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Confederation Next -- Not Federation Now?
To our friends and associates in the Atlantic community: We propose a broader partnership that goes beyond our common fears, to recognize the depth and sweep of our common political, economic, and cultural interests. We welcome the recent heartening advances toward European unity. In every appropriate way, we shall encourage their further growth within the broader framework of the Atlantic community. -- Democratic Platform, July 12, 1960.
The vital need of our foreign policy is new political creativity, leading and inspiring the formation, in all great regions of the free world, of confederations, large enough and strong enough to meet modern problems and challenges. We should promptly lead toward the formation of such confederations in the North Atlantic community and in the Western hemisphere. -- Point Two of the Nixon-Rockefeller Agreement, July 23, 1960.
The advance toward Atlantic Union reached a new high mark in 1960 when Governor Nelson Rockefeller proposed a "North Atlantic Confederation" in his address to the Binghamton (N.Y.) Rotary club on June 21.1 It rose still higher on July 12 when the Democrats adopted a platform promising a "broader partnership" in "the Atlantic Community" than NATO; the terms were broader and the volume of support was greater. And then the advance reached still another peak on July 23 when Richard M. Nixon agreed to the Rockefeller proposal's Point Two in their joint statement.
The climax came when the Democratic party, which has long been the one more favorable to Atlantic Union, won the White House and both Houses of Congress. This puts it in position to achieve, as far as the United States is concerned, its promise of a "broader partnership" -- a term that does not exclude Atlantic Union. Its responsibility to do this is the greater, since it cannot fear opposition to this from Vice President Nixon -- and he ran so far ahead of the Congressional candidates of his party that he nearly won the White House, and surely won their respect. Nor need President Kennedy fear opposition from Governor Rockefeller and his wing of the Republican party. To advance Atlantic unification through Congress in these conditions would seem easy, compared to some of the legislative feats that those master Congressional leaders, Vice President Lyndon Johnson and Speaker Sam Rayburn, have already accomplished.
Their party being split as it is, the Republican candidate for President and Governor Rockefeller deserve hearty applause for the refreshing courage they have shown in proposing American leadership toward a North Atlantic Confederation. In the American mind "confederation," is inevitably associated with two highly significant experiences in American history: The Articles of Confederation, ratified by the Thirteen States in 1783, which formed a system more advanced than NATO, and the Confederate States of America, set up by the South in 1861, which was practically a federation (as Chapter 8 will bring out).
Parties tend to steal each other's thunder (rather than lightning), and Confederacy may understandably appeal more than Union to Southern Democrats. Before we attach too much importance to this emotional factor, however, or to the Nixon-Rockefeller use of the term, let us see what they mean by confederation, and try to define the basic difference between confederation and federation, both in principle and in American practice. Then let us assess the results achieved by the American experiments with both systems, and draw all the advantage we can from the lessons they have now for us, and all Atlantica -- and the world.
"Albert Kolonji, a Baluba tribal leader," Russell Howe reported from Elisabethville in the Washington Post on August 10, 1960, "called for a confederal type of association in the Congo but seemed hazy about the difference between federation and confederation. He said he was studying the constitutions of Canada, the United States and Switzerland." His confusion is all too widespread, and may even be increased by the examples he is studying. All three are clear examples of federations, but the Swiss style theirs the "Helvetian Confederacy." One may gain more clarity by studying the examples of both systems which the history of the United States gives.
What Did Nixon and Rockefeller Mean?
First let us see what light the authors of the Nixon-Rockefeller agreement throw on the meaning they attach to "confederation." The latter, while leaving its substance vague, has given some significant hints. The most far-reaching came when Curtin Winsor asked the Governor this question from the floor, after his talk on "The Third Century" to the Philadelphia World Affairs Council on April 22, 1960: "Do you think that it is possible that these regional groupings (such as the Atlantic one) might get together into full federation, at some time in the future?"
Governor Rockefeller answered: "I would think, myself, that that would be, at some point, a very logical conclusion Certainly the experience of the United States has been one of the most exciting and thrilling in the history of the world. I know that some of us are concerned about states rights, and we do our best to preserve them. Yet I think the federal system has proven its tremendous strength and vitality. So I do not see why -- where regions exist, with compatible objectives on the part of the people -- they should not ultimately lead to confederation."
These words suffice to show that he has been thinking in terms of federal union and does not shy at the thought of trying this solution "at some point." The last two sentences indicate, moreover, that he then used "federal" and "confederation" as synonymous, that when he spoke of ultimate "confederation" in the last sentence, he had in mind "the federal system" he had cited just before. How could the reverse be true -- how could he have meant confederation in its usual sense when he spoke of "federal," since he had said "the federal system has proven its tremendous strength and vitality," and he had already called "the experience of the United States ... most exciting"? Its trial of the Articles of Confederation proved, as Governor Rockefeller knows the feebleness and futility of confederation.
On the other hand, one must remember that Governor Rockefeller was then speaking "off the cuff." Although such speaking often throws more light on a political leader's real thinking than do his formal statements, the latter show much better what he considers to be "practical politics."
The little light he gives on the meaning he attaches to confederation strongly indicates that he uses the term in its usual, non-federal sense. "The work of moving toward confederation does not involve any super-states," he explained at Binghamton. He made clearer that he did not mean federation when he proposed in the same speech that the United States should enter not only a North Atlantic but also a Western Hemisphere confederation. No state in the United States -- or in any federal union -- can belong at the same time to another federation, or enter into any confederation, league, alliance or treaty with any foreign nation. Nor could any member do this in the Confederation originally set up by the Thirteen States; the Confederation stipulated in Article VI: "No state without the Consent of the united states (sic) in congress assembled, shall send any embassy to, or receive any embassy from, or enter into any conference, agreement or alliance or treaty with any King, prince or state." Apparently Governor Rockefeller uses confederation in a much looser sense than did these Articles.
The only significant hints added by Governor Rockefeller's statement of July 23 to which Mr. Nixon agreed lay in the words, "vital," "strong," "promptly" -- "the vital need ... of confederations, large enough and strong enough to meet modern problems and challenges. We should promptly lead toward the formation of such confederations in the North Atlantic community and in the Western Hemisphere."
Vice President Nixon, in his major campaign speech on foreign policy on October 14, strongly pledged himself to push energetically, if elected, "toward confederation" -- a term he twice repeated. "I would ask the NATO governments to consider the feasibility of still closer ties," he said and added a little later, in a way that covered both Atlantica and Latin America, "Such regional action, moving toward confederation, is an imperative of our times."
He threw no light on what he meant by confederations, but the context suggested that he shared the Rockefeller view as indicated above -- except that he made no mention of either super-state or federal union.
From the available evidence, one may well conclude either that Vice President Nixon and Governor Rockefeller have not thought out what they mean by confederation (although there is good reason to believe they have long given thought to both confederation and federation), or that they have made only an opening move which will be spelled out later. Certainly one must conclude from the public evidence now that the confederation they are talking about is a system stronger in structure than the present NATO alliance -- but much weaker than confederation in the historic American sense, though capable of "gradual and evolutionary" growth (to quote from the Binghamton speech) into something similar to the latter.
To clarify this vital question further, let us turn now to the dictionary, see if its definitions can be bettered, and then pin them down more realistically by comparing NATO with the Articles of Confederation, and the latter with the federation which the Federal Constitution formed. Webster distinguishes thus between confederation and federation:
Confederacy and confederation ... [apply] specifically to a union by treaty or compact of independent states under a government to which powers are delegated for dealing with common external relations; of the two, confederation, perhaps, now implies the closer or more permanent association; as the Southern Confederacy, the Articles of Confederation, the Germanic Confederation. Federation in its broad sense includes any union under the terms of a league or covenant; but specifically it designates a sovereign state, especially one formed by the union of other states with a central general government and several local governments; ... in the strictest sense the United States of America constitutes a federation.
This indicates how dictionaries reflect the existing loose usage, and contribute to the resulting confusion.
Study of the sense in which each of the various terms used today for interstate groupings is generally meant shows that they readily fall into two types. These two can be most simply and surely distinguished by the supreme or sovereign unit of, by and for which the combination is formed. In last analysis (see Union Now, Chapter VI) there are only two possible units: Man taken as an individual person or sovereign, and mall taken as a collective person or sovereign -- a manmade body politic taken as supreme instead of a God-made, flesh-blood-and-soul human body ... John Bull instead of a John Q. Citizen.
If the citizen is the sovereign, and power is divided between the representatives he elects to his state and his interstate government, then the combination is variously called a union, organic union, federal union, federal republic, federation. I see no significant difference between these terms and use them all interchangeably. As regards the outside world, each creates a "sovereign" state in the sense of diplomacy. From the domestic standpoint, however, its "sovereignty" is limited by that which the member states retain. Each is "sovereign" in relation to the other as regards the powers assigned it by the constitution. But the supreme sovereignty is equally divided among the citizens, who have merely delegated a portion of their sovereignty to their representatives in their state and interstate governments, and retain the power to re-delegate this.
If, to the contrary, some body politic -- tribe, city, kingdom, state, nation -- is taken as the supreme sovereign unit, the resulting combination is variously called a bloc, coalition, alliance, league, confederation, confederacy, or -- when used in the modern international sense -- community. None of these forms a new "sovereign" state or government in the usual sense of the terms; however close some types may come to this, they remain in last analysis an association of sovereign states. The different names indicate different degrees of association, though one finds many exceptions to whatever distinguishing rules one seeks to apply. I lump all these terms together when seeking to distinguish the category to which they all belong from the other basic category. But when using them in contra-distinction to others in their own category, I would define them broadly and briefly as follows:
A bloc or coalition is the loosest and most temporary form; neither usually involves a treaty, and the former indicates more common interests than the latter, which implies association despite conflicting interests. Both imply a number of members.
An alliance may have two or a number of members; it implies a treaty and a longer period of duration, with some definite commitments, presumably military, though possibly political.
League now implies a treaty associating a still larger number of states for a longer time and for more purposes with some common institutions, such as a secretariat and council, and a headquarters city.
Confederation and confederacy I use interchangeably to mean a league that usually has fewer members but should have closer ties, stronger commitments and more developed institutions -- the system in which member states may (but rarely do) join together as closely as is possible while still remaining the supreme sovereign units in it.
All the above terms involve a political association, though alliances may and leagues and confederations do involve more than political and military affairs.
Community has entered the international field since World War II from Western Europe where it is used with reference to associations which are highly confederal in character except that they have thus far been non-political and limited each to one field, as the European Economic Community or Common Market of the Six Nations, and the projected European Defense Community. Though the term began as part of the "functional" approach to union, it has recently taken on broader scope, but vaguer meaning. Thus 1957 brought the Bruges "Conference on Atlantic Community" which conspicuously omitted the article the before Atlantic to make clearer that it meant "community" in the older and widest sense. Then the London Atlantic Congress sponsored by the NATO Parliamentarians Association in 1959 repeatedly used the term, "the Atlantic Community," in the sense of something existing. Yet at the same time its Declaration also said: "The time is ripe for these nations to build an Atlantic Community with responsibilities extending to military, political, economic, social and scientific fields."
The term, community, in short, seems to be moving in the international sense from the functional and specific to the political and general, and from the confederal to the federal type of structure. But the degree depends so much on the user of the word, or the listener, that its growing popularity increases the existing confusion considerably.
Unfortunately for clarity, many organizations of states or nations fall between these -- or other -- definitions, or their own choice of terms causes confusion. The Articles of Confederation established a most advanced type of confederacy; Article II gave it that name -- but Article III called it a "league of friendship," and the other Articles usually referred to it as "the united states in congress assembled" (without the capital letters used today). The Charter of the United Nations calls that body an "organization", I would call it a league, leaning toward a confederation. The North Atlantic Treaty gave no name whatever to the grouping it formed; the parties to it later styled it the "North Atlantic Treaty Organization" (NATO). It is universally termed an alliance and is, in fact, an exceptionally developed "grand alliance." It might well be called a league, were it not so predominantly military in its development thus far. It has far to go before it could be rightly called a confederation.
