God, He is not like the one whom these doctrines described. I do not say that there are no arguments besides that of unreasonableness which might be urged against these views, but simply that the reason has often denied them without reference to any arguments. It has spoken like a monarch, recognizing no authority above and beyond its own, and has decided absolutely, by its own right and authority, that certain things could not and must not be believed.
The reason in the sense in which I now use it, that power of insight, or that assumption, by which we pronounce any form of thought or statement to be reasonable or unreasonable, may thus include various elements. Sometimes it might be difficult for the person uttering a judgment to explain precisely what is the real basis of it. It may be a condensed expression of the experience of life. Past thought, past feeling, past experience, may all be united in this expression. To these elements, as we have seen, there may be added another. The statement pronounced reasonable or unreasonable may be judged by a standard which is independent of experience, which is purely ideal. The sense of what ought to be may have a more important part to play in the judgment than any knowledge of what is or has been. One may go so far as to affirm that what, according to his ideal standard, ought to be, must be; or that what ought not to be cannot be. This is the nature of the judgment which, as we have seen, condemned some of the religious doctrines of the past, even when all the authority of tradition and much of that of experience seemed to be in their favor. This ideal standard of reasonableness may have been recognized in its isolation, or it may have been blended with the other elements which have been named. It may exist with some approach to perfection; or it may be very imperfectly developed. In either case the individual may accept it as final.
Thus the judgment in regard to what is reasonable or unreasonable is the expression of the whole intellectual or spiritual condition of the man who makes the judgment. It is the utterance of the entire self. It thus marks the position which the man has reached in his development. Thus the judgment will vary immensely according to the community and the age in which one lives. Just as arguments on one side may be met by arguments on the other, so the judgment of the reason may be met by counter-judgments. What is perfectly reasonable to one man or to one age may be pronounced absurdly unreasonable by another. In any line of national development each age has its distinct method of thought and feeling. It has its assumptions and its presumptions. It has its traditions and its habits. It has its standard of right and wrong, of the probable and the improbable. It has its beliefs, the source of which and the evidence underlying which it would find in many cases to be wholly unknown and unsuspected. In many cases the question as to origin and basis is not raised, is not even thought of.
Of course, in every age, in the same community, there are very great differences between class and class, and between person and person. Some of the assumptions to which I have referred are indeed common to all classes and all persons in any given age, but others belong to certain spheres of life and special companionship. Even those that differ have, however, a certain community, or stand in a certain relationship to one another. Persons living side by side may practically belong to different ages. Persons are living today who might seem to belong to the thirteenth century, or to the sixteenth, or to the seventeenth; or, on the other hand, to the twentieth, or even to some later and better age of the world. These men, however, are not precisely what they would have been in these past centuries, or would be in those which are to come. No man can escape wholly from the age in which he lives. This community between those living in the same age and in the same mental environment forms what Leslie Stephen calls the "social tissue." It is this social tissue as it is embodied in different individuals, that plays a large part in the judgment as to what is reasonable.
As this judgment is formed to a large extent, though not altogether, independently of conscious reasoning, so it is changed to a large extent, though not wholly, without conscious reasoning. Lecky calls attention to the fact that no arguments could be used today against belief in witchcraft or the hanging of persons suspected of being witches, that could not have been used against them in earlier days. The change is simply that the spirit of the age is against the belief and the practice. What was thought reasonable once is judged to be unreasonable today. Persecution, in the bloody or fiery sense, would probably not be used today by any church even if it had the power. The spirit of the age is against it. Petty forms of persecution may be and are indulged in, even in civilized communities; but the grand forms of persecution are in the past.
Thus the judgment of what is reasonable or unreasonable in religious belief springs largely out of this social tissue, or spirit of the age. As this slowly changes, the notion of what is reasonable or unreasonable changes with it. The great advance which has been made in the religions of the world has resulted less from conscious reasoning than from the varying judgment, as to what is reasonable. Take the development of the religion of Greece, for instance. To the larger and more developed spirits it seemed unreasonable that the gods should be such as the popular mythology described them. Thus these larger spirits reached the idea of an absolute divinity who was wise and good. It would appear that they had little basis for reasoning that was not open to all. They felt, however, that it was impossible that time divinities could be such as tradition and the common thought of men would make them. They felt that, if the divinities were to be worshiped, they must be worshipful. And it was out of this feeling of worthiness and of the reality of what seemed most worthy that the larger thought and faith arose.
I have spoken of this judgment of reasonableness as a feeling. I am inclined to think that this is a true name for that mental condition out from which the judgment springs. It is, as I have said, the condensed result of the whole mental and spiritual development, — a result that often is not reached by conscious reasoning which a man can analyze and of which he can give an account. It is rather the basis of reasoning than the result of it. It is something that is not reasoned to, but is reasoned from. It thus seems to belong less to the intellect than the feeling. One feels that it must be so. The noblest spirits of Greece felt that the gods must be worthier than the common thought would make them. Thus reason has been the guide which has led men up from the depths of superstition to the grander heights which later ages have reached.
I have spoken as if the judgment of reasonableness had been to a large extent that of the age. The question here meets us, How then does any age advance? How can it escape from its own limitations?
In reply to this question it may be suggested that life is always introducing new factors into the mental structure of the world. New discoveries, like that of this Western Continent, broaden it. Profound experiences deepen it. Thought and feeling, though they cannot escape wholly from their age, may yet stretch somewhat the bands that unite them with it; and the spirit of the age may move forward with them. The movement of any age is like that of an army. It moves rank behind rank; none can escape from the army; every man wears its uniform; but some are merely followers and others are leaders. The advance in the world has been made through the leadership of great souls who have obeyed the touch of reason and have led the elect spirits that followed them, like the volunteers to some perilous enterprise, through the darkness of superstition to heights where there was at least some glimmer of a brighter sun.
It may be urged that, even if what has been said is to a large extent true, if the reason has been the guiding principle in the advance of the world, yet the account given of it shows how little reliance can be placed upon it. We have seen that, after all, it is an individual matter. It depends upon external influences, upon the state of development which one may chance to have reached. As we have seen, what is reasonable to one person or to one age may be unreasonable to another. Thus it may be urged that reason is not a clear light according to which one may walk in confidence, but a sort of will-o'-the-wisp, shining now here and now there, and leading through devious and often dangerous ways. What is needed, it may be claimed, is some clearly defined authoritative and absolute revelation manifested by means of such marks as may make it unmistakable. Such revelation, it may be said, is like the clear and steady light of the sun, by the aid of which men may walk in safety, certain to reach at last their journey's proper goal.
However conclusive such reasoning may seem, the history of the world will hardly justify the result to which it has can indeed conceive the abstract possibility of such a revelation, and we may admit that by it mankind might have been spared some wandering and failure. We do not find in the world, however, such a revelation. I do not here raise the question whether God has revealed Himself in a way that may be called supernatural in the ordinary use of this word, that is, in a way to interrupt the course of human development and introduce a wholly new factor. I do not here raise the question whether Christianity is based upon such a revelation; I insist only that if there has been such a revelation it has not accomplished what is claimed for it in the form of thought to which I have just referred. It has not proved the clear and steady light according to which men have been able to walk in confidence and safety. Consider the history of Christianity, consider the different interpretations of it that have been given, consider the extravagance, even the horror, of doctrines that have been based upon it, consider the cruel persecutions which it has inspired. Where could we find more terrible torment or more refined cruelty than have been brought about by Christianity? But this, it may be urged, was because Christianity was misunderstood. It was not the real Christianity that has inspired persecution whether of the sharper or milder form. The true Christianity, it may be said, would make men patient and loving as, full of hope, they press on to the fulfillment of its sublime promises. All this may be true. It simply shows, however, that revelation has not furnished to the world that safe and steady light which was needed. It also has led men into wild wandering in dangerous and toilsome ways, such as without it might never have been found. Nothing has yet appeared in the world that has prevented mistake and wandering.
There is thus no guide more sure than reason. Men may scorn it, but to it they must finally, in some poor sort at least, return. The defenders of the dogmas of the church have sometimes set reason at defiance. They insisted upon the unreasonableness of the doctrines that they taught. They gloried in it. They bade men do dishonor to reason, to trample it under foot. Human reason has been used as a term of mockery. Thus revelation might seem to be independent of reason. But why should men accept such results? and here come the arguments that prove the authority of the revelation, the reasons why men should accept it and submit to it absolutely. Thus the last appeal has been to reason itself, reason that takes form in argumentation. This, however, only leads to the higher form of reason that manifests itself in reasonableness. Reason was appealed to to show that reason must be rejected. From reason under one form or other we cannot escape. We may apply to it the illustration which St. Anselm applied to God: We cannot escape, he said, from under the heavens. If a man flees from under one part of the heavens it is only to find himself under another part of the same. So, he said, if one flees from God commanding, it is only to find himself in the presence of God punishing. In like manner we may say that we cannot flee from reason. If, with those who insist upon the authority of a special and authoritative revelation, we flee from reason affirming, it is only to flee to reason arguing. Thus, after all, whether it be for good or evil, whether we can or cannot conceive of anything that seems more desirable, reason remains our only guide. We may admit much that has been said against it. We may admit that it falls often into self-contradiction, that its utterances depend largely upon time and place and upon individual idiosyncrasy. But what can we find in the world that is independent of these? We may as well give up, once for all the thought of a ready-made perfect truth that may be had for the asking or the grasping, and make the best of the possibilities and powers that have actually been given us.
