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I RECEIVED THE FATEFUL CALL late one summer night in 1969. My father, unable to speak English, handed me the phone and said in Spanish, "I think it's from that school." At the other end of the line was Robert Moore, his voice full of enthusiasm, inviting me to attend a new school that he and his wife, Maxine, were starting near Baytown. It was to be a college-preparatory boarding school for the ghetto and barrio boys of Houston.
I had been recommended by my sixth-grade teacher and interviewed by the school's faculty. Now, finally, I had been chosen, but I hesitated. It all sounded too strange. Even the name of the school was different: Chinquapin. I looked to my father for advice, hoping he would say no. Instead, he told me to try it out for a month. I stayed five years. (I spent my junior year in a Houston public high school before hightailing it back to Chinquapin.)
That first class consisted of sixteen seventh-grade boys: eight blacks, six Mexican Americans, and two whites. Of the original students, six managed to survive the lonely nights, the chores, the government-surplus food, the early-morning track runs, the lack of television, and the demanding schoolwork to graduate. Three of us attended college, but I was the only one to get a diploma. I collected three degrees: a B.A. from Drake University, in Des Moines, Iowa, and two M.A.'s, one in Spanish from Rice University and another in journalism from Northwestern, in Evanston, Illinois. I also spent a summer at the University of Colorado and my junior year in Spain. Had Chinquapin helped me? Yes. No doubt. The tiny school instilled in me a love of reading and writing and a curiosity about the world that I have yet to satisfy. Equally important, Chinquapin taught me to live in a multicultural environment where skin color and cultural background were recognized and respected.
The Chinquapin School—which moved to Highlands, about 25 miles east of Houston, in 1973—has gotten bigger and better since its shaky start thirty years ago. It remains the only prep school in Texas—and one of the few in the country, along with the Milton Hershey School in Pennsylvania—that targets poor students, especially minorities. Says Susan Sclafani, the chief of staff for educational services for the Houston Independent School District: "I think the school provides a wonderful opportunity for students to remove themselves from the temptation of the inner-city neighborhoods and focus on academics and social development in an environment in which they are able to blossom and learn." Chinquapin has become a model for alternative schools, helping students from low-income families reach their highest potential. Bill Heinzerling, the school's director, says he often gets calls from educators around the country who plan to start a school like Chinquapin and want to know how it achieved its success.
Chinquapin was a product of the sixties, a time when educators were experimenting with "free schools" or "schools without walls." Most of the experimental schools died almost as soon as they started. They were too loose and lacked a firm structure with which to guide young minds. Not Chinquapin. Robert Moore had taught for eighteen years at the exclusive St. John's School in Houston. An authoritarian with a kind heart, he was that rare teacher who could inspire even the worst students to learn.
Fed up with teaching rich kids, Moore wanted to help poor kids. He solicited money from his former St. John's students and raised enough funds through private donations and grants, including $250,000 from the Brown Foundation, to open the school. He called it Chinquapin (pronounced chink-a-pin) after a tree found in East Texas. (The tree produces a burr, which serves as the school's mascot. "Stick 'em, burrs!" is the cheer.) Moore, who retired in 1983, was living in Palestine until his wife died in August. He has moved back to Chinquapin, where he teaches two vocabulary classes, serves as an adviser to the school's newspaper, The Burr, and helps with the gardening. He has just completed a book about Chinquapin.
Since 1975, the year of the first graduating class, 202 students have graduated from Chinquapin. In its early years it was graduating only about six students a year, but now fourteen graduate annually, and the school has set a goal to increase the number to twenty (currently the maximum number of students in each class). Students leave the school for reasons that range from the lack of a social life and the demanding curriculum to disciplinary problems.
Chinquapin requires that graduating seniors be accepted by a college, but whether they actually attend it is up to them. Many Chinquapin students have joined the armed forces instead, and some, like Donald Grant, a 1979 graduate, have sought employment. "I didn't go to college because I had a passion to see my mother happy," says Grant, a chief clerk in the advertising design and service department of the Houston Chronicle. "She had raised seven kids by herself, and I wanted to support her. I was ready for the work force. My skills were better than those of many of the college graduates working in my office."
Chinquapin students consistently score higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test than the national average. In the past six years 95 percent of the school's graduates have gone on to college, receiving degrees from such prestigious universities as Stanford, Notre Dame, Rice, Northwestern, Middlebury, Purdue, Smith, and Colorado College.
"Chinquapin taught me the power of believing in myself and my dreams," says 1976 graduate Bruce Manuel. "I learned not to be afraid to go out in the world and claim or earn what was there for anyone who is willing to work for it." Manuel grew up in Houston's Third Ward ghetto and graduated from the highly regarded University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee. He is now a lieutenant commander in the Navy.
Fausto Nolasco, a 1982 graduate, admits that without Chinquapin he would not have ventured far beyond his barrio in East Houston. In fact, Nolasco, who owns a real estate company in Houston, graduated from Notre Dame and spent eight years in seminary schools in several European cities. "The most important thing Chinquapin taught me was the basic skills of reading and writing," he says, "but Chinquapin did that extremely well."
Catalina Garcia, class of 1989, went on to Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Washington, and returned to teach at Houston's Tijerina Elementary School, which she had attended as a child. "Chinquapin made me what I am today," she says. "It is my basis. Without it, I would not be teaching. I would be having my fifth baby."
What accounts for Chinquapin's success? "We are very small, which allows us to know each and every student inside and out," says Kathy Heinzerling, who works with her husband, Bill, as the school's codirector. "We are able to give them the attention they need." The directors and teachers live on campus and act as surrogate parents as well as counselors, social workers, and friends. "Nobody can get away with anything here," she says. "We try very hard to deal with their needs, whether it is a family problem, an academic problem, or a discipline problem." With 112 students in grades seven through twelve and eleven full-time faculty members, Chinquapin boasts a student-to-teacher ratio of ten to one. Along with the school's size, Bill Heinzerling credits its excellent faculty for contributing to its success: "We search across the country for the best teachers."
Students respond to this nurturing environment. "The thing I like about Chinquapin the most is its intimacy," says senior Grejuana Dennis. "It is like a community, a family. It is not like going to school every day. The faculty are your friends." Adds eighth grader Rafael Chico Trujillo: "It is like going to camp for a week. At home there are a lot of bad things going on in my neighborhood. Here, it is peaceful. At night you can see the constellations. It is like being in the country."
Chinquapin lies on 32 acres of land that formerly served as a chicken farm. The physical layout of the campus has changed dramatically since I was a student there. Sidewalks have replaced wooden pallets, young trees shade the quadrangle, and buildings have been added and, in some cases, replaced the dilapidated ones I grew up in. There's a new library, administrative hall, and gymnasium, and the classrooms are air-conditioned (Robert Moore did not allow air conditioning because it was too expensive). Teachers live in decent duplex houses.
Another major change has been the addition of girls. Chinquapin was an all-boys school until 1978, when one female student was admitted on a trial basis. Now almost 40 percent of the student body is female. While the boys get to spend Monday through Friday on campus and sleep in dormitories segregated by grade, the girls are bused to the school.
Since Chinquapin's mission is to give poor kids a chance to go to college, most students come from the inner city of Houston. Hispanics make up 65 percent of the student body, blacks 25 percent, and Asians and whites 10 percent. The school would like to have a more balanced mixture, but it has had trouble recruiting non-Hispanic students. "The school is going after low-income students, which means that in many cases it is dealing with a single-parent environment and the little boy is the only male figure at home," says Jarvis Johnson, a 1990 graduate who is black and who voluntarily recruits black students for Chinquapin through his work as the program director for D.A.R.E. + P.L.U.S., an after-school drug-prevention program. "Mothers don't like to let go of their sons, especially to send them to a place where they are outnumbered," he explains. "I try to convince them that they must let him go because he will never reach his full potential."
For a long time people believed that Chinquapin was a reform school because, in the early years, it accepted practically anyone who applied. "We would give them a thermometer, and if they were alive, we would take them," quips Moore. Today some 200 students compete every year for one of 35 to 40 slots available—20 of them in each new seventh-grade class, the rest vacancies in the other grades. "We love to have straight-A students, but we are also open to taking average students who have some gumption, who have motivation," says Bill Heinzerling. "We are even open to taking a troublemaker if that student is interested in turning it around and sees the value of a good education."
Getting into Chinquapin is a three-step process. Students and their parents must attend a recruiting meeting offered in the spring at various Houston locations. The students then take reading and math tests and are interviewed by faculty members. If they clear those hurdles, they attend a one-week summer session at the school, where they take regular academic courses and are evaluated on how well they handle schoolwork and get along with other students. Chinquapin students must be able to live, eat, study, and play together in a truly integrated community.
Once admitted, the students get one of the best bargains around. Though it costs Chinquapin about $7,000 a year to educate each student, students pay only $30 to $100 a month, depending on their family's income, for the nine-month term. About 85 percent of the students pay the minimum; those who can't pay even that work additional hours of chores. Money to support Chinquapin comes mainly from foundations and private donations. After years of operating on a shoestring (lack of funds almost closed the school one year), it recently completed two fundraising campaigns that raised $3.25 million in capital and boosted its endowment to $4.5 million.
Students may not have to pay much, but they have to give back to the school in other ways. Chinquapin's motto is "Quid Pro Quo," meaning that in return for a quality education, its students must do chores—gardening, cleaning the campus, keeping their living spaces neat—for an hour a day. Through this simple practice they learn to be self-reliant and help the school as well as themselves.
Life at Chinquapin demands discipline. An electronic bell wakes the students at 6:20 a.m., at which time they must hit the track for a couple of laps. After breakfast they hustle to clean their rooms for the 7:45 dorm inspection. Classes run from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., followed by chores, sports (basketball, volleyball, soccer, tennis), a free period, dinner, study hour, and another free period. Lights go out in the dorm at 10:30 (10 for seventh graders). Watching TV is not allowed, and phone calls are limited to three minutes.
Sound harsh? Not really. Chinquapin demands, but not in a military way. A relaxed atmosphere permeates the campus. Teachers as well as students dress informally and treat one another as friends. Students run their own government and issue punishments (usually extra morning chores or detention) to troublemakers. "We don't put a lot of unnecessary stress on our students," says Craig Wade, a 1982 graduate who earned his degree from Colorado College and now teaches at Chinquapin. "We put them at ease, and that allows them to absorb more of what is going on in the classroom."
The curriculum is traditional: English, history, biology, physics, chemistry, and math, which ranges in high school from algebra to calculus. The students must also take four years of vocabulary-building courses, three years of Spanish, and a senior-year course on environmental issues. Less-traditional programs are offered after classes, when students can play in a band, put on a play, or join a men's or women's discussion group. They can help others by joining the Peer Assistance and Leadership (PAL) program or working on community service projects such as building houses for Habitat for Humanity and cleaning beaches. Chinquapin also offers summer programs that take students to the wilderness of Colorado or to such exotic places as Ghana, China, and Greece.
There's a tendency in us to want to make a good thing even better, and so it is with Chinquapin. The school recently bought twelve adjoining acres, where it has built a directors' house, a science center, and two dormitories that will open next month. The student body will expand, but only to 125. "I don't want three hundred and fifty students at Chinquapin," says Bill Heinzerling. "We would lose a major reason for our success. I understand that there are more students who need Chinquapin, but my answer is that I wish there were more Chinquapins."
In an ideal society, there would be.
D. Medina is the senior editor of the alumni magazine and the minority community affairs director at Rice University.