The U.S. Confederation Was Stronger Than Nato
Since the Nixon-Rockefeller agreement calls for a North Atlantic Confederation, let us now compare the existing structure of the North Atlantic alliance with that of the Articles of Confederation. However hazily the two authors of that agreement may have had the latter in mind, this comparison will serve to show how greatly NATO can be strengthened while remaining an association of sovereign states -- without crossing the Rubicon that separates confederation from a federal union of sovereign citizens.
The NATO Council, like the United States Congress under the Confederation, is composed of delegates named, paid and instructed by each member nation's government, with each state having one vote, regardless of the number of people in it. NATO, like the United States then, has no executive organ but simply a figurehead president. He serves one year and his name is as forgotten a year or so later as are the names of all the "Presidents of the United States" who preceded George Washington. But though the United States Congress was then only a "diplomatic assembly," as John Adams contemptuously called it, the Confederation it represented was far stronger than NATO structurally at every significant point of comparison. Consider these nine points:
- The Congress of the Confederation could act: the NATO Council can only make recommendations to the member nations.
- To make even these recommendations, NATO requires unanimity; the Congress of the Confederation could act in a number of fields, by a majority of seven of the Thirteen States, and in others, by a vote of nine states.
- The North Atlantic Treaty provides no judicial machinery whatever; the Confederation not only established machinery for settling disputes between states but authorized Congress to act as a court of "last resort" by a majority of seven of the Thirteen States.
- With the assent of only seven states Congress had the power of fixing the standards of weights and measures throughout the Confederation, regulating trade between the states, establishing and regulating postal service "throughout all the United States," appointing "all officers of the land forces, in the service of the United States, excepting regimental officers" and commissioning all naval officers. NATO not only has none of these powers but has never dared even to make recommendations in any of these fields.
- With the assent of only nine states, the Confederation could and did make war and peace, enter into treaties and alliances, coin money and regulate its value, fix the expenses "for the defense and welfare of the United States," emit bills, borrow on the credit of the Confederation, appropriate money, decide on the land and naval forces to be raised, and the quota to be furnished by each state, and appoint the commander-in-chief of the army and navy. NATO has no such powers, nor has its Council dared to make recommendations in any of these fields except as regards the total military forces to be assigned to NATO, and the contributions to joint defense to be made by member nations. It is not free to choose its commander-in-chief, but must accept, in practice, an American nominated by Washington.
- Congress could not only formulate foreign policy for the Confederation but name diplomatic envoys to other states -- as Franklin and Jefferson to France and Adams to London. NATO has never dreamed of sending even its Secretary General -- although Paul Henri Spaak has often been Premier and Foreign Minister of his own country -- to speak for it in Moscow ... let alone think of naming an envoy to represent it in any country, or formulating a NATO foreign policy toward the world.
- No state without the consent of Congress could send or receive any diplomatic envoy, or enter into any treaty alliance or confederation, or engage in war unless invaded. In NATO no nations -- not even the Six Nations who have established such "communities" as the Common Market Coal and Steel Authority and Euratom -- dream of such a commitment.
- In 1783, Virginia, the largest state in the Confederation, followed the example of Connecticut and New York, and turned over to the Confederation its much larger and stronger claims to the Northwest Territory. The Confederation thereafter governed this huge area. In 1784 it decided that one square mile in each township of thirty-six in this Territory should be reserved for the maintenance of public schools; and by the Northwest Ordnance of 1787 it provided for the government of the Territory and for its eventual division into states and their entry into the Confederation on an equal basis with the Original Thirteen. Out of this territory came the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin -- after the Confederation had been transformed into the present Federal Union.
None of the NATO nations has ever offered to turn over any of its territory in Africa or elsewhere to the alliance; the latter has no important joint possession of any kind to hold it together and make it less dependent on its member nations. There has been increasing talk in NATO of the need of a common policy for the building up of the under-developed countries, but -- despite the fear of Communist expansion there -- nothing has been done to meet this need. Even the talk is timid, compared to the bold solution of this problem by the Thirteen Confederated States.
- Finally, the Confederation allowed the citizens of each state to move freely in and out of all the others, and enjoy in each all the privileges of its own citizens. This was done "the better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different states." NATO faces the same need, only more acutely, but it has made no such provisions, nor has its Council yet recommended any important step in this direction.
This may suffice to show what confederation meant from the start in United States history, how primitive by comparison is the NATO structure, and how far one can go in developing it into a confederation, while still keeping it an association of sovereign states.
The "Superstate" Bogy
Governor Rockefeller said that the confederations he had in mind involved no "superstates." Yet if he proposed concretely to bring NATO UP to the level of the Articles of Confederation in even one or two of the above nine respects, the cry of "superstate" would doubtless be raised. It was raised in the Senate against the League of Nations, although that League, like NATO today, had none of these powers our early "League of Friendship" enjoyed. But even the most benighted Member of Congress would not think of calling that Confederation of ours with all its powers a "superstate." He would be laughed out of Congress, for that Confederation is indelibly associated in the American mind with wretched weakness, not with strength.
This bogy, however, still has power to frighten American politicians. They do not blanch at the ghosts of all the myriads who were slaughtered in World War II because the League of Nations proved too weak. Nor do they blanch at the certainty that far more millions will be slaughtered sooner or later if NATO is not made strong enough to keep the peace. But they do blanch at the word "superstate."
The Nixon-Rockefeller compact, happily, calls for a North Atlantic Confederation "strong enough to meet modern problems and challenges." No candidate for President, or for Senator or Congressman, and certainly no statesman, could dare propose anything less -- openly call for some solution which he admitted was "too weak" to do the job.
Both presidential candidates in 1960, and both parties agreed that NATO is too weak, that it must be strengthened. The candidate who won the White House -- and all those who won seats in the Senate and the House -- thus have a strong moral commitment to the American people to unite the North Atlantic peoples strongly enough to meet "modern problems and challenges" -- to win for freedom without another world war or depression.
The basic question, therefore, is this: Can this obligation be met by converting NATO into a confederation -- or "community" or "partnership" -- that is no stronger structurally than the Articles of Confederation (to say nothing of something weaker)?
The answer is flatly but demonstrably, No. The proof is easy: Since so strong a "superstate" as the American Confederation failed to meet the problems and challenges of oxcart, sailing ship years, what American in his senses can hope that a North Atlantic Confederation can meet those of our rocket-atomic age? The highly advanced confederation of the Thirteen States did not face Red Russia and Red China; it faced only small tribes of Redskins, who were as divided among themselves as the NATO "tribes" are today. The Thirteen American States were relatively self-sufficing, with simple economies. Yet the fact is undeniable that their super-superstate failed to meet even the problems of that day, and has left its name as a symbol of feeble futility.
All of us Americans rightly honor our forefathers for scrapping that Confederation promptly -- not in any gradual, evolutionary way -- before it delivered them to anarchy, tyranny, war. We honor them for not waiting long, as we have waited with NATO, before replacing it with a revolutionary experiment. We revere Washington for calling on them at the Federal Convention, to "raise a standard to which the wise and the honest" could repair -- for leading them to take the "con" out of confederation and create a system that was truly strong enough to meet the challenge. We rightly honor him and them, because their answer -- federation of the free -- met the challenges of 1789, 1803, 1832 and 1861, and then of 1917, 1933, 1941, and offers now the one reasonable hope of meeting today's and tomorrow's challenges.
The common sense conclusion is that we should waste no more billions of taxpayer money and still more precious time on answers which failed to meet even lesser tests; that we should try next the federal union solution that has succeeded wherever it has been tested; that we should skip the confederation stage now, as we should have skipped the alliance stage in 1949. But when one draws this conclusion he is met by a perennial argument, though it is put forward a little less dogmatically now than formerly.
We heard this argument from 1939 to 1949 when we cited the example of American history as a warning against wasting time, money and lives trying to secure peace and freedom through a league system, unsupplemented by an Atlantic Federal Union. After the United Nations had to be supplemented with NATO, we heard the same objection when we cited the American example as a warning that alliance would also fail, and urged the Atlantic democracies to call a convention, as the Thirteen did in 1787, to explore the possibilities offered by the federal alternative. Now that NATO has proved inadequate, and confederation is proposed in its place, the same objection is raised when we propose that Atlantica skip making a costly experiment with this system that failed the Thirteen States, and try now the method that worked so well for them -- and all the other peoples who since have tried it.
This hardy perennial argument is that the comparison is not valid, that conditions are too different for there to be any analogy; and especially that it was much easier for the Thirteen to federate than it is for the Atlantic nations to do so now.2
And so we are told that the nations around the North Atlantic are separated by history, language, different political and economic institutions and customs, the ocean and other barriers. The people of the Thirteen States, the argument continues, had much more in common -- the same historical background, the same language, the same political system, the same basic "New World" problems and psychology, the same relatively simple economy, and they were all on the same continent, and had never been in war with each other.
Confederation Failed Then -- in the Best Conditions
There is much that is obviously true in all this, and much that will not stand investigation, either because it simply isn't so or omits the other side of the picture.3 Let us pause for a smile while we hear one contemporary witness, the English traveler, Burnaby, who wrote after visiting the colonies in 1760:
Fire and water are not more heterogeneous than the different colonies in North America Nothing can exceed the jealousy which they possess in regard to each other. The inhabitants of Pennsylvania and New York have an inexhaustible source of animosity in their jealousy for the Jerseys. Massachusetts Bay and Rhode Island are not less interested in that of Connecticut. Even the limits and boundaries of each colony are a constant source of litigation. In short, such is the difference of the character, of manners, of religion, of interest in the different colonies, that I think, if I am not wholly ignorant of the human mind, were they left to themselves there would soon be a civil war from one end of the continent to the other; while the Indians and negroes would, with better reason, impatiently watch the opportunity of exterminating them altogether.
The widespread belief that it was easy to federate the Thirteen States is more plausible than informed. It remains true that they did have certain advantages, but it is also true that they faced difficulties we do not have today, and that we have advantages they lacked. When the balance is struck some may still conclude that it was less difficult to federate America then than Atlantica now. But this leaves their argument confronted with this self-evident, unanswerable fact:
All the advantages that made federal union a workable solution for the Thirteen States were equally enjoyed by the Confederation. Since their highly developed type of confederation failed to work in these most advantageous conditions, how can any practical statesmen hope that NATO will prove adequate if only we convert it into a similar confederation -- let alone a far weaker one?
Whether or not the difficulties facing federation then were less than now, there can be no doubt that we now face far more formidable dangers. It is no less certain that we live in a world that requires much swifter political and economic adaptation to changing conditions as the price of life, liberty and happiness, than did the people of the American Confederation.
How then can any reasonable man believe that the practical and prudent policy is to risk seeking salvation now in the confederation solution that failed in more advantageous and safer conditions?
How can you agree that Washington was right in rejecting half-way measures and in boldly raising "a standard to which the wise and the honest" could repair, and then conclude that in our rocket-atomic day we can wisely spare the time to try the experiment in confederation that failed in more hopeful conditions, and at the slow-rising dawn of the steam-electric world?
- See July-August Freedom & Union for the full text of his proposal.
- As if the question were one only of relative ease, and not primarily one of relative necessity and advantage -- whether they required federation to preserve their liberties and lives then in America more or less than we do now in Atlantica.
- See the description of the Thirteen States during their Confederation by Tom Paine and Josiah Tucker in Chapter I of Union Now. See also the powerful case that Prime Minister Michel Debre and Emmanuel Monick, former Governor of the Banque de France, make that "Oceans Unite Men -- Land Divides Them," in the November 1959 Freedom & Union, and their book, Peace by Oceanic Union (Demain La Paix, Plon, Paris), from which this article was drawn. Land formed so much more of a barrier in 1787 than water that the delegates of South Carolina to the Federal Convention found it easier, safer and faster to come to Philadelphia by ship.
Contents -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 4


