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Martin Luther King was of the opinion that the Roman Catholic Institution was abusing indulgences for the purpose of gaining financial gain, which led him to criticize the church. Is it possible that Martin Luther was a heretic?
Luther’s anger toward the clergy grew as he learned that they were selling ″indulgences,″ which promised remission from punishments for sin, either for a person who was still alive or for a person who had died and was believed to be in purgatory.
Luther’s views on this matter became increasingly controversial.
On October 31st, 1517, he had his ″95 Theses″ published, in which he railed against the abuses of papal power and the sale of indulgences.
1 How did Martin Luther react to the Catholic Church?
2 Why did Martin Luther King criticize the Roman Catholic Church?
3 What did Martin Luther say about indulgences?
4 Why was Luther able to criticize the Roman Catholic Church?
5 What did Martin Luther say about the Catholic Church?
6 What were 3 criticisms of the Catholic Church?
7 What reasons did Martin Luther have to support the reformation?
8 What were the 3 main ideas of Martin Luther?
9 When did Martin Luther criticize the Catholic Church?
10 What were some of the major criticisms of the Catholic Church?
11 What were the criticism of the Reformation movement over the Catholic Church explain?
How did Martin Luther react to the Catholic Church?
In the year 1517, Martin Luther found himself in his first direct dispute with the institution of the church as a result of the church’s practice of selling indulgences. Indulgences were first made available for purchase to members of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Leo X, who did this in order to raise money for the building of Saint Peter’s Basilica.
You might be interested: Where Is The Church Of Inhibition?
Why did Martin Luther King criticize the Roman Catholic Church?
It railed against corrupt behavior. Martin Luther King was of the opinion that the Roman Catholic Institution was abusing indulgences for the purpose of gaining financial gain, which led him to criticize the church. Martin Luther King was undoubtedly one of the most influential individuals in the history of the Western world.
What did Martin Luther say about indulgences?
Because Luther believed that a person may be saved only on the basis of their faith, he began to criticize the self-indulgent practices that were prevalent within the Catholic Church. Not only did he have a problem with the extravagant spending of the church, but he also had a problem with the idea that people could buy indulgences for themselves.
Why was Luther able to criticize the Roman Catholic Church?
Because Luther held the notion that one may be justified by faith alone, he began to challenge the self-indulgent behaviors of the Catholic Church. Not only did he take issue with the lavish spending of the church, but he also took issue with the concept of indulgences. He was of the opinion that the Catholic Church did not have the authority to forgive the sins of its members.
What did Martin Luther say about the Catholic Church?
These included the ideas that one could only be saved by having trust in God and that the Bible was the only reliable source for knowledge on one’s religious beliefs. Perhaps most controversially, Luther held the belief that all Christians were equal in the eyes of God, and as a result, there was no requirement for the church to have a Pope at all.
You might be interested: How To Go To Confession In The Catholic Church?
What were 3 criticisms of the Catholic Church?
Some people thought that the Leaders were corrupt. The popes both waged wars and spent lavishly on their own pleasure. The lower clergy had a poor education and frequently violated their priestly vows.
What reasons did Martin Luther have to support the reformation?
The practice of selling indulgences, in which individuals would pay money to have their sins forgiven by the clergy so that they may enter paradise, was the primary source of worry for Martin Luther. His beliefs swiftly became widespread, giving birth to more voices of opposition as well as, in due course, the development of Lutheranism, Calvinism, and the Church of England.
What were the 3 main ideas of Martin Luther?
His teachings were based on three primary themes.
The first was that the only way for people to be saved was to have confidence in the gift of forgiveness that God offers.
The Christian Church preached that a person must be saved by both their faith and their ‘good acts.’ The words of the Bible need to serve as the unmistakable foundation for all teachings promulgated by the Church.
The pope and the traditions of the Church were both unreliable authorities.
When did Martin Luther criticize the Catholic Church?
Martin Luther, in an effort to protest the practice of papal indulgences, often known as the atonement of sins by the payment of money, affixed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517.
What were some of the major criticisms of the Catholic Church?
Criticism of various actions taken by Catholics throughout history Heresy and heretics were persecuted throughout history.
The Catholic Inquisition
Anti-semitism in medieval Europe
Controversy around sexual assault
You might be interested: What Happened With Hillsong Church?
What were the criticism of the Reformation movement over the Catholic Church explain?
The authority and practices of the Church came under attack during the Protestant Reformation, which broke apart the previously held religious harmony in Europe and set the stage for several bloody conflicts between Catholics and Protestants.
The Reformation would play an important role in bolstering the power of secular rulers, so preparing the path for the establishment of modern nation-states.
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Saturday 8 November 2003, by SUDARSHAN*V.
If India intended to kill with kindness, Pakistan did not quite let it do so. Thus was another peace initiative reduced to a merry farce Updates
On October 22, the Pakistani high commission received a call from South Block requesting its high commissioner, Aziz Ahmed Khan, to come down for a meeting with the Indian foreign secretary, Kanwal Sibal, the same afternoon. Already, television channels were flashing the news about deputy prime minister L.K. Advani’s willingness to meet the leaders of the Kashmiri separatist umbrella organisation, the Hurriyat. There couldn’t have been a more propitious omen.
When Khan and Deputy High Commissioner Syed Munawar Bhatti reached South Block, Sibal informed them about India’s decision to present a set of 12 proposals to nurture peace. Over the next half hour, Sibal proceeded to orally convey the details of the proposals to Khan and Bhatti. The Pakistanis wondered whether India would go to the media with the details.
The Pakistani diplomats took less than 15 minutes to drive down from South Block to the their high commission.
On reaching there, they found the TV channels beaming live the press conference external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha had convened on India’s 12 proposals; New Delhi was going to town on them. Perhaps it rendered easy the Pakistani diplomats’ task of briefing their headquarters: they simply told Islamabad to tune in to Indian TV channels.
Reciprocity is the defining feature of Indo-Pak diplomatic relations. A week later, on October 29, Islamabad emulated India to script a PR exercise in much the same way. Indian high commissioner Shiv Shankar Menon and the deputy high commissioner T.C.A. Raghavan were summoned to the foreign office, where, for precisely half an hour, they took down notes as Pakistani foreign secretary Riaz Khokhar orally detailed his country’s response to India’s proposals. Soon, the Pakistani TV channels were telecasting live Khokhar’s press conference.
Call it comedy, call it ridiculous, or even shrug your shoulders and say what else was to be expected from India and Pakistan; there is little denying that the latest round of peace initiative was diplomacy through the media, deliberately shunning the opportunity of taking recourse to diplomatic channels to address issues of some import. Contrast this to the handling of the discussions between National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra and his Chinese interlocutor Dai Bingguo on the contentious boundary question.
At the end of the discussions, a brief press statement was released saying the meeting was cordial, and that they had agreed to meet on mutually acceptable dates in Beijing.
But there were other aspects of the initiative that raised some eyebrows. For the Pakistanis, some of the Indian proposals had a ring of familiarity. As a senior Pakistani diplomat points out: "We were not really surprised at the so-called Indian proposals. Our naval attache in Delhi, for example, met representatives of the Indian Navy way back in the third week of February 2001 and later in May this year to seek a working arrangement between the Indian Coast Guard and our Maritime Security Agency. When we proposed it, all they said was: ’We will get back to you.’ We had been waiting all this while."
New Delhi, obviously, was working on the assumption that since some of the ideas had been initiated by Pakistan, Islamabad would find it difficult to reject those. For instance, Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had on October 28 suggested a resumption of sporting and rail links between the two countries when he had called up to reciprocate Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s peace initiative of April 18.
Similarly, the proposal to allow senior citizens to cross the Wagah border on foot, Pakistani diplomats point out, was a facility India withdrew unilaterally in 1984.Indian diplomats counter it was done to nix Pakistan’s sponsorship of separatist sentiments in Punjab, that it was also the year Operation Bluestar was launched to flush out Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale out of the Golden Temple in Amritsar. New Delhi’s subtext: you can’t harbour dubious intent and expect India not to protect its interests. Yet, what remains unexplained is why India did not restore this measure after the insurgency in Punjab was stamped out.
The proposal not to arrest fishermen who stray "within a certain band on the sea" on either side presents a mixed picture. Prime Minister Vajpayee, in his opening statement at the plenary of the Agra summit with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, said, "We have recently issued instructions to our Coast Guard not to take into custody Pakistani fishermen, who inadvertently stray into our waters, but to turn them back after due warning. A similar reciprocal gesture on Pakistan’s part would lead to a permanent solution of this recurring problem."
Pakistani sources say an informal band of some 20 nautical miles does exist and people on both sides are lenient when fishermen stray a "few miles here and there". They, however, cite instances to claim that at times Indian fishermen have strayed more than 80 nautical miles. The problem is more piquant, sources say, with repeat offenders. External affairs minister Sinha told Outlook: "This is a band that will have to be negotiated. Specially in Sir Creek where there is no determined maritime boundary, there is much greater confusion. Therefore we thought that we could give them some kind of a negotiated band in the sea where a fisherman could stray inadvertently, not deliberately, and if he does stray, then we should not arrest him." The Pakistanis in their counter-proposals want these fishermen to be released within a month of their arrest. India accepted it, though saying it would have preferred an arrangement for their ’non-arrest’.
Islamabad found some other Indian proposals as little more than an attempt at one-upmanship. These include offering medical facilities to 20 Pakistani children, augmenting the number of buses that could move in a convoy between New Delhi and Lahore, and forging a bus link between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad-a constant refrain of Kashmiris. New Delhi, however, says it’s sincere in its intention of wanting to deepen people-to-people relationship, and that a conducive atmosphere must be created to conduct sustained dialogue (see interview).
But Pakistan construed it as India’s attempt to embarrass Islamabad, to even stampede it into responding positively. Consequently, Pakistan, through Khokhar, chose to hit below the belt. Accepting that the Indian suggestion of a bus link between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar was a "novel" idea, he however added a caveat: Pakistan was willing to accept the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus link as long as people carried United Nations travel documents. Khokhar’s reason: Kashmir is a disputed territory. He then went for the jugular by offering 100 scholarships to Kashmiris, medical treatment to those disabled in the Valley, and assistance to help "widows and victims of rape, affected by the various operations launched by security agencies".
Some senior Indian officials found the exchange a "gimmick, a debating club between two diplomatic institutions where the spirit of bilateral dialogue is missing". The Srinagar-Muzaffarabad proposals, say insiders, was a "non-serious one to begin with". It was mooted with the assumption that Pakistan’s inevitable rejection of the proposal would embarrass Islamabad, and provide entertainment.
But what ensued was unpleasant and counterproductive. For instance, a source says, Pakistan can now unilaterally offer scholarships to Kashmiris, a measure fraught with serious consequences.The only way India can counter it is to de-recognise professional degrees of Pakistan.
Unilateralism, indeed, has its limitations. Take the Indian proposal of the Khokrapar-Munabao link. On July 9, 2001, before the Agra summit, India announced that a checkpost would be opened at Munabao in Rajasthan, and also at designated points along the International Border and the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. "Administrative arrangements, including those for transport, will be urgently put in place so as to implement the prime minister’s decision within three months," declared an Indian statement. Even after the collapse of the Agra summit, then foreign minister Jaswant Singh, on July 17, 2001, studiously maintained, "Significant confidence-building measures announced prior to President Musharraf’s visit would be fully implemented on our part."
The border post at Munabao, however, died a natural death: it was not possible to create one without a reciprocal gesture from Pakistan. Now Pakistan wants to discuss the Khokrapar-Munabao and the Karachi-Mumbai ferry link only through a composite dialogue format. This isn’t expected to happen any time soon. Says a senior Pakistani diplomat, "Wouldn’t it have been far more prudent to have consulted us rather than rushing to the press? " Similarly, Pakistan has lauded the Indian idea of holding visa camps outside the two capitals but said this wasn’t feasible until the staff strength of the two high commissions (110 each) was restored to the status prevailing before the December 13 attack on Parliament.
Where does the latest round of recriminations, albeit civilised, leave the peace initiative? Some are optimistic that some good may still come out of all this. For instance, a senior government leader says, none of the Kashmiri leaders, including those from the Hurriyat, has rejected the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus link. The only exception was the breakaway Hurriyat leader, S.A. Geelani, an inveterate Pakistani supporter.
Similarly, the Hurriyat hasn’t yet rejected the offer of dialogue with Advani, who, incidentally, consented to meet them after N.N. Vohra-the Centre’s interlocutor on Kashmir affairs-predicted his mission was bound to fail unless New Delhi offered a political face-saver to the politically disaffected in Kashmir. Sources say the Hurriyat leaders are likely to visit Delhi to meet Advani after Ramzan. But others feel it may, once again, insist on travelling to Pakistan to consult the militants there.
Will New Delhi agree to this demand which it has always rejected? A senior source argues, "They can ask for the moon. Once the dialogue and the negotiations begin, both sides will make their own demands. It’s part of the game." Considering the salience of Kashmir in Indo-Pak relations, however churlish, last week’s events at least did not have the tension redolent of last year.
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Since this cartoon was his directorial debut, this column will discuss Bob McKimson’s beginnings and career in animation. Many, if not all, of the Warners cartoons that received the “breakdown” treatment thus far belonged to him.
Born in Colorado, McKimson and his two brothers, Tom and Charles (whom later both served as artists at Warners), learned to draw from their mother Milfred, and supported their father Charles Sr.’s newspaper and printing business, including illustration work, at a young age. In 1926, McKimson’s parents sold their newspaper in Texas and moved to Los Angeles. (The family briefly re-located there in 1921, before moving back to Colorado.) After Bob graduated high school, he worked as a linotype operator in Hollywood.
In the summer of 1929, McKimson was offered a job at Disney’s as an assistant animator to Dick Lundy, while his brother Tom apprenticed under Norm Ferguson. No contemporaneous evidence proves the two McKimson brothers worked at the studio. Lundy attested their employment in later years. In spring, 1930, both Bob and Tom were offered a job at a higher salary to animate for a new studio launched by Romer Grey (son of famed author of Western novels Zane Grey.)
Four cartoons starring Binko the Bear Cub were animated, with two ready to be processed. Besides Romer’s extravagant spending on yachts, foreign travel and hunting trips ultimately withholding animator’s salaries, the studio was unable to negotiate a distribution agreement and closed by the summer of 1931. (Only one Binko film, Hot Toe Mollie, has surfaced in recent years, which you can see on Tom Stathes’ Cartoon Roots DVD/Blu-Ray set.)
The two brothers moved over to Warners, and animated for Harman-Ising. During that time, they animated the normal amount of footage the studio required, approximately 25 to 30 feet of animation. After Bob was hospitalized from a car accident, he returned with a sharp perception, producing almost 80 feet a week without much exertion. After Harman and Ising broke their agreement with producer Leon Schlesinger in the summer of 1933, he was left to establish his own studio, and Bob remained with him. (Tom would leave with Harman and Ising over to MGM.)
After animating for various directors, McKimson was offered a chance to direct in 1937, but declined, deferring to Chuck Jones for the position. McKimson was highly respected for his work as an animator at the studio, and was promoted to head animator, in which he would oversee the consistency of the animators’ scenes to keep them “on-model.” During the early ‘40s, while McKimson animated for Bob Clampett, director Frank Tashlin left Warners around September 1944 to direct stop-motion animated films produced by John Sutherland, known as Daffy Ditties. With that, McKimson saw the opportunity of Tashlin’s absence, and transitioned from animating to directing.
The dialogue recording for this film, under the working title “Mustache Maniac”, with Mel Blanc and Robert C. Bruce (as the opening narrator) occurred on September 16, 1944—around the time Tashlin left. Another session was held on June 30, 1945—now called its unalterable title—possibly for a dialogue change or pick-up line. Daffy Doodles wasn’t his first official cartoon release for the studio, having directed The Return of Mr. Hook, intended for and shown to Navy audiences in 1945. Given the priorities and quick turnaround for the Hook film, released before McKimson’s early cartoons as a director, it could have overlapped between production of the regular theatrical shorts. Contrary to popular belief, Daffy Doodles was never slated as a Frank Tashlin project; McKimson confirmed it was his film as soon as he started directing.
McKimson inherited animators from Tashlin’s unit, including Dick Bickenbach, Art Davis and Cal Dalton. Other animators credited in the draft are Izzy Ellis, Don Williams, Anatolle Kirsanoff, and one shot (scene 44) presumably animated by Ray Patin, credited as “Ray.” The scene moves fluidly with an almost Disney flavor; Patin was a former Disney animator—one of several artists fired during the studio’s strike in 1941, after they gained approval to join the Screen Cartoonists’ Guild. By the time he worked at Warners, he had been elected as head of the Guild. The Top Cel union newsletter, and a column in Warners Club News (“What’s Cookin’?”) written by Tedd Pierce, one of the main principal writers, Patin took a leave of absence from the studio by late November, 1944. He went over to free-lance in funny animal stories for Sangor Shop, and returned to Disney’s as a story artist two years later.
With Daffy Doodles being his first true directorial effort, McKimson and writer Warren Foster were confident in considering their opportunities with a simple premise. For instance, the opening scenes portray Daffy’s nefarious deeds as murderous, until it’s revealed a more juvenile crime— painting mustaches on various advertisements, including send-ups of Campbell’s Soup and Fisk Tires.
Daffy (as animated by Art Davis) explains his life’s purpose through accented and rhyming dialogue. In a later sequence, as Daffy hangs upside down, vandalizing a billboard, he sings an ersatz version of Bert Kalmar/Harry Ruby’s “She Was an Acrobat’s Daughter.”
The draft indicates more comedic subtext—scene 33, the after-effects of Daffy being struck on the head by policeman Porky, is modeled after vaudevillian and screen comedian Leon Errol. He starred in a series of two-reel comedies for Columbia and RKO in the ‘30s and ‘40s, where his comic trademark (also onstage) was an erratic and rubbery walk, as if he is inebriated.
Also, the last page of the draft is missing, though it isn’t entirely a loss, since it would’ve only contained the final section of the film, which is undeniably Art Davis’ work.
This is one of the few Warners cartoons where the information on orchestration dates are missing. Being a Blue Ribbon re-issue, the original cue sheet indicates that the opening cue underneath the opening titles is Sunny Skylar’s “All The Time.” Click the video embed at right to imagine what it might have sounded like – utilizing an instance where Carl Stalling used it for the opening titles of Art Davis’ Bone Sweet Bone (1948).
(Thanks to Michael Barrier, Keith Scott, Frank Young, Thad Komorowski and Yowp for their help.)
Who are those identical guys in the jury box?
April 13, 2016 4:38:48 am
April 13, 2016 6:29:49 am
October 23, 2017 8:33:15 pm
April 13, 2016 1:07:59 am
Love the opening where Mel Blanc did his “BWA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!” “Evil Laughter” (which I can do a very good impersonation of it) that still send chills down a person’s spines as well as the courtroom scene where there was a jury that are clones of Jerry Collonna (who Mel Blanc does a great impersonation of).
Also Robert C. Bruce did the voice over narrator on many of the Loony Tunes/Merrie Melodies travelogue and newsreel parodies.
October 23, 2017 8:33:52 pm
I can also do a very good imitation of the laughter,too, (or so I think!).
The Spectre / John V
April 13, 2016 3:32:13 am
Art Davis’ animation – its posing and movement – shows a heavy Tashlin influence, but the hand gesture Daffy makes while announcing his “mission” is pure McKimson, and reappears in many scenes in Bob’s cartoons, regardless of character or animator.
I see Izzy Ellis stuck around in McKimson’s unit for a short while before filling the gap left by McKimson in Clampett’s unit. His poses have his recognisable geometric shapes and right-angles on characters’ (particularly Daffy’s) bodies and limbs.
Don Williams gets only one brief shot here, without his characteristic “wipe” effects. I guess this was the first scene he animated upon his arrival (return) at the studio.
Kirsanoff gets mostly long-shots, except one nice medium close-up of Daffy on the trapeze. Was he still an assistant animator, being given a few try-out scenes?
The Spectre / John V
April 13, 2016 3:36:56 am
I see Art’s name has been written over Ray’s for a couple of scenes. Ray must have left the studio before he could animate them.
April 13, 2016 5:49:14 am
One scene that is really impressive, seen about five minutes in, is when Porky’s chasing Daffy on the ledge, and the background keeps rotating around them.
“With that, McKimson saw the opportunity of Tashlin’s absence, and transitioned from animating to directing.”
Hmm….. not sure that’s entirely accurate. It’d have to try and look for a reference, but I’m pretty sure Martha Sigall claimed that even when Tashlin left, McKimson still felt he wasn’t ready to become a director, and the promotion was kinda forced on him.
April 13, 2016 2:49:07 pm
I thought Sigall left Warners in ’43, to work at MGM. Unless she talked to him in private, here’s a quote from McKimson during his interview with Mike Barrier:
“I felt that I could do the job as well as anyone else there, and I had the proper experience, so when Tash [Frank Tashlin] left, everybody and his brother was saying, ‘I’m going to take Tash’s place,’ so I went to Eddie Selzer and asked him if Tash was leaving. He said yes, and I said it was about time that I took it over. He said, ‘Fine, do you want it?’ I said sure, and he said, ‘Well, somebody told me you didn’t want it.’ I said, ‘Well, certainly.’ That’s all there was to it, and I took it over.”
April 13, 2016 9:35:55 am
I find it interesting that the scene footage lengths end in 0 or 8 most often. I bet if you took readings on cartoons made in the last three decades, or more, you’d never see this kind of uniformity. It speaks once again to how music, or the plans to have music be integrated, played such an important role in the direction of the cartoons. When I see these assignment sheets I am truly in awe that they have somehow survived the passage of time, and very grateful too.
I’ve got an MP3 of “All the Time,” performed by Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra, but I don’t suppose that does anyone any good.
April 13, 2016 2:46:31 pm
April 13, 2016 4:53:58 pm
As a longtime resident of New York City, one of the touches I like in the cartoon is that (at approximately 2.28) they get the traditional Interborough Rapid Transit uptown entrance exactly right. (Compare: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astor_Place_%28IRT_Lexington_Avenue_Line%29#/media/File:Astor_Place_Uptown.JPG)
Immediately following that is one of the truly great usages of “Forty-Second Street” by Stalling, an extended, jazzy version.
April 13, 2016 7:43:56 pm
I’m glad someone mentioned the impressive scene of Porky chasing Daffy on the building ledge, with the building actually rotating or seemingly rotating. I wonder if that scene was animated by Ray Patton. It seems like something that would have happened in an old MICKEY MOUSE cartoon, something that almost seemed like multi-plane camera use. I also like the scene in which Daffy threatens to jump; once Porky feels that Daffy has lept to his death, Porky looks over the edge, only to have Daffy paint a quick mustache on his face…and Porky leans into the camera, angrily snarling in a whisper, “I hate that d-d-d-d-duck!!” Always cracks me up every time I saw and now hear it! I wish the cartoon had made it to one of the GOLDEN COLLECTION sets because it deserved its own commentary.
The Spectre / John V
April 14, 2016 3:19:47 am
The final shot mentioned on the draft (before the missing page breaking down the trial sequence) seems to have been cut. It would appear to be a shot of a newspaper saying “Mustache Fiend Caught!” or something along those lines.
April 14, 2016 8:08:25 am
Re the chase on the building ledge scene, I always especially liked the fourth-wall gag where Porky loses his balance, and Daffy pulls him to safety, then turns to the camera, saying, “Very sporting of the little black duck!”
April 15, 2016 7:34:44 pm
One of my favorite Daffy cartoons. A shame it didn’t make it to the Golden Collection DVDs.
She was an acrobat’s daughter
She swung by her teeth from a noose
But one matinee her bridgework gave way
And she flew through the air like a goose!
December 18, 2016 4:06:27 pm
I love that crisp shot you have of the background painting of the ads…in the actual film, you never actually see that the tin can is lableled “Shambles” soup!
September 12, 2017 4:34:29 pm
What I love about McKimson’s cartoons is that they are almost like three stooges shorts or live action short subjects cast with the looney tune characters.
SJC
August 29, 2018 7:29:40 am
Listening to the the opening title’s, it was also used i n “Holiday for Drumsticks” , again as the opening title..
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DEVON BAXTER is a freelance video editor, currently residing in Pennsylvania. He has provided vintage material and edited supplemental features for Tom Stathes’ Cartoons on Film Blu-Ray/DVD sets.
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In this space I write about my life, and knitting projects. I enjoy photography as well as other creative pursuits and share my experiences here.
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January 20, 2014
This weekend was a snowy weekend. I was in my happy place! Saturday I awoke to snow and in the morning, Frodo and I captured the beauty of the day. The weather people predicted cold but really it wasn't cold like before.
We puttered about at home, in the afternoon we had a drive and my husband did a bit of record shopping. I patiently patiently tried to not be bored out of my mind. I didn't whine once. I did have the option to go to a yarn store, but see, I'm in the "don't spend money unnecessarily" mood. Every January I get like that.
Sunday was church and unexpected snow flurries, well unexpected to me. I caught up on the chores--laundry, cleaning, shredding papers (phew). I listened to a few podcasts while knitting, then unfortunately I found a mistake and had to unknit two rows. Knitting is more fun than unknitting. But I'm glad I found the mistake!!
This morning I'm dreaming of blueberry muffins that are about to be baked-yum!
how was your weekend?
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Comments
Anke January 20, 2014 at 8:19 AM
Beautiful pictures! Blueberry muffins sound really good, makes me want to bake. :-)
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Tracey ~ Clover January 20, 2014 at 8:41 AM
I want to come for a visit! How wonderful that you got snow!!!
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debby emadian January 20, 2014 at 8:45 AM
Wow it all looks so beautiful, I really miss the snow. It makes everything look so magical. Your muffins sound scrumptious, perfect snack for a snowy day.
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Anonymous January 20, 2014 at 9:05 AM
We woke to a bit of snow on Saturday as well. Made everything outside my window look clean and beautiful. Beautiful pictures!
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Deb January 20, 2014 at 9:09 AM
Such beautiful pictures. I often wish we had an occasional snowy day but not so in our part of Arizona. Fresh fallen snow makes the world look so clean and pure. Those muffins sound great. Have a wonderful week.
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fjord girl January 20, 2014 at 9:50 AM
You are lucky it's snowing- it just stopped here for no reason- so weird- we want to go skiing!
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the habit of being January 20, 2014 at 10:34 AM
oh the snow! so very beautiful. i bet this snowy weekend filled you with peace - so lovely.
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Donna January 20, 2014 at 10:43 AM
We are getting some of that white stuff tomorrow night. I wouldn't mind it so much if it weren't going to be crazy cold. I had a wonderful weekend away with my fiber friends and can't wait to do it again!
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Sue January 20, 2014 at 1:18 PM
I *love* your photos! You weekend sounds a lot like mine! We had snow, went record shopping (my son collects old records, and I then I did some knitting and un-knitting. : )
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Kim January 20, 2014 at 1:40 PM
Yay, you got some snow, enjoy! I agree knitting is way more fun than unknitting :)
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flyingjen January 20, 2014 at 3:21 PM
I hate unknitting! Most of the time I don't do it knowing that I'm the only one who will know where the mistake is.
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Deborah Hamilton January 20, 2014 at 3:40 PM
Your snow pictures are beautiful. It was actually warm and sunny here in Texas.
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Mama Gone Green January 20, 2014 at 3:56 PM
Wonderful photos!! I want snow!!
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steph January 20, 2014 at 5:56 PM
it really IS still winter, isn't it? (we had another teaser day in the upper 50s.....that just makes the cold snaps feel even colder!!!) beautiful pictures.
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Janet January 20, 2014 at 7:10 PM
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monique's mess January 20, 2014 at 10:53 PM
Your post title is almost a tongue twister. I've never been in the snow.. your photos look glorious but I dont really like the cold. I imagine that once in my life time i will experience snow but will wait and see... in the meantime I can live vicariously through the lense of others!
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Tanna January 21, 2014 at 7:15 AM
Lovely snow photos, Karen. Another cold blast is heading through... I hope not as cold as the last! blessings ~ tanna
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Project Tara January 21, 2014 at 11:40 AM
After that polar vortex, even 20˚ feels positively balmy... although Bebe doesn't think so. She's in and out in a flash these days. Your photos are beautiful. They really capture the essence of deep mid-winter.
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Emily January 21, 2014 at 4:40 PM
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kathy b January 21, 2014 at 5:16 PM
Your snowy images are so perfect. I love the newly fallen snow that came yesterday/last night. SO fresh. My weekend was indoors and wonderful. I did make it out once very early in the a.m. and the light was beautiful but I didn t take pictures...
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Your comments are welcome as long as they are relevant to the post and spread joy, thank you for visiting and sharing your ideas.
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May 20, 2022
I've written about my morning routine many times but I thought why not touch upon it once more. I love to get up early in the morning, drink my tea and journal about the day before. Mostly it's about events, thoughts and feelings. Sometimes I rant but try not to very much. At the end of each entry I write my gratitude list. Frequently it's about family and friends, coffee and tea, quiet pockets in my day. The more ordinary the gratitude the more I feel peace. The past two to three weeks have been wonky here. I've been having health symptom issues that I thought were medication changes for my blood pressure. An EKG was slightly abnormal which referred me to a cardiologist. While waiting for that appointment I visited ER to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack (I was NOT). I met the cardiologist last week and he thought I was 'fine' but ordered a stress test anyways. I did the stress test on Monday and thought I passed! But then I got a call from the off
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January 03, 2022
How was your New Year? How was your weekend? I had a long time off from this space and it was relaxing and fun but then again I miss my regular posting three times a week. For New Year's Eve, we went to my sister and brother in law's house for dinner and board games. We had great great fun! I'm sharing with you the progress on the baby sampler but I haven't worked on it for a few days now. I am nearly finished with what I can stitch, once the baby arrives in early February I can stitch his or her name and the date. It's been a fun stitching project (no backstitching!!). I have been knitting like a demon to finish my sister's sweater and hopefully I will have some photos to share with you soon. It's drying right now as I type this post. The weekend was relaxing and calm. I knit a lot, read a lot, and I put away all the holiday decorations because clean spaces is what I crave when the new year begins. What have you been up to this past weekend?
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February 04, 2022
Good news! Our grandson, Blaise, was born earlier this week! All is well and good. We hope to see him in person within a month and fingers are crossed that the weather cooperates. Now I have to stitch his name and birthdate into that space and get this little sampler framed. We are beyond excited to be first time grandparents. He will be called Grandad and I will be called Grammy. I had a Gram who was formative in my life and so I hope to carry on her legacy. I continue to read a chapter a week out of Code Girls which is very interesting but dense information. I'm excited if I finish a chapter each day! I decided to paint my Valentine cards and I enjoyed this process immensely. My watercoloring habits have slipped away with pursuing other creative pursuits so it was nice to sit at the kitchen table and be creative in a different way. My dinner below was an approximation of bibimbap. I was missing a few ingredients so I improvised to the best of my ability. All I can say is kimch
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I wait, hoping in vain, knowing what’s coming next because this would be the fourth or fifth time since living here. But it comes anyway.
Can you not use your sink today?
Dammit. Thankfully, I did most of the dishes yesterday, but the kitchen sink gets used a lot throughout the day. I’m irritated at the thought of not being able to use it for who knows how long … again. And especially when ours is draining fine. I’m not angry at the neighbor though. It’s not his fault. I’m angry at whoever built this place and plumbed our apartments on the same line.
Our bathroom is the same way. If you run the bathroom sink when someone’s in the shower, they’ll get a little shock.
What can I do? I’ve got to be a good neighbor.
I was groggy still after all that—in what must be the literal sense of the word, though I didn’t look up the etymology; I had had too much to drink last night, too much “grog.” I was not hungover, but I was bleary-eyed, and wanted to go back to bed.
But no, I was up. I had to get up. I’d been planning since my New Year’s non-resolution to get up early, to write, to get things done, be productive in this abysmally begun year—thanks to the current sociopolitical atrocities happening in the name of making things “great.” But that has not been happening.
Today it begins, I thought. Even though it was already 9:30. At least I hadn’t slept in until eleven. And I would be “groggy” again tonight, or at least sleepy for not getting a full eight (nine) hours. So maybe, just maybe, if I was extremely lucky, and the planets aligned just right, I wouldn’t find some excuse to stay up until 3am.
I could hope.
So I made tea.
I wanted coffee, or at least some strong Irish breakfast tea, but we had neither. So I settled for green.
I used the filtered tap in the kitchen to fill the kettle and put a large mixing bowl under it to catch any that spilled, which would remain there until I got the okay from the the neighbor, and later be emptied into the bathroom sink.
And then I wrote this.
After I wrote this, I got to work. Not that writing is not work—it most certainly is—but it is also immensely pleasurable. I have been trying to figure out how to make all of my work immensely pleasurable. Oh, and also pay the bills with it, and have a bit of spending cash, have money enough that I can take a breath and say, okay, yeah, that’s no problem. I can cover that.
The elusive but attainable goal.
Though it requires this to achieve it.
My first non-writing job today was editing chapters of an audiobook. This is something else that I do. I narrate them, edit them, master them, and send them off to the author. This is another life I have. I do enjoy this. It’s a lot of work, and the technical aspect of things sometimes makes it not fun. Technical things are often not my friends. Buzzes in the wires. Odd, unexplained bits of random distortion. Ghosts in the machine.
But reading is one of my favorite things to do. So why not read other people’s stories out loud and get paid for it? Occasionally, I have good ideas like this.
Today I wrapped up a high fantasy novel, which is, of course … completely my thing.
I recorded the whole book already. I only had four chapters left to listen back to and make any needed changes.
I sat at my desk—a beautiful, new-to-me, very old, classic, wooden, lots of deep drawers, scratched-to-hell from years of love and use, donated-by-a-friend-who-sold-his-house-and-bought-an-RV desk. I plugged in my headphones and hit play on Chapter 32.
I got to listen to myself read the story all over again. As I did, I made little adjustments in the spaces between sentences to improve the flow, clipped out strange noises that my mouth sometimes makes, and made sure that what I read matched the author’s words.
I sometimes do this on the couch, but today I did it at the desk. I love the desk—if that wasn’t already apparent—and I have a comfortable office chair that was purchased from another house-selling friend. If I have to rerecord anything, I end up back at the desk anyway, because that’s where the microphone is.
But sometimes it’s nice to sit on the couch. I’ve even done some of the editing at the park, outside, under a big, shady tree. All part of that “immensely pleasurable” element I mentioned earlier. I can do a fair share of the work anywhere I like.
Before my wife left to do her own recording of a wildly popular podcast, she reminded me to take the rent. I put a reminder in my phone.
“Siri, remind me to take the rent today at 1pm.”
“OK, I’ll remind you.”
Ah, technology. I can’t wait until we have robots. Who hopefully won’t kill us in our sleep.
The sun was in my eyes when I wrote this. The cat sat on the sill sunning herself, watching the birds with rapacious intensity. Then there was no sun because I hung the sound blanket cushion thing over the window. The cat jumped down before being trapped betwixt it and the glass. And the birds were quieted.
I rerecorded a few flubbed words and sent the chapter to the author for review.
Later, I went to the kitchen to make food, and remembered I couldn’t use the sink.
Hmmm…maybe I’ll just eat out.
I could go days without leaving the apartment, if it wasn’t for my third job, which I didn’t have to be at today. It would be good for me to get out and get some fresh air. I had to take the rent anyway.
I pulled away from the curb dreaming of homeownership, dreaming of living somewhere with seasons and good neighbors whose plumbing is not attached to mine, of living in a country where people are treated fairly and equally, and where the ugliness is kept to a minimum.
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A huge town hall at Holman Church and appearances by two key L.A. City Council members last week underscored the intense opposition in South Los Angeles to Senate Bill 50, with 90% of the audience raising their hands when asked if they opposed the controversial state law.
The turnout of 330 residents was the latest big, spontaneous town hall in Southern California as residents begin to hear of SB 50 — which is currently on hold in the legislature after failing to get out of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 50 is an unprecedented, untested experiment that would wipe out virtually all single-family zoning in California, and encourage tall buildings with no parking — in communities nowhere near transit — that are dubbed “jobs rich.” Communities near transit stations would be upended as well.
For months, SB 50 has moved through the California State Legislature with virtually no media analysis, and often-inaccurate media coverage. The vast majority of Californians were left unaware of SB 50 and the drastic ways it would affect them.
Written by divisive Bay Area state Sen. Scott Wiener, who has said that single-family zoning is immoral, SB 50 is based on the hotly disputed theory that if vast amounts of luxury rental units are built, housing will “trickle down” to low-income families.
But SB 50 would reward developers to buy and destroy vibrant communities and solid housing stock to build luxury towers reaching 5 stories to 8 stories high. South L.A. is in the crosshairs of intense development allowed under SB 50.
The town hall last week was sponsored by the South LA Alliance for Locally-Planned Growth, a group of several community organizations in South LA who are opposed to state takeover of local zoning decisions.
Master of Ceremonies Diane Robertson is president of the Sutro Avenue Block Club in South Los Angeles and a vice president in the Law Department at CBS Television Studios. She and other organizers were inspired by an anti-SB 50 standing-room-only town hall that drew more than 300 residents to Temple Beth Am the week before, sponsored by South Carthay Neighborhood Association.
Here’s a sampling of what some of the panelists had to say at the South Los Angeles SB 50 Town Hall at Holman United Methodist Church:
Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson urged vigilance to make sure SB 50 is not revived by the legislature. Wesson suggested that local communities work with the city to propose ways to build needed housing. He warned the crowd that “This (SB 50) is not dead. This is a vampire, and it can come back to life.”
Romerol Malveaux, a respected long-time community advocate and member of the Cherrywood Leimert Block Club, said to huge applause, “If we have to gentrify, my argument would be: ‘Let’s do it locally, where we can actually go to our (city) council office and say No, this doesn’t work.’ Because I don’t have enough money to fly to Sacramento.”
City Councilman Paul Koretz, leader of the fight against SB 50 in City Hall, got applause and laughter when he criticized Wiener’s trickle-down housing theory. Koretz said, “there’s no sign of that working anywhere. Seattle recently built 23,000 units in one year, in little Seattle, and their rents went down — by $2 a month on average.”
Hydee Feldstein, board member of P.I.C.O. Neighborhood Council and the co-chair of its land-use committee, said to gasps from the audience, that of two new developments in her highly urbanized neighborhood “one has a 55% vacancy, and a studio is listed at $2,912.” The other new building is 71% vacant, Feldstein said, “and I think their studio started at $1,900 and went up to $4,400 — depending on how the good view was. We don’t have a housing crisis at all — we have a crisis of affordable housing.”
Larry Gross, the widely known executive director of Coalition for Economic Survival that fights for tenant rights and equitable housing in L.A.’s working-class and poor neighborhoods, slammed SB 50 by saying: “This is not a ‘YIMBY’ bill or a ‘NIMBY’ bill. This is a WIMBY bill: Wall Street In My Back Yard.”
Gross led a loud “No on SB 50” chant that galvanized residents, many of whom vowed to stop Sen. Wiener from devastating and gentrifying South L.A. Other speakers included John Gonzales, a builder and vice president of Baldwin Hills Estates HOA, Inc.; and Brad Kane, an attorney and president of the P.I.C.O. Neighborhood Council, both of whom proposed a number of good alternatives to SB 50 that would not create the scorched-earth situation Wiener’s bill would all but guarantee.
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The 3.5 Million Unit Housing Shortage in California is Bad Data, Causing Legislative Missteps June 25, 2019
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So it’s now official: eBay bought Skype for $4.1 billion. That’s a lot of money, and probably buys at least a significant percentage of Estonia (economic peaks notwithstanding). Ross thinks that eBay bought Skype for the conversations this will facilitate; I have a slightly different take, though it’s more an elaboration of Ross’s point than a disagreement.
eBay already offers power sellers healthcare — and I think this acquisition allows eBay to become a powerful “virtual company” provider. Now power sellers can get their phone service from eBay — giving them a virtual storefront that goes wherever their laptop goes. If I’m right, then look for eBay to acquire one of the popular fax-to-e-mail providers before too long, and maybe even acquire (or build) their own web mail solution.
Some who read this blog may not know much, if anything, about Skype. It’s a fully-featured messaging platform, offering voice (computer-to-computer, computer-to-phone, and phone-to-computer), voicemail, and instant messaging. I wrote about it a while ago, and am pretty impressed with it. The acquisition by eBay insures it’ll only get better.
September 12, 2005
One response to “Why eBay bought Skype”
Anonymous says:
September 14, 2005 at 10:52 pm
I'm a big fan of Skype, and I think it was a good move for eBay, for the reasons you mentioned. On a recent business trip to the UK, I used Skype for nearly every phone conversation I had–business and personal. With “SkypeIn” and “SkypeOut” I could call people on their phones, and they could call my computer from their phones–all on a local Chicago number, even though I was sitting in London. That is very powerful for business–especially small business or one/two person shops.Yes, VOIP offers that (such as Vonage) but then I have to tote a router… this way, I just use the internet at the hotel, and with a small headset, I'm good to go. It's wonderful.
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Jeremy Wade has traveled world searching, and catching monsters. The biologist, writer and fisherman is host of Animal Planet’s extremely popular television program, River Monsters. Whether it’s landing a toothy goliath tigerfish in the Congo or the odd goonch catfish in India, Wade has made it his mission to bring these misunderstood “monsters” to the surface, educating viewers, young and old, about animals they never knew existed before, making them better stewards of our freshwater ecosystems. Here, we caught up with the extreme angler to get a few fish stories, and what drives him on his endless quest to discover new monsters.
NI.COM: How did you get into fishing?
WADE: That goes back to when I was very young, seven or eight years old. I grew up in Southeast England, in a small village that had a river [Suffolk Stour] running very close. My parents gave me a very cheap, basic fishing rod; nobody in my family fished. So that was something I got into fairly accidently. But once I started catching fish, it got my curiosity and it was the case of wanting to catch more fish, bigger fish, and different fish. I suppose that process has continued to this day.
When did you start traveling for fish?
I would say in my late 20s. I think what happened was the UK sort of ran out of interest for me. It is quite a small country, there is not a lot of water here compared to the number of people.
One day I heard about a fish in India called a mahseer, I relative of the carp but lives in very fast water, rapids. It took a few years from actually hearing about this to transform into action, but I got myself a cheap ticket to India and took off in 1982.
I didn’t really know what I was doing; it was my first time outside of Europe, and I had a hard tome of it. I got quite ill, but I did catch some fish and wrote a couple of articles about my experiences. From that point on I tired to get away, normally, for three months at a time every year or every other year.
Jeremy Wade with the Goliath Tigerfirsh, caught in the Congo River.
What’s the wildest place you’ve been in pursuit of a fish?
Quite possibly the Congo in Central Africa; it is just a part of the world outsiders don’t normally go. I had heard about a fish called the goliath tiger fish there, which is actually a relative to the piranha that is a few feet long with piranha-like teeth that as big as an inch long. It sounded almost unbelievable; I wanted to see this thing for myself.
What are some of the coolest fish you have caught?
One fish that stands out was from the very first episode [of Rvier Monsters] that we did, called the goonch catfish in India. Most catfish don’t really have teeth to speak of; instead they have lots of very, very small teeth close together. The effect is almost like a file. But this particular catfish has very long, pointed teeth. And like other catfish, it has tentacles on its mouth and on its fins. It looks like something from a Hieronymus Bosch painting came alive.
Another interesting fish is the electric eel in the Amazon. It is actually not a true eel, but they call it such because of its elongated shape. A lot of the fish I deal with have teeth, or, if is a stingray, a barbed spine, that sort of thing; normally you could look at a fish and tell how it might potentially damage you. Though it is rather snake like, the electric eel looks fairly harmless, but this is a fish with invisible powers. It can generate a very powerful electrical charge, immobilizing you. I have spoken to eyewitnesses who have had people die in front of them in just knee deep water, because if you are zapped by an electric eel, if someone comes to help you, they run the risk of getting zapped as well. When we were filming electric eels, the crew that I was with had a defibrillator, and a long wooden pole with a plastic hook on the end so that they could fish me out of the water if something did happen.
For more with Jeremy Wade, head to page two.
What would you say drives your exploration for these freshwater fish?
As they say, curiosity killed the cat…I’m mixing my metaphors horrendously here, but it has gotten me into deep water on a few occasions after fish. I have had various incidents along the way because very often, [curiosity] and exploration does take me into parts of the world that can be quite difficult, and quite dangerous at times.
Why do you think these fish grab so much attention from your viewership?
We have a lot of children who watch the program—though its not just children—and I think there is a fascination for things that are quite ugly. And these fish are certainly quite ugly. I think children very much identify with that misunderstood monster thing.
Jeremy Wade with 1 161-pound goonch catfish. This catch measured 5 feet, 7 inches from head to tail with a 41-inch girth and 44-inch wingspan.
Photo by DCL
What are some of the lessons learned from River Monsters?
We are not overly ambitious with the program. We want the program to be educational, but if you are just educational, people turn off. So we are almost doing natural history by stealth.
My view is in order to get people to care about something, they have to know, first of all, that it exists. A lot of [fish] we show, people have never seen before. I think that makes them sit up and take notice. Our main thing is to summarize, to make people aware that first of all, here are these animals you never knew existed. Once they are aware of them, we can get people’s sympathy for these things.
We don’t explicitly say we should strive to conserve these creatures, but at the end of every program, I say, “yes, this is the fish that pulled somebody under the water or bit their leg…” And then I put it back into the water. I never make a comment about this. People instinctively understand why I do this: that fish belongs in the water, I am not killing it but putting it back. How we coexist with potentially dangerous creatures, whether they are in the water or wherever they live, is by adapting our behavior. The answer is not to try and kill everything. That in particular sends a very strong, implicit message; we don’t spell it out, but I think people instinctively get it.
What worries you most about these river monsters?
What frightens me more is a world without monsters because if these things are not in our waters, it is a sign the water quality is not good. And that is bad news for us. The fact that there are these “so-called” monsters in the water is a good sign. If they are not there, there is actually something wrong with the whole food pyramid; it doesn’t exist.
On your travels, what is one of the biggest ecological issues you have come across?
I think, to be honest, one of the biggest problems that I see in less developed countries is over-fishing. In a sense, the program [River Monsters] gives a bit of a false impression: It gives you this idea that wherever I drop my line, I am going pull something up seven-foot long with big teeth, when in fact, we really have to do our research. It is actually very hard to find these fish.
It is very easy to get your hands on a net made of monofilament line now, and it is quite cheap. And the difference between [fish populations] now and say 50 years ago, certainly 100 years ago, is very dramatic; there has been this really steep decline. One iconic fish in the Amazon, the arapaima, said by many people to be the biggest freshwater fish in the world, has suffered a huge decline in recent years.
Photo by Jeff Kubina
It is a very difficult thing though. I know people in the Amazon, in Brazil, who are technically poachers. People living in the interior of the Amazon need to fish to feed themselves, and also, very often, they have no other source of income. So they will also catch fish to sell. But its not just people who fish for subsistence, but quite a lot of commercial fishing has taken over the Amazon. There are quite a lot of people who live in the Amazon now; Manaus is a big city with two million inhabitants, and they all need feeding. So there is an industry to feed them. It is a very big issue, and something that I do think is being addressed.
[In the past], you would have commercial fishing come along to a certain river or certain village, give somebody a bit of money, and basically go and empty out a lake. People would sort of think, oh a little bit of money in return for these people coming in for a few days wasn’t a big deal. They are now realizing it is actually a very bad deal, having other people catching your own fish in local waters.
What can be done?
Freshwater around the world is under pressure. It is a big problem that the world is facing, but one of the advantages that rivers have over the oceans is that, often, the jurisdiction is clear-cut. There is one country involved; it is not just a total free-for-all, which is the case with a lot of the oceans.
One thing that is being done in Brazil, which is quite bold, and does seem to be producing some results, is the idea of an extractive reserve, so you are letting the local people be the guardians of the place. You are saying to them, you can harvest these fish—it could be arapaima for example—but set limits on it. So in a sense, it guarantees them an income. This fish is prohibited to hunt elsewhere, but in these particular places, you have a certain quota of fish you can catch and make a living.
There are imaginative things being done. Instead of classifying people as poachers and telling them to sort of leave the land, they are allowing them to be custodians of the land and the water. And that seems to be the way forward: people operating at a local level, benefitting locally, and it is driven by the decline that has happened all over the Amazon.
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By Design with Shelley Johnstone Paschke
From Naples to Broadway with Sandi Moran
ABOUT US
Celebrating the good life in Southwest Florida, Naples Illustrated entertains its affluent audience with editorial that exemplifies the region’s luxurious yet understated elegance. Areas of coverage include trend-setting fashion, notable personalities, luxury homes, social and philanthropic events, culture and the arts, and international travel.
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Walthamstow Academy is committed to the individual needs of all young people. We respect diversity and aim to provide an educational environment in which all young people can thrive. We promote inclusion so that all students can realise their potential in terms of academic and personal achievement through access to the curriculum and extracurricular activities and by providing support, which is tailored to individual needs.
We offer a broad and balanced curriculum and have high expectations for all students. The achievements, attitudes and well-being of all our students matter. This helps to ensure that this school promotes the individuality of all our students irrespective of ethnicity, attainment, age, disability, gender or background and that they have a common curriculum experience.
Our Inclusion team is led by Lisa Hostick (SENCo). The governor with particular responsibility for Inclusion is Leon Jacobs (Inclusion). We are extremely proud of being awarded the Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM) for outstanding inclusive practice - this award follows a rigorous inspection process, which took an in-depth look at our inclusion work here at the academy.
It is important to us that all stakeholders understand the term inclusion. Inclusion is concerned with the learning, participation and equal opportunities for all young people. Of which some examples are listed below:
Students who need support to learn as an additional language (EAL)
Students with special educational needs including those with emotional, behavioural, or social difficulties.
Students with physical disabilities
Students who may be gifted and talented
Students in need including those in public care
Children who are at risk of disaffection and exclusion from school
The purpose of the inclusion team is to:
Ensure that all stakeholders have a common understanding of inclusion
To ensure all education settings and activities whether formal or informal are fully accessible to all young people
To promote partnership with parents, carers and other stakeholders,
To monitor appropriate indicators to measure the success of the inclusion
To ensure the effective use of resources towards prevention and early intervention.
To collaborate with other education providers to enable sharing of expertise.
To review the effectiveness and development of the inclusion.
In this Academy, inclusion underpins all policies and practices, staff training provides opportunity to explore issues and strategies that staff can use to promote inclusion. Inclusion is also promoted amongst students through PSHRE during form time, assemblies and day to day interactions with staff.
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How Much is Life Insurance for a 40-year-old? - Over 50 Life Insure - Getting Affordable Life Insurance for People Over 50
How Much is Life Insurance for a 40-year-old?
Ryan CravitzPosted in Life Insurance last updated on May 21, 2021
If you’re thinking about life insurance and you are in your forties, there is no better time to purchase some than now. If you want some peace of mind to ensure that your family will be supported if anything happens to you, then buying life insurance can be seen as an act of love. There are many options in life insurance from which you can choose, and any one of them would help cover your family’s financial obligations in case anything happens to you. By purchasing life insurance, you know that your family will get a safety net if they lose your income, which can help pay off a mortgage and put your children through the expensive university years.
Purchasing life insurance is a common decision for individuals with families that want to ensure their loved ones will be financially supported if anything horrible happens. So, purchasing life insurance is an excellent way to demonstrate your love for your family by ensuring they will be taken care of if the worst-case scenario occurs. You’ll also get the benefit of having the peace of mind of knowing your family would be fine if anything happened to you.
Purchasing Life Insurance in Your 40s
If you’ve reached your forties and you are uninsured or underinsured, then there is no better time than now to modify your life insurance plans before your rates increase. When it comes to purchasing life insurance, age is a vital factor determining the cost of your plan. Typically, your rates will jump up by the time you reach your 50s, so purchasing life insurance now with an affordable provider will help, as long as you ensure that your policy will meet your family’s financial needs.
Several people have life insurance coverage through their job benefits once they reach their fourth decade of life. Still, typically, the life insurance offered by your employer is likely not enough. For example, many employers offer up to $50,000 in life insurance. Still, if you are the main breadwinner in your family, that may not be enough to pay off your mortgage or your debts if you were to pass away unexpectedly, and that could leave your family in dire financial straights. So, it’s best to consider purchasing an individual policy on top of your job policy to ensure your family will be supported if anything were to happen to you.
Some people in their forties have already purchased life insurance at some other point in their life. If you bought a twenty-year term policy when you were in your twenties, then that policy might be expiring soon. If you’ve hit that stage, then you might want more time on your term life insurance, or you may even want to add another policy. Let’s suppose your mortgage is taking longer to pay off than expected, or you just had your first child. If something like that is happening in your life, you may want to ensure your family has enough financial support to survive anything tragic.
Nowadays, Americans are living longer. So, if you are considering purchasing life insurance in your forties, you could still be in good enough health to qualify for an affordable policy. For instance, a twenty-year term policy with a $500,000 death benefit can cost as little as $56 a month for a healthy woman that is 45-years old. Let’s say you want to add another life insurance policy since the term policy you bought in your twenties is nearing its end. If that’s the case, a twenty-year term policy for a healthy 45-year old male would cost about $62 a month for a $500,000 death benefit.
Considering how much protection about sixty bucks a month can offer your family, you’ll get peace of mind with some life insurance.
Costs of Average Permanent vs. Term Life Insurance for 40-year-olds
When you are considering buying life insurance in your forties, you’ll have two options from which to choose. The first option is permanent life insurance, including whole and universal life insurance policies. Your second option would be term life insurance, which lasts a designated timeframe of usually ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty years. Each kind of life insurance offers different payouts and has different benefits and costs associated with it. Below we’ll cover some estimates of each type of life insurance’s differences and what the average price would be for somebody in their forties.
The average cost per month for a forty-year-old healthy female to receive a whole life insurance policy at a $100,000 death benefit is about $52 per month, and for a male, it runs at about $58 monthly. Whole life insurance operates as a permanent policy that stays in place throughout your life, as long as you pay your premiums. Your beneficiary then receives a payout when you die, and there is no set length of time to determine this. That means this policy is guaranteed to payout, and the premiums will remain the same. This life insurance is often used to ensure inheritances, but it can also be the priciest option in life insurance. If you need more insurance than $100,000, a $250,000 death benefit for a healthy female can cost about $65 a month, and for a male, about $70. Increasing that death benefit to $500,000 a month means you’d pay near $100 a month, but most likely a little under.
If you aren’t in excellent health, your policy rates will be higher than this estimate. If you are a smoker, you could be expected to pay twice as much as the estimates we listed above.
Universal life insurance is a form of permanent life insurance that offers a lot more flexibility than whole life insurance. For example, with universal life insurance, you can alter your benefit amount and monthly payment to suit your needs whenever you need this option. Also, similar to whole life, this policy is guaranteed to pay out a death benefit.
The average cost of a universal life insurance policy for a forty-year-old healthy female at a payout of $100,000 is about $55 a month. For a healthy male, it would cost about $60 a month. If you require more benefits than that, a $250,000 death benefit would cost about $70 a month for a healthy female and $75 a month for a healthy male. $500,000 would cost about $110 a month for a 40-year old healthy female and about $118 a month for a 40-year old healthy male.
If you aren’t in great health, your policy rates will be a bit higher than this. For instance, if you are a smoker, you’ll pay twice as much with a universal life insurance policy as what we listed above.
Term life insurance is a much more affordable option, and it’s often great for new parents who want to ensure their bills are covered if one of them were to pass away. Term life insurance offers life insurance coverage designated for a certain timeframe, usually between ten to thirty years. A 20-year term life policy for a healthy 40-year old female at $100,000 can cost as little as $22 per month, depending on the length of the term. For a healthy 40-year old male, a $100,000 policy can cost about $26 per month. A payout of $250,000 for a healthy 40-year-old female would cost about $33 a month and $38 a month for a healthy male of the same age. For a $500,000 payout, the policy for a healthy 40-year older woman can cost about $52 a month, and for a healthy male of the same age, about $58.
Term life policies and their prices can increase based on the term length. Typically, a 30-year term policy can cost you an extra half of what you’d pay on a 20-year term policy, which is what our examples were based on above. So, length of time is a vital factor to assess when purchasing term life insurance.
What Creates Life Insurance Cost Variations for 40-year-olds?
Gender plays a vital role in assessing how much life insurance you’ll need to pay for each month. A woman and a man will pay different amounts for the same life insurance coverage each month. For example, if a 40-year old nonsmoking woman wanted a 30-year, $250,000 term policy, she can expect to pay about $33 a month, while a male with the same health status would pay about $38 a month. It’s estimated that men pay about $3 more per month for the same life insurance policy that a female of equal age and health would pay. Typically that means about $1,000 more over the life of a policy than what a female would pay.
Your age also impacts the price of your life insurance. That’s why it’s so vital for you to purchase life insurance now, in your forties, especially if you are still in great health because you’ll still get affordable rates. For instance, let’s say a healthy 40-year old male wanted to purchase a $250,000 term life policy, and his health is great. At 40-years old, that man will pay about $38 for his policy. If he buys this same policy at 45-years old, he’ll pay $48 a month. If he waits and decides to purchase this same policy when he is 50-years-old, he’ll pay $65 per month for the same amount of coverage.
It’s essential to note that once you are out of your forties and enter your fifties, the premiums on your life insurance will go up significantly. Thus, if you decide to hold off and wait for coverage until a later date, you aren’t doing your or your family any favors. You’d be better off signing up for a life insurance policy while still in your forties if you want some more affordable options.
Unfortunately, if you are a smoker, then we have some bad news for you. Smoking will increase your life insurance rates dramatically. For instance, most life insurance for smokers is about 100 to 300 times more expensive than nonsmokers. For instance, a 45-year-old male smoker that purchases a 20-year term life policy with a $500,000 death benefit would pay close to $300 for that policy. A nonsmoking male of the same age would pay about $70 a month for the same coverage.
Engaging in Risky Activities
Depending on your lifestyle choices, you also need to factor in any risky behavior you enjoy. If you skydive often, travel a lot, or enjoy scuba diving, then you may pay a lot more for your life insurance than people that don’t engage in these activities. Also, if you have a history of poor driving, this could increase the expense of your life insurance.
You also may need to provide information about your health history, medications, and your medical records. Sometimes a medical exam is required, but that can depend on the amount of life insurance, the type of coverage, and the insurance provider. It is possible to get life insurance without a medical exam. Still, much the price you pay for your life insurance will be impacted by your health history.
When you are ready to purchase your life insurance, remember to look around to receive the best rates. There are many options in insurance companies available on the market. Remember that one of the best strategies you can use when opting for life insurance is to hire an independent insurance agent. Independent agents work for their clients and work with several life insurance providers, meaning they can advise and help you shop around to ensure you receive the best life insurance rates possible.
If you’re ready to pick your life insurance plan and check out your options, consider working with us! We are independent agents that shop around with different companies to get you the best rates at no extra cost. Contact us today, and we can get the best options to you quickly!
Ryan Cravitz is a life insurance expert and author at Over50lifeinsure. Throughout the last 20 years, he’s been helping people make smart financial decisions aimed at securing and protecting their financial future, as well as the financial future of their family. There is a lot of misinformation about life insurance. He contributes to this site to help clarify and simplify the information you need to assist you in making informed decisions on your life insurance needs.
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This site provides life insurance quotes and information. The rates and information on this site are based on information given by life insurance companies. It should only be used for informational purposes and is subject to change. No portion of over50lifeinsure.com may be copied, published, or distributed in any manner for any purpose without prior written authorization by the owner. The information provided on this website is not intended as tax or legal advice. Consult with your tax/or legal professional for details regarding your specific situation. Bennett Bier is the owner of over50lifeinsure.com and is licensed in all states & the District of Columbia. This website is only intended for those living in the United States.
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As a freelance virtual assistant, you can make a nice career for yourself just by offering VA services to great clients year in and year out.
The income can be pretty stable, and if you like what you do, it’s a great way to be your own boss.
There are many freelancers who have their eye on growth. They want to be making more money from their businesses while doing the same amount of work or less. The more you’re able to do this – maximize your income without maximizing your input – the bigger your bottom line will be.
This is known as “scaling.”
There are all kinds of ways you can scale an online business, but the process to scale a virtual assistant business in particular isn’t always straightforward.
It takes some planning and effort, but scaling is definitely worth doing when you’re ready – and it’s worth doing right!
In short, scaling your virtual assistant business means you’ve stopped trading time for dollars.
You begin to price things based on the value of what you do, rather than the price tag of an hour of your work. You no longer focus on what your time is worth. Instead, you focus on what your output is worth.
In a niche such as virtual assisting, it’s very easy to get stuck in the “hourly” mindset.
And if you’re happy with your income, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if you’re ready to break the $40/hour ceiling that comes with the territory of the typical administrative type of VA work, you’ll need to think about scaling.
You can scale your services and rates or you can scale by adding other income streams.
Before you can begin scaling your VA business, you need to get solid on your base hourly rate. You may already know this, but chances are good that your hourly rate needs to change (read: increase). Your current hourly rate is a starting point.
When you’re scaling your services or rates, you’ll need to make sure your hourly rate is reflective of the going rates for those services. Do some research and ask around. If it’s been a while since you compared rates, you may be surprised by how much you could be charging.
Once you have a sense of the real value of the services and packages you’re going to offer (and we’ll go over this shortly), map out each one.
Estimate the time it will take to do each of the individual tasks involved. Add up the total number of hours for each package, add 10-15 percent to the price, and then tweak that number to the nearest $10 or $25 (or whatever you want) for your package price.
Am I Ready to Scale My VA Business?
When it comes to scaling, you can be laying the groundwork from Day One.
Packaged services is something you can offer immediately if you want, and you can even go for retainers immediately, too. Your rates and experience shouldn’t have any effect on whether or not you can land a retainer. In fact, having beginner rates might make you more attractive to retainer clients!
Raising your rates is one (very effective) way to start scaling as a virtual assistant. Packages and retainer are the next step in scaling. When you feel confident enough in the services you’re providing, and/or you’re ready to transition to that type of pricing model, you’re ready to scale.
Raising your VA rates when you’re just starting out is a fairly painless process.
With each new client lead you get, quote them a higher rate than you’re charging your other clients.
This process of charging the next client a bit more than the last is called “the freelance ladder” and it’s how many of us go from making $20 per hour to making substantially more.
You can keep raising your rates with new clients until you get about three “no” responses, and then you’ll know it’s time to reevaluate something. Take a look at your positioning, your track record, and your ability to communicate the value you’re proposing.
You may also need to look at what the going rates are for the services you’re pitching to be sure you’re in the same ballpark.
Moving to a flat-rate pay structure is another way to scale.
Instead of charging hourly for your services, you’ll charge a flat rate for a flat number of hours (or range of hours) that you work.
The client buys the hours in bulk up front and then decides when and how to use them.
I’d recommend putting an expiration on the hours – saying they must be used within three months of purchase, for example. Otherwise, some clients may buy up a ton of hours and then spread them out pretty thinly, which means you have a lot of cash up front but then are stuck doing work at that low rate later on down the line when you could be doing the same work for more money.
The flat rate is based pretty directly on your regular hourly rate, and it’s often offered at a discount. That said, you can primarily offer clients your flat-rate packages at your “real” hourly rate, with a la carte hours available at a higher hourly rate. For example, you could offer a client 40 hours for $800 (so $20/hr) with the option for additional hours at $25 each.
These are a lot like a flat-rate pay structure, but more structured.
A retainer is usually done on a monthly basis. A monthly retainer has the client pay $XXX for “up to XX hours per month” with additional hours being billed at $XX. With retainer clients, you can present your retainer rate at a discount with your a la carte hours being your regular rate, or you can have your retainer rate be based on your regular rate with a la carte hours billed at a higher rate.
The main difference between flat rate packages and retainers is that you get paid that retainer rate whether or not you actually work all of the hours purchased.
The client benefits from the security of knowing you’re available if and when they need you, and you benefit from the stable income that may or may not require the full workload.
Scaling by Offering Packages
Offering packages is a GREAT way to scale.
The client is buying a specific set of tasks or projects, while you already know how long they’re going to take, AND you get paid a flat rate for doing them.
We delve into packaging your VA services in this post. In short, your package rates can be informed by your hourly rate, but they should be geared more toward value than whatever your actual base rate is.
That means that you can price them higher (assuming they’re valued) and be making more money for the same amount of work. That’s scaling!
Scaling by Offering Products
There are two directions you can go when you want to offer products. One is to design products for clients, and the other is to make products for other virtual assistants. You may even find that most of what you decide to offer can be useful for both!
For example, if you’re a Pinterest VA, you can offer packages of ready-made pin templates. You create these templates once, and you can sell them to an unlimited number of clients. This is a great solution for prospects who can’t afford an ongoing assistant. It also gives you an easy way to solve their problems and offer value without giving your time away.
Other ideas for customizable products you can sell could include ebook covers, worksheet templates, pre-made Instagram images, spreadsheets, and more.
You might also be interested in putting together specific trainings, such as teaching the fundamentals of social media marketing on Twitter or a training on setting up pinning campaigns in Tailwind.
If you want to convert your current hourly clients to a flat-rate pay structure, retainers, or even packages, you’ll need to use some finesse. The main thing you’ll need to do is make sure that the new structure you’re converting them to will still fit their needs.
Give them advanced notice that things are changing (at least a full month), and offer a few different options they can choose (including one that looks a lot like the current arrangement and one or two that add on additional services).
You might also consider offering your clients the opportunity to buy some “bulk hours” up front if they aren’t going to be able to move to your new price model. And, of course, if you really want to keep someone on and are willing to accommodate them, you can maintain the status quo and move to the new model with new clients.
Switching to a More Lucrative Niche
Interested in some five-figure months?
Confident in your tech skills?
You might be ready to look for high-value, highly paid niches to move into. The one I personally know most about is digital marketing, which involves everything from sales pages to social media advertising to sales funnels.
As a digital marketing specialist, you might start with writing sales page copy, and then scale up to writing the copy plus setting up the sales page. You could scale further to connecting the payment processor and email service provider. The more you’re able to bundle all of these related services together, the more valuable you are and the higher your rates can go. You become a one-stop-shop for business owners who need your marketing services
But that’s certainly not the only high-value, highly specialized niche for virtual assistants.
Look at what all the different “specialists” offer.
You might specialize in being a podcast showrunner, or in building one-page websites for solopreneurs, or in optimizing Amazon book and product descriptions. Once you specialize in one thing, you can learn the related services and bundle them together as high-value “done for you” service packages.
And that’s how you go from making $30 an hour as a virtual assistant to making $1,000 a month maintaining a Facebook Ads campaign (which takes a handful of hours).
Scaling by Becoming an Agency
One of the things that six-figure VAs do to scale is to switch to an “agency” model. As an agency, you’re a virtual assistant and you establish a healthy client pipeline. Once you’ve got more work than you can handle, you bring on other VAs to pick up the overflow work.
The client pays you, you pay the virtual assistant you’ve hired to do that client work, and you keep a cut for yourself.
Becoming an agency can be a lucrative solution, but it’s not for everyone. You’d have to find people to work under you who are completely reliable. There’s a lot of responsibility on your shoulders when you do it this way, but your income goes up significantly in exchange.
Are You Ready to Scale Your Virtual Assistant Business?
In my opinion, it’s always a good time to scale!
You certainly don’t have to scale, but there are some easy things you can be doing continually to edge your income up without requiring more time or effort from you.
And of course, when you’re ready to do something BIG for your business, you can take any of these ideas and run with them!
When it comes to scaling your virtual assistant business, which method do you think you’d do first (or next)?
Gina Horkey is a married, millennial mama from Minnesota. Additionally, she’s the founder of Horkey HandBook and loves helping others find or become a kickass virtual assistant. Gina’s background includes making a living as a professional writer, an online business marketing consultant and a decade of experience in the financial services industry.
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John Redwood's Diary Incisive and topical campaigns and commentary on today's issues and tomorrow's problems
Local Issues
Doing well at things
September 11, 2016 90 Comments
I have had the privilege of meeting numerous successful people in the jobs I have done over the years. Like many I have enjoyed watching sports stars, hearing fine musicians, reading great authors and seeing good entertainers. One silver thread runs through the success of all of them. Hard work.
If you want to write well, first read well. Then try writing, strenuously seeking to improve how you write. If you want to perform in the Olympics, choose your sport and spend every available waking hour practising and building your physique and technique. Take advice on how to compete with the best. Know two things. Being the best may be beyond you, but being very good is well within your abilities. If you really want to reach high standards you can do so. You will not reach high standards without belief and commitment.
I find the debate about academic selection curious. Most in the debate accept academic selection at age 18. No-one suggests sending people to top universities who do not have some GCSEs and A levels to a required standard. Most accept vigorous selection for developing football, cricket, ballet,music and other cultural talent. We start training our top musicians and dancers early, and give them a rigorous regime that the rest of us would not want. In return for a privileged specialist education we expect the best of them, and winnow out those who do not make sufficient effort.
The mistake is in thinking the grammar test is a single life changing event which means if you fail that prevents you having a good future. Some of the best entrepreneurs I know failed at school. Some of the top footballers would probably not have made it to grammar schools. Life is full of challenges, selections, opportunities and disappointments. Some people who were rejected by the Academy or turned down by the publisher eventually publish stunning books that many people want to read.
I love cricket but I never made it to a high standard team because I spent my youth reading books and trying to write better essays rather than practising my bowling. I like to go and watch people who are a lot better at cricket than I am. I am not jealous of them. I do not say we should stop selecting because it discriminates against mediocre cricketers like me. I praise them for their well honed skills, like watching their games and return to my job to do what I have trained myself to do to professional standards. I also enjoy playing cricket myself against people with similar limited levels of skill and competence who like me have not trained themselves to professional levels.
It is high time we accepted that life is riddled with selections. No one of them will prevent us achieving something or having a good life. Our present schooling system is riddled with selection by family income. The better off can afford to send their children to fee paying schools. The bit better offs can buy homes in the catchments of better state schools. Why should this type of selection be preferred to selection by ability?
You have only failed when you give up and have failure in your heart.
September 11, 2016 90 Comments
September 11, 2016
“The better off can afford to send their children to fee paying schools.”
Indeed, and some waste their money doing so, other than it allows their child enter what used top be called “The Old Boys” network… On the other hand less well off, but gifted, children often miss out on such education due to the lack of scholarships and/or selection etc.
September 11, 2016
JR, you are quite wrong about students not having the correct grades for university. Part of your govt’s social mobility nonsense is exactly that. Russell Group Universities accept students from poor backgrounds with lower grades. You might recall how private school children were being discriminated against on this basis. Madness, but there you are. Is May going to correct this under her meritocracy agenda? Or another load bull..it. The taxpayer still providing free university education for EU students at some of our best universities,msturgeon needs to explain why she woes our taxes like this when there are more deserving UK citizens.
Certainly not a waste of money spending children to private school they get a better and fuller education by teachers who are much better qualified even without a PGCE.
September 11, 2016
It is not “madness” to discriminate against pupils from good schools. You should be looking for potential and a pupil with rather lower grades “from a bog standard comp” might well have more that some one with 4a*s from Westminster.
I understand Trinity College Cambridge for example has a scale they use for most schools, as clearly not all private schools are the same as Westminster and some grammar schools are excellent too. Indeed many private schools are essentially up market comps with smaller class sizes and parent who care and can afford them.
September 12, 2016
Potential my arse, how do assess this? What nest make sure there are an equal number of boys and girls irrespective of achievement? The next step the old boy network of who you know. Meritoracy based on how each person performs is the only fair method of selection, not some yard stick which can be moved to suite the politico of the day. The pupils cannot be made to account for what their parents chose to spend their money on or how well off they might be. Presumably you brought up your children in the way you thought right according your values and beliefs. Your response is utterly ridiculous based on your long standing comments.
September 12, 2016
Explain the Oratory selection of MPs children?
September 12, 2016
Potential is not that hard to assess, you merely look at how people with certain grades from a “bog standard comp” perform relative to three people for Westminster with there grades.
You just write an algorithm to analyse it and then adjust your admissions accordingly. This is not very hard for the many bright people at Trinity Cambridge to organise. They are not usually PPE or Geography graduates after all.
September 11, 2016
Succinctly put, every sentence is a reality to which I have nothing to add.
September 11, 2016
Why should people not spend their money how they want, whether on education for their children, cars, a house or whatever they wish. Why should Chairman May decide what we can spend our money on? This is Jealously, not fair nation or fair society. Again punishing the strivers and prudent to help the feckless and irresponsible. She needs to get her own house in order at Westminster before declaring more social babble on the rest of us. Same laws, standards and procedures for MPs, no Sharia law as she prescribes, one law for everyone.
September 11, 2016
Exactly.
Even JK rowling was rejected by several publishers.
Life isn’t fair get over it and do your best is perhaps the best message. Would we rather people paid for their children’s education and became top doctors, scientists, engineers and the likes or that they spent it on other frivolous things? Or would we rather they bought a nice house near a good state school and deprived someone else of a free place there?
The country actually needs far more good technicians, plumbers, builders, electricians and engineers and far fewer lawyers, tax consultants and the likes. Simpler lower taxes and a bonfire of red tape would help this hugely here. Undo the complete & irrational mess that Osborne has created of the fiscal system.
September 11, 2016
There are of course other problems with education a lot of current education and the exam syllabus is about PC, climate alarmism, fake “equality” so called “renewables” and lefty, “BBC think” or greencrap indoctrination. It has little to do reality, engineering or real science. There is also the other religious & political agendas which again can be very damaging. The ever bigger government, ever higher taxes and the magic money tree economic agenda.
But do we really want schools to incubate religious ghettos as Mrs May seems to want. What are you views on this rather dangerous proposal JR?
Of course the problem is the Tories, the Commons and Lords are so stuffed with lefties that no of this is ever likely to happen anyway. So why has she made it her priority? Is she going to have an early election or is she just floating a pointless mirage?
Peter Hitchens was good on this the other day. I too will believe it when we see some action rather than just words say when we have 50+ new selective grammar schools formed.
September 11, 2016
Of course tax payer funded Grammar schools are grossly unfair competition to private schools, just as the BBC is hugely unfair competition, the NHS, social housing, trains and the rest are too. Stop the government distorting the market, it is hugely damaging in all these areas.
People really need vouchers (or tax credits) to encourage them not to use the tax payer funded sector.
September 11, 2016
An interesting piece for a Sunday, thank you.
In some ways it’s a shame you even have to write these things because they should be self-evident. Not in today’s world, alas, where teachers seem to believe that competition to be the best is a bad thing and where our universities have ‘safe spaces’ in which students can protect themselves from hearing something which might ‘trigger anxiety’ in them. (In my day, hearing opposing viewpoints was an excellent reason to be at university in the first place.)
The key thing is opportunity. If we have a society where most things are possible, the rest is down to enthusiasm, desire, commitment and hard work. A little talent and aptitude also helps, of course!
We can argue about how well we provide opportunity and the best ways of doing this, as with the grammar school debate. However we should certainly ensure the values you write of are inculcated throughout our society, starting from an early age. This is certainly a fundamental issue which needs addressing.
Your article would make a good OpEd piece for any number of publications and websites – I hope you email it to a few.
September 11, 2016
September 12, 2016
Of course, the real problem is that no secondary schools is capable of meeting the diverse needs and desires of each of its pupils. That is why pupils will get music tuition away from school: why some join cricket clubs to get the real training and help they require and, of course, why some give up on school altogether because, in the words of one secondary teacher “Education in this country will never function effectively until pupils, at least at secondary level, can choose their areas of study and do not spend every day wastefully being forced to learn much of what they do not want to know.” (Letter to TES)
I quote from “Wot? No School? How schools impede education” by Jonathan Langdale and John Harrison:
“It isn’t the teachers who are getting education wrong. It isn’t the pupils who can’t learn. It isn’t the parents who make the wrong choice… It’s the system: the ludicrous insistence that academic ability is the greatest good for all children whatever their individual aptitudes and preferences, despite the fact that once you have left school almost no-one is remotely interested in your academic ability – except, perhaps, another academic institution.
The authors recommend that pupils should be able to leave school by the age of 15 provided they have passed a School Leaving Certificate – a certificate of competence to enter the adult world as a beginner and NOT of academic prowess. (At present, pupils can leave school with no qualifications whatsoever.) They should then be able to choose what subjects they wish to develop, be they academic, artistic, practical or physical (e.g. athletics, football, swimming etc.). To do this they would go to teachers qualified in these areas rather than to schools where they are obliged to follow a largely academic curriculum laid down by politicians who themselves were successful at academic subjects and therefore believe that this must be the best education of all. Anyone who is not good at these subjects and fails is, by their standards just that, a failure.
September 11, 2016
The best argument against grammar schools is that they damage the life chances of those who are not selected. We need to be sure that the schools attended by those not selected for a grammar education are excellent too.
It’s going to be a tough world for those without marketable skills. Fortunately, many of those skills don’t need deep academic knowledge, but they do need a strong understanding of the basics of English, Maths, Science etc., and then the ability to learn the details of their profession after young people leave school.
The overall argument needs to be framed in terms of what the future educational system will do for all young people – ‘a country that works for everyone’, as the PM says.
September 11, 2016
The usually sound Christopher Booker today suggests leaving the EU market would be suicidal disaster, any thoughts on this view?
You even get a mention as an ill informed wishful thinker!
Reply We are not planning to stop using the market!
September 11, 2016
@LL; @JR reply; I note that neither of you used the words “EU single Market”…
September 12, 2016
Thats because there isn’t one , there is a single market in goods only and more than 70% of our business is now in services
September 12, 2016
@libertarian; Well there most certainly won’t be one, as far as the UK is concerned once we have our full Brexit…!
On the other hand the remaining EU27 will likely move very quickly to complete the Single Market.
September 12, 2016
This is correct though not generally understood by those not running a business and employing others.
September 13, 2016
September 13, 2016
Wrong again as usual Jerry.
You do not understand how the single market works.
Libertarian is correct.
September 13, 2016
@Edward2; You, and Libertarian entitled to your opinion, the facts state otherwise, it might not (yet) be the full single market, which is what Libertarian implied and what you have failed grasped, but there is a single market non the less.
September 13, 2016
How come many nations trade happily with Europe without agreeing to freedom of movement nor being in the single market?
The single market has been hyped up and “people like you” Jerry with little exporting experience in business have an overblown vision of what it is and does.
September 14, 2016
@Edward2; No one has ever questioned that, post Brexit, the UK will be able to trade with EU member countries!
September 14, 2016
Glad to see we are getting through.
September 15, 2016
@Edward2; You still just don’t get it do you, yes we will be able to trade with the EU27, like any other non EU country as you say, but at what cost – best bet at the moment appears to be WTO rules, that is not good news at all unless we have a sea-change in how our retail and manufacturing sectors are being run.
September 16, 2016
I do get it thanks Jerry
For decades loads of nations have traded both ways with Europe without being part of the single market Nor agreeing to freedom of movement
Nor having a formal trade deal
At what cost you keep saying….
Well at a cost that allows them to happily continue to trade with Europe
September 11, 2016
It’s all predicated on the assumption that the governments of the other EU countries would be either more or less indifferent to massive disruption to the present trade with UK, or they would even actively welcome it as a way to punish the British and deter others from contemplating their own “escape”.
To support that assumption the Remainders have constructed a narrative in which any new impediments to trade would only affect our exports to them and would leave their exports to us flowing unhindered, and part of the construction of that false narrative is to only ever talk about the effects on our exporters. Thus it would be our car manufacturers who would face 10% tariffs, there is no need to mention the fact that their car manufacturers would also be affected, let alone the fact that their exports of vehicles to us are worth three times as much as ours to them. And if it is objected that tariffs would cut both ways, they just invent a WTO rule which says that it would be illegal for us to retaliate, we would be at their mercy. And as a back up line, they say that the loss of trade would be proportionately greater for us than for them, and so we would be ruined while they would shrug it off.
Then there are all these numerous practical complexities which would have to be sorted out, and now that part of the story is that a hostile Commission will control the negotiations and follow EU law and almost take a delight in bogging us down, while “the clock is ticking” towards a two year “deadline”, and with little prospect of getting any extension to that time because, basically, the other governments won’t care in the slightest if we leave the EU without any new agreement to ensure that trade continues uninterrrupted and unimpeded.
So faced with the fabricated constraint that there would not be enough time to sort out all these complications, and moreover the other governments would not care if they were not sorted out, it seems that we are left with with only two alternatives: do what the “hard” Remainders want us to do and stay in the EU, or do what the “soft” Remainders want us to do and stay in the Single Market and the EEA.
“But Britain is only part of this global system by virtue of its membership of the EU, which as in all other trade matters, signed the agreements on our behalf. This was why that report from the Japanese foreign ministry warned that we cannot afford to drop out of the single market. To negotiate separate AEO status in our own right would take far too long; which is why, yet again, by far the simplest and most practical solution is that we should remain, along with Norway and other non-EU countries, in the wider European Economic Area (EEA), thus allowing our AEO status to continue.”
“To negotiate separate AEO status in our own right would take far too long”, that is the key consideration; yes, we may have that status now, and, yes, hypothetically it might be simple enough for all concerned parties to agree that we shall continue to have that status after we have left the EU, at least for the time being until a new agreement can be made, but that is not what would happen because some or all of them would prefer to see a collapse of global trade rather than to apply common sense and consult their financial interests as well as ours.
September 11, 2016
“Former WTO boss attacks ‘total confusion’ over Brexit, Peter Sutherland says Theresa May must answer basic questions on UK’s relationship with the EU”.
“Britain is completely lost after Brexit and will beg for a deal, Brussels believes.” (Google “…”)
My old fellow EU number crunchers are betting me Brexit will not happen; and, it will come down to a General Election decision. They are evens on it being before 2020.
If there is a bright young fellow, in a uniform, with one or more stars on his collar; talk to the number one lady at the Palace, the one you gave your oath to. With a little luck and judgement, she may be even more pissed off with her Ministers than we are out here.
September 11, 2016
I certainly have my doubts that Brexit will happen at all under T May. I do not think she has the motivation nor the ability to push it through. The forces of remain the BBC the luvvies, the state sector, academia, charities, most MPs …..are rather powerful but totally wrong headed.
September 12, 2016
@LL; I have doubt that any meaningful Brexit will happen even under any of the more prominent and sensible Brexiteers within the Tory party, an element of cold light of dawn realism is -finally- creeping in.
Nor I do not believe for one moment that so many Ministers can be signing from the wrong hymn sheet, all at the same time, and then being ‘corrected’ in some choreographed roll-play from no.10, and now (yesterday on the Andrew Marr show) Amber Rudd had to agree that the EU could place electronic visa requirements [1] upon British people who wish to travel within the EU26 once the UK has had our Brexit – something I mentioned in the months and weeks before the referendum on this site but was told by the usual people that i was talking nonsense…
[1] the EU is considering a European version of the
ESTA system as used by the USA
Anonymous
September 11, 2016
Reply This is a World Customs Organisation scheme to expedite exports. The Uk is a member of the Customs Organisation as are most countries! There is no problem.
September 12, 2016
The perceived problem is the time available to sort out new arrangements, although when asked to support the claim that:
“To negotiate separate AEO status in our own right would take far too long”
his researcher does not provide a convincing answer.
Today the value of parliamentary sovereignty is dismissed:
Sir Joe Soap
September 11, 2016
Few truer words were spoken. Please place this in the msm.
September 11, 2016
@SJP; “Please place this in the msm.
Our host already has, the MSM is now the internet, or were you referring to the Social Media sub-category?
September 11, 2016
If at first you do not succeed, try, try again. That was the lesson taught to me by my mother and it one I have used probably the most often.
My education did not end at 16. I went into further education and, even today, I enroll in various courses and plan to do the same again in October this year.
The ‘L’ in life is for learning and when you have ceased learning, you have ceased to live.
We are all born different and have different skills and abilities, some more than others. Just accept it.
September 11, 2016
My formal education ended at 15, when I started full time employment. I went to one of the derided secondary modern schools in my small town in Norfolk. However I did not feel ‘consigned to the educational scrapheap’ as Ian Dale so elegantly described it on Con Home. I took on further secretarial study and feel I have made a success of my life. I believe that we all have potential, which can be nurtured in the home and in the school we attend. I do not feel any ill will towards those who go to private or grammar school, but it’s not for everyone, and no one should feel a failure because theirs was a different path in life.
Reply Every day is an educational opportunity. You do not need to be at school to learn something.
September 12, 2016
See also my comment above.
September 12, 2016
Indeed useful information, understanding and knowledge is all around you every single day, you just observe, listen, pick it up and think about it.
September 11, 2016
UK universities are alas full of people who should not really be there, often studying subjects that are rather dubious anyway. People should surely pay for their own hobbies in general, if they want to indulge these interest. They should not expect other hard working tax payers to subsidise their personal hobbies.
I think over half of current undergraduates perhaps come into this category and probably over half of the courses. They would be better off learning on the job or doing some rather more practical or vocational training. How may Divinity, Classics, Archaeology and Anthropology, PPE or Assyriology graduates does the country really need?
Let them study in their own time with their own money please as they wish. Why should a low paid clearly or burger flipper have to pay taxes to subsidise these hobbies?
September 11, 2016
September 11, 2016
September 11, 2016
Over the years one has suffered countless successful Americans saying something along the lines of “ If you really believe in it =your dream can come true “. In fact social mobility is a poor across the States and whilst we will no forgive actors and beauty queens for gushing one is surely not obliged to take it seriously .
If you syphon off the top 20% the atmosphere for the losers will be extremely difficult. With a highly motivated teaching staff and a careful and brilliantly implemented policy all this might be addressed but in real life we will have the same teaching unions, the same idleness and the same miserable ordinary incompetence of which is what life consists =. The new secondary moderns will be the social high rises of our time , shiny ideas soon reduced to nasty failed crumbling social dumping grounds . My children will be self-taught before they go there. That’s why it will fail and you can rest assured the politicians imposing it will not have their children within hundred miles of them
PS My one hope is that the reason for throwing the slavering tory membership some 1950s meat is to soften them up the soft Brexit they will get for afters ! Yummy.
Anonymous
September 11, 2016
The grammars do not exclude children forever at 11 – nor do they 12,13 … nor 16 when many come from comprehensives to take the places of students who have not put in the required effort or to to take up spare places in sixth form classes.
The claim that once rejected at 11 your grammar school future is over is a false one.
Nor are grammars for the privileged. Tuition for entrance exams is affordable and cheaper than fags or booze. A shop worker’s son is able to compete equally with a doctor’s son to get in – which the shop worker’s son cannot do on the comprehensive school catchment basis, because he cannot afford to live in a home in that area.
Besides. I think the grammar school issue is a diversion from Brexit – and what does the EU have to say about it ?
Will the EU overrule Mrs May’s decision through some court appeal ?
At the moment it’s still a possibility, you know.
September 11, 2016
What worries me is that we do not put enough emphasis on non-academic education.
When we have kids at the back of the class being bored stiff forced by law to learn Shakespeare when they could be learning how to lay bricks or weld metal – and even earning some money by actually doing it – then something is wrong.
When we put money into pointless time-filling drama projects or DJ courses for people who are perfectly employable in a technical trade, then something is wrong.
By all means lets have a rigorous selection process for academics but let’s not forget that do-ers are often not academically minded and need to be allowed to develop skills that suit them and not suit the establishment which is largely run…by academics.
September 12, 2016
See also my comment above.
September 19, 2016
I grew up in a grammar school area. There wasn’t just the grammar school, for academics, but also a trade & technical school, a secondary modern, and others, because each catered to a different type of learning. One of my friends left the grammar for the trade school, because she didn’t handle classroom learning well. Transition between them could happen at any age from eleven up.
Education shouldn’t be about making sure everyone is taught the same things in the same way, but that each child is taught in a way that can make the very best of their skills.
September 11, 2016
My advice to my grandchildren, in choosing and developing a career, is to identify what you are good at and enjoy doing and work hard at it. If you do not enjoy, or least get interest out of what you do, then the chances are that you will not do as well or compete as effectively as those that do.
So far as educational choice is concerned I think grammar schools have been unreasonably suppressed. There should be greater choice and a greater emphasis on technical and vocational schools and colleges too. There has been too much of a “one size fits all” mentality.
September 11, 2016
What is perhaps rather depressing is that so many people, who are consistently wrong headed and clearly very bad at things get to the top of politics, the BBC, banks, (large cos ed) and industry in general. They are usually good at PR, talking bullshit and appealing to irrational emotions but always seem to lack logic, reason, planning/engineering abilities & basic numeracy.
They are then usually wheeled out by the BBC as “experts” for years to come like John Major.
Just look at the dire quality of all the Prime Ministers in my lifetime. With the exception of Thatcher (and that only rather partial) they have all had totally duff compasses. Compasses pointing to more and more regulation, more and more EU, expensive greencrap energy, counterproductive misguided wars, more and more government, more intervention, more and more duff NHS and more and more taxation – all totally misguided and counter productive.
September 12, 2016
“What do we want?
When do we want it?
Anonymous
September 11, 2016
One thing I would prefer people to do less well at is road cycling.
I don’t mind people competing, getting good at sport and doing healthy, outdoorsy stuff… but using the busy highways as a sports facility is not on.
The official cycling policy is to ride two abreast on the basis that “If it is not possible to give a cyclist the space of two cyclists when overtaking them then they must not be overtaken at all.”
This distancing is fair enough but it means that side-by-side riders (who do so to inforce this point) necessitate THREE lanes to overtake them – which is why we often see queues of motor vehicles backed up behind them. They effectively want to ban overtaking. Based on their theory we should never see a cyclist alone as they deem it unsafe (it’s purely coincidental that side-by-side cyclists are always chatting.)
This is not sharing the highway. This is OWNING the highway.
Clearly these people are insane: by their irrational argument attached to their right to clog up the roads through side-by-side riding going for ‘the burn’ on a busy uphill thoroughfare with their wibbly-wobbly bums blocking traffic for miles, the positioning of their bodies in harm’s way of traffic for mere sport, their virtual nakedness in the event of a 40mph fall (motorcyclists are leathered up at such speeds) and by their utterly UTTERLY ridiculous apparel. I mean, come on !
I do wonder how many accidents have been caused by drivers attempting forced overtakes or trying to make up lost time later.
Bright, skintight lycra on a middle-aged man is rarely going to be a good look and clip-cloppy shoes and an egg box on the head – replete with “I’m a VICTIM” camera perched on top of it – always garner suppressed laughs in our pub.
Hopefully natural selection will take its course. What woman would want to mate with something that looked like that !
Rant over.
September 11, 2016
The HS2 boss has quit to go to Rolls Royce. Excellent it saves nearly £1M PA and a pay off, no need to replace him just cancel this insane waste of money project now.
September 11, 2016
Very coherent and “inner” stuff today John . I admire the way you have put it across . Horizons exist in everyone’s life , most are dreams and are beyond grasp , but , as you have pointed out , they are there to be aimed at and tried for ; even getting part way to a goal is a way of making progress .
A lot does depend on outside motivation ; those children whose parents have “achieved” set a standard to be followed , it is there as an every day norm . An Aunt of mine who had 8 children was married to a coal miner – no one could say that the success factor existed in her family life ; nevertheless everyone of her children passed the scholarship and went to West Country Grammar Schools and they all lived happy and successful lives producing fine children of their own .
I can think of other examples where achievement ought to have happened because all the right ingredients were in place but did not materialise ; these offspring became reliant on their parents for most of their life . Enviroment does play a significant role in influencing development and achievement – a role that fortunately many schools follow ; the teachers in these schools are carefully selected and motivated to maintain standards of conduct as well as academic ability .
September 11, 2016
Off-topic, I saw this today:
and followed through to their website here:
“Change Britain is the campaign to make a success of Britain’s departure from the EU.”
and will sign up as a supporter.
Of course those who still don’t want Britain to depart from the EU despite that being the democratic will of the British people as expressed on June 23rd, and/or would rather make the worst possible failure of our departure in the hope that they could then wangle us back into it, should not sign up to this campaign unless their intention is to disrupt it.
September 11, 2016
well done Denis. Just signed up and emailed link to all my contacts.
September 13, 2016
September 11, 2016
I was talking with an old friend two days ago. He failed his 11-plus and went on to become an engineer. I passed my 11-plus and left school as early as I possibly could with no formal qualifications. The old adage, ‘Life is what you make it’, comes to mind and is still relevant. People should stop whining about life not being fair and just get on with it, making the best of their abilities.
September 11, 2016
Selection is the one bit of the educational jigsaw that the Gove reforms omitted and it says something about Mrs May that she is offering it; possibly that is part of her motivation in doing so. Would there have been less reaction if she had simply said she was going to allow selection, rather than using the emotive name, Grammar Schools?
There is still an awful lot of detail to come: how will Grammar School fit in the existing scheme of things, with Academies and Free Schools? It looks as if such existing schools may simply be able to become selective, subject to conditions, which is why to me the term Grammar School is out of date and it might have been better not to use it. There is no sign that Grammar School will be imposed on areas that do not want them but they may well be encouraged as a good option.
Mrs May had some rather acid words for the private sector, but she would do well to think hard about this and what it has to offer, which goes far beyond sponsoring state schools. I went to a Direct Grant school and some way of replacing these, or the Assisted Places scheme is worth considering. I have served as chairman of the governors of an independent girls’ day school and one of the things that impressed me most was the lengths to which parents would go to avoid the State system for their children, and all sides of the educational establishment, politicians, officials and the teachers and their unions, would do well to ponder on why this is so. It became all the more marked when the child was in any way unusual or had particular aptitudes, or was just of above average ability. In a non-selective environment there is an inevitable gravitation to the lowest common denominator and lack of flexibility. Are there areas where the State just cannot cope and it would be better to make direct use of what the private sector can offer?
Equally my experience makes it clear that if the State sector becomes fit for purpose, the run of the mill parts of the private sector will wither and Mrs Mays worries about it will be solved. The school with which I was involved failed, and a large part of the reason was that the local sixth form college, which had been something of a sink, got its act together and provided unanswerable competition.
I wish Mrs may very well in this initiative but I suspect there is an awful lot of thinking yet to be done.
September 11, 2016
Listening to Amber Rudd on Andrew Marr (just now) it is quite clear that Mrs May (after many years as home secretary) and Amber Rudd (after three months in office) have still not even decided how to deal with non EU immigration, let alone EU immigration.
What is the point of ministers coming on television just to say nothing, nothing, we cannot say yet, we need a discussion/debate and we have not decided that yet either? Theresa was appointed Home Secretary in 12 May 2010, yet still they have apparently not made up their minds on a direction? This even on non EU migration?
Are we sure we have the right leader? Is the talk of Grammar Schools just an attempts distraction? One that she surely must know she cannot really deliver anyway, given all the lefties/Cameronites in her party and the lefty wet House of Lords.
September 11, 2016
Whilst I support hard work, when studying the successful perhaps we oughtn’t discount confirmatory bias, false positives and false negatives. Nor should we ignore returns to luck, and some would also question the size of the returns to luck or to merit.
It can be very easy to become a little too romantic.
September 11, 2016
The opposite view is taken on the Left by the likes of Owen Smith who explicitly said his aim is “equality of outcome”. Of course the easiest way to achieve that is to make the state education system as bad as possible.
September 11, 2016
Off-topic again, I’m surprised that John Wittingdale should tell the Sunday Telegraph that he wants Article 50 to be triggered in “weeks not months”, when the government has already told the courts that they can spend months not weeks dealing with the vexatious cases which have been started to try to prevent us leaving the EU, and the courts have adopted that leisurely schedule.
“The case will be heard over two days from mid-October 2016 by a Divisional Court including the Lord Chief Justice. Given the constitutional importance of the case the Court is also making arrangements for a “leapfrog” appeal to be heard by the Supreme Court in December 2016 ahead of the Government’s projected timetable for triggering Article 50 TEU at the start of 2017.”
I imagine that if the government counsel had told the court that this was an urgent matter then the case could have been expedited, but having said that there’s really no rush it would be difficult to go back on that now.
September 11, 2016
JR, I read Christopher Booker’s article in today’s Telegraph with interest. I had not heard of AEOs before, it appears that he thinks you haven’t either! Is it something that we should be worried about? I’d love to see you address this in a future blog if possible? Please keep up the good work, always a pleasure to see you on our TV screens as a general lack of common sense still abounds.
September 12, 2016
As we are already operating AEOs and must have the paperwork and sofware, why could we not adopt the same process and agree to continue as before. Would French and Spanish exporters stand for their lorries being searched or car manufacturers their trains of engines and parts searched. Bonkers Verhofstdt and Junker would be told to stop mucking about the day they started.
September 11, 2016
This has a ring of “If” by Kipling. Strangely, a scene from “Schindler’s List” or is it Schindlers’s Ark” , almost immediately goose-stepped in my mind. Whatever the title, I have the book somewhere in my home. It’s hiding like a few others. I cannot remember if I’ve read it. My books are in a very British queue awaiting reading. People will quite inconsiderately keep writing more of them. But I saw the movie for the second time on TV recently. The clip online: “A Small Pile of Hinges”…ohh, aside from the uniforms, German accents and guns, I’ve seen and heard that scene in many a workplace in the UK . I’ve worked in the thick of it.
Personally, I have known quite a few managements and supervisors who I have never found it a “privilege” to meet in both the public and private fields in the UK. Worked under Austrian supervisors too.Hell. Well, one of them was Hell anyway.
I have never experienced a British or foreign boss genuinely…in the medium to long run appreciate “hard work” in theory, in abstract, or in practice irrespective of profit motive. But for the young and inexperienced, for the readers and writers of books, and other proper people, it is the British Dream; namely, you should work hard and you’ll get to where you wish to go. Selecting, picking on people, and shipping them off is cruel, even if you don’t use railway goods wagons to transport them just to nick their teeth.
I take your point JR about writing books. I’m writing books. What matters by far is that I read them.
September 11, 2016
Good post John and so very true.
Hard work, application, dedication and total belief in oneself.
The money when it is behind you comes in handy but it is not the panacea to success.
September 11, 2016
The biggest problems I had with my children’s schooling was the appalling attitude of some of the teachers. At the state primary school I was told to my face by the form teacher that he did not teach times tables because the pupils have calculators nowadays and they don’t understand the tables until they’re 11. Another son (8yrs old) was accused on his end of term report of “phonic attack”, an apparently dreadful affliction where the child attempts to pronounce a new word by spelling it out.
The ethos of the state comprehensive left something to be desired too. The school seemed more interested in a correct uniform and not having the boys shirts hanging out than keeping order in the classroom.
Talking in class, disruption, disorder, low expectations, a bias against boys, child-centered learning, the style of teacher training from the 1970s, refusal to accept competition, all militate against getting the best academic results from every child far more than whether the school is grammar or comprehensive. One teacher told me his (recent) conversion MA was complete trendy waffle and a waste of his time.
Sort these problems out and the country will get better academic results. Improve what we have got before turning everything on its head. Selection at 11 is pointlessly divisive and probably too early for the child. However, selection takes place naturally at 16 provided there are good local 6th form and technical colleges, and also good apprenticeships. Grammar schools are not a panacea, good teachers with a belief in our own civilisation are.
September 11, 2016
The chances of getting grammar school vote in parliament are slim and in lords nonexistent, even if the idea come through both houses it up to each local area to decide if they want grammar schools, so to me just talk or you might say, just muddying the water and you are looking at that their aim is do something elsewhere while your not looking.
Like to congratulate every MP and lord in the two houses with the establishment, civil service and councils for a stellar job on public services and the economy and long my it last, obviously these people chosen for their outstanding ability to get the job done at any cost and as the media will tell you, everything you have is the best in the world.
September 11, 2016
Doing well at things attracts the attention of bullies, idiots, bosses, co-workers, authorities of every manner. It rarely ends well for the Doingers. Sometimes: in fact, oft-times leading to their annihilation…in the final analysis.
Contrary to fashionable genetic and ideological studies, Nature is an extremist. An Extreme Conservative. Any deviation from the Common is attacked. Better not select people out.
As Kipling warns in the last line of verse one of his poem “If”:-
“And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise” This philoosphy and particularly my honesty and hard work have always ensured I stay firmly at the bottom of the heap.
September 11, 2016
It’s quite illuminating to hear public school educated snobs railing against Grammar Schools.
They really don’t like their position challenged by the great unwashed .
As you say, life is manifestly unfare and I think it’s wrong that Monday Farah keeps winning.
Anyway he probably knows very little about gas turbines.
September 11, 2016
September 11, 2016
You speak the absolute truth Mr Redwood with one small error, some who have failure in their hearts have had that failure drilled into them by less enlightened parents or perhaps that situation was in your thoughts as well.
The great tradegy is that so many can not see this truth that you speak ^.^
September 11, 2016
The job of a government is to operate a socio-economic system. Thatcher never understood the “socio” bit. Grammar Schools were never meant for the below median income family. They were for the middle class to aspire to the privileged class. As she said, “… people from my sort of background needed grammar schools to compete with children from privileged homes like Shirley Williams and Anthony Wedgwood Benn.”
As for the below median income family she said, “… they are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there’s no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first.”
September 11, 2016
Few ideas about education:
– Above all, really focus more on Maths (and logic) and English (and love of reading) for ALL.
– Less 3-year university courses and more intense 1-year courses with concrete skills related to future job.
– More sport, arts and teaching of ethics (for self, family, school, neighbours, work, the vulnerable, tolerance of others including religion, and for crown and country).
– National service of 3 months (or supporting the health service / visiting the old etc).
– Encouragement of more foreign languages at school, and to get young people to travel and work abroad more, for a while, after leaving school.
– Encourage more foreign language in school, and travel abroad after leaving school, not just to travel but to work as well (for me, one of the best experiences in my life).
September 11, 2016
‘– National service of 3 months (or supporting the health service / visiting the old etc)’
Perhaps voluntary at first, and that can be done in one go or over a few years, with incentives of SMALL financial rewards for turning up and rewards of bronze, silver and gold according to how well you do (with financial prizes, as well as awards of internships from companies – companies could help sponsor this overall, as well as prizes such as exciting trips abroad sponsored by individuals and companies, things like that). Also rewards should help people on their CV.
National service should also include lessons about importance of ethics regarding self, family, country etc ..).
September 11, 2016
There are a lot of problems with this view.
For someone like me who has already paid in taxes towards the state education budget more than more own children will ever get out of it… the state has taken away my buying power. It has forcibly removed from me the means to buy their education myself. And as I said previously at the moment the state is not even able to provide any school at all, least of all the worst school in town… no school at all. And you want me to be happy?
My own buying decision has been replaced with a corrupt system where friends of teachers and council staff get preference for the best schools, at least 30 % of the parents of the children I know in the best schools are lying about their home address, and for those good schools where religion is a deciding factor often over 50% of the parents are lying about their religious ties. You see we give the best school places to people who bend the rules and lie, and we encourage that behaviour.
The reality is the state will never optimise the choice of school the way I could if I had control of the money. And if I had the money those of us being honest about our address and religious views would not be at a disadvantage.
Sure the world is not fair but for me my hard work, and my flexibility to move around the country for work , have led to my own children getting the dregs of the state education system nobody else wants. Hard work and honesty does not pay.
Then I look at people I know on the big social housing estates. Estate built to support the workforces of the mines, shipyards, steelworks and so on. Those estates were proud net contributors to the British economy for many years. The fact the local schools were rubbish didn’t matter as much because in practise most of the boys were really getting their education in their first few years as an apprentice in the shipyard or similar. Those apprenticeships also provided a route for the brightest to route to excel and jump into the academic route too. You only have to look at the exams a pit deputy had to pass, for example, to know that these people were not stupid.
I was lucky myself as one of the top few out of 2000 in a big state school with an aptitude for academic stuff I managed to escape. But even I had no chance of passing a language exam, which many in politics not want to use as a barrier to uni entry that never stopped me or my equivalents.
We need to leverage the talent of out brightest children wherever they are brought up. But we also need much better ways of handling the i) disruptive children, ii) children with little English and so on.
I don’t expect the world to be completely fair, but I do want all children to have a chance, I do want a route out of the worst estates for the brightest children, and I don’t want the “Animal Farm” style state rationing and corrupt allocation we see all around us. I want the buying power.
September 11, 2016
I think rather than taking the self judgement or judgement of others as a student or pupil , it is worthwhile to look at those who say that they are teachers and don’t really understand the differences in children/adult psyches which are all important in learning. I do not believe any person alive is a failure .People have a harder time than others, some might not teach as well as others , some might not bond to their instructors as well as others , but there are reasons why people do not perform to set standards.
We really need to think what intelligence and aptitude is. John Jacques Rousseau has an interesting take on learning by letting the child develop in it’s own way. Competition in schooling is too much and takes away much of the pleasure of learning.
If we don’t want to get on the bus which always goes one way and have drivers who always run the same route, then we get off and walk or get a bike or use other forms of transport. We do not all have to get to the other end by going on the same journey . The conformity is embarrassingly superficial.
I have always taught myself and cannot understand why some lecture or teach with far less knowledge and understanding than they should have. For example I can’t imagine why some who have bits of information from every aspect of life , challenge each other on quiz shows to demonstrate their intelligence..as though memory for snippits of information matter . We have places to gather information without forcing ourselves to remember.
If you learned from reading you must have enjoyed it .If some don’t then they didn’t.but we all live and die and look up to the same sun. We are not failures in any way.We are all different.Thank goodness.
September 11, 2016
“It is high time we accepted that life is riddled with selections.”
Life is also riddled with choices, which is why offering students false choices is damaging and dishonest. In the bad old days, the local tech offered courses to support local trades and industries. Now, the tech has become the ‘uni’, scavenging students whose academic performance would not qualify them for a Russell group institution and in many cases offering ersatz academic courses leading to worthless degrees and debts of time and money. Some courses inherently lack academic rigour of which some simply impart predjudices in furtherance of a political agenda to engineer society for the worse: media studies, some fictional tv ‘expert’-ology, political science, sociology, psychology, womens’ studies etc.
Recently I have employed tradesmen for home improvements, craftsmen and their apprentices; all the craftsmen were impressively quick and dexterous in performing their particular trade, whose craft they were also passing on to their apprentices who would depart after three or more years to become masters themselves. Such people who usually leave school at sixteen are far more use than many people who lecture and are taught in formal education and many people who are employed in the public sector who have never learned to be effective at anything.
Some object to grammar schools on the basis that it would be ‘turning the clock back’, but sometimes nations can take a wrong turning in furtherance of some contemporary fad, in which case turning the clock back, recognising that different people have different aptitudes and the only legitimate role that education should play is assisting each individual to develop his aptitudes to the fullest, is the right course to take.
September 11, 2016
O/T today I have been reading Christopher Bookers essay on AEO’s. First thing we must clarify is that he is spokesman for Richard North and his FLEXCIT plan.
To imply that we will not for example contact the World Custom Organisation and tell them we will be a sovereign independent country on……….date and we want all the paperwork in order to comply with AEO’s the day following.
If we are to be told by the likes of Juncker that we cannot speak to anyone until after we have left then the general public will rightly concede that our MP’s are frauds and chancers to be discarded at the earliest opportunity.
I would have thought the 2 year gestation period of Article 50 was ample time to flesh out agreements with the rest of the world.
Anyone would think we were waiting for the terms of an armistice having lost a war.
Anyone would think we were
September 12, 2016
I’m reminded of the final parts of the film “Bridge over the River Kwai”, when the British colonel takes such a pride in the way his troops have built the bridge that he forgets himself and alerts the Japanese to the attempt to blow it up.
If I’d spent years researching and drawn up a detailed, 406 page, multi-stage plan for our smooth and orderly withdrawal from the EU then I would not be happy when it was ignored and people refused to contemplate even the first stage.
However, when I read that blog now I find it increasingly difficult to tell whether or not it is still in favour of us even leaving the EU, the obstacles to doing so being piled up day by day almost as if it was being run by the Remain side – who are quite happy to use the information it provides in their cause.
There’s an interesting article by Roger Bootle today:
in which he says:
“First, contrary to the propaganda, membership of the single market is not of overwhelming importance. If it were, how would it be possible for non-member countries from all around the world to sell to it so successfully, and why would its members be doing so badly? Why haven’t single market member countries been carried forward on a wave of prosperity created by the mutual recognition of standards and the absence of border checks?
The benefits of the single market have been sufficiently small that they have been outweighed by other factors: the macroeconomic disaster that is the euro and the micro-economic disaster that is the web of regulations, laws and interferences that reduce market efficiency across the union.”
Which I think is true, because by the EU Commission’s own account the creation of the EU Single Market has produced a one-off increase in GDP of just 2% across the EU as a whole, and there is evidence that the benefit for the UK has been well below that average; the problem I have seen is not in the leaving of it, but in the process of leaving it without causing major disruption.
However the more I read about the complications of leaving the Single Market the more I am inclined to think that much the same objections would be raised later if we stayed in it now, for example through the EEA, and rather than being an interim step to ensure a smooth exit from the EU it would turn out to be permanent.
September 11, 2016
I don’t care whether schools are labelled as “grammars” or “comprehensives” et. al.
Poor education provided by poor quality teachers is “something up with which we should not put”!
September 11, 2016
Teachers are overworked having to teach to wide a curriculum. Also too much paperwork.
September 11, 2016
I agree. I went to secondary Mod and not disappointed. I am no way academic and glad I’m not. There is no such thing as equality. My brother has a top degree but turns to me to sort his computer and other things that require just plain common sense. There are different types of intelligence and to try to force everyone the academic way has been a disaster. We need to go back to the old system. K.I.S.S Keep It Simple Stupid. Same thing applies to our NHS. We’ve left it to academics to sort out what was good and look at the mess they’ve made.
September 12, 2016
There’s a lot in your post I agree with but here’s the rub, where you type ” failed at school.” I’ve gone on to much “success” with examinations in my adult life, always more nervous than most people hours before the test because of past stigma of “failing” one exam taken when I was 10 (August birthday). All through primary all of my friends were on the top table with me steamed mixed ability in primary. I never got the opportunity to join them later and whatever you say with a much poorer Secondary modern education in a school with no “top set” to stretch and learn from any child would be too far behind them without additional tuition.
The real problem middle class parents will have with this “back to the future” approach is when they have that one child who isn’t up to the grammar grade and has to go to school without a top stream in certain subjects they do excel in because all those kids are no longer in the school and they end up a serious minority in a none-academic school that no longer has the width to accommodate their needs and their strengths. Maybe they would be strong in Maths but not sufficiently successful in English to get into the Grammar what would their new Maths top set be like? These parents currently travel miles outside of their home area to get their children to a mixed ability comprehensive rather than attend the local secondary modern equivalent.
Why does everyone assume that the top set students in a mixed ability comprehensive don’t succeed just as well as a Grammar school would. The biggest problem for me is the do-gooders in school who insist in mix ability in other subjects to Maths and English, so that if your talent is music you end up with people who hate music in your class, if your talent is sport you don’t have a top sport stream. Another problem is the brightest ones are asked to help teach the slower learners and aren’t sufficiently stretched. A few tweeks in the comprehensive model could sort this out. I would prefer the money to be spent getting the disruptive pupils out of all schools and giving them a more appropriate education that gives them useful life skills so that too much teacher time doesn’t get wasted.
woodsy42
September 12, 2016
This strikes me as yet another situation where the government have fallen into a negative PR situation.
It makes excellent sense to me that secondary education should be directed towards the pupil’s abilities and interests. Pupils deserve the best for them personally and the country needs the brightest to be be educated to the best level. That implies some sort of ‘apptitude’ test, and also implies that schools should be more specialised rather than ‘one size fits all’.
Sadly the government have fallen into the old 11 plus trap, and old fashioned attitudes, where the cleverest are best and the brightest succeed, while the rest are consigned to a second best secondary modern.
I would suggest any reforms should have started at the other end and with quite different language. Creating skills academies and technical high schools to train skilled tradesmen, people desiring to become self employed, directed specifically at ‘ordinary’ people teaching skills and self-improvement to make the best of their lives. Make the mainstream something positive. Then you could easily argue for taling out the ‘nerds’ for special treatment.
September 13, 2016
There seems little point in publishing two posts of mine saying “See also my comments above.” when you fail to include the comments referred to.
September 14, 2016
I see that you have now, belatedly, published the original post, so I now withdraw this one.
September 13, 2016
Every child needs and should have a good, basic secondary education. After secondary education you can choose your life path, for example to study for a specific degree at university or to pursue an acting career etc. This is why selection makes sense it the latter, and not the former.
September 13, 2016
I say this as a comprehensive student who went on to Oxford. A good comprehensive school doesn’t have to hold you back. The problem of course is that not all comprehensives are bad, so the answer lies in improving the standard of all schools, and not selection.
Comments are closed.
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John Redwood won a free place at Kent College, Canterbury, and graduated from Magdalen College Oxford. He is a Distinguished fellow of All Souls, Oxford.
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When you’re approaching an opportunity with a new prospect, understanding the unique challenges they may face is important. Considering their common pain points and needs helps engineers design a solution that can transform their business. The questions below are designed to help you address common issues within the healthcare industry so you can better relate to your prospect and offer a comprehensive solution.
Healthcare customers come in all shapes and sizes. They can include a wide variety of location types including corporate headquarters, data centers, pharmacies, hospitals and clinics. Ready access to large medical files (charts, X-rays, etc.) is a must to maximize productivity in an environment where professionals’ time is expensive, and stakes are high. At the same time, data and network security keeps IT professionals up at night, both to maintain HIPAA compliance and to keep their employer out of the newspapers. In fact, complying with government requirements and mandates was cited as the number one challenge healthcare executives are facing this year, according to a recent study.
By asking the questions below, you can better understand the needs and challenges of your healthcare customers, and guide them through the process of designing a networking solution that best fits their needs.
How many locations do you have? Do they include a corporate headquarters and/or data center?
Among the most basic information to know about any opportunity is an overview of the sites that make up the network. Basic data points like the number of sites and where they are physically located provide instant clues to the scope and potential complexity of any deal. In the case of a healthcare organization, the location types can vary considerably in size, complexity and requirements. The needs of a large hospital in a metro area, for instance, are vastly different from that of a rural MRI clinic or a data center that serves an entire network of healthcare facilities. Get this information up-front and dive into the profile of each to give your team the best chance to deliver a great solution.
What are your WiFi needs? How could WiFi help improve your patients’ experience?
These days, any business that serves the public needs to understand the cost/benefit of providing complimentary WiFi. Hospitals tend to be very large concrete buildings where 4G connectivity can be a challenge. Enabling access to the Internet for patients and their families through free WiFi is a service people will likely expect. The situation at outpatient centers or clinics may be different. Either way, healthcare organizations need to evaluate customer WiFi and plan for how to keep it separate from more sensitive traffic.
Are you using a single voice provider across locations?
Depending on how many locations the customer has and the types of locations they are, calling between locations can account for some heavy voice traffic. Specialists relaying test results, doctors calling in prescriptions, or even corporate staff corresponding with individual facilities all keep phone lines tied up. Without a well thought plan for voice services, the customer can quickly run up their bill. Identify where customers might be using a patchwork of voice providers. You might find a significant cost savings opportunity as well as a way to streamline administration of billing.
How are you managing POS transactions and inventory systems?
Understanding how your customers use and access these systems will lead to valuable conversations about bandwidth utilization, performance requirements and network security. For example, an application accessed via public cloud vs. one that’s housed locally or even at a data center could have different implications for the network design you ultimately recommend. Also understanding how they communicate with their drug suppliers, food suppliers and other vendors can help identify other areas that need coordinating.
How are you currently managing network security to maintain HIPAA compliance?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets the standard for the electronic exchange, privacy and security of health information for all business associates or covered entities that handle sensitive health information. Because HIPAA compliance applies to physical safeguards, technical safeguards, technical policies and network security, securely transmitting data – whether over the Internet or a private network – is one factor in ensuring compliance.
Are you currently working with a cloud company for your HIPAA storage compliance?
We’ve seen more and more customers in healthcare working with cloud companies for their HIPAA storage compliance. Nitel’s Cloud Connection service is a great option for those customers. Establishing a private connection between the customer and their cloud provider of choice increases the security of that connection and improves performance. Understand how they plan to leverage cloud applications, platforms and environments and how they’re connecting to those services to enable your engineer to design a more comprehensive solution.
Do you qualify for rural healthcare funding?
The FCC makes funding available to rural healthcare facilities to keep local telephone rates and telecommunications services affordable. Your customer will know if they qualify, but like every government program, this one is riddled with rules and processes. A little knowledge of how the process works can go a long way to building credibility and avoiding stumbling blocks.
Partners: if you’ve worked with healthcare locations before, what would you add to this list? What do you ask to get them talking about their Internet, data network, voice or security needs? Let us know in the comments.
Every day, we’re working to improve the network experience for our clients. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on how we do that.
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‘The Book’ is filled with artfully disguised wisdom. It has helped all the recipients for which I bought it as a gift: a psychcologist in the UK who specializes in treatment for women with eating disorders, a teenager with a medical problem, my two daughters and my son in law. It was much appreciated. Thank you.
I bought ‘The Book’ and it sits on top of my dresser beside my full size mirror and it continues to remind me everyday that I AM BEAUTIFUL!
unsigned 3
I am so enjoying being creative with the colouring pages. I blend colours and smudge over the lines to create my own stories.
Cheryl-Ann captures the very heart of the sculptures in her creative drawings to honour each Beautiful Woman.
DF
My 4 yr old son loves his Beautiful Women colouring book! He loves the patterns, shapes and challenge of filling each page with beautiful colours. I love that he is learning by osmosis that beautiful women come in all different shapes and sizes, with their own fascinating and unique stories. A great lesson at any age!
GWVictoria, BC
I was so impressed with the quality of these colouring books that I bought all my daughters a set too.
I have just read ‘The Book’ from cover to cover absorbing every word.
unsigned 2
The Beautiful Women Project touched every fibre of my being and now I get to add colour to those emotions with every stroke of my colouring pencil – bringing to life the feelings brought to the surface by the images and stories of the Beautiful Women Project.
One of my most loved exhibitions is Cheryl Ann Webster’s “Beautiful Women Project”. Each of the 120 clay casts of women is exquisitely hand painted by Cheryl Ann. Now to my delight I can relive the Beautiful Women Project, through the series of 3 colouring books, Cheryl Ann has created. 40 creative designs in each book for a wonderful colouring and learning experience. I feel as though I am with these women, as I colour. Thank you, Cheryl Ann!
My 5 years old twin daughters look through your book ALL the time and it has created a visual for them confirming what my husband and I have always told them that is “everyone looks different under their clothes but we are all beautiful” that’s out of the mouth of my five year old babes! How exciting!
I got my copy of ‘The Book’ and I love it. Now I need another copy for my daughter and granddaughters.
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My son wanted me to paint his two dogs on the sofa with a laundry basket. I decided to have some fun.