Let no one imagine that I mean to imply that we can be certain of nothing. The very basis of my reasoning is the fact of certainty. No one can look into his own consciousness and not find that he is certain of a multitude of things; that there are truths which he cannot doubt, and that upon these his life is based. I raise no question of the fact of certainty, I but seek the basis upon which this certainty rests. We may be mistaken; but the knowledge of this possibility does not affect our confidence in that of which we feel assured. Our truth may not be a finality, for the world or for ourselves; but none the less, we absolutely trust and cannot help trusting to our reason, and to the truth of that which it reveals.
When we see what reason has actually accomplished, though we may admit its weakness and its frequent contradictions and failures, yet we may see that it has not wholly failed. If its utterances depend largely on the degree of development men have reached, we may see that, so far as the historical peoples are concerned, this development, on the whole, has been a progressive one. There have been retrogression and wandering, it is true, but as a road that is not free from winding, if viewed at a little distance from above, may be seen to have a fairly direct course so the line of development of the historical peoples has been, on the whole, an advancing one. Experience has moulded men's thoughts. Reasoning has enlarged them. More and more the great ideals of life have emerged out of the confusion and contradictions of the world. Men have not yet reached the region of perfect light. Complete and absolute truth does not yet belong to man, and never will belong to him. Yet, because the development of man has been, on the whole, in the direction of a fuller and larger life, so the reason of man, which is the exponent of this development, has reached larger and fuller results. The element of accident which may have seemed to be involved in the statement of the dependence of reason upon the development of the individual that uses it, is removed, at least in some degree, because the development of the individual is to a large degree bound up with that of his race, and this has been an advancing one.
I have contrasted the reason by which a proposition is affirmed to be reasonable or unreasonable with the reason that takes form in a process of reasoning. This was done for convenience because, practically speaking, there is this difference. When, however, we take a larger view, the contrast disappears. Reasoning is merely included in the larger sphere of the reason. We accept the results of an argument because it seems to us reasonable to assume that a proposition which can be so defended is true. In other words, it seems reasonable to accept a certain amount of proof as convincing. In point of fact nothing can be absolutely proved. If a chain of argument is to support any weight it must, like any other chain, be attached to something that is fixed. A chain without a staple, or some other fixed point, is powerless. An endless chain is inconceivable, and even if such a thing were possible it would be useless. In like manner an endless chain of reasoning is impossible; and, if it could exist, it would be as useless as any other endless chain. The use of an argument is that it leads our thought to something that is accepted without argument. The proposition that may have seemed at first doubtful is attached to something that admits of no doubt; and is regarded as being fixed and firm like that. In the syllogistic argument two things are taken for granted, — namely, the two premises. These are the staples that hold the chain. These may be found not to be firm. We then must go beyond them till we reach something that is indubitable, something, that is, which we must accept without proof, which we must accept simply because it is self-evident. These staples are driven in here and there, according to the mental development of one individual and another. One man will reach what satisfies him as being solid and trustworthy much sooner than another. The same individual will be more or less careful according to the necessities of the case. Practically we accept as true many things which, from a scientific point of view, would be uncertain. Many, and very often all, of us accept as sufficient what has come to us by way of tradition, or what is generally believed in our community. It often does not occur to us to go beyond this. In many matters it does not seem worth while. Who of us could give any sufficient reason for our belief that the tides are caused by the moon; or even for our own belief that the earth revolves about the sun? Most believe these things because everybody else believes them. We say that we believe them because it is the teaching of science. But how do we know even this? How many of us have talked about the matter with a man of independent authority, so that we could receive the teaching of science at first hand? Then, too, how many things has science taught that science has afterward contradicted! One's prejudices often seem sufficient ground for belief; or rather, we accept a basis for belief that has no other support than prejudice. In an argumentum ad hontinern we sound a man's mind just as we try a wall into which we mean to drive a staple. We tap it till we reach a spot where it feels ant sounds solid, and we think that there our staple will stick. The mind of another might be different.
The searcher for truth goes behind these superficial and convenient supports. The reformer, whether of thought or of life, brings forward the great hammer of his intellect. He pounds the wall that had seemed so solid to us, and shows us that it sounds hollow, and bids us seek some firmer basis for our beliefs and our habits of life, and shows us where, according to his thought, such a solid basis may be found. Of course the ultimate and absolute basis cannot be reached until we have found the fundamental principles of our reason. If we can reach these we have found something that is enduring, and arguments that lead back to these are attached to a firm support.
The outcome of this whole discussion is that we pursue our reasoning until it seems unreasonable to reject the result to which it leads. The beliefs that we regard as most logically defended rest finally upon our recognition of reasonableness or unreasonableness. A simpler statement would be that we pursue our reasoning till we reach a point where we cannot help believing that we believe because we must.
From another point of view we may illustrate the controlling power of the ultimate reason in our lives. We all believe that life should be reasonable. A man should know what he is living for; and to this, perhaps, most would add, why he is living for it. In fact, however, this latter is something for which no reason can be given. At least, in giving an account of the matter, we reach at last a reason which is sufficient in itself and beyond which we cannot go. A man, for instance, is laboring to get rich. Why does he want to be rich? In answering this question he may point to the goods which money can buy, to comforts and luxuries, to freedom from harassing toil and from the multitude of cares and anxieties by which poverty is so often surrounded. He may point to the social consideration which wealth may bring, and thus the avenues of pleasure which it may open. If you should ask him why he desires all these things, he would probably stare at you with amazement as if you lacked common sense. If he saw his way to an answer, he would probably say that with all these things he would be happier than he would without them. If you still questioned and asked why he wished to be happy, he would be dumb. He could not answer the question. Neither you nor any one else could answer it. In fact, the question is unanswerable.
The same is true in the case of the larger objects of life. One man devotes himself to study. Possibly his object may be fame. Possibly it may be money. Perhaps it is truth. Why should he spend his life in striving to attain the truth? He would be surprised at the question. It seems such a reasonable thing to do that he marvels that any one should ask why he does it. Another may live for the good of his fellow men. He sacrifices his own ease, his private pleasure and such money as he may have. He does it simply because it seems the most natural thing in the world. So it is with the great law of righteousness. Why should men feel impelled to do right? There are theories upon theories. At last we come upon Kant, who says that a man must do right simply because it is right. This is an answer that assumes the impossibility of an answer. It is such an answer as the child's, "Because," that goes no further.
In fact, all these tendencies of human nature, the desire for happiness, the desire for power, the impulse to seek the truth, the impulse to philanthropy, all these, and one cannot say how many others, are instinctive. All taken together make up the sum of the instincts which compose the life of man. Every animate object is, we might say, a complex of instincts. Man is the most concrete organism that exists, and with him these instincts are more numerous and far reaching than those to be found in minor and lower organisms. These instincts we cannot get behind or outside of. They make up our life. One might say that they set the bounds to our life, except that some of them stretch far away into the boundless. Of course some of these are superficial. They are merely concrete forms of others that are more fundamental. Some are the results, doubtless, of inherited habits. Some, in practice hardly to be distinguished from the others, are simply the results of one's own habits. Some, however, are more profound and are bound up with the fundamental elements and activities of our life. One might say more simply that they are bound up with the essential activities of our lives, for I suppose that there is no element of life that is not an activity.
Men speak of innate ideas as though they were something tacked on an organism at its very start, or somehow branded upon it in letters that may be read by it. Others study their own organism and that of the world at large, of infants and savages. They find no such tags or brands. In fact, what are called innate ideas, so far as they exist, are simply late abstractions made from certain active tendencies which do not so much belong to, as constitute, the life. Take, for instance, the great idea of the unity of the world. As soon as man begins to think, he unconsciously postulates this. For what is Thought? Thought is the recognition, or the attempt at the recognition, of the relations between objects. The man, the savage, if you will, sees something that makes him think. His thought is the attempt to answer the question, more or less consciously present to his mind, as to the relation between this object and the complex of objects that constitutes his world. The question is not whether such relation exists; but what is the relation. He assumes, consciously or otherwise, that there is a relation, and that he has simply to seek its nature. This assumption of relationship is made, in regard to every object that interests him. It involves the tacit assumption that such relationship exists between all objects. Here we have, at the very first movement of thought, the implication of the organic unity of the world. Of this organic unity the savage knows nothing. He could not understand what you meant if you spoke of it. Instinct is often defined as the tendency in any animate organism to act as if it knew something it does not know. The definition is an incomplete one; but it is true as far as it goes. So even the savage thinks as if he knew that all the objects in the universe were bound together in organic relationship. Of this fact, as has been said, he has no comprehension and no idea. This assumption comes to consciousness only after ages of experience and thought. It may be science that formulates it at last in a proposition and claims to have discovered it. In fact science rests upon it.
It is so with the other great ideals of life. They are bound up in certain primary impulses that are followed almost unconsciously. One has an impulse, for instance, to help another in some hour of need. Why should he not? It is the most natural thing in the world. Why should he? The question is not raised. It is an impulse as natural as any other. It is the practical recognition of the tie that binds him to his fellows. The tie is so slight that it seems insignificant, hardly noticeable. Yet it is real; and it is something that could not exist except as a part of the universal relation in which all individuals stand to one another and to the whole. By degrees, just as the ideal of truth disentangles itself from the search after truths, until at last it stands in its completeness before the spiritual vision, so the ideal of universal relationship disentangles itself from the special relationships in which men have lived. Out from the mass of special duties rises the ideal of duty in its purity and vastness. So out of the loves which bind the individual to certain of his fellows rises the ideal of a universal love. So out from the admiration of this or that pretty or beautiful thing rises the ideal of absolute beauty, the manifestation of which is recognized as one of the great ends of the universe.