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This week, I walked into a hotel and was handed an envelope of cash and an empty tube.
I was at a presentation ceremony for a research grant I had been awarded, the proceedings for which would be carried out entirely in Japanese. The initial confusion is therefore less of an opening sentence and more of a theme.
The Suhara Memorial Foundation was established from legacy funds left by the successful business man of the same name. Each year, sizeable grants are awarded to young researchers in Hokkaido in the fields of science and technology, biology and medicine. The empty tube —it would transpire— was to hold the award certificate I would shortly be presented with; an elegant sheet in hand calligraphy. The money was not the grant itself but 2000 yen (about $20). Its origin remains a mystery.
I should add that while I'm really delighted to be awarded this research grant, I cannot take the lion's share of the credit since I did not write the proposal. This particular award required all applications to be in Japanese, resulting in the head of my research group submitting the forms describing our joint work on my behalf. Had I done so, the grant proposal would have looked like this:
I was therefore forced to sit back, have a martini and let another do all the work. Totally studying up on those language skills. Honest.
The presentation ceremony was held in two adjacent rooms in a city hotel. In the first of these, we received our certificates and in the second, each recipient was to give a short 5 minute speech.
Without slides.
Evidently, the organisers considered the use of powerpoint to be ludicrous for such a talk length, which proves they've never been to an American Astronomical Society meeting. While I understood their view point, this was panic inducing. IF THERE ARE NO VISUALS, DO WORDS EVEN WORK?
Actually, in my case ... no ..., which is why my head of group was accompanying me to provide an on-the-fly English to Japanese translation.
Roughly 12 scientists were receiving awards that day and I was up second, giving me one person to copy (having been completely oblivious to all instructions and suspecting ad libbing was a bad idea). The awardees were seated in-between two long rows of tables at which the 20-strong selection committee were placed. The person before me stood, bowed to each side and then to the podium, before taking his certificate and bowing again.
How many bows was that? Did he bow individually to all groups after receiving his certificate, or just one group motion? How deep did he bow? Where did he have his hands? How about his feet? DID HE EVEN HAVE FEET?
I scrubbed sweaty palms on my trousers and tried to remember to breath. I confess to always feeling awkward bowing: I'm concerned I'll either do it wrong (for a movement that involves only one bend, it's surprising how many permutations you can think up in 10 seconds) or find that no one expects a foreigner to bow, and I'm making a cultural mockery by doing so.
Hind sight suggests it is in fact deeply unlikely I could offend an entire nation in the 30 seconds available to me, but nerves greatly inflate my opinion of my own ability. At least 6 of the 1056.2 scenarios I considered had me fleeing the country in a kayak made out of disposal chopsticks.
The actual result was a somewhat random range of awkward bends to anyone who looked like they might care. Then I resisted the urge to run from the room cheering with my certificate.
The next room had cake in it. Individual slices of a strawberry sponge, wrapped in cellophane. I wanted to bite it but I thought perhaps licking my fingers during my 5 minute talk might be frowned upon. On the other hand, since I didn't need to hold a pointer for the slides…
I began to suspect there was a reason I was always presenting in second place. There wasn't much time to think through these plans to fruition.
The 5 minute duration slot was blown clean out the window by everyone apart from me; a rather unfair outcome since I had to have each statement translated by my colleague. However, he did remember to introduce me which I had forgotten to do since… well, everyone had printed programs.
Introductions were also somewhat unnecessary since I was also the only non-Japanese person in the room, a point confirmed by the chair who told me I was the first foreigner to receive this award during its history. I strongly suspected this was because of the language policy that led many outside applications to look like the above pictorial contribution (although that is one mighty fine star with some impressive diffraction spikes, even if I do say so myself.)
The upshot of having my brief talk in two languages was I only managed to describe the main question of my research before it was apparent my spotlight was over. Alternatively, it could be the chair was also a researcher and knew results rarely live up to the hype. After the excitement, I ate my cake and then entertained myself by looking at the program. While not able to understand most of the Japanese, I was able to scan through the other applicant's resumes, reading the names of the overseas institutes they had attended in katakana, the phonetic script for foreign words. There were Oxford and Columbia alumni as well as someone who went to Haa-baa-do. Probably some dead end, low-level sort of place.
Later realised it was Havard. Bygones.
The other talks were largely on medicine, with an emphasis on cancer research. They were also predominately given by men, with only one other women recipient besides myself and no female representative on the selection committee. Gender balance isn't typically something I'm strongly aware of, but it becomes more obvious when everyone wears suits. (In fact I wasn't wearing a suit, but I had taken off my yellow doc martens for fear they set the wrong tone). Encouraging women in higher roles within the work force is something Japan has previously been notoriously bad at, although Government led funding schemes have begun to readdress that balance in certain areas.
When we finally left, I had a shiny certificate rolled up in its poster tube, 2000 yen and a (devoured) piece of cake. Someone asked me how long I planned to stay in Japan. I replied, long time.
I'm not leaving until life makes a boring amount of sense once again.