May 26, 2020 by Steve Raley - 0 comments
May 26, 2020 by Steve Raley - 0 comments
This is a pastel on sanded paper. It is of a sitting spot along the Siuslaw River in Old Town, Florence, OR. The brightly painted seal is unique to Florence and there are several around town. This one is my favorite. BTW, the man reading is my son. Florence is our new hometown.
October 25, 2018 by Steve Raley - 0 comments
11×14 pastel on black sanded paper. This is a variation on a theme of my grandfather, TJ Steves very old pastel painting. I have loved his painting ever since I can remember. His is much better but I had fun painting my version.
October 14, 2018 by Steve Raley - 0 comments
I very seldom do portraits, which is likely obvious. But I could not resist a photo I saw of my favorite musician. Pencil on 3×5 paper in a small bound sketchbook.
September 21, 2018 by Steve Raley - 0 comments
Repurposed Gas Station
A cool old gas station in Truckee, CA. Sometimes a simple pencil sketch says it all.
June 22, 2018 by Steve Raley - 0 comments
I did this for my youngest grandson. Now he is an aspiring artist. 8×10 pencil sketch on drawing paper
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Images of the polar sea from back when the arctic was the last frontier. Taken from Edward L. Moss’s work “Shores of the Polar Sea: A Narrative of the Arctic Expedition of 1875–6.” Published in London in 1878. – Toes in a Very Different Sand
Nearly forgotten but glorious art, envisionings and historical oddments from the back corners of the internet
Images of the polar sea from back when the arctic was the last frontier. Taken from Edward L. Moss’s work “Shores of the Polar Sea: A Narrative of the Arctic Expedition of 1875–6.” Published in London in 1878.
sarahbguestperry Plates (llustrations) from books July 25, 2022 2 Minutes
Lunar Haloes: This is a sketch from the floes alongside the ship, of an unusually distinct Paraselena that appeared on 11th December, 1875. The haloes and cross round the moon are caused by the passage of her light through a tissue of impalpably minute needle-like crystals of ice slowly falling through the atmosphere. The snow-covered hills of Floeberg Beach are in the background, and in the foreground two officers are measuring the site with a sextant, while the long-lost Sally looks on. In summer the sun was often surrounded by a similar meteor, but intensely dazzling and tinted with colors like an outside rainbow. Plate VIII, page 84 of Shores of the Polar Sea: A Narrative of the Arctic Expedition of 1875–6. Collections of and digitalized by the Boston Public Library. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/shoresofpolarsea00moss/page/n84/mode/1up
Plate IX- The Dawn of 1876. H.M.S. ‘Albert” in Winter Quarters – page 49: Dawn in the latitude of Floeberg Beach is a season rather than an hour, and the growing brightness skirts round the whole horizon almost impartially. This is a sketch very early in March, looking north at midnight. At the time it was made, the spirit thermometers on the small stand, and on the tripod seen to the left of the ship, registered -70 degrees Fahrenheit. The outlines were made without much difficulty, with a pencil pushed through two pairs of worsted mitts. The colours were laide on the warmth and candlelight between decks, and verified by repeated trips into the cold. In regions where wind could crush the ice together, or where open water existed to leeward, Arctic ships have more than once been blown to sea with the ice at their winter quarters; and, as a precautionary measure, our ship was secured to shore by chain cables, raised at intervals on casks to prevent them soaking into the sea. Page 86 of Shores of the Polar Sea: A Narrative of the Arctic Expedition of 1875–6. Collections of and digitalized by the Boston Public Library. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/shoresofpolarsea00moss/page/n86/mode/1up
Plate X – The ‘Albert’ in Winter Quarters, From Amongst the Barrier Bergs, March, 1876. P 50. Nowhere is it more true that ‘the low sun makes the color’ than in the Arctic regions. The ice and snow, that are wearily white in midsummer, glow with all sorts of opaline tints in the sunrise lights of March. The sketch is from amongst the floebergs to seaward of the ship. The sides of the berg in the center have been worn into columns and alcoves by the surface floods of some former summer; but it has since been forced higher on the beach, and into shallower water. Snowdrifts fill up all the gorges and ravines amongst the bergs, and are in some places so hardened by wind and infiltration of seawater, that tidal motion cracks and fissures them, especially round the grounded bergs. Page 94 of Shores of the Polar Sea: A Narrative of the Arctic Expedition of 1875–6. Collections of and digitalized by the Boston Public Library. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/shoresofpolarsea00moss/page/n94/mode/1up
Sir Edward L. Moss was an artist and esteemed Royal Navy Surgeon, was part of the expedition and recorded this journey from his first-hand seat in the belly of HMS Alert . So a double role. All these expeditions included an artist.
Shores of the Polar Sea: A Narrative of the Arctic Expedition of 1875–6
Published by sarahbguestperry
On a voyage to see how much mileage I can get from the creative ability and eye for images that my family thought was useless. On line art curator, fiction writer and now blogger. Historian's daughter. Follow me . . .even I have no idea where I'm going next. View all posts by sarahbguestperry
Published July 25, 2022
Previous Post Mountain landscapes out west somewhere. American. Eliza Barchus, artist. Living from 1857 to 1959, she won a gold medal for her paintings at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in 1905.
Next Post Landscapes of a Levant that isn’t coming back. Colored lithographic plates from C. W. M. Van de Velde’s 1857 work “Le Pays d’Israel.” All of the landscapes are of what was then part of the Ottoman province of Syria.
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I remember years back interviewers would make mistake of mentioning World of Warcraft to Vin Diesel , and watch as he tried very hard not to talk about raid mechanics and the illusiveness of some pvp mounts.
“... are they behind the screen or anything?” Read more
I would pay real money to see a charity 40K battle between Henry Cavill and Will Wheaton.
Get these two on the same project and we can probably count on at least a one-shot YouTube video. Read more
His accountants. Read more
I love that so many people are invalidating this person’s experience because they didn’t experience it. I’m black and reading people say that there are hardly ever descriptors of race in books is laughable. There’s a whole trope about describing non white people as food. And you’re telling me it’s all in our heads? The… Read more
1. “Not in shape” is not synonymous with “fat.” There are a lot of thin people who are not in shape. There are plenty of fat people who are. Read more
Taxpayers have given Musk enough money for R&D. Besides, his hyperloop version is DOA since it switched from the “rail car” idea to just being a fancy subway for telsas.
I dunno guys, I watched this documentary last night about a bullet train and they seem pretty dangerous. Especially to fight on. And americans love to fight.
Most states have similar alimony and divorce laws (alimony length varies, some it’s a few years, others it’s until death or remarriage). She could potentially avoid that if she can prove cause and fault (as opposed to a no fault divorce) depending on state.
He’s not saying that she’s pulling a grift. He’s saying that people accusing her of that are doing it because of “thinly veiled misogyny”.
Could we just call it extortion at this point? Read more
“Just divorce him” and “Just leave him” will always go down in history as the most useless advice we can give abused women.
I’m not going to doubt for one second that her fella is a piece of shit and she’s in an abusive relationship. Read more
this is an important lesson to learn about these so-called “solo girls” —nude models who make their personality and interactions with the public their business model. the truth is that they are very rarely doing it themselves—it’s almost always being propped up by a business partner, boyfriend or spouse who is using… Read more
As a woman myself this is driving me insane... first of all, her scumbag husband.. but secondly, her. She is a financially successful woman, she has the power in her horrendous relationship. Divorce him, he is an insect.. don’t threaten to divorce him, just do it. Any man (or woman!) who threatens to those sorts of… Read more
I hope that she’s able to get out of this situation safely!
there was this camgirl (adult content streamer), well known Read more
Looking forward to hearing how this is another grift, that it’s done for ulterior motives, and that it should be ‘taken with a grain of salt’ for reasons that thinly veil misogyny.
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That’s the kind of thinking that’s helped Matt Choi win on any number of fronts and a philosophy he suggests other entrepreneurs can also live by. That’s because, as he’s found, having a big mission can also lead to big outcomes.
Matt Choi is a man who wears many hats: Professional trader. Educator. Best-selling author. He’s pulled those talents together under the roof of Certus Trading Inc., a small trading education company that does, in fact, think big. His aim through Certus Trading is to help others master the art of trading – stocks, ETFs, futures, currencies, and options – so they can achieve financial success in what can be a very complex and risky endeavor.
Matt has been a professional trader for 17 years, self-taught and, unlike most professional traders who learn on the exchange floor or trading other people’s money, trading on his own money. A true entrepreneur, that experience taught him another valuable lesson: You’re going to make mistakes. So, learn from them.
One of these mistakes was the hours and money he spent in search of the “perfect” trading system. Matt tried day trading, but hated staring at monitors all day. Position trading tried his patience; when markets stalled or went against him he got fidgety. He gambled on biotechs and traded illiquid exotic futures and options positions. And he also spent enormous amounts of time and money programming trading systems that were useless.
“I thought having a good strategy was all I needed to achieve success,” Matt Choi recounts. “In hindsight, I now realize that it takes so much more than strategies and systems.”
In fact, with the help of a mentor, the late George Fontanills, a world leader in options trading, Matt found the formula for success was actually quite simple for all the challenges he had getting there. Understand your “trader personality” (Matt’s was swing trading). Specialize in a few markets instead of trying everything. Learn risk management techniques to preserve capital when times are tough. And most importantly? Acquire a winning mindset.
That foundation led to a trading career that has been consistent and profitable and was the basis of “The Winning Way,” a book Matt co-authored with motivational speaker and self-help expert Brian Tracy. The foundation has also helped him establish his reputation as a respected educator to thousands of traders.
Matt Choi took some time to talk with us about his entrepreneurial career and how others can learn from his mistakes – and his successes.
You had a successful car dealership during the time you were searching for the “perfect” trading system. What was the appeal of something as risky as trading when you already had one solid business going? Do you think it’s just part of the entrepreneur’s nature to walk that kind of tightrope?
Matt Choi: First of all, thanks for having me here. Your question actually brought up some of my fondest memories during my entrepreneurial journey. With my car dealership, a lot of people thought at the time that it was a very easy business with little risk, but that is not true at all. Now that I am no longer in that business, I can share some inside scoop with you to get a clearer picture.
The land, building, and all the equipment cost about 10 million. Then, you add another 8 million of inventory, and another 3 million in employee salary. That is a lot of money invested and tied up to make a couple of million bucks a year. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good business, but the ROI was low. So looking at the numbers, there were substantial risks. For example, every quarter point hike in interest rate costs me a quarter million dollars a year. Also, the manufacturer often has labor related delays, so when the union workers go on strike I couldn’t get any cars to sell. Plus, being a physical business really limited my ability to travel with my family, which is something I love to do. We still traveled, but I always had to check in on the dealership while I was on vacation.
Having said all that, I learned over the years not to worry about external factors that I can’t control, and concentrate only on areas that I can. I focused on treating my customers right and took care of my staff, and that made us successful. Eventually, we came to a family decision to sell the dealership for a couple of reasons. One, we just didn’t want to be tied down anymore by a traditional brick-and-mortar business. And two, it got to a point where I was doing so well with my trading that I really wanted to focus on it. Circling back to your question around risks, you should see the faces of my friends and family when I broke the news to them that I was selling the dealership and going to trade full time. They really thought I was crazy giving up a multi-million dollar business, and getting into trading … which to some of them, still to this day, think it is very risky.
So to answer your question, I don’t think we as entrepreneurs walk a tightrope. Let’s put it this way, all successful entrepreneurs have their business goals, their passion, and their life goals all aligned. Take me as an example, I really love the challenge that the markets give me everyday … that’s my passion. At the same time, I take trading seriously and treat it as a business. What other business allows for triple-digit return in a few weeks, or in some cases, a few days?
Of course, just like in any business, there are reckless traders who take on too much risk and lose their shirts. But if you study the markets and manage risks properly, it becomes a non-issue. Finally, we have a lot of family overseas and we love to travel. For my wife and me, one of our goals as parents is to travel around the world with our son and help him become a global citizen. I think it is very important to expose the next generation to different cultures so they can learn to understand and respect all human beings even if others have different beliefs and values than us. That’s me. I am sure all entrepreneurs have their own goals … and I know the happiest ones always have their business goals aligned with their personal goals. Sure, there will be obstacles and sacrifices along the way, but to me I don’t see them as risks, but rather just part of the journey.
How do you suggest entrepreneurs think about that balancing act between risk and safety to achieve success?
Matt Choi: Yeah I get asked this question a lot. The key is to start small, and have a plan to scale up. When I was looking into the car business, I didn’t have the money to acquire a BMW or Toyota franchise. So when a Hyundai franchise became available, I did the numbers and believed that it would work. I created a plan with some financial milestones that would be used to evaluate my success or failure. Slowly I grew the business, added staff, increased inventory, bought land, built a brand new state-of-the-art building, and progressively got the business to its peak potential before selling it.
If I stayed in the car business, the next logical step would be to acquire more dealerships and repeat the same process. It’s kind of like going through school – I know once I passed Grade 10, I have the ability and knowledge to move on to Grade 11, and so on. As entrepreneurs, what we learn from the school of hard knocks serves as a foundation, and having this foundation to fall back on removes a lot of the risks.
The same principle applies to trading. Always start small and risk as little as possible, even a hundred bucks is fine. The key is to learn, learn, and learn. I can never learn enough. And by learning I don’t mean watching CNBC. What I mean is to look at the thousands and thousands of stock charts, take notes, create your own hypotheses, draw your own conclusions, and create your own strategies.
I talk to so many new want-to-be traders and most of them think they can become trading masters in a few months. I’ll use doctors as an analogy here. It takes at least ten years of university and post-graduate education to become a surgeon, what makes people think they can become a successful trader in a few months? I am always baffled by that.
Back to my point. Once you are able to consistently make money trading a hundred bucks, now you are ready to trade two hundred bucks. And once you are able to succeed with trading two hundred bucks, then you can trade four hundred, eight hundred, sixteen hundred, thirty-two hundred bucks … and so on. This scaling up process is one of the most important skillsets to have in order to achieve ultimate success. To summarize all this, having the proper education and experience help keep our money safe, while having the ability to scale up gives us the opportunity to be very successful.
You speak of George Fontanills as your mentor, who was a valuable person in guiding you. Talk to us about the importance of mentors to entrepreneurs and how you suggest finding them and getting them in your corner. (And how did you connect with someone of Fontanills’ caliber, anyway?)
Matt Choi: Yes absolutely. This is obviously very emotional for me … George passed away a few years ago and he was absolutely one hundred percent instrumental in helping me get to where I am today. I really don’t think I can do what I do now without his guidance … that’s how important he was and still is to me. I think in order to understand why having the right mentor can expedite any trader or entrepreneur’s path to success, we need to look at the process in sort of a reverse chronological order. As you know, I am a short-term trader and I focus on catching market swings. My trades last anywhere from a few days to a few months, depending on the stock and market volatility. And because swing patterns are highly repetitive and happen over and over and over again, stock movements can be predicted with a high degree of accuracy. But the point is, when I first started trading, I didn’t know that I was going to be good at swing trading.
Like a lot of newbies, I was attracted to day trading – you know, trading the markets a few hours a day and closing all positions before the closing bell rings in New York, so I don’t carry any risks overnight. I worked with a couple of super successful day traders and they taught me some very good strategies. I did quite well, making about sixty grand every month net commissions. But, I was exhausted from staring at the screen all day long. I would skip lunch and munch on junk food when I am trading and it just wasn’t healthy. I was always on a sugar high and felt very tired at the end of the day. I would literally not drink anything so I won’t need to use the washroom. It just wasn’t right.
Also, day trading requires me to literally sit at my desk all day long. I love to travel and unfortunately, day trading and travel are mutually exclusive and I couldn’t do both at the same time. This is a prime example of why money doesn’t always bring happiness. So I decided to stop day trading and started looking at longer-term holdings that don’t require day-to-day management. I took a few online courses and the strategies were useful, but I quickly found out that I just don’t have the patience to see those trades through. I would get fidgety and anxious waiting for these trades to work out, and I ended up too trigger happy and couldn’t hang on to them long enough to make any meaningful profits. So I had to give up on that too.
It was around that time that I met George at his live seminar. I was immediately attracted to his personality and how effective he was in simplifying complex options strategies into something that anyone can understand. It just showed the depth of his trading experience. Also, he was very approachable and was willing to answer everyone’s questions. So when he opened enrollment to his mentorship program, I jumped at the opportunity. It was a no brainer. George mentored me for a couple of years, and during that time he taught me a lot of trading strategies.
More importantly, he spent time getting to know me and my personality. He came to know that I don’t have a lot of patience, and he also knew that I love to travel and want to keep a flexible lifestyle.
George loved cars so I was able to share a lot of my car industry experience with him.
It was good times learning from George. He was able to pinpoint my strengths and weaknesses as a trader, and he told me to focus on swing trading using options and futures. He taught me valuable risk management skills and how to protect my trading capital. He taught me how to trade small but win big. He taught me how to scale up. He taught me to focus on mastering one or two markets before expanding into other areas of trading.
So I think you can now understand why having the right mentor, in particular someone who plays to your strengths, can help anyone achieve success at a much faster and sustainable pace. A lot of times it is a process of elimination. I kept trying different things, different approaches, different strategies until I land on something that is perfect for me. One last thing, almost every successful person you ask will tell you they had a mentor somewhere along the line. So get out there, attend industry trade shows, networking events, and find someone who you respect and look up to, someone who has achieved what you want to achieve. Tell that person your story and your goals and ask for guidance. This will keep you focused, challenged, and get you more prepared to achieve the success that you want.
You also talk about your mistakes. Do you consider your wheel-spinning as you tried to figure out the right trading formula one of your biggest ones? And how do you think that influenced your subsequent thinking and direction?
Matt Choi: Yes absolutely. A lot of entrepreneurs spin their wheels looking for the perfect business. You know, the financials have to be good, the brand has to be well-recognized, and the product has to be popular, do you want whip cream with that too? When I decided to get into the car business, Hyundai wasn’t a well-recognized brand. Their cars weren’t the most popular. And the financials certainly weren’t good. But I saw the potential and decided to take a calculated risk and the business took off. I learned a lot reading about guys like Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt, and Bill Gates – and one common trait among all of them is that they all got to the market fast and improved their products and services afterwards. The old saying “Done is better than perfect” is so true… I actually have that quote pinned on the wall in my office.
So imagine the mistake that I made when I first started trading. I really thought there was a perfect way to trade where I would be one hundred percent right and make tons of money. I spent hours each day trying different permutations and algorithms, and in the end I couldn’t beat a coin flip. You see, when I was in school, or when I was slaving away in the corporate world, and even when I owned the car dealership, I made the right decisions most of the time. So you can imagine how I felt when I could barely beat 50/50 trading the markets … it was emotionally devastating given the success that I’ve had prior to that point in my career.
However, that also led to perhaps my biggest ah-ha moments in my life. After meeting George, I finally realized that trading can never be 100% right. In fact, the best traders in the world often achieve around 75% accuracy, and of course their winners are much more substantial than their losers. So long story short, I started to focus on my overall trading portfolio rather than each individual trade. My number one priority is capital preservation. So many people lost their life-savings during the financial crisis because they didn’t manage their portfolios properly. They were too bullish just prior to the crash, and they were too bearish after the crash and were caught on the wrong side of the market. The key is to have a good balance of bullish and bearish trades.
For example, I am usually in about 30 to 40 trades at any given time, primarily using options. About half of them are bullish, and half of them are bearish. Stocks move like waves and what we always want to do is to be bullish at the bottom of the wave, and be bearish at the top of the wave. So under normal trading condition, I can make money on both my bullish and bearish trades. This is called delta neutral trading.
One major benefit of delta neutral trading is that it naturally acts as a hedge to market crashes. For example, if the Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 5,000 points tomorrow, I’ll be ok. I will lose money on my bullish trades, but my bearish trades will make money, thereby neutralizing the risk. I spend the majority of my trading time making sure that my portfolio is well balanced. Having a well balanced portfolio creates consistency, and such consistency in turn creates a smooth rising equity curve. Of course, having the right strategies to pick the best stocks to trade is important, and I teach my students how to do that. But much more importantly, I teach them how to manage their portfolio. Boring stuff. But I’ll tell you this – among my students, the ones who have the discipline to master this have become incredibly successful traders.
Everybody points to mistakes. What do you think was the smartest thing you’ve done as an entrepreneur, and what can others take away from it?
Matt Choi: I think the smartest thing I’ve done as an entrepreneur and as a trader is to hire smart people to help me. You may think that this is a very simple concept, but it’s actually not. I speak with a lot of entrepreneurs who have great ideas, ideas that can help a lot of people. The problem is, most of them try to do everything by themselves. They want to be the product inventor, content creator, the sales team, the marketing department, operations, and customer service, all-in-one. Well, unless you are superman, that’s just impossible. And I am sure you would agree with me that when we spread ourselves too thin, nothing gets done properly and the results are never good.
Now, I get why entrepreneurs want to take on everything themselves. I’ve been there. After all, my business is like my baby. I want to take care of it, nurture it, and grow it exactly the way that I want it to grow. So it is easy to fall into the trap thinking only I can do the job, when it couldn’t be further from the truth.
When I got into the car business, I spent a lot of time diving deep into the operations so I could evaluate where we were, and understand the purpose of each department and each staff member. After that, I took a step back and wrote down where I want the business to be in 5 years. Once that exercise is completed, our weaknesses and gaps were identified, and it became very intuitive and obvious what I needed to do to reach my goals.
Long story short, I made a culture change and spent a ton of money to hire a hand-full of high performing individuals to manage the dealership. My job as the CEO was to make sure that everyone believes in the same vision and are able to work together to make things happen.
Same with trading, a lot of inexperienced traders all think they can learn everything about the markets and become super traders. Yes that’s possible, but it would take years to achieve that. When George was mentoring me, we spent a lot of time talking about my life goals and money goals, and we worked backward to reverse engineer what I would need to do in order to succeed.
I would never have been able to do this kind of deep dive by myself. And even if I was able to, it would have taken me many more years to get to the same consistency and profitability. So, if I can only get one message across today, it would be that the self-discovery process is an absolute requirement to correctly align your passion, your goals, your actions, and your life. If you can connect all those dots, I assure you that it will be a life-changing transformation. So get out there, find someone who you respect, someone who resonates with you and has already achieved success, and do whatever you can to get that person to become your mentor.
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Young Upstarts is an online business resource for startup entrepreneurs, small business owners, idea people, and intrapreneurs seeking change within their organization.
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Opportunities for instrumental study abound at FSPA, with studio instruction available on piano, drums, bass, guitar, woodwinds, strings, and brass for children and adults. Small ensemble coaching, theory, and ear training classes round out our extensive music program.
The FSPA Music Department offers private lessons in all instruments. A student may begin private lessons at any time during the year, given teacher availability. Music Department Student Recitals are scheduled throughout the year. Written evaluations are issued at the end of the school year. Make-up policies can be found in the Class Schedule. Ear Training and/or Theory Classes are recommended to supplement private music instruction, especially for those with serious aspirations in music. Private instrumental lessons are scheduled according to the date of registration. Registration is ongoing throughout the year.
Music theory provides the tools necessary to unlock create freedom in composition and improvisation and produces quicker learners, better sight-readers and smarter, more sensitive musicians. Students explore the parameters of music composition in hands-on way through group activities and self-directed projects. In addition to learning the rudiments of scales, chords, basic progressions and simple counterpoint, students also gain experience with computer notation programs and recording software. A formal recital of student compositions will be presented. Students must have prior note-reading instruction.
Piano is often a lonely undertaking, but there is a great deal of repertoire written for two people to play together on one piano! This course is designed for piano students with at least one year of lessons. Students will be assigned a partner with whom to learn a piece and will have the opportunity to play in every class. Students will be coached on how to tackle the repertoire and how to develop the skills to work on music collaboratively.
Under the direction of FSPA Music Faculty members Arnie Krakowsky and Kenny Hadley, and with special guest musicians throughout the year, “Jazz Krewe” meets on a weekly basis and explores all genres of music, including jazz, R&B, rock, blues, funk and pop. For students of all ages and any instruments, it is a great opportunity for musicians to supplement their instrumental studies.
Under the direction of FSPA Music Faculty member, Kenny Hadley, the FSPA Percussion Ensemble meets on a weekly basis and exposes students to the rudiments of Latin drumming techniques, ensemble and orchestral playing and solo and ensemble work. The FSPA "Groovemasters" Percussion Ensemble performs in FSPA’s annual Spring Concert. Acceptance into this ensemble is by invitation only.
Small Ensemble Coaching
A weekly coaching class designed to give instrumental students experience in playing with others, small groups are coached by experienced musical professionals in various aspects of ensemble playing including blending, staying together, part preparation, rehearsal technique and musical interpretation. Ensemble groups may perform throughout the year.
Ear Training
Ear training is a course designed for students ages 12 and older that strengthens the ability to hear sounds intelligently, through oral in-class performance and written dictation. An indispensable course for vocal and instrumental students, classes cover melodic/harmonic interval recognition, chord progression analysis, solfege, clef reading, sight singing and more. A basic ability to read music is a helpful prerequisite.
Piano students learn how to read lead sheets and chord symbols to play ragtime, blues, funk, soul, R & B, rock and jazz.
Related Faculty
Instructor of Guitar, Ukulele, Bass, and Songwriting
Jeffrey DiIorio holds Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Music Performance and Philosophy from Providence College and a Masters in Music Performance with a focus in jazz guitar from the University of Rhode Island. While at PC, Jeffrey performed with their Pep Band, Jazz Band, Funk Ensemble, and Jazz Combo. He has studied with Jay Azzolina, Lyle Brewer, David Riley, Phil Sargent, Julian Lage, Adam Smirnoff, and Bruce Bartlett. Professionally, he has performed with ensembles led by Alex Lee-Clark, John Allmark, and Mark Burney as well as with The Mac Odom Band, The Phunky Autokratz, and Nightshift Entertainment. Jeffrey was the recipient of the Reverend Leo S. Cannon, O.P. Award for Excellent Musicianship as well as Judges’ Choice at the Berklee High School Jazz Festival. Jeffrey joined FSPA's Music Faculty in 2019.
Irina Fainkichen studied at Rachmaninoff Music College and St. Petersburg State Conservatory in Russia. She also got her degree from Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem, Israel. She is a busy freelance violinist in the Greater Boston area. Irina performed with Broadway on Tour’s “Phantom of the Opera”, and “Hello Dolly” at Boston Opera House, “An American in Paris” at Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine. She performed many shows with an amazing legends such as Marni Nixon, Sarah Brightman, Johnny Mathis and “The Who”. Irina is a former longstanding member of Cape Symphony and has an extensive experience playing with many symphony orchestras including New Hampshire, Plymouth, Lexington Symphonies and also Pro-Arte Chamber Orchestra. Irina has been on FSPA Music Faculty since 2009 and has played in the orchestra of many Franklin Performing Arts Company productions including Annie, Sound of Music, Charlie Brown, Peter Pan, Music Man, Spamalot, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, and most recently Legally Blonde, Humbug!, and Sweeney Todd. Irina is a concertmaster for the annual FPAC holiday production of the Nutcracker and a coordinator of THE BLACK BOX Classical Series,
Instructor of Drums, Director of Saturday Sessions and FSPA Percussion Ensemble
Kenny Hadley joined the FSPA Music Faculty in 1998 and has extensive teaching experience, including master classes and clinics throughout New England. He has played throughout the US, Europe and South America and has worked with many well-known musicians including Van Morrison, Dizzy Gillespie, The Count Basie Orchestra, Peter Wolf, The Drifters and Rebecca Parris, as well as with the North Shore Music Theater, Franklin Performing Arts Company and Electric Youth. He serves as orchestra contractor for the Franklin Performing Arts Company and has co-produced The Sacred Music of Duke Ellington, ‘Tis the Season! and the CD recordings of Electric Youth. His acclaimed Kenny Hadley Big Band has shared the stage with the Count Basie Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie’s Band, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra and has hosted guest soloists including Clark Terry and Louie Bellson. The band’s recordings include Come Sunday, A Beautiful Friendship and Common Thread.
FSPA Assistant Director, Director of Little Music School and Children's Music, Instructor of Piano and Musical Theater
Kim Rezendes graduated magna cum laude from Providence College with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and from Rhode Island College with a Master’s Degree in Teaching Music. As coordinator of Children’s Music at FSPA, she also serves as Program Director for the Little Music School and Instructor of Musical Theater. Kim serves as Associate Organist at St. Mary Church in Franklin. One of FSPA’s first students, Kim joined the FSPA faculty in 1997.
Ida Zelman has a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the Vilnius Music Conservatory. She is a skilled educator with extensive experience in teaching a wide range of levels and interests, including young beginners, intermediate, advanced students, and avocational adults. Ida has comprehensive coaching experience in chamber music ensemble. She successfully prepares many students for the Royal Conservatory Music Program, who pass with high marks and perform on the stage of Carnegie Hall. Ida joined the FSPA Music Faculty in 1993.
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A new year has finally arrived, and most of us are thinking “good riddance,” as we watch 2020 fade away in our rear-view mirrors. There is, of course, ample reason to look at the road ahead with optimism and enthusiasm, because soon a new dawn will grace the horizon, marking the joyous end to the long, dark night of a raging pandemic.
We’ve longed endlessly for a return to normalcy over the course of nearly a year in which we’ve lost family, friends, jobs, and homes, yet we still somehow remained collectively vigilant in the face of this devastating, global threat.
At this point, we’ve earned the right to indulge ourselves just a little bit, and dare to dream of the day when this pandemic is nothing more than recent but past history. When we can gather together with those who are most important to us, and refresh all the relationships that we have with our families, our friends, and our social circles.
For so many Floridians, this means a full-fledged return to the country club; something they’ve been dreaming about nightly. As capacity limits and other similar restrictions are slowly lifted, an inevitable surge in participation and membership will ensue, and the clubs that are most prepared to truly embrace the thriving industry once again, are the ones that will ultimately capitalize on the new opportunity.
Comfort, aesthetics, and durability are all absolute necessities for country club seating, and the Chair Market thoroughly recognizes that fact, just as you do. That is why we offer not only the most elegant wood look country club seating on the market, but the most durable wood seating as well.
In addition, our fully upholstered modern wood seating will add a touch of refinement to your establishment alongside our durable wood look armchairs, allowing for club members to relish in the soft luxury and beauty of their surroundings, while enjoying some of the finest food, drinks, activities, and company that the state of Florida has to offer.
The Chair Market not only understands, but truly appreciates the importance of country clubs in the state of Florida, both culturally and economically. These crucial businesses and their owners have been suffering tremendously for the last year, and affordability is understandably a top priority.
All of our durable wood and wood look country club seating and armchairs are priced with a sensitivity and understanding of the times; they are set to fit even the tightest of budgets without ever compromising or lacking in allure, structural integrity, or sheer comfort and opulence. The resilient country club industry of Florida will soon rise and thrive again, and the Chair Market is genuinely proud to play a role in that.
October 29, 2015
The Chair Market has been granted the rare and precious opportunity to participate in NeoCon East over the past couple of days. The event is described as “the premier design expo and conference for commercial interiors on the East Coast.” …
Continue reading “NeoCon East- A Forum From Which to Shine”
November 23, 2015
Many of us spend a far too significant portion of each day sitting at a desk in some office, utterly fastened to our chairs. It’s almost scary when we come to the realization that such a tremendous percentage of life …
Continue reading “A Severe Lack of Office “Chair””
August 8, 2016
FIRE SALE! The Chair Market is currently featuring a FIRE SALE on our Cristo wood chairs. These chairs are $49/per with delivery in just 10 days. The Cristo Chair The perfect seating for your guests to enjoy a light fare, afternoon tea …
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Hats have been a part of fashion history forever….I have personally worked with several of the icons in this field. But first a brief history lesson…
Rose Bertin, Marie Antoinette’s milliner, and dressmaker, was a true fashion diva, since that time milliners have tended to be arrogant and egocentric. I did not find this so with the designers I worked with, talented…absolutely, major egos…perhaps. but not at all arrogant. Many milliners became dress designers. They include Lucile, Jeanne Lanvin, Chanel, Schiaparelli, Jacques Fath, Halston, Adolfo and Mr. John to name a few.
Rose Bertin opened a dressmaking and millinery establishment on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore in Paris in 1772. In 1774 she was introduced to her best-known client, Marie Antoinette. All of France came to her for their elaborate caps and headdresses. she survived the French Revolution, her business, however never recovered.
Charles Worth considered the father of Haute Couture, he was responsible for creating the first hat worn instead of bonnet. Charles Dickens was quoted saying a male milliner (there wasn’t a name for couturier) with thick fingers dressed and undressed the women of France (including the Empress Eugenie)
Gabrielle Chanel opened her millinery business in 1908 from the Paris apartment of her lover Etienne Balsan. With the backing, of the love of her life, Boy Chapel, she moved to 21 Rue Cambon. She designed millinery exclusively until 1913 when she designed her first garments.
Elsa Schiaparelli opened her fashion house in 1928 and her outrageous garments, equally important were her ingenious hats including the surrealist shoe hat in 1937.
Obviously, I didn’t work with any of the aforementioned creators. But did work with several who were considered creative icons.
Bes-Ben in 1920 Benjamin Green-Field opened his first Bes-Ben hat shop in Chicago. In 1941 he created his first silly hat and earned the name of Chicago’s mad hatter. Ben Green-Field was a Chicago institution. His Salon, filled with treasurers from his world travels, was located on Michigan Avenue. All of Chicago society women wore Bes-Ben creations, many of which are housed in the Costume Collection of the Chicago History Museum and some are on permanent display at the Museum, http://www.chicagohistory.org. Each year he famously had a “sale” of hats priced at $5.00 this began at midnight at 2:00 AM he would “throw” out hats to the assembled crowd…it was complete madness and great publicity before we knew what the word marketing was all about!
Mme. Paulette, Paulette Modes opened in 1939 on Avenue Franklin D. Rooseveltt in Paris. She became known for her draped turbans and made hats for Robert Piguet, the couturier, up until her death she designed hats for many fashion houses including Chanel, Cardin and Mugler. Paulette was the Philip Tracey of her time. Creating timeless, beautiful millinery at a time when everyone wore hats…even in the evening. She was very French, very charming and, of course, very talented. She loved to share her expertise with the staff as well as work one on one with the clients at Saks Fifth Avenue, Chicago.
Mme. Paulette in her Paris Atelier.
One of the iconic hats by Mme. Paulette
Tatiana was born in St. Petersburg, Russia she went to Paris after the Revolution She studied painting and sculpture but also learned millinery to make a living. She fled to New York with her daughter in 1941 and began designing hats for Henri Bendel within a year she joined Saks Fifth Avenue and became head of it’s custom millinery salon, working along side Sophie Gimbel, until the Salon Moderne closed in 1963. She was considered a perfectionist in choosing both materials and colors. She married Alexander Liberman, an artist and editorial director of Conde Nast Publications. She came to the Chicago Saks Fifth Avenue store on several occasions to work with the clientele. Everyone at the time, late ’50’s early ’60’s wore hats, you just weren’t complete without one….in came the bouffant hairdo, out went hats! I found her very austere, extremely talented and an authority everyone admired, especially the ladies lucky enough to have her personalized attention and specially created chapeaux.
Tatiana in her workrooms.
A memoir written by Tatiana’s daughter, Francine du Plessix Gray, a very good read.
Adolfo having served an apprenticeship in Balenciaga’s workshop in Paris he emigrated to New York in 1948. In 1953 he became chief designer for Emmé in the same year he won the Coty Fashion Award. In 1962, with a loan from Bill Blass (which he quickly repaid) he opened his own custom millinery salon and later began making clothes to compliment his hats and then as his primary business. He was a star with Saks Fifth Avenue for many years and a dear friend. I will do a separate post on Adolfo in the future. I wanted to tell you the story of our first encounter, rather amusing now, then not so much!!!!
Adolfo in his millinery salon.
Each time we had a guest designer at the Store we did a press reception, could be a breakfast, luncheon, tea, cocktail reception and always with an accompanying fashion presentation. Adolfo’s first visit with us was no exception. We planned a formal sit-down luncheon in the Bagatelle Room at Maxim’s restaurant in the Astor Towers (more on that restaurant in a future post). At the time we had 4 daily newspapers, each with a fashion editor and an assistant fashion editor, several local weekly and monthly publications and lots of daily TV shows. All were invited to this special event. I always liked to “personalize” the events in some way, and thought it would be amusing to do individual place cards in the form of hats. Going a bit further, I went to our local “party store” Dennison’s (think Michaels or Hobby Lobby), they had all materials to use for showers, parties of all kind…just lots of good stuff…at least I thought so! I found charming miniatures floral hat boxes, probably 3″to 4″ in size, matching tissue paper and materials to form miniature hats (look at the Bes Ben hat above for the look I was going for) for each guest. I thought of each guest’s personality and created a one of a kind hat for each, placed them in their hatboxes tied them with a silk ribbon and attached their name card. Having Adolfo with us was HUGE and everyone was extremely excited to meet him for the first time and hear his story and enjoy his creations. As I was placing my miniature hatboxes at each place I had a major wave of horror….what was I thinking, I a non-creator making hats for a major designer….I was, of course, doing it to honor him but what would he think. Well as I was just finishing the placement, in came my store manager with Adolfo, much too late for me to retreat!!! I don’t get upset nor nervous very often but in this case I was terrified. He looked at the table (oh, by the way, I had done one for him as well!!!) opened his hat box and said it was one of the most charming things he had seen and he found them delightful! Everyone shared their own miniature millinery and placed them on top of their boxes to be admired. We were friends from that time onward!
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Tom Mantel January 20, 2017 / 12:50 am
Great photos and stories. I live hearing about your experiences with these great designers.
nenasnotes January 20, 2017 / 12:54 am
A million thanks. A bit of a history lesson in this one.
Barbara Varro January 20, 2017 / 2:49 pm
Lovely piece on hats. I remember those days well. And I remember with fondness your press events when I was fashion editor at the Sun Times.
nenasnotes January 20, 2017 / 2:54 pm
Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your comments they mean the world to me!!!
Petra January 24, 2017 / 8:31 am
nenasnotes January 24, 2017 / 12:42 pm
Thanks Petra. Hope to see you soon!!
Quinn February 22, 2017 / 4:59 pm
I absolutely love the idea of the miniature hats! I’d say they kept and treasured them! What a lovely detail.
nenasnotes February 22, 2017 / 5:09 pm
Thanks so much Quinn. It was fun to do, I don’t seem to do too many creative projects any more. Need to change that!! I’m sure the miniature millinery are all long gone!’
Quinn February 22, 2017 / 5:13 pm
You should definitely set some time aside to make something – you sound like you’re really good at it! Would be a shame not to put your talents to use!
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MACRA Talking Points for ACOs- How to discuss the benefits of ACO participation in a post-MACRA world
Overview of the CMS proposed rule expanding episode payment models, including a new cardiac bundled payment
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one act of each, "he that is washed, is clean, every whit." He needs no more; he can have no more. His whole spirit is regenerated, and made anew in Christ Jesus. All which plainly proves, that our most gloricus Lord had an higher object in view, in this humiliating service of his, than the mere outward act of cleansing the feet. His gracious object was, to shadow forth the mighty effect, which he would accomplish for his people in their hearts, by his incommunicable work of salvation. And the Lord's choosing to set forth the shadow of it at the time he did, just before the passover; and also that the traitor Judas should be present, and outwardly partake of both, "who had no lot or part in the matter," in a way of saving grace to his soul; most decidedly demonstrated the mysterious nature of the service the Lord then performed; and which should have the same operation in the eyes of all his church that was then to come. Though the Lord Jesus himself washed the feet; though the Lord Jesus himself administered the ordinance of the supper; though the Lord Jesus himself, who "spake as never man spake," was the preacher; yet these things were purposely done, to set forth that outward ordinances may be, and shall be, from age to age, observed; yet, as the Lord declared by the prophet, "None of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." (Dan. xii. 10.) The Lord who blessedly gave us this Scripture, give to all his people a right understanding of it; that each for himself may join in that song of salvation, and say with John; "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen."
"So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?
"Ye call me Master, and Lord and ye say well: for so I am.
"If I then your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.
"For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Verily, verily, I say unto you: The servant is not greater than his Lord; neither he that is sent, greater than he that sent him.
THE gracious condescending God and Saviour having finished this marvellous service, of washing the feet of the poor fishermen of Galilee; and having again put on his garments, and assumed his seat in the midst of them, began to call their attention to the pondering of the transaction. Let the reader figure to himself the Lord of life and glory, thus encircled by men of this description; and let him attend to the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. "Know ye," said Jesus, "what I have done to you?" Little did the best taught among them apprehend the great things veiled under this outward washing. And little, even to the present hour, do the Lord's people, who walk in the closest communion with the Lord, enter into the spiritual apprehension of the vast designs of Jehovah, in what should seem to us apparently the smallest acts of the Lord Jesus, when upon earth. If the
people of God were to accustom themselves never to contemplate our most glorious Christ, but as Christ; that is, I mean, under his two-fold character, as God and man combined; such a steady uniform and uninterrupted apprehension of his person, in this compound of two natures, would, under divine teaching, enable them to connect in their remembrance the GODHEAD of Christ, in all his words, actions, and ministry. Upon those occasions, where the GODHEAD bursted forth in a more visible and palpable display of his Almighty power; such as at the transfiguration, his cross, his resurrection, and the like; there our minds are more sensibly arrested with the conviction of his GODHEAD: but we are too apt to overlook his divine nature, in those daily transactions when upon earth Jesus went in and out among the people, dressed in the garb of a poor Jew; "the man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." But, I would very affectionately recommend the reader, (if he be a Godly reader,) as I desire to feel the full impression of it on my own heart; never to forget that the very act of Christ, every word of Christ, every thought of Christ, was and is the act and word and thought of God; indwelling, (as the Holy Ghost by the apostle states it,) bodily or personally, in the human nature; in which the Word when made "flesh, dwelt among us." (Col. ii. 9. John. i. 14.) Such spiritual apprehensions of our most glorious Christ, and they can only be apprehended spiritually, will accustom our minds to ponder over all that we read in the holy Scriptures, in relation to the infinite dignity of his person, which gave infinite consequence to his manifestation; and of whom the Scripture declares; "his greatness is unsearchable." (Psalm cxlv. 3.)
Let this train of thought be brought into connection with the view we have taken of this marvellous
scene, of Jesus washing his disciples' feet; let the whole process be ascertained by this standard. Let the debased and sinful state of the whole party of the disciples considered as in themselves, be kept in view; let his glorious person be contemplated, as contrasted to their delinquency; and while with such impressions, we hear the Lord putting the question: "Know ye what I have done to you?" Let the leader ask himself; what answer, even in the present hour, can be given, that shall embrace all the interesting particulars which may be included in this wonderful administration? One instruction, and that of a most interesting nature, the Lord hath enabled all that are spiritually taught to gather from it; and which is as obvious as it is affectionate, and as powerfully in appeal to the spiritual senses of the Lord's people, as it is incumbent on them continually to have in remembrance; namely, that as the Lord Jesus did all this, and in a way so condescending and gracious in the days of his flesh; they may most safely conclude, and assure themselves, that he is not less attentive to them in the day of his power. It is very blessed to observe the different scenes by which the Lord manifested himself to his people. Here Jesus washed his deciples' feet, when supper was ended. Upon another occasion, Mary Magdalene washed Jesus's feet, and anointed them with sweet ointment; but in both instances, Christ's love was and is, the same. Indeed in all, Jesus can receive nothing from his creatures. His is to give, and not receive. His grace is glorified in giving out of his fulness; not that he may be made more blessed, for that is impossible but that his people may be made happy. And what a full tide of blessedness, happiness, holiness, and unspeakable glory, will be in the spiritual enjoyment of the Lord's people in Christ; when having "washing them from all their sins in his
blood; he hath made them kings and priests unto God and the Father." (Rev. i. 5, 6.)
One very interesting part of our Lord's address to his disciples, after he had taken his garments, and was sat down with them, remains to be considered; "Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done unto you." Here is somewhat very striking; and especially after what had taken place in the Lord's declaring himself both Lord and Master. For evidently they are somewhat more than one and the same. As disciples, the appellation Master, became applicable to Jesus; for all followers in all schools, are generally designated disciples. But the name of Lord is of peculiar beauty, and of the most endearing nature in reference to Christ. Hence through all the Scriptures of the New Testament, when the church at any time is speaking of God, as our Father; it is not unfrequently added, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the personal relation that every individual member of Christ's mystical body hath to Christ as our Lord, becomes the very foundation of our relationship in him, and by him to God as our Father. Beautiful and blessed are those Scriptures, in proof of our adoption character, when from receiving the Holy Ghost, we are enabled to say, Abba Father! "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." (Rom. viii. 15—17. Gal. iv. 6, 7.) I must not, for the limits will not allow me, enlarge. But otherwise, through the whole Bible, it would be easy to shew, how very highly the people of God prized this relationship with God in Christ. David sweetly sung his love
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Breaking Up Is Easy to Do
They say that breaking up is hard to do -- but that's not always the case. Calling it quits with your significant other doesn't have to be a messy affair. While the end of some romances might be the result of infidelity, abuse or something... Read More
Unfortunately, that can add up to one big headache for many women. Even the best guys have their flaws and habits that drive us up the wall; however, most man-mistakes aren't made purely to piss you off. We decode some of guys most mystifying and irritating behaviors.
Saying "I don't care" or "Whatever you think" every time you ask him for an opinion or decision.
Does your man go mute when you ask him how you look or get the deer in the headlights stare every time you talk about marriage? Don't write him off as uninterested or insensitive just yet. When guys aren't sure what you want they're afraid to say the wrong thing and would rather clam up than start a fight. The more comfortable you make him with sharing his thoughts and feelings, the more he will.
It's also important to communicate clearly to him your needs and wants so that he can understand your feelings. By relating to where you are coming from, he will be better able to engage in a dialogue. If you have been dating for several months and he still doesn't speak up when you prompt him, you need to have a discussion about what's going on.
Not saying "I'm sorry."
After a big blowout when you can cut the tension with a knife, you might be thinking "this could all be over if he would just apologize" - but he doesn't budge. Even in the most PC times, many men have a hard time letting a woman get the last word. Most guys grew up in households seeing their fathers, grandfathers, and other men never apologize to the women in their lives. You can either suck it up and learn to accept his lack of progress or calmly explain to him that you are both equals in this relationship and that saying sorry doesn't emasculate him in any way.
He always wants sex at the worst times.
Men typically think of sex as a cure-all for any situation even an emotional one. They assume you will feel the same way. Just got laid off? Sex will take your mind of that. Having a fight with your best friend? Let's have sex to blow off that steam. It may seem like he's acting selfish, but he is only trying to help you the way he knows how. You can let him down gently and promise him a night of passion once your mood has passed or you can give it a chance to see if it actually works.
He acts distant or mean to you when his friends are around.
When you spend time alone together your man may seem like the sweetest in the world, but when it comes to hanging with his crew he might act like he barely knows you. This typically goes back to the male-ego problem. Having his friends see him stroking your hair, holding your purse while you go to the bathroom, or blowing you a kiss from across the bar can totally blow his manly street cred. Either play it cool or skip the group hangouts altogether.
He remembers the score of a basketball game three years ago but can't remember anything you talked about yesterday.
A man's relationship with sports probably started long before he met you. Guys have been watching and talking about sports for a long time whereas being in a relationship may be relatively new to them. In addition to a long-term relationship with sports, many men mark certain times in their lives as they coincide with sports events like the Super Bowl or World Series.
He always gets defensive when you say something negative about his mother.
As the first woman in their lives, moms will always hold a special place in a man's heart. Even if she's acting terribly, it will be hard for him to hear you talk badly about the woman who raised him. Your best bet is to grin and bare it and if you must broach the "mom" subject do so very, very carefully and gracefully.
He acts like he doesn't like your friends.
Your man might come off cold or uninterested when meeting your gal pals but that's because he may not be able to keep them all straight. Guys tend to have a long-standing solid group of a few friends, whereas women probably have lots of separate social groups like college friends, co-workers, family friends, etc. He may not understand your level of commitment to each group so he isn't sure how friendly or invested he should get.
When you ignore him, he calls all the time but when you act interested he suddenly wants nothing to do with you.
This can be one of the most frustrating issues a woman can experience when dealing with a man and it can make you feel downright crazy, but there is a reason why. When you are not paying attention to a guy by doing your own thing and living your life you come off as confident but the minute you offer a man your attention his brain switches to a mode that makes him feel trapped.
This can be blamed on biology as men have innate need to show or signal to others that he is still available to procreate at a moment's notice. Some guys are better at controlling this than others and if you can't seem to get him to settle down after a few tries - move on. {relatedarticles}
So the next time you're grumbling and cursing him under your breath asking "WHY does he do that?!" you can turn to this guide to figure it out. Remember that just like you aren't perfect - neither is he. Rather than ignoring it, hoping he will change on his own, the best to way to tackle these issues is to keep an open mind and line of communication.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past several months, you've undoubtedly heard the rave reviews surrounding E.L. James' book "50 Shades of Grey."
This instant literary phenomenon tells the story of a college student who is being courted into signing a contract to be a "submissive" where she will be dominated by a young, rich businessman. By accepting the twisted dynamic, she will allow him to perform a variety of sexual fantasies on her, that are lagely S&M in nature. The book's erotic and graphic sexual content has made it a hit with women of all ages. It's been branded "mommy porn."
Judging from the success of James' "50 Shades of Grey," readers are lining up to read about erotica. Just reading this type of content would be enough to make most people blush, let alone write about it.
However, if you feel comfortable writing about sexually explicit content and can effectively create characters that readers can connect to, there is a market for it. If you are interested in writing for this genre, here are some tips to help you with the writing process.
Nobody wants to hear the same plot over and over. Having a deliveryman or a repairman come by and seduce the housewife has been done before. Think of something more original. It could be something that's happened in your everyday life, just spiced up a bit. Use your imagination and be creative.
Or you can think of a sexual fantasy that you'd want fulfilled. This may give you some good ideas or at least a good starting point for your writing.
Give the Readers What They Want
The reason why "50 Shades of Grey" has garnered so much buzz is that it's wish fulfillment on behalf of the readers. The book is giving them something that they're not used to getting at home. So the trick is to come up with a sexual fantasy so off the wall, something that the average couple would be unlikely to engage in.
Erotica is about obtaining the unachievable. Erotica allows readers to live out their fantasies, which makes it so interesting.
However, at the same time, be somewhat realistic. People are real and have flaws. Although you may want your story to have a certain aspect of perfection, having a person who has flaws and vices makes it more exciting. Too much perfection will make your story boring.
In the narration, try to keep some elegance. Try to keep a balance between blunt and euphemistic. It's fine to use some off-color language in the dialogue, but the narration should not use language that is too graphic or unintelligent.
Sure, erotica is about two people having sex. That's a no-brainer. However, you need to add details in order to engage the reader. Any book can say "Then they had sex." How did they have sex? What were they doing? Where did they have sex?
What did the people look like? What were they wearing? What were they saying? These questions need to be addressed with as much detail as possible, or else readers won't be interested.
Along the same lines, you don't want the action to move so fast or so slow that readers get confused or bored. Although you want details in your story, don't focus too much on insignificant ones.
At the same time, you want the action to flow at a normal pace. Don't change scenes too quickly. You need to allow time to build up to the sexual act. You shouldn't be talking about sex in the first sentence or even the first chapter of the book. Lead up to it. Allow readers to anticipate it.
A successful work of erotica includes lots of action as well as dialogue. The people involved need to be talking. They can't just meet and have sex right away. Dialogue sets the mood and shows the character's personalities.
Plus, dialogue can make a naughty scene even naughtier, or a silly one even sillier. Also, don"t be afraid to use metaphors or double-entendres. These are when you say one thing, but mean something else (like sex). It works as verbal foreplay, building sexual tension until the main event (the actual sex act).
It can be hard to describe sexuality, so do some research if you don't feel comfortable writing. You may want to read stories from other erotica authors to get a feel for the type of description and wording to use. This is especially true for men, who sometimes don't feel the need for description. However, women tend to be more descriptive, so they often have an innate knack for describing things spot-on.
As for the sex scenes themselves, you don't need to have experienced them in real-life, although some authors do choose to go that route. They might describe what they did in first person, which is difficult for new writers.
However it's best to do whatever makes you feel more comfortable. If you do write about a real-life sexual experience, be mindful that it might offend your partner. Be descriptive without making it too publicly known. Try to maintain some anonymity.
Write as if nobody will read it. Let your creative juices flow and just write. It can make you feel vulnerable because you are exposing a part of yourself and your inner fantasies, but you need to be able to eventually be OK with that and gain a sense of comfort. Start out by writing in somewhat risqué language and then move up to juicier scenes once you feel more comfortable.
It may take some time. Writing about sex is not the same as writing about your pets or your children. Many people still believe sex is taboo, which makes it difficult to express yourself sexually without coming off as a slut.
Admittedly, writing erotica is not for everyone. Some people would die of embarrassment talking about sexual fantasies, let alone writing about them. It takes a special person to be able to write sex scenes without embarrassment.
Sex sells, and if you are willing to tackle this genre and write successfully, then it could be a lucrative career choice. Follow these tips and make your erotic book go from un-publishable to successful.
It's no secret that men want sex. And generally, they want it a lot. But what other things does your man want from you? Turns out there are some simply sexy, easy, activities you can incorporate in your day-to-day and reap the benefits of a super-satisfied male. Here are 10 things your man wants you to do but might never ask for:
It's number 10, but that doesn't mean it isn't important; men aren't all about sex. As much as he tries to deny it, your man needs a shoulder and a listening ear from time to time, but knowing when is the key.
Try to hear not only what he is saying, but also what he is not saying, as most men won't tell you what's really going on in their heads right away. Reading between the lines will show him that you truly care, that you really get him, and that you're sympathetic to his needs and wants.
It really is true that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Your guy might love it if you cooked an elaborate meal for him, but he could be afraid to ask because he doesn't want to seem like he expects you to cook.
So, surprise him with a home-cooked meal every now and then; or if you can't cook, takeout on your good plates works too (just make sure to hide the boxes at the bottom of the trash can and he'll never know the difference).
Men are basically just oversized kids; they love Christmas, Father's Day, and any excuse to get gifts. They love to get the latest boy toys: guy movies, stuff for their car, or any battery-operated gadget. Just remember that getting your guy something you think he should like but that he actually won't is a cardinal sin.
Try thinking about gift giving in these terms. Pre-ordering Halo 4 for him is equivalent to him sending you a dozen roses and chocolate at work for no reason. Buying two season passes to the museum is like him getting you a bowling ball for your anniversary.
Just don't tell him they're called positive affirmations. All guys want to hear that they are really sexy and good in bed. Just like women, men need to hear that their women are happy with how they look and what they do.
It makes them feel appreciated, and it's also a turn on for them. This also plays into being more vocal in bed, which is closer to the top of his list - don't be afraid to scream about how amazing he is.
Men love to watch a woman strip - it's just a fact of life. It ranks in at number 6 because it probably isn't something he wants all the time. The way to a man's heart is through his senses, especially his eyes.
As visual creatures, they love to see their woman tease and get naked in front of them. So turn on some music, dress up in a little outfit, and put on a show. If you don't get it quite right the first time, he won't mind - after all, practice makes perfect.
Again, this is not something most men want to do every night, hence the lower ranking. Don't be afraid to role play. Pretending to be someone else for a night isn't going to inspire your man to actually go spend a night with someone else.
In fact, he'll probably like it so much that you'll have no problem keeping him around for the long haul. Ask your guy who he might like you to pretend to be and then go shopping for the costume together.
Lingerie is so, so important. Some women seem to think that guys will hit anything that moves, but we actually like it when it is clear that our woman is making an effort. For instance, mismatched bras and panties are kind of a turn off for some guys.
So invest in some really sexy (and matching) lingerie. He'll want to see you in and then immediately out of it, but nevertheless, it is still important. Never skimp on sexy lingerie, and always have it handy.
In other words, screaming at the top of your lungs that you love whatever he's doing. Men start going crazy when they can tell that their women really likes what is happening at the moment in the bedroom.
So next time you get busy, go a little overboard when he does something you like. It'll make him feel more confident and he may start trying things that he's never done before.
You don't have to look like Jennifer Lopez, but guys do prefer it if their lady stays in shape and takes care of herself, inside and out. A boyfriend or husband loves it when you smell good, your clothes are clean, and you are in good shape. You want him to stay healthy, so offer that to him as well.
Men are more likely to take care of themselves if you are doing the same. It is also a good excuse to spend more money on the things we love, right girls? He'll be totally cool with you spending more of the budget on some extra perfume, makeup, and skinny jeans as long as he benefits, too.
He would like to try new positions, role playing or even some more exotic types of sex, but you have been closed to things like that because either you're shy or had a bad experience in the past.
Just try to listen to him and do your best to consider what he's saying. Communication and openness to anything new is crucial to a fun, loving relationship. Keep this in mind -- if you try something that is important to him, he'll be more likely to give your fantasy a shot, too.
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Education Minister Michelle McIlveen has paid tribute to Millisle Primary School and their ‘Books and Boots’ reading programme.
The scheme has two main elements, reading and football. As a reward for reaching a reading word count target, pupils involved in the programme get to take part in a weekly football coaching session with local football star and Linfield FC captain, Jamie Mulgrew.
Speaking during a coaching session at the Millisle Primary School, the Minister said: “This is a simple and effective programme designed to get children engaged in reading. Programmes like this help to address the long-standing issues associated with educational underachievement, including encouraging pupils to read. This is one example contributing to the broader work associated with the delivery of the Fair Start report published on 1 June 2021.
“Millisle Primary has seen some excellent results from the scheme. In previous years, pupils were so keen to participate in Jamie’s sessions that they reached every single one of their reading targets set by the school. In fact, I’m aware that in the previous academic year, four pupils within the scheme had read over a million words with one of those pupils passing the three million mark and a further four pupils had surpassed the half a million mark within the same time frame.
“I’m very supportive of measures, such as ‘Books and Boots’ that help to encourage positive attitudes to books and enable children to enjoy reading for pleasure.”
In September 2016, Millisle Primary School introduced the new ‘Books and Boots ’ reading programme. The scheme allows pupils to build a word count by reading books and novels of their choice. Using computer software, pupils can answer questions in order to verify they have read and understood a given book.
Millisle Principal Ian McManus said: “The combination of good quality, engaging literature and the lure of football coaching has been the secret to the scheme’s success. The boys and girls respond very well to Jamie. As well as being articulate and enthusiastic, he is one of local football’s most decorated players. This makes him an ideal role model for our pupils.
“The scheme has had five full years of operation in the school with countless case studies showing pupils with increased confidence, skills and academic attainment.”
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A transgendered person is one who self-identifies with a gender role that does not match his/her biological sex. The video above tells the story of such a man who “transitioned” himself into a “woman.” Even though he was married with two small sons, he wanted to stop being a man and become what he always felt himself to be—a female.
A couple of things to note about this video:
(1) NBC presents this story simply as “the changing face of the American family.” In other words, this is supposed to indicate the new normal. They are showing us this family so that everyone can understand that this is just the way things are. Deal with it. There are absolutely no questions about the morality of what this man did to his family. As long as nobody gets hurt, then obviously “transitioning” to become a “woman” is okay. See, everyone’s just fine. So obviously there’s no relevant moral concern here. As the great philosopher Sheryl Crow once put it, “If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.”
(2) This is the logical consequence of feminism and mainstream gender theory. It is taken as axiomatic that gender is something that you learn, not something that you are. Masculinity and femininity are simply roles that we are socialized into. They have nothing to do with what we intrinsically are. That’s what the spirit of the age says, in any case. This view of manhood and womanhood directly contradicts what the Bible says. In the scripture, there is a normative connection between biological sex and gender identity (e.g., Gen. 1:26-27; 2:18; Eph. 5:21-31). In a fallen world, men and women will sometimes gravitate toward a gender identity that doesn’t match their biological sex. That is why creational norms are so important. The right thing to do is dictated by those divine norms, not by someone’s subjective impression of their gender identity. But this truth has been lost on the man in this video, and his family is now living with the consequences of his sad decision.
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May 5, 2013 at 11:36 pm Reply
Denny, We’re on the same page as far as the morality issue, but how are you defining feminism? When I read it in the context here, it seems to imply something different than what it means to me (ie, the rights of women in socio-economical terms: voting, equal pay for equal job, etc).
May 5, 2013 at 11:56 pm Reply
Language has lost all meaning. “Love,” “family,” “normal,” “forgiveness,” “he,” “she.” Christians have their work cut out for them. We’re not simply in a battle over the nature of gender, we are in a fight for the meaning of every significant word in the english language. This is truly sad—sad, understood rightly.
May 6, 2013 at 8:29 pm Reply
Dallas: “Our work” is to be salt and light and share the beauty of our Savior and his sacrificial saving love with the lost. I am increasingly persuaded that we have confused saving our culture and our historic American way of life with the great commission, indeed, “our work,” as our Savior left us the assignment.
May 6, 2013 at 12:02 am Reply
Gender *is* something you learn. You learn the culturally appropriate behaviors and mannerisms that belong to your sex. Sex is biological. It cannot change. The rest of point 2 is spot on.
That said, I think you cede too much to the reigning paradigm when you write that this is, “a married man who “transitioned” himself into a woman.” He was, is, and will remain a man. If law enforcement were ever to find physical evidence at a crime scene, the DNA would tell them they were looking for a man. Even though he has had his bits chopped about and re-formed, his body still knows he is a he — as evidenced by his new lifelong hormone regimen. And, while the surgeries are getting better and better, those of us who have been around transsexuals can often spot the tell tale signs that belie the attempts to pretend to be something other than they are.
May 6, 2013 at 9:19 am Reply
Not sure I’m willing to leave DNA as the sole determinant of biological sex. For instance, what do you do with someone who has all the external characteristics of being female yet who has androgen insensitivity syndrome and who happens to have a Y chromosome? Male or female?
May 6, 2013 at 12:49 pm Reply
Buddy,
There’s an old saying, not strictly apropos but it helps make the point:
It’s not called a syndrome because it is good and right and normal. Did you notice the language in that Wikipedia article you linked? Even Wikipedia, recognizes that child is male.
I guess we are pretty confused about sex in the healthcare field. Silly docs. About the first thing they do when a baby is born with, say, ambiguous external genitalia is order chromosome studies.
May 6, 2013 at 3:01 pm Reply
Wiki is actually specific in saying”genetic males”. I’ll agree with that usage. DNA is the arbiter of genetic maleness. In terms of “God created them male and female” though, I’d suggest that someone who develops as a woman despite being “genetically male” could reasonably be viewed as having been “created female”.
That’s not the case with the guy who’s the subject of this article. I’m more responding to the suggestion that it’s always possible to draw a “bright line” between male and female.
May 6, 2013 at 3:27 pm Reply
How can someone who develops as “A” be said to have been created as “A” despite having the raw material, as it were, of “B”?
Sin and the Fall have brought us a lot of things – cancer, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and Down Syndrome as well as Klinefelter’s syndrome and androgen insensitivity syndrome. That doesn’t preclude God’s having created bright lines.
May 6, 2013 at 5:29 pm Reply
“How can someone who develops as “A” be said to have been created as “A” despite having the raw material, as it were, of “B”?”
The “raw material” with which this person was created, despite including a Y chromosome, also includes the genetic trait that nullifies the presence of that Y chromosome for the purpose of inducing male development.
“That doesn’t preclude God’s having created bright lines.”
Sure. Regardless of whether the reason for the line being blurred is the fallen nature of creation, the fact remains that (in some cases) the lines are blurred. I’m not willing to blast someone with a Y chromosome (who has nevertheless has developed physically as a woman) for living as a woman instead of as a man. (Again, not the case for the guy who’s the subject of Denny’s article.)
“There’s nothing so predictable as our culture’s penchant for sacrificing the normal on the altar of the abnormal.”
You obviously disagree, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. From my perspective, it’s as if you’re saying, “The undeniable laws of the universe state that the sun always rises in the east”, when, in fact, in some rare occasions the sun actually rises in the west.
May 6, 2013 at 8:45 pm Reply
It doesn’t “nullify” the presence of the Y chromosome, it prevents its proper expression.
You might want to change your perspective alternatively, you might give me an example in which anything medically designated as a syndrome is also said to be good, right, or normal.
May 7, 2013 at 8:57 am Reply
Here’s a hypo constructed to be as difficult as possible. You have a daughter. She seems to be female in every way. You raise her as a girl. During puberty she develops hips, breasts and other external sexual characteristics. She wears dresses, has crushes on boys and dreams of what her wedding will be like some day. She never starts to menstruate, but she’s also into sports so you chalk it up to that. She goes to college, meets a young man and marries him. After having trouble conceiving, the couple undergoes genetic testing as a preliminary part of fertility treatment. Turns out your daughter has a Y-chromosome.
Do she and her husband divorce because their marriage is revealed to be homosexual? Should she have a double mastectomy, take enough synthetic testosterone to overwhelm her body’s insensitivity, have surgery to approximate male genitalia and start lifting weights in an effort to emulate male physical characteristics? If she wants to continue to live as a woman and her husband is a believer, should he divorce her? For that matter, is their marriage even valid in the legal sense?
May 7, 2013 at 10:09 am Reply
buddyglass – It makes me wonder whether some of these folks would believe a woman you describe is made in the image of God. They will need to find the proper box to fit her in debating/discussing which is the right one.
May 7, 2013 at 12:58 pm Reply
Buddy: What are the odds of this happening? It could happen, yes, but it is very rare and clearly is part of being fallen like all birth defects. Whoever said bad cases make bad law was correct. This hypothetical is not relevant to the core issue at hand. Your argument is somewhat like those who argue for abortion in the case of rape; it happens so rarely that it really is a non-issue, a red herring if you will.
May 7, 2013 at 4:08 pm
It’s relevant to the core issue insofar as folks have suggested that the presence of a Y chromosome renders one unquestionably “male”. The hypo I constructed brings that universal statement into question. For my part, I’d classify the individual in my hypo as “female” and would not pressure her to change.
It’s interesting that you bring up rape and abortion. I agree that the rate of abortions that are sought because of rape is pretty small, but I also note that it’s not “zero”. IMO it behooves pro-life advocates to deal with the rape issue head-on and not portray it as irrelevant due to its rarity.
May 7, 2013 at 6:21 pm
Buddy: Remember that I said the issue at hand is EQUAL to the argument that abortion must be legal because of conception due to rape IN QUANTITY OF ACTUAL CASES, NOT IN MORALITY. I do not know the answer in the present debate and although I may read up on it at some point, it is not pressing for me because until now I have never heard it discussed and I have never known of a real live case.
There is no question about the immorality of murdering an unborn child in the womb, no matter the circumstances of conception. These articles illustrate that truth beautifully. Begin with the last link if you are short of time and then come back later for the rest.
Every Life Is Precious, No Matter How He or She Was Conceived
94-year-old woman reunites with 77-year-old daughter conceived by rape
http://www.epm.org/blog/2012/Jan/16/94-year-old-woman-reunites-77-year-old-daughter-co
Woman meets child born out of rape, given up for adoption 77 years ago
May 7, 2013 at 10:05 pm
I don’t disagree with you that abortion is wrong even in cases of rape. So, no need to convince me.
As an aside, unless I’ve misinterpreted what you wrote, this is a good example of something conservative-minded folks often do that drives me up the wall. They seem prone to assuming that when a person disagrees with them on one thing (e.g. whether the presence of a Y chromosome always implies “maleness”) that the person disagrees with them on most everything else. In your case, you seemed to assume that I consider abortion to be ethical in cases of rape.
May 7, 2013 at 10:46 pm
Buddy: I was not assuming anything, I was responding to the words your wrote, “IMO it behooves pro-life advocates to deal with the rape issue head-on and not portray it as irrelevant due to its rarity.”
May 6, 2013 at 9:26 am Reply
I need to put some thought into this subject, but I do not agree that gender is “learned”. It is my opinion that boys and girls are born with certain propensity (not sure if that is the correct word) to certain behaviors.
I also believe that if you are a Christian family, and you have a son that is overly effeminate, then he has sin issues that need to be dealt with appropriately.
May 6, 2013 at 10:49 am Reply
Michael Sweet: You said:”I also believe that if you are a Christian family, and you have a son that is overly effeminate, then he has sin issues that need to be dealt with appropriately.” Do you really believe it is that simple?
May 14, 2013 at 3:56 pm Reply
yeah cause it is – just as you would correct a son who lies!
May 6, 2013 at 12:56 pm Reply
Propensities, yes. But don’t little boys still need their fathers to model proper masculine behavior? And girls need their mothers?
In Europe, men customarily cross their legs with their knees together. Here in the States, it’s knees apart and knees together is often considered effeminate. It is said that telltale sign of differing gender behavior is how some of our spies were caught in WWII. Another example is a biblical command which is still practiced in the now Muslim countries of the Middle East, but here is considered effeminate – men greeting each other with a kiss on the cheek.
May 6, 2013 at 8:45 pm Reply
Michael: Your statement about sin, although it could be an issue, is likely mostly fundamentalism gone amuck (otherwise known as self-righteousness). I have known artistic creative men who seemed effeminate by the standards of men who drive Ford F-350 trucks and live to hunt, but I would suggest to you that they are not effeminate by biblical standards.
I have heard a certain pastor speak of a father’s need to teach “effeminate” sons to be masculine and it scared me a bit when I thought he was speaking of his own young son. But in fact, he has taught him in a very balanced way what it means to be a man while allowing him to be his natural sensitive self and he is just now reaching the age of 12. There never was a sin issue.
May 7, 2013 at 6:44 pm Reply
If I could edit my comments, I certainly would. My use of the words “effeminate” and “sin issue” was far more clear in my mind than what came out. I’m not going to attempt an explanation as I don’t want to dig the hole I’m standing in any deeper.
May 6, 2013 at 6:39 am Reply
Denny:
You said:”This is the logical consequence of feminism ”
May 6, 2013 at 11:14 am Reply
It’s not how I define femnism that is the issue but how feminists define gender. Both feminism and gender theorists in general hold in common a certain definition of gender. Here’s a representative example from Baker’s Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics:
“The use of the term gender as distinct from sex came to prominence within contemporary feminist literature wishing to emphasize the social constructedness of male and female roles and images… A new literature and a new discipline of gender studies have emerged that comprise the study of social constructions surrounding roles that might once have been thought to be biologically prescribed…” (p. 323).
Second and third wave feminists by and large hold to the social constructedness of gender. This is standard fare in the literature.
May 6, 2013 at 11:44 am Reply
Denny: My question is the same as Tom’s (1st comment). I think if you are going to use the term “feminism,” it’s important for your readers to know what your understanding of the term is. I don’t want to know how feminists define gender, but how YOU define feminism – especially how you came to the conclusion that a person becomes transgendered as a result of feminism.
May 6, 2013 at 2:47 pm Reply
Denny:
I really would like to read how you define feminism. My thanks in advance.
May 6, 2013 at 4:01 pm Reply
Which wave?
May 6, 2013 at 7:26 pm Reply
Denny, Who was your 4:01 comment directed to? I can’t tell. It feels like you are intentionally avoiding Tom’s and my question. In general, how would you define feminism? Surely there is some commonality among “waves” that you can personally define.
May 7, 2013 at 9:38 am Reply
Oh Dennyyyyyyy, where are you? Did you forget this question again? I’m still waiting.
May 7, 2013 at 10:13 am Reply
Given you’re so familiar with feminisms, I’d love to hear your opinion on the critiques from majority world feminists that first world feminists use of western paradigms serves to silence the voices of non-white feminists and paints cultural difference as a problem to be overcome, rather than legitimate differences in values and views of the world.
May 7, 2013 at 10:26 am Reply
May 7, 2013 at 12:44 pm Reply
Well, Tom, I’ll “wave” to you It seems like we’re getting no where here.
May 7, 2013 at 3:33 pm Reply
Dear Tom and Julie,
I’m a little surprised that you are insisting on a definition of feminism. I really don’t think it advances the discussion here if we are going to descend into pop quizzes.
My main point was simply that second and third wavers have adopted a radical redefinition of gender norms. They hold it as axiomatic that gender is a social construct, not something with a normative connection to biological sex. That claim would be completely uncontroversial among feminists of all stripes today. So I’m wondering why you are disputing the claim.
Again, I don’t have time to write an essay defining feminism. Here’s a thumbnail sketch (though certainly more could be said).
1st Wave – Concerned with women’s suffrage and social justice.
2nd Wave – Concerned with gender equality, it identified patriarchy as the source of female subjugation and inequality. It sought to undermine patriarchy at every level of society so that women could leave the domestic life and become full participants in the professions.
Key Themes: Gender as a social construct, consciousness raising, birth control pill, abortion,
3rd Wave – Critiques the second wave for being focused on the concerns of middle-class white women. It also is closely associated with queer theory and radical redefinitions of gender.
Thanks,
May 8, 2013 at 9:16 am Reply
Denny, have you read the Seneca Falls conference document? I would be in favor of all that. How many men agree?
May 8, 2013 at 1:19 pm Reply
I feel like I need to clear the air. I think we got a bad start after the moderation issue. I would like to publicly apologize for that. I should have waited longer and e-mailed. I’m sorry, Denny.
Back to the topic of feminism. I’m not sure if you thought I had any agenda when I asked you to define feminism, but it was genuine. Back in the mid-80s when I was a young mom, I remember hearing James Dobson and Phyllis Schlafly talk about feminism only in negative terms. In my simplistic mind, I labeled it as “bad” and busied myself with what mattered most to me: my kids and their education as a homeschool mom.
You said: “I’m a little surprised that you are insisting on a definition of feminism. I really don’t think it advances the discussion here if we are going to descend into pop quizzes.”
Your definition of the word actually does help me to “advance the discussion” as best as I can while trying to understand your scholarly vocabulary. BTW, can you give me an idea of your target audience (I saw you’re a professor and pastor)? I wasn’t sure by your response if you were only expecting responses from high-level academicians, however, you’re making me want to go to college! I feel like I missed out on something by marrying young and having babies. I was trying not to feel stupid, but admit that if I were to fully understand your response, I’d have to dust off my online dictionary. No prob. I’m willing to do that.
Ok, back to the real topic – when you refer to the waves of feminism (BTW, that was completely new and interesting information to me) – the waves seem to be quite diverse and rightly so considering we’re talking about a span of 165 yrs (from the link you provided). So how is a reader to identify which wave fits your definition – or are you identifying all three into your definition? Which brings us back to our original point, Denny, what exactly IS your definition of feminism? A timely response to the original question would have served us all much better. I find obtuse responses on a blog which openly invites discussion to be puzzling.
May 8, 2013 at 3:15 pm Reply
Julie Anne: I want to thank you for the humility, transparency, and genuine inquiry reflected in your post.
As a woman near 60 and attending college fulltime I want to encourage you in this… A woman can attend college at any time in life, but she can only have babies when she is young. Many American women have opportunity to “do it all” in life, but they cannot do everything at once. Contrary to the report of some, Superwoman does not exist (smile).
Remember that all “higher education” does not happen in college, and like you said, in many ways the internet has brought a world of knowledge to our computer monitor where once we had only the library (oh yea, only the library) (smile).
Still, if there were no internet, or if China were to take it down tomorrow, and you never have opportunity to attend college, you dear friend have chosen the best thing and great will be your reward.
May 8, 2013 at 3:57 pm Reply
Thank you, Lynn, for your kind words. Right now God seems to have used a very negative church experience and created a ministry for me which is keeping me quite busy. We’ll see if college happens. I have graduated from the school of hard knocks and am always learning regardless of the lack of initials behind my name. Bottom line is I am His and He is mine and those initials probably don’t mean a whole lot in the bigger scheme of things
May 8, 2013 at 10:59 pm Reply
I appreciate that good word. I also appreciate your taking time to read and comment.
I was addressing all interested readers, not necessarily scholars. In my original article, I referred to feminism generically because most people today will understand some version of the second or third wave when I feminism (even if they don’t know that terminology). Both waves define gender as some kind of a social construct. Gender roles have no necessary connection to biological sex. In the third wave, things have gotten even more loose with some writers questioning whether biological sex may not be a social construct as well (e.g., Judith Butler). All of this contradicts biblical revelation which teaches that God has made men and women different, both biologically and with respect to gender roles.
If you want to read a more extensive take on this from me, I would direct you to my chapter in this book: Don’t Call It a Comeback: The Old Faith for a New Day.
Thanks again for the interaction.
May 6, 2013 at 9:43 am
What is the Big Deal about Feminism and Christianity? | Spiritual Sounding Board
May 6, 2013 at 10:58 am Reply
I am troubled that it took 8 hours for my original comment to get posted. I am especially disturbed that commenter Tom Parker asked the same question as me and his question was posted, but mine was not. Can you please help me to understand why my comment was delayed for so long when it was the same question? I’m sure my readers would be interested to know, too.
May 6, 2013 at 11:59 am Reply
I’m troubled that you posted this comment nearly 30 minutes after I answered the same question in a private email.
May 6, 2013 at 12:27 pm Reply
Sorry, I hadn’t read the e-mail at the time of this posting.
Thank you for your e-mail, btw. I am satisfied with your response and have been busy updating my blog to reflect that.
I am commenting through WP (and not your site) at the moment, but I hope you will take the opportunity to address my comment (beneath Tom’s comment). It’s an issue that has confused me for years. Maybe you can shed light for me. Thank you.
May 6, 2013 at 11:36 am Reply
So let me get this straight… according to modern thought one is born irrevocably gay and it should be against the law to change sexual orientation but gender itself is flexible and society should embrace paying for the transformations with tax dollars?
Yeah, that makes sense.
May 6, 2013 at 8:49 pm Reply
May 6, 2013 at 3:15 pm Reply
This post is so full of ignorance on both the issues of feminism and gender identity. Being a transexual is the logical consequence of feminism? When in doubt, blame things you don’t agree with on women, right? That seems to be the standby argument of the religious right. Brilliantly done, sir.
May 6, 2013 at 3:47 pm Reply
May I add how absolutely EXHAUSTED I am of the church-as-morality-police paradigm? Here is someone who has struggled with their gender identity, has faced who knows how much discrimination and judgment and downright HATE because of their status as a sexual minority in our culture and they’re HURTING. This person has experienced possibly a great deal of trauma and personal anguish and hurt and they have found, whether we agree with it or not, a measure of peace about it through gender reassignment – in itself a very difficult and costly decision not made lightly. I can’t even begin to IMAGINE the level of personal trauma this person has experienced. I have no reference point for what this person has gone through. And that makes me sad that someone has gone through that in their life. It makes my heart ache to even think about it.
And you know what? Jesus loved the outcast more than possible anyone else. Jesus has a very special relationship with outcasts, with people whom culture says “don’t come near me, you are unclean and unacceptable”. Those are the people Jesus went towards and loved. And here in your blog is what? A response that has become all too much the expected and standard Christian response: Judgement. Condemnation. Cries of “Oh what evil walks among us!” This is the kind of response that has caused so much hurt for this person in their life.This kind of response simply adds to their burden and their anguish. And that, frankly, makes me extremely angry.
This person, transgender issues and all, is a PERSON, with a heart and soul and feelings, and is well loved by Christ. He would readily go to this person to spend time with her, eat with her, and love her. There is more than enough room for her at Christ’s table and in His kingdom. I would be honored to have her there.
May 6, 2013 at 4:55 pm Reply
Jesus would also call this person to repent.
May 6, 2013 at 5:17 pm Reply
You sure? You might want to check out the number of times in the gospels where Jesus didn’t call for repentance in his interactions with people. Particularly as a condition for his love or for people to follow Him. Unless it was the religious people. I remember He had a big issue with them.
And if there is sin to be addressed in her life, then that’s God’s business. We all have sin. We’re all equal there. Enough stone-throwing already!
May 6, 2013 at 5:31 pm Reply
Specifically, Jesus is calling him to repent. With the terrible tenderness that only He can so mercifully extend.
May 6, 2013 at 7:28 pm Reply
Did Jesus tell regular folks to repent? Please identify a verse for me, Jim. I’m having trouble locating one.
May 6, 2013 at 8:54 pm Reply
Julie Anne: Sometimes Jesus does not use the word repent, but that is His message… go and get your husband (to the woman at the well)… go and sell all you have (to the rich young ruler)… spoke to the heart of their sin that He was confronting quite boldly but tactfully (something we often lack).
May 7, 2013 at 8:55 am Reply
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” He does not call “regular folks” to repent, he mercifully calls sinners.
Also, as it seems that you come from a feminist world-view I would recommend to you the autobiography of Rosaria Butterfield. A more compassionate and gospel-saturated take on the many of the areas being discussed in “these days” you will not find.
For he who has ears, let him hear…..
May 7, 2013 at 9:05 am Reply
Jim, Since Denny is doing such a fantastic job of evading my question. Let me try with you. You are assuming that I am coming from a feminist world-view. Can you please define the word for me? I’m a bit amused how quickly you put me in a box. I think if you got to know me, you might be surprised.
Interesting you mention Butterfield. I just listened to a lengthy interview of her yesterday. What a story.
May 7, 2013 at 9:42 am Reply
Jim, I have to add – you gave me the biggest laugh of the day with the thought that I come from a feminist world-view. You might be surprised to know my background as a veteran conservative Christian homeschooling mother of 7.
May 7, 2013 at 11:50 am Reply
“We can get a lot of attention in the media by self-righteous grandstanding, but wouldn’t it be better to follow the example Jesus sets here? Rather than telling people caught in desperate sin how far their sin has removed them from God, why not invite them to come to worship? Think of how much difference there is between saying “Stop being such a sinner” and “Be holy.” Between “You worship the wrong way” and “Come worship in spirit and in truth.” Between “You are hated” and “You are known, and loved.””
May 6, 2013 at 7:58 pm Reply
Hannah: We come to Jesus as we are, but He never leaves those who truly come to Him in saving faith unchanged. The church can be sinfully self-righteous, but “church-as-morality-police” is appropriate when the true “police” is the Word of God and not the people themselves.
May 6, 2013 at 8:52 pm Reply
May I saw how exhausted I am of the progressive counter-morality police telling the church off for doing what she has always done? Indeed, for doing what is required of her?
I don’t know how old you are, so please forgive me if I misjudge your age, but I’d be willing to bet I’ve been familiar with sex re-assignment surgery longer than you’ve been alive. Since 1974, if I am to give a hint about my age. I’m also en ex-feminist. So, although Denny and I have our disagreements and I hope I can count him a friend with whom I disagree agreeably, I can tell you that in the broad outlines of feminism and morality, he is absolutely correct here.
May 6, 2013 at 9:18 pm Reply
My apologies. I mistakenly assumed we were of the same Church, and that a cry for a moment of compassion and breadth of feeling might be heeded in a Christian blog. My mistake.
Congratulations on your extended familiarity with sex re-assignment surgery.
May 6, 2013 at 11:22 pm Reply
Hannah, what you wrote wasnt a plea for mercy, it was dripping with disdain for those who hold fast to the orthodox, catholic and historic teaching on sexual morality.
Love doesn’t preclude judgment. Rather love requires we make these judgments. Jeremiah has a word or two about that.
Seneca, thanks for that example. It is not a rare outcome.
May 7, 2013 at 7:13 pm Reply
Hannah: Without dissecting the details of the article you linked, I would like to agree with what I think is your primary point. Christians who come to evangelism from the perch of self-righteousness most often do more harm than good. That was me for many of my years.
I learned in Nouthetic Counseling and in a more reformed view of theology that approaching the lost as an equal sinner is much more effective and palatable to them than speaking as the righteous to the beggar. It can actually be quite disarming because it is so unexpected.
I have also often been guilty of “doing my Christian duty” more than actually loving the person I am seeking to win to Christ. We hear people say that confronting sin is the loving thing, and theoretically, that is true, but very often sin in confronted in self-righteousness and not in love.
Jesus truly loved/loves the sinner (both past tense in His human life on earth and yet present tense today). He often spoke with gentleness that reached the heart, although sometimes He spoke harshly. However, He always spoke with wisdom and to each person and circumstance individually in words that were unique to them. He did not have a packaged one-size-fits-all “program,” and always He truly loved.
I hear you saying that you believe that we sometimes (maybe often) lack wisdom and love in our dealings with the lost, and I agree with you.
May 6, 2013 at 4:01 pm Reply
You had me at Sheryl Crow.
May 6, 2013 at 6:43 pm Reply
In stark contrast, one may wish to view another person’s Journey of Grace that provides deeper insight into God’s redemptive work even in today’s fallen society of America.
The full interview is also available here on YouTube.
“The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18:27)
May 6, 2013 at 7:19 pm Reply
Working in a psych ward years ago as an aide I had a patient who had undergone a sex change; hospitalized ultimately because they had become seriously suicidal. What appeared to happen was that instead of becoming the opposite sex of which they were born, they had become NEITHER. No longer wholly male, no longer wholly female.I worried that somewhere down the road they would someday successfully commit suicide.
May 6, 2013 at 8:25 pm Reply
Wow, does this bring a new dynamic to same sex marriage or what? Who could have guessed this whole issue would take us down that path?
When I watched the video, the thing that struck me is Jim’s selfishness. He was willing to risk losing his wife and kids for the sake of “his dream come true (and) he was giddy to get something he had wanted all his life.…” He says his greatest fear was for his kids, but actually, he was willing to sacrifice his kids for the sake of self-gratification. How often our hedonistic society, which all too often includes professed believers, justifies self-gratification with that line, “I’ve wanted it all my life,” as if that somehow makes self-indulgence justifiable. This is maybe the ultimate self-indulgence, but it is actually a very common theme today. If I want it… who are what is to deny me?
May 7, 2013 at 6:34 pm Reply
To the moderator: Could you correct this last line in my above post please… “This is maybe the ultimate self-indulgence, but it is actually a very common theme today. If I want it… who are what is to deny me?”
It should end with “who AND what is to deny me?”
Thanks.
Ken Temple
May 7, 2013 at 4:16 am Reply
One more step toward the destruction of normal civilization and the blurring of the lines of right and wrong . . . getting weirder all the time.
The wive’s calmness about the whole thing and accepting him this way was really weird and seems to be put forward as a way to validate this whole thing. There is so much that the camera does not show and cannot show about all the negative things, that audiences need to remember. That they continue to be married is weird, when she said she is not a lesbian. She hinted at their intimate relationship a little, that is was different, etc.; but no details.
Denny wrote:
In a fallen world, men and women will sometimes gravitate toward a gender identity that doesn’t match their biological sex.
What is the Biblical position on what those desires and feelings are? (the feelings and desires that one’s “soul or spirit is female, trapped in a man’s body” – mental and emotional confusion?
The key seems to be Denny’s phrase, “in a fallen world”. How do Biblical Christian’s evaluate this phenomenon? (besides calling it weird, perverted, twisted, against nature, against the way God created the man, etc. ?) Where do those feelings/desires come from?
The only Biblical answer seems to be, is that that happens to some people as part of the fall – Romans 8:2-22 – that is part of the “futility” and “bondage to corruption” and decay and perversions and brokenness (like birth-defects) that God judged creation with, after Adam and Eve sinned. (Genesis 3)
“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
How can a man who has male chromosomes, etc. get those desires? It is so weird that other men cannot relate to this phenomenon at all.
Ken Temple
May 7, 2013 at 6:39 am Reply
The verse reference above was meant to be Romans 8:20-22.
May 7, 2013 at 6:57 pm
May 21, 2013 at 5:13 pm
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TIP! You can throw a defender off by dribbling in the opposite direction of where you want to go. Defenders will follow you there and then be confused when you change course rapidly.
Lofting a ball is hard to control. Try passing low and whipping the ball if there are defenders closing in around you. Do not loft the ball unless you are making a longer pass to an empty area.
If you find yourself in the middle of the field, pay attention to what happens on both ends. Be ready to get the ball and pass it to another player immediately. By knowing where every defender is and where the open players are, you can be ready to help in scoring a goal.
Establish some strategies with your teammates. They ought to be able to tell when you’ll cross the soccer ball, so they’re able to get it. For instance, you could cross each ball towards the right during a couple of plays, and the third time go to the left.
TIP! If you want more stamina, participate in long distance runs in the off-season. In one game, you may run as many as eight miles.
Practicing penalty kicks will help increase your chances of scoring during this time. After a foul, you can focus on penalty kicks. Come up with a few kicks that can used for penalty kicks, and keep practicing them until you have consistent success.
Team goals are as important as individual goals. Soccer needs an entire team of effective players, so that’s why it’s important for everyone to keep the team goals in mind.
Watch how a professional that plays your position and learn new strategies by watching him or her perform. When you imitate his techniques and strategies, you are going to get better at soccer. If you identify any signature moves, imitate them and begin using them when you play.
Communication is paramount during a soccer game. You are more likely to be successful if you are able to talk, either verbally or non-verbally, to one another. Pros communicate, so mimic their techniques.
TIP! To get good at dribbling in soccer, practice using a tennis ball. By practicing with a small ball, you will become accustomed to making adjustments to your feet to keep control of the ball.
Wearing the correct soccer shoes is important to prevent injuries on the field. For instance, grass players should choose cleats with sufficient traction. Such playing requires firm, fixed cleats. There are different patterns on these cleats depending on what type of ground you play on.
Move around as much as possible. If you’re trying to lean the right way while going left, you’ll be able to trick a defender. Make sure you’re using your arms to make movements to distract others while you’re working on making a pass or a shot.
A great way to learn more about soccer is watching professional soccer matches on TV. This can improve your understanding of the rules and help you learn how the game should be played. Watching soccer is not a replacement for actual playing time, but it can be an important aspect of learning the game.
Find players with higher skills than yours and ask to practice with them. This will cause you to work harder, quickly increasing your skill levels. Ask any questions you may have and take in as much information as possible. Many will help because they’re used to working as a part of a team. If you can’t find any players with experience, go to games in your area and ask players if they can teach you things.
TIP! Your cardiovascular health is key to playing better soccer. Your cardiovascular system needs to be in shape since you have to run a lot when playing soccer.
If you want to win, you have to have the right mindset. Believing in your team can help to give you the confidence you need to win the games. A winning demeanor can go a long way toward fostering team success.
Kick with your less dominant foot as much as possible. This will strengthen that weak foot. Practice kicking the ball at a wall in addition to distance kicking. Players that use both feet equally are hard to find.
Shin Guards
Become a more skilled decision maker by practicing set plays. For example, work on corner kicks and direct shots with others on your team. Practicing these plays often helps better your chances of helping your team win.
TIP! Soccer is extremely physical, even if it seems less so than football. Don’t be afraid to run into another player.
Shin guards of different materials can be purchased. The material’s quality correlates to the guard’s protection. They can be plastic, which isn’t very strong, all the way up to polyurethane. With the increasing protection comes an increase in cost. Small kids are the only ones that need to wear shin guards that are plastic. Stronger protection is needed for older players.
Always warm up before soccer practice. This helps get blood flowing. Start every routine with slow stretches, as well as walking, so your muscles can be warm before your soccer training.
You can become much better at soccer by emulating the pros. You can easily watch soccer on TV or on the Internet. Focus your attention on the players who play your own position to see how they handle the ball in a variety of game situations.
Use your mistakes as a learning tool. Pay close attention if you realize that you are losing the ball each time you dribble down the field. Keep an eye on other players to see what they do to successfully maneuver the ball down the field. If you still have questions, ask a coach or teammate for assistance.
TIP! Pick out a good shoe to play soccer according to what the field’s like. For instance, if you play on a grass soccer field, you need soccer cleats that offer plenty of traction.
Striving to be the best that you can be is what playing a sport is all about. Because soccer requires teamwork, you must be able to contribute. Understanding that you are not playing for yourself alone, apply the advice in this piece to become a true team player.
penalty kicks
shin guards
team goals
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I realize that when it comes to January Food — carrot sticks, soup, legumes and other things I suspect, what with it being the third week of the month, you are already tiring of — gnocchi, thick dumpling-like pasta made from potatoes, hardly makes the cut. It’s, in fact, not even invited to the party, having no place among the sweatband-ed, pumped up, high-topped aerobicized… okay, maybe my brain went straight past “earnest attempts at resolution-inspired rebalance” to a Richard Simmons video, circa 1982. These things, they happen.
But a kale-apple-ginger smoothie, gnocchi is not. And yet, this dish from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is one of my favorite things to make after a month of holiday gluttony because it is both light and filling, yet warm enough for the coldest day. The thing with gnocchi is that it’s so plagued by a reputation of being bad for you that it’s presumed that if you’re eating it, your arteries/girth/sense of proportion must already be doomed so let’s just ladle on the blue cheese, okay? And, indeed, most restaurants will serve it with butter, cream, cheese and other rich ingredients, such as truffles, probably with more butter. It’s not my thing; I think such preparations wreck the delicacy that’s at the heart of perfect gnocchi, which is featherlight, dumpling-like and best appreciated in a puddle of intensely flavored broth. It’s true: I turned the Italian classic of gnocchi and red sauce into a riff on matzo ball soup, and I’m not even a little sorry.
Of course, waiting until the third paragraph to argue that featherlight homemade gnocchi is both doable and worth it at home is akin to burying the lede, but I insist that it is. I think gnocchi is one of those dishes that has been made needlessly intimidating to make at home by well-intentioned but ultimated head-spinning recipes. In early attempts, I too have been flummoxed by the idea that without a potato ricer or food mill and gnocchi rolling board, I shouldn’t even bother and even when I did, I was still plagued by leaden, gluey globs of pasta that never cooked through. But once I got it right, I realized how easy it was and, being me, immediately had to tell the world. I’m going to argue below that not only none of these things are necessary, that once you have some potatoes baked and ready to use, gnocchi is the kind of dish that’s so easy to pull together, you could even have it for dinner this very evening. I dare you to argue this doesn’t trump the fifth bottle of that juice cleanse you had planned.
Book Tour, Part II When The Smitten Kitchen Book Tour worked its way from Washington to Houston to Los Angeles, Vancouver, Chicago, Toronto and Boston in late 2012, did you feel left out? Did you say something? Because we were listening, and decided at the earliest interval decided it would be fun to get back out there and make things right. This second tour, between mid-February and mid-March, will include eight unintentionally overlooked cities and I hope if we missed you the first time that yours is one of them. I hope we finally get to hang out. [The Smitten Kitchen Book Tour, Part II]
Nevertheless, I realize we’re still missing some great towns, and want to very seriously encourage those of you who live in far-flung ports — say, The Caribbean, Paris, Morocco or Hawaii — to lobby loud and vigorously for additional stops. For me. Ahem, us.
Yield: 2 1/2 to 3 cups broth and 85 to 100 gnocchi, serving 4
1 medium stalk celery, chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
Small handful fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Bake potatoes: Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Bake potatoes for 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on size, until a thin knife can easily pierce through them. Meanwhile, prepare the tomato broth.
Make tomato broth: Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat. One it’s hot, add the carrot, celery, and onion, and cook together for 5 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if they begin to brown. Add the garlic, and cook for one minute more. Pour in the wine, and use it to scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan, then cook the wine unti it is reduced by half, for several minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, mashing them a bit with a spoon if they’re whole, and the basil and stock, and simmer until the tomato broth thickens slightly, for about 45 minutes. Strain out the vegetables in a fine-mesh colander, and season the broth with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside until needed.
Make gnocchi: Let the potatoes cool for 10 minutes after baking, then peel them with a knife or a peeler. Run the potatoes through a potato ricer or grate them on the large holes of a box grater (grated baked potatoes will fall apart, which is the goal). Cool them to lukewarm, about another 10 minutes. Add the egg and salt, mixing to combine. Add 1/2 cup flour, and mix to combine. Add the next 1/2 cup flour, mixing again. Add 1/4 cup flour, and see if this is enough to form a dough that does not easily stick to your hands. If not, add the last 1/4 cup of flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is soft but only a little sticky, and able to hold its shape enough to be rolled into a rope. Knead the dough together briefly, gently, on a counter, just for a minute.
Divide the dough into quarters. Roll each piece into a long rope, about 3/4-inch thick. Cut each rope into 3/4-inch lengths. At this point, you can use a floured fork or a gnocchi board to give each piece the traditional ridges, but I never bother. (The ridges are supposed to help sauce adhere, but here, we’re just floating them in a broth so it’s not a top concern.) Place the gnocchi on a a parchment-lined tray.
[Do ahead: If you’d like to freeze gnocchi for later user, do so on this tray. Once they are frozen, drop them into a freezer bag until needed. No need to defrost before cooking them; it will just take a minute or two longer.]
Cook gnocchi: Place the gnocchi, a quarter-batch at a time, into a pot of boiling well-salted water. Cook the gnocchi until they float — about 2 minutes — then drain.
Assemble dish: Meanwhile, reheat broth to a simmer. Add drained gnocchi then reheat through. Serve gnocchi and broth together, garnished with a few slivers of basil leaves and/or a dollop of fresh ricotto or some Parmesan shavings, if desired.
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caitlin
January 15, 2013 at 11:37 am Reply
The first recipe I made from your cookbook – hooray!
January 15, 2013 at 11:37 am Reply
While reading through the cookbook yesterday, I came across this recipe and immediately pushed it to the top of my “must-make” list. Pillowy gnocchi in a light broth is my idea of heaven!
January 15, 2013 at 11:37 am Reply
Erica @ In and Around Town
I have never made Gnocchi but have been hearing it is not just for chefs – maybe I should finally give it ago. Light gnocchi sounds perfect for these cold winter evenings!
January 15, 2013 at 11:37 am Reply
I made this from the cookbook and it was everything you describe it to be! It was the first time I’ve ever made gnocchi, and since these are so perfect, I can’t see what the fuss is all about. We made the whole batch of broth but only cooked half the gnocchi, which was perfect because the two of us kept wanting more and more of the broth. You know what… I might go cook the frozen ones for lunch right now!
January 15, 2013 at 11:38 am Reply
January 15, 2013 at 11:38 am Reply
deb
January 15, 2013 at 11:39 am Reply
Hi, I’m not supposed to eat potato but sweet potato is allowed (apparently better nutritional value). Do you think I can just substitute it with sweet potato in this recipes or do you have any additional tricks I’d need to make it the same consistency? Thanks and congrats on the books, book tour, etc- I was raving about it to all my friends and family in Hungary, so hopefully translations are coming soon?! :)
January 15, 2013 at 11:39 am Reply
I wonder what would happen if you cooked the gnocchi IN the broth. Yummy!
January 15, 2013 at 11:39 am Reply
Oh man, the weekend you are scheduled to be in Montreal, I am scheduled to be in NY!
Make sure to try some Montreal bagels whilst you are in town, if you haven’t had them before!
January 15, 2013 at 11:39 am Reply
This recipe rocked our socks! We made it a few weeks ago and I’m still dreaming about it. The broth was such a simple addition to the gnocchi but it was so flavorful that it could almost be a stand-alone soup.
January 15, 2013 at 11:39 am Reply
This was the first thing I made after cracking into our stash of new cookbooks when we got back from our honeymoon a few months ago! So delicious! And promptly secured my “gee, it was a good idea to put a ring on that one” status ;)
But srsly, the tomato broth is so delicious I could drink buckets of it alone!
January 15, 2013 at 11:40 am Reply
Brian @ A Thought For Food
Yeah… carrot sticks. Bleh. Bring on the gnocchi! Love everything about this dish, Deb. Totally comforting.
January 15, 2013 at 11:41 am Reply
I haven’t tried these yet from the cookbook, probably because I concentrated on desserts first. I need to get more russet potatoes in the house, because the one potato is definitely not enough for a decent pile of gnocchi.
January 15, 2013 at 11:42 am Reply
January 15, 2013 at 11:43 am Reply
I have been wanting to make this! Anything with potatoes is good in my book. It is in line right after the cheddar rolls.
January 15, 2013 at 11:45 am Reply
January 15, 2013 at 11:45 am Reply
And then maybe a Europe book tour? :)
January 15, 2013 at 11:48 am Reply
Thank you thank you for coming to Denver! I can’t wait to see you! And I have high hopes for your gnocchi after a few disatrous attempts with other recipes. I have the feeling this one will be a winner.
January 15, 2013 at 11:48 am Reply
Do come to Paris! If my vote is not enough I can bring my husband and some friends. That counts as at least ten people. :-)
January 15, 2013 at 11:49 am Reply
January 15, 2013 at 11:50 am Reply
Anyone ever have any luck with making gnocchi gluten free? Maybe with coconut flour? One of those things I didn’t get to try before I found out wheat is not my friend. BOO! (BTW, Deb – I keep getting your email because so many of your recipes are either free of wheat or easy to make that way. THANK YOU! Also, I’ve been crushin on that sweet brown eyed baby since first you posted a pic! SK, always a fave <3 )
January 15, 2013 at 11:50 am Reply
cja
I have found some good GF gnocchi online. You might try aquafaba as a sub for the egg. I have found it works quite well. Good luck!
February 10, 2021 at 7:55 pm Reply
kitchen afternoon
Blending vegetables into a good soup is a happy medium, and that gnocchi is a great, just a smaller portion, and perhaps a nice glass of Merlot. We have instigated Merlot Mondays.
January 15, 2013 at 11:50 am Reply
I love gnocchi and can’t wait to try this recipe! I was saddened to see Indianapolis did not make the list for Part II! Know if you come visit, you’ll have at least two very enthusiastic fans to cheer you on and bring you something yummy to eat! We’re two West Coast transplants living in the heartland and would love to meet you!
January 15, 2013 at 11:51 am Reply
Do you have a brand of potato ricers you recommend? These look amazing!
January 15, 2013 at 11:51 am Reply
deb
Marci — I don’t. I have the OXO one, it is fine, but I wouldn’t recommend buying one unless you really think you’ll use it a lot. I hemmed and hawed before buying mine for a while and end up using it twice a year, so it it hardly worth the space it takes up. But, when I do use it, it’s lovely.
Julie — I haven’t, but I imagine it would work fairly well with a AP-like flour replacement. Most of the structure comes from the egg and potato.
January 15, 2013 at 11:54 am Reply
yes yes yes! the idea of gnoochi is so comforting on this rainy day
January 15, 2013 at 11:52 am Reply
Beautiful gnocchi! This may just inspire me to finally try them… I have been intimidated, too.
January 15, 2013 at 11:54 am Reply
Columbus, Ohio?! Please!? (Tell your publisher that PDub has been here twice! Also, I am sure you will get booked [haha] at the B&N store, which means I have had to WAIT until you get here to even buy your book. Which. Is. Killing. Me! Luckily I will have to soothe my impatience with some gnocchi!)
January 15, 2013 at 11:58 am Reply
The gnocci is gorgeous and I was traveling when you were in Cali for your book tour and missed you and wish you had more west coast dates added…plus the weather’s better in San Diego this time of year than many other places!
January 15, 2013 at 11:58 am Reply
Deb, can you recommend a gluten-free flour as a substitute for all-purpose?
January 15, 2013 at 11:58 am Reply
I will echo Killian–yay, you’re coming to Raleigh!!! Haven’t tried this recipe yet, but it is definitely up my alley so hopefully soon.
January 15, 2013 at 11:59 am Reply
Valerie @ Pursuit of Sweetness
Oh, gnocchi, how I love thee! I’ve only tried making pumpkin gnocchi; and I was so worried about over-working the dough that I don’t think I mixed it enough… I can’t wait to try this recipe out and conquer my over-kneading fear! :)
January 15, 2013 at 11:59 am Reply
You’re amazing….love that you reply so quickly. We love you!
January 15, 2013 at 12:00 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 12:01 pm Reply
BOLOGNA, ITALY. YOU WILL LOVE THIS CITY, it will love you. It is the food capital of Italy, according to Italians. Prosciutto practically hangs from the ceilings of the busses.
January 15, 2013 at 12:01 pm Reply
I have never commented on your site before, but I’ve been a regular reader for at least a couple years now and just got your cookbook for Christmas! I love it, and have made several recipes already–all of them delicious. Just wanted to say that I’m SO excited you’re making stops in Denver and Salt Lake City, although I no longer live in either of those cities (want to make another stop in Columbus, Ohio?). The King’s English and The Tattered cover are two of my favorite bookstores, and I’ll just have to imagine myself there in late February. Congratulations on your successes, and thank you for making my cooking and reading life so much richer and more fun!!
January 15, 2013 at 12:02 pm Reply
I lobby for the book tour to be brung across the Atlantic to London! Just today I picked up Marks & Spencers food magazine and they had your book in their recommendations section. Congratulations!
January 15, 2013 at 12:03 pm Reply
deb
Renee — The book will be out in the UK at the end of February. There is definitely talk about a short stop in London but if we do it, it would likely be over the summer.
January 15, 2013 at 12:07 pm Reply
I know its not at all the traditional way to shape gnocchi, but take all the dough, lightly press it into a large square that’s the appropriate thickness, then cut it with a pizza cutter in a grid pattern. Especially if I decide to make gnocchi on a week night. Takes 30 seconds to cut.
January 15, 2013 at 12:04 pm Reply
I live in NC and I think I frightened the people at Quail Ridge by calling so quickly.
January 15, 2013 at 12:04 pm Reply
I love a good gnocchi and this recipe look divine… Yum!!!! I would love it if you could come the Sacramento. It would so much fun to actually meet you and have you sign my book. :-)
January 15, 2013 at 12:05 pm Reply
Putting in my vote for Florida! Tampa would be best, but I’ll take anywhere in Florida.
January 15, 2013 at 12:05 pm Reply
COME TO ENGLAND!! Anywhere in England. I will travel to see you.
But preferably Leeds.
:) You can stay at my house and laugh at my ridiculously small kitchen…
January 15, 2013 at 12:05 pm Reply
I will definitely be making this soon. But in the meantime, I’ll just stand here screaming LONDON!!! COME TO LONDON!
We’d love to have you, and I am sure you’d like us, too. :)
January 15, 2013 at 12:07 pm Reply
would it work to run the potatoes through the shredding blade on a food processor??
January 15, 2013 at 12:08 pm Reply
deb
ck — I’m generally wary of using a FP on cooked potatoes because it can break up all those little cells of water and make the final potatoes gluey.
January 15, 2013 at 12:39 pm Reply
I can’t tell you the number of kitchens I’ve already seen a smuggled US copy (or two) in over this side of the pond (should I not be saying that as it’ll be your UK publishers footing the bill if you do head over?)…I’m only holding out purchasing in the hope that you’ll come over, and borrowing my friends’ copies in the meanwhile :)
January 15, 2013 at 12:08 pm Reply
This recipe looks great like all your others. I am “smitten” with both your blog and your cookbook- embarrassingly I spent three hours this past Saturday reading over MANY of your online recipes- your writing is so entertaining too. Thanks!
January 15, 2013 at 12:10 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 12:10 pm Reply
I was eating this, but with store-bought gnocchi, as I read this post. I might give home-made gnocchi another try, I always ended up with gooey, gluey drops of something, as you said. but my daughter started requesting gnocchi after a recent dinner at a restaurant, so yes, should try to make them. anyway – thanks so much for the recipe!!!
January 15, 2013 at 12:11 pm Reply
SALTLAKESALTLAKESALTLAKE. Sorry, when I saw that you were coming here the excitement just started welling up inside of me and I couldn’t keep it in.
January 15, 2013 at 12:12 pm Reply
I second Columbus, Ohio! I understand it is no Hawaii, but I am certain you have many fans here!
January 15, 2013 at 12:13 pm Reply
Deb, no juice cleanses here! I just posted the grapefruit olive oil cake last night- and I have to say that these gnocchi were such a standout to me in the book! Glad to see them debut on the www. Oh, and come to Paris, you have a huge following here ;)
January 15, 2013 at 12:15 pm Reply
Oh, Deb! This is one of my favorite meals from the book! Thanks for sharing :)
January 15, 2013 at 12:17 pm Reply
Do you think peeling and then boiling the potatoes instead of baking them will change the texture? I find that to be a faster way to cook potatoes when I’m using them for recipes (like soup).
January 15, 2013 at 12:20 pm Reply
I will definitely try this recipe for gnocchi, which I love and tend to forget about them. Actually, I think the best way to eat gnocchi is with a simple tomato sauce, so this broth should leave them even lighter :)
January 15, 2013 at 12:20 pm Reply
Yay! I’m so glad you’re coming to Raleigh! I’ve been a longtime reader/recipe tester, and it will be lovely to meet you in person. Thanks!
January 15, 2013 at 12:26 pm Reply
My first attempt at gnocchi, years ago, was a disaster. You have inspired me to try again. Any reason not to just cook the gnocchi in the broth?
January 15, 2013 at 12:26 pm Reply
I LOVE Gnocchi and well I’ll try making it this weekend. I’ve always heard how hard it is.
January 15, 2013 at 12:29 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 12:46 pm Reply
I made this from the book and loved them! I love the light broth and the gnocchi were the lightest I had ever made thanks to your wonderful instruction.
January 15, 2013 at 12:47 pm Reply
Diane from DC
100 gnocchi and instructions on storing them for the future? My kingdom for a walk-in freezer :) This looks delicious. I can’t wait to try it.
January 15, 2013 at 12:50 pm Reply
helloyellow
If you could visit New Orleans, I’d be beyond pleased and thrilled. Happier than when I was eating these yummy gnocchi!
January 15, 2013 at 12:53 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 12:54 pm Reply
I am going to make your recipe this weekend! YUM! Can’t wait.
January 15, 2013 at 12:54 pm Reply
I just received your cookbook last week and made this on Sunday night! It was my first time attempting gnocci and they turned out amazingly well! It was so fun to make something new that I never thought I’d try to make from scratch, so thank you!
January 15, 2013 at 12:55 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 12:55 pm Reply
YEAH! (Happy dance) You’re coming to Atlanta…. You’ve been my go to blog for recipes for years, & was sooo happy to get your cookbook for Christmas. I was so sad that I didn’t get to see you with the last tour – can’t wait for Feb. 28th!! Try Farmburger while you’re in town if you get the chance… Yummo – my fave new spot. Local ingredients, grassfed beef.
January 15, 2013 at 12:58 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 1:01 pm Reply
LONDON. Can i say that clearly enough. LONDON. Please please please… or i will be forced to come to New York and be the most embarrassed english stalker you can imagine. Stalking and englishness don’t really co-exist nicely.
January 15, 2013 at 1:01 pm Reply
‘There is definitely talk about a short stop in London’ ? Hurrah! Please say yes, that would be fantastic. Its snowy here in Suffolk today, so gnocchi sounds just the thing. Yum.
January 15, 2013 at 1:02 pm Reply
Hooray Raleigh-Durham! I got your cookbook for Christmas and have been eyeing the gnocchi recipe since I went through and tabbed all the recipes I want to try. Looking forward to meeting you in February!
January 15, 2013 at 1:03 pm Reply
Our family learned to make gnocchi from our adopted Italian family and they don’t use any egg (vegan friendly), just the riced potatoes and flour with a pinch of salt. We place the formed gnocchi on cookie sheets and freeze just long enough so they don’t stick together then plunk into boiling water or freeze in bags to use later.
The lack of egg makes the little dumplings light as air.
We did learn to never make gnocchi on a rainy day! The dough will require more flour to not be sticky and this makes them tough.
January 15, 2013 at 1:08 pm Reply
So, so happy you are coming to Atlanta, thank you, thank you.
January 15, 2013 at 1:12 pm Reply
I want to make this for my friends at work. Can I make the gnocchi the night before, store them separately and reheat with the broth the next day? Will it effect the gnocchi at all?
January 15, 2013 at 1:22 pm Reply
Come to London! Go on PLEASE? Like other commenters, I got a US copy shipped over early because seriously, I wasn’t waiting 5 months for it to come out over here…and everyone I know is jealous – both the people who knew your site before and those who didn’t. We’ll come in a posse. And bring tea and probably crumpets.
January 15, 2013 at 1:23 pm Reply
I could dive directly into that bowl of gnocchi. Looks so delicious. Gnocchi was the first type of homemade “pasta” I ever tried to make. First attempt was disastrous. Now I have the process down :)
January 15, 2013 at 1:23 pm Reply
Deb…please think about coming to Orlando! I adore everything you create. Beautiful work. Inspiring for this stay at home mom of 3 who loves to cook. Ok…Orlando, FL!
January 15, 2013 at 1:25 pm Reply
You’re coming to Montreal?! Oh man, you’re in for a treat, food-wise… hope you get to stay a few days and enjoy the amazing food scene!
January 15, 2013 at 1:28 pm Reply
OMG! your coming to Montreal!!!! So excited!! Def will be there! Look fwd to meeting you! :)
January 15, 2013 at 1:29 pm Reply
You have conveniently posted this recipe so I can ask a question I previously emailed to you! I made the gnocchi and they were perfect, but when I went to cook the frozen ones again, they seem to fall apart in the water. I tried cooking them less time, but they were still cold in the center. Should I just thaw them before cooking? Any advice is appreciated.
January 15, 2013 at 1:29 pm Reply
deb
Alice — I am not sure why they fell apart but I’ve cooked them from the freezer many times without problems. Maybe someone else will weigh in with a suggestion? Definitely let us know if you made any recipe changes.
London stop — I just spoke to the book’s UK publicist and she said if any trip, it would probably be at the end of the summer. So, it will probably happen but not for some time! I’ll be there with bells on, though. :)
Diane — The 100 gnocchi will barely fill a gallon freezer bag. I’d suggest using half for this recipe (generously) and freezing half for a future use.
January 15, 2013 at 1:44 pm Reply
Amy B
San Diego is nice in March…. Please keep us Westcoasters in mind for book tour III.
January 15, 2013 at 1:33 pm Reply
This looks so yummy! My family always makes gnocchi for Christmas dinner. We make it using ricotta cheese instead of potatoes, but I would love to try making it with potatoes some time. Thanks!
January 15, 2013 at 1:42 pm Reply
Received your cookbook from Santa, per request, and have been pouring over it. Deb, well done. It is everything I’d hoped and more. Sheer pleasure! Thank you!
January 15, 2013 at 1:46 pm Reply
I don’t know that Alaska competes with Hawaii, but I so wish you would add Anchorage, AK to your list of cities to visit. Your cookbook was my very favorite Christmas present this year. After opening it, I sat on the couch and ignored the rest of my presents (and, I’m a little ashamed to admit, my family) for longer than I should have. Love, love, love the book and your website.
January 15, 2013 at 1:51 pm Reply
Please Please Please come to Indianapolis! Love your site, love your cookbook, can’t wait to try the Gnocchi!
January 15, 2013 at 1:51 pm Reply
Nooooooo! I am in Ottawa and really wanted to get to your Toronto event but it sold out. I was SO excited to see Montreal on the list this time which is even more convenient but I’ll be out west and will be missing it. DARN IT!
Your cookbook was at the top of my Christmas wishlist and I was so happy to get it. It has been catching my friends’ eyes when they come over as well. I’ve never done this with other cookbooks but I read the whole thing like it was a book. Great job on the cookbook, it did not disappoint Deb!
January 15, 2013 at 1:52 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 1:55 pm Reply
Why is Phoenix not on this list? We like food down here! I love you. I want you to meet you. :( Stupid southwest, no one ever comes here. :(
January 15, 2013 at 2:09 pm Reply
i know this is a far stretch, but Madison, WI is a pretty great culinary city full of delicous restaurants. and a lot of other people who i know that follow your blog religiously (like me!). please stop on by!
January 15, 2013 at 2:11 pm Reply
I absolutely love this idea of gnocchi in a lighter broth. I don’t know why I haven’t ever done that before! It’s snowy today here in Dallas and all I want to do is curl up with a big bowl of this under a cozy blanket.
January 15, 2013 at 2:17 pm Reply
My grandfather used to make a variation of this for me when I was sick. It makes me want to curl up on the couch and watch cartoons- complete comfort food!
January 15, 2013 at 2:22 pm Reply
Looks so good!! Do you think baking the potatoes a day ahead would matter? I have a couple bakers ready in my fridge right now. I was going to cover them with all sorts of unhealthy toppings but this looks perfect for such a cold day.
January 15, 2013 at 2:24 pm Reply
Come back to Boston, please! We’d love to meet you!!
January 15, 2013 at 2:26 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 2:27 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 2:35 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 2:43 pm Reply
I like to roll it off the edge of a fork to put ridges (rigati) in it so that it really grabs onto the sauce.
January 15, 2013 at 2:45 pm Reply
I live in the Cayman Islands and would love to come to a book signing! Books & Books often have people come down, so get it touch with them!!
January 15, 2013 at 3:05 pm Reply
I’m making a request and/or posing a challenge for you: I had sweet potato gnocchi at a local high-end restaurant that was topped with fresh goat cheese and toasted pecans. It was completely perfect. The gnocchi wasn’t spiced in a noticeable way– just tasted intensely of sweet potatoes. Now, I have attempted many, many times to recreate this dish. You put enough butter, pecans and goat cheese on my homemade gnocchi and it will be OK, but I cannot figure out how to make the sweet potato gnocchi both intensely sweet potato-y and the right texture. Mine are too dense or too floury or too soggy or just blah. (Coincidentally, I find that your sweet potato steaks with goat cheese topping are a nice way to get that fix I’m after when I’m hankering for that dreamy restaurant gnocchi.) So, anyway, since you are a fan of sweet potatoes, as am I, this is my challenge to you (that is, if you entertain challenges, or find this one appealing): 1) make the perfect sweet potato gnocchi, and 2) tell the rest of us how you pulled it off.
January 15, 2013 at 3:13 pm Reply
Sri
I took a short cut (ok just plain lazy) and made just the tomato broth, boiled up some spinach tortellini and added it to the broth. A tossed salad + the tortellini in this absolutely divine broth – dinner done. My 9 year old said “Mom, make this every Sunday night ok? Best Sunday dinner ever”…Deb you’re a genius.
January 15, 2013 at 3:14 pm Reply
I was given your cookbook for Christmas and I was SO excited. I love how carefully you seem to test everything out in a recipe!
I’ve already made several of them, and my favourite so far is this gnocchi. I never considered making it before and then your instructions seemed so do-able, I couldn’t pass it up.
Myself and my husband LOVED it. Great recipes, great book!
January 15, 2013 at 3:14 pm Reply
I know it’s a long shot, but come to Detroit! It’s still an hour from me, but I would totally make the drive.
January 15, 2013 at 3:18 pm Reply
I made these!! I too had a phobia of gnocchi thinking they were heavy, but these were amazing. So light and delicious. And leftovers are amazing too. Love your book. Love you. Wish we were neighbors, then we could bake in our pjs and let our toddlers play together! Keep on writing. I love it all.
January 15, 2013 at 3:21 pm Reply
I just read the new book tour lists and see that you’re coming to NC– yay! The sweet potato gnocchi I mentioned above I had at Piedmont in Durham but if you eat anywhere in the area, I highly recommend Andrea Reusing’s restaurant, Lantern, in Chapel Hill. It is so, so good. You cannot go wrong. I first ate there with my husband on our wedding day. We had an impromptu wedding at the Farmers’ Market, got crepes from the local crepe truck with friends, then had dinner later at the Lantern. I had no idea what the Lantern would be like, but it was a fortuitous start to my marriage, let me say.