It may thus be seen that these impulses or instincts of which I have spoken may exist under two forms, or rather in two somewhat widely separated stages. The first stage is that of the simple, unreasoning, perhaps hardly recognized, impulse. Such is the impulse to think, or the impulse to help another. These take their place with other impulses. By experience and thought they-are brought into consciousness. They are seen in their vastness, and, it may be, something of their sublimity. In other words, instead of a mere impulse to help another in some moment of sympathy, we have the ideal of a life of service. Instead of what might be merely a certain sense of uneasiness if one does not perform some act of helpfulness, we have the ideal of duty. So also, if we may use the term ideal in a lower sense, instead of this or that impulse to self-seeking, we have the ideal of a life of far-reaching plans, all of which converge to the one fully recognized object of selfish gain or pleasure.
Between these two extremes the hardly thought of impulse on the one side and the fully recognized universal and imperious ideal on the other, we find the place for reasoning, for conscious intellectual activity. This opens and smoothes the path between the impulse and the ideal. It forms, we might say, a broader or narrower belt between these extremes. For the impulse one can give no reason. For the ideal one can give no reason. It is its own reason. In the belt of the intellect we have the region of arguments, of reasoning; but the reasons, the ultimate reasons upon which reasoning is based, are found only in the extremes within which this belt of the intellect is enclosed. These, taken as a whole, constitute reason. It is to these that we make our ultimate appeal when we pronounce our judgment as to what is reasonable or unreasonable. This intervening belt must not be thought of as though it were one of clear intellectual light, sharply marked off from that which lies on either side. It is streaked through and through by feeling, blurred often and indistinct; yet on the whole it performs well the office that I have claimed for it.
When men insist that in religion they will trust to reason alone, they sometimes mean that they will accept nothing that cannot be proved. More often they mean that they will accept nothing that is not in harmony with the great ideals of the reason. These ideals are used not merely negatively, not merely to criticize dogmas that are urged upon belief. They are used positively. They are made the basis of the largest faith. They rise above the soul like mountain ranges. Our mental and spiritual life is enclosed by them. Mentally and spiritually we live in a valley, happy or otherwise, like that of Rasselas. Not a breath from the outer world can reach us that does not blow across these heights of reason. They stand to us for the outward world; for we cannot help believing that they have their basis also in that. They belong to the soul; and yet we do not doubt that they are the revelation of the true nature of the universe. They are the ideals of our reason; yet we cannot help believing that they are also the ideals of the world.
In a word, we cannot help believing that the world is a reasonable world. The day laborer, when he goes to his work in the morning, expecting to find the stone wall which he left half finished the night before still standing as he left it, shows that he believes that the world is a reasonable world. The mathematician, studying the formulas in accordance with which some mighty bridge is to be constructed, shows that he believes that the world is a reasonable one. The man of science, searching out the laws which control the movements of the planets, those laws which are the same yesterday, today, and forever; and the philosopher, searching out the mysteries of the universe, — these share the same faith.
Religion utters simply the same great confidence in the reasonableness of the world. The confidence of Kant that what must be done can be done, and the postulates which he based upon this, show his faith that the world is a reasonable one. When Browning says, through the lips of his David,
Do I find love so full in my nature, God's ultimate gift,
That I doubt his own love can compete with it? Here the parts shift?
Here the creatures surpass the Creator, — the end what began?—
he appeals to the reasonableness of the world. That the creature should surpass the creator in the power of love would be too unreasonable to be imagined for a moment. When Jesus says, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" he appeals to the reasonableness of the world. He meets the error which he would refute by a reductio ad absurdum; and every reductio ad absurduns derives its force from the universal assumption of the reasonableness of the world.
The difference between this assumption as made by religion and as made in respect to other relations of life, is that religion makes it with a clearer insight into its significance. It perceives that if the world is the embodied reason, it must be the manifestation, of reason; that if it be a world in which the ideals of the spiritual nature are to be fulfilled, it must be a world that is, in its essence, not material but spiritual.
When we reach this point, that is, when we begin to take seriously this confidence in the reasonableness of the world, we are met by many an objection. We are told that there are things in the world which contradict our reason. The world is not such an one as we reasonable persons would have made it. Things often go at cross purposes. There are difficulties where we would have had ease. There are sorrows where we would have had joy. There are failures where we would have had success. There is sin where we would have had holiness; hate where we would have had love.
However strange it may appear, it is true that out of these very irrationalities of the universe the special faith of religion, to a large extent, took its rise. It happened a little oddly, also, that the first method that men took to reconcile their faith in the reasonableness of the world with the facts of life was to a large extent directly opposite to that which religion has followed in these later days. To the savage, death, disease, and similar interruptions of the order of life were supposed to come by the act of some supernatural being. Whether they ever stated it or not in this formal manner, the assumption would seem to have been that if these supernatural powers would only leave men in peace, health and happiness and life itself might continue indefinitely. So, too, the destruction that came by tempest or other convulsion of nature was the act of these supernatural beings. The faith of these simple peoples in the reasonableness of the world would thus seem to have been so great that whatever of unreason they found, or believed that they found, was placed outside the world of ordinary life and ascribed to supernatural, and, therefore, in a sense, unnatural powers.
I have spoken of this way of looking at the matter as though it were peculiar to savages. In fact, it continued to have its place in the thoughts of men who had risen far above the condition of the savage. To many, plague, pestilence and famine, disturbances of whatever kind in the order of nature, have been felt to be in a special sense signs of the presence and power of the divinity. It was not merely that in regard to events which they could not comprehend men rested in the faith that a wisdom greater than their own was controlling the course of events; these things were, as I have said, regarded as the special manifestations of the divine; so that so far as science showed an order in world it seemed to leave no place for religion. We read in the story of Elijah that "God was not in the earthquake," yet there is where many have thought that they found Him in some special manner. All this was but a survival of the faith of the barbarian in the rationality of the world which showed itself by placing whatever seemed irrational outside the world. Slowly and partially it has given place to that higher faith which finds in the rationality of the world the indication of the absolute reason that rules it and which appeals to the thought of this higher reason to complement and explain the reason which is embodied in the universe. This later form of thought may also say that God is not in the earthquake. That is, so long as the earthquake is not understood, so long as it seems an interruption to the order of the world, this higher form of thought could not see in it the divine presence. It might believe, but it could not see. Only when the earthquake is understood to have its place in the orderly movement of the world is God found also in that.
In all this I have wished to illustrate the faith of man in the rationality of the world, and to show how these opposite forms of thought recognize it alike. At first the apparent unreason of the world is transferred to that supernatural power which is later seen to be the exponent and the source of the rationality that is in the world.
We can thus understand something of the nature of the strife between faith and reason which, as we have seen, played so large a part in the earlier church. The supernatural power that was called divine was, to a large extent, like the supernatural beings of the earlier religions, the seat of unreason. It stood thus opposed to rationality. The difference was that the earlier peoples sought to win over these supernatural powers, to make them reasonable, so that they would no longer interfere with, and might even promote, the rational development of human life; while in the later period which I have compared with it, men were called upon to sacrifice their reason itself to the divine unreason. Men have brought many precious offerings to God, but none more precious than the sacrifice of their reason at what was called his shrine. I do not mean, of course, that Christian worship was at any time the worship merely of unreason; but so far as the thought of God came into direct conflict with human reason, so far it obviously represented unreason, enthroned and deified.
We thus see what is the true relation between faith and reason. We see that when the nature of both is understood there is and can be no strife between them. So far is faith from being opposed to reason that it finds its object in reason. We do not find reason everywhere manifested in the world. There is much that appears irrational. Faith, so far as it is complete, affirms the absolute rationality of the universe. Where it cannot see, it believes. It postulates whatever seems to it absolutely needed, in order to represent to itself this rationality.
The assumptions made by religion are sometimes further criticized as exalting too much the human spirit. There is a tendency at present to insist that man should humble himself in the presence of the outward world; as if a single living, loving, aspiring human soul were not worth the whole physical universe put together. The older theologians used to speak scornfully of the pride of reason. Something like the same reproach we hear today only from the opposite quarter. Herbert Spencer, in criticizing a position taken by Dr. Martineau, refers to the well-known story of Alfonso of Castile, who is reported to have said that if God had consulted him he could have shown Him a better way in which to have constructed the world. Spencer says that this boast of the king was humble in comparison with the claim made by Martineau to knowledge of the divine method of creation. In regard to the special point of difference between Spencer and Martineau I will say nothing. The illustration that Spencer uses is, however, if I understand the story, an unfortunate one. I suppose that what Alfonso criticized was the complicated system of the universe, of cycles and epicycles as taught by the astronomers of his day. He accepted their account as true, and it struck him as a very awkward and complicated arrangement. He thought he could have arranged it better. If this is the truth of the story, we have here human reason criticizing the world as it was falsely supposed to be. The reason was right. We have in this an example of the triumph of reason. Surely, if we have a right to be proud of anything it is of our reason. This has weighed the sun and the stars. This has revealed the past and the future of our world. This has created ideals rising far above whatever the outward world can furnish. If anything could be the type of the power that is working in and through all things, surely it is this.
Pride of reason is, however, the last form of speech that I would use. I would speak rather of the humility of reason. After all, we walk by faith. The ideals of the reason are but dimly seen. Yet our faith is in them. We aspire towards them and are inspired by them. We have faith in them as we see them manifested by the truest and the best who have lived upon the world; as we see them in some degree confirmed by life and history, and as they offer themselves, however vaguely, to our own spiritual vision. One may feel himself exalted, as Kant felt himself, above the might and the vastness of nature; but one who feels the power of the ideas and the ideals of the reason can only: humble himself before them with that form of humility which alone befits our nature, the humility of self-forgetfulness. They are not forces that we can use; we must submit to be used by them. We see error and wrong abounding in the world; we see the self-seeking, the political corruption; we see the supremacy of things. If we take our place, as each one should among those who are striving to bring about a purer thought and a larger life, our only ground of hope for a final victory is faith in the essential reasonableness of man, the essential rationality of the world and in the supreme Reason that rules the universe.