subset: commoncrawl


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By Lulu Ramadan
"I feel so special," a high school student at Village Academy said as she approached the Delray Beach school's main hallway, lined with 50 men applauding and throwing high-fives on the first day of school Monday.
"You are special," Principal Latoya Dixon quickly replied.
READ MORE about how students were greeted on the first day of school here.


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File Manager
Ok, Eric, I think I figured out what you were speaking to. Sort of. I believe you were referring to the File Manager. If so, then I still see no "list" to choose from. However, I do see the Browse and Upload features. Using those features I can upload jpg, pdf, etc., but when I attempt to upload a .mp3 or mpeg4 file, or something similar to those extensions, I get nothing. It seems as though it uploading and when it is done there is no file to be found. I'm sure I'm directing it to the right folder. I checked and rechecked that, and I'm sure the file is not there. Nothing. Is there a setting I need to enable for that to happen or is it a defect, or something else?
I hope you can help me out. Thanks.


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Pedi Peel Magic Reviews
Pedi Peel Magic is an "As Seen on TV" exfoliant foot peel that uses a fruit-based formula to help you get rid of cracked heels, corns, and more in 30 minutes.
About Pedi Peel Magic
Pedi Peel Magic is an exfoliant foot peel that's claimed to help you get rid of cracked heels, corns, and callused dead skin on the soles of your feet, and to provide salon results in minutes.
In order to use Pedi Peel Magic, the manufacturer claims you simply need to slip on the included plastic boots, and the fruit extract formula on the bottom will gently penetrate into the skin of your soles over the course of 30 minutes.
Then, Pedi Peel Magic's extract will activate your skin's natural peeling process, and give you "baby soft feet with one application."
Whether you're grossed out or fascinated by what Pedi Peel Magic claims to do, you're here to find out one thing: Should you buy it? Consider the following:
Do Foot Peels Like Pedi Peel Magic Really Work?
If you have even remotely callused, cracked, or "corned" feet, you're probably wondering if peeling off a few layers of skin will really help address the situation. As it turns out, this largely depends on your expectations. Why?
Because fruit acid (also known as glycolic acid, or light chemical) peels have been around for quite some time for facial treatments, since they not only remove dead and damaged skin, but can also "penetrate the remaining skin, providing a thorough cleansing action." As such, there are some clear benefits for using fruit acid peels.
But what about specifically on your feet? Well, this is definitely a new application for fruit acid, and it's relatively new to the market, so it seems the jury's still out. We'll come back around to this in a moment.
However, it's important to note that many fruit acid peels contain 10%-15% glycolic acid, although we're not informed how much Pedi Peel Magic contains, or whether or not this is enough to be effective.
Peel Until Your Heart's Content
Speaking of other fruit acid foot peels (say that 5 times fast!), there are several options available, although not all will be as inexpensive as Pedi Peel Magic, and may not always include those super-fashionable plastic booties.
In fact, you might be able to find fruit acid foot peels at a local big box retailer, which could save you a good chunk of change in S&H charges if you're dissatisfied and want to process a return.
How Long Does Pedi Peel Magic Take to Work?
It's not made clear in the Pedi Peel Magic commercial, but it doesn't appear that your feet will start peeling as soon as you remove them from the plastic boots. Instead, after a single treatment, their peeling will continue for 3-5 days, although it will gradually lessen over time.
Because of this, if you have an evening planned where you need to wear revealing shoes (or none at all), you probably won't want to use Pedi Peel Magic within a week or so of your night out.
What Are Customers Saying About Pedi Peel Magic?
Pedi Peel Magic was a very new product at the time of our research (URL registered April 2015) and didn't have any online customer reviews available.
However, Pedi Peel Magic is manufactured by Tristar Products, one of the largest companies within the "As Seen on TV" industry who also makes other popular ASOTV products such as Copper Wear, Clear TV, Perfecter Fusion Styler, and more.
Among more than 700 HighYa reader reviews for these products (as of 4/27/15), they had an average rating of 2.5 stars, with common complaints citing poor quality, failure to work as advertised, and difficult customer service experiences.
Granted, this doesn't necessarily mean you'll experience the same with Pedi Peel Magic, although you might want to keep it in mind.
Pedi Peel Magic Pricing & Refund Policy
Pedi Peel Magic is priced at $10 plus $5.99 S&H. At checkout, you'll also be able to purchase a second set for an additional $5.99 S&H.
For this price, each Pedi Peel Magic set includes 1 pair of plastic Pedi Peel Magic boots (men's sizes 4-13 and women's 4-12), 0.85oz of foot gel, and 1 sheet of tape.
Pedi Peel Magic comes with a 60-day refund policy, less S&H charges, as well as a 60-day warranty against defects in materials and workmanship. This means that if you purchase the BOGO offer, you'll ultimately lose much more in S&H charges than you'll receive as a refund.
In addition, if you process a warranty claim, keep in mind that you'll be responsible for shipping your Pedi Peel Magic back to the manufacturer, as well as paying $9.99 for the company to send you a new Pedi Peel Magic set.
With this said, if you need to request a refund or file a warranty claim, you'll need to contact customer service at 973-287-5191.
Can Pedi Peel Magic Give You Baby Feet?
Chopping to the point: Overall, fruit acid foot peels are relatively new, so it's difficult to how well Pedi Peel Magic might work for you, although this will largely depend on how thick the skin is on the bottom of your feet, as well as the extent of cracking and the number of corns.
With this said, most reviews for other fruit-based foot peels seem to be mixed, with the majority of people claiming that the peels made their feet softer, although it might not have removed calluses and corns as well as they'd hoped.
Because of this, we'd recommend searching for fruit acid foot peels at local retailers, which might make the return process easier if you're dissatisfied, and could save you a lot of money in non-refundable S&H charges.


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Create change.
Looking to display your creativity and release some design magic or use your copywriting, strategy, and marketing skills to help someone in your community?
We are here to connect you with the best and the brightest talent in our community.
DesignMil is a volunteer-driven event that relies entirely on the support of local businesses and communities to be a success.


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Stop Wasting Money on Marketing!!
Stop Wasting Money on Marketing!!
In this episode, I'm frustrated about failure. Your failure. And it's because what you're doing isn't working and you don't know why. You're likely doing the same marketing strategies as your competitors and everybody else that uses Google.
And the problem with that, if you want better results you've got to get to better thinking. You've got to think differently and be smarter about your decisions. There is no marketing strategy that works the same for every business.
Finally, you need to get smarter about gathering data. If you don't know why people are buying what they buy when they buy and how they buy it, you won't know if what you're doing is working and what's just costing you money.
If you're not gathering data, you need to stop wasting your money on marketing!
Listen to this episode for a detailed example of how you can improve your marketing.
In this 23 minute episode, I'll discuss:
- Why your marketing sucks
- Why you need to track EVERYTHING!
- How data helps you better serve your customers
- Teaching Sells Marketing