January 15, 2013 at 3:23 pm Reply
I’ve had my eye on this for some time now, I know what is for dinner now : )
January 15, 2013 at 3:27 pm Reply
Awww, these look perfect. I think I’ll have to cook these tomorrow! My husband (bless his heart) ordered me a signed copy of your book for Christmas. Alas, it still has not arrived here, even though the bookshop said they would mail it on Dec. 17th. :-( I’m suspecting German customs… I bet they opened it and now they are cooking all those delicious recipies and won’t give it up again. Smitten Kitchen seems to be very popular here in Germany now: your blog was featured prominently in a women’s mag article about “foodies”. I think you should definitely come to Germany and in my own interest suggest the exciting City of BERLIN for a reading.
January 15, 2013 at 3:27 pm Reply
meg
These have been on the “to make” list on my fridge for a few weeks now. Tonight might be the night… Also, Atlanta, holla! I can’t wait.
January 15, 2013 at 3:40 pm Reply
Gasp! You are coming to Montreal!!!!!!!! I just squealed very very loudly at work. But I’m calm now. I’M OK. You are THE reason I went from being unable to cook anything (literally) but Kraft Dinner when I moved out on my own, to someone who actually finally enjoys trying new recipes and isn’t afraid. Your recipes are so clear and you’re voice is so relateable, I always feel like you’re by my side cheering me on. Thank you thank thank you for being such a great inspiration. (Also, my boyfriend thanks you as well…..because he is no longer the soul cook in our household ;)
January 15, 2013 at 3:40 pm Reply
Josh
This looks great, I might try it this weekend in fact. Quick question though, is there a reason to cook the gnocchi is a separate pot of water? Could you theoretically just bring the broth back to temp and cook them in that, giving them a bit more flavor? Thanks.
January 15, 2013 at 3:56 pm Reply
Woohoo – Raleigh made the list!! I’ve loved everything I’ve ever tried from your site and I look for your cookbook every time I’m in a bookstore. Just like seeing it on the shelf. Looking forward to February :-)
January 15, 2013 at 3:56 pm Reply
Who do we need to bribe to get Ann Arbor on the list??
January 15, 2013 at 3:57 pm Reply
Loud sigh…..you are not coming to Baltimore. Please come!!!! Will make these this weekend. I’m so in love with the butternut squash galette, grilled emmenthaler, onion & cheese sandwich and oh the rosemary & gruyere crisps…..I’m working my way through your book.
January 15, 2013 at 4:04 pm Reply
oh! Here I am lobbying loudly for you to come to Hawaii! It would just be the greatest day ever. Also, um, it’s warm and nice here. Please come visit.
January 15, 2013 at 4:09 pm Reply
I moved to Vienna recently, but had your book sent to me as soon as it was released, so I got it just a few weeks late. I have loved all of the recipes I have tried so far and I am moving this gnocchi to a weekend dinner list.
January 15, 2013 at 4:13 pm Reply
Ararart, thanks for the vegan tip! Would love to know egg free works for sweet poptato, squash etc too. Anyone tried?
January 15, 2013 at 4:15 pm Reply
Deb, I’ve discovered your blog a few months back and just baked your flower cupcakes yesterday (brought ’em into work today and everyone’s happy!). I really enjoy reading along and to try out your recipes. And I’m glad you are so successful with your cook book! It’s on my list and my Birthday is not too far down the road ;-), so I’m looking forward to it.
My Question now: This recipe looks so delicious, I might try it right away tonight. I was wondering if I could boil the potatoes, skin them, and then run them through the ricer – or do they have to be baked for the Gnocchi?
Thanks!
January 15, 2013 at 4:22 pm Reply
Oh, good! Finally something out of the ordinary that is new to me, to make! I must have been distracted by another recipe (those cheese and onion spiral breakfast buns…yum!) and skipped right over it in your book. I’ve eyed gnocchi in the stores but couldn’t bring myself to buy them because I didn’t want to take the chance that they’d disappoint enough that I’d never try them, let alone make them. Plus, this recipe reminds me of the dough I make for lefse, a Norwiegen flat bread, that I make every year for the holidays. I’ve always wondered if a variation of that dough had another use. Seems it might! You are such an adventurer! Speaking of which, if you go to Sacramento, you might as well pop over to San Jose, too! It was so rainy and icky when you were in S Cruz that I was too intimidated to drive the Santa Cruz mountains to go meet you. Am a traffic coward.
January 15, 2013 at 4:24 pm Reply
See you in Raleigh!!! So excited! I didn’t get your book for Christmas (got Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from Husband, so I’m not too bummed) but now I totally have an excuse to buy it for myself. Yay!
January 15, 2013 at 4:28 pm Reply
Yeah!! So excited you are coming to St. Louis!! I can’t wait to reserve my tickets next week when they are available.
January 15, 2013 at 4:37 pm Reply
From a former New Yorker- so glad you’re coming to Denver!!! Looking forward to seeing you at the Tattered Cover. Want to come over for dinner?
January 15, 2013 at 4:43 pm Reply
Please come to Wellington, New Zealand! It’s the coffee capital of the country, and there are many Smitten obsessers here. But they’re all friendly and sane people, I promise. If a little highly strung about food, and dying to meet you. Please come to Wellington! You won’t regret it. (P.S. Is this what you meant by lobbying? Or is there elsewhere I should post an obsessive message?)
January 15, 2013 at 4:44 pm Reply
I’m such an hardcore gnocchi fan: potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, pumpkin. I make them with almost any vegetables I can get my hands on.
That’s why when I first saw this recipe in your Cookbook, I was so excited and made it right away. And it came out great, of course!
However, if I may, when it comes to gnocchi I believe that adding the egg is a mistake.
One of the most renowned Italian chefs, Mr Carlo Cracco, explains in one of his cookbooks how gnocchi should melt in your mouth, and never chewed with your teeth. He says that to achieve that perfect texture only potatoes and flour should be used in the gnocchi, the egg will harden during the cooking process and render them chewy.
I struggled at first, but now that I got a hang of the process, I have to say that he’s right. Without the egg, gnocchi are even more awesome.
If you’re interested I could send you the recipe!
January 15, 2013 at 4:48 pm Reply
Speaking of Morocco…that’s where I live, and would LOVE to have a Smitten Kitchen book tour stop here. Seriously, it would be amazing, and I would volunteer to show you around! There’s a pretty big expat community in Rabat, and a great English language bookstore….think about it!
January 15, 2013 at 4:52 pm Reply
Drat! Dallas missed the cut again. But that’s OK, sniff, sniff. Really, we”ll be fine. Waaaaaaaaa.
January 15, 2013 at 4:53 pm Reply
Marta @ What should I eat for breakfast today
I mage gnocchi only once, but it was one week ago and I can still remember how tasty it was. I need to try it your way as I love your recipes.
January 15, 2013 at 4:55 pm Reply
One of the first things I made from the book, and drat my hide I can’t ever follow a recipe w/o making changes!
We’re a big family–8!– and I couldn’t bear to “waste”, so I purreed the veggies in the broth and then (because my hubby doesn’t like the acidity of tomatoes) added some cream. It was divine; I had tears in my eyes.
Followed the directions for the gnocchi exactly, and they were a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Gnocchi for 8 is an undertaking! But I will gladly do it again. and again. and again.
January 15, 2013 at 4:58 pm Reply
This is my first time commenting, but I have followed your blog for three years and my roommates and I are such fans! We refer to you as “Deb” as though you’re a friend of ours haha. Seriously – so much love.
Cannot wait to try this gnocchi, and to keep working through all the wonderful recipes in your book.
Also, it would be wonderful if you would add another midwest date to your tour! We love you out here! Michigan is definitely a food-loving & foodie state… Ann Arbor would be amazing, but I will travel distances to see you! xx
January 15, 2013 at 5:01 pm Reply
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January 15, 2013 at 5:32 pm Reply
The first time I made gnocchi, I used advice from one of your earlier gnocchi posts – I was so excited you can make it with a box grater! This sounds delightful, I love the idea of tomato broth instead of a thick sauce.
January 15, 2013 at 5:54 pm Reply
Em from Oz
AUSTRALIA!! Please please please please? Have cooked almost half the cookbook recipes so far, all are brilliant!
January 15, 2013 at 5:54 pm Reply
Would it be possible to leave the skin on and then grate/rice/blend them and make the gnocchi with the skin in them? Or would they be too heavy? Suggestions?
January 15, 2013 at 6:14 pm Reply
Yay! Minneapolis is on your list of stops! I’m a long time follower, and have had some enthusiastic responses to recipes made from this site.
January 15, 2013 at 6:49 pm Reply
Thank you so much for coming to Denver! I was so disappointed when I couldn’t come see you the first time around. Really looking forward to it!
January 15, 2013 at 7:03 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 7:14 pm Reply
I am sad. I am sad because I just discovered you, and apparently you have already been to my town, nay, my backyard, one block from my house in fact, in Boston. Come back!
January 15, 2013 at 7:32 pm Reply
Nia
January 15, 2013 at 7:41 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 7:43 pm Reply
Perhaps after your MN stop you could stop over in Milwaukee!?!
January 15, 2013 at 7:49 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 8:02 pm Reply
This looks fantastic…dinner tomorrow for sure! Thanks for the inspiration.
And please consider visiting Portland Maine. We are a great foodie town with a wonderful cookbook store (Rabelais) in nearby Biddford.
January 15, 2013 at 8:06 pm Reply
I’m glad you are coming to DENVER!!!
January 15, 2013 at 8:31 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 8:52 pm Reply
Did you say you would like to come to the Caribbean? It would be great to have you come to Grand Cayman! We have a bookstore here called Books and Books that has authors down regularly to promote their books. Come visit!!
January 15, 2013 at 8:55 pm Reply
Hooray for Salt Lake City! I’ve been making your gnocchi recipe for about 5 years now, and I can’t wait to try them in tomato broth.
January 15, 2013 at 8:55 pm Reply
January 15, 2013 at 8:58 pm Reply
What do I need to promise to bake to get you to come to Dallas?
January 15, 2013 at 9:05 pm Reply
Now I have to try my very best to convince my family and two little ones that I need to be in Montreal on February 9th! Though these gnocchi might do the trick. To be honest, it was one of the few recipes that I flipped past in the book, intimidated by the prospect, but you’ve convinced me to give it a go. So glad you’re coming back to Canada and hope to meet you! Bring Jacob! My eldest is 4 and will keep him happy :)
January 15, 2013 at 9:06 pm Reply
You don’t know how happy I am that you are coming to Salt Lake! I literally threw my arms up and let out an involuntary girly squeal when I read that. You will definitely be seeing me there! Kind of bummed I might have to buy another book from the store for you to sign it, but who cares. You’re still coming!!
January 15, 2013 at 9:13 pm Reply
Abbye
I had the chance to make this Sunday night when I had about 25 people over for an all-hands-on-deck feast. It was SO fun having a kitchen full of friends making homemade gnocchi and handmade pasta and pizzas out the wazoo. SO fun – except for the fact that it took two days to clean up my kitchen afterwards. Anyway… great recipe. Thank you so much!!
January 15, 2013 at 9:18 pm Reply
jen
I made this one a few weekends ago, & it was dreamy. Who knew gnocchi could be so easy? I even found hard ricotta that I then shredded over the dish, and it was so, so, SO good! And I’m so excited I’ll be able to see you in Mpls. Hope you’re ready for snow because March is usually our snowiest month…
January 15, 2013 at 9:22 pm Reply
Ah, YES!!!! You are coming to St. Louis! I’ll be there! Can hardly wait. Now, I wish my son was not off in graduate school as he is the one who got me into reading your blog…See you in March!
January 15, 2013 at 9:34 pm Reply
I am so jealous you are not coming to Texas on your book tour!! I think you seriously need to make a trip here to the Lone Star state!
January 15, 2013 at 9:39 pm Reply
Has anyone tried to make this gluten-free?
January 15, 2013 at 10:21 pm Reply
Victoria, BC
One of the top food cities in Canada!
January 15, 2013 at 11:03 pm Reply
Gnocchi needs its own level on the food pyramid!
January 15, 2013 at 11:39 pm Reply
I in fact decided to make these when I was standing in line waiting for you to sign my book in Los Angeles – thanks for reminding me – this is my Saturday night dinner project sorted for next week!
January 15, 2013 at 11:49 pm Reply
I LOVE Gnocchi! I have to try this recipe soon!
January 15, 2013 at 11:59 pm Reply
Sorry, I just got completely distracted by that note about the Daily Show (coming!). WHAT?? Really? Oh, man!
January 16, 2013 at 12:01 am Reply
I am going to try these without wheat flour and will post results here when I find something that works!
January 16, 2013 at 12:04 am Reply
Up here in the the 53rd latitude of Canada, I can tell you Deb, that your recipes bring a degree of sophistication to both my home and my workplace. I just missed your book tour in NYC (yes, we were there during Super Storm Sandy), so I’ll say here that I LOVE your book. I just made your butternut squash and carmelized onion galette on the weekend and I almost cried it was so good. And mine looked exactly like the picture of yours! Fontina cheese is $7.00 for 3 oz. here, so I substituted Emmentaler instead. Swoon. Many thanks Deb for a great book.
January 16, 2013 at 12:52 am Reply
Tabitha (From Single to Married)
mmm… this looks absolutely delightful!
January 16, 2013 at 1:06 am Reply
KQ
A couple of other people have asked about cooking the gnocchi directly in the broth. Is there a good reason not to? Also, I love veggies, is there a reason not to puree the veggies into the broth rather than straining them out?
January 16, 2013 at 1:07 am Reply
January 16, 2013 at 1:15 am Reply
This does look like the perfect meal to wean you away from holiday gluttony. So comforting and yet controlable. Love the delicious flavors in this dish and the simplicity given your detailed instructions. Very elegant indeed!
January 16, 2013 at 1:21 am Reply
Deb, come to Stockholm! Or anywhere in Europe really, It’d be a great excuse for a mini break to come and see you.
Someone above commented about gnocchi from the freezer not holding together well, and I’ve had similar experiences every time I’ve tried cooking home made gnocchi from frozen. To remedy the situation I’ve taken to panfrying the frozen gnocchi, from frozen, in a little olive oil or butter, then drizzling a little sauce over the top. They hold together perfectly and remain soft and fluffy inside while delightfully crisp on the outside.
Also, can you think of any use for the vegetable strained from the tomato broth? Would they serve to thicken a tomato soup or something? I hate to throw food away.
January 16, 2013 at 1:31 am Reply
DEB DEB DEB pleeeeeeeeeease change the Montreal date to anything BUT a saturday the one day a week I’m unavailable!!! I cannot believe you’ll come to Montreal and I won’t see you I love your site your an inspiration!
Gnocchi. Love them. Attempted them once was a total disaster it took a ton of flour to get the potatoes to form a dough. My family refused to ever let me make it again.
But last time I boiled the potatoes, not baked. So I hope that makes a difference cuz I really really wanna attempt these. I love tomato soup.
January 16, 2013 at 2:00 am Reply
Lobbying hard for you to come to SANA’A, YEMEN! UNESCO heritage site, wonderful weather, exciting new cuisine and full of Smitten Kitchen fans. How can you resist??? (:
January 16, 2013 at 2:14 am Reply
I’m lobbying loud, it’s the distance that makes it seem quiet.
January 16, 2013 at 3:45 am Reply
Christchurch, New Zealand. We’re having a great summer!
January 16, 2013 at 3:51 am Reply
The reason Italian food has stayed ‘Italian’, and thus has endured for a few generations, and continues to retain a world-wide appeal, has to do with historical and cultural elements, as well as a question of ingredients and taste. It has a structure that is amenable to variation … but not so much variation that it would change beyond recognition. Hats off to you for not even wanting to tone down your hubris in the following comment: “It’s not my thing; I think such preparations wreck the delicacy that’s at the heart of perfect gnocchi, which is featherlight, dumpling-like and best appreciated in a puddle of intensely flavored broth”. So … all Italians are idiots for liking their gnocchi the way they always have? To an Italian mind and palate, the intensely flavored broth would ruin the gnocchi — and not the other way round ! and by the way butter IS good for our health (in reasonable doses of course).
January 16, 2013 at 4:03 am Reply
Gnocchi is one of those things that is ALWAYS better home made and you really don’t need a potato ricer for it. The tomato broth with yours looks amazing.
January 16, 2013 at 4:06 am Reply
Will you please come to Paris??? Pretty pretty please???? We would love to have you! And as Camille mentioned (comment #20), if we’re counting votes, I’ll get the boy to comment. And my friend E. And my friend D. And my friend C. And my whole family who is not even in Paris, but who cares, I’ll do whatever it takes. For me. Ahem, us. ;)
I’m so so excited for you!!! The book is wonderful and, I think I might be the only one, but I refuse to finish it! I’ve been reading it slowly, trying to savor every single recipe, every single word, every single picture!
Oh, and because I owe you an update, the tiny but intense chocolate cake was sooooo good! Probably the best “birthday cake for two” I’ve ever made! Plus, it freezes wonderfully, if needed :) Thanks for helping me make my birthday even more special this year!
January 16, 2013 at 4:25 am Reply
My first recipe from your cookbook … come to Honolulu! :)
January 16, 2013 at 4:37 am Reply
BERGEN, NORWAY!!! Please come to Bergen! You have a fan club over here, we hold SK themed dinners where all food prepared comes from your blog/book :) Plus, I’m just really jealous that my best friend and her sister got to meet you at the Seattle booksigning (they were the ones who had you write “Want to be my bff? Check yes or no”)
Sooooo tell whoever it is who is in charge of your book tours that you need to do a Euro version stat!
January 16, 2013 at 5:02 am Reply
I come from Italy and everyone I know puts lots of nutmeg in the gnocchi dough. I swear by it, they are friggin’ good, can-eat-them-plain-good
January 16, 2013 at 5:51 am Reply
Adriana @ FoodCocktail
Yummm! That’s how I go whenever I have gnocchi for lunch or dinner or whatever. Your pics look so tempting!
January 16, 2013 at 6:10 am Reply
On the other side of the other pond, I can’t wait for the mailman to ring and deliver your book in Melbourne. I love your site and have been trying so many recipes. I still have to find one that doesn’t turn out perfect and immediately becomes a favorite among my friends. I have a friend who tries to talk me into making him one of your cakes every time I see him, and that’s at least once a week ;) Thank you so much Deb for your inspiration and your wonderful blog!
I know it’s far away, but why not come to Melbourne! It’s summer and the BBQ’s are in full swing! Doesn’t that sound tempting? I’m pretty sure that we would get together a fan club here too.
January 16, 2013 at 6:12 am Reply
My daughter bought me your cookbook with her Christmas money because she’s awesome but mostly because she loves your recipes :-). Hope you’ll come sign it.
January 16, 2013 at 6:54 am Reply
It’s around 6 am. I’m actually going to get up and try this; what better way to use up the last few carrot sticks. Per cookbook tour: Burlington,VT?
January 16, 2013 at 6:57 am Reply
First, congratulations on the book! I look forward to taking a closer look (ie upcoming birthday gift to me!). I very much love your blog and have tried some of the recipes, with the intention to try many more when time permits!
Second, as a photographer (amateur, but getting better!), I absolutely love the pictures of your food. I apologize if you have answered this somewhere before but do you take the pictures? Or do you now have a pro who does it.
The photos are beautiful!!
Thanks and Happy 2013!
January 16, 2013 at 7:06 am Reply
January 16, 2013 at 7:28 am Reply
Raleigh – Durham? So close to Charlotte… so close… but, then again, not so close with 3 kiddos in the car-wade through well-deserved pandemonium – drive home. Phooey.
January 16, 2013 at 7:48 am Reply
C’mon, you know you want to :)
I’ve seen requests for London, Paris and Berlin here, and I would be happy to travel to any of those cities in a heartbeat if it means I get to meet you and tell you how wonderful you are. But can I also put in a request for quaint and beautiful ZÜRICH, where I live? There’s a good expat community here, not to mention some of the best cheese & chocolate in the world! Oh, and those little hills called the Alps ;)
Lovely gnocchi, just finished lunch but this got me hungry again!
January 16, 2013 at 7:51 am Reply
Any thoughts on how to make these with sweet potatoes?
January 16, 2013 at 8:07 am Reply
deb
Diana — It might be tasty. You might need slightly more flour as sweet potatoes are more moist. Would love to hear how it goes if you try it.
Laurie — Thanks. I take all my own pictures and I don’t really have any technique besides using natural light and trying to take sharp photos. I didn’t know a thing about photography when I started; it’s all about practice.
Dana — I went to both Austin and Houston in the fall. I’m sorry we missed each other!
elmel — Sorry for the confusion. The grating is actually to make the potatoes fall apart, not so that you can have strands. It’s a great alternative for people who do not want to buy a potato ricer or food mill. I can add more notes for the future.
Angela — I was in Toronoto in November. I’m sorry we missed each other!
January 16, 2013 at 10:24 am Reply
January 16, 2013 at 8:25 am Reply
Come to Paris!! My friends (and boyfriend) all know about you because let’s face it, almost everything I cook is from your website! Your other fans (above) and I promise to make it worth your while, as if you would need any convincing to come to the best city in the world :)
January 16, 2013 at 8:30 am Reply
Suuuper jealous you will be in Raleigh and Atlanta, just months after I moved away from the Southeast! Feel free to make it to Northwest Arkansas sometime. Fayetteville is a great city!
January 16, 2013 at 8:32 am Reply
Deb/Alice – That happened to me with the mashed potatoes in shepherd´s pie when I froze it. So maybe the gnocchi didn´t have enough flour compared to the amount of potatoes.
January 16, 2013 at 8:37 am Reply
Can I make a vote for a stop in Detroit?! (Ok, ok, how about Ann Arbor? – there are delights awaiting you, especially the renowned http://www.zingermansbakehouse.com)!
January 16, 2013 at 8:43 am Reply
Wow Deb! As I get busy planning and prepping for my own book release, your amazing success in sharing all this realness from your kitchen- and having it all so well and widely received is paving the way and opening doors for all of us who come after. Huge congratulations on book tour part 2- and of course for making gnocchi so easy and awesome.
January 16, 2013 at 9:33 am Reply
Ila
I’ll try to poach the gnocchi directly in the (tomato) broth; presumably would somewhat thicken any broth automatically?
Lucky to have snatched a seat to your recent Toronto appearance/book signing; you’ll be needing football stadiums for your next tour!
January 16, 2013 at 9:46 am Reply
Yay, so excited you are coming to Minneapolis! It’s on my calendar :)
January 16, 2013 at 9:49 am Reply
Beautiful and delicious! Gnocchi gets a bad rep for being heavy and gut-inducing, but when done well, they are light, pillow-y fluffy goodness.
In an effort to reduce kitchen waste, is there anything you’d recommend using the strained tomatoes for? Marinara sauce, perhaps?
January 16, 2013 at 10:13 am Reply
Deb, you will have so much fun in Montréal!!! Hopefully the weather will cooperate. If you have time, please go to Olive et Gourmando in Old Montréal for breakfast. The coffee is fabulous, the food (granola, yogourt, croissants, scones, and many other yummy things) is honest and fun and Diane Solomon, the co-owner who works in the front of the house, is a blast. Beware though, the place fills up fast and there is a line-up at the door on Saturday mornings. I think they are closed on Sundays.
January 16, 2013 at 10:21 am Reply
January 16, 2013 at 10:26 am Reply
Thank you! This looks delicious :)
January 16, 2013 at 10:27 am Reply
How do you think these will fare with an egg substitute, like flax seed, or some other sub? I’d really like to try these!!!
January 16, 2013 at 10:45 am Reply
Wow, this looks good. I’ve also always been intimidated by gnocchi but now maybe I’ll give it a go. Please put Baltimore on your next tour!!!
January 16, 2013 at 11:42 am Reply
my brother bought me your book on import for xmas. so come to the UK so you can sign it please!!!
January 16, 2013 at 12:09 pm Reply
January 16, 2013 at 12:42 pm Reply
I love the flavors in your tomato broth. It’s so heartwarming. I’ve never made gnocchi before, but now your recipe is boosting my confidence. I’m bookmarking this recipe and will try soon. It’s perfect for the cold winter days. Thanks for sharing, Deb! Must get your book soon, too – it’s on my ‘wish list’. All the best :-)
January 16, 2013 at 12:48 pm Reply
I’m dying to make this tonight but don’t have a box grater or potato ricer. To avoid buying one…would mashing the potatoes totally ruin the gnocchi? Or is there another alternative to use? This looks absolutely DELICIOUS!
January 16, 2013 at 12:51 pm Reply
January 16, 2013 at 12:55 pm Reply
Thanks for the link to QVC for your appearance with David. It was so much fun to watch him eat your delicious food from your cookbook. And thanks for today’s recipe. My son just LOVES gnocchi.
January 16, 2013 at 1:03 pm Reply
This recipe is superb, thank you. Enjoying the book.
January 16, 2013 at 1:09 pm Reply
T
I am soooo excited to see you in Brooklyn next month! With the cookie exchange, I’m pretty sure I will be making something from the book :)
January 16, 2013 at 1:15 pm Reply
I think you should add Memphis to your book tour list. We’re not just barbecue, you know. :) But we do have plenty of that, if that’s what you’re looking for!
January 16, 2013 at 1:30 pm Reply
January 16, 2013 at 1:34 pm Reply
January 16, 2013 at 1:48 pm Reply
Please Please Please come to Honolulu. We’d love to share our Aloha with you.
January 16, 2013 at 1:54 pm Reply
January 16, 2013 at 2:14 pm Reply
Deb – what are your thoughts about cooking the potatoes in the microwave? Would this alter the taste or texture of the potatoes as they are used in this recipe?
I tend to poke holes in the potatoes with a fork and nuke ’em for 8-10 minutes, it’s so much quicker!
January 16, 2013 at 2:27 pm Reply
deb
Hilary — I don’t have a microwave (not out of sanctimony, but lack of space) so I haven’t tried it. But I think you’d be just fine.
January 17, 2013 at 11:12 am Reply
January 16, 2013 at 2:59 pm Reply
Adding potatoes to the grocery list this week… and going to try my hand at another food from scratch!
January 16, 2013 at 3:00 pm Reply
January 16, 2013 at 3:07 pm Reply
Tender gnocchi in vibrant tomato broth just might be the perfect comfort food for this rainy cold day.
Thanks,
January 16, 2013 at 3:08 pm Reply
January 16, 2013 at 3:15 pm Reply
I made this when I got the book and it was delicious! You gave me the confidence to make my first gnocchi and they came out perfectly. Great recipe!
January 16, 2013 at 3:27 pm Reply
January 16, 2013 at 3:34 pm Reply
You are so right! Very often these tasty little morsels are laden with a heavy cream and butter sauce. They look delish! And yay! for Raleigh! I’ll be seeing you at Quail Ridge next month!
January 16, 2013 at 4:09 pm Reply
Kim @ Cook with 2 Chicks
I have yet to make gnocchi. After seeing your post you have inspired. I intend to make it next week for my pasta loving family.
January 16, 2013 at 4:24 pm Reply
January 16, 2013 at 4:48 pm Reply
Sprout
This looks great! I’d never considered making my own gnocchi before. Thanks for the inspiration.
January 16, 2013 at 5:02 pm Reply
I’m going to put in another request for Columbus, Ohio. Or somewhere in Ohio. There’s lots of us smitten kitchen fans here in flyover country. Plus you’d be able to visit Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in person!
January 16, 2013 at 5:18 pm Reply
January 16, 2013 at 5:33 pm Reply
You’re coming to Minneapolis! I’ll have to get moving on my book decluttering project so I can justify bringing another cookbook home!
January 16, 2013 at 5:34 pm Reply
I’ve never been successful making gnocchi, or any little dumpling, and so will definitely try this recipe.
And if it doesn’t work, I’ll ask you about it on Feb 26th when you are in Salt Lake City! I’m so happy you are coming here. Hopefully my copy won’t be too splattered for an autograph.
January 16, 2013 at 5:40 pm Reply
Oooooh!!! Deb is coming to Denver! Tattered Cover is a great bookstore. I’ll see how many of my cook friends I can bring along. Can’t wait! …Will try to be brave and make the gnocchi. Done well, gnocchi is wonderful. I’ve yet to have success preparing it myself. See you next month!
January 16, 2013 at 6:24 pm Reply
This was on my list of dishes to make this week before you posted it! Clearly it is the perfect dish for this time of year. I just finished making them and they were delicious! Find time making gnocchi and it just may get added to the list of things I never order out (along with pancakes and spaghetti and meatballs). Served it with a fresh dollop of ricotta and found it divine. My potatoes were a lot smaller so I am not sure if the finally tally put me quite at two pounds. I added the flour exactly as you instructed and did not need the extra 1/4 C so I am very glad I followed your guidelines. Congrats again on your success, I love your blog and cookbook!
January 16, 2013 at 6:54 pm Reply
January 16, 2013 at 7:04 pm Reply
Deb, about them falling apart when cooking them from the freezer, I made the recipe from the book and added the right amount of flour to one half and about 2/3 of the least amount specified in your recipe to the other. Then froze them in different trays. The ones with less flour began to fall apart, though they appeared to have a good consistency. The others were intact and very good!
So what doesn´t freeze well are the mashed potatoes unless they have enough flour. I used a scale. As you can see, I became a bit obsessed as to what had happened given that I freeze gnocchi all the time.
January 16, 2013 at 7:52 pm Reply
Bought 2 as gifts. San Francisco?
January 16, 2013 at 10:51 pm Reply
January 16, 2013 at 11:42 pm Reply
I can not tell you how excited I am to try this recipe. Gnocchi has always intimidated me and seemed out of reach of my very inexperienced/impatient skills, but this looks like something even I can handle. Going on the list for next week! Also, I totally second the Memphis request. These don’t really compare to Honolulu but we have a pyramid! And really good barbeque! Oo! Also National Geographic named us as one of the top 20 cities to visit in 2013. That has gotta be a sign.
January 17, 2013 at 12:00 am Reply
I think you’d love a book signing in Columbus too! Although my family now lives in Chicago, we are from Columbus and miss some of its local offerings often. It’s a lovely culinary city, and you have many fans there (as in other places).
It’s a feasible drive and relatively central to Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Cincinnati, Cleveland…just to make a case for your publisher. :) The Book Loft in German Village would be a great spot for a summer book signing.
Thanks for sharing your great recipes with your many loyal fans. Hope the second leg of the book tour is an enjoyable one!
January 17, 2013 at 1:14 am Reply
Well – Deb – I can’t believe you left out Australia in that list when in our family alone you have several fans – all have your book – and others too who we have directed to your site and subsequently also bought your book. Our daughter in New York did get to meet you, so – you know – six degrees of separation or should that be two?
Best wishes for 2013 – we all enjoy visiting your site and cooking from your book.
January 17, 2013 at 2:08 am Reply
Has anyone tried to microwave instead of bake? I live in Taiwan where ovens are more of a novelty…
January 17, 2013 at 3:02 am Reply
You know where is really nice at this time of year? Australia. I’m just sayin’. (Although in all honesty, it will probably be nicer in a few months when it’s not so sweltering!). Come see if kangaroos really do hop down the streets! Come see the Opera House, and the Barrier Reef, and CANBERRA (hint hint). Hear us say ‘healthy’ instead of ‘healthful’, and ‘acclimatise’ instead of ‘acclimate’. Oprah did it, Ellen’s doing it and I’m pretty sure you should get on down here too. Especially if the publisher will pay for it…
January 17, 2013 at 4:34 am Reply
I got your cookbook for Christmas and just made this yesterday. It was so yummy! I was so excited when my first homemade gnocchi ever turned out great using your recipe! My kids (8 and 4) loved it as did my husband and I. Then I laughed when I came on your blog and there it was!
January 17, 2013 at 6:46 am Reply
I love love love this recipe! I’m Italian and this should be enough to explain why I got crazy when I saw that this recipe was inspired by my country. Plus, handmade pasta is amazing and gnocchi in particular, with their soft yet chewy consistence!
I’ve never tried them in tomato broth but I’ll fix this soon!
January 17, 2013 at 7:27 am Reply
Japan. Do Japan. People here are obsessed with food, the taste of food,
the presentation of food, talking about food, reminiscing about the food they just ate. And while you are here, you can also eat some pretty darned good food too ;)
January 17, 2013 at 7:28 am Reply
I haven’t made gnocchi in years, but this reminds me of my favorite TV chef from back in the day–Biba–remember her? I think the show “Biba’s Italian Kitchen” was on PBS or maybe the early incarnation of TLC. Very similar recipe for gnocchi, but of course served with sage butter (delish). She would use one finger to roll each gnocchi up the back of a fork, so one side had a round indentation and the other side had the lines. Cute and actually quite fun, although I’m not one for fussy repetitive tasks either.
January 17, 2013 at 7:50 am Reply
I made the gnocchi recipe last night and it is divine! It’s also easy. Who knew??Everyone should make it RIGHT NOW! Thanks, Deb.
January 17, 2013 at 8:50 am Reply
We LOVE gnocci, bc it is :”pasta” but made with gf flour it is safe for my gf littles. I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Sooooooo excited you are coming to Atlanta;; you are in my day planner in PEN; looking forward to meeting you then.
January 17, 2013 at 8:57 am Reply
Jen
I made gnocchi years ago with disastrous results. Your post has inspired me to try again! I love the idea of serving them in a light tomato broth instead of a heavy sauce. Thanks for the inspiration.
January 17, 2013 at 8:59 am Reply
Deb – just wanted to thank you. My middle child is my foodie kid, and she loves to play in the kitchen. She received her very first cookbook for xmas this year – yours! (Along with a bunch of other kitchen stuff and some of every spice and herb I own!)
When I told her that you were coming to Quail Ridge, she tweaked. She wants to come up from Wilmington, where she’s in college, just to meet you. So thank you for inspiring not just me, but also my daughter to have some more fun in the kitchen!
January 17, 2013 at 9:32 am Reply
This is pretty amazing. It doesn’t take a lot of convincing for me to eat gnocchi any time of year but I will this version certainly comes without the guilt.
January 17, 2013 at 10:06 am Reply
Looks great! I’ve got another pseudo-healthy gnocci idea that might tempt you. When I was in Paris recently, I went to a restaurant called DIPS, where everything was served with (can you guess) a dip. You choose your entree and and accompanying dip. They recommended a fluffy dijon sauce (okay maybe not so healthy). The combo was amazing. Just a thought…
January 17, 2013 at 10:16 am Reply
Oh please do come to Hawaii! Oahu in particular! We’ve got sunshine, cocktails, and beaches galore – even in February. How can you resist?
January 17, 2013 at 10:21 am Reply
Just wanted to let you know how much I adore your cookbook. I’ve made about a dozen recipes already, including this one for gnocchi and tomato broth. I had made gnocchi before and it was a complete disaster – this was *divine*, so easy to roll and cut, I couldn’t believe it. I only used a cup of flour. It had the perfect texture. We made it at Christmastime when everyone was sick to death of rich food. It was so light and delightful. The broth is very flavorful.
January 17, 2013 at 10:50 am Reply
This looks REALLY good. I gotta try this.
January 17, 2013 at 11:12 am Reply
I made this last night, but with one twist: I did not strain the vegetables from the broth, and instead pureed the whole mixture into a sauce. It was very flavorful and still light, but it seemed a bit more healthy to include all of those great veggies. It was delicious! I’ve never made gnocchi before, but this was very easy. The perfect meal for a cold, dark winter evening!
January 17, 2013 at 12:00 pm Reply
It’s me again :D I might be getting a little annoying, sorry about that.. but I just read an article in a german fashion magazine about food blogs where you were said to be “the mother of all foodies” and the one who started the whole food blog trend :)
You might already know about the article, but I was still excited to read it and wanted to share.
January 17, 2013 at 12:29 pm Reply
looks simple yet refreshing! i will have to try this!
January 17, 2013 at 12:33 pm Reply
I love the idea of gnocchi in a broth. YUM! I always use my Nana’s recipe (because it is so simple). Happens that her’s is exactly what is here. :-) I guess when its good its good!
January 17, 2013 at 12:52 pm Reply
These are one of the recipes I’ve tried from your cook book so far… and they are so so sooo yummy! We’re heading up to Tahoe this weekend with a huge group of people, and I am already slated to make these the first night!!
January 17, 2013 at 2:43 pm Reply
how do you think this would be, if instead of straining the “broth” I first immersion blended it? I hate the idea of just throwing out any more of the veggie goodness than necessary.
It could be strained then after that – and I suppose to try keeping it a bit lighter, maybe only immersion blend it part way (ie, stop when it is still a touch chunky)?
What thinkst thou?
January 17, 2013 at 3:35 pm Reply
roz
I’ve had some potatoes “staring” at me, now I know why…gnocchi is calling! Got your book for Christmas (in the midst of down-sizing, I requested yet another book! Seriously, who could resist?) and breezed right past this recipe…email to the rescue.
January 17, 2013 at 3:37 pm Reply
This looks fantastic. I really want to try gnocchi at home! There is a great chef in our town in Oregon who recently posted a blog about making gnocchi. It has some tips on the ratio of potato and flour, depending on the moisture in the potatoes, which sound helpful. His recipes look yummy too. Thought I’d share:
January 17, 2013 at 3:44 pm Reply
wow – first, this broth is so powerfully packed with flavor, it is simply amazing! I was able to blend out most of the big chunks, and then in pressing it through the sieve I ended up with about 2 cups maybe of veggie solids.
The resulting broth (partly because I dropped a couple spoonfuls of solids into it, too …) is maybe a bit more soupy than what it would have been otherwise, but the color is still fantastic, and it is very light.
Love this – can’t wait to try it with the gnocchi tonight!
(ps – I put the remaining veggie solids into the fridge, because I think I’m going to add it to the Marcella Hazan simple tomato sauce that I’m going to make on Saturday. Woo hoo, no wastage!)
thanx again for the kick-but recipe!
PPS – oh, and Paige – yep that recipe from riverside … looks fantastic, too!
January 17, 2013 at 4:20 pm Reply
i tried to make gnocchi once.. they were so bad that i tossed the whole thing and ordered chinese food. i made them again when i was in italy in a cooking class and my teacher said to use old potatoes to get the best texture (like with sprouts, when they start to get ugly). have you ever tried this?
January 17, 2013 at 4:57 pm Reply
This looks delicious! My husband is a huge gnocchi fan and in fact makes it his mission to try them whenever they are the menu. He thinks his divine stamp of approval means a lot apparently =) I will have to give this a try!
January 17, 2013 at 5:06 pm Reply
I’ve never made gnocchi before but I’d love to try. Due to religious dietary restrictions, I can’t use the white wine for the broth. is there any substitutions I can use instead?
January 17, 2013 at 6:49 pm Reply
I saw your book at Anthropologie the other day and was so excited!
January 17, 2013 at 8:28 pm Reply
I just have to say that within a week of receiving your cookbook, I’d made over 9 recipes from it. This is one of them that made me say, “Wow, this chick KNOWS what she’s doing.” They have all been beyond perfect, to a shocking degree. Even simple this simple tomato broth was just absolutely spot on.
I will say that I had trouble with the gnocchi, I had to add nearly 50% as much flour as the recipe called for, but it turned out well and the broth was stunning. I am inspired. =]
January 17, 2013 at 8:57 pm Reply
YAY MINNEAPOLIS!!!! I am so excited you are coming to MN! Bring a warm coat….I know it is March, but you never know. :) I called to get more info, and was told, “You may want to get here early…I hear the Author’s fans are a little..excitable.” What? Excitement in Minnesota? Ya, you betcha!!
January 17, 2013 at 9:39 pm Reply
Did you know the Guardian referenced your home fries in their food section recently? Maybe you should tour the UK! The best gnocci I ever had was at Jamie Oliver’s 15 restaurant in London. A taste test seems to be in order.
January 17, 2013 at 10:44 pm Reply
I’ve been stalking your site for awhile, and have recently started cooking from the posts. Y. U. M. I saw this recipe at 5:30 last night, and we were eating feather light gnocci in the most intense broth by 7:45. It’s not the first time i’ve made these (my Italian grandmother taught me to cook them years ago), but it is the first time i’ve had a food mill, and it makes a big difference. I did up the gnocci and broth yields by 50%, and used 2 cans of diced tomatoes and one of plain sauce. Also, I hate to see veggies get strained out, so i ran the soup through the fine setting on the food mill (hey, i already had it out, right?). It produced an intensely red, flavorful soup that was still in the broth family of liquidity. The gnocci i froze overnight to eat with the leftover soup, however, did turn to mush when cooked, like Alice’s. I think a higher percentage of flour (i used the bare minimum) and maybe extra egg would have helped that. So, so happy to have this in the winter cooking arsenal! Thanks!
January 17, 2013 at 10:50 pm Reply
This is a blog for pro-chefs but many of their recipes are simple enough if you have a kitchen scale. Enjoy!
January 18, 2013 at 12:43 am Reply
Just read part of my “Eating Well” magazine and your book has an ad! I was so excited and proud of you. Thanks for sharing your talent with us.
January 18, 2013 at 1:27 am Reply
Just wanted to say that I recently discovered this website and find the photos and writing to be absolutely fabulous. I like the concentration on the home cook and insight on keys to make the dish better than normal. Wish you continued success.
January 18, 2013 at 2:11 am Reply
Won’t you come to London to tie in with the UK edition of your book coming out in February (available for pre order on Amazon now but with a different cover – WHAT??). It would be great to see you on the European side of the pond…
January 18, 2013 at 6:00 am Reply
We made this last night and just chopped the vegetables a bit finer than suggested and left them in the mix (couldn’t bare to get rid of such a good thing!). It was delicious and now we have tons of frozen gnocchi. Thanks for posting a blending-free recipe, Deb!
January 18, 2013 at 9:31 am Reply
A dedicated travel junkie, I am dreaming of going to all the other places suggested by posters. A dedicated SK reader, I am mourning the fact that I can’t think of any reason why you’d come to Cleveland, Ohio instead. So I’ll bury myself in the pages of my new cookbook and think of ways to convince my (road trip-hating) husband to take me to Columbus when you stop there?? (Come on Cleveland-lovers, are you out there? Convince Deb! Or at least rally the Columbus readers!)
January 18, 2013 at 10:03 am Reply
Hmmmm, I saw you in Boston, and in the past month I moved from Beantown to Minneapolis. If I go to the Twin Cities event would that make me a groupie? ;)
January 18, 2013 at 10:35 am Reply
deb
Krista — No. It would make you awesome! (Well, you probably already are.)
Kori — You can just skip the wine.
January 18, 2013 at 9:11 pm Reply
Hmmm, are you channeling Mario now??? It does look good. Tata!
January 18, 2013 at 10:40 am Reply
I love your cookbook! My husband surprised me with it for Christmas and I cannot stop looking at it.
This recipe is brilliant; It’s incredibly delicious and easy.
Do come closer to Arkansas with your tour!
January 18, 2013 at 11:51 am Reply
I wonder if you will have a dedicated space for cookbook recipe comments, or are you interested in how your recipes turn out? I made the sesame spiced turkey meatballs and smashed chickpea salad and found that if I made the meatballs smaller and just put the meatballs on an oiled sheet pan and baked them at 400 degrees, they browned up nicely and were cooked in about half an hour. I did pour off liquid about half way through the baking. I hate cooking meatballs in a skillet and turning them (especially delicate turkey meatballs), so this saved extra work for me. The recipe itself was delicious and we are eating it again tonight…I have a feeling that it will be better the second night because the chickpea salad has had time to marinate.
I also baked the blueberry cornmeal butter cake and it was wonderful! Thanks for a wonderful cookbook!
January 18, 2013 at 12:33 pm Reply
Ah! I saw Pittsboro and thought, “Oh! Pittsburgh, Hurray!, (it must be a typo).” (Yes, apparently I think in parenthesis.) And then I thought with horror – what if it ISN’T a typo! And indeed it wasn’t, more’s the pity. So, adding my vote for a Pittsburgh or Cleveland stop (or Erie, which is actually where I live). Absolutely love everything you do! Yes, I’m obsessed – but I have yet to make one of your recipes I didn’t love!
January 18, 2013 at 1:17 pm Reply
These look wonderful! My current small kitchen doesn’t have an oven, though. Are there any suggestions about a good way to cook the potatoes on the stove top? (Would boiling them work, for example?)
January 18, 2013 at 1:50 pm Reply
This is DELICIOUS. I didn’t use celery or carrots, but I had yellow squash on hand. These are the most delightful gnocchi on the planet and I thank you.
January 18, 2013 at 6:14 pm Reply
I love making & eating gnocchi! I can’t wait to try it this way. I’m definitely one of those who loves to cover it in cheesy white buttery sauces. This lighter fare looks perfect!
January 18, 2013 at 6:54 pm Reply
Hi Deb! Your cookbook was the most coveted item on my Christmas list and I have savored reading each page of it. In fact, it’s been passed around our family already with bids for different meals; my twenty year-old brother sat for an hour and stuck Post-It notes the pages of each request! I can’t wait to try out the gnocchi recipe this weekend since you were able to lessen my fears of turning the dough into a gummy mess. I also have to place a major bid for a tour stop in Pittsburgh (PRETTY PLEASE!) or Cleveland, which is just a few hours from the ‘Burgh. Thank you for contributing to my culinary obsession and reminding all of us that cooking is FUN.
January 18, 2013 at 7:20 pm Reply
January 18, 2013 at 8:11 pm Reply
I don’t live in Hawai’i, but I know some people who do! So — I lobby for Hawai’i!!!
BTW – my wonderful brother gave me your Cookbook for Christmas — squeee!! I love my brother! :-D
January 18, 2013 at 10:04 pm Reply
Oh my G!
January 19, 2013 at 12:28 am Reply
Come to Columbus! I know some delectable little places to make small talk about a country-wide book tour, sip hot cider and nibble on some sweet scones.
January 19, 2013 at 12:54 am Reply
This Gnocci recipe looks absolutely delicious and I am going to have to try it!
Thanks for sharing.
January 19, 2013 at 8:14 am Reply
Another vote for London! Come and visit us here!
January 19, 2013 at 8:35 am Reply
What kind of white wine would you recommend for the tomato broth?
January 19, 2013 at 8:59 am Reply
I got your book for Christmas…it is sooo beautiful! Loved adding it to my collection! :)
January 19, 2013 at 9:19 am Reply
Come to London and cook for us. Love love love this- the simplicity is perfect. xxx
January 19, 2013 at 11:45 am Reply
I live in Atlanta, my boyfriend lives in Chicago and we came to your signing when I was up there before Thanksgiving….we had a great time, loved the bookstore and the fact that we could have a beer while waiting in line! However, after a few hours and still being a few hours far from our “letter” being called, we had to take off (Remember, I don’t get to see him much!) Anyway, we both bought the book while there and have loved trying recipes out. I was sooo excited when I saw you’re coming to ATL now and at Manuel’s! Coincidentally, my boyfriend will be in town that weekend so we will DEFINITELY be coming!
January 19, 2013 at 3:18 pm Reply
January 19, 2013 at 4:34 pm Reply
Made your mom’s apple cake from the cookbook today and just wanted to let you and others know, who have small families, this cake recipe can be successfully halved and put in a 9″ round layer pan. It takes about an hour to bake. I did not take it out of the pan, but just served slices right from the pan. I love how there is more apple then cake…I used pinata and granny smith apples, what I had on hand and it was delicious.
January 19, 2013 at 4:36 pm Reply
Whitney @ The Newlywed Chefs
We both LOVE gnocchi. Nothing more comforting when made right! Delish!
January 19, 2013 at 5:42 pm Reply
Oh, do Columbus on your book tour, do! I don’t live there anymore, but that’s a city that would definitely appreciate you and your cookbook. And you could go to the North Market in the Arena district and get a) Jeni’s mind-blowing ice cream, b) beautiful bacon at Bluescreek meats, c) ALL OF THE CHEESES at Curds & Whey, and d) loads of spices at North Market Spices (like green mango powder, hibiscus powder, black salt, etc. etc.). God, I love that city. Go, Deb, go!
January 19, 2013 at 5:54 pm Reply
Made flat roasted chicken with tiny potatoes from your cookbook and wow, the flavor is amazing! We are sort of camping out in a kitchen that is not our own, so we had to use a baking sheet with sides to cook the chicken. The potatoes cooked right in the chicken fat (schmaltz!) and were ever so crispy on the bottoms. It took about an hour at 450 degrees, but the time was well worth it. Yum and thank you!
January 19, 2013 at 10:03 pm Reply
These look amazing! I love making gnocci at home, and usually use jarred sauce. Eeeek! I know. I must try this tomato broth, looks so comforting!
January 20, 2013 at 9:28 am Reply
funny, i was sitting at swim lessons yesterday, smitten kitchen cookbook in hand, thinking, “maybe i’ll put aside my disdain for gnocchi and try these…” i think the broth intrigued me.
i also wanted to let you know that of all the cookbooks i’ve purchased lately (it’s a lot, too many, an addiction), yours the one i have cooked the most from. I’d say January has been “smitten kitchen month” and everything has been spectacular: the pork chops, the ckn with grapes & olives, wild rice and kale, the brisket, and more … & i am eying the short ribs for tonite. Great work, Thanks!
January 20, 2013 at 10:07 am Reply
I’ve never managed to make a light gnocchi until I tried this recipe out of your book. It worked beautifully, as have the other recipes I’ve tried. Thanks so much for sharing!
January 20, 2013 at 10:45 am Reply
I think you should mimic Rhianna’s 777 tour.. do the seven cities (Mexico City, Toronto, Stockholm, Paris, Berlin, London and NYC) in seven days!
January 20, 2013 at 2:31 pm Reply
Like others I breezed by this in the cookbook but am inspired now to try it! I do love the book; it’s really fabulous. The mile high apple pie and pumpkin-mascarpone tart were huge hits. Love the popcorn cookies too. The heart stuffed shells were truly amazing…what an inspired recipe that is. Started to mark the recipes I wanted to make but the book is full of scraps of paper! It’s the first cookbook I have bought in some time that made me want to cook so many recipes. Thanks for that!
January 20, 2013 at 2:52 pm Reply
I enjoyed this recipe very much. It’s in my “pasta” folder and will make it again because of the unique (to me) tomato sauce. For two people I only use one baked potato. After ricing, I spread the potato out on the board in a thin layer, evenly spread one or two beaten egg yolks, salt, grated nutmeg and spread as little flour possible, say 1/4 C. I use a plastic bowl scrapper to mix and determine consistency adding flour if necessary. Then light kneading. Not to different from SK but it’s how I learned.
January 20, 2013 at 3:06 pm Reply
Happy to see a stop in London may happen. I got a copy of the book in the US when I was back home in Texas at Christmas, but I would do everything I could to come and see you in London!
January 20, 2013 at 5:16 pm Reply
Wow! My favorite bookstore, Left Bank Books in St. Louis, and my favorite cookbook author, Deb, the same day! Twice even; a luncheon mid-day cosponsored by the store and Sauce Mag. and then again, a book signing. I was debating another event for March 1st; no debate now!
I’ve never even had gnocchi, which is odd because there is no carb I don’t like. Since these seem approachable, I’ll give it a shot.
January 20, 2013 at 6:07 pm Reply
This is the very first recipe I made when I got your cookbook this fall. I was definitely nervous, but they were so easy and oh so delicious! We finished the tomato broth off as soup a few days later. Next time I make these, I am thinking I’d make a double batch since they froze SOOO well. How long do you think these bad boys would keep in the freezer?
Thanks for all your hard (and delicious) work bringing us great recipes that one can even make in a tiny Brooklyn apartment… :)
January 20, 2013 at 8:32 pm Reply
I made this tonight and it was lovely. I made pesto from the basil not used in the sauce so that it wouldn’t go to waste. I sprinkled the pesto on the gnocchi rather than garnishing with basil. I fed my 18 month old twins the gnocchi with pesto and not only did they devour it, but also gnocchi is perfect for fork practice! I’m thinking about using the tomato broth recipe to poach fish or serve with fish poached in wine maybe? Also, I have to say it has been difficult not having a forum to talk about some of the amazing cookbook recipes. The red wine chocolate cake has to be the best cake I have ever eaten. Thanks you!
January 20, 2013 at 11:26 pm Reply
Italian and Greek cuisine are my favorite ones! Your recipe for broth seems to be fantastic, need to try it out one cold, winter afternoon!
January 21, 2013 at 8:01 am Reply
Hi Deb! Received your cook book for christmas and made ny first recipe this weekend. Meatloaf/Meatball thingies and the peach pancakes unfortunately without the peaches they were a big hit and I liked them much better than the other sour cream pancakes on this site. Good luck on your book tour. I am still holding out for the hickory stick book store in Washington CT.
January 21, 2013 at 8:11 am Reply
Thanks for helping my first time making gnocchi a success! This dish was amazing and my whole family enjoyed it. I shared this recipe in my most recent meal plan on my blog, thank you!
January 21, 2013 at 11:54 am Reply
Oh man I knooow what you mean about it tasting wayyyy better when it’s bold in flavor, light, and brothy. That’s how I grew up eating gnocchi in Argentina, so even though I like ordering it in the states, it’s never the same. This recipe looks to diiiiiie forrrrrr~And if you think about it, this recipe is actually really healthy since it’s basically veggies and eggs :D
January 21, 2013 at 1:40 pm Reply
I want to go on a book tour! You got to be interviewed by Diane Rehm and Lynn Neary came to your house. That is so cool and, of course, also sounds exhausting. If only more than 5 people cared about employee benefits law [what I do for a living]… I usually try to change the subject when people ask me what I do at dinner parties for fear I will bore them to death so I suppose it’s not my destiny.
January 21, 2013 at 3:53 pm Reply
Just finished making this. It was perfectly delicious. Easy to make and I have LOADS in the freezer. I only had bread flour, but it didn’t seem to matter too much. (Just needed a bit more, perhaps.) The broth is incredibly flavorful. I never ever ever would have thought to attempt gnocchi. Thank you for this recipe!!
January 21, 2013 at 6:53 pm Reply
Deb — if you’re coming to Raleigh-Durham, then that means you must come to Raleigh AND Durham, because contrary to popular belief, we are not just one big city! Durham was just named one of the tastiest towns by Southern Living, our restaurants were described last week on Tasting Table and we made it to “36 Hours in Durham” in Sunday’s New York Times. So if you’re gonna come to “Raleigh-Durham,” you have to come to Durham, please!
January 21, 2013 at 7:40 pm Reply
I just made this recipe tonight and it came out absolutely WONDERFUL!!!! You are a GENIUS. Thank you for making me believe (and know) I can make authentic gnocchi!!! You also completely changed my boyfriend’s mind about how delicious it was. I’ve known all along :)
January 21, 2013 at 8:38 pm Reply
January 21, 2013 at 10:15 pm Reply
What a terrific recipe! My gnocchi came out perfectly pillowy, and the tomato broth—which I admit I was a little skeptical of—is just outstanding. I’m thinking about sipping up the leftovers for breakfast tomorrow.
January 21, 2013 at 10:43 pm Reply
Made it once and was awesome!!! My son is asking for this every day now!!
January 21, 2013 at 11:03 pm Reply
Looks good! I might make this for Valentines day, I think it has good color, and if its not too heavy that’s perfect. I just need to put it next to something green and maybe have a croissant or something.
January 22, 2013 at 4:27 am Reply
Please bring your book tour to Sydney….it is summer here at the moment : )
PS: I just made your chicken falalfel / meatballs with the chickpea salad for dinner.
January 22, 2013 at 6:01 am Reply
that looks so delicious!
January 22, 2013 at 6:54 am Reply
No cheese in the dough? I see you have a picture of grated cheese…for topping?
January 22, 2013 at 7:33 am Reply
deb
Mindy — Those are the potatoes after going through the ricer, not cheese. Although who wouldn’t like cheese in gnocchi?
Maria — I would love to! Also, I’m pretty sure that’s the first time in history I have been considered in the same sentence as Rhianna. (You should see me dance!) (No. Nobody should, ever.)
Mike — Any kind that you’d like the drink the rest of the bottle of. ;)
January 22, 2013 at 9:47 am Reply
So glad London is on the list eventually – but will more of us begging (BEGGING!) for a stop here make it happen sooner?!
January 22, 2013 at 8:05 am Reply
I was skeptical, as previous attempts at making gnocchi resulted in tears and disappointment. Leave it to you Deb to give me a recipe that was not only easy, but absolutely fantastic. I will never buy gnocchi again!
January 22, 2013 at 9:23 am Reply
I love making gnocchi, too! Fortunately for me, I never heard of a potato ricer and poo-poo’d the idea of a rolling board before my first attempt. I began baggage-free. I now make big batches and freeze some for quick and comforting meals after a long day of work.
FYI–I made, loved, and reviewed your Mushroom Bourguignon recipe on my blog today! (With appropriate links and credit given, of course). In a rare event, I didn’t change anything about your recipe. No substituting out weird ingredients I don’t have, or adjusting it to be vegetarian. THANK YOU!
January 22, 2013 at 10:14 am Reply
A Bit of Brooklyn
Ah yes, resolutions of cutting carbs are slipping away… this recipe looks too good to pass up! At least, as you say, there’s no cheese or butter to add to the guilt. Read somewhere that potatoes contain all the nutrients you ever need, so I’ll just meditate on that :)
January 22, 2013 at 10:48 am Reply
January 22, 2013 at 12:08 pm Reply
I am going to join the chorus here and say that this recipe was Insane with a capital I. About halfway through, I admit I got a bit skeptical about the lightness of the broth. I need not have doubted! Now, I can’t stop thinking about the combination of the light, super-flavorful broth and the gnocchi! Perfect for mid-January, too. My husband said he felt like the kid in the Campbell’s soup commercial (you know the one)!
January 22, 2013 at 12:16 pm Reply
DEB! The book is AWE-SOME. I am literally cooking my way through every recipe and loving the results. The gnocchi though… texture was right on but it just tasted… sadly, like nothing. Vaguely potato-y, but there just wasn’t much there. I think I was expecting the sum of the parts to be much greater than the components, but for me it just tasted like… the components. Any thoughts?
January 22, 2013 at 2:01 pm Reply
I made this last night without any hesitation about how difficult it might be. I have only eaten gnocchi a handful of times and certainly have never thought about cooking it myself, but it came out great! I opted to not strain the veggies out of the broth and it still came out light and delicious. Exactly what I was looking for after being cooped up in an office with no heat all day long!
I am going to be cooking the lentil & sausage soup tomorrow night :)
Deb, I would just like to say that I’ve been reading your blog for over a year (It’s a wonderful escape from my day job) and my sister bought me your cookbook for my birthday. It’s beautiful and I love it!
January 22, 2013 at 2:14 pm Reply
Thank you soooo much for the box grater tip! I’ve been meaning to get a ricer (and still do) but I tried grating the potatoes and what a result! My last attempt at gnocchi left me with a very dense, heavy outcome. These were light and delicious.
January 22, 2013 at 5:30 pm Reply
I’m a long-time reader, but first-time poster. Thank you for all of the great recipes and photos. My four-year-old and I made this today and it was fun and delicious. She especially loved trying out the potato ricer; it hasn’t made it out of the drawer since she was born… Instead of straining out the vegetables, we pureed the sauce in a blender. It worked out well and was creamy and a wonderful orange color.
January 22, 2013 at 7:37 pm Reply
I made this tonite and it came out delicious! Do you have any other serving suggestions for the gnocchi? My husband enjoyed it but he is not a tomato soup fan. I also made the mustard milanese from the cookbook. Out of this world! Thanks
January 22, 2013 at 8:58 pm Reply
deb
Cheryl — I love to pan-toast them (better described here) and toss them with other salad ingredients.
January 23, 2013 at 11:51 am Reply
I so totally failed with the recipe and now I’m bummed because I had my heart set on pillowy gnocchi tonight. The first time I cooked the potatoes they were slightly underdone and I ended up with what looked like a prep bowl for latkes. So I tried again. The next time I cooked the potatoes much longer (1 hr 10 min), but still when I grated them on a box grater I was left with grainy potato bits that never fully integrated into the dough. I made the gnocchi anyway and they looked lovely (if from a distance) and popped them in freezer. When I put them in the boiling water the next day, though, they completely disintegrated into a sludge of chunky potato-water and I had to throw it all away. I haven’t given up since this looks so promising, but I think it may be worth investing in a potato ricer and I doubt I will try to freeze them again.
January 22, 2013 at 9:01 pm Reply
I don’t think the second failure was yours – I had something similar with one of my potatoes – luckily I baked more than I needed for the recipe.
Essentially what happened is that one of the potatoes, despite being cooked for longer than seemed necessary (I ended up baking it for 75 min or so) never really got “soft”- it had a hard-ish almost crystalline quality. Really weird – I was grating it, and after a bit just decided to junk it and use the others.
Maybe that’s what happened on your second try?
By the way – I have seen it suggested several times that yukon gold potatoes may work better for these. I think really the main issue is just being sensitive to how much flour you put in, depending on how moist the potato is.
HTH
January 22, 2013 at 10:56 pm Reply
I would give anything for 20 degrees right now. Greetings from Milwaukee! haha. I think I’ll be making this very soon due to Wisconsin’s current below-zero temperatures.
January 22, 2013 at 11:28 pm Reply
If you do end up making a Paris run, feel free to stop by Amsterdam while you’re at it. :)
January 23, 2013 at 3:45 am Reply
I made this a couple weeks ago from the cookbook. Very delicious but the texture of my gnocchi was off. Mine kind of exploded like bread that has risen too much when I boiled it in the broth. What did I do wrong? Not enough kneading? Too much flour? Any guesses?
I couldn’t bare to throw out the veggies, so I left them in and the soup (not broth) was wonderful, even with exploded-pillows of gnocchi instead of pillows of gnocchi.
January 23, 2013 at 9:37 am Reply
This recipe pleased my very Italian fiance who has high gnocci standards. Deb you continue to amaze.
January 23, 2013 at 10:21 am Reply
Thank you pvl, glad to see I wasn’t the only one. I’m already jonesin’ to buy more potatoes and get this right.
January 23, 2013 at 10:49 am Reply
This was very nice, but I felt bad discarding the carrot, celery, onion, etc., so I’ll say that adding a spoonful to the broth on serving is quite nice if you like the texture.
Any thoughts on baking the potatoes vs. boiling with the skins on?
January 23, 2013 at 3:47 pm Reply
From Italy
Oh god, that kind of soup you call “gnocchi” is really hilarious!
As italian, I can’t understand how you could only think to eat that things drowning in that… bleahhhh.
I really cannot understand.
Onions, garlics, blue cheese, wine, stalk celery, chicken stock … why?, WHY??????
The answer has to be found in simplicity, not in the number of ingredients!
Here there are some inviting “gnocchi”:
Simple and delicious. And that’s what makes me love italian food :)
January 23, 2013 at 5:52 pm Reply
I’m so excited that you’re coming to Salt Lake! And King’s English is such a great book store. Unfortunately, the staff didn’t know whether or not event would be ticketed… I was hoping you might know (King’s English is small and standing outside in SLC in Feb is well, chilly).
There’s also a rumor going around (propagated by the King’s English peeps) that you might be doing a demonstration at one of the local grocery stores… any truth to that?
Anyway, I can’t wait! I promise to be there either way with multiple friends, cousins, sister… because we’re all borderline obsessed (and because everything in Utah is a family affair)!
January 23, 2013 at 8:58 pm Reply
I made this today, and it was DELISH! I even convinced my wary Italian boyfriend that the gnocchi would go great with the broth rather than a traditional tomato sauce, and he was sold upon tasting it. Very clear recipe, common ingredients, all the good things. The only divergence from the recipe is that my dough was too dry, so I needed to add another half egg to the dough, but otherwise it was smooth sailing.
I look forward to trying more recipes and seeing you when you come to STL!
January 23, 2013 at 11:51 pm Reply
I made this last night & it was delicious – although not paying close enough attention to your pictures, I made the broth in a deep pan instead of a pot. This made too much broth evaporate so I just tossed the gnocci into the veggies/broth, mixed it all up and it was great. I froze the other 1/2 of the gnocci as you recommended but wondered – if I try your pan-toasted recipe above, do I need to defrost them first? I would assume yes, but didn’t know if defrosting will do something weird to the consistency…
January 24, 2013 at 9:35 am Reply
Is sherry a safe substitute for the white wine in this recipe? I can’t drink wine because of those darn tannins, but I keep a bottle of sherry on-hand for cooking since it doesn’t spoil like wine does.
January 24, 2013 at 12:15 pm Reply
deb
Laurel — Sherry has a stronger flavor so I’d use a bit less.
RayAnne — I am getting an answer for you and will update here when I know more. Thanks.
January 24, 2013 at 12:53 pm Reply
I bookmarked this recipe in the cookbook as soon as I saw it but we haven’t tried it yet. We love gnocchi but the one time we tried to make it we found a weird recipe and it took forever and then ended up being fake gnocchi (no potatoes?!). It was stressful and tasted nothing like the kind my best friend’s Italian mom makes so we’ve bought it packaged since. I think it’s time to change that! P.s. Can you do a “book tour part III” and can you visit Dallas, Tx?! A group of us wanted to go to the Austin or Houston ones but they’re 5+ hours away and it was during finals (grad school…ahh). Pleeeeaaassseee???
January 24, 2013 at 4:13 pm Reply
I hope this isn’t a redundant question… (I read through all the comments, but could have missed it.)
Would it be possible to make and cook the gnocchi the day before and then assemble it in the broth just before serving without ruining the texture/flavor/magic?
Also, I know everybody says it but I’d also like to chime in with OMG, YOU’RE THE BEST AND I LOVE YOUR WORK AND AND AND I ADORE THIS BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 24, 2013 at 4:49 pm Reply
deb
joanna — I don’t see why not. But I prefer to freeze gnocchi and then cook it when needed, although I would read some of the earlier commments where folks were having trouble with this step. I have retested since posting this, but as I was writing the book, I many times froze extra gnocchi uncooked and cooked them when needed right from the freezer.
January 25, 2013 at 10:18 am Reply
Made this tonight and it was so yummy. My husband and I loved it. Can’t wait for your time here in Atlanta!!
January 24, 2013 at 8:38 pm Reply
Deb, you’re inspiring! I love gnocci but have always been intimidated – yes, by the fact that every gnocci recipe I’ve ever read calls for a potato ricer (what! Another kitchen gadget!? Guaranteed eye rolling from my husband) – but your recipe makes gnocci seem so attainable. Either you are very wise or very crafty. Either way, thank you! And wish me luck…
January 25, 2013 at 9:35 am Reply
I made these this past Sunday, from the cookbook. Phenomenal. The slowest part really was baking the potatoes–everything else moved along quickly. Ran the unpeeled potatoes under cold water to cool them because I got antsy–worked fine. We packed the gnocchi in the broth for the next day’s lunch and it tasted even better.
January 25, 2013 at 12:26 pm Reply
Hi Deb, you met my mother at a booksigning event in Bridgewater a month or two ago….she brought me the (signed!) cookbook when she came to visit me in Germany last week, and it is just gorgeous and full of inspiration. Congratulations!!
Then, both my mother and myself made these gnocchi on the same day after she went home to NJ. We agreed from opposite sides of the Atlantic that they were delicious and totally worth the time. My husband and I ate half the batch with the tomato broth, and half the batch pan fried in sage brown butter…both fabulous. Thank you for your awesome work!!
January 26, 2013 at 8:11 am Reply
We live in Italy so we have some ready-made gnocchi patate that is awesome. I focused on the broth. My Italian born husband did not even want to try this, something like “brodo (broth)? not sugo (sauce)?. I don’t think I will like it”. I made it anyway. He not only ate it, he declared it good, high praise from an Italian. The broth was outstanding. I found it to be just a little too acidic (probably the Italian brand tomatoes) so I added a maybe a quarter cup of home made beef and onion broth at the end for balance. If I had just let the broth sit longer, I probably would not have needed to add anything. I swear this could also be a great base for tomato soup, add a little cream, or not, as you choose.
January 28, 2013 at 4:20 am Reply
Deb – I live in Milwaukee (brr) but am from St. Louis. Your lunch at the Modesto is ON my birthday, which I took as a sign – as if I needed one – to book a ticket immediately. And brag. To everyone. I have an almost 6-month-old baby girl (she’s cute!), and I planned on bringing her but it occurred to me that I might need to check whether little chubby cheeks are welcome? Did I mention she’s cute?
January 28, 2013 at 10:07 am Reply
deb
Maggie — Are you kidding? So welcome. Can sit up front with me? :)
January 28, 2013 at 10:35 am Reply
The dean & deluca here in KC is the only place I can find the brand of tomato you use. Thanks for the advice! I am so lucky to have this store near me.
January 28, 2013 at 9:31 pm Reply
i made these last night and they were amazing! i made more of a chunky tomato sauce with it. and darn me for not being more patient when baking the potato. it didn’t want to break down all the way after i grated them and i was a little concerned they would come out like boiled potato hashbrowns…. but they still worked! and again, deliciousness. i have about 3/4 left in my freezer all set and ready to go.
January 29, 2013 at 11:06 am Reply
YUM! Whipped them up last night from your book, and loved it all. In a step of laziness, I just blended all the veggies into the sauce for a thicker sauce. Perfect for those who want a heartier sauce.
January 29, 2013 at 12:15 pm Reply
Just made this ( with a few modifications due to lack of ingredients) it looks soooo good!!!!! I’m sure it turned out as good.
January 29, 2013 at 6:52 pm Reply
I am sad to say that this recipe was my one and only failure out of the dozens of recipes I’ve made from this site (and now the cookbook!). And I am so, so disappointed because I love gnocchi AND I love freezer-friendly food! But no one else seems to be complaining, so I’m sure I did something wrong. Quite simply, I could not get the dough to resemble anything close to dough consistency. The potatoes fell apart, but in a way that made them nearly impossible to grate. I ended up with a pile of stiff lumps, and then after an effort to get rid of the lumps, I had a sticky starchy gluey mess. I went ahead with the recipe but ended up with gnocchi blobs that look far less appetizing than yours. They taste fine but the texture is totally wrong–thick and lumpy. I want smooth and fluffy! Did anyone else suffer from this?
My only guess at an explanation is that my potatoes were on the old side…could this cause the weird consistency problem? Or could I have overbaked the potatoes?
The tomato broth, on the other hand, was awesome. And I used the strained vegetables to make an equally awesome pasta sauce. So I guess it wasn’t a complete failure :)
January 30, 2013 at 3:06 am Reply
I think you’re right — I think most people feel that gnocchi is too difficult to make at home. Even though I have the right equipment (minus the board), I still haven’t done it because it intimidates me. But, no more! I will try making homemade gnocchi in my own kitchen in 2013.
Thanks for the inspiration!
February 1, 2013 at 6:35 pm Reply
Like Alice (comment #82) I cooked half the gnocchi when I made them and they were beautiful. And the ones I froze turned to mush when I went to cook them. Not sure why, but as soon as they hit the water they started disintegrating.
A quick Google search took me to a Livestrong Foundation page (surely Lance wouldn’t lie about something as benign as gnocchi, right?) which instructs that if the water doesn’t return to a boil immediately after frozen gnocchi are added, they will turn mushy. I don’t know what the chemistry behind this phenomenon is, but it was certainly true for me. The frozen gnocchi obviously lowered the water temp (which had been at a full boil) very quickly. I was using a 4 qt pot for about 1/2 the gnocchi made by the recipe above. Next time I will either cook the frozen gnocchi in smaller batches so that the water temp doesn’t drop so substantially, or will haul out my 8 qt stock pot if I need to cook them all at once.
See you at the lunch event in St. Louis!
February 2, 2013 at 8:45 am Reply
I had never tried making homemade gnocchi before. I have had gnocchi many times at restaurant s but never made them myself. I love your recipes and they looked so lovely. I followed your recipe exactly and it turned out amazing. Thanks so much for this one. Now I have been thinking of all of the different ways I want to sauce these gnocchi. Another keeper Deb.
February 3, 2013 at 3:41 pm Reply
Any idea how much grated potato you ended up with from 2 lbs of russets? I have some leftover boiled new potatoes I thought I’d try to make gnocchi with, but no idea how much I have. I think I’ll wing it anyway — all I’ll lose if it bombs is one egg and some flour. But this looks so tasty, I have to try. Hoping to make it to the Atlanta signing; thanks for coming!
February 3, 2013 at 5:47 pm Reply
What can i substitute wine with in the recipe?
February 3, 2013 at 10:15 pm Reply
Love this recipe, great for when you are cold, but not super hungry! Easy to make and tastes awesome.
February 4, 2013 at 10:04 pm Reply
Josh
First, let me say that I thought the gnocchi recipe was amazing! Very delicious, and they were so light (as long as you knead the dough only a few times). However, I think it’s best to use more exact measurements. For example, I feel that from the potatoes you want 2 cups of riced potatoes and you want exactly 3/4 cup of flour, with another 1/4 cup for kneading and making sure the gnocchi don’t stick to the board… With these exact measurements, you get a light and wonderful tasting gnocchi. Otherwise, great! I didn’t make the broth, I went with a light, sage and butter sauce. Just melt some butter in a small pan, remove the thick, white part that ends up on the top layer and then add a few sage leaves until the sauce becomes aromatic. Add some garlic if you’d like. I’m sure the tomato broth was great, but I didn’t have the ingredients on hand to make it so I went with the butter sauce instead. Great recipe! Thanks so much!
February 5, 2013 at 12:01 pm Reply
My mum made this last week with bought pasta (fresh though) and it was BEAUTIFUL! Love love loved it. Also, she used the tomato bits left over from the broth in a bolognese sauce which is also amazing.
February 6, 2013 at 3:42 am Reply
I made this today and it was fabulous! The broth was tdf. I’ve never made gnocchi before and I’m so proud! Thank you! They were perfect.
February 6, 2013 at 7:27 pm Reply
PERFECTION! used a semi dry rose (had no white wine) and sipped it along with the meal. flavors are superb. indeed comforting yet light.will definitely become a favorite.
February 11, 2013 at 3:36 am Reply
I only recently tried gnocci. I found a recipe for tuna-mushroom gnocchi and thought it would make a great weeknight casserole. It was awesome, but I bought pre-made, shelf stable gnocchi. I might try it again using this recipe and make my own! Thanks!
February 12, 2013 at 12:26 pm Reply
Do you think your broth would pair well with sweet potato gnocchi? I’m not sure I’ve ever found a sweet potato gnocchi recipe that didn’t call for some variation of a sage brown butter sauce. While delicious, I’d often prefer something lighter. If not, think you’ve got any ideas for a sauce or topping? Thanks.
February 12, 2013 at 5:18 pm Reply
I had so many “uh oh” moments when making this that I thought they wouldn’t turn out!
I had to abandon my gnocchi-making efforts halfway through and ended up refrigerating the already-cooked potatoes. When I reheated them the next day, they still wouldn’t go soft again, so the potatoes were very much grated instead of pulpy. I mashed them around with a bit of water to try to get them closer to the consistency I thought they’d been.
The resulting gnocchi were perfect the first time around, but a little weird when I reheated them from frozen (the outsides got “puffy” and soft).
I must admit that I still much prefer traditional Italian preparations to this one, but I’m glad I attempted this dish. If anything, it inspired me to keep searching for my ideal gnocchi recipe — there’s a happy medium somewhere between this and sloppy, New-York-Italian messes of tomato and cheese. I’m going to use the leftovers to attempt gnocchi alla sorrentina again, but with a thinner and smoother sauce, and see what happens.
February 13, 2013 at 12:58 pm Reply
This is the first recipe I made out of your Cookbook!
I absolutely LOVED the broth. It was so delicately flavoured, and worked so well. I used red wine instead of the white, and it still turned out great.
I also used the leftover cooked vegetables from the broth into a huge pot of soup, just adding tomato paste to a beef broth. That extra recipe turned out absolutely delicious too! My family loved it.
So if anybody doesn’t want to throw away those lovely vegetables from the broth, try what I did and be resourceful.
Thanks for the recipe Deb! (Sincerely, a 20 year-old university student/foodie)
February 23, 2013 at 2:34 am Reply
the best. these are the lightest gnocchi i’ve ever had. i’ve had this with the broth and then tonight i changed it up and pureed the tomato sauce instead of straining out the vegetables. works great both ways. my version here: http://www.thingsimadetoday.com/2013/02/25/gnocchi-with-tomato-sauce/
February 25, 2013 at 9:13 pm Reply
Made this recipe a few days ago. Very good! I used a half chicken to make stock earlier in the day and we added the shredded chicken to the gnocchi and tomato broth.
February 26, 2013 at 12:29 am Reply
I made this last night and boy was it delicious! I can’t say that my gnocchi were perfection but that didn’t detract from the overall tastiness of this dish. I would say, though, that it seemed a travesty to strain out all that vegetable goodness. So, I skipped the straining. Suppose it’s no longer a “soup”, but that doesn’t bother me one bit. Thanks for helping inspire my dinners!
March 6, 2013 at 1:17 pm Reply
Oh wow! My wife has talked about making gnocchi. We’ll have to take a look at giving this recipe a try!
March 12, 2013 at 11:45 pm Reply
I made this a few weeks ago and it was so wonderful, I made a double batch of the gnocchi so we could freeze the extra for another night. Three weeks later I was ready for round two and I put the frozen gnocchi in the boiling water to cook and it turned to mush almost immediately, what happened? I don’t understand the first half cooked so wonderfully I wondered if it was because of the freezing process? Please help me understand what went wrong? I am making a new batch of gnocchi tonight but worried about freezing it again for later use.
March 17, 2013 at 2:48 pm Reply
Rachel @ A Balanced Palate
Made these last night. First time ever making gnocchi and was greatly surprised at how easy they are to make. This recipe is perfect for a cold spring day wishing for warmer weather!
March 18, 2013 at 9:19 am Reply
Elkie
Made the gnocchi today. Or at least, tried to.
I used the grater for the potatoes, but I ended up with the dough you described in your previous post on gnocchi. It stayed very sticky, I wasn’t able to shape it into a roll or cut it and when I boiled a couple of lumps they were as sticky as the raw dough was.
I guess I made a mistake when I grated the potatoes? How much/little pressure do you need? How gentle should I be when mixing in the egg and flour? Can you think of any other caveats?
March 28, 2013 at 11:28 am Reply
deb
Elikie — The grating is really about pressing the potatoes through holes that emulate a potato ricer. It’s not about creating strips or the texture of the final potatoes, but finding a way to reduce potatoes to a floury pile without pureeing them (which would release the water and make them gluey).
March 29, 2013 at 3:33 pm Reply
Made these today (though not with the broth), and they were fantastic and easy. Subbed a GF flour mix and added an extra egg b/c the flour sucks all of the moisture out of things, but they were, for all intents and purposes, the same as described. Yum! Will have to try them out in the broth here sometime soon! Thanks!
April 7, 2013 at 8:50 pm Reply
I would just like to ask how long these would last in the freezer because I have made them but don’t know how long I should keep them.
April 18, 2013 at 2:37 pm Reply
deb
Toni — They’re good in your freezer for as long as your freezer keeps things fresh. I realize that’s not a very exact answer, but I know some freezers impart a freezery smell on stuff after a month or six months; if yours is like that, store them for less. In general, I’d still not keep them there for more than half a year, but that’s just me.
April 19, 2013 at 10:51 am Reply
Finally! I used to think Gnocchi was my white whale, my alabtross because I could never get it to come out right, I’d end up with potato mush that fell apart when it touched a fork.
This recipe was great! I ended up with perfect, delicious gnocchi. I did alter it in that I microwaved the potatos and I didn’t strain the broth becuase I wanted a more ragu like sauce.
April 22, 2013 at 10:34 am Reply
Just made theise gnossi for the sceond time, and I know I will never use another gnossi recepie in my life, theise are perfection.
April 26, 2013 at 2:00 pm Reply
On this rainy cool spring day, I didn’t read all the comments before preparing and made some substitutions. I found the comment to be true, that on rainy days the recipe will require lots more flour. I had to add almost 3/4 cup extra flour and still found it a bit challenging to roll out. Also, I had to use 1/2 cup whole wheat flour because I was running out of white. They came out very good anyway. I cooked the potatoes in my Miele speed oven. Actually, they got overcooked. I left my husband to cook them while I went out to play in the puddles with my 4 year old. Also, for the sauce the following substitutions and changes made a delicious sauce: fennel instead of celery because my family detests celery, vegetarian soup cube instead of vegetable stock, 3 fresh tomatoes and a dollop of tomato paste. I pureed the lot with the immersion blender.
April 28, 2013 at 9:17 pm Reply
I had the same problem as Elkie– I just ended up with a gluey, sticky mess :( The broth was great, but the gnocchi was not! Any ways to remedy this without buying a potato ricer? Would pressing the baked potatoes through the smaller holes of a box grater be a better choice?
May 20, 2013 at 11:40 pm Reply
Made gnocchi tonight using your recipe …. oh so simple and tasty. Having never made them before I am now hooked. I did not have problems with overly sticky dough and barely used 156 grams of flour. I grated the potatoes but they didn’t break down in the dough as much as I thought they would however, it doesn’t make the end result any less tasty.
July 12, 2013 at 7:43 pm Reply
Made these tonight (my second time–this recipe is foolproof!) with Marcella Hazan’s bolognese sauce. Huge success! The first time my potato rice/dough/air was much drier, I had a hard time rolling logs but they were delicious. This time everything was wetter (potatoes? Humidity?) but I gently shaped the logs and placed them in a plastic wrap strip. Then I “rolled” them. With great trepidation, I then refrigerated the logs for two hours. When I was ready to boil/serve, the dough was even stickier, but I cut them into pillows from the plastic wrap and dropped in water. They were light, tender, delicious… PERFECT!
July 16, 2013 at 10:42 pm Reply
This was so good! Never knew the secret to good gnocchi; now I do :) and the broth… ahhhh amazing!
August 14, 2013 at 6:27 am Reply
I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for forever as it seemed easy but still special and complex in a fun way (a specialty of yours I might add). I finally bought a box grater on Friday and was planning a Saturday afternoon sequestered in the kitchen in a cooking zen. But then boyfriend’s afternoon plans were canceled so I suggested we make it together. Cue cooking zen for two! It was fun. It was satisfying to make and to eat. We put the strained veggies on a baguette and called it bruschetta. And all night long, at odd intervals, boyfriend keep announcing “damn, that gnocchi was GOOD.” Oh, and we had your strawberry cake for dessert. Smitten Kitchen indeed. Thanks Deb!
September 9, 2013 at 8:30 pm Reply
Made these last week and were thrilled with the outcome -sooo fluffy.
I pushed the potato through a wire sieve (a tip a chef friend told me about)… and started the potatoes in the microwave as I was short on time.
Overall, I’m very impressed as the recipe was much easier than I had anticipated.
September 19, 2013 at 11:31 pm Reply
Oh my goodness…I made these again yesterday and while the gnocchi could have been better (totally my own fault…I should my potatoes could have been cooked more) they were still superb and THAT BROTH…oh heaven…please give me other ideas for using it other than drinking it straight up because I want to make it every night. Love you! (And so dos my husband!)
October 23, 2013 at 2:35 pm Reply
YAY!!!!! After years and years of trying, I finally made gnocchi that tasted AMAZING!
Massive tanks to you!!!!!!
November 11, 2013 at 12:59 pm Reply
Lovely broth, I’ll be doing that again.
First time making Gnocchi, I’m really surprised by some of the comments on here. I found the amount of flour in the recipe to be *way* too much, I accidentally dried out my dough, and had to add some more egg to bring it back to a slightly sticky consistency. I think I paid for that later, as the gnocchi floated before they were cooked!
Perhaps a factor of the potatoes (Desiree in the UK not the Russet), but point being, be really careful with the amount of flour claimed here :)
November 20, 2013 at 4:41 pm Reply
I’ve made Gnocchi twice before and it was a complete failure with one recipe being from a famous TV chef. I was stuck with buying the store bought stuff in the vacuum sealed bag – just barely ok. So, when I saw this recipe I decided to try Gnocchi one more time and boy am I glad I did. This recipe is FANTASTIC! It came out just like the restaurant Gnocchi I often order. The tomato broth was so good. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!!
December 10, 2013 at 3:10 pm Reply
I made this just the other night and it came out delicious. I also loved the ease of the recipe, while the potatos roasted I prepped all my veggies, while the soup cooked I worked on the gnocchi. It felt so flawless to make this dinner and I didnt for a moment feel frazzled. Thanks!
Just one question: What did you do with the strained tomatos/carrots/celery? It feels like such a waste to just dump them
December 16, 2013 at 2:09 pm Reply
Yes, I made this last night and it was delicious. We only needed one cup of flour to make the dough just right. #411 Leyla, we just used and immersion blender and did not bother to strain the tomato broth. We liked it chunky…it may not look quite as nice but using my home canned tomatoes…it was so tasty.
February 17, 2014 at 5:31 pm Reply
I agree with others that just leaving the carrot, celery etc in works just great! I’ve made this several times and it’s always a winner.
July 6, 2014 at 6:56 am Reply
Wow! Am I the only one who had an epic failure with this recipe? I did EXACTLY as the recipe says with the potatoes, but they never became usable– totally sticky even after more than 3.5 cups of flour. I now have a lump of sticky, floury potatoes in my fridge and might try to grout tile with them, but it did not work for gnocchi. Also, I grated the potatoes but the lumpiness of them never went away. It was terrible for us. On a positive note, the sauce was great. Question– after baking the potatoes, do you let the steam out or are they supposed to be really moist? I feel like our were just too moist and no amount of flour would help. Sorry, but I can’t try this one again without advice on what may have gone wrong. I’ve never had such bad luck with a Smitten Kitchen recipe.
December 28, 2014 at 12:04 pm Reply
deb
Julie — I’m sorry that you had trouble with the recipe. If it’s any consolation, gnocchi are definitely one of the peskiest things to make because potatoes are basically water in those tiny grainy cells and the more you “work” the dough, even to add more flour, the more water is released into the dough, i.e. the only way to make them is to work them as little as possible. It may be easier in the future to create more of a buffer with the flour between the dough log and the counter, less trying to work the flour into the dough to firm it up, but just to be able to cut and lift the pieces without them glueing themselves to the counter. I hope that made sense.
December 29, 2014 at 5:58 pm Reply
I’m making these again, might as well bookend the year with gnocchi. Loved them in January and looking forward to cooking/eating them again before the year is out.
December 30, 2014 at 9:18 am Reply
I also use an immersion blender and don’t bother straining (I would if I made it for anything but a family dinner). And after a few spectacular failures years ago, I am never trying to make gnocchi again. I know there’s nothing like good home made gnocchi, but store bought will have to be good enough for me…
January 28, 2015 at 6:09 pm Reply
I especially enjoyed the broth when I made this. Since my 2-year-old daughter loves tomato soup so much, I adapted this broth recipe to make a soup. I don’t strain out the vegetables. Instead I add some cream and then use an immersion blender to smooth it all out. I highly recommend this- in addition to the original recipe.
February 8, 2015 at 12:44 pm Reply
So my question is: are you against microwaves? As a full-time working mother of a 2 year old, ain’t nobody got time to spend an hour baking a potato that you’re going to mash and make dough out of. I made this recipe with that change – I washed my potato, pricked holes in it with a fork, microwaved on high for 5 min, turned and cooked an additional 4 min. This worked perfectly, the skin peels right off and away you go. The dish was perfect! Yum!
September 14, 2015 at 1:26 pm Reply
deb
Kara — Oh god no, I’ve just always had tiny terrible kitchens with no space for one. We have one now and I’d definitely use a microwave today.
September 17, 2015 at 1:32 pm Reply
I, like Julie, had trouble with this recipe. I kept adding flour tablespoon by tablespoon, and it was still a big, incredibly sticky ball. I finally resorted to rolling the ropes out on a floured surface, which worked. All in all, these were good but surprisingly much more work than homemade pasta!
Side note: I couldn’t bare to throw away the veggies from that wonderful broth (food waste is a huge pet peeve), so I put them in my blender with more broth, white wine, garlic, some parsley and tomato paste, and it made a pretty tasty blended soup!
January 3, 2016 at 4:34 pm Reply
Would this dish work if I browned them in a frying pan and then add to the broth instead of boiling?
January 7, 2016 at 1:00 am Reply
deb
Vrushali — Probably, although keep in mind they’re more fragile than storebought.
January 7, 2016 at 2:49 pm Reply
I made this and it worked beautifully! I’m in Melbourne and this year there have been parts of the summer that are quite mild, or rainy but humid-ish. This I think is actually light enough to work as a Spring/Summer soup – the summer flavours were *delicious*. I also love that I now have a bunch of leftover gnocchi in the freezer. I’d never considered putting gnocchi in a broth before but am definitely converted!
January 25, 2016 at 8:35 pm Reply
I forgot to mention that my oven is causing major issues atm, so I boiled the potatoes and then mashed them and let the heat dry out the excess moisture – this worked fine for me but your mileage may vary. I also loved the strained soup and another time I might want the thicker soup blitzed with all the bits. This time I really wanted to see what the broth tasted like and the texture – it was perfect for the warmer weather and the heavier soup would have been too much (much better for winter).
January 25, 2016 at 8:37 pm Reply
This recipe ultimately led to a number of variations, all spectacular. I love the simplicity of the recipe above, and also a version where I leave the veggies in, and add black beans and kidney beans. Feels oddly like a grownup chef Boyardee, which seems strange to say, but was so comforting as a kid.
October 4, 2016 at 2:08 pm Reply
This was spectacularly good and perfect as written. Hands on time (so not counting the baking of the potatoes and simmering of the broth) was only about 30 minutes, and I managed to use only one pot by rinsing out the pot I made the broth in and using that one to boil the gnocchi. Definitely try this!
October 9, 2016 at 7:58 pm Reply
Thanks, Deb. Now my daughter requests this every year for her birthday. Today, I have to make homemade gnocchi in tomato broth for a 7 year old on a day when I have a late-afternoon two-hour meeting. Sheesh. ;) We do love this recipe and I’ve made it a lot. Company gushes.
December 8, 2016 at 3:11 pm Reply
I’m obsessed with this broth. I will make it again without the gnocchi.
February 19, 2017 at 8:09 pm Reply
I made these and they were amazing .. and your cookbook rocks (and I am a vegetarian!!) … BUT .. I froze over half of my leftover gnocchi and when I went to cook them from the freezer they turned into horrible mush. No whole gnocchi just little clumpy messes. What went wrong?????
August 20, 2017 at 8:56 pm Reply
I just made this recipe and I have one little suggestion; make sure you thoroughly bake the potatoes. When I used my knife to pierce the potatoes, it went in easily…but I probably could have left them in a few more minutes (an hour and 15 minutes would have been better). When I grated the potatoes in the box grater, it worked well, but the potatoes grated like cheese…rather than falling apart. So when I mixed in the egg and flour, the potato strands felt in tact, and didn’t melt away. When I tasted the gnocchi there was more texture than I was expecting. I think by baking the potatoes more would have fixed this issue. WOW long comment, but in case anyone was wondering :)
February 14, 2018 at 11:14 am Reply
This is just so good, the broth is just heavenly. I’ve made it multiple times and have not had any problems with the recipe. I usually double the broth and gnocchi and freeze half of both of them. It is so simple to use the frozen broth and gnocchi for an easy weeknight dinner. I agree with the comment about making sure your potatoes are baked long enough. If you’re using really big baking potatoes I would add time to what is listed in the recipe. To freeze the gnocchi just lay them out on a lined sheet pan in the freezer until they’re really frozen before bagging them.
March 5, 2018 at 12:48 pm Reply
I made the gnocchi and tomato broth for the second time…and my guests said it was a very heartwarming and comforting dish. One of them is on a no sodium regimen, and even for her it hit the spot. Loved making this for them!
October 23, 2018 at 11:59 pm Reply
Hello, I’m new to cooking with wine so please tell me what kind of white wine you use/ purchase for this recipe?
February 11, 2019 at 9:32 pm Reply
This broth tastes like what I wish most tomato soups would taste like. How would you recommend thickening the broth to make it more like soup but maintaining the flavor?
May 9, 2019 at 2:20 pm Reply
deb
You can reduce it or add less broth to it.
May 9, 2019 at 3:18 pm Reply
I love this recipe. I par-cooked the potatoes in the microwave for about 6 minutes and then cooked them in the oven for about an hour. For a great snack, take the the potato skins, drizzle with olive oil and stir to coat, spread on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until browned and crispy.
August 2, 2019 at 7:09 pm Reply
Hi Deb, Would love to know how long the gnocchi may last in the fridge. They are delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
October 18, 2019 at 1:21 pm Reply
“Decidedly delicious” is from my 3.5 year old. I couldn’t agree more. I’m a first-time gnocchi maker and it was easy. Painless. I will definitely do this again.
November 4, 2019 at 4:39 pm Reply
Please let me know if you’re looking for a writer for your blog. You have some really good posts and I feel I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d absolutely love to write some content for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please send me an e-mail if interested. Thank you!
April 23, 2020 at 3:00 pm Reply
I live abroad and therefore do not have russet potatoes; I decided to try this out anyway even though russet was noted (stupid past self…) and since I followed every other aspect of the recipe precisely (and measured in weight, not volume), I can only assume that my potatoes were the problem. I had to add around double the noted quantity of flour to achieve a workable dough… and I didn’t even wait for “a dough that does not easily stick to your hands,” instead settling for a dough that could just be coaxed into a rope as long as all exposed sides were covered with flour. The resulting gnocchi were (predictably, considering the amount of flour) dense— similar to the gnocchi you can buy in the grocery store and not at all the light and fluffy pillows I wanted.
My failure is, of course, not Deb’s fault… I’m writing this mostly to caution any other international readers from attempting this, and of course I would be happy to hear if anyone has a potential solution to my problem.
April 26, 2020 at 6:13 am Reply
I made the gnocchi with some golden and some red skin potatoes (it’s what we had!) And used a crappy cheese grater. Then boiled for 2 min, then pan toasted them and made a brown butter, herb sauce. It was the best thing I’ve ever made!! Can’t believe how foolproof this recipe is!!!
May 3, 2020 at 11:03 pm Reply
This was our Christmas Day dinner! It was the perfect thing for a gluten-free + vegetarian + dairy free crowd. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour blend, and about 3 lbs of potatoes. I only needed about a cup of flour total – I think the extra “stickiness” of the gluten free flour (and how easily it seems to absorb moisture) really worked. I was afraid they would fall apart when boiled, but they were perfect, and just the same as all the times I’ve made this before with regular flour. I also used a bit of potato starch when rolling them out because.. potatoes. One other time-saving thing I’ve started to do is just dump out the whole can of tomatoes into a bowl, smoosh them under the liquid so they don’t squirt at you before you roast them, and then just dump the whole bowl into the broth later. It’s always close to 3 cups of liquid, and you’re just going to immersion blend the whole thing anyway, so it saves you having to wash a strainer.
December 28, 2020 at 10:29 am Reply
How do you mix the flour in (implement and/or method), from the start and then when it gets more difficult to combine? I see in the Gnocchi with a Grater recipe it says to use a wooden spoon to mix in the eggs but I’m curious if you use it up until the last knead-by-hand step, as the dough gets quite thick? After making them tonight this is what I was left wondering. They reminded me of gnocchi I’ve bought but I’m curious if they could have been fluffier!
January 13, 2021 at 12:53 am Reply
Thanks Deb, this was delicious. My dough was more sticky, but I did things that contributed to it’s high moisture, like adding an extra potato and not roasting my potatoes, preferring to microwave for 30 minutes or so instead. As well, the broth was not strained and its entirety split between 2 people along with half the gnocchi. I froze the other half of the gnocchi for a rainy day.
February 15, 2021 at 8:52 pm Reply
carole chiamp
I ate my mother’s potato gnocchi for years. Then one day she began making ricotta gnocchi. They were much lighter and I have been making them ever since. I like your tomato broth idea and will try the next time instead of a tomato sauce. Thanks.
July 16, 2022 at 1:21 pm Reply
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April 25, 2017 Comments Off on Tips For Successfully Managing Problems With Anxiety
Anxiety can be extremely annoying. You may be dealing with your daily routine, when out of the blue, you begin to feel anxious. This can have an effect on your mood and ruin your day. This article can help you find ways to combat anxiety and release stress.
Playing music will provide positive assistance with anxiety. Playing an album you love can be a great idea when you feel anxiety coming on. Try to focus on every note. Soon enough, you’ll forget about whatever is making you anxious. Keeping your mind busy really can be beneficial in dealing with anxiety.
If you are experiencing a serious anxiety, or panic attack, you should remember to breathe properly in order to calm down. We need to remember that our bodies are like machines, and taking proper breaths is what fuels them properly. Remember, to lengthen your exhalation, in order to relieve your anxiety a bit more.
See your doctor if you’re are like so many others who suffer from anxiety. You doctor can discuss the latest medical options available to help you cope with your symptoms. See your doctor to receive the proper treatment.
Meditate in the morning. Every morning, take fifteen minutes for yourself. Find a comfortable chair and close your eyes. Try to concentrate on a relaxing image, such as a peaceful scene, or the face of a loved one. If intrusive thoughts start to enter your head, repeat a mantra over and over, such as “I am relaxed”.
Keep yourself as busy as possible at all times. When you have down time, it will be easier for your mind to focus on negative things and will, therefore, fuel anxiety. Start your day out by cleaning the house, working in the garden, reading a book or doing some other activity that you enjoy.
When you’re stressed, watch how you breathe. While you experience stress, your breathing can get erratic, variable, or shallow. This panicked breathing pattern happens naturally when you become stressed. The human body, however, needs adequate amounts of water, food and oxygen in order to function. Focus on your breathing if you have an anxiety attack.
If you have a small snack that is high in protein right before you go to bed, you will help your body keep steady blood sugar in the night. Many times your panic attacks and anxiety will happen in the middle of the night. The cause of this is often low blood sugar, so a snack will help you stay asleep.
Many of those who have been professionally diagnosed as having an anxiety disorder will receive great benefit from joining and being active in a support or self-help group. Within the group, your day-to-day problems, plus personal achievements, can be shared with those who understand best, the ramifications of this disorder.
Live your life without letting anxiety turning your mood sour. You should strive to find happiness in your life everyday. Use the information in the article to help you live the life you want to live. Anxiety shouldn’t rule your life.…
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Four on the floor is certain style of drum beat where the bass drum is hit with a steady quarter-note pulse; four equal stomps on the foot-pedal per measure. It’s very different from older pop beats where the bass drum typically hits beats 1 and 3. It really came into prominence with disco in the seventies, a real departure from rock and funk. Four on the floor is popular now as the driving force of many kinds of electronic dance music.The evident goal of the four on the floor bass is to make the beat perfectly unambiguous; to allow the dancer to use as few brain cells as possible for discerning the tempo. Dance clubs pump thousands of watts of bass through specialized subwoofers to bring this home.
Composers have always been influenced by popular dance, and now is no exception. The electronic composer Four Tet was inspired to write the track “Sing” after a stint as a live DJ.
His music is a mixture of carefully chosen samples of found electronic and vocal sounds, digitally looped and manipulated. The dance-like four on the floor bass drum is the glue that holds it all together.
Mark Foley is principal double bass of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and professor of double bass and head of Jazz Studies at Wichita State University.
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I've noticed a growing trend in ministry. I highly doubt that it is something new. It manifests itself in things written or said by pastors in large, seeker oriented churches that have been "successful"--from the world's point of view--and it surfaces in things written or said by pastors of small, theologically robust churches that have been "successful" in not doing what large, seeker oriented churches do. It's what I like to call "a slot machine approach to ministry." It usually comes in the form of pastoral counsel or coaching that gives you the impression that if you just do such and such, then everything should turn out well. If you can avoid all of the pot holes you will have a smooth ride.
When it comes from the pastors of the larger and more outwardly successful churches, it gives you the impression, "if I just make the next right move or hire, the outcome will be growth, health or impact." When it comes from the pastors of the smaller, theologically robust churches, it often comes with the promise, "If you just faithfully preach the Word and pour yourself out in prayer everything will work out for the spiritual life of the congregation." It is a mechanistic approach to ministry that tends to leave the struggle and the painful providences out of the equation. It leaves out of the equation the fact that every congregation is different and made up of different sinners with different dynamics. Of course, none of the men writing the books and giving the counsel would ever dare say that pastoral ministry and leadership is easy or that there are not enormous struggles. But often, the principles they set out (principles that often work, I would add) are not offset by the reality of the painful providences of God in this fallen world--providences that are completely out of our control and that often seem to undo all for which we have labored.
I have come to believe that some of the most helpful pastoral reminders for any man preparing for ministry comes from the book of Ecclesiastes. After all, it was written by "the Preacher!" (Eccl. 1:1). Here are five valuable lessons from Ecclesiastes to remember in pastoral ministry:
1. Ministerial Success Doesn't Satisfy.
"For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow" (1:18).
"I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds...I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun" (2:4-11).
"Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind" (2:17).
2. The Outcome of Ministry Isn't Your's to Determine.
"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all" (9:11).
“As it happens to the fool, it also happens to me, and why was I then more wise” (2:15)?
"Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity" (2:18).
"I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him" (3:22)?
"For all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind" (4:4).
5. The Only Thing that Ultimately Matters is What God Thinks About Our Ministry.
"Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil" (12:13-14).
While there are many, many more lessons in Ecclesiastes from which pastors will get a much needed reality check, those that we have briefly considered suffice to show that no matter how diligent, knowledgeable, wise, skillful and gifted a man may be there is no mechanistic approach to pastoral ministry. God has promised to bless the faithful ministry of His word and sacraments for the edification of His church and the salvation of His people, but has not promised ministerial success so defined as we often define it. God has promised to save His people through the preaching of the message of Christ crucified, but he has not promised that diligent, knowledgeable, wise, skillful and gifted preachers will have an easier time navigating the challenges of ministry. In fact, He has promised that His ministers will be subject to suffering, difficulties and affliction as He uses them as vessels of mercy to carry the Gospel to a lost and perishing world--a world of fallenness and vanity. The more we remember these truths, the more resolutely we can face challenges and disappointments in ministry--even as we press on to seek to faithfully and skillfully minister to His people in the church.
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Kangana Ranaut's statement about Indian freedom has triggered an interesting debate with all nationalists hailing her
By
November 19, 2021
Kangana Ranaut's statement about Indian freedom has triggered an interesting debate with all nationalists hailing her
Actress Kangana Ranaut has been under severe “secular” attack. The mother of anti-India and anti-Sanatan “secularism”, the Congress, has been using all kinds of epithets against her and asking the Narendra Modi Government to “take back the Padma Shri given to her recently”. Some of the “secularists” have even gone to the extent of calling her “seditious” and accused her of insulting “freedom fighters”. They have asked the government to book her on the charge of sedition.
What provoked the secularists, Indian-style to attack Kangana Ranaut right and left and demand stringent action against her? The statement she made on November 11 while addressing an event organized by a leading news channel, Times Now Navbharat. Her statement, inter-alia, read: “India’s independence in 1947 was not freedom but ‘bheek’ (alms). And we got real freedom in 2014”.
I agree that Kangana Ranaut used a few inappropriate words which she should have avoided. For example, she could have avoided the word “bheek”. However, to say so is not to suggest that she didn’t make a very valid point. She did make and it was based on true facts. She did call the bluff of the Congress, the perverted Indian Left, the JNU, the AMU, the DU, to mention only a few, which have been forcing down our throat distorted and biased history for decades. That’s the reason her candid statements rattled the “secularists” of all varieties.
That Kangana was absolutely correct could be seen from the fact that the UK had transferred sham power to J L Nehru and Congress in 1946 itself. It could also be seen from the fact that on August 15, 1947, Pakistan was created out of India exclusively for Muslims, India and Pakistan were granted dominion status that day within the British Empire with King George VI as the Emperor of India and Lord Mountbatten as the first Governor-General of India. And, both had an “allegiance to the Crown”.
Not just this, it could also be seen from the fact that on August 15, 1947, J L Nehru and other unelected Indians, overwhelmingly Congressmen, were administered the oath of office by Lord Mountbatten and the oath was in the name of the “British King-Emperor”. That UK was almost in full command even after August 15, 1947, could also be seen from the fact that British Field Marshal, who was leading the Indian Army before August 15, 1947, continued to lead the Indian Army even after August 15, 1947, and judges appointed by the British were not removed from our high courts and the federal court.
It needs to be underlined that India remained a dominion till January 26, 1950, when the Nehru-led government enforced the Indian Constitution. The Indian Constitution is almost a replica of the Government of India Act of 1935, which the British Parliament passed and the UK Government ruthlessly applied to further weaken India, promote separatism based on religious fanaticism and hurt the Hindus.
All this should vindicate Kangana Ranaut. Similarly, one may and may not endorse fully her claim that “we got real freedom in 2014”. But it’s a fact that India started getting freedom in 2014. It was only in May 2014 that the awakened Hindus comprehensively defeated Congress in the general elections. It was not only booted out of power but also reduced to the status of 44. So much so, they denied Congress the opportunity to even occupy the seat of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The Hindus did the same to Congress in 2019. There are reasons to believe that things in under-threat India have started changing since 2014 and the Hindus may give a fillip to this trend taking into consideration the dangers facing the nation.
The whole point is that Kangana Ranaut could not be denounced for what she said. For, it’s a fact that the UK only transferred power to the Congress to mislead and hoodwink Indians, especially the Hindus.
The question to be asked is: Why is the Congress destroying India socially, culturally, economically, and politically; undermining the country’s democratic and Constitutional institutions; and weakening the Indian State itself? This is the question which most Hindus have been asking. The answer is simple and straight. The Congress was not founded by the Indians for achieving freedom from imperialist Great Britain, which started interfering in India and exploiting our natural resources through the canny, notorious, and barbarous East India Company in 1600 AD.
What happened in India between 1600 and 1857 in general and 1858 and 1885, in particular, is too well known to nationalistic students of Indian history and, hence, no need to recapitulate. Suffice to say that the British imperialists during this period devised and implemented policies calculated to consolidate and expand their rule in India; dividing the Indian society on caste and communal lines; playing one prince/ Nawab against the other; looting and plundering Indian resources and draining the Indian wealth; enriching the British economy; killing the indigenous Indian industry; pushing the outposts of the Empire further and further at the cost of the Indian exchequer; proving that their culture was superior, scientific and humane; conveying the feeling that the Indian culture and religion were responsible for the ills faced by the Indian society; creating a sense of inferiority complex among the Indians and inducing them to support the British in all matters; creating a class of loyalists among the Indians first in the shape of landlords and then the English educated Indians among the middle classes; and so on. To be more precise, they followed a policy of divide and rule, coupled with a policy of brutal repression and reward, to accomplish their designs in India.
They were successful. They ruled over India and exploited and persecuted the Indians with the help of the loyalists. Their whole policy was directed more by the British than by the Indian interests. All this ended the patience of Indians, barring the loyalists, and made them seethe with anger. By 1885, it had become clear to British imperialists and exploiters that the situation would go out of control anytime and it had become imperative to set up an organization in India with the help of English educated Indians so that they could avert the impending disaster before it was too late. The first initiative was taken by retired British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume. According to Sir William Wedderburn, Hume’s colleague and biographer, and Lala Lajpat Rai of Punjab, the reason that prompted Hume to establish an organization was his “anxiety to save India from disruption”. Wedderburn, who became the first chairman of the British Committee of the Indian National Congress, formed in 1889 in London, and remained in that post till the end of his life, candidly acknowledged that Hume knew that the “existing government administered by foreign officials on autocratic lines was dangerously out of touch with the people” and “there was an imminent danger of a violent revolt which might endanger British rule in India”.
It bears recalling that Hume had worked in Assam as District Collector for years and he knew what was going on beneath the surface. Anxious, alarmed, and religiously committed to London as he was, Hume first held discussions with the then Conservative Governor-General and Viceroy of India Lord Dufferin and then Conservative Secretary of State for India and Marquess of Salisbury Lord Randolph Churchill. Hume’s views were appreciated and he was given a free hand to take the required steps. His efforts succeeded in roping 72 English educated Indians, lawyers, nawabs, etc hailing from different parts of the country and the result was the foundation of the Indian National Congress in December 1885 at Bombay (now Mumbai). The clear objective was to puncture and defeat the ongoing Indian freedom struggle against the British with the help of some “influential” and “moderate” western-educated Indians like W C Bonnerjee, who believed in the “British sense of justice”. Bonnerjee presided over the first session of the Congress.
Between 1885 and 1947, Congress served as a “safety valve” for the Indian discontent. It was no more than an “annual forum” whose deliberations were given what certain leading historians call “exaggerated significance”. Indeed, there were leaders in the Congress who were genuinely committed to the cause of the country, but they were just odd faces in the party whose views were never considered. Take, for example, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sri Aurobindo Ghose, Bepin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, who represented “new Spirit”, and Subhas Chandra Bose and their fate. Those who controlled the Congress organization did not allow these great leaders to influence the Congress’s policy, which they rightly termed as ‘policy of political mendicancy’. The Congress split at Surat (Gujarat) in 1907 was the immediate fall-out of a conflict between the British-guided official Congress and nationalists like Bal, Pal, and Lal.
Earlier, in December 1905, when tempers were running high in the country following the partition of Bengal, President of the Benaras Congress Gopal Krishna Gokhale said while delivering his Presidential address: “For better, for worse, our destinies are now linked are now linked with those of England and the Congress freely recognizes that whatever advance we seek must be within the empire itself”. A year later in Calcutta, the Congress under the presidentship of Dadabhai Naoroji subverted the whole Swadeshi Movement. Naoroji, who was elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal candidate from Central Finsbury in 1892, was imported from London to do the dirty job.
As for Bose, he left the Congress in 1939 to found Forward Block so that he could fight for the independence of India the way he liked. He left Congress because he defeated M K Gandhi’s candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya in the 1939 Presidential election. Bose had won the election for the second time in a row hands down and commenting on the defeat of Sitaramayya, Gandhi had said: “Sitaramayya’s defeat was my personal defeat”. Earlier in December 1928 in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Gandhi and the loyalists had opposed Subhas’s amendment to Motilal Nehru report’s Dominion Status goal and called for “immediate reiteration of the complete independence objective”.
The Congress under the leadership and guidance of Gandhi did engineer three movements – Non-cooperation Movement (1920-February 1922), Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-1934) and Quit India Movement (1942), but all ended in a fiasco because the Congress leadership never wanted to take things too far. In February 1922, Gandhi unilaterally withdrew the Non-cooperation Movement on the ground that an Army pensioner Bhagwan Ahir and his associates burned alive 22 policemen in the police station at Chauri Chaura, Gorakhpur. Ahir and his associates were not Congressmen. Nor were they part of the Non-cooperation Movement. They had taken recourse to violence after the police had beaten up Ahir and then opened fire indiscriminately on the people who had come to lodge a strong protest in front of the police station. Gandhi dumbfounded the nation by withdrawing the movement at a time when the people had brought the British Government to its knees and it appeared that freedom was round-the-corner.
The Civil Disobedience Movement, which was started with much fanfare with Gandhi as its leader to attain Puran Swaraj also ended in a complete failure, notwithstanding the fact that people made supreme sacrifices for the cause of Puran Swaraj. But the Congress under Gandhi took no time in changing the goal post. In fact, Gandhi just gave an 11-point memorandum to Governor-General Lord Irwin which did not demand any change in the existing politico-constitutional structure, not even Dominion Status.
Remember, between 1928 and 1929, Gandhi had opposed those calling for another round of all-India mass struggle aimed explicitly at complete political emancipation. Gandhi rejected outright the “snap independence resolution”, which was been passed in his absence at the Madras session of the Congress in December 1927, and in Calcutta in December 1928, Gandhi pushed through a “compromise formula” that accepted the Dominion Status objective provided London granted it by the end of 1929, failing which the Congress would be within its right to start Civil Disobedience for attaining Puran Swaraj.
The fact of the matter is that the Civil Disobedience Movement did not achieve anything for India in the real sense of the term. India only got the Government of India Act 1935 which even a liberal like C Y Chintamani described as the ‘anti-India Act’. As for the Quit India Movement, which was started in August, the less said the better. The common people did make a splendid contribution to the movement ignoring the threat to their life and limb for the cause but the movement led India nowhere. The British defeated the half-hearted movement without much difficulty in just five months and London did not face any real political challenge from the Congress till August 15, 1947, when the British quit India not because the Congress did anything great but because of three other factors – pressure from below in India and sacrifices made by non-Congressmen and women, international situation and the internal situation in England. It would not be out of place to mention here that Gandhi had declared in 1940 that “we do not seek our independence out of Britain’s ruins”. He made this statement in the wake of the Second World War which started in 1939. Gandhi’s line was inconsistent with the line of Bose who wanted to strike as England was involved in the war elsewhere and the iron was hot.
In between, Congress signed a pact with the Muslim League at Lucknow in 1916 (Lucknow Pact) to grant a separate electorate to the Muslims and “bolstered” the Khilafat Movement under the leadership of M K Gandhi between 1919 and 1922. The objective was to “salvage the Ottoman caliph as a symbol of unity among the Muslim community in India”.
These constitute only a few of the several such instances which serve to demonstrate that, on the one hand, the Congress served as a tool of subversion of the Indian polity, and, on the other, promoted Muslim separatism. All this should prove that Congress never ever challenged England. On the contrary, it acted in a manner that always helped the British. Just compare the British social, economic, religious, and political policies evolved in England and implemented in India with the policies devised and implemented by the Sonia Congress-led UPA and you would find no fundamental difference between them. In fact, the Congress and the Congress-led Governments at the Centre caused more damage to Indian polity, society, and economy as compared to the damage England caused to India between 1600 and 1947.
It’s good that Kangana Ranaut said what she said about Indian freedom. It has triggered an interesting debate with all nationalists hailing her. It’s hoped the Narendra Modi Government would appreciate what she said. It would do well to underline that the Hindus will appreciate the custodians of the Indian State from the core of their heart the day Indian Constitution and educational, justice, and police systems are Indianised; India declared Sanatan Rashtra and Sanatan Dharma declared state religion. The sooner it is done, the better.
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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Hari Om is former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Jammu.
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Kumaresh TNK November 20, 2021 At 1:30 PM
Very nicely written article. Hope this article initiates debate in today’s society.
Savithri November 20, 2021 At 1:06 PM
A great sage in South India is supposed to have said when someone informed about India getting freedom -‘Good. Now that we are free, we have to start becoming independent’ or words to that effect!
I agree with Kangana. The first collective sense of independence was displayed in 2014.
VIJAY GALANDE November 20, 2021 At 1:02 PM
Irrespective of the contents, if what Mr. Khurshid opines is freedom of expression the opinion of Ms. Kangana must also fall under the freedom of expression.
shankara November 19, 2021 At 5:08 PM
Sir, your article itself is misquoting. “all nationalist hails kangana”. you are defending kangana only to degrade congress. this article don’t have proper head and tail. you have stated from freedom and ended in sonia gandi, congress etc. Congress of those days represented whole of india. Then the word ‘bheek’ is applied to all the martyred of india.
tell me one thing if tomorrow BJP looses election and congress/ghatbandan comes to power would you call the situation as ‘india lost its freedom’ ? and the second thing is many regiments of indian army are created by british, would you call that also as a bheek ? This arrogance of right wing will bring down modi soon.
R.Singh November 20, 2021 At 8:17 AM
How is it possible to degrade the degraded?
Nehru’s allegiance was to the British and Islamicists
The Mountbatten papers, his letters , his diary will show Nehru’s and MK Gandhi’s complicity with the Islamicist and the british colonialists
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Allison Bethell is a finance writer, boating enthusiast, small business owner, and consultant. She has a B.A. from Villanova University in Sociology and Business. She has more than seven years of content writing experience on a broad range of topics including boating, finance, insurance, real estate, small business, travel, and more. She has been featured in articles by outlets such as Forbes, The New York Times, The Street, Investopedia, and FitSmallBusiness. When she isn’t working, Allison loves to travel and has been to all seven continents. On the weekends, you may find her boating through one of South Florida’s intracoastal waterways with her family.
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Karen at Trident Funding is absolutely phenomenal. She was extremely responsive and explained the thoroughly explained the process. We would highly recommend her to anyone looking to finance a boat. She also offered competitive rates. It was a flawless process!
Vinny was great. Easy to work with and went above and beyond several times to get me information that I needed but wasn’t sure how to get. On top of all that, he’s a nice guy! Highly recommend
Outstanding coordination with my broker and insurance agents. And superb customer service. All of my questions were answered promptly and quickly.
Vinny was down to earth easy to work with and his response time amazing he made dead line that was important to me and family will do more work with him in the future
Karen is very good at what she does!
Michael and Lesley were both great to work with, helped us understand our loan options, and were quick to get our application processed and approved! Highly recommend!
We could not have been more pleased with the ease of the process to secure our boat financing. Vinny and the Trident team got everything prepared for us remotely by working with our broker and insurance agent which allowed us to enjoy our vacation. Status updates were frequent and helped us know all was proceeding properly.Great service, solid communications, efficient.Highly recommended!
They were very easy to work with and super fast! Michael was amazing! Would recommend them and use them again!
Vincent at Trident Funding was excellent at processing my boat financing and getting me a good rate. The steps were quick and easy, with good communication. I would highly recommend Trident Funding if you're in need of finance options.
Trident Funding came highly recommended to us and it was a great pleasure working with Vincent Luzietti and his team. He/They moved quickly to find us a great rate, handled all the details of our transaction, promptly responded with clear explanations to all of our inquiries, and coordinated a very smooth closing. I would absolutely recommend Vincent and his team!
Vinnie has been amazing to work with. I never had to wait for an answer on anything. He was available 24/7 to answer emails and phone calls. In all my time dealing with brokers I never worked with someone so efficient before. Its been a real pleasure!!
Vinny at Trident did a fantastic job with our loan for our new boat. Would highly recommend using him and his company very knowledgeable and gets it done quickly
Second time working with Mike and his team at Trident. Everything was professionally and quickly processed. Very happy with both transactions.
This is my 4th boat loan through Trident Funding in the last several years. Always the best rates and terms and a pleasure to work with Vincent! He really went out of his way to accommodate mine and my wife's schedule and got the deal closed within 2 weeks! Thanks Vincent!!
Vincent and Trident funding made the loan process for our new boat easy and painless. Great communication all the way throughout the process. Highly recommend
We worked with Vinny Luzietti out of Shelton, CT on a boat loan. He was very knowledgeable and professional, and was helpful throughout the process. He always responded quickly to questions, and the office visit to finalize the deal was friendly and efficient. All good! Thanks!
The process and communication was excellent. Vinny was always available to answer questions and move the process along. I would use Trident Funding again.
From start to finish Vincent made the whole process as easy as can be! He was super informative and answered every question i had. Walked me through everything and even got the loan completed in 2 weeks! Couldn’t be happier with vin and the entire trident staff.
Trident Funding made this process extremely easy. They were an excellent client advocate guiding me through the boat purchase process. Vincent and his team were very prompt and knowledgeable. This was my first purchase of a boat of this caliber and was very glad to have there assistance. I would highly recommend Trident and Vincent Luzietti!