subset: commoncrawl


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Search engines are now able to "read" website copy the same way humans do, and can recognize synonyms (like mouth, teeth, and smile). Segment your content - If you catch yourself writing a few monster paragraphs, cut them up into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Make sure you use headers, lists, and bullets when ever possible. Don't forget to add appropriate spacing. This strategy directly correlates with increased readability, and thus, linkability. That system had drawbacks what some black-hat marketers banked on, and finally Google changed its algorithms, which totally ended the practice of traditional link building practice. High authority links are great, but in my opinion, relevant links win the game every time. Good SEO practice is telling Google about this wonderful content as soon as possible so your website can be listed in the search results, preferably on the first page.
On the web, our audience is global
On page SEO refers to those elements on a site that make your page more likely to be served up when people are looking for products or services like yours. Even if you have a site already, it is vital to invest significant time and energy on keyword research before starting your SEO campaign. Target 500 to 1,000 words per post without sounding spammy or repetitive. Trust me — 500 words is not difficult when you know your business inside and out. I am already at 1,500 words for this post (unless my editor breaks out a Ginsu knife). Also, publish frequently. Try one post per week until you get the hang of writing and blogging. Then bump that up to twice per week. Although not all errors are created equal, resolving them improves Google's ability to index your site and can positively affect search rankings. If you produce great content, but no one's there to see it, does it acquire links?
How does a small local business compete with a major national chain?
Google's emphasis on links is the most significant area of overlap between its organic and local ranking algorithms. Ranking high in Google can bring you some serious traffic too. When looking at a Google results page (often referred to as Search Engine Results Page, or SERP for short), the number one result alone brings in 31% of search traffic on average. Meaning, when people search for a keyword, 31% of those searches will click the first result. The "About Us" section is often the most overlooked aspect of a company's website. Often all the focus is put on your services or products, as these are the pages which most often affect your search engine results. However, sometimes in the pursuit of SEO, we overlook the user's experience. This commonly occurs on the "About Us" page because it is a more content heavy page of a website. SEO in Hessle is here. Having a domain name that makes sense is one of the most basic and obvious ways you can help to boost your website's SEO. When deciding on a name for your domain, you must make sure it is relevant to your business. Best practice dictates that the simpler it is, the better. The practice was to build as many links as possible.
Takeaway tips for CTR
Gaz Hall, a Freelance SEO Consultant from SEO Hull, commented: "Make sure every page of your site contains at least several hundred words of helpful, well-written, relevant content; and optimize all your title tags and meta descriptions while you're at it." Do your maths - its one of the primary resources for this sort of thing. Its as simple as KS2 Maths. Really! How do you ensure that you're not just optimizing pages for keywords or topics, but rather optimizing for intent as well? In 2017 Google announced that the number of searchers on mobile phones surpassed that of desktop. If you want to get high rankings, include your keyword on the web page. Don't forget fundamental things such as making sure that your website is mobile-friendly, meta descriptions, etc. Ultimately, SEO done correctly can land your website on the first page of the SERP's (Search Engine Results Pages), and that is always the goal behind SEO. Why? Because most people doing web searches will not look past the first, and sometimes the second, results page when they've done a search. So the first page is where you want to be.
Build a dashboard in Google Analytics for tracking
Search provides results that are relevant to the activity in progress, and searchers are filtering out everything else to concentrate on that. The world is always changing, and you have to keep up. If you do, the rewards can be great. The title of a post is important for many reasons. Well-structured titles will help search engines understand what the page is about. Keyword density is no longer important and you should stop any and all strategies aiming at stuffing keywords into your content. Use that information to write exceptional content and do not be afraid to let the world know about what you have to offer.
Quality over quantity when it comes to meta tags
Search engines often reward you for updating old content. But remember, you only get a reward for actually making the content more relevant! Another method to rank well in Google is to submit your websites to article directories. This was the fast and easy way to drive a website up the search engine rankings. So if a consumer hears a message somewhere and then decides to search on Bing to get more information, many times the advertiser isn't present, and that consumer ends up taking a different path than what the advertiser would have desired. The first step in a search optimization analysis is to understand our goals and objectives for performing SEO. Not all types of SEO are needed for each client. Some clients may benefit more, for example, from local SEO than organic SEO. The first step in an effective SEO strategy is understanding the client's reason for search engine optimization. Just like you should interview others, seize opportunities to be interviewed, no matter how small the audience is. The 5-600 words that take you 15-20 minutes can turn into a few highly authoritative contextual links.