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Larry Craig
Craig's children tell Diane Sawyer they believe their father in Good Morning America interview
WASHINGTON -- In an interview on Good Morning America, Sen. Larry Craig's children said this morning that it would not matter to them if their father were gay, but that they believe him when they say he is not.
They also said in the six-minute interview that they were also disappointed with how Craig's fellow Republicans had so little loyalty for their father, who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct last month after he was arrested in a June sex sting in the bathroom of the Minneapolis airport. Craig announced Saturday that he would resign Sept. 30.
In a six-minute interview with Diane Sawyer, Shae Howell and Michael Craig said they had a very difficult conversation with their father before his press conference announcing his decision to step down.
Craig, 62, adopted Michael, Shae, and son Jay from his wife Suzanne's previous marriage. Jay was the only one unavailable for the ABC interview.
"It was tough, standing there next to him, but we are family and we stay together through good times and bad," said Michael Craig, 38, the oldest of the three. "We know who our father is and we were there to support him."
When asked if they believed their father's assertion he was not gay, both answered, "absolutely," with Howell adding, "and between my mom and dad, there's been nothing but warmth and love and trust our whole lives."
Before the press conference, they asked him "what exactly happened in that bathroom," Michael Craig said. "We just wanted to talk to him about because we were shocked by what we were reading in the media."
They were "trying to kind of break down definitions of what words mean," Michael Craig said. "We just wanted to hear from our dad what happened, We've known him our whole life. He has been so trustworthy to us, so honest to us, that we believe him."
They asked him, "the definition of what sex is, maybe it wasn't sexual intercourse, but were there sexual actions? Were there sexual feelings?" Michael Craig said.
"All these terrible things that were said in the media, we asked all those tough questions," he said. "I don't want to have an answer based on a legality or a technicality or semantics of the words. We wanted to know exactly what had happened, and after speaking to our dad, we know exactly what happened."
They described their father as being "a victim of circumstance. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Michael Craig said.
"In a normal world, if you accidentally bump your foot against someone else's, then you would say, "excuse me." That person certainly wouldn't press charges on you. Unless they're perhaps, an undercover police officer looking for an interpretation of what that meant."
When they were asked whether they had pressed their father to explain why he had pleaded guilty instead of fighting, Michael Craig said that the father was a "problem solver" who was looking for the best way to resolve an unpleasant situation.
"The officer said this is a piece of paper, we're done with it and it goes away. I think he was just trying to resolve a little problem, and he thought it was probably something, resulting in something fairly minor. And I think he knows that he screwed up."
Craig cried when he spoke to his children about the matter, they told ABC. "My dad is so protective of us kids," he said. "He's got seven grandkids, between my sister and myself, and he was upset because he chose to be a politician and he kind of knew what that life would entail. But the kids didn't chose this life, and the idea that this would cause any kind of negative impact on our lives, just tore him up."
Both children said they were angry with the way Republican leaders distanced themselves from their father, so quickly. They chalked it up to politics, but said it was disappointing to see such a reaction.
"These people are friends of our family, and our friends of my dad, and unfortunately are up for re-election in 2008," he said. "And I think (they) are a little leery of being associated with my dad. That's very disappointing. It was a little bit angry and little bit disappointing, the lack of public support when I know so many of his colleagues back on Capitol Hill had worked with my dad for 30 years."
Both Howell and Michael Craig said that it would not matter the them if their father came to them and said he was gay. "He's still our dad, he's still granddad to all the kids, it wouldn't matter," Howell said. It matter to their mother, however, Michael Craig said. "But gay or straight, that part doesn't matter, it was a matter of an accusation of a lewd, immoral, illegal act," Michael Craig said.
Howell added, "And I think the other frustrating part is you know, people, again, on Capitol Hill especially, made their decision and formed their opinion about it without even talking to my dad."


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I'm not really sure what took me this long to book a trip to Jamaica. It's got all the things I dream about on the dreariest of New York winter days - endless crystal blue beaches, reggae music, Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, and the friendliest locals. The best part? Its all just a short 3.5 hour flight from NYC.
I'd been excited for my tropical getaway from the moment the tickets were booked, but upon landing in Montego Bay I quickly realized I was in for a real treat. I was greeted at the airport by one of the Club Mobay VIP hosts, a hospitality service that escorted me through immigration & customs, expediting the whole process down to mere minutes. Before I knew it, I found myself sitting in a shuttle that was headed straight to my hotel, the beautiful Half Moon Resort.
Just 15 minutes later I was already at the hotel, being warmly welcomed by the staff and given a brief tour of the grounds. It's easy to see why Half Moon is one of Jamaica's most luxurious resorts. Some of the countless amenities on its sprawling 400-acres include over 50 pools, 3 restaurants, a cafe, 5 bars (including a swim-up option), 2 miles of private beaches, a stunning Spa, 11 tennis courts, 4 squash courts, basketball & volleyball courts, an 18-hole golf course, an equestrian center for rescued racehorses, and a standalone children's village.
I spent my first two days in Jamaica taking full advantage of the hotel's many on-site activities and relaxation opportunities. Long walks on the beach, Hobie Wave sailing, paddle-boarding, and practicing yoga in the outdoor cabana were just some of the ways I was able to stay active while enjoying the sights and sounds of the ocean. Down-time meant reading on my balcony, chatting with other guests in the swim-up bar, or indulging in a 90-minute massage at the tranquil Fern Tree Spa.
Every evening the hotel slips a piece of paper under each of the guests' doors listing a variety of both on and off site activities available the following day. Some of the options included tennis lessons, scuba diving, a hike to a local waterfall, and zip-lining through the jungle. I decided to treat myself to one of the off-site excursions on my last full day in Jamaica: Rafting on the Martha Brae River.
The hotel arranged for transportation to and from Rafter's Village (about a 30-minute drive in each direction). Once there, I had a short wait until a raft was available, but the time passed quickly as I enjoyed a complimentary fruit punch while listening to some live music by the outdoor bar. The raft ride itself was one of my favorite Jamaican experiences. Each bamboo raft is poled by a local guide as you peacefully drift down 5 kilometers of lush, jungle-lined river. The friendly guides make the ride even more enjoyable, as many like to talk about their beautiful country, of its local flora & fauna, or the meaning behind the colors of its flag. Other guides enjoy serenading their riders with a few reggae songs, and some, I found out firsthand, may even let you have a go at poling the raft down the river, should you decide its something you'd like to try (tip: you should, it was fun!)
My time in Jamaica included everything I had hoped for and more: sun-filled activities, plenty of time for relaxation, new experiences, and fun adventures. The only thing I would change about it for the next time, would be to schedule a trip that is much longer than just 3 days.
* I was welcomed as a guest of Half Moon Resort. As always, all opinions are my own.
All photography by Renee Choi Photography


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Loan Information - Alternative Loans
Alternative loans are designed to meet the gap between the student's financial aid package and the actual cost of attending college. These loans are offered by private lenders and are somewhat more expensive than the Federal Direct Stafford Loan programs. You should always apply for federal student loans before using private lenders. The amount borrowed cannot exceed the cost of education, minus other financial aid. All private loan programs will do a credit check and/or an income-to-debt ratio check on either the borrower or co-signer or both.
It is important to compare the terms of the loans from several private lenders before choosing the lender and program that is best for you. View www.elmselect.com for a list of most commonly used private lenders at Lane.
The Financial Aid Code of Conduct for financial aid personnel establishes the provisions that bring Lane CC into compliance with federal law. The document may be viewed here.
The following are some helpful tips to aid you in your research:
Helpful Tips: (not intended to be all inclusive)
- What is the interest rate? How often will it change?
- Is the interest rate capitalized annually or when repayment begins?
- Are there loan origination fees and if so, how much?
- Does the lender offer repayment incentives such as an interest rate reduction for automatic debit or consecutive on time payments?
- Is a co-signer required? Is there a co-signer release option available?
- Is there a grace period?
- When will repayment begin?
- What are the annual and aggregate loan limits?
- How long is the repayment period?