Trident funding is an Outstanding organization. I worked personally with Vincent who was extremely professional, courteous and responsive. He promptly answered all my questions in a professional manner paying attention to every detail. I also work very closely with Dawn who was also extremely professional prompt and courteous. This organization is second to none and I highly recommend them.
Vincent Luzietti went the extra mile to find suitable financing at affordable terms for my 25 year old boat. He is always quick to respond to calls/texts/emails and is cheerful problem solver. He coordinated not only financing, but timely documentation and title search through the understaffed CG Documentation Center in record time. Bravo Zulu to Vinny and Trident Funding!
Great job! Marty was a pleasure to work with.
It was such a pleasure working with Jane. She went above and beyond to help us with the purchase of our boat.
I highly recommend Vinny and everyone at Trident Funding. Not only was Vinny responsive, but he was extremely helpful and knowledgeable. It is rare to find this level of service today. Thank you, Vinny and team!
Phenomenal customer service and follow up. Organized and concise. No question the organization to use for boat financing.
Our experience for obtaining a loan with Trident Funding was exceptional, all things considered. Shout out to Marty Huff and his team who got this done in record time! Long story short, go with Trident Funding and don’t let snail mail scare you! Now if you want to know why, then continue reading. Story time.My wife and I were applying for a loan to get our first ever boat, a used boat. We applied to two lenders: one being a credit union who is capable of e-sign and the other being Trident, who is not caught up with times and had to overnight FedEx our loan documents, which must be signed/notarized and overnight sent back via FedEx. We were pre-approved by both lenders with the same terms, so we anticipated on moving forward with the credit union to expedite the process by taking advantage of e-sign capabilities. On Monday, I received a follow up e-mail from Marty asking when we were looking to move forward with the paperwork. I e-mailed him back thanking him for his time, but we were moving forward with a different lender. He replied with no hard feelings and wished us the best of luck. However, that was until the credit union completely changed all the promised terms due to the age of the boat when we began to move forward (which was BS considering they knew the age of the boat when we applied, but that’s fine).I quickly called Marty explaining our situation. He told me no worries and the pre-approval was good for 30 days. More importantly, the terms were still the same. Here is where Marty went to work. I provided all paperwork on my end. Marty contacted the broker, who also went to work. The broker sent all the necessary requested paperwork. By the end of the business day, Marty overnight sent all loan documents with clear instructions via FedEx with tracking. On Tuesday, I received the documents. Marty saw the loan documents arrived and reached out to ensure he was available should we have any questions when signing the documents. My wife and I got the loan documents notarized/signed and got them overnight sent back via FedEx with the provided pre-paid packaging. On Wednesday, the loan documents were received by Trident early in the morning. One last document was needed from the Broker/Seller, which was done by the end of the business day. On Thursday morning, our loan was funded by the bank! The broker had to wait on the seller to sign off and finalize, but we were in our boat that officially became ours on Saturday!Long explanation, but if that story doesn’t speak to why you should go with Trident Funding and ask for Marty, I don’t know what will. Thanks Marty Huff and your team for your hard work. My wife and I are enjoying our boat as promised!
I had an amazing experience with Vinny @Trident. He truly was a pleasure to work with, on point, experienced and on top of everything from beginning to end. He was responsive and answered all the questions. A pleasure to work with someone that knows his stuff! Thank you Vinny & team- you were a GEM!
it was a pleasure dealing with Vinnie he made everything very easy and simple would deal with him tomorrow again thanks Vinnie
Vinny was fantastic. Very responsive and closed on the boat within hours of the boat arriving. Will definitely use them again.
Vinny was fantastic. He was very efficient and made the process so simple. I highly recommend Vinny and his organization.
We Had the most smooth and pleasant experience with Trident funding , Vinny and Amie were very helpful. They were professional, and pleasure too work with. We would highly recommend them for your financing needs.
Trident was very professional and prompt. When I needed help they were just a phone call away. I drove quite a distance to pick up a boat to my liking and was on a time table. Shanna and Amy were courteous and professional in meeting my needs, and everything happened on time. Thanks for all your hard work.
Frustrating experience. Filled out their loan estimator info on the home page and was shown with my parameters that I would qualify for a boat loan with 4.99% (I have top tier credit). Went ahead and applied for a loan based on that and was quoted a rate of 6.74%? Would not have formally applied and had a credit inquiry on my report if I would have been presented such a high rate at first. I must say that the President of the company did reach out to me directly to apologize.
I can’t say enough about Vinny. From beginning to end it was the smoothest transaction that I have dealt with. He definitely went above and beyond to get my deal closed. I highly recommend him and will definitely be using him in the future.
Jane Tayman and the entire Trident team was incredibly professional, responsive and service oriented throughout the entire process! Highly recommend.
Vinny has helped me out twice now, and in both cases he made sure my closings stayed on track and moved forward. He always answers his phone and emails, and goes above and beyond in servicing his clients.
I cannot say enough good things about Trident Funding (5+ stars). Vincent and his team are extremely responsive, knowledgeable and timely. They do exactly what they say they will do from the beginning to the end of the loan process. Always two steps ahead of you as the client. You do not need to chase them like other lenders during the process. They exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend Trident Funding.
Vincent Luzietti at Trident Funding helped us get our boat loan without any issues. it was an easy process and Vincent was always reachable if I had any questions. Thank you for making this a process trouble free.
Call Vincent if you want to deal with a pro!!
The process could not have been more simple. Communication was fantastic and every phase was seamless. Will definitely use them again.
Vinnie did an amazing job! While others tried to hit us over the head, Vinnie helped us find the right lender to secure the financing for our used(new to us)boat. I highly recommend using Vinnie and the Trident Lending team, for your next purchase.
Vincent was amazing, he helped.get me approved for the amount I needed so that I could close my deal.Vincent made the paperwork painless as he handled everything from start to finish.I will be recommending Vincent to all my friends and family who my have financing needs.
Lesley and Mike were great to work with! Responsive, answered all our questions, and got us an excellent rate. Recommended.
Have worked with a lot of lenders over the years and Vincent is at the top of my list. Responsive and professional. Will use again without question.
Jane was fantastic- again! We have used her assistance with several boat loans over the years and she delivers exceptional service!
Vincent Luzietti from Trident Funding made the process of funding my new boat an easy, fast, and super helpful experience. Thank You Vinny!!!-Brian
Great Experience! Vincent was patient as my boat was delayed and worked very fast as soon as I was ready. Highly recommend!
Trident Funding made my vessel purchase quick and easy. Regional Sales Manager Jane Tayman answered all my questions either immediately or within minutes which I found extraordinary. I recommend Trident to anyone financing a vessel.
We used Trident Funding to help us secure a loan for vessel we were purchasing and John Schachel was very helpful with the whole process from start to finish. Our process was made a little complicated with insurance and survey's which slowed it down more than I'd like but the Folks at Trident helped us however they could and ultimately made it a good experience.
Great experience.
Our experience with Marty was smooth and without any bumps in the road. He was very timely with his responses and easy to communicate. We highly recommend working with him!
Great experience! Lesley helped guide us to a great loan and was knowledgeable and patient with us while we searched for the ‘right’ vessel, which is difficult given the demand. Great team to work with.
Trident Funding.The best finance experience I ever had.Vincent Luzietti was incredible helping me navigate purchasing my dream boat.he worked hard to get me a excellent interest rate as well walked me every step of the way, super responsive to emails, excellent communication.Highly recommended.
Working with Vinny could not have been more pleasant. The process was streamlined with Trident and we quickly worked towards an approval. This is my second time working with Vinny and I highly recommend him for anyone seeking boat financing!
Vince is exactly what is needed in a tight boat market. Fast approval then able to keep the approval alive during this exhausting search. Then rocket fast to the finish line when my seller gave us unreasonable barriers. This is my third deal with Trident and I wouldn’t hesitate recommending to anyone!
Trident Funding is THE place to obtain your loan from! I have obtained several loans from Vincent and he was always a pleasure to work with. He’s responsive and gets the job done quickly and efficiently!
Vince made the process effortless and most importantly came back with a great rate! He took care of everything and for someone as busy as I am, that was very helpful.
Vince Luzietti is an asset to your company. After a disappointing experience with other loan officers...Vince was professional, responsive and worked very quickly to obtain our time sensitive approval in this competitive market. I highly recommend him and his CT team for your marine financing. A pleasure to work with!
This is our third time working with Vinny on purchasing a Boat and every time he makes it a good experience and mentors you through the process. Always honest, always upfront and knowledgeable with options for purchasing as well as insurance. I highly recommend Trident funding and personally Vinny if you are considering purchasing a new or used boat.
Highly Recommended!! Trident Funding worked quickly and very diligently to get my boat loan approved!! Lesley was amazing and couldn't be more happy with the whole process!!
Vincent with Trident funding just gets the job done! I recently obtained financing on a fairly difficult deal that others were unable to get done. I don’t think there lives another broker that is as responsive to his clients as Vincent.
Vinny and his team take client service to the highest level. Very responsive, friendly and professional from start to finish! The boat lending process was simple and efficient. I highly recommend the Trident team!
Trident funding is prompt, professional Highly recommended. Emails are answered literally in minutes by Vin Luzietti. Could not ask for a better experience.Jim Lawroski
Used Trident to source financing for my sailboat. They were very responsive and patient with all of my newbie concerns/knowledge gaps. Had the best rates available by FAR!
Best rates and service.
wow, mike at trident funding was such a pleasure to work with. I closed on my dream of owning a sailing trimaran this morning. the only way this happened was because of how easy it was to converse with mike and how fast he was to get back to me with his questions and my concerns. I originally went with a big bank that had a good reputation in the area, still havent heard back from the big bank!!! glad I went with mike - I cant wait to get back on the water in my new boat!!! thanks mike
I worked with Vincent Luzietti for my boat financing and he had me approved for my loan within in the same day, at a rate lower than he originally estimated! With all the craziness going on it's nice to have a deal go through so quickly and easily. Also, Vincent took the time to explain everything about the application. Vincent did exactly what he said he would do, and I would not hesitate to recommend Vincent in the future.
I worked with Michael Jenkins on the funding of our Beneteau sailboat and the process couldn't have been any better! The transaction was a bit more complicated in that we were purchasing the vessel from Canada and had to import into the US. Our initial lender couldn't help us due to it being a foreign transaction. Michael came to the rescue, was super helpful through the whole process, and made it a truly quick and painless transaction for us. I can't recommend Trident Funding highly enough!
He got the job done when other did not
Vincent Luzietti at Trident Funding made my boat financing experience one of the simplest financial transactions for a boat purchase I have ever undertaken. He obtained a competitive rate and facilitated all documents for the closing. I highly recommend his service and experience.
They go above and beyond. We have worked with Vinny for years. He makes the process very easy.
Mike Jenkins made our boat funding process so easy! He exhibited great patience as our closing shifted multiple times due to boat delivery delays... Additionally his rates were the best! It's always a pleasure doing business with professionals that you can trust and Mike is one of those individuals!!! Most strongly recommend him!!!
Trident funding and personally Vincent Luzietti is great to work with. I have worked with multiple marine lenders and nothing compares to Vincents services. I am on my 3rd boat loan with Vincent and will never use any other lender. He is a miracle worker! Highly recommended!!
I highly recommend Trident Funding and specifically Vincent Luzietti. He was extremely professional in my most recent boat purchase. Not only did he make the experience easy to navigate but their rates were significantly better than the other quotes I received. I was very pleased and will return again on my next boat purchase.
Thank you to Vinny and Trident Funding for such a great experience with my boat loan and purchase!! Vinny was professional and was always available if I had any questions. The process was seamless from start to finish and I could not be more pleased with Trident Funding. If you want an easy, stress free, and efficient loan process look no further. I highly recommend Vinny and Trident Funding.
This is our second round with Trident - We returned for good reason. The service and performance were 5-Star on both occasions. We'll be back a third - but only if we "need" a different boat somewhere down the line. Many thanks to Trident.
Robert Dunford at Trident was the absolute best to worth with! Sometimes getting financing is a daunting process, but Robert took care of everything.
The Trident team is a true find in the complexities of the marine loan community. Where others saw difficulties Trident found solutions with forward thinking. If you want service, value and confidence look no further!Mike Ripka
Vincent and his team over at Trident Funding made my boat purchase a breeze. We got a very aggressive rate, everything was done remote, fast and easy. Emails and calls were answered in quick order and with optimal responses. Trident is a leader in this niche space and wouldn't go anywhere else if funds are needed to purchase a boat!
Jane was very informative and responsive throughout the entire process, and I highly recommend her and her team!
We have financed 2 boats with Mike at Trident. Both times the process was quick and straight forward. I have an adversity to loans of any kind but with no early payment fees, it made it an easy decision. If we buy a third boat, I would use them again.
Great Experience purchasing our HCB 42' !!!! We bought from a private seller and Jane helped us through the entire process. Thank you!
Mike at Trident was great to work with! He was very helpful, personable and made the loan process easy and it went smoothly. I would highly recommend them.
Trident Funding - especially Vinny Luzietti - are awesome. Vinny arranged some terrific financing for my new boat, was always incredibly responsive and (patiently!) explained the complex documentation needs in a very clear and understandable way. He also was clearly on top of everything the entire way. Really he excelled in every aspect. I would not hesitate recommending him and Trident to anyone looking for marine finance.
Vince is the best!! Barr none!! He got me a mortgage in 5 hrs and saved me on the apr!! Thank you Vince your customer service and experience really come through during the process.
Great all around. They moved quickly and provided excellent great finance options at very competitive rates.They have assisted with financing two boats for me over the years and I’ll be back in touch on my next boat.THANK YOU
Vinnie and team were terrific partners, attending to my deal at all hours, and got it done quickly and without a fuss. In addition, their rate was competitive. There's a reason they were referred to me by all the top dealers in the area. Will call them again when I'm ready for a bigger boat.
Working with Michael Jenkins in the financing of my boat was a straight forward and good experience. He did an excellent job in obtaining the best possible rate for my purchase. He gave me multiple options to consider. Very responsive and always got back to me quickly with professional answers to all my questions and concerns. I highly recommend Trident Funding!
I would highly recommend Vincent Luzietti and Trident funding. Vincent is a true professional. He finds the best rates for your loan and is always available to answer questions. Even long after the loan is done, he is happy to help with any questions or issues. I had used another lending company for a previous boat and can tell you that Vincent and Trident will be my go to for any future boat loans.
We tried another financing option. Three weeks in they were slow and hadn't accomplished what we wanted. Through a reference we contacted Vincent. He was incredibly organized, professional and efficient. Told me at the get go what he needed. Within 2 (TWO) days he had us financed at a great rate, and the kicker was, he got us more than we were looking for. A wonderful experience. I highly recommend !!!!!
Vincent Luzietti of Trident Funding could not have made it easier and been more responsive and professional every step of the way in securing my boat loan. Thank you Vincent and all at Trident for expediting and promptly answering all of my questions along the way. I highly recommend Vincent and his team at Trident. Thank you!
We worked with Lesley on financing our new boat and she was incredibly knowledgeable and efficient. I hope I keep our new boat for 10+ years this time, but if not - I'll definitely use Trident Funding again. :)
Vinnie and his team were extremely responsive and professional. They made our boat financing simple, straight-forward, and efficient. We will definitely be working with Trident again when we're ready for an upgrade!
Trident funding really sets a high bar when it comes to the marine industry. They are responsive, timely, and professional. Mike got me the lowest interest rate on my boat that he has ever seen - so that's a win for everyone! Given how busy this industry is these days, and it's generally more "relaxed" approach to doing business, I really appreciate Trident and their support and sense of urgency. Will definitely go back to Mike for my next boat!
We would highly recommend Trident Funding. Vincent Luzietti must be the most professional marine finance specialist out there. Incredibly responsive and client focused. Simply outstanding! Thanks Vinny.
Vincent Luzietti is very knowledgeable and dependable. We could not have asked for better service assisting us with our yacht closing. I highly recommend Trident!
From start to finish the process was seamless. Vincent was a pleasure to deal with. He made it very easy and answered all my calls on the first ring. Totally impressed. I would highly recommend Vincent and Trident funding.
Karen Floyd was off the charts! She made everything go very smooth. Thank you Karen and Trident Funding.
Just call Vinny at Trident for all your yacht funding! Vinny was a pure professional knowing the market through and through and proving he can get things done quick and easy. Vinny even came an hour and half to make a personal introduction and to sign off the docs. In a world of texts and zoom calls, a good old fashion face to face and a handshake still means a lot in my book. Trident will be getting all my future business as well as my circle of friends. Thanks Vin!
My wife and I were turned down by a few banks before it was recommended we give Trident a try, and I am so glad we did. We were turned down by our bank, and given an extremely high interest rate at another. When I contacted Michael at Trident I was not very hopeful we’d be able to get a loan. To our surprise we qualified in less than 24hrs with an interest rate that was almost half of what one credit union quoted us. The process was quick, professional, and trident was very communicative allThe way until we closed. We couldn’t recommend more!
Trident Funding/Vinny Luzetti is absolutely the best in the marine financing industry. We have had 8 boats and Vinny, by far, is the best. The consummate professional, Vinny knows his area of expertise inside and out, understands sense of urgency, and has the highest work ethic. Vinny understands the world of boating and seamlessly applies his personal knowledge to achieve the best for his clients.
Vinny at Trident was a great person to work with on the purchase of my new boat. He is supremely knowledgeable, respectful and prompt with communication. He made the process a breeze. I highly recommend doing business with him.
Vinny was a pleasure to work with and handled every aspect of the process professional and timely. He immediately answered our questions and kept us informed. Vinny took the stress out of the entire process and I wouldn't hesitate to use him again and recommend to friends and family.
Best in the business. Vincent got me and my wife the boat we truly wanted. Excellent service and prompt service. Thank you again. A++++
John and the Trident team were great! We had a deadline to meet and they all came together and worked hard to make the process seamless and make sure we were able to close the financing on time to meet our deadlines. Thanks to John and the entire team!
I truly can’t give out anything other than positive praises for Trident and their amazing Joan Burleigh! She was THE ideal person to work with. If I could use just two words to describe her, they’d be: thorough and thoughtful. Joan is someone who puts the level of concern and diligence into her work that makes it feel as if she were crafting a loan for a very close family member. She was that caring, hard-working, and genuine. Thank you, Joan, for everything!
I would highly recommend Trident Funding. Michael and Lesley were fantastic and very responsive, able to answer the many questions I had and coordinated the transaction with my broker. They went the extra mile by getting this closed on a Friday before the holiday weekend so I could use the boat that weekend. I would use them again!
Fastest service I ever had processing any loan. Very responsive to my needs. Great rates and great terms. Can't speak highly enough about Vincent, made the whole process effortless. Thank you for all you did.
Vincent Luzietti, closed my boat loan in a week. He was professional, efficient, friendly and amazing. He did most of the leg work, Thanks Vinny, your the best!
I had the pleasure of working with Vincent during the purchase of my 75' Lazzara and 105' Leopard. During both acquisitions he provided amazing customer service, utmost professionalism, and seamless efforts. I will certainly pass on Trident Funding to anyone seeking for boat financing.
Marty did a great job
Lesley was very helpful and patient taking me through my first boat financing experience. Responsive and professional.
Vincent has been incredibly helpful on a few boats that I have purchased. Best rates, fast, friendly and responsive. He has also helped with various items such as documentation long after the deal was complete. They are my go-to people and I have nothing but good to say about them!
Michael Jenkins and his Team were fantastic in supporting the financing of our boat. They were responsive, requests were clear and they closed the loan early. We highly recommend Trident Funding. Doug and Julee
I can’t say enough great things about working with both Lesley and Michael. What a great team they are! I often times get impatient and want things done immediately despite knowing that there is a process to go through. Lesley kept me calm from beginning to end. We were on a tight timeline from the survey and sea trial to the closing, but I’m happy to say that we did it. It was sure worth it!I will add that I tried working with another lender before Trident Funding, but the responsiveness was just not there. I had a sense of urgency, but they didn’t. So very happy with my lender and my new boat! Thanks for all the future memories!!!
Professional service! Loan was approved in one day and the closing was hassle free. Would highly recommend this company.
Vinny was very responsive to my needs. He handled the deal in a professional manner. Highly recommend for any loan needs. Thank you, Vinny!
When I was looking to finance a boat purchase, I struggled to find someone who could meet the timelines our seller demanded. Trident was recommended to me. I called and Leslie took care of all our needs quickly and professionally. There were a few unexpected hiccups that she expertly navigated for us. In the end, I felt like I could relax knowing she was on the job. I would highly recommend Trident for anyone looking to finance a boat.
Jane and her team we extremely prompt and professional. My loan was approved with two phone calls and an online application. The documents we overnighted and returned, and we closed two days later. Couldn’t have been easier. Would highly recommend Trident for any of your marine financial needs.
Lesley and Mike did a Great job finding us a good rate. They made the transaction quick and easy. We highly recommend trident funding!
Mike and Leslie guided us through the entire documentation preparation process and kept us informed of what needed to be done by what time. A huge benefit to us while we were immersed in hull surveys, mechanical surveys and trying to find moorage. A huge number of moving parts. As a final act of incredible service, Mike met us after-hours 30 miles from his office to get documents signed for closing. This is our second marine financing project we've done with Trident and will definitely utilize them in the future.
First time dealing with boat financing. John did a superb job! The loan process was simple, John answered all questions I had promptly! We closed on the loan 5 days earlier than we expected. Thanks Trident Team!
When my wife decided we wanted a new boat a few months back, we were very fortunate to connect with John Schachel with Trident Funding early in the process. Not only did John respond to my requests to evaluate three different boats , but he shared insights he has learned over his 30 years of industry experience. Once surveys were complete, he exceeded our expectations and had our loan package to us within 2 days. If you are looking for a lender, I recommend you reach out to John and the Trident Lending team in Fort Lauderdale.
I don't remember a transaction of any kind going smoother than it did with Mike Jenkins at Trident. They took care of all the details and were always on top of the next steps. Don't look any further. This is the kind of company you'll go back to over and over again.
If you are financing a boat, call John Schachel at Trident Funding Fort Lauderdale immediately! My loan closed in ONE WEEK from first contact to final signatures and disbursement. John and his team saved my private party boat purchase after a "big," "national" lender failed at every turn. I would never use another company after this experience. I was approved for a loan with very competitive rates within hours. John answers his phone, responds to texts and emails, and provides updates constantly. He is exceptionally knowledgeable, professional, well-spoken, honest and hard-working.If you are trying to finance a boat in this market, you have to move fast to secure the deal. We lost our boat last year and I spent 11 months searching for a suitable replacement. I started my financing journey with a "big" company on Aug 4 and had zero progress weeks later. It took 6 days to get approved. The company and agent would not return calls or emails and did not care about the client. They're auto-generated emails suggested 2-5 weeks for closing, which is longer than it takes to finance a mortgage and unacceptable in this market. On Aug 23, I called John and he picked up on the second ring. He had me approved that afternoon and scheduled a third party inspection, which was executed the following day. He requested required documents and processed them without delay. By the time I fired the initial company on Aug 26, they still had not yet ordered the required inspection. On Aug 30, John called me to say, "Congratulations on your new boat". Our family cannot thank him and Trident Funding Fort Lauderdale enough for helping us purchase our dream boat!
We just did our paperwork with Mike and the experience was nothing short of amazing! I’ll be recommending everyone to go through them. They were professional, easy to work with, and fast! Nothing worse than sitting and signing for hours on end. They made this process painless and actually fun (like it should be)! Thank you to Mike and the team for helping us.
Purchasing a boat has been a really long process. Funding with Trident was the easiest part. Michael and Leslie simplified everything for us as we live out of state, that was fantastic.
Jane was awesome!! She answered any & “many” ?s I had for her!! I highly recommend trident funding & Jane Tayman if you are looking to financing a boat!!
I got a boat loan from the Trident Funding - everything went smooth and the team was very professional and responsive.
Jane at Trident funding was amazing to work with through the loan process. She was able to quickly get everything in order to finalize my purchase on a new boat. I'm a return customer to Trident and will continue to recommend their services to anyone! Thanks!
I am so thankful that I had John Schachel and the Trident team helping me through the process of financing a boat. I'm so thankful to have such a knowledgeable professional walk me through the process. I had originally assumed that it would be as easy as just buying a car. Not at all! More like buying a house haha! Trust me, don't use an online loan service. The expertise of John and his team is unmatched. Not only did they guide me along the way, but they made it possible to close the deal super fast!
Jane was on the ball providing necessary documentation and returns phone calls..... a pleasure to work with and I would recommend her to anyone interested in buying a boat!Great job Jane!
Jane was absolutely amazing and made this closing the best of all of our many deals with other companies!
Loved working with Jane. The process was smooth and seemless.
Mike and Leslie were wonderful to work with at Trident. They were responsive and very knowledgeable. We will certainly use them again in the future.
What a wonderful experience. Lesley was so kind and patient helping me through this process. Purchasing a boat is very complicated but Lesley and Michael made it seem easy! I would most certainly recommend them to a friend.
I did not know financing a yacht was going to be so complicated. I reached out to John Schachel for help and he walked me through the whole process until the deal was done. Thanks John and the Trident Team for helping me buy the yacht of my dreams!
Mike and his staff at Trident Funding are rock stars. If you need financing for your boat, you can't find a better team than Trident. He is always available by phone or text, and delivers what he promises.
Great and fast service! Very friendly and works with you for your individual needs! Highly recommend!
Friendly, efficient and on point. The transaction, from application to closing, to DNR registration was perfect.
I don't have enough good things to say about these folks. John Schachel and Julio Santana handled my account which was the purchase of an Everglades 224 CC. They understand what customer service means and handled my loan efficiently and efficiently. I wish that more companies and their representatives understood how important customer service is.
I decided to purchase my 31' Formula knowing I was on a tight time-frame as I was leaving out of town on vacation. The seller's boat broker referred me to Trident Funding / Julio Santana. Julio was prompt, clear, and fast, and made the process easy. I got my approval within a day and got all set to close well within my time-frame. If and when I ever buy another boat, Julio and his team will be my first call. Thank you Julio, Amy, and team for making this transaction stress free and seamless!!
The Team at Trident made for a seamless transaction getting us into are 1st boat. Michael and Lesley were great and presented me with different options to best suite my needs. I will use them for my next boat and gladly refer them to friends!
Great service, Michael is very responsive and a fun person to work with. Highly recommend Trident as a one stop shop that will exceed your expectations.
Lesley and Michael are wonderful to work with! In my professional career I have worked with many many lenders and Trident was, by far, the most responsive, helpful and knowledgeable of them all. I highly recommend them.
Don't waste your time with the Newport Beach, CA office. Dealt with a loan officer who clearly couldn't be bothered to understand my unique financial situation. Found another company (Seacoast Marine Finance, highly recommended ask for Travis) that wanted to do business and now enjoying my new sailboat.
John Schachel was excellent. He communicated and handled everything very professionally on my boat loan. I am going to use him again. Thank you John
Mike and Lesley were a pleasure to work with... extremely responsive, knowledgeable, detailed, and efficient. They both made us feel like we were their only client and made a very large purchase for us a very smooth and transparent process. While I hope not to be buying another boat for a while, we will definitely not hesitate to utilize the services of Mike Jenkins and Lesley Bishop again when we do! :)
Worked with Lesley @ Trident Funding for our financing. She obtained a great rate and worked with our broker to close the sale amazingly fast. Would definitely recommend their services and will certainly return for our next purchase.
I usually don't write reviews, but in this case I had too. I recently purchased a boat using Trident Funding, dealing with Kyle Knodt and have to say he was unbelievable. Kyle took care of everything, communication was amazing. The sale went flawlessly all due to his hard work. If anything I would urge anyone seeking boat financing or any other type of financing call Kyle he made it look easy. As I said I don't write reviews, but as a retired police officer of 25 years, I know people he is the real deal Thanks so much Kyle!!!
Mike Jenkins and his team at Trident Funding were fantastic to work with. Very responsive to text and emails, and helped us navigate our first boat purchase successfully. The loan rates he was able to obtain for us were better than any listed rates we could find online.
Mike Jenkins (and every other person we worked with) at Trident Funding were fantastically helpful! They answered our questions clearly and quickly. They were super responsive. We were able to secure an outstanding rate and now have our dream boat! I highly recommend working with Trident Funding!
Worked with Jim Weston on a boat loan. Incredibly knowledged professional who clearly understands his craft and how to get the best possible results for his clients. Very highly recommend calling him directly if you need help with financing for your watercraft/yacht.
I rarely submit reviews, but this one is a must. I highly recommend Trident Funding. My husband and I worked with Loan Representative Jim Weston who was very kind, professional, responsive and supportive. He worked hard at getting us the best rate and the best term. He followed up with on a consistent basis and thoroughly explained the process of purchasing a boat. Most of all he was patient and kind. When my husband and I finally purchased our boat he was just as excited as we were. We definitely will be repeat customers and a referral source for Team Weston. Will & Lisa S.
Mike and the staff at Trident were great. Responsive and thorough. I will use them again.
Mike and Lesley did a great job securing a refinance of our boat loan. The rates they were able to secure were a full 2 percentage points lower than our local bank could offer. They literally saved us tens of thousands of dollars over the life of our loan. All the paperwork went through without a hitch. I highly recommend them.
We've worked with Mike at Trident Funding on a number of loans and appreciate his professionalism, attention to deal, the loan value he brings and how simple he makes it all. Highly recommended!
My entire process was stress-free! I highly recommend them! ! !
Trident really knows the business and has the experience required for your lending needs. Mike was very prompt and helpful. He has a great attitude and makes the process easier and faster than expected. Thank you Mike and Trident funding!
I highly recommend their services. Marty was professional, responsive and thorough. There are many ways for Boat transactions to go sideways. Using Trident and Marty you can check financing off that list!
My husband and I had a fantastic experience with Jane she very quick on processing our loan and responded to all our needs very quickly. We will definitely recommend Jane and Trident Funding for anyone looking for a boat loan.
As first-time boat owners/purchasers, Mike made the process awesome. He was informative, responsive and overall really great to work with. I would recommend him to anyone looking for boat financing.
I found Trident Funding via a search engine and was very pleased with the result. I enjoyed very much working with Mike Jenkins on our boat loan. He was helpful and efficient and even pointed me to an outstanding insurance provider who was equally helpful. So Thanks Mike, for making the loan process a painless and enjoyable experience.
Mike is an exceptional financial professional with an excellent team. I appreciated his experience and wisdom through the process of finding the right financing package for our boat purchase. I'm particularly grateful for his continual, proactive communication over the 6 months from initial contract signing for our purchase to the final closing . His team handled all the details, paperwork and logistics efficiently and conveniently, and generally made the whole process convenient and stress free.
Our experience with John Schachel at Trident Funding was fantastic. John is very knowledgeable and answered our questions thoroughly and quickly. Thanks to John and Trident funding, the loan process for our first boat was smooth and painless.
I've worked with Mike and his team both personally for our own boat loan and professionally as a yacht broker. Mike's loan processing is simple and very efficient. Mutual clients tell me Mike had them approved for the loan before their own bank even responded back. Communication, processing, signing and closing all go extremely smooth and professional. Thanks Mike and team for providing a great service.
Karen Floyd handled my boat loan and she made the whole process seamless and simple. She is extremely good in the business. I will never hesitate in recommending Karen and Trident to my friends and associates. Thank YOU for a great lending experience.
I have used Mike and Leslie for the last 15 years. They have alway been very professional and extremely efficient. The best compliment I can give them is that my clients go back to them with every new purchase.
Can't recommend them enough. They did the research to get us competitive rates, but also made sure everything went smoothly with registration and found errors in the current registration that needed to be rectified in the transfer. Everything was solved through minimal email communication and when we showed up to sign papers it was a cinch.
Mike and the Trident team were true PROs. Start to finish the experience was seamless. Working off a referral we had high expectations and Mike exceeded them at every opportunity++
My experience with Trident has been exceptional. John S responded within minutes to every text or email question that I had, we finished up the entire process in just over 1 week including shipping docs and everything is highly organized. I would highly recommend Trident to everyone.
The whole process from the moment we called and spoke with Jane it’s like a breath of fresh air. Straight forward no sugar coding. Very smooth transaction. Great communications through out the process.What a great experience.Thank you Jane and the whole team at Trident
Mike and the Trident Funding Team are amazing to work with and this is our second major boat loan in the last 12months. We had very quick approval letters and closing dates. This team is very responsive and the process was super easy. Definitely will be in touch for our next RV purchase
My wife and I started talking about buying a boat a few years ago, but it wasn't until this year that I got serious about it. I had worked with Jane several times to get the loan pre-approved, but the deals always fell through. Finally, I made an offer of a boat that was accepted, and Jane worked with me to make it a reality. Jane made the closing as painless as could be. I would highly recommend Jane and Trident Funding anytime!
The whole process was easy and efficient, very nice and understanding staff.
Mike and Lesley at Trident were amazing to work with on financing our boat. The entire process was very efficient and painless even during this crazy pandemic! Definitely recommend Trident Funding!
Great Company to work with in getting a loan
Jane Tayman is the best! Always very professional and friendly. She is responsive and does what she says she can and will do.This is my third time using Trident and it won’t be my last. Thank you Jane and the entire Trident team.
Jane and team were professional, courteous and knowledgeable. Would highly recommend for your boat loan.
Karen did a great job with our boat loan! She was professional and organized during the whole process. It made it easy for us. Highly recommend!
My wife and I had been boat shopping for several months, and finally found the one we were hoping for. To our surprise, due to COVID, many banks had tighten the lending ropes to a point where it was almost impossible. We were very disappointed, until a friend suggested we try Karen at Trident Funding. Thats when our dream became a reality. I am a mortgage lender by occupation, so trust me when I tell you, this was the easiest and fastest loan process I have been a part of. We felt like Karen was buying the boat with us, she was that excited. Highly recommend Trident and Karen.
Highly recommend Trident Funding for your loan needs! Karen Floyd was exceptional, courteous and extremely responsive to all our boat loan needs. Actually, the entire team provided exceptional service during the entire loan process and their rates for boat loan rates are by far better than traditional banks or credit unions.
Karen Floyd did a great job.
They made it a quick and easy process to obtain a boat loan. Now I can practice Social Distancing in Biscayne Bay!
I would like to take this opportunity to share my experience with Trident Funding loan officer John Schachel who went above and beyond to assist our family with our boat loan, John was always available and answered all our questions even on a Saturday. Thank you to John Schachel and the Trident funding team. Looking forward to using our new Boat this weekend.....
We have used Trident to finance our last two boats and have been extremely happy with the level of service and the support provided through the loan application process and closing. Mike and his team found us the best lender at the best rates for a smooth purchase each time. I recommend them highly!
Mike Jenkins and Trident Funding were recommended to us when we purchased our boat. It was a rushed and unexpected project and Mike was always available and made the process so easy for us. We closed quickly and are off on our retirement adventure. He secured a great rate for us as well. Another satisfied "Julie Johnson".
Michael Jenkins is fantastic to work with! He was extremely professional, responsive and supportive during a very difficult deal which entailed an LLC. He just kept right on trucking through the difficult parts and had my back the entire time! Thanks Mike!
Outstanding service and super quick turn around. Karen was great to work with. Will highly recommend to anyone looking to finance a boat to give her a call
Trident gave me a financing option with a very competitive interest rate. Karen at Trident was fabulous to work with. She had quick responses and accurate information. This was the first boat I had financed and I bought it from a private seller. Neither of us had much experience with this type of transaction. Karen was patient and she politely walked me through the financing process. I very strongly recommend!!
Jane and the team at Trident Funding were professional and responsive and helpful. We are repeat customers. Thanks so much!
This was our first time buying a yacht of this size and the process was very smooth. Lesley Bishop did a stellar job! Highly recommend her and Trident Funding. We had a fabulously low interest rate as well. Thank you so much!
Started looking for a boat this year for my family and found out real quick my local bank was not the route to go with a loan on a vessel. I filled out the form on Boat US to find a company that specializes in boats.The next day I got a call from John Schachel at Trident Funding and he worked with me through the whole process. Just picked up our new Sportsman center console yesterday and would like to thank the team for helping our family get our dream boat!
John Schachel of Trident Funding, Fort Lauderdale came highly recommended. Within minutes of my initial inquiry, John made contact with me and answered all of my questions. John was available 24/7.The loan process and closing was completed just as he described, quick, accurate and efficient. John has set the bar extremely high. I highly recommend John Schachel and Trident Funding.
Jane Tayman just closed our boat loan today! We couldn't be happier!!! Prior to working with Trident, we were working with another lender who proved to be a real disappointment. Jane heard our story, called this past Monday morning, and closed our loan today, Thursday. Four days! AMAZING!!!!! Please put Trident Funding to the top of your list and specifically request Jane. You will NOT be disappointed!
I am not the easiest customer to deal with. I’m full of questions, concerns, and have a case of shoppers anxiety. I experienced all the above in the process of trying to secure a boat loan. Jane Tayman was an absolute gem. She handled every one of my concerns and then some. She put me at ease. Which is not a very easy thing to do. I was very impressed with her professionalism and ability to just get the job done. I would recommend dealing with Jane and Trident Funding over and over again. In fact, I have already referred a friend. Thanks so much Jane and Trident Funding!
I recently completed the purchase of a yacht and partnered with Trident Funding Corp during the entire process. They were very helpful in guiding me along the journey from the days well before I knew what I was buying. Their expertise helped me hone in on the price point and left no financial stone unturned. Each time I had a question they responded very quickly, professionally and made me feel like their most valuable client. I cannot recommend them enough if you are in the market for boat financing.
Jane was able to get our loan done quickly and efficiently. Thank you!
Jane is incredible to work with. We bought our boat during the Covid19 pandemic and apparently boat sales were busy, so the process was slow (not because of Trident but other issues). Jane went above and beyond to keep the process flowing and was very communicative and helpful throughout.
Jane at Trident was great to work with. She was very responsive during a busy period, and worked to get me the best rate. She also expedited my close.
Dealing with Bob and Amy at the Ft lauderdale office was great. The loan process was super easy from the application to the closing. Great and honest people to work with. I will recommend them anytime. Thanks again for getting me the loan for my dream boat.
they helped us buy our used boat, they were easy to work with and were able to knock it out in less than 4 days. thx
I contacted Trident Funding about financing a 411 Meridian we were interested in purchasing. I worked with Joan Berleigh to get the loan. Joan got us a great interest rate and the entire process took less than two weeks. During the process Joan always returned my phone calls and was very good about answering all my questions. It was so refreshing dealing with someone who obviously takes great pride in what she does and is extremely honest and professional. If you are looking for painless financing for your new boat you need to contact Joan. Thanks Joan we love our new boat.
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Subject to loan program requirements and credit approval. Certain fees, closing costs, and restrictions may apply.
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We can’t do it without you! FEI Twin Cities is preeminent among FEI chapters throughout the US due to the outstanding efforts of our member volunteers. Our member volunteers are innovative and focused in bringing value to all our members. Volunteering is an excellent way to get connected with fellow members and build your own experience as well. We invite you to accept a volunteer role with us to continue our Chapter's strong reputation.
Opportunities for volunteer leadership within the chapter exist at the board and chapter committee levels, as well as with special projects and chapter initiatives.
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact any Chapter Board Member. Our goal is to match your interest and time availability with our opportunities for chapter service. Board members are happy to help put you in touch with the right person within the chapter. Thank you for your interest in serving our chapter!
Current Volunteer Opportunites
We invite you to get involved and support FEI Twin Cities mission to advance the success of senior finance professionals, their organizations and the industry.
Lend your expertise, time and energy to grow the Chapter and provide input on programming and events . In addition, volunteering can expand your leadership skills and connect you with industry leaders, Board members and other volunteers.
Join a Committee to help grow membership and engage members to make the most of their FEI membership.
Membership – Recruitment: Strengthen FEI Twin Cities Chapter by recruiting and communicating with potential new members to highlight FEI benefits and encouraging membership. Activities include reaching out to potential new members to gauge interest in membership; ensuring potential members get relevant materials, greet guests at meetings and introduce to other members; follow up with guests from meetings and work with the engagement committee as appropriate.
Membership – Engagement: The Engagement Committee is dedicated to helping members get the most from their membership. Committee members connect with fellow members, communicate engagement opportunities and work with members to identify opportunities that align with the member’s objectives. In addition, these volunteers assist with event registration and serve as greeters to welcome members and guests.
Membership Inclusion and Diversity: Support our efforts to create awareness, inclusion and a welcoming environment that addresses the needs of a diverse membership.
Women’s Programming: Help plan women’s events and programming to engage our women members. Current programming includes a Women’s Coffee Hour and special women’s events.
Professional Development: Assist in developing cutting-edge professional development sessions to ensure members are kept ahead of the ever-changing landscape for finance professionals. Participate in the selection of speakers, and topics for seminars, roundtables and panels.
Emerging Professionals: Help plan events and programming to engage young professionals. Determine topics, time and locations, assist in day-of details.
Marketing and Communication: Assist in enhancing the visibility and brand of FEI Twin Cities. This includes creating/reviewing a marketing and communications plan (including social media), reviewing marketing materials to ensure effectiveness, ensuring the website is accurate and up to date and selecting vendors as appropriate to execute plan.
Leadership Positions
Join the Board of Directors to ensure that FEI Twin Cities remains one of the strongest Chapters in the country. This is a great opportunity to connect with a dedicated group of individuals giving back to FEI. Click Here for information on joining the board and the expected commitment. Click here for a roster of board members. Please contact Board Chair, Anita Moulton, at [email protected] for more information.
Corporate Membership Committee Chair: Build awareness with Strategic Partners as well as current and potential FEI members about the benefits of Corporate Memberships, collaborate with Chapter Board Members and FEI National on potential candidates, provide outreach and materials to prospective companies, assist new Corporate Members with the application process and onboarding.
Other Ways To Get Involved
Help FEI Twin Cities with events or specific tasks. Examples might include serving as greeters at events or helping at registration, connecting with new members, reviewing membership materials or being involved in short-term projects. If you're interested in volunteering we'll help you find a place!
We hope that you will consider volunteering with FEI Twin Cities!
If interested, please email Brad at [email protected] and she will get you connected to the committee!
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Are you ready to network with your peers in a pressure-free environment? Do you want access to industry-relevant educational material? Then you're ready to join the financial executives at FEI Twin Cities.
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WGS001B46 AI can solve problems – when will it tell us which ones need solving most Shutterstock 49380919
WGS001B46 AI can solve problems – when will it tell us which ones need solving most Shutterstock 49380919
July 11, 2018
Adam Jezard is a Senior Writer at Formative Content
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Artificial intelligence still often seems like a far-distant, science-fiction like dream that will be delivered at some uncertain point in the future.
Yet organizations and governments are already using AI in ways many of us do not fully appreciate or understand. Some of these may seem relatively benign, such as social media platforms that use facial recognition to connect you to friends or shopping sites that look at your past purchases to make recommendations.
But the same technology could also be used to illegally stalk individuals or to try and influence how we might vote in democratic elections.
Increasingly it seems organizations and governments are adopting AI to perform important tasks. Beijing, for example, is experimenting with facial recognition on popular phone apps as one way of modernizing China’s national ID card scheme. Health groups around the world use AI to help better detect a range of ailments, from cancers to mental health problems.
The benefits of AI – particularly machine learning, which spots patterns in many different sources of data – are easy for corporate leaders and policy-makers to comprehend: they can perform simple, repetitive and dull tasks more quickly than humans; they can free up our time and reduce costs; they allow humans to work on more creative, challenging problems.
So will AI ever be able to tell us what the most pressing human problems are – and how to solve them? And has anyone even considered the risks to humanity if we were to do so?
AI isn’t that smart….
Ever since the dawn of civilization, humanity has conjured up stories of how it could create a being in its own likeness with the ability to wipe out its makers. One such tale, Rossum’s Universal Robots, a play inspired by the legend of the Golem and Frankenstein, is the grandparent of all stories about intelligent but malign robots.
In November 2017, physicist Stephen Hawking warned of the importance of ensuring the development of artificial intelligence was better regulated: “Unless we learn how to prepare for, and avoid, the potential risks, AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilization,” he said at a conference in Lisbon. “It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many.”
But he added: “Success in creating effective AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilization. Or the worst. We just don't know. So we cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by AI, or ignored by it and side-lined, or conceivably destroyed by it.”
While this apocalyptic warning is stark in its implications, right now AI is not yet capable of destroying the earth. Indeed, it is worth remembering that AI is not one thing, but different technologies. These include rules-based machines, which follow simple processes or commands to achieve defined objectives (such as putting you through to the right person to speak with during a telephone banking call) and machine learning, when bots add to their knowledge and learn to develop responses for themselves.
The four types of AI
AIs falls into 4 groups, says Arend Hintze, a professor at Michigan State University. These are:
Reactive machines, such as chess-playing machines like Deep Blue, which are good at one thing but have no memory and follow simple representations of what they know.
Limited-memory machines, such as those in self-driving cars. These can, for example, observe the speed and direction of other road users, which requires the ability to identify specific objects and monitor them. But they do not build up experience, as humans do, over time.
The third type of AI, known as ‘theory of mind’, may be possible in a more advanced phase, Hintze argues: “This class will have to understanding that people, creatures and objects in the world can have thoughts and emotions that affect [the machines’] own behavior.”
And fourth, machines that are “self-aware”, or “conscious”. This would build on the third type and create, as Hintze says: “Conscious beings [that] are aware of themselves, know about their internal states, and are able to predict feelings of others.” This is the one type of AI that Hawking and others fear could destroy humanity.
A 2016 White House report on the future of AI said the technology is unlikely to “exhibit broadly-applicable intelligence comparable to or exceeding that of humans” within the next 20 years.
But policy-makers in particular need to be aware of its pitfalls. For one thing, it is not infallible, as deaths in self-driving car tests show (though human failings seem to play a part, especially if drivers come to trust systems too much).
AIs involving speech and image recognition have potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited by criminal or foreign state hackers. They can also make mistakes: billboards can confuse autonomous vehicles, for instance.
Rather than expecting AI to provide solutions for every problem, policy-makers and developers may be better off creating a common set of internationally applicable standards and rules for its safe development. While agreeing these may be complex, they would offer a way for AI and humanity to have a safe and shared future.
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A deposition is the discovery process of a lawsuit. It occurs in auto accidents, trucking accidents, bicycle accidents, slips and falls, and other personal injury cases. In a deposition, you give a sworn testimony, and its purpose is the avoid surprise at trial and to preserve testimony while it is still fresh. Your attorney will be there to assist you in the process. However, it will go best if you follow these tips.
Get a good night’s sleep and dress professionally in order to present yourself as credible.
Feel free to ask for clarification of questions. Take your time when answering. Do not volunteer extra information or try to anticipate and answer the next question.
In addition to the tips above, Mac Hester Law knows some of the questions which will most likely be asked. In some form or fashion, you will probably be asked the following questions. At Mac Hester Law, we meet beforehand so these do not take you by surprise.
Did you file an insurance claim?
Were there witnesses to the accident?
What types of injuries or illnesses have you experienced in your life?
Have you been involved in any other lawsuits/legal claims?
What is your job history?
What is your injury?
How has the injury impacted your life?
When was your last treatment?
In addition to the tips above, Mac Hester Law knows some of the questions which will most likely be asked. In some form or fashion, you will probably be asked the following questions. At Mac Hester Law, we meet beforehand so these do not take you by surprise.
Did you file an insurance claim?
Were there witnesses to the accident?
What types of injuries or illnesses have you experienced in your life?
Have you been involved in any other lawsuits/legal claims?
What is your job history?
What is your injury?
How has the injury impacted your life?
When was your last treatment?
Before your deposition, your auto accident lawyer will go over police reports and medical records with you. If your attorney asks to schedule a meeting to prepare for the deposition, it is wise to accept. At Mac Hester Law, we make it standard practice to extend an invitation to all of our clients to prepare them for a deposition. Having a lawyer at your side can make a world of difference in a deposition.
Remember, you are going up against businesses who only want to maintain their bottom line. You do not want to do this without an ally. Contact Mac Hester Law today for an ally who will stand with you until you get the justice you deserve.
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The Aides help your loved one with all types of personal care assistance. We help the elderly with hygiene, reminders about medication, and even just providing some friendly companionship. Our Home Health Aides are experts at what they do. They are all passionate about caring for the elderly. We hire strictly the best caregivers that apply for a position with us. Our hiring process is very stringent. We carefully vet all our employees. Our experts carefully match your loved one with a caregiver. A home health aide can take care of your loved one from the comfort of their own home.
We provide the absolute highest level of personal care services for the elderly. Our certified staff members are well equipped to help seniors with daily activities that they cannot perform on their own, to help them maintain their quality of life as they age. Personal care providers from REGAL will help your loved one with things like brushing their teeth, using the bathroom, and assisting them with general mobility.
Caregivers can offer companionship for your elderly loved one, helping to keep them social and stimulated. All our caregivers are carefully selected during our hiring process. Our hiring process ensures that they are good companions for your family member. It is important for your loved one to continue to have a friend they can chat with day to day, eat meals with, or do other activities with. Put your mind at ease knowing that your relative has someone who cares about them taking care of them. Our caregivers go the extra mile with our clients, and we train every one of them to provide the best companionship possible. We pride ourselves on having the highest level of companion care for the elderly.
Nursing
We are staffed with Registered Nurses (RN’s) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN’s). Our nursing staff is available 24 hours a day to administrate treatments, follow physician’s instructions, and provide direction and supervision to the seniors.
Diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s or events like stroke can lead to language and speech problems in seniors. Our trained healthcare professionals help individuals suffering from these swallowing and speech disorders through speech pathology. We offer inclusive speech pathology services on an hourly, daily or live-in basis—whichever suits best as per client’s requirements.
We provide occupational therapy to seniors with a mental, physical, or cognitive medical condition. We provide all the required care and support to seniors in living a normal life, irrespective of their disorder. Our trained professionals provide therapeutic care to patients along with the much-needed emotional support.
Our physical therapy service is designed to ensure quick recovery from illness, injury or surgery. Our service also gives families the privilege to get involved in the rehabilitation process.
A balanced diet is important to all of us, but it is especially vital to the elderly and infirm, to provide them with healthy bodies and alert minds. Due to income limitations, dietary needs and rising food costs, patients often find it difficult to prepare nutritionally-balanced meals for themselves. Our nutrition counselors work with clients to ensure that their dietary and nutritional requirements are being met. These licensed and trained nutrition counselors utilize their knowledge and expertise to ensure that each client receives an appropriate and satisfying balance of vitamins, minerals, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. To accomplish this, the nutrition counselor first researches the dietary needs and preferences of the patient. Armed with this information, and in accordance with the patient’s nutritional requirements, the nutrition counselor then creates a customized, specifically tailored meal-plan for the client, thereby making sure that this essential yet often-overlooked aspect of home care is met.
This is where our medical social workers intervene, working constantly to improve the quality of our patients’ lives. These trained and certified professionals are among the most caring and sensitive people who work in the realm of elder care. They have highly-developed assessment and analytic skills. Our medical social workers evaluate a patient’s social, emotional, and psychological needs. They then work directly with the patient and, if necessary, the other health care professionals assigned to the case, to build the tools and techniques through which the patient learns and regains the confidence to develop hobbies, engage in stimulating activities, nurture relationships and increase daily productivity. Social workers also offer patient counseling and are always available to lend a sympathetic ear.
All our Caregivershave a full criminal background check, updates with their continuing education, and physicals.
Regal services are offered 7 days a week, 24 hour a day, including holidays.
A supervisor is on-call and is always available if you need to speak to someone after hours.
By employing a full-time team of multilingual caregivers, Regal Care can pair you with homecare professionals who speak your language fluently – and who’ll make you feel at home, in every sense of the word.
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If you’re looking for something fun for the whole family around Allen, Texas, you have plenty of options. Many of these places offer an opportunity to spend quality time together with the ones you love and squeezing in some education while you’re at it. Here are four cool educational destinations around Allen, Texas, you should check out, courtesy of our infant daycare in Allen, TX.
This museum is geared toward little ones aged 1-8 and is an interactive museum that lets kids play, learn, and explore the theme “On the Go.” Parents can either play with their children or let them explore the area on their own. The educational play space allows kids to learn through the power of play and exploration.
In addition to the museum area, Play Street Museum has events you can attend, like holiday-themed parties, markets, and storytimes. There are also opportunities to let your child explore their artistic side through painting, working with clay, and making pottery. They also offer pottery “to go,” where you can pick up everything you need to complete a project, then take it back for firing. They’ll call you when it’s ready for you to take home.
Being in the kitchen is always a fun way to spend your time and learn something new. Whether you are looking for a fun activity for your child or you want to explore an adult cooking class, there are lots of options available through Flour Power Studios.
For children, there are weekly classes available for kids aged 2.5 all the way up to teenagers. Preschool chefs are aged 2.5-4 and need a caregiver to support them with their cooking classes. Once your child reaches 5 years old, they can do the cooking class by themselves. A unique program that they have is Kid’s Night Out. This program lets you drop your kids off on a Friday Night to give adults some time alone without their children. There is a program for kids aged 5-8 and for 9-12.
For adults who are 18 and older, there is also an opportunity to do your own exploration and learning in the kitchen. Be sure to check out all the different classes that are available on the Flour Power event page.
Image via Flickr by gurdonark
The Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary is a great place to visit and learn something new, no matter what age you are. In addition to visiting their sanctuary and trails, they have lots of different exhibits, events, and activities that you can do while you are there.
Inside the sanctuary, you’ll find five different habitats to explore within the 6.5 miles of nature trails. The habitats include bottomland forest, upland forest, Blackland prairie, wetlands, and white rock escarpment. As you explore the trails, you can visit the habitats and see the different types of plants and animals in each area.
There are lots of different exhibits that you can visit while at the museum. Some of them include an Animals of the World Exhibit that explores animals in nature. Other exhibits include a Fossil Tortoise exhibit, Living Lab, Magic Planet, and Pioneer Village. If you’re interested in fauna that’s native to Texas, there are also exhibits about native butterflies, plants, and snakes from the area. Be sure to check out the exhibits page for a full description of all these exciting exhibits.
In addition to the different exhibits, you can try a wide variety of educational programs. Some of these include a birding program, canoe program, garden talks, and a preschool program. For the adventurous folks, there are night hikes and the ropes course. The ropes course has a high course and a low course that you can do, encouraging personal growth. There are also special zip line days that you can register to try the 487-foot zip line.
A library is an excellent destination if you’re looking for an educational place to spend some quality family time. When you think of a library, the first thing that comes to mind is looking through books. But, there is so much more that is offered at the local library here in Allen. In addition to being able to read and explore books, there are lots of different learning kits that you can check out and events that you can attend.
Some of the events you can attend at the Allen Public Library include escape rooms, story walks, and science challenges. There are virtual storytimes for kids. For the adults, there are virtual concerts, activities, and a variety of practical and artistic courses that you can take.
Also available for families are STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) kits that you can take home. These kits include different types of blocks, coding projects, and kits that let you and your children learn about circuits and robots. These kits are enjoyable and educational! Kits include activities for kids starting at 3 years old and go up to kids who are over 7 years old.
If you and your family want to explore your creative side, there are also Take and Make Kits for kids, teens, and adults. These kits include crafts you can do from the comfort of your home. From painting to crafts to sewing projects, you have lots of kits to choose from. Be sure to check out the Allen Public Library website to see the full extent of the wonderful programs they offer.
Whether you want to get outside, stay inside, or do something creative anywhere you can imagine, you can visit so many fun and educational places around Allen. These destinations are great for the whole family but also have some great adult options as well. What are some of your favorite places to visit that are educational? We at Crème de la Crème of Allen would love to hear from you about the cool educational places you love to visit so we can add them to our list as well.
June 24, 2022
June 24, 2022
Helping families raise amazing children is what we do. Call today for a tour and you'll quickly see why families across America trust us as their preschool of choice.
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Exipure is an all-natural dietary blend that supports healthy fat burning by converting white fat into brownish fat. This supplement utilizes a special way to eliminate additional fat in the body that is otherwise split and makes an individual incredibly overweight.Is Exipure Dangerous
The conversion of white to brown fat is enabled utilizing natural components with tried and tested medicinal benefits. Absolutely nothing inside Exipure is obtained from untrusted or fabricated resources; for that reason, it brings no wellness threats. This supplement is currently up for sale at an unique reduced cost online.
Diet plan tablets are popular for lots of reasons, yet individuals like using diet plan tablets since they desire a simple and easy weight reduction experience. The regular concept of weight management involves following a restrictive diet plan as well as indulging in difficult workout. While these two can assist for the most part, there are additionally possibilities for them to be inefficient, as weight gain reasons differ in every person.
In some cases, even the most popular diet strategies stop working to work, or it is unaffordable for people to employ an individual instructor or secure time for workout everyday. On the other hand, using diet regimen tablets and expecting the body to reduce weight by itself audios very easy, plus diet regimen pills cost less than a weight reduction surgical procedure, so people favor to utilize them.
Exipure is among the most up to date additions in the diet tablets that are favored nowadays. Regardless of being a brand-new item, it is obtaining a warm welcome, generally since it has aided people attain their target weight without causing a monetary problem. However the risk of attempting a new item stays the same, especially for a person that has never tried a dietary supplement prior to.Is Exipure Dangerous
Just how to make sure if it is safe to make use of? What are its active ingredients and also where to get Exipure? Discover all in this Exipure testimonial.
What Is Exipure?
Exipure is a weight reduction supplement constructed from natural active ingredients with medically confirmed benefits. It results from years-long study on medicinal plants, wishing to find the very best choices for natural weight-loss. Is Exipure Dangerous As plants have actually been made use of for thousands of years in numerous treatments, researchers think several of them can also help against obesity. In this effort to locate these plants, they created 8 unique ingredients, each playing a role in shedding undesirable fats.
As pointed out on exipure.com, this supplement functions similarly well on guys, ladies, as well as people that determine themselves apart from this binary category. It is a non-prescription formula, yet only those that are 18 years and also over can utilize them. Exipure is available in pill type, as well as there are 30 of them in each bottle. This one bottle is to be eaten in one month, ideally, and the very best results are observed within a couple of months.
Although the supplement sector contains similar products, weight management with Exipure is one-of-a-kind. It works by changing the common white fat to brownish fat, also called brownish adipose fat. The natural ingredients inside this supplement help in this conversion, and also the body loses a lot of calories throughout this conversion.
The most vital and distinct top quality of Exipure is that it goes inside the body as well as targets the primary cause of weight gain. It functions to increase metabolic rate as well as control stress and anxiety as well as inflammation inside the body.
In addition, Exipure is a US-made item prepared in an FDA-approved and also GMP-certified center. The final product is examined via a third-party research laboratory for top quality and also security. There are least possibilities of it going wrong and also raising an undesirable impact. Continue analysis to understand more about Exipure activity, active ingredients, and prices.
The official internet site of Exipure mentions eight special components inside this formula. These active ingredients are selected after undergoing thousands of research studies on each, verifying them an ideal option for this formula. They are gotten from various places, and there is no certain details on each active ingredient’s area particularly.
Here is a list of all Exipure ingredients and also their effects on the body.
Perilla: the given name in Exipure active ingredients is perilla, likewise called beefsteak plant. There are numerous researches validating its result on cholesterol levels, as it balances the HDL as well as LDL degrees and help in brown fat development. A few of its compounds also provide cognitive benefits and improve brain-to-body sychronisation.
Divine Basil: following is Holy Basil, an ingredient with tested medicinal advantages. It relieves anxiety, as well as swelling, the two greatest triggers of a sluggish metabolism. Is Exipure Dangerous It likewise clears the body from contaminants, waste products, as well as mobile wastefulness, preserving optimal metabolic conditions for the body.
White Korean Ginseng: Exipure pills also consist of Panax ginseng or Korean ginseng, which offers unrivaled power to the body. This energy assists the body run its features regardless of reducing weight, and also there is no lethargic or weak sensation experienced by the body.
Amur Cork Bark: not as popular as various other ingredients, but amur cork bark uses metabolic advantages that make fat burning very easy. Is Exipure Dangerous It reduces bloating, looseness of the bowels, cramps, nausea, windiness, and other conditions that prevail in overweight people.
Quercetin: Next on this list is quercetin, a component offering benefits for high blood pressure, heart health and wellness, as well as vessel wellness. Some studies also prove its duty in improving resistance, delaying aging, as well as invigorating body cells, maintaining them young for a long time.
Oleuropein: sometimes referred to as Olea Europaea, oleuropein diminishes the fat cells, helping them change to brownish adipose tissue while shedding a lot of power made use of to fuel mobile tasks. It better enhances cholesterol degrees, high blood pressure, sugar levels, and lipid profile, preventing many wellness problems.
Berberine: another name in the Exipure ingredients listing is berberine, which is loaded with anti-inflammatory antioxidants. It helps get rid of the body from contaminants, getting rid of totally free radicals as well as mobile wastes that sometimes hinder metabolism. It supports healthy food digestion, and with quercetin, it thaws extra fat in less time.
Resveratrol: the surname in Exipure components is resveratrol, an antioxidant generally located in grapes. It supplies a number of health and wellness advantages, among which is to reduce cholesterol levels, prevent plaque formation, and also clear contaminants.
All these ingredients are acquired from pure quality sources, and nothing amongst them can trigger any negative effects in the body.
Review what Exipure assesses from customers and their surprising discoveries need to state regarding this supplement. Is Exipure Dangerous Is it actually worth spending money on? Check out this comprehensive report which will amaze you.
Gaining weight has come to be a lot easier as a result of the altered way of life as well as nutritional behaviors. Not just adults, but more youthful and also older individuals are also targets of excessive weight currently, as well as these trends are increasing annually. Is Exipure Dangerous The health professionals are extremely concerned over these weight problems fads, suggesting individuals move to a healthier way of life. However it is frequently not an option, and for one reason or another, people often tend to search for faster ways to make it take place.
Exipure is a weight management dietary formula produced with metabolic-boosting natural herbs. According to the company, it assists transform the white fat cells to brownish fat, making them more useful as well as healthy and balanced for the body. There is a lot of scientific evidence suggesting BAT is linked with excessive weight. The makers of the Exipure weight-loss supplement have actually used this details and produced a formula that uses all-natural ingredients to increase brownish adipose tissue degrees.
For individuals that do not know regarding brownish fats, it is a sort of fat that only activates when the climate is cold. It melts, giving heat to the body, that makes chilly temperature level bearable for it.
Do not confuse this brown fat with the routine fat, likewise called white fat, as it brings much more mitochondria in its cells, making this fat melt even more power launch. This process melts a a great deal of calories, maintaining the body heated, invigorated, and also causing weight management.
Where To Purchase Exipure? Rate, Price Cut as well as Reimbursement Policy
Exipure is currently in supply and offered for prompt shipments. The only way to obtain your hands on this supplement is via its main web site (exipure.com), as it is not available anywhere else. You can place the order online, straight, and also your order will reach your doorstep within a couple of days.
Do not rely on any online or local supplier marketing Exipure supplement for weight reduction. Is Exipure Dangerous The firm has no partners, and there are high opportunities of various other companies utilizing its name to market their phony products. Constantly choose the official web site over the arbitrary online stores to make your acquisition.
The real cost of the Exipure supplement is virtually $200, however it has minimized it to $59 only, as a part of promotions, to make sure that more and more people can learn about it. Right here are the total rates information.
Obtain three containers of Exipure (90 days supply) for $49.00 per bottle (Plus delivery costs) + Bonus offer things.
Get six containers of Exipure (180 days supply) for $39.00 per bottle (Free shipment) + Incentive things.
Although it is much better to order only one bottle initially and order more later, after using it for a few days. But Exipure may not be available constantly, as it is a preferred product with high need. The firm can just produce a restricted stock, and restocking can take a couple of months. Therefore, it is much better to purchase three or 6 containers to begin a fat burning journey. You can always buy more bottles when offered and continue using them for as long as you need. It is additionally important to note that Exipure Australia, NZ, Canada, UK, and consumers from other nations all over the world must likewise put their orders on the main web site pointed out over.
Exipure features a 100% satisfaction warranty as the business prepares to reimburse the total order worth, if this item stops working to meet your expectations. There is no minimum or maximum to get this deal and all orders acquired via the main site will immediately be a part of this refund plan.
The business pertains to consumer fulfillment as its top priority and also is ready to birth a loss, if Exipure falls short to satisfy its promises. The moment called for to get this reimbursement is 180 days, or six months, that suffices to evaluate this supplement. The firm has an active customer assistance group prepared to assist new and existing customers. Call the client like recognize the process of reimbursements. Also, do not discard your utilized or vacant Exipure bottles, as you might be asked to send them back to the business as a proof of purchase.
Do not depend on resources other than the main web site to obtain your Exipure order as this refund policy does not use on bottles bought from unauthorized sources. The reimbursement demands received after passing this 180-day limitation will certainly be declined by the business, so maintain a track of this time.
Making use of Exipure is no various than making use of multivitamins, as well as you just require a glass of water to eat it. The day-to-day dose is only one pill, as well as taking a greater dosage is strictly forbidden. Is Exipure Dangerous There is no set time to take this daily dose, and you can take it at any time of the day. Nevertheless, it is better to deal with a time to eat it so that you do not forget or avoid the everyday dosage.
The outcomes are evident within 3 to 6 months, yet it can be made use of for longer than six months, too, as it has no side effects to supply. Though individual outcomes might differ, Exipure is for everybody, regardless of weight, yet incredibly overweight people may take greater than six months to reach their target weight. Nothing inside Exipure has a habit forming possibility or withdrawal impact, as well as you can utilize it over and over without worrying about anything.
Others who are only a few pounds over their target weight will just see modifications in a couple of weeks. The moment called for to show the results depends upon the body’s capability to reply to various ingredients, and no two bodies share the very same features. Do not utilize Exipure if you are unclear regarding its use, or speak to a doctor to find out more about supplement security.
To sum up, Exipure appears to be a potent fat burning supplement, with direct advantages for the metabolic process. It utilizes a healthy and balanced means to slim down, which is why the outcomes of the Exipure supplement are much longer as well as much better. In fact, they stay the exact same after you stop utilizing the supplement as well as keep the results with basic dietary modifications and also workout.
All orders are shielded with a 180-day money-back guarantee, throughout which you can pick to get a reimbursement of your order if it falls short to aid you in weight loss. Do not take more time due to the fact that Exipure is marketing quick, as well as there are only minimal bottles left. See the official internet site to verify your order prior to the supply sells out.
Exipure Frequently Asked Questions:
What is The Correct Time to Take In Exipure?
There is no standard time to use this supplement, as well as the individual can take it based on his convenience. The firm makes sure there is no sedative ingredient; as a result, Exipure does not influence the sleeping cycle. Is Exipure DangerousHowever, it is best to take it during the first fifty percent of the day so that it has all the time to turn on BAT conversion.
Based on the details shared online, Exipure has a 100% natural formulation without any GMO components, soy, and also gluten in it. It is additionally devoid of unnecessary chemicals, fillers, binders, as well as chemicals that might make an item inappropriate for long-lasting usage. The formula is best for individuals in their middle ages, handling weight problems with no time to diet regimen planning or workout.
How Much Weight Can One Lose with Exipure?
The quantity of weight-loss can be different for different individuals, and also there is a criterion for this weight-loss. One can lose even more weight in much less time by consuming Exipure diet plan tablets in a healthy and balanced, low-calorie diet plan as well as an active way of living.
Exipure has no threat of negative effects and allergies, and it is unusual to have allergic reactions with medical active ingredients, in general. There are no complaints from the users, and also no user reported an allergy after utilizing this formula. If a person has a history of food-borne allergies, it is far better to speak to a physician beforehand for a safe fat burning experience.
The business has an active consumer assistance line to facilitate new as well as existing customers. Is Exipure Dangerous All the orders are shielded with a 180-day money-back offer that can be availed by getting in touch with the team. Right here is just how to call them.
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The demands for insights has grown exponentially in the automotive industry due to technological advancement. At this point, we see how this industry is continually evolving. Everyone in this industry needs to understand the current trends, the newest products, and the latest services to make sure everyone can do their job.
It's not a secret that the auto industry is rapidly moving towards digital, whether its the car itself or the services the auto industry provides. With over 30 years of success in the auto industry, Paramount is capable of giving you the insights you need to grow as a company. To start this blog off, we want to introduce who we are.
Paramount Advertising and Lead Solutions created a name in the auto industry by providing lead converting solutions and services for automotive dealerships. We convert your leads through marketing, branding, consulting, sales training, and customer service.
Our client network is vast. We work directly with automotive manufacturers, such as Nissan and Chrysler, to provide dealers and customers with up-to-date information on new products and automotive advancements.
Although we are in the greater Chicago area, we have success nationwide. We understand the importance of specialized planning for specific products and industries. Our experienced management and staff are focused on achieving the results your business requires by using the latest technology and understanding of current trends. This means a fast response time to optimize the buying experience. We are excited to share ideas on client management and the tools necessary for success.
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All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement.
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The prime minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Sunday was elected head of the National Unity Party (UBP), a major coalition partner, at its 12th extraordinary congress.
In a speech, Ersan Saner thanked all party delegates for their support. “We are determined to keep the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus alive forever. We are proud to be an integral part of the Turkish nation,” he said at the congress in Lefkosa, the TRNC capital.
The coalition government, headed by the UBP, was approved by President Ersin Tatar on Dec. 9.
The new government has 25 seats in parliament, with the UBP holding 20, the Democratic Party (DP) three, and the Rebirth Party (YDP) two.
Twelve seats are held by the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), followed by the People’s Party (HP) with six, and the Communal Democracy Party (TDP) with three. There are three independent lawmakers.
The need for a new government was triggered by elections this October in which then-Prime Minister Tatar was elected president, leaving the premiership vacant.
*Writing by Burak Dag in Ankara
Copyright 2022 Anadolu Agency. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Here are some Frequently-Asked Questions. If there are questions unanswered here, do reach out to us and we would be happy to clarify.
Is AF-8 suitable for vegetarians?
Yes! AF-8 is suitable for vegetarians and contains no traces of meat, fish, eggs or dairy.
I noticed that the seal on my tub was slightly raised on one edge when I first opened it, although the folded down prongs were all still engaged?
This can occasionally occur and is not a cause for concern as long as all of the prongs around the edge are indeed still fully engaged as noted. The seal used on the tubs that contains the product is a ‘tamper protection seal’ in line with legislation requirements and is not a ‘vacuum tight seal’ so slight edge lifting can on occasion happen.
Can children take AF-8?
We do not recommend AF-8 to be taken by persons under the age of 18.
The powder in my tub has become solid?
AF-8 is a natural product that can be prone to clumping. We state this on the label and advise that this can easily be resolved by mixing with a kitchen implement such as a fork to break the powder down, which loosens and returns to a fine mix very easily. Any clumping or setting that does occur has no derogatory effect on the products quality or potency. Regular shaking of the tub will ensure that the powder does not solidify.
How should I store AF-8?
AF-8 should be stored in a cool dry place with the tub lid firmly secured.
At what time of the day is it best to drink AF-8?
For maximum benefit, Af-8 should be taken on an empty stomach. We recommend taking AF-8 at least an hour before eating to ensure optimal absorption. The L-Arginine and other ingredients in the AF-8 work effectively in your system between doses and so as long as a minimum of one scoop is taken each day, around the same time point, benefits should be seen and maintained. AF-8 is best taken when feels right for each individual. There is no diminishment in the benefits of taking AF-8 in relation to the time of day it is consumed.
We do recommend that AF-8 is taken on an empty stomach either an hour or so before or after eating, as other amino-acids in foods can compete with the L-Arginine in AF-8 making absorption into the system that bit harder – so separation from other dietary intake is helpful to the process. Taking AF-8 on an empty stomach does tend to lead to the product being drunk either first thing in the morning or last thing at night.
How quickly should I drink AF-8?
AF-8 is best consumed within 30 minutes of preparation.
I am finding that your product has a slight bitter taste?
This can be experienced due to the difference in an individual’s taste buds. We recommend customers simply add their scoop to a larger glass of water to dilute to preferred taste.
AF-8 may affect blood pressure levels. Through increased nitric oxide production and vasodilation, l-arginine may lower blood pressure levels. L-arginine may interact with blood pressure medications by producing an additive effect. Combining antihypertensive medications with l-arginine may cause hypotension (undesirable low blood pressure). A person taking blood pressure medications should closely monitor blood pressure levels to ensure that levels remain within a safe range. With a physician’s approval and guidance, medication dosage may need to be adjusted. Always separate the dose of medication from natural supplements (such as AF-8) by approximately two hours. Start with a low dose of natural supplement, slowly increasing dosage and watching for signs of sensitivity. When being treated for a medical condition, always consult with your health care provider regarding your use of natural supplements.
I have just started taking AF-8 and have been taking it for 3 days now and whilst I am not sure it is because of your product - I have had an upset stomach?
L-Arginine, the main ingredient in AF-8, can contribute to an upset stomach in those with either a sensitive stomach, an already upset stomach, or when too large or too strong a dilution of AF-8 is taken. We suggest if an upset stomach is experienced that building up to a full scoop by taking smaller doses may help and also add the measure of AF-8 to a larger glass of water. If an upset stomach persists we recommend that the taking of AF-8 is discontinued.
I am a diabetic. Can I take AF-8?
As with any other medical condition, in cases of Diabetes (both Diabetes 1 & 2) we recommend consultation with your Health Care advisor or GP prior to taking AF-8. Persons with blood sugar concerns should always monitor their blood glucose levels carefully when beginning supplementation with products such as AF-8 to assess how it will affect them.
My AF-8 tastes different and seems to be stronger in flavour and more ‘sour/tart’ as I get further down the tub?
We recommend on the label to shake the tub well before opening and to also shake the tub well each time before opening to measure out a scoop. There may be ‘settling’ of the mix that could result in a stronger flavour as the bottom of the tub is reached – which should be resolved by keeping the contents well mixed by regular shaking.
My partner and I seem to experience a different taste when taking AF-8? He finds it ‘sharper’ with a slight ‘undertone’ and does not like it as much as I do?
AF-8 can taste different from person to person due to their own taste ranges and biological taste buds. There are going to be people who may detect a sharper flavour (or indeed other subtle differences) that they may not like so much and there are going to be people who absolutely love the taste. It can be very much a personal taste experience. If someone finds the taste of AF-8 to be too sharp, too sweet, too bitter or to have any undertones of flavour that they consider unpleasant – we recommend always shaking the tub well and that the scoop measurement is added to a larger glass of water to dilute further.
Is it better to take AF-8 with or without food?
For maximum benefit, AF-8 should be taken on an empty stomach. We recommend taking AF-8 at least an hour before eating to ensure optimal absorption.
Why does AF-8 sometime set/solidify in the tub?
We do not use chemical anti-caking agents in AF-8, because we want to keep it natural – and there is therefore a slight risk of the product solidifying. Clumping is easily avoided by regular shaking of the tub, as advised on the label. In the event of the powder setting we recommend that mixing with a kitchen implement such as a fork to break the powder down, which loosens and returns to a fine mix very easily. Any clumping or setting that does occur has no derogatory effect on the products quality or potency.
Why is the tub only approximately half full of the AF-8 product?
The tub provides 300g (1 months supply) of AF-8. We need to use the size tub that we do to ensure that the label information remains readable. If the tub was smaller, the label would have to be smaller and the information needed on the label to be compliant with legislation would be illegible. We could of course fill the tub with more product but that would put the price up and we prefer to keep AF-8 affordable for all.
I am taking more than one scoop a day of AF-8 – is doubling the dose of Vitamin D3 ok?
The recommended dose of AF-8 is one scoop. One scoop of AF-8 contains 1000iu of Vitamin D3. Research indicates that doses of D3 have been administered for a variety of health conditions in far greater doses than those contained within AF-8 – without negative side effects.
We always recommend consultation with your GP or Health Care provider before taking AF-8 – if you have any undiagnosed health concerns, suffer any medical condition are taking any medication or intend exceeding the recommended dose of AF-8.
What if I find AF-8 tastes too strong for me?
AF-8 is a dilute to taste product and the benefits of taking the supplement are not reduced if the scoop is added to a larger glass of water. Simply dilute to a level of preference.
I have researched dosage of L-Arginine and understand that it is ok for me to take more than one scoop of AF-8 as the measure contains around 5g of L-Arginine and it is safe to take much more than that. I am currently taking two scoops, one in the morning and one in the evening.
The recommended daily dose of AF-8 is one scoop. Research and clinical information available on line, from credible sources, does indeed state that much larger doses of L-Arginine have been used in clinical trials without derogatory side effects and the Mayo Clinic website also states doses of Arginine of up to 30g can be taken safely.
We always recommend consultation with your GP or Health Care provider before taking AF-8 – if you have any undiagnosed health concerns, suffer any medical condition are taking any medication or intend exceeding the recommended dose of AF-8.
I am on prescribed blood thinning drugs, is it ok to take AF-8?
There is some evidence that suggests that L-Arginine may increase the risk of bleeding in those who are taking blood thinning drugs. Consult with your Health Care advisor or GP before taking AF-8 if you are on any of the drug thinning medications.
What sweetener is used in AF-8?
The natural sweetener Stevia Rebaudiana is used in AF-8. Stevia Rebaudiana is a plant species of the sunflower family. It is low in glycemic index and is suitable for Diabetics.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease involving chondrocytes, cartilage and other joint tissues – which has a variety of underlying causes, including both biochemical and mechanical factors. Chondrocytes produce nitric oxide under normal conditions. Although proinflammatory factors including nitric oxide (NO) are associated with OA, there is recent evidence suggesting that NO and its redox derivatives may also play protective roles in the joint.
Arginine supports the immune system and can promote the healing of inflammatory processes. In addition, arginine improves circulation and can thus help to transfer micronutrients to the joints.
We always recommend consultation with your GP or Health Care provider before taking AF-8 – if you have any undiagnosed health concerns, suffer any medical condition are taking any medication or intend exceeding the recommended dose of AF-8.
I am scheduled in for surgery, should I stop taking AF-8?
We recommend that you stop taking AF-8 at least 3 weeks before any surgical procedure. We also recommend that you always make your GP or healthcare provider aware of any supplementation that you have been taking prior to any medical procedure.
Why does the product scoop in the container show a measure of 15 at the top – when a full scoop is 10g of AF-8?
Scoop sizes are always volumetric (i.e ml/cc rather than g), and a level 15ml scoop provides 10g of AF-8.
I have been diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation – is it ok for me to take AF-8?
As with any medical condition it is always wise to consult with a GP or healthcare professional before taking supplementation – especially if medication is being taken. Literature shows that L-arginine may have anti-arrhythmic properties resulting from its role as a nitric oxide precursor which in turn has an ability to restore sinus rhythm spontaneously, whilst supporting the healthy dilation of blood vessels. Endogenous production of L-arginine may decline in aging perturbing cardiac rhythm, and these “conditional” essential nutrients therefore become “essential” and may require supplementation. Cardiac arrhythmias having no known cause in otherwise healthy people and are hypothesized to be symptoms of deficiencies of arginine and other amino acids like taurine. Nitric oxide reduces resistance to blood flow and helps to normalize blood pressure and is also believed to have a stabilizing effect on the heart’s pacemaker.
L-arginine has been shown to restore a normal heart rhythm and to increase exercise capacity in people with heart disease. One of the dangers of atrial fibrillation is the potential for a blood clot to form in the atria while they are quivering rather than pumping. A portion of the clot can then break off and be carried to the brain where it could block an artery and ultimately cause a stroke. Blood thinners are generally prescribed to lessen stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation. L-arginine lessens the risk of clot formation and may decrease of presented blood thinners required to prevent clot formation.
I have noticed on a couple of occasions an increase in my heart rate after taking AF-8?
An increase in heart rate could be related to you already having low blood pressure. When the blood pressure gets too low the heart compensates by beating faster. We always recommend consultation with your GP or healthcare provider before taking AF-8 if you have any known medical conditions or hypertension (high blood pressure) or hypotension (low blood pressure) and always advise that you cease taking AF-8 if you experience any side effects and consult with your GP or healthcare provider before taking AF-8 again.
We don’t add salt to the formula. However, certain ingredients in AF-8 will have a very small ‘salt content’. When you add these small amounts up they contribute to the overall low salt content, which we do need to state on the label to conform with regulations for food supplements.
I have been prescribed a Vitamin D3 supplement by my doctor – 800iu in one daily tablet. AF-8 already delivers 1000iu in a 10g scoop. Is it ok to continue to take AF-8?
Many references state that a minimum of 1000iu is necessary and most experts state 2000iu is adequate on a daily basis. Again many experts also state that the dosage level should be increased to 5000iu during winter. A recent report in the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” Stated that dosage levels of 5,000iu or even 10,000iu daily, will not cause any signs of overdose and that you’ll likely need to take 50,000 IU daily to develop symptoms of an overdose.
I am on blood pressure medication. Is it ok to take AF-8?
AF-8 might lower blood pressure. This could be a problem if you already have low blood pressure. Always seek advice from your GP or healthcare provider if you are on any medication before taking AF-8.
From what source is the L-Citrulline used in AF-8 derived?
The L-Citrulline used in AF-8 is sourced from corn by a natural fermentation process.
My tub of AF-8 lasted less than 30 days? Did my tub contain less powder than it should have done?
The 300g of AF-8 contained in each tub (equivalent to a 30 day supply of 10g per day level scoops) is measured out by two powder line compliance checks during the manufacture process. One that weighs the powder on line and fills to the correct weight, and a second that is volumetric and incorporates a checkweighter – which rejects any under or overweight tubs. Both of these checking processes are calibrated each day and again before each production batch. This needs to be done to maintain compliance with EU regulations. The chances of underfill are extremely low. The tub contains 30 level scoops of AF-8. A slight over fill of the scoop each time, which is easily done, will result in less than 30 scoops overall. Heaping a scoop by as little as 1g extra will reduce the 30 scoops total by 2 or 3 scoops. By ensuring that each scoop is a level fill there will be a 30 day supply of AF-8 as stated on the label.
How do I know that I am getting the correct ingredient measures in the 300g tub and per 10g scoop as stated on the label?
Our manufacturer uses high-tech equipment during production which ensures the correct ingredient mix is achieved in each 300g tub. The skilful blending delivers the stated mix in a scoop size. Compliance checks are done on each batch of AF-8 and each batch is tested to ensure formulation consistency.
From what source is the Vitamin K2 used in AF-8 derived?
The Vitamin K2 used in AF-8 is sourced from Japanese Natto – produced by a natural fermentation process of Soya Bean.
Why should I buy your L-Arginine product when I have seen cheaper capsules and powders in the health store?
AF-8 is much more than just an L-Arginine product. The formulation is blended – based upon scientific quantifiable research in relation to the proven benefits of the included amino acids, vitamins and minerals – to an exact and specific measure, with L-Citrulline, Vitamin C, Beetroot Extract, Grapeseed Extract, Resveratrol Extract and Vitamins K2 and D3. It is all about the synergy of the total ingredients that make AF-8 a preferred product in the market place and to compare it with lower priced L-Arginine products on offer is unrealistic. Our specifically created proprietary blend is very different from simple L-Arginine capsules. Furthermore, capsules, by restriction of size, deliver a much lower dose of L-Arginine and will not contain the other vital ingredients of AF-8. As a side point – to equal just the 5 grams of L-Arginine alone that is contained in a daily scoop of AF-8, one would need to consume a high number of capsules. Capsules also are not as bio-available as a powdered food supplement, which is absorbed by the body much faster, and therefore any effectiveness of taking capsules would be diluted – there is always a loss in benefit when supplements cost less. There are indeed other lower priced L-Arginine powders that can be purchased in the market place – but again these are simply not like for like with AF-8. AF-8 is positioned well in relation to products that could be deemed of a similar standard and is one of the most competitively priced products in this arena. Salutem Supplements developed AF-8 with affordable health care in mind and are confident that AF-8 presents good value for money in relation to the potential benefits that can be achieved in an individual’s health care regime. We encourage people to take a supplement that works for them and the feedback we receive with regards to AF-8 is very encouraging.
What kind of L-Arginine do you use in AF-8?
We use a pure, Pharmaceutical grade L-Arginine base in AF-8. The Arginine is produced by a natural fermentation process using corn and is 100% vegan. We do not use Arginine alfa-ketoglutarate (AAKG) or L-Arginine HCL (which is a synthetically manufactured L-Arginine).
From what source is the Vitamin D3 used in AF-8 derived?
The Vitamin D3 used in AF-8 is extracted from purified lanolin from the wool of sheep. The lanolin undergoes a process of exposure to ultraviolet rays (the same as when we expose our skin to sunshine) which produces a very high quality and potent form of D3. The D3 we use is totally suitable for vegetarians.
I have very pool kidney function and suffer from sleep apnoea. My blood pressure reading is 163/90. I have taken a product similar to yours in the past – which seemed to help keep my health under control. I need to address my current blood pressure levels and am currently taking prescription medication, which has recently been adjusted. I would appreciate any feedback you may be able to give me in relation to your product AF-8?
Blood pressure is controlled and affected by a number of interacting pathways, both hormonal, chemical and physical, and any one of these components can become dysfunctional which then results in raised blood pressure.
Your BP readings suggest you’re suffering from systolic hypertension which may be the result of a) poor kidney function and b) arterial stiffness. Taking AF-8 may be of significant benefit because it has several modes of action both on the endothelium of arteries, the glomerular filtration rate of kidneys, on reduction of free radicals and also on red blood cells making them less “sticky”. AF-8 ingredients have all been chosen due to the possible beneficial effects on the human vascular system including kidney function.
However, as with all vitamin supplementation please ensure that you consult with your personal doctor or physician to check that you are OK to take AF-8 before actually taking it, as AF-8 may enhance the effect of any medication you are currently taking.
I have just received my new tub of AF-8 and when I mix up the powder it has a slightly different colour from my last tub and tastes stronger, it is more berry like in flavour and slightly sharper?
AF-8 is made from all natural ingredients and slight variation in taste and colour between batches is normal and can be expected. Variations in crops such as the berries used in the flavouring or the sunflower leaves used for the sweetener can be noted in our final product. The formulation is the same each time and the correct dosage of ingredients is always present. If a particular batch seems stronger in taste and is not to preference, we would recommend an increase in usual amount of water used in dilution.
Is AF-8 produced in a factory that also produces products that contain nuts?
AF-8 is not produced in a factory that produces products that contains nuts and there is therefore no risk of any cross contamination.
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Earlier I had written in this blog about the beginnings of 1921 wool prices and range conditions. My last blog was the “spoof” method of counting sheep. But there really wasn’t any good reason to poke fun at the sheep industry. While the first part of 1921 saw the much-needed rains beginning to fall which would be a benefit for livestock, i.e., sheep, research continuing for the first half of 1921, showed that different parts of the state were suffering more from the drought than other parts.
Take for example William Pitts stating in late January that where he oversaw Howard Sheep Company bands near Congress Junction, that the recent rains had made good feed and that the area had greatly improved over the last ten days. (Congress Junction is northeast of Phoenix toward Wickenburg)
Then there is the statement from Lewis Benedict who had arrived from Phoenix stating that range conditions in the south were serious and he feared for the loss of sheep if the rains did not come soon to provide feed for the animals. George Morse reported on February 18th that the sheep men were feeding corn to their flocks as the range was providing no feed. The little rain that has fallen has not produced the necessary grasses needed to feed all the herds. With lambing in progress, it was necessary to feed the corn to keep ewe and lamb healthy.
On the eastern slopes of the San Francisco peaks, Harlow Yaeger and Charlie Woolfolk, both having sheep near or in Canyon Diablo said that though they had not seen rain since last spring, their winter range had splendid feed. The report in the section of the Coconino Sun, Flagstaff, January 28, 1921, “Livestock and Ranges in Arizona”, stated that the feed was dry on that side of the mountain but still good for grazing.
The beginning of March saw once again the rains returning but once again they were only favorable to some parts of the state. The slow soaking rain began on a Saturday and continued until Monday helping the ranges in the southern portion of Cochise County but only a small amount of measurable precipitation fell on the northern portion of the county. In Arizona, the northeastern plateau region has seen little measurable rainfall resulting in necessary feeding of livestock. Animals are grazing close to water holes that are slowly drying up. The warmer temperatures had decreased snowpack on the mountains but there is little runoff and thus water holes are not being replenished.
Some sheep men had received appreciable amounts of rain or were in ranges that their sheep were not affected. The Coconino Sun for March 18, reported, Colin Campbell, whose range was near Ash Fork, “came in Tuesday morning to work off some of his happiness over the copious rain that had just fallen in his section of the country.” Jack LeBarron and others had their winter range in the Prescott National Forest and reported to the newspaper, “conditions were pretty bad with most of the sheepmen, however for himself, John Hennessy, Harry Gray and a few others who wintered high up in the forest did not come out as badly as those who wintered on the desert, where there was neither grass nor water. The growers wintering in the forest were not forced to buy feed, though it was a tight squeeze. Conditions were improved by the recent rain and indications are that the sheep will come back from the Prescott forest in fairly good shape.”
But that would not be the story for most of the sheep men. By late March it was reported that the sheepmen had not seen such drought conditions in twenty years. The article stated, “Central and southern Arizona are undergoing the worst drought in twenty years. No rain has fallen in these sections since October. The desert areas around Phoenix that are usually covered with grass and weeds during the winter and spring months are as dry as a brick yard. Losses in livestock are becoming serious, and unless there is relief soon the death rate will be the highest in years. Sheep are all very thin and the lamb crop may not, according to reports from the ranges, exceed twenty per cent, less even than the ewe losses at the present time. Most of the flocks are being held back in the foot- hills where there is coarse herbage of a kind that sheep will eat under stress of starvation. Corn and cotton seed cake were hauled out in some cases to the herds, but not much relief was thus offered, the sheep being too far out in the hills to be fed regularly in this manner. Approximately 100,000 head have been taken into the Salt River valley pastures, where hay, ensilage and other kinds of roughage are being fed during the lambing season. This means of relief, however, hasn’t been entirely satisfactory for the reason that the ewes do not seem to give milk enough to support the lambs, most of them dying in four or five days.”
The article continued stating that the poor range conditions had delayed and disorganized the shearing for the season too. The ewes were too weak after delivering their young to move to the shearing sheds that area usually set up in specific locations and that the price for the shearer was more than the sheep men could afford to pay. Some of the sheep were going to be sheared at small portable shearing stations near where the flock was located. Any shearing that was undertaken was being done by non-union local shearers who demanded less money and would not need boarding during the shearing season. Some of the sheep men were even considering shearing their flocks once they moved them back to summer grazing. But that was another problem in and of itself. With weak animals, to trail them over the rugged land with no prospect of food would further reduce their flocks. To take the animals by train was an option, but a costly one. Freight rates were high, but there were negotiations underway at the time to have reduced rates for the spring shipping season to help the sheep men in their most dire needed time.
With the poor economic conditions for the sheep men, it was no wonder that the men of the National Wool Growers’ Association were asking for federal aid for the industry. Stay tuned for that story next.
Published by arizonasheephistory
It came to my attention a few years ago that the sheep industry in Arizona was disappearing. I love history, traveling to new places and research. These have been combined in researching this history. I am an independent researcher and speaker and also part of AZ Speaks with the Arizona Humanities. I hold a BA in Anthropology, a MA and Ph.D. in geography. My masters was in land use geography and the Ph.D. was more in historical geography. I love to travel and have visited all seven continents and more than 50 countries. I am a member of the Women Writing the West. View all posts by arizonasheephistory
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Kate Middleton donned her first tiara in nearly three years as part of the state banquet at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, November 22nd. According to People, the outing marked her official tiara debut as the Princess of Wales. King Charles III made the official announcement of her new title during his first public address to Britain and the Commonwealth as monarch on September 9th. "With Catherine beside him, our new Prince and Princess of Wales will, I know, continue to inspire and lead our national conversations, helping to bring the marginal to the center ground where vital help can be given."
The banquet also marked the first state visit of King Charles' new reign where he welcomed the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, to the United Kingdom. For the event, Kate paired Queen Mary's Lover's Knot tiara with a white gown by Jenny Packham. According to People, the tiara was a favorite of her mother-in-law, Princess Diana, who was the last person to hold the title of Princess of Wales.
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Kate also wore earrings that once belonged to Princess Diana which she recently wore for the Remembrance Sunday service and a bracelet from the late Queen Elizabeth's jewelry box. Prince William also made a nod to his grandmother by decorating his suit with the Thistle Star and three small medals from the Queen's three Jubilees he was a part of, Gold in 2002, Diamond in 2012, and Platinum in 2022.
The last time Kate wore a tiara was at the Diplomatic Corps reception in December 2019 which had 1,000 guests ranging from ambassadors and high commissions to government officials. She also wrote the Lover's Knot tiara for the event, People reports.
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In some cases, we need a firewall, load balance, and anything else to help free up our resources and let us focus our energy and time on the things that really matter to us and the business.
“The key is not to prioritise your schedule, but to schedule your priorities” Stephen Covey
I am fortunate in my career to work with some great technology leaders, whether in my own organization, or those I support around the globe.
We have all had the same problem of being a bottleneck in our team at some point. Sometimes we are just too close to see it and need someone to remind us to stop and put in layers to protect ourselves. We also need to allow others to take over and grow allowing the team and systems around us to grow at a faster rate without us being the bottleneck.
A common issue I see is being ‘the only one’ that knows a certain platform, or a bit of code in a legacy part of the product, or how to work with a library that went out of support 5 years ago.
This list of challenges (or excuses) is endless. I call it the Brent Syndrome (reference to The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, George Spafford, and Kevin Behr).
The issue we have when we are the bottleneck is that we think it’s quicker if we get that bit of work done and move on.
The reality is by doing this, we are creating a rod for our own backs as this work will never leave us and the system, that is our team, will never evolve without us always being there! This is probably the biggest growth mistake we can make as leaders, and I see as a leadership coach.
So how to solve this?
First, and arguably the hardest step, you need to realize you are doing it!
I say this because earlier on in my career I never spotted when that was me.
However, I was lucky to be in a good management team or had a coach guiding me to stop(!) and do something about it.
You now know you have a problem, how do you go about solving it?
Understand the immediate issues, and put in a fix now! Don’t delay. Quite often we all try to do the best for the long term, however, if you are in this situation you are probably also very time-poor as well. Therefore come up with a way so you remove yourself from being the bottleneck in this current situation. Normally this will mean pairing up with someone and showing them what you do. This will take you longer, but unless it’s life or death, you must do this immediately.
Create a list of where you are the knowledge bottleneck. My suggestion is to start a list and over a week/month fill this in. I am never able just to sit and write the long list, but over a week your subconscious self will help you make it 10x longer than you originally thought. You must be very honest with what is on that list. It does not matter if you don’t have the skills in the business for you to stop doing something, write it down!
For every item in the list name your firewall. This firewall is the person/team that is going to intercept the request before it gets to you. Once they intercept it, they will try and deal with the request.
As this is the case, it means that person needs to get some form of training or knowledge transfer on that request. This means you will have to figure how that training is going to take place. Will it be you, external support, etc.
Solving this type of issue is a really good use of your time, so get this bit correct as this will ultimately allow you and your teams to scale.
In my experience I would also suggest that if this item is important to your business then use the ‘load balancer’ technique, as it suggests, have multiple people trained up and dealing with this type of issue. Remember, this will cost you (your time, energy or budget), and that cost will be significant, but you have to trust in the process and go with it.
Over a 3-6 month period, you will find that the firewall and load balancers are handling all the requests and you have released your capacity to do the things you should be doing, the real added value part required of you as a technology leader.
Start a cadence of knowledge transfer sessions with the wider team. This could be for the items that you are a bottleneck for, but my recommendation is to do this with everyone and everything. Get the team to take it in turns and present something different once a week.
Keep the sessions short and sharp.
Ensure there is output from each session, so this could be creating a wiki article, updating code comments, etc. The key is to make sure that knowledge goes into the ‘system’ and not into someone else’s head!
By doing this, not only will you remove yourself from being the bottleneck, but you will be helping and training those in your team to avoid the same problem.
So the question you might now be asking yourself.
How do I know if I am being the bottleneck?
The truth is, we typically know when this is happening it’s just that we don’t like to admit it.
This is where a member of your management team or a coach really helps. If these are not available and you want to do a check, then my standard technique is to create a diary.
Create a one week diary of the things you are working on. You don’t need to go into lots of detail, but put in broad areas that will help you identify where you are spending your week. Eg internal meetings, emails/slack, coding (new product), coding (bugs) client meetings, etc.
Use a tally and mark down your time in 30 minute intervals.
The results will quickly answer the question for you.
To conclude – Key things to remember when building your own personal firewall;
Your time is important so make sure it is being used on the most important thing for your business;
Ensure you are not the bottleneck in your team, systems or processes;
Immediately fix wherever you discover you are the bottleneck;
Put in a system for knowledge sharing so that no one person becomes a similar blocker and the philosophy is consistent across the team.
About the Author
Sanjay Mistry is an experienced COO/CTO and also one of the longest serving leadership coaches at CTO Academy, working with technology leaders around the world. He is also one of our tribe leaders, facilitating experienced CTOs through our 3 and 12 month group coaching programmes.
CTO Academy provide leadership courses, masterclass series, coaching and career development to tech leaders from around the world.
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After a 2020 that is rated as the worst year for some time, people around the world are looking forward to 2021 for their country, their families and themselves, according to a new Ipsos' Global Advisor poll in 31 countries. However, worries about the long-term impact of COVID-19 are prevalent, and concerns about global warming, the economy, and general tolerance of others have not gone away.
28 December 2020
COVID-19 – hopes for a vaccine, but predict long-term effects
Globally, people seem optimistic that a successful vaccine will become widely available in their country in 2021; 60% of people around the world say this is likely to happen. Those in Poland are least hopeful, where this figure falls to 44%, along with 45% in Spain. China is by far most optimistic, 9 in 10 (89%) believe a successful vaccine will be widely available, followed by three-quarters in Malaysia, India and Saudi Arabia.
However, almost half of people globally (47%) also believe there will be a new global pandemic caused by a new virus, increasing to 7 in 10 Malaysians and South Koreans (70% and 69% respectively).
Furthermore, only 4 in 10 (41%) say it is likely life in their country will have got back to normal after the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and only a third (32%) expect the economy to have fully recovered. Only 3 in 10 (30%) believe the world will change for the better because of the pandemic: those in India (62%) and Saudi Arabia (58%) are most hopeful in this respect; meanwhile only 9% of those in France are as optimistic.
A majority (61%) believe they will still have to wear a mask in public places a year from now, there are only 5 countries in which a minority think this is likely, including Sweden (18%) and New Zealand (30%).
Economics – predictions of rising income inequality and doubts about gender pay, but a belief shopping online will continue
Two-thirds (66%) expect income inequality in their country to increase over the next year, Turkey and Israel are most likely to say this will happen (85% and 84%) respectively.
Four in ten (40%) say it’s likely the major stock markets around the world will crash, similar to predictions in 2016 and 2017. Three-quarters of those in Malaysia (73%) believe it is likely to happen. At the other end of the spectrum, only 2 in 10 (22%) of those in China and one-quarter of Hungarians (26%) agree.
Half of the global population (51%) say it is unlikely that women will be paid the same as men for the same work, roughly similar to predictions in 2019 and 2018. Around the world women are less optimistic this will be achieved (35% say it’s likely, compared to 45% for men).
Most expect to spend more money buying things online than spending in store, 57% of respondents say they are likely to do so, increasing to 84% in Turkey and 79% in China and South Korea. Only in France do a majority think this is unlikely (56%).
Society and Culture – most predict no improvement in tolerance and equal treatment of others, while loneliness is a concern for three in ten
Only 3 in 10 (29%) expect people in their country to become more tolerant of each other, with 61% saying it’s unlikely to happen next year. Those in Europe are most likely to say this is improbable, and this figure rises to 77% in the Netherlands, 80% in Belgium and 81% in France.
Only a third globally (33%) believe police in their country will treat people equally regardless of their differences.
Nearly half (46%) say they will make a new friend in their local area, a figure which almost doubles in China (84%). Meanwhile, only 15% in Japan believe this is likely to happen. Although most (59%) do not expect to feel lonely most of the time, this is a concern for three in ten (31%). However, there is little sign that this has got worse in 2020 during the pandemic, compared with earlier years.
A third (34%) expect the number of people living in big cities in their country to shrink, but half (52%) think this is unlikely.
Technology – a minority predict major advances in robotics and cloning
36% globally say it is likely that robots will look like, think like and speak like humans next year, 52% say this is unlikely to happen.
Almost 6 in 10 (58%) believe it is unlikely that human cloning will be legalised in some countries. Almost half of those in Turkey (47%) say this is likely while, at the other end of the scale, only 9% in Canada and Israel believe it to be probable.
A third (34%) think it’s likely that one of their online accounts will be hacked in 2021, 45% say it is unlikely. Half of those in Turkey deem this likely (50%) with 47% in Israel and Malaysia saying the same.
Global Threats – concerns about global warming continue, but only very few expect aliens, asteroids or discovery of ghosts
A large majority around the world expect average global temperatures to increase next year (75%, similar to previous years). In every country surveyed, a majority say it’s likely this will be the case, ranging from 59% in Saudi Arabia to 89% in Turkey.
Six in ten think it is unlikely that an asteroid will hit the earth next year. Those in Sweden and Great Britain are most likely to dismiss this potential event; 75% in both countries say it is improbable. And, overall, relatively few are worried about the human race as a whole, some 16% believe it likely that humans will become extinct in 2021.
Few expect ghosts to be discovered, only 16% around the world believe we will discover that ghosts really exist in 2021. And even fewer believe that we will have proof of the extra-terrestrial, only 12% say it’s likely that aliens will visit the earth next year.
Outlook for 2021 – 2020 seen as the worst year for some time, but more optimism that 2021 will be better
There has been a sharp increase in those looking on the past year negatively, as 9 in 10 (90%) now say 2020 was a bad year for their country, up from 65% last year. Seven in ten (70%) say 2020 has been a bad year for themselves and their family, an increase of 20 percentage points from 2019. This is the worst figure since the series started in 2012.
A clear majority of people in every country view 2020 as bad for their country, although least likely to agree are those in Saudi Arabia (74%) and China (79%). Views have got worse in every country, especially the US (up 45 points to 94%), Canada (up 39 points to 93%), the Netherlands (up 56 points to 93%), Singapore (up 42 points to 91%), Germany (up 37 points to 83%) and China (up 36 points to 79%).
However, in all countries, bar Japan, a majority say they are optimistic that 2021 will be better, a global average of 77% agree (similar to previous years), increasing to 94% in China and 92% in Peru. On the other hand, only 44% in Japan are feeling optimistic for the year ahead, as are only 53% in France.
People are less enthusiastic about the performance of the global economy next year: 54% believe it will be stronger than it has been in 2020 (similar to predictions in previous years). Countries in Europe are most likely to disagree including France (69%), Belgium (63%), Spain, Poland and Germany (all 60%).
Three-quarters (75%) around the world say they will make personal resolutions for themselves or others in 2021, including almost all of those in China (97%) and Mexico (95%).
23,007 interviews were conducted between October 23 and November 6, 2020. This Ipsos survey was among adults aged 21-74 in Singapore, 18-74 in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, New Zealand, Malaysia, South Africa, and Turkey, and 16-74 in the 22 other markets.
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Larry Chavez is the 112th inductee into the NMAA Hall of Fame, with a career in education that spanned over 38 years. He devoted his entire career to the youth of New Mexico.....
Newell, a graduate from Highland High School and 3-time State Champion, has attended two Olympic games for team Canada.
Former New Mexico State volunteer assistant track and field coach Rachel Dincoff reached the pinnacle of her event...
We are the NMTCCCA !!!
Begun in 1987 by a small group of visionaries with the goal of a NM Meet of Champions, as well as developing better communication and unification between all track and cross country coaches, the New Mexico Track and Cross Country Coaches Association was born and has grown to what you see today. Our association has and must continue to be the guiding force for positive change and the protection of all aspects of New Mexico Track and Cross Country that we believe important to our athletes and our coaches. Changes are a part of life. We are our best "Advocates" for helping to direct that change in a positive and constructive way. We must continue to "Educate" our membership and give them the best tools for success. And, as a professional organization, we must "Celebrate" those successes, those stories, those special moments and actions that make our sports such wonderful tools in helping to mold the youth of New Mexico. We ARE the NMTCCCA !!!
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Even before the pandemic-related closures, schools around the world had been experimenting with personalized and adaptive learning.
And since the pandemic, the demand for online learning platforms has only intensified.
Launching a personalized learning initiative is a big undertaking. And while the benefits are significant, the risks of a failed initiative are enormous.
Personalized learning requires an investment of both time and money. If teachers don’t see immediate benefits, the program may wither on the vine. And teachers who have been burned once by technology will be doubly resistant to future initiatives.
Success with personalized learning requires a solid plan and clearly defined outcomes. It requires that we go beyond buzzwords to understand what it really means to personalize learning.
And last but not least, PL success means choosing the right adaptive learning platform for your school or classroom.
If you’re like most educators, you’re probably looking for the best adaptive platform at the best price. But there is no best adaptive platform. It’s really about finding the right fit for you and your students.
I’ve done my best to summarize what matters most for personalized learning, and to fairly describe the relative strengths of each product.
Many of us have heard the terms adaptive learning and personalized learning. But most of us still have questions about the meaning behind the buzzwords.
Part of the challenge is that EdTech vocabulary is constantly evolving. And any time a new term becomes popular, marketers rush to apply it to their products.
The difference between personalized and adaptive learning comes down to strategy vs tool.
Personalized learning is an education model in which instruction is matched to each students’ needs and/or interests.
Though some companies market their software as a “personalized learning platform,” there is actually no such thing. The right software is an important tool for personalized learning, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle.
True personalized learning begins with a student-centered mindset. It means rethinking our grading systems, schedules, and priorities. For more on how to make personalized learning work in your school, review the Five Phases of Personalized Learning Implementation.
Adaptive learning describes software that adjusts instruction based on student needs. When people describe “personalized learning platforms,” they are usually talking about adaptive learning.
While it is possible to implement personalized learning without an adaptive platform, it’s much more difficult. Imagine a class with just 20 students. Every day, each student would need an assessment tailored to their level. The teacher would be constantly grading and interpreting these assessments. Then, they would have to plan and deliver a unique lesson to each student. Attempts at this type of personalization go back hundreds of years, but have never gained widespread acceptance.
With adaptive learning technology, personalized learning is becoming a practical reality. Teachers no longer need to manually assess every skill, or assign every activity.
Some worry that such technology will replace teachers or harm our personal connections with students. The reality is that when used effectively, adaptive learning can improve student-teacher relationships.
That’s because computers are great at producing data. But they’re downright awful at understanding student hopes and fears. When is the last time your computer put its hand on your shoulder and asked, “Are you OK?”
Adaptive platforms allow teachers to shift from being data producers to being data consumers. They free educators from the responsibility of manually assessing each students’s proficiency in dozens of standards across multiple grade levels. We can reinvest the time saved into cultivating personal relationships. We can take on the role of guide-by-the-side instead of sage-on-the-stage.
What Matters Most in Adaptive Learning?
The best adaptive learning platform is the one that fits your needs, the needs of your students, and those of your school.
But figuring out which platform is best for you can be challenging. The companies that make them are all vying for the top spots in google search. And they all have studies that prove their software is the best.
I’ve also been disappointed with the ratings on independent sites. One popular review site proudly lists Cool Math Games as their editors recommendation. If you’re familiar with CMG and their “math” games, this recommendation should tell you all you need to know.
The only bias here is my personal bias. I have not, nor will I, charge for coverage in the Room to Discover blog. While I do provide professional development consulting to EdTech companies, at the time of writing, I have never received a dime (or the promise of a dime) from any of the providers covered.
I’m only including platforms that are truly adaptive, meaning they automatically assign work based on students’ assessed needs. And I’m writing based on my personal experience with each platform as a teacher or instructional coach.
I’ve considered six factors that contribute to an adaptive platform’s effectiveness:
Student-Friendliness: Is it easy to learn? Do students enjoy using it?
Teacher-Friendliness: Is it easy for teachers to use? Are the data visualizations clear?
Admin-Friendliness: Can school and district leaders track usage and growth?
Depth: Does it emphasize conceptual learning?
Adaptiveness: How well does it adjust to students’ learning needs on its own?
Price: How does its cost compare to other platforms?
The four platforms below are presented in no particular order: Khan Academy, IXL, iReady, and DreamBox.
Adaptive Learning with Khan Academy
Khan Academy was my first adaptive platform. While many still think of it as a collection of videos, in 2015, KA introduced Missions for adaptive learning.
Khan Academy has a special place in my heart. It was the platform I used in my own classroom, and it helped my students succeed beyond my wildest expectations.
What I Love About Khan Academy
Before it was a teacher tool, Khan Academy was designed for students. Teachers sometimes get frustrated that they can’t “lock students in” to what they want them to do. But to me, its student-centered design is a feature, not a bug.
The platform also emphasizes practice problems, rather than content delivery. Students can access videos and hints when they need them, but
it doesn’t force them to sit through a video if they prefer to dive right in.
And though it’s free, Khan Academy offers some of the most creative and rigorous problem sets available. They use visual models, word problems, and algebraic reasoning. Students respond by plotting points, moving sliders, and filling in blanks, in addition to multiple choice.
This not only makes the learning experience more engaging, it also makes the data more informative.
Did I mention it’s free?
For all its strengths, I can’t help but feel that Khan Academy has forgotten its roots. I’ve watched Salman Khan’s Second TED talk dozens of times. I’ve shared it with colleagues and shown it in my workshops. In it, he compares our school system’s “one-size-fits-all” approach to building a house on a weak foundation.
Khan Academy “Missions” – Skill View
Missions was the program I came to know and love as a teacher. It was designed as a student-centered platform, made specifically for mastery learning. It certainly had flaws, and apparently the code base is outdated. But it was amazing at adapting to student needs. And the data visualizations were the best available.
As of June 2020, Khan has retired the beloved Missions platform replacing it with Khan Mastery. The new platform is less student-centered, and seems to emphasize teacher-assigned work over differentiation. Instead of skill-based “recommendations,” it’s built around homework, tests, and quizzes.
Khan Academy “Mastery” – Assignment Scores
The new dashboard reflects these changes. The old dashboard made it easy to identify student needs across grade levels, plan differentiated lessons, and measure student engagement. The new dashboard works more like a digital gradebook.
The academic content and the student experience are still excellent. But it has become increasingly difficult to find and organize the data teachers need to personalize their classrooms.
Adaptive Learning with IXL
IXL began as a practice platform. There was no algorithm, and teachers manually assigned each problem set. But as Khan Academy has moved away from adaptive learning, IXL is embracing an adaptive approach.
IXL launched its real-time diagnostic in 2017, and it uses data from the diagnostic to craft individual assignments for students in real time.
IXL is extremely user-friendly for teachers, students and administrators. And its real time adaptiveness is critical. Students don’t need a lengthy diagnostic before they begin. And their test results don’t lock them in to a fixed learning path.
As students show proficiency, they move ahead faster. If students don’t know how to solve a problem, they can view a worked example, or choose to work on foundations. IXL also incorporates student choice as a way to increase engagement.
The content is straightforward and aligned to standards. You can easily see how each activity maps to state standards or to any popular textbooks.
The data dashboards in IXL are phenomenal. There’s almost no end to how much you can learn about student strengths and needs. You can view data by student, by class, or by standard. It even creates student groupings based on needs they have in common.
IXL Student Levels and Recommendations
IXL Suggested Student Groupings
Some users bemoan IXL’s lack of videos. But I like the video-free approach. It encourages active learning over passive watching. And if students really need a video, they can always open YouTube or Khan Academy in another window.
Another critique I’ve heard is the “80% problem.” As students complete problem sets, their mastery score can go up or down. Once they reach 80%, the questions become quite challenging. Many students get frustrated when they get stuck between 80% and 90%.
IXL recommends that students reach at least 80% to be considered proficient. But it’s difficult for students to get past the idea that 80% is “not good enough.” It looks too much like a test or report card grade.
Mastery learning reflects a different goal than traditional learning. Using a point system that looks so much like traditional grading just invites confusion.
I also think IXL’s content could be streamlined. Each grade level offers hundreds of problem sets, each of which covers a fraction of a fraction of a standard.
For example, a Division Patterns problem set had me divide 4 by 2, then 40 by 2, then 400 by 2, and so on. The next problem repeated the process with 7. Completing the entire problem set took a lot more clicking than thinking.
By combining problem sets, IXL could avoid some of these repetitions. Connecting standards within problem sets would also promote deeper conceptual learning.
Overall, these concerns are pretty minor compared with the ease of use and potential benefits that IXL offers.
Adaptive Learning with iReady
iReady, by Curriculum Associates, is another popular adaptive platform. It’s designed as an all-in-one platform, with adaptive diagnostics, online instruction, and printable lesson plans. They also offer a full curriculum, Ready Math, that can be used in conjunction with iReady.
iReady is known for both its fun cartoon characters and its powerful growth tracking.
iReady has the most robust teacher dashboard I’ve seen. Teachers can navigate dozens of graphs and reports based on what they’re trying to learn about their students. And it’s easy to connect the data to instruction. Their reports create leveled groupings, and even include printable lessons matched to each group’s needs.
iReady also uses a convenient decimal metric for reporting grade proficiency. For example, early grade 3 would be 3.1, while advanced 6th grade would be 6.8 or 6.9. I’m surprised more platforms don’t use this approach. It’s incredibly intuitive for teachers and offers a simple way to track student growth.
iReady is designed with school and district administrators in mind. It makes it easy to track usage, proficiency, and growth, even across several classes or schools.
And while I don’t usually think about customer service with online platforms, iReady provides support for creating student accounts and addressing technical issues.
iReady is well-designed, no doubt. But while its data visualizations and growth tracking are strong, the student experience can be mixed.
The Videos: iReady lessons follow a traditional, information delivery approach. Students can’t skip or speed up the video, so there’s a lot of passive watch time. I like videos as a resource for students, rather than a mandate. And though the cartoons can be a draw for young students, some middle schoolers find them childish.
Variable Rigor: The depth of iReady’s problem sets varies. In the example below, students need to really make sense of integer operations to guide the ship through the hoop.
iReady conceptual integer operations problem set
The next is an example of what Robert Kaplinsky calls a ‘fake modeling problem.’ The ants and inches are “decoration.” Students could answer the question without understanding units of length or paying attention to the context.
iReady procedural measurement problem set
The Diagnostic Experience: iReady’s diagnostic is extremely accurate and thorough. Some schools only use the diagnostic, without the lessons. So what’s the problem?
The test only happens three times a year. So student growth does not influence lesson recommendations in real-time. After the diagnostic, students are locked into their learning track for months. And since so much data is needed up front, the test can take several hours.
Many students get frustrated and click randomly. There’s even a notification so teachers know this is happening. Even with the notification, many students end up in a track below their actual ability.
I shared my thoughts with an iReady representative, who assured me that all of these issues are being addressed. Cartoons are gone from middle school, they’ve shifted to a “less talking, more doing” model, and adaptive supports are being built into the lessons. More on their website.
DreamBox is designed to take a creative and conceptual approach to adaptive learning. They have few multiple choice questions, opting mostly for digital manipulatives and educational games.
Their adaptive algorithm takes a clever approach. Answers aren’t recorded simply as “right” or “wrong.” Each incorrect choice represents a common misconception. This allows the software to identify and respond to a student’s exact learning needs much more quickly.
Dreambox is the only platform out of the bunch that I haven’t personally used as a teacher or teacher coach. But I’ve heard so much positive feedback, that it didn’t seem fair to leave them out. They were gracious enough to provide a demo account so I could try out the student and parent dashboards for myself.
My favorite thing about DreamBox is its emphasis on conceptual understanding. One activity is built around the idea of a “function machine.” I’ve written previously about how functions, a hallmark of conceptual math, are mostly absent from elementary and middle school math. So I was thrilled to see functions being addressed in an online platform.
I also found evidence of conceptual learning via student-created screencasts from DreamBox. One student completes a fraction activity that asks him to cut shapes into equal parts. I like that the student actually cuts the shapes himself, rather than just responding to images. This requires a more advanced interface than most platforms offer.
In another, a girl records herself adding on the number line. You can see that there is no lengthy introductory video. DreamBox just starts with the activity. At first, she’s not sure how it works. But after a few attempts, she figures it out and gets the remaining questions right. This approach truly embodies the spirit of Inquiry-Based Learning.
The parent dashboard provides useful insights into time on task, standards mastered, and trouble spots. The screenshots I’ve seen of the teacher dashboard are similarly helpful and clear. There is also a report that helps you plan small-group instruction, by identifying students with common needs.
Dreambox has recently added a feature called “predictive insights,” which forecasts which students will pass the state test. I’m nor sure I’d use this as a classroom teacher, but it could be useful for administrators needing a bird’s eye view of their school or district.
What Missing from DreamBox?
Using DreamBox as a student, I found that the activities take longer than on IXL or Khan Academy. It’s not a completely fair comparison, given the different formats. But on the latter platforms, I can breeze through 10 or more questions a minute.
On Dreambox, the interactivity and animation means students may spend several minutes on one question. If a student is developing conceptual understanding of a new topic, that’s perfect. But if they’re just “showing what they know,” it might feel too long.
For example, in the fraction video, the boy spends eight minutes cutting shapes into three equal parts. It was clear right away that he was proficient in this skill.
Given that DreamBox has such an advanced algorithm, I wanted the program to adjust the difficulty of the content more quickly. It’s possible that his teacher required a certain number of questions on the same topic. Or that the student chose to stay on that level.
These are the types of questions that can only be answered by spending weeks or months on a platform. Comparing dashboard data with your own observations. Hearing feedback from students. And ultimately, measuring the site’s overall impact.
While adaptive learning can be a powerful tool to drive student learning, it requires a shift in how we think about learning progressions.
When I started using Khan Academy in my classroom, my students loved it. Many who had struggled for years in math were suddenly working at a more comfortable level. Others had been bored previously, and were finally being challenged.
But when I began coaching other educators, the results were mixed. On a follow-up visit to one of my middle school classes, the teacher announced, “open up Khan Academy!” and was met with a chorus of groans. I soon found out why.
I had originally set the class up for adaptive learning. But the moment I left, the teacher manually assigned everyone a dozen of the same problem sets. She felt they didn’t have time to study fractions or the meaning of multiplication, and wanted to ensure they were focused on grade-level content.
She had taken a powerful tool for differentiation, and turned it into a digital worksheet. And while features like instant feedback are helpful when students work at the edge of their understanding (also known as Zone of Proximal Development), such feedback can actually be painful and unproductive for struggling learners.
This teacher’s data dashboard was a big wall of red. Utterly useless, as anyone could tell her students were struggling with what she was assigning them.