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3/11/2023 (Saturday) gospel reading: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
1 Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,
2 but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
3 So to them Jesus addressed this parable.
11 "A man had two sons,
12 and the younger son said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.' So the father divided the property between them.
13 After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.
14 When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need.
15 So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.
16 And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.
17 Coming to his senses he thought, 'How many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger.
18 I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
19 I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers."'
20 So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.
21 His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.'
22 But his father ordered his servants, 'Quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
23 Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast,
24 because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.' Then the celebration began.
25 Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing.
26 He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean.
27 The servant said to him, 'Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
28 He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him.
29 He said to his father in reply, 'Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.
30 But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.'
31 He said to him, 'My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours.
32 But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'"
3/11/2023 (Saturday) gospel reflection: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

subset: commoncrawl


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Miesha Tate would 'love' to make an appearance in WWE
Miesha Tate may be done with fighting, but that doesn't mean she's not open to other endeavors like making an appearance in the squared circle as part of the WWE.
The former women's bantamweight champion announced her retirement from mixed martial arts last November, but she's been staying busy with numerous projects including analysis work for several recent UFC fight cards.
Just recently, Tate was asked about her interest in potentially making a transition to professional wrestling as well with a possible appearance in the WWE.
Tate's biggest rival Ronda Rousey has already appeared at WWE WrestleMania and there have been rumors for months that the promotion wanted lightweight champion Conor McGregor to show up in the ring at some point in the future as well.
According to Tate, she would welcome the chance to become the latest UFC fighter to crossover and make an appearance in a WWE ring.
"I would love to," Tate said when asked about appearing in WWE at a recent Q&A. "It would be fun. I would love to.
"I'm open to all kinds of things like that. It would be a lot of fun."
Tate make an appearance on WWE programming doesn't exactly mean she would fully transition to professional wrestling but she wouldn't be the first fighter to test the waters in recent history.
Former UFC welterweight Matt Riddle has been making waves on the independent wrestling circuit for more than a year with many insiders believing he could be a future star with a promotion like WWE.
Former "Ultimate Fighter" competitor Shayna Baszler has also been keeping busy on the independent wrestling scene while light heavyweight competitor Tom Lawlor just recently made his professional wrestling debut in Las Vegas.
Perhaps Tate will join them — at least on a temporary basis — if WWE comes calling.


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Razer Showcase Nabu Watch @ CES 2016
Peter Donnell / 7 years ago
CES 2016: The new Razer Nabu Watch is on show in Las Vegas, and it's clearly a big departure from the current Nabu wristband, it's a lot bigger for starters! This is, at the very basic level, a digital watch. It features a separate battery that can last about 18 months and has a nice green LCD display for telling the time, it's a watch and that's about it. However, tucked just below the display is a secondary display, powered by its own rechargeable battery, This second display is a smaller version of the Nabu wristband, so it still gives you all the smart fitness tracking features you've come to know and love from that, as well as notifications, facebook messages and more. The battery life on this will be a few days long, so you'll need to remember to charge it, just remember that the watch will keep on ticking under its own battery for a very long time.
I'm not completely sold on the rugged and somewhat oversized design, but it does look pretty cool and the softer wrist strap feels comfortable to wear.
Overall, it's a cool two in one device and the price is said to be around £129.99 / $149.99, which is certainly more affordable that some similar devices on the market. What do you think of the new design?


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Amelanchier canadensis
Common name(s): Thicket Serviceberry, Thicket Shadblow, Shadbush
Plant type: deciduous small tree
Primary method of propagation: seed
Propagation by Seed
Time of year to collect seed: Summer
Time of year to sow seed: Summer
Seed treatment: scarification and stratificati
Preferred temperature for germination: 70-85 degrees F
Comment: Sow seeds soon after collection. Keep beds mulched until germination begins following Summer. Sow 1/4


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With climate change hitting crisis point, fingers have been pointed at an unlikely source: cows. Raising livestock for meat and dairy is a thorny topic, with gaseous cows causing the most carbon dioxide emissions in the sector. Tech has sought to solve this problem, moving cows from carbon dioxide producers to climate change benefactors.
Carbon and methane emissions
Currently, livestock contributes some 5 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Cows also produce methane, contributing 37 per cent of all methane emissions resulting from human activity. There are approximately 1.5 billion cattle worldwide, each producing between 70 to 120kg of methane per year.
Because of this, the United Nations recommends that humans vastly reduce their consumption of animal-based products.
However, research has found that livestock also provides ecological services that are too great to completely remove them from the landscape. Under the right conditions, cows can help to restore healthy ecosystems that locks carbon deep into the ground. If grazing is well-managed, over 16 gigatons of carbon could be sequestered by 2050.
Climate-friendly cows
One novel approach has seen the creation of 'climate friendly cows'. The methane produced by cows is a byproduct of bacteria in their digestive tract. Using this knowledge, scientists have worked to create a cow that produces less gas through selective breeding and cross-breeding. These cows create half as much methane as the general bovine population.
Probiotics and gene targeting
However, this is a long-term process and is by no means a silver bullet. Another approach involved researchers tweaking the cows' diets to reduce emissions. Seaweed supplements are becoming particularly popular amongst forward-thinking farmers. Early introduction of probiotics to young cattle could also cut their emissions well into adulthood.
A slightly more controversial option is to remove the genes that cause more methane production. By looking at different genetic variations known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), scientists can see if specific genes are responsible and, if it could be done without harm to the cow, knock those SNPs out.
combined effort
Sadly, these solutions are not going to resolve the cattle climate problem overnight. They are designed to work in tandem with other efforts that farmers and the tech industry are implementing.
Greater use of satellites and robotics to increase the amount of carbon-absorbing organic matter in the soil is another potential fix. The Internet of Things could help further – by improving overall cattle health and productivity. Wearables for cows that measure their activity, temperature, diet and location put farmers in a strong position to then improve their herd's climate change impact.
Reducing food waste
Other sensors could improve the agricultural supply chain. By improving yields and responding more readily to market demand, farmers can reduce unnecessary waste (and therefore their carbon emissions). This can be expanded further, from farms to supermarkets and homes.
If food waste is reduced across the board, it will have a significant impact on the number of cows in the system and the meat and dairy purchased. Indeed, reducing food waste is a popular option amongst many livestock farmers.
Meat-free alternatives
Of course, there are also meat-free alternatives. Consumers are increasingly moving towards plant-based and flexitarian diets. This has led to a rise of plant/meat alternative companies in the FoodTech industry.
Plant-based and clean meat technology do away with the need for cows altogether. 'Meat' made from beetroot and other plant mixtures is now so realistic that it 'bleeds' when under-cooked. Meanwhile, clean meat is grown through cellular agriculture, in a type of 'meat brewery', that requires no animal slaughter or livestock farming.
Better food production
Given that animal agriculture contributes 40 per cent more to climate change than all planes, trucks, and cars combined, any incremental changes to human's diets will have a drastic improvement. Plus there's the fact that current methods of food production cannot keep up with humanity's growth. To feed the world in the future, there must be a better way- a disruption to the status quo. Luckily, tech companies are well-versed in disruption.
Small changes add up
Ultimately, incremental changes are key, because the climate change crisis is complex and multi-faceted. There isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. But, with everyone working together – farmers, scientists and the tech industry – the climate contribution of livestock can change from a negative one to a positive.