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Emotion, Politics, and the Ethics of Intervention: Five Minutes with Martha C. Nussbaum
Following her lecture at Georgetown University, the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs sat down with Martha C. Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago Law School and a leading voice in contemporary American philosophy, to discuss the role that emotion, morality, and nonviolence play in national and international politics.
GJIA: What is the role of emotion in political discourse? Has its use become devalued over time?
MN: There has always been emotion in politics, and people have held a variety of views regarding its role within the political sphere. Over time, liberal political philosophers have become suspicious of emotion because they have associated it with fascism and corporatist mentalities. They think it's very hard to control emotions and prevent them from going 'too far,' engendering tyranny and authoritarianism. In my book, Political Emotions, I note a contrasting view among 18th century liberal thinkers that essentially said, 'If we're going to get people to care and sacrifice self-interest for each other, as indeed we must if we're going to have a decent society, we have to appeal to their emotions.' In fact, there are many great liberal political leaders—Lincoln, FDR, Gandhi—who brilliantly appeal to emotions for positive ends. If one were to strip the emotion out of their careers, they would not have had the same effectiveness. So I think that the people who devalue the importance of emotion in politics should not do so.
It would perhaps be more valuable to ask which emotions are appropriate, in what contexts should they be used, and what is the right way of going about doing so. If you have a set of goals, which emotions would advance those goals, and which would impede them?
[Franklin] Roosevelt, in promoting the New Deal, fostered fellowship and compassion for the suffering of others. In the 21st century, that feeling has certainly waned, and I would argue, because of that fact, that our political struggle over any kind of social safety net is more fraught than in the past. Other emotions are important too. At certain times, we ought to feel a sense of reasoned fear. For instance, if there is a hurricane coming up the coast, and Mayor Bloomberg wants people to evacuate the area, it's probably all right for him to say, 'This is a monster storm,' and really try to whip up a sense of urgency. Doing so is not harmful and produces good results. At the same time, in other circumstances fear can be bad and dangerous. In Political Emotions, I say that the main thing we as a society have to think about is love. That is, if there is not some base-level of love that we have for one another, then it is not going to be worth it to get out of our shells of self-interest and do things that are difficult, such as redistributing wealth and income through taxation, and including previously excluded groups. Where is that love going to come from, if not from some sort of imaginative and emotional connection with other people?
GJIA: How can we use emotions like love in response to political actors like ISIS, whose ideology seems to lack such positive emotions?
MN: In certain situations and toward certain groups, I think we just have to fight with violence, though hopefully not with anger. Yet at the same time, we have to ensure that we defuse the very natural tendency of associating looming evils, such as ISIS, with entire groups of people, such as those who follow Islam. I wrote another book called The New Religious Intolerance about how Muslims are targeted in unfair ways in Europe and the United States, just as the Jews used to be targeted by Europeans who held vast conspiracy theories about them and their actions that included talk of takeover attempts and sabotage. We have to stop that kind of thinking. Doing so would be so much easier if we spread accurate information about these topics and developed a sense of imaginative participation, an understanding of these lives as similar to our own. That does involve a kind of brotherly love.
GJIA: Do you think that punitive or vindictive actions taken by governments can ever be morally justified?
MN: I think that some actions of this type might be justified, but all too often they are motivated by the wrong sentiments. I'm not a pacifist, but I think that a lot of times wars that might be right to undertake might be motivated by the wrong reasons. In the Second World War, for example, some of the leaders might have been motivated by hatred, but surely the more effective ones, like Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, were more focused on the protection and love of their own people. In Churchill's famous speech about blood, sweat, and tears, he says nothing about Hitler being evil. He talks about the threat to Europe, its freedoms, and its future. So it's really an appeal to love those institutions and undertake a difficult task in order to defend them.
GJIA: Given your thoughts on pacifism and justly motivated war, can nonviolent intervention also be effective in creating positive change?
MN: I think it's always a mistake to think that the main way to deal with other people is through military intervention. Engaging with other countries through, for instance, educational exchange, by helping them set up educational institutions, or giving them aid to establish development projects that are administrated by their own citizens, can be very good ways of expressing one's own values without marching in with troops.
Dr. Martha C. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, a dual appointment in the Law School and Philosophy Department. She is an Associate in the University of Chicago Classics Department, Divinity School, and Political Science Department, as well as a Member of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies and a Board Member of the Human Rights Program. From 1986 to 1993, Nussbaum was a research advisor at the World Institute for Development Economics Research, Helsinki, a part of the United Nations University. She has chaired the American Philosophical Association's Committee on International Cooperation, the Committee on the Status of Women, and the Committee for Public Philosophy, and has been a President of the Association. Her latest book is Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice, which was published by Harvard University Press in 2013.
Dr. Nussbaum was interviewed by Marisa Hawley and Ian Philbrick on 26 February 2015 in Washington, D.C. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.


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Q. How to Reset your Password ?
Ans: To reset password please follow these steps –
1. Click the link Reset Password or Lost your password?
2. Enter your e-mail id
3. Check your e-mail (Inbox or Spam folder)
3. Click on the link as directed in your e-mail
4. Put new password and re-enter New Password
If you have any questions or concerns
Please email us at firstname.lastname@example.com
Contact us on +91-8800256688, Monday to Friday 9:00am – 6:00pm


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In my "real" job, I own a consulting and training company, Val Grubb & Associates, and I had a job in Helena, Montana last week. It was exciting as it was a new state for me! Before I die, my goal is to visit all seven continents (I've hit 5 so far – Antarctica and Africa to go) and visit all 50 states (not just touch down in the airport, but actually do a bit of visiting). It's awesome when I get paid to help reach one of my personal goals (especially when it comes to travel)! Ha, ha, ha.
I had a free day before flying back to NYC and I made the most of it! Several activities on my list were closed for the season, reopening in July. Bit of a bummer, but, definitely a reason to go back! Top 3 activities on my list for my return visit are the Last Chance Train tour (tour Helena in a historic train, via trolley or Segway!), Gates of the Mountains boat tour (with limestone cliffs rising to an impressive 1200 feet on each side) and Last Chance Ranch Wagon dinner. That said, there was still plenty of things to see!
Helena was originally founded by a party calling themselves the "Four Georgians" as a mining camp along a small creek called Last Chance Gulch (hence the names of several of the tours and a street running through downtown). Gold was discovered in 1864 and by 1888, about 50 millionaires lived in Helena, more per capita than in any city in the world! Last Chance Gulch coughed up a lot of gold over a 20 year period – about $3.6 billion in today's dollars. Not surprisingly, one highlight of Helena is viewing the many mansions in the surrounding area and I'm actually going to tackle that in a future post this week. Stand-by for more shortly!
What to do in Helena Montana in the winter season:
1. St. Helena Cathedral (530 N. Ewing Street) – construction began in October 1908, with the first eucharist service being held in November 1914. Its spires tower over Helena although the 59 stained glass windows, made and installed by the F.X. Zettler Firm of Munich, Bavaria, are the true centerpiece. They are seriously spectacular (hint: only the north door is open during the day so keep trying if you encounter one that is locked). The Zettler Firm claimed that thirty seven of the windows tell the story from the fall of Adam and Eve to the Church in the early years of the 20th Century. Take a peek at the interior:
The exterior of the Cathedral was mighty impressive as well:
2. General Mercantile (413 N. Last Chance Gulch) – I did a quick stop here as I was told they have huckleberry tea (a specialty of the area). WOW, was I bummed I had not come here earlier! It's a coffee shop/general store and there are all these cozy tables scattered throughout the small, narrow shop. It was seriously awesome and after my brief stop, I was bummed I didn't go there when I had more time.
3. Mt. Helena City Park – OK, I have to admit it, I'm not really the outdoorsy sort. However, I went to this park just above Helena so I could get a view over the city (and particularly the cathedral). I did a small hike comparatively but if I had more time (and the proper shoes), I think I would've tried heading up the mountain!
They don't call Montana "Big Sky Country" for nothing:
4. Reeder's Alley (212 South Park Avenue) – There really isn't much to see here, it's basically just two short blocks, but it was worth a quick stop just to get a feel for what old-time Helena (and the west) was like. The buildings along Reeder's Alley were built in 1884 and housed miners prospecting the area.
I drove around the Montana State Capital building (Helena is the capital of Montana) although I didn't go in as the legislature was in session and there were all sorts of protests outside. Too much hassle to try to park. Building was nice on the outside.
I also peeked in at the Great Northern Carousel although I didn't ride it. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you have kids.
Overall a very fun time in Helena even in the winter months when most activities are shutdown. For more to do, check out my blog on the stunning mansions in Helena!


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The following cannot be put into a skip: Asbestos, Plasterboard, Paint, Fridges and Freezers, Florescent Lighting Tubes, WEE Waste, Gas Bottles, Tyres, and any electrical items that require a plug.
I have some Plasterboard to dispose of how can I do this?
Why not buy a Bag n All Plasterboard waste bag, we can collect these with the skip collection or at a time that suits. Do not mix this waste in the skip. You can add the bag to your basket or during the skip delivery. You can also order a skip solely for Plasterboard.
I am unsure if the waste I have is Asbestos, how can I find out?
We can take a sample for you and send off for analysis testing, this takes two working days and costs £45. Should this be confirmed as asbestos we can advise costs of our Asbestos Skips. All suspect materials will be tested and if proven to be Asbestos we will notify the Environment Agency and you will be charged accordingly.
Will you take an overloaded skip?
In most cases we will work with our customers to resolve any overloading of the skips however its down to our driver's discretion, if they feel its unsafe to carry the skip will not be loaded.
What is the maximum period I can have a skip for?
We usually say 21 days but we appreciate things happen & work can be delayed so just let us know you require the skip longer and this will not be an issue. We will never just turn up and collect the skip without informing you first.
Do I need a road permit?
You only need a road permit if the land is owned by the council, if you have an allocated parking spot this still requires a permit unless you own it. in some cases, you will find the road maybe un adopted or even a private road please contact the team to find out in advance as road permits are very expensive.
What happens if I put not permitted materials in the skip?
All skips are tipped at our recycling Facility on Portland & the full load is thoroughly inspected. During this procedure any non-permitted items will be stored in our quarantine area and a full non-conformance report is formed, you will be notified of these items & charged extra for the disposal.
How much is it to order a skip online?
It depends on which size you need. Have a look at our online skip ordering page to choose and follow the process to get your quotation. You can then proceed to purchase if you wish.
How long can I keep a skip for?
Normally 21 days but we are flexible. However we won't collect the skip without informing you first.
How much notice do I need to give before delivery or exchange of a skip?
We do provide same day service within a reasonable time of day. If not same day then guaranteed early the next day.
Can the skip drivers position a skip over my wall?
Normally yes we can but you will have to notify us if needed. However please be aware that we are not responsible for any damage caused as we are acting on your instructions.
What size skip do you think I need?
Almost impossible to answer, if you visit our skip sizes page, measurements are listed to give you an idea of the sizes.
How much will it cost to hire a skip?
This is dependent on size and waste type. If you are not sure our sales team will be very happy to give you advice. so please feel free to contact us to discuss your requirements in more detail.
How do I book and pay for a skip?
Phone our sales team now on 01305 860044, email us at firstname.lastname@example.com or complete our online enquiry form. Pay on order by credit card (this can be done over the phone), cash or cheque on delivery, or for our commercial customers we can set up a credit account.
What about hazardous materials?
Certain materials, such as asbestos, oil, printing inks, solvents, chemicals, clinical waste, electrical or electronic equipment (WEEE) have been classified as hazardous waste, requiring specialised removal and disposal routes. The list of hazardous waste materials is constantly being revised with the introduction of new legislation. Examples of waste products that need specialist removal are:
Car engines or tyres
Creosote or the cans or containers that have contained any of these products
Fluorescent tubes
Fridges or Freezers
Gas Bottles
Liquid waste of any nature
Oil, Petrol, Diesel, Grease or Lead-based Paints; or the cans or containers that have contained any of these products
Solvents or the cans or containers that have contained any of these products
Televisions, computer screens
We will be more than happy to arrange for special collection and disposal of any of the above. Please contact us for the latest up to date information about hazardous waste.