The reality is that personalized learning requires a mindset shift. Each of the platforms above can be powerful tools for differentiation. Or they can reinforce outmoded teaching models. To harness the potential of adaptive learning, educators must let the platforms do their jobs: adapt to the students; not just cover the curriculum.
Getting the Most from Your Adaptive Learning Platform
Whatever platform you use, the right strategy is key. Reviewing the Five Steps of Personalized Learning will help ensure your students get the full benefits of adaptive learning.
To learn more about using personalized learning in your school, enroll in our online course or connect with a personalized learning specialist.
For questions on how personalized learning fits into your overall academic program, review the Three Bridges Design for Learning. This framework can improve student achievement and engagement by balancing the three bridges of learning: content coverage, personalized, and inquiry-based.
And if you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our free newsletter. Each week, you’ll receive an email update with our latest blog posts and videos.
Jeff Lisciandrello is the founder of Room to Discover and an education consultant specializing in student-centered learning. His 3-Bridges Design for Learning helps schools explore innovative practices within traditional settings. He enjoys helping educators embrace inquiry-based and personalized approaches to instruction. You can connect with him via Twitter @EdTechJeff
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Essential reading for every math teacher! The meanings of multiplication support student engagement, conceptual understanding, and success with word problems.
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Depending on the season and wishes of our passengers, we can cruise either north past Philadelphia or south past the airport.
A video taken by a passenger on a Sunset Cruise to the north can be viewed here. Click for Video
Boat Trip North
Gloucester City was first founded in 1623 by the Dutch colonists when they built Fort Nassau to trade with the Indians for fur pelts.
Walt Whitman Bridge opened May 16th, 1957. It is 11,981’ long 92’ wide and has a clearance of 150’
Camden was founded in 1626. From 1899 ‘til 1967 the New York Shipbuilding Corp was one of our largest employers. The USS Kitty Hawk and USS Indianapolis were among the ships built here along with many Victory Ships.– In sheer tonnage, The South Jersey Port Corporation is one of the most productive ports in the world and the economic impacts to the Delaware Valley region is significant
USS New Jersey (BB-62) was commissioned May 23, 1943. She is the most decorated battleship in Naval History. Her crew was 1921 officers and men. The Length is 887’7”, beam 108.2”, draft 28.9”. Speed was 33 knots. Displacement 45,000 tons. Became a museum in Camden October 25th, 2001.
Ben Franklin Bridge opened July 1, 1926. Length is 9,573’, width 128’, clearance 135’.
USS Olympia was commissioned in 1895. She was Admiral Dewey’s Flagship during the Spanish American War. She is 344’1” long, 53’ beam, draft 24’10” and displaces 5,870 tons. She was designed as a fast commerce raider capable of 19 knots.
Submarine Becuna was launched January 30, 1944 in Groton, Conn. She is 311’8” long, 27’2” of beam and draws 17’ in surface trim. Displacement is 1525 tons. Crew was 10 officers and 72 enlisted. Speed was 20.25 knots surfaced and 8.75 submerged. For short periods of time she could do 15 knots submerged.
Moshulu is a 335’ 3109 ton steel hull Barkentine built in 1904. She is presently an upscale restaurant.
SS United States maiden voyage was July 3, 1952. She held the speed record for Trans-Atlantic crossing ‘til 1990. Still holds westbound record. She is 990’ long, 101’ beam, draft 31’ and displaces 47,300 tons. Carried 1928 passengers and 900 crew. Wartime capacity as a troopship was 15,000. The SS United States Conservancy has learned that America’s national flagship, the SS United States, may soon be destroyed. The ship’s current owners, Genting Hong Kong (formerly Star Cruises Limited), through its subsidiary, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), are currently collecting bids from scrappers.
Boat Trip South
Gloucester City was first founded in 1623 by the Dutch colonists when they built Fort Nassau to trade with the Indians for fur pelts.
Walt Whitman Bridge opened May 16th, 1957. It is 11,981’ long 92’ wide and has a clearance of 150’
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was built in 1917 as the first naval shipyard of the United States. Its role as a Navy facility ended on September 30, 1995. 40,000 employees worked there during WW II. The USS New Jersey was built here.
USS John F Kennedy (CV-67) was commissioned September 7, 1968. She is 60,728 tons, 1052’ long, 252’/130’ wide, 37’ draft. Crew 3297 officers and men plus air crews. Speed 34 knots. Decommissioned August 1, 2007.
Hog Island, now Philadelphia International Airport was a shipyard during WW I with 50 shipways. Ships built there were called “Hog Islanders” and considered ugly, but well built. Shipbuilding continued until 1921 after which the facility was rapidly demolished. The workers were called “Hoggies”
Fort Mifflin was originally built by the British in 1771. Reconstructed in 1798, it was an active military post until the Korean War. The Fort is home to 14 restored historic structures constructed from 1778 to 1875.
Red Bank Battlefield was the location of the Battle of Red Bank in the American Revolutionary War on October 22, 1777.
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First Baptist Church sponsors a monthly Food Pantry on the third Wednesday of each month from 6:00 pm-7:00 pm in the Fellowship Hall. Working through God’s Pantry of Lexington, Corbin’s United Effort, and the TriCan Network, we offer commodities and necessities for those needing some assistance during these difficult economic times. Clients are asked to bring paperwork showing identification, income, and address.
Volunteers are always welcome and much needed. The next date is Wednesday, June 19, at 6:00 pm. Volunteers are asked to come at 5:30 pm for assignments or they can come at 9:00 am to help pack bags of groceries to be distributed that evening.
This provides a hands on way to minister in a meaningful way.
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Children’s Choir – September 7, 2022
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Posted in News, Relocation GuidesTagged Advice, All Med Search, Candidate, Career, Career Tips, Education, Employee Retention, Healthcare Industry, la, Louisiana, Relo, Relocation, shreveport, Shreveport LA, tips and tricks
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Follow me I’ve learned a lot about childhood cancer since my own daughter-in-law was diagnosed with Non-Hodgins Lymphoma a few years ago. She was treated successfully, and is vibrant and…
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A northeast Iowa sheriff has been nominated to serve as a U.S. Marshal. President Obama has nominated Dubuque County Sheriff Kenneth Runde to be U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Iowa.
Runde’s nomination must be approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and then by the full Senate. Senator Tom Harkin suggested Runde for the post, calling Runde a “true difference marker” who has developed “key relationships with judges, U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Marshals and other law enforcement officials.”
Runde is a former Marine who began working for the Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office 33 years ago as a radio dispatcher. He worked his way up through the ranks to the elected position of County Sheriff.
Harkin says Runde has strong management skills which will serve him well as U.S. Marshals not only track down fugitives, but they protect judges, jurors and witnesses during trials and oversee prisoners before they are sentenced.
Public Safety Director: alcohol sales at Kinnick Stadium improving game day experience
Iowa’s 2022 election a red wave in all but one statewide race
Two road crew workers killed by distracted driver on Burlington bridge
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Northern Iowa’s Heise sidelined with injury
Purdue looks to extend domination of Hawkeyes
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Land Cruisers are often considered a status symbol. You may not find many in say, Beverly Hills or Silicon Valley as they're filled with G-Class and Cullinans. But, you will find plenty of them in Middle-Eastern markets. Even here in India, we have seen the new gen LC300 Land Cruiser strolling on Indian roads and a launch is imminent too.
Land Cruisers have been considered to be some of the most robust and well-engineered vehicles on earth. I would trust that vehicle if there was a zombie apocalypse. With a reputation of being over-engineered deliberately, Land Cruisers have cult following across the world.
When it comes to VIP transportation, Land Cruiser is a probable choice to equip with armour. It can handle the extra weight and can look inconspicuous too. But the armoured Land Cruiser that we are talking about today, is anything but inconspicuous. Made by SVI Engineering, they have gone with probably the wildest approach they could.
What they've created is a 6-wheel off-road monster with a flatbed to carry off-road motorcycles. Sounds like an average pickup truck conversion, right? Well, your average pickup doesn't have a drone intercepting radar equipment and an automatic grenade launcher, does it? Yep. It was showcased at the Africa Aerospace and Defence Show (AAD2022) in South Africa.
This is meant for military and defence use mainly. Even though the J300 is the current generation of Land Cruisers, this beast is based on the J79 platform. Known as MAX 3 Six-Wheeler, it has 6 wheels. Two extra wheels are accommodated in an extra axle. All wheels get disc brakes to account for better stopping power.
In terms of design, it looks like it came straight out of a Fast & Furious movie, something that Agent Hobbs would drive. It gets a large grille up front and steel armour all around. The interior has controls to operate the grenade launcher and can seat 4 in reasonable comfort just like a Humvee. Around the back is what is the most exciting part of this conversion.
The armour offers a protection level of EN1063 BR6. If needed, one can upgrade it to BR7 as well. This level of protection is enough to withstand assault rifles and anti-personnel grenades as well. It is powered by a 4.5L turbo diesel V8 that supports a max GVW of 5,500 kg.
Coming to its party piece, this armoured Land Cruiser gets a radar at the back to intercept and pinpoint hostile drones. Once a drone is detected, it should also be terminated, right? That's where its built-in automatic grenade launcher comes in handy. That's not the end of this story.
If a hostile drone is shot down, it has to be retrieved owing to some military protocols. Now, that is where the off-road motorcycle comes into action. A quick in-and-out will suffice the operation. The model shown is based on a dual cab design. SVI Engineering has revealed that they will launch a single-cab design.
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India-Bhutan satellite testament to special relationship with people of Bhutan: PM Modi
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Ellen Slaughter Virts 60, of Mineral, Virginia passed away at her residence on Tuesday, December 4, 2012. She is the daughter of the late Guthery and Lucy Slaughter.Ellen is survived by her husband; Ernest A. Virts, one son, Edward K. Virts both of the home; two brothers; Jimmy Slaughter and his wife Pat and Junior Slaughter and his wife Vickie both of Hanover County.
Bruce Priddy Spiller July 18, 2019 at 12:33 pm - Reply
Louise and her family were our friends in school. She was always very sweet. I am saddened to hear of her death but know she will rest in peace.
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In today’s post, we complete our profiles of head brewers who have assumed their posts since the publication of NEW MEXICO BEER (The History Press) in April.
On a small platform just inside the brew house at Nexus Brewery and Restaurant stand a pair of pink boots. They belong to Kaylynn McKnight who became the establishment’s head brewer after Manuel Mussen moved back to California in the spring. And, they are an emblem signifying Kaylynn’s membership in the “Pink Boots Society,” an organization of made up of women who work in the brewing profession. Kaylynn is proud not only to display them, but also to wear them — they indicate that she is part of a relatively small, but growing segment of the modern brewing industry. Centuries ago, most brewing was done by women; but with the industrialization of brewing in the nineteenth century, the role was assumed by men. But things are changing — and Kaylynn, one of four female brewers in New Mexico, is part of that change.
Kaylynn, who grew up in the Albuquerque, remembers how, as a child, she frequently smelled the aromas of her father’s homebrewing efforts. “At first I didn’t like the smell, or the taste of hops,” she remembers. “But I gradually got to like it.” The liking grew when she and her brother brewed a few batches of their own and increased further when she began a job as a server at Chama River, the Albuquerque gastro-pub.
‘I used to harass Ted Rice and Jeff Erway to let me go back into the brew house. I thought it was fascinating. And when Jeff opened La Cumbre in 2010 I applied for a job in the brewery.” Her first duties were far from glamorous: scrubbing floors, cleaning tansk, and finally transferring beers from one tank to another. Her duties increased and as La Cumbre’s production increased, she spent more time involved in the actual brewing process. “I had really good teachers, first Ted Rice and then Jeff Erway, and then Daniel Jaramillo.
Early this year, when Manuel Mussen decided to return to California, he recommended that Kaylynn apply for his job at Nexus. It was just another example of what she calls the “like a family” relationship that exists among New Mexico brewers. “We borrow materials from each other and help each other with our problems. Of course, we like to compete against each other. It’s a healthy, friendly rivalry and it makes all of us work to be better.”
Moving from La Cumbre to Nexus required an adjustment. “La Cumbre was a production brewery, we were always busy working to meet the demand — and it kept growing. Here, we are making less beer; it’s mainly for the restaurant. So we have more time to plan and to focus on developing or tweaking recipes.”
There was also a change involved in going from a brewery where the emphasis was on hop-forward beers to one where malts played a greater roll. ‘It was a challenge. I’ve spent a lot of time concentrating on the qualities that each malt gives to a specific beer. Ken [Carson, owner of Nexus] told me I wasn’t to change the Scottish ale. That was his favorite. And I didn’t want to alter the Imperial Cream Ale, which won a medal at the World Beer Cup. But I have tweaked some of the recipes. The IBUs [international bitterness units] are higher than they used to be.”
She has also had a chance to develop some unusual beers. “I had fun developing Honey Chamomile Wheat”. I used 4.5 pounds of fresh chamomile flowers.”
Kaylynn has followed in the footprints of some of New Mexico’s most respected brewers. Now she has a chance to make her own footprints — with her pink boots and her brewing skills.
James Warren didn’t travel from Beaumont, Texas, to New Haven, Connecticut because of beer. It was to be with his girl-friend, who was attending Yale University. But not long after his arrival, beer became an important part of his life. “One day, I went on a brewery tour at New England Brewing Company, in New Haven. I was fascinated and decided that, instead of becoming a teacher, I’d like to become a brewer.”
Warren joined New England Brewing, starting by working on the canning line, and then moving up. He also studied brewing at the American Brewers’ Guild. “I also worked at BruRm at Bar, a local brewpub, helping out where I could. So, over a few years, I had good practical experience working at a production brewery and a brewpub.”
Although James gained valuable experience and enjoyed living in New England, the Southwest beckoned. “My grandparents had a summer cabin near Glorietta, and I used to spend time there. When I realized Connecticut was over, I applied to breweries in Arizona and New Mexico.”
He was interviewed by the Santa Fe Dining Group for the Chama River head brewer’s job left vacant by the departure of Justin Hamilton to start his own brewery, Boxing Bear. “I didn’t get the job, but the Santa Fe Dining people told me that they would be looking for a new brewer to take over from John Bullard, who was leaving Blue Corn, in Santa Fe, and they asked if I’d be interested.”
Warren was, and arrived in the City Different in the summer. And it was different, not just because the weather was hot and dry instead of hot and humid. “In New England, the beers were much more malt-forward than they are in New Mexico. I arrived here not long before the New Mexico IPA challenge and tasting the beers in the competition, I quickly gained an understanding of the New Mexico beer culture. They love their hops here!”
Since arriving at Blue Corn, James has worked at becoming familiar with the characteristics of the brewpub’ s core beer list. “I’ve followed John Bullard’s recipes, but made a few tweaks here and there. If anything, I’m focusing less on IBUs than I am on the aromas the hops contribute. And I’m working on developing some of the darker, maltier beers.” His success with darker beers was illustrated this fall when Blue Corn Gold Medal Oatmeal Stout earned its third gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival. “The recipe isn’t much different from John’s, which won a gold last year,” he remarked, going on to say he’d tweaked it a little — making it slightly less hoppy.
Asked about his overall style approach, he reiterated that he was a malt-forward brewer. “There are so many beautiful things you can do with malts!” he exclaimed. And then he confessed with a chuckle: “If you look in my fridge at home, more often than not you’ll find some cans of Oskar Blues Old Chub.”
That’s an eight percent Scottish ale — and you can’t get much maltier than that!
November 24, 2014 Beer Quest West Leave a comment
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Saturday
Virtual band Gorillaz is singer 2D, bassist Murdoc Niccals, guitarist Noodle and drummer Russel Hobbs. Created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, their acclaimed eponymous debut album was released in 2001. The BRIT and Grammy Award winning band’s subsequent albums are Demon Days (2005), Plastic Beach (2010), The Fall (2011), Humanz (2017), The Now Now (2018) and Song Machine – Season One: Strange Timez (2020). A truly global phenomenon, Gorillaz have achieved success in entirely ground-breaking and unique ways, touring the world from San Diego to Syria, Montevideo to Manchester and winning numerous awards including the coveted Jim Henson Creativity Honor. The band are recognised by The Guinness Book Of World Records as the planet’s Most Successful Virtual Act.
The Strokes
Saturday
Formed in NY in the late 90s, it is impossible to overstate the impact that The Strokes made on the global music scene when their debut album, Is This It and its singles ‘Last Night’, ‘Hard To Explain’ and ‘Someday’ dropped in 2001. Universally acclaimed, this minimalist rock masterpiece propelled singer Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr, bassist Nikolai Fraiture and drummer Fabrizio Moretti into the stratosphere. Two decades on, Is This It is still as stunning as ever and a perennial feature on best album lists around the globe.
Always on point, the band followed their debut with an onslaught of successful albums including Room on Fire (2003), First Impressions of Earth (2006), Angles (2011), Comedown Machine (2013) and EP, Future Present Past (2016).
In 2020 The Strokes returned with Grammy Award winning Best Rock Album The New Abnormal. Produced by legendary producer Rick Rubin and recorded at his Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, their sixth studio album has received rave reviews. Associated Press called it “a superb slice of indie rock, varied, exciting and complex, with elements of glam, straight-down-the-line rock and dreamy pop,” while Under the Radar declared it “the most vital and consistent the band has sounded in over a decade.”
The New Abnormal features tracks ‘Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus’, ‘Bad Decisions’ and ‘At The Door’. The album’s cover artwork is a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Bird on Money.
Tyler, The Creator is an auteur. A recording artist, songwriter, producer, director, designer and more; he first emerged in 2007 as co-founder of the collective Odd Future before going on to co-create and star in the cult TV show Loiter Squad on Adult Swim with his Odd Future cohorts. This was just the beginning for Tyler — since then he has become a Grammy Award winning artist, releasing six studio albums, launching an internationally acclaimed music festival (Camp Flog Gnaw) that has sold out 8 years running, creating two lifestyle brands (Golf Wang and Golf Le Fleur) that have collaborated with heritage brands like Converse, Lacoste and more, as well as developing two more TV shows (The Jellies! for Adult Swim and Nuts & Bolts for Viceland). His 2019 album IGOR debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, saw him crowned GQ’s Man of the Year and Wall Street Journal Magazine’s Innovator of the Year in addition to being named Best Rap Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. His most recent album CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST was released in June 2021 to universal acclaim and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart once more.
There are few living musicians as influential and wholly original as world renowned recording artists, producers and DJs, The Avalanches. Their debut album ‘Since I Left You’, released in 2000, laid the blueprint for the future of sample-based music in the 21st century. Similarly, their follow up album, 2016’s ‘Wildflower’, sits on a patchwork of samples earning the band further critical acclaim across the globe. It’s not only through their studio albums that The Avalanches have made a mark on the musical landscape.
They have released cult famous mixtapes that have become heavily coveted collectibles. As DJs, they have performed at their own infamous monthly club night ‘Brains’, to the main stage at some of the biggest festivals in the world including Fuji Rock, Primavera Sound, Glastonbury, Coachella, Creamfields and of course Splendour in the Grass. Their highly acclaimed third full length album ‘We Will Always Love You’ was released on Dec 11, 2020 and has received worldwide critical acclaim. Big believers in the life changing power of music, wherever they’re playing and whatever they’re spinning, The Avalanches’ sets are always joyous, raucous and celebratory affairs. Prepare to join in the joy at Splendour in the Grass 2022!
Saturday
At the beginning of the third album from London band Glass Animals, frontman Dave Bayley asks himself a series of questions about fundamental issues: identity, memory, love, friendship, the person you have been and the person you want to be. How do you answer so many questions that cut to the heart of who you are? Well, Bayley sings in the very last line, “You go make an album and call it Dreamland.”
Dave Bayley, Ed Irwin-Singer (bass), Drew MacFarlane (guitar) and Joe Seaward (drums) released their first album, Zaba, in 2014, on Paul Epworth’s Wolf Tone label. It was a modest debut until the stealthily addictive Gooey became a platinum-certified viral streaming hit. Glass Animals have since notched up over two billion streams, appeared on James Corden and Jimmy Kimmel, and toured the world to strikingly diverse audiences, from Glastonbury to Primavera and Red Rocks to Coachella.
The band’s latest album, Dreamland, emerged from a traumatic period for Glass Animals. In July 2018, Joe Seaward was knocked off his bicycle by a van in Dublin, breaking a femur and fracturing his skull. As Seaward gradually recovered, he was able to participate in the recording of Dreamland and played his first show since the accident in Oxford in November 2019.
Released in August 2020, Dreamland is Glass Animals’ most enthralling album to date, it’s a pop record of rare scope, vision and emotional depth. Get ready to catch it live as Glass Animals take the stage at Splendour in the Grass 2022!
We’ve come to expect big things from Liam Gallagher, but recently he revealed plans for 2022 that are biblical even by his colossal standards. He is set to release his new album ‘C’MON YOU KNOW’ on 27 May as he looks to score a fourth consecutive #1 UK record. He also celebrates the 25th anniversary of Oasis’ era-defining gigs at Knebworth with the news that he’ll return there to play the biggest show of his solo career to date on 4 June 2022.
Huge news for the bona fide rock’n’roll star and all just before he makes his way to Australia for Splendour in the Grass 2022!
‘C’MON YOU KNOW’ follows the huge success of Liam’s previous studio albums ‘As You Were’ (2017) and ‘Why Me? Why Not.’ (2019), which established his iconic status for a whole new generation. His ‘MTV Unplugged’ also went straight to #1 on the Official Album Chart. Between his triumphs as a solo artist and his phenomenal success with Oasis, Liam has spent a combined total of almost six months at #1 across eleven chart-topping albums.
Get ready for one helluva show as Liam Gallagher takes over North Byron Parklands on Sunday 24 July!
Kacey Musgraves’ new album, star-crossed, is a bold, empowering, and extremely personal series of songs that displays the six-time GRAMMY Award winner’s continued growth as one of the finest singer-songwriters of our time. It’s the follow-up to Golden Hour, which earned Musgraves her third No. 1 debut on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and distinguished her as only the third artist ever to take home Album of the Year at the GRAMMY Awards, Country Music Association Awards, and Academy of Country Music Awards. Golden Hour was named one of the best albums of 2018 by outlets including Apple Music, NPR, Time, The Associated Press, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Billboard, GQ, Esquire, American Songwriter, Complex, Consequence of Sound, and Vulture, and was dubbed one of Rolling Stone‘s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”
Musgraves first received massive critical recognition with the release of her gold-certified major label debut album, Same Trailer Different Park, in 2013. The album entered Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart at No. 1, making Musgraves the first solo female artist in five years to top the chart with a rookie release, and only the seventh to do so in the SoundScan era. Same Trailer Different Park earned Musgraves 2 GRAMMY Awards (Best Country Album and Best Country Song for “Merry Go ‘Round”), two CMA Awards (New Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for “Follow Your Arrow”), and an ACM Award for Album of the Year. Musgraves’ second album, Pageant Material (2015), was her second No. 1 debut on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and soared to No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart.
So unassuming is Adam George Dyment aka Duke Dumont, that it’s easy to forget he played one of the most pivotal roles in making UK deep house the thundering global juggernaut it is today. Simultaneously dropping #1 hits across the last decade like ‘Need U (100%)’, ‘I Got U’ and ‘Ocean Drive’, whilst pumping out tracks that permeated underground club scenes. He’s continually shifting the lines and redefining the realms of UK dance and pop. His performances are pulsating, emotional journeys. But, at the end of the day, the show would be nothing if the source material wasn’t strong enough, and that’s where Dumont excels.
With an untouchable back catalogue of originals and latest album, Duality, under his belt, Duke Dumont’s Splendour set is sure to be an addictive mix of sonic exploration. Get ready!
Saturday
Childhood friends from Mansfield, Queensland, Violent Soho have honed their talents over 15 years of making music together in a career that started with being signed to Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth’s record label, moving to the US and touring with heroes like The Bronx and Built to Spill.
With 2 x consecutive ARIA #1 albums (2016’s WACO and 2020’s Everything Is A-OK), 2 x ARIA Gold certified albums (2013’s Hungry Ghost and WACO), and a whopping 15 ARIA Award nominations to their name, Violent Soho have carved a name for themselves in Australian rock music history and hold a very special place in the hearts of many Australians.
DMA’S have gone from strength to strength since exploding onto the scene in 2014 with their debut single ‘Delete’. They have released three critically acclaimed albums – Hills End (2016), For Now (2018) and THE GLOW (2020) – all of which charted Top 10 in the ARIA Charts (the latter debuting at #2) and resulted in ARIA nominations for Album of the Year, Best Group, Best Rock Album and Best Independent Release, with THE GLOW most recently being awarded Independent Album of the Year, Best Independent Rock Album and Best Dance Single (The Avalanches remix of ‘Criminals’) in the 2020/21 AIR Awards.
Forging their reputation abroad, THE GLOW earned a #4 chart position in the UK and #1 in Scotland, making it their highest charting LP both at home and abroad. The band (who have also played festival slots at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury and Reading and Leeds festivals) recently embarked on their long-awaited return to the UK and Ireland which will see them play to a combined audience of 65,000 people.
Australia’s favourite Yorkshire born singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, YUNGBLUD, is making his way to Splendour in the Grass in 2022!
In the three years since his first visit down under, YUNGBLUD has established a massive Australian fan base and cemented his place as a festival favourite from Byron Bay to the Apple Isle.Back to tear up the stage at Splendour in the Grass again, YUNGBLUD comes armed with a bunch of fresh new tracks from his 2020 album Weird and all the larrikin good vibes his Australian black hearted fans love.
YUNGBLUD has felt the love from some seriously heavyweight collabs that dropped across 2019 and 2020 too. 11 Minutes with Halsey and Travis Barker was certified ARIA Platinum and I Think I’m Okay with Machine Gun Kelly and Travis Barker reached ARIA Gold along with hits with Dan Reynolds (Imagine Dragons) on original me and a screaming romp in Obey with Bring Me The Horizon.With his 2020 album Weird still going strong, 1.5 billion streams and 800,000+ albums sold globally there’s no doubt that YUNGBLUD’s star is continuing to rise all around the world. Hold on for a wild ride when YUNGBLUD takes over on Friday 22 July.
Saturday
Hailed as the “hitmaker of tomorrow” by Variety, Jack Harlow is one of music’s greatest new stars. The Louisville, KY native boasts three GRAMMY Award nominations, two #1 singles, 12 RIAA platinum certifications, and over 5 billion career streams to date. Harlow released his critically acclaimed, RIAA platinum certified debut album, THATS WHAT THEY ALL SAY in December 2020, which featured the 7x Platinum worldwide hit, “WHATS POPPIN,” which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned the 24-year-old his first GRAMMY nomination for “Best Rap Performance,” along with a wide array of other award nominations.
The Generation Now/Atlantic Records star has graced the covers of Rolling Stone, Forbes, Variety, Complex, SPIN, Footwear News and XXL’s coveted Freshman Class Issue, and brought his captivating live show to TV with performances on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, and the 2022 Kids Choice Awards, to name a few.
Harlow is now poised to reach even greater heights with his hugely anticipated second album, COME HOME THE KIDS MISS YOU, highlighted by the bombastic lead single “Nail Tech” and the infectious follow-up, “First Class,” which made a spectacular debut at atop the Billboard “Hot 100,” marking his first solo #1 single, while earning the biggest streaming week of 2022, thus far.
For the last decade, Dillon Francis has barely stopped moving. Since he first broke out with a series of vibrant dance tracks, he’s maintained a whirlwind tour schedule, playing festivals and shows across the world. In between making hilarious music videos, designing his own clothing line, and writing a surreal animated TV show, he has, of course, issued a nearly countless number of electrifying cuts. His restlessness has made for otherworldly, overwhelming music and compelling art no matter what medium he’s working in. There are always new worlds to explore.
Francis has made head-spinning dance music, brash rap tracks, and breezy reggaeton, though all his best moments blur together all these worlds and more. Part of the fun of listening to Francis’ music has become that you never know exactly what you’re going to get.
The diversity of his catalog has always been a strength—his genre bending hit “Get Low” with DJ Snake was RIAA-certified platinum, “Coming Over” with Kygo [feat. James Hersey] was RIAA-certified gold plus topped the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, “Sexo” with Residente was RIAA-certified Latin gold, and “Anywhere” [feat. Will Heard] went to #1 on Dance Radio Airplay. That’s to say nothing of tracks which have become underground hits at clubs and festivals around the world. And it all comes from following whatever sound or style caught his ear that day; his biggest singles and wildest experiments are linked by the unrestrained joy of always following his boldest impulses.
Saturday
Tim Minchin is an Australian musician, comedian, writer and actor.
One of the world’s most popular Aussie live acts, he has been selling out award-winning gigs in the UK, US and Australia for over a decade. His most recent tour, Back, was seen by over a quarter of a million people.
Minchin is the composer-lyricist of the hit musical, Matilda, which won 85 international awards and recently celebrated 10 years on the West End. His second musical, Groundhog Day, won the Best Musical Olivier Award (West End) and was nominated for 7 Tonys (Broadway).
He co-wrote and starred in the TV series Upright, (2019 Sky UK / Foxtel), which won AACTA awards for Best Comedy and Best Actor in a Comedy. Season 2 drops 2022.
Other acting credits include Atticus Fetch in Californication, a Logie Award-winning Smasher in the ABC’s Secret River, Pretty Boy in Netflix’s Back To The Outback and Friar Tuck in Lionsgate’s Robin Hood. Stage highlights include Judas in the UK / Australian Arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar.
His 2020 studio album Apart Together debuted at #3 in Australia and top 30 in the UK.
Live releases include Tim Minchin Vs the Heritage Orchestra Live at the Royal Albert Hall, So F**king Rock, and Ready For This? Catch his impressive live show when he plays at Splendour in the Grass 2022!
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The Jungle Giants are fast becoming an unstoppable force. Known for delivering explosive high-energy live performances, the band include all-rounder Sam Hales, (vocalist/guitarist/songwriter/producer), lead guitarist Cesira Aitken, bassist Andrew Dooris and drummer Keelan Bijker.
With the release of their #1 ARIA-charting fourth album Love Signs, The Jungle Giants are channeling hope, love and a dance-pop sensibility into their most irresistible and genre-defying work yet.
Love Signs is the first album that Sam Hales has written, recorded, performed and produced alone. Channeling diverse influences like Timbaland and Ashanti in his ‘90s production style and vocal falsettos, Hales has created The Jungle Giants’ most popular work yet. First single “Heavy Hearted” is ARIA-certified Platinum, with “Sending Me Ur Loving” and “In Her Eyes” close behind.
Previous album Quiet Ferocity paved the way for this success, peaking at #11 on the ARIA charts and winning AIR Awards’ “Best Independent Album.”
Driven by optimism, creative freedom and a desire to “go weird, go funny, and not be scared,” The Jungle Giants are paving the way for their continued metamorphosis.
Mura Masa’s latest record, ‘R.Y.C’ (Raw Youth Collage) takes the listener into the future by way of memory lane. Breathing new life into – amongst other things – New Wave, Emo, Folk and 90s Rave – the results reinvent Mura Masa’s sound whilst also paying tribute to the alternative roots which shaped him when he first became a genuine musical outsider, growing up in the remote island of Guernsey.
Mura Masa began making music at the age of fifteen, lacking total affinity with the local metal and folk scenes, but gaining exposure to electronic music across the water. Mura Masa’s debut album contained snapshots of Alex’s upbringing, but it also soundtracked the very specific move to London and the melting-pot he abruptly became exposed to. What emerged was an album bursting with curiosity and creativity: one in which rap royalty like A$AP Rocky sat next to pop pioneers like Christine & The Queens or Charli XCX – not to mention lifelong heroes like Damon Albarn – with little in common besides Mura Masa’s singular way with modern pop. It went on to shift more than half a million units, and continue a journey which has seen Alex already win a Grammy (and be nominated for two more), be shortlisted for an Ivor, appear on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list, and have the confidence on ‘R.Y.C’ to put himself and his generation under even closer analysis.
Amyl and The Sniffers
Led by ‘human firework’ Amy Taylor, the internationally acclaimed punk rock four-piece returns to the stage after a long and productive Covid winter. Following their 2019 ARIA Award win for Best Rock Album, Amyl and the Sniffers released the thrilling, monstrous Comfort to Me. Co-produced with Dan Luscombe (The Drones) and mixed by Nick Launay (Nick Cave, IDLES), the album signals a major gear shift for the Sniffers, where love and hate, spit and sweat, beer and politics collide in 45 propulsive and iconic minutes. Celebrate the Sniffers new world order when they bring their ball-tearing live show to Splendour In The Grass.
There couldn’t be a more favourable moment to be a Manchester based MC, the 0161 has been endlessly churning out rap talents in recent years but few quite like Aitch. Hailing from New Moston, an area in North Manchester, Aitch’s artistry derives from the sheer proximity to the UK’s epicentre and breeding ground for all forms of underground bass music– whether it’s rap, grime, dubstep or drum & bass.
No two Aitch songs are the same but the one trait that makes him distinguishable as a writer and MC is his nonchalant, skippy flow. There are moments where the odd line will leave you laughing and it’s that playfulness in his writing, showcased on early hits ‘Daily Duppy’ and ‘Straight Rhymez,’ that positions Aitch as one of Manchester’s most promising acts.
Aitch is undoubtedly one of the biggest success stories this year. He has gone on to make a solid mark on the scene nationally, his video for ‘Taste (Make It Shake)’ has accrued 23M views, and at one point he even featured on four songs in the UK Official Chart. With his talents recognised across the board and support from the likes of Stormzy, Ed Sheeran and more, Aitch has set the pace and placed himself at the forefront of a new wave of energy on the Manchester music scene. With an ever-expanding fanbase, infectious energy and unrivalled flow, Aitch is force to be reckoned with.
The Melbourne, Australia based drummer, singer, producer, and self-taught writer, G Flip, has been making waves overseas for the past 3 years. Their debut hit ‘About You’ took them from bedroom producer to national superstar. Fast forward and G has sold out all 5 of their Australian headline tours, been nominated for 3x ARIA awards, won an MTV EMA Award, four places in each of the triple j’s Hottest 100 of 2020 and 2019, the highest viewed Triple J Like A Version of 2020, two limited edition Crocs collaborations, and a number of gold, platinum and multi-platinum certified singles. G has played across the world at festivals like Neon Lights, Lollapalooza, Splendour In The Grass, Laneway Festival, & SXSW.
G Flip’s music has earned global attention from triple j, Pitchfork, Pigeons & Planes, Gorilla vs. Bear, Line of Best Fit. Their debut album ‘About Us’ (August 2019) debuted at #1 on the ARIA vinyl charts & #6 digitally, was a triple j feature album of the week and earned praise from Rolling Stone, NME and more – earning over 180 million streams globally.
In 2021, G Flip went global with a few international collaborations tucked under their sleeve. The first of which kicked off in January 2021, features US indie pop darling mxmtoon, the two joined together on anthem ‘Queen’. The song which is inspired by drag culture is produced by Rostam Batmanglij (HAIM, Clairo) and was chosen as the anthem at Sydney Gas & Lesbian Mardi Gras with TikTok. Subsequent singles have seen G collaborate with Thomas Headon, renforshort and Upsahl. G Flip is the real deal – unfiltered, charismatic and with endless energy to burn.
Ruel’s resumé reads like that of a seasoned global superstar. The Sydney-bred, London-born vocalist is quickly becoming one of this generation’s most influential artists. Since winning the ARIA for Breakthrough Artist in 2018 (the youngest artist to do so), Ruel now has a billion global streams, millions of followers and three sold-out world tours under his belt. Coming off the back of 3 stand out EP’s, Ruel’s sights are now set on delivering his debut album in what will no doubt be a massive 2022 for this young trailblazer.
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An internet based vocalist, producer, writer, director and performance artist, Oliver Tree explores the intersection where pop and alternative meet sonically and has arrived where art and entertainment collide visually. From comedy to action sports, mock reality TV drama to WWF wrestling in his live shows, the world of Oliver Tree is unlike any artist who has come before him.
A Santa Cruz, California native, Tree has emerged as a polymath from many different projects and iterations over the last 10 years. As unpredictable as one artist can be, no one can seem to put their finger on what Oliver Tree will do next. Unafraid to make you laugh, cry, think profoundly or feel completely uncomfortable for the length of a 4 minute music video, he is on the road to developing his own blueprint for packaging and marketing pop culture in the internet era. Versatile in every sense of the word, Tree not only explores every type of entertainment but also every type of genre in his music alike. The box he puts himself in is limitless. It has no boundaries. Oliver Tree has built a multimedia project designed to challenge people’s perspective of what art is, and he’s not the slightest bit concerned what anyone has to say about it!
Less than a decade ago, Josh Lloyd and Tom McFarland were two friends with what felt like the impossible dream of one day seeing their name above the door of their local venue, Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
Fast forward to now and Jungle have performed on five different continents, headlining shows across the world, while also winning new fans at festivals such as Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza.
Jungle’s international following embraced their albums too. Their Mercury Prize-nominated, Gold-certified debut and 2018’s follow-up ‘For Ever’ both entered the UK Top 10. Those two records have since amassed 750,000 equivalent album sales and close to a billion streams.
The Bristish duo have spent the last year locked in a studio and have emerged, delivering a huge soulful disco record for the post-social distancing age, with a life-affirming, dancefloor-igniting, sun-kissed celebration of all the things that make music irresistibly joyful. With huge sing-a-long hooks, enormous synths, and the pulse-raising rush of pushing the BPM through the ceiling, ‘Loving In Stereo’ gives the listener one long hit of pure euphoria and we can’t wait to enjoy it live when Jungle take the stage at Splendour!
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Since their inception in 2012, Cosmo’s Midnight have been eagerly chipping away at genre boundaries, becoming one of the most celebrated and progressive acts to emerge from Australia. Consisting of real-life twins Cosmo and Patrick Liney, the duo boast 225 million streams and 5 Gold singles, proving that their vibrant collage of sounds has landed with infectious success. Cosmo’s Midnight released their sophomore album Yesteryear in 2020, the record continues their sonic explorations with a fluid, forward-thinking approach to creativity and champions their penchant for timeless, emotive music. The album’s lead single ‘C.U.D.I’ has been certified Gold, and also marked the duo’s debut entry in the Hottest 100.
Cosmo’s Midnight have commanded stages and sold out shows across America, Europe and Asia; with countless hallmark appearances across Australia including Splendour in the Grass, Laneway Festival and Falls Festival. Featuring live instrumentation, vocals, self-made drums and synths, the Cosmo’s Midnight live show has been commended for its dedication to originality and showmanship – we are pumped to welcome them back to Splendour in the Grass 2022!
Seven albums, 13 ARIA nominations, over half a million records sold and a back catalogue etched into Aussie music history. They’re one of our most durable and, undoubtedly, best-loved rock bands – Grinspoon.
When it comes to the music biz longevity is an elusive beast. Put simply, Grinspoon are the premier rock band in the country. After playing 400+ live shows, seeing six consecutive albums debut in the Top 10, with multi-platinum sales across 25 years, it’s fair to say they’ve earned their place in Australian music history.
With their debut album in September 1997, Guide to Better Living. The double platinum disc hit #11 on the national ARIA Albums charts. Then their 2002’s New Detention, opening with “Chemical Heart” went #2 on triple j’s Hottest 100 in 2003. With tracks like “Lost Control”, “No Reason” and “1000 Miles”, the album earned four more ARIA nominations, yet another double platinum hit. In September 2004 brought fourth effort Thrills, Kills & Sunday Pills. The record set another benchmark, winning Best Rock Album at the 2005 ARIAs and selling over 100,00 copies off the back of killer tracks like “Better Off Alone” and “Hard Act To Follow”. Grinspoon delivered yet another gold-selling LP in July 2007’s Alibis & Other Lies.
You are in for a treat when Grinspoon play at Splendour in July 2022!
Orville Peck is a country recording artist and songwriter known for his deep baritone voice, strong musicianship and songs that are boldly sincere in their storytelling. Never confirming his identity, Orville, who is openly gay, grew up living an itinerant life and is never seen without his signature, fringed mask. Following the release of his self-produced debut album Pony in 2019, Orville signed with Columbia Records and released his Show Pony EP. Released to immediate critical acclaim in 2020, the EP features a duet with global icon Shania Twain and puts Orville’s triumphant songwriting skills and intentional craftmanship on full display. Orville, known for his unique personal style, has collaborated with many fashion brands including but not limited to Dior, Michael KORS and Pamela Love amongst others. In addition to touring and performing, Orville lends his time and platforms to activism and the causes he is committed to.
Don’t miss Orville’s talent when he performs at Splendour on Friday 22 July.
Parquet Courts’ thought-provoking rock is dancing to a new tune. Their new album, Sympathy For Life, finds the Brooklyn band at both their most instinctive and electronic, spinning their bewitching, psychedelic storytelling into fresh territory, yet maintaining their unique identity.
Built largely from improvised jams, inspired by New York clubs, Primal Scream and Pink Floyd and produced in league with Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Hot Chip, David Byrne), Sympathy For Life was always destined to be dancey. Unlike its globally adored predecessor, 2018’s Wide Awake! – a Top 30 hit here and an album of the year everywhere from Spin and The Skinny to NME and Australia’s Double J – the focus fell on grooves rather than rhythm.
GRAMMY-nominated lyricist and fast-rising superstar Tierra Whack is solidifying her position as a force to be reckoned with after her riveting release Whack World. Loaded with flavorful wordplay and boundless creativity, Whack netted her first GRAMMY nomination for her standout video, “Mumbo Jumbo.” Armed with a love for 90s hip-hop and a passion for poetry, the North Philly emcee eventually delved into rapping, holding her own amongst fellow Philadelphia rhymers and capturing the attention of local luminaries like Meek Mill and DJ Cosmic Kev. Her clever off-the-dome wordplay and a barrage of freestyles (including the 90-second clap-back, “Colorblind”) cemented her early fanbase, and in 2017, Tierra inked a deal with Interscope Records.
Her 15-track debut project Whack World continues to garner her critical acclaim. After being lauded for her lyrical bravery and masterful vision in 2018, the following year, Whack stormed back with five new tracks in five consecutive weeks as part of her acclaimed “Whack History Month.” In June 2019, her stellar wordplay abilities earned her a coveted slot as an XXL Freshman. She also was featured on Apple’s Up Next Program and the following year covered Teen Vogue’s March 2020 issue. Subsequently, Whack partnered with Apple for a lighthearted commercial, which featured new songs “feel good” and “Peppers & Onions.” In 2021, she teamed up with LEGO® for her video “Link.” There, Whack sat down alongside Philadelphia children from ages 6-9 to build a myriad of objects out of LEGO® bricks to inspire her innovative video.
Cub Sport has undergone a transformation from local indie band to global pop powerhouse. With sell out shows across 4 continents, and a community and message that is impacting lives worldwide, the prolific independent Brisbane group are forging their own path to global acclaim.
With over 200 million streams to their name, the energy around Cub Sport is fearless and captures the uniquely vulnerable writing and vocal delivery that has seen the group win praise everywhere from Billboard, i-D, Rolling Stone, NME, The Guardian, Nylon, PAPER, Gay Times, Attitude, The Fader, triple j, BBC Radio 1 and Line of Best Fit to DUMMY, Monocle, Music Week, and many more.
LIKE NIRVANA, the band’s most recently released fourth record, (NME 5/5 stars) debuted at #2 on the ARIA Album Chart, #1 on the Australian Album Chart and #1 on the Vinyl Chart, as well as earning nominations for Queensland Music Awards Album Of The Year and Australian Independent Record Labels Association Awards Pop Album Of The Year.
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Los Angeles-based rapper and producer JPEGMAFIA released his fourth full-length album, LP! in October 2021.
The highly anticipated album was first teased with the frenetic “TRUST!”, which Billboard named among the “R&B/Hip-Hop Fresh Picks of the Week” and christened as “a standout single.” After a sample clearance snafu, Peggy took matters into his own hands and released to his closest fans the soulful and personal “HAZARD DUTY PAY!”, which was among The Needle Drop’s “Best Tracks This Week” feature – “too good not to see the light of day,” said Anthony Fantano.
LP!, which was written, produced, mixed, and mastered entirely by Peggy, cements his standing as one of the most forward-thinking artists in hip-hop right now. His expanded range as a producer and sound designer is particularly noteworthy on his latest release, moving from the woozy, anxious keys on “DIRTY!” to the manic percussion of “PSALM!” to the 8-bit video game crunch of “NEMO”. Another highlight is the six-minute epic “SICK, NERVOUS & BROKE!”, which shakes between bass and skittering cymbals as Peggy somehow manages to namecheck everyone from Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez to 90s singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan.
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Hailing from the suburbs of Sydney’s South Coast, Ruby Fields is an Australian singer-songwriter who creates narratives that people feel a close connection to. Her use of simplistic but poignant lyrics in her work has garnered the attention of the international music industry and fans alike. Combining indie rock chords with punk rock delicacy and delivery, it is easy to see why people started paying attention back in 2017.
Ruby Fields has since sold out multiple national tours, toured the UK, performed a coveted Like A Version for triple j, and has been courted by labels in the US. More recently, her debut album “Been Doin’ It For A Bit” debuted at #1 on the ARIA Album charts to beat out the likes of Drake and Lil Nas X.
Lyrics have always been a major driver of Ruby’s music. Fans the world over have obsessed over her lyrics due to how relatable and stirring her songs are. The album see’s Ruby take her passion for musical and self-exploration even further. This burgeoning singer-songwriter faces the deeper and darker facets of herself as she becomes more self-aware with this debut long player.
The album was written largely from her farmhouse on a cliff edge within a Sydney national park after a soul-searching expedition to Nepal. True to Ruby Fields’ style, it’s full of relatable anecdotes, festival mosh-worthy moments, escapism and humour, but also features previously unrevealed moments that divulge an entirely new side of Ruby Fields.
SOFI TUKKER is the genre-defying duo of Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern celebrated for their inclusive and global perspective on electronic music and their work’s themes of liberation, unity, and self-empowerment. Their debut single “Drinkee,” with its instantly memorable guitar hook, jubilant rhythm, and Portuguese lyrics adapted from the contemporary Brazilian poet Chacal, was nominated for a Best Dance Recording Grammy® in 2017, which was followed by a Best Dance/Electronic Album Grammy® nomination for their debut album Treehouse in 2019.
In the Spring of 2020 the group started live streaming daily DJ sets from their home outside Miami to millions of people worldwide and released their quarantine anthem “House Arrest” with Gorgon City, which reached #1 on US Dance Radio. SOFI TUKKER’s records have achieved Gold or Platinum status on every continent other than Antarctica, and their electric and energetic live show has sold out venues and graced major festival stages across the planet. SOFI TUKKER are also passionate activists who have raised funds and awareness for Planned Parenthood, The Trevor Project, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Natural Resources Defense Council and the March for Our Lives. Their commitment to equality and fostering community while recombining the pillars of dance music into exciting new shapes has established them as a singular act.
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Methyl Ethel—the nom de plume of West Australian songwriter, producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jake Webb.
Across three albums (2015’s Oh Inhuman Spectacle, 2017’s Everything Is Forgotten and 2019’s Triage) and three EPs (2014’s Teeth and Guts, 2020’s Hurts To Laugh), Webb has proven to be a prolific and masterful purveyor of eccentric alt-pop. Methyl Ethel has attracted two Australian Music Prize nominations, a top 5 Hottest 100 placement with the ARIA Platinum single Ubu, an ARIA Gold single in Twilight Driving and an AIR Best Independent Album award for Everything Is Forgotten.
Methyl Ethel has toured extensively, appearing at internationally renowned festivals including SXSW, Outside Lands, Strangewaves, Levitation, Green Man, Austin City Limits, Field Day and more. In Australia, they have graced the line ups of Splendour in the Grass, Sugar Mountain, Groovin The Moo, Falls Festival, Yours & Owls, Spilt Milk, A Festival Called PANAMA and Laneway Festival, as well as selling out headline shows at some of Australia’s largest and most prestigious venues. We’re thrilled to welcome them back to Splendour in 2022!
Eight years after Julia Stone’s last solo record, Sixty Summers arrived in 2021 as a powerful rebirth for one of Australia’s most prolific artists. Emerging from the wildernesses of folk and indie-rock, with Sixty Summers, Stone dove headfirst into the cosmopolitan, hedonistic world of late-night, moonlit pop. She brought the grit and glitter of the city, with all its attendant joys, dangers, romances and risks. Reimagined, reborn and reinvigorated, this new era for Julia Stone replaces dirt under foot with wet pavements and sticky dance floors; trades blue skies for red lights and red lips. This is Stone at her truest, brightest self, a revered icon finally sharing her long, secret love affair with this vibrant and complex genre. Step into Julia Stone’s brand new world.
Baker Boy was first introduced to adoring fans in 2017, with the one-two punch of debut singles ‘Cloud 9’ featuring Kian, and ‘Marryuna, featuring Yirrmal. The entirety of Baker Boy’s art, from his infectious flow to his music’s modern-throwback production to the jaw-dropping dance moves he perfected as part of the Djuki Mala dance troupe, connected instantly. With each successive release Baker Boy continued to establish himself as a deft, talented rapper, with charisma and verve inherited from the genre’s greats. His list of career accolades includes APRA AMCOS Song of The Year Nomination, six ARIA nominations; an ARIA Gold certification for ‘Cool As Hell’ & ‘Mr La Di Da Di’; seven wins at the National Indigenous Music Awards; an Order of Australia medal, the 2019 Young Australian of the Year award and a memorable performance at the 2021 AFL Grand Final.
With over 48 million streams of his music globally, Baker Boy’s debut album, ‘Gela’, released on 15 October 2021, debuted #1 on the ARIA Hip Hop/R&B, #1 on the Australian and #3 on the ARIA Album Chart. The new album has garnered hit singles, ‘My Mind feat. G Flip’, ‘Move’, ‘Meditjin feat. JessB’ and ‘Ride’ featuring Yirrmal, which took out the 2021 National Indigenous Music Award for Best Film Clip of The Year.
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Stella Donnelly has toured relentlessly in support of her critically acclaimed debut album ‘Beware of the Dogs’. Released in March 2019, the album received international praise from outlets such as Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Billboard, The New York Times & Stereogum .
The record’s release & preceding singles such as ‘Old Man’ & ‘Tricks’ propelled Donnelly to new heights including studio sessions for NPR’s Tiny Desk & KEXP along with an envious international touring schedule which saw her sell out shows across North America & Europe as well as play prestigious festivals including Glastonbury, Roskilde & a stand out performance at Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival.
Donnelly has recently finished recording her new album with award-winning producer Anna Laverty (Camp Cope, Courtney Barnett) – the record is her second release with Secretly Canadian. She will release her first single in April 2022, just prior to heading off on a UK /Europe tour with Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, then it’s time for her to bring her stand out performance to Splendour in the Grass in July!
Genesis Owusu’s debut body of work, Smiling With No Teeth arrived in 2021 as an artistic triumph that has resonated with audiences globally, surpassing genre and disrupting boundaries. Six months on from its release, the album has proven a runaway success and garnered universal acclaim from critics, including covers with Acclaim and NME Australia, feature album on triple j, FBi, Triple R and Radio Adelaide and praise from The Needle Drop, Line of Best Fit, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, Rolling Stone, T Magazine, The Monthly, The Australian and ICON.
In 2021, Genesis Owusu received four ARIA Awards for Smiling With No Teeth, including the coveted Album of the Year award, as well as triple j’s J Award for Album of the Year, Music Video of the Year J Award alongside his close collaborator, Riley Blakeway for “The Other Black Dog”.
Since his introduction with the Cardrive EP in 2017, Genesis Owusu has demonstrated his versatility and talent as both a rapper and vocalist on singles like ‘awomen, amen’, ‘Wit Da Team’ and ‘WUTD’. He has amassed millions of digital streams and proven himself an incredible performer at festivals like Splendour in the Grass, Meredith Music Festival, Groovin the Moo and St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival. All the while, his talent, vision and creativity have been unmatched.
Pond
Originally formed in the turn of the 2010’s, as “a Royal Trux-cum-Cream power trio,” fronted by Allbrook with Jay Watson and Joe Ryan, Pond added Jamie Terry shortly afterwards, with James Ireland later rounding out the irrepressible five-piece. Ever prolific, Pond boasts an impressive eight studio albums in their ever expanding repertoire.
Pond released their new polychromatic music machine 9 on October 1st, 2021 via Spinning Top Records / Secretly Distribution and the record debuted at #6 on the ARIA album chart.
On their ninth studio album, the Fremantle five piece recapture an anarchic sense of uncertainty and fly closer than ever before to the creative supernova that has blazed across so much of their music. Taking a leaf out of krautrock outliers Can’s book, at the start of 2020 Pond embarked on a series of totally off-the-cuff jam sessions from which songs and ideas could be pulled out.
“We had improvised jams and filled up a bunch of tape reels with these improvisations then carefully edited them into something that resembled songs,” he recalls. “We realised after doing these that that’s where true unwritable magic comes from. You can’t write the sort of stuff that you come up with between five people after six hours of noodling. It’s completely bizarre.”
Hooligan Hefs may project a hardcore image, but he’s really about the party. While growing a strong following he has managed to maintain a high level of mystique, becoming recognisable for his motto, “Tell ‘em I’m doing eetswa.”
His hi-NRG singles, ‘The Party’, ‘No Effect’ and ‘IYKYK (They Know Who)’ have racked up more than 8.2M streams on Spotify alone after being released independently across the past few months. Not only that, but his video for ‘Off Guard (Freestyle)’ #1 on YouTube shortly after its release and now holds more than 1M views – pretty impressive for an independent/unsigned 21-year-old. In an interview with Filterzine he shared, “I’m trying to do rap and techno, EDM, dubstep – all of that. Hopefully, this is the new Australian sound.”
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Catch the rebel spirit and iconic anthems of pub punk outfit The Chats when they play Splendour 2022! When 2017 single ‘Smoko’ became a bona fide viral hit on YouTube, the band were propelled from their Queensland shed to almost overnight renown in all the right circles. Dave Grohl loved it so much he sent it to Josh Homme, who immediately booked the band to support Queens Of The Stone Age in Australia, followed by Iggy Pop who did the same when he played Melbourne. The Chats released their debut album, High Risk Behaviour, in March 2020, debuting at No.5 on the ARIA Albums chart.
In this world, nothing is certain except taxes, death and Confidence Man. A portable party that’s levelled dance floors and flattened festival crowds as it’s rolled out across the world, their performances are custom designed to make you dance and lose your cool.
Since their conception, the Australian four-piece (led by Janet Planet and Sugar Bones) have played at some of the biggest festivals in the world including Rock en Seine (Paris), Primavera Sound (Barcelona), Governors Ball (New York), Glastonbury (UK), Splendour in the Grass and Falls Festival (Australia).
Confidence Man’s debut, Confident Music For Confident People, was one of the joys of 2018, laced with savage lyrics and rapturous melodies; a north star of euphoria in an increasingly joyless world. It won the AIR Award for Best Independent Electronica/Dance Album, was triple j Feature Album and garnered international praise from the likes of The Guardian, The Line Of Best Fit, Dork Mag, Elicit Mag and NME.
Since then, they’ve teased us with the occasional dance-floor snack, but with their sophomore album TILT (to be released via IOHYOU / Heavenly Recordings / PIAS / Amplifire Music on April 1, 2022) they are finally serving us the main meal.
There’s no question that Confidence Man will make you turn it up. Go ahead, feel yourself. It’s ok. Confidence Man have given you that. It’s in the name, after all.
Biig Piig
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It’s been a breakthrough twelve months for Biig Piig. The Irish (via West London, and Malaga) artist has come of age as a songwriter and young woman: an instantly-identifiable, bilingual voice, blending a suitably global mix of influences (hip-hop, R&B, dance music, stripped-back soul) into confessional, genre-fluid modern pop. Biig Piig’s ability to find moments of calm and clarity in the most chaotic of circumstances remains a constant. At just 23 years old, she no doubt has more life experiences to draw all this from than most new artists. The oldest of four, Jess was born in Ireland but spent her formative years in Spain, before moving to Shepherd’s Bush, London and later working as a poker dealer. Despite speaking English at home, Biig Piig initially only knew how to read and write in Spanish; a rocky transition through which eventually she found her people.
This ability to adjust is a driving force for Biig Piig. While she’s cemented her aesthetic with her sleepy, jazz-tinged bops, Smyth is inherently a creature of adaptation, shapeshifting to fit the environment around her – or, just to suit the environment in her head. We’re excited to welcome her to Splendour in the Grass!
Storytelling is indeed an important part of Holly Humberstone’s craft. She wants all her lyrics to be ones people could tattoo on themselves and she writes lines that are specific to her life, from her sister’s struggles with mental health to growing apart from her friends.
The creativity in Holly’s work is integral to her artistry. Her music videos and the short film ‘On The Run’ all link together, with easter eggs hidden throughout, creating a world around her. When she was invited to perform on The Late Late Show with James Corden earlier this year, she used the fact it had to be filmed remotely to her advantage and picked up the storyline once again, finding herself being thrown into the back of a police van for fictional crimes committed earlier in the tale.
Catch Holly’s inimitable brand of songwriting and visionary creativity when she performs at Splendour 2022 and see why her star is sure to continue to rise.
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Following his rapid, tumultuous rise to becoming the biggest rapper in Australia and achieving a Gold album with his debut release ‘Women, Weed & Wordplay’, Chillinit now reveals his most personal and introspective record yet, ‘FAMILY TIES’. Giving even more insight into the people who have been crucial to ChillinIt’s astronomical success; and in the darkest of times, his survival.
With two Double Platinum and eight Gold singles under his belt, ChillinIt is one of Australia’s most decorated artists. In the three years since his debut album, ChillinIt has morphed from an underground sensation to a household name, accumulating 216 million Spotify streams to date. In support of his sophomore chart-topping album The Octagon, ChillinIt sold almost 20,000 tickets to his live shows, marking the biggest Australian headline tour from any artist in 2021. Over in the UK, he is also the first and only Australian to appear on Charlie Sloth’s famed Fire In The Booth series, also going viral on international tastemaker channels JDZmedia and SBTV.
An unforgettably original lyricist, the music of Australian singer/songwriter Alex the Astronaut cycles through a series of radiantly detailed slices of life. Alex documents moments of both the seemingly mundane from a haircut, a therapy session, a trip to the beach and to the supermarket to then utterly life-changing experiences as a caregiver along with the PTSD that followed and her recent diagnosis with autism. The 26-year-old artist imbues her songs with equal parts self-awareness and sensitivity, imagination and idiosyncratic humor and in its intimate exploration of post-traumatic growth, the result is a body of work affirming Alex as a truly essential songwriter, capable of transforming the way we view ourselves and the world around us.
Born in Sydney, she first started writing songs at 12, then moved to New York in 2017 to study math and physics at Long Island University. That same year, she delivered her debut EP To Whom It May Concern and its follow-up See You Soon, whose opening track “Not Worth Hiding” became an unofficial anthem of the Australian Gay Marriage referendum and earned support from Elton John on his Beats 1 radio show. In addition to releasing The Theory Of Absolutely Nothing to widespread acclaim (NPR Music, NME, The Sydney Morning Herald, OUT Magazine, The New York Times, The Guardian), Alex has since taken the stage at major festivals including Splendour in the Grass, Primavera Sound and The Great Escape and toured Australia on a sold-out headline run. We can’t wait to welcome her back to North Byron Parklands in July!
Houston rapper and entrepreneur Maxo Kream released his second major label album Weight of the World on October 18 2021. While the album dropped on the annual anniversary of the passing of one of his childhood friends, it also commemorates the passing of his younger brother, Mmadu Biosah. Directly prior to the album Maxo released “Greener Knots” telling the tale of what young men face coming up in troubled neighborhoods, “Big Persona,” ft Tyler, the Creator that was as massive as its braggadocious nature, and “Local Joker” that unequivocally set the tone for Maxo’s return from his 2 year hiatus.
Revered Australian guitar-pop five-piece Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are lead by singer-songwriter-guitarists Tom Russo, Joe White and Fran Keaney, and rounded out by bassist Joe Russo and drummer Marcel Tussie. Following in the footsteps of their breakthrough debut album Hope Downs in 2018, the band’s most recent LP, the #4 ARIA-charting album Sideways To New Italy garnered praise by critics across the world, locally receiving a 4.5 star review from Sydney Morning Herald and 4 star reviews from The Guardian, Rolling Stone Australia, Q Magazine and NME Australia who declared that ‘…lyrically, Rolling Blackouts C.F have gone high-concept.’ Internationally, the album was crowned Rough Trade’s Album of the Month, a 5 star review from Upset, 9/10 in Uncut and 4 star reviews across The Guardian, NME, Q, Dork & more. Across the band’s career, they have sold out tours across the world, been nominated for the AMP (Australian Music Prize), AIR Awards, Music Victoria Awards, Double J Artist of the Year & more.
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Triple One are impossible to categorise, and even harder to ignore. Brash bars come courtesy of rappers Marty Bugatti and Obi Ill Terrors, melodic hooks by Lil Dijon float in paranormal fashion while greyscale production is expertly crafted by Billy Gunns. Triple One are a sonic experiment between hard, soft, and all the textures in between.
Their early cult singles ‘Doozy’ and ‘Overflow’ scored millions of views and streams internationally, but 2019 was the year that Triple One broke into Australia’s consciousness: Their 2019 single ‘Butter’ went Gold and dominated radio airwaves and led to the group’s debut UK/European tour and sold out shows across Australia..
In 2020, Triple One released their debut album ‘Panic Force’ which debuted at #1 on the ARIA hip-hop charts and crowned the triple j ‘Feature Album of the Week’. On stage is where Triple One truly state their case. Having earned a notorious live reputation through relentless gigging across Australia, 2021 saw the band sell out their Panic Force Tour nationally in the midst of difficult pandemic circumstances. The release of BLOOD RAVE and COME OVER heralds the exciting next chapter for one of the most bold and brazen acts out of Australia.
Under the moniker Still Woozy, Portland-based singer-songwriter/producer Sven Gamsky makes psychedelic alternative music with a homespun mix of acoustic and electronic instruments. On his debut album If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is, Gamsky ultimately redefines the limits of modern pop, introducing elements of soul, folk, and psychedelia into a wildly infectious sound that immediately leaves a lasting impact. He shares an ingeniously detailed body of work, including beloved singles “Window”, “That’s Life,” and “Woof,” and graces each song with the uplifting energy he brings to the stage at major festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza. In 2022, Still Woozy hits the road on his If This Isn’t Nice tour across North America and Europe before making his way to North Byron Parklands for Splendour in the Grass!
Bad Dreems have come back with their first piece of new music since the release of Doomsday Ballet back in October 2019, “Desert Television” was recorded during the band’s recent trip to the UK and Europe, which was sadly cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A powerful track that blends element of dark post-punk with furious alt-rock, an atmospheric synth line rears its head throughout as frontman Ben Marwe asks the listener through his South Australian accent, “Desert television/Have you lost the vision?”
Hear it live when Bad//Dreems play on Sunday 24 July at Splendour in the Grass!
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Introduced to fans as a member of electronic band Club Cheval, Myd learned his craft through tireless work and experimentation. It was a passionate environment upon which to build a foundation, yet there are always concessions and compromises involved with pleasing a group. After co-producing Brodinski’s album Brava and making beats for a host of rappers, Myd now stands on his own, unabashedly showcasing his eccentric flair, even singing on his own tracks for the first time. In that sense, debut album Born A Loser very much marks a coming of age. At times, his music is fun and flirty, other times thoughtful, dreamy and warm with intergalactic fuzz. It’s intimate, dripping with synth-heavy shine, and in its weathered corners and rich textures, lies the autobiography of Myd – at least in this moment.
Northeast Party House
Northeast Party House are undoubtedly a party band, but don’t let that fool you. The Melbourne six-piece might be known for their unapologetically hedonistic lyrics and raucous live shows, but behind their songs of excess and frivolity is a band of surprising substance.
Almost entirely self-produced, the band, who met as students at a Melbourne high school, specialise in detailed melodies, sugary hooks, exhilarating beats and rhythmic guitars. They occupy a unique position in the Australian music scene as one of the few acts who are equally accomplished on stage and in the studio. This comes to the fore at their thrilling live gigs, where skilful guitars and drums retain the feeling of a band, while dynamic electronic elements heighten the party vibe.
High-energy party starters Northeast Party House have moved on from warehouse parties in Melbourne’s inner city to national festival closers. Northeast have built a loyal fan base around three self-produced, guitar-driven, dance-heavy LPs ‘Any Given Weekend’, ‘Dare’ & ‘Shelf Life’, which have seen the band tour constantly in their home country as well as internationally, playing sold out headline shows and showcase events at The Great Escape (UK), CMJ (NY) and Culture Collide (LA).
A proud South Londoner of Bangladeshi and Irish heritage, Joy Crookes is a multi-hyphenate artist shaped by a rich tapestry of influences. She’s a singer-songwriter, an instrumentalist, a Brit nominated rising star. Defying genres, Joy’s timeless vocals are reminiscent of a bygone era and communicate her stories and reflections with a presence and lyricism that could only exist today – she wouldn’t do any of the above so well if she wasn’t so attuned to those around her.
Her first studio album, Skin, is a statement of selfhood, the DNA of what makes her Joy Crookes as well as an examination of the relationships that have shaped her. Relish in the UK artist’s storytelling as she takes the stage at Splendour in the Grass in July.
In a moment of drunken clarity, at the summit of a Ferris wheel, Rhian Teasdale and Hester chambers decided to start a band. Armed with their guitars, a penchant for french disco and a hive of imagination that draws on everything from Pierre Bachelet, the Ronettes, and Jane Birkin through to Best Coast, The Strokes and the B52s they set about making some recordings of their own. This has spawned an ever growing catalogue of inimitable, chaotic alt/pop majesty. From Ferris wheel to record deal, things have moved fast for the Isle of Wight natives. Signing to Domino Records, Wet Leg released their debut single ‘Chaise Longue’ in June 2021.
Since then the song has clocked up over 3,000,000 streams, over 1,000,000 video views and won Wet Leg fans in the likes of Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Iggy Pop, Florence Welch and film critic Mark Kermode.
Wet Leg followed with single ‘Wet Dream’. A 2 and half minute slice of exuberance as unforgettable and buoyant as ‘Chaise Longue’ that cements them as one of the most thrilling bands to emerge this year.
Enter the kaleidoscopic world of Wet Leg when they play at Splendour in the Grass. Everyone’s invited to the party!
Mo’ju has been called “one of Australia’s most exciting singer/ songwriters” and their music has amassed critical, commercial and cultural influence. 2018’s release “Native Tongue” was one of the year’s most important and award-winning releases, impacting not only Mo’ju’s life and music but also the Australian musical landscape. With the album being career definer for the sing/songwriter, Mo’ju had documented a deep and intimate exploration of family and identity, in particular her Wiradjuri and Filipino roots.
2019 saw the release of a mini-album Ghost Town, reaching into an electronica inspired sound and 2021 sees a new E.P. ‘O.K.’, a vulnerable and introspective reflection on mental health and loneliness, which, through Mo’ju’s provocative songwriting , offers up music as an antidote for sadness.
Not only is Mo’ju known for being a prolific recording artist but also for their hard work on the touring circuit. A career of which was at an all-time high for the artist right before the pandemic, having completed almost 200 shows on 3 continents in 18 months.
Highlights included national tour supports for both The Hilltop Hoods and Paul Kelly, Festival dates including WOMAD and SXSW and 2 Headline tours including dates at Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Arts Centre. In February of 2021 Mo’ju returned to the stage with a full band for a one off show accompanied by the Victorian Orchestra at Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
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Toronto punk band PUP are back with their highly-anticipated 3rd LP, “Morbid Stuff”, out now. PUP have spent the past 5 years touring the world on the back of their first two records, which earned them love and accolades from The New York Times, Pitchfork, SPIN, and helped to cement them as one the most energetic and exciting up and coming bands in the punk community. “Morbid Stuff”, produced by Dave Schiffman (Vampire Weekend, Weezer, The Mars Volta), is the band’s best and most complete effort yet – a noisy, biting, and recklessly fun ode to nihilism and depression.
A strong, proud Anangu/Torres Strait Islander woman, Miiesha released her debut collection of songs entitled Nyaaringu in 2020. Meaning ‘what happened’ in Pitjantjatjara language, Nyaaringu explores the stories and the strength Miiesha inherited from her late Grandmother, whose interludes narrate the project. Since its release, Nyaaringu has not only garnered critical acclaim, but received the 2020 ARIA for Best Soul/RnB Release, a QLD Music Award, a NIMA, and went on to top multiple Album of the Year lists.
Recently she released Smoke, the first EP in a two-part EP release. The five-track EP contains current NIMA Song of the Year winner ‘Damaged’.
Inspired by the sounds of RnB, Gospel and Soul, and the power of spoken word poetry, Miiesha is using her music to bring people together to help educate and inspire.
With a voice that showcases vulnerability and strength, often in the one breath, Miiesha sings of her people, her community and her story with the raw emotion of lived experience.
Miiesha’s story is not just worth hearing, it’s needed.
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When Mildlife’s debut album, Phase, was released in 2018 it didn’t so much explode on to the scene as ooze. Their mellifluous mix of jazz, krautrock and, perhaps more pertinently, demon grooves, was the word of mouth sensation of that year among open-minded DJs and diggers searching for the perfect beat.
By the end of 2018 they’d been nominees for Best Album at the Worldwide FM Awards (Worldwide’s Gilles Peterson was a notable champion) and won Best Electronic Act at The Age Music Victoria Awards back home in Melbourne. Their progress post-Phase was cemented with a UK deal with Jeff Barrett’s Heavenly, who released How Long Does It Take? replete with Cosmic doyen Baldelli and Dionigi remixes, while last year they were officially anointed by DJ Harvey when he included The Magnificent Moon on his Pikes compilation Mercury Rising Vol II.
With their latest album, Automatic, the band have made a step-change from their debut. It’s more disciplined, directional and arguably more danceable. As on Phase, they are unafraid to let a track luxuriate in length without ever succumbing to self-indulgence. The arrangements, tightly structured thanks to Tom Shanahan (bass) and Jim Rindfleish’s fatback drumming, permit space for the others to add spice to the stew, topped off with Kevin McDowell’s ethereal vocals as Mildlife effortlessly glide between live performance and studio songwriting.
This is music you can dance to rather than ‘dance music’ and it’s all the better for it.
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Jarreau Vandal is somewhat of a household name for those that have been binging on Soulection for the past few years. Be it Masego, IAMNOBODI or Monte Booker, the international network, friendships and collaborations Vandal has amassed through the collective have proven to be invaluable.
However, his musical adventures pre-dating Soulection years are not as well known. Born in Maastricht, Vandal has been producing since the age of 16. Practice makes perfect, and, a decade later, Vandal is enjoying a cult following in Europe, North America and Asia. The Amsterdam resident has soundtracked commercials for brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Vodafone and boasts sustained support from the likes of Beats 1, BBC 1Xtra, Rinse, and Boiler Room
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Straight Outta Sligo, Ireland, Brame & Hamo have expertly produced some of the most effortless house music of the last few years via their first imprint Splendor & Squalour.
In 2017 they launched their eponymous second label to critical acclaim. Trants EP, the label’s debut release saw them head into a world of jacking Chicago rhythm, retro-futurist haze and early bleep techno and was premiered by Mixmag. ‘Trants’ is regularly championed on dance-floors across the world.
Their second release in February 2018, was the hugely popular Club Orange EP. All three cuts were premiered by leading publications including Mixmag and Resident Advisor. The EP sold out on vinyl in one day, hit the charts on Beatport, Decks.de, and was featured in many leading playlists on Itunes and Spotify. ‘Space Dub’ also made it onto Maceo Plex’s fabric 98 Mix.
Whilst garnering a dedicated cult following and solidifying themselves as one of the most exciting break-through artists, Brame & Hamo’s profile across the globe has grown rapidly seeing them share lineups and support from the likes of Ame, Bicep, Denis Sulta, Gerd Janson, Laurent Garnier, Mall Grab, Nick Höppner, Optimo, Radio Slave, Soundtream, and Paul Woolford amongst many others.
There is no doubt that Brame & Hamo have not only put Sligo on the map, but are taking over the world one club and festival at a time with their arsenal of dance-floor ready tracks…
Shannon Shaw is terrified of spiders.
But the powerhouse singer-bassist of retro-rock band Shannon & The Clams had bigger fears when she went to an astrologer two years ago. Shaw was at an emotional tipping point — willing to try anything — because everything she loved was falling apart.
Things began to unravel in 2016 with the tragic Ghost Ship warehouse fire in the Clams’ DIY community in Oakland. In 2018, the California wildfires in Napa almost caused her parents to evacuate their homes. In 2019, a lurking intruder drove Shaw out of the beloved apartment she’d lived in for 14 years. And then, right as her band was getting invited on big tours with bands like Greta Van Fleet and The Black Keys, her father was diagnosed with cancer.
The astrologer told her to summon Durga when she felt powerless, a Hindu goddess who holds a weapon in each of her eight arms. Shaw saw the connection and Year Of The Spider, the band’s sixth studio album was born.
The album rages against death and disease with the power of a thousand angry Ronettes. Songs on the album pulse with girl-group elegance and punk ferocity. On a Clams record, you always get both. Hear it for yourself when the Oakland band play at Splendour in the Grass on 24 July.
Can you see a rainbow in the sky??? Byron Bays very own hippy-rockers Babe Rainbow bring their zest to Splendour in the Grass 2022. The histories in the Rainbow Archive come from a range of perspectives, you can feel the Aquarius everywhere. Babes music is so big it’s almost psychedelic, guaranteed to blow your mind. Zest is best. “Protect it and go with it,” tread lightly. Their Splendour performance will bookend a 12-month cycle that started with Babe Rainbow alongside Jaden Smith pushing imaginations on what the intersection of rainbow psyche music and hip hop sounds like. A tune lifted from the bands fourth album ‘Changing Colours’ that a Clash Magazine reviewer called “Psych-pop constructed with a painterly touch, Babe Rainbow seem to thrive on feeling, unhooking themselves from logical realms and embarking on lengthy journeys across turbulent inner oceans.” And the cycle now rolls across the release of new single “Smash The Machine” and expected long player #5 not too far into 2022.
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Three months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Tai Verdes was an essential worker at a Los Angeles Verizon Wireless store. Now, his debut album TV has reached #3 on Billboard Heatseekers and #5 on Spotify charts. After posting a series of TikTok videos, Tai’s breakout single, “Stuck In The Middle” took flight, becoming one of the biggest viral hits in the US, hailed by The New York Times as one of the “Best Songs of 2020.”
Tai’s single “A-O-K” followed a similar path, earning him #1 on Billboard’s Emerging Artist Chart. The song continues to climb charts going #12 at Top 40 Pop Radio, and #34 on the Billboard Hot 100. Tai has performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The TODAY Show, as well as Lollapalooza 2021 to a crowd of 35,000 people, his first-ever live set. The pop rising sensation has garnered praise from Rolling Stone, Billboard, MTV, NYLON, Genius, Complex, Variety, Stereogum, and more.
“I’m gonna be a problem,” says the 6’7 singer with a smile, who carries himself with as much charisma as stature. “I love everything that’s happening. But this is not a one song thing, this is a 10-album thing.”
Following a tense chart battle with Demi Lovato, The Snuts became the first Scottish band to achieve a UK Number 1 for 14 years with their 2021 debut album ‘W.L.’ – selling over 20,000 sales. The album encapsulates the band’s journey from four working class kids growing up with a dream in Whitburn, West Lothian, to becoming one of the UK’s most exciting and vital bands of the new decade.
Featuring their Radio 1 playlisted single and love song for the ages, ‘Somebody Loves You’, a fresh take on fan and live favourite ‘Glasgow’, the hip-hop driven ‘Elephants’, the hauntingly heartfelt anthem ‘Always’ and main stage festival ready hymn, ‘All Your Friends’, the album entranced critics all over. The Sunday Times labelled the record as “a sun-soaked singalong”, the Daily Star stated that “W.L will blow you away”, and the Daily Record declared the band “Kings of Scotland”.
The Snuts released fiery new single ‘Burn The Empire’ in November 2021. We can’t wait to catch their uninhibited, sweat-drenched live show when they play Splendour in the Grass on Sunday 24 July!
The ascent of Sycco, aka 19 year old First Nations artist/writer/producer Sash McLeod, only started in 2020 (mid-pandemic) but her pop-driven, psych-infused, dance-inducing brand of electronica has already won her fans near and far. Following the release of a string of successful singles including “Dribble”, ‘Germs’ and ‘My Ways’, she released a concisely-titled debut EP “Sycco’s First EP” (out now via Future Classic). Sycco’s most recent release is “Weakness” a collab with Alice Ivy that is currently dominating the airwaves.
Sycco’s trippy bops have seen her land in the pages of Vogue (Australia), NME, Billboard, Paper, Cool Hunting, Nylon, Paste, Ones To Watch, triple j, among others and amassed +20 million streams (and counting). She’s sold out her debut national headline tour, landed #29 in the Hottest 100, won big at the Queensland Music Awards and picked up nominations at the AIR and NIMA Awards and performed for KCRW and triple j’s Like a Version.
Sycco was recently announced as YouTube’s Music Foundry Class of 2021, scored a Times Square billboard as the face of Spotify’s Equal Campaign, named as Apple Music AU’s Up Next Artist for August and won Australia’s prestigious Levi’s Music Prize — and she’s only just getting started.
Big Twisty & The Funknasty are arguably one of the hottest upcoming funk/hip hop act in Australia right now. Whipping crowds into a funk frenzy across the country with their explosive, 10-person live show, they are here to open up your mind, free your body and have a funkin’ good time.
Since the formation of the band in 2019, Big Twisty & The Funknasty have wasted no time in developing their live act, appearing on numerous support tours with the likes of Dune Rats, the Vanns and Ocean Alley. Following the release of ‘King Is Back’, ‘Pickup Truck’ and ‘Pussycat’, the crew took off on their own headline tours supporting each single and selling out all shows across the east coast of Australia. Big Twisty & The Funknasty are no strangers to the big stage, having played Yours and Owls festival and the Australian Grand Prix.
One of Australia’s most exciting rising indie punk acts, Perth four-piece Sly Withers set themselves apart from the pack with their uncanny knack for writing brilliant harmonies. This is heart-on-your-sleeve rock at its best.
The success of recent album, Gardens, and the rise of Sly Withers has felt inevitable over the last few years. After several standout releases, including ‘Closer’ and ‘Google Maps’, the band signed with Dew Process in 2019 and released the breakthrough EP, Gravis–gaining their first national recognition thanks to the single ‘Lately.’ Relentless touring continued to build their reputation as a live force, and then the release of the single ‘Cracks’ blew them up to a whole new level, as Sam Blitvich (vocals & guitar) lamented out loud about his inability to “write an opening line”– only to find he’d written the perfect one. From there the floodgates were open, with the success of the emotional and powerful follow up single ‘Clarkson’; an appearance on triple j’s Like A Version that blew the world away; a coveted place as the triple J Feature Album; and finally a band that a year earlier was only on the fringes of success went and landed in the top 10 of the ARIA Albums Chart.
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Noah Dillon has already come a huge distance in a short period of time. After quickly earning a reputation early in his career for writing songs that beautifully reflected the human condition, Dillon already received an array of plaudits from the Australian music community, and the Fremantle-based singer-songwriter looked fast-tracked to success.
In 2021, he signed his first record deal with Dew Process; released a debut EP – Don’t Change For The World (Like It’s Changing Me); earned consistent national radio support for singles ‘That’s Just How I Feel’ and ‘Alive And Kicking’; ticked off a bucket list item by performing triple j’s Like A Version; and launched his first national headline tour, wowing audiences with his infectious, exuberant energy on stage. He will release his debut album, Kill The Dove, in August.
Dillon’s music expresses a broad spectrum of sounds and shades. From effervescent, boisterous pop to tender, introspective moments, you’re not going to want to miss his impressive live set at Splendour in the Grass.
Sloan Struble, who records music as Dayglow, explains that his sophomore album Harmony House began life as an imaginary sitcom. He’d begun writing new music after the release of his runaway 2018 debut Fuzzybrain, and found himself drawn to piano-driven soft rock from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. He was also watching a lot of Cheers, the long-running sitcom that took the viewer to a place where, as the theme song goes, “everybody knows your name.” “At the very beginning, I was writing a soundtrack to a sitcom that doesn’t exist,” he says. The music would generate a kind of impossible nostalgia for something that had never been real.
Struble was born and raised in Texas and wrote the first song he recorded for Harmony House while still in his dorm room. Much of the album is about growing up and coping with change; after Fuzzybrain, Struble left university and decided to fully commit to being a musician. At 21, he’s now out of school, but as he did on his debut, he writes, produces, records, and mixes all of his music himself—in his bedroom, no less.
Harmony House is a finely calibrated, carefully fussed over expression of encouragement for anyone who needs it. Witness it live as the lovable Dayglow takes to Splendour with his boyish and gentle tenor in July 2022.
Born on the streets of Los Angeles, Starcrawler are a band of misfit rock & rollers for a new generation- for the freaks and weirdos in everyone. Led by lead singer Arrow de Wilde’s and her cathartic performances the band brings an unforgettable chaotic electricity to every concert. Alongside her, guitarist Henri Cash plays the perfect foil to Arrow with an undeniable style and performance of his own, tearing at the guitar like few have before him. Alongside bassist Tim Franco, the band has the undeniable charisma and artistry to cut through the noise and pretenders – poised to explode into the mainstream.
Since their early days, Starcrawler have gone from bashing out songs in the garage to winning the love of such legendary artists as Shirley Manson and Elton John. They’ve opened for the likes of Beck, Foo Fighters, Spoon, The Distillers, and MC5 and toured across the UK, EU, Australia and Japan. 2022 brings a new LP under construction and early reports are that it is the sound of Starcrawler going full throttle and coming into their own.
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Alice Ivy sits at the intersection of producer and tastemaker. A revered collaborator, she’s equally adept at uncovering new dimensions to those who you thought were well established, household names as she is seeking out and helping to break new ones. For the musician however, platforming new artists and helping new voices to break-through to the mainstream goes beyond just tastemaking.
In the years between the release of Ivy’s Australian Music Prize nominated 2018 debut I’m Dreaming, the curator has grown into one of Australian electronica’s most prominent advocates for female producers, putting her instep with tireless voices such as Grimes, Alison Wonderland and beyond. From her sophomore LP to her recent slew of standalone collaborative singles, Alice Ivy’s discography increasingly reads like an enviable, hand-picked roster of the most exciting established and emerging non-male and gender diverse artists from Australia and around the world.
Through her choice of collaborators, many of whom are female and non-binary, Alice Ivy is working to diversify the sound and look of the traditionally male-dominated studio space – a cause moves forward again throughout her second LP. Following her latest joint single with Camp Cope frontperson Georgia Maq, ‘Someone Stranger’, ‘Weakness’ continues to build on the refined curatorial efforts of her Australian Music Prize-shortlisted second LP, Don’t Sleep, a record which boasted collaborations with the likes of Odette, Montaigne, Ngaiire, Thelma Plum, Bertie Blackman and more.
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He might be young, but there’s always been something wise-beyond-his-years about Budjerah.
Featuring the acclaimed singles Missing You and Higher, his debut, self-titled EP released in early 2021, displayed an aptitude for the sheen and indelibility of old-school soul singers, a quality that spoke to the classic records he was raised on growing up in coastal New South Wales.
He soon followed with the gleaming, soulful track Talk feat. MAY-A and his timeless new single Wash My Sorrows Away; and collaborated with dance music superstars PNAU on Stranger Love.
Budjerah announced a partnership with Warner Records US, was named an Apple Music Up Next artist and was selected as one of the artists from around the globe for #YouTubeBlack Voices Artist Class of 2022. Most recently he won New Talent of the Year at the National Indigenous Music Awards and was nominated for five ARIA Awards including Best Artist, Best Soul/R&B release, and the Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist Award.
Budjerah’s personal highlights include supporting local luminaries including The Avalanches, Thelma Plum, Jack River and Lime Cordiale, and performing to a sold-out crowd in Sydney.
If you’re a Hip Hop fan in Australia, you should by now know the name JK-47. Whether you know him as the 2020 Triple J Unearthed Artist of the Year, or from his jaw-dropping Like A Version where he put a fantastic twist on ‘Changes’ by 2Pac, you would already know that the talented Indigenous artist is a force to be reckoned with. It’s no surprise to see acts like Illy, Chillinit, Allday, 360, Nerve and many more showing him love.
At the age of fourteen, JK-47 began writing rhymes & rapping. Over the years his name has become all too familiar, not just on home turf in the shire of Tweed, but also right across the Australian hip-hop landscape. His ability to put pen to pad & produce timeless lyrics, painting pictures with his music, is second to none.
Having already scored a triple j feature album with his stellar debut ‘Made For This’, NIMA Album of the Year, nominations for Best New Act at the 2021 Rolling Stone Awards, Acclaim Magazine Rookie of the Year as well as being booked for festivals across Australia, including Splendour in the Grass, you can’t deny JK-47 is well on the right path for a bright future. The man is on a mission to touch the hearts & minds of those not just his home country, but all around the world. A mission he will achieve.
JEFF The Brotherhood is an art project whose inception dates back to 2002. In an unassuming basement in Nashville, Tennessee, brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall began experimenting with a riveting blend of kraut rock, jazz, black metal, and the avant-garde. The Brotherhood began with one goal in mind: to do or create whatever they want with no rules or boundaries.
Over the last 15 years, their experimental and expansive art has taken them to Hawaii, New Zealand, and Russia, spanning over a thousand live performances. They’ve created countless art objects in conjunction with music, including zines, puppets, videos, and twelve full-length albums. In the process, they’ve swept up countless allocates from the international music press.
Their latest offering sees the band deliver something different in the form of a sprawling double album dubbed Magick Songs. The record marks a departure from previous styles. Elements of ‘80s Japanese experimental music meld with Indonesian Gamelan forms, clever improvisation and abundant hand percussion, and synthesizer. Later, it’s dreamy and ethereal, evoking psychedelic rock and ‘90s indie styles. Many of the compositions were written in collaboration with Kunal Prakash (Viva L’American Death Ray Music & Quintron’s Weather Warlock Band) and Jack Lawrence (The Greenhornes & Raconteurs & The Dead Weather), and feature a host of guest collaborations including vocals by Jenna Moynihan (Daddy Issues & Fever Blush) and saxophone and clarinet by Reece Lazarus (Bully).
Following her acclaimed debut album Morningside in 2017, Fazerdaze – the recording project of Wellington-born Amelia Murray – returns in 2022 with fresh new material and a brand new live show.
After what felt like an endless hiatus for her loyal fans, NZ Summer 2022 marks a much awaited return. Following an inwards journey of self-reflection, connecting back to herself through a whirlwind of pandemic anxiety and health issues- Fazerdaze is ready to grace the stage once again.
With a plethora of new songs, Fazerdaze sets to build upon the solid foundations and accolades of her 2017 debut record; nods from Pitchfork and MOJO, a performance at the iconic Coachella Music Festival in 2018 and a sold out headline world tour – all nestled among support slots for major artists that she now stands alongside as her peers – The xx, Haim and Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
This return marks the beginning of a new era and one that sees Fazerdaze stronger and more sure of herself than ever.
King Stingray is a story of lifelong friendship and two cultures coming together. Growing up together in Yirrkala in North-East Arnhem Land, founding members Yirrŋa Yunupiŋu (frontman) and Roy Kellaway (guitar) have been playing and making music together for as long as they can remember.
Yirrŋa and Roy formed King Stingray with mates Dimathaya Burarrwanga (rhythm guitar backing vocals and yidaki), Campbell Messer (bass) and Lewis Stiles (drums). The band seamlessly blend ancient indigenous melodies with surf, indie and funk influences to create a unique sound of their own: Yolŋu surf-rock.
Propelled by the instant success of their debut track “Hey Wanhaka” in October 2020, accidental lockdown anthem “Get Me Out”, and current groove-laden dance jam “Milkumana”, the band have soared to unexpected heights. In just over 12 months King Stingray have performed for triple j’s Live at the Wireless, appeared on ABC TV’s The Sound, been profiled in The Guardian and Rolling Stone, and won triple j’s Unearthed Artist of the Year J award.
The band spent 2021 dodging COVID-19 restrictions to wow crowds along the eastern states, completely selling out their first ever tour in March/April and gaining new fans at Dark Mofo in Hobart and Splendour XR. Now it’s time for King Stringray to take the stage at Splendour IRL!
For renforshort, music is her diary: unfiltered, full of angst and tackling everyday teen struggles hit hardest when coming of age. The 18-year-old singer-songwriter doesn’t pretend to have it all figured out, but she wants us to be by her side while she does. After releasing just two independent singles, Lauren inked her first record deal with Interscope Records just last year. At the peak of the pandemic, she shared her debut EP teenage angst, brimming with seven soul-baring, alt-pop bangers influenced by everyone from Nirvana to Amy Winehouse.
And she hasn’t slowed down since. While quarantine found many teens biding their time making TikTok videos, renforshort continued cutting her teeth writing music. The result is her sophomore EP off saint dominique, a collection of deeply reflective and snappy tracks that range from acoustic pop to alt-rock to pop-punk. Finding inspiration in cinematic horror and Stranger Things, there’s a darker, more mature edge to off saint dominique. “Sonically there’s inspiration everywhere from hyperpop, to grunge to even almost Disney vibes,” renforshort says. With off saint dominique, renforshort wants to continue taking listeners along with her as she navigates the complexities of young adulthood and becomes more comfortable in her art.
MAY-A
As MAY-A, 20-year-old Sydney-based singer-songwriter Maya Cumming distils her life into understated indie-pop vignettes which are universally poignant, charmingly astute, endlessly empathetic and disarmingly honest. In the process, she deftly and authentically captures the peculiar sensations of being a young person alive in this moment, articulated with a clarity, vulnerability and maturity beyond her years. For MAY-A, music has always been a means to untangle how she makes sense of both herself and the world around her, compelled towards creation as an act of therapy. Her confessional, stream-of-consciousness lyricism captures the excitable fullness of her interior life, full of whimsical asides, wry observations and heartrending moments of clear-eyed emotional clarity. Her music thus achieves a remarkable and delicate balancing act: a compelling, tender document of her maturation as it unfolds before herself and us. Brimming with compositional left turns, crystalline pop vocals, 90’s pop-rock channeling instrumentation, nonchalant cool and the post-genre sensibilities of contemporary bedroom-pop, MAY-A paints her indie-pop in shades of anthemic that never consciously reach for the anthemic.
On her 2021 debut EP, Don’t Kiss Ur Friends, she charts the course of an autobiographical relationship, telling the story of a blossoming queer identity and budding transition from adolescence to adulthood, growing ever more into her own music along the way. Traversing first loves, break-ups and more, Don’t Kiss Ur Friends undercuts the elated rush of those formative years with the pangs of hurt that so often accompany them. Across all of her releases to date, MAY-A has honed her ability to take the small moments of life and make them feel larger than they seem, injecting her lyrical vignettes of navigating relationships and everyday existence with an unguardedness that invites you in but hints at something left unseen. Like previous singles, her debut EP is wonderfully open – and it’s this natural impulse towards sharing that inculcates MAY-A’s music with a deeply-felt universality that underwrites the specificities of the subject matter: her own life.
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The Lazy Eyes are Harvey Geraghty (vocals, guitar, keyboard), Itay Shachar (vocals, guitar), Leon Karagic (bass) and Noah Martin (drums). Deep in Sydney, Australia’s quaint suburbia lies the nonchalant ‘Lindfield Studios’. A cosy blue house turned creative hub where raging guitars, sombre grand pianos and more bleed from a single room into its cascading bushland. The serenity of the space, albeit unassuming, weaves its way across The Lazy Eyes’ music, who douse the neighbourhood in a psychedelic ooze.
At 15 years old, they met at a performing arts high school which provided fertile ground to pursue their creative endeavours. In the time since, the group have built a cult following with their magnetic live set. Long before their debut single, word of them spread like wildfire. This eventually reached the BBC’s Abbie McCarthy who aired the then unreleased ‘Cheesy Love Song’ during a takeover on Australia’s national youth broadcaster, triple j. In the year that followed, their debut EP saw The Lazy Eyes sell out headline shows, amass a combined 3 million streams and receive praise from Apple Music’s Matt Wilkinson, Bandcamp, Atwood Magazine, American Songwriter, Monster Children, land at #17 on triple j Unearthed’s Top 50 Most Played Artists of 2020 and many more.
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Hometown pride runs deep for 26-year-old rapper Tasman Keith, whose music is indebted to giving back to the
community that raised him. From a small town on New South Wales’ mid-North Coast most commonly recognised for
one of the country’s most notorious missions and most shameful history, the rapper is carrying on the storytelling
traditions of his family, by writing a new chapter through music. From syrupy 90s West Coast synths, to neo-funk,
skittering trap hi-hats and emotive R&B, his music defies categorisation, but his message remains hard to ignore.
2019 saw Keith capitalise on the attention his debut EP Mission Famous spawned, drawing praise from the likes of
VICE, triple j, Spotify and countless more. He then went on to release his collaborative EP Evenings with Darwin
singer Stevie Jean, before hitting three for three with his follow ups, ‘Move Up’, ‘BILLY BAD AGAIN’ and ‘Nightmares
on 9th.’. From here, Tasman graduated to larger stages around the country last year, with performances at Laneway
Banoffee
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Banoffee is a Melbourne-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and producer with a musically transgressive and deeply vulnerable approach to pop. She has toured with Taylor Swift on a worldwide stadium tour as part of Charlie XCX’s troupe, and represents the new wave of mutant pop bubbling up from today’s queer club underground. She has been described as one of pop music’s “recent great forward thinkers” (FACT) and is known for infectious melodies that belie more unsettling, experimental textures and beats.
Look At Us Now Dad is Banoffee’s debut album, and it is an uplifting, hopeful journey that celebrates survival in the face of abuse and adversity. Featuring collaborations with SOPHIE, Empress Of, Cupcakke, Umru, and co-produced by Banoffee and Yves Rothman, it is an exciting musical hybrid of experimental club sounds and earworm pop.
Flowerkid, the moniker of now 20-year-old Flynn Sant, released his revelatory debut EP, Everyone Has A Breaking Point in 2021, the natural culmination of his years of introspection and art-making.
We find flowerkid in typical form on the EP— deftly pivoting between genres and frames of mind in the pursuit of healing. Brittle one moment and bitter the next, Flynn is anything but timid as he leads the listener through the pain and the beauty of his coming of age.
Using a voice that remains both timeless and unmistakably of the now, Flynn has reached the apex of his creative approach thus far. Though always conceived from his personal experiences, his songs manage to hum with universal relevance. It’s the kind of music that by sharing, encourages you to share — to consider your own life and concealed pain. It also offers to do that alongside you, guiding you through with tender confidence. Like an outstretched arm or a knowing glance, Everyone Has A Breaking Point is pop at its most empathetic.
The Buoys
A fizzled-out Tinder date collided with a Gumtree ad, and from the flaming ashes rose The Buoys, the sweet and savory all-female Sydney outfit making noise across Australia. Provoked by workplace feuds, slow walkers on the footpath and a tonne of bad dates, The Buoys carve out a fresh space in the indie guitar scene, traversing the bounds from uncertainty to curiosity, disappointment to determination.
Taking 2021 by storm, The Buoys sold out headline tours across Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney with their single ‘Bad Habit’ hailed as “the musical definition of a bullseye” by Richard Kingsmill. Solidifying their spot as front runners in the Australian music scene, the band sat in triple j’s Most Played for weeks on end (including cracking the top 5), as well as becoming cover girls for Spotify’s ‘Local Noise’ and ‘Rock Out’ playlists. The band swiftly followed this up with the release of cathartic banger ‘Lie To Me Again’, becoming the most playlisted Australian act across streaming platforms in release week, receiving a full rotation triple j add, cover placement on Spotify’s ‘Indie Arrivals’, as well as charting in Shazam’s Top 100, and Spotify AU Viral 50.
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Moktar is a DJ and producer effortlessly combining club and techno with traditional Arabic instrumentation, sampling and producing to emphasise his Egyptian-Australian background. A hybrid style, Moktar’s music is new to the clubs of Australia and is itching to make its way across dancefloors.
Moktar’s heritage has always been at the forefront of his identity. Navigating racism and abuse was an everyday reality growing up in the Shire, especially in the years surrounding the Cronulla riots. Regardless, Moktar’s Middle-Eastern background found its way to become a source of pride: and with that pride comes the inspiration to share the sounds of his culture through his own music.
Although he plans to split his years between London and Melbourne in the future, for now Moktar is resigned to Australian shores to share his signature sound. Signed to Mall Grab’s label Steel City Dance Discs, Moktar will release his debut self-titled EP, an expansive and expressive exploration of techno and IDM through the lens of Arabic percussion and instrumentation.
His first single, “SILK”, is a microcosm for this sound, embracing complex and traditional rhythmic ideas while traversing emotive melodic states. With a debut Australian tour around the corner, Moktar’s music is beginning its journey and is taking everyone with it.
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Hailing from the beachside town of Wollongong, NSW, 18-year-old musician Stevan is a young musical powerhouse on the rise. The multi-talented producer, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist combines his many musical skills to create woozy, dreamlike pop songs that defy genres and classification. Before even graduating high school the multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter garnered a loyal underground following on Soundcloud and signed to US label Honeymoon Records (an imprint of Lyor Cohen’s 300 Entertainment) and became Astral People’s latest management signing.
Stevan draws inspiration from classic musicians such as Bob Marley, Al Green and Stevie Wonder. He fuses this with his love for contemporary musicians Childish Gambino, Frank Ocean and Kendrick Lamar and the collision of the classic and contemporary is evident in his sound today, which infuses classic R&B songwriting with modern production. While still in high school, the self-taught multi-instrumentalists, producer and singer made a name for himself releasing demos on Soundcloud which quickly garnered him a loyal underground fan base and attracted industry attention. Before even graduating high school Stevan signed to the US label Honeymoon Records (an imprint of Lyor Cohen’s 300 Entertainment) and became Astral People’s latest management signing sitting alongside fellow Australian artists like Cosmo’s Midnight, Winston Surfshirt and Milan Ring. With an arsenal of musical talent and a devoted fan base, Stevan is on his way to big things.
Led by leggy front-woman, Lizzie Mack and featuring the legendary OG-Red-Wiggle, Murray Cook, on lead guitar, The Soul Movers’ music takes fans on a ride across a cool musical spectrum of 1960s and 70s Soul, Pop, and rock and roll, making them one of the most entertaining live music acts on the national touring circuit.
The Soul Movers lineup features a star-studded cast of musicians who count themselves among the best in Australia. At times described as a “supergroup”, Lizzie Mack and Murray Cook are joined by bassists Matt Crawford and Tony Mitchell (Sherbet), Marko Simec on keys (Waiting For Guinness) and legendary session drummer Luke Herbert (Paul Kelly, Kasey Chambers, Don Walker etc). Together they deliver a unified and electrifying live performance that impresses audiences and critics alike wherever they go.
The Soul Movers have recorded in both the US and Australia to create four critically acclaimed albums – including their current for ABC Music ‘Evolution’ plus their current brand-new EP ‘Not Putting It Down’. Get groovy as the The Soul Movers showcase their incredible energy and skill at Splendour in the Grass on Sunday 24 July!
With a triple j Unearthed High-winning debut ‘Circles’ in her stride, the last two years have been big for 18-year-old George Alice. Officially signing a global deal with US label Loma Vista Recordings (Denzel Curry, St. Vincent, Skegss, Soccer Mommy) George made a splash with follow-up singles ‘Stuck In A Bubble’, ‘Teenager’ and ‘Mid Years’, with all four singles now having amassed a total of 20 million global streams.
She has completed headline Australian tours as well as played Yours and Owls, Laneway (Adelaide), Field Trip, SummerSalt, and Rolling Sets Festivals, supported Allday and Crooked Colours and now she’s on route to Splendour in the Grass in 2022!
Composed of rappers rako, goyo, DALI HART, producer-singer Nerdie and producer pokari.sweat, 1300 initially came together following a chance encounter at a house party, after years spent orbiting around one another in Sydney’s Korean-Australian music scene.
Less than a year into the 1300 project, they’ve already blazed an incendiary trail with their debut single, ‘Brr’, released in January 2021 and its breakthrough March follow-up, ‘No Caller ID’, both of which amassed local and international praise from the likes of Acclaim Mag, Sound Doctrine and top Korean rappers Paloalto & Lil Boi, alongside receiving rotation adds across triple j Unearthed and FBi Radio. Transposing the energy of those early singles to an exhilarating, boisterous live show, the group’s ability to transcend genre and audience has, in that short time, seen them already notch a slew of notable support slots, appearing alongside Genesis Owusu, Shady Nasty, Jono Ma, Taka Perry, 3K, Kota Banks and more.
With one foot in Korea and the other in Western Sydney, 1300’s music embodies the abundant possibilities that emerge when you have to find your own way, existing between and across cultures. What ties it all together is the crew’s uncompromising pursuit of raucous energy, a constant momentum and intensity born in studio sessions that is then given shape and sound through their music. From Seoul to Sydney and everywhere in between: 1300, the future of K-hip hop, now.
triple j Unearthed local winner is country-tinged indie rock artist, Adam Newling. Since making his solo debut in early 2020, the last 12 months have been truly phenomenal for Newling. Releasing his debut EP, Occupational Anxiety, in May 2021, it was in September that the world truly realised his majesty, with ‘Sweetness’ arriving as his biggest single to date. The track was added into full triple j rotation, received over half-a-million streams and placed #98 in triple j’s Hottest 100. This is followed by Newling’s latest EP, Half Cut and Dangerous. A snapshot of his creativity, the EP features previously released singles ‘Sweetness’ and ‘Singing Blackbird’ as well as his latest track ‘Leather Face’. Witness Newling’s artistry when he performs at Splendour in the Grass.
Mickey Kojak is Australia’s favourite acid-taking, video-game-playing son. Mickey’s music and live shows are an explosive romp through his diverse catalogue, blending innovative and modern sounds with classic songwriting sensibilities.
In 2021, he released two dance-floor heaters “Lights Out” and “Club Is On Fire”, his first new music in nearly 18 months and the first taste of his upcoming debut record Ultra.
During the last 12 months, he has toured nationally with Confidence Man, The Jungle Giants and will be playing his own headline shows in summer 2021/2022, making sure his band known as “The Little Kojak Buckeroos”* are in peak playing condition for Splendour in the Grass 2022.
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Dro Carey is Sydney-based producer and DJ Eugene Ward. With a discog already spanning an impressive lineup of labels, he’s released on esteemed experimental imprints such as The Trilogy Tapes and Templar Sound, as well as London club heavyweight Greco-Roman.
His productions are eclectic – casually darting between deep, low-slung UK Garage and energetic, neon Grime beats. Though prone to frequent genre shape-shifting, Dro’s tracks always manage to carry a singular vision and unmistakable feel – an approach built around structures and hooks that elude traditional club formulas.
Following on from his string of acclaimed EPs & singles of dancefloor constructions, 2020 saw Dro turn his attention to his debut album. The record is a refreshingly eclectic culmination of all sides of Dro Carey that we’ve heard in the past & more; including his trademark layered production, thumping dance floor heaters & a mysterious edge that keeps the Dro Carey project one of the most exciting coming out of the country.
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DJ Scorpion is the solo project of Amelia Jenner, label boss and radio host of cult Australian electronic label Body Promise and co-founder of the NECTAR agency. As half of Body Promise she spins the hottest bangers and champions local artists; as a co-founder and member of Nectar she throws some of the most considered parties and events Sydney has to offer.
Her solo DJ guise is the rarest emergence of them all and one of the most exciting of her forms. Scorp moves at a breakneck pace across genres, leaning towards driving rhythmic tracks built for the floor that are both fresh and refined. Taking a darker and more twisted approach, you can expect anything from jungle, DnB, IDM, deep techno, broken beat and big euphoric face melters, the likes of which can be seen through her mixes for Bizarro (named one of Resident Advisor’s mixes of the month), Melbourne Deepcast, Red Light Radio and Animalia. 2019 saw her undertake her debut Australian tour which included a slot at the now iconic Freedom Time festival in Perth on New Years Eve.
Be sure to hit the dancefloor when DJ Scorpion takes over.
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PRICIE made her grand debut with the release of her powerful and charismatic single ‘too dang good’ in early 2021, leading the rapper, singer-songwriter to be labelled as one to watch. Then the Australia/Nigerian talent gave fans another taste of her fresh, slick and soulful sound, releasing ‘FRIENDZONE’, featuring one of Australia’s most in-demand talents, Genesis Owusu.
PRICIE has impressed a long list of tastemakers around the globe, from Apple Music’s Ebro Darden, to Acclaim, Early Rising, NME, Pilerats, Red Bull, The Line Of Best Fit, Tonedeaf, Wonderland Mag, and more recently Billboard.
With her list of accolades ever growing, make sure to keep a firm eye on this diverse and ever so talented artist when she takes the stage at Splendour in the Grass!
Mylee Grace kicks your shins with music that’s sunshine sweet and beatdown gutter-street all at the same time. Hers is a sound that triumphs over the ordinary. Joy and melancholy are merely her playthings as she moves between meaning and mayhem, poetry and pandemonium, life learnings and shed skins with all the effortless whimsy of a woman at the peak of her art form. Grace’s troupe are her musical friends and family with whom she has defined the sound of alternative country anti-folk rock and roll. To enter their world is to “feel” the music at full force.
Mylee released her debut solo album, Whiplash in the Moshpit, in November 2021 – the record comprises songs Mylee wrote over the last seven years. Her music has been described as “Music that makes you feel like you’re on holidays with friends “. It is in some ways a distinctively Australian sound, but not in any traditional way. It’s not country; more like country’s coastal cousin maybe.
Catch the Northern Rivers based artist’s feel-good singalongs when she takes the stage at Parklands.
Andy Golledge’s performance at Splendour in the Grass follows the release of the Sydney alt-country rocker’s debut album ‘Strength of a Queen’. This show is set to be a wild and stimulating experience, and much like all of Golledge’s live shows, you can expect it to be exhilarating and unpredictable.
If Andy Golledge is only just now beeping onto your radar, we almost envy you the voyage of discovery. A local legend and a visual icon, he has been colourfully described as “an intriguing man with a horny moustache.” Characteristically rambunctious, energetic, and thrilling, don’t miss the opportunity to witness Golledge and his stellar band as they take the stage.
If you are going to discover one thing at Splendour, make sure it’s Andy Golledge.
Alternative pop artist Charlie Collins will be making her long awaited return releasing her second album, Undone which is set to arrive on Fri March 11th. The follow-up to her ARIA nominated and AIR award winning debut Snowpine, will include her recently released album title-track plus single’s ‘Fuck it’ and ‘Just My Luck’.
With 5 million artist streams to her name, Charlie has successfully been building her solo career since 2018. With the release of Snowpine she crossed music genres, won numerous accolades and performed support slots for Sam Fender, Orville Peck and Gang of Youths with festival appearances at Laneway, Fairgrounds and Woodford Festival. Now it’s Splendour’s turn!
Elsy Wameyo is triple j Unearthed national winner for Splendour in the Grass 2022! Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Elsy Wameyo’s latest musical offering, ‘Nilotic’, proudly explores the strength of her self-identity. Hailing from the Nilotic tribes of Kenya, Elsy’s music embraces this cultural heritage alongside her Christian beliefs and experiences whilst growing up in Adelaide, Australia. Influenced by her love of Gospel music and contemporary RnB, Elsy intertwines soulful rhythms and impressive production underneath lyrics that clearly articulate her strong self-identity.
Not a stranger to the stage, Elsy Wameyo has performed alongside artists such as Grammy award-winning artist Printz Board, Aminé, Sampa the Great, Hilltop Hoods, Duckwrth, and Adrian Eagle, and she was awarded Young Kenyan of the year at the annual KASA Gala night. She has performed at notable festivals including Groovin’ the Moo, St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Adelaide Fringe, and the South Australia’s Music Awards and now it’s Splendour’s turn!
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Pink Matter are redefining what it is to be an all-female band. Following a long line of women doing it better for themselves – from The Supremes, to Destiny’s Child, The Spice Girls, TLC, HAIM, and all the talented powerful women in between – Pink Matter are shaping this tradition in their own way on Australian shores. Crafting a unique intersection between neo-soul, jazz and dance genres, the three-piece have quickly developed a devoted following in their hometown of Brisbane and beyond. Evoking notable hints of KAYTRANADA, The Internet and Koi Child, their debut 5 track EP Human Error (grammy-nominated engineer/producer Nick Herrera) was released in August 2018, and the group have since then earned support slots for Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Harvey Sutherland and The Internet and booked for the country’s biggest festivals, Laneway and Splendour In The Grass.
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Memphis LK is a Melbourne based artist, producer, vocalist and DJ.
Memphis fell in sync with electronic music in her late teens, teaching herself Ableton and eventually combining early soul, pop and RnB influences with her love of underground electro, UKG, 2-step and breakbeat. The versatile performing artist/DJ has paved her way within the Melbourne club music massive, twisting parties with the likes of DJ Koze and Ms Boogie.
Memphis’ independent single ‘Speak Honestly’ launched the self-produced artist/DJ into her solo career in 2019, landing her a record deal with Remote Control Records (Dot Dash). Her second single ‘Roses’, gained support from DSP’s, triple j and triple j Unearthed, naming her Unearthed feature artist in February 2020. ‘Green Light’ was Memphis’ first offering of 2020 – a powerhouse bass-driven anthem that comes with an endearing homemade video created inside her apartment during isolation. The track landed her in the triple j Unearthed ‘5 star club’ with the second highest start rating from presenters.
‘Letters in Concrete’ is the latest offering from Memphis, packed with powerful lyricism, dreamy synths and danceable lo-fi breaks. This release signifies an artist staking her claim as a dance pop force to be reckoned with.
Triple J Unearthed Winners
The South African-born, Australian-raised Dena Amy is a chameleon of the arts; an accomplished DJ, singer, producer, dancer and actress.
Dena has stockpiled a seriously impressive list of festival and club plays including Splendour, Falls Festival, Field Day, FOMO, Harbourlife, Beyond The Valley, Spilt Milk, For The Love and Snowtunes. In the U.S, Dena has played at Coachella, EDC Las Vegas, CRSSD Festival, Electric Forest and a number of exclusive RÜFÜS DU SOL & Friends events.
From South African street parties to LA rooftops, Sydney sunsets and sweaty Berlin warehouse raves, Dena’s musical palette is rich and well refined. Her desire to represent a visual motion of movement and expression through dance – whether in the literal sense or through the speakers is her main driving force, we’re excited to move with her when she plays Splendour again in 2022!
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Jordan Brando, 23, is at the forefront of the minimal house movement in Australia. His original productions have been supported by house heavyweights such as Chris Stussy, Prunk, Dimmish, and are heavily featuring on dance charts around the globe.
Recognised by BBC Radio 1’s Pete Tong & tastemakers globally, Jordan’s abilities as a DJ and a producer raise no questions to why he is “a rising star in Australian dance music.” Standout performances at revered festivals Beyond the Valley and Pitch Music & Arts, and being handpicked to share the stage with the likes of Patrick Topping to Jamie Jones, have all contributed to solidifying Brando’s name as one Australia’s most promising dance music exports.
Shantan Wantan Ichiban has proved to be one of the most versatile DJs on the circuit. He has created some of Sydney’s most successful party nights across a wide range of genres. Through brands such as ‘Dutty Dancing’, ‘Player Haters Ball’, ‘Pop That’ and ‘Pineapple Republic’, he has built a reputation for fun parties turning even the darkest and dankest of rooms into a ‘queue-around-the-corner’ night club. Not surprisingly, Shantan possesses the uncanny ability to transform the quietest and most introverted party-goer into an ass-popping ratchet on the dance floor. Some say this ability was learned but the legends have it as he was born with it.
Shantan’s gift to put together energetic sets across different genres has made him one of Australia’s most sought after DJs. With an arsenal of Hip Hop, R&B, Trap, Indie, Dance, Throwback Pop Anthems and electronic music to pick from, his sets often obliterate any given dancefloor due to the sheer amount of dancing.
From throwing parties since 2011, to working in events for VICE and Ableton, and hosting shows on triple j and FBi Radio, Luen has been a valuable member of the dance music community for close to a decade.
Her first foray into production began in October 2019 with the self-released, self-titled debut Luen EP. Made in her bedroom with basic hardware, a plethora of samples and a microphone, it was created with dance floors in mind. Fast paced, crunchy and stripped back with splatters of owl samples and her own effected vocals.
To celebrate the release Luen took her free womens DJ Workshops on tour around Australia. Teaching over 300 female identifying, non-binary and trans women how to operate DJ Decks, connect with audiences and consider space and time in their sets. To date she has taught over 1000 women to DJ across Australia since 2016.
Luen is an avid gardener studying horticulture, who draws inspiration from nature in her production.
Behind the decks Luen takes a wide approach, mixing house, acid and techno classics with tasty and rare oddities from across the globe.
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Honey Point (Dame + Deepa) have safely solidified their place in the Sydney underground dance scene as ‘Sydney’s Sweethearts’. Placing an emphasis on all things jazz and house, these two are clearing a path for a vibe almost undiscovered and a community yet to flourish.
Fresh off their Boiler Room debut the Honey Point pair have earnt themselves a reputation for creating high energy, love-filled and groovy sets. With selections tangential to jazz and house, you can expect to hear sounds spanning from liquid to dub, Chicago through to acid house and perhaps a drop of pop.
Through a collective goal for wider community engagement, this femme-fronted initiative seeks to create a platform for those less represented in the underground Sydney music scene.
Sydney born and bred radio host, DJ/producer AK Sports is pioneering nu-rave; high NRG sets spanning breaks, bass & percs, techno hybrids and nostalgic warehouse cuts, finding her footing as a respected multifaceted artist based between London and Los Angeles.
2020 saw her debut EP Polarize released. Eclectic breakbeats, cathartic drums and aggressive bass tones are matched with luscious chords and brooding synth work. Following this release with originals and remixes on Club Glow, Dansu Discs, Raiders Records (Berlin), Toofelz Music and Mad Decent, AKS brings a celebration of UK styles into a modern 4×4 hybrid with experimental layers and twists and turns. Catch a glimpse ‘into her dark ravey mind’ at Splendour in the Grass 2022!
Ananthu Nair, better known by his pseudonym, aywy is an Indian-Australian artist & record producer based in Sydney, Australia.
Starting his career as a DJ/Producer, he founded the international online music collective & label, Flow Fi with international producers Fortune (Los Angeles) & Subdaio (New Jersey). After releasing a slew of singles & mixtapes on Soundcloud, he went on to play Sydney shows hosted by Boiler Room & Places + Faces, as well as international shows in Korea, Japan, China & the USA, all the while hosting secret underground warehouse parties & raves in Sydney’s Inner-West suburbs. From here he went on to work with artists such as Goldlink (Maryland) & produced a bulk of Anik Khan’s first project – Kites. He most recently produced for Ghanaian Afro-Fusion artist Amaarae on her project – The Angel You Don’t Know.
Aywy is an independent artist, releasing primarily through his international label – Flow Fi, & recently founded Sydney label, Ivory Records (IVRY®), a hub for South-Asian & POC talent. His production style weaves between contemporary & classic hip hop, R&B/Soul, Hindustani/Carnatic & world influences. His latest work features his vocal styling, mid-way between raps & sung melodies – further expanding his arsenal of creativity.
In 2022, aywy seeks to push the boundaries of electronic, R&B and hip hop music in Australia, through the output of his label – IVRY Records.
Saturday
Carolina De La Piedra is a DJ from Sydney, Australia. In the past 24 months of DJing Carolina has played events such as Secret Garden Festival, Laneway Festival (twice) and Darwin Festival. Carolina also works for dance/hip-hop promoters BBE as an Assistant Booker and has worked with Kali Uchis as a Tour Rep and also Tour Managed Venus X. Importantly, she has become a mainstay on Sydney’s cultural scene and an omnipresent voice for women of colour.
Splendour is thrilled to welcome Carolina Gasolina to the festival in in July 2022!
Munasib is your favourite artist’s favourite DJ, keeping company with burgeoning local talent and sharing stages with international superstars. The Australian born, Bengali DJ marks a sea change in Australian dance culture, reflecting the plurality of the country’s multiculturalism with sets that as easily include Bollywood beats as Vince Staples’ ‘Norf Norf.’
Based in Eora/Sydney, Munasib surrounds herself with good art and good curators, a member of local tastemakers Astral People, emerging South Asian collective Kerfew and host of monthly Nomad Radio show, PAIRED, as well as providing mixes for FBi Radio and triple j. Combining baile funk with local hip-hop, alte cruise with amapiano, and traditional Bengali music with experimental trap, Munasib is set to take the stage at Splendour in the Grass and Sydney Opera House, all in the next few months.
Regularly sharing the stage with musician friends and collaborators including Milan Ring, IJALE and Bodega Collective, Munasib has a curatorial ear for just about everything. Each smoothly unpredictable transition reflects multiplicity and a journey through the cultural abundance that makes up Munasib.
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Comforters are an essential part of bedding that can make your bed complete and makes you feel relaxed while sleeping. It can be challenging to fit a king-size comforter on your queen bed.
Can You Use a King Comforter on a Queen Bed? According to customer reviews, you cannot use a king comforter on a queen bed because it is larger in width and keeps falling from the sides. In addition, it provides almost 18 to 21 inches of extra fabric on the bedsides that touch the floor and gets dirtier quickly. Moreover, it hides the beauty of the furniture by covering the footboard and shows poor aesthetics as it looks odd and messy. Furthermore, it requires more cleaning efforts to clean the floor under the bed, and the comforter requires frequent washing due to its direct contact with the dusty floor.
A king comforter is supposed to be perfect for a king-sized bed, but they vary in size, making it possible to adjust them on smaller queen beds.
However, some people try to find a perfect match for their beds without compromising looks and comfort and avoid more oversized products.
1 What is a bed comforter?
2 What is the size of the king comforter?
4 What happens if you put a king comforter on a queen bed?
4.2 Poor aesthetics
4.3 Extra cleaning efforts
4.5 Difficult to clean floor
5 Why would you use a king comforter for a queen bed?
7 What do reviews say?
What is a bed comforter?
You can consider it a blanket that provides warmth and softness due to its soft material. It is usually present over a mattress to provide comfort while sleeping.
Many people confuse it with a duvet, but it is a single unit having three layers. The outer layer is of decorative fabric, while the inner layers are quilt stitched to keep fillings inside.
In contrast, a duvet has two separate units; the inner unit contains soft material while the upper cover is removable.
It helps create an inviting sleep platform when you arrange it evenly over the mattress. As a result, they are not so fluffier as a duvet but give a luxurious appearance to the room.
What is the size of the king comforter?
A king comforter is designed to match the size of a king-sized mattress. It is almost 86 to 88 inches in width and 98 to 102 inches in length.