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I love logistics…
I thrive on streamlining the production process while maintaining creative freedom for every department involved.
Communication and the ability to match crew to each project has made me successful in running jobs efficiently & smoothly.
So, what can you expect when you work with me?
I have over 20 years of experience and still get excited when I get a challenging project.
I am honest and trust my crews 100%.
I believe in creative problem solving and thinking outside the box.
I believe in professionalism and maintaining good relationships with crews and vendors.
I believe music makes the world a better place, so expect some tunes in the office.
I believe riding a motorcycle and traveling the world frees your spirit.
In her first years in the industry, Kathrin worked for Europe's largest commercial production company Markenfilm. That's where she gained her extensive knowledge for budgeting projects, preparing pitches and producing through the post-production process.
Since moving to Canada over a decade ago, Kathrin has worked on projects from large-scale international commercials and films to small crew documentaries and corporate films. She has worked with top tier directors such as Justin Lin, Lance Acord, Arni & Kinski, No Brushing, Jean-Michel Ravon, David Tennant, Paul Minor and Clay Williams, just to name a few. Her client base includes Mercedes, Audi, Peugeot, Molson, PepsiCo, Tim Hortons, Bell, Canadian Government, Landrover and Porsche.
Her passion for each project and desire for extraordinary challenges has also taken her to many exciting locations. Kathrin has experience shooting in British Columbia, Alberta, The Yukon and Northwest Territories as well as Europe.
Kathrin prides herself with high quality standards for production support by maintaining and enhancing client, crew and vendor relationships. Team spirit, honesty and professionalism are her most valued attributes. She is fluent in English and German.


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Don't Blame Mental Illness for Mass Shootings; Blame Men
If you want to cut down on gun violence, first target toxic masculinity.
The year 2017 brought the deadliest mass shooting in modern history to the United States, which has become home to more gun massacres than any other country in the world. The response offered by many of our political leaders, both Democrat and Republican, has been to focus on the role of mental illness in such shootings. The day after Stephen Paddock took to a hotel room in Las Vegas with 23 firearms and murdered 59 people this past October, President Donald Trump told reporters that Paddock was "sick" and "demented," even as evidence suggested Paddock did not have a confirmed mental health disorder. Trump was also quick to blame mental illness on the mass shooting at a Texas church in early November, saying at press briefing the following day that it the tragedy was not "a guns situation" but instead "a mental health problem at the highest level."
But as we begin a new year, it's time to have a more nuanced discussion about what might really be to blame for the trend of mass shootings in America—as well as the gun violence epidemic more broadly. No, it isn't mental illness. It's gender. If we want to stop the problem of mass shootings, we need to fix the problem of toxic masculinity.
If you take time to dig into the research, you'll find that mental illness doesn't play the role in mass shootings and other gun violence that many, especially our politicians, seem to think it does. Serious mental illness has been found to be conclusively present in a minority of mass shootings—only 14.8 percent of all of the mass shootings committed in the U.S., defined as a shooting which injures or kills four or more people, between 1966 and 2015. (Another study focusing on different data collections of generalized "mass murder" from 1949 to 2015 attributes 23 percent of those incidents to the mentally ill.) Studies have also found that those with serious mental illness are responsible for just 4 percent of the incidences of interpersonal violence and less than 1 percent of all gun-related homicides annually in the United States. Generally speaking, people with mental illness are far more likely to be victims of firearm violence than commit it.
Yet, while most mass shooters in the past 35 years have not been found to have a serious mental illness, nearly all of them do have one thing in common: their sex. Of the 96 mass shootings committed since 1982, all but two were committed by men. (Most of them were white.)
Men don't just constitute almost all mass shooters in recent history; they are also responsible for the vast majority of gun-associated deaths in the country. Men own guns at triple the rate of women in the U.S., at 62 percent compared to 22 percent—and also commit suicide at nearly triple the rate of women. Eighty-nine percent of murder-suicides are committed by men, and most often include an unwitting female partner or ex-partner. (Murder suicides claim 1,200 American lives annually; nearly all of them are committed with a gun.) In fact, more than half of mass shootings (54 percent) are actually domestic violence incidents. And according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which tracks court cases involving domestic violence, 86 percent of the perpetrators of domestic violence documented in court cases are men.
To be sure, a variety of factors are associated with committing serious violence, such as a history of binge drinking, childhood abuse, living in a neighborhood with a high rate of violent crime and experiencing stressful life events. But being a male is often listed as one of the top two predictive risk factors for committing serious violence in peer review papers on the topic—more than any mental health diagnosis. In addition to gender, a history of alleged or convicted domestic abuse has also been found to be more prevalent among mass shooters than a definitive mental health diagnosis, something that's just starting to get much-needed attention.
Furthermore, women live through the same experiences, from childhood abuse to stressful life events, at rates similar to or even higher than men. (One notable exception is binge drinking, which men do at double the rate of women.) Women are also up to 40 percent more likely than men to develop mental health conditions, according to a 2013 study by Oxford University. The Oxford study found women were nearly 75 percent more likely than men to have depression and around 60 percent more likely to have an anxiety disorder, while men and women were found to suffer from schizophrenia in more or less equal numbers. Given these numbers, if the propensity to commit gun violence and mass shootings were based largely on mental health or life events, then you would expect women to commit violent attacks at rates similar to, or higher than, men. And yet, women commit a very tiny fraction of these incidences. In fact, being of the female sex is actually considered a protective factor against becoming a perpetrator of serious violence.
So, what's going on? According to sociologist Eric Madfis, the male gender-mass shooter connection may stem from cultural standards of how men are expected to react to stress and perceived victimization as compared to women.
"Women tend to internalize blame and frustration, while men tend to externalize it through acts of aggression," says Madfis, who is an associate professor at the criminal justice department at University of Washington-Tacoma and author of a 2014 journal article exploring the intersectional identities of American mass murderers.
This isn't just because of how men are built physically. While it's true that having higher testosterone is often related to aggression, recent research indicates that testosterone is likely a result rather than a cause of violent behavior. This suggests that societal influences probably play a larger role in violence than any biological factor. After all, our culture is saturated in messages—whether in the media, in our military, in sports, at the workplace, or in our education and health care systems—that embrace and even endorse a distorted view of masculinity, which tends to value and encourage expressions of aggression by men.
Even those men who might be suffering from mental illness are unlikely to seek out counseling because it is often stigmatized as "weak" for men to seek out help and admit vulnerability. Among those who do make it into an therapist's office or mental health program, domestic abusers are notoriously resistant to treatment protocols.
Madfis also notes that many men who commit mass shootings tend to be those who have failed to achieve financial and romantic success in ways that our society values and accredits as "manly." As a result, Madfis explains, men may feel emboldened to resort to violence to gain both revenge and some level of notoriety as compensation for being denied what they thought they were owed, or felt pressure to attain. Elliot Rodger went on a shooting spree in Santa Barbara, California, in 2014 after he taped a video of himself complaining about beautiful women denying him sex. James Oliver Huberty shot up a California McDonald's in 1984 after his business ventures failed. We could also consider the trend of post office shootings committed by disgruntled postal workers or former workers, or the fact that nearly a third of all mass shootings often occur in workplaces, or the many incidents involving a woman being shot for leaving or threatening to leave her abusive male partner.
"If violence was just due to genetics, [mass shootings] would not be happening with increasing frequency or occur so much more often in the United States than other places," says Madfis. "It's time to have a close look at our culture and what is going in terms of how masculinity is defined and characterized, which is often as something that is performed or 'proven' through acts of aggression and even violence."