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Our Union of over 2000 churches is supported by staff in thirteen regional associations and three specialist teams based in Didcot, Oxfordshire. Our six Baptist Colleges prepare men and women for ministry and offer ongoing development and training.
Home Mission Grants are given to support a variety of ministries in and through Baptist churches and chaplains across the country. It also enables all our churches and ministers to be supported and helped through the work of the Regional Associations and the specialist teams in Didcot.
Safeguarding for the protection of adults and children from harm, abuse or neglect. Every church should adopt safeguarding policy statements for children, young people, and adults at risk. We help churches maintain safe environments for all, with processes to follow should something go wrong, and support for everyone involved.
Our Resources Library has a wealth of guideline leaflets and information to help you and your church on a range of topics. You can also find a range of booklets, cards and our Baptists Together magazine available to buy from the Online Shop.
Jenni Entrican writes:
What a year this has been! Exciting, exhausting, heart-warming, challenging, nourishing, humbling… the list could go on. There are so many things that have delighted me during this year as President, so many people with whom I have enjoyed conversation, sharing, and walking alongside - to, one would hope, our mutual benefit. A real spark of God at work in our lives, an opportunity to be taken to a new place because of that meeting.
And none more so, than what has been a virtual meeting up - this blog. What a kaleidoscope of stimulation, joy, challenge… an opening of minds and hearts to engage with the theme of Daring Greatly, through the courage to be real, to step outside the box, to follow Jesus. Each month, two good friends have faithfully, and creatively, committed themselves to accede to my request to write on one aspect of the theme as it relates to mission, spirituality or women.
And what a rich and varied journey it has been. Really life-enhancing. My very, very grateful thanks to these people.
This week I have spent time reading all eighteen pieces. I can recommend it!
Here are a handful of the nuggets ~
Each starts with 'Daring Greatly through… the courage to be real… step outside the box… follow Jesus.
… refers to the development of unconventional, new, and creative ideas. Some contexts welcome such creativity. In others, however, it can require courage to challenge the established conventions. Such to be sure involves vulnerability and can incur the risk of rejection and expulsion. This vulnerability may be heightened by an inner yet very real self-questioning of that which you are proposing. That which you are proposing and verbalising may indeed be unconventional to you.
… may require the courage to physically step outside the box. That is, the courage required may be the courage to place one's body for the sake of one's established or developing convictions in new and perhaps unconventional locations and settings. "Hope is where your body is". [Stuart]
… Daring Greatly involves challenging the powers; going against the flow; standing up for what we believe in; giving sacrificially… commences with the conviction that 'something is not right', whether that be in me, my neighbour or within the wider world. This is coupled with the conviction that 'another world is possible'.
I am called to make difference because ultimately daring greatly is (in the words of Tom Sine) 'to respond to the invitation to join in with God, to be co-conspirators with him, and get involved in subverting the craziness, the dysfunction, the sinfulness of the world, with acts of compassion and love. These gestures may seem small, insignificant and at times foolish but they add up and go a long way towards revealing the Kingdom in our midst.' [Carmel]
… Many of the young people who didn't fit our big youthwork were from broken families, failing in the education system and living with a depth of suffering that many church volunteers were not trained for. They did not need to hear a message which highlighted their brokenness, they were already well aware of that, and a conversion to a middle class gospel and church was irrelevant to them.
Stepping outside the box for me… has been stepping out of the big numbers game and deliberately and intentionally working with a few. Walking alongside a young person as they struggle with significance, as they consider their sexuality, as they navigate our ridiculous 'one size fits all' education system, is a huge challenge and is often heart-breaking and emotionally draining… My heart is to encourage a community of faith; a group of people of all ages and abilities, on a journey of searching, learning, discovering, and owning faith. [Sandra]
… If we want to make the gospel known to our generation, we will need to dare something new in faith. We will need to experiment and find new, creative, counter-cultural, inspiring and innovative ways to advance the Kingdom of God. We can no longer be satisfied with the kind of narrow, individualistic, world-rejecting spirituality, which perpetuates the 'me-and-Jesus' dogma that has left many of our churches so ill-equipped for mission and ministry in our emerging society.
Looking to the future my hope is that the British Baptist community can pioneer a renewed spiritual vision of a 'church without walls' in which the Christian values of honesty, integrity, dignity, freedom, justice and compassion are expressed not only in explicit church activities, but also in the ordinary, mundane realities of everyday life. [Joshua]
… in 2 Tim1:6-7 we read 'I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you .... for God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and self-discipline'.
… recapture the truth of who God has declared us to be. God has called us to himself, he has invested of himself in us and his Spirit merges with our spirit making us a new creation. God through his Spirit has given us gifts that we may carry out our assignment as Christians to be a blessing to all people – it is entirely possible to be so much more than we currently are when we truly embrace the truth of who God has made us to be and declared us to be. [Rupert]
… What is the box?
Is it big enough to hold the earth of tradition and discipline and practice?
Will my roots go deep enough to find nourishment and stability?
Will I stretch wide enough to allow my foliage to tumble over the edges?
Sixteen of us gather in a little wooden building… All but one tell stories of belonging to main stream churches; Sunday school, choir, confirmation, or joining as young adults for some years. Then disillusionment. One woman speaks of the 'gap' that grew between her and what went on at the front of church as getting bigger and bigger until she dropped off the edge.
… I spread a cloth on the floor in front of me; place home made bread and a cup of wine on it. I use words from a simple contemporary liturgy. This action, blessing, breaking, sharing, is so powerful it hardly needs words.
Holiness fills the space around us and within us… God does not need defending. The things of God cannot belong in any box. All our boxes belong in God. [Judy]
Six years ago I moved from Solihull to Stoke, from an affluent area to a poor one and there's a very strong desire to authenticate myself by how poor our area is. But maybe the first bit of courage needed to be real about mission is to stop playing the 'My-ward's-worse-than-yours' game. Let's be honest, mission is difficult everywhere!
Of course we have all the stuff you'd expect: drugs, unemployment, crime, litter and mental illness. Broken-down houses, children who don't know what a vegetable is, and the general air of being unseen and unheard that makes young people so open to radicalisation. They're here – of course they're here … these things are very real! But they are not the only reality. Beauty is real too. So are love, joy, hope and friendship. In fact these things are more real because they come from the heart of God.
After years of working, relating, praying, setting up projects and events, to our joy a little church has evolved. Real change often seems so elusive… They can be so lovely one week and then turn on you and yell abuse down the phone the next.
I think the courage to be real about mission means knowing both how much and how little you are needed, and learning to be content with that. [Howard]
… Somehow we have lost this ability to be broken in front of each other. It does us no favours when it comes to sharing our faith.
Genuine community is rapidly becoming a rare commodity… The sociologist Zygmunt Bauman suggests that community is now a ghost that we resurrect at festivals, only to return to our isolated lives when the weekend is over. Sometimes I feel that the church can be that too – a couple of hours with God and God's family, then back to our privatised lives. If our churches can be 'places of availability and vulnerability', we can offer people a place where they can experience genuine transforming love in the community of God's people. [Simon]
… Perhaps too we need the courage to be real in living as spiritual people. To truly dare to let our spirituality inform our day to day living; to not dress our faith up in jargon and live it out in a holy clique, but to get real in the mess of our lives and the lives of those with whom we journey.
… one of the things I need to be real about when I reflect on my own spirituality is the fact that it changes… what once fed and nurtured is maybe not what feeds now. What does need to stay the same is the commitment to spend regular time God, with no agenda but his; but it's how that time is facilitated that varies… it matters that we dare to have the courage to be real about our spirituality… for then the transforming power of God's Spirit is released, not just in our own lives, but also into the life of the world. [Barbara]
… Peter and Cornelius (Acts 10). Cornelius would have been no stranger to courage… but his devotion to God required an altogether different kind of courage. Peter needed courage to move beyond the safe and familiar and venture into territory that all of his traditional instincts would have told him to avoid. This simple encounter was to have monumental consequences… we have been challenged to have the courage to be real – which in part is an invitation to embrace and be honest about our own weakness and vulnerability; to reach out to our world with a faith that is grounded in the realities of human experience and not confined to the safe havens of religious institutions.
… busyness can be a great way of drowning out the call to be real. So long as I am engrossed in a catalogue of activities on God's behalf, I can avoid those penetrating encounters in which I lay myself open to God's scrutiny and purpose. I can forever be engaged in a pattern of discipleship that involves doing more things rather than growing more like Christ. I find it interesting that the source of this profound episode is two men's commitment to simply spend time in God's presence. What ensued might have had massive consequences, but it began by simply being real. [Phil]
… we hold simultaneously the beliefs that reality exists in its own right and outside of ourselves, and that reality is created by us in our minds, through our perceptions. Absolutism and relativism held in tension. I would like to share with you the ways in which this tension is played out in the lives of some women…
Reality is found in Jesus – the one who has always existed, exists now and will exist forever. The courage to dare greatly, the courage to be real, flows from an encounter with Jesus. [Charmaine]
… occasionally I am asked if I have any idea what my daughter might do when she grows up. She is only three, so there is plenty of time. At the moment a firefighter is top of the list… Sometimes I reply, in jest, that the plan is for her to become the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in a dis-established Church of England. I suspect it far more likely she will be a firefighter, but as things have progressed for our Anglican sisters and brothers in recent years it feels like it is a little bit more possible that there might be a female occupant of the See of Canterbury.
Our own journey as a Union has not been one of a consistent trajectory. Indeed, there are times when, having made significant progress in embracing the ministry of women, we have seen the forces of patriarchy reassert themselves in a variety of ways. Since I began my theological training just over ten years ago I have heard too many stories of pain and marginalisation from my sisters in Christ…
… there would be something profoundly troubling if on hearing their stories we are not compelled to ask serious questions of our life together, of ourselves, and seek to work with them to bring change. It is my contention that, on the whole, men have not done enough to publicly take a stand alongside our female colleagues. I think that we run the risk of thinking that this is an issue that we have already dealt with. The experiences of too many excluded and patronised friends would suggest otherwise.
I wonder what it might take for my children to not see women in ministry as 'other' but something totally normal… I am hopeful, but we still have a lot of work to do. [David]
… our way of working for change is as important as the change we want to create… The Jesus way. The narrow road. The method being as crucial as the message. The resistance of alternative routes to power offered so potently over forty days of weakness and isolation in the desert, and beyond. The articulator of unfamiliar and unexpected messages. The voice of the margins. The prophet. The most inspiring person in town. The social outcast… the way we follow Jesus, as individuals and as church in these days is going to communicate as much about what we believe and hold most precious, as anything we advocate, accomplish or fail at.
I'm left daring to follow Jesus in a world which needs a new approach to power and a workable model of non-coercive leadership, decision-making and resource allocation. Increasingly I find the rigor and support of the Nonviolent Communication (NVC) process provides a framework for me to live out a courageous intention. It supports me to transcend and transform fear and judgement, and grasp the beauty of human needs as the frame which will provide me with the clearest and most life-giving understanding of why people (me/you) do what we do. All of which opens the door to connection, which, in an age of fear and separation, brings hope. [Laura]
… In the past week I've both heard a woman preach the best sermon I've heard this year, and happened to talk with several female friends who each spoke of the ways - often brutal - in which people have tried to prevent them from preaching. My friends' stories about being mocked and silenced when they sought to preach put me in mind of 'Jeremiah's Complaint'. I tried to imagine how Huldah [the (female) prophet whom King Josiah consulted when he rediscovered the Book of the Law (2Ki 22:3-20)] might have described her own 'daring greatly', her struggles to find the courage to follow God.
Huldah's Complaint (after Jer 20:7-18)
Blood boiling.
Bones roasting.
How can unsaid words be so
You fooled me God.
Seduced me and subdued me when
I saw your splendour
Blazing bright. When
An ember from your altar
Blistered my lips. When
You kindled a spark
Within me. When
You said "Speak!"
Were you laughing then, God?
They are now.
Barbs fly; fists too.
Vitriol and violence drive me to
… I see your promise, God
Blazing tongues poured out
All flesh flame-baptised
Slaves, men and maids,
Fire-filled indifferently.
When the fire comes
And the daughters and sons
Will prophesy there
Will they then hear from her?
Or must she wait till fire falls once more?
… what does 'spirituality' mean to those who seek to follow Jesus? And more specifically 'courageous spirituality', which in the contemporary usage of the word seems like a contradiction?
… it will be substantial
… it will be authentic
… it will be intentional
… it will be creative
… it will be passionate
and here's the crunch - it will be courageous, or vulnerable.
'Seeing we have a cross at the heart of our faith, it is stupid to ignore the reality of suffering, or pretend there is some escape from it. We need a faith that will stand strong in the presence of pain, and not run from it.' [Geoff]
… it was with some surprise that I discovered, from the writings of one of our younger ministers that I am not a historian, I am also history. She has been writing a dissertation for her degree examining women in ministry and attitudes to this in Baptist life.
… and she talks in her work about me and several others of my cohort in ministry, of some of the things we did, some of the arguments we had, some of the changes we inaugurated and some of the possibilities we opened up. We did not think of ourselves as doing anything particularly important or special. We were doing what was in front of us; responding, with as much faith and integrity as we could, as much wisdom as we could summon, and sometimes with tears and laughter, to the situations that we were in.
And now, somebody else telling the story is telling a story of people who dared greatly and changed things, whose great daring made a difference… I have thought of myself as somebody who hasn't really dared much; who has been greatly attracted by this theme, but also deeply rebuked by it, in comparison with the people who really did things, went out on a limb and made a difference.
Maybe daring greatly is to do with faithfully and with integrity and hope, living who we are, and letting God do whatever it is that God wants to do through it – without being too anxious about what that might be. [Ruth]
… I believe God was calling me into ministry many, many years ago but I did not recognise this and ignored it. Me? A minister? I'm Deaf! About ten years ago for the first time, I visited a 'deaf church' led by deaf, where services were in British Sign Language (BSL). What an impact that made on me… I allowed myself to open the door a tiny crack, that was my calling into ministry.
I trusted God to give me the strength and courage needed to follow his path, and with wonderful support from the students and tutors, I finally graduated from Northern Baptist College with a theology degree.
I have learnt so much from both hearing and deaf. I feel God is calling me to minister both to the hearing and deaf communities and to work to bring the two groups together in mutual respect. My ministry has given me the opportunity to explore the riches of both worlds and to bring them together. It is rare that God leads us down to easy paths but he does give us his strength and courage to persevere. [Susan]
… Violent extremism is now arguably the greatest threat to people across the world. It includes terrorism and violent acts, which could seemingly be committed anywhere and anytime… what does it mean to follow Jesus in this context?
Some thoughts:
In a world that seems to be more complex and dangerous, will we resist retreating into our churches and follow Jesus in the complexity and messiness of the world? Courage is needed to dare greatly, to follow Jesus by working to transform violent extremism through inter faith relating. [Andy]
Many thanks to Howard Jones, Simon Hall, Judy Howard, Rupert Lazar, Laura Gill, Steve Holmes, Joshua Searle, Sandra Crawford, Geoff Colmer, Ruth Gouldbourne, Barbara Carpenter, Phil Jump, Stuart Blythe, Carmel Murphy, Susan Myatt, Andy Williams, Charmaine Howard and David Mayne.