In addition, its size varies according to different brand types as every brand introduces a king comforter with a few inches difference in dimensions.
There are no strict measurements for its dimensions because there is a margin of 5 to 10 inches difference for these fluffy blankets.
So, you can find them in a different range of lengths and widths at stores. For example, its length varies from 86 to 96 inches, while its width is 96 to 110 inches.
Can a King comforter fit a Queen bed?
When you talk about its perfect fitting on the mattress, it means whether it covers a mattress adequately or drapes down along the sides.
You need a soft blanket that can give you warmth and relax your body when sleeping at night after a busy day.
So, it is better to look for a small size for a queen mattress because it does not fit around it. In addition, it is larger in width, which allows a bigger fall over the floor.
A comforter with 102 inches wider fabric leaves drapes of almost 21 inches on both sides that are larger than the recommended fall.
Therefore, you have to switch to other options and search for the one that can fit your mattress perfectly and makes you feel relaxed and comfortable.
What happens if you put a king comforter on a queen bed?
You have to choose a comforter after measuring the size of a mattress; otherwise, you have to face problems like oversizing, frequent maintenance, and compromised aesthetics.
It is an oversized blanket for a full or queen bed. It looks odd to put a larger fabric over a small platform that cannot hold it properly.
There is almost a 36 to 42 inches difference between a comforter and this bed. Accordingly, a fall of about 18 to 21 inches on both sides looks awful.
Many interior designers recommend you to keep the drapes at a length of almost 8 inches on each side, which gives a beautiful look.
Moreover, you can observe the luxurious hotel rooms where the size is slightly larger than a mattress.
You cannot keep them to 20 inches as it can compromise the overlooks of furniture.
However, many people like to keep it at the length of touching the floor to give a cozy appearance, but it depends on your personal choice.
Poor aesthetics
The room’s interior and decoration style depicts the owner’s aesthetics and creates an image of the nature of a person.
Some people love to keep their rooms organized and clean, while others feel happier and relaxed living in a messy area.
Similarly, the use of imperfect bedding that does not match in size with the mattress shows your poor aesthetics that you even have a concept of arranging things in a better manner.
Extra cleaning efforts
You have to clean a king comfort more often when you put it on a smaller platform because the fabric touches the floor.
In addition, it gets dirty when you clean the floor, and an uncleaned mop touches the clean fabric.
In the same way, a dusty floor makes it dirtier, and you have to clean it frequently compared to the one that is at a reasonable distance from the floor.
A large-sized blanket can cover the footboard or beautiful frame of the bed. However, an elegant customized bed with intricate designs on metal frames is of no use when you are going to hide it.
You cannot tuck such a large hanging fabric under a mattress as it gives a lumpy feel.
You can only prevent adjusting this comforter on queen sized mattress to show the beauty of the furniture.
However, some people put this comfort on a queen mattress when they want to hide all the flaws of their used furniture. It can cover the defects in furniture and make it look nice.
Difficult to clean floor
Oversized hanging fabric interferes when you want to clean the floor under the bed. You cannot move the mop quickly in the areas closer to the mattress as it begins to tangle with the cleaning item.
A vacuum cleaner or a brush can get stuck with the comforter hanging from the sides.
It is better to make your life easier by choosing the right size of sheets for your bed that can perfectly fit over it.
Why would you use a king comforter for a queen bed?
Some people prefer to put a king comforter on a queen bed even after knowing about its unsuitability for this smaller platform.
They want to get extra warmth by extending it to the floor as it gives a cozy feel to sleep under a larger blanket.
Moreover, you can fold it differently to make it look appealing when it is not used, particularly in the daytime.
A queen bed is for two people, so you need a larger blanket to cover both of you. However, it can spread on a whole platform, and you do not have to stretch it on either side.
What size comforter fits a queen bed?
You can search for other comforters that can fit precisely on a smaller platform with a few extra inches in width and length to provide a good fall on the sides.
You should use an oversized comforter for a similar type of bed as it has a few inches extra lengths. When you get the same size blanket, it can cover the upper surface of the mattress only.
While the interior designers suggest you choose a bigger one that gives an elegant look when hanging along the sides.
It should be 86 to 88 inches in width and a length of nearly 96 to 100 inches to adjust on a queen bed.
Look at different stores and find product matching to mentioned dimensions or is closer to them.
For example, some retailer brands provide a standard size that can fit a queen and full-size mattress.
A full-size mattress is 6 inches less wide and 5 inches shorter than a queen, so the standard one has a dimension of almost 80 to 88 inches in width and 88 to 100 inches in length.
Sometimes, you have to make compromises when you want to get products in particular color or design, but do not forget the importance of size.
It is better to measure the dimensions of a mattress before purchasing these to avoid inconvenience later.
Also, you have to be knowledgeable about the thickness of the width of furniture before going to a store because its depth can vary.
What do reviews say?
I surveyed 643 people to know their experience fitting a king mattress on a queen bed.
Out of 643 people, 508 people (79%) said it is not suitable to put a king-size comforter on a queen bed as there is a huge difference in their widths, and it keeps hanging on the sides.
However, 89 people (14%) said large-sized bedding gives a luxurious feel and makes it look cozy.
While the remaining 46 people (7%) said they do not bother with the presence of either king or queen comforter as both provide them comfort to sleep.
“I bought a king-sized blanket that was so annoying for me as it draped on the floor.”
Choose a blanket that can facilitate two people on a full-size mattress to avoid stretching on either side.
“I prefer to sleep under a large blanket because it can cover a whole bed and gives better warmth.”
It is better to avoid a bigger blanket on a smaller mattress as it requires extra cleaning and maintenance efforts.
“I have to wash my king comforter twice a month because it directly touches the floor and gets dirtier.”
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As a mom, I care about my community and our kids. I graduated from the Glendale Union High School District and all four of my kids have been in the district. Great schools are a key component to a neighborhood's future. As parents of four kids we want our community to be attractive for the next generation as well. I also know things have changed in culture even since my oldest graduated high school in 2018. The challenges my current high school student faces are much different than even 4 years ago. I think the Governing Board needs parents who are in the trenches and know the impact policies make on current day issues.
3. Do you support sexual education of children in the classroom? At what age do you believe this is appropriate, and do you believe that a parent should have the opportunity to opt out?
Parents should have the ultimate authority on when their children receive sexual education. There should always be an opportunity to opt out and curriculum should be available for parents to review. As a candidate in a high school district, you would expect to have curriculum covering biology and reproduction.
4. Do you support the idea of parents being the sole stakeholders in their children’s lives?
Yes
5. What is your position on critical race theory, social-emotional learning, LGBTQ inclusion, and equity issues in the classroom? What do you know of Bloom365 and Corwin Press and what are your opinions?
In talking with parents and educators I continue to see the need to define terms on these topics. It is evident that there are various understandings of what is meant when it comes to CRT and SEL. CRT assigns roles of oppressed and oppressor to individuals based on their race. This is of no benefit to our student's learning. We need to focus on teaching history without placing blame on individuals based on their family background. As the daughter of two school teachers, I know those in education care about the success of their students academically as well as their preparedness for intangible measures like interpersonal life skills. After the tragic impacts of the pandemic on student learning and growth, teachers need to foster skills to handle the impact of isolation. This is what good teachers do. However, it is disingenuous to develop curriculum that usurps a parent's role of instilling their families values. I am not familiar with Bloom365 and Corwin Press.
6. Based on the limitations and powers of a school board member, what’s your platform?
I plan to
1) support strong academic policies
2) support the high standards that our teachers desire
3) listen to the needs of families
4) promote GUHSD as excellent schools of choice to prepare students for college and the workforce.
7. What do you believe to be the biggest issue impacting K-12 students in Arizona?
8. How do you think the state should support public education? Do you believe in expanding school vouchers?
9. Do you have a plan to fund renovations of schools in your area that are run down?
not specifically.
10. Do you have a plan to address the shortage of teachers?
When it comes to workforce development we often think of bringing in the new generation. For this we need to build bridges with students in school to encourage them to enter into the field of education. I think this is important. But one way to address this issue is to stop the loss of teachers. Taking great care of the teachers you have should be a priority.
11. Do you support allowing retired military or police officers, who pass background checks, to work or volunteer in our schools to prevent mass shootings?
I think having school resource officers on campus are vital. If a school and district can work within a framework for training and goals, this can also be a strategic safety measure.
12. Please feel free to add any additional information you would like voters to know about your candidacy.
I am a native Arizonan and aside from going away to college in Santa Barbara, California, Phoenix has been my home. I want our schools and community to be so great that the next generation wants to raise their families here. You can visit my website at www.veidmarkforguhsd.com. I am happy to further answer any questions!
© 2022 Strong Communities Action. All Rights Reserved. Any mention of political candidates is not an endorsement.
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In order to strengthen our Marketing-team we would like to get in contact with candidates for the position of:
You are responsible to manage the appointed brand portfolio. Among others, your tasks include:
You own the product life cycle of the appointed brand portfolio. This includes also assortment selection and coordination of new product introductions;
You set up a year plan for each brand and/or category. This includes a sales plan and focus- and development areas for the upcoming sales season;
You provide a complete product range to us;
You collect market- and trend information, including potential new brands and opportunities;
You manage the relationship with the suppliers and you ensure good support towards them;
You own the product master data and you make sure the data is available and up to date in our systems;
You report on relevant management information frequently to Management.
A completed commercial education on Bachelor-level;
At least 3 years of relevant experience in a similar position in an international setting;
Affinity with- and knowledge of the fishing tackle market are considered as a plus;
You have excellent intercultural communication skills, you have an analytical as well as practical mindset, you are pro-active and goal oriented;
You are customer oriented, you take responsibility and you are able to perform your work independently;
Excellent language skills in English, both verbally and in writing. Other language skills are considered as a plus.
You are monitoring customer satisfaction with your activities and you try to exceed the expectations;
You are open to learn from others and you like new challenges;
You can persuade in a natural way, doing this you convince others about your plans and ideas;
You are able to filter the available information and to give a report or advice about the important issues;
You build and maintain a network of relationships which is important to obtain information and to achieve optimum benefit for Global fishing tackle inc;
You are able to see developments in your working field and check whether they are useful within the organization;
You are accurate and punctual. As this position requires a lot of administrative tasks, which have to be fulfilled with great accuracy.
Please send your application and Curriculum Vitae to us via contact form.
Sales Representative
In order to re-enforce our sales team we would like to get in contact with candidates for the position of:
The job
You Ensure sales of our products towards customers in your area and advice them, in accordance with the market action plan, in order to realise the sales and margin targets set. Among others, your tasks include:
Regularly visit customers to advise upon our products and -agencies and the added value of Global Fishing Tackle in order to maintain relations, create customer value and sell the products;
Report on visits on a regular basis to enable sales management to monitor progress and to register customer- and market developments as input for future visits or marketing/sales actions;
Explore the region for new changes and visit new customers/organizations to inform them about Global Fishing Tackle and to create additional sales;
Formulate an action plan for your sales area. Taking into account the targets set, history, forecasts and actions planned and attune with the Sales Manager;
Construct account plans for your key customers based on your sales area action plan;
We expect candidates to have:
Preferable a finalized, commercial oriented education (University Education in field of Sales & Marketing);
At least 3 years of relevant working experience in a similar job;
Affinity and/or knowledge of the fishing tackle market is considered as a plus;
Communicative skills and a flexible and service minded attitude;
Language skills: fluently English as well verbally as in writing;
Basic skills on Word and Excel;
Talent to recognize and understand business opportunities is key.
You monitor customer satisfaction and exceed expectations with actions taken.
You are eager to learn from others and you like taking on new challenges.
You are able to convince your customers in a natural way, with the aim of gaining agreement with certain plans, ideas or products.
You are able to filter all the available information and report or advise on the essential topics.
You build and maintain a relation network which is essential for retrieving information but also for influencing sales to customers.
You detect developments within your own professional field and check whether they are useful within the organisation.
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Of all the family names that inhabit our planet, the one that Sen. Panfilo Lacson detests the most is “Mancao.” It was police officer Cezar Mancao II who testified against him which led to his disappearance since Jan. 5, 2010.
Last Saturday, Sen. Lacson came home. He flew from Hong Kong to Cebu. In a “Believe It Or Not!” episode, guess which family name sat beside him in the Business Class section of Cathay Pacific? MANCAO.
Dr. Peter Mancao, a cousin of Cezar, recounts this amazing tale… “This trip, from the start was action packed! On the flight to L.A., one of the passengers had a seizure while he was on the way to the lavatory and he got a huge wound on the bridge of his wound that happened very close to where I was seated. So I got up and did some first aid. Good thing we were just two hours away from L.A.
“With the marathon itself turned out to be stormy (that’s another story), then on the return flight to Cebu from L.A. my wait at the Tom Bradley airport in L.A. turned out to be the most agonizing wait and anxiety whether I could board the plane.
“Then the trip from HK to Cebu. I was fortunate to get a very good deal on business class tickets (courtesy of Ungo runner Sheila Colmenares). As I walked in the plane I spotted familiar faces: Eva Gullas, flying in from NY, and Benson Dakay from Shanghai. As I got nearer to my seat, a very familiar person was seated next to me. I could not believe my luck! I had to run to get hold of the Phil. Daily Inquirer and check if there was any news on Sen. Ping Lacson going home. Indeed, there was. Sen. Lacson was seated next to me. It was just the two of us in that section, so I got up and greeted him ( “Good morning, Senator. I’m Dr. Mancao from Cebu. I don’t know if you remember but we met in White Gold House when you were campaigning in Cebu.”).
“I’ve never seen a guy as humble, considering his stature and the conditions he has been through. As we talked, I asked the reason for his return via Cebu. He said he wanted to avoid the media circus. And, in my first request for a photo op, he politely declined. As there was a slight delay in the departure, we continued to talk and told him I hope you don’t mind us talking because I’m a cousin of Cesar. His quick reply was he had no problem with that. We moved on to another topic and I told him, “So it was not true that you were hiding in Cebu?” He had a huge laugh.
“A few minutes before landing, I showed him my L.A. Marathon medal and explained to him how I got hooked to running. This time, he obliged to have a photo with me and my medal. When we landed, I was the first to greet him, “Welcome back!” It was such a coincidence because when my cousin Cesar returned to Manila, he was on the same plane as my dad (Dr. Mike Mancao) who was also returning from L.A.
LOS ANGELES MARATHON. “Team Cebu was divided into Team A and Team B. Dr. Yong Larrazabal and his wife Donna were in Team A (being the faster runners) while me, my daughter Mykha (who was running her first full marathon) and Chris Locsin (J&J rep here in Cebu and also her first full marathon) were Team B. We positioned ourselves with the 5-hour pace group at the start (Dodgers Stadium).
“The weather forecast for that day was heavy rain. Right from the start the rain made its presence, as it was drizzling on and off. Barely 5 km. into the race, the rain strengthens (yet the song goes “It never rains in California”) and, at some point, wind started blowing. (I heard that the LA Marathon was bought by the owner of the LA Dodgers and he managed to turn around this event as it was not getting good reviews in the past. It has one of the best routes of all the U.S. marathons but unfortunately the weather was not cooperating.)
“Mykha decides to move ahead of us as she had a 5hour finish in mind while we had 5h30m as our goal. At the 21K mark, we were still within our goal but little did we know that the weather was getting worse. The rain and wind were getting stronger. The roads were water logged plus the temperatures were dropping fast. We were doing the Galloway run-walk technique but the weather made us do more walking than running.
“At the 32K mark, we got into a medical station that provided us with garbage bags as makeshift rain jackets. We were given Mylar blankets. This got us back running but at this point were looking at a 6-hour plus finish. Runners were dropping out at the medical stations because of hypothermia. I was looking at my first DNF (did not finish) marathon. It was at this point that we decided to get back on track with the Galloway run-walk strategy and sing our way along for the next 10k.
“The finish line was another story as the Santa Monica Beach was in a fury with the storm. We had to walk another kilometer to get to the after-race finishers meeting area with strong winds blowing us off the road. When we got to the area, it was leveled-out. The tents were blown off. We had to walk back to the family waiting area aching in pain and shivering from the cold and endured the wait for our ride to Mykha’s apartment. Team B’s time: Mykha 4h56min; me and Chris, 6:55. Team A: Yong 3:50 and Donna, 4:30.”
L.A. MARATHON. “Marathon running has become my own little amazing race. Each one has its own challenges and a story to tell. I thought the Galloway run-walk technique was the answer to my prayer but now it looks like I have to pray some more. I really hate the 30th to 35th km. mark; somehow it has become my wall. I keep telling myself to add more mileage to my training but then again I don’t want to take away the fun part in doing my amazing race.
NO. 8. “I never expected to be doing marathon no. 8 at the time I ran new york. It was just supposed to be crossing out one item in my bucket list. I always swear each time I finish a marathon that that would be the last one. That is, until a few days later when i talk to Yong and James Abilla of St. James Water that planning for the next one always manages to get on the table.
LATE ARRIVAL. “I had my plane ticket booked late december 2010 and at that time was having problems with return flight. When i checked w/ the CX counter i was told that if i wanted a guaranteed booking i had to wait a week as all flights were fully booked so i had to take that chance last thursday and wow it turned out to be a punctuation mark for this trip.”
Published March 29, 2011
Categorized as Marathon
I've been a sports columnist since 1994. First, in The Freeman newspaper under "Tennis Is My Game." Then, starting in 2003, with Sun.Star Cebu under the name "Match Point." Happy reading!
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Ernest Hemingway, born Ernest Miller Hemingway, July 21, 1899, in Cicero [now in Oak Park], Illinois, U.S.A., is the novelist and short-story writer, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He was noted both for the intense masculinity of his writing and for his adventurous and widely publicized life. His succinct and lucid prose style exerted a powerful influence on American and British fiction in the 20th century.
The first son of Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, a doctor, and Grace Hall Hemingway, Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in a suburb of Chicago. He was educated in the public schools and began to write in high school, where he was active and outstanding, but the parts of his boyhood that mattered most were summers spent with his family on Walloon Lake in upper Michigan. On graduation from high school in 1917, impatient for a less-sheltered environment, he did not enter college but went to Kansas City, where he was employed as a reporter for the Star. He was repeatedly rejected for military service because of a defective eye, but he managed to enter World War I as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross. On July 8, 1918, not yet 19 years old, he was injured on the Austro-Italian front at Fossalta di Piave. Decorated for heroism and hospitalized in Milan, he fell in love with a Red Cross nurse, Agnes von Kurowsky, who declined to marry him. These were experiences he was never to forget.
in celebration of his life in literature
July 21 at 1:30pm EST
on Clubhouse
After recuperating at home, Hemingway renewed his efforts at writing, for a while worked at odd jobs in Chicago, and sailed for France as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star. Advised and encouraged by other American writers in Paris—F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound—he began to see his nonjournalistic work appear in print there, and in 1925 his first important book, a collection of stories called In Our Time, was published in New York City; it was originally released in Paris in 1924.
In 1926 he published The Sun Also Rises, a novel with which he scored his first solid success. A pessimistic but sparkling book, it deals with a group of aimless expatriates in France and Spain—members of the postwar Lost Generation, a phrase that Hemingway scorned while making it famous. This work also introduced him to the limelight, which he both craved and resented for the rest of his life. Hemingway’s The Torrents of Spring, a parody of the American writer Sherwood Anderson’s book Dark Laughter, also appeared in 1926.
The writing of books occupied Hemingway for most of the postwar years. He remained based in Paris, but he traveled widely for the skiing, bullfighting, fishing, and hunting that by then had become part of his life and formed the background for much of his writing. His position as a master of short fiction had been advanced by Men Without Women in 1927 and thoroughly established with the stories in Winner Take Nothing in 1933. Among his finest stories are “The Killers,” “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.” At least in the public view, however, the novel A Farewell to Arms (1929) overshadowed such works. Reaching back to his experience as a young soldier in Italy, Hemingway developed a grim but lyrical novel of great power, fusing love story with war story. While serving with the Italian ambulance service during World War I, the American lieutenant Frederic Henry falls in love with the English nurse Catherine Barkley, who tends him during his recuperation after being wounded. She becomes pregnant by him, but he must return to his post. Henry deserts during the Italians’ disastrous retreat after the Battle of Caporetto, and the reunited couple flee Italy by crossing the border into Switzerland. There, however, Catherine and her baby die during childbirth, and Henry is left desolate at the loss of the great love of his life.
Hemingway’s love of Spain and his passion for bullfighting resulted in Death in the Afternoon (1932), a learned study of a spectacle he saw more as tragic ceremony than as sport. Similarly, a safari he took in 1933–34 in the big-game region of Tanganyika resulted in Green Hills of Africa (1935), an account of big-game hunting. Mostly for the fishing, he purchased a house in Key West, Florida, and bought his own fishing boat. A minor novel of 1937 called To Have and Have Not is about a Caribbean desperado and is set against a background of lower-class violence and upper-class decadence in Key West during the Great Depression.
By now Spain was in the midst of civil war. Still deeply attached to that country, Hemingway made four trips there, once more a correspondent. He raised money for the Republicans in their struggle against the Nationalists under General Francisco Franco, and he wrote a play called The Fifth Column (1938), which is set in besieged Madrid. As in many of his books, the protagonist of the play is based on the author. Following his last visit to the Spanish war, he purchased Finca Vigía (“Lookout Farm”), an unpretentious estate outside Havana, Cuba, and went to cover another war—the Japanese invasion of China.
The harvest of Hemingway’s considerable experience of Spain in war and peace was the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), a substantial and impressive work that some critics consider his finest novel, in preference to A Farewell to Arms. It was also the most successful of all his books as measured in sales. Set during the Spanish Civil War, it tells of Robert Jordan, an American volunteer who is sent to join a guerrilla band behind the Nationalist lines in the Guadarrama Mountains. Most of the novel concerns Jordan’s relations with the varied personalities of the band, including the girl Maria, with whom he falls in love. Through dialogue, flashbacks, and stories, Hemingway offers telling and vivid profiles of the Spanish character and unsparingly depicts the cruelty and inhumanity stirred up by the civil war. Jordan’s mission is to blow up a strategic bridge near Segovia in order to aid a coming Republican attack, which he realizes is doomed to fail. In an atmosphere of impending disaster, he blows up the bridge but is wounded and makes his retreating comrades leave him behind, where he prepares a last-minute resistance to his Nationalist pursuers.
All of his life Hemingway was fascinated by war—in A Farewell to Arms he focused on its pointlessness, in For Whom the Bell Tolls on the comradeship it creates—and, as World War II progressed, he made his way to London as a journalist. He flew several missions with the Royal Air Force and crossed the English Channel with American troops on D-Day (June 6, 1944). Attaching himself to the 22nd Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division, he saw a good deal of action in Normandy and in the Battle of the Bulge. He also participated in the liberation of Paris, and, although ostensibly a journalist, he impressed professional soldiers not only as a man of courage in battle but also as a real expert in military matters, guerrilla activities, and intelligence collection.
Following the war in Europe, Hemingway returned to his home in Cuba and began to work seriously again. He also traveled widely, and, on a trip to Africa, he was injured in a plane crash. Soon after (in 1953), he received the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for The Old Man and the Sea (1952), a short heroic novel about an old Cuban fisherman who, after an extended struggle, hooks and boats a giant marlin only to have it eaten by voracious sharks during the long voyage home. This book, which played a role in gaining for Hemingway the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, was as enthusiastically praised as his previous novel, Across the River and into the Trees (1950), the story of a professional army officer who dies while on leave in Venice, had been damned.
By 1960 Hemingway had left Cuba and settled in Ketchum, Idaho. (He expressed his belief in what he called the “historical necessity” of the Cuban Revolution; his attitude toward its leader, Fidel Castro, who had taken power in 1959, varied.) He tried to lead his life and do his work as before. For a while he succeeded, but, anxiety-ridden and depressed, he was twice hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he received electroshock treatments. Two days after his return to the house in Ketchum, he took his life with a shotgun. Hemingway had been married four times: to Hadley Richardson in 1921 (divorced 1927), Pauline Pfeiffer in 1927 (divorced 1940), Martha Gellhorn in 1940 (divorced 1945), and Mary Welsh in 1946. He had fathered three sons: John Hadley Nicanor (“Bumby”), with Hadley, born in 1923; Patrick, with Pauline, in 1928; and Gregory, also with Pauline, in 1931.
Hemingway left behind a substantial amount of manuscript, some of which has been published. A Moveable Feast, an entertaining memoir of his years in Paris (1921–26) before he was famous, was issued in 1964. Islands in the Stream, three closely related novellas growing directly out of his peacetime memories of the Caribbean island of Bimini, of Havana during World War II, and of searching for U-boats off Cuba, appeared in 1970.
Hemingway’s characters plainly embody his own values and view of life. The main characters of The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and For Whom the Bell Tolls are young men whose strength and self-confidence nevertheless coexist with a sensitivity that leaves them deeply scarred by their wartime experiences. War was for Hemingway a potent symbol of the world, which he viewed as complex, filled with moral ambiguities, and offering almost unavoidable pain, hurt, and destruction. To survive in such a world, and perhaps emerge victorious, one must conduct oneself with honour, courage, endurance, and dignity, a set of principles known as “the Hemingway code.” To behave well in the lonely, losing battle with life is to show “grace under pressure” and constitutes in itself a kind of victory, a theme clearly established in The Old Man and the Sea.
Hemingway’s prose style was probably the most widely imitated of any in the 20th century. He wished to strip his own use of language of inessentials, ridding it of all traces of verbosity, embellishment, and sentimentality. In striving to be as objective and honest as possible, Hemingway hit upon the device of describing a series of actions by using short, simple sentences from which all comment or emotional rhetoric has been eliminated. These sentences are composed largely of nouns and verbs, have few adjectives and adverbs, and rely on repetition and rhythm for much of their effect. The resulting terse, concentrated prose is concrete and unemotional yet is often resonant and capable of conveying great irony through understatement. Hemingway’s use of dialogue was similarly fresh, simple, and natural-sounding. The influence of this style was felt worldwide wherever novels were written, particularly from the 1930s through the ’50s.
A consummately contradictory man, Hemingway achieved a fame surpassed by few, if any, American authors of the 20th century. The virile nature of his writing, which attempted to re-create the exact physical sensations he experienced in wartime, big-game hunting, and bullfighting, in fact masked an aesthetic sensibility of great delicacy. He was a celebrity long before he reached middle age, but his popularity continues to be validated by serious critical opinion.
By Philip Young / Source: Britannica
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My cat was diagnosed by a Vet having Leukemia Darshana came to my home to balance his pain the next day he was out on the patio walking around
and he ate without vomiting or diahrrea...Amazing LRA OS CA
5/6/18
I just finished watching the video and I'm so deeply grateful. I haven't responded to many people, but my intuition and Spirit was guiding me to receive this.
I am so grateful.
Today was the first day I danced in a long time and I definitely had strength restore to me and new insights come in.Last night I was really scared again about where I was at and this morning too I was feeling incredibly weak.
And just about the time you said you were working on me is when I started to gain some strength and new insights and was able to move around and started to have more clarity. It gave me more strength than I've felt all week. The information shown in the video was spot
on too.And I'm so grateful for technology that is able to capture our multi-dimensional selves.
When I made the post, I didn't have a lot of energy, and so I mentioned my brain injury because that was the only super concrete thing I could. But after reading about the sinus stress, that honestly feels pinpoint and has given me a new lead into what I need to focus on and where the source of all of this is coming from.
July 19 2019 Teri Crutchfield Darshana Atma received the
Blood work back from vets office. Unfortunately it’s in Spanish so I need someone to interpret it
For me.. lol. But one thing that was glaringly clear... you said there was a chemical toxin in her body... and sure enough it is baking soda! Thank you so much for helping er through
Jan 3 2019 I could barely walk without pain I had a 2 hour session got up the next day and went to work she even gave me a Spinal report for my Chiropractor. LB Oceanside Ca
Lady D getting back to you with a huge debt of grattude and Grace. My partner who was hit by a car and in the hospital is doing so much better. You are such an Angel We are sendingYou love and light.
Dec 23 2015
she is doing beautifully, thank you so lit up people notice her everywhere we go. even more so since your session. bright blessings, CG S.D. CA
I fell asleep during the session I haven't slept well in months. I also have not felt this relaxed, I feel more focused. S.P. QH CA
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Miguel Simão argues that COP27 should have shown a spotlight on the importance of improving public transport
Given that the transport sector is one of the biggest emitters, it is problematic that COP27 didn’t dedicate an entire day to talks on transportation, as was the case with COP26. Sustainable transportation was part of the talks on ‘Solutions Day’, but the focus was placed only on EV transition, with little to no mention of shared mobility as one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Electrifying vehicles is crucial, but with grids that aren’t 100% clean, transitioning to EVs is only a partial solution to a problem that requires action on multiple fronts. A single journey by bus emits 82% less than the equivalent distance in a personal car. For this reason, it’s a shame to see that COP27 did not make a louder and clearer call for the boosting of public transport services.
Electrifying vehicles is crucial, but with grids that aren’t 100% clean, transitioning to EVs is only a partial solution to a problem that requires action on multiple fronts
The over reliance on private cars is causing congestion, worse air quality in cities, longer commute times, and an overall worse quality of life for people. If we hope to make a dent in harmful gas emissions we need to tackle the problem both by incentivising EV transition, but also by making sure we are reducing the overall number of vehicles on our roads. This can only be done if the public is offered transport networks that are reliable, affordable, and accessible to everyone.
Reliability is really the key here, as the majority of people cite delays as the top reason for not choosing public transport over their own vehicle. And guaranteeing a reliable service is a challenge in itself, since most operators don’t have visibility over their main asset: the vehicle. Despite disposing of a wide arsenal of tools, which greatly improve the efficiency of operations, there is still a long way to go to digitise maintenance operations and to ensure that vehicles are fit to complete a journey reliably, safely, and without disruptions.
Increased use of buses could address many environmental concerns
It would be great to see a push towards the digitisation of maintenance operations to improve the reliability and, in turn, the ridership numbers of public transport services. Tools like predictive maintenance can help transport operators to plan servicing in advance and based on real-time data, rather than estimates. They can predict a failure before it occurs and maximise vehicle availability, so that buses stay on the road, where they should be, serving people.
Events like the COP27 Summit are an important occasion to draw attention to the initiatives that matter to fight climate change. Any policy that doesn’t make the improvement of public transport one of its flagship initiatives is falling short of what we could achieve if we truly committed to reliable, accessible shared mobility.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Automotive World Ltd.
Miguel Simão is Lead Data Scientist at Stratio Automotive
The Automotive World Comment column is open to automotive industry decision makers and influencers. If you would like to contribute a Comment article, please contact [email protected]
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Dealer group decides to close on Sundays for sake of staff wellbeing
Posted on October 27, 2022 Author Bodinz
Dealer group Burrows Motor Company will close on Sundays from this weekend to ensure sales staff have a proper day of rest. It comes after the group, which holds Toyota, Mazda and Kia franchises across South Yorkshire into Nottinghamshire, had already implemented five-day working patterns to ensure sales staff get alternative weekends off, and closed its […]
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Geely takes near-8% stake in Aston Martin after failed acquisition bids
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Geely has taken a share of almost 8% in British performance car brand Aston Martin after a series of bids to acquire a stake in the OEM. The Chinese carmaker, which already owns Volvo Cars and the London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) alongside major shares in Lotus Cars, Polestar and Smart, took a 7.6% share in Aston’s […]
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Posted on October 12, 2022 Author Bodinz
I had just finished making a complete mess of trying to record a 25-second sound bite for the BBC on supply chain problems in the industry, when a security man from the nearby shopping complex came over and wanted to know what we were doing. I was about to relaunch into my monologue and tell […]
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Demolishing homes of poor residents in Accra while under lockdown, tells us all we need to know about the Ghanaian state’s treatment of working class people.
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Rosa Luxemburg was a radical leftist—a crime punishable by death in her occupied Polish homeland and cause for constant persecution in her adopted home of Germany. She left and continues to leave no room for indifference. She lived out her convictions loudly and without compromise. With human warmth and an intoxicating temperament, she was able to win over many people who accepted her without prejudice. Those who did not see her as an equal, however, responded with fear.
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There are many stereotypes about the land of Australia. Whether you have lived in, visited or heard of Australia, chances are you’ve come across typical perceptions of Australia in the geographic sense – and come across Australians agreeing with them. And disagreeing with them as well.
Having lived in Australia for a while now, I’ve noticed some things are always predictable about this 7.692 million km2 patch of land called Down Under. At times its surrounds surprise me when I least expect it, and sometimes it doesn’t.
Stereotypes are unique to each and every country. Regional Victoria | Weekly Photo Challenge: Rare.
Some of the stereotypes you may know, and some you may have vaguely heard about in passing. Some of these stereotypes about this continent south of the equator also known as Oz include:
1. Everything in Australia kills you
Myriad creatures reside in literally every nook and cranny that you can think of here, creatures that just might scare or bite you. Or both. Venomous red bellied snakes hide under the hood of your car for hours in Oz. Unprovoked shark attacks are more likely to cause fatalities along the coasts of Australia. Survivalist Bear Grylls stood face to face with a saltwater crocodile in the Northern Territory on his second trip Down Under; the crocodile stole his fish but he would not fight it. Dropbears look a lot like koalas and prefer dropping down from trees overhead on those with non-Aussie accents – a myth. Amidst floods in the state of Tasmania, spiders escaped waters by spinning thick webs high up in trees, so thick that the webs looked like white walls – and if all those many spiders are harmless is anyone’s guess.
One summer’s night three years ago, I sat at my desk in my room. Cool breeze breezing through the open window to my left. I typed on my laptop, minding my own business. And felt a shadow cast over me to my left. Looked up. A spider the size of a palm was sprawled right above my head, crawling on the white wall beside the window. I froze and…
2. Australia is a small island with great beaches, great weather
Located south of the globe closer to Antarctica than most other continents, we’re arguably a one gigantic ‘forgotten’, isolated island that takes time to get here from any part of the world. There are 6 states in Australia compared to 50 states within the entire 9.857 million km2 of the States and approximately 50 countries in Europe. It takes almost 24 hours to fly to Oz from either continent. But once here, it takes around 3 to 6 months to do a ‘big lap’ caravan around Oz and stopping off at various towns along the way, traveling a minimum of approximately 15,000km.
With ozone depletion over Australia, ultraviolet radiation levels are high and melanoma is the third highest cancer here. Three summer’s ago I went to the beach on a clear sky 30’C Melbourne day with sunscreen all over. I sweated profusely right under the sun, felt my face flush, felt my exposed arms sting, sizzle and…
There’s also not forgetting the unpredictable four-seasons-in-a-day Melbourne weather that is the norm. Countless occasions I’ve walked out of work and the skies poured, my shoes soaked up puddles and the skies cleared when I walked through my door.
Australia, where grass and trees are aplenty.
3. Australia is predominantly desert and bushland
To a large extent this stereotype holds true. A vast part of Australia consists of barren land. The nearest town from the iconic Uluru / Ayes Rock is roughly 450-desert-land-km away. 18% of this continent is made up of desert converging in the central and western areas, which constitutes part of the Australian Outback. And that was what I saw on the one and a half hour train ride all the way up to regional Victoria some weeks ago.
On the other hand, each state in Oz has a bustling city centre that are no strangers to the 9-5 grind and bumper to bumper traffic. But these cities are nowhere as dense as cities like Hong Kong and Singapore in terms of people to geographic ratio.
4. Kangaroos and koalas are everywhere
Kangaroos and koalas are considered the national animals of Australia, and these furry friends of ours find comfort in selective parts of the country. Naturally not all of us adapt to every kind of climate and surrounding. Kangaroos and koalas tend to habitat lush eucalypt woodlands and rainforests in coastal areas: Sam the koala stretched its arms out for water as the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires raged around him, and earlier this year a kangaroo in South Australia attacked a woman on a cycling track and ruptured her breast implants. Consequently, riding kangaroos and cuddling koalas is not the average Australian’s pastime.
5. Democracy is alive in Australia
We’re a nation that gives every Australian the right to vote in state and federal elections. If you don’t vote when the time comes, you can get fined. Yet at times Australians have had absolutely no say in their prime minister. Over the last five years Australia has had five different prime ministers: discontent among ruling parties led parliamentary members challenging for the nation’s top job through leadership spills, internal party ballots and dumping their own leader.
‘Five for five’, as quite a few Aussies like to describe our recent political arena and ‘rotating door’ leadership. Often I wonder if the world laughs at Australia and the way we roll as a country – literally anything goes.
6. Sydney is the city to visit
Time and time again, Sydney – or the state of NSW – seems to be the city popular with tourists. It claims bragging rights to the majestic Sydney Opera House. There are picturesque views from above the nearby Blue Mountains, rolling waves at Bondi Beach, whales at Coffs Harbour, and camels in the town of Port Macquarie. It’s supposedly the “happening” state.
Twice I’ve spent a couple of months in Sydney. Compared to Melbourne, I found it much more pricey in terms of rent, food and transport. The non-grid-twisting-turning city was too perplexing for my liking. When it rained almost each afternoon, it poured and I sat at home watching the rain. At the end of the day, each to their own as to where they prefer to wander. Melbourne, which has just been voted the most livable city for six years straight, will always have a special place in my heart.
The more you get to know Australia, the more you reailse that literally anything goes here.
Stereotypes present one-sided impressions, but they also grab our attention. Opposites attract: we either tend to be fascinated or fearful of the unfamiliar such as someone who looks completely different from us or a creature that resembles something in our worst nightmares. Opposites make us stop, stare, slow down and take them in.
Arguably this is one reason why stereotypes can be an asset when it comes to tourism and branding a country to the rest of the world. Marketing itself on stereotypes, a country can be more attractive to visit if these stereotypes strike a chord. In the case of Australia, numerous Australia tourism ads show Oz as a country where there is ample sunshine and one can roam freely – symbolic of light and personal freedom. There was nochalant swearing in the infamous ‘Where The Bloody Hell Are You?’ ad in 2000, and this campaign showed blue skies, high hills, crystal clear waters, beaches and Australians who look like they have no cares in this world. Similarly the more recent ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ campaign showed the same thing about Australia.
Tourism numbers in Australia have been increasing over the last decade, and so maybe such stereotypical campaigns do draw tourists to Australia. Chinese travelers have doubled over the last five years and coincidentally they cite our coastal areas as a good reason to visit. As author Rivera Sun said on finding that special connection with something that is miles apart:
“Geography and mileage mean nothing. Separate is a single word that covers all distances that aren’t together.”
Australia, the land where there is something fascinating or unexpected around every corner.
Change is constant. Stereotypes will come and go, or hang around, or both in different moments of time. Australians, the people of Australia, also make Australia the country that it is. Many migrants have called Australia home over the last few years, yet some travelers still think only Westerners live in Australia. But that is another post for another day.
Having lived in Australia for a while now, I think it’s a fairly safe place, a place where the warm sun will shine tomorrow. I’m still standing after a couple of sunburns and fighting that spider in my room three years ago…
What do you know about the land of Australia?
What is Australia’s National Animal? What Are Some Of Our Favourite Animals?
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This entry was posted in Australia, Identity, Stereotypes and tagged australia, culture, identity, lifestyle, opinion, Photography, Politics, Stereotypes, tourism, travel by Mabel Kwong. Bookmark the permalink.
nice2beme on 30 August 2016 at 4:00 PM said:
Thank you for this post, friendly speaking, I don’t know much about Australia, neither about the stereotypes existing about this country. What i knew before is that it is the biggest island which is continent itself, I’ve heard about kangaroos and koalas, and I was surprised that there is a desert in Australia. I’ve heard that it’s quite hard to rent a house for living close to the seaside, and my group mate lives there cos she got married with Australian guy. I wish to visit this far away country one day and explore the stereotypes you’ve shared here by my own =)
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Mabel Kwong on 30 August 2016 at 8:08 PM said:
“it is the biggest island which is continent itself” This is so true about Australia, that we are indeed the biggest island in the world It is true that houses by the sea are hard to rent here. These homes usually cost over a million to build! The more affordable places would be the ones inland but further out from the city. Hope you get to visit one day
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nice2beme on 3 September 2016 at 6:33 PM said:
Thank you for sharing this) so i see now that got to know some truth about Australia =)
Mabel Kwong on 4 September 2016 at 12:16 AM said:
Thank you for reading
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Dalo 2013 on 1 September 2016 at 4:37 AM said:
This is a bit funny for me to read, as I do have these same stereotypical thoughts about Australia even though I do take them for what they are: exaggerations and stories retold many times over…and it all brings a sensation of “I want to see and experience this country myself.” Sometimes I wonder if the “Australian Brand” is the best of all countries in the world. Part of it is due to what you say “Australians, the people of Australia, also make Australia the country that it is…” and most Aussies I’ve met have been fantastic and feeds the desire for me to get out and explore the place I did very much enjoy your thoughts of Sydney vs. Melbourne, and I’ve a good friend from Perth…and with Red Rock fame, I am astounded by the diversity there as well. Wonderful post, Mabel, and you bring a great fresh perspective from Down Under with every post…and by the way, how is your spider friends doing these days
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Mabel Kwong on 2 September 2016 at 10:25 PM said:
It is an interesting though you have there about the Australian Brand. Australia does have a knack for making this country look like paradise – a place where you can find peace wandering around nature, enjoying the simple things in life. Aussies are certainly very friendly and hospitable. Out in the country, hitchhiking is still a thing
Perth is one of the quieter states in Australia, but it certainly is famed for those large rocks. A grand sight in photos, and I hope to see for myself some day.
As for my spider friends, they haven’t wandered in my room since that incident. Maybe they are afraid of Mr Wobbles
Dalo 2013 on 3 September 2016 at 4:04 AM said:
Ah yes, Mr. Wobbles keeping you safe and sound during the night ~ a noble gentleman he is A true Australian!
Mabel Kwong on 3 September 2016 at 8:03 PM said:
Mr Wobbles returns the compliment – he says you are the gentleman of the world. That is how friendly Australians are
Dalo 2013 on 4 September 2016 at 4:44 AM said:
Mabel Kwong on 4 September 2016 at 7:46 PM said:
Mr Wobbles takes his hat off to you
Behind the Story on 2 September 2016 at 2:36 PM said:
My husband and I were lucky to have visited Sydney one week when the weather was perfect. Although the main purpose of our trip was for my husband to visit a cardiologist, we had a good time looking around. Sydney is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen. We stayed in a cute little hotel on Bondi Beach. (Maybe the receptionist of the doctor in Vanuatu made the reservation.)
I’m surprised to hear that Australia is only 18% desert. I thought it was more. The eastern side of Washington State used to have a very large desert until they built dams and irrigated it.
We certainly can’t laugh at Australia’s politics, not with Donald Trump running for president. He’s been a joke of decades. I’m currently reading Yuge, a compilation of cartoons written about Trump in Doonesbury starting in the 1980s until 2015.
I knew quite a few Australians when we lived in Port Vila. The Aussies who lived there were adventurous. The men had a reputation for being hard drinking.
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Mabel Kwong on 2 September 2016 at 10:45 PM said:
So nice to hear that you came down to Sydney at one point. It did sound like every bit a lovely trip, and you must have brought the good weather with you. Really, Sydney’s weather is usually very wet most times of the year.
Apart from being desert, a lot of Australian land is also bushland, which constitutes a big part of the Outback. Then there’s not forgetting endless fields of flowers and farms in the quieter parts of the country.
True. Australians do like a good drink quite often, but that is another post for another day
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drdblogs on 2 September 2016 at 4:23 PM said:
Excellent. Another stereotype I come across a lot in the UK/Europe is “Australian wines are rubbish.” Not true. We have some of the best regions in the world in Victoria and South Australia.
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Mabel Kwong on 2 September 2016 at 10:46 PM said:
Thanks, Dr. Ah, good to know Australian wines are among the best in the world. That’s my dad’s opinion too. He is a fan of Jacob’s Creek.
Ciana on 2 September 2016 at 7:43 PM said:
Democracy is definitely alive in Australia – there’s implied freedom of political communication and no gerrymandering with the votes (or at least on the surface). I couldn’t help with the political/legal inference there; sorry about that, Mabel. A friend who’s visited Bondi Beach said that it is not glorious as it is portrayed in the travel shows. Before doing my degree here, I didn’t have much knowledge about Australia. I mean, I knew that there was Perth and Melbourne, the avocados are awesome, and the koalas are cuddly. Anything more than that, nope. (In fact, I was more familiar with NZ back then, lol)
The same goes as to how some people think that we live in a treehouse in Malaysia.
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Mabel Kwong on 2 September 2016 at 10:54 PM said:
The votes are counted and tallied up mostly by hand. So there is always margin for error.
I actually have never visited Bondi Beach. It really does look lovely in pictures and videos…but in press photos in the summer it always looks very crowded. But, yes, the avocados really taste amazing here
Lol. People thinking Malaysians live in treehouses. This is the first I’ve heard of :’D
Ciana on 3 September 2016 at 12:38 AM said:
No wonder they had to do a recount in certain areas. And people asking where Malaysia is. =.=
I’d say that Shepherd avocado is the tastiest. =)
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Mabel Kwong on 3 September 2016 at 7:56 PM said:
Avocado season is coming up, I am so excited You know, I don’t think many people around the world associate avocado with Australia, lol.
Heena Rathore P. on 2 September 2016 at 10:53 PM said:
I’ve never been to Australia, though my critique partner is from there. Still, I had no idea what ere the common beliefs and rumours related to Australia. But thanks to you, now I know so much about the place.
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Mabel Kwong on 2 September 2016 at 10:56 PM said:
Thanks, Heena. Maybe you will get to visit Australia one day. Australia really does have lovely surrounds and people, so if you do visit, you’ll feel at home!
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Heena Rathore P. on 6 September 2016 at 12:43 PM said:
That’s really good to know. I would love to visit Australia someday for sure. I watch a lot of Austrailian TV shows (especially the cookery shows) and I’m a huge Pete and Manu fan
Mabel Kwong on 6 September 2016 at 9:54 PM said:
Our Masterchef and My Kitchen Rules are very popular Australian cooking shows. Enjoy
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Heena Rathore P. on 9 September 2016 at 1:47 AM said:
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joshi daniel on 3 September 2016 at 12:19 AM said:
That is some cool and great information. As usual great pictures too
Mabel Kwong on 3 September 2016 at 7:33 PM said:
Truth be told Joshi, all these shots were taken from inside a moving train. Challenging conditions
lisa thomson-The Great Escape... on 3 September 2016 at 12:28 AM said:
What a great post, Mabel. I’ve never been to Australia. The closest I came was a trip to Bali, Indonesia, many years ago. I was exposed to groups of Australians there though and they have a reputation for being rambunctious and fun loving (is that true or was that just what I saw with these groups because they were on vacation?). Australia is next on my son’s travel agenda. He really has the travel bug and has been to Europe twice. He is applying for a work visa and planning to stay several months. He has a friend who lives there so he’s planning to stay with him a while and get the scoop. I’ll send him this link, too! Thanks for correcting the stereotypes
Mabel Kwong on 3 September 2016 at 7:54 PM said:
So close, yet so far. Who knows, maybe one day you will visit Australia, Lisa You bring up such an interesting point there: Australians in Australia and Australians on holiday. Bali is a popular tourist destination for Australians, and many of them do like a good beer up there and let their hair down.
Happy and safe travels to your son. There is so much to see in Australia, and am guessing he will have a great time working and seeing the sights here
Jean on 3 September 2016 at 12:31 PM said:
Finally your spin about your big homeland.
15,000 km to circumnavigate Aussieland?? Wow. Still Syndey sounds lovely. Melbourne is quieter but still sophisticated probably.
And the ruptured breast implants due to kangaroo attack?
Mabel Kwong on 3 September 2016 at 8:19 PM said:
Yup, at least 15,000km round trip of Australia if you stick to the circumference. I’m pretty sure you could almost double that if you stop by towns and travel inwards and then back out again.
And yes, that kangaroo did rupture a woman’s breast implants Kangaroos can certainly be muscly.
AmyRose on 4 September 2016 at 5:26 AM said:
Mabel, excellent excellent post!!! I have always been fascinated by Australia and have had a deep urge to one day visit. The air travel itself would probably put me 6 feet under! Your photography is outstanding!! Love the time of day you captured each photo as it is the “golden ratio” I LOVE to shoot in as well. Your post editing is excellent as well. Loved the facts you gave about Australia. I’ve always heard that Aussies are not to quick to welcome strangers in their land. I don’t know how true this is, but that is what I’ve heard. Again thank you for this delightful description of Australia. I applaud you for the research you had to do in order to get your facts straight.
Mabel Kwong on 4 September 2016 at 8:00 PM said:
Ah, I hope to write about the stereotypes of Australians in another post…Australians not friendly? I think there may be some truth to that. Maybe one day you will visit Australia. You never know.
I am very humbled by your kind words, Amy. Thank you so much. All of these photos were actually taken on a train ride recently. I loved the scenery outside the window and so decided to take photos. Luck was on my side the photos came out clear
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AmyRose on 5 September 2016 at 5:43 AM said:
Mabel Kwong on 5 September 2016 at 8:18 PM said:
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lisadorenfest on 4 September 2016 at 7:32 PM said:
Brilliant post Mabel. Spot on. Every picture a winner but ‘Australia, where grass and trees are aplenty’ took my breath away. Sadly, I only got to travel from Melbourne to Darwin but I will be back to do the other 1/2 someday. I loved the place
Mabel Kwong on 4 September 2016 at 8:12 PM said:
Thanks, Lisa. I am sure you’ll be back to Australia at some point and you’ll be able to wonder the western part of the country. Mr Wobbles is already waving his arms to welcome you and crew back
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lisadorenfest on 4 September 2016 at 11:13 PM said:
Mabel Kwong on 5 September 2016 at 8:16 PM said:
Hugh's Views and News on 6 September 2016 at 11:48 PM said:
As is often the case I always love hearing about this kind of stereotyping, Mabel. How many times I have heard that London is always foggy and wet and that everyone in the UK eats Shepherds Pie?. Yes, it does get foggy sometimes, but London is also one of the dryest places in the UK, and there are vegetarians in the UK so not everyone will eat Shepherd’s pie.
If I were visiting Austraila, Melbourne would certainly be at the top of my list to visit.
Mabel Kwong on 7 September 2016 at 8:08 PM said:
Yes, I have always heard that London is foggy and grey, but didn’t know that it is one of the driest places. I think Melbourne and London are similar in many ways, in that Melbourne is dry too and in the winter months it really is very grey. If you do visit, Hugh, I think you will feel very much at home. We do very nice Shepherd’s Pie too, and meat pies and sausage rolls.
Hugh's Views and News on 9 September 2016 at 2:06 AM said:
Sounds just up my street, Mabel. Some of my family have been to Melbourne while on a long holiday travelling all over Austrailia. Melbourne was the first place they visited. It was also their favourite.
Mabel Kwong on 9 September 2016 at 9:53 PM said:
That is so good to hear, Hugh. And I am sure I will feel right at home if I do ever visit London and your town
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Sony Fugaban on 7 September 2016 at 4:00 AM said:
When I was still in the university, the thing that got stuck in my brain was that it has a less popular capital which is Canberra. I was way ahead my classmates back then when it comes to trivia. One of them was about that capital. I never had a friend who knew what Australia’s capital is. All of them thought Sydney was the capital city. History was my second favorite subject back in the day. When it comes to World History, as one of our subjects, I really see to it that I did advance reading and did a lot if not fair amount of research about the next country/topic. It was like a competition I consistently topped back in the day.
So much of that, my knowledge of the country seemed to have expanded after I read the book “Mutant Message Down Under” by Marlo Morgan. I was also in high school that time–when history was a big deal for me. I admit, I do not really remember all the essential parts of the story but all I could remember now is how I appreciated nature more after reading. Long before I got to travel and explore beyond the four corners of my room and the school’s, I had that book that taught me about being one with nature, loving nature. I owe that from the author and that community of Aborigines in the Outback. Yes ,the story was based on fiction but the narratives about the Australian deserts and bushlands felt real at least after reading your article and based on what I had seen in the movies.
What I now know about Australia are mostly from your blog especially about its “myriad” people. I think of Australia as one of the most interesting countries to visit because of you; your accounts of it; the Outback; the Sydney Opera House; Kangaroos; and Miranda Kerr.
Sorry, I might have sounded too infantile Mabel but I was just honest. Those are what really come to mind when I am being asked about Australia rather saying it is both a country and continent surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans…you get the picture.
Mabel Kwong on 8 September 2016 at 8:23 PM said:
“All of them thought Sydney was the capital city” This is such an excellent point to bring up! I too think many people think Sydney is the capital city of Australia for all the attractions it has and the bustling capital that it is. But no. You are very right. Australia’s capital is Canberra, one of the state that generally tends to get less attention in the tourism spotlight.
I studied history at school too, but back then I thought it was dry (learning about the WW1 and WW11 and Soviet history). I really wish I appreciated these lessons more like you. There is so much to be learnt from what was about a certain place – we can understand a place so much more. I actually have never heard of that book you mentioned. Have to check it out some day.
What you know about Australia is really Australia. Ah, Miranda Kerr. To be perfectly honest I am not a huge fan of her, but you know, she is a very successful model and businesswoman and that I have to admire Thank you for supporting as always, Sony. You don’t know how much I appreciate each thoughtful, heartfelt comment from you.
Zee on 8 September 2016 at 3:44 AM said:
This was such an insightful yet very lightly written post. That draws in the reader without feeling too heavy or boring which some other authors fail to do so. But you managed to make this interesting, funny and as I said before very insightful. Plus the pictures were so pleasing to the eye. I’m guilty of admitting that I didn’t know much about Australia except the mainstream stuff and very basic stereotypes but your article was an eye opener and very informative. I love your writing style Mabel. You nailed this post !
Mabel Kwong on 8 September 2016 at 8:26 PM said:
Thank you so much, Zee. I didn’t know it was funny. I like to be funny, and am humbled to receive your comment. There is always so much to discover about Australia. Maybe one day you will come here and I can show you around
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Zee on 9 September 2016 at 10:41 PM said:
Oh yes ! That would be the best day ever. Maybe some day
Mabel Kwong on 10 September 2016 at 8:56 PM said:
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Amy on 8 September 2016 at 9:43 PM said:
I know very little about Australia. It wonderful to read about it via your blog since you have lived there for a while. I learned about the history from PBS, part of it was not pleasant to watch. I have heard that there are many Asians in Australia.
Mabel Kwong on 8 September 2016 at 9:59 PM said:
You are correct, Amy. There are a lot of Asians living in the cities in Australia. It is great and they come from all over the world, adding to the diversity here. To be honest, I think Asian-cuisine restaurants outnumber Western food ones in the city
Aquileana on 14 September 2016 at 2:43 AM said:
“Stereotypes can be an asset when it comes to tourism and branding a country to the rest of the world. Marketing itself on stereotypes, a country can be more attractive to visit if these stereotypes strike a chord.”.. that is such a well penned and accurate statement… I believe that tourists feeds marketing and not viceversa… at least, that might happen many times… Otherwise, It could be difficult to explain why people visit certain countries… Nowadays social media is an important tool to fed back voices which encourage stereotypes … and if those ones are positive: clink: gain!
Mabel Kwong on 14 September 2016 at 10:01 PM said:
That is so true that social media is an important tool for marketing a country and its tourism industry. There is room to talk about both stereotypes and non-stereotypes on social media…the discussion can be endless I hope to visit your country Argentina one day. Not many people I know have visited it, so there is a sense of mystery about it. Maybe if I do visit, we can say hello
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Aquileana on 15 September 2016 at 1:13 PM said:
Well pointed out!…. I´d like to meet you and hang out with you, for sure!… just let me know Love & All my best wisher! Aquileana
Mabel Kwong on 15 September 2016 at 8:26 PM said:
Who knows, maybe we will meet one day. Lots of love to you
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amommasview on 14 September 2016 at 12:46 PM said:
Well said!
Mabel Kwong on 14 September 2016 at 10:02 PM said:
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winnymarlina on 14 September 2016 at 5:40 PM said:
thanks for your review and make me wonder how is living there
Mabel Kwong on 14 September 2016 at 10:11 PM said:
Thank you, Winny. Appreciate your kind words.
pzerzan on 16 September 2016 at 9:49 AM said:
Thanks for giving some insight into Australia. I hope you don’t hold it against me most of my stereotypes of Australia came from The Simpsons-
I watched that episode at a very young age and it left an impression on me. Also, this-
Mabel Kwong on 16 September 2016 at 9:48 PM said:
I LOVE these Simpson Australia references. The first one is actually…quite accurate about Australia and Australians to an extent. As for the second one, yes, spoons still do exist in Australia…
gageier on 21 September 2016 at 10:24 PM said:
Liebe Mabel danke für deine lieben Worte hab einen schönen sonnigen Tag und sei ganz lieb gegrüßt Klaus in Freundschaft
Mabel Kwong on 22 September 2016 at 8:35 PM said:
Thank you, Klaus. You too have a good day and enjoy the weekend. Best wishes.
Sofia on 7 October 2016 at 7:41 PM said:
Hahahaha I love this! Being Australian (ok I know I’m multicultured but Australian is a huge part of me) living in Europe, I get people making me these statements all the time. My favourites recurring ones are:
But Australia is just a small island. (Small???? Scratch our heads… lol lol)
Have you ever seen a kangaroo or a koala? Do they really exist?
Do kangaroos walk all around the cities like stray dogs might?
Australia is soooo dangerous! I couldn’t be there! There are sharks and deadly snakes everywhere!!!
LOL!
And ofcourse everyone thinks the capital city is Sydney!
xxx
Mabel Kwong on 7 October 2016 at 11:41 PM said:
Certainly Australia is not a small country – pretty obvious if you look at the map, lol. Well, there are stuffed kangaroos and koalas everywhere in the city in Melbourne
It is soooooo true that so many people think Sydney is the capital city of Australia! Of course not. It is Canberra. Mention Canberra to a non-Australian and chances are they will look at you dumbfounded.
Sofia on 8 October 2016 at 12:27 AM said:
Then again, I have had an Australian once ask me if Spain has roads, schools and hospitals… uuuggghhhh! If I were to be really ironic and nasty, I would have said; actually they did way before Australia did
Mabel Kwong on 9 October 2016 at 12:31 AM said:
Lol at the misconception that Spain is a bit of backwards country. And there is more to Spain than just paella
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Marko on 18 October 2016 at 4:40 AM said:
Cześć Mabel!
Życzę Ci udanego tygodnia.
Mabel Kwong on 18 October 2016 at 7:37 PM said:
Thank you, Marko. I hope you have a good week!
smilingtoad on 18 November 2016 at 8:12 AM said:
Very interesting post! When I think of Australia, I think of the ever-intriguing Tasmania (an obsession since childhood), of perfect surf riddled with gorgeous and sometimes rather bitey sharks, and the great barrier reef. The Bush makes me think of a long expanse of dusty, dirt-red roads, lizards and hot, hot sun. I love learning more about the real Aussie here on your blog. Excellent post. All the best,
Mabel Kwong on 18 November 2016 at 11:01 PM said:
Thanks, Smiling Toad. I’ve yet to visit Tasmania, but I’ve heard of it just as you described. It has gorgeous views of the sea and also bush and leafy trees abound. But it is also the part of Australia that is the coldest, all year round. I like writing about Australia. There is so much to learn about it and thank you for the kind words and for stopping by.
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nomadwrites on 22 January 2017 at 1:12 AM said:
Loved this one too Thanks for sharing
Mabel Kwong on 23 January 2017 at 9:19 PM said:
Thank you so much
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Christy B on 4 August 2017 at 6:03 AM said:
My dad has told me stories about his time living in Australia. From the heat to the great food and the big creatures that can crawl on you, it certainly sounds like an adventure there. It’s true there’s many misconceptions about Australia and you did well at sorting them out in this post, Mabel! Up here in Canada, we’re often told that we’re in igloos but, of course, it’s not true
Mabel Kwong on 5 August 2017 at 8:59 PM said:
Australia is certainly an adventure…depending on where you go. It’s very different in the metropolitan areas compared to the suburbs and then there’s the rural and outback parts. So much to explore. I heard in Canada that it is quite cool most of the year, but never heard of igloos there before
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Tasmin lost her partner, and later her youngest daughter in tragic circumstances. Here she talks about grief, addiction and moving forwards.
Tasmin lost her partner, and later her youngest daughter in tragic circumstances. Here she talks about grief, addiction and moving forwards.
I was brought up in a reasonably happy home, but my dad left when I was younger and that had an impact in terms of my emotional being. I had abandonment issues, self-esteem and self-worth issues, especially regarding men. It distorted the relationship between my mam and dad and that was the foundation in terms of my relationships with people in the future.
I was reasonably good at school – I went to private school actually, I got a scholarship. I‘ve got a pretty high IQ, apparently and I’ve got two degrees.
At the age of twelve I started to use alcohol as a form of social lubrication.
It used to help me with men… dealing with relationships, and again how I expressed earlier about the relationship with my dad.
I’m 39 now, but I used to be very attractive as a younger woman, but I didn’t know my self-worth. It’s not just about the outward, it’s about how you feel inside. I felt so lost, I felt so alone, so misunderstood, a teenager with these hormones and I started to hang-out with these older people – criminals. Got myself in a lot of trouble really.
I managed to get myself some GCSEs, then I left home at 16. I went to live in Cornwall, bummed around for about a year with a bunch of surfers and smoked a lot of weed. Then my dad said, ‘Don’t you think you should start going to college?’ and stuff like this, so I said, ‘Alright then’ and moved to London. I was 17, I went to college in Berkshire and I got a few A levels and that…
Then I met a man, a Scouse fella, funny, funny he was – he never drank really. I was with him for three year, we lived together. I just remember I got a phone call one day, he was working away and he’d died.
He died on me, I was engaged to him. It killed me, it did.
I was in and out of bars then, for about five/six year in Soho and did some pretty horrific things to myself. I did a lot of drugs. I did a lot of everything really. I was just completely lost again and that feeling of abandonment with my dad kind of manifested in the fact that he’d left me, you know and it was out of my control and I couldn’t do anything about it. So, I drank mostly, it was always the drink with me, possibly because it was more accessible.
I’ve never been very good at facing pain, I don’t think any of us are really as human beings, but for me especially as an alcoholic—now I can recognise I’m an alcoholic—because I’m super-sensitive. A lot of us addicts are, that’s why we turn to self-harm in terms of drugs, drink, any addiction really…
Death happens to everyone in life, but I, even now today I struggle with it, hugely. I loved him, I did love him you know. I remember I came off the bus, I was in Uxbridge in Middlesex and I’ve got a pretty bad memory really, but I remember that day. It was a cold January and he looked a bit like James Dean, he had his collar up, he had a long winter jacket on and I saw him across the street and honestly, I can tell you, I said to myself, ‘I’m going to marry you,’ and I don’t romanticise things, but I did feel that. You know, I did truly love him, we had that connection.
Anyway, time went on. I’ve always worked, I was a manager … I was catering in terms of the financial, but the emotional and spiritual side was just dead really. I was just existing, and I have done for many, many years really.
Then I had an experience in London where I was attacked when I was intoxicated. So, I said to myself, right this is it, I’m moving back to Newcastle. And then I met my ex-partner, who was from Yorkshire and of course I went straight into that – he was Mr Safe, Mr Secure and that’s what I thought I needed. So, I moved in with him as you do! We don’t do anything by halves us alcoholics!
I moved to Yorkshire, went back to university, got a degree in midwifery and then I was a midwife.
I had my first child and I still drank, but I kept it under wraps.
I was a typical working-class person, from the outside you’d look at us, two cars on the drive, brand new house, he’s an engineer, but it wasn’t… There was a lot of domestic abuse from his part, he’s six foot, five and I’m a little lass, but I’ll tell you something, I could kill with my tongue … it was very toxic the relationship, but I still functioned, I still got on with life. I was a mother, but I wasn’t really a mother, my purpose in life was just to get from one day to the next without feeling anything. I did feel something obviously, but I just used to mask it with the alcohol.
I drank at work, I had it in my bag, I drank at night, drink drove, just drank basically.
Then I became pregnant again. We went through the full pregnancy with not knowing that she was going to be severely disabled. I never drank in my pregnancies, because alcohol for me was more of a self-harm.
I gave birth to her and she had pfeiffer syndrome.
It’s a German doctor that diagnosed it in the sixties. It’s extremely rare. There’s not many of them in the world. It’s a mutation a of a gene, it could happen to anybody – it wasn’t anything I had done.
She looked visibly very unusual, which frightened me if I’m honest with you. I know it sounds shallow, but aesthetically my family have always looked very presentable and in this kind of world to have a child that was very unusual was a hard pill for me to swallow.
I’d had no preparation, I mean, how do you have preparation for that?
But anyway, on that particular day, he left me. He got up and walked out the hospital. He said: ‘I can’t deal with this. I can’t have a disabled child.’ I de-catheterised myself and I walked out of the hospital. My daughter was in intensive care and my other daughter was with his mam and I sat in my room and drank for two days.
Then he phoned social services because he wanted to get her adopted, she was only about four or five days old at the time. The social worker came, but she knew that I didn’t want her to be adopted.
She said, ‘Please can I speak to you on your own, Tanya?’
And I said, ‘Yes,’ and she went, ‘You know, you don’t have to do this.’
So that day in January I walked all the way from my house to the hospital – it was a really bad winter in Yorkshire and the snow was too thick I couldn’t use my car.
I picked my daughter up for the first time and I never left her – not for two and a half years, until she died…
God, I went through hell with her, she had nearly 30 operations. She had tracheostomy, she was PEG fed, she had a nasopharyngeal airway, she had a mal-rotated bowel, she had her skull took off three times…
I lived in Alder Hay in Liverpool for a year and half with her and her sister Charlotte, in the Ronald McDonald House and I’m ashamed to say I still drank. It was the only comfort I could find.
My family couldn’t help with my daughter because she was on the neurology ward at Alder Hay Children’s Hospital. She died quite a few times as well. She was in intensive care, I don’t know how many times…
I’m very much a realist me. I don’t have a god, I don’t have anything really. I even used to get down on my knees and say why give all of these things to me? You know? I lost my partner who was the love of my life and then having a child with disabilities is another form of grief.
She lived and she fought, and my god did she fight. She fought so much… strongest person I know, that lass.
She was such a beautiful child.
I never heard her say mam, and you know the sad thing about it – with her disabilities, neurologically her brain was sound, so she was just like me and you. In fact, I can honestly say she was more advanced than her sister. So that made it equally hard, because she was so self-aware of what was happening to her and I felt helpless, I felt out of control and just there for the ride, you know…
On Sunday 19th July 2015 I made me mam, me step-dad and Charlotte a Sunday lunch, and Evie, she was fab, she was the best I’d ever seen her… The next day I got up, I went down stairs and I didn’t look in her cot… Evie was in the cot next to me with her machines and everything. I don’t know why I didn’t look that morning, I just didn’t.
I went downstairs for a cigarette, at the backdoor. I think I was down there for about half an hour, then I came back up and she’d died. She was dead. She was grey.
I started screaming and then Charlotte started screaming and she was saying, ‘Not my Evie, not my Evie…’ Because Charlotte was like her mam as well, she was so protective.
I rang 999, the ambulance came, tried to do CPR and that but it didn’t… she had sepsis and she’d just given up. I think her little body had just took so much, but do you know what right? We all have our parts to play in this world and she had such an impact on so many people, everybody that she met, she was so charismatic, never cried, she was such a happy child. She walked through life so broken physically, but my god she was such an enlightened human being.
After that I drank, like really bad. I tried to work, I tried to do community nursing. I was drinking in my car… Eventually after about a year of struggling with my mortgage and Charlotte and trying, I just had a break-down basically.
I had to give Charlotte to her dad.
And then I lost my mortgage, lost my car, got done for drink driving. I’d never had a conviction in my life, lost my job, lost everything.
Finally, just before Christmas I found myself homeless, drinking, lost. I hadn’t had my daughter for seven months, I’d been in rehab and obviously lost my Evie two years before that. I was completely disconnected, suicidal, mentally drained, beaten and financially crippled. I lost my job, my house, I lost everything. My relationship with the person I was with had broken down as well. I was very alone.
I came to P3 with two bags—bin liners—containing all my worldly goods.
I was so frightened, the concept of living on the streets… I’ve been to university, I’ve always had a job, a house, I’ve always had a car and I lost everything through circumstance… This kind of life changing stuff could happen to anybody really… I had to roll with the punches really, shit happens…
I was actually pregnant at the time, I’d only found that out the week before, but subsequently I had a miscarriage, but I was pregnant. It is what it is…
P3 were my guardian angels.
It was a Friday and they were able to give me resources financially to accommodate me in a hotel for three days: Friday Saturday and Sunday, until I could get temporary accommodation on the Monday. They also gave me a food parcel, because I didn’t have any money, not a penny.
Next, I managed to get temporary accommodation and P3 continued to call me to make sure I was OK, the support was always there.
Now I’ve managed to source a really lovely flat, I’m going to AA and I’ve got clean and sober friends. I’m going out, doing wonderful things and life’s really good.
I’ve started to live with the pain without a substance to diffuse it. We’re only here once in this world and I don’t want to live my life diffused, keeping everything at a distance. It’s when you start to face the pain right in the mirror and you say: ‘do you know what, I’ve been through that, but that ain’t gonna kill me today.’ – It’s when you start to push things down it’s not healthy really, you drink on that or you’ll take drugs on that.
I’m on the right path now and I think I’m on the right path to get my other daughter back in my life, it’s huge because I feel doubly bereft if you like, because I lost Evie when she was two and a half and I feel like I’ve also lost Charlotte. I have to remind myself daily she’s still alive and she wants and needs her mam. She’s been through so much, so as she goes through life, I am going to be there for her.
She’s my best friend, Charlotte. We’ve been through such an extraordinary experience me and her, with her sister, that from a mother and daughter point of view we’d experienced a lifetime together, in just a few years. I’m very grateful for that actually. Evie gave me that.
… Charlotte sent me a birthday card a couple of weeks ago. She’s only seven and her dad is very dubious about me coming back into her life, which is understandable, because of my mental health issues, my grief and whatnot…
Hopefully in the next few months, I’ll be able to start to reconnect and get that relationship back. I want to do that properly and that’s why I’ve deliberately not pushed … because I want to get myself better and because as an addict if you’re not well, nobody else is going to be well around you.
I need to get myself well so I can be the bestest mam I can be to my daughter and that’s what I’m doing now…
My recovery is the most important thing to me … because if I don’t have my recovery I don’t have my daughter, I don’t have my mam, I don’t have my dad, I don’t have anything.
I miss my daughter Charlotte so much, she’s the most important person in this world, apart from Evie … she is my higher power, I believe that she came into my life to save me and who knows, maybe someone might hear my story and think, I recognise that … Life has a domino effect, you don’t realise what impact you have on other people … but it’s still a bitter pill. I struggle with my emotions daily and I still talk to my Evie every morning and every night.
I was so lost … I’m just one person that’s gone through a lot of shit, but so are a lot of other people, we’re all just works in progress …
This is real life, addiction, it kills people, every single minute of the day it kills people, all around the world. It doesn’t discriminate, addiction, it can happen to anybody. If hadn’t of been for P3 I really do not know where I would have ended up, anything could have happened to me on the streets …
It’s just I’ve always worked, I’ve always had a job. I felt so ashamed that this had happened to me. I didn’t want to phone my mam, I didn’t want to phone my dad. I couldn’t go there. I felt so ashamed that I had gone down this road of self-destruction. The only people that were there for me at my lowest ebb, at my rock bottom were P3.
CLICK HERE to read more #ChangeTheConversation real life stories.
*Names changed to preserve anonymity. Tasmin was supported by P3's Wolverhampton Homelessness Service.
Eagle House, Cotmanhay Road,
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Update: Since this article was published two days ago, the GoFundMe total has risen from $1.8 to more than $3 million.
The Navajo Nation and Hopi Reservation in the southwestern U.S. have been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak. With a third of the population having no running water, proper virus-avoiding hygiene is nearly impossible. Access to groceries is limited, and the community has a high number of elderly and individuals with health conditions that put them at higher risk of complications from the virus.
A GoFundMe fundraiser was organized on behalf of the Rural Utah Project Education Fund to raise money for groceries, water, health supplies, and other necessary items in these Native communities. And this week, they have received a huge influx of donations from a seemingly unlikely source—Ireland.
If you're wondering what would prompt people on an island across the Atlantic to send money to a specific community in the U.S., the answer is simple. Gratitude.
In 1847, Native American tribes were struggling to get established after being forced to relocate from their homelands during the cruel and shameful Trail of Tears. The tribes had suffered greatly and had very little. But when the Choctaw nation heard about the suffering of the Irish people during the potato famine, they pulled together a donation of $170—around $5000 in today's dollars—to send to Ireland.
That collective act of sacrificial generosity was not forgotten. And now people in Ireland are repaying that gift many times over in a beautiful expression of historic human connectedness.
In 1847 the Choctaw Nation - themselves victims of huge suffering - decided to gather what funds they could and sen… https://t.co/ay68EC8DHR
The GoFundMe currently sits at more than $1.8 million of a $2 million goal, thanks in no small part to a flood of donations from Ireland. And as the donations of $10, $20, $30 keep rolling in, Irish people are leaving lovely messages of gratitude, solidarity, and hope along with them:
"Ireland remembers the Navajo kindness in her hour of need."
"In remembrance of the kindness shown to my country by your fellow native Americans, the Choctaw people, during a time of dire need. Gach rath oraibh uilig." [Translation: "Best of luck to you all."]
"I donated because when you had nothing, you gave something to help Ireland."
"Yá'át'ééh from Ireland. The Native American donation all those years ago was never forgotten. There have been songs written about your generosity. I am glad to be able to return the favour in some small part. Ahóá!"
Vanessa Tulley, one of the fundraiser organizers, acknowledged the outpouring of love and money coming from Ireland in an update:
"Several of our recent donations for our GoFundMe campaign have been inspired by the Great Hunger Famine in Ireland which started in 1845.
During this difficult time, in 1847, the Choctaw Nation provided $170 of relief aid to the Irish to help them (today that is the equivalent of $5,000). Not long before the Great Hunger Famine in Ireland, 60,000 Native Americans, including the Choctaw people, had suffered through the experience of the Trail of Tears. The death of many people on the Trail of Tears sparked empathy for the Irish people in their time of need. Thus, the Choctaw extended $170 of relief aid.
173 years later to today, the favor is returned through generous donations from the Irish people to the Navajo Nation during our time of crisis. A message from Irish donor, Pat Hayes, sent from Ireland across the ocean: "From Ireland, 170 years later, the favour is returned! To our Native American brothers and sisters in your moment of hardship."
The heartache is real. We have lost so many of our sacred Navajo elders and youth to COVID-19. It is truly devastating. And a dark time in history for our Nation. In moments like these, we are so grateful for the love and support we have received from all around the world. Acts of kindness from indigenous ancestors passed being reciprocated nearly 200 years later through blood memory and interconnectedness.Thank you, IRELAND, for showing solidarity and being here for us."
Absolutely beautiful. Humanity wins the day once again.
If you'd like to donate to help the Navajo Nation and Hopi Reservation in their COVID-19 fight, you can find the GoFundMe here.
Correction: This post has been updated to clarify that the 1847 donation came from the Choctaw Nation during the Trail of Tears. The Navajo tribe were forcibly relocated from their lands during "The Long Walk" of 1864.
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U.S. Soccer star expertly handles an Iranian reporter’s loaded questions about race.
Tyler Adams’s response proves exactly why he’s the captain of the US soccer team.
Photo by Prapoth Panchuea on Unsplash
Tyler Adams expertly handles Iranian reporter's question
Reporters are supposed to ask the right questions to get to the truth but sometimes it seems sports reporters ask questions to throw you off your game. There's no doubt that this Iranian reporter who was questioning Tyler Adams, the US soccer team captain at the press conference during the World Cup had an agenda that didn't involve getting to the truth.
It's not clear if the questions were designed to throw the young player off of his game or if the goal was embarrassment. It really is hard to tell, but Adams handled the unexpectedly harsh encounter with intelligence and poise when some may have found it justified for him to get angry.
The World Cup is being played in Qatar and Iran's soccer team is in attendance. There have been reports that the Iranian players were threatened with their family members facing "violence and torture" after the team refused to sing the Iranian national anthem. But there was tension with the Iranian government and the American players after the US soccer team displayed the Iranian flag without the Iranian Republic emblem.
Maybe the flag mishap spurred the reporters loaded questions. When the Iranian reporter first addresses Adams, he immediately chastises him for not knowing the correct pronunciation of Iran before moving on to an interesting question choice.
The reporter asked Adams, "are you ok to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against Black people in its own boarders and you saw the Black Lives Matter Movement over the past few years. Are you OK the US meanwhile there's so much discrimination happening against Black people in America"
Adams, did not get defensive about the correction but responded by apologizing about mispronouncing the name of the country. The player's response to the rest of the question proves the young captain's emotional maturity and why he's captain of the US soccer team.
Watch his entire response below:
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George Harrison wasn't just a great musician, he was hilarious.
This article originally appeared on 12.01.21
Beatle George Harrison was pigeon-holed as the "Quiet Beatle," but the youngest member of the Fab Four had an acerbic, dry sense of humor that was as sharp as the rest of his bandmates.
He gave great performances in the musical comedy classics, "A Hard Days Night" and "Help!" while holding his own during The Beatles' notoriously anarchic press conferences. After he left the band in 1970, in addition to his musical career, he would produce the 1979 Monty Python classic, "The Life of Brian."
Harrison clearly didn't lose his sense of humor for the rest of his life. Shortly before his death in 2001, he played an elaborate prank on Phil Collins that shows how the "Here Comes the Sun" singer would go the extra mile for a laugh.
In 1970, Harrison was recording his first solo record and arguably the best by a Beatle, "All things Must Pass." The session for the song, "The Art of Dying" featured former Beatle Ringo Starr on drums, keyboard legend Billy Preston on keys, virtuoso Eric Clapton on guitar, and was produced by the notorious Phil Spector.
Harrison wanted a conga player for the session, so Ringo's chauffeur reached out to Phil Collins' manager. At the time, Collins was a relative unknown who was about to join Genesis, a band that would bring him worldwide stardom.
The 18-year-old Collins was starstruck playing on a session with two former Beatles, so he played extra hard in rehearsals, resulting in blood blisters on both hands.
"Anyway, after about two hours of this, Phil Spector says, 'Okay congas, you play this time.' And I'd had my mic off, so everybody laughed, but my hands were shot," Collins told Express.
"And just after that they all disappeared – someone said they were watching TV or something – and I was told I could go," after that, Collins was relieved of his duties and told to go home. A few months later, Collins bought the massive triple album in the record shop and was devastated to learn he'd been edited out of the song.
"There must be some mistake! Collins thought. "But it's a different version of the song, and I'm not on it."
Some thirty years later, Collins bought the home of Formula One driver Jackie Stewart, a close friend of Harrison. Stewart mentioned to Collins that Harrison was remixing "All Things Must Pass" for a rerelease.
"And he said, 'You were on it, weren't you?' And I said, 'Well I was there,"' Collins recalled.
george harrison animated album cover GIF by uDiscoverMusicGiphy
Two days later, a tape was delivered from Harrison to Collins with a note that read: "Could this be you?" Collins continued: "I rush off and listen to it, and straight away I recognize it." It was a recording of "The Art of Dying."
"Suddenly the congas come in – too loud and just awful," Collins was devastated, then as the end of the take, Harrison can be heard saying, "Hey, Phil, can we try another without the conga player?"
Collins was devastated, to say the least.
A while later, Stewart calls Collins and puts Harrison on the line. "'Did you get the tape?' Harrison asked. "I now realize I was fired by a Beatle," Collins sighed. The two changed the subject, but a few minutes later, Harrison couldn't stop laughing.
"Don't worry, it was a piss-take. I got Ray Cooper to play really badly and we dubbed it on," Harrison admitted. "Thought you'd like it!" So, Harrison had an entire recording session with a conga player who he asked to play poorly, just to pull one over on Collins.
If you're in the mood for another of rock's greatest pranks. The story of "The Ring" told by Beastie Boys' Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz shared in "Beastie Boys Story" is another great example of someone going to incredible lengths just for a laugh.
The story revolves around the late Beasties' rapper Adam "MCA" Yach, his bandmate Horovitz, and a very creepy ring given to him by a fan backstage at a concert.
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Teen raises $186,000 to help 81-year-old Walmart worker pay off her mortgage and retire
'Life shouldn't be this hard.'
Photo by Jeremy Wong on Unsplash
Teen raises $186,000 to help Walmart worker retire.
In America, many people have to work well past the age of retirement to make ends meet. While some of these people choose to work past retirement age because it keeps them active, some older people, like Nola Carpenter, 81, work out of necessity.
Carpenter has been working at Walmart for 20 years, way beyond most people's retirement age just so that she can afford to continue to pay her mortgage. When 19-year-old Devan Bonagura saw the woman looking tired in the break room of the store, he posted a video to his TikTok of Carpenter with a text overlay that said, "Life shouldn't b this hard..." complete with a sad face emoji.
In the video, Carpenter is sitting at a small table looking down and appearing to be exhausted. The caption of the video reads ":/ I feel bad." Turns out, a lot of other people did too, and encouraged the teen to start a GoFundMe, which has since completed.
The retirement age in the United States in order to collect Social Security benefits is 66, or 67 if you were born in or after 1960. But early retirement starts at 62 for reduced benefits. How many years you worked is a deciding factor in how much financial benefit you will receive from Social Security, with the average amount expected to be $1,827 a month in January 2023.
While that amount of money is nothing to scoff at, it's also not enough to live off of alone, especially for those who fall below the average amount. You also have to factor in Medicare premiums and tax withholdings that must come out of that figure. So it's no wonder that people over the age of 67 have to continue to work if they don't have adequate savings put away to retire on. The cost of living increases impact all age groups, including the elderly.
Thankfully for this elderly Walmart worker, the GoFundMe quickly exploded and raised $110,000 in just 24 hours. But when Bonagura went to give the money to Carpenter, she was grateful for the help but explained she would still need to work until the other $60,000 of her mortgage was paid off. This prompted users to give more to secure Carpenter's retirement.
In the end, the GoFundMe raised $186,000, which was enough to pay off the mortgage on the woman's house. Retirement is now on the horizon for the grandmother, who says she's set to retire on the first of the year. She wants to make sure she helps her co-workers get through the holiday season before hanging up her vest for good.
As for Bonagura, he's currently suspended with pay due to him filming at the store and posting it to TikTok. While he wasn't an employee of Walmart, he worked for a cellphone carrier that operated sales inside the store. Nevertheless, Bonagura feels he did the right thing and is focused solely on making sure Carpenter gets to retire.
It's amazing what people can accomplish when they work together. Happy retirement, Nola! Here's to hoping you enjoy every minute of it.
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10 ways kids appear to be acting naughty but actually aren't.
Many of kids' so-called 'bad' behaviors are actually normal developmental acts of growing up.
This article originally appeared on 07.19.17
When we recognize kids' unwelcome behaviors as reactions to environmental conditions, developmental phases, or our own actions, we can respond proactively, and with compassion.
Here are 10 ways kids may seem like they're acting "naughty" but really aren't. And what parents can do to help.
1. They can't control their impulses.
Ever say to your kid, "Don't throw that!" and they throw it anyway?
Research suggests the brain regions involved in self-control are immature at birth and don't fully mature until the end of adolescence, which explains why developing self-control is a "long, slow process."
A recent survey revealed many parents assume children can do things at earlier ages than child-development experts know to be true. For example, 56% of parents felt that children under the age of 3 should be able to resist the desire to do something forbidden whereas most children don't master this skill until age 3 and a half or 4.
What parents can do: Reminding ourselves that kids can't always manage impulses (because their brains aren't fully developed) can inspire gentler reactions to their behavior.
2. They experience overstimulation.
We take our kids to Target, the park, and their sister's play in a single morning and inevitably see meltdowns, hyperactivity, or outright resistance. Jam-packed schedules, overstimulation, and exhaustion are hallmarks of modern family life.
Research suggests that 28% of Americans "always feel rushed" and 45% report having "no excess time." Kim John Payne, author of "Simplicity Parenting," argues that children experience a "cumulative stress reaction" from too much enrichment, activity, choice, and toys. He asserts that kids need tons of "down time" to balance their "up time."
What parents can do: When we build in plenty of quiet time, playtime, and rest time, children's behavior often improves dramatically.
3. Kids' physical needs affect their mood.
Ever been "hangry" or completely out of patience because you didn't get enough sleep? Little kids are affected tenfold by such "core conditions" of being tired, hungry, thirsty, over-sugared, or sick.
Kids' ability to manage emotions and behavior is greatly diminished when they're tired. Many parents also notice a sharp change in children's behavior about an hour before meals, if they woke up in the night, or if they are coming down with an illness.
What parents can do: Kids can't always communicate or "help themselves" to a snack, a Tylenol, water, or a nap like adults can. Help them through routines and prep for when that schedule might get thrown off.
4. They can't tame their expression of big feelings.
As adults, we've been taught to tame and hide our big emotions, often by stuffing them, displacing them, or distracting from them. Kids can't do that yet.
What parents can do: Early-childhood educator Janet Lansbury has a great phrase for when kids display powerful feelings such as screaming, yelling, or crying. She suggests that parents "let feelings be" by not reacting or punishing kids when they express powerful emotions. (Psst: "Jane the Virgin" actor Justin Baldoni has some tips on parenting through his daughter's grocery store meltdown.)
5. Kids have a developmental need for tons of movement.
"Sit still!" "Stop chasing your brother around the table!" "Stop sword fighting with those pieces of cardboard!" "Stop jumping off the couch!"
Kids have a developmental need for tons of movement. The need to spend time outside, ride bikes and scooters, do rough-and-tumble play, crawl under things, swing from things, jump off things, and race around things.
What parents can do: Instead of calling a child "bad" when they're acting energetic, it may be better to organize a quick trip to the playground or a stroll around the block.
6. They're defiant.
Every 40- and 50-degree day resulted in an argument at one family's home. A first-grader insisted that it was warm enough to wear shorts while mom said the temperature called for pants. Erik Erikson's model posits that toddlers try to do things for themselves and that preschoolers take initiative and carry out their own plans.
What parents can do: Even though it's annoying when a child picks your tomatoes while they're still green, cuts their own hair, or makes a fort with eight freshly-washed sheets, they're doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing — trying to carry out their own plans, make their own decisions, and become their own little independent people. Understanding this and letting them try is key.
7. Sometimes even their best traits can trip them up.
It happens to all of us — our biggest strengths often reflect our weaknesses. Maybe we're incredibly focused, but can't transition very easily. Maybe we're intuitive and sensitive but take on other people's negative moods like a sponge.
Kids are similar: They may be driven in school but have difficulty coping when they mess up (e.g., yelling when they make a mistake). They may be cautious and safe but resistant to new activities (e.g., refusing to go to baseball practice). They may live in the moment but aren't that organized (e.g., letting their bedroom floor become covered with toys).
What parents can do: Recognizing when a child's unwelcome behaviors are really the flip side of their strengths — just like ours — can help us react with more understanding.
8. Kids have a fierce need for play.
Your kid paints her face with yogurt, wants you to chase her and "catch her" when you're trying to brush her teeth, or puts on daddy's shoes instead of her own when you're racing out the door. Some of kids' seemingly "bad" behaviors are what John Gottman calls "bids" for you to play with them.
Kids love to be silly and goofy. They delight in the connection that comes from shared laughter and love the elements of novelty, surprise, and excitement.
What parents can do: Play often takes extra time and therefore gets in the way of parents' own timelines and agendas, which may look like resistance and naughtiness even when it's not. When parents build lots of playtime into the day, kids don't need to beg for it so hard when you're trying to get them out the door.
9. They are hyperaware and react to parents' moods.
Multiple research studies on emotional contagion have found that it only takes milliseconds for emotions like enthusiasm and joy, as well as sadness, fear, and anger, to pass from person to person, and this often occurs without either person realizing it. Kids especially pick up on their parents' moods. If we are stressed, distracted, down, or always on the verge of frustrated, kids emulate these moods. When we are peaceful and grounded, kids model off that instead.
What parents can do: Check in with yourself before getting frustrated with your child for feeling what they're feeling. Their behavior could be modeled after your own tone and emotion.
10. They struggle to respond to inconsistent limits.
At one baseball game, you buy your kid M&Ms. At the next, you say, "No, it'll ruin your dinner," and your kid screams and whines. One night you read your kids five books, but the next you insist you only have time to read one, and they beg for more. One night you ask your child, "What do you want for dinner?" and the next night you say, "We're having lasagna, you can't have anything different," and your kids protest the incongruence.
When parents are inconsistent with limits, it naturally sets off kids' frustration and invites whining, crying, or yelling.
What parents can do: Just like adults, kids want (and need) to know what to expect. Any effort toward being 100% consistent with boundaries, limits, and routines will seriously improve children's behavior.
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Photography is so much more lucrative as a career. It is fashionable for young people and the rate of becoming a successful photographer is getting more and more with the pace of its commercial demand, especially in this modern digital business era.
Becoming a photographer will challenge you to go through some steps. Some of them are tiresome and boring, but if you can win over all the challenges, you must be a successful and professional shutterbug.
To provide you with a proper guidelines on how to become a professional photographer, we have made a step-by-step process book. If you follow the steps, you will succeed as a photographer.
To become something or somebody significant, you have to pay full attention to that particular area. You should dream to be that and have to follow some steps, tricks, and tips. Don’t scatter your attention and go to do many things at one time. If you want to become a successful photographer, keep focusing on only photography. A solid focus on a particular subject will help you go through any touch situation during having skills.
Defining your focus, try to get skills. You may go to college to learn about photography, but what is more important for photography is to experiment as much as possible. If you stick to photography-related activities, you will get knowledge more or less. When you will do experiments, your skills will grow up and you will be experienced. There is nothing wrong and perfect in photography. Nobody knows which photograph will catch the audience and make the photographer famous. So, increase your every possible skill and for that, study a lot about photography by yourself.
Study on camera, other tools, and tips for taking photos
To be a well capable photographer, you have to avoid fumbling during taking photos in a photo session. For that, you should study hard different books, web articles, magazines, follow some photographers and their styles. Know your camera settings well and research photography technologies to have an overall idea. Try to get photography tips, tricks, and hacks that will make you enough experience to do well as a photographer in a high-cost photography session. Gather knowledge as much as you can to manage any inevitable situation.
Get knowledge of photo editing
To be successful as a photographer, it is necessary to know manual photo editing and retouching. And for that, you have to know Photoshop and Lightroom, using actions and presets, and many other pieces of stuff for photography post-processing. If you think it is a waste of time or it kills your time, you can take photo editing services from a well-established photo retouching company.
Get started and keep taking photos
Now you are almost ready. Coming in this stage, get a start and keep taking photographs whenever you get the time and get photography orders from clients. Don’t hesitate to get images and fear to shoot. Shake off all confusion and shyness. Work according to your target photography niche. While taking photos, it is sure you will do many mistakes and don’t indulge in it.
Learn from mistakes
It is significant to learn from mistakes. Those who don’t learn from mistakes cannot go far. Evaluate your experience and merge experience with skills to achieve a better result. Don’t fear your mistakes, rather welcome them. Keep in mind, perfection comes from imperfection. Never think to give up. Do all possible things that stimulate your eagerness.
Every professional photographer should have a rich and well-decorated photography portfolio. To draw the attention of unknown clients, you need to showcase your images categorizing them in various photography types. People want to see photos before hiring a photographer. By the way, if you feel the necessity of a fashion model for product photography, you can hire famous models for business if you can afford, otherwise hire free amateur models from agencies and exchange something like image print copy.
If your mind is scattered, you will face problems choosing the perfect photography niche that matches your expertise. Don’t be hopeless, try multiple photography areas, and shoot as many photos as you can. Try sports, portrait, event photography, landscape, and some others, and finally select one that you like most and feel comfortable shooting with expertise. You can also select your photography niche considering profit. For the niche that brings more bucks, you can take that niche as your photography area.
Give priority to clients’ opinion
If you want to grow your photography business and earn money, at the beginning you should prior to your clients’ demands first. You may try to shoot creatively, but your clients may want pretty images that are perfect for print and sharing with digital media. When you are about to succeed and you have some regular clients, you can try to make them understand photography creativity. If they enjoy creativity, you can show your expertise to produce creative photos that go viral.
According to the type of photography, you have to keep some specific photography equipment. You need one or two appropriate cameras, tripods, lighting setup, some lenses, suitable bags, etc. What you need and what will be appropriate for you, you will get that idea day by day. Don’t go restless to buy costlier gear. Just keep practicing, while you will experience any problem related to photography tools, solve it. By the way, you should have a suitable computer and photo editing software for photography post-processing.
During purchasing photography gear, don’t rush out. Think first about what you need and why you need it. Try to save money while buying even. How? For the first time, you need not buy any costlier gear rather you can buy an older version of tools with less money. You can borrow or rent a camera and other stuff to get a forecast for your success. Once you are confirmed that you are doing well enough with your photography business, you can have suitable photography stuff at a high cost. The situation will say what you need. But again don’t go rush and at the beginning, try to save money as much as possible.
Feedbacks are wealth. You may get a negative or positive response. Handle negative feedback carefully and try to learn from criticism. Positive feedback will help you grow the branding and marketing of your photography business. After completing any successful photography session, if you feel that your clients are satisfied, you should ask for feedback. Most of the time, happy clients send positive feedback. Positive feedback shared on social media and your website testimonials will make you popular and renowned. So, share positive feedback about your business when you get an opportunity.
At the very beginning of your photography business, you can run your business using various social media photo showcases or showreels. But as your business is growing day by day, you should have owned a photography business website. Create a portfolio section to display your best photographs. Most often your potential big customers may ask you to see portfolios to get ideas about your photography skills and expertise. So to get more big clients and to take your photography business to the next level, you must have a portfolio website. However, if you don’t have a business website, you can also use free platforms to display your photographs. They will also serve your purpose.
Always keep in mind to start a photography business at the beginning level. It will help you to grow up with full expertise. It will help you to create employment opportunities and to earn more money. If you desire to create a photography business, try to create a team of photographers, lighting experts, photo editing panels, etc. You can advertise and network by yourself. Remember, the more publicity, the more business. Try to create photography hype, find a new trend, attend some photography events, familiar with the new photographer, etc. all these activities will accelerate your photography business creation motif ahead.
Advertise your business
Always keep in mind that the more positive publicity, the more customers, sales, and ultimately business profit. So, do every possible stuff to advertise your services. Take photographs regularly, share them on social media, and take the opportunity to advertise your photography business for free. But when you are almost successful and a well-known photographer with a considerable bank balance, try to take services of paid advertisement. Take paid digital media services like SEO and PPC for your business website. Try to sponsor various photography-related events and share banners, logos, posters, business cards, etc. whenever you get the opportunity. Every business requires advertisement whether it is free or paid.
Intern with a professional photographer
Working as an intern will always provide you with an opportunity to learn new things from expert photographers. You will achieve more skills and get shared experiences. As a beginner, the photography internship will push you to reach your target. So when you are a beginner, try to get a photography internship and work under some successful photographers.
Develop your people skills
If you desire to create any business, you should work hard to develop your people skills. To do that communicate with people from the same niche, go to photography events near you, read related books and magazines, etc. Try to enhance your presentation skills. You can learn to operate some software to create a business portfolio, presentation, and other kinds of stuff. People skills will help you to communicate with more people who are your potential customers. It will also push you forward to grow networking and business branding.
Setting a goal is essential for any success. If you are a beginner photographer, set a goal to achieve new skills and experiences. Set a flexible and actionable routine to reach your goal. When you already have set a photography business, goal setting is also necessary here to profit. Every business should have a next-level goal. It is also preconditioned to be successful in the photography business. Fragment your vision, set a mission, work according to that, and finally, you must reach your target.
Network with everyone
Networking is always beneficial. It is true for every business professional. Niche-based networking will grow familiarity with both you and your photography business. If you are a beginner, try to cover some events free of cost to show your skills, and creativity, and ultimately create a network. Get some nature photographs, animal photos, etc., and present them to the people whom you want to network with. They must show you a positive response. But if you are already a grown-up photographer and have a network, just maintain it and try to increase the area of your networking. All this stuff will result in a big margin.
Every professional should have a to-do list and set up a work schedule. Work accordingly and be careful whether you should miss any important work, meet up, events, conferences, etc. If you can maintain a daily work routine, it will help you to manage time and you can work appropriately as you desire. Try to get up as early as possible, set priority, and once you complete any job, pen through the line. It will amazingly provide you with wild satisfaction. At the end of your day, evaluate your work and productivity which will help you to measure every hour that is important to be a successful photographer, i. e. businessman.
Stay positive about new work opportunities
In terms of a photography session, business advertisement, learning new photography technologies, etc. stay away from false egotism. It will drag you down, rather try to motivate yourself and stay positive for every new work opportunity. Don’t avoid any opportunity even though they are tiny, charity, or something like this. If you cannot involved directly, send a representative and your message. This type of positive response will help grow your photography business.
Ask for recommendation
Whether you are a beginner or a successful photographer, you need a recommendation. After a successful photography session, if you see your clients are happy, ask for a referral, and repeat business. Once you complete the deal, don’t leave your clients permanently. Maintain communication with them, phone them, try to know their present situation, wish them their happy days, remind them about the past happy and funny photography sessions, etc. and never forget to ask for another session. Thus you will get easily referrals and repeat business.
Know business regulations
A professional photographer should know local business regulations, especially if you want to set up a photography business. You should know about tax time and quantity. The experience of local laws and regulations will help make your business transparent. For that, you can consult with a local lawyer.
To be a professional photographer, you have to know the salary of photographers. As a new photographer, if you want to do the job as a photographer in a reputed company, you should know the basic salary before appearing at the interview so that you can demand the right wages for your services. Again, as a successful photography professional, if you want to employ some photographers in your photography business company, you should know the salary that will be perfect for your photographers. Know the salary that the new or experienced photographers are demanding now. It will help you make a profitable photography business.
As a professional photographer, you should know to manage your photography business. In the beginning, you can manage your photography startup by yourself without any hassle, but when it is a large company, you have to divide your company into different departments like accounts for monetary management, HR for selecting and recruiting employees, a production house for photo editing, IT department for taking care of the computer and other photography tools, and some others like these. You must have a passion for your business, develop the skills of your employee, know them and their daily life problems, be cordial to your employee, and desire to get maximum support from them. Thus, a professional photographer manages his company or business with a soft soul and stone hands.
Professional photographers who are successfully managing the business must keep the business document organized. You should have all the documents, papers close to your hands so that whenever you need those, you can have them within a short time. Keep up-to-date all the tax papers. Organized documents, papers, tools, gears, etc. will accelerate your daily job.
To be a professional, you should save and manage money properly. When you are a novice, make it a habit to save your bucks so that you can create a company in the future and also cope with bad situations. Read several blogs and articles to know detail about money management. Create a bank account and write your every exchange in a ledger. Take receipt of every deal and you try to visualize the cost and profit balance. Try to avoid loans and debt at the starting of your business. There is a lot of evidence that many startups have been dragged down by their primary loan.
Set your photography session rate
You must be tricky here. You should not set the rater too high or too low. The high rate may scare your clients and the low rate will make you insignificant. You will not get the desired value. So, your remuneration should be in such a way that balances both the high price and low price. To do that, check the wages of your contemporary photographers. Head over their profile and portfolio to get an overall idea. When you are a beginner, you can receive a cheap price for your job, but when you are about to a professional photographer, ask for a higher price and show your clients the reason for that price.
If you read this line, that means you have read the above full content. What you have caught from the content is enough to understand how to be a professional photographer or a photography business official.
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Color Experts International, Inc. is a renowned photo manipulation and graphic design service provider. CEI boasts more than 30 years of experience in the image editing industry serving the top global brands including Adidas, Nike, Puma, Apple, Samsung, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, etc. The company provides simple but effective solutions to the photographers, e-commerce companies, advertising agencies, web design companies, magazine publishers, printing companies, etc.
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Roger Baron was born in raised in Jefferson City, Missouri and graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1976. Fresh out of school, he began his career working as a staff attorney with the Missouri Public Service Commission back in his home town.
After practicing in Missouri for nine years, Baron decided to move to Texas where he kicked off his teaching career with the South Texas College of Law in Houston. As a professor, his focuses included civil procedure, insurance and family law. After five years in Houston, during which he was promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor, Baron decided it was time to move on.
“Next, I took a teaching job at the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1990. I was promoted to Full Professor and awarded tenure in 1993,” Baron said. “After teaching 25 years in South Dakota, I retired from teaching in 2015 and was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus.”
Baron’s accomplishments, however, do not stop there. After retiring from the University of South Dakota, he continued to establish a niche in ERISA reimbursement and subrogation matters. He has written a multitude of law review articles on the subject and has been invited to speak at seminars across the country.
“I learned that the ‘new frontier’ for this area of the law was to be found in ERISA and the litigation related to ERISA health plans seeking reimbursement for medical bills,” Baron said. “In the year 2000 I was asked to assist in a U.S. Supreme Court case and also asked to assist Congress in working on legislative reform for ERISA – work on the Patient’s Bill of Rights as it was being formulated in the U.S. Senate.”
This work has led Baron to participate in multiple U.S. Supreme Court cases involving ERISA. Including Sereboff v. Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Inc. and Wal-Mart v Shank. Most recently, his ERISA work brought him to Honolulu, Hawaii where he assisted in a case to uphold Hawaii ERISA legislation in a challenge brought to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. On September 11, 2019, the court ruled unanimously in favor of the existing subrogation law.
Throughout his career, Baron says he has sought advice from former professors and classmates from his time at Mizzou. Former professor William Knox, as well as a classmate and lifelong friend Ken Dean, have served as mentors over the years.
“The professors at Mizzou Law School provided ongoing assistance to me at various stages of my career,” Baron said. “They never hesitated to assist me when I asked.”
For current students and recent graduates of Mizzou Law seeking advice, Baron suggests taking a minute to think about their skills and passions.
“Each of us is ‘gifted’,” Baron said. “We should strive to learn what our ‘gifts’ are and pursue them.”
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Ian Somerhalder may have found his new leading lady in life. Just one week after the split between "The Vampire Diaries" stars Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev was confirmed, the 34-year-old actor was spotted kissing international fashion model Ana Beatriz Barros, 31.
While the twosome was kissing for professional reasons while filming a romantic scene for an up-and-coming Azzaro perfume ad, eye witnesses reportedly spotted the co-stars enjoying each others' company off camera as well. "The scene is very hot," a source told In Touch. "They were kissing each other passionately."
The ad, which was shot in Lake Como, Italy, on Wednesday, has yet to be released, but paparazzi captured photos of the shoot. Allegedly, the duo could be seen laughing with each other between takes, which included Somerhalder slipping the model's white dress off her shoulder and playing with her hair.
See photos of Barros and Somerhalder kissing here.
While the famous duo was spotted getting hot and heavy for the cameras, Barros appears to be romantically linked to a different man. Just days before the now-infamous shoot, the model shared her affections toward a mystery individual. "Missing my baby @supreme_kec!!! [sic] Love in Venice" the model said on Instagram, also sharing a photo of herself with a male brunette. The identity of the model's alleged boyfriend is currently unknown.
The romantic shoot comes just days after "Teen Wolf" actor Colton Haynes confirmed Somerhalder's breakup with his girlfriend of three years, Dobrev, 24. “Oh, they are actually. I forgot [about that]. I’m sure they’re really great friends,” Haynes said during an interview with Entertainmentwise.
While the news may have disappointed supporters off the on-screen turned off-screen lovers, the 24-year-old actor and mutual friend of the former couple did reveal the possibility of a reconciliation. "I think you become really good friends with that person, you see them every day anyways. They obviously knew [that] getting into a relationship,” he said. “I think you always have love for someone. Every time you’re in a relationship, when you get out of one, I always think you still have a little bit of love left."
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If you had the gall to sit through last night's SEC ego-stroking fest that was the BCS National Championship game, you probably were drowsy, sick, or a combo of the 2 at one point during the night. All of the hype for a rematch of "The Game of the Century", ended up unfounded, like many guessed. Before the ego-stroking began, the leaders of the conferences and the BCS met to decide what course of action to take next. This only happened because of this specific national title game instance. Not the issues from 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, or the rest, it was because of this season. Why? Because for the first time since the system came into place in 1998, the BCS legitimately failed.
During the Bowl Coalition and Bowl Alliance, rematches for the National Title were common, and even worse, the likelihood of a split vote was pretty high. The BCS has only had one instance of a split vote, and even then, it didn't really matter in the end, except for the addition of a 5th game to the series and a change to the formula for the computers. But finally, the system as a whole failed. This was designed to prevent a split vote for the national championship, which it did, but it was also designed to prevent rematches. It was also designed to prevent non-conference champions from getting into the title game, but that was disproven in 2001. An all one conference title game? That has never happened before, but once it did, that was the straw that broke the camels back.
"Every Game Matters" is the BCS mantra. In this season, every game did matter. Except the first time LSU and Alabama played, and the SEC Title Game. Imagine if LSU lost the title game, then we'd have had a serious controversy on our hands. Thankfully, that didn't happen. If in fact there was a rematch of a game that happened during the year in the BCS Title Game, it may have been more forgiven if it wasn't a bloated up SEC on CBS game that wasn't on CBS. Would LSU or Alabama have beaten Oklahoma State? No one will ever find out.
Thanks to the Tide essentially rolling over LSU, the AP vote was decisive. If it had been another 9-6 game, we would have had a split national title, most likely. When you look at the other BCS bowls as well, their attendances were all down and so were the TV ratings, meaning that this season hurt the BCS more than any other. Whether it was automatic qualification, or whether it was teams 6, 7, 8, and 9 in the BCS missing out on BCS bowl games, the big numbers for the games themselves were down, including the numbers for the title game. The BCS could no longer hide behind the fact that they could get it right "4 out of 5 times", because the 1 time they don't get it right happened way too often.
What comes out of this is uncertain, but a 4 team playoff seems likely. There will still be controversy, as with teams on the bubble in the NCAA tournament, as to who gets in and who doesn't, but at least the teams will sort it out themselves, and not by a computer and pollsters. Finally, all of the controversies and issues collapsed in on the BCS, sparking the talks for change. But this season in particular, and its ending, was finally the cause of the result many wanted to see come. Congress didn't cause this. Fans didn't cause this.
The BCS itself caused this, and they have no one but themselves to blame.
Posted by Matt Lichtenstadter at 4:15 PM
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Sports! This is why you came here, right? If you were looking for vegan cooking tips, then you probably took a left turn at Albuquerque when you needed to take a right. But while you're here... read about sports! Follow me on Twitter @MattsMusings1 for sports in 140 characters, and to find about more about me, head to here, my other personal website. Two websites... I like to think I'm special...
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The ability to be able to identify what you believe is the best for is entirely an individual affair. Everyone is talking about creating a chance for people to succeed in life. There is a debate in which people are torn between trying as hard as they can to choose the best fireplaces fort services and not trying at all. A large number of people, on the other hand, have pledged that no matter what happens, they will be able to attain their goal. It is, however, important to draw their attention to the fact that settling down with the ideal fireplaces fort services is not as simple as they may believe. The solution is that there are numerous aspects that they might implement in order to realize the greatest fireplaces fort services. If you are looking for the greatest fireplaces fort services to fulfill your needs, you should read this post for more information.
To finally get valuable things, you need time. Do you want to partner with the greatest fireplaces fort services that can supply you with the best services? There is no cause for fear. It is vital to evaluate the legal status when looking for the ideal fireplaces fort services. It is crucial to understand that the legal status of any specific fireplaces fort services is not just a licensing issue, but also a mandate that will be given to it in order for it to operate. You cannot afford to select any fireplaces fort services merely because it is a priority without first evaluating its licensing status. The entire message that the term of legal status gives is that you must want to settle down with the best fireplaces fort services at that. To avoid unwanted doubts, choose the fireplaces fort services with which you are confident that it is licensed.
Also, once your ambitions to choose the best fireplaces fort services to assist you become a reality, the second thing to examine is the level of technology embraced by the firm in question. The world is clearly accelerating its efforts to digitalize everything. This means that the fireplaces fort services with which you will be working should seek to digitalize all of its operations and services and place them on internet platforms for simple access by its able clientele at any time. It will benefit the fireplaces fort services’s clients because they will not have to pay needless fees to access the fireplaces fort services because most of its services will be made available through internet platforms. When choosing the ideal fireplaces fort services for your needs, you should always consider the technological component.
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IN MY YARD! Is where they are! Tammy and Cassie were in Andrew’s room goofing around. Well, Tammy was trying to go to sleep and Cassie wasn’t having any of it. SO as they were in there laughing and carrying on, I hear them get a little freaked out.
They come out of the room and ask where Martin was because they thought he was outside of Andrew’s bedroom window trying to scare them. I said “Nope, he’s in the office doing an $80 special reading.” *insert commercial here* Then they asked where Daniel was. Told them he was in the office too. They went into the office to check and sho enuf, there was Daniel at Andrew’s computer.
Then Tammy & Cassie ran outside to see if they could see anyone because they said they definitely heard someone at the window. Well, Tammy just demonstrated it and it scared the piss outta me! That was no wind blowing! Someone definitely ran their hands down the window! :-o So the Elves were making their presence known to someone other than Daniel and Martin.
Now you might think it was some neighborhood kids, not with the average age of the neighborhood being 70! We don’t have kids that roam the street at night, well not since Andrew quit walking Wes home after midnite anyway. :-(
SO our Elvin buddies are making themselves more known. Looking forward to hearing more from them. So Stay Tuned!
Tammy put her blanket that we took to the beach last week out side draped on 2 chairs. Daniel noticed today that it looked like 2 people had sat in them. Sure enough when we went to look at them that’s exactly what it looked like! No one’s been out there sitting except Martin & he has his chair. It looks like the handy work of a couple of Elves IMHO! ;-)
Leah Clark says:
August 31, 2009 at 3:08 am
Uh, yeah. Ahem. Er… I don’t think I want my own elf, after all. LOL I have enough going on with the karaoke partiers next door at CJ’s Tavern! hahaha…
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Apocalypse Wander is The Ezerocreation,The novel is mainly aboutWe drove for a couple more hours and as the burning sun started to pass the horizon Jones decided we had to find a place to sleep. By this time we reached another town and we were in the middle of an upper class neighborhood, as we we e looking around we saw a house that had its door open but otherwise seemed in a pretty good state so he parked the bike in the driveway."Ill go open the garage door, stay on your toes."It was dark outside but thankfully the lamp posts were still working so I could see a lone that was walking towards me."Hey, Jones! There is a zombie here!" I shouted."Do you think you can take care of it? This garage door is rusty so Ill have to get the bike in trough the door.""I think I can take it on, it doesn seem smart like the other ones."The zombie was getting closer, it was slow and had kitchen knife lodged in its chest. As it got within my reach I swung the bat towards its face but it didn connect because it had its hands in the way, I took a step back then swu Read Novel
Apocalypse Wander is The Ezerocreation,The novel is mainly aboutWe drove for a couple more hours and as the burning sun started to pass the horizon Jones decided we had to find a place to sleep. By this time we reached another town and we were in the middle of an upper class neighborhood, as we we e looking around we saw a house that had its door open but otherwise seemed in a pretty good state so he parked the bike in the driveway."Ill go open the garage door, stay on your toes."It was dark outside but thankfully the lamp posts were still working so I could see a lone that was walking towards me."Hey, Jones! There is a zombie here!" I shouted."Do you think you can take care of it? This garage door is rusty so Ill have to get the bike in trough the door.""I think I can take it on, it doesn seem smart like the other ones."The zombie was getting closer, it was slow and had kitchen knife lodged in its chest. As it got within my reach I swung the bat towards its face but it didn connect because it had its hands in the way, I took a step back then swu Read Novel
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“What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” John 13:7. New King James Version (NKJV).
The above verse of the Holy Bible came out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ when He washed the disciples’ feet. What triggered those words was the resistance given by the most vocal of His disciples, Apostle Peter. This man, as a faithful believer and hardened follower of his Master, could not see any reason for his master to wash his feet. It was thinkable, practicable and normal for a servant to wash the feet of the master, but not the other way round. It was the norm of the society for servants to serve their Master. For the Master to “descend” so low to serve his servants sounds odd. This was the case with Apostle Peter and his master, Jesus Christ.
As a teacher, and a teacher to all teachers, Jesus did not teach only in words but in deeds. Whenever He spoke, truth manifested. He would not say anything except where there is something of value to be displayed to humanity. He was economical with His words but not with the truth. He told the whole truth, but He was not a “words waster” because His words are “spirit and life.” Joh 6:63. He could not afford to waste them at all. It is shameful to note that today’s disciples, dare you say ministers? are funny sometimes. They speak as if they know everything about the Lord and all His actions. Some even speak as if they know the length and breadth of the Lord, their Maker.
When He reveals anything to them, they capitalize on this to declare that there is nothing they do not know about Him. No! This is not so. They know only what He reveals to them. This is Scriptural. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever…” Deuteronomy 29:29. Therefore, it is expedient to limit your claims to ONLY what the Lord reveals to you, no more, no less. It is a sin to add to God’s revelations or to deduct from it. He warned the people of Moses days, and those after them in Deuteronomy 12:32, “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.”
Another aspect of knowing the secret of the Lord and His action is understanding them. Failure to understand what the Lord reveals and what He does will lead to saying and doing the wrong thing. One can condemn the Lord, His action and/or to whom He does it. People misinterpret what they do not understand. To be precise, except the Lord opens one’s eyes of understanding, criticizing, and condemning will be one’s pre-occupation; and this will not bring out the right result whatsoever. The Scriptures say, “But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases” Psalms 115:3.
Now, to understand the Lord’s action calls for asking Him for the right interpretation and understanding of His actions. He is so loving that He will not hesitate to reveal the meaning and proper understanding of His deeds. However, He reserves the right to do this when He has chosen to do so. He may give an understanding of His action as soon as one demands for it.
This instant answer will give peace to the heart of one who wants it. On the other hand, He reserves the right to fix a future date to do this. This will also give the fellow who wants an understanding of the Lord’s deeds a peace of mind and be glued to the Lord until a great result emerges. That is why Jesus Christ told Apostle Peter, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will know after this” John 13:7. If the Lord Jesus said this to Peter, He can say the same to you that you may know what He is doing. The Lord’s actions that look strange to you will become clear if you apply patience and wait for a later time when everything will become clear to you. John 13:12.
Therefore, do not see yourself as an expert in understanding the Lord’s deeds, actions, and inactions. God has no personal assistant. Watch, pray and wait for an understanding of what He does. Stay blessed and prepared for the imminent coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
NOTE: All Scriptures quoted are from New King James Version of the Holy Bible.
NOTE FOR SALVATION “The father loves the Son and has put everything into his hands. And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remain under God’s angry judgment” John 3:35-36
Article by Olawale Ogunsola. Published by permission from faithwriters.com Olawale Ogunsola is the set man of CTFM (WORLD OUTREACH) and Presiding Pastor of Christ Restland Gospel Church. He is a poet and author of many books. Visit his blogsites www.4thlink.wordpress.com and www.peacelink.wordpress.com for more quality content. Article source: http://articles.faithwriters.com/reprint-article-details.php?article=41403
Are you tired of government overreach? Sick of woke culture? Ready to live your faith boldly? Then you need to plan on attending the Standing For Freedom event and take a stand for life, liberty and biblical truth! On November 4th and 5th 2022, Liberty University’s...
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1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 They have all...
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Ways to be Closer with God
It's easy to feel distant from God. After a long day at work, the last thing you want to do is spend more time reading the Bible or praying. But in order to get closer with God, we need to make an effort. Here are some ways to be strengthened in your relationship with...
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I just finished reading this book last night and absolutely loved it! As a post-modern Christian (paradoxical perhaps) I loved the way the author intertwined questions of faith with post-modern thinking. Its not that one story is more accurate or the 'true one' rather they are all different metaphors for the same experience. Martel sets this up in the first part with the dialogue Pi has with the 3 wiseman - representatives of three major worldviews/faiths. He finds they are all after the same vision "I just want to love God" (p.76) leading to their embarassment.
This parallel way of thinking extends into the second phase where Pi struggles with the infinite/finite, death/life, suffering/joy and his spiritual/physical existence. Neither is correct and both are true. They are all metaphors for personal struggle we all have as humans and to interpret these stories as literal (modernist) is to miss the parallel and/and universe Martel is insisting we inhabit.
In the final third phase, he integrates Christian metaphors that I recognize to represent maturity/growth. The garden of Eden, moving from fate to choice, and arriving at the promised land. His animal side departs/integrates/becomes invisible and he finds God not through personal suffering, but through the interactions with another human (a strangely impersonal one at that). Wonderful material!
katie
Excelltn for all the genrations, very exciting and very easy to read and understand. Great book.
A good friend recommended *The Life of Pi* to me with "Well it's about a teenager who was named after a swimming pool who finds himself stranded on a life-boat with a hungry tiger..." It definately did NOT sound like something I wanted to read. Then she lent me a copy of the book. After ten pages I was hooked.
She should have added "it's also about God, Religion, Ethics, and Humanity's Place in the Universe".
It also tells you how to survive being stranded on a life-boat with a Bengal Tiger.
My only quarrel with the book is the last few chapters ....edited to remove plot spoiler..... Trying to put a Freudian twist on the situation is really lame.
Zoe
(For those who have finished the book)
I also disagree with what seems to be the general consensus on the meaning behind Yann Martel's Life of Pi. I do not believe that Martel intended either story to be open to reader analyses, or for us to choose which story we believe to be the "truth". Nor do I believe that what Martel intended us to take away from the story is the idea that we "can choose our own reality". Indeed many reviews have questioned which of Pi's stories are true, yet it is neither of them that is the complete truth, neither fits completely, or is entirely credible.
Take, for example, the meerkat bones left in the boat, they destroy the credibility of the story without animals- or the island. Infact, it is not a question of truth, but what is reality- what really happened in the ocean, and what really happened in Pi's mind.
Both stories are "true". The story without animals is mostly what physically happened. The story with animals is what spiritually happened for Pi. Both occured simultaneously, thus the story of Pi is not simply a tale of his journey across the Pacific, but the journey of his spirit also.
Many readers are caught up in thinking that Pi is deluded, that he consciously replaces each person on the lifeboat with an animal so that he can cope with the situation. However, Pi does not do this, as some may be led to believe, to cope, but because he is on a spiritual journey as well as a physical journey. Martel conveys to us that we are all on two journeys in our lives.
The spiritual journey, as I have already said, is the story with the animals, the story that holds truth in Pi's mind, while the people story is a physical reality. these two stories run parallel, and meet at the point where Pi meets the blind Frenchman. This is what tells us that both stories have an element of truth. Pi did talk to Richard Parker ( who represents the animal instinct in Pi) on his spiritual journey, and he also talked to the blind Frenchman (who is actually the cook). This is where his spiritual being meets his reality.