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I've had some time (and motivation) recently to spruce up my home office. It's amazing how subtle changes can make such a big impact- like hanging pretty things on the walls.
David and I hosted a "get together" for several of our friends, and I wanted to make sure the house was looking its best. Having people over is always a great excuse to get something done around the house, giving you a self-imposed deadline of sorts.
My dear friend and artist Rachel Fontenot is the creator of all these beautiful pieces: the paper flowers, collage, and cross stitch piece. I love that her art is now a part of my every day life! Isn't she marvelously gifted?
This is one of those daily habits that rescues me from a paper pile up! So simple, but very effective. When you don't have time every day to file things right away, set up a "quick file drop zone" with labeled folders of the papers that cross your path the most often. For me, those categories are Business Projects, Keys to the City (passwords and log-in info), Receipts, Coupons, and Personal Projects. This is a great way for me to empty my purse and clear the kitchen counter in a quick yet organized fashion.
I feel like almost every house I've organized has at least one of these cubby-shelf systems! And why not? They're awesome! I found these cute bins at Home Depot, and I love that they have inserts for custom labels. Haven't gotten around to actually labeling them because the contents keep changing! But they are great for wrangling all the odds and ends that migrate into my office.
Found these decorative letters at Hobby Lobby, and I'm SO tempted to buy the S, H, and A! What do you think?
Happy organizing!


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Local NBC joint did a story on the WAKA NC Capital division, with a lot of coverage of our team, Maggie's Farm.
Local NBC joint did a story on the WAKA NC Capital division, with a lot of coverage of our team, Maggie's Farm.
So what do we have so far:
In the past week, Karl Rove has been promising Republican insiders an "October surprise" to help win the November congressional elections.
President Bush's political strategist is also saying that the final two weeks before the elections will see a blitz of advertising, and the Republican National Committee is deploying an army of volunteers to key locations to help the grass-roots effort and monitor the elections.
The RNC is offering to fly in volunteers and cover their expenses.
Rove is not saying what the October surprise will be.
That's not to say Bush is going to flip-flop on his belief that Iraq is central to the war on terror. It's just that the political divisions at home, coupled with the mayhem in Iraq, have made changes necessary. Bet your last dollar that Baker will have Bush's approval for his recommendations even before he makes them public.
Instead, the commission is headed toward presenting President Bush with two clear policy choices that contradict his rhetoric of establishing democracy in Iraq. The more palatable of the two choices for the White House, "Stability First," argues that the military should focus on stabilizing Baghdad while the American Embassy should work toward political accommodation with insurgents. The goal of nurturing a democracy in Iraq is dropped.
Anyone else see where I'm going with this? With Bush saying, as recently as this week, that we will keep troops in Iraq, "as long as I'm President", this gives him an out. A change in course is can still be interpreted as "staying the course", without any "cut and run". To much cheers, applause, etc. Standing resolutely, then showing a bit of willingness to change — that's a change of heart, right? Go soccer moms! It's humility, right? Go evangelicals! At least, that's what I'm thinking they're hoping to convince American voters.
The Baker article above says that the committee won't release its findings until after the November 7 elections. But leaks occur, inferences can be made, and postures can be construed.
Like I said — out on a limb. But we'll see what comes of it.
So, Mark Warner won't be running in 2008… when rumours of this first started coming out today, I joked that
Therefore, he's got such confidence that the Dems will regain the House and Senate that he wouldn't know how to handle it!
As it turns out, he's doing it to spend time w/ his family:
I have decided not to run for President.This past weekend, my family and I went to Connecticut to celebrate my Dad's 81st birthday, and then we took my oldest daughter Madison to start looking at colleges.I know these moments are never going to come again. This weekend made clear what I'd been thinking about for many weeks—that while politically this appears to be the right time for me to take the plunge—at this point, I want to have a real life.
And while the chance may never come again, I shouldn't move forward unless I'm willing to put everything else in my life on the back burner.
This has been a difficult decision, but for me, it's the right decision.
Now, while that's a statement that you normally hear from disgraced polticians who resign due to some scandal, Warner is neither a) currently in office nor b) a corrupt politician. In fact, he's one of the most honest, down-to-earth figures I've seen.
So who's left? Of the current leaders of the pack, I think they're all seriously flawed. Edwards? A one-term Senator and failed VP candidate? No thanks… and certainly no Hillary! Kerry is said to be considering it again, and I might have to hold my nose and vote him again if he were to get the nod — although the Dems have a habit of eating their own, especially those who lose Presidential elections.
Once again — and even moreso — hoping that the Dems get smart and nominate Wes Clark. Doubt we'll see it happen though.
It's not every day that your small town makes the front page of CNN.
So far, we're on the other side of the highway, so they've not evacuated us. Then again, I seem to remember seeing a thing on the news the other night about the winds shifting and coming out from the east today as the cold front moves in, so I dunno.
Interesting times…
Looks like someone at Fidelity is a Pulp Fiction fan.
(click image for larger version)
What's next, Snakes on a (Muthafuckin') Fund?