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Click here to download the 2013 Business Meeting Materials. Please note, a printed copy of the business meeting materials will be provided to Fall Summitt attendees in the registration materials provided at the registration desk in Minneapolis.
Twelfth Annual Fall Summit Business Meeting Agenda Friday, November 22, 2013 3:30p.m. – 4:30p.m. Hilton Minneapolis Minneapolis, MN
Meeting Room – Symphony Ballroom, 2nd Floor
Call to Order / Report to Members
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Secretary's Report - 2012 Business Meeting Minutes
Debbie Malina
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Election of New Coordinating Team Members
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Alliance Program Testimonials - Nurse In Washington Internship - Nursing Alliance Leadership Academy
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Feedback on 2013 Alliance Activity *We would like to get your feedback on this year's Alliance programs (NIWI, NALA, Fall Summit, webinars) and general Alliance activities
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Integrations in Time Doctor Desktop Software - Syncing in the App
After you have completed the steps outlined in the specific support article for your particular integration, you'll be able to synchronize tasks into the Time Doctor desktop application. Here we'll discuss some additional details surrounding that syncing process.
Restart the Client
Before a new integration will even appear on the desktop client, you may need to log out and log back into the Time Doctor desktop software. This is true for all application versions
For New Time Doctor application
For Time Doctor Lite
Once you are logged back in, click on either of these two arrows on the Time Doctor Lite desktop client interface to find your integration:
For Time Doctor Pro
Just look to the upper left corner of the user interface when using Time Doctor Pro. You may need to click on the word "INTEGRATIONS" to expand the options if you have many integrations:
Double Check the Integration
If you are still having problems seeing the integration, ensure that you are logging into the Time Doctor desktop software with the same exact email address that you used to set up the integration on the web dashboard. Also make certain you have the proper company selected and that the integration is indeed listed as active on your own Time Doctor integrations web page.
If you see the integration but do not see any tasks after clicking on the "Sync" button at the bottom left, please ensure the task is properly assigned to you from within the integrated software's web interface and refer back to the specific integration article for additional details.
For questions, comments or feedback regarding this topic, please send an email to email@example.com.