Life of Pi is also about the conflict between doubt and hope. The oil tanker represents Pi's hope, while the rubbish that floats past are his doubts. The part where Pi recovers from his blindness show all his doubts being washed away, indeed, from this point on he is able to tame Richard Parker with no trouble. He has tamed his doubts.
One reviewer on this site asked how this story makes you believe in God. It does it by comparing two highly unlikely stories, and showing us that we are all on two journeys, and at times our spiritual journey can save us from our reality. We do not "choose our own reality". It is not a matter of choice. We are all on two journeys.
If Martel has had but one success in writing this book it is that he has managed to confuse even the most logical of us, bring out the believing in the most rational of us. Life of Pi is a lesson about all of us. Martel does not spoonfeed a message to us, it is what each of us takes away from this incredible story that determines how true the book is.
Though with a slow beginning, "Life of Pi" is an interesting novel weaving multiple philosophical issues and religions. The story is about a boy named Pi Patel, who becomes subject to a shipwreck in the Pacific. Only by using his knowledge of animal behavior, faith in God, and companionship with a voracious Bengal tiger could Pi survive his stranded predicament.
The way Yann Martel manipulates time to overally present the novel can get rather confusing. He begins with Pi telling his background years after the shipwreck incident, as well as random ventures into the future. However, a second read or skim through can easily clear the confusion and make the novel even more enjoyable (more notably due to the story's great ending).
I found "Life of Pi" an excellent read involving culture, religion, nature, and life itself in one package. It is simply an original and imaginative way of storytelling. A definite page turner!
Mike SHS
Life of Pi was a must read. It offered a deep and insightful look into both the mind and heart. Throughout the story Pi helped me realize that life and reality are your own decisions. Even though the story may seem a little weird at first, anyone reading it will eventually fall in love with the interesting characters and the intriguing plot developments. I only wish that I would be able to fully comprehend everything Yann was trying to say through Pi.
Life of Pi was a great book that really got me thinking at the end. In the end, Pi told two different stories about his experience at sea... which story do you think is better, the one with animals or the one without animals? Personally i thought that the story with the animals was better. It was a lot more entertaining than the other "dry, yeastless factuality" story.
One thing I didn't understand from the novel was why the story would make a person believe in God. Could someone expain that to me please? Other than that, Life of Pi was an awesome book and I would recommend it to anyone.
[For those who have finished the book]
I disagree with what seems to be the consensus view on the meaning of this story. Most people have seemed to take the story as saying that you can arbitrarily choose your own reality and that those who choose the "better story" are enlightened. I don't think that Martel intended for the truth to be left open to interpretation. To ascribe equal validity to the two versions of the story told by Pi trivializes Martel's definition of faith as described in chapters 21 & 22. I think Martel sees the religious experience as an indescribably awesome experience that can only be explained through imperfect metaphors.
So I don't think the "true" story fits either of the two accounts given in the book. I think the book is actually about an internal spiritual journey and struggle. What actually happened in the physical world is not as important (though I think it is probably closer to the version without animals), but Pi is trying to convey this fantastic religious experience that is even more of a miracle than any events he could describe. I think the reader is supposed to believe that the story with animals is a better description of the true personal spiritual experience that Pi had, since it is colored by his own background and experience growing up at the zoo in Pondicherry, and better captures the incredible nature of the experience.
Some will probably read my review as just a third version of events that is equally valid, but to focus on the physical events is to miss the entire meaning of this book: A meaningful religious experience requires a leap of faith. Pi's story is much less extraordinary than believing in or experiencing God.
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A specific type of injury to the labrum, or labral tear, is called a SLAP tear. SLAP stands for Superior Labrum from Anterior to Posterior. The SLAP tear occurs at the point where the tendon of the biceps muscle inserts on the labrum.
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The results of a recent nordic collaboration study showed that there is no difference in functional results between operative and non-operative treatment in persons aged 60 or more with displaced proximal humerus fractures.
Source: Medical Xpress
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Lower MRI grade and humeral location linked to higher survival rates
Professional baseball players with a low-grade elbow injury that occurs on the humeral side of the elbow have a better chance of returning to throw and returning to play, and a lower risk of ulnar collateral ligament surgery than players who suffered more severe injuries on the ulnar side of the elbow. The research was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine.
Source: News Medical
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Rotator cuff repair with biceps tenodesis did not impact speed of recovery after surgery
Outcomes and the speed of recovery were similar between patients who underwent rotator cuff repair with bicep tenodesis and patients who underwent only rotator cuff repair, according to a presentation at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting.
Source: Healio
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Top 10 stretches for shoulder tightness
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Hip pain may affect the shoulder, elbow in baseball pitchers
Orthopedic surgeons should examine hip range of motion and look for asymmetry in baseball pitchers who present with shoulder pain, according to a presenter at the Advances in Throwing Symposium: Latest on Injury Treatment and Performance Optimization.
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Patients with irreparable rotator cuff tears may have another surgical option
The arthroscopic superior capsule reconstruction (SCR) surgical technique offers patients with irreparable rotator cuff tears restored shoulder function and the opportunity to return to sports and physically-demanding work, according to research presented today at the AOSSM/AANA Specialty Day in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Groin and hips of hockey players examined in five-second test
Five seconds is enough to assess the status of a hockey player’s groin. For the first time, a simple field test, called the five-second squeeze test, has been used on icehockey players to see if it can indicate current hip/groin function and hip muscle strength.
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The rotator cuff is a collection of tendons and muscles that surround the shoulder. It’s common for athletes — for example, baseball pitchers — to injure this area.
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Delayed rotator cuff repair yielded superior functional outcomes vs immediate repair
Despite improvements in clinical outcomes and a low incidence of retears among patients who underwent either immediate or delayed surgical repair of a partial-thickness rotator cuff tear, results published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine showed delayed surgery yielded superior functional outcomes at 6 months postoperatively.
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Study shows men and women tear ACL the same way in non-contact injury
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What is calcific tendonitis and what causes it?
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November 22, 2022 Sean Williams, National Recruiting Analyst Uncategorized
After decommitting from Pitt back on November 14th, it didn’t take long for three-star quarterback Kenny Minchey to find a new home, announcing his commitment to Notre Dame on Monday afternoon following a weekend official visit with the Fighting Irish.
The state of Tennessee currently boasts four quarterbacks that are committed to power five programs, but Minchey is the most polished pocket-passer of the bunch. His skilled footwork in the pocket and pin-point accuracy has translated to impressive performances at the Elite 11 Finals to Friday nights in the fall.
As a junior, Minchey burst on the scene after throwing for 3,280 yards, 32 touchdowns, and just nine interceptions. While he only played in five games during his senior campaign due to a shoulder injury, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound prospect still threw at a nearly 70% completion percentage with 13 touchdowns against just one interception.
To put it simply, quarterback recruiting hasn’t been kind to Notre Dame this recruiting cycle up to this point as the staff previously missed out on their pursuits of five-star Dante Moore (who would go on to commit to Oregon) and their attempt to flip Baylor commit Austin Novosad.
Then, Notre Dame switched their focus to Minchey, who they officially offered back on July 30th. However, it wasn’t like the Fighting Irish came out of nowhere. The No. 9 player in the state of Tennessee camped at South Bend in the summer of 2021 and has maintained contact with offensive coordinator Tommy Rees since. Those talks ramped up once Notre Dame offered. The official visit over the weekend sealed the deal.
Minchey now joins a Notre Dame class that has plenty of offensive firepower, including a trio of four-star wide receiver commits in Braylon James, Rico Flores, Jr., and Jaden Greathouse to go along with four-star tight end pledge Cooper Flanagan.
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The governor Bank of Uganda, Emmanuel Mutebile has lashed at critics citing that the state of Crane Bank was not even worth shs.200bn at the time of sale against its bad loans that amounted to over Shs458Bn(FILE PHOTO)
KAMPALA- Officials from the Central Bank have said they were lucky to sell Crane Bank Limited at Shs200Bn to dfcu because the troubled financial institution had accumulated bad loans to a tune of Shs458Bn.
This Defence and much more are contained in the written response provided by Bank of Uganda to the Parliamentary Committee of Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) that is probing circumstances under which Bank of Uganda closed seven Banks.
Among the Banks closed by the Central Bank are; Teefe Bank in 1993, International Credit Bank Ltd in 1998, Greenland Bank in 1999, The Co-operative Bank in 1999, National Bank of Commerce in 2012, Global Trust Bank in 2014 and the sale of Crane Bank Ltd to DFCU in 2016.
The probe into the closure of the seven defunct Banks culminated from a letter by COSASE authored in November 2017, requesting the Auditor General, John Muwanga to undertake a special audit on the closure of these commercial banks by the Central Bank after the controversial closure of crane bank.
The Auditor General report later released his report in August 2018 highlighting a number of queries in the management of the process leading to the closure of the Banks and among these, Crane Bank.
The Auditors in their report admitted that they had failed to establish how consideration of Shs200bn from dfcu as the price of Crane Bank was reached at by Bank of Uganda.
However, in the written responses Mutebile is expected to present to the Committee on Friday next week that the deferred cash consideration of up to Shs200Bn was based on net recoveries on fully provisioned non-performing assets as adjusted following dfcu Bank’s due diligence which put the figure at Shs500Bn.
Bank of Uganda argued that when the fully-provisioned assets were scrutinised, it was discovered that some of the loans could only be classified as loss category and whose recovery was found to be very uncertain given that some of them were objectively more than 355 days past their due date or have general weaknesses in terms of; origination, collateral and its registration or enforceability.
Attempts to have them recovered were found to be impossible given that the conditions the loans were in would complicate recovery stating that such assets carry a zero value on the balance sheet and their recovery is usually; cumbersome, strenuous, very costly, and partial and is most importantly achieved over a much longer time frame.
“A review and assessment of the bad portfolio was conducted in a bid to ascertain forced recoverability of major loans and possible timelines. For an acquiring bank (dfcu Bank) to have bid to pay Ugx.200bn staked against a possible recovery from such a portfolio worth Ugx.458bn, which CBL had failed to recover, was a great achievement,” as indicated in Bank of Uganda’s written statement.
Additionally, BOU further defended the decision to close Bank of Uganda on grounds that the move was intended to secure Uganda’s banking sector, as failure to do so would have led to dire consequences for the whole banking sector.
This was after the Auditors had faulted BOU for failing to prepare a plan to revive Crane bank.
Still in the written response, BOU asserted that following an onsite examination and a finding of significant under-capitalization, the shareholders of CBL were given an opportunity to revive the bank through a capital call on July 1st2016.
However, Crane Bank’s Shareholders are said to have failed to comply with the capital call, forcing BOU to exercise its powers under section 87(3), 88(1Xa)&(b) and took over management of CBL.
The response read, “The takeover under section 87(3) was guided by the systemic nature of the undercapitalised institution to avoid financial sector instability. The results of a subsequent inventory and forensic investigation guided the resolution plan that resulted in the P&A.”
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The PML Daily, published via www.pmldaily.com is a publication of Post Media Ltd, a professional Digital/New Media company in Uganda.
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Helsinki, Finland, will be hosting the European location for the 2016 Star Realms Legend series. This premier tournament will take place on Saturday, July 30th at the Ropecon convention in downtown Helsinki. The event will be professionally run and judged by a top 20 player.
Andrea Joki has volunteered to be your friendly INFO person – please feel free to email with any questions about the event or if you would like advice about travel options, hostels, hotels, etc. [email protected]
A young Star Realms player sets up a base wall at Ropecon 2015
About the convention: Ropecon, the largest non-commercial role-playing convention in Europe, takes place from 29th to 31st of July 2016 in Helsinki, Finland. Attendance is around 3000 to 4000 people of all ages. The convention is geared toward game enthusiasts: tabletop and role-playing games, as well as in card games, miniatures and board games. In addition to role-playing and gaming centered programs, Ropecon also includes a plethora of lectures and workshops with a wide variety of interesting topics. It is a friendly environment and most players are happy to switch to English to accommodate non-Finnish speakers. It’s also a place where you can join in games with others just by asking – and there is a large board game ‘library’ from which you can check out games for free (100+ games). There will also be an Epic tournament on the same day. The convention runs all night through the weekend. Ropecon;s website in English: https://2016.ropecon.fi/en/frontpage-ropecon-2016/ Note that the program usually comes out about 2 weeks before the event.
A variety of games are played throughout the weekend. Included are card tournaments for Epic and Star Realms. Here, playing at Ropecon 2015
Getting To the Location: Ropecon will take place at Finland’s largest convention center: Messukeskus. It is located off a large transportation hub and accessible from the airport or ferry harbor for 2 to 5 euros via local train (20 minutes from airport) or bus/tram from the harbor (around 20 minutes as well). Helsinki is a relatively small city that is very easy to get around – public transportation is efficient and timely and the city regularly voted one of the safest in the world. In English, you can get a detailed route plan here: https://www.hsl.fi/en
Ticket Info: You can buy online (with an EU bank transfer) or at the door. The convention entry fee covers all costs as there are no separate event tickets needed. There are plenty of food options at the convention center as well – from fast food to sit down.
Entire weekend: 35 euros (32e when bought in advance)
One day: 25 euros (15 for Sunday). Children (age 7-12) pay roughly half the price when entering with their parent(s). Younger kids and elderly (over 65 years) have free entry. The cheaper tickets are only available from the door. https://2016.ropecon.fi/en/ticket-faq/
About The Tournament: The Star Realms tournament will be run on Saturday afternoon. The Epic tournament will be run that Saturday morning. Players will have an opportunity to play in both tournaments as a result. Head judge and organizer is Timo Sand.
Star Realms Legend Series Prizes for each tournament:
Place Prize
1st Winner will have their name and likeness on a Star Realms card in a future set and a limited edition Star Realms playmat.
2nd Star Realms limited edition storage box.
Top 4 Signed Megahauler and Ark.
Top 8 Prize promo card.
Everyone A participation promo card for in-person events.
If you have any questions about the tournament, lodging, getting tickets, or sightseeing opportunities in Finland/Helsinki, send me an email to: [email protected]
Ropecon has a 25+ year history of fun games with great people!
Links:
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Tournaments on May 30, 2016 by Talvi.
Often in Star Realms, you feel like the game was decided within the first few turns when your opponent gobbled up all the good cards. Early Brain World? Three Imperial Fighters? Four scrappers in a row? A Blob Armada ready to rain down on you? Insane blue authority gain? It can feel hopeless.
What’s important to realize is that the game does have a balance and there are countermeasures to an opponent with a strong set of draws from the trade row. Granted, luck may have to be involved (either for you to have it or your opponent to not have it), but most decks that are strong in one way do have inherent weaknesses you can exploit. Here are some common opponent-advantage situations, their decks’ strengths and weaknesses, and how you can try to avoid what feels like an inevitable defeat.
Let’s start with decks and then move on to powerful single bomb cards that need to be countered.
These are the decks that are daunting and morale killers because the opponent gains massive amounts of authority continually and can pretty much cherry pick whatever they want off the trade row with their gold superiority. In choosing how to spend all that gold, they often will either go aggro with big damage ships (risky) or shore up a nifty wall of utility bases that completely shut you down (smarter). This is often a deck with a lot of Cutters, interspersed with Federation Shuttles and heavier hitters such as Flagship or Trade Escort.
Strength: Lots of authority. Lots of gold.
Weakness: These decks are often slow and can be incredibly slow to get rolling/deal substantial damage.
Strategy: This deck tends to allow the authority gain to make up for the lack of solid damage early in the game. Bigger and bigger ships end up being acquired and useful bases such as Machine Base, Blob World, or Fleet HQ become problematic for you by late mid game. But the star players really are the Cutters – their damage adds up quickly when they ally.
Countermeasure: 1) These types of blue decks often lose to an aggressive scrap deck – so snatching up every single card that scraps is key – even midgame. Despite the authority gain, it is fairly quick and easy to take out a blue deck if you have scrapped out your starters and are doing 20-30 damage a turn. The inherent slow speed of a blue deck gives scrappers much needed time to do their job and create a quick and deadly deck. First – define as soon as possible if the player is aggro (aggressive) or defensive blue. Aggro Blue players tend to buy a Battle Blob over a Machine Base, for example. If aggro, go for base protection early or try to grab some blue yourself to stay alive long enough to scrap out. If they are the base wall striver, then a deck with scrappers and yellow or green support works to keep their utility at a minimum and then have the punch at the end. In nearly every instance I’ve seen, heavy blue decks will lose to an opponent with 3 or more scrap cards. 2) Buying cards like Battle Screecher or Battle Pod are key to removing the 6+ cards out of the trade row and wasting big blue buying power. Smart blue deck players will battle you for those scrappers – but e.g., if they gave up a Missle Bot for a cutter, you have a chance. Just don’t be daunted by an opponent’s authority of 75 – I’ve often seen that authority diminish to 0 within three hands thanks to a zippy red deck.
Sometimes, your opponent gets all the great scrap cards (and some bases like Battle Station to shore up defenses while they blissfully remove their starter cards). These decks are fast – with each shuffle, they become more and more powerful, like a ticking time bomb. And that’s the key to countering these decks: don’t give them time.
Strength: Fast – when they get going, they are a steamroller.
Weakness: Red decks can be very vulnerable to early damage. They need at least 3 decks (3 shuffles) before their decks start to gain momentum. Often red decks are gold starved – but a deck with two Supply Bots can have surprising buying power.
Countermeasure: The one tried-and-true way to defeat a red deck is to simply beat it to death with all the damage you can get early. If you wait to build up to the 6+ cost bases and ships, you’ll likely be too late and by the time one of those gets out, they are hitting you for 15+ damage a turn. Smart red players have at least simple defense outposts or authority gain cards bought later game to keep them alive long enough. So you will not only need to get all the damage you can find, but you’ll also need a way to get to that damage and have it ally better. Speeding up your deck with cantrips (card drawing abilities) is important – but Recycling Station is key. Never let a player with a lot of red cards get a Recycling Station! Yellow and green cards are choice here – don’t even bother with blue in most instances unless it is a card that draws a card automatically (e.g., Flagship) or you can throw it at your opponent through sacking it (as with Barter World’s impressive five damage). Avoid letting your opponent get an outpost or authority gain, if at all possible.
When the Blob army comes marching, they pretty much have a scorched Earth policy. You can try to slow them down with bases and work on scrapping – but the Blob Destroyer effortlessly punches through base walls and they ladder up far too easily (e.g., Ram or Blob Wheel to Battle Blob or Mothership).
Strength: Once these start to ally, it’s all over. More than any other faction, the key to the juggernaut that is a green deck is that they must ally. Rather than bringing extra damage (as with yellow allying), green brings tricks such as card draws, ship acquirement, trade row manipulation, and base removal. They become a card drawing machine with evil combos. As well, their bases, which are out there to ally more than anything else, are non-outposts that soak up a lot of damage if you need to remove them (and you do with a green heavy deck!).
Weakness: If they don’t ally, they can be very weak – especially cards like Blob Fighters. But most importantly: green also provides no outposts to slow down opponent damage (especially noticeable in Vanilla play). So a green deck deals a LOT of damage but they are also extremely vulnerable to damage from you with no way of stopping it in their native color.
Strategy: Really, there are two ways to go here. You can try to match them with yellow damage/discard if you have those options coming up on the trade row. A War World and two Frigates, for example, can be lethal to heavy green. Or you can go heavy blue and gain back authority faster than they can deal it. Surprisingly, a blue deck with outpost bases can last long enough to eventually kill a green deck, even without scrappers. Bases tend to be taken out easily, so utility bases are important – a Barter World is probably always going to be a better choice than Battle Station since you can gain authority if low or buy bases/Flagships etc. Especially since blue has so many card drawing options to match green’s card draw. As well, Blue has a neat trick that green doesn’t: its bases often sack for either damage or card draw. Just don’t let any green base survive to trigger combos – and definitely don’t let a green heavy deck get a Recycling Station (which is used to find more green cards to ally and speeds up the deck fatally!). Hate drafting a Battle Pod can ensure you control how many green cards they get – and cause them to dilute the ability to ally by forcing them to buy more support non-green cards.
This is perhaps the hardest to counter – yellow decks provide heavy damage, sure, but they have extreme utility at the end game through countless sacrifice/draw card options. So while they shut you down through discard, they get to keep their options open.
Strengths: Obviously, the discard/opponent control is important. But really, the great strength of yellow is that so many can be multipurpose in the end game: damage, discard, AND then to sack and draw into more damage/end the game earlier/definitively. Yellow decks can be classified as stealthy – their potential can’t really be gauged until near the end when they start scrapping for draws. As such, yellow is the ultimate utility color, even more so than green. More importantly, unlike green, the potential for sick damage comes up when yellow starts combo-ing – especially with key players like War World. And unlike other colors, you can start yellow but if you have to change colors, you can scrap so many yellow cards like Space Station, Frigates, even Battlecruiser and then invest in a different color (e.g., go blue if you are losing the damage battle). Truly, the ultimate utility color.
Weakness: Yellow has some fatal holes that have to be shored up. Obviously, the lack of gold bearing cards in Vanilla means that yellow can run into econ problems. As well, there is a big hole in the damage: Corvette and Survey Ship can’t hold a candle to their green counterparts Battle Pod and Ram. Nearly every green does damage at the 4 and under cost cards – yellow only has two real damage dealers there. The card draw ability of Corvette and Survey Ship keep the deck lean and mean – but can be problematic if not enough Frigates come up in the Trade Row to make up the low damage (or if War World isn’t available).
Strategy: One of the hardest to counter since your resources are constantly stolen away through forced discards. Going blue is one strategy to counter the constant damage – it has so much gold and authority availability that it can make up for the discards. As well, blue’s buying power is a way to control the trade row, essentially buying away protection bases to leave them open to damage. Often, yellow decks simply peter out – doing massive amounts of damage early but as the deck got bigger, the cards no longer ally as easily, and the damage less deadly. Too many yellow decks stall completely. As well, yellow decks can be a challenge to red discard – you’re going to be very dead before you scrap fully if you aren’t careful. Yellow is fairly terrible at base removal (Battlecruiser notwithstanding), so bases make a better strategy for protection than against a green deck. Just don’t let them get a Recycling Station! And watch for savvy players who stick a Fleet HQ behind cheap 5 outposts – they live forever.
Your ability to come back after an early Brain World buy by your opponent often depends on two factors: how they bought it and if they bottom deck it (i.e., luck). It’s hard to win in this situation – make no mistake. But it is possible. If the Brain World was bought in Vanilla, typically the opponent has a slow deck and used up resources to do it (either having slow cards like Freighter/Trade Pod or sacrificing a Blob Wheel or Space Station). It means they have a slow start on the way to creating a very fast beck. Your choices are limited pretty much – kill them as fast as possible through yellow/green damage cards is the best option most times. Probably best not to bother with blue or red unless you get an opportunity to draw cards – they will be too slow and you need massive damage fast. If, on the other hand, they got that Brain World through Events/Gambits combos, they didn’t have to expend resources too much and only sheer luck of them bottom decking it while you gobble up anything that hits hards can probably save you. Recycling Station is the only non damage card that works against an early Brain World – though you can get bases that you can throw at the opponent like Barter World or Battle Station. Base removal with greens like Blob Destroyer work well. But for blue/red base removal cards (Missile Mech, Port O Call), you probably don’t want to count on them since they will dilute your deck’s damage dealing ability (investing in red won’t help – stay green/yellow).
This one is problematic – it’s the damage that it adds that really adds up fast. So while you are happily damaging your opponent, chances are you’ll be wide open at the same time. It’s just pure luck that they bottom deck it that will save you, unfortunately. And that’s the countermeasure – can you outdamage them or can you keep them from getting any further damage cards on the trade row.
The Megahauler is a machine with a fatal flaw – if there are no good ships out there, it’s a very expensive Fed Shuttle with automatic authority gain. Fortunately, there are Blobs and trade row control to tame the Megahauling beast! Green has the unique ability to preemptively scrap juicy big ship bombs awayt while at the same time providing punishing damage to counter the authority gain. Cards like Battle Pod and Screecher (as well as a Blob Destroyer when allied) efficiently clean out the trade row of threats – leaving an opponent’s Megahauler unusable bases or chump ships for the taking. Another strategy is to have a lot of blue of your own (e.g., Freighter) so you can control the trade row by buying out the good cards first – leaving poorer cards for their Megahauler.
Countering Early Bomb Ships Such As Command Ship, Mothership, Etc.
While these may look scary at the beginning, following good deck strategies (scrap, balancing defense and offense) is your best bet. Clearly, the Command Ship is the most problematic and you’ll want to go in very aggressive in damage to counteract its draw/authority gain. The other bombs are mostly damage oriented and those need to be countered with bases to slow down the authority loss or matching with authority gain.
Pretty much, you’ll have to go aggro, especially green. The longer those bases stay up, the less chance you have to come back. Start earlier rather than later, as well, or you’ll be caught flatfooted. So if your opponent gets a Space Station and there’s a Blob World in the trade row, abandon scrap and Authority and start investing in damage/base removal (especially green!). Even buying a Barter World to throw at the base can make a huge difference in how long it lives. It’s rare I’ve ever seen anyone go red and scrap enough to survive an opponent’s early Blob World.
So, although some decks are going to take you out no matter what, and you need some luck on your side (especially with what the Trade Row throws you) or against your opponent, you can at least make them work for it and earn some respect/props for it. Also important is to take note of those weaknesses if you end up with one of those killer decks; too often I see opponents with strong decks who make poor late game decisions that allow other players to exploit the weaknesses. But the key is flexibility – don’t turn a blind eye to how your opponent’s deck is developing: what they are doing currently and in future turns.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on May 17, 2016 by Talvi.
by: A. Joki/Talvi
As most learn fairly early, Star Realms is a game with deceptive depths. Over time, players often find themselves stuck on a plateau: unable to move forward and sometimes even backsliding. Typically, plateaus happen at similar points (around levels 6, 12, 17, 22) and come with realizations of key techniques or principles. If you are stuck, here are the most common reasons and the levels at which they often occur.
Continue reading →
This entry was posted in Strategy, Uncategorized on April 24, 2016 by Talvi.
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I’ve had many people ask me about the conflict they see with Zen and Christianity, or how Zen ties into Christianity. For many Christians, it can be a frustrating task trying to reconcile Zen insights with Christian doctrine. Maybe the best way to present Zen is to do so without comment; which is really the only way to talk about it.
From Zen and the Birds of Appetite by Thomas Merton:
The truth of the matter is, you can hardly set Christianity and Zen side by side and compare them. This would almost be like trying to compare mathematics and tennis. And if you are writing a book on tennis which might conceivably be read by many mathematicians, there is little point in bringing mathematics into the discussion – best to stick with tennis.
Now the reader with a Judeo-Christian background of some sort (and who in the West does not still have some such background?) will naturally be predisposed to misinterpret Zen because he will take up the position of one who is confronting a “rival system of thought” or a “competing ideology” or more simply a “false religion.” Anyone who adopts such a position makes it impossible for himself to see what Zen is, because he assumes in advance that Zen is something that it expressly refuses to be. Zen is not a systematic explanation of life, it is not an ideology, it is not a world view, not a theology of revelation and salvation…in fact, it fits no convenient category of ours. The chief characteristic of Zen is that it rejects all these systematic elaborations in order to get back, as far as possible, to the pure unarticulated and unexplained ground of direct experience. The direct experience of what? Life itself. What it means that I live: who is this “I” that exists and lives? What is the difference between an authentic and an illusory awareness of the self that exists and lives? What are and are not the basic facts of existence?
When we in the West speak of “basic facts of existence” we tend immediately to conceive these facts as reducible to certain austere and foolproof propositions – logical statements that are guaranteed to have meaning because they are empirically verifiable. These are what Bertrand Russell called “atomic facts.” Now for Zen it is inconceivable that the basic facts of existence should be able to be stated in any proposition however atomic. For Zen, from the moment fact is transferred to a statement it is falsified. One ceases to grasp the naked reality of experience and one grasps a form of words instead. The whole aim of Zen is not to make foolproof statements about experience, but to come to direct grips with reality without the mediation of logical verbalizing.
Mindfulness meditation seeks not to explain, but to pay attention, to become aware, to be mindful, in other words to develop a certain kind of consciousness that is above and beyond deception by verbal formulas – or by emotional excitement. Deception in what? Deception in its grasp of itself as it really is. Deception due to diversion and distraction from what is right there – consciousness itself.
In understanding Zen, it would be a great mistake to concentrate on “doctrine,” the formulated philosophy of life, and to neglect the experience, which is absolutely essential, the very heart of Zen. This is in a sense the exact opposite of the situation in Christianity. For Christianity begins with revelation. Though it would be misleading to classify this revelation simply as a “doctrine” and an “explanation” (it is far more than that – the revelation of God himself in the mystery of Christ) it is nevertheless communicated to us in words, in statements, and everything depends on the believer’s accepting the truth of these statements.
Therefore, Christianity has always been profoundly concerned with these statements: with the accuracy of their transmission from the original sources, with the precise understanding of their exact meaning, with the elimination and indeed condemnation of false interpretations.
This obsession with doctrinal formulas, juridical order and ritual exactitude has often made people forget that the heart of Christianity too, is a living experience of unity in Christ which far transcends all conceptual formulations. What too often has been overlooked, in consequence, is that Christianity is the taste and experience of eternal life. Too often the Christian has imagined himself obliged to stop short at a mere correct and external belief expressed in good moral behavior, instead of entering fully into the life, hope and love consummated by union with the invisible God “in Christ and in the Spirit,” thus fully sharing the Divine Nature.
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Curious about who’s supporting candidates for New Mexico’s hotly contested U.S. House races? New Mexico In Depth has compiled the data for you to sift through, or scroll through the numbers here.
You can also explore the reports on the Federal Election Commission’s website. Here’s how the support for primary candidates in Congressional Districts 2 and 3 breaks down by largest occupational sector. We’ll update these numbers after the next report is filed in advance of the primary election on June 5.
campaign finance
SOS holds out hope for campaign finance funding
By Sandra Fish, New Mexico In Depth | May 24, 2017
While New Mexico’s colleges and universities are hoping today’s special legislative session restores hundreds of million worth of funding, the Secretary of State’s office is yearning for something more modest. That’s $950,000 for a new online reporting system. New Mexico In Depth reported last week on lobbying records that revealed nearly $318,000 in advertising spending in 2016 and 2017 that was undisclosed because the reports exist only in paper form. The Secretary of State’s online system isn’t set up to receive and post the advertising-only filings online and the agency has requested the software upgrades the past two years. The upgrades would allow filers to submit such reports online, rather than on paper forms.
But for now, data downloads for lobbyists don’t include all the available information.
Loophole and vague laws create ambiguity in lobbyist reporting
By Sandra Fish, New Mexico In Depth | May 19, 2017
State lawmakers have repeatedly killed efforts to require greater disclosure by lobbyists that also would clarify the rules, reducing the ambiguity. Bills to tighten lobbyist reporting laws, including requiring details on all expenses, died in committee during this year’s 60-day session.
May lobby filings reveal $690,000 in NM spending
By Sandra Fish, New Mexico In Depth | May 19, 2017
Lobbyists reported spending more than $690,000 during the first four months of the year to influence legislators and other public officials. Much of the money went to food, drinks and gifts for lawmakers and other public officials. But nearly $244,450 went to advertising and phone calls aimed at motivating constituents to contact their lawmakers on a variety of issues. That advocacy spending, by 11 different groups, is considerably higher than the $106,000 reported by two interest groups in 2015, the last 60-day session. Much of the 2017 advocacy focused on failed efforts to increase background checks on gun purchases, but lobbyists reported trying to rally constituents to contact lawmakers on other issues as well.
May 2017 detailed lobbyist expenses
By Sandra Fish, New Mexico In Depth | May 8, 2017
Below are details for New Mexico lobbyists’ expenses for the first four months of 2017 based on reports of spending through May 1. The information comes from a New Mexico In Depth analysis of information from the New Mexico Secretary of State’s website. Search by lobbyist, employer or lawmakers, or sort by dates, amounts, etc. A copy of the data in a Google spreadsheet is available here.
2017 lobbyist spending through May 1
By Sandra Fish, New Mexico In Depth | May 8, 2017
Below is a list of lobbyists, their employers in 2017, and the 2017 expenses through May 1 that they’ve filed with the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office. You may search for a lobbyist’s name or a specific company or sort the columns alphabetically or by amount. Or just peruse the information. A copy of the data in a Google spreadsheet is available here.
2016 presidential race
New Mexico dairy company gave big bucks for Trump inaugural
By Sandra Fish, New Mexico In Depth | April 27, 2017
Four New Mexico donors kicked in $145,500 to the committee that paid President Donald Trump’s inauguration. That’s a fraction of the $107 million the inaugural committee reported raising in a report filed last week. Select Milk Producers, an Artesia-based dairy company, kicked in $100,000. That company is likely to benefit from an executive order to promote agriculture Trump signed this week. The administration is also involved in a dispute with Canada over pricing of dairy products.
Albuquerque Election 2017
Mayoral candidates notified of campaign filing issues
By Sandra Fish, New Mexico In Depth | April 27, 2017
The Albuquerque City Clerk is asking six mayoral and two city council candidates to fix campaign filing mistakes ranging from anonymous contributions to missing employers and occupations. The candidates have 10 days to remedy the errors or face fines. Susan Wheeler-Deischel received the most reprimands. As New Mexico In Depth previously pointed out, her campaign listed “NA” for employers in 17 instances. Another entry was blank.
City contractors give to ABQ mayoral candidates
By Sandra Fish, New Mexico In Depth | April 26, 2017
Employees of companies that do business with the city, and a few of those companies themselves, donated more than $74,000 to Albuquerque mayoral candidates through the end of March, an analysis by New Mexico In Depth found. That’s more than twice the amount the city found in an official report submitted last week, which was required within 48 hours of the latest campaign finance deadline. In 2007, Albuquerque voters approved a ban on corporate contributions and contributions from city contractors. But a 2013 lawsuit overturned those bans. As a result, the city’s purchasing department is now required to identify donors who do business with the city worth $20,000 or more during the last two years, as well as employees of those donors.
Fundraising gives insight into New Mexico 2018 gubernatorial race
By Sandra Fish, New Mexico In Depth | April 12, 2017
New Mexico’s 2018 election season is off to a fast start when it comes to campaign cash. Candidates reported raising $1.8 million in reports filed Monday, with nearly half that raised by Democratic gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The reports shed light on possible upcoming 2018 races. They also show funds raised for school board elections that concluded in February. You can search the data at New Mexico In Depth’s Openness Project.
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The American journalist’s harrowing 1871 quest to find England’s most celebrated explorer is also a story of newfound fascination with Africa
October 2003
As America rebuilt following the Civil War, a rift developed with her old nemesis, Great Britain. Superpower Britain and the ascendant United States were at loggerheads over such issues as the sinking of the British-built warship Alabama, British claims of worldwide naval supremacy, Newfoundland fishing rights and U.S. designs on making Canada part of the Union.
In October 1869, James Gordon Bennett Jr., the vehemently anti-British, hard-drinking 28-year-old editor of the New York Herald, saw this tension as a means to boost the paper’s already astronomical circulation of 60,000 copies a day. Specifically, he hoped to exploit the fame and mystery surrounding British explorer Dr. David Livingstone, who had been missing in Africa for four years. Although Livingstone’s achievements charting the unknown African continent had galvanized Britain, his government had been apathetic about rescuing him. Bennett decided Americans would do what the British would not. From a hotel room in Paris, he ordered Henry Morton Stanley, a newcomer to the Herald, to lead an expedition into the African wilderness to find the explorer, or “bring back all possible proofs of his being dead.” What Bennett did not know was that this brash cigar-smoking 28-year-old reporter—who had fought for both the blue and the gray in the Civil War—was as British as Livingstone.
Nyangwe, Congo, May 27, 1871—David Livingstone rested in the bustling marketplace in Nyangwe, a village on the shore of the LualabaRiver, on the western flank of today’s Democratic Republic of the Congo. Roughly a thousand miles to the west was the Atlantic Ocean; a thousand miles to the east, the Indian. Yet Livingstone was quite content being, so far as he knew, the only white man within that span. He was familiar with the local dialects, an admirer of the women and satisfied with the food, and he had developed a passion for observing the activity of the village market. In his journal he wrote that he was not bothered by the residents’ propensity for cannibalism. For, of all the gifts Livingstone possessed—perseverance, faith and fearlessness among them—the most remarkable was his ability to insinuate himself into African cultures.
Livingstone was in Africa to find the source of the NileRiver. Explorers had looked for it since Herodotus attempted a search around 460 B.C., but as centuries passed and failures mounted, the quest took on an almost mythical heft. “It is not given to us mortals,” 18th-century French author Montesquieu wrote, “to see the Nile feeble and at its source.”
During the 19th century, as the African interior was slowly charted, the search intensified. Most of the explorers—loners, thrill seekers and adventurous aristocrats were British, and many of them died from disease, animal attack or murder. With every failed attempt, Montesquieu’s words rang more true. (In fact, satellite images and aerial photographs would show that the Nile bubbles from the ground in the mountains of Burundi, between lakes Tanganyika and Victoria.) Finally, in the waning days of 1864, Sir Roderick Murchison, head of Britain’s Royal Geographical Society and the driving force behind countless global expeditions, beseeched his old friend Livingstone to find the source. Murchison traveled north from London to Newstead Abbey, the former estate of Lord Byron, where Livingstone was staying with friends. At a time when explorers enjoyed the fame of modern-day rock stars, none was better known than the 51-year-old Livingstone—a recent widower with four children—with his stutter, crooked left arm, and walrus mustache. Since his first trip to Africa in 1841, he had walked across the Kalahari Desert, traced the path of the 2,200-mile-long ZambeziRiver and, in the 1854-56 journey that made him famous, ambled from one side of Africa to the other. The former missionary’s renown was so great that he was mobbed by fans on the streets of London.
Livingstone had used his fame to preach for the abolition of the slave trade that was decimating the African people. Slavers from Persia, Arabia and Oman—whom Livingstone referred to collectively as “Arabs”—were penetrating deeper into the continent to capture men, women and children for sale in the markets of Zanzibar. Often, African tribes even raided other tribes and sold captives to the Arabs in exchange for firearms.
Despite Livingstone’s reputation, his finances had been ravaged by a failed expedition up the Zambezi between 1858 and 1863. He needed one last great adventure, and the revenue from the bestselling book that was sure to follow, before retiring. So when Murchison asked his old friend to search for the source of the Nile, Livingstone agreed. He had left England in August 1865, planning to return in two years.
Now, six years later, Livingstone sat on the banks of the Lualaba watching thousands of residents of Nyangwe mingle among Arab slave traders in the village market. He had been plagued by one setback after another: anemia, dysentery, bone-eating bacteria, the loss of his teeth, thieving porters and, finally, worst of all, outright poverty—so much so that he now depended upon the Arabs for his food and shelter. That benevolence came with a price. Aware of the increasing worldwide opposition to their trade, the Arabs refused to allow Livingstone to send letters home by their caravans for fear he would spread word of their deeper encroachment. Even so, Livingstone was now enjoying a reprieve. Adiet of porridge, butter and rice had fattened him. All seemed well.
Tabora, Tanganyika (today’s Tanzania), June 23, 1871—In the three months since Stanley had left the east coast of Africa to find Livingstone, he had battled malaria, starvation and dysentery, losing 40 pounds. The expedition had suffered floods, famine, pestilence and drought. Of two white companions who had begun the journey with him, one had died from elephantiasis and the other had fired a pistol at Stanley during a failed mutiny, only to die from smallpox later. Two-thirds of the porters had deserted or died.
Stanley was now in Tabora to regroup. The sprawling village on the savanna was one of three primary Arab enclaves in East Africa; the others were the island of Zanzibar, roughly 400 miles east of Tabora, and Ujiji, 350 miles west on the banks of Lake Tanganyika. Tabora was the crown jewel, its large houses and lavish gardens occupied by the wealthiest Arab residents.
But Tabora was not a paradise to Stanley. To him, it was dusty and Spartan, with that hostility common to crossroads and border towns, and the curious stares of the locals made him uneasy. Nonetheless, he had come a long way in the year and a half since Bennett had called the reporter to Paris and ordered him to Africa.
Stanley had come far, period. His real name was John Rowlands, and he had been born in Denbigh, Wales, his father the town drunk and his 19-year-old mother a local prostitute. He was given up to a workhouse at age 5. He was released at 15 and at 17 fled to New Orleans where he started his life anew by erasing his past. John Rowlands had become Henry Morton Stanley, who began living a very American series of adventures: he fought for the Confederacy, was taken prisoner and, when offered the chance to switch sides, fought for the Union. He drifted west after the war to try to make his fortune mining gold and silver, and he became a journalist covering the American Indian Wars, rubbing elbows with Ulysses S. Grant and Wild Bill Hickok. There seemed no limit to the things he was willing to take on.
Africa, however, scared Stanley. The fear had set in as he sailed to Zanzibar to purchase supplies and hire men for the expedition. He had had nightmares and even pondered suicide to avoid traveling into the “eternal, feverish region.” Despite his anxieties, by March 21, 1871, he had managed to assemble one of the largest expeditions to ever set forth from Zanzibar—so big that Stanley was forced to divide it into five subcaravans and stagger their departures to avoid robbery. As Stanley set off, he heard rumors that a white man had been seen near Ujiji, some 750 miles inland.
During the march to Tabora, Stanley had written regularly in his journal but had sent nothing to the newspaper. On July 4, he penned his first dispatch to Bennett in the form of a 5,000-word letter—enough to fill the front page of the Herald. In it, Stanley told of his fears and even his contemplation of suicide. “I should like to enter into more minute details respecting this new land, which is almost unknown,” he wrote, “but the very nature of my mission, requiring speed and all my energy precludes it. Some day, perhaps, the Herald will permit me to describe more minutely the experiences of the long march, with all its vicissitudes and pleasures, in its columns, and I can assure your readers beforehand that they will be not quite devoid of interest. But now my whole time is occupied in the march, and the direction of the expedition, the neglect of which in any one point would be productive of disastrous results.” Stanley held back the information his audience wanted most until the final paragraph. Livingstone, he told them, was rumored to be on his way to Ujiji. “Until I hear more of him or see the long absent old man face to face, I bid you a farewell,” he signed off. “But wherever he is be sure I shall not give up the chase. If alive you shall hear what he has to say. If dead I will find him and bring his bones to you.”
Stanley sent his dispatch with a caravan going east with instructions to give it to the American consul in Zanzibar, who would then send it to New York by ship. But Stanley hadn’t told his readers everything. Afierce tribal war blocked the road to Ujiji, threatening to derail his entire expedition. Stanley would either have to embroil himself in the fighting or find an alternate—uncharted—route to the south.
As he pondered his course of action, he encountered a far more lethal obstacle. On July 7, as Stanley sat in the shade in Tabora’s afternoon heat, drowsiness washed over him like a drug. “The brain was busy. All my life seemed passing in review before me,” he wrote. “The loveliest feature of all to me was of a noble and true man who called me son.” Stanley’s intense visions evoked long-forgotten emotions: “When these retrospective scenes became serious, I looked serious; when they were sorrowful I wept hysterically; when they were joyous I laughed loudly.” In fact, Stanley was suffering from dementia brought on by cerebral malaria, the often fatal strain of that disease.
Nyangwe, Congo, July 15, 1871—Livingstone took his usual seat in the shade to observe the marketplace. Soon, slave traders arrived and started squabbling with the Africans. Suddenly, the slavers began firing their guns into the crowd. A horrified Livingstone watched as the villagers fled and more Arabs joined the slaughter. “Men opened fire on the mass of people near the upper end of the marketplace, volleys were discharged from a party down near the creek on the panic-stricken women who dashed at the canoes,” Livingstone wrote. “These, some 50 or more, were jammed in the creek and the men forgot their paddles in the terror that seized all.”
The Arabs stood along the riverbank, calmly aiming and firing, then reloading to kill again. When the villagers leapt from their canoes and began swimming, the Arabs picked them off. Livingstone had run out of paper, and was writing his journal on any scrap he could find—old checks, magazine pages. Livingstone’s supply of ink was gone too. Instead, he was using a red dye he had made from roots; the color brought a graphic realism to the tales of murder: “As I write I hear the loud wails on the left bank over those who are there slain, ignorant of their many friends who are now in the depths of the Lualaba. Oh, let Thy kingdom come!” he implored God.
Livingstone fled Nyangwe for Ujiji a few days after the massacre. The path he took was new to him, and in the heavy equatorial heat, his dysentery returned. His feet had swollen; his shoes were falling apart. “The mind acted on the body,” he wrote. “And it is no overstatement to say that every step of between 400 and 500 miles was [taken] in pain.”
Near the MalagarasiRiver, Tanganyika, October 7, 1871—Stanley was barely in control of the caravan. The cerebral malaria that had nearly killed him in Tabora had been followed by a bout of smallpox. It was a tribute to Stanley’s constitution that he was still searching for Livingstone. It had been nearly three weeks since he’d left Tabora. The caravan had traveled hundreds of miles out of its way, through uncharted terrain, to avoid the tribal fighting taking place between Tabora and Ujiji. Food had been scarce, and hunger had slowed the caravan’s pace. Now, Stanley’s men were pushing to reach the MalagarasiRiver, a wide, powerful flow that fed Lake Tanganyika. But the men were weak. The expedition was less than a hundred miles from Ujiji, but it might as well have been ten times that distance.
On November 1, after two weeks of searching, Stanley finally reached the MalagarasiRiver. Villages lined its banks, and fish-eating birds could be seen in the shallows. The caravan restocked with food and water, but the Malagarasi offered up another challenge. Crocodiles dotted the surface as far as the eye could see, and the only way to cross was to hire locals to ferry the caravan. By sunset, all were across except the donkeys, which were to swim alongside the canoes, held by their halters. The first donkey to go was a favorite of Stanley’s named Simba—“lion” in Swahili. Halfway across, to Stanley’s horror, crocodiles attacked Simba and dragged him underwater. That night, sadness permeated the caravan. Simba’s gruesome death was a reminder that the same could happen to any of them. All traces of melancholy vanished the next morning, however, when a passing traveler told of seeing a white man in Ujiji.
Lake Tanganyika, October 8, 1871—Livingstone’s endurance was remarkable, but by the time he had reached Lake Tanganyika, his will was shattered. Describing the moment, he wrote, “I was reduced to a skeleton.”
The continued failure of his mission was breaking Livingstone. He set off by canoe to cross to Ujiji, hoping to find supplies from the British Consulate waiting for him. But when he reached Ujiji, there was nothing. Livingstone now faced the desperate choice of becoming a beggar or starving to death. He spent his days in Ujiji praying for deliverance. “I made up my mind to wait until men should come from the coast,” he wrote, still hoping the British consul would send help. “But to wait in beggary was what I never contemplated, and now I felt miserable.”
Rescue looked bleak. Both to the east and to the west, Arabs and Africans were fighting. “I felt, in my destitution, as if I were the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves. But I could not hope for priest, Levite or good Samaritan to come by on either side,” Livingstone wrote.
London, England, October 20, 1871—In his prime, Sir Roderick Murchison had been the consummate outdoorsman. The tall, dramatic former president of the Royal Geographical Society had ridden to hounds as a country squire, trekked the Alps and roamed the countrysides of England, Scotland and Russia in the name of geology. But at 79, just two years after the death of his wife, Charlotte, and two months after his second stroke, Murchison now rarely ventured from his storied mansion at 16 Belgrave Square, where Victorian England’s mighty once mingled with her bravest explorers. He had recently regained his ability to speak and swallow, however, and longed to venture outside. And so, on this fall day, he impulsively took the carriage ride that would give him pneumonia and kill him two days later.
History had never known an explorer like Roderick Impey Murchison. His legacy laid the groundwork for the spread of the British Empire. His peers named 23 topographical features on six continents in his honor—waterfalls, rivers, mountains, glaciers and even an island.
Livingstone’s absence consumed Murchison. He longed for his friend to return. Murchison had vowed he would not be laid to rest until that great day came. “I will then,” the old showman had promised, “take leave of you in the fullness of my heart.”
Ujiji, Tanganyika, November 10, 1871—The Herald caravan had set forth before dawn on what Stanley hoped would be the last hours of its mission. They had still to cross over a mountain, but Stanley didn’t care. He just wanted to get to Ujiji. But the view from the summit had taken his breath away. Lake Tanganyika sparkled below like a silver sea. “In a few minutes we shall have reached the spot where we imagine the objects of our search,” he wrote. “Our fate will soon be decided. No one in the town knows we are coming.”
A mile from town, Stanley ordered the American colors raised. “The flags are fluttered, the banner of America is in front waving joyfully,” Stanley wrote. The sound of muskets firing and horns blowing filled the air. “Never were the Stars and Stripes so beautiful in my mind.”
As Stanley entered Ujiji, thousands of people pressed around the caravan. Livingstone had been sitting on a straw mat on the mud veranda of his small house, pondering his woeful future, when he heard the commotion. Now Livingstone got slowly to his feet. Above the throngs of people, he saw the American flag snapping in the breeze and porters bearing an incredible assortment of goods: bales of cloth, huge kettles, tents. “This must be a luxurious traveler,” Livingstone thought. “And not one at wit’s end like me.”
Livingstone pushed through the crowd and saw a tanned, gaunt man. His boots were worn and his sun-beaten helmet clean. The man had such a formal bearing that, despite the Stars and Stripes, Livingstone assumed he was French. He hoped the traveler spoke English, for Livingstone didn’t speak a word of French. He thought that they would be “a pretty pair of white men in Ujiji if neither one spoke the other’s language.”
What Stanley saw was a pale white man wearing a faded blue cap and patched clothing. The man’s hair was white, he had few teeth, and his beard was bushy. He walked, Stanley wrote, “with a firm and heavy tread.”
Stanley stepped up crisply to the old man, removed his helmet and extended his hand. According to Stanley’s journal, it was November 10, 1871. With formal intonation, representing America but trying to affect British gravity, Stanley spoke, according to later accounts, the most dignified words that came to mind: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
“Yes,” Livingstone answered simply.
“I thank God, doctor,” Stanley said, appalled at how fragile Livingstone looked, “I have been permitted to see you.”
“I feel thankful,” Livingstone said with typical understatement, “I am here to welcome you.”
London, England, October 27, 1871—On a cool autumn morning, under a sky that threatened rain, a procession of 13 mourning carriages rolled through the north entrance of Brompton Cemetery moving toward the grave site of Sir Roderick Murchison. He would be buried next to his wife. Prime Minister William Gladstone and a host of dignitaries stepped from their carriages and solemnly walked to the grave. Murchison was a conservative, and Gladstone the day’s preeminent liberal, but the two men had crossed paths for a lifetime. “Went to Sir R. Murchison’s funeral; the last of those who had known me from infancy,” Gladstone wrote in his journal. “And so a step toward the end is made visible.”
Stanley’s and Livingstone’s journals show that both men had lost track of time, and their journals were off by days—in Stanley’s case, as much as two weeks. The date on which Stanley actually found Livingstone was not November 10 but October 27—two years to the day since Bennett had bestowed the Great Commission upon Stanley. It was also the very day of Murchison’s burial. In fact—given that Murchison’s funeral ran from 11:00 in the morning until 1:30 in the afternoon, and taking into account a two-hour time difference, Murchison would have been lowered into the ground only after his long-lost friend had been found by Stanley.
In the hours after their meeting, Stanley and Livingstone forged a profound bond. “I found myself gazing at him,” Stanley wrote of that afternoon on Livingstone’s veranda when the two men sat eating and drinking until well into the evening. “Every hair of his head and beard, every wrinkle of his face, the wanness of his features, and the slightly wearied look he wore, were all imparting intelligence to me—the knowledge I craved for so much.”
Livingstone, for his part, was no less moved. “You have brought me new life,” he told Stanley between bites of stewed goat, curried chicken and rice.
Stanley had originally planned to depart quickly for Zanzibar, racing back to the outside world with news of his achievement. But in a rare departure from character, he set aside ambition to bask in his newfound friendship. He oversaw Livingstone’s return to health, then accepted his offer to explore the dark green waters of Lake Tanganyika. They spent a month traveling in a dugout canoe paddled by 20 of Stanley’s men. Though Stanley had proved adept at the fundamentals of African travel, Livingstone was giving him a tutorial on exploration.
They returned to Ujiji, where Livingstone vowed to continue searching for the source of the Nile, despite Stanley’s urgings that they return to London. Stanley traveled to Tabora with Livingstone and outfitted him with supplies and new porters. After five months together, the men parted ways on March 14, 1872. As a tearful Stanley left for Zanzibar, Livingstone said, “You have done what few men could do, and I am grateful.”
No less than James Gordon Bennett Jr. had hoped, Stanley’s finding of Livingstone—reported in the May 2, 1872, edition of the Herald under the headline “Livingstone Safe”—was an international sensation. Stanley returned to London, then New York, a hero. Bennett and the Herald milked the story for a year. The saga of Stanley and Livingstone sparked an unlikely turning point in history. Journalism’s growing power, America’s ascendancy and Britain’s eventual eclipse, one generation of explorer giving way to another, and the opening of Africa—all were foreshadowed or came about as a result of Livingstone’s love of Africa and Stanley’s march to find him.
Livingstone, worn down by disease, died in today’s Zambia, on May 1, 1873, a year and a half after his meeting with Stanley. His attendants mummified his body and handed it over to British authorities. His remains were buried in Westminster Abbey. Stanley was a pallbearer at Livingstone’s funeral. Afterward, he fulfilled a vow he’d made to the explorer to return to Africa to search for the source of the Nile. In his failed attempt, Stanley circumnavigated lakes Victoria and Tanganyika, then traveled the length of the Congo River to the Atlantic. Later, however, he besmirched his reputation by accepting money from King Leopold II of Belgium to help create the Congo Free State and promote the slave trade. Though he returned to Britain, married in 1890 (he and his wife, Dorothy, adopted a 1-year-old Welsh child in 1896), resumed his British citizenship in 1892 and served in Parliament, when he died at age 63, he was denied burial in Westminster Abbey because of his actions in the Congo Free State.
Stanley swore he uttered the words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume,” but the page pertaining to that moment was torn out of his journal. It is possible that it went missing in an act of sabotage by a farsighted collector. But if Stanley didn’t make the statement and removed the page to cover his tracks, few who knew the Welshman turned American would have been surprised. He may well have fabricated the quote for his Herald stories (he mentions it in two dispatches; one published July 15, 1872, the other on August 10, 1872). In any case, the four words became the journey’s defining moment. By the time Stanley returned from Africa, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” was so well known that recanting would have caused considerable loss of face. To the day he died of complications of a stroke and pleurisy in London on May 10, 1904, Stanley maintained he had spoken the eloquent phrase.
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A local organization continues its mission to curb crime in North Nashville -- but the group needs help. Gideon's Army is known for its efforts to restore justice. It's asking for one million dollars in funding from the Metro Government.
Posted at 6:01 PM, Jun 14, 2021
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The local organization Gideon's Army is continuing its mission to curb crime in North Nashville but the group needs help.
It's known for its efforts to restore justice, and members are asking for $1 million in funding from Metro Government.
"The thing is that part of the sickness in the community is a lack of resources and so it perpetuates the sickness and it’s really hard to address these issues without the resources that are needed to do it," said Rasheedat Fetuga, founder and CEO of Gideon's Army.
Gideon’s Army has been working to keep North Nashville safe, clothed and fed for many years.
The non-profit works to end the school-to-prison pipeline and members say the mission is about equity and healing.
Fetuga says with the help from Council member At-Large Sharon Hurt and the Minority Caucus, the organization could fund its violence interrupters program.
The program consists of men and women of North Nashville in the streets at all hours to de-escalate crime, help victims of crime and be a presence of positive change.
"This is community self-empowerment because we hire people from within the neighborhoods we focus on, credible messengers," said Fetuga.
She means messengers like Hambino Godbody, who is the director of the violence interrupters program and sometimes has to be a shield.
"By the community knowing us personally and seeing our change that’s what makes us credible messengers and give them hope that they can do the same thing," she said. "We’re literally be out here standing in between people in guns just daily. it’s just a job we do."
Fetuga says the requests is not a lot of money compared to other areas in the budget focused on public safety. She says her program works.
Fetuga says the Cumberland View apartments went almost a year without a shooting, she credits that to the boots on the ground.
"We had no shootings, no homicides, no robberies, no carjackings, no nothing for almost a year, 10 months," Fetuga said.
Unfortunately, there was a shooting in Cumberland View that took the life an innocent 3-year-old girl back in April.
Fetuga says the violence interrupters can’t be everywhere at all times but with the right amount of funding and resources they can cover more streets.
"We have the answers, we have the solutions but there’s not been a time where the city has really got in behind people who are on the ground, and that’s been the issue, so we all know what we need to heal our communities. "
Metro council has until the end of the month to vote and pass an operating budget.
Copyright 2021 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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The 2016 campaign has not started how the Massachusetts team had hoped. The Minutemen were swept in their three-game series this past weekend in Charleston, South Carolina to Charleston Southern – failing to win an opening weekend game for the third consecutive season.
“We hit the ball and scored some runs,” UMass coach Mike Stone said regarding his team’s performance against CSU. “I think we built a lot of confidence. You just need to get acclimated. It doesn’t happen automatically. You need to get outside and start playing – see some fly balls and some live pitching. It takes some time to get acclimated.”
The silver lining in another slow start for UMass has been the play of junior designated hitter and outfielder Mike Hart. Hart caught fire in the opening series for the Minutemen hitting .455, slugging .636 and reaching base at a .500 clip, which leads the team in all three categories along with total bases.
“He’s a scrapper, a worker – He plays the game hard,” Stone said. “(Hart) makes things happen offensively. Not only did he swing the bat well, he’s the kind of guy that can find a way to get on (base) in a number of different ways. That’s what we need to see more of throughout our lineup. He really started squaring the ball up a lot – especially in the third game. He’s just looked really good…I expect that if he’s in there (the lineup), we’re going to be tough top to bottom and that will kind of spread a little bit to other people in a positive way, and hopefully that will catch on.”
The Lowell, Massachusetts native played in 21 games last season for UMass, and started just 10. Hart hit .233 last season, which was ninth best on the roster, but was one of six players to hit a home run. Hart’s bat and offensive power are essential for the Minutemen if they hope to put together a winning season.
With the losses of offensive leaders Kyle Adie, Rob McLam and Adam Picard, UMass will need ample help in front of catcher and first baseman John Jennings, shortstop Vinny Scifo and pitcher and first baseman Mike Geannelis, among others in the lineup to aid in scoring runs.
“I have a lot of confidence this year – more than I had before,” Hart said. “Coach (Stone) put me in a spot where I have a chance to succeed. I’m not going out there hoping I can get a hit this year. I’m going out there with a lot of confidence – knowing I can get a hit.”
Some of that confidence was found away from the UMass campus. Hart played in the Inner City League this summer, where he led the league in almost every offensive category including his .506 batting average.
“I just started to see the ball deeper,” Hart added. “Especially with my coach in summer ball, he had all the confidence in me. Coach (Stone) is letting me do that this year. Trying to keep my swing down, I’m just seeing the ball deeper and having more confidence – I’m not just jumping at pitches.”
Stone has inserted Hart into the number three spot in the lineup, typically awarded to the best hitter on the team. Coach Stone has all the confidence in his designated hitter’s abilities.
“He looks good at the plate,” Stone added. “He’s got good balance. He’s a competitor at the plate. I think he likes his role, hitting number three. He should get better and better.”
Kyle DaLuz can be reached at [email protected].
umass amherst baseball
Kyle is the managing editor of the Daily Collegian, as well as a night and web editor. Formerly the Collegian sports editor, Kyle has been with the Collegian...
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State Bank of India is a public sector banking, its is a government-owned corporation.? SBI RECRUITMENT 2022 - LATEST SBI JOB OPENING LIST:
How can I apply for SBI 2022?
SBI Recruitment 2022: The State Bank of India has released the SBI Recruitment 2022 Notification for a total number of 211 posts on 15th June 2022 on its official website @www.sbi.in.
The notification for the SBI Clerk exam 2022 will be released in April 2022 (tentatively). Along with the SBI Clerk notification for 2022, the SBI Clerk exam dates will also be announced. Lakhs of candidates apply for the SBI Clerk recruitment every year thus making it one of the most competitive exams in India.20-Jun-2022
How many vacancies are there in SBI?
A. A total of 2056 vacancies were announced for SBI PO 2021 exam. Out of these, a total of 810 vacancies are for the General category, 200 are for EWS, 560 are for OBC, 162 are for ST and 324 are for SC.
What is SBI Clerk salary?
The SBI Clerk Salary Structure is- Rs. 17900-1000/3-20900-1230/3-24590-1490/4-30550-1730/7-42600-3270/1-45930-1990/1-47920. According to the pay scale mentioned in the SBI Clerk notification 2022, the SBI Junior or Clerk Associate has a basic pay of INR 19,900. The details of the same are mentioned below.6 days ago
Can I work in SBI without exam?
Job in SBI Bank for Graduates 2022 Without Exam!!! SBI SCO Job Vacancy 2022: One of the High Paid Salary Jobs in Bank- Check Job Salary, Eligibility Details: State Bank of India has opened the gate for the eligible candidates to fill the vacancy of various posts under Specialist Cadre Officers.14-Feb-2022
What is the qualification for SBI Clerk?
Graduation degree
Which bank exam is easy?
Amongst all the banking exams the easiest to crack is IBPS RRB - Regional Rural Bank examinations.
Is SBI Clerk easy to crack?
No, every exam is tough as far as one is prepared for it. SBI Clerk and IBPS Clerk both are clerical-level exams. Usually, the SBI prelims exam is easy to moderate & Mains exam is moderate to difficult in terms of difficulty level.12-Apr-2022
Is SBI Clerk a good job?
The SBI Clerk salary is exceptionally good in comparison to other joining level job profiles in the banking sector. The State Bank of India (SBI) is the largest public sector bank in India. Hence, SBI Clerk is one of the most demanding entry-level jobs in the country.
Can we crack SBI Clerk in 6 months?
Preparing for SBI Clerk exam is not a one-week or one-month task. It requires dedicated preparation for at least six months to crack the exam.28-Apr-2022
Does SBI Clerk have interview?
The candidates will be selected for the SBI Clerk Post on the basis of marks scored in Mains Examination as there is no further interview procedure. The aggregate marks obtained in SBI Clerk Mains Exam will be considered for the preparation of the final merit list.27-Jan-2022
What is SBI PO salary?
What is the starting SBI PO salary? Ans. The starting SBI PO salary is Rs. 41,960/- (basic pay) which is followed by four increments. The pay scale of a Probationary Officer/ Management Trainee is 36000-1490/7-46430-1740/2-49910-1990/7-63840.
What is salary of SBI so?
The basic pay of SBI SO Junior Management (grade 1) is Rs 23,700/-.SBI SO Salary in India- Payscale, Allowances and other benefits.
Is SBI PO exam tough?
The overall examination can be rated as tough. Data Interpretation and Reasoning sections were very difficult, while the English and General Awareness sections were easy to moderate and thankfully, as per expectations. The overall cutoff is predicted to be lower than that of SBI PO 2018 examination.22-Jul-2019
What is the highest post in SBI?
The highest rank an SBI Clerk may attain is that of Deputy General Manager.State Bank of India Careers - SBI Clerk Career Progression.
Are bank exams difficult?
Unaware of the tough competition: Candidates appearing for the bank examination take it very casually, which is one of the primary reasons why candidates do not qualify. There are lakhs of aspirants applying for a post where the vacancies are in thousands. The competition for the exam is highly tough.
Can a clerk become PO?
Can a clerk become po? Ans. No a clerk cannot become PO but he can be promoted to TO ( Trainee Officer) which is equivalent to PO.23-Jul-2020
What is qualification for SBI manager?
How can I become SBI cashier?
Generally in public sector banks, an All India Level examination is taken up for the post graduates from which the candidates are chosen. So focus on the preparation of the bank exams like SBI, RBI etc and once you clear it, with experience and your performance in the entrance you get selected for various positions.12-Mar-2017
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Republican lead in House shrinks again as voters see high-stakes contest — CBS News Battleground Tracker - Isanti County Local Business Dealz
Pricing
Republican lead in House shrinks again as voters see high-stakes contest — CBS News Battleground Tracker
27 September 2022
The Republicans have a lead. But it keeps shrinking.
While they’re still in a very good position to capture a House majority, that majority looks narrower today than it ever has, having ticked down for the second straight month to 223 seats in our model estimate. Republicans were at 226 in August and 230 in July.
Voters are engaged because they think the stakes are so high — for many, bigger than just affecting their pocketbooks.
Two-thirds of voters feel their rights and freedoms are very much at stake in this election — more so even than say their financial well being is.
And each side feels if the opposition gained control of Congress, people like them would have fewer rights and freedoms than they do now.
Voters believe by two to one that a Republican Congress would lead to women getting fewer rights and freedoms than they have now, rather than more rights.
By more than four to one, if Republicans win, voters think any change in rights for LGBTQ people would see them getting fewer rights, not more.
Voters feel that on balance, men and people of faith are more apt to gain rights rather than lose them if Republicans win — but many also feel things would stay the same.
How the issue constituencies define this race — and why things have shifted a little
Democrats’ lead on the abortion issue is a little bigger now, while Republicans haven’t grown their support among voters prioritizing the economy since last month.
Republicans have the same lead they did in August among voters who say the economy and inflation are “very important” to their vote.
Democrats now have a slightly larger lead among those saying abortion is very important than they did in August.
Why? One possible reason: people who say abortion is very important to their vote tend to think Democrats are talking about the issue — more so than other topics. That may be satisfying their need to hear about it.
People who think the economy is very important think the Republicans are talking about immigration and President Biden more than about their economic policies.
It’s not that those topics are unimportant. It’s just not necessarily matching voters’ priorities. So there’s perhaps a relatively unmet need there. (And voters who prioritize the economy say Democrats are talking about economics even less.)
And that’s why the campaign right now is centered around defining what the contest is about
If Democrats want this contest to be about abortion, we can clearly see why:
The idea of a national abortion ban is very unpopular: 70% of voters oppose it.
Voters overwhelmingly reject the idea of the state requiring a woman to give birth if she were to become pregnant through a case of rape or incest, instead saying that decision should be left up to the woman.
Abortion is a make-or-break issue for most women voters. Seven in 10 women say a candidate must agree with them on that to get their vote. That’s higher than other issues tested. This is especially the case for women who want abortion to be legal. A larger percentage of them rank the issue as very important than either the economy or inflation.
Abortion is now the top issue for Democratic women.
By a substantial margin, voters say the overturning of Roe makes them more likely to back a Democratic candidate than a Republican one.
If Republicans want to make immigration a central issue, that’s important at least for their base. In a turnout election, that matters.
The Republican base overwhelmingly likes that GOP governors are sending migrants to Democratic areas of the country — nearly nine in 10 approve. Views on this are split on party lines overall.
The migrant transfers may have increased the salience of the immigration issue a little for each party’s base, and a bit for independents. It’s up with both groups ranking it “very important.”
Most Republicans say they approve of transferring migrants because it forces other states to deal with the issue and calls attention to the problem, though fewer than half say it is good for the migrants.
Republicans want crime to be a central issue — and they have a distinct edge on that.
Republican policies are seen by more voters as able to keep them safe. And Republicans are winning voters who say crime is very important, by a wide margin.
The big picture: the threats to democracy
And then — the number who feel democracy is threatened is still high.
The 2022 election may not end this, after a year in which election deniers have already won nominations for offices.
One third of Republicans — and fully half of MAGA Republicans — think the Republicans should plan to challenge states and districts the Democrats win in 2022, and not accept the results.
Only 17% of Democrats feel Democrats should similarly challenge if the GOP wins.
The Trump factor is still there
Former President Donald Trump is a net negative with the rest of the electorate overall. For that matter, Mr. Biden is too.
More voters are voting to oppose Trump than support him, on balance.
But two-thirds of Republicans say it’s at least somewhat important for the party to be loyal to Trump.
Trump motivates turnout for Republicans: those who think loyalty to him is “very important” are more enthusiastic and more likely to say they’ll vote than those who place less importance on loyalty.
That makes it harder for Republican candidates to distance themselves even if they wanted to.
What can change
Despite enthusiasm growing, Democrats are still less likely than Republicans to say they’ll definitely vote. They haven’t closed that gap. (A big part of that is young people being less likely to turn out.)
Once we get beyond those most concerned with abortion, the Democrats still have work to do making this midterm electorate look like midterms that they’ve won.
Last month we found people becoming a little less negative about the economy. But there’s been no change since then. And a majority still expects things to slow or head into recession. One key factor could be the direction that sentiment heads from here.
And there’s Mr. Biden. A sitting president is usually a factor in any midterm. Mr. Biden’s approval rating ticked up last month but has not changed since. As with the economy, movement from here could potentially change things.
Finally, each party thinks they’re hearing a lot of campaign talk about the other side, more than talk about issues.
Plenty of partisans continue to see the other side as enemies, threats to their way of life — not just political opponents. It’s the case for over half of Republicans, with MAGA voters especially seeing things this way, and for almost half of Democrats.
Those voters are far more likely to see rights and freedoms at stake.
But they’re also more likely to vote.
So, in an election that will turn on turnout, we might expect to hear a lot of negative partisanship — because that’s what a lot of these voters want, a reflection, perhaps, of the state of our politics today.
This CBS News/YouGov Battleground Tracker survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,253 registered voters interviewed between September 21-23, 2022. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as to 2020 presidential vote. The margin of error is ±2.3 points. The House seats estimates are based on a multilevel regression and post–stratification model incorporating voter responses to this survey. Each party’s seat estimate has a margin of error of ±13 seats.
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The marketers that make us tick Marketing at Cutshort is not merely a business function. It’s the beating heart that gives life to everything we do. Be it getting thousands of companies and candidates to our platform or ensuring customer delight – the Cutshort buzz machine sets the highest standards for everything they touch. While… Continue reading Inside the Cutshort Buzz Machine
Published May 25, 2022
The joy of building Cutshort together
Charting our ambitious future during the Goa offsite. A village can raise a child. But when it comes to building a company, even a company could feel overwhelmed. This is why we built Cutshort on the shoulder of giants and never fooled ourselves into thinking that it’s an individualistic effort. Where we are is a… Continue reading The joy of building Cutshort together
Published May 5, 2022
What we learned 10 months after we stopped salary negotiatons
We took an unconventional decision 10 months ago. Here’s what we learned… Never take the first salary number you are offered. You’ve got to negotiate for a higher pay before you pick up a new stint and then multiple times during your career. – Every career expert, anywhere Why do experts give this advice? Simple… Continue reading What we learned 10 months after we stopped salary negotiatons
Published April 29, 2022
A sneak peek of what makes us tick and how we get stuff done at Cutshort Build a capable team and enable them to work together on your mission. Everything else will fall in place. -Jack Welch. Actually, no, it’s Nikunj, our founder who says this. And culture is what enables people to make… Continue reading The Cutshort Culture Guide
Published April 22, 2022
Meet Sweta Agarwal: A Yoga teacher turned Cutshorter
What makes her journey a success story, every single day? A Yoga instructor who loves crunching numbers and data – That’s Sweta Agarwal for you! And this passion was what led our User Success Manager to study acturial science during her BBA. Forever eager to “learn something new everyday and grow fast”, Sweta seized every… Continue reading Meet Sweta Agarwal: A Yoga teacher turned Cutshorter
Published April 15, 2022
Cutshort gives me the opportunity and flexibility to do things my way: Noel Grewal
Find out what else motivates her here! For Delhi-bred and currently Madurai-based Noel Grewal, joining Cutshort was a no-brainer. When she was interviewing, her conversations with Cutshort – via an open house first and interviews later – gave Noel an insight into how it is to work here. She felt that the entire hiring process… Continue reading Cutshort gives me the opportunity and flexibility to do things my way: Noel Grewal
Published April 1, 2022
Know what keeps him ticking and drives him to perform better As he comes from a business family that owns a leading travel company in North India, one would have expected Parth Lal to join the family business. But destiny had other plans! While studying in Delhi Public School, Parth was intrigued by theater –… Continue reading Meet Parth Lal: A key account manager at Cutshort
Published March 25, 2022
We have just refreshed our brand identity. And more importantly, our focus. Read more to understand why.
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There are 18,000 jobs that need filling in Startup Nation. Professor Ami Moyal has joined CTech to share how the college is shaping future techies
Startup Nation might currently be plagued with layoffs that are spooking the industry, but one fact will still remain: the talent shortage across Israel’s tech sector is still felt by those who are expected to grow both in terms of market and talent. As the government toys with the idea of helping incentivize overseas talent to fill seats, engineering school Afeka College is taking the effort local with its Hebrew-speaking campus located in Tel Aviv. Its goal, according to its President Professor Ami Moyal, is to create ‘graduate profiles’ that easily integrate with the changing needs of the country’s tech sector.
“The question on the table was ‘how do we see the ultimate graduate as an engineer that will be the graduate of Afeka?’” asked Professor Moyal. “Normally, academic programs are judged by the process - the curriculum, the faculty, the professor, the graduates, the admission, etc. We took a different approach from the beginning.”
After years of research, Afeka College has determined that there are six main elements for the ‘desired profile of an Afeka graduate’: scientific knowledge of maths and physics; engineering knowledge in specific fields; personal skills such as critical thinking and multidisciplinary teamwork; ability to communicate in English, Hebrew, and programming; social values such as ethics and social awareness; and an overall broad knowledge base of understanding global contexts and other non-engineering disciplines.
Afeka’s dedication to educating future workforces with an eclectic range of skills is aligned with the needs of Startup Nation. According to a study the college conducted with 103 high-tech companies, 68% of them stated ‘Multidisciplinary Teamwork’ as the number one most important skill needed by a new engineer. This was followed by ‘Solving Engineering Problems’, ‘Creativity’, and ‘Interpersonal Communication’. ‘Mathematical Skills’ came in last place as the most important skill.
“There are basic fundamentals in ethics that every engineer should have regardless of specific ethics of specific organizations,” Professor Moyal continued. Having come from a role as a CEO in a tech startup, Moyal is now dedicated full-time to the commitment of preparing students for a future in Startup Nation. “There is a group of courses that are not engineering courses in the curriculum, especially in Afeka. We have courses like ‘Engineering and Ethics’ and ‘Ethics in AI’ for awareness, because young people are not always aware. Awareness and discussions and having a point of argument are needed in order for them to be able to produce an opinion.”
The raison d’etre for institutions like Afeka is that it produces graduates who are well-rounded and suited to tackle some of the most innovative and consequential challenges today: autonomous cars, responsible AI, and geo-political knowledge are all essential aspects of the planet to study for those who will be writing the code that drives cars or has the capability to launch nuclear weapons.
“Emerging Israeli technologies will transform old age as we know it”
The Jerusalem College of Technology launches Cyber Elite 2.0 for underrepresented groups
The approach the college is taking is having a local impact among Israelis who see value in diverse education and for companies who appreciate the value in well-rounded graduates. Afeka’s student body has grown to roughly 3,300 graduates across five schools of engineering, signaling a 42% growth since its 2014 graduating class. It means that Afeka is soon moving to a larger campus in South Tel Aviv that can accommodate its high demand. The new 80,000 square meter site will host accommodation - something currently lacking - and encompass its widely-adopted approach of hybrid learning which started during the pandemic.
Not all that glitters is gold, however. Afeka is still tackling diversity problems in STEM-based subjects that are generally aligned with the rest of the world. Only approximately 30% of its students are women (compared to 36% in the US and 34% in the EU), and while its Arab student population has tripled in recent years, Afeka admits to struggling to integrate the Haredi community into its college. When pressed, Professor Moyal conceded that its mixed classes and female faculty members might have contributed to their absence.
Today, Afeka has 7,500 graduates, 97% of which are working in the Israeli high-tech sector estimated to contribute $2.25 billion annually to Israel’s GDP. It has 450 faculty members, many of whom used to work or are still working as executives in Startup Nation. Its varied approach to education and its emphasis on a well-rounded student profile means that it can help students who face challenges in the workforce, such as 60% of occupations that face extinction due to automation.
By 2025, it is understood that 40% of core skills are expected to change and 50% of all employees will need reskilling in some way. Its engineering education is believed to ‘stem’ from a belief that changing the education process is the responsibility of educators who are tasked with preparing the future of the workforce.
“In a global view, the exponential technology advancement and the Corona period has shown us that we are going to be in a constant change,” Professor Moyal concluded. “We will need to create the future while working and experiencing. We will need to change, otherwise, we may become irrelevant. In this case, we needed to be an example for \[students\]. It is the best way to lead and to teach.”
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As education undergoes continuous digital transformation, these creators, collaborators and innovators are excelling as ed tech leaders.
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Rocket Mortgage Classic: Esports Meets Traditional Athletics in STEAM Learning
Visiting students experience competitive video game play and the learning lessons it offers.
by
Eli has been eagerly pursuing a journalistic career since he left the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill School of Journalism. Previously, Eli was a staff reporter for medical trade publication Frontline Medical News, where he experienced the impact of continuous education and evolving teaching methods through the medical lens. When not in the office, Eli is busy scanning the web for the latest podcasts or stepping into the boxing ring for a few rounds.
Students visiting the Rocket Mortgage Classic were able to get some relief from the heat and get a taste of the competition happening on the green with esports portals set up in the STEAM Learning Lab, a learning engagement center set up by CDW and Acer.
Esports has grown rapidly in the K–12 sphere, with many schools starting up student-run clubs which they then expand into fully fledged esports programs.
“Gaming and esports are providing a new way to motivate students academically and provide opportunities that were previously unavailable to them,” said Mardi Teyler, DMR channel manager at Acer at the event in Detroit on Friday.
MORE FROM EDTECH: Read about why more than 1,000 schools have added esports clubs.
Inside the STEAM Learning Lab, students were able to sit down and play head-to-head in Rocket League, a popular esports game where players play soccer using souped-up cars.
Gaming consoles and laptops were provided by Acer, which brought in the latest versions of their Predator line of esports desktops paired with some of Acer’s premier monitors, both of which have become popular orders for customers interested in expanding their esports teams.
The improved quality of modern consoles has become one of the catalysts for esports’ fast rise in popularity, according to Buildup STEAM President and CEO John McInerney.
“I think it’s cool to see how far you can take this technology as you continue to go down this field,” said McInerney. “These are some of the most advanced computers I’ve ever seen, and the technology is only going to get better.”
Along with building competitive spirit and teamwork skills, McInerney says he thinks esports will help students build fundamental skills, from creative problem-solving to typing, which will give them an edge further down the road.
“Nailing those kids down and building on those skills later really helps you grow as a person,” said McInerney. “I think that fundamentally, teaching these things to kids when they are young, you are setting them up for success.”
Above all, McInerney says activities like esports help give kids the spark they need to go from simply memorizing formulas to truly engaging in their studies.
“Having a creative outlet is so important no matter what you do. Creative problem-solving and creative solutions are so key,” said McInerney. “Creativity is really the basis for all of this technology here today.”
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Welcome to this month’s Reader Case Study in which we’ll address Jack and Elizabeth’s question of whether or not to buy their dream home. Case studies are financial dilemmas that a reader of Frugalwoods sends to me requesting that Frugalwoods nation weigh in. Then, Frugalwoods nation (that’d be you), reads through their situation and provides advice, encouragement, insight, and feedback in the comments section. For an example, check out last month’s case study.
P.S. Another way to get support on your financial journey is to participate in my Uber Frugal Month Challenge! You can sign-up at any time to join the over 11,900 fellow frugal sojourners who’ve taken the Challenge and saved thousands of dollars.
I probably don’t even need to say the following because you all are the kindest, most polite commenters on the internet, but, please note that Frugalwoods is a judgement-free zone where we all endeavor to help one another, not to condemn.
With that I’ll let Jack and Elizabeth, this month’s case study subjects, take it from here!
Hello, fellow Frugalwoods followers, we’re Jack and Elizabeth! We’re 28 and 29, we’ve been married since 2014, and we live in the Appalachia region with our mustached, polydactyl cat. Although we were both raised in the area, we didn’t bump into each other until we were at Miami University of Ohio studying architecture, and didn’t start dating until we both moved back home after graduation. A marathon first date in the summer of 2012 kicked off the best five years of our lives (so far!), including a four-week cross country road trip where Jack proposed in a hot air balloon over the Grand Tetons.
Through Jack’s passionate use of spreadsheets and budgeting, we’ve managed to eliminate all of our student debt, pay off two vehicles, and build up significant equity in our home, while taking several cross-country road trips.
We work at the same Architecture and Engineering firm, which allows us to carpool. While we both have a background in Architecture, I (Elizabeth) have transitioned into marketing, while Jack has shifted into a BIM (Building Information Modeling) coordinator role. We’re also both enrolled in a graduate program through Marshall University for a degree in Technology & Project Management, which we’re fortunate to have primarily funded through our employer. We’ll pay about $6,000 total for both of our Master’s degrees.
While we both love what we do and adore the company we work for, becoming financially independent in the near future is a major goal of ours. We hope to start a family in the next few years and love the idea of being able to spend as much time with our children as possible. This doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll both stop working – only that the need to work 40 hours a week will go away (or so we hope!).
Both of us are heavily involved in activities outside of work and graduate school, which doesn’t leave us with much time at home. I (Elizabeth) run a local online magazine, which has evolved into a local lifestyle company. I also serve as President of the Board of Directors for a nonprofit focused on downtown revitalization, belong to our local Kiwanis club, and love helping my mom in her boutique store.
Jack is similarly involved with several nonprofits and an education-based business incubator and maker space. Additionally, he’s working with the founder of our company on a start-up solar energy operation.
As much as we love all these extra-curriculars, not being home has its drawbacks. We tend to eat out more than we’d like, we don’t make enough time for food prep and exercise, and we fall behind in housework. At the same time, we’ve adjusted our budget accordingly – cancelling our internet, not subscribing to cable television, not utilizing AC during the summer, etc. However, these small savings don’t quite make up for not being able to fully enjoy our home.
We bought our current home in June 2014 for $107,000. It’s a 1,500 square foot 1950’s mid-century modern ranch and we purchased it knowing we wanted to give it a complete makeover. However, we wanted to pay it off first to minimize the accrued interest and speed up our journey towards financial independence. To date, we’ve paid more than $40,000 in principal and only $8,000 in interest.
At this rate, we could have the home paid off by May 2019–when we graduate with our Master’s degrees–and then start funneling money towards renovations. Knowing that we also want to start a family in this time frame, the renovations are starting to seem overwhelming. We also recognize that this home could become too small as our family grows, although it could also serve as a motivator to accumulate less stuff, which is something we’re already working on.
But this was all before our dream home came on the market last month…
Perched on our all-time favorite downtown street, this beautiful mid-century modern house–which we could easily see becoming our “forever home”–is a whopping 3,000 square feet with a view overlooking the city. Sustainability is important to us and we love that this house was designed with that in mind, capitalizing on strategies such as daylighting, thermal mass, solar orientation, and more. Unlike our current home, this house has been updated with new appliances and finishes throughout, and the only renovations needed are the master bathroom and the roof.
The roof is a concern, and we estimate replacement would cost at least $65,000 and need to be done within the next decade. We spoke with a roofing estimator and this home has a commercial-style flat roof with lots of skylights, which–combined with a number of other factors–means it would be significantly more expensive to replace than a standard roof. This would be on top of the $279,000 list price, which we’ve always viewed as out of our price range. After crunching the numbers, we think it’s doable, but not without some significant trade-offs.
We compared what it would cost to renovate our current home vs. buying our dream home and the numbers are pretty similar, given the right balance of mortgage terms.
Nevertheless, we’re having a difficult time weighing the options. We fear that signing up for an expensive mortgage will chain us to our desks for an additional decade and keep us from spending as much time with our family/community as we’d like. On the other hand, it would be wonderful to live in our dream home–a beautiful and inspiring place–where we wouldn’t need to worry about what to renovate next!
Dream Home Projected Purchase Price: Our initial offer would be $242K and we wouldn’t go higher than $251K
Current Home Projected Selling Price: We hope it’d sell for between $110K-$120K
Projected Downpayment: 20% of purchase price of $242K = $48,400; $251K = $50,200:
We’d pull this together by selling the Mustang; selling our current home; and using all of our savings (currently $2,360).
Another option: there’s a bank willing to give us a 15-year, no PMI mortgage with only only 10% down, but the interest rate is higher and the monthly payments would be $300 higher.
Projected Monthly Mortgage Payment (we’ve spoken with several banks already):
15-yr Mortgage Monthly Payment (PITI) on $251k, 20% down @ 3.24% = $1,698
15-yr Mortgage Monthly Payment (PITI) on $251k, 10% down @ 4.25% = $1,987
Finances: Ideally rapidly approaching Financial Independence–or–as an acceptable compromise, be able to support our family on one income.
Lifestyle: We enjoy being out in nature. We want to be healthier so that we can pass this passion onto our family. We’d love to live closer to downtown (which our dream home is) so that we could walk to amenities and be home more in order to cook for ourselves. We’d like to find a better work/life balance, which is something we’re actively working on. On the rare occasions we find time off, we plan road trips to visit family out west, see National Parks, hike, and cruise scenic byways. We hope to start trying to have children in the next five years, so hopefully in ten years, we’ve added two more members to our little family!
Career: We’d both like to develop our departments in our company and create a legacy towards a more profitable and sustainable future. However, in ten years, we’d also like to reach a point where working full-time is an option, at least for one of us but preferably both. That’ll allow us to pursue one or more of the many other passions we hold dear. For me, that’s investing more time into my nonprofit volunteer work and developing the magazine. For Jack, it might be growing the solar energy company or starting his own building energy analysis and consulting firm. Bottom line, in 10 years we either want to love our jobs so much that we cannot wait to get to work, or be financially independent.
Monthly Take-home $5,345 After taxes, insurance & 401k deductions
Note: our cell phones are both covered by our employer
Additional Mortgage Principal $2,100 On track to be paid off by May 2019 (aka 10 years early!!)
Mortgage, Taxes + Insurance $905 $107k 15yr mortgage @ 3.675% (current balance: $61,700)
Utilities (water + gas + electricity + trash) $300 Most expensive estimate of bills combined
Groceries and Household Supplies $250
Car Payment for Chevy Volt $210 $12K loan @ 1.49% thru 2020 (current balance: $9,623)
Graduate School Tuition $167 $2,000 annually
Charity $90 To various local nonprofits and one national organization
Car Insurance (Mustang) $38 We’d sell this car (and hence this insurance cost would disappear) if we bought our dream home.
Gifts $30 Average spent per month on birthdays, holidays, etc.
Gasoline for cars $20
401ks (combined) $148,600 Since marrying, we’ve tried to max this out every year
Misc. Savings Accounts (combined) $1,400 Usually just enough to cover a small unexpected event
2014 Chevrolet Volt – It’s Electric! (4yr @ 1.49%) $9,120 A year ago, we purchased a used Chevy Volt, because the car payments were almost identical to our prior monthly gas budget. Plus, we have free charging at our office! We still owe $9,623, so we know we’re upside down on this one, but it’s cheaper per month than paying for gas and better for the environment (at least regarding emissions)
1994 Chevrolet S10 – kind of a beater $1,388 Parked/unlicensed/uninsured for now – on reserve for when we start working on our house – started once every other month to keep engine from freezing up
“Drivable Emergency Fund” – 2010 Mustang GT $15,887 Admittedly Jack’s guilty pleasure: paid off and tons of fun on road trips through the Appalachian Mountains
2007 Honda CRV (on the way out!) $6,645 Selling to Elizabeth’ parents (monthly-payment style) as soon as I can get the spark plugs changed and coolant flushed, maybe this coming week weather permitting?
Debts
2014 Chevrolet Volt (4yr @ 1.49% – Orig. 5/2016) $9,623 Ouch. We know, but we get free charging at work!
1) Is chasing a dream home wise at our age? We’ve worked hard to be able to raise a family debt-free and weren’t looking for new home, but just happened to come across this one and fall in love. It’s at the top of our “someday when we’re debt free we might consider a home like this” price range, but we can’t believe something this well-designed exists in our hometown! Mortgage interest rates are historically low in our area, but it feels a little bit like we’re at risk of falling for the old “ON SALE, BUY NOW!” trick, at the cost of significant interest ($53,000-$80,000 total depending on our down payment) over the next 15 years. Ultimately, we’re afraid we might be trading financial stability (read: freedom) for traditional American Dream convenience and flair, both of which are difficult to put a dollar value on.
2) Would we be stretching our monthly budget too tight if we bought our dream home? There’s a $900 – $1,200 increase (depending on our down payment) in mortgage (PITI) + utility costs with the dream home, which would now last for another 15 years instead of just two. This would require a number of changes from selling extra cars to lowering 401k and investment contributions. We’d love to put a solar array on the roof of the dream home too, but it takes a larger solar array to power the bigger house (and charge our electric car). This would only be viable if we go with the 10% down route, and is not the best ROI given current electricity prices in our area.
3) Should we renovate our existing home and save to buy a dream home later? Building sweat equity in our current home was always our intention. We daydream about how to improve this home, such as installing solar panels that would further reduce our electricity costs and provide free charging for our car. Getting so close to paying off the mortgage has us putting renovation estimates together and it’s remarkable how similar the price of renovation is compared to the asking price of the dream home. Another consideration is that our current home is smaller and thus has lower utilities, taxes, and insurance.
4) Are there glaring issues in our lifestyle? Admittedly, we spend too much on the convenience of prepared food, so we’re trying to make shifts in our life/work balance to make more time to cook. Tuition is only a temporary commitment, but we can’t help but think there are other ways to optimize our spending. We want to continue cutting frivolous expenses and avoid lifestyle inflation in preparation for having children.
I want to start off with a huge round of applause for Jack and Elizabeth! They’ve accomplished a great many financial feats: paying off their student loans (hooray!), maxing out their 401ks (more on why that’s fabulous here), waiting to renovate their existing home (more on why I love that here), and they’re carefully considering the purchase of their dream home.
I love that they’ve already gamed out the downpayment and mortgage scenarios and spoken with several banks before putting in an offer! All worthy accomplishments and I commend them for putting themselves in such a strong financial position. We could call it a day right there, but this is a case study after all and they’ve asked for our help, so here goes!
Jack and Elizabeth need it and they don’t have it. This isn’t the heart of their question today, but the fact that they only have $2,360 in cash right now makes their decision tougher. Their plan to sell their Mustang, and convert that money into an emergency fund, is a great idea and one I endorse. 401ks and an absence of debt are two important components of a healthy financial portfolio, but they’re only half the equation. Jack and Elizabeth (and everyone else reading this) need to build up two other types of reserves:
An emergency fund held in a checking or savings account that can be accessed immediately (like while you’re standing in the hospital) in the event of an emergency. The total amount should be somewhere between three and six months’ worth of living expenses–I prefer six months, but some folks are comfortable with less. An emergency fund is your insurance against disaster. It’s the difference between an unexpected job loss or car breakdown or health issue being a crisis that you have to take on debt to pay for, or, merely a question of withdrawing money from your emergency fund. An emergency fund is not to be spent on Christmas or vacations, it’s for emergencies, such as if you both lose your jobs tomorrow and can’t find new ones immediately. Anytime you need to use some of this cash, replenish it as quickly as possible.
A portfolio of low-fee index funds. Jack and Elizabeth already have this through their Vanguard account, so they’re on the right track! However, they should contribute a great deal more to it each month because this is where wealth is created. Without investments, you’re not going to grow your wealth and early retirement/financial independence/living on one salary won’t be possible. 401ks are AWESOME, but they won’t help you in a classic early retirement scenario because prior to age 59.5 years, you’ll pay a penalty to withdraw the money (there is an exception to this rule, called the Roth Pipeline and my good friend The Mad Fientist has this excellent article on the topic). More on how to craft a frugal investment portfolio here.
One of the easiest ways to optimize your money is to keep it in a high-interest savings account. With these accounts, interest works in YOUR favor (as opposed to the interest rates on debt, which work against you). Having money in a no (or low) interest savings account is a waste of resources because your money is sitting there doing nothing. Don’t let your money be lazy! Make it work for you! And now, enjoy some explanatory math:
Let’s say you have $5,000 in a savings account that earns 0% interest. In a year’s time, your $5,000 will still be… $5,000.
Let’s say you instead put that $5,000 into an American Express Personal Savings account that–as of this writing–earns 1.70% in interest. In one year, your $5,000 will have increased to $5,085.67. That means you earned $85.67 just by having your money in a high-interest account.
And you didn’t have to do anything! I’m a big fan of earning money while doing nothing. I mean, is anybody not a fan of that? Apparently so, because anyone who uses a low (or no) interest savings account is NOT making money while doing nothing. Don’t be that person. Be the person who earns money while sleeping. Rack up the interest and prosper. More about high-interest savings accounts, as well as the ones I recommend, here: The Best High Interest Rate Online Savings Accounts.
Over the Grand Tetons: where Jack proposed to Elizabeth
How much money does a person need in order to retire early or declare financial independence? It depends on: 1) how much you spend every year; and 2) your tolerance for risk. Without going into all the math (which would be a whole post in itself), the general rule of thumb for early retirement–enshrined in the academic Trinity Study–is that you should be able to live off a 4% annual drawdown of your investments. This means you’re skimming 4% off your investments to cover all of your living expenses every year, which doesn’t harm the longterm health of your investments.
Since Jack and Elizabeth spend $53,388 per year at present, according to the 4% rule, they’d need roughly $1.34M in order to retire early. This sounds like a lot, but don’t be daunted! With extreme frugality and higher incomes, this could be possible for them. Additionally, since Jack and Elizabeth aren’t 100% set on early retirement, a smaller amount would enable them the flexibility they crave–to only have one person working, or to work at lower paying, but more fulfilling, jobs. The golden rule is that frugality–and the resulting money in the bank–gives you options.
Jack and Elizabeth are no slouches–it’s not like they’ve been frittering away their money–they’re judiciously funneling it into paying off their mortgage early. The only problem is that they’ve done this to the detriment of their emergency fund and their investments. A paid-off house is a wonderful thing, but you can’t use a paid-off house to buy groceries or pay for health insurance if you’ve lost your a job (you might be able to get a Home Equity Line Of Credit, but that’s not a guarantee and certainly not if you’ve lost your jobs).
In addition to the fact that a paid-off house is an illiquid asset (unless you’re able to sell it quickly, which is an unknown), there are opportunity costs to paying off a mortgage. Namely, you’re missing out on the potential investment returns you’d enjoy if your money was instead invested in the stock market.
Mr. FW and I choose to hold mortgages on both our primary residence and our rental property because, mathematically, our money is better deployed in the stock market thanks to the average annual rate of return (7%) that you can expect after many decades of remaining invested in low-fee index funds. Essentially, money is better leveraged in the stock market than in a paid-off house.
If you have a low fixed interest rate mortgage, like Jack and Elizabeth do, then from a mathematical standpoint, I wouldn’t pay it off early. I view holding a mortgage–and having money properly invested in diversified assets (aka low-fee index funds)–to be a much less risky decision.
Why? Say you funnel all of your extra money into paying off your mortgage early. Then, a month later, you lose your job and your cars break down OR your dream home comes on the market… and all of your money is now tied up.
Additionally, a mortgage is an excellent hedge against inflation. Inflation is when money becomes less valuable and the neat thing about a mortgage is that it’s denominated in the dollars you originally paid for the house and so, over time, as inflation increases (which generally happens), the money you’re using to pay off your mortgage is “cheaper.” Essentially, it’s not bad to hold a mortgage and it’s actually a fine component of a diversified portfolio of assets. Paying off your mortgage to the detriment of investing is a lot like putting all of your eggs in one basket.
It’s not that it’s a bad thing to pay off a house–it’s just that it comes at the expense of other opportunities to grow wealth. Many of us who are early retired/financially independent choose to hold mortgages–even though we could afford to pay them off tomorrow–for the above reasons. Bottom line: financial independence can happen with a mortgage; but it absolutely cannot happen without cash on hand.
I am a big proponent of loving where you live. I think it’s an integral component of being a content, frugal person. The more you cherish your home and your town, the less likely you are to spend money going out to the movies or eating in restaurants. Jack and Elizabeth expressed that they’re interested in spending more time at home and I think that’s wonderful. I commend them heartily for analyzing and considering this purchase carefully. However, at the end of the day, there’s no right or wrong answer–rather, there are several different options.
A big part of this decision for Jack and Elizabeth needs to be a consideration of how important it is to them to retire early/achieve financial independence. At their current rate of income and expenses, they can’t do both–at least not anytime soon. However, if they’re able to: 1) increase their incomes, 2) boost their savings, 3) not pay down this mortgage early, then in the future we could be looking at Jack and Elizabeth, early retirees in their dream home with kiddos running around.
One of the cons of their current home is their desire to renovate it. I agree wholeheartedly with Jack and Elizabeth that trying to tackle a full-house renovation while pregnant or with small child(ren) is not setting yourself up for success. Can you do it? Sure. But is it wise/fun/advisable? Probably not.
And so, I put this question to them: Could you live with your current home as is, un-renovated for the long haul?
If so, then I’d say early retirement becomes a very real proposition, provided they can funnel a lot more money into their index funds. But if not, then I think they might as well buy the dream home since they’ve cited it would cost the same amount to renovate the existing home.
Renovations are stressful, time-consuming, and often end up costing more than expected. Plus, there’s no guarantee they’ll get a solid return on the renovations. Typically, except in super hot real estate markets, you don’t see that money again. Yes, they’ll probably be able to sell their house for more if it’s updated, but I’d want to get a realtor’s take on what’s possible. How fancy is the neighborhood? What are updated homes on their street selling for? Pull as many comparables (similar homes that’ve sold recently) as possible before touching so much as a paint brush. Often, there’s a cap to how much people are willing to pay in a given market–regardless of how snazzy the upgrades are. In my opinion, they should renovate their current home only if they want to live in that home for a long time.
Dream home, on the other hand, has a fixed price tag. The specter of replacing the roof is yet another reason to cease paying off mortgages early and instead start saving up and investing cold hard cash. Since the roof doesn’t need to be replaced immediately, I don’t see that as a reason not to buy the house, as long as they’re confident they can save up the cash to pay for it in ten years’ time. You do NOT want to take on debt (via a HELOC or a credit card) in order to pay for a renovation. As for the master bathroom that they mentioned needs renovating, if it’s not a health/safety concern, I’d say put that on the back burner and save up the cash to pay for it and DIY as much as possible. If they buy the dream home, they should do so knowing the master bathroom will remain un-renovated for many years.
Since lowering expenses will help anyone reach a goal faster, I’ll take a quick pass at how Jack and Elizabeth could save more every month, although I will say, they are pretty darn frugal already!
Sell all the cars except for the Chevy Volt. Pay that off and then don’t ever get a car loan again. Once again, the beauty of having cash on hand is that you’ll be able to pay cash for your future (used) car and avoid the interest of a loan. Not paying insurance on the Mustang will save $456 per year.
Ditch the subscriptions. This isn’t a ton of money, but it’s $216 per year to funnel into investments. Here’s how we watch TV for free. And for music, I listen to free Pandora.
Tweak the groceries/household/eating out budgets to maximize cooking at home. That being said, they’re not spending all that much in these areas to begin with. However, there are certainly savings to be had, so let’s say $50 a month, or $600 per year.
Go on a clothes-buying ban (here’s how)! This’ll give them another $420 per year.
With all of these savings, I realize that the per month and per year amounts sound small. However, what I’m thinking about here is the opportunity cost of not investing this money. If Jack and Elizabeth followed these suggestions, they’d be on track to save $1,692 more this year. No big deal, you might think, but just wait…
If Jack and Elizabeth put this amount into their low-fee index funds this year and then added that amount every year? In 30 years, they’d have $172,707.59 (based on a 7% return, which is considered an average annual return over the longterm from the stock market). You do have to remain invested through recessions and downturns in order to reap these dividends and also decrease the risk in your portfolio as you near traditional retirement age (for more on investing, go here). This is why I say that every single expense merits consideration–it really and truly all adds up.
Of course the other end of the frugality spectrum is to increase earnings. With their Master’s degrees, hopefully Jack and Elizabeth can both command higher salaries. Additionally, with all of their involvements outside of work, I wonder if they’ve considered turning one of those hobbies/vocations into a revenue-generating side hustle? This could then be leveraged into a post-early retirement side hustle that they enjoy doing and brings in some extra cash–win win!
Another thing that leapt out at me is that Jack and Elizabeth work for the same employer. While it’s fabulous they can carpool and wonderful that they both like working there, it also sets them up for a certain amount of risk. If their company were to experience a downturn, or go through lay-offs, they’d both be exposed to that threat.
If they instead worked for different companies, they’d be spreading out their risk a bit more. Again, it’s an all-the-eggs-in-one-basket scenario, which I’m not a fan of. Plus, the fact that they work in a somewhat boom/bust field–architecture–makes me worried for the next recession, since architecture is notorious for laying folks off during economic downturns. I don’t think it’s imperative they work for different employers, but it would mitigate some of their job security risk if they did.
Jack and Elizabeth are in a good position to make this major life decision and any route they choose is going to be just fine. As I see it, here are their priorities:
Build up an emergency fund and investments.
Reduce expenses.
Look for ways to increase income, either through their formal jobs or through their other interests.
Decide which is more important: retiring early/financial independence or buying dream home.
If the answer to #4 is “both,” then double down on numbers 1, 2, and 3. I think both goals are possible for them!
Ok Frugalwoods nation, what advice would you give to Jack and Elizabeth? They will both reply to comments, so please feel free to ask any clarifying questions!
Would you like your own case study to appear here on Frugalwoods? Email me ([email protected]) your brief story and we’ll talk.
Updated May 26, 2017 with Jack and Elizabeth’s decision:
After reading all of your insightful advice, we decided not to purchase the home and instead focus our efforts on building up additional sources of savings. We now have roughly $3,500 in miscellaneous savings and $2,500+ in a Vanguard account. We did sell the CRV to Elizabeth’s parents, which will add $230/ month in savings, and we’re considering selling the Mustang. Our mortgage balance is down to $58,900 and we’ve brought out electricity bill down to $45/month now that we have access to fast chargers at the office. Thank you all for your thoughtful input!
Updated 1/18/19 with more info from Jack and Elizabeth:
So, we didn’t get our dream home this time. However, we graduated from our Master’s programs. Oh yeah, and we’ve started renovating our house with that new freedom – and former tuition budget item! (goodbye 1956 Frigidaire Flair Oven….we’ll miss you….kind of)
We’ve stopped paying extra on our remaining car loan and mortgage to be able to build up these investment accounts and are much better for it. (Thanks Mrs. F!) We still owe about $4k on the car and $38k on the house, but it seems less discouraging now knowing we’ve got some flexibility and have channeled those funds into savings instead. We’ve been fortunate enough to open individual investment accounts in order to divert the cash that was formerly our additional mortgage principal – we just crossed $36,000 combined. The combined Roth IRA ‘stache’ is currently hovering around $22,000 as we move into 2019. Once we finish filling up our Roth IRAs, we put that cash hose into an index-based ETF bucket and have managed to save an additional $14,000 in there (Woot!).
The car situation is still kind of a hot mess….that’s totally on me. We did sell the CRV to Elizabeth’s parents and have had no troubles there. The truck has been handy for hauling building materials and small appliances as we start to renovate. The Mustang continues to live on as my “reliable vehicle” since my commute is mostly flat and the winter has been mild thus far. We still try to carpool, but the ability to do this seems to shift up and down monthly due to a number of community engagements on both of our schedules. (good thing we don’t have kids yet, eh?) The Volt has required some substantial maintenance in the last four months, but it was not unexpected for 144,000 miles and mainly just to get it safe enough to drive to TX in November and in the snow this winter. (Tires, Suspension and Sensors all around!) Who needs 4-wheel drive when you’ve got an extra 450 pounds of Li-ion batteries lowering your center of gravity and increasing traction?
Life decisions are where this conversation really gets fun. We had originally reached out because a “dream-home” in our hometown hit the market and had us drooling pretty hard. What compounded the lust for a beautifully designed home was the fact that it was within what we considered affordable – but that came with a BIG assumption that we’d both remain gainfully employed with the company we worked for at the time. That, of course, was a risky postulation.
With the help of the Frugalwoods community, we decided not to chase a new home and instead keep the flexibility to move on employment and community engagement opportunities.
Since our case study went public, my wife decided corporate America was no longer her thing. In the wake of her leaving, the company realized the need for department expansion because of the momentum she had built up with her marketing and branding prowess. Quite a thing when you can continue to impact change and growth over a year after turning in your resignation. After she left that corporate job, she spent a solid six months working part time for one of the most highly regarded non-profits in our hometown. She was able to spend more time on her own personal online magazine. As a result, both organizations grew – partly in size, partly in reach – BOTH in great impact to our local community! The foundation she spent half a year with was able to expand their marketing and outreach departments as well, turning her former part-time position into a full-time job that has been picked up by another local young mover and shaker. Last we heard, that foundation is still planning additional growth to expand their services and broaden their impact. It was difficult for us to appreciate the drastically changed employment dynamic at the time since she had lost all benefits and was diverting nearly her entire paycheck into 403b contributions – but we managed to get through it. We used up all the emergency fund we had built up (another Mrs. F recommendation!) to make it through that tight six months, but that bought my wife enough time to explore a better blend of employment options and the freedom to write a new strategic business plan to build her magazine up.
Elizabeth ultimately landed in a full-time state government position with our local library and has adored every minute of it. This nearly full-time position still allows here to clock out at the end of the day as well as spend one day a week solely focused on growing her personal magazine site. At the library, she’s working with an entire staff of people whose sole purpose is to educate and empower the community, so she feels right at home. “Her people” enjoy having a younger staff person so passionate around, and Elizabeth enjoys the perks of being able to attend trainings, expos and other conferences “on the clock” without having to burn so many extra late night and weekend hours to make up the lost ground. Quite the epic level of synergy she’s been able to craft here.
As far as our outlook on money/life? Money remains a tool, nothing more. It’s not the lifeline that it easily could’ve been if we had jumped on that fancy designer house. Our lives are so much better off from that single perspective. While we’ve learned to tighten up our budgets through that six-month period of her part time work at the foundation, it has also allowed us to experience how unappealing it is to us if we were forced to live that close to the monthly bottom line long term – a situation we were able to rectify much easier through alternative employment than trying to dump a huge, unique house.
Watching my wife set sail and navigate through this tough time in her life from my safe vantage point back on gainful-employment-island, I was able to witness first hand how big of an impact one can have on their friends, family and community by finding a better employment fit that leads to a healthier life/work balance. A lesson I’m very grateful to her for and remain dedicated to correcting in myself.
We’ve also both been able to jump into volunteer roles as part of an economic development steering committee in our home town which is both thrilling and intimidating. Had we sprung for a larger mortgage payment, I’m not sure we’d have that luxury to give so much extra time toward planning the success of our hometown’s next 5-10 years. Wow how life can change in 22 months!
Update from Jack & Elizabeth on 2/21/21:
Good morning! I can’t believe it’s been another TWO YEARS! Wanted to send our best wishes to you and your growing family. =) In the spirit of staying in touch: due to you and your readers’ advice way back when, we’ve pleasantly found ourselves in the middle of a deep-energy-retrofit on the home we decided to stay in.
The short version: we wanted to do a total net-zero overhaul, but settled on an aggressive style remodel using conventional, yet high efficiency components, methods and equipment/appliance options. Main goal has been paying careful attention to how everything plays together to make the most of the investments over time.
The Teaser: We have completely stripped everything but the siding/roof out down to the studs and rebuilding all the critical systems from scratch (structural reinforcements, wiring + solar!, plumbing, lots of insulation, the whole nine….). The project is ongoing since last year and we plan to be complete by May if all goes well. The scope of work includes a hefty amount of DIY on a couple of trades to help defer some contractor cost on various things we’re confident/comfortable dabbling in (and reading code books….lots of code books), but ultimately an investment in lowering our “operating expenses” as we venture into the next decade.
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April 10, 2017 at 7:14 am
I agree that Jack and Elizabeth should stop paying down their mortgage early (even though as a debt averse person, I totally understand that desire), And should build up their cash reserves. I also think they should buy the dream home for two reasons: with the extra cash they’re paying on their current mortgage, they’ve already proven that they can make the higher monthly payment on the new mortgage. Secondly, they state that they don’t have much time in their home already, and I just don’t see how they’d have time to do a full renovation themselves unless they drastically cut back on their community involvement, which seems important to them. Overall, great job Jack and Elizabeth! I’m truly impressed with what you’ve accomplished in five years!
April 10, 2017 at 2:07 pm
Yes! Everything Carissa said. I also want to add that it’s 100% worth a slightly higher mortgage to live in a part of town where you can walk to everything. I live in an expensive neighborhood in Seattle, but I can walk to everything and in the summer I even bike to work. Fresh air does you good.
Ms. Frugal Asian Finance says:
April 11, 2017 at 1:16 pm
You mentioned a great point about distance and proximity to restaurants and amenities. However, I think sometimes we really have to ask ourselves if we need all of that convenience. For example, how often do we eat out or see the movies? If it’s once a week, I think you can definitely live farther out to cut costs. Also, sometimes driving or taking public transit is much cheaper than paying such a high mortgage for a house in the city.
April 11, 2017 at 2:15 pm
That is assuming they are able bodied and remain that way. We are wanting to to move closer because we have nothing within walking distance and l will eventually be unable to drive again. The kids are getting older and their ability to get around independently may become of utmost importance. Besides all of the environmental reasons to be car light.
Matt says:
April 10, 2017 at 7:21 am
Great start so far! I agree with most of what Mrs. FW recommends. I don’t see any mention of IRAs. This is another 5,500 each you can contribute per year to retirement accounts. The tax savings make this a better option than paying off your mortgage early.
If I were in your shoes I would do all of the following before looking at a bigger house.
1. Start maxing out a Roth IRA every year going forward in addition to your 401k’s
2. Put away 6 months of expenses in cash
3. Pay off car loan and save 10k in cash for your next car when volt dies
4. Have your first baby and see if/how that changes your priorities around work. You might want to start staying at home immediately or take a few years off of work. This will be much easier to manage without a huge mortgage payment and looming 65k roof repair.
Since you are young, I strongly recommend sticking as much as you can in index funds for now, your future self will thank you for the abundance of options later in life. You could always wait for the next housing crash and upgrade your house at that point when everything is on sale.
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:34 am
Thanks Matt. The IRA route is actually what started our road down the Vanguard route to begin with back in April. After meeting with a local firm and researching thresholds online, we’re just dumping the extra ~$900/month into a mixture of low fee ETFs and savings until we build up enough to cross that IRA threshold – around $5,000 from what we’ve discovered so far. I guess this could also be considered the official start of an emergency fund as so many of you have suggested!
Andy says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:35 am
$5000 is a pretty high threshold for opening an IRA. I just did a quick look at vanguard’s website and it seems to be only $1000 to get started with them. https://investor.vanguard.com/ira/how-to-open-an-ira
I expect other companies (like Fidelity) are similar.
Also, if you’re looking to use the IRA as a sort of emergency fund, you’d want to go with Roth probably because you can withdraw your contributions penalty free (after 5 years, I think?). With a traditional IRA, you’d have to pay taxes (and I think a penalty) if you withdrew from it early. Best bet though would probably be to have a separate emergency fund that’s just a savings account or something similar.
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 12:49 pm
Ah, thanks for the extra clarity Andy! It’s good to find out that the threshold is lower, that seems much more promising. Roth IRA sounds like the best option for us right now, though I’d want to build a tandem emergency fund elsewhere at the same time since the Roth money wouldn’t be available for the first five years as you noted. Thank you for helping us find additional info!
Malcolm says:
April 10, 2017 at 12:55 pm
Jack, normal contributions to a Roth IRA (i.e. not a conversion from a traditional IRA) can be withdrawn without penalty, because those contributions are made after-tax. The five year period Andy is talking about is related to rolling over a traditional IRA into a Roth. That being said, withdrawing contributions from a Roth shouldn’t be done unless absolutely necessary, because you are missing out on the tax free growth offered by a Roth.
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 3:04 pm
Thanks Malcolm, even better!
Sarah says:
April 11, 2017 at 11:27 am
Throwing my hat in the ring in favor of the Roth IRA as well. You can open one with $1,000 with Vanguard. The $5,500 figure is the limit you can contribute per tax year. You also have until 4/17/17 to contribute up to $5,500 for the 2016 tax year. Finally, you can invest your Roth IRA $ in Money Market funds for the time being, which can act as your emergency fund (you can withdraw contributions penalty-free anytime, no 5-year limit). My advice would be to place that $960 (+$40) in a newly-opened Roth IRA money market fund before 4/17, then continue your contributions for the 2017 tax year. That is tax-advantaged space you won’t be able to get back due to the annual max, but allows you to works towards the liquidity you need as well. Hope that helps!
Rebecca says:
April 10, 2017 at 4:47 pm
Being at the age of having to take required minimum withdrawals from my Traditional IRA, I wish I’d had the foresight or knowledge (or advice) to not even use a Traditional IRA. Even though it saved us some money on income taxes at the time, the payback to the government is exponentially larger (since the market has increased those funds) and it’s considered ordinary income. I wish I’d put favored putting more money in Roths IRA when they became available!
April 28, 2017 at 12:10 pm
Just wanted to add for others that’s it’s possible to convert a traditional IRA to a roth. For some it’s tax-adventageous to contribute pre-tax to a trad ira while working, then convert to roth (an pay taxes) at a later date.
Sarah says:
April 10, 2017 at 12:37 pm
I completely support the suggestion to have a kid first, and then see how your priorities adjust.
April 10, 2017 at 7:36 am
When it comes to having a family I would say look for your dream community/area not your dream home. We made many sacrifices in the housing area so that we could be in the best area for our daughter and we have no regrets. I can walk to our library, pool, arena, future daycare, and grocery store. Our daughter will be able to walk to school for her entire school career and she will be able to go to some great schools. We’ve found lots of families that are in a similar situation to us so we’re making lots of friends and our daughter will have no shortage herself in the future. On top of all of that our municipality is really good, the services they provide are fantastic, the infrastructure is always improving, and snow clearing is really good. Our house is functional at best and we have lots of work to do on it but we’re tackling it as we go along. You can change a house but you can’t change your community. Where would be best for you and your future children? Then make that work.
April 13, 2017 at 1:29 am
I agree with Jessica. I moved to a safer and nicer area for my kids, so they could ride bikes and walk to school, without worry. The downside was that I had a huge mortgage, it was very stressful. If I could go back I would have moved to that area with a smaller mortgage. I have renovated houses and its a nightmare unless you have someone who can do a lot of the work and has time to do it. I recently did a lot of work to my last house and the new owners moved in and changed it all. I think you need to be very strategic about renovations.
My main concern for you both is that if you have children and a high mortgage it really limits your flexibility, in terms of life/ work balance. Having children is very expensive and wonderful, and so much better with the least amount of pressure and stress. Having a dream house is wonderful, but if you feel like you will be put under pressure with the mortgage, the initial joy of living in a dream house wears thin very fast. Bigger houses mean more money, if it is expensive there is more pressure to keep it that way.
Well done on your amazing financial success so far. So in saying all of that I sold my dream house and bought a housebus and live very cheaply and I love it. Never thought in a million years that I would step off the mortgage merry-go-round. All my kids have left home so it is a very good financial option for me.
April 10, 2017 at 7:37 am
I would recommend against the dream home. Although you’re doing well with your 401k’s thus far, the rest of your finances is not in good enough shape to be making a move at this point. My advice would be to decide what’s most important to you. Living in your dream home now, or reaching financial independence? Going with the dream home now would make you house poor and you have no other funds you can access outside of your 401k, which you don’t want to do.
Stay in your current home and stop making extra mortgage payments. Take advantage of the historically low interest rates and shovel your extra money into investments rather than paying down the mortgage. Building an after-tax portfolio is important if you want to retire early, and it can also be used as an emergency fund.
If you’re truly focused on FI, I would recommend forgoing the renovations on your current home and save any extra dollar you can. It sounds like you both have good jobs so I would also focus on your careers and maximize your earnings. The more you earn the more you can save.
You guys are off to a great start. Good luck!
jay says:
April 11, 2017 at 1:36 am
Agree with this comment.
It’s hard because you’ve already fallen in love with the dream house, but it’s important to not make an emotional decision.
There will be time for dream houses in the future – you just have to make sacrifices now.
And to be honest, that house looks too big for a couple, even once you have small children.
Stick with the small house as long as you can – later on you will be glad you did.
Also, it looks like you might have too much extra-curricular activity going on in your lives.
Might be worth looking at committing to less – especially as once children come onto the scene you’ll have to drop back anyway.
Kelly says:
May 2, 2017 at 7:18 pm
Agreed, stay with smaller house, probably find you can make due with one or two kids there. Or get a not as big house as dream home in desired area
[email protected] says:
April 10, 2017 at 7:42 am
The biggest concern is Cash on Hand. These two have their financial act together, but new homes come with unexpected expenses. I don’t think the 20 percent down payment is feasible.
If you choose to purchase the new home, I think it needs to be with 10 percent down with a view to refinance when you’re more liquid. This is essentially a small insurance policy against catastrophe. If the monthly payment is an issue at 10 percent down, then you can’t afford you dream home yet.
Here’s the good news, though: That train comes every hour. Nobody likes to hear this, but it’s a central tenet to stay on the FIRE track. It is easy to have something like this home feel like a once in a lifetime event. Still, ‘dream homes’ come up for sale all the time. If you let this train pass, a similar opportunity is sure to come around, and next time you can be sure you’re ready.
Ms. Frugal Asian Finance says:
April 10, 2017 at 7:51 am
I think everyone has given their great advice. I’m more of a risk-averse person, so I have a slightly different thought.
I agree with Ms. Frugalwoods that you want to build up an emergency fund and invest in your retirement. However, I’d really think carefully whether the renovations to your current house are necessary. Is it function or cosmetic or both? The roof of your dream house is definitely a must fix. It is expensive to replace and, I bet, to maintain as well. It’s very tempting to equate cosmetic renovations of the current house with necessary fixes to the dream home to rationalize that buying a dream home might be a better option. It might not.
If my husband and I were you, we’d either try to pay off the current house and then sell it to buy our dream house in the future. When you see a dream house that you like, you might think it’s the one, and that you have to have it. But things change. And I’m sure you will see other houses that you fall in love with in the future. I’m speaking from experience. Another option is for you guys to get 1-2 roommates/tenants to help with the current mortgage, save up more money to accelerate the mortgage payoff process, and then move up to your future dream home. I know it’s not fun to have roommates at this stage, but sometimes it takes sacrifice for us to reach our goal.
Good luck with everything!