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Do you need to ship your heavy equipment from New York to Pennsylvania? Freedom Heavy Haul can help. If you are unsure what information you need when shipping your equipment from New York to Pennsylvania, we can provide everything you need. It's important that your heavy equipment haul transport is successful. Our knowledgeable heavy-haul agents have year of experience with arranging heavy equipment transports. Our logistics professionals can put a hassle free hauling experience within reach.
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Choose Freedom Heavy Haul to haul your heavy equipment between New York and any other state in the union. Construction is big business in New York. There's a continual need for the transportation of heavy construction machinery throughout New York. Construction spending in New York City each year amounts to more than $50 billion. About two-thirds of yearly construction spending in the City is for non-residential housing. Nearly 20,000 new residential units are added each year. On the agricultural side, nearly two-thirds of the state's farming income comes from dairy production. New York is the second leading dairy producer in the nation, behind only Wisconsin. New York also is one of the top fruit and vegetable producers in the northeast. The state is the second leading apple producer in the nation. With all this farming, the need for transportation of heavy farm equipment has been on the rise. New York operates nearly a dozen ports, including one on the Atlantic Ocean: Port of Albany; Port of Buffalo; Port of Cape Vincent; Port of Caskill; Port of Newburgh; Port of New York and New Jersey; Port of Ogdensburg; Port of Oswego; Port of Poughkeepsie; Port of Rochester; Port of Troy; Port of Yonkers.
New York is the 27th largest state in terms of area. The state is 330 miles wide and 300 miles long. Total roadway miles in New York are around 250,000 miles, tied for tenth in the nation. The state interstate system is nearly 1,700 miles long. I-95, the most travelled interstate in America, slices through the lower corner of the state. I-195 takes you into and out of New York City. I-87 goes north/south between New York City and Massachusetts. Slightly to the west, I-81 takes the same north/south path, linking Pennsylvania to Canada. I-88 runs east west to link I-81 with Albany. I-84 runs across the southern portion of the state from east to west.
New York is the 4th largest state in the country in terms of population, trailing only California, Texas and Florida. With more than 8 ½ million people, New York City dwarfs any other city in the nation. Hempstead, on Long Island, boasts nearly 775,000 residents. Buffalo and Rochester each have more than 250,000 people in town. Cohoes, just east of Albany, was the fastest growing city in New York in 2017. The 10 largest cities in New York are:
Heavy equipment shipments that exceed the maximum dimensions established by the state must obtain oversize permits to use the roads in New York. Maximum width is restricted to 8-feet in New York City. Single axels must weigh 22,400 pounds less, while double axels are limited to 36,000 pounds.
The dimensional restrictions in the state of New York include:
Maximum weight: 80,000 Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW);
Maximum height: 13 feet 6 inches;
Maximum width: 8 feet 6 inches.
Overall length restrictions in New York are ae right in line with the regulations in most northeast states. On designated highways trailers are limited to 48 feet in length.
Trailer length maximums in New York include:
Total length: 65 feet;
Trailer length: 53 feet;
Motor home length: 45 feet.
Permits to move oversize loads in New York are issued by state Department of Transportation. The transportation of oversize loads is permitted from ½-hour before sunrise until ½-hour after sunset on weekdays. On Saturday, oversize shipping must cease at noon. Oversize shipments are not allowed on Sunday or major holidays. Oversize shipping permits in New York City last only a few hours. In the rest of the state, oversize shipping permits are valid for five days.
Oversize shipments that exceed dimensional regulations must apply for Super Load permits. The maximum oversize dimensions that New York allows include:
Maximum Weight: 132,000 pounds;
Maximum Length: 100 feet total;
Maximum Height: 13 feet 11 inches;
Maximum Width: 14 feet.
Ask Freedom Heavy Haul to ship your heavy equipment to or from any auction house in New York. Alex Lyons & Sons, the national auction house, maintains an office in Bridgeport.
The most prominent equipment auction houses in New York include:
Call Freedom Heavy Haul to transport your heavy equipment to or from any rental center in New York. United Rentals operates more than 20 equipment rental stores in the state. Sunbelt Rentals has about 10 locations in New York.
Durante Rentals has six locations in or near New York City. Other independent equipment rental centers in New York include:
Pennsylvania is nearly 280 miles long and only 170 miles wide. Pennsylvania has more than 120,000 miles of roadways, including nearly 2,000 miles of interstate. I-80 runs east/west across the middle of the state, between New Jersey and Ohio. I-75 runs diagonally between New Jersey and Virginia in the southeast portion of the state. I-81 runs north/south in eastern Pennsylvania, while I-79 travels north/south in the western portion of the state.
With more than 1 1/2 million people, Philadelphia is by far the largest city in Pennsylvania. The second largest city in the state, Pittsburgh, has a little more than 300,000 residents. Valencia, which more than doubled in population between 2010 and 2018, is the fastest growing large city in the state. The 10 largest cities in Pennsylvania are:
Non-divisible loads that exceed the state's legal restrictions for weight, height, width and length must apply for oversize permits to travel in Pennsylvania. The dimensional maximums established by the state are roughly the same as most other states, including those in the northeast and midwest. Some roads are restricted to 8-feet in height.
Dimensional restrictions in the state of Pennsylvania include:
Maximum weight: 80,000 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW);
Maximum height: 13 feet 6 inches;
Maximum width: 8 feet 6 inches.
Pennsylvania, a big trucking state, allows a little bit longer loads on interstates and four-lane roads than most states. On undivided roads, the maximum length is 60 feet. You're allowed a six-foot overhang in the rear and a four-foot overhang in the front.
Trailer length maximums in Pennsylvania include:
Total length: 70 feet;
Trailer length: 53 feet;
Motor home length: 45 feet.
Permits to transport oversize loads in Pennsylvania can be obtained from the state Department of Transportation. The transport of loads that exceed the state's dimensional maximums is restricted to between sunrise and sunset on weekdays. Oversize loads can be shipped from sunrise until noon on Saturday. Sundays and major holidays are blacked out.
You'll need 7-foot-long banners with 18-inch letters displayed on the front and back of the transport vehicle. Red or orange flags must be attached to all four corners of the transport vehicle. The maximum dimensions allowed to qualify as an oversize load in Pennsylvania include:
Maximum Weight: 200,000 pounds;
Maximum Length: 160 feet total;
Maximum Height: 16 feet;
Maximum Width: 16 feet.
Turn to Freedom Heavy Haul to ship your equipment to or from any auction house in Pennsylvania. Richie Brothers maintains multiple offices in the state, including one in Sinking Spring outside of Philadelphia. Hess Auction Group also has a number of locations in the state, and J.J. Kane has an office in Plymouth Meeting. Yoder & Frey is located in Darlington ad Alex Lyons & Sons can be found in Lebanon.
Other popular equipment auction houses in Pennsylvania include:
Contact Freedom Heavy Haul about transporting your heavy equipment to or from any rental center in Pennsylvania. Sunbelt Rentals has nearly 20 stores in Pennsylvania, including five each in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas. Likewise, United Rentals has almost 20 stores spread throughout the state, with a trench-safety location in Quakertown.
Other major equipment rental centers in Pennsylvania include:
If you have farm equipment, construction equipment, or heavy machinery that you need transported, We can help you choose the right trailer for your needs Whether it's a flatbed trailer, a step-deck trailer, or an RGN trailer you need, we have the expert knowledge to guide you.
If you need it shipped, our heavy haul carriers can take care of you. Regardless of the type of equipment. Freedom Heavy Haul will get you set up with a turnkey transport service. Even if you need oversize transport or disaster recovery. We have logistics experts standing by ready to help you execute a professional plan to transport your valuable heavy equipment.
Freedom Heavy Haul ships heavy construction equipment such as bulldozers, excavators and dump trucks. Our dedicated carriers also transport smaller equipment like skid steers and forklifts. No matter what type of equipment you need transported, let Freedom Heavy Haul provide you with a free assessment and free quote. Call us today. What do you have to lose?
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You always get the straight story from Freedom Heavy Haul. They know I like to shop around for the best deal, but they're always straightforward about what they can do for me. I always call Freedom first, because I trust them to get the job done. They're ready to speak with me any time I call, which I value because I'm busy. If you want professional service, call Freedom Heavy Haul.
We use Freedom Heavy Haul to ship all of our heavy equipment. We trust them to find us the best price possible every time we call. They always get back to us immediately, whether they're in the office of not. That's what I like, the personal attention they provide. I recommend Freedom Heavy Haul to all of my associates who need to ship equipment. They deliver for us every time!
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America, Law, Partisan Politics, Politics, Scalia, Supreme Court
As one who typically writes creative nonfiction, using my platform to discuss things other than that genre of writing is something I usually resist doing, simply because of the growing divide I have witnessed over the past several years when it comes to politics. No other subject that I can think of these days brings out the worst in all of us faster than discussing politics. While I thought that this years Presidential Primaries would be the ultimate example of the disunion that has our nation tightly in its grip, I was wrong. As bad as this Primary season is, the lightning rod that has and will illustrate what I am talking about is the untimely death of Justice Antonin Scalia on Saturday.
Before I get into the whys and wherefores of this statement, there are a few things you should know. When visiting Washington DC four ago years with my family, we had the opportunity to individually spend part of one day doing something that we wanted to do and given a choice between visiting the White House, the Capitol or the Supreme Court, I chose the Court. In my mind, I could not go to Washington without seeing the Court and I ended up spending half a day there taking it all in.
For me, the Law is the framework that holds our society together. We are either a society governed by the rule of law or we are in anarchy. There really isn't any in-between. The Supreme Court is the greatest expression of that belief to me. To wander the halls of the Court, drink in the history of it, see original handwritten drafts of opinions that shaped the law, stare at the oil paintings of the men and women who have sat on that bench and to actually see the bench itself was one of the highlights of my trip. It was also the quietest, least-busiest and most overlooked of the major Washington attractions. I even happened to have breakfast there in the SCOTUS dining room with Justice Stephen Breyer but that is another story.
To say that I have always had a love for the law and by extension of that, the Supreme Court, would be an understatement. Some of the greatest writings and opinions on the most pressing matters of our time can be found in the pages of the Justice's opinions and dissents. Insightful, at times witty and withering, penetrating, observant and often inspiring words flow from the pens of the nine justices who sit at the pinnacle of the legal system of our nation. They are the interpreters and guardians of the Constitution as it relates to the many laws that might serve to either uphold it or undermine it.
Needless to say, I was shocked on Saturday evening to hear that a Justice…ANY Justice of the Supreme Court….had died unexpectedly. My first thought was that it was probably one of the retired members of the Court but then I learned it was Scalia that had died unexpectedly at a resort in a remote part of Texas. Antonin Scalia, the right arm of the court, the most outspoken of all the Justices and certainly one of the most conservative. My next thought was that "This is going to change everything" and when you think about it, it will.
Given the timeline of what occurred that evening, I don't even think that Justice Scalia's body had been transported from the resort before a very different court, the court of public opinion, had erupted in force, spewing a volcano of verbal vomit with every Tweet, comment and editorial. Add to that ruckus the Republican candidates debate scheduled for that evening, an event with an established precedent of backbiting, name calling and jockeying for position and you had the perfect microcosm from which to view the total and complete dysfunction that has become the United States of America in 2016.
Certainly there are reasons to be concerned. For the conservatives, a major voice has been lost, one who played a major role in shaping the legal landscape over the past 30 years, not so much for his opinions and dissents, which were legendary but for his dogmatic pursuit of originalism in the interpretation of the Constitution. It is important to understand that in his case, this doesn't mean the intent of the original framers of the Constitution so much as it does the meaning of the words they used.
For the liberals, many of whom did in fact admire Justice Scalia for a variety of reasons even if they disagreed with him, it is an opportunity for a liberal President to replace a conservative member of the Court with one whose ideology is more reflective of his values before he leaves office in less than a year. This of course worries the conservatives to no end. The problems that now stem from both sides of the political spectrum are apparent for all to see.
Republican politicians (Conservatives) honestly believe that President Obama, a Democrat cruising towards political retirement and a Presidential Library should not nominate anyone for the bench given that his term is running out. Let the election decide who the next President will be and let that person nominate someone.
Democratic politicians (Liberals) believe that Obama should nominate someone with all due haste, given that he is the sitting President with just under a year to go in office and their natural inclination would be someone who shares their views, beliefs and values. They then fully expect that the Republican controlled Senate will and must confirm that nominee.
The Republicans are already drawing the battle lines, making statements that they will effectively reject any candidate put forward by the President and that they will not even move to take action until a successor is elected. The Democrats are digging their heels in with cries of obstructionism and making plans to thwart them at every turn.
Both sides will use this to push their advantage in the elections to come. If the Republicans block or delay a confirmation until the President is out of office, the Democrats will rally the troops to put their candidate in so he or she can get that spot filled by a Justice of their choosing. The Republicans will do the same under the pretext of stopping the Democrats from filling that seat and potentially swaying the idealogy of the Court.
They are all living in a political Fantasyland as they rush headlong towards an intersection of opposing beliefs, incompatible values and irreconcilable differences and they are, unfortunately, representative of what we have become as a society.
There was a time where you had a few on the extreme left, a few on the extreme right and all the rest of us somewhere in the middle. Our personal values defined us, meaning that those values might find us on the side of the conservatives on some things and on the side of the liberals on other things. Certainly there are Democrats who abhor abortion and Republicans who strongly believe in choice. Surely there are Republicans who believe in gay marriage and Democrats who revile it. A political party cannot define who we are as a person by determining for us our beliefs.
As a society, we used to debate our differences, hoping to convince the other side of the merits of our case and win them over to our causes. We educated ourselves in the facts, drew our conclusions, took a position and debated the supporting points, respectful that others had differences of opinions.
Nowadays we argue, insult, demean and defame others for having an opinion different from that of our own. If we can't convince them, destroy them. Don't be open-minded to the possibility that you could be wrong. Focus on one task, that being to recognize that anyone with an opinion different from our own is dangerous and therefore must be eradicated, lest they spread their vileness to poison the minds of others. That has kind of become who we are now, in a nutshell.
It's a societal mindset in 2016, fed by political candidates seeking to hold the highest office in America. Our frustrations as a society are fueling and legitimizing the candidacies of people that we would have never seriously considered for that office 20 years ago. It has been so long since we have seen true leadership that we no longer know what it looks like. I'm talking about the kind of leadership that once inspired us as a nation and lifted us to the advanced state of citizenship that Americans used to aspire to.
Boiled down, the President of the United States has a responsibility now. The Senate will also have a responsibility as well and all must act to do their duty and to uphold the Constitution that they swore to defend. When someone finally is selected, that person will not only uphold the Constitution but will become part of the living embodiment of it, an awesome responsibility that transcends Presidencies and Congresses.
That the President will do his duty I have no doubt. Whether he will do it well, I do have some doubts but at the end of the day I must respect the system that our founders put into place and his right to do it.
As for the Senate, I do worry they will do whatever they can to delay an appointment and if they can't delay it, they will likely vote down whomever the President sends to them. If it is done for the right reasons, so be it. Remember Robert Bork and his failed confirmation to the court many years ago and know that sometimes there are good reasons for it…but delaying for the sake of delaying serves only the interest of some and not the interests of all.
Many wait for justice that could be imperiled by a tie vote of the Supreme Court. We have to start thinking about what is good for America and sometimes it's better for everyone to be just a little unhappy than for half the country to be furious and vengeful. This is the breeding ground for hatred and hateful acts. Compromise, weigh the options, constructively debate the issues and think about what is the greater good for everyone and not just the right or left of a political party.
Yesterday, I wrote a response to an article in the New York Times that sums up how I feel about this situation. I wrote that "I was a great admirer of Justice Scalia as a jurist and arbiter of the law as well as one of the greatest opinion writers on the Supreme Court. He did in fact truly shape much of the legal landscape during his thirty years on the highest bench in the land.
That being said, he is dead now and the duty of the President is to nominate a qualified and suitable successor while the duty of the Senate is to properly vet said candidate and confirm him or her to the Court.
To expect the President to abrogate his responsibilities in this matter with eleven months to go is nearly as ludicrous as to believe that the Senate will not abrogate their own responsibilities.
For either not to do their Constitutional duty now is an insult to the institution and ideals that Justice Scalia stood for and defended with such vigor. The Supreme Court is not and should not be the ideological playground of the liberals versus the conservatives but must in fact be the impartial citadel of the law, its meaning, its literalness and its absoluteness".
I honestly do believe that last statement about the Court. In many ways, I see it as the last functional bastion of our federal government, flawed certainly but absolute and enduring, relying firmly on the great principles in which our country was born from. The chamber of the Court is where the law is vetted and found to be worthy or unworthy of our nation and its beliefs. It is the vanguard of the beliefs which define us and the values which once made our nation a beacon of light for others to follow. The rule of law seems to, among other things, govern the worst that is in us and ensures that each of us are able to seek and secure a fair and equitable measure of justice. I just hope that the worst that is in us today stays outside the doors of that chamber in the weeks and months ahead of us. We are better than this.