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RISE 1 – IGNITE was a historic event in the wrestling world. 40 women attended our first World Class Development Seminar and all were given unique opportunities on our first Live Event. Several established stars were also featured such as SHIMMER's Trifecta of SHIMMER Champion Mercedes Martinez, Heart of SHIMMER Champion Nicole Savoy and AIW Women's Champion "Queen of Spades" Shayna Baszler, "Sweet" Saraya Knight and the shock of Skilled Death Artist #1 unmasking herself, unveiling the incomparable Nicole Matthews.
Coming out of RISE 2 – ASCENT Friday, January 27 in South Gate, CA, we will have a surprise for a select few participants of our second World Class Development Seminar. We will begin to establish a roster of RISE talent!
Our events will continue to have featured talent. In time, our Live Event cards will be roughly one third veterans and established talent, one third RISE Roster and one third participants picked right from our seminars! In addition to the Phoenix of RISE Championship, slots on the roster will be something all RISE Seminar Participants will be fighting for each outing!
And now, we kick off our next online, interactive video campaign, "2 The Roster!" Members of RISE 2 AND RISE 1 are invited to give an online promotional video, not to exceed two minutes in length, telling the fans why they should be moved "2 The Roster!"
Though the final decision will rest with the management of RISE, we listen to our fans. We will have online polls and be watching social media discussions very, very closely and factor these into our decisions. When discussing who you would like to see on the RISE Roster, please use hashtag #TwoTR.
Entries will be online starting within a week! So ladies, let's get those cameras rolling!
And, we feel it goes without saying, but we will formally declare it here. The first member of the RISE Roster is the reigning Phoenix of RISE Champion, Angel Dust!
Who will be next?
Women wrestlers, we still have seats open in our World Class Development Seminar with Saraya Knight and Colt Cabana January 27 in South Gate, CA. To sign up, please email email@example.com, Subject: RISE 2 Interest.
Fans, tickets are starting to dwindle for RISE 2 – ASCENT. Front Row are nearly gone, and at $15, they are expected to sell out this week. Second Row reserved are $10. General Admission just $5. All tickets include entry to our Meet and Greet starting at 6:30 PM. Get yours today at The Shop!
Let's fill in the blank. "___________ 2 The Roster!"


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Hard Money Mobile has just granted a $1.95 million construction loan to 1266 Pacific LLC, in Crown Heights. This prime property, which was purchased one year ago, is one of the most sought-after residential areas in Brooklyn, NY.
The building plans call for a five-story structure housing 10 residential apartments. A community facility space, retained by the owner, will be established in the basement for the use of the residents.
The total cost for the project is estimated at $3,350,000 and the borrower appraises the value upon completion at $6,000,000.
The borrower is an experienced builder with 10 similar projects successfully completed.
A broker's fee of $19,000.00 was paid at the closing.


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[The following is a poem that I wrote in a creative writing class during my junior year of college. It's not my best work, but I wanted to share it with you today.]
Third period, fingers fly on my calculator
as I take my business calculus exam.
My world is derivatives,
predictable change.
Each problem has its answer.
The bell rings and echoes through the locker-lined hall
as it dismisses me to fourth period.
I reassure myself I did well on the test
as I walk to concert choir.
Nothing seems different about that long hallway to the music wing;
it's the same channel to my escape from Chaucer, equations,
and beakers brimming with hydrochloric acid.
I enter the classroom
to find it overturned.
No one is in their usual place.
Today's lesson plans have changed.
Panicked voices fill the room like poison gas
as the newscaster's voice blares from the television.
I watch life in slow-motion.
The classroom is now foreign.
An alto struggles for air in between sobs
A group of three surrounds her, offer their comfort.
Her father
is away
on business.
Cheeks flushed and damp with tears.
Some students, wearing faces of stone, sit and stare at CNN.
Some are talking in hushed tones, filling in details on the breaking news.
I watch the replay.
A plane interrupts the pristine blue sky with an explosion of brilliant fire.
The replay.
Monstrous gray clouds of smoke smother the morning.
The replay.
Running in droves from the fallen skyline, people scream and ask God, "Why?"
The malevolent scene is burned into my brain.
We have entered a new world.
A world where flags wave above every doorstep, yellow ribbons adorn
almost every minivan, car, and truck.
Is this new world
really so different?
Or do we just feel better believing
it is somehow changed?
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
3 comments:
Thank you for sharing. It's amazing how most people can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when it happened.
- September 11, 2008 at 8:02 AM
- Kyla Bea said...
Very poignant, it's a hard day.
- September 11, 2008 at 11:43 AM
- sarah marie p said...
Wow. This is really good. Thanks for posting this ...
Just wondering - did you actually write this your junior year of high school, not college? I saw on your myspace that you're 24 like me - but who knows, maybe you were super smart and in college way ahead of your time!
- September 11, 2008 at 9:02 PM
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Children categories
Braiding by Vickie Cozzens
Need a braider, call Vickie Cozzens! Vickie loves to braid horses and ponies. $45 hunter braids (forelock & mane); $30 Taill and $5 to tie in a fake tail, and $20 pull mane. Call or text Vickie for an appointment. Cell: 801-808-1260
Nicki Sawaya Equine Appraiser
for American Society of Equine Appraisers accredited member (Appraiser #06127) Why would you need an equine appraiser? Tax deductions on charitable donations Establish market values for sales and purchases Insurance claims and policies Legal estate matters and wills Matrimonial agreements or divorce settlements Dissolving or establishing partnerships Bank financing and/or…


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'Blue Mountain' turf is the lewd and crude
- |
It's a party for the Blue Mountain State Goats football team, and beautiful young women in various states of undress are rubbing up against all the players, who are drunk and getting drunker when they're not bonging and snorting coke, and a guy named Sammy is in the corner puking into a feeding bowl, and a live goat is standing beside him chowing down in between Sammy's heaves.
And if that image inspires a smile, rather than a constriction of your throat, you may be the ideal audience for Spike TV's "Blue Mountain State.'' The new show, a rare scripted effort from the young-guys' channel known for the likes of "UFC Fight Night'' and "1000 Ways to Die,'' is clearly meant for guys who love lewd, adolescent humor that revolves around fluids and gasses going into or coming out of the body. Created by Watertown native Eric Falconer and his writing-producing partner Chris Romano, "Blue Mountain State'' is an unapologetic take on movies such as "Porky's'' and "Animal House.''
Alas, it's an amateurish take that feels more like a string of failed "Funny or Die'' sketches than a fully developed series with distinct characters. "Blue Mountain State,'' tonight at 10, unfolds through the eyes of three freshmen: arrogant backup quarterback Alex (Darin Brooks), his geeky best friend and mascot wannabe, Sammy (Chris Romano), and star recruit Craig (Sam Jones III, also originally from the Boston area). In the premiere, these three types get caught up in hazing rituals that involve countless gay jokes, the shaving of body hair, and a race in jock straps that involves Oreo cookies. It's all stock, predictable hazing shenanigans, with the sadistic and homoerotically inclined team captain, Thad (Alan Ritchson), taking special pleasure in doling out his torture.
The women? Oy. Almost all of them are subservient students who apparently live to sleep with the football players. Only one - Craig's girlfriend, Denise (Gabrielle Dennis) - seems to have a name, and she's a shrew who won't sleep with him and who is obsessed with making him into a rich pro player. Classic teen-boy fears and desires run rampant through the show. Fittingly, it airs after Spike's reruns of "Entourage,'' another comedy that traffics in teen-boy fantasy.
Falconer and Romano have worked on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' and "The Sarah Silverman Program,'' shows that also get raunchy to some extent. But those two comedies hold onto a self-conscious wit and an original sense of plotting that "Blue Mountain State'' fumbles.
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at email@example.com.