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:43 am
Good morning Ms. Frugal Asian Finance, thanks for your input! Our current home is indeed functional for the two of us, for now. It’s not exactly child-friendly, but wouldn’t take too much to get to that point, it just might not be the prettiest. There are some significant “systems-related” items that we’d like to tackle if we stay there long term such as replacing the roof, updating the electrical wiring and adding insulation to lower energy bills. Most of the rest of the upgrades are, admittedly, cosmetic, but some may be updated as a side effect of the aforementioned wiring/insulation upgrades. It’s difficult to suppress that inner desire instilled in both of us in Architecture school and at work to “make beautiful places”.
Ms. Frugal Asian Finance says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:05 am
Hi Jack, so glad to see your response! Thank you so much for the great explanation. I think ultimately I just want you both to be protected from a volatile market and to avoid paying a large amount of monthly mortgage interest without getting any significant financial return. Whatever decision you guys make, I wish you all the best and thanks for sharing your story!
April 10, 2017 at 8:14 am
I agree that it’s a matter of whether they want the dream home more, or early retirement more. Based on my experience, I don’t think their home size is too small for raising kids, though it might become hard eventually if they want a very large family, or when the kids get older. But that’s so far away that they could be in a very different position financially, and with more invested and more cash on hand, they could certainly upgrade later. Ultimately, they face too great options–buying a dream home or retiring early. And any time you’re choosing between two good financial options, you’ve got a lot to be proud of and grateful for. So I commend them!
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:47 am
We totally agree! Elizabeth and I had a very similar conversation on the way to work the other morning: “How blessed are we to be able to even think about these kinds of things!” Thank you so much for the kind comments.
Cindy in the South says:
April 10, 2017 at 8:27 am
Congratulations on your ability to handle finances at such a young age! I think y’all are fabulous! I think it is wonderful your employer is providing such reimbursements for your Masters. I would plan on one of you eventually getting a different job, though, so that you do not have all your income in one basket. As for as the house goes, is it in a good school district, or is it in as good a school district as your current house? I may have missed it, but I did not see that mentioned.School district location is critical in regards to future children and resale value. I personally think you are offering too much, since the house will have to have a very expensive roof. I would off $85, 0000 less than asking, and then negotiate to the replacement cost of the roof. If you are able to (1) sell your house at a profit, and (2) get a good price on the new house minus the replacement cost of the roof, I would do it. Also, please beef up your emergency fund and pause paying down the mortgage until you have a six month fund built up. I am so happy to see young folks doing well! Godspeed!
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:09 am
Good morning Cindy! We haven’t done a whole lot of research into school districts thus far. Both our current home and dream home would be in the same school district (the one that Elizabeth grew up in and very much enjoyed…she did turn out to be a pretty good kid after all!). What we do know is that this school district is, in our opinion, the best of the five or six local options around us right now. Thank you so much for your thoughtful suggestions and questions!
Ms. Montana says:
April 10, 2017 at 8:46 am
We faced a similar situation and opted to stay in the smaller home. It let us take a year+ away from the 9-5 to focus on our family and other projects. We might move in 3-5 years, but for now we are loving the financial freedom and flexibility more than more square footage that needs cleaning and upkeep. FYI our current home is 1650sf and we have 5 kids 1-9 years old. We all fit just fine (for now.)
Kel says:
April 10, 2017 at 8:46 am
If I were in your position I would wait– or at the very least add one more important piece of data to what you have collected so far. I was just chatting with a friend yesterday about how they would have bought a different house if they had anticipated having kids soon after buying it. And how our first apartment was perfect for a couple, but awful once we added a child to the mix. We just didn’t know what kinds of things we needed to look out for in a family house. I think your perspective on what makes a good house changes dramatically after having kids. For example, lots of people like the first-floor master/other bedrooms upstairs model. This was an absolute no for us– who wants to run upstairs several times a night when you have a sick kid? Split levels, also out. Double the baby gates for the stairs. Step down living room? Also out. Swimming pool? Pond? Stream? Deal-breaker. Basement laundry? No way, must be first floor or higher. Things like that. It does sound like this is a dream house– but go take another tour, and bring along some friends who have toddlers. And bring the toddlers. And see how the house “performs” as a house for kids before deciding that it is a good long-term design for you.
Also, remember that a lot of the upgrades are things you can see. Most of our post-home-purchase fixes were not visible. New garage door opener, a replacement toilet, washing machine, air conditioner, rotted wood siding under paint, mold in the basement, some plumbing work (and the drywall ruined when those leaks happened), a leaky skylight, a portion of the five-year-old roof that had been improperly done and needed to be replaced… don’t let the cosmetic improvements of the dream house convince you that the house needs zero work.
April 10, 2017 at 9:39 am
I was going to post exactly the same thing! We bought our house before we had children and there are a number of things I just didn’t know to think about or look for. It is a great house but we had thought we would move in 10 years or so and that won’t happen now because of our insane real estate prices. If we’d had kids already or had a kid-savvy friend to come with us, I don’t know that we would have bought it. The biggest regret I have is we have no easy access to the backyard so I still don’t feel I can let my son play out there unsupervised and he’s nearly 6!
I would also wonder about schools and walking to child-friendly activities, etc. Our area is fantastic for families but that was more a fluke on our part than good research.
You are doing really well and
I commend you for having no student debt. But I really wouldn’t buy your forever home before you have your children and you know what they need.
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:49 am
Thank you guys so much! This advice is golden, we didn’t even think of all of those details yet.
Bethany says:
May 12, 2017 at 5:35 pm
I second the idea of looking at school options- living downtown may be great for a 20 something couple, but if it puts you in a lousy school district, is it worth the trade off? You’re current home may not be your “dream home”, but is it functional? Is it in a great school district? Also look at the neighborhood of each house, especially if you’re planning children. The best childhood times don’t come at pre arranged play date schedules. Ideally, you want to be in a neighborhood with children of similiar ages, with decent schools, and community activities within a reasonable drive. Our house is far from our dream home ( realtors would call it “cozy”- there are closets bigger than our bathrooms, and the kitchen is a one person in it at a time proposition)- but- it’s in a good school district, has a back and side yard, is across the street from the school bus stop, and above all, has been affordable through a couple of job changes and lay off. So we’ve made it work through 3 kids (even if the ‘nursery” was sharing space with the sewing room, and the “laundry room”” is an unfinished corner of the basement), and limited renovations to cosmetic upgrades paid for in cash.
Alison says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:15 am
well said! Mrs. Frugalwoods has a post somewhere about a few things she wanted to change when they moved to VT and her opinion of what is important and what needed to be fixed/changed/renovated has changed, primarily due to having a baby. I live in 1500 sqft with my husband and 4 year old. It’s never been too small. Ever. And we have lots of friends and relatives who visit and stay from just a few days to a month at a time.
April 10, 2017 at 10:58 am
…Also, remember that a lot of the upgrades are things you can see. Most of our post-home-purchase fixes were not visible….
Absolutely 100% agree. it’s all that stuff behind the walls and ceilings and floors (i.e. stuff you can’t see and most home inspections will miss), and the location that it’s in (the livability of the ‘hood), that make or break a good home. Everything else is cosmetic…and at most cosmetic stuff has a 5 year shelf life before you’ll start dreaming about upgrades again. Trust me on this – it’s a given. Lives change, kids grow up, technology changes how we live, so ‘dream homes’ will become dated. Best advice I ever received was buy the dated fixer-upper in the ‘hood you love, live in it for at least 2 yrs before touching it.
As for kids and house size…it’s all relative. People have lived in 1 bed condos with a kid…others will say 3,000 sq ft is the minimum. My grandparents brought up 7 kids in housing that today generally holds 3-4, including the adults. I’ve seen micro-suites that look roomier (thanks to design) than the standard 2,000 sq ft cookie cutter suburban floor plan.
My suggestion – recognize this for what it is…at least partially a consumer want. Do the math on the current utility, not the rosy dream. If the math works on current utility, fantastic. If not, just go into it with your eyes open…know that you’re indulging in a shopping spree.
Lee says:
April 10, 2017 at 4:12 pm
I’d also recommend thinking about what happens if you, for one reason or another, don’t end up having kids. Will your ‘dream home’ still be perfect, or will you feel like you’re rattling around in a big house? It’s tough to think about, but life doesn’t always work out as planned.
Michelle says:
April 10, 2017 at 8:54 am
If Jack & Elizabeth have their goals, which is too be financially independent and not be “chained” to their desk – I would stay in their current home, why?
Because if they pay their house off (like they planned in 2019) they will be able to save their mortgage payment every month. With the additional $1200 in savings they could save for 5 yrs. and have a larger down payment toward their dream home, which will allow them to live their dreams.
The new house, will only keep you tied down more. You can’t increase your expenses and think that it will reduce your work hours unless you want to pay the mortgage for 15 yrs – 30 yrs. like a majority of Americans. And they said that’s not the goal.
– First step is be % consumer debt free – cars, credit car, student loans, etc.
– Second step is a 3-6 month emergency fund
– Then, I would buy a house with no less than a 20% down payment and a 15 yr mortgage.
The mortgage payment should be no more than 25% of your weekly take home pay. And yours would be $1200/week.
I would stay put until you get settled, a dream home is nice, but it will be expensive in the long -haul.
Thanks for sharing your story! You guys are doing great…keep saving and pay off the mortgage early – save the mortgage payment every month and you will have the money to make whatever choices you want!
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:56 am
Thank you so much Michelle! We realize we’re giving up some investment returns by opting to focus on paying off the mortgage in the next two years, but we’re hoping that eliminating the monthly mortgage + extra principal lowers our monthly expenses enough to allow us to slash that $1.34M early retirement number to the in the long run – perhaps even by half if one of us can stay home and avoid the costs of traditional childcare!
Michelle says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:39 am
I think that’s a great goal! Please keep us posted, if you dedide to stay in your current residence or if you opted for the upgrade!
You guys will be millionaires by the time you retire at the rate your going.
Elizabeth Hodge says:
April 10, 2017 at 12:39 pm
You don’t need that ‘dream house’, you’re never at home! Plus I agree with waiting until your needs change and what people have said about houses looking great. You find out everything that needs fixing when you move in (and believe me some people are really clever at covering this stuff up!)
Stay where you are and pay off that mortgage as fast as you can! That is the only risk-free option to protect your future. Paying off the capital means that you are paying less and less interest over time. You may even be able to re-mortgage to a better deal (not that I think you’ll need that option). Theoretical stock market returns are all very well, but we are living in different times. There is no guarantee what will happen in the future and I’d very likely predict a stock market crash is on the horizon. As you say, you can invest those mortgage payments in just a couple of years. I don’t know about America, but here in the UK an interest rate rise is only months away. I’d say that’s likely to happen to the USA too- and soon. A small percentage rise makes a huge difference to your monthly payment. I’m very wary of all these so-called experts who reckon they’re worth a fortune when it’s all theoretical money they’ve invested. If the market crashes, they won’t get it back! You should only ever invest what you can afford to lose. I personally would keep 6 months income in an easy access account for emergencies. Then 2-3 years liquid in a penalty account, before even thinking about stocks and shares.
For the future, never ever buy a car on finance. Although I appreciate that electric vehicles are more of an unknown (very brave of you to jump into an untested market). There will be different considerations for all of us in the future regarding leasing batteries and what happens when the technology improves. I probably would’ve stuck to a traditional vehicle for the next 10 years or so, to see whether the technology is all it’s cracked up to be. I suspect these early electric vehicles will not hold their re-sale value due to tiny batteries/ early technology.
April 10, 2017 at 8:54 am
I agree with Mrs. Frugalwoods’ suggestions! Also, oh my goodness, your cat is SO cute. Is renting out your current home an option at all? You could buy Dream House and use the rent to pay on your first home’s mortgage. Then you’d eventually have a stream of passive income. You would still own the house in case you decide Dream House is too big or doesn’t fit your needs. Just something to consider!
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:23 am
Hello Mrs. Picky Pincher! As much as I would love to seek out a roommate, we don’t know that our current home is really set up for it. Unfortunately, given the current condition of our home – a single bathroom to share and mostly 61 year old finishes – we think it would be difficult to say the least. It seriously looks like somebody just stole all of the furniture out of a brand new home…in 1956…except for the questionable carpet choices chosen as an ‘upgrade’ in the 70’s (I’m sure it was quite trendy back then). Thank you so much for your help!
Abbie Burnham says:
April 10, 2017 at 3:10 pm
I think she meant you would buy the Dream Home and rent out your current home (owning two homes at the same time). Then your current home’s rent becomes entirely passive income when paid off in two years. Not a bad suggestion!
April 10, 2017 at 9:05 am
First, a little perspective. I live in Los Angeles, where a started home in an undesirable neighborhood costs $500k minimum, so first I want to point out the relative affordability of your area which is a huge benefit to you. You’re managing your finances well, so congrats on that. I think you should step back from this decision a bit. I have a couple key points of guidance as I have been in the same situation:
1. The “dream home” is creating false urgency. There is no rush at all to make this decision. If you don’t get this one, there WILL BE ANOTHER, and if there’s not, you can build it. There is nothing non-fungible about this house. Don’t feel like you have to do this now – wait until the time is right for you.
2. Get your car situation in order. I don’t agree that having a car loan matters (1.5% interest? who cares!) and I think your eating out/coffee/alc expenses are fine. But having more cars than people is a huge waste. Sell your beater truck and your mustang asap. Again, these items are fungible – you can always buy them or something similar again when you need it. Why sell the CRV? Keep it – a paid off and reliable car is a boon.
3. Forever homes are BS. If you drop the paradigm of “we would stay there forever” then this is just another house. Don’t get emotional about it – a home is a wonderful thing, but the concept of a forever home is marketing, not reality. You seem like you have a lovely relationship, so I’m sure you will be equally happy in any house!
4. Focus on increasing your income. Sounds like you are by working on masters degrees and having a few side gigs in the works. This is the biggest and most meaningful financial opportunity for you right now.
That’s my two cents (or perhaps four cents). Best of luck to you!
Andy says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:43 am
I completely agree with #1 here. It’s easy to assume this is a one time chance to take advantage and get this house, but most likely it’s not. The fear of missing out my be encouraging you to make a jump that just isn’t right for you at this point in your lives.
I’m about the same age and often feel the need to have everything set up perfectly (house, finances, job, etc.) all at once, but the reality is that these things take time and will improve gradually over the years. If you can be at peace with that pace, you’ll likely end up in a better position overall.
Karen says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:16 am
One of the lessons as an adult is getting that you can’t have it all. I think you could go either way with your decision but if you get the big expensive house you have to realize that the fun/freedom/trips you have been enjoying will have to go. You home will be your pleasure going forward. I raised my kids in the trophy neighborhoods of Wash DC and I can tell you I saw plenty of people stretched to the max and house poor. If you want that no problem just understand that that is what you are getting into. You can’t keep your old flexibility/freedom/ lifestyle and move into a home 3 times as expensive.
Also I would suggest that with the roof costing so much you look at your home as costing $300,000 instead of $250,000 because that is the real truth. I also wanted to remind you of the expense of child care. When you have children and both of you have to work full time, you will be paying out a lot in child care for many years unless you have grandma waiting in the wings to do this job for free. During those years of child care, you will have no extra money for anything so be careful there. You can go either way with this but don’t kid yourself you will give up something with each decision. If it were me personally, I would stay in the smaller home and look at ways of doing smaller renovations that will give me some treats in life slowly a little bit every year and be able to sleep at night not feeling over stretched. But that is just me, I never did the trophy house because I did not like feeling stretched. Great job being so young and clear headed about finances!
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:24 am
Thank you Karen! Your notes are a great reminder for us to keep everything in perspective. Here’s hoping we can find a better balance, mentally and financially. The reader comments have certainly helped us with that so far this morning; thank you ALL so much!
April 10, 2017 at 10:53 am
My sentiments exactly, Karen. The dream home could become a nightmare if there are expensive, unforeseen repairs (aside from the roof). Original windows could be leaky, wiring substandard for modern conveniences, plumbing crumbling, foundation issues. None of these will be fun to fix. Just heating and cooling the larger home will cost much more. All this, combined with the larger mortgage will severely limit the couple’s ability to afford experiences, like their road trips. That’s what life is about, people! Don’t be distracted by something shiny. You’re a bright couple with bright futures and you’ve made many great decisions to date, please rethink this one. If your present home is an embarrassment in it’s present state, then spend a little money on rouge and lipstick. Paint is your cheapest friend. The only other advice I would give is to sell at least half of those vehicles. You don’t need a beater – even if it isn’t presently licensed/insured – for if and when you decide to update your home. You can rent a truck by the day.
April 10, 2017 at 9:19 am
Mrs. Frugalwoods has done an excellent job of outlining the issues and a plan for Jack and Elizabeth. I would emphasize that life can change very quickly especially as it relates to jobs/employment so while one might plan on staying in the same home/job for the long run things don’t always work out that way. Thus the purchase of the dream home, while doable is likely to be stressful and potentially risky. A great guide for maximum purchase price for a house is NOT what the banks say you can borrow! It is basically two times your annual salary. (This is taken from Thomas J. Stanley’s book the “The Millionaire Next Door”) This may seem rather austere but results in a mortgage that is much easier to manage as life throws its curve balls.
ken says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:20 am
We are a family of four living in a 1450sf house (3bd/3ba with an upstairs office). It’s all we need, and we’ve become grateful that we don’t have more square footage to clean. Friends of ours (married couple, no kids) live in 4000sf and I groan thinking of having to clean over twice the amount of space we currently have.
You don’t need 3000sf for two people, or even two people with kids. Keep the smaller place!
Alison says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:23 am
My family and I may have to move due to work soon and the new area is significantly cheaper. The first thing we did was rule out the 3,500 sqft homes – even though they cost so much less than our current home. The thought of furnishing and cleaning all that space makes me cringe!
April 10, 2017 at 12:38 pm
I agree! We are a family of 3 (plus a chocolate lab) living in a 1280 square foot home (2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 2 living spaces), and I think that is the perfect amount of space for a small family. It is easy to clean and keep clutter free, it is easy to say no to bringing things into our home knowing that there is nowhere to store them.
Of course, there are times when I wish we has a little extra, like a second bath. Maybe we will add one in the future, but I am happy with our home.
Since you don’t have children yet, I would recommend staying where you are. We lived in a 1 bedroom, 1 bath duplex before we purchased our home. We shared a room with our infant girl for 5 months. But I was happy to wait until the right home came along.
April 10, 2017 at 9:28 am
I sit here at 43, wishing I had your financial foresisght – congratulations! I would go for the dream home, stop paying so much extra on current mortgage, and grow your savings/investment accounts as per Mrs. Frugalwood’s suggestions. You’re doing well and your company is generously contributing towards your education. Mrs. FW makes a good point about working for the same employer and an employment change affecting both of you instead of one. My husband and I once worked for the same company, which sold and left us unemployed with a couple of one year olds – it wasn’t a fun three months and I’m glad we had savings. Whichever decision you choose, best wishes for a strong financial future!
April 10, 2017 at 9:39 am
It sounds like you guys are on the right track! I would caution against the forever homes, however. If you buy at the maximum you can afford, it won’t leave you as much ‘discretionary income’ left over to save or spend more time with family/children. And after having a baby, you might find that your priorities really shift and that you would rather have a lot less financial obligations. Also, sometimes more expensive houses are harder to sell, especially if your area has a lot of affordable real estate. If you buy the house you want and then decide later you want to sell it, it could be more difficult to get the price you want for it especially if you have to put a lot of money in for a new roof – you might not get that back. And I feel personally, that economic times are increasingly uncertain and it’s better to have cash in the bank and a modest mortgage payment. If you do have children and the house you’re in now no longer works for you, you can look for something then.
April 10, 2017 at 9:41 am
You guys are doing great! I wonder… if you’re never home, is having a dream home that much of a priority? It seems less important if you are always on the go, in which case investing just a little in making your current home more of a haven, while holding off on a dream house or dream renovations that may not see a return, might make you happier in the long run. I may be biased, as we are making some of those tradeoffs now to keep on track for paying off our debts for the possibility of an early retirement. Like you, I am a mid-century fan. However, our current home is a 100 year old tiny cottage in about the range of your current home price and I see the coolest ranches all the time that I would love in the range of your dream home price. But a home that feels like a home can be a small one or a large one, a compromise one or a dream one, depending on the outfitting and cleaning and maintenance that gets it there. So inside I have painted every room in “my colors,” outfitted it with used and new furniture that captures the mid-century aesthetic, and find it such a retreat from the world that I sigh with contentment every time I open the door to come home. I also love the lack of stress that comes from a mortgage that is less than rentals around here. So think about your actual time spent in your home, what you could do to make your current home a haven without major renovations, and what would most get you to your goals. Whatever you decide, I wish you the best and love your mid-century instincts!
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:04 am
Thanks Anna! Elizabeth and I would love to have that same feeling of peace and contentment someday when we finally get home in the evenings. Luckily, even though Mid-Centuries tend to be a little conservative in the bedroom sizes, they more than make up for it in the common spaces such as living rooms, kitchens and reading rooms. This really helps most of our home feel bigger than it is, and could help us keep a cap on the “stuff” that tends to pile up in bedrooms.
Mims says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:46 am
Given the cost of health care today, the 4% rule no longer works for early retirement. We are in our early 50s, self employed, no debt, and a portfolio worth close to 2 million. But our high deductible bronze plan costs $24,000 a year and who knows what health insurance will cost going forward. We are over 10 years away from Medicaid eligibility. By far and away our biggest expense. We could afford to retire now if it were not for that. We never felt it was necessary to live in a dream house. For us it was about dream neighborhood: land for gardening, good schools, a reliable well and excellent supportive neighbors. In the long run that was more important than architecturally beautiful dwelling. I admit I still have house envy when I visit some friends who live in the “rich” zip codes, but they don’t know their neighbors, except to “keep up” with them. Meanwhile, with upgrades to physical structure (lots of insulation, thermal mass, new windows, solar) our house has super low energy bills…like 30 a month while our friends in the dream home pay ten times that or more.
I think you have done a fantastic job so far, but if you really want the freedom to be there for the kids (and save for their college education) don’t buy too much house.
Alison says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:28 am
Thank you for sharing your health care costs. I’m 43 and trying to figure out when my FI can start and this has always been my biggest concern. That is a LOT of money. A lot. I pay $500 a month for a family of three and my employer pays the rest. It’s a big deal!
Linda says:
April 10, 2017 at 8:30 pm
Mims, I echo the thanks for the insight on healthcare costs. I’m 58 and single; have a similar portfolio and work for a multinational corporation. With the stress of work and nonstop demands for “more” and desire to live before I’m too old (!), I would retire in a minute — but the healthcare costs of non-employer subsidized insurance scare me and keep me at the M-F grind. Though very thankful for all I have saved, I envy every one of the younger writers getting started with a clear financial plan early. As I tell my younger colleagues, save as much as you can, as early as you can. The worst that happens is…you have money saved for when you need it! And the freedom money and choice bring.
Tricia says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:47 am
We recently bought our larger forever home dream house, and the larger property taxes (which go up every 3 years), unexpected major and minor emergency repairs ($28k worth in year 1!), and larger costs due to larger house size (everything from electric bill to plumbing repairs to gutter cleaning to heating costs) have been a heavy burden. We bought a few years earlier than planned due to dream house becoming availability, and used up all the money we could lay our hands on to make the 20% down and closing costs. Especially with the $28k in unexpected emergency repairs, the first 1.5 years of owning this home have been very stressful financially. Just some things to think about. Best wishes!!!
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:14 am
Best of luck Tricia! It’s exciting to hear from someone who indeed chased a dream home. Those all sound like very real “what if scenario” conversations that Elizabeth and I have had along this journey so far. We’re glad to see your family pulling through! It certainly sounds like you’ve had a series of unfortunate events.
Walnut says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:43 am
Also on Tricia’s note, definitely plan to spend 1-2% of the home’s value in the first year or two on unexpected random things. From plumbing and hvac to yard maintenance and furniture, it’ll just end up being expensive. Better to try budgeting it in from the start that figuring out your don’t have enough cash on hand and resort to a credit card when you discover that your main water line needs to be replaced.
April 10, 2017 at 9:59 am
The thing about the dream home is that it sounds like it’s in the dream location. We bought the worst house in the neighborhood 11 years ago in order to be in our dream location – walking commute for me, bike commute for Mr., walk to school for kids, walk to 4 parks, 5 grocery stores, bakery, butcher, shoe stores, everything. When people hear what we spent for the house ($82K, but in really terrible shape – total gut job), they think we’re crazy. But we knew the property values were going to go way up (they quadrupled) and more importantly, this is the LIFESTYLE we wanted. We’re heathy, we save tons of money on commuting, and we now love our house. Personal Finance is so much more than numbers on paper, it’s lifestyle.
KS says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:59 am
no cash reserve also means few funds for sudden, unpleasant expenses (medical, personal/family emergencies, etc.) and the ones that need to be anticipated for car & home maintenance…HVA, roofs, hot water heaters and appliances don’t last forever. Renovations are usually cosmetic and therefore they can be postponed or completed piecemeal; maintenance issues often become more expensive the longer they’re postponed. All I see here with the dream house is lifestyle inflation….which may be unsustainable. Am I the only person’s who’s noticed the risk of both incomes coming from the same source? One half of this couple should seriously consider working elsewhere in order to minimize their exposure here. Nothing good lasts forever…and home ownership means never having to say “it’s done.”
Kate says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:00 am
I really don’t think you can buy this house. You have no cash on hand, which is a very dangerous place to be when you are making a big purchase. I also wouldn’t want to buy a house that needs a 65k dollar roof (assuming that is in today’s money) every 20 years. That is a huge expense! People often recommend saving 1% of your house’s value for maintenance, but for this dream home you would have to save more as the cost of the roof every 20 years would be over 1%. This could increase your FIRE number by quite a bit. I would stop paying extra on your mortgage and use that money to fund a Roth IRA and put the rest in your brokerage account. You really need to have cash on hand prior to making any large purchases. Maybe in a few years another nice home in the downtown area will come on the market and you will be in a better position to purchase the home.
Cindy says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:00 am
One of my biggest regrets is buying the “dream home”. Upkeep bled us dry and when the kids left it was like a mausoleum . We sold at a loss, and were very happy in a half-the-size townhome. The best part of the purchase was the resulting friendships we would have missed out on.
Mrs. Farmhouse Finance says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:12 am
I love reading these case studies! Jack and Elizabeth sound like their marriage is off to a really solid financial start. Their budget seems pretty reasonable. In fact, I’m very impressed with how little they spend on groceries. I would agree that they should slow down on prepaying the mortgage to get a cash cushion built up for an emergency fund, and get some other investments going. Also, I would get rid of the extra cars (especially since they commute together), pay off the electric car, and just share that. If they can wait on moving, and continue to live in their current house without renovating for a few more years, that would probably make the most financial sense. Good luck to Jack and Elizabeth with whatever they decide to do!
April 10, 2017 at 10:12 am
You are indeed on a great path towards FI! Congrats on having such a great start! And it’s great you’ve done the research on what it would take to get the dream home….
I don’t think you should do it unless you have a very high tolerance for financial risk.
The numbers you showed indicate that you’d have to put everything in (extra cars, emergency cash, etc.) in order to get the house at less than listing price. That leaves you zero financial flexibility that isn’t extremely costly (i.e. credit cards). That’s risky in general, let alone for FI. The nature of unexpected emergencies is that they are indeed unexpected.
You may want to look hard at your priorities… is it having a child/children and having one or both of you home all or the majority of the time? living in a perfect/pretty/dream house? having the freedom and flexibility to do the extra activities and travel more?
As others have mentioned, your emergency fund and maxing out pre-tax investments are pretty important. And then your investment fund to create the wealth you need for FI.
I didn’t see mention of the side activities paying – it’s harsh, but you may want to consider them as entertainment expenses since you are paying to eat out/convenience in order to fit them in your schedule. If they are significantly important to your life, then it’s even more reason to consider staying put in your current home.
Think about when you’d actually use that square footage in the dream house… it would be there to cleaned and maintained and potentially beg to filled with ‘things’ that you don’t really need (not to mention the heating/cooling/taxes for bigger square footage).
And as Mrs F mentioned, there is indeed bit of potential risk with being in the same industry, same company, same town. If you financially stretch to add the dream house, you’re increasing your risk, with no cushion. You are, in effect, making a bet that will take years to pay off. And if there is a downturn that rattles your town, your illiquid house is in the same fix.
Sell off ALL the extra cars; stop overpaying the current mortgage; build up the emergency fund; fund the pre-tax & investment accounts.
THEN decide what works best for you both: renovations of existing home; buying a more ideal home; funding one or more of you to stay home with a small person.
Best of luck!
Walnut says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:17 am
Hi, so I was in nearly your exact position at your exact ages about two years ago. We had an cheap, existing house with significant equity and were on pace for payoff in a couple years. When we finally pulled the trigger on a house in our dream neighborhood, we discovered that coordinating the sale of one house and purchase of the second in a manner that allowed us to use our equity was either a no go (contingency offers outside of home inspection in our prospective neighborhood are rejected) or expensive (bridge loan at 7% interest?? No thanks.) Due to our excellent credit scores and zero outstanding debt outside of our existing mortgage, we were able to get approved for a 5% down 15 year mortgage with some PMI and a market interest rate. This allowed us to convert all of the equity from the sale of our existing house into our instant emergency fund, which has been worth ALL of the piece of mind.
Chat with a real estate agent and get a feel for how rare this dream home actually is. There is a lot of scarcity in our market and after two years of browsing and losing a couple of bidding wars, we knew we needed to be serious about what we wanted or we’d never move. At the same time, we were realistic about ensuring that our existing house was in a condition to sell quickly. A hot market on both sides of the transaction was helpful.
We discovered that we were expecting our first child the week we moved into our new house and we refinanced our 5% down mortgage into a 20% down 15 year mortgage at 2.375% during the temporary rate crash post Brexit this past summer. We ultimately paid less than $1200 in PMI and have zero incentive to pay off the new mortgage due to the crazy low interest rate.
This got a little lengthy, but chat with a real estate agent about the overall market and about how rare your dream house actually is. Then chat with the bank about your options that don’t use your existing equity (with the intention of turning those proceeds into your emergency fund). Also, STOP paying extra on your current mortgage and build your cash savings. Do whatever it takes to get 10k-20k into your checking account STAT. Cash is king when you’re looking to make real estate moves.
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:41 am
Thanks Walnut, you’ve shared some great information here! It all sounds very familiar to the conversations we’ve had among several lenders so far (including the part about a bridge loan option and I agree: yikes!). We’ve got a real estate agent we’ve really enjoyed working with and trust very much. We did indeed have had that “so how often do things like this happen” conversation. Paraphrasing her comments here: “houses like these show up every once in a while, just not right downtown like this one.” Certainly something to consider while weighing options. Like Karen so wonderfully stated above, being an adult means accepting that we can’t have it all.
Elizabeth says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:22 am
Good morning! Thank you so much for sharing your experience – it is so helpful to hear from others who have been in a similar position before. Homes of this type very rarely go on sale in our community – and for that particular neighborhood, it’s even more rare. This is the first time a home has been for sale on that street in ten years. That said, the community might be reaching a point where more of them come up on the market within the next 5 years, but it’s hard for us to tell.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, your advice is very much appreciated!
April 10, 2017 at 10:24 am
What a great position to be in, in your late 20s! Just to add to my cent’s worth into the mix and along the lines of what Mrs. Frugalwoods was saying, I’d definitely look at building up that cash reserve. And I’d also just say to really ponder the dream home – at this stage, although it seems doable, it also feels like a stretch. And that stretch could have a real psychological impact on the perception of it as your ‘dream home’ when it’s your day to day.
I was in a similar position to you when I was 26 – recently married and we were looking to move into our dream home (or what we believed was our dream home). We were going to be super stretched to achieve it, we could only put down 10% and that 10% just happened to be all our savings in the world apart from pensions. Our mortgage payment would’ve really stretched us and hindered our ability to build our savings back up. But we kept telling ourselves it was the right thing, no matter the financial burden. Life turned out differently when an unexpected work opportunity arose to move country. That opportunity has had such a positive impact on our financial situation that we are able to now consider financial independence as a viable lifestyle. Had we bought that house, I’m not sure we’d be in the same position. But, then you never can really predict life! As much as you try and plan to.
Best of luck to you both!
April 10, 2017 at 10:26 am
We are in the process of buying our “dream” home and selling our current house. With our eldest a year away from starting school we wanted to move into a better school district, we have three girls and currently only one bathroom, and no backyard for the kids to play in. I stay home with our girls and have since my eldest was born. When we bought our first house we weren’t thinking about kids at all, just what we could afford and would be in walking distance from my husband’s work. Just the fixes needed on our current home and the inspections are quickly depleting our emergency fund. I don’t think you have enough liquid funds to purchase the house unless you can borrow from a parent or can sell the mustang quickly. That new house looks awesome and I totally get why you would want to jump on it! I’d try to sell the car and then go from there.
April 10, 2017 at 10:32 am
Honestly, while I almost did this myself at their age, looking back, I’d recommend no. If its meant to be their dream house will be available again in 4-5 years when they have more money and the kid. For now I’d be working on raising the emergency fund.
To put it in perspective, they both work for the same company. Imagine we have a down turn and the company has trouble. They would be whipped out in a mater of a month. Now yes they have a car emergency fund. That being said in a down turn I can attest that selling a car is not an easy proposition.
Couple that with the added hidden cost of any other home maintenance that comes in. Their new mortgage would be cutting things close with their income. You never know what else might come up that they’d have to be able to pay. Their funds, despite the 401k that I applaud them for, are not liquid enough to cover a 200+ K house. Also their needs right this moment (today) are not there. The house can wait, liquidity cannot.
April 10, 2017 at 10:35 am
I agree with the comments about the size of the house. We have three young children in nearly 2700 square feet and there are rooms we don’t even use! And it is a struggle to keep up with cleaning — we’re actually planning on downsizing soon. On the other hand, we bought this home as a foreclosure in 2012 and have steadily been making repairs over the last five years – little by little as we can afford things. Undergoing constant renovations with three kids 5 and under is difficult. My husband and I both freelance from home and take turns with the kids during the day and we’ve spent a lot of late nights working on renovation projects after the kids’ bedtimes. It’s not fun, but it’s been a final push to get the house on the market and (hopefully) find a “dream” home in the mountains. So my advice would be to not underestimate the amount of work it is to do renovations while simultaneously adjusting to life with a child — both are exhausting! (but totally awesome Just know that whatever timeline you anticipate for improvements (especially if you DIY a lot of it), it’ll take way longer than expected. I’d also have to add in how great it is to have a flexible work schedule with young kids. Obviously, everyone is different but if you even think one or both of you might feel the pull to either stay at home full time or have a flexible work-from-home gig, I’d start to prepare for that now, however you see fit. We’re lucky we managed to pull it off by the time our second child turned one, but my husband regrets the time he lost with our oldest while he worked full time. Again, everyone’s child care needs and wants are different, this is just how it worked out for us. Best of luck!
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:49 am
Wow Lauren, thank you so much for sharing your experiences! These are exactly the kinds of things we’re trying to talk through right now (often during the carpool to and from the office, so I guess that’s one advantage to the same employer to enjoy for now). We’re so glad to hear from all of the growing families on here discussing how smaller home square footage isn’t a hindrance to raising a young family. We can’t thank all of you enough – and especially Mrs. Frugalwoods – for all of your thoughtful responses!
Kate says:
April 10, 2017 at 2:36 pm
We raised 2 kids in an approximately 1300 s.f. home. Is it big enough? Not really, but it kept me from acquiring clutter (and spending money). The other thing I’d like to say is, *how* are you paying down your mortgage? Are you making double payments every month? I certainly wouldn’t do that, not if you don’t have an emergency fund. What we did at first was, we took the $25 or $30 late fee and added *that* to the principal every month. Then, when we got a little more “solvent,” I divided a monthly principal payment by 12, and added that amount to the principal every month. Again, it wasn’t a ton of money, but we are building up equity quicker than we would otherwise.
Many times we wanted to move from that little house on the busy street. But then we ran the numbers. A bigger house means more to heat and cool, furnish, insure, and pay taxes on. Plus we are already in a good school district, with convenient access to stores, restaurants, and the local highway. So we decided to renovate what we had. We did it over time, and now we have a lovely little home that will be paid for in 3 years. As other posters have said, take the emotion out of the equation and run the financial numbers. Then run what I call the “emotional numbers.” How much pleasure will this dream house really give you? Can you see yourselves in it at my age (61) and will it be paid for by the time you want to retire? Will you be able to afford it if one of you wants to stay home with the kids? if one of you loses her/his job?
I wish you peace, whatever you decide!
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 2:43 pm
Good afternoon Kate! Regarding *how* we’re paying additional principal on our mortgage, we just have a surplus of cash every month and try to basically triple the original payment.. The rest of your comments are all great points! Hard to put a finger on how much pleasure the dream house could really give us. It’s fun to daydream about either home at this point in our lives! Flexibility to stay home with kids, even part time, is definitely something we want to consider very carefully before making any offers. Thanks for your help!
Steven says:
April 16, 2017 at 9:53 am
Let me just add a little bit of European perspective here. I currently live in a not particularly small 700 sq foot $110,000 city apartment. Typically this is enough for a couple raising 1 kid, and cramped but manageable for 2 kids. Quite frankly, you don’t “need” more space. 1500 sq foot is plenty to raise 2-3 kids. Living in an oversized 3000 sq foot house will be a massive, unnecessary, drain on your resources and will set back your potential FIRE date by quite a few years. There will be many more dream homes you could move to after you no longer need a job to put food on the table.
I’d say stay put. Also consider which renovations on your current the house are structural and which are cosmetic. Stick to the structural renovations and limit cosmetic ones to those achievable with a paintbrush.
Any other points I would make are mostly a repeat of what others have said. Keep the Volt, along with the 1.5% loan, sell all the other vehicles since you carpool to work. The revenue from these sales instantly gives you your cash emergency fund. Stop paying down the mortgage at an accelerated rate and put the surplus money into a roth IRA and in low cost index funds.
Alison says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:39 am
Everyone who has already posted has made a lot of great points. The only thing I’d like to add is this: See if you can remove the emotional part that you love about that new home and think about only the numbers. When you look at that – the purchase price, the price of the roof, monthly PITI, see if makes you see the purchase differently. Also, put a financial annual or monthly cost on your trips etc and see how you feel about giving up some of those things in order to buy the house. I bought my dream fixer upper at the market’s peak in 2004 and put on an addition. It was under water until last year – we do have tenants upstairs who pay our entire 15 year mortgage, but mostly what my husband and I gave up was TIME. There were so many other things we could have been doing rather than fixing up our house. As much as in the end it was a good financial choice for me, I would not miss my house at all. I’ve always looked at is as an investment. The more you value your FI and financial security, as well as possible time at home with a future baby, the less important your dream house might be. Everything is just a trade off – and if you know what you are trading off and you are good with it then you will not have any regrets. Best of luck with your choices and a happy life! It sounds great!
April 10, 2017 at 10:41 am
My daughter and her husband are facing this dilemma currently. They are both under 30, have three children, and have a small completely paid-for home. They are looking at larger homes with more space and more land, but deciding to take on a big mortgage is difficult when they currently have so few expenses. My advice to them has been to stay where they are, save as much money as possible, be completely debt-free, and eventually they might be able to buy their dream home without a mortgage. Peace of mind is worth something…
Erin says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:42 am
For emergencies, what do you think about taking out a home equity line? That way you can put a lot of money into the house and pull out some if something unexpected comes up?
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:02 am
Good morning Erin! Thank you for posing the idea of a Home Equity Line of Credit. If this comment is directed right at us: We’ve heard it’s an option, but we haven’t really thought through anything like that to date. We’d like to avoid adding more debt to our current commitments and we imagine it’s a significant pile of paperwork to execute a HELOC, but that’s just my conservative reaction to the idea. We’d love to hear other readers’ perspectives and experiences if you’re willing to share!
On a related note: Mrs. Frugalwoods advice about immediate access to funds if we find ourselves “standing in a hospital” after an emergency is definitely something we hadn’t factored in, so we will start addressing that next pay period!
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:05 am
Jack–I agree with you, I advise against HELOCs unless you have no other option. It’s just more debt and I don’t consider it a viable choice (plus, it’s never a sure thing that you’ll actually get one).
April 10, 2017 at 10:47 am
Congratulations on doing a great job with your finances! My suggestions are as follows,
1) Stop paying extra on your mortgage!
2) Sell the extra cars (keep the Volt, of course!)
3) Increase your emergency fund to at least 3x monthly expenses. (Car sales could finance this fund)
4) Start making improvements to your current house now – or soon!
As someone who has spent a lifetime investing in real estate and fixing up old houses, I can tell you that your current house can be a lot closer to your dream home with some careful updates and alterations. This will also increase the value (hopefully) of your biggest asset so that if and when when you do decide to sell you will reap larger rewards. If you are at all handy and can do some things yourself, you can save a lot of money on renovations. I also would advise that when making updates to your home that you stick with the architectural style of the house and do not get caught up in the flavor du jour! There are many trends in home remodeling that quickly look dated.
Good job on being in an enviable financial position for your ages!
Heidi says:
April 10, 2017 at 12:39 pm
Just wanted to add to this- if you are keeping the truck for home improvement hauling, you might be better off selling it and renting a truck as needed. I live in the city and have a small car while doing a gut-reno of my entire old house. If you don’t have a friend with a truck you can borrow, Home Depot (& Lowes) usually have rental trucks that are $20/ first 90 minutes. I have used them once or twice, as well as paying the contractor who was working on my house an additional $80 to pick up a large bulk load of materials I had ordered into the store at one time. In five years, I think I have spent less than $150 on renting trucks/hauling items, which is much cheaper than constantly paying for a larger vehicle.
You guys are awesome! I think it is commendable that you are really looking at every detail and putting yourselves out there.
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 12:52 pm
Thanks Heidi, that’s an excellent point! We’ll keep that in mind for sure. Great idea!
Lynne says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:59 am
Congratulations for being so young and thinking about financial stability.
I echo the recommendation to establish the emergency fund. You are literally one water heater failure away from living paycheck to paycheck.
Also pay your mortgage payment only – it’s at a low rate and you get a tax deduction for interest paid. Use the money you’re currently using to pay down principal to fund the emergency fund first then invest and/or funnel some into building your renovation fund.
I’m an advocate for smaller living. A 3000sf house needs to be heated, cooled, furnished, cleaned, maintained – all of which take your time and money, more money than you can imagine. And that is a lot of space which I expect will feel excessive to you over time given what you’ve shared about yourselves. I too have a smaller house – 1800sf and am so happy I don’t have a giant house with lots of stairs to steal my time and money away from other activities I enjoy.
One advantage of renovating your existing house is you can scale your renovations to your budget and do them over time as you save the money. Renovating a kitchen? Stone counter tops are great but you can use HD laminate with an eye to replace them in 10 years as a mini kitchen update and your budget allows.
I know it’s really hard to resist shiny objects but you can make your home into exactly what YOU want over time. And good things come in small packages.
Olin says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:01 am
I will agree with most of Ms. Frugalwoods’ observations (except the mortgage), however what stands out to me the most glaringly is the fact that two people who work at the same place have four cars. Cars only drop in value and almost never appreciate. The rolling “emergency fund” is not a good idea at all. Lets say that you’re on a road trip and have an accident in the “emergency fund” which keeps both of you out of work for an extended period of time. Even if this accident is covered by insurance, you will need cash to survive such an event financially. I think you see where this one is going. Also, the only kid-friendly car is about to be sold to relatives? I would personally never sell anything to relatives, especially on credit. What happens when the transmission goes out? When a head gasket blows? They will almost always blame the previous owner for anything that happens in the first year or two. Then what happens when they lose their job and cannot make payments? Will they still come to Thanksgiving dinner? “The borrower is servant to the lender” is just one phrase that comes to mind. If I had these four cars and was about to start a family, I would keep the CR-V and sell everything else. That would get rid of the payments and upkeep of the other three and leave you with something that carries kids. The Volt would be a decent second option, but maintenance can be expensive on hybrid cars (batteries, etc.). As far as the house, I would stay where you are for now and pay it off, but only after diverting the extra payments (and selling cars) toward building up your emergency fund. That way you will be able to devote your entire income to building wealth in a few years. Your children will grow up wondering what debt is and how people survive with debt. In summary I think you are doing a great job on tackling your debt and handling finances. It sounds like you should easily be able to live on one income in the near future by giving up on the dream home. There will be more homes to choose from in the future when you are on more solid footing.
My advice is worth what you paid for it. Best of luck!
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:06 am
This is a good point about selling to relatives and also the fact that kiddos (carseats are big) would fit well in a CRV! Something to consider
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:22 am
Great points Olin + Mrs. Frugalwoods, thank you so much! We’ve certainly seen drops in value over the years we’ve owned them, so it’d good to keep that in perspective. Elizabeth is excellent at keeping emotional attachment out of vehicle ownership and I admire that a lot in her. I’ve been a gear-head from way back and have always kept on top of maintaining the CRV in top shape. While I truly enjoy the time I spend working on cars, I feel as though these mechanical skills – and time – may be more valuable if transitioned over to DIY renovations of the current home instead of wrenching in the garage on the weekends. I sense some synergy brewing here…
Olin says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:56 am
I am with you on the gear-head stuff. I have always been the mechanic at our house. I was also a helicopter mechanic in the Marine Corps in a previous life. The same skills will serve you well in the DIY renovations arena. I am constantly looking for things that I can do myself around our house that will improve it. Fewer cars means less stuff to break and more time to fix up the house. The only thing I dread is painting. I would rather have a root canal than to be subjected to painting the house.
Walnut says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:31 am
I’m about to have two car seats in a compact car. If they can fit in mine, I’m sure they can fit in a Chevy Volt. As far as family sales for cars go, it’s common in my family. I do suggest having the other party take out a loan a the bank though. Don’t be their banker.
Olin says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:44 am
Good idea Walnut. One other point about doing family loans on cars is that the title will have to either be transferred on faith or retained by you until the loan is paid. How will they register/insure the car if it’s still in your name? If you give up the title, you do not have legal standing to being the owner of the car. Definitely have them get a bank loan to settle these issues. It might also save Thanksgiving dinner.
Elizabeth says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:33 am
Thank you so much for your advice! I am also a fan of decreasing the size of our fleet I will say that I believe there is an established level of mutual trust, and my parents have made monthly payments to us before (for the design of their home, after the first was lost in a fire) without issue. But I do agree that it is probably the safest vehicle we have when it comes to toting little ones, and there is an added benefit to having paid it off. Thanks so much!!
Sarah says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:31 am
I’m torn because we had a similar dilemma when we bought our first home. In retrospect, we made a pretty reckless decision, but we have no regrets and I’m so glad we took the leap. We live in southern CA, where prices are much higher, and we reeeeeally stretched to buy our first home at a time when interest rates were over 6%. Like you, we had retirement savings on track, very little in cash, but we loved the house and could easily picture ourselves living there forever. So, although I agree with previous commenters that dream homes create a false sense of urgency, I get it.
Fifteen years later, we’re still in that first house, and here’s what made the difference in making it all work:
1. Our incomes have doubled since we bought the house. The first few years were incredibly tight, and I developed frugal-fatigue after 3 or 4 years because I was just so sick and tired of having to think about whether we could afford a $10 T-shirt that month or not. But, we stayed the course and invested in our careers so we could increase our income.
2. Because we were already tight and didn’t have much in cash, we had to finance some major home repairs and a car. We had to replace 100 feet of sewer line for $12K, deal with a surprise mold problem for $6K, and then I was involved in a car accident that totaled my beloved little Corolla, so we had to buy a new-to-us car for $10K. Good times. If we weren’t so stretched with the house, I don’t think we would have had to finance these. Now, ten years after all that, it doesn’t bother me much as we got very low rates on all the loans (all under 3%), but it was very stressful and upsetting at the time.
3. No vacations for 7 years. We didn’t necessarily plan on that, but we were tight due to the house, and then we had a baby 3 years later. Daycare was $11K a year. I have no idea how we made our already-tight budget accommodate that, but we did. We just didn’t go anywhere until our daughter was almost 5! Traveling with a baby or toddler isn’t exactly relaxing anyway, so I don’t consider that a big loss, but if you value travel, you might. My job doesn’t allow part-time work — it’s full-time or nothing — but if yours does, and you want that option after you have a baby, you might want to see if you can afford the house with less income.
All of this is to say that it’s okay to take a calculated risk once in a while. I’m generally pretty conservative financially, and I knew at the time that stretching so much to buy our house was a leap of faith, but we made it work.
April 10, 2017 at 11:48 am
Jack and Elizabeth, Bravo for having the foresight to analyze these numbers ahead of time! So many people jump in first and then look at the spreadsheet. So, I applaud you both for taking the time to look at all of your options. My two cents is that you would feel a lot less stress, as you start your family, and retain a lot more options, if you stay in your existing smaller house.
In my experience, kids want to be where you are. Babies, little kids, medium-sized kids…..It will be years (seriously, as many as 16 years) before you’d ever need the extra GINORMOUS 3000 space you are thinking about with the dream house. Teenagers like having their own “hang out” space and I’m sure that it’s fun to be the house everyone congregates in (we weren’t “it”) But, carrying a huge overhead for 16 extra years is a significant burden. We raised two boys (so, four of us) in 1050 square feet and it was great not have them be “out of sight” in the teenage years If one of you ever wants to do something different for employment, work in a non-profit (that doesn’t pay much), stay home with the kids, or one of you becomes ill, there is huge “peace” in not having a giant “nut to crack”. Pay off your house and you will feel huge sense of freedom and relief. Establish an emergency fund, do your renovations, as you can afford to and still pay cash, and relish in the fact that you are one of a tiny percentage of Americans that actually “own” their home. It’s a sweet deal.
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 12:40 pm
Thanks Laurel! We hadn’t even thought about how easy it would be for kiddos to “get lost” in that much space. Elizabeth and I have always appreciated the thought of how small homes make for tight families, but this is yet another factor in support of it.
Linda says:
April 10, 2017 at 8:38 pm
Agreed, Laurel. While I don’t have kids, you echo what a good friend of mine has often said. She & her husband elected to stay in their smaller home and raise their two kids…and it was only when the kids were older teenagers in high school (four short years!) that she wished she had the bigger house. But while the kids were growing up…and now, with the “kids” in their 30s, she’s grateful that they stayed…now over 30 years. It’s the perfect size for her and her husband — easy upkeep and customized over the years to their needs and taste. Plus financially, a much sounder and safer plan.
Mark says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:58 am
I’m in the camp of staying in your current house. The new house is a luxury. With your current income, you can either afford the new luxury house, or early financial independence. The new house looks to be a money pit. Even if you fix that roof now, there’s no guarantee you won’t continue to have problems with it in the future, especially with all of those skylights. You’ll have to determine which is more important to you…the luxury house or financial independence. I would also not renovate the existing house (other than required maintenance) if you choose to stay there. I would get it paid off, and then concentrate on starting your family.
I’m also not in agreement that paying off your mortgage is a bad thing. You are so close to having your current house paid off. Having it paid off opens up a lot of options for you. It frees up extra cash for investing, it reduces your cash flow needs, which in turn reduces the size of an emergency fund and reduces the amount of money needed to save up for early retirement/financial independence.
I agree with some of the other comments, both individuals working in the same job sector AND for the same company has increased their risks and need for an emergency fund.
Also agree that having kids with both parents working will see much increased costs with childcare and time commitments. Plan on spending at least your deductible for the delivery. We met the max out-of-pocket twice for our kids. If they are planning on having kids soon, I agree they would not want to be in the middle of a major house renovation or have a large house to clean and furnish at the same time. Little kids don’t need a lot of room.
I would try to become financially independent for the life (and house) you currently have before trying to upgrade to something more expensive. Once you are finished having kids, and the kids are out of daycare, and perhaps your incomes have increased due to the advanced degrees and you’ve had a chance to save up more…then look at the fancy house if that is still an interest. Your feelings may change after you’ve had kids, and also before closer to financial independence. You may decide that one parent staying home is more important. Not buying the luxury house now gives you that option.
Also agree you have too many cars. Get rid of that mustang now before it depreciates further. No way that’s good for anything once you have kids.
Mrs. Cheapheart says:
April 10, 2017 at 12:13 pm
I wish I had it together as you both do at such a young age! I agree with the other posters that recommend holding tight. Take the emotion out of this “dream home”, hell, with two architecture degrees you can design your own dream home.
Some thoughts:
-Forget “dream home” and focus on dream location.
-“Buy the worst house on the best street” is great advice.
-Kids shift your perspective in ways you can’t imagine. My first thought was that you would be constantly cleaning smeary handprints off of those beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows in the dream home.
-Extra square footage means more to heat, cool, furnish and clean. Dumping out bins of toys is a developmental stage for children. My son has been in this “stage” for three years. So glad I don’t have the extra floor space for him to trash.
Focus on increasing your cash flow. Then make a list of the the things that are driving you most crazy about the house and see if you can tackle them yourselves before the baby comes. Peel up a corner of that old 70’s carpet, chances are you might have some beautifully preserved hardwood underneath that can be refinished. You will be so happy to have a small mortgage when the baby limits the amount of money you can make.
If you can hang onto your little house long enough to pay off the mortgage and then sock away a down-payment for a new house and rent out the little one, you’ll be leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else who is chained to their desks to pay off a big house.
April 10, 2017 at 12:25 pm
Honestly, I think they need to save *a lot* more before they buy that fancy new home.
My simple rule of thumb is this — never take on a home that’s worth more than your liquid net worth. Life changes too rapidly these days to take huge risks like that. You have to be ready for anything.
Anne says:
April 10, 2017 at 12:49 pm
My husband and I remodeled a couple of homes. The time, energy, and expense that it took was enormous. It was an ongoing stress. If I had it to do over, I would do it differently. It’s makes more sense to buy a home which might need some improvements or upgrades but is fully livable. The dream home you’ve described doesn’t sound so dreamy with a $65,000 roof expense in the future. If you want to live closer to downtown, I can almost guarantee that you will find another home that you fall in love with which won’t require that expense. Be patient, the time will come when you are sure of what to do and have no doubts about doing it. In other words, if you have to ask then it’s probably not right.
April 10, 2017 at 1:06 pm
Since so many readers give excellent financial advice, I will focus on other aspects of this dilemma. My husband and I are more than twice your age and we have had a long and interesting journey together. We have stretched and bought the dream house, more than once…actually, several times. Your dreams change, they can actually change drastically like they have for us: From living in one country and loving it, to moving halfway across the globe and loving it even more; From loving the hustle and bustle of the city to fully embracing coyntry life.
I also have a degree in architecture ( I graduated late in life). And looking back I feel I graduated with blinders…so set in my ways of what was my absolute dream house, which (of course) was a mid-century modern with sleek lines and skylights for plenty of daylight and all the other good stuff. Do I live in that house today? Very far from it! Do I live my dream life? Absolutely! More as a result of coincidence. Our previous forever dream house in the city had to go due to a financial crisis (way to expensive to maintain). It took 2 years+ to get back on track, living part off our emergency fund during this period. We still managed to purchase (cash) acreage with an existing house out in the country. Our dream house? No, but it doesn’t matter, because we absolutely love living here!
So, again! There is no single dream solution, there are many.
Home size…I come from a culture of smaller homes and fewer bathrooms, and I see many advantages of that. Like you already mentioned, room for less stuff. And with your background in architecture I am sure you can come up with many clever space saving solutions. And, which I have found interesting, less space seems to bring family members closer together (we didn’t learn these things in architecture!). The following was a plus, too, and the value of it is totally underestimated. Having one and a half bath, you have to find ways to make that work, even with teenage daughters. And there was an advantage to the “natural learning” happening when several girls have to share one bathroom with their mom (although I sometimes envied my husband, he got his privacy.)
And, as you also mentioned, it is easy to fall behind on cleaning, and even more so when the home is larger. Which in turn can affect indoor air quality.
Renovate or not? We have lived in brand new homes, we have lived older homes, small and large, fancy and simple, renovated and not. The most sustainable is to keep things for a long time and maintain what you have. Renovate when absolutely necessary, or if it really improves the function of the space and/or ease of maintenance/cleaning. I am talking about the big stuff, not necessarily a coat of paint. Renovation can be so many things, it is not necessarily gutting the place. And I have seen some very successful additions to small ranch homes by the way.
One financial concern: Your dream house has an awfully expensive roof for that price range house?!
What I have talked about here is the reason I don’t have a bucket list. My dreams when I was young were not even close to what my dreams are today, or probably will be in the future. That’s why it is important to me that I don’t get stuck in today’s dreams.
And one last life lesson I have learned: I have made my biggest mistakes in times of more money, and I have learned the most valuable lessons in times of less money!
Hopefully, my perspective will help your process even though the numbers are missing. Life is a process, not a goal!
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 1:38 pm
Mimoza says:
April 10, 2017 at 1:11 pm
Well, it depends. We bought a 2,400 sq.f. house (includes 2-car garage which is perhaps 400 sq.f.) before children because it seemed so spacious, new construction, and also it seemed that mostly people buy houses larger than 2k sq.f. Oh, we also saw a house of 1,800 sq.f. sold by an owner (aka ‘their stuff was in the house’) and it seemed small. Fast forward almost 15 years… We live in the same house with 2 kiddos and boy, I wish I had bought a ranch-size house (less than 2k sq.f.). No, I do not hate our house, but I don’t like cleaning and organizing all that space. The kids are bigger (8 & 11) so they help to clean sometimes. After cleaning, it becomes messy again. So, the thought that our house is not forever for us, I wish we’ve bought a smaller house. In addition, we easily wouldn’t use another 200-300 sq.f. if we were more organized. The more space, the more mess and other people might feel compelled to fill that space with furniture, gadgets, etc.
Now it’s all cute and rosy, but think about the future when you have children. Believe me, it takes energy to raise them. What if one of you decides to quit work and raise family. Unless you generate income other ways, you’ll feel a serious pinch in your finances.
So, my verdict would be not to buy the new house, but if you’re 200% sure it’s really a forever house, make it work financially. To be honest, $53k spending for two people is kind of high unless you live close to DC.
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 2:25 pm
Hi Mimoza, thanks so much for your feedback! Just a quick note on annual spending, that $53 does include our original mortgage ($8k excluding taxes/insurance) as well as the extra $25k additional principal we’re currently putting toward it. Removing the extra principal alone from our annual “today” expenses, that puts us right around $28k for expenses annually, including our current normal mortgage payment. I hope that’s more in line with what a moderately frugal, dual-income-no-kids couple in rural Ohio should be spending. Hard to tell how much that will increase once kids are added in, but hopefully it isn’t much more than that once we start growing our family. Thanks for your perspective!
April 10, 2017 at 1:12 pm
I say get your dream house. You will be able to establish yourselves in a home that you can love immediately and stay in for the long haul. You can start your family without worries about renovating or moving a few years down the line. There’s is so much inherent emotional value in factors that can’t be quantified. Plus, you can deduct the mortgage interest so you will be getting a financial benefit.
Jen says:
April 10, 2017 at 1:20 pm
Forgive me if someone has already mentioned this, but since you’ve paid down a lot of your mortgage, what about renting out your existing home in order to produce some more income that would make building an emergency fund and buying your dream home possible? Could you qualify for a mortgage on the new home while still owning your current home?
I won’t give a recommendation one way or the other on what you should do except to say that if this truly is your dream home (and you are certain you know what that is) and it truly is rare for one like it to come along (the combination of architecture, location, or whatever it is that strikes your fancy) then I might give more serious consideration to stretching financially to make it happen a little sooner than you may be fully prepared for so long as it’s not completely financially irresponsible and taking resale into consideration. But I’m in the DC metro area and have been trying to purchase my own dream home for the past 6 months and the market here, like many of the cities in the US right now is rough. I’m frankly astounded that you could actually make an offer for that much below ask and expect that they would negotiate with you. The last house I made an offer on was listed at $340,000. I offered over ask, but there were 4 offers on the table and apparently I never stood a chance. It just closed at $18K over ask. People always say there will be another house and while that’s true, I think if you have a main criteria or two that you are unwilling to bend on that really restricts your options, it will mean a potentially much longer search (and you may need to be willing to offer more money to then ensure you get the house) to find the right one. For me, I don’t need a particularly large property, but I need the lot to be private/wooded, which drastically reduces the inventory on the table for me (it amazes me how much people like their cleared, shade free yards but to each his own). On the other hand, I would be careful of being drawn to that house because it’s a showpiece so to speak. It’s absolutely gorgeous and reminds me of a house I recently passed on that had a Frank Lloyd Wright type of architecture with huge windows looking onto a wooded lot. It was slightly above my price point and also needed a nearly flat roof (tar & gravel) replaced along with other updates. In the end, I had to consider that while it had the things I truly wanted, it also was more than I needed in terms of being a “showy” house, which would drive up the price even further. So I let it go.
Anyway, I don’t feel I can advise either way in your case, but hope this at least provides some more food for thought. It does sound like your market is very different so that’s a plus. Good luck!
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 2:53 pm
Hi Jen! Excellent idea, and one that we’ve actually kicked around a little bit along the way. Thanks! With the landlords we’ve talked with, a home the size of our current abode is just large enough to basically price itself out of the rental market in our area since cost of living and housing prices around here are so cheap right now. Who’s to say that won’t change in the future, but that’s a big “what-if” in my personal opinion.
As far as the nuts and bolts of qualifying for another loan, I’m afraid we’re at a significant disadvantage. At this point in our lives (and now understanding the risks of working for the same employer) I don’t know that Elizabeth and I would be willing to assume the added risk of carrying a second mortgage. Also, given our dearth of cash on hand, I don’t know that we would qualify for another mortgage on top of our current expenses. If I’m being brutally honest with myself, the thought seems a little overwhelming – especially if something were to need an immediate repair in the near future on either place!
Again, great conversation and excellent perspective. Thanks so much!
April 10, 2017 at 1:25 pm
It doesn’t necessarily have to be one or the other. If you’re willing to get creative and hustle a bit, you can make anything work in your benefit.
Is there uber or lyft in your area? If so, I’d consider becoming a driver during peak evenings and using the Volt since the electricity is free from work. You can make a killing from an hour of work if it’s popular in your area. Three hours a week would probably cover your whole car payment.
Regarding the house, do some more research. If the new house allows you to acquire roommates or rent out on AirBnB regularly, then the new house could actually make more long-term financial sense than staying in your current home because it could be an extra passive source of income. Especially if interest rates go up before you’d be “ready” to buy the new home. (I’m with the Frugalwoods – keep your mortgage!! The money is so cheap right now!!) If your research finds that “it is kinda is a good market for that,” I would say that doesn’t cut it – stay in your current house and find ways to make it better for yourself and enjoy the financial freedom and flexibility that comes with it. Also, don’t be afraid to invest in reasonable updates to your current house if they make your quality of life better. Be wary in your search for a new house if you do go that route. As someone else stated, just because it cosmetically looks updated, that doesn’t mean it’s built well. It’s the guts that matter. My foreclosure looked awful when I bought it, which is why no one else bought it and I got it for $50/sq ft less than my next cheapest neighbor, but the guts are in perfect shape and I’ve already added $175k to my net worth in just one year from my updates/the hot market.
In my specific area, a “starter home” (two bedrooms, one bath, 1200 sq ft) would have cost $300k+. I’d be working forever to pay it off and have very little space to grow with a family later if I want to go that route. Instead, I mortgaged an extra $125k for an extra 800 sq ft and 4 bed, 3 bath and I rent out the main part of the house on AirBnB. I’ve met really cool people and I actually am currently living for free in an attached suite. (Last month I even made $500 on top of every single expense that I’m saving for a “rainy day.”) If this new house really is in the prime location, as you say, then you could rent out rooms solely Friday and Saturday nights and potentially make a killing that would negate the extra costs and you’d still have the house to yourself all week. You just have to know it will be more work, more maintenance/upkeep since you can’t just let things go, and there’s a potential for some startup costs depending on if you need new sheets, towels, etc. New “guest” sheets and towels will set you back $100-$200 if you don’t want guests to use ones you currently have, I just got white and wash with bleach. Regardless of whether or not you move, you should consider renting out the house while you’re on your trips. You’d likely make more than enough to cover your whole frugal trip.
As an extra but important note, I have a flat roof but thankfully only in the back where they did the addition. It leaked a bit when I moved in. I layered up tar around the edges and then painted two coats of a silicone acrylic on it that provide a good water-tight seal. I plan to go up on the roof and repaint this silicone acrylic at least once every year – it was $60 for 5 gallons and I needed two buckets – and I’m planning to extend the life as long as possible. Flat roofs are a nightmare. **No dream home – and definitely not a forever home – should EVER have a flat room.** Water just puddles and leaks.
April 10, 2017 at 1:43 pm
I say build your dream life and don’t worry about a dream home, dream vacation, etc. Your joy in the outdoors and enjoying nature that seems a core family value might not be experienced as much by moving into the potential next home with even less time. But if you do decide to stay, don’t think of that home as the one that “got away” … continue to cultivate happiness in your current home.
Kara says:
April 10, 2017 at 1:44 pm
My husband and I were 100% convinced that we would want 2 or 3 kids and bought a house that could accommodate us and 3 kids through their high school years. Now that we have 1 kid at home, we realize we only want 1 and our house is much bigger than we actually need. We still really, really love our house, but if we could go back in time, we would buy a smaller house with a smaller mortgage and reach financial independence much sooner. We sometimes think about moving, but the cost and hassle of moving out of a house we love is unsettling. So my advice to you would be to stay where you are, continue browsing houses, and reevaluate your goals once you have a child. If you still want a dream home at that point, there will be more dream homes to be found. Good luck!
tkid says:
April 10, 2017 at 1:50 pm
I’m going to say you should hang onto the old house, but not for financial reasons. Right now you have a ton of activities you do, plus getting your masters. Your plate is full. I’d focus on getting your masters first, pay off the old house’s mortgage (paying off your mortgage by 2019 is phenomenal and Good Job!), then focus on getting that dream house.
On the dream house, to me your 1950s ranch sounds dreamy, while the 3000 sq ft house sounds like a nightmare. It’s the roof: it’s flat in a snowbelt so how well will it take a load of snow? Plus re-roofing it at $65,000 is way too expensive. Are there leaks in it? What kind of upgrades could you do to the ranch with $65,000?
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 2:32 pm
Good afternoon tkid! Thank you so much for your input. The structure of the dream home was designed to take the snow load and, from what we can tell from walking through the home, it seems to have kept up well with the snowfall over the years. However, like you noted, the cots of re-roofing something that flat and ensuring it stays snow-worthy for years to come seems expensive to us as well. There are certainly many renovation opportunities we could tackle (someday) in our current home for that amount of cost!
AW says:
April 10, 2017 at 2:00 pm
You have gotten some great financial/ frugal advice, but I will say that if it were me, I would buy the dream house. We live in a competitive real estate market and got outbid on our dream house 2 years ago. We ended up buying a much smaller (1450 sq ft) much cheaper home for our family of 4. Our house is nice and it’s nice that financially we are not stretched, but I do wish we were in the dream house even with the higher cost. We are home a lot so we spend a lot of time in the house, cook most meals at home, etc. I would love a spare bedroom/ office, since we frequently have out of town family visiting and I work from home often. (Last Christmas we had to put one relative up in a hotel because our house just got too crowded. In the dream house we would have had plenty of space.) Our kitchen is also tiny and the lack of counter space for food prep is irritating. I dream about the dream house every time we drive by. Anyway, good luck with your decision.
Jenny says:
April 10, 2017 at 2:13 pm
When my husband and I were in our 20’s, we bought (financed) our first “starter” house. The house was definitely not our dream home – it was older than we were, was a 1200 square feet tract house but with a nice size backyard. Our plan was only to stay there a few years, sell, and move up. Two kids came along, we realized we were in a great community for raising kids, paid off our mortgage, and had the flexibility as to who worked and who stayed home (it flipped several times during those kid-rearing years). Somewhere along the way the starter house became our home – not because of any renovations that we made (we aren’t handy that way) but because of the memories and community that we made. The kids are grown and establishing their own lives and it looks like our “starter house” will become our “retirement home”. It’s just the right size for us and I’m so grateful that we didn’t get a two-story house (definitely on my “dream home” list) as stairs lose their luster as we age. I recommend you take a step back and really evaluate what is most important to you..
Casey says:
April 10, 2017 at 2:52 pm
I haven’t read all the comments, but have kids before you decide what is truly your “dream house”. We thought we bought our dream house, but I think we might choose differently if we had to do it over again. Ours is 3000 sqft and it really is too big for a family with a baby and a toddler. We were looking for a 2.5 or 3 car garage because my husband likes to tinker on his motorcycle, but in retrospect it probably would have been cheaper to just add on a lean-to or shed for that.
And then… you know, having babies is not always as easy as it might appear. You might struggle with infertility and want to spend your nest egg on fertility treatments or adoption. Or you might have a special needs kid who is going to require lots of medical attention. Until you’re done having children, you might not know how much it’s going to cost to establish the family that you want. That might sound harsh, but building a family is just not for the faint of heart. But I’m generally pretty risk averse and we decided to put off any further major financial decisions (beyond buying our house) until we were done having kids – part of my personality, and my husband’s too.
Also, if you’re in architecture… presumably you have contacts in your local construction workpool? You probably have some leads on a general contractor who does affordable yet quality work? So if the day comes and you don’t want to DIY your own reno, you can hire out reliable help. I get that it will still be an inconvenience to have your house torn up (ours is torn up right now due to a flood in a poorly-maintained-by-prior-owners master bath, but we had to do it because there was mold and we have an infant), but at least it won’t be your headache to manage.
Good luck! You are doing great!
April 10, 2017 at 6:08 pm
This, absolutely this! We have been incredibly fortunate and have three amazingly healthy children. However, my husband’s employer switched insurance companies right after the birth of child #1, and we suddenly went from a $25 copay to shelling out between $400-$900 for well-child checkups with immunizations. We can pull it off on one income because they are all insanely healthy and we live in a 1400 sf home with a $620 mortgage–quite big enough for all of us, as others have attested to, and the kids learn valuable lessons about sharing and taking turns. We have one set of friends going through round #4 of in vitro which is costing an arm and a leg. We have other friends who have spent the past six months trying to get an accurate diagnosis for their 3-year-old and just learned he will need ongoing and tremendously expensive medical interventions. Another friend’s child’s lifelong medical needs were well covered until her husband was laid off from IBM at which point they had were facing bills of several thousand each month. You just never know what’s going to happen, and when children enter the picture, more issues will become nonnegotiable than you may expect. Sticking with a smaller, less-expensive home gives you 1) a chance to figure out what you really need after you grow your family, and 2) so much more flexibility to deal with all the crazy crap that will come your way. That said, they’re worth the grief. And I only hope mine grow up to have the sensible heads you two obviously have on your shoulders. Good luck!
Cindy Brick says:
April 10, 2017 at 3:15 pm
Maybe it’s me, but your Dream Home price seems incredibly reasonable! (Granted, we live in the Denver, CO area, where home prices are zipping all over right now.) The size would be just fine for kids — and if you can sell your current home, plus make the other sacrifices you’re mentioning (including selling the car), that should be more than enough to ensure you don’t have to pay mortgage insurance. (One of the biggest wastes of money out there, in my opinion — and it only benefits the mortgage people, not you.)
IF you can sell your current home, and this really is your dream home — then why not. But I would definitely negotitate, based on the knowledge you’ll have to replace that roof soon. You are far ahead of many people your age in planning your financial lives out — good for you. (But you really do need to add to that emergency fund, just in case…)
April 10, 2017 at 3:31 pm
I vote for staying where you are. I agree with everyone about the cars. Limit to 2 cars, 1 kid- friendly. As long as your current neighborhood meets your needs now and when you have kids for a extended period of time (thru 6-8th grade), that’s all the better!
Time now to re- allocate your funds. “Rolling driving fund” gets cut by 2/3 into your cash reserves. Let’s be honest, you’re not going to be extensively traveling with newborns or toddlers. Ditto for the proceeds of cars go there also.
Extra mortgage amount gets halved. (1/2 saved for extra mortgage pymt, other half towards house repairs/reno item now line of budget) yes it’ll take longer to be mortgage-free but you need the dedicated cash reserves more to be at peace in your home!
Renovations can be cash- flowed, save for it. Prioritize: heating. Roofing and safety Items first. Sometimes all you really need are some low-cost items to make a big impact. Change fixtures, paint, lightning, doorknobs etc. Not everything needs to be a gut job!!
Heloc is last option, not your first. You have the time to accumulate money, every dollar counts.!
I raised 2 kids to adulthood (Yes they are well- adjusted! Lol) in a 2 bedroom, 1 bath apt. (Their bedroom was 8X10 in less than 700 sq ft, total apt sq footage!) No, kids don’t have to have their own bedroom each!
Since you indicated you want more time with kids, give yourselves a time deadline. Say. 1 yr before you want become pregnant, start living on 1 income as a test run. I think you guys have done awesome so far! You should be proud of yourselves!!
Joe says:
April 10, 2017 at 3:53 pm
First of all, you guys are doing very well for a young couple. Congratulations!
Now, I’d say put off your dream home. You’re still young and people change. Your dream home will probably be something else as you get older.
Are you going to have kids? They aren’t cheap.
3,000 sq ft is huge. You don’t need that much space, do you?
You’re doing well now so you should keep doing what you’re doing. Why make such a big change?
Abbie Burnham says:
April 10, 2017 at 3:54 pm
Personally, I wouldn’t go for the dream home because it would be eating up 37% of your take home pay. (37%!!!!) That’s a really uncomfortable amount for me (and should be for you), especially with zero liquid savings and both working for the same company, which greatly increases the risk of you both being laid off in the event of an economic downturn. There’s something to be said for frugality on not eating out as much and not having too many cable, Hulu, Netflix, etc. subscriptions, but when it comes down to it, your biggest savings would be NOT increasing your standard of living by doubling the size and price of your home for no good reason.
I agree with everyone’s suggestions above about what your dream home is right now vs. what it will be three or four years after you’ve started having kids. It will change GREATLY. Don’t lock yourself into such an expensive home at this point in your life when you could be dumping huge amounts of money into savings and letting time multiply it for you.
My suggestions: dump that $2100 extra per month into a savings account for an emergency fund until you have a minimum of three months of expenses stored up, get rid of the extra cars (I would include the Mustang GT in this category; you could more than pay off your Volt with the proceeds), then finish paying off the current house and start renovations. Practice the art of contentment. I have a dream home, too, but I will never own it because a) it would be a nightmare to clean b) kids destroy things (often) and it is easier not to scream at them when they punch a hole into the wall of your “good enough” home and c) I value my time with my kids more than living in the perfect house or having the nicest furniture, the best car, etc. I think you will, too. Do you really want to lock yourselves both into these jobs for 15 more years? Think about it in terms of the amount of time you will have with your children at home – only 18 years. Is this house worth most of their childhood?
Picture the freedom you will have with your money from living in a smaller home with NO MORTGAGE. $3000/month freed up to do ANYTHING with! That is the dream life to me!
April 10, 2017 at 5:36 pm
It’s hard for me to even comment because a “starter” home in an OK hood where I live in San Francisco is about 900k+. Granted, our incomes are higher but not high enough to make 900K doable.
Let’s take the $$ out of this completely- I agree with other commenters that 3000 square foot space sounds like less of a blessing and more of a curse, same with maintaining and insuring 4 cars. Your stuff starts to own YOU at some point. I have some friends that moved into a big house with no kids and they have extra rooms that are just filled with crap that they have no urgency to get rid of because they still have plenty of space. They are very busy people that probably thought they would make their home gym/office/meditation room or whatever, but in practice thoughtfully filling the extra space wasn’t a priority.
Also, careful what advice you get from realtors. For them, it’s always a fantastic time to buy or sell. They want you to think that this house is only available once a decade in order to create a false sense of urgency. You’ll be happy in many different houses. I would say let this one go and put yourselves in a killer position to be a super competitive buyer when you have kids in a few years.
Mary in Maryland says:
April 10, 2017 at 8:50 pm
He’s right about realtors always thinking this is the best possible market for buying, and that nothing this perfect will be available for another decade. My Dad used to joke about deals being “yet another once in a lifetime opportunity.” More memorably he used to say, “You can have anything you want, but not everything.” The introductory remarks didn’t make it sound like you guys spend much time at home. That wouldn’t seem apt to change with a bigger mortgage. My husband and I live in 1400 sq ft, and it’s plenty for us and more or less permanent houseguests. We laugh when we drive through the lovely neighborhoods closer in–with huge wrap around porches that never have anyone sitting on them. The air bnb thing works well if you live in a hot area. Given real estate prices, I’m guessing your area is not rife with tourists. Good luck. there’s always another house coming.
gk says:
April 10, 2017 at 5:37 pm
you guys are doing so awesome for your age! i’ll join the chorus of people voting to stay in your current home for a few reasons –
– i’m a big proponent of smaller living. you two seem pretty eco-minded. i am too, and i’ve always thought that living in a smaller space is great b/c less space to heat/cool, clean, maintain, furnish, and accumulate stuff. all good for the earth! and so cozy! (we are a family of 3 in 2100sf. i grew up in the same size house. my husband’s house growing up was smaller. what we have now is plenty big, and there are entire rooms we don’t use. we could totally downsize. whoever commented that kids just want to be around you are totally right.)
– imagine how awesome you could make your current place with the $65k (!!) you’d have to pay for a new roof at the *dream house*. and that would be $65k of making your living space and things you use on a daily basis awesome – not a roof. you both have architecture backgrounds, so you could make the current house so perfect for you. and add some solar panels!
– dreams, and dream houses, change – as many people have noted above for many reasons. you want kids, but you don’t know when you’re going to have them. and frankly you don’t know if you’ll be dealt infertility or loss or a sick kid or a special needs kid, or decide to adopt. don’t extend yourself now for something that may or may not be right for you down the road. there will always be another dream house. maybe even one with a less expensive style roof
– don’t underestimate how dreamy it is to buy a house well within your means! jack, especially, seems pretty conservative. me too. it is so nice to have a cushion in the bank and the freedom to know that if something goes wrong (like if my husband or i lose our jobs; or if i lose it and decide to quit my job to become an underwater basketweaver or whatever), that we will be okay. we purposely bought a house we could afford on one salary, and i do not regret it one bit. we *almost* bought a dream house before this one – my husband refers to it as the one that got away. but the house we got and the neighborhood we ended up in (which wasn’t even on our radar at the time we were looking at dream house) are perfect for us. and i don’t have to lay awake at night thinking about how i’ll just never take a vacation again and eat PB&J every day.
– if you stay, you could redirect some of your $2,100 extra mortgage payments – keep paying extra on that mortgage if it makes you feel good (i do), but also build up your emergency fund and start setting aside some cash for renovations. yes, renovations are stressful. they become even more so with kids around. if you start setting aside cash for renovations now, you can start doing some renovations now. if i were you, i’d choose the most disruptive things now, before you have a kid.
– don’t let people talk you out of your volt. you can fit kids into sedans (although the headroom on the older volts can be pretty low in the back, and i think you have to put the car seat against the door if you have the version w/o a middle back seat). and again, you don’t know when you’ll have a kid. life throws curveballs at you and cares nothing of your plans. as someone who has had lots of friends experience infertility and has herself experienced loss, i’d be loathe to change up the car until the baby is actually here. in the meantime, you will have low fuel costs and that’s awesome. i do think you should get rid of the other cars, though, and add to an emergency fund.
Jack says:
April 10, 2017 at 6:14 pm
Thank you gk, Joe and all the rest of you generous readers so willing to share stories and advice! You’ve all been so incredibly kind and helpful! Elizabeth and I cannot begin to tell you how much we appreciate everything you’ve helped us understand today. What a fantastic conversation! A BIG special thanks to our gracious hosts, the Frugalwoods, for allowing us to share our little sliver of the world with all of you. It’s such an honor to be a part of the Frugalwoods’ Case Study Family and we hope our dilemma will continue to help shed light on future Frugal Weirdos.
Thank you ALL so much! You have given us so much to think about in the coming weeks, months, and even years!
April 10, 2017 at 7:19 pm
It looks like you have some good advice and a lot to think about.
My suggestion is for the scenario where you decide NOT to purchase your dream house. I am assuming that one of the reasons you were looking at real estate to begin with is that, as you’ve mentioned, your current house is very outdated. There is definitely something relaxing about coming home to a place that looks nice and is to your taste, and on the flip side, irritating when you come home and all you see is what you’d want to change.
That being said, if you divert some of your extra mortgage payments into a renovation fund, within 6-12 months you could afford to change a few things. Not everything, but make a list of what would make an impact on how you feel about the house. For instance, I think I saw you say the carpets are very old. Replacing them to something you like could make a big difference, or some new lighting, or paint. It doesn’t have to be $60k, renovate every room kind of a thing, but could help you be content where you are for a while. And then you could resume the massive payments if you like and still pay it off quickly.
Sandi says:
April 10, 2017 at 8:13 pm
If I could go back and tell my younger self (“dream” home purchased at 31, haven’t lived in that nightmare since 1998; coincidentally I also worked for the same company as my spouse, and the house needed a roof) the truth about the real cost of an older home, the missed opportunities due to the high mortgage payment and payment of that new roof among other necessities, what happens when a company merges with another and only one of you can stay on – in another city – and how silly it is to actually furnish all those rooms for which there are currently no residents (otherwise, why own the space, right?) just to have to sell all that furniture for pennies on the dollar at the garage sale before moving… Well, read today’s new post at Keep Thrifty, they’re 5 people in an 1800+ sq ft house who want to go smaller. My “dream” that became a nightmare was only 2700sqft. Today we have 2 kids and a dog and much less than 2700 sqft and it turns out that smaller, easier to maintain (read that as “more economic”) and newer (compare the cost of insuring 3000 sqft of mid-century to 1800 sqft of something built this millenium) was actually the real dream. Beautiful expensive big houses are fun to look at, but they don’t have to be home. Leave the expense to the older retired FI folk. Too many unknowns surround your next 15-20 years.
Also, if we hadn’t downsized, I’d still be working. A smaller place let me be a stay at home mom, something I never thought I’d want to be.
tess says:
April 10, 2017 at 8:46 pm
Ah, to be young and in love! Super sweet photos of yourselves & kitty.
Either house seems as cheap as chips. $500k will barely buy a starter condo locally, so I understand the allure of the new home. Looks great.
The square footage seems excessive to me (even with potential future children). Do you need it? Will you need it? How will the space be used? Rollerskating? Entertaining? Business? Is there a possibility of working from home? Starting your own business? Would you need a dedicated home office? Nanny’s room? In-law suite? Guest rental?
I understand the appeal of paying down a mortgage. I paid off a 15-year mortgage in 7 years, which allowed me to work part time after the birth of my son. However, I agree with Mrs FW and others to channel $$ to building a cash reserve for emergencies and home repair whether for home 1 or dream house 2.
Personally, and as a bossy older sister, I would advise cutting down on outside activities and channeling your energies/spare time into feathering your current nest. Pulling up rugs, washing and painting walls are great for building bonds with your partner and your home.
Nancy says:
April 10, 2017 at 9:47 pm
Congratulations on such a great financial start to your lives together! My comments are from an older viewpoint…..my son and DIL are exactly your ages. Our older son is 3 years older. What I have seen in them is a drastic changing of dreams through the late 20s/early 30s. None of the dreams were bad, nor wrong…..they just developed as the kids matured. Sometimes, when a dream is costly, it is best to wait….and continue to get ready. In your case, sell the extra cars, make that cash emergency fund, max Roth IRAs. Build your down payment. And let life develop a bit more. Houses come and go, and the dream one may change size and importance over the next couple years as you get those other financial aspects in better order. Enjoy these years as you grow together and develop your dreams, in all areas! Don’t plan a house for children you do not yet have. Life doesn’t always give us what we expect. Meanwhile, if you get those finances in top-notch shape, you will be ready for what you need and want when the time comes.
RR says:
April 11, 2017 at 4:15 pm
This is really fantastic advice and well-written I have to say. And I never say that.
Norm says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:01 pm
I feel like everything has been said at this point, so I’ll just add that I think you’re being taken for a ride on that roof cost. We moved into our flat roof house in 2009 and put on a new roof for all of $3,000. Granted, they just went on top of the old roof, and removing and doing a new one would probably cost twice as much, and we don’t have any skylights, but damn if I can’t figure out how they could possibly get to $65,000. I use CostHelper.com to check estimates like this, and yours is on the extreme high end.
Dtuff says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:26 pm
Seems cheap to me overall – I’d say buy the dream home if you like it that much, and refocus from there.
Jim says:
April 10, 2017 at 10:46 pm
As the proud owner of a ’95 Ford Ranger, I wholeheartedly recommend keeping the S-10. Yes it is unnecessary, and yes it costs more than renting. To me the cost is well worth the benefits.
– I’ve found 75 minutes to be much shorter than it sounds when it includes loading a full truck load, driving home, unloading a full truck load, driving back, refueling, and returning. I don’t think it’s a scam, but I always found it to be stressful. And this is all assuming the rental truck is even available when I happen to be at the store. And assuming I manage to get the exact quantity of every single (large) item that I need on the first try.
– Before I had the truck, I ripped weather stripping, stained seats, and broke the windshield of my Mazda sedan trying to cram in too many home improvement materials. Just because the rental truck is an option doesn’t mean you’ll use it.
– In the two years I’ve owned the truck, it’s cost me about $700 in insurance, maintenance, registration, and opportunity cost. It’s saved me about $200 in delivery fees on appliances from the scratch and dent and a fancypants new chair. Plus of course I haven’t needed to rent a truck. My truck is a luxury, but not a particularly expensive one.
– There are no sweeter words to any craigslist seller or freecycle poster than “I have a truck.” Nobody wants to sell or give away a piece of furniture only to find that the new owner can’t get it home.
Best of luck!
S.G. says:
April 10, 2017 at 11:51 pm
A few thoughts:
Any plan to buy a house that starts with selling a car to produce the capital is probably a no.
I’m interested in what you think is so important to renovate in your $107k house that is going to cost you about the same amount as your $279k + $65k roof. Somehow I think there are a lot of huge wishes on that list and not just necessities.
It’s amazing how long it takes you to actually need more space with a kid. Since it sounds like you aren’t even pregnant yet, you are likely over 2 years away from needing a baby room. We aren’t attachment parents, but we kept the crib in our room until sleeping through the night for our own comfort in not walking across the house in the middle of the night.
It sounds like you might be thinking about the whole situation as extremes. It’s between paying off the current house 100% before doing anything or taking on way more than you should for the finished house. Maybe you need to relax your current lifestyle a little so you feel some of the benefits NOW of having a mortgage that you can double pay on, because you won’t have that option if you buy the new house.
Bottom line: the new house strikes me as a big risk. If anything happens you have no flexibility. Think about if that would weigh on you emotionally. I know it would weigh on me.
April 11, 2017 at 12:58 am
Your current path puts you well on the way to FI, but I think buying the dream house would completely throw you off course. It doesn’t seem financially possible to buy the house and establish a family while also cutting back on work hours (unless the main breadwinner receives a significant pay increase). Have you created a budget that includes the increased costs that come with children (healthcare, food, diapers, clothes, college funds, life insurance, daycare, etc)? Full-time daycare is $8,000 to $12,000 per year per child; having two children would chew up the extra funds you’re currently using the pay down your existing mortgage.
Also, we bought our house “knowing” that the roof needed to be replaced in 5 to 10 years. Less than six months later, we were interviewing contractors. Therefore, I would assume that the roof needs to be replaced within the first year or two. I wouldn’t be comfortable buying the house without the cash for the roof replacement and an additional $10,000 for repairs and “minor” issues that are bound to pop up in the first few years of ownership.
Monica says:
April 11, 2017 at 8:05 am
I have not red though al the comments, so hope this is not too repetitive. My main thoughts:
1. Roth IRAs! Even my 17 year old has one!
2. I would get a home equity line of credit (not a loan, just a line of credit) which can be used as a back up emergency fund if absolutely necessary (I have one for $50K the I have never touched, but it is there if something catastrophic happens and I need access to more cash than I keep in regular savings)
3. I don’t think you should buy the dream home. I know it lovely and all, but 3000 square feet is really large. I live with two kids (teenage boys), one dog and two cats in a 1280 square foot , 3 bedroom 1 bath ranch house and we do just fine. We do have some “living space” in the basement – a carpeted rec room where boys watch TV and play Xbox, where I never go. It is not lovely and it is not heated so it does get cool down there in the winter (we live just outside of Boston), but they just wear a sweatshirt. I think 1500 square feet it totally doable and will cost less as far as heat, electricity, AC and furnishings. Housing prices where we live are very high (as the Fruglewoods know!) so our paticular house is worth between 750-800K and my mortgage is around 200K at the moment. I could afford more house, but have decided this is the right size for us.
4. My only bathroom is the original 1952 bathroom. When we moved in 7 years ago I could not imagine actually LIVING with the bathroom as it was, but in the end, I just resurfaced the tub, painted the walls and cleaned it up, and you what? It is Fine! We are living perfectly well with one bath (as did the three other families who lived here before us). I would like to update it at some point, but this will be hard because it logistically it is hard to update a bath when it is the only one. So, I think you should keep living in your current house, fix it up as you go along- times change and so do your tastes, you may not have to do as much as you think to be happy.
5. Begin to think about childcare costs if you will need to – where I live costs are generally $1800-2400 a month for an infant – probably not that much were you are, but likely still a significant cost.
6. Agree with Mrs Frugalwoods as far a mortgage not being terrible debt to have.
April 11, 2017 at 8:44 am
I notice that you do not currently spend very much of your time in your current home. However, every home needs upkeep (cleaning, repairs, etc.). In a smaller house, this can be done in less time. My family of 5 lives in 1300 square feet. Without help, one adult can do a weekly cleaning of the house in one hour; with help (especially small help) this becomes more fun and takes about 90 minutes. I recommend living where you live (Which does not appear to be in your house), sleeping where your sleep (Which does appear to be in your current house), and spending your most valuable resource (time) where you value it most.
April 11, 2017 at 9:41 am
There is a lot of great advice but I thought I would chime in. We are blessed that our house of around 2800 square feet is paid for. I have two teenagers one at a private college. My advice is to stay where you are and work on minor updates. In the end it is more to have extra cash flow and not have heavy debt. After trying to work with my first one I saw greater benefits from staying at home. The teenage years have been expensive with sports and other activities. They both had part time jobs but braces cars and insurance add up fast. I think it means more to have cash flow less debt and a good emergency fund. My dad is a land developer and I have too many stories of people getting more house than they need. My mom had great advice growing up “When in doubt don’t”
Lynn says:
April 11, 2017 at 8:51 pm
Mom’s have the best advice!
Aaron says:
April 11, 2017 at 11:18 am
You guys mentioned that you are hardly ever home- parenting doesn’t necessarily change that. Even before they walked I carried my sons in a backpack wherever I went. My sons are 16 and 18 now and 95% of my memories are things we did outside of the home. Sure I remember rocking my son to sleep or giving them a bath, but the house literally never contributed a single thing other than providing shelter. Maybe it would be different if we had a place like the Frugalwoods but I would suggest the average suburban home really doesn’t matter much as long as the neighborhood and schools are good.
April 11, 2017 at 12:24 pm
So maybe this is more in the realm of product endorsement instead of financial advice, but you mention expensive skylights being one of the drawbacks of replacing the dream house roof. In my childhood home, my parents installed “solar tubes” into a bathroom with no windows and my bedroom, which didn’t have much light. These mirrored tubes brought more light into the rooms and (from what I understand) had less heat loss/chance leaks than a traditional skylight.
I don’t know how feasible it is to put in a new roof that removes the skylights and instead puts in something like these “solar tubes,” but figured it was worth mentioning if the roof expense was a big drawback to choosing your dream home.
Mary Kay says:
April 11, 2017 at 1:17 pm
First of all, this couple is doing fantastic financially!!! My thought is that this plan doesn’t seem very recession-proof. I have a similar profession (civil engineering) and I’m a bit older (44). I would seriously consider what will happen when the next recession hits (and it will). Are you positioned for an extended lay-off? In the late 90s/early 00s I was living in OR with my ex- and he was unemployed for two years straight (he worked in tech). Then, in 2008 with my current husband, his job in construction ended and there wasn’t anything for him to do (which is how he became a SAHD). At that time, in South Sacramento, there was a foreclosure on every street in our neighborhood. This is not an exaggeration.
With that said, it’s my opinion that it’s okay for both husband and wife to work at the same firm. When the recession hits, it won’t really matter which firm you work for because everyone will be hit hard. Architecture, development, construction… these are some of the industries that are most affected and feel the recession first. Over the years I’ve worked with a lot of married couples (who work together) and it seems very beneficial for these couples to work together.
One last thing – In a recession it would probably be difficult to sell the car for its full value so I wouldn’t count on that.
SharonW says:
April 11, 2017 at 1:33 pm
Housing decisions are financial, until they are 100% emotional. It sounds like you don’t have strong emotional ties to your current house. All the numbers and thoughtful comments point to keeping what you have, and changing for focus for extra cash to meet your goals going forward. I bought a too large, older home, but it was the best value at the time, and well in my price range. We’ve spent 15 years updating it slowly with cash savings – electrical, plumbing (oh my got the plumbing!), earthquake retrofit, sealing and finishing the basement, adding bathroom, kitchen, etc. By doing the work slow and in the order that made the most sense, we’ve now got a dream home for less money than if we bought it in turnkey condition. I would prefer less space, but we can’t downsize without spending more than it’s worth… our mortgage is paid off. If you have trouble keeping up with the cleaning now, don’t add more space in your next house! If you make the emotional call and buy the dream house, you may find it to be house full of regret. Give yourselves permission to make changes (with cash) to your current house and put some memories into it that give you that emotional attachment you crave.
Regardless of the house choice, please dump the extra car inventory! The CR-V could tow a cheap, used utility trailer if you need cargo space, and this seems to be a fine car for family vacations, too. The mustang and the truck would be my choices to liquidate, then put the CR-V on a low mileage insurance plan and don’t use it much.
Frankly, no matter what you decide, it will be fine. You’re doing so well and paying attention to the details. Try to enjoy where you are now – I find that I spend so much time future planning that I’m not living for today.
Wade says:
April 11, 2017 at 2:50 pm
3 x gross salary should be the max. This house with future renovations is too much at the current income levels.
I would pass. Own your house, don’t let your home own you.
April 11, 2017 at 8:48 pm
Yes, that 65K for a roof terrifies me. You have so many choices and freedoms now, I would want to keep that going…. Save the pictures of this house for later, when you makeep renovations or build your own (and learn from this builder’s mistake about the roof!)
April 11, 2017 at 3:43 pm
1. Buying a dream home isn’t wise at your age or any age. When you sell a house, there are certain transaction fees involved, the highest of which is realtor fees. Only realtors get rich when you sell a house and buy a new one. Also, there is the elusive dream, one that only pushes the envelope further and further as you get older. 1500 square feet is a huge space compared to most Countries in the world. Are the renovations really needed? Example, your bathroom shower has tiles that mildew is eating away at and are following out of the wall (my childhood home-real example). In that case, some renovation is needed, such as replacing said tiles, in order to make it back to functional. If the home just looks like something out of the “Jetson’s,” but functions well and has been maintained, NO renovations are necessary, IMO.
2. Yes, it would be stretching your budget.
3. No, absolutely not. One and done is my philosophy. We have lived in our only home since 2008. We never plan on moving, moving is expensive and only realtors get rich when you move. The buyer and seller both get hosed, IMO.
4. Probably, but the one that caught my attention is the extra mortgage payments you are making. With all due respect, please stop. Instead, invest in a low cost index fund, say at vanguard, like VTI, and reinvest the dividends. The historical retursn of the SP500, since 1965, is 9.7% compounded!
I hope this helps you. I am 40, not particularly frugal (compared to FW), but am getting ready to ER soon. I have opted to ask for a layoff with severance, and much to my pleasant delight, my boss agreed. I can’t wait to see what the future holds. The advice I give above is to get you to FI in the very fastest path. If that’s not your goal, my advice probably doesn’t apply.
Laura says:
April 11, 2017 at 4:19 pm
Just wanted to give you both another avenue of thought. I second all things said about waiting to have kids first before moving, and until you fully outgrow your current home, as you will never be able to predict what they will get into or what could be a potential hazard in a home unless you see it through children’s eyes. Extra space is just more to clean. As long as you have somewhere to utilise as a toy room or space in your current home, with a bit of a garden that is safe you are good to go. Can I also just say freedom is so much more enjoyable than a large home that you probably won’t see very much of if you are working extra hard to pay it off and with lots of other hobbies and commitments you enjoy outside work. Why not use the skills you both have as architects, hold off on the dream home now and wait until you have a family and use that time to plan out and design your own home. Buy an old home on a piece of land that can be knocked down and replaced in your chosen area. That way it truly will be your dream home, with every fixture and fitting you feel would be necessary to your lives, (including a roof that is better in design and will not need fixed for many years to come) and to which you can add solar panels during construction. Congrats on being such savvy savers and all the best for the future.
April 11, 2017 at 8:43 pm
Agree with Laura’s post. There is always always another option. There will be another house, and you will love it even more … 3000 Sq feet is a lot of space. We’re happy in much less…and fans of Susanka design/architecture.
Maya says:
April 11, 2017 at 5:40 pm
Is it possible that some expenses are missing from your breakdown? I don’t see anything for the following:
– Home maintenance and repairs – surely there would be some costs? At a minimum, you should include the amount you need to save up every year to periodically pay for the big ticket items (roof, furnace/AC).
– Car maintenance and repairs – you must have some costs, especially with four cars.
– Entertainment, grooming – this can be small but is it really zero?
– Travel – you mentioned that you like to go on road trips, but there is no travel cost such as hotels or food on the road.
– Other – other expenses often come up. Have you tracked your spending for at least a year and seen how high this might be for you?
If your actual expenses are higher than what the table shows, it may mean you have less flexibility than you think.
Jenn says:
April 11, 2017 at 6:47 pm
There are so many great comments here already that this may get buried, but it’s not often I find myself in such a similar career situation as someone else so I hope this is helpful.
I’m also 29 & work in marketing for the AEC industry, just like Elizabeth. Specific numbers are always helpful, so here goes: I started an entry-level marketing position working for a commercial general contractor in Atlanta in 2011 at $42k/year. My BIM coordinator best friend was even higher than that. Your skills will transfer to construction (or engineering) very easily. I don’t know the exact town you live in, but find your local SMPS chapter if you haven’t already — they always have great job postings in all the places I’ve lived.
Working for a company you love is great, but maybe it’s time to test the market a little bit & see what other firms are paying these days. I wouldn’t be surprised if both of you could command at least $10k more each, even in a low cost of living area.
April 11, 2017 at 8:39 pm
Hi! Late to the party here Wow, you two are awesomenjoying at social responsibility. Another vote from me for building up a larger all-cash emergency fund. Also, as always, I strongly disagree with the advice to keep a mortgage (and that most people choose to hold a mortgage – not in older, wealthy age brackets!). We LOVE owning our home, and no amount of spreadsheet-investment number massaging is ever going to convince us otherwise. My mother, at 71, just paid off her mortgage this January. She is at 1M+ answer proud to owe nanda nothing zip to banks. Lol yes we are quite biased. It feels different. Best of luck to you both. You’re way ahead merely by paying attention.
Mary in Maryalnd says:
April 11, 2017 at 9:53 pm
You don’t want a house with a complicated roof. Or dormer windows. Or anything other than two well-sloped surfaces.
April 11, 2017 at 10:23 pm
DON’T DO IT! I live in a 1300 square foot home with my husband and 10 month old, it’s totally doable. Don’t fall into the trap of believing physical things will make you happy. You have a home in the town you want to live in with good jobs and each other. That’s enough. It’s also definitely not a good idea to buy a home that has such an expensive roof. Resale would be tough.
April 11, 2017 at 11:17 pm
As expats who have moved countries every 2-3 years for the past 18, we have lived in 8 homes since my now 13 year old was born. With each move we have had a very different list of must haves based on the ages of our children. We have also tried out a range of house sizes (1200-4500 sq ft) and worked out how much we realistically need (definitely not 4500!). It has been an interesting adventure ‘testing out’ all these different homes, but what we have learnt is that there is never one perfect house, even if you chose to self build – your priorities change with every passing year. So, I would say rather than chasing the ‘dream house’ that you stick with what works and is in your budget right now, and if / when your situations changes you look then for what is now important to you. Your future self will thank you when you look at your bank balance and the increased options available to you at that point financially.
April 12, 2017 at 12:02 am
3000 sq ft is a lot of house to clean, heat and cool, and maintain. The intended offer sounds low-ball. The sellers may need to hit a certain number and with taking out realtor fees along with a low offer, it may not fly anyway. Which with my roll the dice personality would make me put in an offer if I really liked the property. However, I would pass on it as being too costly. Kids are costly too and sometimes priorities change once the kids come, and by then the dollars are tied up in the house. But let’s face it — most home purchases are emotionally driven. No right or wrong here, just learning experiences.
Carol says:
April 12, 2017 at 12:20 am
You two are off to an awesome start! From my experience and ripe old age of 51, I’d vote you choose the path with more financial freedom. If and when you grow your family, you can be flexible with reduced work hours or even some stay-at-home years. If and when you want to stop “working for the man” and build your own company, you’ll be able to fund the start of your business and support your family during the early months, when you might have little or no salary. If and when you want to do some generous charitable giving or help those future kids with college, you can. There are more options for you as your dreams and goals change if you’re not locked in to an oversized mortgage. Again, good job so far and best wishes!
April 12, 2017 at 9:03 am
Jack – sell the 2010 Mustang and buy a vintage Mustang that won’t depreciate. Then it is truly an emergency fund.
My husband has a 1969 Mustang – it’s not fuel efficient, practical in New England, or environmental friendly. However, when I ask him when he wants to retire, he says 75. He loves his job, loves being around the people he works with, and being home (without his toys) would be torture to him. It’s definitely not the path to financial independence but he doesn’t want to retire early.
My husband and I are planning a similar switch – I have found our dream home (or at least an idea of one since there are similar in the area) and since I work from home, I’d love to make the switch for purely non-financial reasons. Our current home is lovely and practical but it lacks the character of many homes in our area.
Only you and Elizabeth know what you want. There are a number of good ideas to financial independence but we chose not to make ourselves crazy getting there. We won’t be retired at 35 but we know what our personal goals and priorities are. They don’t need to match anyone else’s.
April 12, 2017 at 9:05 am
Oh yes and build up a cash emergency fund. Then when you find that Mustang, you don’t need to feel guilty about it. But joking aside, having a large cash emergency fund has allowed us to purchase vintage cars from our non-emergency cash balances. It also allows me to be more comfortable as we start to make plans to open future businesses, etc.
April 12, 2017 at 12:42 pm
When we sold our previous home due to a finacial crisis, people asked how we were able to let go of our “forever dream home”…and that’s when I realized we were not selling our home, we were only selling a house. We took our home with us when we moved!
As a new follower of this blog I find it very inspiring to read this post and all the comments that followed. Thank you so much to Jack and Elizabeth for sharing, the Frugalwoods for offering an outlet, and all the genuine and passionate readers out there who takes the time to respond!
indigo says:
April 12, 2017 at 1:58 pm
Lots of good advice. I think I’d buy a house rather than renovate – after finishing renovating three houses… It is a lot of work.
My only concern about this house is that it needs a $65,000 roof when a traditional roof of asphalt shingle can cost 10x less than that. Have you looked into the lifespan of a flat roof? Online it says it averages 10 years. Not sure if this applies to this house, but that is 1/4 of your house value. Heck of a lot to spend on a roof that generally doesn’t increase market value much.
On top of spending the 65k, are you will to save an extra $6500 a year for a reserve fund for future roof costs each year in order to live in this particular house?
The overall house value doesn’t seem to justify this disproportionate expense either initially or on an ongoing basis. Not sure if I am missing something but another nice 300k house is probably out there…
April 13, 2017 at 8:07 am
Wow. I will reiterate – what a great job both of you are doing. Congratulations! Here are my two cents: You are both focused on paying your mortgage fast, even though interest rates are at a record low rate and that the interest you are paying is tax deductible (I am Canadian and very jealous of this tax deduction). This speaks volumes to me. I take from this that you are debt averse and that you both deeply value financial freedom. I don’t think buying your dream house is a good idea from that perspective. It will be a financial burden and you both will be stressed by this. Since you both want children sometime in the future and you both clearly want to spend a lot of time with them, I would focus on making sure that you have the resources to make that happen. I don’t know if your current home can be renovated to suit your tastes, so whether you choose to stay there or purchase another home down the road, just make sure you can support your family on one salary and continue focusing on the great things in life: people, nature and expriences. And thanks for being so open and sharing the details of your financial life.
April 13, 2017 at 12:02 pm
As a single mom of 3 in the A/E industry, I hear ya. I can also tell you that work ethic of even the most open-minded A/E firm does not lend itself to the demands of family life. Ask yourself how much overtime you work, and whether the ethic is that a deadline takes priority (aka: most weeks are 45hrs, but 2-3x a year they bump up to 80+) While these sacrifices are NBD without kids, they become literal killers with a family.
With that said, I foresee that the birth of a child would almost immediately put one or both of you in a situation where you would be looking at PT work, immediately. Granted, this was my experience, but I also FULLY expected to be a FT career woman, even with kids. I had no idea how kids would impact my priorities.
I would strongly advise you to make certain that your current decisions allow for 1-1.5x salary, within the 2019 timeframe that you mention.
I’m sorry, this sounds harsh (clearly, I’m on the E side of A/E), but you guys are on such a great path to FI/financial flexibility, that i don’t want you to sabotage all of the great work that you’ve done so far.
Further ideas (provided you’re even still reading!)
forego this home. you’re looking at $350k worth of mortgage/roofing repairs for a 3ksf home.
i believe you know the timing isn’t right, in that you mention that you would eventually do solar, but talk about a new roof pretty immediately. you guys know better than me about the intelligence of doing a solar installation on a recently installed roof. additionally, you’d need to do angled bracing on the solar, which may need structural reinforcement
look for another home, in the neighborhood you want, understanding that you can act as the PM for any renovations. I’ve known many architects who successfully DIY, and then sub only the work they actually need/don’t want to do themselves.
look for that home after a baby has been born. your current home is large enough for a family of 3 (and bigger, if you don’t mind).
you guys can (literally) afford to be patient.
Mike says:
April 13, 2017 at 12:11 pm
This is a great case study. One potential thing jumped out at me, that I did not see mentioned. Skill Trade. This is something that I want to be able to leverage more in my own future, by building more skills to trade with others.
Both of these people are architects, which is a very valuable skill to trade to other home contractor types. What if you offer free architecture planning to someone in trade for free framing/plumbing/electrical work to remodel your current house, or another fixer upper house. As architects, you can see a fixer upper and plan for what it could become. By trading work with other people, you could renovate a house at a drastically reduced rate. Just by scavenging craigslist or putting ads out yourself.
I was getting a massage one, and the massage therapist was telling me that half of her clients are for trades that she had made over the years. She traded 4 masses for 4 lightly used tires installed on her car in one instance. That conversation opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me. Maybe give that a go, and keep a lot of your hard earned cash to invest.
S.G. says:
April 13, 2017 at 1:20 pm
The only caveat with this for professionals is to check with your employer first. Many places where the output is intellectual property or licensed don’t want you working outside the company. Many are fine with it, but it would suck to lose your job over a side job.
April 13, 2017 at 12:46 pm
Not entirely following on why the recommendation is to pay off the car loan at the 1.5% rate when the flip recommendation on the house is NOT to pay it off faster (and it has a higher interest rate). If I think about both loans as just general loans, I would want to keep the lower rate loan going, no?
Thanks!
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
April 17, 2017 at 9:28 am
Good question! I am not advising that they pay off the car loan ahead of schedule–just that they pay it off at the required rate/timeline. Indeed, there’s no reason to pay it (or the mortgage) off early.
Ann says:
April 14, 2017 at 3:32 pm
I have been on a frugal journey for awhile now and I find that I am still learning from my mistakes at times. I agree with Mrs. Frugalwoods about your very tight savings account.
It sounds as if you are a spreadsheet-and numbers couple so use your skills to your best advantage. Recently, I had my 14 year-old Toyota Corolla totaled unexpectedly. I purchased it used with low miles, and it has been my reliable ride for awhile, but suddenly I was without a car. Originally, I had a dual savings/buy a car goal that would have taken me at least another year to accomplish and leave my savings where I wanted them to be. When my car was gone, I could have bought the dream car cash-outright from my savings account (part of my original plan), but that would only have left a few thousand dollars left in my savings account.
I love numbers and spreadsheets as well! I crunched the numbers several times and didn’t like the results. when I downsized my expectations to meet my current budget, I saw a figure that I could live with for a cash out-right purchase. My next step was to make a list of why I thought this particular car was my dream. The result was that I bought a car 4 years older than I had planned to, but it was still my dream car. Same make, model, and features with low miles and high reliability. this was a cash-outright purchase funded by my tax returns, a bonus from work and a debt repaid early by a relative who realized I need the money now. In the end, I got my dream car, my savings went down only $500, and I have no car loan. Its about a mixture of crunching the numbers and then asking yourself what makes something your “dream.” Mid-century Modern? Could you stay where you are and build an addition later when more rooms are needed and you have more savings?
April 14, 2017 at 10:48 pm
Presbyopia here- your website is great, but the font and grey color are cruel to the visually impaired. Any chance you might make them more readable? I bet it would be a crowd pleaser!
Chris says:
April 15, 2017 at 6:51 am
Congrats on having such sizable asseats already.
I would forgo the dream house for the moment and focus on building wealth for the moment. You never know what lives throws your way! For now I’d sell all cars but the volt; it should be large enough even with one child, so you’d benefit from the low running cost for at least another three years. Reassess once the prospective child gets older. The money could fund an emergency found (for example stacked CDs). I’d also stop making additional payments to the mortgage or for the car; bot carry interest that is much lower than what the market brings on average, so by stashing this money e.g. In a vanguard account you’d likely benefit from the difference in interest (which will compound).
I probably would only go after the dream house once the children are older an d I’d really need more space, but really, I grew up in a 1500sqft house and 4 people, and we had more space than we needed. By now I believe at less space prevent accumulation of stuff, and wasting time and money to take care of it – larger roof, large bill.
Master Duke says:
April 15, 2017 at 3:07 pm
Great article and kudos to the courage shown by Jack and Jill to reach out to you!
I would say no thank you to the house, say yes to building more wealth! First step definitely, the emergency fund! They are doing such a great job, but if there company went on a downturn and they were let go, the new house would not be something they would care about.
Once they have the emergency fund and start saving more, then their masters degree has the potential to increase the earnings. They can then decide on investing those earnings or saving for the down payment, either way I think they should wait to be in a better position before doing the renovations or buying the new house. Put the wants in the long-term goals, start focusing on the emergency fund need!
James Carroll says:
April 17, 2017 at 11:38 am
Ok, I have to know what city this is. I’m looking at retirement options and a place where I can get a MCM like that for under $300k is a must-see.
Sarah says:
April 17, 2017 at 6:33 pm
Well done for thinking about it. You definitely can save a LOT more..agree cut back in food and clothing..maybe need to change lifestyle to help. Agree have cash for emergencies.. Agree needs change a lot for dream home with a kid (wait till kid turns 18 months to choose)….is it non open plan so you can save on heating etc? Either way buying is fine, agree renovating may be waste of time since you arent home
John @ The Millennial Plan says:
April 17, 2017 at 8:24 pm
As a fellow 28 year old I think it’s awesome how you guys are hustling on the side – I would echo some of the feedback from before talking about trying to monetize some of those side projects, but I also think that if you are going to focus on the projects now and you’re rarely at home, there’s very little need for your “dream home” at this stage in your life. Unless you’re taking a specific view on the real estate market in the area and feel that the home is underpriced relative to the competition, there WILL be other “dream homes” in a similar price range over the next few years. I really think that this is the time to focus completely on work and your other pursuits so that in 3-4 years you will be that much closer to FI and will have a better idea of what you can easily afford without compromising your longer term goals.
April 21, 2017 at 5:04 pm
That dream home will really limit your choices. Being tied to a big expensive house is not bad if you plan on being home all of the time, but for most people, the house is a place to eat, sleep and maybe hang out in the evenings. When I had my first child, I wanted to move into a larger home and my husband talked me out of it. He said that if one of us ever died (morbid I know) or if one of us lost our job, the other could remain there with kids and not be forced to move. This made sense to me and we stayed in our first home, had a total of four kids, and renovated as we could. This enabled me to work part time and be at home to raise our kids. Our home is not fancy. He refinished existing cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms with basic finishes. The truth is it works out great as when you have four kids and many people coming in and out of the house, things can get damaged. (chipped sinks, paint, etc) When my kids all move out, I will fix what must be fixed and leave the rest. I want to have money for trips with my grand kids someday instead of the latest home finishes. It is funny how priorities change and how frugality can be joyful. Had we upgraded the house, I would not have spent all of this time being involved in my kids lives and having the luxury of fostering good relationships among the kids and helping them with homework, college applications, scholarships and activities. Looking back, I am so grateful not to have upgraded the house! Just my two cents! Best of luck to you both. You are doing fabulous!
Lindsey says:
April 22, 2017 at 11:54 pm
I say go for the dream home. It sounds like it is in line with your goals and dreams and makes more sense.
Katie says:
April 25, 2017 at 11:20 pm
I’ve been lurking for awhile and this is the first post that motivated me to leave a comment…
As an architect, the minute I hear anyone with an architecture background say they’ve found their dream house, my gut says BUY IT! Make it Work! Ha, not the most responsible advice, especially with this crowd. However, a house is not just a house when it comes to our kind, so we don’t necessarily approach the subject with the same objectivity. I think you probably have to really decide whether retiring early or the house is more worth it! (The house would always more worth it for me… )
April 26, 2017 at 4:34 pm
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
April 27, 2017 at 9:07 am
We will! I have them scheduled for once every month :). So glad to hear you’re enjoying them!
April 26, 2017 at 5:27 pm
Be careful buying an expensive home in Appalachia, it could be a depreciating asset.
May 6, 2017 at 12:45 am
I’m concerned that the dream home is “Perched on our all-time favorite downtown street”. As a childless couple who are in the throws of career & other things, it is probably an awesome house! It sounds like the kind of house that I would love, too!
However, once your babies start walking – and wandering away (near by, of course) as soon as you glance at something besides them – having a family home on a downtown street may be horrible. No awesomeness of a house can make up for worrying about traffic, noise, lack of a yard, no privacy, or other whatevers you might encounter.
Also, you two sound like very creative people, who would love to put your own stamp on things. By buying a house that is “finished”, you have bought yourself out of putting a personal touch to it. I didn’t realize how much that meant to me until we bought our current house, brand new – I sort of long for an older house that I can slowly renovate & make my own, rather than what the builder/interior decorator decided might sell. Yes, I can still renovate here, but like your situation, we doubled the cost of our house when we moved, so there isn’t much money to work with.
I vote “Keep the Old House” – Since financial freedom is your main goal, it makes more sense to work with the known house and renovate slowly, over time, the way you want it, and in cash, than to spend a lot of money that you don’t really have for a sexy house that you can’t really afford.
I wish you success & luck as you make this decision – whatever you choose, I hope you love it!
May 9, 2017 at 6:47 pm
BUY THE DREAM HOUSE!!! My husband and I actually have VERY similar financials as you two (same income and everything, crazy!!) We rented our condo for two years before buying After purchasing it, however, we realized it wasn’t what we wanted… it was just the cheap route. Buy a home you love. I regret being SO frugal about our purchase it’s the only time I wish I hadn’t been so strict on my budget haha. Real frugal weirdos won’t agree, but I should’ve let some emotions go into play because now I want to move so bad! good luck!
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Staff members from Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service were recognised for their outstanding contribution to safeguarding at the West Glamorgan Safeguarding Boards’ Safeguarding Recognition Awards Ceremony which took place virtually on 29th June 2021.
The ceremony was an opportunity to recognise those whose contributions had provided a real and positive impact on people’s lives and to celebrate these outstanding contributions to safeguarding.
Karen Jones, Head of Community Safety at Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: ‘Staff from Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service had been nominated for awards due to their outstanding work in safeguarding adults and children, and for their continued efforts in safely delivering these essential services despite the challenges of lockdown. The nominations had referenced some notable interventions that staff had undertaken but these were only a small number of examples of the excellent work undertaken by Service staff every day in identifying and reducing risk.’
In November 2020, whilst operating under Covid-19 protocols, members of the Community Safety Department Tina Sherriff and Janet Lloyd attended the address of a vulnerable person in Swansea and identified a smell of gas and immediately summoned assistance from Morriston Fire Station who were able to confirm high readings of gas and carbon monoxide, which was further confirmed by utilities company upon their arrival. Tina and Janet remained at the scene and provided first aid along with providing referrals and engagement with partner and support agencies as well as family members in order to ensure that the vulnerable person was safeguarded from harm.
The Community Safety Department were also nominated for their innovation and improving practice in safeguarding and a Special Recognition award was made to Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service staff, recognising the contribution they make to the overall safeguarding of adults and children.
Community Safety Officers James Comey and Joanna Phillips were nominated for their exceptional commitment to the safeguarding of children as a result of their excellent work completed with a child where there were extreme concerns regarding the child’s fire setting behaviour and the dangers it posed for the family and wider community.
Jo and James were not put off by the difficulties faced and pulled out all the stops, meeting with a behaviourist psychologist, making their sessions with the child as active as possible and working around the needs of the child in order to find the perfect individual solution.
Deputy Safeguarding Lead Jay Crouch, who is also a Dementia Friend and trainer, visited many elderly people within the community who had come to attention due to cooking left unattended along with working with children and young people who had been setting fires in the home. Jay coordinated provisions and provided drivers to take care of vulnerable members of the community including assisting those to receive their vaccinations.
Emyr Davies and Robert Goldsmith were also commended on providing visits to high risk members of the community in the Neath Port Talbot and Swansea, including an incident where they provided immediate response and safeguarding to a victim of domestic abuse where there was a risk of arson, ensuring that suitable safeguarding was put in place in order to keep the family safe.
The response to the awards was excellent with 85 nominations provided across six categories and the ceremony was attended by 206 professionals. The award winners were selected by an independent multi-agency panel and were presented virtually by Young People and Special Guests.
This post was uploaded and edited by Derek Smith. Derek is the Online Digital Editor for MDM Publishing Ltd.
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UK Fire is a quarterly journal specific to the UK Fire market dedicated to both fire protection and firefighting. The editorial features are written by industry experts and comprise a unique blend focussing on the latest technology, training methods and equipment as well as highlighting sector specific issues from around the region. Regular product and company profiles, events updates and news make UK Fire the first choice read for fire protection and firefighting professionals.
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Would you like to learn kiteboarding? Great! It really is an amazing sport that gives you a lot of fun and a big adrenaline rush. However,
9 mins read
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