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The Purposeful Pappy is thrilled to announce that I am partnering with Oral-B and Life of Dad for their #PowerofDad Father's Day Campaign. Lots of exciting things are going to be happening here.
I am MOST excited about my Pappy of the Day series that will be appearing every day between now and Father's Day. Each day I will feature a great Dad who was nominated by someone in his life that has noticed how amazing he is!
Our first Pappy of the Day is Zac Coburn.
Zac was nominated by his wife Jane. Here is what she has to say about him:
Zac is such an amazing father that it's going to be hard for me to even put it into words. Not only does he work full time, but he goes to school part time, all so that he can provide more for the family. Even as busy as he is (and I'm sure tired too), he still has all the energy in the world to run around with the kids when I go to work. He is the most genuine, caring, selfless guy there is out there, and he deserves all the credit in the world.
Keep Fathering Zac! Congrats on being Pappy of the Day and showing everyone the true #PowerofDad!!


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Category Archives: iOS Programming for .NET Developers
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While vacationing in Hawaii recently I was contacted by a developer named Peter who had some iOS programming questions for me. Peter's background is in WPF, just like me, and he is now moving into iOS programming (welcome to the … Continue reading
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Ray Wenderlich, whose iOS programming tutorials have helped countless aspiring iOS developers learn the trade, is now hosting a gigantic feast of iOS 6 goodness. He has dubbed it the iOS 6 Feast because there is course after course of … Continue reading
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Preparing for an iOS Developer Job Interview
Do you have an interview lined up for an iOS development gig and want to make sure you've got all your bases covered? Check out this article I wrote about preparing for iOS developer job interviews, recently published by Software … Continue reading
Posted in iOS Programming for .NET Developers, Jobs Comments Off on Preparing for an iOS Developer Job Interview
Colin Eberhardt reviews iOS Programming for .NET Developers
A fellow by the name of Colin Eberhardt in the U.K. has reviewed my book that teaches .NET devs how to write iPhone and iPad apps. Colin's review of iOS Programming for .NET Developers is circumspect and has reasonable critiques. … Continue reading
Objective-C Literals for iOS in Xcode 4.4
Apple recently released Xcode 4.4, which includes several minor enhancements for iOS developers. One of those features, named Objective-C Literals, is fully supported for OS X desktop apps, but is still a work-in-progress for iOS apps. This "teaser" preview has … Continue reading
My book about iOS programming is now available!
Over the past several months I have been working like a madman on a book that explains iOS to .NET developers. I'm proud to announce that iOS Programming for .NET Developers has been published! Like my last book, this book … Continue reading
Posted in Books, iOS Programming for .NET Developers 15 Comments
Sneak Peek: Reference vs. Pointer
It's time to let the cat out of the bag. I'm writing a book that explains iOS programming to .NET developers! I have written seven of the twelve chapters and, I must say, it's really coming together nicely so far. … Continue reading


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I grew up in a place where rough sleepers would sometimes stop you to ask for money. I now live in a place where children, men and women will sometimes approach you as you walk down the street, asking for money, food or water.
I have noticed that the response that most of us adopt to these interactions is to simply look the other way and pretend that that person does not exist. Maybe it makes you feel helpless because you cannot do anything to change a painful situation? Maybe they are a reminder of the things you believe are wrong about the world? Maybe you just simply see them as an inconvenience who is disrupting your busy life, an individual who should be working but is too lazy to do so?
It is definitely much harder to acknowledge that person and think through what they need. That would mean engaging with the inequality that exists in your own neighbourhood. We do not like feeling guilty. We live in a world where stories of "rags to riches" are celebrated, and we all like to make this our identity too. We like to think we have struggled to get where we are, and have succeeded despite the obstacles against us. Acknowledging that person's presence would mean having to be confronted by your own privilege in comparison to them.
Maybe we kid ourselves that this lack of response is actually in that person's best interests too. We have all experienced doing something accidentally shameful in public and trying to pretend that it never happened. By ignoring the person who is begging, we are saving them the embarrassment of acknowledging the situation too, right?
However, I do not believe this is really what we are doing at all.
Although nowhere near on the same level as begging, I have had a small glimpse of this myself. For a few of my previous jobs, I have spent time trying to talk to people on the streets or give out flyers to people walking past. I have done this both for profit-making companies and for non-profit organisations; sometimes to persuade people to give money and sometimes just to raise awareness. In general, whatever the reason for it, this can be quite a demeaning experience. You feel guilty that you are wasting someone's time as they hurry about their lives.
Sometimes people would be nice to me, sometimes tolerate me and sometimes be aggressively rude. However, what I can say from my own experience, is that the worst thing someone can do is to refuse to acknowledge your presence at all. It would feel horrible to have someone walk past and completely blank you. It felt incredibly dehumanising.
I can't help but think that this is how we all feel. There is nothing worse when you have an argument with someone that when they refuse to speak to you, or pretend that you don't even exist. Even if someone is being rude or treating you badly, we somewhat appreciate that they still see us worthy of some kind of emotion.
I have noticed too, more and more, that we are living in a time where people with different political, religious or ideological views are finding it harder to engage with one another. Instead of disagreeing with that person's perspective and talking to them about why you differ in opinion, we are increasingly demonising that person, and therefore deciding to remove them from our lives. Again, I believe this is a refusal to acknowledge that they are also a person, same as you.
Maybe sometimes it's easier to numb ourselves to the injustice around us because it's painful to have to face it, but I think it's important that we do feel the things that are painful in the world.
There are definitely times when you should stop interacting with another person, particularly if there is a continued risk that they will cause you damage. However, I think that we do this too easily, just with people we view as being a mild inconvenience to ourselves. Often I think we focus more on what divides us from other people than on what we have in common with each other.
So, in a time where there is such a drive towards division, whoever you are, wherever you are from and whatever your views about the world, regardless of your social group, economic group or nationality, let's please just choose to acknowledge each other's humanity.
Abigail Fedorovsky
Abigail works for an NGO on the issue of Human Trafficking, helping draft policies and conducting research. email@example.com