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The Cartoon Gospel Web Portal!
Home of the Cartoon Gospels, The Cartoon Old Testament, The Cartoon New Testament and more!
All NEW ...
The Cartoon Gospel BLOG is a companion to the CartoonGospel.com which part of The-Cartoonist.Com network of quality cartooning. It is Christian cartooning in the form of visual parables - short, humorous and memorable looks into the scriptures. Bible cartoons and more.


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David Farmer
Problems I and II are independent, and it is better to do one of them well than both of them poorly. Everyone should do problem III.
Problem I) Numerical experimentation is a useful way to guess what is true. This can help avoid wasted work trying to prove something that isn't true, or it can suggest an answer which can then be proven.
For each function below, determine if $$ F_j(T) := \int_0^T f_j(t) dt $$ has a main term, or whether it is 0 on average and the remainder is just noise. If you think there is a main term, then subtract it off and try to guess whether there is a secondary main term.
Problem II) Plot the Hardy Z-function on several intervals. Look carefully at the plots, and try to gain an intuition for the relationship between the spacing between the zeros and the shape of the graph.
Now we want to determine to what extent the Z-function is really just a function of its zeros. So we want to make another function with the same zeros (in a particular range) as the Z-function, and then see if the two functions look the same.
Choose an interval, find all the zeros of the zeta function in that interval, and then make another function with those same zeros.
The easiest thing to do is to make a polynomial with those zeros. Does the polynomial look like the Z-function? (My guess is that your answer will be 'no'.)
How can we make a function which does a beter job than a polynomial? One possibility is to start with a function that already has a lot of zeros and then "move around" the zeros to be where you want them. The function $\cos(K t)$ is a good choice, provided that you choose the parameter $K$ properly.
Make such a function, and see if it looks like the Z-function. (My guess is that the answer will be 'yes'). But even if it does look like the Z-function, it probably will be off be a constant factor. This is analogous to having two polynomials with the same zeros: one will be a constant multple of the other. Determine the constant factor for your example.
Now repeat the process in another region. And then another. Hopefully you have automated the process so that this is easy. Do you see any pattern in the multiplicative constant, as a function of where you base your model?
Problem III) Before Tuesday morning, read: Sections 3.2 and 3.6 of "Computational methods and experiments in analytic number theory" by Michael Rubinstein. Only read other sections as needed to understand the assigned sections. The paper is available at http://front.math.ucdavis.edu/0412.5181.


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15-23 September, with a talk on 22nd at 4pm.
Carmen Constantine at London Design Festival
Booking essential - Use the TICKETS button below to reserve your space.
Talk - Saturday 22 September 4pm
During the week of the London Design Festival, CEO and Creative Director, Carol Wilson-Frith will give a short talk about her journey in design, embracing your own artistic creativity, authenticity and remaining relevant in a continuously evolving industry. Limited Spaces.
Showcase - Sun-Wed 11am-4pm, Thurs-Sat 11am-7pm.
Demonstrating craftsmanship from the UK, see the stunning showcase of London-based Luxury brand Carmen Constantine's high-end sculpted wire-stitched furniture edit, photography and mineral scented candles and diffusers at Battersea Power Station. Carmen Constantine journey will show the intricate detail and craftsmanship that goes into making bespoke hand-crafted cabinets accompanied by a multisensory, experience of film, smell, texture and touch. The CEO and Creative Director, Carol Wilson-Frith will give a talk about embracing your own artistic, exceptional creativity and remaining innovative and relevant in a continuously evolving industry.


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The idea for this story came from the fairy tale Tatterhood. I had to laugh when the queen didn't follow the woman's instructions for how to conceive a child. Then I wondered, what would happen if someone did follow the instructions for once?
The story went through many drafts trying to get it right. I initially had an additional scene where Kamila and her husband decide what to do with the second flower. I decided to cut it because with such a complicated issue, it was better to leave the ending vague so the reader can decide for themselves what is best. After all, I've never had to wrestle with infertility, though I do know people who have.
Many thanks to my many beta readers from my writing group (Emily Debenham and John), Critters (Col, Patricia, Emily, Jeff, Shawn, Kendra, Des, Genivieve, Daniel, Reginald, Darla, Jeff, Lane, Alicia, Rustin, Elden, Richard, Rebecca, Harry, Raymond, Remeres, Wayne, Joel, Dan, Juan, Jordan, Kevin, Rebecca, Christopher, Russell, Russ, and Jeff), Futurescapes (Holly, Elizabeth, Mary Robinette Kowal, Ben, and Sofia), and elsewhere (Rajeev).
This story is dedicated to Kayla.


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This 100% pure East Cape Manuka essential oil works with the body to assist its natural healing ability. It's stronger than tea tree oil, and is known to help prevent acne and many minor skin irritations.
But what makes this bottle so special is how the oil inside is made?
- Green leaves and twigs from specific trees in the East Cape region provide optimal health properties
- Carefully selected and hand-cut in a sustainable manner
- Low temperature steam distillation ensures potent enzymes stay in tact
- Distillation process uses water from local springs
- Sustainably harvested right here in New Zealand
- No chemicals – ever!
This is one powerful oil with dozens of applications. Natural healing power with centuries of experience behind it
That's what makes this pure Manuka oil a perfect staple addition to any home first aid kit. See what all the fuss is about and try it today.
Our East Cape manuka oil is a powerful essential oil. It can be used in the same way as tea tree oil - straight out of the bottle to help with a variety of conditions.
Here are just a few options
- Add a few drops to lotion, shampoo, or moisturiser.
- Fill the bathtub with hot water and 15 drops of Manuka essential oil.
- Pour boiling water into a bowl and add 10 drops of Manuka oil. Inhale the vapours.
- Massage onto tired muscles.
- Apply directly to troubled skin.
Scroll down to see more uses below.
100% Pure East Cape Manuka Oil
"Amazing product. Cured a skin problem I have had for many years." - Lorraine J
"Great Oil. I love the aroma of the Manuka oil and it's many uses! It is now a staple in my medicine cupboard!" - Donella
Caution: Although our Manuka products and essential oils have been shown through practical use to be very compatible with most skin types it is recommended that people with especially sensitive skin first try the product on a small area before using more widely.
Read the label, use only as directed.
ManukaRx Auckland
*Please note that currently due to Covid19 there may be some delays in you receiving your order due to delays in the courier network*
Spend over $30 for FREE NZ Shipping!
For orders below $30, the cost in New Zealand is $4.95 or $7.95 for rural (RD) delivery.
Shipping of most items from ManukaRx are by tracked courier and takes 1 - 4 business days for delivery.
Australia Shipping
Spend over $75 for FREE AU Shipping!
Shipping for orders below $75 to Australia is $10 which takes between 5 - 15 business days, or we offer express delivery for $20 which takes between 3 - 6 business days.
Worldwide Shipping
Spend over $200 for FREE Worldwide Shipping!
We currently ship to most countries worldwide at a rate of $25 per order which takes between 5 - 15 business days, or we offer an express shipping option for $50 which takes between 3 - 6 business days.
Most orders received before 11:00AM NZT will be shipped the same day, provided the product ordered is in stock.
Orders are not usually processed or shipped on Saturday or Sunday.