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It is a treatment that utilizes a chemical solution that is injected into the vein, causing the vein to collapse and disappear from view. This is often utilized when the vein may be too large to effectively be treated with laser alone, or to decrease the number of laser treatments needed.
Treatment usually takes 30 minutes and the number of injections varies, depending on the extent of damage. Multiple treatments may be necessary for complete clearance. Laser therapy is often used in conjunction with Sclerotherapy for optimal results.


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Kyle J. White, Eleven09, LLC co-founder, provides an extensive expertise in many areas of the veteran experience. From transition and employment to the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress and erasing the stigma associated with mental health in American society. By sharing his personal experiences Kyle seeks to provide authentic leadership for transitioning veterans and helps educate public and private organizations on issues concerning veteran policy and the importance of outcome-based solutions.
Kyle is also known for being a Medal of Honor recipient. As a recipient he chooses to align himself with three main areas of focus when it comes to our nation's service members and veterans; employment, education, and mental healthcare. In addition, Kyle enjoys working with organizations aiming to promote service, community and the importance of being a good citizen.
Kyle served in the United States Army as an Airborne Infantryman with the 173rd ABCT. After his time in service he attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and earned a B.S.B.A. in Finance. Kyle worked in the finance sector for 6 years before co-founding Eleven09.


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Course code: PFAH112P
Subject area: Art & Design
Study level: School Leaver
Course level: 2
9:00am - 5:00pm
Monday to Friday
6th Sep 2021 - 1st Jul 2022
01235 555585
The Creative Communications course is the perfect course for students wishing to develop a diverse and expansive skillset, reinforced by key transferable skills such as effective communication and teamwork. With the creative industry growing and changing all of the time, the boundaries between specialist fields are becoming less defined. By learning a host of different specialist skills and techniques on this course, you will get a head start when it comes to progressing into further or higher education, apprenticeship or a career.
This one year Level 2 Diploma course will introduce you to a range of new skills, covering several aspects of art, design and digital media. Over the course of the year you will work on exciting projects that develop your skills in drawing, ideas generation, character design, graphic design, illustration, printmaking, filming, editing, photography, model-making and animation. Recent projects have seen students produce zombie prosthetics for their own short horror film, building puppets based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and bringing them to life through stop-motion animation, and learning how to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to make striking graphic design outcomes based on their favourite films. This hands-on, practical course will introduce you to a broad range of creative materials, processes techniques and technologies, whilst learning about their application in the creative industries. Weekly tutorials, project work and visits to exhibitions will support your learning. Students progress towards exhibiting their own work at the end-of-year exhibition.
You will also be able to develop your English and maths skills through GCSE re-takes or Functional Skills qualifications. You will undertake 35 hours of work experience to help you develop your employability skills and progression plans.
The final unit of the course will be your opportunity to identify your creative strengths and apply these to a self-directed project of your choosing. As a UAL accredited institution, we have the opportunity to select student Final Major Project work to exhibit in London at the end of the academic year after successful completion of the Level 2 Diploma.
16 - 18 Fee
Tuition Fee: £0.00Exam Fee: £0.00Kit / Clothing: £45.00Materials: £55.00
Total Cost: £100.00
19+ Fee
Tuition Fee: £1,250.00Exam Fee: £0.00Kit / Clothing: £45.00Materials: £55.00
Total Cost: £1,350.00
19+ Reduced Fee
Tuition Fee: £0.00Exam Fee: £0.00Kit / Clothing: £45.00Materials: £55.00
Total Cost: £100.00


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It's taken me a few days to collect my thoughts and ideas on how to share the history and photographs I took on the second leg of the trip in Austria. After spending two full days in Vienna, I hopped on a train and headed to Hallstatt, which is located in the Salzkammergut region of the Eastern Alps!
The next post I'll go into more detail about the train traveling from Vienna, arriving in Hallstatt, and some of the attractions in the picturesque village. This post I just wanted to use, as a way to broaden everyone's architectural terminology knowledge and give a glimpse of what I saw in Hallstatt!
So today is brought to you by the letter "J," as in "jerkinhead roof."
So you're probably thinking: "WTF is a jerkinhead roof"…. "This sounds made up!"…. "Who comes up with these things!?!?!?!"
It's not a made up term.
It seems to have been around for a long time though the exact origins of the roof style are not clear. In 1902, the definition for the roof went like this, "A ridge roof of which the ridge is shorter than the eaves, having with a single slope from the wall of the clear story outwards."i Let's be honest, I have no idea what that actually means. It's confusing. My trusty, Guide to Vermont Architecture, gives the following, clearer definition, "A gable roof in which the gable peaks are clipped off and inclined backward."ii That makes a little more sense.
Here's a photo that helps show what we're talking about:
This type of roof is also occasionally called, "half-hipped" and "clipped gable" or even "jerkin-head roof."
As already mentioned, there seems to be no clear indication on where this type of roof originated from. The one source I found that gave some idea of the roof's origins was Early American Architecture: From the First Colonial Settlements to the National Period written in 1952 by Hugh Morrison. Morrison makes the suggestion that the style, during the medieval period, may have helped protect the gable-ends of walls that were built of wattle and daub.iii The roof style can be seen in many European countries such as England, Germany, Denmark, Slovenia, and obviously Austria. The roof is typical in timber-framed buildings and historically would have been seen on thatch-roofed houses.
Since I'm still focusing on my trip to Austria, I shared a lot of images of jerkinhead roofs from Hallstatt. In my adventures around Northern New York, I don't recall seeing these types of roofs but I know I now will keep a lookout for them! Do you have any examples in your neighborhood, if you do, share your examples in the comment section below!
Thanks for reading 🙂
i A Dictionary of Architecture and Building: Biographical, Historical, and Descriptive, Russell Sturgis, (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1902), 359-360. https://books.google.com/books?id=J58aAAAAYAAJ&num=5
ii The Historical Architecture of Vermont: Guide to Vermont Architecture, Curtis B. Johnson, editor and Elsa Gilbertson, Prinicpal Author, (Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, 1996), 26.
iii Early American Architecture: From the First Colonial Settlements to the National Period, Hugh Morrison (New York: Dover Publications, 1987), 143. https://books.google.com/books?id=Dk1qhPyIPfQC&pg=PA625&dq=early+american+architecture&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiEyf28g-XQAhXG6iYKHezRDFMQ6AEIJzAC#v=onepage&q&f=false


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Exhumation of a forensic scene must be done meticulously to preserve evidence. Briefly, the steps are outlined here:
A. Exhumation strategies and recovery methods – All logistical details should be worked out before starting groundbreaking – Exaction grid is placed around the site and proceeded through in an orderly manner – Never mark directly on the evidence; always on the container – Record specific information on each photographic exposure including date, time, and personnel involved.
B. Postmortem identification of remains – Bodies and remains are transported to the lab where they are first radiographed before forensic autopsy – Goals of autopsy are identification, documentation of injury, determination of cause and manner of death.
C. Reconstructing crime scene and criminal events leading to death – It must be determined whether assault took place at the grave or if the bodies had been moved to the grave site after death occurred – 3 stages of change after death: early, late and tissue changes.
D. Identifying and prosecuting the criminal – Obtaining physical evidence.
References Lynch, Virginia A. and Duval, Janet Barber. (2006). Forensic Nursing. St. Louis: Elsevier Mosby
Technorati Tags:
Death Investigation, Forensic Nursing, Forensic Nursing Chronicles, Forensic Nursing Theories, Exhumation
Tags: Death Investigation


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SkinMan Manual
SkinMan is Here
Hints for SkinMan
FoldersIn default, "MyDocument\SkinMan" folder is used as a default data folder. use "File"-"Setup..." menu to change default folders. You can setup default folders of
- Default .skin files folder: for .skin data
- Default Image files folder: for images used by "Insert Image" button
- Default Lib files folder: for .sklib files that can import from menu 'File'-'Import from Lib'
- Default palette folder: for .skpal files that can be Load/Save by Color window's Load/Save button
Screen Overview
SkinMan consist of four windows.
- Main window: The canvas and drawing tools.
- Tree window: The list of all primitives. parent-child relationship and foreground-background relationship.
- Properties window: parameters for the current selected primitive. you can tune these parameters to you want, including color / shape controls / lighting / embossing / shadowing.
- Color window: The colors for current selected primitive. One primitive has five colors (Fill1 / Fill2(for gradation) / Border / DropShadow / InsideShadow).
Each window (except for main) can be hidden by F5 / F6 / F7 keys.
Tree window handling & Parent/Child PrimitivesIn the Tree window, each primitive can be moved to other position by Drag&Drop. If the target shows the Insert-line between items, dragging primitive wil be inserted to the position. If no Insert-line is displayed, the dragging primitive will be a child item of the target.
Child item will join to the group of the parent that will be processed as a group for position-move / delete / copy / paste and visibility control. If you select child item's "Operation" parameter to "Shape+" or "Shape-", that affect the logical shape add / subtract operation to parent item.
Multiple primitive selectionyou can make a multiple selection by Shift+Click the item, or drag the area on the Canvas or Tree-view. Even if the parent primitive is selected, children primitives still remain non-selected. children accompany parent about move/resize/delete/etc but except for Align/Distribution.
Selected primitives are displayed by gray background icon in the tree-view.
Overlayed primitives selection & handling
If the multiple primitives are overlayed on the same position and difficult to click single primitive, you can use some approaches
- select from tree-view.
- just clicking the overlayed position with L-button (without dragging) will change focus in order of front to back. especially, the first click from no item on that position is selected, will select the top most primitive.
Grouped primitives selection & handling
White square handles are displayed by single primitive selection.
Black square handles are displayed by multiple primitives selection. the multiple primitives selection is made by shift+click, area-dragging, or a selection of a primitive that has child.
In this case, by pressing 'Ctrl' or 'Shift' key, Black handles (group) and White handles (parent primitive only) are both displayed. Only the parent primitive be resized by dragging white handles.
Keyboard Shortcut
- (A): Select Arrow tool
- (Space): Temporary Select Hand tool (while pressing)
- (H): Select Hand tool
- (R): Select Rect tool. return to Arrow after create a Rect.
- (Shift+R): Select Rect tool. will not return to Arrow.
- (E): Select Ellipse tool. return to Arrow after create a Ellipse.
- (Shift+E): Select Ellipse tool. will not return to Arrow.
- (P): Select Polygon tool. return to Arrow after create a Polygon.
- (Shift+P): Select Polygon tool. will not return to Arrow.
- (T): Select Text tool. return to Arrow after create a Text.
(S): Select Shape tool
- (L): Select Lines tool. return to Arrow after create Lines.
- (Shift+L): Select Lines tool. will not return to Arrow.
- (G): Gradation tool.
- (M): Trimming tool.
- (Alt): Temporary Disable Grid ajusting (while pressing)
- (+): ZoomIn
- (1): Zoom 1:1
- (-): ZoomOut
- (Ctrl+Z): Undo
- (Ctrl+Y): Redo
- (Del): Delete Primitives
- (Ctrl+C): Copy Primitives
- (Ctrl+V): Paste Primitives
Rectangle Corner Options
SkinMan has Corner shape options for rectangle's each corners. In default, the first corner parameter will be applied to all four corners. If you check the "Separate" checkbox, all four corner can be controlled individually.
- Option "R": normal rounded corner
- Option "/": straight line corner
- Option "-R": reverse rounded corner
- Option: "L": "L" figure corner
Specular Options
SkinMan has three types of specular options for each primitive. Flat, Sphere and Metal.


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Against the Amendment: Q&A – Faith Leaders
The effort to defeat the anti-marriage amendment is strong and reaches communities of faith across Minnesota. This week, we asked faith leaders to tell us what inspires them to oppose the amendment.
When I think about why my Christian faith leads me to oppose this constitutional amendment, two images come to mind. First, Moses standing before the burning bush; second, Jesus proclaiming the kingdom of God.
At the burning bush, Moses hears not only the name of God, but also the promise that God will liberate the children of Israel. God promises to be there for them, for always. This promise unfolds throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.
Later, the Gospel of Matthew declares that Jesus embodies precisely this characteristic of God. He calls Jesus Emmanuel, "God with us," and he records Jesus' final words of promise: "I will be with you always, even to the end of the age." As a whole, the Gospels portray Jesus' ministry—from parables and teachings, to miracles and table fellowship—as a life determined to make that promised presence both tangibly real and unmistakably gracious.
At the center of the biblical story is a God whose defining feature is promised faithfulness. This is precisely what makes a marriage: the promise to be there for another person, for always.
I want Minnesota to respect and honor those who make a solemn promise of faithfulness to another person. Such promises strengthen the fabric of community for us all. As a person of faith, I recognize in these promises an echo of the very nature of God. And that leads me to oppose the amendment all the more.
David R. Weiss is an author and lifelong Lutheran. Learn more at www.tothetune.com
The Catholic Church's rich tradition of social justice is what leads me to oppose the marriage amendment. Throughout history there are many examples of Catholics – including bishops – powerfully speaking out on issues such as racism and immigrant rights. Traditionally, such speaking out has sought to reduce discrimination and expand the circle of inclusion in our society. Yet this is not the case with the Minnesota bishops' current activism around marriage equality, who are advocating the exact opposite.
For many Catholics this is a blatant and grievous betrayal – not only of Catholicism's rich social justice tradition, but of the very way of being Catholic in the world. This "way" reflects the way of Jesus, and is not about unquestioning obedience to the church hierarchy but about discerning and celebrating God's presence in the lives and experiences of all. Bishops have forgotten this hallmark of the faith, but the Catholic people have not. It's not surprising that credible polls show the majority of Catholics are supportive of civil rights for gay people – including civil marriage rights. Such support reflects the Catholic faith's emphasis on compassion, justice, family, truth-telling and love. Like people of faith from a range of religious traditions, Catholics have witnessed these qualities and values in the lives and relationships of LGBT people. Our challenge now is to go out and share with others what we've witnessed. Such sharing will contribute greatly to the defeat of the amendment.
Michael Bayly is an author, and the executive coordinator of Catholics for Marriage Equality MN. Learn more at c4me.org.
The teachings of Jewish tradition compel me as a Jew to vote "no" on the constitutional amendment to define marriage.
The Torah (Jewish Bible) supports the full equality, dignity and acceptance of LGBTQ people and their families. We learn this from the story of creation which teaches that all people are made b'tzelem elohim (in the likeness of God) (Genesis 1:26) and that lo tov heyot ha'adam levado (it is not good for a human being to be alone) (Genesis 2:18).
As a Jew, I know that members of my faith have experienced discrimination and violence. As a person of faith, I cannot remain silent in the face of the oppression of anyone. We can learn from the prophets who spoke out against the wrongs they saw being committed around them. We have the imperative: Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof (Justice, justice shall you pursue) (Deuteronomy 16:20) to speak out against injustice in order to participate in Tikkun Olam (the repair of the world).
In my office I have a picture with the words from Rabbi Hillel "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now when." (Pirke Avot the Says of the Ancestors 1:14). As people of faith, we must speak out against this amendment for ourselves, for our friends and family, and we must speak out now!
Rabbi Melissa B. Simon is the Director of Lifelong Learning at Shir Tikvah in south Minneapolis.


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Latest News
New Students Applying to join AASTMT Alexandria College of Engineering and Technology AnnouncementPublished: 2017-09-12 12:47:05 |
To all New Students applying to join AASTMT Alexandria College of Engineering and Technology, You are requested to attend a meeting to complete AASTMT First Semester 2017 - 2018 registration procedures and timetable, as to learn more about AASTMT system of study.
The meeting will be held on Thursday 14- 9- 2017, at AASTMT Abu Kir Campus – Alexandria, according to the following timings:
at 10:00 am: Students of Computer Engineering Department - Mechanical Engineering Department - Electrical Engineering and Control Department.
at 12:30 am: Students of Construction and Building Department - Electronics and Communications Engineering Department - Industrial Engineering Department – Architecture Department.
*For more information, please call 01099858444 from 9:00 to 2:00.
N.B: Please bring your ID, as well as a recent photo.