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Our second-born son is finally in our arms!
Baby Julep (as usual, not his real name) was born into water at home on April 28th, at 7 lb, 6.5 oz. He was eagerly welcomed earthside by his big brother MaiTai with a special cord burning ceremony.
Endless thanks to our amazing birth team:
Cathy Rude, New Life Birth Services
Nicole Deelah, Sage Beginnings Doula Services
Rachelle Davis, Labor of Love Birth Services
Stephanie Shirley, Stephanie Shirley Photography
Birth story to come soon. 🙂


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Several dozen Seattle taxi owners and drivers turned out Thursday morning to testify on opposite sides of a proposal before the City Council that could boost the price and the number of cabs in the city – and require cabbies drive fuel-efficient vehicles.
Mayor Greg Nickels has asked for authority to grant up to 1,000 taxi cab licenses. The current cap is 667. He also wants to bump cab rates, incorporating a fuel surcharge into the base rate and increasing the flat rate to the airport from downtown hotels from $28 to $30.
"We haven't issued any (new) licenses since 1990," said Fred Podesta, of Nickels' executive administration. "We do believe we need more taxis on the street."
Nickels' proposal would grant licenses only to people who actually drive the vehicles full time for five years. Licenses, which cost $300 a year, have been privately leased to others for more than $100,000, officials said. (The legislation would double the cost of an annual license.)
The plan aims to end such sub-letting. License holders will not be allowed to transfer their llicenses, said Denise Movius, of Nickels' consumer affairs office. "These provisions are intended to prevent speculators from obtaining taxi licenses," she said, adding that the goal is to protect drivers from exploitation.
The measures would grant Nickels' office increased authority over what sort of taxis are allowed in the city. The plan, an official with his office said, would be to require that any new cabs get at least 30 miles per gallon, except handicapped-accessible vans and vehicles using alternative fuels. "A green taxi fleet makes sense to us," Podesta said.
Still, that standard would not be set in law. Rather, it would be up to city officials to set the rules.
Cab drivers largely backed the measures, saying owners are squeezing too much from them in car lease, maintenance and other costs – while fares remain constant.
"We have a chance now to wrest some of the some of the control from the large companies," one driver told the council's Finance & Budget committee.
Cab owners complained that hybrids and other fuel-efficient cars are too expensive to purchase and maintain. The free market – namely, escalating gas prices – will push drivers to more efficient cars, some said. They also argued Seattle does not need for more licensed drivers.
Chris Van Dyk, a lobbyist for the cab owners, said the city would be overstepping its authority. Washington case law allows only that the city can impose rules to "ensure safety and reliable service," Van Dyk said.
Seattle officials responded that they'd run the measure by city attorneys and feel it's legally sound.
Council members at the meeting outlined some questions they still had but did not indicate whether they expect to support it. They did say they wanted to know more about how it might impact consumers.
"We want to have as many alternative ways of getting around town as possible and this is, of course, one of the very good ways of getting around town," said Councilwoman Jean Godden, who chairs the committee. . "We'd like to hear what customers are feeling about it."
The proposal is scheduled for a June 5 public hearing. The committee won't likely vote on it until July 7, Godden said.


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Years ago, we might have all suspected that the bulk of users on Facebook are the backpack-wearing teeny boppers, however the fastest growing segments are constantly changing and the numbers appear to lead us in an entirely new direction. Statistics are constantly being released with a breakdown of the amount of new members and their associated demographics that at times can be surprising or even game changing. In order to conduct a successful Facebook ad campaign or even develop a new business venture, it is imperative to be current in social media trends and understand exactly who your target audience is and how to reach them.
Here's what we're finding are the biggest changes coming to social media to watch out for:
1. Age
The fastest growing demographic on social media surprisingly is the 65+-age bracket. The numbers are showing a projected growth from 14.6 million to 16.6 million from 2015 to 2016. A gain of 2 million "senior" users in one year's time! This 0.8% growth rate is the fastest age bracket than any other on Facebook. In fact, more than half of all online adults 65 and older are using Facebook! Now that we have access to a much older demographic, it might be time to rethink product offerings or targeted ad campaigns in order to capitalize on this fast-growing segment.
2. Mobile
Of the Facebook conglomerate's 1.44 billion "monthly active users" (MAU) as of this March (that is including users on Instagram, WhatsApp and other Facebook owned companies), 1.25 billion were categorized as mobile. This equates to a 13% year-over-year increase, which is representative of a much larger trend where users are moving away from personal computers and towards smart phones and tablet devices. With the number of mobile users proving to be so high, it is definitely worth consideration of how content displays on mobile devices and imperative that sharing to social media from mobile be as straightforward as possible.
3. Optimal Time
Knowing when the user is most active on the social network can be key to optimizing your ad campaign or even simply getting shares on any organic posts. 86% of posts are published during the workweek, with engagement peaking (not surprisingly) between Thursday and Friday. In the afternoon, 1pm predicts the most shares and at 3pm the most clicks with a broader time suggestion of posting content between the hours of 9am and 7pm. Considering that the most activity takes place during working hours pairs well with Facebook's newest venture called Facebook at Work, which legitimizes the inevitable use of the site during working hours. It is intended to stimulate social activity within the office however instead of sharing photos from the weekend, users will be sharing corporate projects or events. Although this site has yet to be released and the details regarding advertising have yet to be determined, this could be representative of an opportunity to tailor ad campaigns to a larger corporate audience. Utilizing Facebook's existing ad campaign audience selection criterion, it could very well allow the user to specify based on industry and company size furthering the possibilities for direct marketing.
Staying current on Facebook trends involves research, analysis and time but it is the key to a successful ad campaign or new business venture. Understanding who your audience is and how they behave can be the difference between success and failure in this highly competitive business world.


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Brook Wilke, the manager of the W.K. Kellogg Farm at KBS, has been accepted into the Great Lakes Leadership Academy's Emerging Leader Program for 2018. This program will allow him to increase his leadership skills and grow personally and professionally alongside a cohort of like-minded leaders in agriculture and natural resources from all over Michigan.
"My whole life, I've genuinely wanted to make a difference in agriculture," Wilke said. "I want to improve sustainability, so that we can do agriculture in a way that's productive and profitable, but not at the expense of the environment."
The goal of the GLLA's program is to raise the next generation of leaders in agriculture and natural resources in Michigan, and invest in people that are going to make a difference and have the platform to do so. The program's cohort will meet three times for four days each, once in late April, once in July, and once in October. They will work and learn collaboratively, so Wilke will have a great opportunity to build a strong network with other equally invested leaders across the state.
"I'm really looking forward to gaining new skills so I have more to share with others," said Wilke. "After I do this program, I'll have the chance to give back to future cohort members as well as the community."
We at KBS and the leadership of the College of Agricultural Resources extend our warmest congratulations to him, and look forward to learning from him as he continues to grow as a leader.
Wilke earned his Ph.D. at KBS in former faculty member Sieg Snapp's lab. He originally hails from Nebraska, and now lives here in Michigan, with his wife Emily and their children.


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You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2010.
Georgia's children, all 2.4 million of them, make up one of the largest blocks of citizens but,come next Tuesday, they have no vote.
When you and I go to the polls, let us raise our voices for children. Let's reflect on which candidates — from the highest position of governor to the many influential positions in the legislature, school boards, and county commissions — will help to set a vision for Georgia that gives high priority to children.
The Gubernatorial Candidates spoke on early childhood at the Children's Summit (select clip 4 and 5). The Superintendent Candidates responded to questions sponsored by education and child advocates. And the candidates for Insurance Commissioner were queried about the new health law.
There is no "do-over" for childhood. We have only one chance to get it right. When the governor we elect on November 2 leaves office in 2015 or 2019, our toddlers should be reading, our middle schoolers should be dreaming of higher education, and our high schoolers should be nurses, lawyers, plumbers, developers — the workforce that we all depend on.
For their sake and for ours, let's get it right on November 2.
As the November 2 elections draw closer and as the rhetoric among the candidates becomes more heated, Georgians may start to feel "voter fatigue" and may begin to wonder if any common ground exists among the candidates. Thankfully, we do have an example of how the two leading candidates for Governor each has demonstrated leadership and support for a program that is helping many working families in Georgia—PeachCare for Kids. PeachCare is our state's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which was created by federal legislation in 1997 and was implemented in Georgia in 1998. Although the initial creation of CHIP was through the work of federal legislators on Capitol Hill, it was our leaders here in the state who put it to work for Georgians. Governor Barnes was in office at the time that the PeachCare program was off and running, and Congressman Deal was one of the federal representatives who boldly spoke out about the importance of PeachCare when the program was threatened with extinction in 2008.
The conversations may become more heated. The tv ads and mailers seemingly may be caked in mud. BUT we have seen how each of these men has stepped up in the past to make sure that Georgia's PeachCare program was not only effective for kids and families but also cost-effective for the state.
We can only hope that the success of PeachCare's creation is eclipsed by even greater policies to benefit kids and families in Georgia throughout the next four years.
Joann Yoon, Assoc. Policy Director for Child Health


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Good prenatal care is essential for you and your baby. healthcare provider right away and schedule your first prenatal visit. During that visit you'll be screened for certain conditions that could lead to complications.If you haven't yet chosen a provider, get started now. Finding the right person — whether you're looking for a doctor or a midwife — can take a while. In the meantime, let your current caregiver know if you're taking medication or have any medical concerns.
Most prenatal supplements contain more folic acid and iron than finding a standard multivitamin.It's important to get enough folic acid before conception and during early pregnancy. Folic acid greatly reduces your baby's risk of developing neural tube birth defects such as spina bifida.Ideally, it should start taking 400 micrograms of folic acid at least one month before becoming pregnant. Once your pregnancy is confirmed, up your daily dose to 600 mcg.it is also need to make sure you're getting enough iron. we iron requirement increases significantly during pregnancy, especially during the second and third trimesters.some instructions are follows as
* Eat five or six well-balanced meals each day.
* Take a prenatal vitamin each day as directed by your obstetrician or midwife.
* Drink plenty of fluids — at least eight to 10 glasses a day — avoiding caffeine and artificial coloring.
* Don't drink alcohol.
* Don't smoke or allow yourself to be exposed to secondhand smoke.
* Exercise — it's important for your general health and also can help reduce stress.
* Get adequate sleep — at least eight hours a night. If you're suffering from sleep disturbances, take naps during the day and see your physician for advice.
* Wear comfortable, nonrestricting shoes and put your feet up several times a day to prevent fatigue and swelling of the feet, legs, and ankles.
* Continue to wear a safety belt while riding in motor vehicles.
* Don't take over-the-counter medications or herbal remedies without first consulting your obstetrician or midwife.


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€69,000 Ski Apartment Valmorel
- Your Agent
- Sandy Harris-Smith - View Portfolio
- Contact Tel
- 08700 11 51 51 (UK only) 00 33 553 608 488 (Other)
- Contact Email
- Ask us any question about this property
- Save
- Ski Area
- Le Grand Domain
- Ski Resort
- Valmorel
- Price / Ref
€69,000 /
agency fees to be paid by the seller
- Land M2 / Hab M2
- 4 / 18
Valmorel 22 M² fully furnished studio ski apartment space saving floor plan of 17.70 M² with sunny 4.30 M² balcony with mountain views and ski locker.
Property Features
- In ski resort
- Mountain views.
- Small lockable storage area where you can stash your skis and boards.
Property Description
Fantastic safe, investment - For Sale a fully furnished freehold ski apartment located next to the piste in a very popular residence. The Valmorel ski resort was voted best family ski resort in 2014 enjoy Valmorel, Doucy, Saint François Longchamp and Celliers all linked with a 165 km of groomed pistes and many off piste tracks and trails to enjoy. Imagine waking up to great mountain views from your very own sunny balcony, the apartment also includes a good size ski locker. Great buy, low management fees with access 365 days a year.
This is a very affordable lock up and leave holiday home or permanent residence for those wishing to escape the rat race of life, you can rent out this apartment using on site management companies who take care of everything for you keeping just 25% of the rent to generate a regular income during the winter ski season and summer season. You can decide how many weeks you want to enjoy your apartment and let the management company take care of things when you are not using your apartment, this is a very cost effective and great way to own a second home. Please contact the listing agent directly for more information, this apartment is available now and visits to view can be arranged immediately.
Located in the resort of Valmorel, in the heart of the Tarentaise Massif, the residence "Le Ruisseau" welcomes you to this typical Savoyard resort, full of charm and nestled in an unspoilt setting. The apartments are warmly decorated and provide all modern comfort. Valmorel is a village resort with typical charm with a traditional architecture made of wood, stone and slate. Le Grand Domaine offers all the diversity of the great outdoors. Reserved to pedestrians, the heart of Valmorel enables to discover a lively village. The ski area Grand Domaine covers 165 km and includes 85 tracks, 20 km of cross country ski trails and 1 km of footpaths.
Le Grand Domain Ski Area
Le Grand Domain consists of Valmorel, Celliers, Doucy and Saint-François Longchamp. It's an excellent ski area that remains relatively unknown to many British skiers in comparison to the nearby ski areas of the Three Valleys and Espace Killy. In fact the back of this area actually overlooks the Belleville valley, one of the Three Valleys.
Saint-François Longchamp is located in the heart of the Maurienne Valley, in the south of Savoie whilst the resorts of Valmorel, Doucy and Celliers are based in the heart of the Tarentaise mountain range, and provide skiing for those who like to be a little closer to nature.
The ski area is spread over an altitude of 1,300 to 2,832 metres offering a wonderful 160kms of piste. It also has a vast range of Nordic skiing circuits available and this also includes separate resorts like Naves. There is no doubt that this area caters particularly well for families and the French flock here, hence there are more apartments than chalets. It is an area of outstanding beauty, great skiing and a vast wilderness away from the piste.
The resorts are very varied; Valmorel is the largest and most well known with a lovely village centre and lively atmosphere. Saint-François is a small bur well conceived resort that is also family orientated. Celliers is a tiny mountain village with an auberge that just happens to have a ski lift that links in to this area. This is a ski destination for those who really like to be far from the madding crowds.
Valmorel Ski Resort
Valmorel is a charming ski resort; it is a smaller size with some of its neighbours and is often compared to the huge resorts of nearby Three Valleys and Espace Killy, which is a bit unfair as this resort has a lot to offer in the way of skiing and charm. The centre is pedestrianised giving the après ski a very cosy and fun feel.
The resort nestles on the edge of the forest, next to the Cheval noir peak - Valmorel is a village that melts in with the landscape. The wooded, stoned and lauze roofed chalets spread around the ski lift departure points, the well designed centre and nice pedestrian street full of shops and restaurants give Valmorel a heart and it is a place where you will feel welcome and gives Valmorel its unrivalled character of a Savoyard village.
Also very popular and busy in the summer when tourists come to enjoy every type of mountain activity as well as the beautiful views and flower meadows. The ski area offers a diversity of terrain for the confirmed and adventurous skiers on the vertiginous black slopes and yet is also reassuring for beginners and children to learn on the gentle slopes of summer pastures.
Before I lived here I used to come for long weekends to Valmorel – and never had a dull visit, it always delivers for me. Specially equipped and secured areas have been designed especially for those new to the snow: 2 beginner stadiums for adults and children, and for those not so new - a snowpark including a half-pipe and a boarder cross.
Down the valley from Valmorel you'll find La Léchère a small thermal town which provides all sorts of therapies to experiment with! Valmorel also has some charming satellite resorts which in themselves are worth a visit. Doucy Combelouvière, Longchamp and Celliers all with their own ski lifts and identity.
If you're feeling adventurous get yourself a guide, the off-piste is meant to be interesting! So in winter this resort sits best with beginners and intermediates but also has a lot to offer the more hardened skier who is prepared to seek out the challenges.
In summer it's a delight, the cycling in particular is stunning with plenty of refuges open for very good lunches. This is a great place to buy with prices lower than its neighbouring resorts mostly because it hasn't got the following that the others have.
DPE : We are in the process of updating all DPE test.